CARRIE BROWNSTEIN: Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl

"Sleater-Kinney's intensity—derived from both its own talents and in part from the airing of repressed anger that was one of the triumphs of the Riot Grrrl scene—took its listeners to certain uncomfortable places, then asked them to stay there. Though Corin Tucker's voice has a purity of sound to it, ringing like a bell at midnight over the sound of raucous guitars, listening to the music can be complicated business. Not everyone is looking for that in a song.

Carrie Brownstein's new book has a similarly fierce approach, though her methods are complicated. While there are certainly places where an editor could and should have chiseled her prose down to make her points sharper and more affecting, this book is the clear product of a very intelligent person, and filled with flashes of insight and wit. Describing her younger self watching Tucker's previous band, Heavens to Betsy, for example, Brownstein writes,

Heavens to Betsy came across as the most serious of their peers. You stood up, you listened, and you were quiet. They were like really loud librarians.

But this is one of the few tiny moments of humour in the book. Instead, it delivers its goods in what I can only describe as a compellingly depressive register, which sounds like an insult but isn't. By keeping her affect flat, Brownstein is able to avoid melodrama, a good thing because there are elements of her life story she could have frothed up into soap." - The Guardian

THEN & NOW: Toronto Nightlife History - The Stories Of 48 Influential Clubs From 1975-2015

"From award-winning veteran music journalist and DJ Denise Benson comes Then & Now: Toronto Nightlife History, a fascinating, intimate look at four decades of social spaces, dance clubs, and live music venues. Through interviews, research, and enthusiastic feedback from the party people who were there, Benson delves deep behind the scenes to reveal the histories of 48 influential nightlife spaces, and the story of a city that has grown alongside its sounds." - Then And Now Toronto

JESSICA HOPPER: The First Collection Of Criticism By A Living Female Rock Critic

"Hopper's name should be familiar to anyone who makes a point of following contemporary music criticism—she's a longtime editor at Pitchfork and the editor-in-chief of its hard-copy spinoff, The Pitchfork Review. She's written about Kendrick Lamar for SPIN and music licensing for Buzzfeed. In a previous life, she worked on the other side of the shadowy divide between listeners and artists, as a PR rep for acts like Pedro the Lion. She's been deftly reflecting on music—and having those thoughts published—since she was a teenager. (She's 38 now.) And now she's released The First Collection Of Criticism By A Living Female Rock Critic.

The book, which spans the past 15 years of Hopper's career, is deliberately uneven. Rather than present a chronological arc, she's organized her work by broad subject areas, ranging from straightforward ('Chicago,' her home base) to entertaining ('Bad Reviews,' which favours thoughtful eviscerations over cheap shots) to political ('Females,' the final part, holds the crux of Hopper's feminist critical philosophy). In each section, relative juvenilia sits alongside recent, 'mature' writing. 'Emo: Where The Girls Aren't,' Hopper's tossed-gauntlet of an essay on misogyny in the Chicago scene for a 2003 issue of Punk Planet, is pages away from her unflinching 2013 interview with reporter Jim DeRogatis about R. Kelly's abhorrent record as a sex offender. A laser-focused 2011 profile of the artist St. Vincent buts up against a poetic, impressionistic review of a record by the Swedish singer-songwriter Frida Hyvonen from 2006." - Sarah Liss, National Post

KIM GORDON: Girl In A Band

"For 30 years, the band Sonic Youth had, as its core, two main vocalists: Thurston Moore on guitar, and Kim Gordon on bass. They were indie rock's power couple—a shining example of love and loyalty in maybe the environment least conducive to marital bliss. Sonic Youth ended in 2011, with their divorce. Now, Gordon has written a new memoir, Girl In A Band, about her marriage, her music and the origins—and the end—of Sonic Youth." - NPR

"It is in its uncrated reports of what she’s always seen but never said, where Gordon allows herself the grace of believing her own intuition, that Girl In A Band becomes a triumph and a manual for owning one’s pain, sensitivity, cruelness, self-consciousness and instinct. Gordon’s heartbreak and insecurities (about her singing voice, for example) are as prevalent as her notable confidence and ferocity." - National Post

DUST & GROOVES: Adventures In Record Collecting

The layout and long-form interviews on Eilon Paz's nearly-six-year-old website have been consistently impressive enough to continue to gain the sustained attention of legions of collectors and music-lovers online—now behold the huge hardcover book!

"Eilon Paz’s 416-page coffee-table book illuminates over 130 vinyl collectors and their collections in the most intimate of environments—their record rooms. With a foreword by the RZA, compelling photographic essays are paired with in-depth interviews to illustrate what motivates record collectors to keep digging for more records.

