The Silver Sun Pickups

Driving to work today I was thinking about what and who to write about. I was stoked that I was able to get the Black Mountain CD ahead of time, but I was left to ponder as to what would be my next entry. As I do everyday, I put in a CD and jam out as I drive to work. While driving I usually just grab an album at random without really looking at my choice. This is good because it serves to make my selection random and a bit surprising. Suddenly I was transported to my basement with an old 4 track and 2 hip people playing some stripped down gold old Indie rock. That disk was No Wow by The Kills. This duo consists of American Born Alison Mosshart, and British guitar player Jamie Hince. Most people look at a guy, girl duo and think it’s a White Stripes rip off, they are far from it. The Kills started off in two different places in the world. Alison Mosshart was the product of the Florida Punk scene, and played in the band Discount. Before the band broke up in 2000, Alison was eager to do something new and more stripped down from what she was currently doing in Discount.

By 1994 Jamie Hince had been playing in London bands for almost 15 years. His band Scarfo had gained notoriety with a handful of singles and there 1997 release “Luxury Plane Crash”. The two first meet each other when Discount was touring Europe. They both kicked around the idea of doing solo projects after a show, but kept the conversation casual and exchanged numbers. By 1999 both bands had almost completely dissolved, and Alison and Jamie started sending each other demo’s via International courier service. The wait for letters and demo’s grinded on Alison so she decided to pull up roots in Florida and move to London with Jamie. She moved in with Jamie in his London flat, and the two began writing and recording. The two both decided to write stripped down music, and keep to just the both of them. They kept the percussion duties to a drum machine and began to record. Along with a stripped down sound, the two renamed themselves “VV” and “Hotel”. There first demo’s started to circulate around England, and was almost unanimously rejected by records labels, but was well received by the press.

The demos, however, did attract the attention of Domino Records, a small Indie label out of London. The next year the two released there first EP, Black Rooster. It was very well received and received distribution in America through Dim Mark Records. The album opened up the world to the band and there own personal philosophy of stripped down, lo-fi, garage rock, with a hint of Punk. They kept writing and for there full length release they changed things up and recorded at Toe Rag Studios. Most of the parts were recorded on 8-track and the entire recording sessions took only 2 weeks to complete. From this effort came their first full length Album Keep on Your Mean Side. The album was very well received by the press and fans alike. The pair decided not to do an extensive tour, but rather did small club shows around London. They followed this formula of non-industry, non-conformist type of style, and to there credit they attracted allot of attention because of it.

There second Album entitled No Way, was a huge success and topped the UK charts at number 23. The album spawned a few singles and was even more stripped down then there previous album. The support for the album followed much the same way, with small shows spread over a few months, and only a handful of dates in the U.S. They stayed prolific and released singles into 2006. Late 2007 they announced they had completed their third album and were busy working on the album sleeve. No exact date has been given yet, but it is expected to be released in early 2008. The White Stripes got there gimmick, but these two are all out Indie rock with a splash of punk and allot of attitude.

The Kills official Website

I can’t count on two hands how many bands I have seen that are now the toast of the town. In my posting about Vancouver I mentioned a band called Black Mountain. When I first saw them, they were nothing more then an opening band. The only thing that was visible was the swirling of hair from Stephen McBean as he belted out the song “Druganaut”. I was pleased when last night I check my mail and found a copy of in my mail box. Don’t ask how I got the album a week before its release. I did some things I’m not pleased about. All joking aside, I was excited about hearing this effort from Black Mountain. There previous album was a dive into the 60’s back to the 90’s and then a quick dip into the 70’s, all topped off with just a hint of stoner metal to make one very nice album.

When I popped the album into the stereo, I felt like I was dusting off my collection of vinyl. The album shoots, or rather gallops out of the gate with the song Stormy High. The song doesn’t aim to be vintage, or strive to sound retro, it sits in a happy place of progressive and reminiscent. Two songs in, the music takes a stretch and jams out with the tune Tyrants. The song clocks in at 8 minutes and made me paint a mental picture of a magma spitting volcano. Something close to Mt. Doom, and for some reason in my head, I was scaling it with a sword in hand. The song moved in shifts and even tipped its hat to the Doctor Who theme song. The next track breaks into guitar driven stoner metal with the lightest touch of synth that would make Electric Wizard and Black Sabbath stand up and applaud.

The last part of the album consists of a song that is damn near 16 minutes long. The song “Bright Lights” may be long, be it’s solid from start to finish. I can only really describe it like listening to a musical with three acts, the buildup, the climax, and the plateau. The entire album is nice nod to allot of different genres and styles. The band isn’t trying to revive anything like some of the garage rock acts that came along in the first part of 2000. They are in there own world, and the album reflects that. In The Future is just that, an audible journey fraught with desolate lands, expansive valleys, and the occasional psychedelic trip to a land that resembles the world of H.R. Puff n stuff. I wouldn’t call this album a classic, but if this is what the future holds I’m growing my hair out, moving to Canada, taking a sword and a bong.

This is a bit of break in form, but I thought that it was important enough to mention. Recently things have been shook up at the 451 plant. A “reorganization of sorts has taken place and allot of bloggers have been given there walking papers. I am happy to say that as I write this, I am not one of them. I am staying here and continuing to write. Now, as far as I know, I will still be in the SilverSun Pickups section. As you have read, I cover a bit more then that, let’s be honest you can only write so much about a band before you gotta think outside of the box and expand. I decided to go all out and cover the spectrum of Indie. For now I am going to continue to write in this forum, but I may be moved to a general music writer. At this point I don’t know, but until then I am going to keep on doing what I do, and hope you guys like what I put out. So for everyone who reads my stuff regularly, thank you, and for everyone who has just started to tune in, I hope you enjoy.

