Fedge Communications

When I sent out my “top albums of 2007” list to friends, one of the responses from a record label friend was essentially that everyone’s list was different. Yes, sales overall are down but more interestingly is that sales are now split among hundreds of different bands rather than a narrowly defined list set by major labels…

Mark down Saturday, April 19 on your calendars as Record Store Day.

The day will be celebrated with performances by Stephen Malkmus and his Jicks and Vampire Weekend among others.

Record stores across North America will have performances by bands of all stripes and some stores will be offering exclusive new 7″ vinyl singles from bands like Built To Spill, R.E.M., Death Cab For Cutie and The Black Keys.

This is all in honor of the humble independent record store, which has become a rare sight these days. Even big name music retailers like Tower Records (closed down in 2006) and Virgin (massively scaled back their stores) are not immune to the current climate that has seen freebie downloads take a bite out of music sales.

Ever since I had a disposable income thanks to parental allowances I’ve been haunting the record stores where I lived. It was a special connection to the music via a store that often had owners and staff that really knew their stuff.

Visiting a store like Zulu Records in Vancouver, Sound Connection in Edmonton or Soundscapes in Toronto offers you a friendly shelter where you can browse their collections and find the hot new releases or a forgotten gem.

In my small town there was a store called The Zone. I say “was” as The Zone closed its doors at the end of March. But while open, owner Ken would provide that extra personal touch that you simply cannot get at a Wal-Mart, an iTunes or a freebie download. If I wanted a new release title that is a bit off the mainstream like Devotion by Beach House, Ken would special order it and have it by the following week. He’d even go to great lengths not to mark up the prices too much.

Ken understood his customers could easily go to Wal-Mart or Amazon - or just download for free. Dealing with a brick & mortar store like The Zone and an owner like Ken meant I had a local music connection with my community, often discovering new local bands thanks to his concert postings, which often led to a sale of the band’s CD.

As I mentioned, you can’t get that personal touch from a department store or a faceless iTunes.

I’ll still support record stores as best I can while they still exist. I may have to drive a little further to find these kinds of stores, but they’re still out there. Hopefully your town still has its own independent record store in business.

You can show you care this Saturday by dropping by your local record store and browsing their catalog of releases and, maybe, finding something you really want. Talk to the staff - you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how knowledgeable they are. You’d be supporting local business and helping to ensure the record store as we know it doesn’t go entirely extinct.

Happy Record Store Day!

What a year! 2007 was a music lover’s dream. It also helped lighten the music lover’s wallet too. For every fan there was something for them that was really special. For myself, here are a few of the albums that enjoyed considerable replay on my home and car stereos…

The Phonemes
There’s Something We’ve Been Meaning To Do
Blocks Recording Club

One day Magali Meagher (ex-rhythm guitarist/drummer from The Hidden Cameras) will be written and spoken of in the music press as the true genius she is. Until then, enjoy the disarmingly refreshing style of Meagher’s in a release as engaging and warm in the form of the latest album from The Phonemes. “There’s Something We’ve Been Meaning To Do” is the best so far from this Toronto band.

His Name Is Alive
Xmmer
Silver Mountain Media Group

A new album from Michigan’s finest His Name Is Alive is an exercise in not knowing what to expect. Founder Warn Defever teams up with vocalist Andrea Francesca Morici to bring us yet another fresh audio experience. “Xmmer” (pronounced “summer”) is one of those rare albums from a band that refuses to sound like anything else in the record store. The result is a captivating collection of songs that also spawned a great music video for “Come To Me”, created by new talent Stephen W. Brandt.

Bella
No One Will Know
Mint

Don’t let the deceptively simple synth pop/rock sounds of Bella fool you. There’s some rather thoughtful songwriting going on here. A Vancouver trio comprised of Tiffany Garrett Sotomayor, Cameron Fraser and Charla McCutcheon, Bella made their Mint Records debut in September with less fanfare than they deserved. This is one of 2007’s gems as the title track and “Give It A Night” easily demonstrate.

Windmill
Puddle City Racing Lights
Melodic

Initially brought to my attention via a 7″on the Static Caravan label, it was the full length on Melodic that confirmed my hopes. Let’s face it - you’ll either love or hate vocalist and main Windmill man Matthew Thomas Dillon’s vocals. They sound more like a sad whine but please don’t be discouraged. This flew under the radar but deserves a listen. If you do listen, be warned, you could very well be hooked for life.

Various Artists
Labrador 100
Labrador

My goodness I have not heard such an utterly brilliant label sampler as “Labrador 100″ in many, many years. I was formerly only really familiar with Labrador act Radio Dept. but this sampler, a highlights collection of the first 100 releases from the label spread over four discs, is a musical goldmine. Since buying “Labrador 100″ I’ve since been introduced to the brilliance of Tribeca, Club 8, Douglas Heart and Laurel Music among many others.

