Buy the new Sade record TODAY!
Soldier of Love
The new Sade record, entitled Soldier of Love, is out today. Get it, love it, appreciate it, do it. Done.
Kevin Drew talks Broken Social Scene to Pitchfork.com
Broken Social Scene
After a five year hiatus and a slew of solo records from Broken Social Scene members the boys from Toronto are back on the saddle and gearing up to release what I am sure will become another one of my favorite modern rock records. Guitarist/singer Kevin Drew recently spoke to Pitchfork.com about the upcoming BSS record, recording with Tortoise/Sea and Cake luminary John McEntire and who/what you can expect on the record.
Pitchfork: Your last album came out five years ago but, considering the “Broken Social Scene Presents” albums from you and Brendan and the touring you guys did behind them, it’s almost like you never left.
Kevin Drew: That’s why the “Broken Social Scene Presents” records worked. After the tour for Broken Social Scene in 2006, it was a very confusing time. I know I say it a lot– it almost sounds like I use it as some marketing tool– but if there was any time when we were going to break up it was after that tour. Andrew [Whiteman] and Charles [Spearin] split. And Brendan [Canning] and Justin [Peroff] and I had to go out and find a new band and try to make this “Broken Social Scene Presents” thing work on the road. But we ended up with a great band and we found [guitarist] Sam Goldberg, who is now a full-time member. On this new record, Sam brings such a melodic sound– we call him “Stadium Sam,” he’s our stadium rock guy. And then, in 2008, Andrew and Charlie returned, and we ended up touring the world that whole year. That’s when this album’s core six-piece formed.
I love the self-titled record to death but it was difficult to make. But that point is so over for us. I don’t think we’ve ever really entered this territory of just feeling amazing about everything like it is right now.
Pitchfork: After working in Toronto with producer Dave Newfeld on You Forgot It In People and Broken Social Scene, you decided to go to Chicago with Tortoise’s John McEntire for the new album. How did that come about?
KD: It goes back to when [Stars bassist] Evan Cranley was trying to figure out where to record their album In Our Bedroom After the War, and– knowing that I was a massive fan– he just casually said to me, “I spoke to your boy John and he seemed like he was into producing the new Stars album, but we’re going to Vancouver.” I just kind of spit my cigarette out and was like, “What do you mean? You can workwith John McEntire?!”
Then, in October 2008, we fooled around and had a session in John’s studio. It was so much fun, and that’s when the wheels started turning. So we had to start figuring out what we were going to do in terms of Newf, because there were still issues that I hadn’t worked out with him. A bunch of us didn’t know how we were going to do this record without Newfeld because he played such a massive, massive role in all our success. He was very involved– I mean, he used to come on the talkback and suggest lyric changes [laughs]. So we were quite scared to take a lot of it on ourselves. I called Newf up and told him what was going on and he gave his blessing, and that actually was a catalyst for him and I getting back on the same page, which I’m really grateful for because he is one of my favorite people in the world.
Then I suddenly I found myself in a whole different world. Johnny is very, very different. Very quiet. He lets you figure it out. Sometimes we would bust into tunes and be like, [takes deep breath] “OK, let’s see what he thinks about this one.” We didn’t really know how he was feeling about everything for a little while. Then one night a couple of us went out for drinks with him and at about the fourth drink in he started opening up and telling us what he thought about the songs. It became a trend. And then it became sort of a joke– a band member would come up to me and be like, “I’m really tired and I can’t go out tonight but would you ask John how he felt about my part in this song?” [laughs] I consider John a good friend now and I’m happy to say he’s joining the band. Obviously, he’s still got Sea and Cake and Tortoise– but when he’s free, he’s going to come out and play with us. I’m just trying to live my teenage dreams over here, and this was definitely one of them.
Pitchfork: Was it tough to get people like Feist, and members of Stars and Metric involved this time around?
KD: Well, there was a point where it looked like it was going to be a core-member record and we weren’t going to get those people because they were so busy; Stars were making a record, Metric was on the road. We thought, “It’s OK, we can do this without them. We can move on. It’s not like that anymore.” But when we brought Johnny to Toronto and set up it was immediately like old times. So, right at the end, everybody made it on.
