2024 Album Highlights & Shows 1069, 1068, 1067, 1066

For our annual albums of the year episodes, Revolution Rock once again did not rank any of the albums with any specific number. The following selections for the two episodes posted here feature a mix of albums from 2024 in no specific order, but all of them were albums that we enjoyed. Below you will also find six write-ups from albums that were released in 2024, three written by Dave and three written by Adam. Following these words are playlists and download/listening links to two episodes featuring music released in 2024 (as well as a few other playlists and episodes).

2024 Album Highlights:
Written by Adam Peltier

Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee

Diamond Jubilee sounds unlike anything else that came out in 2024. Part retro-futurist queer fantasy, part alien broadcast from a David Lynch film, the album is less a collection of songs and more a bizarre enveloping sonic landscape.

The seventh record by Patrick Flegel’s experimental drag rock project Cindy Lee, this triple album came as a surprise release. Dropping without fanfare or press back in March, it was released exclusively as a continuous YouTube stream and on Flegel’s official Realistik Studios Web 1.0-style website. Diamond Jubilee quickly went on to draw a lot of attention from online fans and the music press, racking up critical acclaim and a cult following, despite the unassuming method of its release. The album was even shortlisted for the 2024 Polaris Music Prize, the first time a record without a physical release had been nominated for the award.

Its no wonder the record drummed up such acclaim; the mishmash of girl group pop, psychedelica, and 90’s lo-fi indie was unlike anything else released this year, a masterwork coming out from the duo of Flegel and multi-instrumentalist Steven Lind, whose golden guitar tones and grooving bass harkened back to the halcyon recordings of Mo-Town and Tamla. Then there are the songs, each a pocket dimension, an indelible short narrative fleshing out the mysteries of the Cindy Lee universe. “Stone Faces” propels forward with its hypnotic rhythm. “Wild Rose” tramps ahead drunkenly on high-heeled guitar picks, threatening but never teetering over into chaos. The longing “Golden Microphone” might be the album’s most conventionally beautiful moment, a rock and roll prayer for transcendent love.

It’s the rare triple record that never overstays its welcome. Instead, the sheer quality and quantity of the music here is astounding. Both sparkling and foggy, longing and acerbic, Diamond Jubilee is an album quite unlike anything else.

Jessica Pratt - Here In the Pitch

There is something in the hypnogogic mood of Here in the Pitch that is both stirring and pensive. Much like the shadow drenched figure of Jessica Pratt on the album’s cover, there is something about these arrangements that feel veiled in darkness. A liminal sense of uncertainty permeates what could have easily been little more than a nostalgic tribute to the bygone hippie era of Pratt’s native California. Instead, the songs mutate and shift into something darker and more ominous. Marianne Faithful is too easy a comparison to make, especially when Pratt’s sensitive guitar work and pained vocals call to mind the melancholic records of Nick Drake, Karen Dalton, and Sibylle Baier.

Created alongside long-time collaborator Al Carlson, the expanded instrumentation of Here in the Pitch fleshes out Pratt’s sound, adding a newfound depth and diversity to her arrangements. Each track on this humble nine-song set feel like a tiny mystery, a Mansfieldian world of ambiguity and longing, twilight-tinged stories of desire and despair.

Easily Pratt’s most accomplished record, Here In the Pitch is a spacious and dreamy experience and is well-worth falling into its lush embrace.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - No Title as of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead 

The cries of children. Bombardment rending families and bodies apart. Tears caked with grey dust billowing from the rubble. There is no ambiguity with this record. GY!BE are uncompromising in their direction, their warped guitars and visceral string arrangements evoking the horrors of the attacks on Gaza. Its an album that doesn't need words to have its message profoundly heard. This is urgent, brilliant, and utterly necessary music.

More 2024 Album Highlights:
Written by Dave Konstantino

Packs – Melt The Honey

Toronto-based band Packs began around 2019 as a solo project for songwriter Madeline Link. A full band emerged shortly after featuring Dexter Nash (guitar), Noah O’Neil (bass) and Shane Hooper on drums. With a few singles released online, they drew the attention of Fire Talk records and then released their debut album Take The Cake in 2021 and Crispy Crunchy Nothing followed in 2023. The band’s sound has been described as lo-fi indie rock, garage rock, and drawing influences from acts such as Pavement, Guided By Voices, Sebadoh and others, Link’s lyrics often pull from a literary aesthetic, delivering character driven stories at times, or evoking meaning from the mundane moments in life by balancing wit with humour. Packs third full-length album Melt the Honey arrived in January 2024.

Recorded in Mexico over the course of 11 days by the band themselves, Melt the Honey takes a more experimental approach to aspects of Packs sound, often wandering into psych, shoe gaze and folk territory while still staying true to the sounds of the band’s first two albums.  “89 Days” opens with a hazy more lethargic feel. Lyrically, Link sings “No backups for 89 days/I click on close, but the thought still remains/And as I fall asleep, I wish that I could change” touching on themes of unresolved tasks, missed opportunities and the passage of time in a poignant way. “Honey” is a more upbeat track. The album takes its title from this song. With acoustic guitars, steady drums, bass and electric guitar that cuts in and out with organ in the syrupy choruses, lyrics “Tar on the freeway marks on the wall/This is where I fall/Figuring out it's seriously what I wanted all this time” in the verses emphasize the complex layers and thrills of a new relationship. “HFCS” is a more lo-fi garage-sounding track. With lyrics “High fructose corn syrup” in the sugary sounding choruses, Link and Packs tackle the addictiveness of artificial based sugars over the real thing while also serving up a metaphor for authenticity. Throughout Melt the Honey, the music is raw, unfiltered and unafraid to experiment. Lyrically, the songs go deep into the complex layers of emotions with a new sense of optimism, still evoking meaning from the mundane with an undeniable wit and humour. Melt the Honey reverberates with lo-fi confident honeyed rhythms, melodies and lyrics that will be hard to forget.

Apollo Ghosts - Amethyst

In 2022, Apollo Ghosts returned bringing back elements of their jangle-punk sound with something new. On the stunning double album Pink Tiger (released on You've Changed Records), Apollo Ghosts featured one album (Pink) that was primarily acoustic with lyrics of loss, illness, death and memory in eleven tracks, while the other album (Tiger) leans towards more jangle-punk, garage sounds and features the remaining songs in this 22-song epic collection. Lyrically, this side of the album celebrates friendship, music and hope. It was recorded primarily as a three-piece band featuring Teacher, Amanda P. and Robbie N. In 2023, ahead of a European tour they released the psych-tinged digital single Gave Up the Dream. And in February 2023, a surprise mini-album/EP arrived digitally ahead of a Japanese tour titled Amethyst, released on You've Changed Records.

A collection of jangly punk songs, the brief selection of songs packs a mighty punch pulling from influences of Built To Spill, Pavement and Yo La Tengo. Along with the combination of jangle pop, indie, garage and punk, when combined with the witty lyrics of Adrian Teacher, gives Amethyst extra weight. Musically, the ever-evolving sound of Apollo Ghosts in addition to the already mentioned influences, also adds elements of bands such as Go Betweens and The Bats. “Ripping Invasives” starts off Amethyst and is a hard-hitting punk and post punk track with lyrics contrasting lies, dishonesty to dangerous invasive plants that need to be ripped out and destroyed to protect nature. The theme of killing parts of nature in order protect it operates on many levels here. “Rave Heaven” features a locked in mid-tempo groove with crunchy distorted guitars as lyrics such as “I’ll be the sun/And you’ll be the moon/Wildfires start/They’re starting so soon,” and “I’ll be honest/That I felt the healing coming/But I’m not sure it is or if the sentiment is gone,” about environmental factors such as climate change in a sardonic way, contrasting them to stormy elements of a relationship. Throughout Amethyst, lyrics deal with near death experiences, struggling with a world with leaders unmotivated by change, gentrification, among other things. Musically, the album is their loudest to date. On this EP, Apollo Ghosts show us that sincerity exists in a world of dishonesty, contrasting the dark with the light in a way that only they can.

Bad Hoo - A Run-In With Worms

Described as surfy sultry garage scuzz from Victoria, BC, Bad Hoo’s 2024 album A Run-In with Worms is an off the wall, fresh sounding album that is focused, strong and raw. Their last release 2020’s Right As Rain, delved into more experimentation musically and lyrically, delivering a potent, haunting mixture of sonic sounds during the 2020 climate. A Run-In with Worms builds on Right As Rain’s strong moments, propelling Bad Hoo further.