Mother Mother
Touch Up
Last Gang

Another Vancouver band. It only takes one listen of “Touch Up” to understand Mother Mother’s mandate, which is to produce insanely catchy pop music that sounds like no other band around. It’s one of those albums that is at once experimental in song structures yet so appealing it would make a perfect children’s album. Male and female vocal harmonies like this will remain in your head long after you’ve finished listening.

George Washington Brown
On The Night Plain
Static Caravan

Formerly of now-disbanded Kenickie, Johnny X aka Pete Gofton is the central creative force behind George Washington Brown. This will be the catchiest and most rewarding album you didn’t hear in 2007. That can be remedied easily by ordering “On The Night Plain” from Static Caravan. It’s available on vinyl and includes a freebie companion CD for those without turntables. The songs are amazingly radio friendly yet this album truly remains an undiscovered gem. Listen to “It Still Rains”, “The No Good” and “Starlife” for proof.

The Loose Salute
Tuned To Love
Graveface

Mojave 3 member Ian McCutcheon seems to be concentrating on The Loose Salute these days and it’s a case where the new project is just as good as the one left behind. My friend Melissa wrote of The Loose Salute earlier: “Surf and pedal steel guitar seem like an unlikely sound coming from Cornwall England but it works and in a sweet, unaffected way” - and it’s absolutely accurate.

Young Galaxy
Young Galaxy
Arts & Crafts

Stephen Ramsay and Catherine McCandless are Young Galaxy, the core of new signings to Arts & Crafts. Initially the band seemed a bit at odds from the Broken Social Scene-centric vision of the A&C label or that label’s proclivity to sign deals with established bands like The Dears or Phoenix. Young Galaxy are not quite out of this universe, however, and as this British Columbian band proves, they are master songsmiths. There’s beauty in songs like “Swing Your Heartache”, “Lazy Religion”, “Come And See” and “Outside The City”. A masterful debut.

Tarentel
Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun
Temporary Residence

Originally released as four separate vinyl records in 2006, the fine folks at Temporary Residence have compiled them all to a handy two-CD set in 2007. If you haven’t experienced the sheer joy of the experimentation offered by Tarentel (aka core members Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Danny Grody) then you’re in for a treat here. Primarily pop music at its heart, “Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun” employs stylings from perhaps every genre imaginable. That’s what keeps the album so unpredictably wonderful.

Maps
We Can Create
Mute

Tellingly of the music industry currently, this is my lone major label entry into my top favorites list for 2007. Maps is the alias of James Chapman (Northampton, England) and his debut as Maps has been accurately described as “from euphoric space-rock to folksy, downtempo whisperings and clattering, thudding noise-pop”. One only needs to sample the perfectly chosen singles from “We Can Create” (”To The Sky”, You Don’t Know Her Name” and “It Will Find You”) to get the proper musical directions from Maps.

Miracle Fortress
Five Roses
Secret City

Montreal’s Graham Van Pelt (aka Miracle Fortress) isn’t the first musician ever to mine the song nuggets of Brian Wilson but certainly he is the one that created the finest version in recent memory. Ultimately though, the results are Van Pelt’s own world of noise and buried vocals that never fails to command my attention. Listen to songs like “Next Train” and “Have You Seen in Your Dreams” to fall under the spell of Miracle Fortress.

There are far too many possible choices for a top 10 of this nature. For myself, the list is ever-changing. But, if I had to nail down the lesser known films that I truly enjoy watching again and again then this would be pretty accurate.

Trust (1990)
Directed by Hal Hartley

Disturbingly still not available on Region 1 DVD (US & Canada), Trust is easily, for me, the best movie yet from director Hal Hartley. Adrienne Shelly plays high school dropout Maria Coughlin who is also pregnant. When informed of her situation her father keels over dead and her mother kicks her out of the house. To add insult in injury, her jock boyfriend breaks up with her. Left homeless, she encounters an older man named Matthew Slaughter (Martin Donovan) with whom she develops a genuine relationship. Donovan’s character is also blessed with his own set of personal issues. You may have to hunt a bit to track down a dusty VHS copy or chance catching it on TV but it’s well worth it. Sadly, actress Adrienne Shelly was murdered in November 2006, just prior to the release of Waitress, a film she stars in as well as directs.