-Ty

A few months ago I wrote an entry about Seattle and how it was home to some of the greatest Indie acts in the last 10 years. I did have the inside on the scene being from the Northwest and more specifically Seattle. I will say that I was lucky enough to grow up in an area that was open to allot of different place, and scenes. Being in the Northwest I had access to the country of Canada. The border was about an hour and a half from my doorstep. Some people get the impression that the only thing that is good to come from Canada is Billy Talent and maybe Alanis Morissette. Other then that, America is pretty clueless about our neighbors to the north’s music scene. Like America, each city has a miss mash of different music scenes. Seattle always had something hopping every night, but if I wanted to take things a bit slow, I would load up the van and high tail it to Vancouver.

The scene itself is bursting with super talented bands that have all gained notoriety in there scene as well as around the world. Like the Northwest, the area is very conducive to writing and recording music. The city is in the shadow of Mt. Whistler, which is one of the larger mount ranges in the Western part of Canada and is a primo spot for skiing and snowboarding. Also the city is surrounded by water and dotted with Native American art that gives the city and almost spiritual like quality, and we can’t forget the friendly Canadians who will point you to the best places in the city to buy and legally smoke weed. One aspect that makes the city unique to any other place outside the United States that I have been to is the fact that most all shops and stores will close down at 6 o clock. This leaves the nightlife to be the bulk of the entertainment in the city. And like Seattle there is host of shows that will be going on nightly. Be it a Metal or a hip hop show, no form is taboo.

Roaming around the city you would expect more venues set up to be just that, venues. When you stroll around the city you notice that most clubs or music venues are in the basement of an already existing establishment. One such gem of the city is the Railway Club. A bar, that at one time was, exclusive to the rail workers, but now a venue that really has it all. The bar food is amazing and nightly the place is brewing with some of the most amazing indie acts just under the radar. I remember seeing the New Pornographers a few times at this club and worth the 10 dollars to become a member for a year. Another club that is bigger, but still is worth a visit is Richard’s on Richards. During the Weekends this place can breakout into a dance party with every woman in the joint being a 10, and on the weekdays host local acts like Hot, Hot Heat, and Nomeansno.

Besides seeing some amazing acts in small interment setting you will notice that the scene is very family like. While waiting to see a Frog Eyes show, I was treated to some fun banter with Carey Mercer. She was more interested in the fact that I had driven from the “States” to see them then her playing the show. The whole mood was very inviting and I felt as if I was chatting with someone I had known all my life. This is the backbone that makes the Vancouver Indie scene so special and inviting. A Hipster like vibe is always associated with the Indie scene, but the Vancouver is happily free of this stigma. Each band you hear has invested most of there life into the music that they play and love, and didn’t just fall into it. Like Seattle, the city is open to the West but self contained. It’s natural landscape painted against a big city would make any Indie musician have plenty to be happy and write about.

It’s not New York, it’s not L.A. its Vancouver. It’s a city that moves fast enough to be called a big city but slow enough to hold integrity. Without a doubt the city has a young creative vibe to it. Maybe it’s Canada, maybe the free healthcare, but Vancouver is one of my favorite cities to visit and catch a show. And really it’s the only city you can have a pint with your favorite artist, watch an amazing show at a cool venue, and buy a bag of ketchup chips all in the same night.

I spent the weekend immersed in some really awesome music. Friday I saw a show at the local metal bar, and Saturday I went crazy at the local record store and purchased about 12 albums. I know that is allot of music to splurge on, but in my defense 2 of the 12 were used. I figured Saturday would be a good night to stay in with a bottle of wine and a 12 pack. Me and my girl lit a few candles, poured some wine, and sat on the thinking couch and cranked the stereo. The albums I picked up were all from artists that I had heard of before and in some cases had there previous works already in my collection. I did, however, pick up an album that my girl recommended. The name Imogen Heap really was low on my radar. I had heard the name before from someone who watched the O.C.. and raved about one of her songs featured on the show. Naturally not being an O.C. fan I swept it under the rug and said good day.

I popped in Speak For Yourself and was hooked 35 seconds into the first song. The album starts out with “Headlock”, it’s a bit of electronic pop that starts off with synthesizes vocals and bouncing keyboards. It has a spacey like quality to it, and then drops into an all out Indie dance song, with strong drum beats and swing like quality to it. Something that I could dance to or just groove to while writing. By listening to the first 2 tracks the album could be labeled as just pure electronic Indie pop. And I do agree that it did grab my attention, and starting out it did have a bubblegum quality to it. As the album pressed on it took an emotion and more personal tone. The track, “Hide and Seek”, portrays a deeper side of Imogen Heap that I really found surprising. The song plays out as almost a journal reading from someone who is grabbing to understand personal connection with another human being.

That track follows with “Clean The Air”, and serves to literally start things over again with the listener. It starts with a swirling ambiance and then into clear more strait forward vocals, it’s less emotional and brings the mood back to a happier more understanding state of mind. The album continues with more electronic groove based songs, and moves the pace to a medium waltz. Before the end of the album the track “Just For Now” slows the pace down one more time. I took the song as a light job just before the finish line. It was in the same vein as “Hide And Seek”, with the theme of emotional connection, but with a tone of understanding and content. The album finishes with a less emotional more dance oriented tone. The album, overall, played out like a short story dotted with deep emotional plot points. It could have gotten a bit deeper, but sticks to what it does best, and that’s making Indie electronica. I did like what emotional content it did contain, but it served to grab me and make me pay more attention to the music then what was being said. I have to say it worked because by the end of the album I was dancing around my living room with a glass half full of red wine.