Juiceboxxx is everything you want from an Infinity Cat (JEFF, The Brotherhood’s label) release: talented musicians using their extraordinary skills to create some big, fun, dumb rock and roll. Though “Expressway to the Darkness” starts like a sort of amped up Daniel Johnson track (lo-fi drum machine, hum of feedback, crooning, etc.) when the levee breaks, Juiceboxxx showcases that for which they’re known – a sort of sneering, edgy nod to 80s butt-metal. It’s a rollicking track, one that promotes fist shakes and long bouts of head banging, and that’s, pretty much, all I need from it.
Juiceboxxx’s new release I Don’t Want To Go In To The Darkness will be released on Infinity Cat on August 14th.
Another week, another cardboard box full of vhs tapes thrown at your doorstep. This week we have new ones from Big Troubles, JEFF The Brotherhood, High Places and Julian Lynch.
I got to admit this video featuring the throwaways from that 1990s RPG Shadowrun and a bunch of monkey-sloth beasts frolicking in a zoo is almost too cute for me. I’ll endure though, don’t you worry.
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JEFF The Brotherhood, High Places and Julian Lynch after the jump … (more…)
It’s been months since I’ve had my hands on JEFF, The Brotherhood’s We Are The Champions and I can not get enough of there metal-tinged pop music. They premiered this video in the middle of last week and now I’m mainlining in to your music loving veins.
I don’t know if there’s a way that I can you properly excited enough about the forthcoming album from JEFF, The Brotherhood. I had this track hidden away and when I was looking for something to post this morning almost discarded it as I’ve already heaped a steaming pile of love on JEFF, The Brotherhood. Just for shits and titters I played it again though, and, yup, this is my favorite album of the moment. Oh sure, this was doesn’t straggle down the path of absolutely fiery guitar, but it even without the force field of noise propelling it forward, it hums with catchy vocals and bare bones guitar lines.
Every track on this album is this good, and I hope when it drops on June 21st on Infinity Cat, you’re in line to snatch it up.
This is roadhouse music. Natural Child take the lo-fi aesthetic of garage rock, you somehow still charming leech you, and mines a little of the country swagger of the Nashville scene it crawled from and what you get is roadhouse music. Hell, this might just be Patrick Swayze Roadhouse music. All you’d need is a finger melting eight and half-minute guitar solo, with sweat flying from your brow and a drunk guy wearing bright red flannel in the front row to accidentally cop a feel on another drunk guy wearing flannel (this time blue) and all of sudden beer bottles are flying and fists are connecting and somewhere on the dusty plains the sounds of sirens are just starting to rev up. Natural Child is behind a cage, drunk as the rest of ‘em, but still managing to keep the beat and the ricky-ticky harmonies that bleed through the speakers.
I miss you Patrick Swayze.
Natural Child’s album 1971 just came out on also incredible lo-fi badasses JEFF, The Brotherhood’s label Infinity Cat.
Sick of Sasquatch? Bored with Bumbershoot? Just want more more more? Here’s North of Northwest’s second annual guide to Canadian summer music festivals.
I’ve never heard DCMF described as anything but an amazing experience, a weekend of performances, creativity, and collaboration in a place whose very name conjures visions of adventure. This year Dawson City has drawn in the talents of performers as diverse as Vancouver’s indie folk-rock geniuses Yukon Blonde and dance punks Shout Out Out Out Out, each of whom drive the crowd to musical ecstasy in their own way. Also included on the lineup are Amelia Curran, Rich Aucoin, and Shotgun Jimmie.
Naturally, Canada’s answer to SXSW has a more populist spin. NXNE is hosted in the country’s largest population center, and in addition to showcases and panels hosts free outdoor concerts by major artists right downtown.This year’s roster features everyone from Devo to the Dodos, including SotS favorites Shad, Land of Talk, Braids, P.S. I Love You, The Pack AD, and Dirty Beaches.
