An Interview with Shana Cleveland & Show # 764

With a title inspired in part by Sun Ra’s Night of the Purple Moon, Shana Cleveland releases her second solo album, Night of the Worm Moon in April 2019 on Hardly Art Records. Her first solo album was released in 2015 and entitled, Oh Man, Cover the Ground. It was credited to Shana Cleveland & The Sandcastles. Night of the Worm Moon was recorded in 2017 shortly after the recording of La Luz’s Floating Features (her other band). Like Oh Man, Cover the Ground, the album draws more on folk textures musically. Just from hearing the first two songs released from this album (“Don’t Let Me Sleep”, “Face of the Sun”), listeners can hear the songs take on a cosmic folk atmosphere, blending folky acoustic rhythms that move mysteriously mixed with more psychedelic elements.

“Don’t Let Me Sleep” starts off with a lone acoustic guitar resembling a Leonard Cohen influence before the vocals and other instrumentation cascade into the song’s landscape. With jazz sounding bass, keyboards and layered vocals, the song displays an internal paranoia lyrically. The music video adds further textures and layers to the possible meanings behind this song as an otherworldly alien explores a planet, searching for answers to what they are seeing. “Face of the Sun” features prominent acoustic guitar as electric guitar lines that blur the line between psychedelic and surf rock surface throughout various points in the song. Lyrically, the song shows a character that is trying to break free from their past, while still being blinded by the light from their past glories. Night of the Worm Moon creeps and crawls with cosmic and otherworldly themes, while at the same time still being grounded within the internal and introspective elements of daily life.

Check out my interview with Shana Cleveland:



Show # 765 (International Women's Day 2019 Playlist & An Interview with Shana Cleveland):

1. The Delmonas - Peter Gunn Locomotion (Dangerous Charms - Big Beat Records - 1985)
2. E.S.L. - Girls (Eye Contact - Jericho Beach Music - 2008)
3. Thee Headcoatees - Davey Crockett (Gabba Hey) (Davey Crockett (Gabba Hey)/Young Blood Single - Damaged Goods - 1992)
4. Cub - Surfer Girl (Betti-Cola - Mint Records - 1993)
5. Maow - Woman's Scorn (The Unforgiving Sounds of… - Mint Records - 1996)
6. Cherry Glazerr - Wasted Nun (Stuffed & Ready - Secretly Canadian - 2019)
7. The Courtneys - K.C. Reeves (The Courtneys - Hockey Dad Records - 2013)
8. Fifth Column - Donna (36 C - K Records/Denon Records - 1994)
9. Dum Dum Girls - Bhang Bhang I'm a Burnout (I Will Be - Sub Pop - 2010)
10. The Curious Mystery - Up in the Morning (We Creeling) (We Creeling - K Records - 2011)
11. La Luz - Brainwash (Brainwash/T.V. Dream Single- Suicide Squeeze Records - 2013)
12. La Luz - California Finally (Floating Features - Hardly Art - 2018)

SHANA CLEVELAND INTERVIEW

13. Shana Cleveland & The Sandcastles - Holy Rollers (Oh Man, Cover the Ground - Suicide Squeeze Records - 2015)
14. Shana Cleveland - Don’t Let Me Sleep (Night of the Worm Moon - Hardly Art - 2019)
15. Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl (New Radio - Kill Rock Stars - 1993)
16. Le Tigre - Hot Topic (Le Tigre - Mr. Lady Records - 1999)
17. Elastica - 2:1 (Elastica - Geffen Records - 1995)
18. Siouxsie & the Banshees - Love in a Void (The Peel Sessions - Strange Fruit Records Ltd. - 1989)
19. B-Girls - Hearts In His Eyes (Bad Not Evil - Bomp Records! - 2017)
20. PONY - Healthy Brain (Do You - Buzz Records - 2017)
21. The Beaches - Ramblin' (The Beaches - Fontana North Distribution - 2013)
22. Jale - Not Happy (Dreamcake - Sub Pop - 1994)
23. Pale Lips - Hiding from the Moon (Pentagon Black No. 1 - Pentagon Black - 2016)
24. Sleater Kinney - The Fox (The Woods - Sub Pop - 2005)
25. X - Breathless (More Fun in the New World - Elektra - 1983)
26. X - I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts (More Fun in the New World - Elektra - 1983)

Download/stream this episode here.

2018 Highlights & Shows # 752, 753

For their favourite releases of 2018, Dave & Adam of Revolution Rock each picked ten albums that they liked that were put out in 2018 and some selections from other albums as well. They did two episodes devoted to music that was released in 2018 and you can download these episodes under the playlists below. Each of their top 10 lists are included in this post, followed by a little write-up of each of their top five albums from 2018.

Dave’s Top 10 Albums of 2018:

1. Parquet Courts - Wide Awake!
2. Nap Eyes - I’m Bad Now
3. Volunteers - I Wish I Was As Happy As John Denver
4. La Luz - Floating Features
5. Paul Jacobs - EASY
6. Preoccupations - New Material
7. Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel
8. Rolling Blackouts C.F. - Hope Downs
9. Ty Segall & White Fence - Joy
10. Mudhoney - Digital Garbage

Adam’s Top 10 Albums of 2018:

1. U.S. Girls – In a Poem Unlimited
2. Mount Eerie – Only Now
3. Low – Double Negative
4. Daughters – You Won't Get What You Want
5. Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy
6. Idles – Joy as an Act of Resistance
7. Father John Misty – God's Favorite Customer
8. Parquet Courts – Wide Awake!
9. Mitski – Be the Cowboy
10. Rolling Blackouts C.F. - Hope Downs

A Few Write-ups From A Selection of Our Top 10 Lists:

Dave's Top Five:

1. Parquet Courts – Wide Awake!

Released through Rough Trade Records, Wide Awake! finds guitarist/vocalist Andrew Savage, Austin Brown (guitar/vocals), Sean Yeaton (bass) and drummer Max Savage reconvening for what many have been calling their strongest album to date. “Total Football” opens Wide Awake! Starting with a marching drum beat and ringing guitar and bass, it quickly picks up pace as the basslines run in between the guitar parts, drums and vocals in a graceful, yet energetic way. Lyrically, the song is based on the theory of “total football” that states any player on the field can play any role or position. Parquet Courts take this theory and apply it to a modern context. With lyrics such as “We are troubled by your soft curiosity/But delighted to be anti-everything you were taught” and “Collectivism and autonomy/Are not mutually exclusive” the song deals broadly with the duality of collectivism, individuality and clichéd American masculinity. This first song, as has been said in interviews serves as a sort of manifesto for the album, which tackles the current political climate among other things, with humour, wit and a new sense of anger.

