Sunday Bloody Sunday: News & Assorted Gibberish 06.06.04

‘I don’t know who you are, or what kind of site this is, but to talk shit about hard working bands like that…It’s just respectless! Good Charlotte’s last CD doesn’t suck, well you might think so, but keep it for yourself.’

Looks like somebody confused my e-mail address with their online blog. Hello y’all and welcome to the 17th edition of SBS, winding down the first beautiful June weekend of the year. Hope things are as bright and sunny on your end as they are on mine.

The farmer’s tan is coming in wonderfully, as I’m developing to a wonderful near-KFCified golden brown on my head and arms, while maintaining that awesome Pilsbury Doughboy whiteness throughout the rest of my body. Pay is good, too, which is always a bonus. This summer looks to be a fairly decent one, if the weather continues on it’s course.

And how about those Calgary Flames? Couldn’t get the job done on home ice, what with Tampa forcing a Game 7 and any possibility of a riot/huge ass party being shuttled off to Monday night. Now it’s anyone’s game. I had confidently predicted a Flames victory last night what with them coming off of their win in Tampa, but it was not to be. Ah well, we’ll save the partying for Monday down on the Red Mile.

In other Canadian current events, the election is shaping up to be quite a bit like the American one, in the sense that everyone knows that the current government in power ought to be ousted, but the only real alternatives are ones that the public aren’t entirely sure of. Stephen Harper, leader of the Conservative Party up here in Canada, and the only real threat to Paul Martin’s Liberals, is starting to come under attack due to his opinions regarding abortion, gay rights and the death penalty, all of which he holds rather ‘more than moderate’ right wing views on. Enough so, that brawls are breaking out at campaign stops between gay rights activists and anti-gay rights supporters. Now that’s something you don’t see happening at Republican stops.

Lemme clear things up just a little bit. Stephen Harper isn’t someone that I’d trust running my country. He’s already lied his way into leadership of his particular political party, so who knows what sort of promises he’d make to become leader of our country? With that said, though, Paul Martin has shown, through his 10+ years of service to the federal Liberals, that he is also someone who cannot be trusted and is also someone who has become far too comfortable with being a part of the ruling party. It’s going to be a tough decision come election day, but I do intend to vote, regardless. As should any of you Canadians or Americans who are reading this. Make your vote count instead of sitting down and whining about how horrible things are. There, that’s my little soapbox inspired rant for the week out of our way. Let’s get down to covering…

Da News

– Well, the biggest story this week, as reported by just about everyone, is the dissolution of ‘rock’ group Creed. Famous for being the most boring, bland middle-of-the-road rock group that somehow managed to sell millions of records, the faux-religiously inspired group has parted ways with one another. This should be cause for celebration, right? Wrong, Junior. Once again it’s up to Daddy Presiloski to show you the error of your ways and why the world was better off with Creed sticking together as a group.

If anyone bothered to read the entire statement, they would realize that the members of Creed are not done drenching the womb of the music industry with their cyanide laced sperm, soaking it down like oh-so-much birdshit on oh-so-many statues. See, not only does Scott Stapp have a f*cking solo album coming out at the end of August, but the other remaining members of Creed also have a new album coming out, with some other shitty-as-hell vocalist. You realize how far removed Creed was from the public eye for the past, oh, 2 years or so? Anyone want to take a guess how long Creed has been ‘broken up’ and why they’re deciding to announce this news now? It’s called free publicity and you all fell for it, hook, line and sinker.

The news that Canadian rockers The Tea Party are going to be helping Stapp out with his solo effort comes as far more disturbing news to me, as I happen to like The Tea Party. Interestingly enough, there’ll be a feature on them in Sound Advice this week, so hop down to read up on them. 2 new Creed-related discs coming out in August. As if the end of summer wasn’t a shitty enough experience, I now have to spend it being inundated with this bullshit. So yeah, hoo-f*cking-ray Creed’s broken up.

– The Grandmother of Pop is at it again. Madonna, otherwise known as an overrated, washed up, useless sack of bones who gets trotted out every couple of years to try and show she’s still ‘cool’, has been found guilty of plagarism this week. That’s right! She ended up having to pay $638,000 for copying ideas for her ‘Hollywood’ video. Erotic French photographer Guy Bourdin’s son filed a lawsuit against the singer claiming that she essentially ripped off the video. Grandmadonna admitted that yes, she did, and paid the damages. No word yet if Warner Records is also responsible for this mishap, or if the blame will fall squarely on file sharing, considering the latter is the bane of ALL musicians in the world today!

– Sum 41 were forced to evacuate the Congo earlier this week. The pop-punk outfit were shooting a documentary for non-profit group War Child Canada. Reports that the group were forced to flee after a scheduled performance went awry are unconfirmed at this point, but it would go to show that at least the Congonese have good taste in music.