We played a show in the summertime when all of us were together and I think it was our favorite show. After it, there were a few days when we just wished we could go into the studio and do a ground-up album and then take everyone out on the road, but it wasn’t in the cards. It wasn’t what the others wanted. It gets confusing about who brings what to the album but everyone just came in and put some visiting touches on some songs; a few vocals, horns, guitar lines. I really want to be cautious talking about this because the last few years of my life have been trying to figure out a mature way to not market your friends and overuse people’s names and misguide listeners to thinking this person or that person’s involved. So: Everyone visited the record, but it’s not a ground-up album.
There is one tune where all the ladies sing together– it was originally my favorite instrumental on the album [laughs]. But [Metric singer] Emily [Haines] came out of the woodwork and dropped a vocal on it and it broke our hearts. Then Charlie wrote a nice e-mail to Leslie [Feist] and [Stars singer] Amy [Millan] saying, “If you sang on this I think it would be really beautiful.” And they did and I can’t say how grateful I am for it. And in the Toronto sessions we got Les and Amy on a crazy jam with us all, too.
And now we have some new things on the table, too. Like Lisa Lobsinger, who we plucked from her life and dragged onstage during the Broken Social Scene tour and really put her in a serious situation to step up to the plate and suddenly become the female vocalist. She’s all over this new record and she’s going to come out on tour with us again.
Pitchfork: Would you say the making of this record was more like You Forgot It In People than Broken Social Scene or different entirely?
KD: It’s different entirely. We really don’t have anything to prove. So many bands have come out in the last five years and sometimes you question your relevancy. But when it locks into place you just keep going. Right now, everyone’s in place– I can’t stress that enough. Between Chicago and Toronto we recorded about 42 tunes. Obviously some of them might be a kazoo and an 808 but we got a lot of ideas down.
Pitchfork: Are there any themes running through the album?
KD: The Canadian music scene boomed during the George Bush era but now we’re in the “yes, we might be able to” world. We had lots of conversations about how we could sing about our views and opinions without trying to make a poor man’s R.E.M. song. It was a challenge to personalize everything and embrace the state of the planet. I love a distraction as much as the next guy but we always feel some urgency to speak about what’s going on. I remember when U2’s single ["Get On Your Boots"] came out, I thought, “All right, what’s it gonna be? What’s the man gonna sing about?” And Bono’s opening line was like, “I don’t wanna talk about politics, I just wanna rock!” And I thought, “Uh oh– we’re in trouble.” This is a crazy state of limbo right now and we tried to embrace it and bring those subjects up here and there. We’ve always been a band that sings about exactly what’s inside of us and exactly what’s happening outside as well. Like, if we’re screaming, let’s have something to scream about.
Pitchfork: It sounds like you guys are in a pretty great headspace at the moment.
KD: I can’t tell you how happy we are. There are so many exciting albums coming out this year and that’s great for us because when we do the festival circuit we get to bum rush the stage. I still have to redeem myself to the National, though. We played a show together in Mexico City and they dedicated a song to me– and then they stood side stage during our set and saw me screaming at the monitor guy for ten minutes. It’s a bit of a regret– I’m glad they didn’t Wayne Coyne me on that one.
Right now, we have two mottos: “kill ‘em with kindness” and, um, “if it’s yellow, let it mellow.”
Pitchfork: That sounds like a potential album title to me…
KD: [laughs] I’m sure somebody copyrighted “if it’s yellow, let it mellow”– it must be patented.
Broken Social Scene:
05-01 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
05-03 Los Angeles, CA – Henry Fonda Theatre
05-07 New York, NY – Webster Hall
05-13 London, England – Brixton Academy *
05-14 Minehead, England – All Tomorrow’s Parties
05-17 London, England – Heaven
05-18 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Melkweg
05-19 Cologne, Germany – Burgerhaus Stollwerck
05-21 Paris, France – La Maroquinerie
06-19 Toronto, Ontario – Toronto Island *#
* with Pavement
# with Band of Horses
Music: New Caribou album “Swim” Details
Caribou - Swim
Nearly two years ago the band Caribou launched my musical career in minor leagues. It was one of the greatest experiences in my life playing with them. Ever since I feel like I’m chasing the high that I got from playing with them.
On April 20th, 2010 Merge Records will release Caribou’s fifth record, and follow up to the Polaris Prize winning album Andorra. It’s called Swim and Dan Snaith has this to say about it.
“I got excited by the idea of making dance music that’s liquid in the way it flows back and forth, the sounds slosh around in pitch, timbre, pan… Dance music that sounds like it’s made out of water, rather than made out of metallic stuff like most dance music does.”
