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.

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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.