Produced by Danger Mouse, Wide Awake! shows Parquet Courts amplifying their characteristics, with a punk and funky aesthetic. The album is charged with an intensity and anger that is the opposite of 2016’s Human Performance. While it does address cultural and social contexts, it also comments on our current political climate. These points, however, aren’t forced down the listener’s throats. Like all of the band’s albums, lyrically there are many themes and ideas that can be drawn upon and looked at, not just the obvious. By looking inward and outward, Parquet Courts question everything and nothing at the same time. There is no fat left on this record, it flows seamlessly from track to track, however, Wide Awake! leaves the listener plenty to chew.

2. Nap Eyes – I’m Bad Now

Nap Eyes formed in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2011. Fronted by vocalist/guitarist Nigel Chapman, Brad Loughead (lead guitar), Josh Salter (bass) and Seamus Dalton (drums), Nap Eyes musical style has drawn comparisons to bands such as The Velvet Underground, The Clean, The Go-Betweens, and Television, among others. Their style sometimes called “slacker rock” is different. It does have similarities to the above-mentioned bands, but at the same time it doesn’t. The music also lends itself to the indie rock world and also to other genres. Lyrically, the words operate on a different level being introspective, deadpan and sarcastic at times. I’m Bad Now, is the third full-length album release by this band. Released via You’ve Changed Records/Paradise of Bachelors, I’m Bad Now finds Chapman questioning relationships and life in general in philosophical, existential and cosmic contexts. While there are similar themes that pop up and appear between the three albums, I’m Bad Now stands up by itself. The meanings that can be drawn from the songs here can be abstract, or not. The listener is not presented with everything spelled out for them, which causes repeat listens to reveal little subtleties that may not have been noticed before. With all its cosmic layers, drawing on everything from existential to philosophical themes, I’m Bad Now seems to ask more questions than it answers. However, as we are told in “Boats Appear”, ”It takes time to understand things/And the more you know/The more you don’t know”.

3. Volunteers – I Wish I Was As Happy As John Denver

In the spring of 2018, Volunteers, a band based in Vancouver released a new album entitled, I Wish I Was As Happy As John Denver. This debut album appeared mysteriously, by a band consisting of Dave McMartin (guitar), John McMartin (drums), Fraser With (guitar) and Brad Felotick on bass/vocals. They have had their song “Who Needs A Girl Like You” featured as the theme song to the CraveTV series, Letterkenny. In addition to providing the title theme to the show, they also have other songs in the various episodes of the show, along with other Vancouver bands. The album was recorded by Andrew Wilkinson, who also plays in the band Dead Ghosts. It was recorded in a barn on the outskirts of Vancouver where the two bands share a rehearsal space. This location is also the same place where Dead Ghosts recorded their 2015 release, Love and Death and All The Rest. As a result, I Wish I Was As Happy As John Denver has a laid back feel, but also never loses its 60s garage/rock spirit. With a title inspired by an ad-lib from a live recording by Neil Young & Crazy Horse, I Wish I Was As Happy As John Denver, blends a country/garage musicianship with lyrics that are strong with rich, folk-like imagery. The album is a bit mysterious, but is also a mature reflection on the past and present, while creating something new. The sound of Volunteers is organic, but pulls its roots from different musical backgrounds. I Wish I Was As Happy As John Denver is homegrown, but never sounds dated. It leaves a lasting imprint on the listener that is hard to shake.

4. La Luz – Floating Features

Since 2015’s Weirdo Shrine, La Luz has relocated to Los Angeles. The changing of their backdrop from Seattle to Los Angeles is embedded into their third full-length and latest album’s very core. Floating Features still levitates with the same surf noir dynamics that were first cast on 2013’s It’s Alive. Produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, Floating Features adds a new shine to La Luz’s already established sound without being too obvious. The mood on Floating Features simmers as this all female quartet draws on the theme of dreams and its many variations. “Don’t Leave Me On The Earth” is layered in metaphors and surf fuelled drums, guitar, bass and organ that swelter with fervor. With a title that sounds like something from a sci-fi film from decades long ago and words such as “Wild World/I Was high/I was all dead inside” and a chorus of “Juniper/Juniper/Don’t leave me on the earth” and “Take me with you when you go”, this song and the juniper plant reference could be representing the desire for a cleansing of old landscapes as a new dream breaks free from the confines of an old one. With Floating Features, La Luz creates a mood that is a bit hazy at times and sometimes abstract. Lyrically building on the theme of dreams and the different ways that they can be perceived, La Luz confronts whatever comes their way to readjust their sonic features and to create and strengthen their own musical landscape.

5. Paul Jacobs - EASY

EASY is the latest album released by Paul Jacobs. Put out through UK label Stolen Body Records in October 2018, EASY shows Jacobs drifting out within his own lo-fi garage aesthetic, adding atmosphere with synthesizers that at times sound like they are coming from an old VHS tape. EASY follows a series of releases from Jacobs. Earlier in 2018, an EP was released on cassette called Story About Anything and in 2016, there were two albums released, I’m Into What You’re Into and Pictures, Movies & Apartments. Stolen Body Records released Pictures, Movies & Apartments on vinyl in 2017. The music on EASY still retains the chaotic, lo-fi element that has been present in Jacobs’ music since the beginning, but there is something else found in this collection of songs. The melodies are stronger, almost haunting, as they make their way into the listeners subconscious. Lyrically, EASY tackles everyday life with a slacker realization that is at times humorous and poignant. EASY offers something new for listener’s that may be familiar with music Paul Jacobs has created in the past, but it also doesn’t stray too far from the spirit that has been present in his earlier recordings. With EASY, Paul Jacobs delivers an album that grows at its own pace.