“Patrick Raw,” brings deep cutting basslines, drums and sporadic guitar riffs, with thought provoking lyrics “There is no competition/I am their competition” that open A Run-In with Worms on powerful note, fuzzy garage and surf riffs deliver “Old Outch” as witty lyrics “I felt evil on a Sunday/Goodness knows you’re going to/Run run run double time,” “Eat your spuds/Whole and live/They’ll grow out of you when you die/Or try old outch but there’s no pain/The chips in bed in your brains,” balance the absurdity of Sunday’s, the work week, chips, death and the evilness, frustrations and mundaneness of the real world, “Withering Hides” is a hard hitting track with rolling guitar riffs that navigate and slither between Oswald’s vocals, that pull from a literary context here delivering a mix of passion, love and vengeance-related themes.

“Hot Dr. Pibbs” is an ode to a 50s/60s marketing campaign to get people to drink hot Dr. Pepper around Christmastime. Switching focus to their competitor Dr. Pibbs, Bad Hoo produce a twisted, Crampsian, fuzzy garage descent, as they take something that seems like it could be nonsensical, but add wit, humour and a paranoid seriousness to it. Intense rolling drums, bass and sparse, interlocking guitars come forth in “Fake Futures That Never Came to Be.” Lyrically, words touch on failed environmental promises, touching on the CBC, David Suzuki, Damo Suzuki, Styrofoam, and an apocalyptic outlook that provides a cautious, yet eerily accurate picture of a future that may never exist. “Tickling Salt” marches in with garage psych dynamics, “…And the Corn,” brings forth crunchy garage rhythms and psych melodies among the undeniable wit and potency, balancing themes of past simplicities and present complexities. A Run-In with Worms, delivers raw, unfiltered scuzzy garage gems as it blurs the line between, garage, psych, punk and indie rock with dashes of surf rock. Bad Hoo writhe and trash with an undeniable, illuminating sharp, whimsical and thought-provoking outlook.

Show 1069 Playlist (Originally Aired On December 7th, 2024)(The Zombies, The Beatles, White Stripes, The Clean, Libertines, Horse Chops, Protomartyr):

1. Alvvays - Very Online Guy
2. U.S. Girls - Pearly Gates
3. Martha and the Muffins - Hide and Seek
4. Kate Fagan - 2 Good 2 Be True
5. Jessica Pratt - Get Your Head Out
6. The Clean - Anything Could Happen
7. The Saints - (I’m) Stranded (Original Mix)
8. Wire - Sand in My Joints (4th Demo Session)
9. The Undertones - True Confessions (Single Version)
10. The Libertines - Death on the Stairs
11. The White Stripes - Jumble, Jumble
12. The Hives - Missing Link
13. The Zombies - Tell Her No
14. The Zombies - It’s Alright with Me
15. The Zombies - Work N’ Play
16. The Beatles - No Reply
17. The Beatles - I’m A Loser
18. The Beatles - Baby’s in Black
19. Psychic Void - Denim Daddy
20. Cellos - Demagogue
21. James OL & The Villains - Late Night Drive
22. What Seas What Shores - Pave the Oceans
23. The Skeggs - Out of My Head
24. King Khan (Feat. Saba Lou & Bella the Bizarre) - Bring Them Home
25. Bella and the Bizarre - In Your Mind
26. The Discarded - Going to the Beach
27. Horse Chops - Ten Speed
28. The Bug Club - War Movies
29. Minor Threat - 12XU
30. Iceage - You’re Nothing
31. Metz - Get Off
32. Rites of Spring - Theme
33. Protomartyr - Devil in His Youth

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the December 7 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1068 Playlist (Originally Aired On November 30th, 2024) (Albums of 2024 Part Two):

1. Bloodshot Bill - Spotted (Diary of the Doom - Hi-Tide Recordings - 2024)
2. The Surfrajettes - Instant Coffee (Easy As Pie - Hi-Tide Recordings - 2024)
3. The Routes - Atmosphere (Surfin' Pleasures - Topsy Turvy Records - 2024)
4. Tandoori Knights - 88 Keys (14 Hits That Don't Quit - Rad Girlfriend Records - 2024)
5. Wine Lips - Six Pack (Super Mega Ultra - Stomp Records - 2024)
6. Hot Garbage - You Snooze You Lose (Precious Dream - Mothland - 2024)
7. Amyl and the Sniffers - Do It Do It (Cartoon Darkness - B2B/Virgin Music Group - 2024)
8. MJ Lenderman - Joker Lips (Manning Fireworks - ANTI- 2024)
9. Mount Eerie - Non-Metaphorical Decolonization (Night Palace - P.W. Elverum & Sun - 2024)
10. Crack Cloud - Lack of Lack (Red Mile - Jagjaguwar - 2024)
11. Kim Deal - Crystal Breath (Nobody Loves You More - 4AD - 2024)
12. Motorists - Phone Booth in the Desert of the Mind (Touched By the Stuff - We Are Time - 2024)
13. Bad Hoo - Hot Dr. Pibbs (A Run-In with Worms - Cool Ranch - 2024)
14. Dog Day - Bordering (A T-Shirt with Writing On It - Fundog - 2024)
15. Dog Day - Wasn’t It Nice (Almost - Fundog - 2024)
16. The Smile - Zero Sum (Cutouts - XL Recordings - 2024)
17. Jon McKiel - Concrete Sea (Hex - You've Changed Records - 2024)
18. Jessica Pratt - Life Is (In the Pitch - Mexican Summer - 2024)
19. Adrienne Lenker - Vampire Empire (Bright Future - 4AD - 2024)
20. Beth Gibbons - Tell Me Who You Are Today (Lives Outgrown - Chamber Pop - 2024)
21. Dion Lunadon - Goodtimes (Memory Burn - Beast Records - 2024)
22. Osees - Pixelated Moon (SORCS 80 - Castle Face Records - 2024)
23. Sunglaciers - Kafka (Regular Nature - Mothland - 2024)
24. Apollo Ghosts - Ripping Invasives (Amethyst - You've Changed Records - 2024)
25. Daniel Romano’s Outfit - Chatter (Too Hot To Sleep - You've Changed Records - 2024)
26. Night Court - Captain Caveperson ($hit Machine - Recess Records - 2024)
27. Pypy - Poodle Wig (Sacred Music - Goner Records - 2024)
28. Packs - Missy (Melt the Honey - Fire Talk - 2024)
29. Mdou Moctar - Funeral for Justice (Funeral for Justice - Matador - 2024)
30. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Sun is a Hole in Vapors (No Title as of 13 February 2024 28340 Dead - Constellation Records - 2024)
31. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Frogs (Wild God - PIAS Recordings - 2024)
32. Cindy Lee - Golden Microphone (Diamond Jubilee - W.25TH - 2024)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the November 30 file to download/stream the episode. 

Show 1067 Playlist (Originally Aired On November 23rd, 2024)(Albums of 2024 Part One):