Readers get an up close and personal look at a variety of well-known vinyl champions as well as a glimpse into the collections of known and unknown DJs, producers, record dealers, and everyday enthusiasts. The book is divided into two main parts: the first features 250 full-page photos framed by captions and select quotes, while the second consists of 12 full-length interviews that delve deeper into collectors’ personal histories and vinyl troves." - Dust & Grooves

LET'S TALK ABOUT LOVE: Why Other People Have Such Bad Taste (New and Expanded Edition)

Even if you've already pored over Carl Wilson's breakthrough ode to pop-cultural relativism, you may nevertheless need this new edition, with thirteen additional guest essays from the likes of Nick Hornby, Ann Powers, Drew Daniel, Owen Pallett, Sheila Heti, and, oh, right, James Franco.

"In 2007, Continuum published the fifty-second volume in the 33 1/3 series. Its title, Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste, seemed to suggest that it would be a book about Céline Dion. But it turned out to be so much more than that. Let’s Talk About Love is a book that invites the reader to second-guess the way they think about the things they love and the things they hate. Given the great response, Bloomsbury and Carl Wilson decided to create an expanded, stand-alone edition. Part I is the original text of Let's Talk About Love from the 33 1/3 series, and Part II is a set of essays on the book's themes contributed by a wide range of prominent writers, musicians and scholars.(Don't worry, the original 33 1/3 version will remain in print.)" - Bloomsbury

VA - Enjoy The Experience: Homemade Records 1958-1992

Running the gamut from oddball entertainers attempting to capture/recreate their live act for posterity to home-recording outsiders hoping to create an LP-sized business card of sorts, this 2CD set documents the US private-press phenomenon in all its strange, colourful, varied and unvarnished wonder!

"[W]hile now one can upload content to platforms where it can be found with little effort by millions for free, from the late 1950s to the early '90s, aspiring stars paid out of their own pockets to press their music on vinyl. And then, without distribution, radio play, buzz or press coverage, their music languished in basements or crawlspaces, accruing dust and mold. It is the spirit of the latter that inspired the art book Enjoy the Experience: Homemade Records 1958-1992, released this month by Sinecure Books in conjunction with New York's Boo-Hooray art gallery, with a companion 2-CD set of some of the choicest bits." - NPR

"Take note: this is not a novelty freak show. Contained in this anthology are examples of some of the most highly regarded rock, soul, jazz, funk and singer/songwriter albums from the '60s through to the early '80s. From the awkward-yet-talented to the genius-yet-bizarre, one thing unites all musicians presented here: they sincerely hoped to become stars, they committed themselves to record, and they left themselves vulnerable to an industry not understanding of nuance, not appreciative of character." - Now-Again

VA - Memphis Boys: The Story Of American Studios

As usual, an ace compilation from Ace. This one accompanies the recently published book Memphis Boys (which we also stock) taking a look at the history of American Studios. An illuminating set that throws some curves by combining definitive versions of songs (Dusty Springfield's masterful Son Of A Preacher Man) alongside versions out of left field (the Glories interpreting Dark End Of The Street).

"There can be few with an interest in the music of the American South who didn’t welcome the recent publication of Memphis Boys, Roben Jones' essential history of American Studios. Although this collection doesn’t contain every major hit that came out of the funky little studio on Thomas Street, Memphis (we’re saving some for a possible second volume), as a listening experience it’s hard to beat—particularly when enjoyed in conjunction with Roben’s brilliant book." - Ace Records

"The first-ever tribute to the legendary American Studios—the late-'60s Memphis powerhouse that was as important to the sound of the south as Fame, Stax, and Hi Records! American did work for a number of different labels, and had their own brief imprint as well—and like their better-known contemporaries, they had a core house band who could provide killer backup to just about anyone." - Dusty Groove

VA - Listen, Whitey! The Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975

Soundtracking the short-lived yet historically-important Black Power movement, Listen, Whitey! is a superb accompaniment to the recently-published book of the same name. An inspiring and moving testimony to a time when demands for social change rocked America.

"Pop's fading power to shock is thrown into stark relief by this compilation, conceived as the soundtrack to a new book of the same title that charts the black power struggles of the late '60s and early '70s...The premise of Pat Thomas's handsome book is that this was an era in which revolutionaries such as Bobby Seale and Angela Davis were treated as pop cultural icons, while musicians became revolutionaries." - The Guardian

"Compiler Pat Thomas breaks with convention, avoiding a predictably narrow focus of soul and funk cuts and opting instead for a more expansive purview that encompasses spoken word, folk, rock, and other genres in the mix...Thomas is careful to distinguish his selections from contemporaneous Blaxploitation staples, as detailed annotations on each track go deep into explaining historical and cultural context." - Dusted

WE NEVER LEARN: The Gunk Punk Undergut, 1988-2001

Well, well—what do we have here? Why, it's the first book to chronicle the emergence of possibly the most submerged (in terms of "alt-nation" popularity and commerciality) rock subculture of the '90s. Eric Davidson, lead snot-spewing singer of Ohio's New Bomb Turks, has interviewed and written about the groups and movers and shakers of what he's colourfully labelled "the gunk punk undergut": lo-fi garage bands which were too wildly raunchy to subscribe to a strict "'66-only" approach, but too rootsy for hardcore punk purity.

