Ryan Adams has been quiet lately (other than marrying Mandy Moore last year). After releasing three records in 2005 he slowed down a bit with the Cardinals releasing Easy Tiger in 2007 followed by Cardinology in 2008. However, during that period Ryan was still recording stuff that never got released. These sessions were sometimes “solo” and other times with the Cardinals and it looks as though some of those unreleased records are about to see the light of day through Ryan’s website.

One is called Cardinals III/IV while the other is called Blackhole. Ryan’s been talking with fans about the records around the internetz and I’ve collected some relevant quotations regarding the records below.

Cardinals III/IV:

According to Adams, Cardinals III/IV will consist of 20 tracks, all of which were written by him. He describes the album, which he says was the “first record I made when I got off the booze and the drugs,” as “basically a rock record but not a punk record and not a record like [2003's Rock N' Roll]… it’s rock like Cardinals rock and not at all jammy.” He continues by proclaiming that it hears The Cardinals at their peak and even goes as far to say it “sounds the best of any record we made.”

The photo above is a test pressing of Cardinals III/IV which has Breakdown Into The Resolve as the opening track. Who knows if things end up that way but you can check out a live version of that song from 2006 below. I think this is the only time this one was ever performed.

Download
Ryan Adams - Breakdown Into The Resolve (live)

You can download the entire show that performance is taken from here.

In addition to that Cardinals record, Ryan also has a solo record ready to go. It’s called Blackhole. Describe it, Ryan.

The “Blackhole” LP (recorded over Christmas in 2005) is also back from the mastering plant. I f’n love this thing. It took 4 years to make it and to me it is basically Love is Hell Part 3… lots of shimmery guitar love on this. Exciting times!!!

It is expected that both those records will be available very shortly. Even better? In addition to opening up some of the vast DRA archives, Ryan is also working on two new records:

Tomorrow starts the first day of two weeks of recording a new solo album. The songs are based around my acoustic with some stark drums/bass/piano in there. And I’m keeping these recordings simple……THEN in two weeks I am off to NYC to record part two of the crazy NYC sessions I started last month by accident. What started as a weekend studio hang with Johnny and Tom Schick turned into some kind of Smiths/Simple Minds/Love Is Hell throw-back and just way too much fun to not finish. So two coasts, two sessions happening. The new daze are here… fingers crossed these things turn out!

What about touring, Ryan?

Might do some solo dates this winter. Might do some dates this fall with a new band. As for Cardinals I don’t know - everyone is pretty busy.

So there you go. If you’re into Ryan Adams the next few months might be pretty cool.

And Mr. Ford Davis reminded me on the Twitterz that Ryan Adams has also co-written a song with Rivers Cuomo for the new Weezer record which, I believe, is out in September.

Follow my enthralling Twitter life. I talk about ice cream cake.

There was a point midway through last night’s Wolf Parade show at the Vogue Theatre where the crowd and the band were completely connected, impassioned, and in a state of total euphoria: Dan Boeckner belted out a joyous This Heart’s On Fire which was followed immediately by Spencer Krug unleashing I’ll Believe In Anything upon a rapturous audience. To say these two songs were the highlight of the show doesn’t even begin to describe it. It was simply spectacular.

And for the most part, Wolf Parade were spectacular all night. The set ran a little over 90 minutes, featured a great mix of material (five off Apologies!) and avoided Spencer’s clunkers from At Mount Zoomer (at times I felt like the band have the same opinion of their catalogue as I do). Obviously the new material from Expo 86 was the backbone of the set and it stood up pretty well with Wolf Parade’s “classics.” Spencer’s What Did My Lover Say? opened the show which got the crowd right into the gig while his other new songs (Cave-o-sapien and Cloud Shadow On The Mountain) threatened to run away from the band just from the intense speed in which they were played. Dan’s new songs in the set seem designed just to be belted out on stage. Palm Road and Ghost Pressure both got the crowd bopping along while Little Golden Age was dedicated to “anyone who grew up on Vancouver Island…north of Victoria.” Hometown laughs, FTW.

Speaking of hometown, both Dan and Spencer mentioned on multiple occasions how nervous they were before the show because Vancouver Wolf Parade gigs are as close as the band gets to a homecoming gig. Lots of friends and family were present and, according to Dan, they always choke in Vancouver. But last night, he said, was the best they’d ever done in our city. I think the enthusiastic crowd had a lot to do with that.

