SLIM TWIG SHOOTS THE SHIT

MY FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2011

2012-01-15T12:37:00.000-08:00

I made up this list before the year was out and it's been staring me in the face ever since. Sometimes writing about music seems more chore-like than the flow of actually just making your own... Sometimes making your own doesn't exactly flow how you'd like it, but in any case the impulse seems opposite to writing about music. One is analytical, the other impulsive. I'm of the opinion that each skill can lend itself to the other. Music is the greatest joy, and it is important to stretch your ability, consumption and comprehension by considering it from different angles.

Ok, enough with the gobbledygook. Here are some of my favourite records released in a year I spent mostly retreating into the past. I may have missed out on some things, let me know if so...

MY FAVOURITE RECORDS OF 2011, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER.

Sic Alps – Napa Asylum

Brilliantly deconstructed trogglodyte rock. If garage rock had been built to express abstract mental illness as opposed to teen sexual angst this would sound something like a cornerstone record. An LP of 'Exile On Main Street' sized ambition composed of stoned attempts to rewrite early Kinks riffs. No one carves out space like these guys. The most interesting rock band going.

My Mind – Fed Up With Myself

Epic art-poppery from ST-band slugger Westberg and his crew. Finding the common hook denominator between Sparks and The Who, their calculations dictate an excess of ideas equating a 9 minute one-sided 12" epic. Defying what it means to be both Pop & Punk with a self awareness implied by both band and record title, slotting them into a clever hyphenated genre I would have to say Music-music. Great fun listening to song made by people who can actually sing nowadays.

The Pink Noise – Gilded Flowers

Great future-trash pop. An album composed of songs best described as dystopian wastoid popathetic cruisers. In the best way possible this comes on like the sound of someone possessed of a desire

to become an art-rock superstar (ala Blonde Berlin Bowie), but with ultra-limited resources putting a rude embargo on said dream. Earth's great gravity fueled ratio-equalizer makes (possibly) intended pastiche like this find greater value in exactly it's quality of having missed it's mark. All pretensions aside this is a great album, a Pink Noise favourite.

July – July

A stone classic from the heady days of '68. Not much to say about this as if you like this kind of thing, you've already heard it. Underrated in the grand Rolling Stone scheme of things, it's best moments are equal to Piper-era Floyd. Wonderful, magical stuff re-issued this past year with beautifully legit tip-on sleeve and poster.

Crystal Stilts – In Love With Oblivion

Pitch perfect recreation of what Simon Reynolds would probably refer to as record collector rock. When brick and mortar songwriting is as good as it is here, who could give two shits. The fact that the production is so bang on, with perfect period placement of jealousy inducing harpsichord moments only makes the pill go down that much smoother. This record has vibe, like ALBUM vibe. Like, BAND vibe. Like dusty Creem magazine, mystic nostalgia vibe VIBE. Got more pleasure out of this popper than almost anything else this past year.

Currensy & Alchemist – Covert Coup

I've already spilled ink on how Alchemist is clearly the most interesting producer post-Dilla working in the rap major leagues. Having said that, this album took me a minute to grasp. I prefer grime-caked dusty loops to luxury conjuring space-age smoothey shit, so this kind of funkiness takes me a couple listens to get into... But this thing is a world unto itself, bubbling and reverberating in off rhythms to it's own inner logic. It's not often that a rap album takes on a personality all itself, even Ghostface albums are often all over the place. Having a single producer and the same rapper on each track definitely helps with this concern. Goes to show just how far ahead of his time Doom was sampling 80's synths and soft rock guitar lines years ago.

Danava – Hemisphere Of Shadows

Not gonna bother comparing this to anything else. More insightful comparisons than 'this sounds like Thin Lizzy' could be made by people who actually listen to this kind of music on a regular basis. All I know is that this is sum hevvy shit. I do admit to missing the synth driven moments of their first album (keyboard bits are the best part of this album), but even so the riffage is undeniable. I hate to the be that classic rock dude, but I feel like we're living in the anti-punk era where chops are back to being invigorating. I'm predicting that the best music of the next decade will be made by people who know how to fucking play their shit. I'm going anti-punk, anti no-wave. I'm gonna learn how to play my guitar properly, and only listen to harpsichord concertos.

Clap – Have You Reached Yet

Great re-issue by a band of Cali no-lifers from the early 70's. I think the New York Dolls get A LOT of credit for basically just ripping off the Stones... Granted 'Trash' is pretty spectacular, but they seem to have an inordinate amount of cred, for yea... just sounding like another band. That quote about Malcolm McLaren managing the Dolls after hearing their record and deciding they were the worst musicians in the world is pretty hilarious in retrospect (McLaren would have his hands full on that criteria nowadays). Clap are the real deal in terms of sloppy borderline plagiarism, as good as the Dolls in parts. A pillar of the 'originality is great, but...' argument.

Dirty Beaches / Ela Orleans – Double Feature

Good stuff from these dreamy soundscapers. Alex's best blend of rockabilly rebel-rousing posture and his more left field ambient soundtracking impulses. Some of Ela's best exploratory dream conjuring sampledelica. These guys are a good combo, they have very similiar impulses from completely different sides of the hormone spectrum. They have a very specific vision for their work, and go about it with a determined process that I admire in each.

Timber Timbre – Creep On Creepin' On

The sax n' combo organ riff speaks for itself. Songs as talismanic creepers. I'm a sucker for that plinky piano type shit and delay'd out croonin.

11 FASCINATING SONGS OF 2011

2011-12-30T15:01:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year (actually a little past, I missed tagging onto the blog wave of retrospective list making)... Here's a list of 11 songs released this past year that I really enjoyed. I'll post a similar list for album length efforts in the next week or so.

I hope you find something interesting to listen to, or think about. The list is unordered.

Eric Copeland – 'U.F.O's Over Vampire City'

In my book this is undoubtedly the song of the year. A true torch song equipped with a stiff slip for these retro-cats who still think that style will suffice in their reverential role-play. This joint comes bathed in blue light, an unseemly lurch that seduces the hips as the eyes and the heart are forced witness to a repulsive sexual slither as slimy as any Screaming Jay Hawkins screed. Blissful torture.

LISTEN.

U.S. Girls – 'The Boy Is Mine'

Pardon me for a second as I make reference to a song I had some hand in (more accurately a finger)... In all honesty Meg hit this one out of the park, I can't think of many other artists who can blindly flirt with trend (90's R'n'B being a shit-hot credential these days) while coming out the other end as untainted and original as this lady. Nary a wink for irony-hungry blog fiends - straight goods in other words. The massively underrated Onakabazien deserves some limelight for this one as he actually put together this remix with the original vocals intact some years ago, composed entirely out of cut ups from his dusty basement experiments. Get on board with an uncompromising siren, and an unsung genius (not a bad executive producing / mixing job either).

LISTEN.

Mobb Deep – 'Black Cocaine'

At this point Alchemist has to be acknowledged for the crazy run that he's been on the last couple years. For my buck this might be my favourite rap beat of the year. In all honesty I just heard this song for the first time this week, but judging by the fact that Al made my favourite beat of 2010, and of 2009 I don't think the immediate enthusiasm is undeserved. Also good to hear Infamous P comfortably back on his laconic-lunkhead shit.

LISTEN.

Actual Water – 'Latoya'

Do you like sugar? (I'm tee'd up here to hesitantly say brown sugar)... Welcome to Actual Water 2011. While at one point not too long ago (pre-ST band) I stood stage-front jealous at Actual Water's cerebral combination of Neu! hypnotism and Mark E. Smith slop, they've now dropped the tweeds and have donned the paisleys. At this point they're more likely to cop a lick from Edison Lighthouse than Television, though what remains as the common denominator is an unmistakable exuberance for music making that can't help but be infectious. This is a perfect pop song by Wizzard, or the Sweet standards. Watch it race up the Billboard 200, 1972.

LISTEN.

Gonjasufi – 'The Lows'

One thing I like about Hip Hop is that in some corners fidelity has always been an open question. Since the golden age 80's, tape hiss, grime, fuzzy bass saturation all hallmarks of tape culture have reverentially been referred to as the real or raw shit. (Try telling R. Stevie that pop rock has had a similar affinity for low-rent vibes until recently). Gonjasufi comes dangerously close to abusing this fidelity leeway with a conceptually sound track about being broke. Just as a slick beat can allow for some transcendent grandiosity, so does this junk music run parallel to the sentiment as verbally expressed.

LISTEN.

KA – 'Cold Facts'

Speaking of grime... Since kinda debuting on one of the best rap albums of the last five years KA has turned out to have legs of his own. The four (slept on) video singles he's dropped this fall have been some of the vibe-heaviest burners since RZA was on his game. In all honesty it's hard to single out one of these tracks above any other, which bodes well for the vivid grit that his forthcoming Grief Pedigree album seems to suggest it will deliver.

LISTEN.

Jef Barbara – 'Wild Boys'

Pretty impressive stuff. Wisely collaborating with synth and italo-kosmiche master Femminielli to legitimately evoke an era in music when early Prince would seamlessly blend into Berlin Bowie, bumping against any number of Moroder concoctions at a DJ night. The thing is this guy fucking goes for it, he owns the funky bass playing and shameless guitar solo shreddery – as he should. Fuck irony, for real. Probably Canada's best bid at a legitimately exciting POP star in the coming year.

LISTEN.

Jean-Claude Vannier – 'Au Desepoir Des Singes'

Although I was somewhat weary of the might JCV (one of my heroes) trying to re-enact his arrangement glories of the early 70's, employing many of the same session doods from his mighty tandem LPs, I was pleasantly surprised by this track. It does a pretty good job of evoking the combination of lithe funk and sexual french sophistication that he helped Gainsbourg to trademark. Honestly, no one can get a string session sounding like Vannier (except for Beck, when he consciously tries to emulate Vannier).

LISTEN.

Blu feat. Edan – 'Ronald Morgan'

Obligatory Madlib produced track. Sift through the absolutely blunted murk to uncover the best rap verse of the year by Edan in complete psychedelic word-wizard mode (cue it up to 1:35). Absolutely incredible.

LISTEN.

Rocket Freudental – 'Der Alleiner'

This one, I can't find a preview for on the internet. I came across the record during my fall Euro jaunt. One of the best shows on the tour was in Stuttgart (near where this band is from). We partied with some cool cats whose record collection seemed to mirror my own in an eerie way. In any case they enthusiastically recommended this band as the best contemporary rock band in Germany, and actually gave a copy of this LP to me. It is a great, eclectic record. The best song sounds like Crazy Horse riffs chopped up and bludgeoned into something awesome and strange. It's hard to tell if there are samples involved or how the fidelity was achieved which is a haziness I enjoy. I've been told the lyrics are quite good too.

SEEK IT.

Drake – 'Headlines'

I include this track as an 11th, not only for sake of the only somewhat guilty pleasure it provides or for some skewed hometown pride but mostly for the simple thrill of the insistent, addicitive pulse of the actual music - all Aubreyisms aside. In truth Drake is a highly entertaining figure, not only for the fodder he provides the Big Ghost blog, but for his occasional flashes of great taste. This thing rides like some unholy Wendy Carlos Moog journey into the simple arrpegiations and repitions of Philip Glass. Good stuff in other words.

LISTEN.

U.S. GIRLS ON KRAAK

2011-11-30T06:21:00.000-08:00

In the whirlwind of starting our label and heading to euro-land for some shows I forgot to drop this bombshell...

U.S. Girls new album, my first as a producer is out now. It slays. A courageous collage of mega moments, the tough/soft routine slashing through bars from the sublime to the terror inducing. Heavy-melancholy. Sharp sass. Git with it.

Couple moments featuring Twig band heavies T. Westberg, and thee Onakabazien providing the jams on an absolutely mind warping cover of The Boy Is Mine.

For my part the record is the first feather in the cap of my aspiration to be a Jeff Lynne style mega producer. Also mixed the shit so step into a mega sound world...

ORDER THE NICENESS.

EURO TOUR WITH U.S. GIRLS

2011-11-04T17:34:00.000-07:00

Hey, if you live somewheres in the mother continent come check one of my first ever Euro dates.

I'm a lucky man to be touring around with U.S. Girls... not to mention playing a couple dates with Silver Apples (!!!)...

Come say hi, and grab the new Calico releases.

NOV.8 / Eskiltuna, Sweden @ Eskiltuna Theatre
NOV.9 / Stockholm, Sweden @ The Strand w/ SILVER APPLES
NOV.10 / Copenhagen, Denmark @ Drone w/ SILVER APPLES
NOV.11 / Gothenburg, Sweden @ Koloni/Gårdaskolan
NOV.12 / Berlin, Germany @ Madame Claude
NOV.15 / Prague, CR @ Final Club
NOV.16 / Brno, CR @ Club Boro

NOV.18 / Esslingen, Germany @ Komma
NOV.19 / Hamburg, Germany @ Golem
NOV.20 / Bremen, Germany @ Friese
NOV.21 / Amsterdam, Holland @ Occii
NOV.23 / Brussels, Belgium @ Magasin 4 / Autumn Falls Festival w/ Anika
NOV.25 / Paris, France @ Espace B
NOV.26 / Nantes, France @ L'HURLUBERLU

CALICO CORP.

2011-11-03T12:43:00.000-07:00

Meet Calico Corp. a new label started by myself & Meghan.

We've just released two 7" records to kick things off. A new U.S. Girls single 'The Island Song', sounding like an 'unwashed Mariah'. And 'There's A Secret To Your Pleasure', the first Slim Twig full band recordings (single cover above), produced by Carl Didur.

<a href="http://calicocorp.bandcamp.com/album/theres-a-secret-to-your-pleasure-7">There's A Secret To Your Pleasure 7" by Slim Twig</a>

Read more about the label and the records on OUR BLOG.

Order each of the limited records HERE.

Listen to Calico releases HERE.

Lastly, Calico Corp. business can be discussed at calico dot corp at gmail dot com.

STAY TUNED FOR NOVEMBER EUROPEAN TOUR DATES IN NEXT POST.

AFRICA

2011-10-29T13:29:00.000-07:00

My Dad went on an adventure to Kenya this year to aid family friend Hubert with the making of his follow up to his Darwin's Nightmare film (an unimpeachably artful downer). My Dad then wrote an extensive travel memoir with a lot of interesting insight into a culture many of us know too little about. Definitely worth a read, and a look (the pictures are quite good too)...

CHECK IT OUT.