1. Cindy Lee - Wild Rose (Diamond Jubilee - W.25TH - 2024)
2. Jack White - What’s the Rumpus (No Name - Third Man Records - 2024)
3. Being Dead - Love Machine (EELS - Bayonet - 2024)
4. Nap Eyes - Ice Grass Underpass (Neon Gate - Paradise of Bachelors - 2024)
5. Brainrust - Band Manager (Indistinct Chatter - 2024)
6. The Scenics - Garthuson (New Part in Tower - Dream Tower Records - 2024)
7. X - Sweet Till the Bitter End (Smoke & Fiction - Fat Possum Records - 2024)
8. Roswit - Dreamer’s Song (Eternal Living - Mono Tapes - 2024)
9. Retail Simps - Knotted Up (Strike Gold, Strike Back, Strike Out - Total Punk Records - 2024)
10. Ducks LTD. - Hollowed Out (Harm's Way - Carpark Records - 2024)
11. Knitting - Amy (Some Kind of Heaven - Mint Records - 2024)
12. Vampire Weekend - Classical (Only God was Above Us - Columbia - 2024)
13. Hurray For the Riff Raff - Buffalo (The Past is Still Alive - Nonesuch - 2024)
14. La Luz - Poppies (News of the Universe - Sub Pop -2024)
15. Ty Segall - My Room (Three Bells - Drag City - 2024)
16. Rick White and The Sadies - Spellbound (Rick White and The Sadies - Blue Fog - 2024)
17. Skinny Dyck - Out of Control (Easygoing - Victory Pool - 2024)
18. The Bobby Tenderloin Universe - Marigold (Satan is a Woman - 2024)
19. The Jesus Lizard - Is That Your Hand? (Rack - Ipecac Recordings - 2024)
20. Kim Gordon - I’m A Man (The Collective - Matador - 2024)
21. Fontaines D.C. - Bug (Romance - XL Recordings - 2024)
22. Shellac - Scabby the Rat (To All Trains - Touch and Going Records - 2024)
23. The Mystery Lights - Mighty Fine & All Mine (Purgatory - Wick Records - 2024)
24. Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - Wicked World (That Delicious Vice - In the Red Recordings - 2024)
25. Richard Laviolette - I Was Saved By Rock and Roll (All Wild Things Are Shy - You've Changed Records - 2024)
26. Shadow Show - Vertigo (Fantasy Now! - Stolen Body Records - 2024)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the November 23 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1066 Playlist (Originally Aired On November 17th, 2024) (Feat. Guest Hosts Nick of Radio Drill Time and Kieran Owen):

1. Louder Than Death - Chief Sleeps in the Park
2. The Spits - Electric Brain
3. The Spits - Up All Night
4. Motorhead - The Hammer
5. Visibly Choked - Third Time’s the Charm
6. Roye Trout - Contrition & Disclosure
7. Thin Lizzy - Southbound
8. Sugar - Changes
9. Kim Deal - A Good Time Pushed
10. Teenage Fanclub - Radio
11. Father John Misty - She Cleans Up
12. Mount Eerie - & Sun
13. Robyn Hitchcock - Insect Mother
14. Unrest - Make Out Club
15. Camper Van Beethoven - Take the Skinheads Bowling 
16. The dbs - Black and White
17. Bad Egg - Breaking the Lease
18. Fifth Column - Hit the Roof
19. The Government - I’m Somebody
20. The Dave Howard Singers - Darren Stevens
21. Deja Voodoo - Big Scary Daddy
22. Roxy Music - All I Want is You
23. Roxy Music - Out of the Blue
24. Spun Out - Paranoia
25. Les Breastfeeders - Vivre et Exister
26. The Mystery Lights - In the Streets
27. The Minutemen - Cut

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the November 17 file to download/stream the episode.

Revolution Rock: The 2021 Interviews & Show # 917

This year on Revolution Rock, the program featured eleven different interviews. Eight were audio based interviews that aired on the show and three were done through email specifically for this website. On this episode we featured highlights (or clips) from each of the audio interviews and music from each of the artists that were interviewed, whether it was for the radio program or for this website. Below you will find some info about these interviews plus the playlist and download/streaming links to the episode.

An Interview with Richard Hell (February 2021): 

In February 2021, as part of Revolution Rock’s annual theme month programming we spoke with New York punk icon Richard Hell. Known as one of the originators and pioneers during the early days of New York punk, Hell quit the music world in 1984 to focus on writing, only reappearing a few times on some music projects. Having co-founded Television, being one of the original members of The Heartbreakers (featuring Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan of The New York Dolls), Hell formed Richard Hell & The Voidoids in 1976 and released their debut album, Blank Generation in 1977. Hell’s look and aesthetic would go on as a template for punk music that would influence others, most notably The Sex Pistols, who in turn would influence their own music scene. The Voidoids first album is seen as a classic, with its title track still sounding as vital and thought provoking today. In 1982, he released the often misunderstood Destiny Street. The album has a long history, which Richard goes into detail about in the interview. It was reissued in 2021 as Destiny Street Complete via Omnivore Recordings. The set contains four versions of the album, along with a few outtakes. The original 1982 version remastered, the 2009 Destiny Street Repaired version, a newly remixed version of Destiny Street and a collection of demos that show early and different versions of the songs that would make up this album. Destiny Street Complete re-establishes the great moments of Destiny Street for everyone to hear. Richard Hell is an author, poet, musician and actor. In this interview Richard Hell covers the time period making Destiny Street, parts of his writing career and influences, along with his songwriting process in the Voidoids and more.

Listen to the full interview here:

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An Interview with Patrick Flegel (of Cindy Lee/Women) & Michael Wallace (of Preoccupations/Women) (February 2021):

As part of a special program focusing on the 10th anniversary of Calgary band Women’s second and final album Public Strain we spoke with vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Patrick Flegel and drummer Michael Wallace. Recorded in the span of ten months in the dead of winter in Calgary by Chad VanGaalen, Public Strain explored more post punk sounds, often darker and more jarring, but at the same time there is something strangely beautiful that permeates this record. The album received widespread critical acclaim, eventually being long listed on the nominees for the Polaris Prize in 2011. Women toured heavily from 2008-2009. They also toured in support of Public Strain, but that tour was cut short in October 2010. Following a show that occurred in October 2010 in Victoria BC, Women stopped playing as a band. The band members went their separate ways. Bassist Matthew Flegel and drummer Michael Wallace went on to form the band Viet Cong (before changing their name to Preoccupations), guitarist/vocalist Patrick Flegel would continue creating music eventually creating music as Cindy Lee and Christopher Reimer joined the band The Dodos as their touring guitarist while collaborating and creating music until he passed away in his sleep unexpectedly in 2012. In these exclusive interviews Patrick talks about creating the music with Women for Public Strain, his influences as well as recording and performing as Cindy Lee. Michael Wallace, gives his own account of the sessions, recording with Chad VanGaalen and the moments leading up to the album, joining the band Women, Preoccupatons beginnings as well as plans for their next album. 

Listen to the full interviews here:

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An Interview with Chad VanGaalen (March 2021):

Chad VanGaalen released World’s Most Stressed Out Gardner in 2021 on Sub Pop and Flemish Eye Records. The music that he creates while it is sometimes folk, sometimes psychedelic, sometimes indie rock, sometimes strange, is really its own thing. The universe in which the songs of Chad VanGaalen belong is a strange, wonderful, kind of messed up, cosmic place at times. As we enter these worlds we find ourselves absorbed by the sounds and stories that he produces. World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener is eclectic and offers more variety musically than ever before on one of his albums, but still has the same feel of the best of Chad VanGaalen’s work. In the interview Chad discusses how the album was created and altered when he came up with the song “Samurai Sword” just before the album was set to be printed, working on songs and recording. He also discusses his time recording Women’s Public Strain and working with members of the band on their first two albums, buying stuff of Kijiji, gardening and more.

Listen to the full interview here:

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An Interview with Chris Murdoch (April 2021):

Halifax musician, DJ and writer Chris Murdoch released the full-length debut album Collapse with his band Souvenir in April of 2021. This followed 2020, Beating into Dust EP. In 2020, we also spoke with Chris for this website through email to discuss his music history playing in bands and Black Dots: An Afropunk Primer. Black Dots is an eight-page essay is somewhere in between a zine and pamphlet that also includes exclusive illustrations done by graphic designer/musician Raymond Biesinger. Inside over the course of 2800 words, Chris Murdoch covers his own experiences being a musician and attending shows in Halifax along with information about when Black first met punk in the UK and US. It was released through the Pentagon Black label in Montreal and over $3000 was donated to Black Lives Matter Solidarity Fund Nova Scotia from its sales. Souvenir is a band out of Halifax, Nova Scotia featuring bassist/vocalist Lachie MacDonald (Tom Fun Orchestra, Great Plains, Dyscontrol), guitarist/vocalist Dave Banoub (Jon Hynes) and Chris Murdoch on drums/vocals (Word On The Street, Weekend Dads, Outtacontroller). Produced by Charles Austin (Outtacontroller, Future Girls) out of Ocean Floor Studios in Halifax, Collapse is the debut full-length album from Souvenir. With all three members contributing vocals and songs, Collapse features nine songs and album cover artwork by illustrator Raymond Biesinger. In the interview Chris talks about the recording and writing process that the band went through to create Collapse, politics in punk and more. 

