Reviewzzzzzzzzz!!!

OHAI!!

These are some reviews I did as a host of GRLGRMS!

Bikini Kill – “Thurston Hearts the Who”
The song I am reviewing is a review of Bikini Kill read out by Kathi Wilcox. Bikini Kill is the most intense grrrl band I’ve ever heard, and the lack of credit, and the negativity they got in the 90’s was ridiculous! Most of the time you can’t understand the review over instrumental distortion, chorus, and terrifying screams. You’ll love it!

Terror Bird – “We Were Monsters”
I’m going through this mega-huge pop phase right now, and what I like most about indie pop is swearing. I’m a big fan of casual swearing, and to hear it in an anti-love song over a dark pop beat is the ultimate! Terror Bird is like a basic but better and more powerful, version of Siouxsie!

Blondewich – “Boom Boom”
This song is a cover of The Granny Smiths. (Is it a cover when original members are in the ‘covering’ band?) The original is very pop-punky. This version is slower, almost droning on to create a better version. The yelling at the end is painful and heartfelt, like every good love song should be.

You Say Party! We Say Die! – “The Gap (between the rich and the poor)"
Do you remember how fun this band used to be to see? The Gap has the most anarchistic message out of any of YSP! WSD!’s songs. Becky yells the whole song out, but unlike the other songs reviewed here, her voice isn’t terrifying or painful. It’s strong and confident.

Stolen Organ Family Band Show!!!!

We (Me, Tawnia, Jason, Mathew) went and saw the Stolen Organ Family Band last night at the Railway Club - we didn't have money, so they let us chumps in for free!  Despite the creeperrr door guy the night was spec-tac!  I've known about this band since their inception and having been a loving acquaintance of theirs for years, but this was the first time I've ever seen them in action.

They went onstage with an electric acoustic, a Casio keyboard, a blue suitcase, what appeared to be a Fisher Price toy and a shitload of distortion pedals.  Everything got played!

Their performance was delightfully schizophrenic; alternating between charming harmonies and mellow-upbeat folksy acoustic, to complete distortion and red-faced screaming.  It was fucking intense!
It was just Kelly and Conor at this show, usually there is an Ari or a different guitarist - when I heard this I was actually super disapointed, but they are incredible together!  Kelly is freaking adorable, Conor pretends to freak out on her, and it's a total riot of entertainment, check them out for sure!

Best Hits to hear live: A Horse Don't Need Whisky (no more), Baby What's Your Phone Number, Plums, Here Comes the Baby

They're playing another show on the 17th at the Biltmore, and they're playing in Kelowna on Feb 5th!
Maybe I'll see you there, but I'm super brokes!
their myspace.
radio 3
their bandcamp
their fanpage


Stop listening to Mother Mother and listen to something real.

!earshot year end picks by your only pal(me)

Yo! These were my picks for the !earshot end of year review thanggg

I am Alicia Williams, host of Mood Swings on CIVL Radio which broadcasts from the Abbotsford campus of the University of the Fraser Valley, I am also the Music Director here. My show focuses mainly on punk, garage and lo-fi – but it ventures to other places as well! I am currently a student at UFV taking Media Studies and Visual Arts and it’s a swell time! I have a blog, but it has too much swearing for you to look at it, sorry!




My Top 3 records of the year

Grown-Ups - Not Friends - (Self-Released)

Easily the best band in Calgary right now, and yeah, I know who else is from there! Josiah Hughes has trail blazed cool since he went to my high school however many years ago – and he’s definitely come a long way since The Hand.

The Black Angels – Phosphene Dream - (Blue Horizon Records)

One of the first albums I’ve listened to from start to finish in a long time! They remind me a lot of the Brian Jonestown Massacre – not in a rip-off sense – but in the way they sound like they could be from any time period late 1960’s onward.

The Bitters – East General - (Mexican Summer)

Everything Ben Cook does (now) is amazing! The Bitters are one of the most unique, dark, pop, garage bands I’ve ever heard – they say on myspace.com they are ‘cave pop,’ which is a totally perfect description.


Most under-rated record of the year

Petroleum By-Product – Superficial Artificial - (Mona Mona Records)

They’re a Vancouver based darker sounding new wave band, they’re super good, and I would love to see them chart more at our station and everywhere in the world! Their sound ranges anywhere from the B-52’s to Siouxsie and the Banshees, definitely check them out!



Most over-rated record of the year

Arcade Fire – Suburbs - (Merge)

This album has been charting around the top 5 since it came out in August. Personally, I don’t like Arcade Fire and think all of their music sounds boring, bland and cliché. I just don’t get it I guess.