TORONTO DISCOGRAPHIES VOL. 2

2011-10-24T14:38:00.000-07:00

Here's the second installment of my Toronto Discographies series for local showpaper / esoteric monthly Offerings. You can pick up the hard copy in this months edition at local jive spots and musical paraphernalia hubs across the Hipper Toronto Area.

TORONTO DISCOGRAPHIES VOLUME 2: ZACHT AUTOMAAT

Zacht Automaat fell from the sky, or so it felt one day last year. What other explanation might one have for a band that does not exist... and then suddenly does and before you know it has unleashed hours of record quality material? The genesis defies logic as easily as the music itself evades categorization.

On first listen you might be forgiven for assuming the recordings were unearthed Faust jams, or Baroque Psych demos or more likely a mix-tape combining the two with yet further archival treasures of disparate genres past, even still you would be wrong. In truth the music sprung from the minds of a pair of collaborators Toronto off-beat enthusiasts will have already heard of.

'Heads' will no doubt recognize Carl Didur's enigmatic tones from the absolutely seminal (for my high-school-dollar) No Dynamics, not to mention the sorely missed shambling carnival-psych of Rozasia. In recent years Carl has hypnotized attendees of Against Life & Extermination Nights past with hypnotic displays of tape loop precision. However, none of these projects shed as much light on his current incarnation as his excursions into capital Pee Prog Rock as The Battleship Ethel, a collaboration with Zacht Automaat band-mate Michael McLean. TBE's Soft Machine worship (ZA literally translates into soft machine in Dutch) transported you to Canterbury before going cosmic with astounding riffery and maddening levels of musicianship. Sadly, all of these projects (save Didur's solo output) have come to a close in giving way for Zacht Automaat.

Between the Januarys of 2010 and 2011 ZA released 7 original records and 1 Beatles cover album. 3 of these records were released by local label Medusa as tapes, all of them have been uploaded for free internet consumption. These records have soundtracked much of my waking life since being released due to their composition of a hypnotic, mysterious, joyful music. These records audibly celebrate the bliss of music making, the mystery of melody. I can easily swear to you that these 8 records (and whatever other forthcoming records) will form a legacy of 'important' & 'historically worthy' art rock. These records will be ruthlessly searched for (once they are pressed), and picked over, analysed. With that in mind, I offer my own humble navigation of the Zacht Automaat world and the records therein. Let them into your life...

*A quick note on format: Upon release none of the records discussed below were broken into separate tracks. All records except two were broken only into a side A, and a side B. The remaining two albums are downloaded as a single file. This accounts for my reference of specific times in several instances rather than track names (which don't currently exist).

Electrische Duo - (2010)

The only recording by ZA that might be described as somewhat tentative, Electrische Duo represents the collective toe being dipped into the water. Themes are established here that will come to be perfected in future releases. Opening with some Sun Ra-esque space-lounge jazz, the album sets the tone for the rest of the series establishing a set of sounds that will come to be familiar. The hovering synths, the skittering organs, scattershot drumming with savage jazz bass riffage, the mixing of fidelities all hallmarks of the Automaat you will come to appreciate. 5 minutes in side B lets rip with an absolute monster of a jam, a floating mellotron sample repeatedly dive bombing an oscillating bass line atop frantic drums somewhat reminiscent of This Heat. The beginning...

We're Glad You Agree - (2010)

The first of the Medusa tapes, this record and its successor form the centre showpiece of the series. The albumopens with a hymn like organ poem, its synthetic humming sound vaguely reminiscent of Bowie's Low (Side 2) in its gentle mixture of kraut texture and mysterious religiosity. 4 minutes in the opening meditation is violently tossed aside in favour of a chugging Residents do Jazz! exposition, keyboard virtuosity abounds. Next up we are witness to Zacht Automaat's first resounding masterpiece. Ascending organ figures cannon over military snares. Humming-in, a children's melody floats up on echoed glockenspiel, a keyboard does it's best impression of a tuba, the song begins to bubble over with it's own exuberance until 2 and a half minutes in a feral squeal of feedback coupled with pulsing floor tom interrupts and savagely has its way with us. Just as suddenly an extraterrestrial electric piano loop majestically swoops down before absolutely blasting off with a beautifully produced segment of cosmic jazz.

LISTEN / DOWNLOAD HERE.

Smart Candle - (2010)

The second Medusa tape, and fraternal siblingof We're Glad You Agree. Smart Candle's first side replicates the animation of the previous record, restlessly opening with a doleful keyboard workout over a minimal bass figure that changes its mind and excitedly jumps into a jittering riff that does its best to contain muted air raid sirens - an ear catching rocker. The record skips on to 10:45 where it unleashes its bubble-gum centre (only briefly) with a pulsing bit of Zuckerzeit-esque audio candy. After the excitement of side 1 it's time to sit down and take a deep breath as side 2 is actually why we've broken out the good china...

Inscrutably titled 'Sterling's Over,' this epic forms the Automaat's only side long track, a keyboard symphony of classical proportion. The song quickly establishes a set of themes whose variations last an attention-holding 19:31. Smoothly transitioning from drum machine to live drums and back, a barrage of endlessly arpegiatting keyboards weave themselves in and around an elated series of melodies before coming to a triumphant conclusion that appropriately fades out to the sputtering sounds of a Roland Space Echo (the unofficial third member). Sterling's Over represents a level of compositional ambition that seems hardly ever to rear its head in contemporary music. Not to suggest that side long tracks aren't attempted (a psych record rite of passage), but rarely do they arrive so tightly coiled and precisely constructed.

LISTEN / DOWNLOAD HERE.

I Can Feel The Mold In Me (Dead Slow, No Wake) – (2010)

The third release in the trilogy of tapes released by Medusa (all nicely designed and screened by Jacob Horwood), ICFTMIM stands as somewhat of an anomaly in the ZA catalogue. Digital listeners may see it as something of a challenge as the album is the only one composed of original material that is not broken up into two sides, but plays (outside of the tape release) as a single track. Something else to consider is that the record comes hot on the heels of the epic We're Glad You Agree / Smart Candle sessions - some of the heaviest kosmiche psych this side of early 70's Cologne (you'll think I'm exaggerating until you ingest these albums). The reality is that with diligent listening Mold reveals it's subtle powers. Hi-lites include an absolutely mind warping section of splintered concrete-jazz fuckery at 18 minutes followed by a quintessentially heavy bass riff on McLean's end. A swampy early segment with combined acoustic & electric guitar riffage forges an acid folk look that is totally fascinating and unique in their discography.

LISTEN / DOWNLOAD HERE.

As It Is Spoken, So It Shall Be Done – (2010)

As It Is Spoken continues the trend of opening ZA albums with a brief beautiful keyboard melody that seems elemental in it's catchiness, as if it has always existed. We get straight to the business with an invigorating bit of modal key-bop interjected periodically with a violent Doom riff that plays out for much of the first side. Schizophrenically this savage opening soon gives way to some of the most beautiful keyboard music you could hope to encounter. Heard live earlier in the year (the Slim Twig band and Zacht Automaat played a couple shows together), the song at 11:15 was an honestly breathtaking hi-lite in a fantastic set. Achingly expressive melodies tumble forth, one after the other with hardly a moment to repeat themselves as a stately bass line pulses serenely below. The scope is purely baroque, the mood vividly melancholy as if the melodies were written in a heat of desire to return to a state of being knowingly passed. The side closes out with two further pieces composed of alternately dainty and moody melodies, a truly rich passage. While AIIS, SISBD presents some of the most challenging improvisatory passages of the Automaat oeuvre, lurking in the shadows are some of the most beautiful music they have yet committed.

LISTEN / DOWNLOAD HERE.

The Smiling Wilderness – (2010)

Appropriately titled, The Smiling Wilderness represents ZA's pastoral album, most easily comparable to Cluster's Sowiesoso or their farm setting collaborations with Eno. Except for a freewheeling passage in the middle section the entire first side is taken up with gently droning tones accompanied by drowsy keyboard trills, much of it set against calming nature sounds. After Zacht Automaat at their most lullaby-like side 2 opens with a more electric gesture. Pulsing a hammered note from a dying organ, even at it's most dissonant The Smiling Wilderness can't help but evoke the workman like repetition of an ant colony or some other natural form of cyclical erosion. Following the bands most neanderthal moment comes a contrasting theme of technical ingenuity, as Didur's mixing comes directly to the forefront of the next track. Over a simple arpeggiated organ hum float several different textures of varying degrees of insectual connotation, floating in and diving out as if in a swarm, everything in it's proper pocket yet always in perpetual motion. A virtuosic foreshadowing of the kind of technical inspiration that defines the opening of their last record glides to an end as the record lazily drifts to it's own conclusion.

LISTEN / DOWNLOAD HERE.

Get Baack – (2010)

Zacht Automaat represents to me the seamless culmination of several strands of outsider art-music. Sun Ra's space jazz, Soft Machine's Canterbury Prog, Delia Derbyshire's tape loop machinations, the Residents synth based alternative pop universe, Kosmiche experimentation, the clarity of harpsichord driven baroque rock confronted by the dusty murk of the other end of the 60's psych spectrum. In this light it may seem puzzling that Didur and McLean choose to represent themselves among those re-interpreters of the world's most famous Pop moneybags (Get Baack is entirely composed of Beatles covers). I speculate their decision stemmed not only from the challenge of re-illuminating the rote, but also by a genuine kinship in the glory of melody that the Fabs so revelled in. Though the 6 preceding ZA albums do display virtuosic exhibitions of dissonant jammage, equally prominent is a desire to engage listeners with a brightly crafted sense of melody somewhat sympathetic to J, P, G & R's populism. Get Baack presents an opportunity for a new listener to become accustomed with the world of Zacht Automaat (in their unique arrangement ideas, their blend of the synthetic & organic, their organization of songs) through some of the most friendly melodies of all time. For the Automaat fanatic, GB serves as a wonderful stop-gap EP embellished with appropriately sorrowful takes on classics like Long Long Long, Julia & perhaps the heaviest version of Yesterday yet laid to tape.

LISTEN / DOWNLOAD HERE.

We Can't Help You If We Can't Find You - (2011)

The goal was to record & release 12 records within a 12 month period. It shouldn't be held against them that ZA only managed 8, nor that this release trickled out just over the year line as their only release of 2011. WCHYIWCFY is a culmination record, the pinnacle in composition, mixing, and song-craft gained through the concentrated experience of a year spent making 7 other records. Testament to their creativity is that by the end of 2010 the Automaat still had just enough gas in the tank to deliver their most dynamic album yet. The record abruptly jolts to life, backwards keyboards panning across both channels in an effort to achieve light speed. Further arpeggiations make themselves known, guitar strings skitter to life a little further down the runway, things are moving impossibly quickly as finally a groove sneaks it's way out from under the track, fading in just as the details on land diminish, the earth expanding below. The record loses no steam in the aftermath of it's vivid opening, blazing through with a burning menace till the final song of the first side. Impossibly paced, the side closes out in the most pop-glorious terms possible, a fervent electric harpsichord ringing out the Automaat's most delicious melodies yet. A whirlwind side, Didur & McLean's best. Side 2 finds equal exhilarations, particularly a return to the scorching psych guitar in it's middle section but I think the series is best summed up by returning to this records opening evocation of a lift-off. In their ambition, in both their song-craft and fringier explorations, in their warm production style and adventurous mixing Zacht Automaat has come to define engaging art-pop exhilaration for me. I see the aircraft analogy as a fitting one representing ZA's disregard for the commonly assumed notions about that pesky thing called gravity. The Automaat defy time, money, dedication, ambition – issues that tether most musical acts to earth. They invite you on a lengthy and involved trip, one that would not be possible were it not for the information they've gleaned from cosmic voyagers across the ages. Zacht Automaat is now in possession of the flight plan, it's time to go...

LISTEN / DOWNLOAD HERE.

HOMETOWN SHOW

2011-10-11T14:20:00.000-07:00

Playing a Toronto show coming up soon. Only the second home show with full band. If you haven't seen, come hear the fuss! The show is an LP release for Toronto chums, Tasseomancy.

OCTOBER 20TH

at THE GREAT HALL

doors at NINE

TEN dollars adv.

Buy tickets online here.

JIM SULLIVAN

2011-10-01T13:13:00.000-07:00

The great Light In The Attic recently re-released this obscure private press LP "UFO" by Jim Sullivan, not to be confused with Big Jim Sullivan.

This record is a monster! A whalloping rhythm section adorned with Axelrod-esque strings. Soulful, mysterious shit. For fans of Joe South, Lee Hazlewood etc... aka ME.

LISTEN, THEN COP DAT.

MUSIC FOR LIVING

2011-09-17T14:58:00.000-07:00

Music. We need it for living...

With that in mind, may I direct you to couple of recent mixes both emanating out from Camp Twig.

I recently did a fairly in depth interview for France's Hartzine. You can catch an extensive (french language) bio, some terribly flattering remarks from friends Ela Orleans & Dirty Beaches, my interview and best of all - an exclusive mix much in the style of the old Idiot DJ mashes.

Featured artists: Popera Cosmic, Painted Ship, Delia Derbyshire, Cluster, Delfonics, Vinegar, Eric Copeland, Onakabazien, Roxy Music, Zacht Automaat & Lou Christie.

CLICK HERE & SCROLL DOWN TO LISTEN TO / DOWNLOAD MIX.

Also, the mighty Tim Westberg of My Mind fame (whose 12" Fed Up With Myself is the best Rock Opera of the year!) known to some readers as Twig Band vocal arranger & bass player extraordinaire has also just posted a a great new mix. Pop oddities abound every so often interrupted by a violent hardcore thrashing. The mix, titled 'Double Dip Obsesh' was curated for Ghost Capital, another great blog!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THAT.

TORONTO DISCOGRAPHIES VOL. 1

2011-09-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

Offerings is a local show-listings paper that is on it's third issue. They also publish esoteric reviews, interview and the like... I've started writing a series called Toronto Discographies, shedding light on some of my favourite Toronto artists with deep catalogues. Offerings has been kind enough to publish the first one, in their latest edition. I'm going to post these things here as well, as they don't yet have a website going.

Offerings can be found in hipper record stores and alternative spots across the city. Do pick up a copy...

TORONTO DISCOGRAPHIES VOL. 1: ONAKABAZIEN

Louis Percival aka Onakabazien – known to Torontonians as the brain-trust behind the deceased Broken Tree Fort, auxiliary percussionist of No Dynamics, and collaborator to the author of this piece – has been crafting albums since before the millennium. Talking about, let alone quantifying his discography becomes a nebulous task when accounting for the unreleased mountain of material he has accumulated over the past decade. Unreleased albums & EP's, cassettes in editions of 10, remixes upon remixes, 7” singles that didn't quite make it to press. Next, multiply that foggy figure by two as for the past decade this man of two minds has divided his work between Hip Hop production (as Onakabazien), and deadly guitar murk through four track abuse (Broken Tree Fort / Louis Percival).