But back to the gig. After an impressive California Dreamer the band left the stage before returning for a three song encore. You Are A Runner? Yes, please. Shine A Light? Even better. The band then ended the night with a lengthy, meandering Kissing The Beehive. Not sure if it was the most momentous end to the gig but it was great to see Dan and Spencer swapping vocals to send us off into the warm Vancouver night.

And that camaraderie on stage is what might stick with me after finally seeing Wolf Parade live. It’s so easy to get bogged down in the side projects (which at times seem to take precedent over Wolf Parade) and the clear sonic divisions within the albums brought on by two very distinct songwriters. Dan’s songs vs. Spencer’s songs…I do it all the time. But on the Vogue stage those four guys were one unified band and having fun playing together. It left me optimistic for Wolf Parade’s future and I’m going to be revisiting their back catalogue this week with a renewed sense of passion for one of this decade’s more engaging bands.

Setlist
What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had To Go This Way)
Language City
Dear Sons And Daughters Of Hungry Ghosts
Palm Road
Cave-o-sapien
Ghost Pressure
This Heart’s On Fire
I’ll Believe In Anything
Fine Young Cannibals
Cloud Shadow On The Mountain
Little Golden Age
California Dreamer
———
You Are A Runner And I Am My Father’s Son
Shine A Light
Kissing The Beehive

Download
Wolf Parade - Shine A Light

Scene In The Dark has an amazing gallery of photos from the gig here. The Futurists have some great shots as well. Rick Chung also has a review up.

Deerhunter’s new record, Halcyon Digest, is one of my most eagerly anticipated albums of 2010. I’ve pretty much loved everything this band has done so far and I cannot wait to get sucked into whatever Bradford Cox and the boys have conjured up this time around. The first single from Halcyon Digest is Revival and you can check it out below.

Download
Deerhunter - Revival

The song’s dreamy sound is reminiscent of the Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP but still manages to explore some new territory for the band. This was one of the four new songs Deerhunter played here in Vancouver when they opened for Spoon a few months ago along with the digital b-side Primitive 3D which you can find here with some clicking around (p/w: tapereel). That page also has three other demos available for download.

Over the past few months I’ve made a conscious effort to explore the more unlistened corners of my iTunes library. I recently made a Smart Playlist consisting of songs that only have one play in my library and I’m trying to get through the whole damn thing, one song/EP/album/bootleg at a time. I’ve not been ignoring new releases (far from it, actually) but I do find that I’m not really dwelling on new stuff at the moment as much as I normally do.

One band that’s been getting a lot of play then is Spiritualized. I always listen to a lot of SPZ (they are one of my very favourite bands) but my One Playlist has highlighted a bunch of bootlegs, outtakes, and b-sides that were getting overlooked. Deep listening of the back catalogue has also led me to identifying and acquiring a few b-sides and live tracks that were absent from my SPZ collection. All in all it’s been pretty great reacquainting myself with some tracks I had forgotten about.

Download
Spiritualized - You Know It’s True (rehearsal)
Spiritualized - Feel So Sad (Peel Session)
Spiritualized - Smiles (Peel Session)
Spiritualized - If I Were With Her Now (alt. mix)

If you want to check out a bunch of “unreleased” Spiritualized stuff head over here. Free and legal.

My altered listening habits, a roadtrip to Alberta, sunshine, and the all-consuming spectacle that was the World Cup are probably why A Reminder has been quiet lately. Hopefully this post clears the decks and gets me motivated again.

Broken Social Scene recently recorded a live session for CBC Radio 3. What I love about this live session is that it has a bit of a John Peel feel to it (without that immensely missed personality, of course) as it typifies the Peel mentality: let the band play what it wants. Over the course of the 30+ minute set the band play two new, improvised songs (including one featuring vocals from Buck 65), one old song by their old band Do The 95 (called The Stuck) as well as a few tracks from Forgiveness Rock Record and a pretty great version of Cause = Time.

Download the whole set
Broken Social Scene - CBC Session June 2010

Or if you want to just check out a few of the songs…

Download
Broken Social Scene - Texico Bitches
Broken Social Scene - BSS and Buck 65
Broken Social Scene - The Stuck

The band are currently playing shows all over the place. They hit Vancouver for two shows at the Commodore on October 13 and 14. Already looking forward that.