Adam's Top Five:

1. U.S. Girls – In a Poem Unlimited

Stuck within the quagmire of insidious misogyny that pervades this culture (look no further than the sexist demagogue elected into office), women in 2018 had to face the bombardment of media re-enforcing ideas of female bodies being nothing more than commodities to exploit. This is the world Meg Remy combated on In a Poem Unlimited, the sixth album from the Toronto multi-instrumentalist's project U.S. Girls. While Remy's previous albums never shied away from the existential complexities of womanhood, this record's set of political pop was her most barbed and incisive collection yet. “Velvet 4 Sale” depicts a dystopian future wherein women and children are conscripted to fight the wars of the rich elite, “Mad As Hell” criticized the American military presence in the Middle East, while “Rage of Plastics” tells the story of a woman becoming infertile due to working in a chemical refinery. As dire as these narratives are, Remy could not even find respite in the afterlife, saving her most scathing critique of institutionalized sexism for the space-disco of “Pearly Gates”: “But like some roadside vet with a bag in hand/I could do anything St. Peter asked/For one chance to be an angel in his eyes/It seemed to be the safe bet, so I closed my eyes/And I opened my gates wide/And St. Peter came inside.” AND YET, as dark as the themes of this record were, In a Poem Unlimited also radiated hope. This was not only due to the hypnagogic pop of her assembled band, whose arrangements brought to mind a range of influences such as Bowie, Talking Heads, Blondie, and ABBA. It was also due to the tireless bravery of Remy tackling these themes, her ambition to call out to prevalent misogyny and corruption of the world around her, and the reassurances that as long as people like her continue this battle, love and righteousness may prevail. This is U.S. Girls' most complex and sprawling record, while also being their most immediate and grooving. It is political pop, protest music, full of revolutionary anger, while also being joyous and life affirming.

2. Mount Eerie - Now Only

Last year, Phil Elverum released one of the most emotionally cataclysmic records I have ever heard. The eulogistic A Crow Looked At Me explored the aftermath of losing a loved one (the songwriter's wife Genevieve Castree), with what amounted to less a collection of songs than an exercise of visceral catharsis. Now Only sees Elverum returning again to his grief, but resulting in a much different album. While the arrangements of Crow were sparse, barely even songs, the six tracks of Now Only are flushed out and complex. Arrangements shift and sprawl. Pleading acoustic laments suddenly break into feedback-laden squalls. Time signatures shift. The album even offers a bit of respite in humour, as Elverum recounts playing his “death songs to a bunch of young people on drugs” at a music festival. This isn't to say this record is any less devastating than its predecessor, but it seems time has given Elverum perspective. Now Only is the sound of a man healing after a major tragedy, and while it might be a stretch to claim this record as being “hopeful,” a bit of light has begun to break through the sombre clouds of Mount Eerie's world.

3. Low – Double Negative

Here's an accolade for you: I've never heard a record that sounded like Double Negative before in my life. While the Minnesota trio could have rode out their band's career producing yet another collection of slowcore indie rock, they decided instead to dabble in auto-tune, synths, and digital distortion. The resulting record is not exactly a rock record, nor a folk record, nor a pop record. I'm at my wit's end trying to find the right category for it to fit in (if such a thing even exists). Double Negative is akin too a polished indie pop record downloaded onto a digital drive, which has been dunked in water, thrown down a flight of stairs, and bludgeoned with a hammer. While soft comparisons have been made to Radiohead's Kid A and Bon Iver's 22, A Million, it really stands out on its own. Each digital clip, each wave of distortion seems specifically planned, meticulously orchestrated. Its the album of a veteran band refusing to be pigeon-holed, crafting a Dadaist masterpiece that is as haunting as it is unconventional.

4. Daughters – You Won't Get What You Want

Visceral. That is the word to describe this Rhode Island band's fourth release. This album is a nosedive into incessant paranoia and madness, as if Suicide's “Frankie Teardrop” were given a noise-rock makeover by Jesus Lizard. Listening to this LP is intense and brutal, with the icy guitar blasts of “Satan in the Wait” and cacophonous sea-shanty of “The Flammable Man” sheer peaks in this musical downward spiral. Add on some truly poetic lyrics by Alexis Marshall (just look to the chilling narrative told in “Ocean Song”) and Daughters have created the best heavy rock record of recent years.






5. Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy (Face To Face)

A re-recording of Will Toledo's 2011 bedroom-rock project, this new version of Twin Fantasy is a vast improvement over its predecessor. Not only have the arrangements been fleshed out with a full band sound, but the previous record's propensity for navel-gazing has been removed in favour of greater confidence and Toledo's finely developed wry sense of humour. Of course, the subjects are just as personal and introspective as found on the previous version of this record, but the new arrangements provide much needed life into a record that otherwise was lost in the sea of laconic mope-rock permeating bandcamp. Twin Fantasy (Face To Face) is an emotional sprawling experience, and perhaps Toledo's most ambitious record to date.



Show 753 (Best of 2018 Part Two):