 Listen to the full interview here:

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An Interview with Paul Jacobs (May 2021):

Montreal musician Paul Jacobs latest release Pink Dogs On The Green Grass was released via Blow The Fuse Records in 2021. With just thirteen tracks, this album follows 2020’s outtakes/demo collection Portrait of George (Demo & Songs I Forgot About) and 2018’s EASY. Already having several albums in his discography (and two releases as part of post punk group Pottery), Pink Dogs On The Green Grass shows Paul Jacobs branching out by finding a new way of approaching his music. Musically, references have been made to Cass McCombs, Kurt Vile, early Beck, but you can also hear the influence of 60s psychedelia and bands such as The Byrds and Lou Reed. Lyrically, Jacobs words are at times surreal. They are sometimes about different characters or observations and often take on cryptic meanings. While some have said that the lyrics reveal unwanted moments that stick with you, Pink Dogs On The Green Grass is much more than that. In the interview Paul talks about recording his new album, illustrating the videos for this album, who Bobby is from Pottery’s Bobby’s Motel album, David Lynch and more. 

Listen to the full interview here:

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An Interview with Mark Arm & Steve Turner of Mudhoney (August 2021):

Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge is the second full-length album from Seattle’s Mudhoney. An expanded 30th anniversary edition was released by Sub Pop in 2021 featuring demos, outtakes and non-album tracks. Originally released on July 26th, 1991, the album shipped 50,000 copies when it was originally released. Just a few months later, Nirvana’s Nevermind would be released and the whole musical landscape would change. Prior to being recorded, Mudhoney recorded five tracks with producer Jack Endino (who also produced their Superfuzz Bigmuff EP and the Mudhoney album) in a 24-track studio. Unhappy with the results, guitarist Steve Turner pushed for a change of direction. Liking the results of Conrad Uno’s 8-track recording studio called Egg Studios on the Thrillsphere album by Tacoma, Washington’s Girl Trouble, the band decided to record a selection of punk covers with Uno to see what it would sound like recording there. Several of these songs came out on singles or on compilation albums, but not all of them. In spring of 1991, Mudhoney began recording Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge. On this album Mudhoney switches their focus embracing 60s garage influences such as The Sonics, Lollipop Shoppe, Neil Young, Spacemen 3, post hardcore, 80s hardcore and the sounds of bands such as Zounds and Hawkwind. In the interview Mark Arm & Steve Turner of Mudhoney talk about making the 1991 album, being in an unaired TV pilot for Fox, the influence of The Wipers, fuzz pedals and more. 

Listen to the full interview here:

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An Interview with Matt Ellis (May 2021):

Hamilton musician Matt Ellis has played in many different bands such as The Vapids, Flesh Rag and PlasticHeads. Usually on guitar, Matt recorded a series of Ramones inspired EPs in 2020 at his home where he played all of the instrumentation. All of the proceeds from these releases went towards different non-profit organizations in Toronto and Hamilton. Following a remix, the addition of real drums provided by Jimmy Vapid of The Vapids, Curtis Tone from PlasticHeads and two new tracks, Full Moon Fever was released on vinyl at the end of February 2021 on Surfin Ki Records. With an obvious Ramones influence, the songs that make up Full Moon Fever pull from the Dee Dee Ramone penned catalogue of Ramones tracks with a dash of The Spits, DBOY and Seattle band HEAD. At 18 tracks, none of the songs on Full Moon Fever go past the two-minute mark. Running through themes of isolation, frustration, boredom and escapism, Full Moon Fever delves into a manic dynamic of punk rock and suburban paranoia. Ellis released an album with another band called Anxious Pleasers on cassette that featured members of Hamilton band TV Freaks. In January 2021, he released a new digital single titled Everything Sucks. Matt Ellis did an exclusive Q&A for this website covering his music influences/history, the making of Full Moon Fever, guitars and his favourite Ramones albums. 

Read the full interview/post here.

An Interview with Shawn McDonald (June 2021):

London, Ontario musician Shawn McDonald has been involved in numerous rock bands over the years. In 2021, he made several albums from his discography with different bands he’s been in available digitally for the first time. One of his earlier bands, Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit released the album Hollandays digitally. It was a lost, previously unreleased album. In addition to this album he made other albums from this band available through Bandcamp and other streaming services. In 2018, 2 was released by the band Baby Giant. Baby Giant is made up of musicians Shawn McDonald and Tim McDonald. The band started out around 2017 to record a collection of reworked/reimagined songs in commemoration of an earlier band that the McDonald’s had been in called Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit (that album is called Grassy Magic). Being in numerous bands such as The Fine Print, Dragsville, Hurricane & Able and many others Shawn McDonald really showcases his songwriting abilities on 2, both on his own and in collaboration with Tim McDonald. The album was recorded by Tim McDonald (credited as King Woobs). Shawn McDonald did a Q&A for this website covering the writing of several songs in Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit, some of the bands he has played/recorded with and what he is currently working on. 

Read the full interview/post here.

An Interview with Neil Jarvis (July 2021):

Perhaps best known as being in the Manchester band Sprinters, Get The Band Back Together is the third solo album released by Neil Jarvis. Prior to this Sprinters released two excellent albums, 2017’s Sprinters and 2019’s Struck Gold. Neil’s earlier solo albums were recorded the same way as this one was, on a 4-track cassette recorder. Weekends (2012) and Halloween Summer (2014) featured lo-fi, psych/surf influenced sounds that were sometimes experimental. Get The Band Back Together is more acoustic based, but it still features the sometimes haunting nostalgic feeling that is present throughout all of Neil’s songs. Recorded on a 4-track cassette recorder during lockdown in April 2020-June 2021, Get The Back Band Together takes Jarvis’ earlier tried and true method of recording/writing songs, but adds a sense of maturity and poignancy that sets this collection of songs apart from both Sprinters and his earlier work. Neil Did a Q&A for this website where he covers recording and releasing an album during the pandemic, the influence of musician David Berman and some of his earlier solo releases. 

Read the full interview/post here.

An Interview with The Garrys (October 2021): 

Get Thee To A Nunnery is the fourth full-length album by Saskatoon’s The Garrys. This three-piece sister trio features Erica Maier (guitar/vocals), Julie Maier (bass/vocals) and Lenore Maier (drums/vocals). They first started appearing on underground music radar with 2017’s Surf Manitou, which brought their prairie inspired surf dynamics and combined them with folk-like tales of Manitou Beach, SK, a family vacation spot that the Maier’s visited when younger. In 2020, The Garrys released their score to the 1922 silent film Haxan:Witchcraft Through The Ages, which was performed and recorded live as the film played in a theatre. They describe their music as “dreamy blood harmony surf rock doom-wop on morphine.” Get Thee To A Nunnery has been getting critical acclaim appearing on Bandcamp Daily, other sites and charting on the Earshot Top 50 Album Charts across campus radio in Canada. Revolution Rock spoke with Erica, Julie and Lenore Maier of The Garrys. In the interview they discuss their formation, recording/writing songs for Get Thee To A Nunnery, working with Dallas Good as producer, doing the live soundtrack to Haxan:Witchcraft Through The Ages and more.

Listen to the full interview here:

Find the original post here.

Show 917: The 2021 Interviews Playlist:

1. Richard Hell - Kid With The Replaceable Head  (Remastered) (Destiny Street Complete - Omnivore Recordings - 2021)

RICHARD HELL INTERVIEW CLIP

2. Richard Hell - Ignore That Door (Remixed)  (Destiny Street Complete - Omnivore Recordings - 2021)
3. Women - Narrow With The Hall (Public Strain - Flemish Eye - 2010/2020)

PATRICK FLEGEL (OF CINDY LEE/WOMEN) INTERVIEW CLIP

4. Cindy Lee - Love Remains (Cat O’Nine Tails - CCQSK Records - 2020)
5. Women - Everyone Is So In Love With You (Rarities 2007-2010 - Flemish Eye - 2020)

MICHAEL WALLACE (OF PREOCCUPATIONS/WOMEN) INTERVIEW CLIP

6. Preoccupations - Monotony (Preoccupations - Jagjaguwar/Flemish Eye - 2006)
7. Chad VanGaalen - Starlight (World's Most Stressed Out Gardener - Sub Pop/Flemish Eye - 2021)

CHAD VANGAALEN INTERVIEW CLIP

8. Souvenir - Ransom (Collapse - 2021)

CHRIS MURDOCH (OF SOUVENIR) INTERVIEW CLIP

9. Souvenir - Holding Pattern (Collapse - 2021)
10. Paul Jacobs - Half Rich Longer (Pink Dogs On The Green Grass - Blow The Fuse Records - 2021)

PAUL JACOBS INTERVIEW CLIP

11. Paul Jacobs - The Telephone (Revisited) (Story About Anything EP - 2018)
12. Mudhoney - Into The Drink (Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (30th Anniversary Edition) - Sub Pop - 2021)

MARK ARM & STEVE TURNER (OF MUDHONEY) INTERVIEW CLIP

13. Matt Ellis - Flowers In The Moonlight (Full Moon Fever - Surfing Ki Records - 2021)
14. Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit - A-Jam (Hollandays - 2021)
15. Baby Giant - Japan (2 - 2018)
16. Neil Jarvis - Get The Band Back Together (Get The Band Back Together - On The Grind Records - 2021)
17. The Garrys - Devil’s Dip (Get Thee To A Nunnery - Grey Records - 2021)

ERICA, JULIE & LENORE MAIER (OF THE GARRYS) INTERVIEW CLIP

18. The Garrys - In The Dawn (Get Thee To A Nunnery - Grey Records - 2021)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the January 15 file to download/stream the episode.