Since I’ve been eagerly awaiting news of the next Bad Seeds record I never really thought about a potential second record from Grinderman. As a result, it kind of took me by surprise recently when it was announced that there will in fact be a follow-up to the 2007 debut from Grinderman (who are 4/7ths of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) coming out in September.

Not much is known about the record at this point other than its title: Grinderman 2. Press material says that:

Grinderman will release their new studio album Grinderman 2 through Mute on September 13th (September 14th in the US on Anti). Grinderman 2 was recorded in 2009 at London’s RAK, State of The Ark and Assault and Battery studios. Co-produced by Grinderman and Nick Launay, the album was mixed by Launay at London’s British Grove in August 2009 and LA’s Seedy Underbelly in April 2010.

The Quietus also quotes some thoughts from Warren Ellis on the record:

“(It’s) very different from Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! and it’s very different from the first Grinderman album. That was something we were very aware of, we didn’t want it to be like that at all. There’s an attitude in there that’s similar, but sonically it’s got some pretty weird things going on. It’s probably more fleshed out than the first one, we’ve probably learned to play the instruments a bit more. I play lots of stuff on there, there’s violin on it, which I didn’t get in the other one, and a lot of backing vocals. It’s kind of like stoner rock meets Sly Stone via Amon Duul. It’s very diverse, and there’s a lot of stuff on there that doesn’t sound like anything we’ve done before. Nick’s got a different thing going on with the lyrics than he would have from the Bad Seeds, and he’s found a new thing from the first album. Less sex? I wouldn’t say that. It’s psychedelic, and I think it’s great. We’re really excited about it.”

The back half of the year is getting pretty loaded with albums I’m super excited for. Grinderman 2 is definitely one of them. Grinderman will also be touring this fall in the UK and Europe. Dates here. The most recent releases in the ongoing Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds reissue series included Tender Prey, The Good Son, and Henry’s Dream are out now as well.

Those boys in Japandroids are certainly keeping busy off the back of last year’s Post-Nothing. Vancouver’s favourite duo are out on the road in Europe most of the summer before returning to North America for some festival dates including Bumbershoot just down the road. But the band have also added a number of headline shows throughout western Canada that might mark the end of the epic Post-Nothing campaign including a final gig right here in Vancouver at the Rickshaw Theatre with Ladyhawk. Thanks to Culture Bully for the heads up.

September 28 Hume Hotel – Nelson
September 30 Wild Bill’s – Banff
October 1 Starlite Room – Edmonton
October 2 Disrikt – Regina
October 3 Pyramid Cabaret – Winnipeg
October 4 Louis’ Pub – Saskatoon
October 6 The Republik – Calgary
October 9 Rickshaw Theatre – Vancouver

The band are also continuing with their 7″ singles series as Polyvinyl are releasing the second single (of a planned four) on July 16. The single is called Younger Us and you can download the A-side below thanks to Pitchfork.

Download
Japandroids - Younger Us

There were quite a few little exciting announcements yesterday but the one that means the most to me is the (somewhat surprising) news that the Manic Street Preachers have a new record ready to go. They released one of the best albums of last year in Journal For Plague Lovers but September 2010 will see them quickly follow that up with Postcards From A Young Man, their tenth (!) album.

Apparently the record is very Queen-sounding and one song features Duff McKagan from Guns ‘n’ Roses on bass. In addition, the band have stated that this is their “last shot at mass communication.” They’re trying for the radio with this one…and I’m a tad worried. The cover (above), however, is fantastic. It’s a photograph of Tim Roth by Glen Luchford taken in 1994. Amanda likes it because it features a polaroid camera.

No official word on the first single yet (though it might be It’s Not War, Just The End Of Love) but I can’t wait to hear it.

With this record, Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs and a new Underworld record to follow this summer, the back half of 2010 is looking like it might be pretty great.

Earlier today, Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival announced the lineup for their annual Labo(u)r Day Weekend extravaganza and, once again, the lineup is pretty impressive. Highlights include Bob Dylan, Atlas Sound, Japandroids, The Raveonettes, and Jamie Lidell. Did I mention Bob Dylan?

You can see a daily schedule here while a complete list of artists playing is below.

The Headliners:

Bob Dylan / Mary J. Blige / Weezer / Hole / Rise Against / Neko Case / The Decemberists / J. Cole and one more very special guest.