In this instalment we take a look at the Hip Hop oeuvre of the only man in Toronto whose twin aspirations are to get a beat to Ghostface, and release an album on In The Red.

That Young Shit: Needle and the Damage Done (2010)

Though The O has been beat-making since the late 90's, this 2010 release could be considered the first official release as it was the first to exceed a pressing of 10, was uploaded to the internet in album form as a free download and is probably his most widely heard recording. Rightly so, as this reworking of Neil Young's catalogue brandished enough wallop to convert this non-believer to a Young super-fan. As advertised, the album makes exclusive use of samples contained on Young-ordained releases (from Buffalo Springfield to Human Highway). The power of the album lies in the Onakabazien's empathy for Young's work, a secret logic emerges from the shadow of the legend's catalogue that maybe always existed but took The O to pull out – the Secret Knock. Considering that the fragments of songs like 'Makin' It' and 'Move Child' have existed for decades without having been pieced together in their reworked state becomes a strange sensation as you discover the elemental thump that they've now come to contain. No mere mash-up, this album represents an alternate reality to John Oswald's plundering – re-imagined with swing.

DOWNLOAD HERE.

Power Of The Dollar (2010)

Second release in The O's Discipline Series (Young Shit being the first), a proposition to release 5 records each with a restriction defining their creation. The concept of Dollar was to create an album based on $10.00 worth of used LP's originally purchased for a DJ on a Dime appearance. The diversity on this collection of beats and meditations defines the album's success, and can only be attributed to the Onakabazien's sample-skewing facility (or a really good day at the used record store). Tying the whole album together are The O's hilariously conversational musings on poverty (a theme not commonly explored in Rap culture), strategically placed throughout. Humour actually becomes a running and effective theme throughout the album, the 'Early Morning Reflections' mixed with heavy audio-laffs like 'Tourrettes Shuffle' & 'Suicidal Thoughts' with it's endless repetition of the Yardbird's “When will it ennnnnd!” Ultimately what makes Dollar as compelling as it is are the jaw dropping and bizarre beats that seem it's stock and trade, 'Motivational Speakings', 'New Worlds Anthem' & 'Breakin' for Ends' forming a mid album trilogy of exhilaratingly fresh sample based music. The high-water mark.

DOWNLOAD HERE.

Overview Tape: 1999 – 2011 (2011)

Perhaps the perfect introduction into The O's particular world, the Overview Tape compresses 12 years worth of hi-lites into an hour long mix containing samples from each of the previously mentioned releases. The combination of remixes and original beats is an engaging one, offering an official release for some pretty astounding remix work that has gone unheard for too long. The remixes offer up not only some ingenious and mind melting pairings (Outkast over Kinks loops!?, Mos Def politically pontificating over This Heat!? ODB trash talking over the Slits!?), but insight into the evolution of the DJ's technique. Similiarly the beats expose a compelling trajectory over the decade, from the old school perversion of 'Sonic Mayfields' (SY over breakbeats), to the RZA tutelage of 'Shit for Dap', arriving at the Dilla-esque thwack of Young Shit's 'Baby'. A fascinating primer, and in all likely hood a glimpse into the voracious musical appetite of it's creator, touching down on sample sources as diverse as raving Psych, 50's kitsch, Sun Ra celestiality & lush soul.

DOWNLOAD HERE.

Young Shit II: Last Trip To Tulsa (2011)

The companion piece to the original Young Shit album, once again exclusively reaching into Neil's deep cuts for source material. Tulsa most resembles a producer hosted rap album in it's commitment to remixes and matching MC's with appropriate loops. The strength of the record is in it's reluctance to go for the shock factor of blending the Beastie Boys with Shakey, instead crafting beats that could ring true as original to the rhymes layered atop them. Having never heard LA the Darkman & Raekwon's 'Spring Water' you could be forgiven for assuming the lyrics had been written to the plaintive Cuban Linx era sounding guitar loop (the original is noticeably more jaunty), same goes for Slick Rick's 'I Shouldn't Have Done It'. Despite these remixes the most interesting track on the album is the titular reworking of 'Last Trip To Tulsa'. The O finally comes out from the shroud just long enough to perform the song himself, he delivers the surreal lyrics impactfully revealing more of his character in the process than almost any of his instrumentals. But it is an illusion. The song itself is a cover, the lyrics are not original to The O, nor is the loop, a (wisely) unaffected rendering of 'Cowgirl in The Sand' - and yet there lies the magic illusion of all sampled music: the revelation of the author through the reworking of the past.

DOWNLOAD HERE.

Onakabazien photo by Danielle Nemet.

ZACHT AUTOMAAT // COCA-COLA

2011-08-23T13:31:00.001-07:00

The past weekend I played a couple shows with my friends in Zacht Automaat. Though there was much shuffling of the cards and accommodating of extenuating circumstances the duo gave serious justice to their celestial recordings of 2010. They are playing their Toronto debut this Thursday the 25th of August. I won't go over for the billionth time the importance of their music, and how they are the most interesting instrumental 'rockishh' band going right now, but I will say this:

TO LIVE IN TORONTO IN FULL KNOWLEDGE OF THE ZACHT AUTOMAAT CONCERT, AND TO NOT ATTEND IT WOULD BE TANTAMOUNT TO CULTURAL NEGLIGENCE OF A CRIMINAL CAPACITY PUNISHABLE BY A COSMIC KIND OF WELTSCHMERZ.

Come out to the show. It also features the 2nd ever performance from my duo with Meghan of U.S. Girls. Our music has been described (by us) as: "like a walkie-talkie conversation between Motown and Outer Space."

ZACHT AUTOMAAT
MATT 'DOC' DUNN
COCA-COLA

THURSDAY AUGUST 25

DOUBLE DOUBLE LAND
(209 AUGUSTA)
DOORS AT 9 // $7.00

BE THERE.

A YEAR AGO

2011-08-17T15:14:00.000-07:00

A year ago yesterday, I released 'A Sheik In Scores.'

In commemoration of the album, (I take it all back about it being a 'mixtape', consider that shit my 2nd album), I have a video for the Onakabazien produced hi-lite 'Notorious Bride'.

Directed by Jennifer Hazel, this great clip references all manner of cinematic treasures. Look for a young Norma Jean, a photo cameo of D. Lynch and a riff on the shower scene from Gus Van Sant's Paranoid Park. Some same collaborators from the Priscilla clip, though I had little involvement except to show up day of. It is a simple, sorrowful, evocative little number. Enjoy...

UPCOMING SHOWS

2011-08-07T16:42:00.000-07:00

I have some upcoming shows in and around my hometown of Toronto. I will be playing with two of my favourite acts in the world - U.S. Girls & Zacht Automaat for a couple shows. The Toronto show is my first in a year, and my first with new band. I will have copies of the new record at least at the first of these shows... I could go on.

Come out and see for yourself!

AUG. 18 - TORONTO - Dakota Tavern
w/ U.S. Girls & Sun Ra Ra Ra

AUG. 19 - LONDON - Brennan's Beer Bistro
w/ U.S. Girls & Zacht Automaat

AUG. 20 - PETERBOROUGH - The Loft (We Live Here Too)
w/ U.S. Girls & Zacht Automaat

*Toronto show poster by Meg & I.

I'LL ALWAYS BE A CHILD

2011-07-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

I recently performed an alternate version of Palmist Split hit 'I'll Always Be A Child'. On record the arrangement is much more built up, (the performance is after all live and solo), but in any case it feels nice to say to the world 'hey, I can play keyboards - I can write pop songs!'.

The split is out in North America in August. If you live in Toronto, Rotate This & Soundscapes have advance copies!

PRISCILLA CLIP

2011-07-08T13:49:00.001-07:00

This past spring I directed my first video, a clip for 'Priscilla' - a song that can be found on my split with U.S. Girls. I had help from Zonial Pictures, the brains behind this thing.

"Priscilla" is the first music video directed by Slim Twig. It was produced by Jennifer Hazel, and shot by Ross Turnbull. The song is taken from a split 12" with U.S. Girls on the Palmist record label.

The video was conceived as a long form expanding portrait (not unlike a lo-fi version of Kanye West's "Power" clip). It is somewhat of a reaction to the barrage of rapid fire NSFW videos that have come to dominate as of late, in that it is an elegant take on a very simple idea. A foggy mystery of a tableau, a broke-baroque moving painting.

PHOTOS BY MEG.

PALMIST LP

2011-06-21T23:58:00.000-07:00

The re-emergence of my solo material as Slim Twig is in full effect. As I've been posting about, I have an amazing band to play with now, and finally you can hear some of the new material I've been hard at work with for the last year. Palmist Records is a brand new label from Brighton, UK and a subsidiary of FatCat. As their first release they're putting out a split 12" featuring myself and U.S. Girls.

This record is special for many reasons. First off it features two brand new tunes unveiling my new 'tuneful direction'. One of these tunes is probably the best song I've ever written ('I'll Always Be A Child'). Secondly, I co-produced & recorded the U.S. Girls side as well as my own. I've long wanted to start producing in this way, and to have my first shot at it be with an artist as remarkable as Meg makes me very lucky. The record slays.

SLIM TWIG SIDE

1. Paisley Skin
2. Priscilla
3. Champagne Vacation
4. Notorious Bride
5. I'll Always Be A Child

Running Time: 13:24

Tracklisting also features two tunes from last years A Sheik In Scores, (Onakabazien's production on 'Notorious Bride' was calling out for fat groove treatment), as well as a song I made music for on Meg's side called 'If These Walls Could Talk.'

Will post a video for the song 'Priscilla' in the next week or so. Til then, please have a listen to it and the above mentioned U.S. Girls choon HERE.

Pre-order at Rough Trade.

ALSO: SLIM TWIG DEBUT TORONTO BAND SHOW AUGUST 18TH AT DAKOTA TAVERN.

BLOODSTAINS

2011-06-07T14:17:00.000-07:00

I recently contributed two songs to the new 'Bloodstains Across Ontario' compilation. Ontario is the third release in Mammoth Cave Records provincial surveying of Canadian punk and weirdo music. The first tune I submitted is a Twig ditty called 'Vile City' about urban violence, the second is a cover of Daryl Hall's great 'NYCNY' except we changed it to 'TORON' as all the tunes submitted were supposed to touch on the eponymous geography. Both tunes are about a minute long as all material submitted to the comp had to fit on a single 7 inch record. Neat idea all in all.

The things are flying off the racks, so you should pre-order now if interested. Collectors item for anyone who reads this blog as two of my musical pursuits are contained therein.

Click here to stream the whole record.

UPCOMING SHOWS

2011-05-27T13:22:00.000-07:00

Hey, I have some shows coming up. I'll be taking my ace new band on the road for a weekend jaunt this first week of June, playing with some cool bands along the way. If you live nearby come say hi and hear my new sounds.

All these shows are with Doldrums, who I recently did a song with. CLICK HERE to check that out.

JUNE 2 || E-Bar, GUELPH
with Doldrums

JUNE 3 || Torn Curtain, MONTREAL
with Pink Noise, Doldrums, Sean Nicholas Savage
Pink Noise LP release show!

JUNE 4 || 485 McLeod, OTTAWA
with U.S. Girls, Doldrums, Holy Cobras

JUNE 29 || APK Live, LONDON
with Doldrums
THIS LAST SHOW IS NO LONGER HAPPENING.

ALSO HAPPENING

JUNE 19 || Double Double Land, TORONTO
U.S. Girls, Noveller & Huckleberry Friends
with DJ SLIM TWIG

I feel a little sheepish posting these posters I made with those Jackie Casey works hovering a post below....

JACKIE CASEY

2011-05-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

Check out these fantastic posters by Jacqueline S. Casey. She was employed by MIT for close to four decades making scores of posters, they are all great. These are my favourites.

PALE TRASH

2011-05-03T14:08:00.000-07:00

My other band Tropics has finally released our first true record.

PALE TRASH

side a: PALE TRASH
side b: EARMARKED

The single is out now on Pleasence Records, a great new label out of Toronto. Pleasence are supporting some really exciting stuff in Toronto. A long overdue DIY operation supporting Toronto bands by documenting them on wax. Prepare for further collaboration between Pleasence and Slim Twig affiliated choonz.

PALE TRASH is in an edition of 200, and comes with a poster. All art by Andrew Zukerman. Future record collecting folk can geek out that they have a first pressing with a typo on the cover (if they order now)... ha.

LISTEN HERE.

PURCHASE 7" HERE for the very low price of $7.

ALTHEA

2011-04-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

SHE SINGS ON THE NEW SLIM TWIG LP.

SHE SOUNDS LIKE THIS.

MELLOTRON MUSIC

2011-04-06T17:14:00.000-07:00

Here's a companion piece to the 'Harpsichord Heaven' mix I posted recently.

Mellotron is another of my favourite instruments that hasn't really been in vogue for a couple of decades but makes it's mark on some of the best psychedelic music ever. This mix covers a wide variety of (mostly) progressive rock styles that made good use of the instrument.

The mix was made by Carl Didur whose main concern these days is Zacht Automaat. He makes all my paisley talk look real silly as he is a true master of warped pop psychscapes. I'm a lucky guy to play with him in both Plastic Factory and my eponymous concern.

Artists featured on the mix:

Tangerine Dream, Earth & Fire, Gracious, PFM, Hawkwind, Trace, Genesis, Matching Mole, Van Der Graf Generator, King Crimson, Greenslade, Aphrodite's Child, Focus, King Crimson again, Earth & Fire again.

Listen below, and download free of charge using the Soundcloud download tab.

MELLOTRON by CARL DIDUR

ON POP WRITING.

2011-03-28T20:07:00.000-07:00

The past half year has been spent in an attempt to create new material in a different vein. I've abandoned sample based work for the time being and have found that attempting some semblance of pop writing can be very fulfilling indeed. I like listening to the Zombies, pondering the nature of the writing and attempting a pre-chorus of my own. It's a thrill when it feels like it's working.

In a very recent email interview I found myself articulating why it is that i've enjoyed trying my hand at pop writing better than I thought I could:

I've become more and more enamoured with the idea of pop music. I try to study it, to determine what works in certain songs and if they are elements that might work within my own. It is a tradition, it's fun to contribute to it. That element of expectation that people have when they realize they are experiencing a pop song is great, because it's the tension between that feeling and the experience of having those notions bent by the particular sensibility of the artist that is so exhilarating to try and produce. That feeling of understanding the context to a degree, but also that sense of discovery within the vaguely familiar. That's become more exciting to me than hitting someone over the head with something they have no context or preconception of... It's more of a challenge in some respects.