– Canadian rocker Matthew Good was forced to take down the video for his new single, ‘Alert Status Red’ earlier this week. The video, which, in my opinion, works as a commentary on the paranoia and fear that permeates our society today, features clips from the Columbine massacre. Good, stating that he hadn’t seen the final cut of the video, took it down for the better part of the week to deliberate on the video and then re-posted an edited version of it. You can see the video on his webpage, if you’re interested. I also recommend you check out ‘Put Out Your Lights’.

Additionally, Good released a track to Amnesty International to help promote the human rights organization’s cause. Annabelle can be downloaded for your listening pleasure simply by clicking on the link. Yes, I realize I’m a Matt Good mark but, dammit, he’s one of the few relevent artists out there today and is worth checking out. Do yourself a favor and take a listen!

– Both Blur & Brand New are in the studios working on new albums. The new Blur should sound pretty f*cking amazing, and on a related note, check out Jim Smallman’s review of former Blur guitarist Graham Coxon’s new disc. I disagree with some of his assessments regarding Blur, but hey, we all have our own preferences. This also is a clarification on an earlier report I made regarding Blur, as I stated they were working on an EP, not an LP. Consider yourself up-to-date in the world of Blur, now.

– Media giant Clear Channel has decided to settle against a Colorado concert promoter. Nobody In Particular Presents alledged that CC was monopolizing business by punishing artists who booked through other concert promoters. Andy Levin, executive vice prez and chief legal officer for CC, claimed no wrong doing, but insisted on settling out of court with the promoter. Hmm, you’d think that they would’ve gone to trial to clear their name and stick it to the smaller promoter and run up their legal fees if they were ‘innocent’, no?

– Fountains of Wayne, remember them? They had the nomination for ‘best new group’ for last year’s Grammy Awards and are now apparently looking at ‘raiding the vaults’ for a B-Sides compilation sometime later this year. Apparently the group has in excess of 25 b-sides at their disposal, and would like to release them out to the general public. That’s pretty f*cking good for a group that’s so ‘new’.

– Taking the prize for stupidest news item of the week, care of NME.com, it looks like Kurdt Cobain’s hometown of Aberdeen, WA, is looking at doing something to celebrate the singer, posthumously. Now, I’ll admit to not being the most informed Nirvana/Cobain fan, despite my best efforts in 411’s Nirvana spectacular not too long ago, but didn’t alot of Kurdt’s song material circulate around the fact that he HATED who he lived with and, more importantly, WHERE he lived? Call me crazy, but it’d be like having the Jews build a Nazi Memorial Shrine or have Nixon’s surviving family members do something commemorative at Watergate. Some people…

Anti-Pop: No Beginning And No End

Truth be told, I’m just getting caught up on reading columns this week, so I’ll hold off on doing any specific pimpage short of Aaron’s column, where he dishes the dirt on our fellow 411 Writers. The voices of dissent and disagreement howl LOUDLY in the 411’s Hall Of Justice, something which I don’t even think the combined might of Widro and Ashish will be able to quiet. I had to read Aaron’s column this week because, hey, how could I not resist reading up on the 411 Music Zone’s version of Wayne Gretzky? Exactly.

Read the entire Music Zone this week and welcome the new columnists if you haven’t already. Make double sure that you read Mr. Jeff’s column as well. Minority Report, representing, y0!

Sound Advice

Okay, so for those of you who eagerly look forward to each Sound Advice bit I do, you were a little alarmed last week when you were greeted with a big ‘ole chunk of WHITE SPACE where your usual Canadian recommendations are made by yours truly. In short, I keep a seperate file for SA stuff so I know who’s been done and what’s been said, and I cut and paste the result into the column. Last week I forgot to do the cutting and pasting, and for that, I apologize. So, to make it up to you, I’ll post last week’s induction here, as well as another new entrant for this week.

Our first inductee brings us to Vancouver, British Columbia. The New Pornographers are a sort of indie rock super group and were supposed to be last week’s inductee. The group, formed in ’96 by Zumpano’s Carl Newman after playing around with some stuff drew in Thee Evaporators John Collins, Destroyer’s Dan Bajar, Blanie Thurier, Fishie Rose and alt-country performer Neko Case, eventually forming the New Pornographers. The group began work in ’97 recording material which eventually found it’s way onto 2000’s Mass Romantic, an album that received rave critical reviews. By about that time, the group had cycled in Limblifter/Age Of Electric drummer Kurt Dahle and axe-man Todd Fancey to the fold, a lineup which remains the same to this day. The group has one other album to their credit, 2003’s Electric Version and both are amazing little Canadian indie rock gems. It should also be noted that the Pornographers performed alongside The Kinks’ Ray Davies, and their collective indie-rockness is enough to make just about anyone outside of the Flaming Lips keel over and die due to their indie-rock supremacy. Or something. Maybe I’m just reaching here, but the fact remains that the group is amazing and are one of a few groups that you can actually see the chemisty floating between the band members as they perform live. I caught them at a Canada Day celebration last July and I have to say I was duly impressed, as they put on a good performance and the vibe the group gave off was a really good one and one that could only be achieved by being perfectly comfortable with not only the people you’re sharing the stage with, but with the people in the audience as well. Good fun stuff.