The Rest:

LMFAO / Billy Bragg / Ozomatli / Angelique Kidjo / Solomon Burke / The Dandy Warhols / Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros / Jenny and Johnny (featuring Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice) / Jamie Lidell / The Raveonettes / Balkan Beat Box / Motion City Soundtrack / The Thermals / Ra Ra Riot / The English Beat / Justin Townes Earle / Booker T. / Surfer Blood / The Bouncing Souls / Japandroids / Bob Schneider / Anvil / Bomba Estereo / Jay Electronica / Aterciopelados / Baroness / James Cotton “Superharp” Blues Band / David Bazan / Meat Puppets / Crash Kings / This Providence / Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express / The Moondoggies / The Whigs / Greg Laswell / Civil Twilight / Trampled By Turtles / The Clientele / Atlas Sound / Laura Veirs & The Hall of Flames / The Budos Band / Bobby Bare Jr. / Horse Feathers / Vienna Teng Trio / HEALTH / Plants and Animals / Georgia Anne Muldrow & Declaime / Wheedle’s Groove / Hey Marseilles / Kings Go Forth / Sweet Water / Delorean / JEFF the Brotherhood / Chris Pureka / Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra / Garotas Suecas / The Maldives / The Constellations / Coryell, Auger, Sample Trio / Grynch / Visqueen / Victor Shade / Star Anna & The Laughing Dogs / Fresh Espresso / Pete Molinari / Sista Monica’s “Singin in the Spirit” / Lay Low / Unnatural Helpers / Idiot Pilot / The Round / Wild Orchid Children / The Cute Lepers / Feral Children / Fences / Caspar Babypants / The Tripwires / Fatal Lucciauno / Loch Lomond / The Physics / THEESatisfaction / School of Rock All Stars / See Me River / Zoe Muth and The Lost High Rollers / People Eating People / Eldridge Gravy & The Court Supreme / Brent Amaker & The Rodeo / Born Anchors / Slender Means / BOAT / McTuff Trio / Parlour Steps / The Redwood Plan / Helladope / Lisa Dank / Greta Matassa Quartet / The Lonely H / Matt Jorgensen Quintet / Becki Sue & Her Big Rockin’ Daddies! / Great Waves / Brian Vogan / Johnny Bregar with more to come, including comedy, performing arts, film, literary and visual arts!

Ticket info here.

The short review:

Last night, Massive Attack completely Blew. My. Mind.

The long review:

In 1998 I was supposed to see Massive Attack open for The Verve down in Seattle. I was then just a brand new Massive Attack fan having fallen in love with Mezzanine and its accompanying videos. That record remains one of my favourite albums ever and I probably listen to it every couple of weeks or so. Anyway, due to The Verve imploding and Nick McCabe leaving the group, The Verve’s tour was postponed and Massive Attack pulled out. So when a good friend and I drove down to the Mercer Arena in Seattle to see the rescheduled date there was no opening act…just three hours of reggae.

Even at the time, as a new fan, the blown opportunity to see Massive Attack stung. But over the years that original sting grew into a more persistent irritant as I never got the chance to see the band again. And as I became a bigger and bigger fan of Massive Attack, that day in Seattle haunted me even more (mixing metaphors!). Either they weren’t touring at all, not touring North America/the PNW, or not touring Australia. I was never in the right place at the right time. When the band reemerged with new material for a European tour in 2008 a new album seemed imminent (imminent by Massive Attack standards as we still had to wait 18 months) and I started to hope that maybe this time around I’d get my chance.

And last night I did. I was finally in the right place at the right time. And to top it off I was with a wonderful group of people that included that good friend who sat on the floor of the Mercer Arena with me in 1998 as we cursed our missed opportunity.

The band came on stage shortly after 8:30 and immediately launched into an absolutely storming version of United Snakes (originally a b-side to False Flags; later included in the Heligoland deluxe edition). In theory, opening a show with a relatively obscure b-side is a bad idea but it didn’t take long to realize that the live arrangement of United Snakes is absolutely monstrous. Shrouded in blue lights and heavy fog, Robert Del Naja’s (3D) vocals were ghostly yet aggressive while the five-piece band (including both electric and acoustic drum kits) were simply incredible. When the song ended the crowd absolutely exploded and I realized I was simply one of many who had been waiting years to see Massive Attack.