I hope for these experiments to trickle out over the course of the year... stay tuned.

PARSLEY SAGE ROSEMARY & TIMBER

2011-03-23T16:52:00.000-07:00

I recently performed in the video for Timber Timbre's 'Woman.'

I love the song, so was very happy to be involved. That riff is mega. Heavy burner. The record it comes from is a beaut, just wait!

Also I will be unveiling my new SLIM TWIG band at a couple of upcoming church shows with Timber Timbre. Please come out if you're in the area. The band is composed of heavy session cats Louis Percival & Carl Didur with recent Philly transplant Tim Westberg of the great My Mind.

dates...

APRIL 2nd // Murray Street Baptist Church // Peterborough
APRIL 7th // Centenary United Church // Hamilton

also...

PLASTIC FACTORY my psychedelic covers band is playing
APRIL 8th // Double Double Land // Toronto

BAND IS COMING.

2011-03-16T15:56:00.000-07:00

PS- Had a dream the other day in which I was in a foreign land talking about music. I was trying to explain who I was playing with these days. I said SLIM TWIG and they didn't understand ... I remember saying "Small branch ... " and waving my arms around. I moved to go outside to look for a tree to make myself clearer and woke up. I remember these confused WWII era French faces staring at me. Minor Limb... ah Little Shrub ... confusion ...

50

2011-03-04T22:02:00.001-08:00

HAPPY ONES. LOVE ALWAYS.

XOXOXOXO

march 4th (NOW APRIL 8TH)

2011-02-24T15:39:00.000-08:00

THIS SHOW IS TEMPORARILY POSTPONED. PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR NEW DATE.

THE NEW DATE IS APRIL 8TH.
THE NEW DATE IS APRIL 8TH.
THE NEW DATE IS APRIL 8TH.
THE NEW DATE IS APRIL 8TH.

same deets as below.

On APRIL 8TH my band Plastic Factory is performing the third installment of a self-curated variety night. Every show we choose a film to screen & a comedian to perform. We perform two sets made of sometimes psychedelic covers from the mid 60's to the early 70's. We also perform originals.

If you will be in Toronto on March 4th please come and have some fun with us. The band features my three favourite musicians in Toronto and I am lucky to perform with them!

Poster made by this lady.

IDIOT DJ VOL. 5: 'HARPSICHORD HEAVEN'

2011-02-09T13:11:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted a new Idiot DJ mix in some time not out of laziness, but more that I wanted to give A Sheik In Scores about six months of breathing room. I don't want to exhaust your downloading capacity, dear readers, on music not of my own imagination... So in other words if you haven't downloaded my last album (free of charge) skip this post, and CLICK HERE.

For you others, I present the finest and first themed installment of the Idiot DJ series. Volume 5, a brief history of psychedelic, (broadly defined), harpsichord usage. By no means is this at all definitive. I've left out much, and was restricted (mostly) to LP's I actually own. Once again, the grimey nature of this mix is due to my crackly records being bounced to tape before mixed.

The harpsichord is my favourite instrument, and fans of my own music can expect it sprinkled over my new material that will leak it's way out sometime in 2011. It seemed appropriate to make a mix of this theme, and in anticipation of my own psychedelic, (broadly defined), usage.

Artists featured include, roughly in this order:

Barry White, The Association, Wizzard, Chris Clark, Faust, The Sylvers, Madlib, The Rolling Stones, Roxy Music, Lee Hazlewood, The Left Banke, Love, Paul Mauriat, more Barry White, Ghostface, Jimi Hendrix, Captain Beefheart, The Beatles, The Millenium, Serge Gainsbourg, The Stranglers, The Bee Gee's, The Four Tops, The End, Nirvana UK, Jean Le Fennec, The Zombies, Kanye West, Nick Drake, Jean-Claude Vannier, more Serge Gainsbourg, The Kinks

And yes, I realize Kanye West does not exactly fit neatly into any kind of psychedelic category, in fact his whole ethos seems not to induce any mind expansion, but oppositely asks you to help him expand himself into a signifier of all music and culture generally speaking. HE IS A BLACK HOLE, but don't let that distract you from the best mix of the series so far!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD.

or listen below...

IDIOT DJ 5: 'Harpsichord Heaven' by Slim Twig

TRISH

2011-01-31T21:12:00.000-08:00

What a horrible winter's morning surprise it was to wake up to that news.

Trish Keenan, one half of Broadcast who in turn represented about one third of my interest in contemporary music has passed on.

I've read little since that has communicated much of the mystery of her music, or the power of the contradictions those Broadcast records contain. There seems little true consolation to the loss of a life cut (seemingly) mid sentence...

But to speak of those fascinating puzzles - wasn't it a pretty trick to see such an acclaimed group become more obscured, more nebulous with each passing record? How was it that they so effortlessly embodied retro dusty psychedelics, while delivering entirely contemporary mood music? The graft of atmosphere more akin to film music to such seductive pop music is surely unparalleled. Tender Buttons still remains mysteriously an exercise in the clinical and simultaneously the sensual, the broken and the gleaming.

I only saw Broadcast once, I left hypnotised by their originality, the density of sound produced by a duo and the beautiful synchronicity they achieved with the amazing visuals that accompanied their set. Trish had a starkly beautiful presence. One of my favourite shows ever...

A true heartbreaker.

MY FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2010

2011-01-16T16:20:00.000-08:00

This list probably seems overdue. I haven't seen many music lists since the end of December, which is a phenomena that I find strange... Lists are propagated en masse before we've had a chance to properly digest all that's occurred in the last 12 months. Personally I feel like lists should always be shifting, the tally of my favourite records from last year is probably different now than as it was documented last January... In any case consider this late list, considered.

MY FAVOURITE LPS OF 2010 IN A NOT ENTIRELY PARTICULAR ORDER

Zacht Automaat - Discography

2010 saw the emergence of a mysterious entity known as Zacht Automaat. It's unclear whether they are a militarily organized music unit - machine like and efficient in kosmiche space jazz, or simply a duo led by my friend Carl Didur compulsively recording every sound they collaboratively emit and then splicing them into fragmented psychedelic outsider masterworks. Not to blow smoke up the ass of someone who I have to face weekly for band practice, but these records (7 of a proposed 12 were released this year) are easily the most invigorating, challenging and exciting works currently being made in my estimation (excluding all hip hop that I listen to, some of which I am equally excited by (see below)).

First off, the work ethic is to be admired. Even Madlib who released upwards of 10 records this year, did so by combing through the vaults.... ZA literally locked themselves in a room and came up with seven records worth of material, and then released them for free on the internet. The diversity is pretty wild too, see-sawing through and mastering just about any art rock subgenre that you could think of (Krautrock, Space Rock, Jazz Fusion, Psychedelic Shit, Tape Music, Musique Concrete, Avant covers, Canterbury style Prog). A few favourite moments of mine are the all to brief re-working of THAT RIFF from Neil Young's 'Words,' the sublimely terrestrial opening of We're Glad You Agree, the bizarre fusion of frantic space jazz and doom metal on the first side of As It Is Spoken, So It Shall Be Done and absolutely the best cover of the most covered song of all time, Yesterday.

In all honesty, this is challenging stuff, but as with all music that requires some kind of commitment to it the rewards are great, and leave you feeling as if you've just uncovered some special treasure. If you have any inclination whatsoever towards heady music of any genre, please give this stuff a shot, in my opinion (for whatever it's worth) these records will one day find their place as 'important works' in the art rock cannon (for whatever that is worth). This stuff if absolutely begging for a vinyl compiling, I spent much of this year daydreaming about getting some money together to release it (one day...). Zacht Automaat owned my 2010.

DOWNLOAD ZACHT AUTOMAAT RECORDS FOR FREE HERE.

(note: a good place to start is with We're Glad You Agree, Smart Candle, or the Beatles cover record Get Baack).

Onakabazien - That Young Shit // Power Of The Dollar

Madlib Medecine Show was not the only hip hop series that was birthed in 2010, in fact Onakabazien's Discipline Series ranks in my mind as actually more interesting from a conceptual point of view. Five records each with their own looming restriction or 'discipline.' The design of the series seems to revolve around a contempt for complacency, a desire to always undergo change, to forcefully manipulate your craft into nooks it does not necessarily want to tuck itself into. Who else is actually building this kind of a motor into their craft? So yea, conceptually sound but the music is fantastic.

That Young Shit, which was defined by it's discipline to be composed entirely of sounds plundered from Neil Young's catalogue was so powerful it actually (and honestly) served as the primer for my interest in the titular man's discography, (his charms had previously eluded me). Who knew Neil's reckless genre flitting tendencies would lend themselves so well to hip hop music, from the melancholy beauty of tracks like 'Wire Scuff' & 'Radiation Drunks,' to the definitive knock of 'Transformer Shit.'

Power Of The Dollar came next, it's challenge was to construct a record composed only of sounds sampled from ten dollars worth of records purchased on a single afternoon. If I had to choose a favourite among the two Discipline records released so far it would probably be this one. The decision to include some vocal interludes on this record served to really inject a lot of humour, and character into the mostly instrumental exercise. POTD also has a lot of variety to it, from the Sun Ra worshiping 'Ra Gold' interludes to the hilarious musings on those 'Early Morning Reflections,' in between he left time for straight bangers like 'Baby's Love.' The whole thing is capped off by a bizarre and funky cover of Hall & Oates 'Abandoned Luncheonette,' easily equalling some of Beck's early piss-taking but genuinely catchy pranks. Tied with Zacht Automaat's 'We're Glad You Agree,' for favourite album of 2010.

DOWNLOAD ONAKABAZIEN RECORDS FOR FREE HERE.

Roc Marciano - Marcberg

My favourite rap record since the mid-aught boom (Madvillainy, Beauty & The Beat, Jaylib etc...) Much has been made of the Wu / Mobb Deep resemblance. Marcberg plays less like a descendant to Raekwon's OBFCL, but more like a contemporary, ancient scroll only unearthed this past year. Not to say any of it sounds dated or archaic, but more that Roc specializes in that pointillist style of rap defined by Rae & Ghost, those raps composed less by the crimes themselves, but by the thousand details that surround the lifestyle. Gutter eloquence.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today

Just in advance, I'm new to this party. I really like the production, and the tunes are catchy as hell (most of em). I think people wrote a lot about this shit this year, so I don't feel like it. In any case, I'm happy to be on board with this guy as he is an ace song writer.

Guilty Simpson - OJ Simpson

When this record was first announced I thought it was going to be marketed as more of a collaboration album with OJ (Otis Jackson Jr, aka Madlib, aka the God) Simpson as the moniker. I was a little surprised when it came out that it was billed as a Guilty Simpson record, because dude only shows up on half the tracks. This makes for an entirely idiosyncratic record in favour of Madlib's particular particularities (in truth Guilty is not exactly the most idiosyncratic rapper, though a pretty good one). There isn't another album that sounds like this, completely uncommercial murky mixes spiced with heavy pop bangers. A real riddle of a slab with tuff talking interludes and my favourite Madlib product in a year absolutely rammed with em.

Anika - Anika

I can't lie. I'm jealous... This record was put out by my favourite label (Stones Throw) and was produced by the mighty Geoff Barrow, a concoction I would like to think I might have put together should the opportunities have arisen. In any case, it stands on it's own regardless of connections. A heady blend of chilly vocals and dank rhythms, this is a pretty aesthetically sound operation. The record effortlessly references bass-heavy movements from ESG to dub, represented by a great selection of great covers.

Grinderman - Grinderman 2

To be honest, I haven't listened much to this record... 2010 was the year I fully retreated to pre 1980 for the lions share of my rawk music listening, but I will say that Grinderman based on their live show are the most ferocious rock band going. This record seems like it's got a few great growlers on it, and some lyrics that are approaching that Iggy thing where they sound so stupid they just might be brilliant. I think I'm gonna like this a lot more in a couple months.

Strong Arm Steady - In Search Of Stoney Jackson

How many records did Madlib release this year? More than 10... This is my second favourite, the pop yin to the obscured yang of the OJ record. Telegram is one of my favourite moments of the year, those drums fucking whallop. Lots of great, soulful production with blunted edges. Madlib stays on top on top on top.

White Fence - White Fence

Rad sounding shit. Bedroom soft psych splitting the difference between Syd Barrett and the god Mark E Smith. British eccentricity done by a Texan. Good sounding shit.

Rick Ross - Teflon Don // Drake - Thank Me Later

I would be lying if I said I didn't listen to both of these a lot. Expensive sounding pop music has it's place, and I'm not one to deny it from my life. I like to try and stay somewhat current with the whims of the rap world as I find modern expensive sounding rock music to be repulsively empty. Not much to say other than that Rozay GOES HARD, and Drake has that smooth talk on lock. This shit just sounds like money. Also, I like the Kanye productions on these albums (particularly this track) better than the Kanye album itself.

10 THRILLING SONGS OF 2010

2011-01-02T13:25:00.000-08:00

Once a year i indulge myself and write a whole bunch of music journo sounding crap about the music i've come to enjoy in the preceding year. Most of this shit makes me cringe to re-read it as I feel much more comfortable on the 'musician' side of the equation, but I do think it is valuable to purge your thoughts on music if only to better understand what you like about your own...

In any case, perhaps you might hear something that you haven't heard before, or even better you may find something re-affirming what you already liked this year. We're not alone.

I'm going to post a list of my favourite albums in the next couple days, til then...

10 SONGS THAT THRILLED ME, MADE IN 2010 (IN NO SPECIAL ORDER)

Gonjasufi - 'DedNd'

Filth. Disgustingly Raw. This is a real dust-dripper. Paint stripper. Every time this song creeps out of a closet a spin is stolen from that future sample-psych LP that Louis Percival and I are going to make.

LISTEN

U.S. Girls - 'Lunar Life'

A song like a riddle, the answer reading: anyway you twist me, this is soul music. Once the geography is clearer the results lace in, the song is devastating. The voice sounds like it is haunting itself, collapsing in and ascending. Both singles that came out this year were fantastic. Modern soul carving itself away from the cultivated. Emotionally potent.

