Lights Too Loud
Some Party is a newsletter sharing the latest in independent Canadian rock'n'roll, curated more-or-less weekly by Adam White. Each edition explores punk, garage, psych, and otherwise uncategorizable indie rock, drawing lines from proto to post and taking some weird diversions along the way.
Montreal four-piece pop-punk act These Fast Times premiered a new video this week through Punknews.org for the song "Lights Too Loud." It's the first track to be unveiled from their upcoming 12-song full-length On the Other Side of Fear, which arrives on July 20 through Thousand Islands Records (home to skate punk groups like Trashed Ambulance, Shift-D, and Bussieres).
The band features vocalist/guitarist Jeffrey Vuorela, bassist/vocalist Jason Bellafontaine, guitarist Thomas Kolofsky, and drummer Ryan Kennedy. Vuorela spoke to Punknews about the video's genesis, and the tentative connection it has with the actual contents of the song:
It’s a cluster of stolen ideas and nonsense. We were running out of time to get the video out before our album launch and we were out of funds. I figured we had no choice but to go DIY, which I don’t mind because content creation is what I do for a living.
Lately I’ve been obsessed with the retro look and after I watched a Talking Heads video I thought, man, that would be fun. What if we just green screened our jam room, got dressed up and just made a bunch of nonsense? Even if no one likes it at least we had a bunch of beers and had a good time together...
As for the music behind it. It has very little correlation to the actual song other than the literal sense of having the white lights blasted. The video wasn’t meant to have depth like the song does, it was more meant to give insight to the viewers as to what kind of people we are as a band. Just a bunch of goofs that love each other immensely.
"Lights Too Loud" is about holding on to something that you’re not quite sure is worth holding onto but you do it anyway. It’s about having doubt in your partner and how it feels like prison or a life lived in limbo.
Watch: These Fast Times - "Lights Too Loud" @ YouTube
Toronto noise-punk duo Not Of have returned with a new full-length titled Hypocritic Oath, a nine-song record that includes the track "Astoria Jack." You can preview it below.
Not Of features guitarist John Ex and drummer Victor Malang. They recorded with Mitch Bowden at Mechanical Noise in Dunnville, ON. A 12" LP, limited to 300 copies, will be available through Winnipeg's No List Records on July 27. Not Of are following up their well-received 2015 full-length Pique.
Watch: Not Of - "Astoria Jack" @ YouTube
The first edition of the Upsy Daisy compilation has been released. The project features oddball songs from anonymous Canadian musicians that would never have otherwise never seen the light of day (primarily because they're, in the eyes of their embarrassed creators, pretty dumb). Here's how the project describes itself:
Upsy Daisy is a submission based compilation of original self recorded music from fake bands across Canada. Have you ever made a stupid song that you are too scared to show your bandmates? Are you too scared to even be in a band because you think your music is for mole people? Here's your chance to showcase your work alongside a roster of songs that were never intended to see the light of day. To submit to the next edition of Upsy Daisy, e-mail [email protected]
You can check out the first slate of songs, from such never-to-exist bands as Body Clothes, Iced Germs, and God Dab, at Bandcamp. It's worth it for the band names alone.
Listen: Upsy Daisy Volume 1 @ Bandcamp
Toronto post-punk trio WHIMM have debuted a hypnotic new video for the song "White Bird," directed and edited by bassist Andrew Matthews. The song appears on the band's recent EP Not My Kind, which came out in May on Pleasence Records.
Not My Kind was the band's follow-up to their 2017 full-length A Stare Ajar, a set of songs the group described as "structurally simple – but dynamically more complex than what we’ve done before" and partly inspired by Nico’s early 80s classic "Sixty/Forty."
Watch: WHIMM - "White Bird" @ YouTube
Vancouver cold-punk trio Lié have a new record out on Mint Records and Monofonus Press, titled Hounds. In the run-up to last Friday's release, the band unveiled a new video for the song "Fill It Up," an eerie clip the band hopes "stimulates a sense of restlessness, anxiety, and fury that mirrors that of the lyrical content and themes of the new record." Lucien Cyr wrote, directed, and filmed the "Fill It Up" video.