1. Double Winter - Oxen Eyes (Double Winter - Crystal Palace Records - 2018)
2. Flesh Rag - Just One Kiss (Inside Your Mind - Schizophrenic Records/Loose Lip Records - 2018)
3. Snake River - Let Us Be Something Seen (Tread On To The Unknown You - 2018)
4. Farewell Mourners - Always Eventually (Farewell Mourners EP - Must Be Nice Records - 2018)
5. Charles Bradley - Heart of Gold (Black Velvet - Daptone Records - 2018)
6. Fucked Up - Raise Your Voice Joyce (Dose Your Dreams - Merge Records - 2018)
7. U.S. Girls - Mad As Hell (In A Poem Unlimited - 4AD - 2018)
8. Rolling Blackouts C.F. - Bellarine (Hope Downs - Sub Pop - 2018)
9. Mudhoney - Next Mass Extinction (Digital Garbage - Sup Pop - 2018)
10. Mitski - Lonesome Love (Be The Cowboy - Dead Oceans - 2018)
11. Ty Segall & White Fence - Rock Flute/A Nod (Joy - Drag City Records - 2018)
12. Parquet Courts - Violence (Wake Up! - Rough Trade Records - 2018)
13. Rolling Blackouts C.F. - Talking Straight (Hope Downs - Sub Pop - 2018)
14. Father John Misty - Date Night (God's Favorite Customer - Sub Pop - 2018)
15. Courtney Barnett - Charity (Tell Me How You Really Feel - Mom + Pop Music - 2018)
16. Idles - Television (Joy As An Act of Resistance - Partisan Records - 2018)
17. Preoccupations - Espionage (New Material - Flemish Eye - 2018)
18. Car Seat Headrest - Sober To Death (Twin Fantasy (Face To Face) - Matador Records - 2018)
19. Paul Jacobs - Easy (Warm Weather) (Easy - Stolen Body Records - 2018)
20. Daughters - Guest House (You Won't Get What You Want - Ipecac Recordings - 2018)
21. La Luz - The Creature (Floating Features - Hardly Art - 2018)
22. Low - Poor Sucker (Double Negative - Sub Pop - 2018)
23. Volunteers - Don't Get Me Down (I Wish I Was As Happy As John Denver - Barn Records - 2018)
24. Mount Eerie - Tintin In Tibet (Now Only - P.W. Elverum & Sun - 2018)
25. Nap Eyes - Every Time The Feeling (I'm Bad Now - Paradise of Bachelors/You've Changed Records - 2018)
26. U.S. Girls - Velvet For Sale (In A Poem Unlimited - 4AD - 2018)
27. Parquet Courts - NYC Observation (Wide Awake! - Rough Trade Records - 2018)

Download This Episode Here!

Show 752 (Best of 2018 Part One):

1. Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love (Love Bites - United Artists - 1978)
2. Buzzcocks - I Don't Mind (Another Music In A Different Kitchen - United Artists - 1977)
3. Buzzcocks - Love You More (Love Bites - United Artist - 1978)
4. Shoobies - Surfin' Surgeon (Nevermind The Hardcore, Here's Shoobies - 2018)
5. Baby Giant - High Tide (2 - 2018)
6. Urban Surf Kings - Slipstream (Astro Surf A-Go-Go - Surf Cookie Records - 2018)
7. Papa Ghostface - Every Angry Element (What We Lost In The Flood - Tosteestosta Music - 2018)
8. Papermaps - Iron Stove (Confessions: To Each Their Own Rapture - Sparks Music - 2018)
9. Peach Kelli Pop - Quiet (Gentle Leader - Mint Records/Bachelor Records - 2018)
10. Peach Kelli Pop - Crooked (Which Witch - Mint Records/Bachelor Records - 2018)
11. Outrageous Cherry - The Beginning of the End of the Night (Meet You In The Shadows - Burger Records - 2018)
12. Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Unwanted Number (Look Now - Concord Records - 2018)
13. School Damage - Isn't Easy (A To X - Chapter Music - 2018)
14. Archie & The Bunkers - Fire Walk With Me (Songs From The Lodge - Dirty Water Records - 2018)
15. The 427's - Bikini Thief (Stay Gold - Stingray Sounds - 2018)
16. Preoccupations - Solace (New Material - Flemish Eye - 2018)
17. Nap Eyes - Dull Me Line (I'm Bad Now - Paradise of Bachelors/You've Changed Records - 2018)
18. Courtney Barnett - Nameless, Faceless (Tell Me How You Really Feel - Mom + Pop Music - 2018)
19. Iceage - Catch It (Beyondless - Matador Records - 2018)
20. Jeff Rosenstock - Yr Throat (POST - Polyvinyl Record Co. - 2018)
21. Mark Sultan - Believe Me (Let Me Out - Dirty Water Records - 2018)
22. Bonny Doon - A Lotta Things (Longwave - Woodsist - 2018)
23. Mexican Knives - Social Diary (II - Jett Plastic Recordings - 2018)
24. Hot Snakes - Six Wave Hold Down (Jericho Sirens - Sub Pop - 2018)
25. Ty Segall - Main Pretender (Freedom's Goblin - Drag City Records - 2018)
26. Shame - Friction (Songs of Praise - Dead Oceans - 2018)
27. No Age - Cruise Control (Snares Like A Haircut - Drag City Records - 2018)
28. Jeff Tweedy - I Know What It's Like (Warm - dBpm Records - 2018)
29. Buzzcocks - Lipstick (Peel Session - October 23rd, 1978) (Love Bites (Deluxe Edition) - EMI Records - 2010)

Download This Episode Here!

La Luz Floating Features & Shows # 731 & 732

Since 2015’s Weirdo Shrine, La Luz has relocated to Los Angeles. The changing of their backdrop from Seattle to Los Angeles is embedded into their third full-length and latest album’s very core. Floating Features still levitates with the same surf noir dynamics that were first cast on 2013’s It’s Alive. Produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, Floating Features adds a new shine to La Luz’s already established sound without being too obvious. The mood on Floating Features simmers as this all female quartet draws on the theme of dreams and its many variations.

“Floating Features” starts off the album of the same name with an instrumental track. This track begins with spiraling guitar lines, and drum, organ and bass stabs before launching the listener into an exotic, 60s reverb driven landscape. “Cicada” follows next with its rhythmic organ parts and garage/surf structures as vocalist and guitarist Shana Cleveland sings lyrics such as “In air so hot and sweet/We heard it in the breeze/Metallic shimmering/Of invisible things”. These words combined with La Luz’s layered breezy harmonies, creates an atmosphere, one that is filled with mystery and a desire for meaning. “Loose Teeth” attacks next with heavy waves of reverb as the band sails through the verses, while the lyrics describe a complex dream that is coupled with confusion and ambivalence. “Mean Dream” brings in 60s psychedelia influences as acoustic guitar mixes with the band’s laid back sounds that move back and forth in a dreamlike state. “California Finally” builds with tension as drummer Marian Li Pino digs deep into the songs soggy groove while bassist Lena Simon floats somewhere between the disorienting delightful keyboard parts by Alice Sandahl and the unflinching guitar/vocals from Shana Cleveland. Lyrically the song is weighed down by words inspired by La Luz’s journey out to California. This song sets the perfect songscape and is one of the strongest moments found on Floating Features.