Wristbands are on sale now. Early bird pricing (through April 25) gets you a standard pass for $50 or priority access for $150.
A festival lover’s festival, Osheaga draws in the big names and this summer has added a third day to accommodate more of them. Headliners include Eminem, Elvis Costello, The Flaming Lips, Death Cab for Cutie, and Broken Social Scene. Unlike most big festivals, though, Osheaga takes place minutes from an urban setting, offering chances for hotel accommodation, extra-festival tourism, and late-night poutine in the city the dish calls home.
Three-day passes range from $217.50 – $369.50 and are available now.
Few festivals have more indie cred than one founded in part by former Eric’s Trip member and current solo songwriter Julie Doiron. Conceived in 2006 by Doiron and some friends as “a more feasible way to get all our friends together than a wedding,” the now-beloved Sappyfest will run for the sixth time this year. Though no lineup has been announced yet, there are reasons to feel optimistic: last year’s performers included Diamond Rings, P.S. I Love You, Cousins, Daniel, Fred & Julie, Hollerado, and Holy Fuck.
If you want to take the gamble, early bird passes are available now for $60.
Calgary’s Sled Island has booked a near-infinite lists of bands, including Dandy Warhols, Minus The Bear, Of Montreal, The Sword, Cursive, Thee Oh Sees, Justin Townes Earle, Wild Flag, Dum Dum Girls, Jeff The Brotherhood, and Starfucker. Do you like music? Then you will find something you like here.
Festival wristbands are on sale now for $179, or $349 for VIP access.
Prefer to visit Winnipeg when the temperatures are measured in positive numbers? You’re probably smarter than I. Spend a few days enjoying the weather just outside of town and taking in sets by Blind Pilot, Dan Mangan, Chuck Prophet, Jeff Tweedy, Imaginary Cities, and Tegan and Sara.
Tickets are on sale now; 5-day festival + camping passes are $229.
As most folk festivals aren’t just about folk, Winnipeg Jazz is not just about jazz. The festival’s Club Series hosts a varied line-up of independent artists like Blonde Redhead, Shad, and Quintron & Miss Pussycat, and the (free!) opening weekend offers Les Jupes, Royal Canoe, The Lytics, and The Appleseed Cast on an outdoor downtown stage.
Tickets are sold separately for Club Series and larger Theatre Series concerts, but one $75 pass allows access to all Club Series shows all week.
This festival has only announced a few names, but they’re doozies: Stars, Great Lake Swimmers, Plants and Animals, The Wooden Sky, and Jenn Grant.
$60 Early Bird weekend passes available May 20th.
WYRD III
May 20, Edmonton, Alberta
May 21, Calgary, Alberta
May 22, Vancouver, BC
Cultivated by music website Weird Canada, this traveling one-day festival features 19 underground Canadian bands (this [http://weirdcanada.com/2009/07/safe-language/] is not those [http://www.myspace.com/feralchildrenseattle] Feral Children) on two stages. SotS crush-band Dirty Beaches and paganesque fog-folk mystery man Wyrd Visions are on the bill along with Makeout Videotape, Red Mass, GOBBLE GOBBLE, The Famines, and a “Secret Surprise Guest” to be announced May 10.
A friend this weekend pulled me aside and told me, “Dude, this band sounds exactly like The Blue Album-era Weezer.” To which my ears perked. And yes, JEFF The Brotherhood, on a smattering of tracks on their stellar new album We Are The Champions sounds like some modern hybrid of lo-fi garage rock and the suburban melodies of Weezer. In the best way. Here, on the new single “Shredder”, the trappings of Cuomo have been shed, and JEFF The Brotherhood tear, rip, destroy their way in to a blistering two and a half minutes of metal-fueled rock ‘n’ roll. ”Shredder” is as apt a name as any you’ll hear this year.
Combine tracks like these with the aforementioned jaunts down Weezer Lane, and this JEFF The Brotherhood album is looking to be a standout.
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