Neko Case, some of you might have heard of, as she’s made quite the name for herself in alt-country circles and was also recently voted the hottest indie rock chick from none other than Playboy. Now, yes, she is very attractive but I don’t want to let that detract from her own musical talents which are considerable and worth investigation if you’re into country music that isn’t schlocky crap like Toby Keith or Reba f*cking McIntyre. As well, Destroyer, Dan Bajar’s own little project is worth taking a listen to if you fancy the Pornographers. In fact, I believe Destroyer is on tour right now, and might be making some US stops, so if you see them coming to you sometime in the near future, don’t hestitate to check them out.

Recommended tracks for your listening pleasure would include:

– Ballad Of A Comeback Kid
– Letter From An Occupant
– Slow Descent Into Alcoholism
– The Laws Have Changed (This last one probably being my favorite of the 4 I picked here and probably my favorite NP tune. If you have to only download one, download this track!)

The second group I’m doing a feature on this week, as was mentioned earlier on in Da News is a group from Windsor, Ontario, and were a group that I had thought I had covered in a previous SA, but checking back in the archives, I couldn’t find them in there so here’s the second Sound Advice inductee this week: The Tea Party.

TTP are a group that fuse world music with contemporary rock music coming out sounding pretty good. The group has earned unfair comparisons to the Doors, simply because their lead singer, Jeff Martin, bears a slight resembalance to him and has a similar vocal pattern. The group’s first major release, ’93’s Splendor Solis catapaulted them into the forefront of the Canadian music scene and their subsequent experimenting with Mediterranean, Celtic, and Middle Eastern instruments and music have kept them in the public’s eye for awhile. Continued experimenting with electronica and industrial sounds have kept them fresh, while keeping them from getting stale.

Live, the group put on a fairly good show. Pretty much all instruments you hear on Tea Party recordings are played by the members of the band (Jeff Martin, Jeff Burrows and Stuart Chatwood), and they’re always eager to try new and different things. One such performance a couple of years ago included the addition of a theremin to the band’s arsenal, another had the group working together with orchestras to achieve a sort of Metallica S&M vibe. Although I have to say that the boys themselves aren’t all that interesting, the music they play more than makes up for it, which includes a wonderful cross section of cover material ranging from Nine Inch Nails to Leonard Cohen.

The band has several albums out, the aforementioned Splendor Solis, Edges Of Twiglight, the Alhambra EP, Transmission, Triptych, Illuminations (which is a greatest hits package), and Interzone Mantras. There is also a super rare self-titled release that features a bunch of very bluesy numbers, although unless you’re willing to shell out $500 or so on E-Bay to pick it up, you’ll be out of luck.

Recommended tracks for your listening pleasure would be the following:

– Paint It Black (Rolling Stones cover, and a very good little ditty)
– The Bazaar
– Release
– Army Ants
– Halcyon Days
– Winter Solstice
– The River
– Temptation
– Heaven Coming Down
– Must Must
– Fire In The Head
– Turn The Lamp Down Low
– Angels
– The Master & Margarita

Other artists featured in Sound Advice: Tons! Check out older editions of Sunday Bloody Sunday to get the goods on some more Canadian artists.

If you’d like to see an artist featured in Sound Advice, you can contact me on MSN Messenger or e-mail me at trevor411music@hotmail.com or catch me on AIM as flinch311.

The End Is The Beginning Is The End

This week belongs to Velvet Revolver, hands down. Rest assured we’ll have some critiques up in the Reviews section before the week is through. I haven’t heard it myself, although word around the campfire is that it’s a pretty good listen. Sonic Youth, Gene Simmons, and Bad Religion all have new discs coming out, and only one of those promises to be good. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which one exactly it is. 311 also has a greatest hits package out, so if you’d like to hear them deface a Cure song, pick that one up.

I’m not 100% sure if I’ll be making an appearance next week, as certain scheduling conflicts may have me unable to write a column. With that said, look for Melchor tomorrow to kick off the week with a bang. I’m Trevor, and this was the Sunday News.