Martina Topley-Bird then took to the stage for a version of Babel that was miles better than the recorded version. It was at this point that the Massive Attack stage/light show began to come to life. Rows of LED lights crossed the entire stage and during the night we were bombarded with facts (i.e. number of barrels of oil pouring into the Gulf Of Mexico every day), travel information for extraordinary rendition flights, the latest gossip, binary code, or images of eyes and corporate logos. I’d heard lots of great things about this lighting rig but I was incredibly impressed with it all night. The “What the fuck, Arizona?” statement, in particular, was both funny and sad while the show ended with this emblazoned across the stage.

Daddy G emerged for the third song of the night, Risingson, one of Mezzanine’s many high points and I couldn’t believe I was finally seeing him and 3D on stage together. It was almost surreal. Anyway, Risingson kicked ass and was quickly followed by Girl I Love You, perhaps the high point of this year’s Heligoland record. Horace Andy, the legend, slowly ambled onto the stage with his otherwordly voice to sing the song in front of a horrifying set of statistics blasted from the lighting rig. Martina (in a new outfit) returned for Psyche which provided one of the few moments of respite in a pretty relentlessly full-on gig. Her vocals all night were fantastic, even on the big-shoes-to-fill Teardrop, and I left the gig a pretty big fan of hers. Of course I was familiar with her work on Tricky’s records but on stage she was incredibly endearing.

Midway through the set, 3D led the band through the one 100th Window song the band still plays live, Future Proof. It’s one of the highlights of that album and it stood up well with the rest of the live material as the band, led by guitarist Angelo Bruschini, brought the song to a powerful climax. The remainder of the set then went into pretty heavy Mezzanine-mode, beginning with Teardrop. While Martina’s vocals were beautiful the current arrangement of Teardrop didn’t really impress me. Still loved it…but I kind of feel like the band were just changing the arrangement of their most well-known song simply because it’s well known. The misty rain that was falling through the lights during Teardrop was almost cosmic, however.

Mezzanine immediately followed and it was so great to hear that one live as it’s not a hit but one of my favourites off the album. Next? Angel. To hear Horace Andy sing this one live and to feel those drums and guitars when they crash in…well it was incredible and something I won’t forget for quite some time. But things managed to get even better on the next song, Safe From Harm, the night’s first Blue Lines appearance. Deborah Miller took lead vocals along with 3D but it was the extended finale of the song, complete with heavy guitar, that turned the song into something totally unreal. The set then ended with Inertia Creeps and I was left completely astounded by what I had just witnessed.

After a tiny break, the band reemerged for a three song encore beginning with Splitting The Atom. How awesome was it to see 3D, Daddy G and Horace Andy doing vocals together? VERY AWESOME INDEED. Then Deborah returned to the stage and Daddy G did some DJing for Unfinished Sympathy. UNFINISHED SYMPATHY. Deborah’s vocals were incredible and to hear a classic like that live was unbelievable. The final song of the night was Atlas Air which, like much of the Heligoland material, was about a billion times better live. As 3D twisted his words, the screens showed flights paths before ending in a visual cacophony of corporate logos and flags while the band created a storm. It was just incredible.

After the song faded away, the entire 10 member band took the stage for some bows and to soak in the adoration of a very happy (and damp) audience. As we filed out of the Malkin Bowl I was in disbelief that I had finally seen Massive Attack live and totally blown away by how amazing it was. One of the best gigs I’ve seen in years. Twelve years was a long time to wait but my patience was rewarded big time.

Setlist
United Snakes
Babel
Risingson
Girl I Love You
Psyche
Future Proof
Teardrop
Mezzanine
Angel
Safe From Harm
Inertia Creeps
———
Splitting The Atom
Unfinished Sympathy
Atlas Air

My photos from the gig are up on Flickr.

Random Notes

* 3D was pretty impressed with Vancouver’s most famous export telling us it was stronger than the stuff they get in Bristol. High praise coming from these guys, I think.

* Due to Malkin Bowl’s strict curfew, the band had to skip over a new song, Invade Me (sung by Martina), during their set and all their shows this year have ended with Karmacoma which we also missed out on. In fact, this setlist is the fixed set the band have been playing so far in 2010.

* Martina Topley-Bird also opened the gig and I was pretty impressed with her solo set. She did lots of live sampling (including of the crowd) and even did a pretty spooky version of Overcome off Tricky’s Maxinquaye which kind of makes up for missing out on Karmacoma. About to dive into her catalogue.

* BLOWN AWAY.