“The Creature” slows the pace down a bit with nightmarish lyrics like “A creature stepped out of the wall and then/In the blackness it amassed above my head” and “Couldn't move enough to reach and find a light/Tell my heart that it was only in my mind”. This song reflects an uncertainty that can follow you around, not unlike a creature in the darkness. Musically, it is mellow and tense with an unnerving energy that is also strangely comforting. “My Golden One” digs deeper into a mellow groove with a bassline that will put you into a trance-like state with sparse instrumentation and lush surrounding harmonies. “Greed Machine” is the longest track on Floating Features clocking in at four minutes and twenty seconds. The sounds that make up this song could be what was described as a “Leone-on-LSD vibe” on La Luz’s website. Lyrically, this song questions several things such as the dilemma of being in a band and the conflicts and contradictions that can surround it. “Walking Into The Sun” was inspired by a dream that Cleveland had, one that was very vivid. This describes this song perfectly, with its smoggy 60s psychedelic/surf influenced textures that also have a 50s ballad/doo-wop inspired mood and lyrics that carry a weight with a touch of heartbreak.

“Don’t Leave Me On The Earth” is layered in metaphors and surf fuelled drums, guitar, bass and organ that swelter with fervor. With a title that sounds like something from a sci-fi film from decades long ago and words such as “Wild World/I Was high/I was all dead inside” and a chorus of “Juniper/Juniper/Don’t leave me on the earth” and “Take me with you when you go”, this song and the juniper plant reference could be representing the desire for a cleansing of old landscapes as a new dream breaks free from the confines of an old one. With Floating Features, La Luz creates a mood that is a bit hazy at times and sometimes abstract. Lyrically building on the theme of dreams and the different ways that they can be perceived, La Luz confronts whatever comes their way to readjust their sonic features and to create and strengthen their own musical landscape.

Show 732 Play List (Originally Aired On July 28th, 2018)(La Luz Floating Features, Ty Segall & White Fence, Rolling Blackouts C.F.):

1. The Epsilons - I Hate (Your Face)
2. The Routes - Peeling Face
3. King Creep - Creep Enough
4. Meat Puppets - Hot Pink
5. Baby Cages - Flowers
6. Rolling Blackouts C.F. - The Hammer
7. Running From Daylight - Elvis Ain't Dead Yet
8. Bo Diddley - Doing The Crawdaddy
9. Frankie & Jimmie - Spread The News Around
10. Wicked Weather - Bad Bad Heart
11. Cowboy Junkies - Missing Children
12. The Who - Please, Please, Please
13. La Luz - Greed Machine
14. La Luz - Walking Into The Sun
15. What Seas What Shores - Texas
16. Miles Davis - Frelon Brun
17. The Lounge Lizards - Fatty Walks
18. The Birthday Party - Cry
19. Ty Segall & White Fence - Good Boy
20. Shotgun Jimmie - Triple Letter Score
21. Gang of Four - It's Her Factory
22. Little Girls - Delaware
23. Not Of - Fix Don't Fix
24. Queens of the Stone Age - Monsters in the Parasol
25. Metz - Mule
26. Nirvana - Hairspray Queen
27. Talking Heads - Artists Only

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for July 28.

Show 731 Play List (Originally Aired On July 21st, 2018)(Mudhoney, Deja Voodoo, Lonely Parade):

1. Mudhoney - Paranoid Core
2. The Fall-Outs - The Jealous Kind
3. The Cheetahs - Circle Two
4. Dunes - Freezer Burn
5. Lesbo Vrouven - MMMMM
6. Dumb - Ripesnakes
7. Bob Dylan - Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
8. Chad VanGaalen - See-Thru-Skin
9. John Coltrane - Nature Boy
10. Bonny Doon - Try To Be Me
11. Father John Misty - Mr. Tillman
12. Courtney Barnett - City Looks Pretty
13. The Gruesomes - What's Your Problem
14. Zamboni Drivers - Skatin' Ghost
15. Deja Voodoo - Big Pile Of Mud
16. Deja Voodoo - Call Link Wray
17. Ray Condo & The Hard Rock Goners - High Voltage
18. Andy Pratt - Get Close To Me
19. The Fall - Couldn't Get Ahead
20. Lonely Parade - Chicken Wing
21. Lonely Parade - Johnny Utah
22. Prime Junk - Glacial
23. Stacey Green Jumps - In Other Words
24. Sonic Youth - I Dreamed I Dream
25. U.S. Girls - Sed Knife
26. Slim Twig - The Golden Rule
27. Kim Gray - Throwing Rocks
28. The Only Ones - Out There In The Night
29. The Saints - Lost and Found


To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for July 21.

2015 Highlights (Shows # 593 & # 594)

This year to count down my favourite releases for Revolution Rock, I did something a little be different. Me and my occasional co-host Adam both picked 15 of our favourite releases from 2015 and did two programs focusing on them. Below are a list of our top 15 albums, a short write up on some of these albums and the playlists/download links to the two episodes of Revolution Rock that focused on our favourite releases from 2015.

Dave’s 15 of 2015:

1. Dead Ghosts – Love And Death And All The Rest
2. Pow Wows – Broken Curses
3. Young Rival – Interior Light
4. La Luz – Weirdo Shrine
5. Thee Oh Sees – Manipulator Defeated At Last
6. What Seas What Shores – Spiritual Nap Machine
7. Middle Sister – Cries Of The Wild
8. Diamond Rugs – Cosmetics
9. Mick Futures – Banned From The Future
10. The King Khan & BBQ Show – Bad News Boys
11. Thee Rum Coves – Thee Rum Coves
12. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think And Sometimes I Just Sit
13. Fuzz – II
14. The Famines – Too Cool & Other Songs
15. Protomartyr – The Agent Intellect

Adam’s 15 of 2015:

1. Tame Impala – Currents
2. Viet Cong – Viet Cong
3. Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
4. Titus Andronicus – The Most Lamentable Tragedy
5. Sleater-Kinney – No Cities to Love
6. Mount Eerie – Sauna
7. Destroyer – Poison Season
8. Ought – Sun Coming Down
9. Father John Misty – I Love You, Honeybear
10. Deerhunter – Fading Frontier
11. Jim O'Rourke – Simple Songs
12. Waxahatche – Ivy Tripp
13. Protomartyr – The Agent Intellect
14. Wilco – Star Wars
15. Kurt Vile – B'lieve I'm Goin’ Down

A few write-ups from a selection of our top 15 of 2015:

