Sex. As W.C. Fields once said, “Some things are better than sex and some are worse, but there's nothing exactly like it.” It's true – sex has tremendous power; after that fateful first time, the perpetual desire common to every person on Earth is to find ways of getting more first, and then getting as much as possible after that. Sex has toppled entire empires and led to complete societal ruin (some of the biggest stories which exemplify that fact...
Ever heard a song and known on the first play that it was going to mean something, be important and/or be the one that people point to and talk about years later? Records like that do exist and, at least occasionally, it is possible to know them when they arrive – that's why those with a clue are already singing the praises of On The Impossible Past by The Menzingers. Listeners will know they're hearing something which may change their...
Domino is excited to announce Dirty Projectors highly anticipated sixth album, Swing Lo Magellan on July 10th (North America) / July 9th (rest of the world). With Swing Lo Magellan, David Longstreth shows he really doesn't know how to do the same thing twice. This time, beyond the aughts-era duality of retromania and neophilia, and beyond his band’s reputation for dizzying, heady innovation, Longstreth has found the beautiful, generous simplicity of the heart and soul. Same as it ever was. And this must be...
Awright, here's one for alla da punks,Well, not jus' da punks junky – don' worry, I ain't gonna spike my hair on ya or nuttin' – but dis week's SWAG Report owes a lot ta dat sound an' spiky personality, dat's fer shoor. Right off da top, I gotcha some real gold! I nabbed the firs' tune from da new OFF! reckid what comes out in May. Dis time, the guys inna band know what ther doin' is gonna work,...
As tends to be the case around every big holiday, the countdown to Record Store Day 2012 has officially begun. Since its foundation in 2007 (and maybe longer), the third Saturday of April has been marked by the music fans of all stripes but especially those who favor vinyl recordings above all else flock to their much-loved independent record stores to see what special new releases conceived specifically for the day line the shelves. The first group of new releases...
Can you listen to a familiar artist without evoking their previous work in your mind? Even if it is an artist you have not listened to in quite a while? Or maybe especially if it is an artist you have not heard in a while? These two recent releases forced me to confront this question. The Cranberries and Sinead O’Connor have new CDs out. For the Cranberries, it is their first release since 2001; for O’Connor, it has been five...
I have often professed my love of cover songs. There are various reasons for this. One is what they reveal about an artist’s influences and tastes but another, more important reason may seem like a contradiction: I love cover songs because I love originality. "How does that work?" I hear you asking. I appreciate the challenge of taking someone’s song and owning it yourself; making it sound new. An artist’s ability to do this is a strong indication of how...
As Hunter Thompson once said, at a certain point in one's career, it's imperative to have fun with what you're doing and occasionally shake things up if you want to keep doing it. As one listens to Scrappy Happiness, it would be easy to assume that Joel Plaskett took that idea to heart; originally parceled out one track a week for ten weeks, Scrappy Happiness can be very, very challenging but still manages to hold together as a strong, singular...
Everyone has an opinion of anger. Mahatma Gandhi called anger “the enemy of understanding” while Albert Einstein opined that “anger dwells only in the bosom of fools.” Go back a little further in time, and Roman statesman Marcus Porcius Cato claimed that “an angry man opens his mouth and closes his mind.” All of those observations are sound appraisals made by learned men, but Every Time I Die has successfully managed to merge them all on their new album, Ex...
While it's true that some bands arrive before audiences fully developed and ready to win them over, others show up bands aren't bad but need a bit of extra time to grow into their sound. Vancouver's Real McKenzies fall into the latter category – for the last twenty years, the McKenzies have just been “really good” filler on Celt-punk mix tapes – but there's no doubt that the band has well and truly grown up, matured and come into their...