LISTEN

Kanye West - 'Devil In A New Dress'

As far as contemporary producers go Kanye is as brilliant as they come. As far as monolithic celebrity personas go Kanye is as repulsive as they come. Watching that piece of shit companion piece 'film' earlier in the year made it nearly impossible for me to indulge the guy and actually give his LP a straight listen. Despite his grotesque desire to be held in regard as the 'greatest artist of all time,' he actually does find the initiative to make some pretty great sounds. This beat is exquisite, there's no denying it, and I won't.

LISTEN

Caribou - 'Odessa'

Indefatigable, cerebrally funky shit.

LISTEN

Gangrene - 'Not High Enough'

Alchemist is among the only producers since Dilla able to seamlessly slide between introspective crate digging and tuff talk thwump. This track defies physics by blissfully gliding while remorselessly knocking all at once. My favourite rap single of the year.

LISTEN

Owen Pallett - 'Keep The Dog Quiet'

Immaculately produced drama. Disturbed elegance hangs over this track (and much of the album), draping itself, contorting into chaos and snapping back into order all at once. So many balances, an ambitious tightrope walk. I love the vocabulary of the music more than anything, leaning into a pop modernity that would be unachievable with only guitars and drums. Qualities to aspire to, and nick from.

LISTEN

Lil' Wayne - '6", 7"'

All it took to hear Wayne go hard again was slipping the guitar out of his hands. He seriously sounds demented on this. Desperate swag.

LISTEN

Dirty Beaches - 'Golden Desert Sun'

Morrison flavours, heat haze looming soon as the tracks floats into earshot. Collapsing chromatic minimal clutter. Sweat Jam psychedelia. Hot shit, great B side too.

LISTEN

Salem - 'King Night'

Sounding like the kind of shit Shawty Redd (what's up with that murder charge?) might make if he were haunting your house. Terrifying heaviosity. Also authors of my favourite comedy youtube of the year.

LISTEN

Fat Joe - 'Slow Down'

I love this song. It doesn't rattle, it whallops. It also makes the opening of Belly seem kind of disappointing when the beat won't drop...

LISTEN

THE CAPTAIN IS NOT EVEN HERE

2010-12-20T22:20:00.000-08:00

Rest In Peace to the author of my favourite album of the 60's. A rarity, a true original. Blues so scalding and psychedelic they bubbled over the pot and made a mess of all guitar rock to follow...

I can never tire of his music.

SIGHT UNSEEN

2010-11-28T21:11:00.000-08:00

Last year I spent some time shooting the film 'Sight Unseen,' and earlier this year I spent a great deal of time scoring said film...

By profession I guess I might (very) reluctantly call myself something of an actor. I've auditioned countless times for the roles of homeless guy, squeegee kid, skateboarder, belligerent youth, hipster etc, etc... This is by way of saying the part I played in this film stands as unique and very special. Projects as idiosyncratic as this one DO NOT COME AROUND, and when they do you must pounce and be dedicated.

It was a family production, and in the moment of creation I felt truly blessed because of that. Creating something from nothing is a true miracle, and the sensation of doing so is an ecstatic one. Sharing this project has been a profound experience, and a great lesson.

In terms of the style of the film it is a balancing act that fans of my music might be familiar with. A hesitant stab at pop (or genre) served with a generous dollop of cerebral moodiness. I've learned that this is a precarious balance for most, but I believe it to be an innovative and brave approach. The film is original in this respect. I am proud not only to be a part of it, but to be near the centre of its engine so to speak.

Fans of David's Lynch & Cronenberg, Rear Window and other voyeuristically themed flicks will enjoy this eerie lo-fi, sci-fi mood piece.

Please join us this Thursday December 2nd at the Royal Cinema in Toronto for the screening. The film begins at 7pm.

Sight Unseen Trailer from Ross Turnbull on Vimeo.

STONEHENGE

2010-11-14T22:32:00.001-08:00

The other week I went on a rant about my distaste for the current crop of rock bands. Simply enough, I haven't seen a rock band that truly exhilarated me since the demise of Bush League (with respect due to Actual Water, who will get there)*...

My opinion was leavened somewhat by Grinderman's concert this past week at the Phoenix. They were crushing. I felt paralyzed by andrenaline, half exhilaration half vague terror. IT WAS ROCK N' ROLL IN THE FLESH. Raw shit, the good stuff.

I hate to be that guy whining about the state of music today talking about how much better things were in the 60's (much, musically speaking), as the truth of the matter is there are a handful of things that truly excite me happening presently... But it's hard not to notice that (rock) bands suck by and large these days. And I think I know why.

Rock (RAWK specifically) has always been and should always be about one thing only. Not having. The variety of bereftitude (not a word) is inconsequential, though not having sex and not having money seem to be the most potent for some reason. The problem is bands today have way too much to be halfway interesting. Recording is too cheap, finding compatible bandmates too easy, sexual desires too readily satiated through a computer screen, American Apparel is hiring younger and younger adolescents. There's too much available for any not-enough to find it's way into rehearsal factories the world over. This is a problem, (one I am not exempt from).

Look at pictures of New York in the 70's, or read this book. Shit was fucked up. People were lacking, and in return we got punk, no wave and many other permutations. All that great shit made by good looking Englishmen in the 60's was spawned by people who were born during World War II... I think there is something to be said for that.

It occured to me while Warren Ellis was savagely abusing a pair of maraccas, and while Nick Cave made love to all of us with his stylishly clad pelvis that Grinderman have access to the last legitimate resource of not-havingness. Youth. They don't have it, they're frank about it. And they are among the first to truly capitalize on this in an electric fashion. More old guys need to catch on to this, because I honestly believe that in the rock n' roll (I use this term specifically for it's cheesy cache in 2010) game they truly have a leg up on us young guys with a little too much satisfaction...

I realize this argument calls into question the whole suffer for your art theory that I find to be mostly bullshit, but I do think guitar based music made by young men and women today would be better off with a little less... Especially if we're gonna be competing with band's like Mr. Cave's.

Something to think about.

*I also leave Anagram (one of my favourite bands to see live) and a fistful of others out for sake of debate.

'BABY'S LOVE'

2010-10-21T16:53:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

earlier this year I linked you to one of my favourite albums to come out in the last little while by Twig collaborator and vinyl archeologist ONAKABAZIEN. He just released his second recording of 2010, and I think perhaps my favourite album of the year: 'Power Of The Dollar.'

Basically it's the second installment in his Discipline Series which finds him making albums with self imposed constraints. 'Power Of The Dollar's constraint was that he make a whole albums worth of beats using only $10.00 worth of records purchased on a single afternoon. It's fantastic.

Download it HERE for free.

In celebration I decided to make a song with one of my favourite tracks from the album. I present 'Baby's Love.'

Baby's Love by slimtwig

Also available for free download, HERE.

'A SHEIK' ON SALE

2010-09-17T11:51:00.000-07:00

Physical copies of my album 'A Sheik In Scores' are ready to ship!

As previously mentioned the album is available in a limited quantity on cassette tape. It comes beautifully packaged by Andrew Zukerman, and contains an insert with directions on how to download (useful if the tape is a gift for someone unaware of the charm of this quaint blog).

If you are from overseas please drop me a line before ordering so we can arrange proper shipping. North American shipping is included in the pay pal transaction below.

And of course if you haven't heard the album download it HERE.

'A SHEIK IN SCORES'

2010-08-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

SLIM TWIG - 'A SHEIK IN SCORES'
or Spit It Twig! Vol. 3

Side A:

1. Introduction...
2. Honey Suckle Rose
3. Paisley Skin
4. Cream Soda
5. Hail The Cue
6. Dripping Golden Best

Side B:

7. Reel Two
8. Slit To The Hilt
9. A Veil & A Vice (Notorious Bride)
10. Once My Lady's Wish Is Done
11. Callboy For Your Love
12. Lust For Love
13. Tonight / Still On White Linen

'A Sheik In Scores' is a collection of songs, each with a sampled component taken from film music.

Although 'A Sheik In Scores' is free for anyone to download and subtitled as the third in my free 'mixtape' series, it is an album. The true follow-up to last year's 'Contempt!', I wanted to make something that would reinforce my commitment to creating music designed for free consumption, (not arriving there despite a commitment to the opposite).

It can be interpreted as a slab of densely psychotic psychedelia, or as a document of outsider hip hop. In any case, it is an album of skewed pop music. I hope that you find it interesting.

If you see merit in owning a physical token of this recording, you may order a self-released limited edition cassette elaborately packaged by Andrew Zukerman. The cassette will be ready for purchase by the end of August, stay tuned...

AFTER A YEAR OF FREE DOWNLOADING, I'VE TAKEN THE LINK OFF MY BLOG. YOU CAN STILL LISTEN TO THE ALBUM FOR FREE OR PURCHASE A DIGITAL VERSION FOR THE VERY REASONABLE PRICE OF 5 DOLLARS AT THE LINK BELOW.

I ALSO STILL HAVE PHYSICAL COPIES. PAY PAL ME.

TO STREAM THE ALBUM, OR DOWNLOAD A HIGH QUALITY VERSION CLICK HERE.

All songs contain samples from film scores, or music from movies.
All songs by Slim Twig 2010.

Tracks 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11 produced by Slim Twig.
Tracks 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12 produced by Onakabazien.
Track 13 contains an interpolation of the song 'Tonight' by Iggy Pop.

All songs mixed by Slim Twig except track 9, mixed by Onakabazien.

Artwork by Andrew Zukerman.

PSYCHEDELIC SITUATION

2010-07-28T13:03:00.000-07:00

Coming in August

SLIM TWIG - 'A SHEIK IN SCORES'

or Spit It Twig Vol. 3

An album of songs composed from snatches of film scores, and music from movies. It will be available as both a free download, and a deluxe cassette.

This song, 'Once My Lady's Wish Is Done' will be featured.

Once My Lady's Wish Is Done by slimtwig

FLYERS

2010-07-19T18:41:00.000-07:00

i made some flyers this week for shows that i am putting together or playing...

if you live in toronto you should come to this stuff. all shows contain things long in the making. huckleberry friends formed for my 16th birthday party, and are finally putting out some official wax. i haven't played toronto since last year, come see this stuff.

IDIOT DJ MIX 4 // LP EDITION

2010-06-25T12:11:00.000-07:00

sorry for the delay with this latest idiot dj mix. did a little soul searching and decided this time around to make a literal mixtape and upload it for all y'all. this one is in grimy mono, cassette hiss all intact. bounce it back to tape and knock it in yer '64 biscane if you got one like tony...

maybe a little less obscure, as my lp collection is relatively modest... less craziness to choose from. not sure if this is a one time edition, or if it'll be a regular thing. in any case 4 really lives up to the idiot dj moniker. i literally dj from lp's i own, and the transitions are truly idiotic and terrible. it all adds to a charming whole right?

ST // IDIOT DJ MIX 4 // 30:00

1. Alice Coltrane Intro
2. Black Dice - 'Ultra Vomit Craze'
3. Sir Paul McCartney - 'Temporary Secretary'
4. Giorgio Moroder - 'Chase'
5. Tuxedomoon - 'No Tears'
6. The Curtains - 'Brunswick Stew'
7. Edan 'Rock N' Roll feat Dagha'
8. The Yardbirds - 'For Your Love'
9. The Troggs - 'Jingle Jangle'
10. Moondog Cannon
11. David Bowie - 'Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family'
12. Jean Claude Vannier - 'Danse Des Mouches Noires Gardes Du Roi'
13. Jeru Tha Damaja - 'Not The Average'

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD IT

good lookin to louis peanuts on the tuxedomoon track. sorry how this mono mix fucks up the moondog track. spit it twig vol. 3 very much in production...

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING.

2010-06-07T16:15:00.000-07:00

no updates in some time, i'm awares... BUT, let me explain. i went on a very excellent road trip and played the excellent OBEY convention in halifax set up for weirdos like myself who hover somewhere in the dark nethers stickily sewn between pop and weirdness.

in anticipation of performing at the festival i said some things here.

once i arrived my face was very surreally plastered around a city i had never visited by way of this article.

all the while i've been furiously talking up the film i finished with my parents this year. you may hear snippets of my score and read about that here.

i came home and played the 2nd show with my new band plastic factory, and took off my shirt while my friend executed a perfect windmill. too much? you decide...

lastly i wrote a garagey jangler for my favourite comedy show in toronto which happens every couple of sundays at the rivoli in toronto - let's get hot. you may hear that just below.

Theme For LGH by slimtwig
idiot dj 4 by weeks end, spit it twig vol. 3 by summer's end.

ZACHT AUTOMAAT

2010-05-03T17:52:00.001-07:00

my new band is called plastic factory, and we are the squad - i'll tell you why...

every member has released free album length amazing shit over the last year. i already linked you to 'that young shit' coming from onakabazien (mastermind louis percival plays drums for the factory), i've mentioned actual water's 'double negatives' a few times before (raw shit from tony price (guitar player)), now please check out the newest addition from the immense awesomeness of carl didur. ZACHT AUTOMAAT.

in a parallel to the madlib medicine show, carl and co have decided to release one freely downloadable album per month in 2010... two have actually made it out so far, they are great.

'we're glad you agree' is the latest one, it's super heavy. cramming a boatload of psychedelic ideas into a compressed space. the album glides by in a kosmiche mist with a little bit of (good) proginess and a concluding track reminiscent of perennial favourite black dice's 'creature comforts.' this is fantastic stuff.

DOWNLOAD IT HERE.

OUTLIERS

2010-04-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

i was recently interviewed on cbc radio 3. the conversation was an extension of malcolm gladwell's fascinating 'outliers' book touching on 'musical outliers.' interesting stuff.

CLICK HERE TO HEAR.

IDIOT DJ MIX 3

2010-04-19T14:40:00.000-07:00

3rd Installment. Trunk Rattlers / Chamber Music / Speckled Psych / Toronto Shit, other intriguing tones.

ST // IDIOT DJ MIX 3 // 33:10

1. Zacht Automaat - 'Pyramids (excerpt)'
2. Gonjasufi - 'DedNd'
3. Graffiti Island - 'Demonic Cat'
4. Raekwon - 'Verbal Intercourse' feat. Nas
5. Francois Hardy - 'L'amour En Privee'
6. S.E.M. Studios - 'Ivresses Des Profondeurs'
7. Lee Hazlewood - 'Rainbow Woman'
8. Focus - 'House Of The King'
9. Trae - 'Inkredible' feat. Lil Wayne
10. Cluster - 'Hollywood'
11. Cheveu - 'Hot'
12. The Tornados - 'Love & Fury'

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD IT.

ARCHAIC

2010-04-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

on my prince shit, as seen by the sombre reptile.

idiot dj 3 due this week.

spit it twig vol. 3 now in production. me and the O gon hit some film music.