1. Dead Ghosts - Love And Death And All The Rest

Love And Death And All The Rest is the third full-length album released by Vancouver’s Dead Ghosts. Dead Ghosts first formed in 2007 by guitarist/vocalist Bryan Nicol and guitarist Andrew Wilkinson. They then added Mike Wilkinson on drums and Maurizo “Moe” Chiumento on bass to complete the group’s line-up. The band drew influences of 60s garage rock, blues, country, 50’s rock and doo-wop, but blended those influences with a lo-fi aesthetic. Although you can break it down several different ways, when discussing their sound Bryan Nicol describes it just as “rock n’ roll music”. On Love And Death And All The Rest, Dead Ghosts take their lo-fi rock n’ roll sound adding psychedelic R&B frequencies and broadcast twelve songs with an organic groove. Despite being recorded in a barn with a non-traditional studio atmosphere, the production on this album is cleaner and the best that Dead Ghosts have sounded on record to date.

2. Pow Wows - Broken Curses

In 2011, Pow Wows served up a potent fizzy cocktail with Nightmare Soda. In the mix we found the ingredients were made up of garage, punk, surf and R&B influences. 2012 and 2013 brought singles to quench our thirst, but with Broken Curses Pow Wows have shaken things up yet again. The fizzy cocktail that was once served to us in 2011 has now exploded in a ten-track blast. Like a dried up soda that has crusted over, this album offers a new grittiness in the spirit of the cyclic fuzz driven sounds of Davie Allan & The Arrows, garage, punk and surf music all in a modern context. With Broken Curses, Pow Wows provide us with their own unique garage noir lyrics and musical style in ten tracks that has a dizzying cohesiveness to it.


3. Young Rival - Interior Light

Interior Light is the third full-length album by Hamilton’s Young Rival. Released on Toronto’s Paper Bag Records, the sounds on this album have been described as “Roy Orbison tripping on acid with Ray Davies and Bradford Cox.” Found on the back of the LP this description goes perfectly with the term that Young Rival coined to describe the music created during the recording of this album, croon-psych. Produced by Graham Walsh and Young Rival guitarist/vocalist Aron D’Alesio, the band took their time when creating the sounds for Interior Light. Even the album’s cover has an interesting backstory. It was adapted from an old stained glass window from 1987 by Benjamin Nelson in collaboration with Young Rival bassist John Smith. This design was mixed in with an array of colours that compliment the music found on Interior Light.

4. La Luz - Weirdo Shrine

Recorded in an old surf shop by Ty Segall, La Luz’s second full-length album comes off with more of a hazier mood to it as opposed to this Seattle band’s first album, It’s Alive. In addition to the hazy feeling that glides across all of the tracks on Weirdo Shrine, the lyrical subject matter is also darker. Inspired by the Charles Burns graphic novel Black Hole, many of the themes that were found across its pages seep their way into Weirdo Shrine’s lyrics and overall mood. La Luz’s undeniable 60s surf rock influence from bands such as Dick Dale and The Ventures are still apparent, but the band combines this with their strong vocal harmonies ala The Shangri-Las or The Ronnettes, adding a bit of doo-wop and subtle soul influences in with their love of surf music for a sound that is uniquely their own.

5. Thee Oh Sees - Mutilator Defeated At Last

Throughout Mutilator Defeated At Last’s nine tracks, Thee Oh Sees dig into a groove so deep that it will burn holes in your speakers. John Dwyer arrives energized with his new incarnation of Thee Oh Sees, who despite having mostly new members still sound like Thee Oh Sees. There is an undeniable sound to Thee Oh Sees, perhaps it is similar to the mysteriously creepy feeling expressed by the sneaky creature knocking on the palace door in the album’s closing track. With Mutilator Defeated At Last, John Dwyer and Thee Oh Sees knock on another door, yielding different results that at times draws a similar effect to the sounds explored on 2013’s Floating Coffin. Regardless of which door the band chooses to venture to, Thee Oh Sees are once again victorious.


6. What Seas What Shores - Spiritual Nap Machine

T.S. Eliot’s “Marina” evokes a vast array of emotions and themes said to be associated with being reunited with someone you never thought you would see again. The first line of this poem is where Windsor, Ontario’s What Seas, What Shores draws their name. What Seas, What Shores ambient, post-rock instrumental sounds are experimented with more so on Spiritual Nap Machine, their highly anticipated second full-length album. Spiritual Nap Machine features songs that drift in dream-like quality (“Texas”, “Invisible Architecture”), to more aggressive sounds (“Gugelhupf”, “The Ibex”). Breaking down the music on this release you can hear the influences of post-rock, progressive, math rock and several elements of ambience throughout. “Czar Bomba” simmers with a brooding fiery intensity, while the album’s title track flirts with experimental ambient textures. Like the “Woodthrush calling through the fog” in the last lines of Eliot’s “Marina”, the music on What Seas, What Shores Spiritual Nap Machine calls out to the listener with an emotive musical depth that differs from the generic fog of modern mainstream music.

7. Middle Sister - Cries Of The Wild

Cries Of The Wild is the new album made by Windsor’s Middle Sister. As each song progresses something different reveals itself within its construct. Their 2014 EP was described as “mid-century folk rock and chamber pop, whose sounds are flush with Canadiana,” Cries Of The Wild isn’t far off from that description. The line-up on this recording consists of singer/guitarist Colin Wysman, Kaitlyn Kelly (piano/mandolin/vocals), James Oltean-Lepp (bass), Stu Kennedy (violin/guitar) and Nate Gelinas on drums. Dave Dubois plays bass in the band’s current line-up. Recorded by Mark Plankce at Sharktank Studios on analog tape, the sounds found here strike a chord with the influences of Bonnie Prince Billy, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Simon & Garfunkel and the sounds of post rock.

8. Diamond Rugs - Cosmetics

What do Deer Tick’s John McCauley, Robbie Crowell, Ian St. Pe (formerly of The Black Lips), Hardy Morris of Dead Confederate, Bryan Dufresne of Six Finger Satellite, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos and a trash bag used as an instrument all have in common? You can find all of this on Cosmetics, the sophomore album by the band Diamond Rugs. The term supergroup is tossed around in articles about this band that seems to focus on all the outside elements that make up this band and while that is important, it is the songs themselves and their content that make this album and band so striking. Building on 2012’s self-tiled fourteen-track release, Cosmetics adds more groove, soul and chemistry to Diamond Rugs aesthetic.