From the U.K.'s Thee Headcoats (led by the ridiculously prolific Billy Childish) to The Mummies out of San Francisco (some nutcases who performed in, you guessed it, sweaty mummy costumes), a crazed commitment to rockin' noise is the common thread among the many diverse gunky groups. None of these sounded like the alt-rock bands which resonated with the indie-loving public at the time, mainly because the gunk-punkers were too uncompromisingly raw, savage, and unapologetically non-arty. Finally, close to a decade ago, The White Stripes, coming out of Detroit's garage-rock underbelly, had the wide-ranging impact that their predecessors/compatriots couldn't/wouldn't muster. With We Never Learn, educating yourself in the fun and frantic times that were had in the gunk punk world is, like the music, a total and bonafide blast!

LEROI JONES (AMIRI BARAKA) - Black Music

I’ve been waiting for a proper reprint of this book ever since I discovered it at the big York U. library over 15 years ago. Rereading it now, it’s amazing how much of an influence the former Leroi Jones' (now Amiri Baraka) attitudes toward black jazz music had on my musical outlook. Better known now as an incendiary poet/playwright, he was also a publicist for Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Billie Holiday, and an influential jazz critic for Downbeat, Metronome, and Jazz Review in the '60s, the period from which this collection is derived.

Jones/Baraka took an uncompromising stance in support of the jazz avant-garde, lamenting its lack of commercial viability vis-à-vis the more successful hard bop (which he disdained) and third-stream. His writing would become increasingly militant during the loft jazz period of the 70’s, when left-field jazz became further marginalized.

Time has vindicated his canonization of such figures as John Coltrane (who had widely alienated the jazz mainstream by the time of these writings), Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp, Don Cherry, and many others whose work continues to grow in stature for music fans who favour intensity and raw emotion over mindless technique.

TREAT ME LIKE DIRT: An Oral History Of Punk In Toronto And Beyond 1977-1981

Imagine for a moment a Toronto where only bands covering contemporary hits were deemed worthy of performing in bars. Imagine this city devoid of small venues where groups could play original material in front of supportive audiences. That was indeed the Toronto the Good (and downright dull) of the mid-Seventies, when into this musical vacuum stepped in a bunch of bizarrely-dressed, artsy, noisy, rebellious misfits creating the local punk rock scene, one that came hot on the heels of New York and London's in importance.

Author Liz Worth thoroughly researched this labour of love, the first book to chronicle the development of Toronto's punk underground. All the movers and shakers of the scene were interviewed, including members of local legends like The Viletones, The Diodes, The Ugly, and The B-Girls, all offering up bittersweet recollections of making music distinctly at odds with the stagnant rock mainstream of the day. Crucial musicians from Hamilton, an important punk breeding ground giving us Simply Saucer, Teenage Head, and The Forgotten Rebels, also make up an essential chunk of the story. It's a fascinating and occasionally disturbing tale, as the Toronto scene wasn't immune to infighting, gratuitous violence, and drug abuse. Faced with hostile reactions from news media along with radio and record company neglect, it was a pretty thankless job for Southern Ontario punks to make inroads in a country resistant to their audacious music.

Nevertheless, they established the nucleus of Toronto's alternative/indie-rock infrastructure, and Treat Me Like Dirt recognizes the importance of such larger-than-life personalities as The Viletones' Steven Leckie, the aptly-named Mike Nightmare of The Ugly, and Teenage Head's charismatic Frankie Venom, not to mention the managers and promoters who took chances on controversial groups when nobody else wanted to come near them. They're all here in this remarkable book, recommended to anyone who cares about this city's musical legacy.

(Author Liz Worth will be in conversation with Liisa Ladouceur here at Soundscapes on Sat. Feb 13 at 5pm.)