THAT YOUNG SHIT

2010-03-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

If you're familiar with my mixtapes then you've heard the majesty of Onakabazien in effect. The dude is a filthy scientist with the beats. He has just posted his new album 'That Young Shit: Needle & the Damage Done.' As you might guess from the title, every sound that you hear on the tape is pillaged from a Neil Young related creation.

I've been listening to this stuff on repeat, it's incredible. He's posted it as a free download, or you can order a tape from him (I recommend you hook him with some loot).

either way CHECK IT OUT HERE.

IDIOT DJ MIX 2

2010-03-05T13:49:00.000-08:00

I'm gonna try and do these on a very loose once-a-month type thing. And again, the series is named Idiot DJ for a reason... Good tracks, mind you though. Film music / 60's filth / beats with grit / weirdo stuff / good contemporary dudes - that kind of shit.

ST // IDIOT DJ MIX 2 // 32:23

1. John Barry 'The Persuaders Theme'
2. Ghostface Killah - 'Block Rock'
3. The Rolling Stones - '2000 Light Years From Home'
4. The Inner Space - 'Kamera Song'
5. Christmas - 'Rise Up'
6. Nino Nardini - 'Tropicola'
7. Holger Hiller - 'Jonny (Du Lump)'
8. Intelligence - 'Horse Glue'
9. Onakabazien - 'Night The Earth Cried' (Gravediggaz Remix)
10. Jean-Claude Vannier - 'Theme 504'
11. Nancy Sinatra - 'You Only Live Twice'
12. The Contortions - 'Twice Removed'
13. Bullion - 'You Still Believe In Dee'
14. The Soft Machine - 'Why Am I So Short'
15. Sic Alps - 'L Mansion'

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD IT.

ps. Happy Birthday to my favourite lady! xoxoxoxoxo.

RE-UP! RE-UP! RE-UP! RE-UP!

2010-02-15T21:43:00.000-08:00

I really have no idea how far these things have circulated, but I know that some of the links have gone down since first posted. I wanted to address the fact that these rekkids were made to be heard for free...

So if you are curious but unfamiliar with my music, or want to recommend it to someone else these are new working links with which to do what thou wilt.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD SPIT IT TWIG VOLUME ONE

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD SPIT IT TWIG VOLUME TWO

And remember TWIGMAN RUN THIS MIXTAPE GAME! (From the distinctly abstraction-saxon corner of things).

IMPRESSIVE STATELINESS, DIGNITY OR BEAUTY

2010-02-12T23:35:00.000-08:00

This has got to be one of the most amazing videos on youtube. Holy shit you can smell the majesty at 1:15 with that ridiculous french psych shit dropping courtesy of Serge's boy Vannier. Heavy cinema.

FOUR YEARS

2010-02-11T22:57:00.001-08:00

if i could raise one musician back from the dead...

RIP J DILLA.

IDIOT DJ MIX 1

2010-02-02T13:28:00.001-08:00

I've been thinking about putting up some mixes on here for a while, and took the opportunity of a long bus ride home from NYC to execute the prototype. I expect to put these up ever so infrequently under the IDIOT DJ moniker (my transitions are pretty jarring at times ha). I hope you enjoy it.

ST // IDIOT DJ MIX 1 // 34:00

1. The Millennium - 'Prelude'
2. Pretty Things - 'Alexander'
3. RD Burman - 'Naag Devta'
4. Madlib - 'Left On Silverlake'
5. The Bee Gees - 'Please Read Me'
6. Jean Jacques Perrey - 'E.V.A'
7. John Carpenter - 'The Shape Lurks'
8. Broadcast - 'Ritual / Looking In'
9. Index - 'Israeli Blues'
10. Charlotte Gainsbourg - 'IRM'
11. J Dilla - 'Lazer Gunne Funk'
12. Serge Gainsbourg - 'La Horse'
13. The Kinks - 'Two Sisters'
14. Clinic - 'Vertical Take Off In Egypt'
15. Houston Wells & The Marksmen - 'North Wind'

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD IT.

ps. If you have any trouble downloading this or anything else on the blog (spit it twig shit etc...) please holler at me! slimtwig at gmail dot com.

BEHOLD! A LADY.

2010-01-20T20:59:00.000-08:00

Here's a stopgap post of sorts.

Two songs that have come out since the release of Spit It Twig Vol. 2.

I briefly mentioned my affection for Andre 3000's 'Love Below' LP in my favourites of the decade post...

To put my money where my mouth is, (tastes like shit by the way), here's a cover of his 'Behold A Lady.'

CLICK THIS RED SENTENCE TO HEAR IT / DOWNLOAD FOR FREE.

And secondly, my pal D-Sisive released a free record that I 'spat' on. The track I'm featured on is called 'Around The World.'

YOU CAN HEAR IT HERE.

MONTREAL

2010-01-14T13:39:00.001-08:00

DECADE'S END

2010-01-05T10:02:00.000-08:00

As promised, here's a list of my favourite albums of the past decade. Don't feel obligated to make it to the end of this monolith post (I'm sure you don't, I'm not in the same room as you or anything (most likely)). I enjoy list making, and trying to get to the bottom of why I like certain musics... This decade is a special one for me because it is the first that I have been fully aware and invested in music listening. Hopefully it will change, as I get the impression I've only scratched the surface of an interesting decade.

1. MADVILLAIN - MADVILLAINY

I was 15 when this first came out in March 2004, I turned 16 that August. I was uninterested in hip hop or rap, underground or otherwise. I had a resentment towards classic rock (which I find myself discovering and enjoying a lot of only now), and was also just starting to read about music on the internet. I remember reading something about this record, and liking the album cover and maybe wanting to impress my girlfriend by being casually enthusiastic about a different genre of music. We split the cost on buying the CD, I took it home and burned a copy and gave her the original. I'm fairly certain I had never heard anything like it. I remember being puzzled and enthralled by it, loving maybe three quarters of it... It was only after 'Madvillainy' that I consumed every Wu-Tang related album that I could read about, and got interested in rap music in general. This album really opened a door for me into a thrilling and mysterious world and came to shape the way that I think about making music. It introduced me to two of my favourite artists of the decade, and was a gateway to so many of my favourite records ever. Not only that, but it's still the most thrilling one. Shadowy, funny, elliptical, obscure, concise, catchy, modern – it's unbeatable. For introducing me to so much, and for guiding me to conceptualize my own music, and for rattling the trunk it has stayed my favourite. (On a side note, the girlfriend ended up buying me the LP for my birthday because I complained so much about her getting to keep the original CD copy at her place).

2. BLACK DICE - LOAD BLOWN / DISCOGRAPHY

I could repeat the same story almost word for word about Black Dice's 'Beaches & Canyons.' That record seriously cracked my head into a thousand pieces. I had pretty much no context for it, was completely bewildered on first listens but for some reason listened to it every day for a while once I finally worked up the courage to buy it. If 'Madvillainy' was the introduction for all the hip hop on this list, this band is the equivalant for all the avant / arty stuff. I'm still very hesitant to choose one album to put on this list, all of their LP's have been really special to me. I honestly can't say that I have a favourite, though I think I've listened the most to Load Blown. I'm always amazed at how alien their music still sounds to everything else, even after getting into so much other weird shit. My interest in texture over melody (while still making a play it!) descends directly from hours on the subway travelling back and forth from high school listening to BD. My favourite band of the decade (and kind of beyond).

3. EDAN - BEAUTY & BEAT

The album I probably listened to most in the years since it came out. I love everything about it, from the artwork (I bought the CD and the LP) to the lyrics, and of course the beats which still make me drool. The only truly psychedelic rap record (that I know of – sorry Kool Keith). It's got serious rattlers, but also some heavy shit and so much dusty beauty that sometimes when I'm listening to the last song on a really nice day, taking a walk or whatever, I start to tear up... only just a little. This LP completely encapsulates it's own world, but it's not airtight - the psychedelia starts to leak out of the bag colours spilling everywhere soaking you in heavy splendor.

4. J DILLA - DONUTS

Dilla, the guy I wish most was still alive. Donuts is a spectacular self portrait of a master at the peak of his craft. I can't get over that concept. Here was someone so completely informed of what made his music function and glow, what he loved, what he knew worked in his craft. He couldn't of gotten better. How does someone achieve that? Did his impending death have anything to do with it? How long did it take him? Did he make the whole thing in a hospital bed, and if so how does it breath so vibrantly, so unlaboured? It's an enigmatic record, but it doesn't beg to be solved only tugs to be listened to. Interestingly, this record (an instrumental one) is the only one on this list that seems to reveal anything about it's author... How did he do this?

5. COUNTRY TEASERS - SECRET WEAPON REVEALED AT LAST

Probably my favourite songwriter of the last while. The Rebel pulls the original trick of combining comedy & political satire (two particularly volatile elements) with catchiness, weirdness and good song craft. I make the whole thing sound a lot less caustic than it actually is... But it's not very often you can be suckered into listening to music that routinely appals you, while making you laugh at the same time. Yes it's terribly funny, but this outing has some pretty arresting moments too ('Sandy' comes to mind). I listened to this thing more than once a day for sooooo long.

6. BROADCAST - HAHA SOUND

Neat trick sounding pretty reverent to retro psychedelia, but entirely modern by the same token. Broadcast grew colder and more austere by decades end (I love that shit equally), but this release caught them with some beastly live drumming and some pretty intense ambition. This record feels pretty massive to me, but HaHa Sound like yah it's no big deal to sound so pristine and archaic all at once, to be so beautiful yet deteriorate the whole time.

I'm realizing this is kind of a mammoth task (for my skewed unemployed work ethic), to write fifteen in depth blurbs about fifteen items I have a hard time verbalizing my affection for... Can't I be briefer from now on til the end?? It's not that I like the following records that much less, it's just that I tire of the music mumbo jumbo trash talk.

7. LIARS - THEY WERE WRONG SO WE DROWNED

One of those records I had to hear because the reviews were so bad (funny how often that strategy really pans out)... Something like the aural equivalant of electric barbed wire growing intwined in some bad vibes horror forest. Some fucked up breakbeats with crutches on, atonal medieval fire alarms that kinda shit that I dig... This one is heavy.

8. CLIPSE - HELL HATH NO FURY

ICE. This one is so cold. The beats are like little ice cubes side by side. I listened to this one sooooo much. It's like a 6th season of The Wire. Seriously though, no one was fucking with them with their vicious vicious pen game at this point. Their voices, like, cut my fucking ears through the headphones. OUCH. (On a sidenote, holy shit I would've killed to have made the beat for 'Ride Around Shining.' Pharell is kind of the unsung genius of this list, persecuted for not really being involved in a stellar-the-whole-way through album other than this one. But seriously, in my book that guy is a fucking lunatic genius alchemist).

9. GHOSTFACE KILLAH - FISHSCALE

Another case of not really knowing what album to choose from. Ghost was the most consistent MC of the decade. Every album was great (excluding Bullet Proof Wallets, but some people tell me even that album rules). I really don't know which record I like the best. Pretty Toney has my favourite song – 'Biscuits.' Supreme Clientelle is flawless on some totally abstract wordplay (and has one of my favourite RZA verses ever - 'Nutmeg'), but Fishscale was the one that really turned me on to the others, plus it has some great beats from DOOM & Dilla... Yea, I'll pick that one.

10. DIZZEE RASCAL - BOY IN DA CORNER

A debut so fully formed and raw, it's author has yet to match it. Pop music rarely sounds this alien from everything else surrounding it. I thought this album was insane the first few times I heard it.

11. PORTISHEAD - THIRD

Oh man, I already wrote about this record and why I like it so much... SEE HERE, if you're really that curious and not just totally indulging this completely absurd list.

12. SCOTT WALKER - THE DRIFT

Another record that totally broke my brain. Honestly, I didn't know you could do this with vocal based song-form music... And now I do, that's pretty great. I will admit, that I don't listen to this album nearly as much as most of the others on this list but I am so happy that it exists. Also, 'Cossacks Are' fucking KNOCKS.

13. LIGHTNING BOLT - WONDERFUL RAINBOW

I got into this around the same time as 'Beaches & Canyons'. I'm still kind of shocked listening back to it now just how accesible it is. Mutant melodies screaming at you... Kind of like a kid who wants you to eat ice cream with him, (which you totally love), but he's just a little too eager and enthusiastic it's kind of throwing you off a little, and your not quite sure, like... you just want to eat ice cream and roll around in the park right? Whut the fuck? Yea, kind of like that. As colourful as 'Beauty And The Beat,' just violent too.

14. CANNIBAL OX - THE COLD VEIN

Totally visionary stuff. Hip Hop that people bump in their flying cars in Blade Runner, or some other such bullshit. What happened to these guys right? (Oh and props on by far the nerdiest album cover on this list...).

15. SUNN O))) - MONOLITHS & DIMENSIONS

Honestly, this is kind of a placeholder for 2009. I hate being that curmudgeon who's like – fuck all music being made today, it sucks. Don't get me wrong, this album is fantastic... but I haven't lived with it in the same way I have the others. I chose it because it was number one in my list of 09 stuff, and it may well end up legitamitely earning it's spot on this list but it's just too early for me to say. If you're curious like number 11 on what I think about this album please SEE HERE.

Addendum: The Strokes 'Is This It' and Andre 3000's 'The Love Below' where both in the running, I like those albums as much as much as most of what I wrote about above but felt it would be boring to write about albums that have already had sooooooooooooooooooo much ink spilled on em. But yea, they rule.

Lastly, yea Tom I agree with you Kanye's 'Can't Tell Me Nothing' was one of the best songs of the decade, shame he couldn't put out an album matching that consistency...

YEAR'S END

2009-12-27T18:04:00.000-08:00

Here's a list of contemporary music I spent my time with this year... I hesitate to publish all this music-journo sounding stuff, but then I struggle with wanting this blog to be interesting outside of just my exploits, or links to writing about my music etc...

SO. In the interest of an interesting blog, here's my favourite 11ish releases of 2009.

1. SUNN O))) - MONOLITHS & DIMENSIONS

I know very little about metal, but what's particularly exciting to me is the fusion of a pretty niche genre with such rigourous art practice. Richard Serra cover art, gregorian chant inspired doom performed in Norwegian cathedrals, full elaborate costume changes for their occasional singer, elaborate art-artifact packaging, robbed press shots - no one is taking shit as serious as these guys. The music itself is ancient sounding and elemental, dread inducing and exhilirating... No one makes music this physical. Sunn seem to approximate a black hole not only in their numbing inky weight, but in their expanding shape shifting now encapsulating gregorian chant, deft orchestration, Morricone-esque flourish, and perfected doom riffage. SO HEAVY.