Women's Public Strain & Other Music: An Interview With Patrick Flegel & Michael Wallace & Show # 870

In September 2010, the Calgary band Women released their second and final album Public Strain. Recorded in the dead of winter in Calgary, Alberta with Chad VanGaalen over a ten-month period, the album sessions were tense. In terms of sound, Public Strain helped identify a voice for the musicians in the band. With comparisons to bands such as Caribou, The Velvet Underground, Deerhoof and Abe Vigoda, Women shaped a sonic depth with their sound that explored elements of post punk with noise rock. It features darker more jarring sounds, while at the same time pop sensibilities lurk beneath. Experimentation also runs deep within this album, while comparisons can be made to other bands, Women often veer off from that moving into unexplored territory. Public Strain creates a certain mood that you can feel with every listen.

“Can’t You See” opens in a haze of guitar feedback as melodic bass from Matthew Flegel plucks its way through the screeching drones, bowed guitars from Chris Reimer, cello and haunting, yet poppy vocals provided by vocalist/guitarist Patrick Flegel. The atmosphere created here is darker, moody and often referred to as a nocturnal ballad. It contrasts pop elements with more dissonant and experimental ones. “Heat Distraction” is the opposite of the opening track. With its bright guitar interplay and deep bass tones that seem to sink below all the instrumentation, this track has several different time signatures that shift from one form to another seamlessly. The drums from Michael Wallace drive this track as Patrick Flegel and guitarist Chris Reimer sing in abstract lyrics such as “Programmed without form/Programmed without sound” and “Austere known your pen/Throats inside of glass/Hanging next to me” that further adds to the mood of this track and album. “Narrow With The Hall” features clouds of feedback with eerie vocals that float on top. 60s sounding bass melodies jump in with marching drums as the guitar feedback switches forms. The harmonies provided by the Flegel’s on this track were compared to bands such as The Zombies while the track was once described in Pitchfork as producing “a unique, gray-paisley vibe-- the sound of vintage psychedelia bleached of its color.”

“Penal Colony” brings in more pop melodies that rise to the surface as ringing guitar, subtle drums and cello rise and fall slowly in the background. This track adds touches of psychedelia as well into the mix. The sounds of The Velvet Underground and Syd Barrett come to mind when hearing this, but it is its own thing. With lyrics such as “Faces start to blend/Meet a sudden end/And you're gone completely/I know that it's hard to go” the song seems to pull from a personal feeling of exile. “Bells” is an instrumental interlude of sorts. It is a drone heavy, noisy ballad that builds tension and ambiance. “China Steps” arrives with drums where you can hear the squeak of the pedal as bass and two opposing guitars attack the sonic air. About halfway through after a heavy song transition, the vocals come in. Drawing comparisons to 80s Sonic Youth, “China Steps” treads through its sonic landscape never afraid to move forward. “Untogether” features unnerving, disorienting melodies with more experimental indie rock sounds, while “Drag Open” is a visceral onslaught of guitar, bass, drums and feedback. The middle section of the song changes pace, like a change of wind direction. As the song slows down, the song builds up tension, mood and trails off in hazy sounds.

The mid-tempo “Locust Valley” arrives next. The memorable guitar melodies float in between the bass and drums. With krautrock dynamics and unmistakable vocal melodies, it moves with urgency. This is also one of two songs that reference American artist Ray Johnson. Johnson was a seminal figure in Neo-dada and Pop Art who was referred to as “New York’s most famous unknown artist”. Locust Valley is the town Johnson lived in New York State. Women also referenced Johnson on their 2008 debut album with their song “Sag Harbor Bridge”, which was the place of Johnson’s death. “Venice Lockjaw” arrives next. Another highlight among the often experimental and noisy post punk sounds found on Public Strain, this song adds further psychedelic, paisley beauty as it contrasts the music with darker lyrics. The term “Venice Lockjaw” once again refers to artist Ray Johnson, who handed out pins with this term at an art exhibition in Venice in 1990.

“Eyesore” ends Public Strain. With jangly guitars, syrupy basslines and compelling drums, this is the longest track on the album. With words such as “Spill and heat consume both of the lights/They were flashing white and ecru pale” and “I just could not/Tell against your will/Give out your number now,” the lyrics evoke a feeling that is open to interpretation (like many moments on the album) that resemble some similarities to the lyrical style of David Bowie’s Low album. Public Strain ends in a fade out. Throughout this album, there is a contrast between noise, dissonance, psychedelia and pop melodies. Each track offers something that sounds new and fresh with each listen. As a whole it creates a mood that surrounds you that is hard to resist. The lyrical content of Public Strain has been described as cycling “through insomnia, paranoia, resignation and euphoria, to capture a band with an undeniable voice coming into full awareness of their craft.” And while the lyrics are often darker and compliment the at times brooding music, Public Strain is more than just a dark record. Throughout the walls of noise and experimentation, there is something hard to define. Even after ten years of its initial release, Public Strain burns with a passion and intensity that is timeless.

Women toured heavily from 2008-2009 prior to Public Strain’s release in support of their 2008 album Women. They also toured in support of Public Strain, but that tour was cut short in October 2010. Following a show that occurred in October 2010 in Victoria BC, Women stopped playing as a band. The band members went their separate ways. Bassist Matthew Flegel and drummer Michael Wallace went on to form the band Viet Cong (before changing their name to Preoccupations), guitarist/vocalist Patrick Flegel would continue creating music eventually creating music as Cindy Lee and Christopher Reimer joined the band The Dodos as their touring guitarist while collaborating and creating music until he passed away in his sleep unexpectedly in 2012. In 2020, Flemish Eye and Jagjaguwar announced a reissue of Public Strain along with an EP of outtakes and rare tracks called Rarities 2007-2010 in celebration of the album’s 10th anniversary.

Grab a copy of Public Strain from Flemish Eye or Jagjaguwar.

Support Patrick Flegel’s latest project Cindy Lee here.

Support Matthew Flegel & Michael Wallace's Preoccupations here.

Listen to Revolution Rock interview with Patrick Flegel (of Cindy Lee/Women):

Listen to Revolution Rock's interview with Michael Wallace (of Preoccupations/Women):

Public Strain Playlist (Originally Aired On February 20th, 2020):

1.  Women - Pinky (CBC Radio 3 Session) (CBC Radio 3 Session - January 2010)
2.  Women - Drag Open (Public Strain - Flemish Eye/Jagjaguwar - 2010)
3.  Women - Locust Valley (Public Strain - Flemish Eye/Jagjaguwar - 2010)
4.  Women - Bullfight (Live Session) (CJSW Live Session 2010)

PATRICK FLEGEL/CINDY LEE INTERVIEW PART 1

5.  Chris Reimer - Mustard Gas (Hello People - Flemish Eye - 2018)
6.  Preoccupations - Pointless Experience (Viet Cong - Flemish Eye/Jagjaguwar - 2015)
7.  Preoccupations - Zodiac (Preoccupations - Flemish Eye/Jagjaguwar - 2016)
8.  Cindy Lee - I Want You To Suffer (What's Tonight to Eternity - W.25TH / Superior Viaduct - 2020)
9.  Cindy Lee - Bondage Of The Mind (Cat O' Nine Tails - CCQSK Records - 2020)

PATRICK FLEGEL/CINDY LEE INTERVIEW PART 2

10. Chris Reimer - First Cut/TV Water (The Chad Tape - Flemish Eye - 2012)
11. Chris Reimer - Waving Goodbye From A Tree (Hello People - Flemish Eye - 2018)
12. Preoccupations - Unconscious Melody (Cassette - Mexican Summer - 2013/Flemish Eye/Jagjaguwar - 2017)
13. Cindy Lee - The Promise of Lonliness (Tatlashea - Isolated Now Waves - 2012)

MICHAEL WALLACE/PREOCCUPATIONS INTERVIEW PART 1

14. Women - Eyesore (Public Strain - Flemish Eye/Jagjaguwar - 2010)
15. Women - Penal Colony (Public Strain - Flemish Eye/Jagjaguwar - 2010)

MICHAEL WALLACE/PREOCCUPATIONS INTERVIEW PART 2

16. Women - Service Animal (Rarities 2007-2010 - Flemish Eye/Jagjaguwar - 2020)

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE HERE.

