L is for Ladyhawk

Alright, it's been out for over a month now, but in addition to allowing me to stick to my alphabetical-guns, talking about Ladyhawk's great new album Shots also gives me the opportunity to mention that the 'Hawk will be returning to Winnipeg on June 18th, opening for the Constantines (whose new album Kensington Heights is kickass in its own right). UMFM will be presenting that show at the Pyramid and I can hardly wait - these are two of the best live bands I have ever seen and they'll be sharing the same bill! While I missed Ladyhawk when they opened for Black Mountain a couple weeks ago for family reasons, I did catch them shortly after they released Shots, at The Aquarium down in Fargo, ND. [This entry's photo is from that show.]

The new material is just as good on the record as it is live, and credit for that goes to the way in which the band recorded the album: it took place at an abandoned farmhouse behind a shopping mall in Kelowna.

"We'd booked some time with Colin [Stewart], the recording engineer, but the studio that we usually record at – The Hive in Vancouver – it was booked up during the only time that we could record so we were looking for another place to just set up all our stuff but we couldn't find anything good in Vancouver," Driediger recalled in our interview "Then we had the idea of going to Kelowna 'cause we're all from there (not Colin, but all of us in the band) and then the place, which was called the White House, and it was sort of like an 'art space,' some friends of ours were running it and they offered it to us and we just said 'sure,' paid them a bit of money and spent two weeks recording there." [See the April/May issue of Stylus for more of my interview with Driediger].

With plenty of sangria on hand and a batch of new songs that were road-tested while touring their self-titled debut on Jagjaguwar, Ladyhawk came up with a rocking album that listeners of all ages can enjoy [more on that in a moment]. The band is as tight as ever with Driediger and lead guitarist Darcy Hancock trading scorching guitar parts atop the tectonic-plate rhythm section of Sean Hawryluk (bass) and Ryan Peters (drums). Driediger's vocals run from gentle to impassioned, delivered with a ringing clarity throughout and the lyrical content touches on anguish, urban decay and miscommunication though Shots can be enjoyed whether or not you can make out the lyrics - this is after all rock music and sometimes it's loud enough that you can't hear Driediger's words for the ringing in your ears.

Back to the comment about listeners of all ages - one of the best things I've seen on Youtube of late (apart from some great Minnesota Twins commercials) is this video of a baby rocking out to Ladyhawk's "I Don't Always Know What You're Saying."



You can check out that track for yourself here.
And be sure to check out Ladyhawk's website and Myspace page.

Thanks for reading, now start listening...

B is for Black Mountain

Confession time.
I've never been a big fan of prog-rock. I've been known to say 'no' to Yes, and when it came time to submit my list for the Top Canadian Albums, Rush was nowhere to be found (though several of their records made the cut, at the expense of personal favourites like this one).

So it comes as a bit of a surprise that the very proggy new record, In The Future, from Vancouver band Black Mountain is kicking my ass six ways to Sunday. While there are some radio-length songs, the backbone of the album is the epics "Tyrant" and "Bright Lights," clocking in at 8 and 16 minutes respectively, during which synths and pan-flutes abound, while Amber Webber's unearthly vocals float above the music. Upon reflection, epic may not be a big enough word to contain or describe these songs. Black Mountain has always displayed a penchant for pushing guitar dynamics to both their quiet and loud extremes (on the Druganaut EP and their self-titled full-length) but with In The Future they somehow manage to eclipse their past work and fold new influences into the fabric of their 'stoner rock.' If this is what the soundtrack to getting stoned is, pass me the pipe.

Black Mountain are about to embark on a gargantuan tour (fitting considering this is a behemoth of a record) that will find them here in Winnipeg on March 27 at the Pyramid, supported by Ladyhawk. I'll be hitting the merch table to buy this puppy on double-LP.

For a limited time, anyone and everyone can listen to a full album stream of the full album on the band's myspace page,.

Thanks for reading, now start listening...