2. RAEKWON - ONLY BUILT FOR CUBAN LINX II

Oh man, the marvel any of these Wu guys can muster with a great selection of beats!! The swagger is magic. Rae finally matches Ghost's 00's dominance, with rapid flutter crack rap talk and tracking that glides on dust & grit. The story telling is morbid and ornate, but frankly analyzing this type of thing is like a table cloth draped over a deep manhole, you fall into sounding like a pretentious nob pretty quickly. It's raw. Leave it at that.

3. MADLIB - BEAT KONDUCTA VOL: 5-6

Madlib is pretty much my favourite living musician. Reclusive, prolific, mysterious, completely idiodyncratic. Moments in his Beat Konducta series run parralel not only to RZA, Premier et al, but to avant contemporaries (and favourites) like Black Dice & Broadcast. To say this compilation is more of the same, is just to suggest that I spent hours pouring over this psychedelic and soulful tribute to his only contemporary equal J Dilla. I refuse to stop cribbing from this guy, as my sensibility relies almost half on his magpie genius.

4. TIMBER TIMBRE - S/T

When someone you don't really know releases an album this good in your city, it smarts a little. Then you get over it, and are like... damn. I have a hard time with blues & roots straight up, but I find this record strikes the perfect arty compromise. Pristine minimal production, and pretty great lyrics as well. I'm really excited by what the next shit might sound like... plus I really wanna do a show with him at some point.

5. THEE OH SEES - HELP!

I can't tell if this band is super original, or if I just haven't heard enough psych/garage stuff... I get the impression it doesn't really matter as they slice and dice through a familiar pallet with some visionary guitar trash. I don't mean to suggest this is all heavy guitar workout though, as Thee Oh Sees have two singers whose voices perfectly blend into one awesome hiccup like no other band going. Also the songwriting is stellar, which is something I find kind of lacking with a lot of newer garage stuff. Crazy tremolo guitar destruction, slapback vox, insane live antics, super good songs. Winning combination.

6. INTELLIGENCE - FAKE SURFERS // CREPUSCULE WITH PACMAN

Four sides of great cryptic pop from what sounds like a basement eccentric. Both LP's are inventive and eclectic, but my favourite is probably CWP for the extra layer grime caked on it and because Horse Glue is such a FUCKING JAM. Oh my god, I could listen to that song on repeat for about an hour... Intelligence are super cool because they don't fit into any current trend (lo fi, garage etc...) but seem to encapsulate the best qualities of a few with commendable concision. I've always kind of thought of this dude's stuff as an American counterpart to The Rebel's recent work which is only a great thing.

7. BLACK DICE - REPO // CHOCOLATE CHERRY & ERIC COPELAND - AL ANON

I've talked so much about this band on my other year end lists... But I will say it once more. THEY ARE THE BEST, THE BEST, THE BEST. My favourite band, their records have consistantly cracked my mind and given me the appetite and context for other challenging artists. Like Madlib's work, I devour this shit and immediately try to co-opt it. The fact that you can totally get down to their recent output is pretty exciting.

Repo is a super heavy LP, the sounds as tactile as the record's front cover. Black Dice function almost like a pop culture recycling bin, regurgitating bleeps from junked teevees, or trying to execute the Timbaland science from an extraterrestrial perspective. Chocolate Cherry sounded like melting soul loops Ghostface should've jumped on, and Al Anon is totally underrated psychic dance trash from group member Eric Copeland. Groovy shit. (On a personal note, I opened for these guys once this year which was such a total teenage thrill).

8. BROADCAST & THE FOCUS GROUP - INVESTIGATE WITCH CULTS OF THE RADIO AGE

Bucolic English psychedlia cut up into a thousand loops (some of this shit, truly does sound like Madlib). This mysterious slab has kind of a Faust Tapes vibe to it. It's totally invigorating to see a band with the reverse trajectory of a 'success story' like Animal Collective, getting progressively more elliptical and fragmented as they evolve. I was totally bowled over by their concert in Toronto with their perfect mesh of dissonance and skewed pop (plus amazing visuals). I'm pretty sure this music functions like vitamins for the imagination, as when I turn it on I'm able to totally vibe out...

9. DOOM - BORN LIKE THIS

Doom's back... finally, thank god. On first listen I was a little dissapointed (many familiar special herbs, Rae over UFO but unchopped?!?) - but I suspect this is a pretty standard first reaction to a Doom LP as it takes a few listens to soak in the lyrical content. Doom is a master, probably the finest lyricist going in any genre. The amazing illusion he is able to pull, is that on surface his rhymes are totally pleasing to hear fall into place like alliterating puzzle pieces, but once you dip in they become obscure little jewels – every line! His flow on this album is as hilarious, hard to follow, and wonderful as ever. Plus that newly unearthed Dilla beat GOES HARD!!! The Bukowski track is pretty terrorfying as well, pretty great record actually.

10. J DILLA - JAY STAY PAID

More synthetic than Donuts, and without the succinct consistency but with mesmerizing moments nonetheless... This one is a a trunk rattling grower with gems to be found for those who plunder hard. I hope this isn't the last of it, and that his superhuman prolificness will provide a couple more LP's of unheard material...

11. SIC ALPS - L MANSION

I'm putting this on, because it's a perfect release. One flawless pop jam on the A, one cool cover on the B – everyone goes home happy!

Also, I have a few friends who released list worthy shit this year (I just don't like grading buds)... Thank you to Actual Water, Dirty Beaches & Onakabazien for all releasing tapes that I seriously jammed hard to. Those dudes are so on it on it.

My favourite LP's of the decade is up next...

IN DEFENSE OF TREND.

2009-12-24T14:03:00.000-08:00

In anticipation of the sort of list making that will soon be appearing on this ol' rag I present a teaser...

Trends - I'm not at all for 'em, and frankly am sick of a few current ones (take a guess). BUT... in their defense, a strange strain of music emerged in the aughts that has me re-considering the categorical evil of such phenomenon. I call it MINIMAL FUTURIST SPACE-AGE TRUNK RATTLE. Entirely a rap phenomenon, and an (exhilaratingly) commercial one I found this music to be some of the most forward looking, invigorating snufff around.

Let's reminisce...

It seems almost silly and redundant to talk about these songs (and there are more, this is a small sampling)... Particularly 'Drop it Like it's Hot' - what else is there to say about this song??? But what I'm getting at is the personal exhilaration I felt when I first heard these songs... an excited teenager, tired of rock music and thrilled at the possibility of making music that sounded alien and futuristic. What an exciting sensation.

Happy holidays everyone!

7 INCHES OF WINCES

2009-12-15T14:39:00.000-08:00

Hey, sorry to have a second post in a row related to a release of mine... I promise to have some more interesting shit to read about come next week when I post my favourite albums of the decade.

BUT.

The fine folks at Best Of Both Records were kind enough to release a 7" featuring two songs of mine on the A side, and on the flip a longer track from Oslo band Le Corbeau which is the solo project of a dude in Serena Maneesh. The first track of mine is called Bar Fight. It's taken from Contempt! sessions, and is one of my favourite songs about stealing someone's wife - or at least attempting to (I have more than one). The other is called Chime Empire, and is an instrumental that was on my first EP, the self released original (and gone) Whiite Fantaseee. I wrote it after seeing Inland Empire, it's got vibe to spare. Also, like a lot of my releases it features a photograph by slimfave Danielle Nemet.

If you are interested, supplies are of course limited (but not too limited). It's available in Toronto & Oslo record stores, and by emailing me here: slimtwig at gmail dot com

i hope you are festively well, take care of your peoples.

PS. Alex from Dirty Beaches took some pretty hilarious photos of our recent US tour. If you want to see me wildin out over some dumb shit, please visit dirtybeaches.blogspot.com

SPIT IT TWIG VOL. 2 (FREE SHIT)

2009-11-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

Here is the second part of my free mixtape series.

1. Silver Sliver
2. Black Eldorado (co-produced by Dirty Beaches)
3. The Siamese Survived
4. This Night's Untold feat. D-Sisive
5. Perfect Pitch
6. Norma Jean
7. More Mercy, Miss Percy (produced by Onakabazien)
8. The Pink Room
9. A Name Is A Pistol

Here is what I had to say about it:

"Spit It Twig Vol. 2 represents my commitment to the free mixtape format I admire so much in artists like Lil Wayne & the Clipse. This time I decided to stretch out my repertoire in directions both more overtly hip hop ('This Night's Untold' & 'More Mercy, Miss Percy'), and even more abstract ('The Pink Room', 'Perfect Pitch'). This mix also features more collaboration than any of my other releases with contributions from Dirty Beaches, Onakabazien, D-Sisive and a (one-sided-career-fullfilling) collab with David Lynch. The diversity of Spit It Twig Vol. 2 was meant to reveal my intention & future direction with tapes which is to periodically expose experiments, and spontaneous ideas to those who are curious... all for a great price."

DOWNLOAD IT FREE OF CHARGE, BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK

FREE SHIT HERE!

If you have not already downloaded Vol. 1 it can also be found at the link mentioned above (also free).

Lastly, like an idiot I forgot to mention the photo credit in the artwork. It was taken by Danielle Nemet at sombre--reptiles.blogspot.com. She is the best going.

STAR SPANGLED

2009-10-30T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hi friends,

I am travelling to America to do some shows. If you live there you should come out. Here is what my trip looks like.

NOV 12 - Brooklyn // The Market Hotel
NOV 15 - Philadelphia // Danger Danger Gallery w/ The Chickens
NOV 18 - Baltimore // Hexagon Space w/ Rosemary Krust
NOV 21 - Bloomington // The Realm w/ Circuit Des Yeux
NOV 22 - Chicago // Weirder Park w/ Heavy Times
NOV 23 - Chicago // Halfway Lounge w/ Distractions
NOV 25 - Madison // Project Lodge w/ Julian Lynch
NOV 27 - Detroit // Division Street Gallery w/ Telephone Callers

I will also be doing a session for WNYU's great Make The Product show, it should be broadcast sometime in November. I will let you know.

There are some Canadian shows coming up as well, please check my myspace!

Lastly, remember this scene? One of my favourite cinematic moments ever. So true to dream logic, and that 'touch of evil' that I find so attractive to write about. I recently read David Foster Wallace's essay on Lynch, and found it to be among the most eloquent passages written about the necessity to explore evil in artmaking, and that desire's implication on it's conjurer. An inspiring read...

ONE GREAT SOUND FOREVER.

2009-10-08T15:21:00.000-07:00

...spent a half hour listening to 'Tomorrow Never Knows' on repeat while reading the corresponding entry in Ian Macdonald's excellent 'Revolution In The Head.'

Though I am loath to make any "best of all time" statements, I will say there are songs as good, but none better. In my opinion, this is pretty much the pinnacle. If I had to listen to one song on repeat forever, it would be this one.

Also feels nice to revisit something so ambitious and forward looking right now. A good reminder not to throw any towel into the lo fi / garage rawk meal ticket. (Though I do appreciate some of the cream of that crop).

IN PRESENCE OF THE MASTER.

2009-10-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

... i mentioned to him that 'and the ass saw the angel' had changed my lyric writing, and that he should check out the fake nick cave twitter account as it is hilarious (twitter.com/nickcave).

my mom very sneakily snuck him a copy of contempt! inside a book she gave him because she is the best.

i felt vaguely nauseous.

moment of course, captured by danielle at sombre reptiles.

also, spit it twig vol. 2 is done and will be available for free download very soon.

ARCHAIC WOMEN - THE HIT SIXTIES

2009-09-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

So right now my band count is up to 4. Slimz, Tropics y'all already know about. One is still a mystery combo (and the biggest since junior high! 3 other people WOW!!!), and the last is the one man garage-burnin band ARCHAIC WOMEN...

the last combo has an official release out as of today.

THE HIT SIXTIES

A CASSETTE BY ARCHAIC WOMEN

1 20 minute pop side

1 20 minute place holder ambient side

on Bennifer records.

The whole thing was conditional on Andrew Zuckerman (one of my fav local artists) doing the artwork.

The cassette comes in a comic book sized plastic sleeve with a full size, double sided, hand screened colour silkscreened poster.

Here is a black and white picture of one side. It is quite stunning in person.

Here is the tracklisting:

A (Pop Side):

1. The Hit Sixties
2. Black Satin, Leather Patent
3. Pastiche
4. Grotesque & The Rest
5. Lucky Rabbit Paw
6. Lame Fun
7. The Siamese Survived
8. The Baroness Is Laughing
9. Norma Jean

B (Place Holder Side):

1. 100 Dioramas

Let me know if you want one, i have less than 30 copies.

Listen to songs from it on the myspace.

myspace.com/archaicwomen

LEE

2009-09-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

a couple months ago my friend mark turned me onto lee hazlewood. haven't been listening to much else these days...

REAL RAPPER LEGITIMIZES CONTEMPT!

2009-08-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

Contempt! was supposed to be a super skewed hip hop album with me crooning on it...

Some people hear it, some people (I'm guessing) don't.

Anyways, a real rapper from Toronto has gone ahead and legitimized that claim by rapping over one of the instrumentals from the record.

THANKS D-SISIVE!!

Alley Spying feat. D-Sisive
check it out here:
http://www.box.net/shared/ds3axx9xhh#

Also, i don't normally post press clippings, but i did an interview with black book and i really like that magazine so what the hell:

http://www.blackbookmag.com/article/slim-twig-rising-indie-star-rising-actor-rising-canadian/10010

Sorry for a self aggrandizing post, i will try and write something actually interesting next time. BACK TO WORK ON THE NEW MIXTAPE...

xo.

GROUND ZERO

2009-07-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

thanks to tammy for the snap.

TROPICS - "SETTE"

2009-07-02T11:48:00.000-07:00

Slim Twig isn't really a band per se, (tho sometimes live i play with some scorching hottt musicians), my band is TROPICS. It's me & one other bandmate, simone, who totally destroys on tha skinzz. We've been doing it for 6 or 7 years now... and are finally releasing something.

It's a live tape called SETTE. The recordings were taken from a performance at the Horseshoe recorded and mixed by James Anderson, and then chopped up by yours truly to make it a live/unlive weirdo hybrid... The good people at Popsick Records are putting it out. It comes with a download... yahhhh. If you can find one, GRAB IT!!! It looks like this.

you can hear a track from it on our myspace.