9. Mick Futures - Banned From The Future

Banned From The Future is the debut full-length album by Sudbury’s Mick Futures, a pseudonym for Strange Attractor drummer and Statues bassist/vocalist Mitch Houle. At fifteen tracks, there is a lot of content, although most of the songs found on Banned From The Future are relatively short, some barely over one and a half minutes. The music pulls from the ubiquitous synth-driven sounds of the 80s, but specifically the sounds of artists such as early Brian Eno, Gary Numan, Devo and Kraftwerk. Futures also dons other subtler influences such as The Wipers, Buzzcocks and Wire. The songs that make up Banned From The Future can at times have a bleak view, but there is also a silver lining of hopeful optimism. Banned From The Future takes the cold icy dystopian views of the past and applies it to the present.

10.  The King Khan & BBQ Show - Bad News Boys

Bad News Boys begins with the doo-wop, garage stomp of “Alone Again”, a song drenched in 50s rock ‘n’ roll influences. Sung by this duo’s drummer, rhythm guitarist and main vocalist Mark Sultan (aka BBQ), the song strikes a powerful, yet melodic chord that not only introduces us to King Khan & BBQ Show’s first album in six years, but it is also seeped in 50’s rock ballad drama. During the song’s three minute time frame, lead guitarist King Khan plays his own blend of arpeggio-drunk-a-billy guitar riffs amongst his doo-wop backing vocals and BBQ’s primal backbeat groove. While this song contains the obvious elements of a love song, it also is somewhat symbolic given The King Khan & BBQ Show’s chaotic history. In 2010, the band announced they were splitting up for good following the release and tour of 2009’s Invisible Girl. “Alone Again” evokes a togetherness in contrast to the songs surface message. The King Khan & BBQ Show are alone and together again creating their own brand of musical mayhem.

Show 594 - Best of 2015 Part Two Playlist:

1. The Scenics - Sunshine World (In The Summer - Dream Tower Records - 2015)
2. The Pointed Sticks - - Impatient (Pointed Sticks - Sudden Death Records - 2015)
3. Ty Segall - The Picture (Mr. Face EP - Famous Class - 2015)
4. Deerhunter - Snakeskin (Fading Frontier - 4AD - 2015)
5. Father John Misty - The Ideal Husband (I Love You, Honeybear- Sub Pop - 2015)
6. Ought - Beautiful Blue Sky (Sun Coming Down - Constellation - 2015)
7. Destroyer - Midnight Meet The Rain (Poison Season - Merge Records - 2015)
8. King Khan & BBQ Show - Ocean Of Love (Bad News Boys - In The Red Records - 2015)
9. Mick Futures - A Few Pieces (Banned From The Future - Telephone Explosion - 2015)
10. Diamond Rugs - Voodoo Doll (Cosmetics - Sycamore Records - 2015)
11. Middle Sister - Tongue Of Silver (Cries Of The Wild - Self-Released - 2015)
12. What Seas What Shores - Czar Bomba (Spiritual Nap Machine - Mudtown Records - 2015)
13. Mount Eerie - Turmoil (Sauna - P.W. Elverum & Sun Ltd. - 2015)
14. Sleater-Kinney - Fade (No Cities To Love - Sub Pop - 2015)
15. Titus Andronicus - Dimed Out (The Most Lamentable Tragedy - Merge Records - 2015)
16. Courtney Barnett - Elevator Operator (Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit - Mom + Pop Music - 2015)
17. Viet Cong - Pointless Experience (Viet Cong - Jagjaguwar - 2015)
18. Thee Oh Sees - Poor Queen (Manipulator Defeated At Last - Castle Face - 2015)
19. Thee Oh Sees - Rogue Planet (Manipulator Defeated At Last - Castle Face - 2015)
20. La Luz - I’ll Be True (Weirdo Shrine - Hardly Art - 2015)
21. Young Rival - Elevator (Interior Light - Paper Bag Records - 2015)
22. Pow Wows - Rebel Stomp (Broken Curses - Get Hip Recordings - 2015)
23. Tame Impala - Let It Happen (Currents - Interscope Records - 2015)
24. Dead Ghosts - All In A Row (Love And Death And All The Rest - Burger Records - 2015)

Download this show here!

Show 593 - Best of 2015 Part One Playlist:

1. Jaill - Look At You (Brain Cream - Burger Records - 2015)
2. Archie & The Bunkers - I’m Not Really Sure What I’m Gonna Do (Archie & The Bunkers - Dirty Water Records - 2015)
3. Mexican Knives - Killer Snake (Mexican Knives - Fever Dreammms/Bellyache Records - 2015)
4. Mac DeMarco - No Other Heart (Another One - Captured Tracks - 2015)
4. Library Voices - Slacker (Lovish - Nevado Records - 2015)
5. John Grant - Down Here (Grey Tickles Black Pressure - PTKF - 2015)
6. Daniel Romano - The One That Got Away (Came Back Today) (If I’ve Only One Time Askin’ New West Records - 2015)
7. Tea Leaves - The Sun (Wooden Hands Self-Released - 2015)
8. Colleen Green - I Want To Grow Up (I Want To Grow Up - Hardly Art - 2015)
9. Damaged Bug - Jet Set In Jungle (Cold Hot Plumbs - Castle Face - 2015)
10. Protomartyr - I Forgive You (The Agent Intellect - Hardly Art - 2015)
11. The Famines - Attack Machine Blues (Too Cool & Other Songs - Pentagon Black - 2015)
12. Fuzz - Let It Live (II - In The Red Records - 2015)
13. Courtney Barnett - Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go To The Party (Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit - Mom + Pop Music - 2015)
15. Thee Rum Coves - Simple Little Lie (Thee Rum Coves - Self-Released - 2015)
16. Kurt Vile - Dust Bunnies (B'lieve I'm Goin' Down - Matador Records - 2015)
17. Wilco - Pickled Ginger (Star Wars - dBpm records - 2015)
18. Protomartyr - Pontiac 87 (The Agent Intellect - Hardly Art - 2015)
19. Waxahatchee - The Dirt (Ivy Tripp - Whichita Recordings - 2015)
20. Jim O'Rourke - Half Life Crisis (Simple Songs - Drag City Records - 2015)
21. Bob Dylan & The Band - Lunatic Princess (The Cutting Edge - Columbia Records - 2015)
22. Bob Dylan & The Band - I Wanna Be Your Lover (The Cutting Edge - Columbia Records - 2015)
23. Bob Dylan - Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands (Take 3 Complete) (The Cutting Edge - Columbia Records - 2015)

Download this show here!