Coming Up On Revolution Rock in February 2021!

It’s February, which means that throughout this month Revolution Rock will devote each episode that airs in February to theme based programming. Dave and co-host Adam have some cool programming lined up ranging from reggae, dub, blues, jazz, hip hop, punk, post-punk, garage and surf.  Revolution Rock airs every Saturday from 7-9 PM EST on CJAM 99.1 FM in Windsor/Detroit. It can be streamed and downloaded cjam.ca. This year is also a first for the show as we have now become syndicated with other campus stations across Canada. Revolution Rock and its programming can now also be heard on CFUV 101.9 FM in Victoria, BC (Wednesdays 7-9 AM PST), on CKUW 95.9 FM in Winnipeg (Mondays 2-4 AM CST), on Caper Radio/CJBU FM in Sydney, Nova Scotia (Tuesdays 12-2 PM AST) and on CFRC 101.9 FM in Kingston, ON (Thursdays 9-11 PM EST).  

Continue reading to find out about this year's Theme Month schedule:

Destiny Street: A Special on Richard Hell’s 2021 Release Destiny Street Complete and Other Selections (Featuring An Interview With Richard Hell)
Saturday February 6th, 2021
7-9 PM EST
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)

Richard Hell is an author, poet, musician and actor. Known as one of the originators and pioneers during the early days of New York punk, Hell quit the music world in 1984 to focus on writing, only reappearing a few times on some music projects. Having co-founded Television, being one of the original members of The Heartbreakers (featuring Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan of The New York Dolls), Hell formed Richard Hell & The Voidoids in 1976 and released their debut album, Blank Generation in 1977. Hell’s look and aesthetic would go on as a template for punk music that would influence others, most notably The Sex Pistols, who in turn would influence their own music scene. The Voidoids first album is seen as a classic, with its title track still sounding as vital and thought provoking today. When it came time to put out a follow up to Blank Generation, Richard Hell and his band were in a different state. The album was recorded over a three-week period at Chelsea Sound Studios in New York City and produced by Alan Betrock. Never completely satisfied with the way it was originally released in 1982, Destiny Street has been an often misunderstood album in Richard Hell’s discography. Originally released on the Red Star label, Destiny Street’s master tapes were said to have been lost preventing any type of remix. In 2009, a cassette version of the bed tracks of drums, bass and rhythm guitars were discovered and Hell, along with a few other guest guitars (Marc Ribot, Ivan Julian and Bill Frisell) recorded new parts to this album. It was titled Destiny Street Repaired. However in 2021, after the master tape/multi-tracks of the original recording sessions were found and a remix was done, Destiny Street Complete was released by Omnivore Recordings. The set contains four versions of the album, along with a few outtakes. The original 1982 version remastered, the 2009 Destiny Street Repaired version, a newly remixed version of Destiny Street and a collection of demos that show early and different versions of the songs that would make up this album. Destiny Street Complete re-establishes the great moments of Destiny Street for everyone to hear. On this episode of Revolution Rock, we will play selections from Destiny Street Complete, other selections from Hell’s discography as well as featuring an exclusive interview with Richard Hell.

Punky Reggae Party: Reggae and its influence on the 70s UK punk scene
Saturday February 13th, 2021
7-9 PM EST
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)

Many people have heard the song “Police & Thieves”, it was covered by The Clash on their debut album. This was many people’s introduction to this song and to reggae. It is however a reggae song originally by Jamaican reggae musician Junior Murvin. “Police & Thieves” has its roots in Jamaica where it was recorded in 1976. Following a second audition for legendary and innovative producer Lee “Scratch” Perry at his Black Ark Studio in 1976, the two decided to record his song “Police & Thieves.”  With Perry’s studio backing band The Upsetters and a small lyrical adjustment, the song was recorded by Perry and released shortly afterwards. Dub and remix versions done by Perry quickly followed. However, the song about police brutality, gang war and societal unrest, became a hit in Jamaica. A reflection of the times in Jamaica, the song would be released via Island Records and would receive an even bigger response in the UK. It became a club hit there. The song became an anthem with the disenfranchised black community in the UK when the Noting Hill Carnival broke out in a riot. The song was then covered by The Clash.  The band's Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon were involved in the riots and inspired to cover the song.  Murvin’s version was re-released as a single in 1980 climbing the Top 40 UK singles charts to number 23. This is just one of the examples of reggae being influential. Featured heavily in UK clubs in the late 70s thanks to DJs like Don Letts, other artists would also elicit an influence such as Toots & The Maytals, Mikey Dread, Desmond Dekker & The Aces and Bob Marley. In July 1977, Bob Marley released a single called Punky Reggae Party. This song with lyrics such as “New wave craze/New phrase/New Wave/New craze” and “I’m saying/The Wailers will be there/The Damned, The Jam, The Clash/Maytals will be there/Dr. Feelgood too,” Marley wrote this song about the positive response in the UK of The Clash’s cover of Junior Murvin’s “Police & Thieves”. The sounds of reggae and dub’s influence can be heard all over. It found its way into punk music and helped pave the way for the sounds that were to become post punk. On this episode of Revolution Rock, we will celebrate Black History Month by featuring sets of music devoted to reggae and its influence on punk music, as well as different genres from black artists such as blues, soul, jazz and more.

Public Strain: Women’s Public Strain and Other Music (Featuring An Interview With Patrick Flegel & Michael Wallace)
Saturday February 20th, 2021
7-9 PM EST
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)

The second and final album released by the Calgary rock band Women was titled Public Strain. Recorded in the span of ten months in the dead of winter in Calgary by Chad VanGaalen, Public Strain explored more post punk sounds, often darker and more jarring, but at the same time there is something strangely beautiful that permeates this record. The album received widespread critical acclaim, eventually being long listed on the nominees for the Polaris Prize in 2011. Prior to this album’s release Women put out their debut album Women in 2008. Also recorded by Chad VanGaalen in a basement with boom boxes and tape machines, the album displayed a lo-fi sound. Women generated buzz in various media publications at the time. In a press release the album’s sound was described as "Sometimes light and spacious, at other times eerie and dense with an ominous weight, this self titled album touches upon Velvet Underground, Swell Maps or This Heat while not really having any obvious precursors - a lo-fi masterpiece cloaked in layers of vibrato and guitar wash."  Women toured heavily from 2008-2009. They also toured in support of Public Strain, but that tour was cut short in October 2010. Following a show that occurred in October 2010 in Victoria BC, Women stopped playing as a band. The band members went their separate ways. Bassist Matthew Flegel and drummer Michael Wallace went on to form the band Viet Cong (before changing their name to Preoccupations), guitarist/vocalist Patrick Flegel would continue creating music eventually creating music as Cindy Lee and Christopher Reimer joined the band The Dodos as their touring guitarist while collaborating and creating music until he passed away in his sleep unexpectedly in 2012. In 2020, Flemish Eye and Jagjaguwar announced a reissue of Public Strain along with an EP of outtakes and rare tracks called Rarities 2007-2010 in celebration of the album’s 10th anniversary. In celebration of this, Revolution Rock will have an entire episode devoted to the music of Women’s Public Strain and its lasting influence, as well as featuring selections from the band members of Women other bands. Expect to hear selections from the album Public Strain and from other material in Women’s catalogue, along with music from Cindy Lee, Preoccupations, Chris Reimer and more  This episode will also feature an interview with Patrick Flegel (of Women/Cindy Lee) and Michael Wallace (of Women/Preoccupations).  

