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It s 4:25 AM in the midst of a dead quiet night, my insomnia acts as a gateway to my initial exposure to apples’ debut album, About the Future. I gingerly drop the needle on the record (pressed on purple vinyl) and I advance. Starting with the opening, and in fact title, track from this late 2021 release: the morbidly melancholy "About the Future." A thick, lush and layered musical landscape is my cursory impression of apples’ tasty offering. I am gently whisked away and consumed from the get go. The leadoff track catches me, and is many things, including but not limited to: blissful, electric and haunting. The first lines of the first song set the tone, and how could they not? "The worst is yet to come on the coldest night / A homeless drift across the earth / For the better part of a century has come and gone.” Lead vocalist Liz Read continues. "The horizon twists, it begins to spin/ You surrender everything to rust / And in the ashes, in the taw ....
Self confessed psych-pop shoegazers and Vancouver indie band, did you die, initially piqued my interest simply through their name. Apparently, the moniker stems from a tongue in cheek quip — the group’s main songwriter, Richie Felix Alexander, was late meeting a friend and she texted him "did you die?" The name stuck, and having it presented in lower case is a rather nice touch. After an initial listen, my first thought was: damn right,the VanCity independent music scene is thriving and showing no signs of slowing down. Perusing the album credits, did you die is clearly the brainchild of Richie Felix Alexander. He is prominently listed as producer & photographer, and is in charge of mixing, mastering, writing, along with vocals and guitar. He has disclosed he "wanted to capture the exact sounds that were looping in his head without having to compromise with any producer or engineer." Sometimes this can be a slippery slope, as an artist runs ....
Vancouver s Bootlicker is clearly and concisely hardcore punk —no genre-mixing here. Their self-titled debut, released June 18, 2021 on Neon Taste Records, is raw, greasy and ready to roll. Self-admitedly influenced by and staying true to early 80s hardcore, the band does not deviate from songs that rip-roar rapidly from opening to final dirty note. With 14 songs coming in at 18:31, Booklicker LP is at a ferocity level comparable to the classic 1980 Circle Jerks album Group Sex, that comes in at 14 songs in 15:25. Driven by poundmaster Lucas on drums, the group does not come up for air until the last furious power chord is struck. Lewis’ vocal scowl reminds me of Motorhead’s rebel rouser Lemmy and that is a good thing. For the pure sake of dynamics, it would be interesting if the band explored the odd tempo change, but again, this is uncomprimising hardcore. The lyrics can be hard to understand, but good news vinyl lovers! Physical LP s come with a "16 page zine ....
This past weekend as the autumn deluge of wet splashed the west coast, I decided to get my "Primp" on and check out the latest effort from Vancouver s all girl trio, Primp. According to my trusty Webster s Dictionary, the term "primp" means the following — "to dress, adorn, or arrange in a careful or finicky manner." The irony here is that this low-fi bedroom project (recorded in Surrey) is clearly un-finicky, raw and quite un-primp like in fact. Afterall, under-produced is the new overproduced.Their new record Daytona was released July 1, 2021 and the group is supported through Youth Riot Records in Seattle, Washington. Primp is Aly Laube (vocals / guitar) , Tae Whitehouse (drums / vocals) and Kristen Frier (bass / vocals, and apparently, giggles.) Previous releases include 2018 s Half Bloom and Mother Loose from 2019.This batch begins with the track "You Kiss Boys For Fun" (apparently the band s o ....
There are peculiar abandoned slices of time, when a certain tone, tune or track washes over you, like a lush, deep turquoise musical wave, and appears to capture the precise moment you happen to be floating through. Such is the case for my new discovery: Vancouver’s Dead Soft and their summer-friendly six-song EP release, Baby Blue. The project, begun as a DIY inspired “doodle,” is self-recorded, and essentially reimagined versions of tunes from their last album, Big Blue. Released on the Arts & Crafts label, the offering is syrupy thick, sprinkled with power pop sensibilities. The band describes their west coast sound as "grunge-punk for the people" and this release as "a fun living-room rock project."The group is originally out of Prince Rupert, B.C. on Kaien Island. Nathaniel Epp (vocals, guitar) and Keeley Rochon (bass, vocals) began jamming as teenagers, influenced by Canadian 90s indie rock and American artists like Elliott Smith and ....