Allegro Non Troppo (1977)
Directed by Bruno Bozzetto

Italian director Bruno Bozzetto made Allegro Non Troppo not as an homage to Walt Disney’s Fantasia but more so as a direct challenge. The film features a similar concept as Fantasia (classical music with animated visuals) but is deliberately more adult and more tongue-in-cheek as well. The animated segments are connected via live action scenes involving an orchestra, a slave animator and an dictator-like director. For me, the live action scenes act as mere glue to house the animated segments, which are original, provocative and, in some cases, truly wonderful. My favorite animation is musically set to Valtzer Triste and begins with the overview of a faceless city. The point of view takes us to one house in the middle of the city, burned-out from a recent fire. From the charred remains of the once lively home comes a cat, totally alone and removed from its loving home, remembering happier times. The music and visuals gel to such a degree of perfection I am brought to tears every time I see it. The other animated segments are good as well, each set to perfectly chosen classical music pieces and are destined to become etched in your mind.

Joe Versus The Volcano (1990)
Directed by John Patrick Shanley

Easily the most overlooked of the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan trifecta of films (the others being You’ve Got Mail and Sleepless In Seattle), Joe Versus The Volcano is also easily the best of the three and ranks among both actor’s best movies. Written and directed by John Patrick Shanley, who has sadly only helmed this one film thus far, it has unfairly been ignored since its 1990 theatrical release. The plot is silly - Joe (Tom Hanks) is duped into believing he has six months left to live and should, therefore, jump into a southern Pacific volcano to appease the gods. But they way every detail is so lovingly brought to the screen by Shanley makes this a cinematic journey worth taking. Hanks delivers a rich performance as does Ryan who plays no one but THREE different characters. The supporting cast is excellent, including Dan Hedaya, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack, Ossie Davis and Carol Kane along with an absolutely stellar score from soundtrack genius Georges Delerue.

Dawn Of The Dead (1978)
Directed by George Romero

No, not the 2004 remake, but the original Dawn Of The Dead from 1978 as directed by George Romero, still holds the title as the best zombie or monster movie of any type for this jaded horror film fan. The beauty of a film like this is that while it’s billed as a zombie flick (it’s the sequel to Romero’s own 1968 classic Night Of The Living Dead), it’s not really ABOUT zombies. The story revolves around a group of four friends who borrow a television station’s traffic copter to escape the encroaching flood of zombies. They eventually find a vacated shopping mall and land on the roof, taking refuge in the many stores. Once they barricade themselves inside the mall a warped new reality begins for them as they persevere in their new impromptu community. The group struggles to adapt and life in the mall brings its own problems - many of which that don’t even include zombies at all. In fact the middle portion of the film sees the characters all but forget about the zombies. It’s a beautifully written and executed look at late 70s consumerism and social situations - with a side plot involving zombies. Romero has yet to top himself with this one.

The Big Kahuna (1999)
Directed by John Swanbeck

Three sales reps – two seasoned vets and one newbie – join together in Wichita, Kansas for a convention at a hotel, allied to sell their line of industrial lubricants. Based on Roger Rueff’s stage play and brought to life on the screen utilizing pretty much one set – the hotel room – by John Swanbeck, The Big Kahuna is a movie that really caught me off guard. Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito (who met on the set of L.A. Confidential) play veteran salesmen with young new hire Peter Facinelli providing the contrast to the older pair’s jaded world view. Dialogue driven like the play, I found the film fascinating. It deftly covers a lot of truths of the human condition framed over a premise of a trio of sales reps trying to land a huge contract (the big kahuna). DeVito delivers perhaps his best performance ever as he schools the Facinelli character in the realities of life.

Gerry (2002)
Directed by Gus Van Sant

Gus Van Sant is not afraid to follow up a big Hollywood movie with a low budget indie production and “Gerry” is definitely unlike any movie I’ve ever seen before. Sure to incite anger from casual moviegoers expecting the “new Matt Damon movie”, Gerry is a 103 minute long movie that has virtually no dialogue. And the only two characters on screen are played by Matt Damon and Casey Affleck - both named Gerry. The movie opens with a wordless scene featuring the two Gerrys driving in the desert until they stop at a rest area. Finally around ten minutes in we are witness to the first dialogue between the two Gerrys. They embark on foot down a trail where they anticipate finding “the thing”. We never find out what that “thing” is because the pair end up getting lost before finding it. Don’t watch Gerry expecting The Bourne Ultimatum or Good Will Hunting. This is not that kind of movie. The amazing acting from Damon and Affleck would be difficult for any actor to carry off but these guys did it. Damon really demonstrates his skills near the end in a wordless scene that relies solely on his face and body language. Van Sant deserves credit for even considering a project like this.