Revolution Surf 2021: The Wild West
Saturday February 27th, 2021
7-9 PM EST
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)

Surf rock is known for its reverb drenched guitar sounds and solos, drums and relation to surf culture. Starting in the 60s it has since infiltrated several genres of music. But, Western surf music or surf music with Wild West elements is kind of hard to pinpoint. You could go back to the early days of the Spaghetti Western movies and more specifically the films of Sergio Leone, which featured music from Italian film music composer Ennio Morricone. He often created epic, cinematic soundscapes in Western films incorporating elements of surf rock, along with other genres such as country and folk as well as unconventional sound effects at the time. The soundtrack to films such as For A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad & The Ugly have gone on to influence music in unexpected ways. Surf music, or surf guitar finds its way into all kinds of music nowadays it seems. But, Western themed surf music basically has elements of country and folk mixed in with it. Surf itself in its early days in the 60s often took influence from other cultures of music. In the case of guitarist Dick Dale, he added Middle Eastern and Mexican music influences into his songs that in turn helped create a style now common in the genre. Dick Dale’s “Misirlou” originates from a folk song that has been played in numerous different languages.  It has ties to many different musical origins such as Greek Rebetiko, Middle Eastern Belly Dancing and Jewish Klezmer.  The Ventures even had an album of instrumental/surf based country songs called The Ventures Play Country Classics in 1963. It’s not surprising since The Ventures explored and tackled many different genres in their music with their own sense of innovation. However, these are not the only examples of Western themes appearing in surf music or vice versa. Toronto’s The Sadies have blended garage, surf, country and folk in their music as well. They have several albums featuring surf music while mixing in other elements of music. On this edition of Revolution Surf, the program will be made up entirely of surf and instrumental music that contains Western themes. It will also feature guest hosts such as Derk Brigante of The Surfphony of Derstruction 2000, Carley of CJAM FM’s Everything’s No Good and Brady Holek of CJAM FM’s The Mighty Mezz.

2020 Album Highlights & Shows # 860, 859

Last year, instead of doing a top twenty or top ten album list on Revolution Rock, Dave and Adam decided to just play a collection of albums over two episodes and not list any specific number ranking for them. We've continued this method for the albums of 2020 this year.  What you will find here are six write-ups from some albums that were released in 2020, three written by Dave and three written by Adam. Following these words are playlists and download links to two episodes featuring music released in 2020.

2020 Album Highlights:
Written by Dave Konstantino

Tough Age – Which Way Am I?

Describing their music as “culmination rock" fusing elements of surf, garage, punk and indie pop, Toronto’s Tough Age released their fourth full-length album Which Way Am I? on Mint Records in August 2020.  Tough Age is made up of singer/guitarist Jarrett Samson, Penny Clark on bass/vocals and Jesse Locke on drums. Musically the album draws from the sonic textures of indie bands such as The Clean, The Chills, The Bats and other early New Zealand bands on the Flying Nun record label. In addition to this there are other musical signifiers such as Sonic Youth, Television and The Feelies. Lyrically, the songs are very introspective, that often question and contradict at the same time. “Self-Confidence” opens Which Way Am I? With scratchy guitars, driving bass and steady, yet explosive drum patterns, this song opens with the question many people in the arts find themselves in “Here we are back on track/Anyone still looking?” The song questions being a band in the modern age of Internet streaming with Samson’s own sense of wit and humour.  “Penny Current Suppression Ring” comes in as track two on Which Way Am I? Sung by bassist Penny Clark, this song with lyrics that poke fun at Samson’s obsession with New Zealand Flying Nun bands. The song thrives with energy and influences of bands such as Eddy Current Suppression Ring (who are from Australia, not New Zealand). Like many of the songs on this album, more than one thought runs through it. This song also poses the question what success would mean in order to be happy.  Which Way Am I? is just one of those albums that you can’t really describe why it affects you so much. The way that this three piece plays together on this album projects an energy and mesmerizing cohesion. Maybe that’s it? Whatever it is, Which Way Am I? creates its own sonic landscape that swirls with different lyrical and musical textures that are intense at times, but also thrilling and addictive. 

Recommended Tracks:  “Self-Confidence”, “Penny Current Suppression Ring”, “Consequences”

Teenanger – Good Time

Put out through Telephone Explosion Records, Good Time is a lean record that wields a large burst of creative energy. “Beige” starts off Good Time. With its watery guitar, bass that treads with strong melodies, intense feedback and drums that provide a resilient backbeat, “Beige” brings forth lyrical images with words such as “I’m stuck in a strange wave/Everything starts to feel beige/Can’t walk in a straight line/Can’t stay in time” and “It’s the safest shade/Everything is beige”. Within the opening moments of the album, Teenanger leave plenty for the listener to contemplate.  “Touching Glass” mixes new wave/post punk sounds with pop. Sung by bassist Melissa Ball, “Touching Glass” arrives with a seemingly laid back approach, but digs in as the chorus “You’re touching glass/We’re fading fast” hits and cutting guitar and drums break through. This song delves into the frustration of being absorbed by our phones all day.  As the song reaches its close, the band moves into a funkier groove with sweeping synthesizers and polyrhythms that would make fans of Talking Heads or even Tom Tom Club move their feet.  With Good Time, Teenanger breaks free from the rut of repeating themselves. Produced by drummer Steve Sidoli in their newfound rehearsal space/functional studio named Studio Z and mixed by Sandro Perri, the title of the album may be tongue-in-cheek, it may not. Teenanger’s lyrical subversion and irreverent humour shine through as they harness their creative energies to create a new post punk aesthetic for themselves.  This proves to anyone who listens that despite the challenges and negativity that can surround us it is not impossible to have a good time.

Recommended Tracks:  “Romance For Rent”, “Good Time”, “Touching Glass”

Shadow Show - Silhouettes

Detroit’s Shadow Show combines elements of 60s psychedelia and garage rock.  The band features guitarist/vocalist Ava East, bassist Kate Derringer and drummer Kerrigan Pearce.  Recorded and mixed by bassist Kate Derringer in Ann Arbor, Michigan and mastered by Jim Diamond, Silhouettes, their debut full-length album contains ten tracks that cast infectious melodies and a mysterious energy.  “Charades” features a 1966-era Beatles psychedelia with its marching drumbeats, apregiated guitars, bouncing basslines and lyrics “I could be you/You could be me/I could be anything I see/But that’s part of the dream” that start off the album with a range of thoughts and sentiments.  As the song picks up and it drifts into the surfy breakdown, it moves back into undeniable grooves that make you move as lyrics such as “Now the mystique is to be known/its light as curious as shadow/cause that’s part of the show you know” provide further depth in the opening moments of Silhouettes.  “Contessa” is a garage rock track with lush vocal harmonies and lyrics about deception, “The Alchemist” deals with psychedelic elements and features lyrics such as “You seek the place/I seek the center of your mind/watch it closing in on you”.  “Trapeze Act” sways back and forth on the edge with its steadying drums, dizzying guitar riffs and basslines.  With Silhouettes, Shadow Show deliver a strong debut album with a range and depth featuring psychedelic grooves and catchy harmonies that is also rooted in the raw, uncompromising Detroit sound.  Silhouettes outlines a sound and vision that is all their own.  

Recommended Tracks:  “Charades”, “Contessa”, “Silhouette”

More 2020 Album Highlights:
Written by Adam Peltier

Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters

If punk is not a sound as much as an attitude, nobody made a more punk record this year than Fiona Apple. Fetch the Bolt Cutters is an uncompromising collection of piano and experimental percussion that completely subverts any expectations of listeners still wanting to hear another “Criminal” out of the artist. Beyond the abrasive and experimental sounds of the record, Apple was also uncompromising in the subject mater she sung about: misogyny (“Under the Table”), sexual assault (“For Her”), and the complexity of the songwriter’s relationships with other women. In fact, what is so fantastic about this record is how centred it is on the experiences of women, whether through the nostalgic reminiscences of “Shameika” or the scathing critique of how society positions females into confrontational roles as described in “Ladies.” Personal and political, Fetch the Bolt Cutters is Apple’s boldest and most honest record to date, a revelatory listen that demonstrates that she is one of our generation’s greatest songwriters.