La Luz Weirdo Shrine & Show # 581

Recorded in an old surf shop by Ty Segall, La Luz’s second full-length album comes off with more of a hazier mood to it as opposed to this Seattle band’s first album, It’s Alive. In addition to the hazy feeling that glides across all of the tracks on Weirdo Shrine, the lyrical subject matter is also darker. Inspired by the Charles Burns graphic novel Black Hole, many of the themes that were found across its pages seep their way into Weirdo Shrine’s lyrics and overall mood. La Luz’s undeniable 60s surf rock influence from bands such as Dick Dale and The Ventures are still apparent, but the band combines this with their strong vocal harmonies ala The Shangri-Las or The Ronnettes, adding a bit of doo-wop and subtle soul influences in with their love of surf music for a sound that is uniquely their own.

The album opens with the slow guitar arpeggios and layered vocal harmonies of “Sleep Till They Die”, a track that juxtaposes a feeling of unease lyrically, while “You Disappear” comes in with a more upbeat drum fill surrounded by hazy, humming organ parts mixed with clean guitars. The song also showcases La Luz’s use of guitar fuzz distortion for their solos. It appears in the middle of this song and subtly at the beginning of the album’s opening track. Mostly known for their cleaner guitar sounds, La Luz employ the distortion that they do use in small doses, not overloading songs with it. Lyrically, words such as “Lost in the city/So far from what you knew” and “No one can tell what direction you’ll go/Your eyes don’t show”, seem to come from the mutated characters of Burns’ Black Hole and come alive in the lyrics and in between the music. But the song also takes on several other meanings, such as one of loneliness or of a fleeting relationship. “With Davey” starts with the fuzzy ambient sounds of the surf shop in which this album was recorded in and a bouncy bassline. Amongst the organ, drum fills, clean guitars and reverb soaked vocals, the song’s distortion creeps in as it ends.

Surf noir is a term that could be used to describe the particular brand of surf music influences that La Luz brings forward on this album. “Don’t Wanna Be Anywhere”, was apparently inspired by the passing of a friend of La Luz guitarist Shana Cleveland and emphasizes an otherworldly feeling, one that would fit into the surf noir description. “Hey Papi” provides a short instrumental break in the album before “I Wanna Be Alone (With You)” comes in with its energetic drums, erratic maracas and an up-tempo groove. “I’ll Be True” showcases drummer Marian Li Pino and bassist Lena Simon’s ability to lock into the groove as the rest of the band plays a descending musical pattern that sounds like the song is drifting or floating. “Oohs and ahhs” along with the dominate lyric “I’ll be true to you/Just as long as you want me to” take on a hypnotizing effect throughout the song. “Black Hole, Weirdo Shrine” continues in the more up-tempo fashion of the later parts of this album. Digging in deep musically and lyrically, the song once again touches on themes from Charles Burns’ graphic novel Black Hole but also on themes of obsession. Keyboardist Alice Sandhal recently provided some insight on this song in an interview for Rookie Magazine:

I was thinking about things that people obsess about in life, like love or religion or spirituality. Things people build up with all this personal meaning, which nobody could understand the way they do. A lot of songs end up being love songs or songs about obsession, like you’re making this weird shrine, like it’s not even a person it’s just this idea of someone that you’ve created in your head that nobody could understand in the same way.

Along with the earlier track “You Disappear”, “Oranges” was inspired in part by the Washington poet Richard Brautigan. “Oranges” is the second instrumental track found on Weirdo Shrine and it provides a break, bringing down the tempo just before the album’s closing track, “True Love Knows”. With lyrics such as “True love knows when it’s left alone”, this song evokes a haunting melody by Cleveland and themes of escape seem to buoy their way throughout Weirdo Shrine’s last track.

When thinking of 60s surf rock, the image of being on a beach in the sun as surfers explore the ocean waves are often conjured up. For La Luz, they trade sunlight for dusk, as the band plays on Weirdo Shrine one could imagine the band playing as the sun is going down as opposed to it shining bright. La Luz bounces back and forth between cool nighttime vibes and beams of sunlight tackling and overcoming the sophomore slump that bands sometimes fall into with their second album. On Weirdo Shrine, La Luz builds their own sound and identity. This album takes on a smooth cinematic landscape, providing a layered, hazy, surf- influenced sound with a northwest twist.

Saturday Night Playlist:

1. Babysitter - Exploding Youth
2. Tough Age - Flying Carpet
3. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Living In Paradise
4. The Riptides - 77 Sunset Strip
5. Sunnyboys - Love To Rule
6. Alex G - Kicker
7. Kurt Vile - I'm An Outlaw
8. Tea Leaves - I Want To Live In The Dirt
9. The Hellbound Hepcats - Black Cats
10. X-Ray Cat Trio - Rockero Fantasma
11. Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet - Exit From Vince Lombardi High School
12. U.S Girls - Sed Knife
13. Slim Twig - Live In, Live On Your Era
14. The Boys Next Door - The Night Watchmen
15. The Boys Next Door - The Voice
16. Courtney Barnett - Shivers
17. Mike Krol Cactuses
18. Blind Doctors - You've Got A Drinking Friend
19. Middle Sister Finer Things Cries Of The Wild
20. The 3-D Invisibles - The Blob
21. Ought - The Combo
22. The Famines - Attack Machine Blues
23. The Gories - Hidden Charms
24. The Leftovers - I Only Panic When There’s Nothing To Do
25. The Saints - (I’m) Stranded
26. The Saints - A Minor Aversion
27. La Luz - I Don’t Wanna Be Anywhere
28. La Luz - Black Hole, Weirdo Shrine

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for October 10. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.