Best local release
Ex-Friends – XFREN - (Self-Released)

I went to high school with 2/3 of the young adults in this band. They’re from Vancouver, and they have a very snotty, sassy, punk, everywhere kind of sound. My favourite tracks are Never Been Arrested and I Want to Move Out. They’ve since broken up because one of their members has moved to Toronto, Ontario, but you can still get both of their releases on this blog http://ghostplus.blogspot.com/ as well as a plethora of other Abbotsford area releases!



Best personal campus/community radio moment or experience of the year.

My favourite radio moment this year would have to be my interview with Joe Jack Talcum formerly of the Dead Milkmen. I’ve been a fan of the Dead Milkmen since I was a teen, so that will probably be my favourite radio moment forever!


Record you are most anticipating for 2011

I’m not really sure, I know Wire is releasing a new album called Red Barked Tree, but I don’t know how good it’s going to be – keeping in mind I haven’t really listened to anything they’ve put out in the recent decade. I’m just crossing my fingers hoping it will be as good as their 1978 release, Chairs Missing.

Reviewzzzzz....zzzzz

Heyy!
These are the reviews I did for the new issue of the CIVLian, which is out now and you can get on campus at UFV!

The Descendants – Milo Goes To College 1982
I just recently picked this album up after watching a video of Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend do a cover of Parents with Toronto hardcore band, Fucked Up. Before listening to this album in full, all I had heard from The Descendants were boring songs, like Silly Girl and songs on Punk-O-Rama compilations – I was beginning to think the only good song they had was Hope. This entire album is great, it’s fast, sassy and P.A.F., plus, it’s only 22 and a half minutes long, so if you don’t like it (you will like it) you will not have wasted your whole day! This is one of the few albums that make it seem like the 80’s weren’t a total waste of a decade.


Women – Public Strain 2010

Women are an incredible band, but I think they may be one of those bands who impact you more when you listen to them alone. I don’t mean on your iPod, I mean alone in your room. They’re a great band to listen to when you lie in bed and stare at the ceiling, and I mean that in the greatest way possible. They’re quiet, but they’re not boring, and they’re intense, but not in your face. If you have a ‘bands to watch’ list, then these guys should be on there for sure, they’re mega-up-and-coming CanCon. Listen to: China Steps, Heat Distraction, and Narrow With the Hall.

Rich Aucoin – Public Publication 2010

This album kind of reminds me of a less intrusive version of Black Kids. It has a really familiar vibe to it, but not in a copy-cat/rip-off way. The vocals seem to be at like the same sound level as the music, which is cool because everything blends together in a unique way. Rich Aucoin is a quiet kind of intense. You should definitely check this guy out, because I think very soon you’ll be able to say cool sentences like: “I liked him before everyone else did,” or something else to that extent! There are only four tracks, so listen to them all!



B.A. Johnston – Thankyou for Being a Friend 2010
This is totally not my kind of music, generally I say things like “folk/acoustic sucks,” but this guy, B.A. Johnston, has such a funny take on the genre that it is impossible not to like! He sings about things you liked when you were a kid, like NBA Jam and Steve Guttenberg (don’t pretend you didn’t love Three Men and a Baby, because we ALL did). The entire album is like a satiric look at the happenings in his life, and I like that, when people don’t sing about love or drugs, but sing about their everyday lives and opinions. This is the kind of music that isn’t given any justice listening to, you really need to go out and see him live to get the full experience. Check out: Love=NBA Jam, CLIF, and I am Doing Better in a Parallel Universe.


No Warning – Suffer, Survive 2004
No Warning is one of Ben Cook’s (from Fucked Up, The Bitters, The Marvellous Darlings, and Young Governor) first projects. I just became friends with this guy on Facebook, and am usually grotesquely stoked on EVERYTHING he does, but this is just bad. Maybe it’s just me, but the more I listen to it the more I hear an ultra-aggressive version of Linkin Park, sans rapcore. The vocals (done by Ben Cook) are really surprising because if you listen to his solo project Young Governor it’s a completely different sound. A lot of my favourite CanCon is done by Fucked Up and all of the members’ side projects, but this a band I am not going to let circulate on my iPod and mess up my pristine Last.fm profile. Sorry.



Pissed Jeans – King of Jeans 2009

Pissed Jeans are another entry on the long list of things I like in Pennsylvania. The vocals are uniquely aggressive, at times it almost sounds like he’s slurring and at the same time chanting. The music itself is really crisp and chaotic and that mixed with the vocals makes for a really cool sound! They’re the perfect amount of loudness for me, and a lot of their songs have that ‘anthem-y’ feel to them. Listen to: Lip Ring, She is Science Fiction and Dominate Yourself for sure!


Yeah, so if you want a hard copy of these thoughts you should pick yoself up an issue!  PLUS you'd get to see a SUPERCUTE/reallyblurry picture of me!!!!!  YAY