Recommended tracks: “Shameika”, “Heavy Balloon”, “Cosmonauts”

Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways 

What’s left to say about Rough and Rowdy Ways? The bard’s 39th studio album was met with glowing praise on its release, with dozens of articles acclaiming the Protean-songwriter’s return to original material after a clunky series of covers-records. Like the other great late-era Dylan albums (think Time Out of Mind and Love & Theft), the legend hoarsely intones his elliptical poetry over sympathetic bare-bones blues arrangements. However, what stands out about the record is the quality of Dylan’s songwriting. His acerbic verse describes encounters with the spectre of death in “Black Rider,” the Pygmalion-cum-Frankenstein creation of an idealized lover in “My Very Own Version of You,” and describes passing into old age as a tumultuous sea-voyage on “Crossing the Rubicon.” It also features the best up-tempo numbers to come from Dylan in over a decade, such as in the bluesy “Goodbye Jimmy Reed” or the hard-hitting satire of “False Prophet.” Then there is “Murder Most Foul,” the epic seventeen minute piano ballad about the assassination of JFK which landed Dylan his first ever number one single. Though just shy of eighty, Rough and Rowdy Ways proves that Dylan has lost no steam and is still capable of producing some of the most profound and moving music of his storied career.

Recommended tracks: “False Prophet”, “I Contain Multitudes”, “My Very Own Version of You”

Cindy Lee - What’s Tonight to Eternity

Cindy Lee, the experimental project by former Women guitarist Patrick Flegel, is simultaneously beguiling and alluring. The sounds produced from this outfit sound both nostalgic and dystopian: the Cleaver’s house is on fire, Dick and Jane are chasing you with knives, Brigitte Bardot is flashing a smile at you while pouring sulfuric acid on your face. Traditional balladry evoking 1950’s pop music is subverted throughout What’s Tonight to Eternity: imagine Lynch’s Blue Velvet filtered through the apocalyptic dissonance of Sonic Youth’s “Death Valley 69.” Sounds of 60’s ye-ye pop are merged with VU style distortion on “Plastic Raincoat.” The bouncy synth-pop of “I Want You to Suffer” is suddenly plunged into cacophonous feedback. Even the album’s most conventionally beautiful song “Heavy Metal,” a tribute to Flegel’s late bandmate Chris Reimer, bristles with an unsettling undertone of menace. This noir nightmare of an album display’s Cindy Lee’s incredible range and manages to craft a unique sonic world unlike any other record released this year.

Recommend tracks: “Heavy Metal”, “I Want You to Suffer”, “Plastic Raincoat”

Show # 860 Playlist (Originally Aired December 19th, 2020)(Albums of 2020 Part Two):

1.  Tommy & The Commies - Hurtin' 4 Certain (Hurtin' 4 Certain EP - Slovenly Recordings - 2020)

2.  Demolition Doll Rods - That's Insane (Into The Brave - In The Red Records - 2020)

3.  Fuzz - Mirror (III - In The Red Records - 2020)

4.  TV Freaks - Space (People - Schizophrenic Records - 2020)

5.  Osees - If I Had My Way (Protean Threat - Castle Face Records - 2020)

6.  Jon Mckiel - Management (Bobby Joe Hope - You've Changed Records - 2020)

7.  Nap Eyes - Mark Zuckerberg (Snapshot Of A Beginner - Royal Mountain Records/Jagjaguwar - 2020)

8.  Daniel Romano's Outfit - Never Yet In Love (How Ill Thy World Is Ordered - You've Changed Records - 2020)

9.  Bloodshot Bill - My Heart Cries For You (Get Loose Or Get Lost - Goner Records - 2020)

10. Waxahatchee - Witches (Saint Cloud - Merge Records - 2020)

11. Bill Callahan - Breakfast (Gold Record - Drag City - 2020)

12. Jeff Tweedy - Gwendolyne (Love Is The King - dBpm Records - 2020)

14. Neil Young - Homegrown (Homegrown - Reprise - 2020)

15. X - Goodbye Year, Goodbye (Alphabetland - Fat Possum Records - 2020)

16. Jeff Rosenstock - Leave It In The Sun (No Dream - Polyvinyl Record Co. - 2020)

17. Drive-By Truckers - The New OK (The New OK - ATO Records - 2020)

18. Drive-By Truckers - Armageddon's Back In Town (The Unravelling - ATO Records - 2020)

19. Shadow Show - Contessa (Silhouettes - Stolen Body Records/Greenway Records - 2020)

20. Fontaines D.C. - A Hero's Death (A Hero's Death - Partisan Records - 2020)

21. Thurston Moore - Cantaloupe (By The Fire - Daydream Library - 2020)

22. Wire - Off The Beach (Mind Hive  - Pinkflag - 2020)

23. Metz - Blind Industrial Youth Park (Atlas Vending - Sub Pop - 2020)

24. The Strokes - Brookyln Bridge To Chorus (The New Abnormal - Cult Records/RCA - 2020)

25. Pottery - Take Your Time (Welcome To Bobby's Motel - Partisan Records - 2020)

26. Protomartyr - Michigan Hammers (Ultimate Success Today - Domino - 2020)

27. Teenanger - Good Time (Good Time - Telephone Explosion - 2020)

28. Tough Age - Consequences (Which Way Am I? - Mint Records - 2020)

29. Bob Dylan - False Prophet (Rough And Rowdy Ways - Columbia Records - 2020)

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Show #859 Playlist (Originally Aired On December 12th, 2020)(Albums of 2020 Part One):

1.  Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Quick Trick (Just Coolin' - Blue Note - 2020)

2.  King Khan - Wait Till The Stars Burn (Infinite Ones - Ernest Jenning Record Co./Khannibalism - 2020)

3.  Rolling Blackouts C.F. - The Cool Change (Sideways To New Italy - Sub Pop - 2020)

4.  Dog Day - Hell On Earth (Present - Fundog Records - 2020)

5.  Sweet Dave - Future Dirt (Pink Dreams - Pointless Product - 2020)

6.  Guided By Voices - Haircut Sphinx (Mirrored Aztec - GBV Inc. - 2020)

7.  Fiona Apple - Shameika (Fetch The Bolt Cutters - Epic/Clean Slate - 2020)

8.  The Microphones - The Microphones in 2020 (excerpt) (The Microphones in 2020 - P. W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd. - 2020)

9.  Cindy Lee - Heavy Metal (What's Tonight to Eternity  - W.25TH / Superior Viaduct - 2020)

10. Yves Tumor - Identity Trade (Heaven To A Tortured Mind - Warp Records - 2020)

11. Ron Leary This Guitar (Musicians Make Great Construction Workers - 2020)

12. Ron Leary & Dean Drouilliard - First Love (As Long As I Ain't Thinking About It - 2020)

13. Johnny West - Lead Bullets (Year of the Sleepwalk - Tosteestosta Music - 2020)

14. James O-L - All That I Need (No Fear - Famous Last Records - 2020)

15. Orville Peck - Summertime (Show Pony - Columbia Records/Sub Pop - 2020)

16. The Flaming Lips - Dinosaurs On The Mountain (American Head - Warner - 2020)

17. Jarv Is… - Swanky Modes (Beyond The Pale - Rough Trade Records - 2020)

18. Destroyer - Kinda Dark (Have We Met - Merge Records - 2020)

19. U.S. Girls - Overtime (Heavy Light - 4AD - 2020)

20. Porridge Radio - Sweet (Every Bad - Secretly Canadian - 2020)

21. Crack Cloud - Something's Gotta Give (Pain Olympics - Metal Machine - 2020)

22. Special Interest - Don't Kiss Me In Public (The Passion Of - Night School / Thrilling Living - 2020)

23. Coriky - Have A Cup Of Tea (Coriky - Dischord Records - 2020)

24. Lie - Digging In The Desert (You Want It Real - Mint Records - 2020)

25. Dean Marino - Haunted No 3 (Love-Thirteen - Flowerpot Records - 2020)

26. Kestrels - Blue and Grey (Featuring Jay Mascis) (Dream Or Don't Dream - Darla Records - 2020)

27. Damaged Bug - Microminature Love (Bug On Yonkers - Castle Face Records -2020)

28. Rough Francis - Urgent Care (Urgent Care -2020)

29. No Age - Agitating Moss (Goons Be Gone - Drag City -2020)

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