Lastly, SETTE isn't the only ST related cassette coming out this summer... Watch out for some Archaic Women shittttttttttttt.

myspace.com/topofthetropics
myspace.com/popsickrecords
myspace.com/archaicwomen

SIGHT UNSEEN

2009-06-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

I finished filming a feature film a month ago. It was a big deal for a few reasons. First it is almost like a family art project. The film was written, directed & is now being cut by my dad (Ross Turnbull is his name). It was produced, and acted in (+ a whole laundry list of other odd jobs) by my mom (Jennifer Hazel). It doesn't end there. My sister, three cousins, my girlfriend, my best bud and a slew of other close folks had responsibilities as well... Lastly, I apparently played the lead. I'm also composing music. Needless to say I've never worked so hard on an acting gig before, and it's become much more to me sentimentally. I have a huge fondness for the project, and great memories of working on it. I can't wait till it's out in the world for people to recognize all the hard work that went into it from all kinds of people I love...

This is to say nothing about what the film is actually about... for that you will have to wait.

In the mean time I would like to share some photos from the set, taken by my girl Caley Jones who as it turns out has a pretty great eye. Some of these pictures were taken by Matt O'Sullivan who is another fantastic photographer. I hope they whet your appetite for both movie watching, and movie making.

Them that done it.

Negative vibes.

Through the looking glass.

Hairstylist on-set and off...

Clearly, I fucked up.

Looking and looking.

Smiling sibling.

Pretty Woman as Roy once said.

Funny man.

Dancing crew.

At work.

She that took them. (She doesn't normally dress like Ms. Foster in Taxi Driver).

DIRTY BEACHES

2009-05-16T13:00:00.000-07:00

this past week i played in montreal with a guy who goes by dirty beaches.

the idea of his project is very minimal and elegant.

it comes across as very cinematic,
like if wong kar-wai remade mystery train.

textural lofi rockabilly performance art.

as you can probably guess, right up my alley.

listen to 'low rider' on his page.

myspace.com/dirtybeaches

'SPIT IT TWIG!' // THE 'CONTEMPT!' MIXTAPE

2009-04-15T09:15:00.000-07:00

IN ANTICIPATION OF MY DEBUT FULL LENGTH 'CONTEMPT!' BEING RELEASED APRIL 28TH ON PAPER BAG RECORDS, I PRESENT 'SPIT IT TWIG!'

A FREE MIXTAPE FEATURING ME DO MY THING OVER SOME RZA SHIT ETC... WITH SOME ORIGINAL STUFF, AND REMIXES OF 'CONTEMPT!' TRACKS BY ONAKABAZIEN.

SHIT IS AVAILABLE FOR THE TAKING AT ALL SHOWZ.
DOWNLOAD FOR FREE:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/gl64nz

CONTEMPT!

2009-03-29T19:50:00.000-07:00

i've been making music as slim twig for about 5 years.

my official first album comes out april 28th.

the album is called CONTEMPT!

i wrote, recorded and mixed it.

the cd looks like this:

the lp looks like this:

i did the art with help from david waldman on the cd, and from danielle nemet on the lp.

the songs are called:

YOUNG HUSSIES
PATTY ANN
ALLEY SPYING
MANSION HAUNTING
HIDDEN
PHANTASM INQUEST

ESTATE INTRUSION
GATE HEARING
JAPANESE MACHINES
TENEMENT WATCHING
SYBARITES, ETC
SPIRIT HUNTING

it is 39 and a half minutes long.

i can't wait for you to hear it.

XO.

2008 ROUND-UP: MY FAVOURITE MUSIC SHIT

2009-01-01T23:50:00.000-08:00

First of all I should apologize for cluttering the internet with yet another blog... I'm sorry. But truly the blame should go to Tom D. Henry, and Danielle Nemet for making their blogs so great, and making me want to throw my gloves into the ring with this whole blog thing. Also blame NOW magazine, as I really got a taste for this kind of writing when they offered to host my tour blog this fall. Or don't blame anyone, just the read the damn thing you might enjoy it fer fuck sake.

Thought this would make a good first post. Who knows how often I will update this thing, and with what.

\\\MY FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2008///

1. PORTISHEAD - THIRD///

When I first heard of the existence of this record it didn't interest me all that much. Before I heard it I would never have guessed it would be topping my list of '08 favourites, but once it was heard the impact was immediate. After listening only a handful of times I was convinced it would end up as my favourite album – it appealed so directly to my sensibility.

The record exudes a thick fog that I've had a hell of a time decoding. The mysterious sounds that surround the songs are truly expressive, and the production is a total tour-de-force. Sounding at once decaying, and pristine I could spend hours fascinated by the textures these songs exude.

Is that sound a quarter spinning on a table, or a helicopter flying above in 'Plastic'? How is that strange drum fill stitched together? As the record begins, have I somehow tuned into a pirate Portugese radio station? Are those strings sampled from an early horror film? Doesn't the final sound on the album sound like the mournful cry of a sick mammoth? Are those zombies singing the back-up vocals on 'Deep Water'? How is it that 'Machine Gun' is exactly as I always hoped post-apocalyptic future pop would sound pre-apocalypse? I could go on. Listening to this album is like excavating treasure from an ancient burial ground for ailing machinery, and quite honestly it had me reeling with jealousy.

2. METRONOMY - NIGHTS OUT///

I hadn't heard of Metronomy before 2008, but they (or he?) quickly became a listening staple aimed directly at my pleasure centre. In terms of sheer catchiness and replayability this album had all others beat, which is not to suggest that it is a vacuous thrill. Once again, the production wins out. Yes this is a pop album, but it distinguishes itself by being an art-pop record in the grand British tradition of Bowie & Eno.

Unusual vocal treatments (the breathtaking 'Holiday'), bizarre synth textures ('Nights Out'), immaculately captured drums ('My Heart Rate Rapid'), and a full flush of five perfect singles made this album essential to me. That it manages the striking balance of creative idea-centric production, and perfect pop is an adrenaline boosting pleasure. Once again, shame on the critical establishment for underrating such an accessible and deserving album. (Or is it even out yet in North America? Took me ages to find the LP).

3. NICK CAVE - DIG, LAZARUS, DIG!!!///

Having been a devoted fan of the Caveman for several years now his new renaissance has me pretty giddy. Last years Grinderman album was probably my favourite record of his since the 90's, so that this new LP fits as a counterpoint was a nice treat (how bout another Grinderman album though, eh?)... I've never heard the Bad Seeds so texture-driven as they are on 'Night Of The Lotus Eater' (this song absolutely SLAYED ME live). I've rarely heard Nick so playful as on 'We Call Upon The Author'. I love how truly rockrolling songs like 'Albert Goes West,' and 'Lie Down Here' are.

My favourite thing about St. Nick is how deranged and intense he can appear while still being so literary. The lyrics seem slightly more observingly narrative and less first-person-character driven than some of my favourite material, but nonetheless he is probably the best 'writer' in rock. This I admire, as it inspires...

4. ERIC COPELAND - ALIEN IN A GARBAGE DUMP///

Black Dice, Black Dice, Black Dice. As evidenced by last years top selection (see my old myspace blog) I am pretty crazed about these chaps. 'Beaches & Canyons' is one of about 4 records that absolutely altered my existence (I heard it at the impressionable age of 15). Eric Copeland is the most musically prolific member of said group, and to my ear among the most idiosyncratic and exciting sound-artist/musicians working today.

What is so exhilarating to me about this music (in both Black Dice, and Eric's solo works) is how modern it is. These are unmistakably contemporary sounds. I have ownership of them in that they are of my time. Also worth remarking is that these contemporary vibrations could come from no one else. Listening to this record is similar to receiving a collage from someone and realizing that the associations and chosen images combined could have only been made by that person. They are particular. I am grateful that an artist like Eric Copeland pursues only what feels familiar to him, what makes sense of his dreams that he may decode. My life feels richer for it.

5. CLINIC - DO IT!///

I love album titles with exclamation marks! (You'll notice this is the 2nd album with such distinction on this list). Remember how good Entertainment! looked emblazoned on the cover? In this case the exclamation point marks a degree of enthusiasm not witnessed from Clinic! since their first (which is not to say it is my favourite since that record – that'd be 'Winchester Cathedral'). Simply, this is a diverse and spirited bunch of new songs from one of my favourite bands. It's also a grower. When I first heard it, I had the same complaint as every Clinic-critic ever: “this album sounds just like the last one, and the one before that blah blah blah.” Fuck off y'alllll. Clinic have a distinct sound, and no doubt wonderful record collections, and funky band outfits (i miss that trend), and a sense of the 'LP' like few other bands today. I'm a fan. I let this album play, and soon enough the songs started growing on me, and then I couldn't go a day without listening to it, but now I'm recovered... (But it's still great, and I still throw it on regularly, just not daily so get off my back...).

As an unrelated side note, my forthcoming 2009 debut fucking long player will sport an attractive exclamation point at the end of it's title...

6. ACTUAL WATER - DOUBLE NEGATIVES///

Henceforth known as the rawest sounding studio project of all time. Anthony I'm talking directly to you (I hope you read this): Get a live band together, like NOW. You will have show offers up the ying-yang. You will do very well for yourself. I am fairly certain of this. People in Toronto fucking DIG this shit.... I am no exception, and a proud champion of these young rapscallions.

Anthony and drummer friend (Garry?) make amazing, krauty, noise-addled, surfy, garage-made, paint stripping, tight pant, pompadour, minimalist design aesthetic abusing, wonderful guitar based music. I want to see these bastards live and say DAMN. I wish I was that loud, I wish I had a Fender Jaguar, I wish my pomade was that shiny, I wish I was being offered to open for like every cool band that comes to town... I wish. Until then I have 'Double Negatives,' an obnoxiously addictive and schizophrenic listen by a teenage record hound. Lets get that Guiness bud...

7. THE REBEL - NORTHERN ROCKS BEAR WEIRD VEGETABLE///

I don't know if I should get into this Country Teaser business. I am OBSSESED. I (shamefully) had not heard the group until early in '08... and have since pretty much only listened to Country Teasers this year with the exception of the other records on this list. The Rebel is the songwriter for that band, and I am entirely convinced of his utter genius. His songs are hilarious, depressing, satirical, idiosyncratic, and at times catchy as all-fuck. He is a true original, and a great writer of obscure pop gems.

This isn't my favourite of his releases, but more a placeholder of the fact that I discovered him in '08. Nevertheless, this record has some great moments. I'm used to The Rebel sounding kind of like a sarcastic Johnny Cash, so hearing his strange banshee wail on 'Arabian Knights' (yes the Siouxsie and the Banshees song) & 'Kissing & Touching The Void Hem Of The Cloth / Fuck Syngenta' was a fun surprise, as was hearing him use Tammy Wynette's hair as an analogy for criticizing sexism abroad. This recording is a lot cleaner than past Rebel releases, which I'm actually not sure I prefer as the 4 track grit that is so prevalent in The Rebel's work is actually part of it's charm. In any case, this is a great record released by an exciting young label. Sacred Bones Records also released 'Dream Code' by The Pink Noise another record I enjoyed this year, both complying to the label's wonderful design format. Check it out.

8. ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS - FOREST OF TEARS///

Another hometown fave! This is a country music album. I like country music, but I don't often love it (sometimes I do, I'm just saying not as frequently as I love art-punk or some other genre for young impatient things like myself). The songs are great and totally memorable, but for me the album signifies the arrival of an exciting young writer. Simone's lyrics are completely heartbreaking, compelling, and most importantly – humanistic. This is a trait I am not used to in admiring in a songwriter. Normally I go for more abstract, or imagistic lyrics but Simone sells her stories with a conviction that is hard to ignore.

$100 are also one of the best live bands in the city right now, and I am convinced are destined for much acclaim – or so i hope, the stories are worth hearing.

9. JAY REATARD - IN THE RED & MATADOR SINGLES///

For my money the In The Red singles are slightly better, but both these compilations are bursting with memorable hooks and garagey weirdness. Jay Reatard writes my favourite short pop blasts of the last couple years. I don't want to try and dissect these records, as they are pretty simple pleasures... plus I'm getting a little tired... plus I'm worried people will start to think that I'm a music critic or something, when I'm really a musician........ I think. I hope. ya?

10. GUILTY SIMPSON - ODE TO THE GHETTO///

To be frank, I'm not entirely certain this is my 10th favourite album of the year. It is kind of a token hip hop record on an otherwise pretty, ahhh... white list. But FUCK, this year was a drought for decent rap music (a genre my iPod time is almost 80% devoted to). Seriously were it not for 'Tha Carter III' my runner up album might be 'Trilla' by Rick Ross (... I know. This sounds ridiculous, I know. Oh my god. Rick Ross almost made my top 10, let's never let this happen again (but seriously that albums does have some jams on it (but come on!......))). So yah, this album is heavily decent though. I did listen to the first 3 songs on repeat for about a month after I got the album. Plus it features an absolutely GORGEOUS late period Dilla beat, as well as my favourite Madlib beats of the year, plus some great stuff from Black Milk (I heard his new album is supposed to be pretty good??).

You're probably wondering why 'Tha Carter III' isn't on my list instead. Because it has between 5 & 7 completely whack songs, and because I still can't decide whether the album cover is brilliant or awful. Also, see my favourite song of the year.

My picks 11 – 15 (not in order): Cheveu – s/t, Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III, Madvillain – Madvillain 2 (Remix Album), School Of Language – Sea From Shore, The Chap – Mega Breakfast, Abe Vigoda – Skeleton.

\\\MY FAVOURITE SONG OF 2008///

A MILLI BY LIL WAYNE

So I get to shed some ink on the rap monument of the year after all! Basically this song was irresistible to me. For starters it shares the combination of a minimalist approach to melody, paired with a booming bass-heavy beat that has become the hallmark of my favourite rap singles of this decade (Epitomized by 'Grindin', perfected by 'Drop It Like It's Hot', and perverted by 'Tell Me When To Go'). However the beat is not even the main attraction.

I have to get something off my chest, I am jealous of this song.

Lil Wayne really perfected a song-persona that I have been aspiring to for a minute now, but could never put my finger on. The exorcism of a towering, swaggering, completely volatile male id/ego. A machismo fueled black hole dripping with raw negative sexual energy, devouring any sense of morals or consideration of other people in it's path. There is a perverse charisma in this kind of self-mythologizing that I am fascinated by, and have attempted to emulate long before this song. When Lil Wayne calls himself a beast, and a dog a shiver rolls down my spine. I wish I wrote that line, I might nick it. Gate Hearing & Brothl Hunting were attempts at this pathos, there are many more attempts on the new album. Keep your eyes peeled, til then listen to A Milli.

Thanks for reading. If you have a list feel free to send it my way...

best,
ST.