New Waterford Girl (1999)
Directed by Allan Moyle

Directed by Allan Moyle, who gave us Pump Up The Volume starring Christian Slater and Empire Records in 1995. After his brief dance with Hollywood fare Moyle returned to Canada to make New Waterford Girl. A smart yet defiantly oddball teenager (played by Liane Balaban), dreams of getting out of her small town, meets someone who challenges her stagnant life when a girl from New York (Tara Spencer-Nairn) moves to town. Though it’s set in small town Nova Scotia, New Waterford could easily be small town anywhere. Moyle takes Tricia Fish’s script and makes it live on screen. There are quirky yet not implausible characters, highlighted by Spencer-Nairn’s tough girl, who is not afraid to beat up any guy in town. You don’t have to have grown up in a small town to appreciate New Waterford Girl. In small but rich roles, the film is elevated even further by Andrew McCarthy and Cathy Moriarty.

Quick Change (1990)
Directed by Howard Franklin & Bill Murray

Along with Chevy Chase, Bill Murray is one of my favorite alumni from the cast of Saturday Night Live. In this little known dark comedy Murray not only stars but co-directs. I return to Quick Change regularly as it never fails to brighten my day. The story starts off with Murray dressed as a clown robbing a bank. Hoping to fund his retirement, he surprises himself with how easy it is to rob a bank dressed as a clown. Thinking he is home free, he soon discovers that the robbing part was easy – it’s the getting away part that’s hard. Geena Davis and Randy Quaid play Murray’s partners in crime in a series of get away attempts that never fails to get me laughing out loud. Jason Robards plays the jaded and tired police chief who is hot on the trail of the three thieves along with smaller but memorable scenes with Stanley Tucci, Phil Hartman and Tony Shalhoub.

Miami Blues (1990)
Directed by George Armitage

George Armitage, who also directed Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), showcases Alec Baldwin in one of my most favorite roles of his. Baldwin plays Frederick J. Frenger Jr., just out of prison and looking to start fresh in Miami. He hooks up with part time college student/part time hooker Susie (Jennifer Jason Leigh) while revving up his criminal efforts to new highs. Sgt. Hoke Moseley (Fred Ward) is tasked with bringing Frenger to justice but discovers that it won’t be easy. This is thoroughly entertaining from start to finish. Armitage directs with a pace that never relents. This is one of Baldwin’s best performances and I never tire rewatching Miami Blues.

Bad Taste (1987)
Directed by Peter Jackson

Long before The Lord Of The Rings trilogy Peter Jackson busied himself making low budget films with his friends in his native New Zealand. One of those early movies, Bad Taste, is so full of energy that you can’t help but be drawn in despite the budget constraints. The story involves aliens visiting Earth to harvest humans for use in their alien fast-food restaurants back in whatever galaxy they came from. The bad taste is a natural by-product of such a plot. For me, the Lord Of The Rings films and King Kong were simply too forced and too long. At a brisk 90 minutes, Bad Taste excels because Jackson was constantly pushing the envelope of what the tiny budget would allow and the results are definitely entertaining. I wish Jackson could return to this kind of movie making, where the sheer thrill of creating something exciting so fully translates to the screen.

Stars

Over two months from now the wonderfully cool Toronto-based Arts & Crafts label will unleash the fourth studio album from Stars. Titled In Our Bedroom After War. If you’re like me, you simply can’t wait until the September 25th release date. Luckily for us all, Arts & Crafts is wisely making the album available as an MP3 download as of right now, just under a week after it was finished in the studio!

Lead Stars members Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan have been busy leading up to this new album as well. Campbell released his second Memphis album A Little Place In The Wilderness and Millan put out her first solo album Honey From The Tombs, both in 2006. And just mere months ago Stars saw the release of Do You Trust Your Friends?, a remix/covers project, with contributions from Final Fantasy, Minotaur Shock and Metric.

In Our Bedroom After War is what I was hoping for in a new album by Stars. It has has the best of both Stars worlds - the touching and utterly exposed personal songs like the aptly titled Personal (an ode to finding love in personal ads or on the net) and Barricade. It also has the high energy pop/rock of the lead single The Night Starts Here, Take Me To The Riot and the curiously titled Bitches In Tokyo.

If you enjoyed past Stars songs like Ageless Beauty, Calendar Girl, Your Ex-Lover Is Dead and Elevator Love Letter then this album will quickly find itself getting the repeat plays on your stereo or MP3 player. In fact, I’ve had the album for less than a day and I’ve already listened to it six times! It’s a perfect summer album so it makes perfect sense for Arts & Crafts not to wait until the “official” September street date for the vinyl/CD.

Sample In Our Bedroom After War right now with the addictive single The Night Starts Here and then click over to the Arts & Crafts store to download it months before the actual release date.