Lié features guitarist Ashlee Lúk, bassist Brittany West, and drummer Kati J. They recorded Hounds, their third record, in Austin, Texas with Ian Rundell producing and Total Control’s Mikey Young mastering.
Watch: Lié - "Fill It Up" @ YouTube
Halifax-based D-beat hardcore act Cutie have put a new set of rough-hewn recordings online, material they first released on cassette as part of their appearance at this year's OBEY Convention last May. The band features angry vocals from Jessica Bates, and Johnny Evans on drums, with guitar and bass from Future Girls members B and Matty Grace.
Listen: Cutie - OBEX XI @ Bandcamp
Seattle's KEXP has posted a nearly 30-minute in-studio session featuring Toronto indie rock act Casper Skulls. The session, filmed on Apil 27, features renditions of "The Science of Dichotomies," "Primeval," "Colour of the Outside," and "Lingua Franca," all songs from the band's debut full-length Mercy Works. Buzz Records released that record last November.
Watch: Casper Skulls - Live at KEXP @ YouTube
Windsor alt-country group Farewell Mourners have released a self-titled four-song EP via Toronto's Must Be Nice Records. The five-piece features vocalist Jim Meloche, guitarist/vocalist David Dubois, drummer Nate Gelinas, bassist Boh Pidskalny, and guitarist Devan Power. The band recorded with Andy Robinet and Josh Costa at Harbour House in Colchester, Ontario.
Listen: Farewell Mourners @ Bandcamp
Winnipeg punk duo Mobina Galore recently appeared on Live From The Rock Room, a studio performance video series run by Mike Felumlee of Chicago's Smoking Popes. I shared a song from this a few weeks ago, and now the series has followed up with another track recorded at their Westmont, IL studio: a rendition of Mobina Galore's recent tour single "Fade Away." The band released the studio version of the song a few months ago on a flexi-disc from New Damage Records. It's one of the band's first new songs released following their 2017 album Feeling Disconnected.
Watch: Mobina Galore - "Fade Away" @ YouTube
The first details for the eighth edition of Toronto's renowned DIY hardcore punk festival Not Dead Yet has been announced. The multi-venue event will run from October 11 to the 14th this year.
Here's what the organizers had to say about the acts they're bringing in, in their typically bombastic fashion:
This year, SHEER MAG return to NDY for the first time in 4 years after conquering the world, bringing with them Dublin’s current reigning champs of Power-Pop, THE NUMBER ONES. Twisted hardcore maniacs ANGEL DUST come through, as the IMPALERS return to Toronto, with their Scandinavia-by-way-of-Texas charge. Not to mention a visit from Denton, Texas’ masters of melody RADIOACTIVITY and the return of SWEARIN’, celebrating a new LP. And we’re lucky enough to get a visit from the brains behind Bogota’s infamous Casa Rattrap, MURO, Northern Sweden D-beat ragers PARANOID, and Nola’s synth punk killers SPECIAL INTEREST among many, many more.
The city is still going to shit, and we’ve still gotta do something to oppose the drain. We’ve lost two more venues to “Music City” this year yet we press on. R.I.P. D-Beatstro & Double Double Land. Loads more bands, info on art shows, tickets and more to follow in the coming weeks.
While we're on the topic of Toronto shows, here's an (intentionally) weird one.
August marks the 40th anniversary of Devo's debut full-length, and to celebrate a supergroup of Some Party-familiar Toronto musicians have formed a cover band for a special performance. The group Are We Not Devo? We Are Not! will play the Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! album in its entirety on Wednesday, August 22 at the Baby G. The band will feature vocals from Andrew Payne (Zebrassieres, Vanity Phase, Century Palm), synths from Leather Jacuzzi's Sarah Ford, guitar from Century Palm's Alex Hamlyn, bass from Mike Simpson (First Base, Teen Archer), and drums from Jesse Locke (Tough Age, Rotten Column).
You can find details and tickets for the show on Facebook.