KRAUTROCK: Cosmic Rock And Its Legacy

The first few copies of this one flew out the door in no time. From the visual kosmische of the cover to the layout and typewriter font inside, this near 200-page tome looks like it could be a reprint straight out of the seventies. With an introduction by David Stubbs and contributions from The Wire’s David Keenan and Ken Hollings as well as Galactic Zoo Dossier's Steve Krakow, these articles are clearly geared towards the hardcore record geek. The first fifty pages of critical/historical essays are followed by band profiles from the common canon (Can, Kraftwerk, Cluster, et al) to the more obscure (I’ve never heard of Achim Reichel or Floh de Cologne, although collectors might sneer at my ignorance), and chapters on the key labels and producers are rounded out with a nifty timeline that contextualizes key Krautrock records and musical developments from 1967-1975 alongside contemporaneous German films and historical events.  

GALACTIC ZOO DOSSIER - Issue #8

Galactic Zoo Dossier returns with an eighth issue of obsessively hand-transcribed interviews, articles and underground comics. This time around, Plastic Crimewave (a.ka. Steve Krakow, Mr. GZD) meets up with Vashti Bunyan to discuss her whirlwind musical/wagon journey and Mani Neumeier talks about his days singing, leading and drumming with Guru Guru, plus interviews with Djin Aquarius from Ya Ho Wha 13, raga-folkie Pater Walker, and psychedelic light show pioneer Bill Ham. Also included are features on Funkadelic guitarist Eddie Hazel, songwriter Hoyt Axton, and more. Not only that, but rare tracks from Puffy Areolas, Vashti Bunyan, Toronto’s own Creeping Nobodies and others are collected on the enclosed CD. (But wait, there’s more! This month’s trading cards continue to lovingly pay tribute to yet more “astral folk goddesses” and “damaged guitar gods.”)

The Rough Guide To The Best Music You've Never Heard

Even if you actually have heard (or heard of) most or all of these less-heralded albums and artists, the anecdotes, quotes and playlists within make for great cross-genre supplementary reading. As selective as it must be in order to have been whittled down to digest-size Rough Guide form (at least there's plenty of room for more volumes to follow!), and despite the inclusion of a few younger acts (mostly British, it must be noted) arguably too new to really merit early canonizing, The Best Music You've Never Heard is still an awfully close equivalent to browsing in (and picking the brains of the staff of) a deeper-catalogue CD shop such as, well, ourselves.   

BOOKS: AUTUMN DE WILDE - Elliott Smith, VARIOUS WRITERS - Da Capo's Best Music Writing 2007, DAVID MEYER - Twenty Thousand Roads, STUART BAKER - New York Noise, VARIOUS TITLES - 33 1/3 Series, more

                   

Music books are always a great alternate gift for that impossible-to-buy-for music friend. This season has seen a pile of excellent new titles. Photographer Autumn de Wilde was a friend of the late Elliott Smith who, much like Merri Cyr did with Jeff Buckley a while back, has released a picture book chronicling her view of the musician. Fans will recognize the photoshoot which graced the cover of his 2000 album, Figure 8, but the remainder of the book is a goldmine of candid shots as well as several essays about Smith. The book also includes a 5-song live CD.

Speaking of goldmines, the latest edition of Da Capo's Best Music Writing is here. This is a collection of some of the year's best work in music essays and articles, and never fails to be a great buy.

Coinciding nicely with the new Gram Parsons Live CD is Twenty Thousand Roads, a study of the life of one of country rock's most beloved cult heroes--one who is tied as much to established icons like The Byrds, Stones and Emmylou Harris as he is to heroin and amateur cremation.

Soul Jazz records has been at the forefront of music archiving with their excellent reggae/soul/jazz/electronic/punk comps, so it's no surprise to see them releasing a book. Based on their three volume CD series, New York Noise covers pivotal themes in the development of the Big Apple's underground, profiling Lou Reed and Philip Glass to Suicide and Rhys Chatman. 

Finally, if you're ever really stumped, just check out the 33 1/3 series. Each one of these ingenious (and low-cost!) books is based around a particular album. Most are in-depth discussions of the album's genesis and its place in pop culture, however others, such as Kate Schatz's book on PJ Harvey's Rid Of Me, are pieces of creative writing inspired by the record.
Of particular note, mid-December will bring the arrival of Toronto writer Carl Wilson's analysis of the appeal of Celine Dion(!) and its polarizing effect on people. This book should be stellar, not to mention a great way buy something Celine Dion-based for a friend and have it still be thoughtful and cool (our heads are exploding right now). Happy reading! 

WAX POETICS - Anthology Volume 1

The Brooklyn magazine Wax Poetics has established itself as the consummate archival publication for the roots of soul, funk, hip-hop, jazz, Latin, and the like. Detailed histories, revealing interviews, and gorgeous vintage photography are rendered with the kind of reverence reserved for the obsessive music lover. This anthology collects the best material from the magazine's first five issues (2001-2003) in a beautifully presented hardcover volume. With Wax Poetics' popularity slowly increasing over the last few years, this is the perfect way to catch up on the origins of an excellent read.