The album also features guest vocals on the song “Jamelia” from my good friend Luke Lalonde of the band Born Ruffians. To download an exclusive track from the album follow this link.
Swim:
01 Odessa
02 Sun
03 Kaili
04 Found Out
05 Bowls
06 Leave House
07 Hannibal
08 Lalibela
09 Jamelia
Stream: Four Tet – There is Love in You
Below is a stream of Four Tet’s new record There is Love in You in its entirety. Please listen and bask in its greatness. What a phenomenal record.
Video: Gorillaz – Stylo
my third most anticipated record of 2010 is Gorillaz’ Plastic Beach. The first single from the album, entitled Stylo, is an early sign of how great the album will be. In describing the story behind the album the band had this to say:
“The band have taken up residence, recording on a secret floating island deep in the South Pacific, a Plastic Beach HQ, made up of the detritus, debris and washed up remnants of humanity. This Plastic Beach is the furthest point from any landmass on Earth; the most deserted spot on the planet.”
Plastic Beach Track Listing:
01 Orchestral Intro (ft. Sinfonia ViVA)
02 Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach (ft. Snoop Dogg and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
03 White Flag (ft. Kano, Bashy, and the National Orchestra for Arabic Music)
04 Rhinestone Eyes
05 Stylo (ft. Bobby Womack and Mos Def)
06 Superfast Jellyfish (ft. Gruff Rhys and De La Soul)
07 Empire Ants (ft. Little Dragon)
08 Glitter Freeze (ft. Mark E Smith)
09 Some Kind Of Nature (ft. Lou Reed)
10 On Melancholy Hill
11 Broken
12 Sweepstakes (ft. Mos Def and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
13 Plastic Beach (ft. Mick Jones and Paul Simonon)
14 To Binge (ft. Little Dragon)
15 Cloud of Unknowing (ft. Bobby Womack and Sinfonia ViVA)
16 Pirate Jet
Music: Four Tet BBC Session 2010 – Angel Echos
“Angel Echos”, a track from the upcoming Four Tet new record There is Love in You (out this month of Domino Records), played live at the BBC Radio 1 studio in London, England.
Music: Sade – Soldier of Love
Second in my most anticipated releases of 2010. The lead off single (and album title), Soldier of Love, is proof of how powerful this album will be. Please believe it.
Swami Land: Salah Ragab & The Cairo Jazz Band – Ramadan in Space Time
Ramadan in Space Time
A Major in the Egyptian Army through the 1960s, he first attempted to form a jazz band in 1964, with American saxophonist Mac X. Spears. Together with Hartmut Geerken and Edu Vizvari, he founded one of the first Egyptian jazz big bands. Salah Ragab formed the first jazz big band in Egypt The Cairo Jazz Band in 1968, he was also the leader of the Military Music Departments in Heliopolis, some of the best musicians in Egypt of that time were members of the band, such as Zaki Osman (Trumpet), Saied Salama (Tenor Sax) - Khamis El -Kholy (Piano) and Ala Mostafa (Piano). On this recording the band consists of five saxophones, four trumpets, four trombones, piano, bass, drums and percussion and various other oriental instruments. The opening concert of The Cairo Jazz Band was in Ewart Memorial Hall at The American University 23/02/1969. There were many other concerts in various prestigious places such as the Old Opera House, The University of Alexandria and appearances on Egyptian TV Jazz Club Weekly. Salah Ragab accompanied the great band leader and composer Sun Ra on a Tour in Egypt, Greece, France and Spain in 1984. He also studied jazz theory and improvisation with the jazz musician and composer Osman Kareem, with whom he formed the first jazz quintet in Cairo in 1963, recording with the Radio Service of Cairo. He gave a series of educational lectures about Jazz History at the German Culture ‘Goethe Institute‘,
Slept on: James Pants – Welcome
James Pants - Welcome
I’ve been recently getting out of my pretentious “New Music Sucks DICK!” stage. In searching for new music I am realizing how much I have slept on. James Pants’s Welcome is an incredible record. It’s weird too because it sounds exactly how I would like a contemporary R&B record to sound. A hodgepodge of funk, post punk, hip hop and rhythm and blues. It’s so hard to turn these songs off. All of you who are discovering Dam Funk’s throw back sun-drenched, Californ-i-a funk, pick up this James Pants record on wax (released 2008).
Flickr Photos
|
