Feature: Stagehands - Broadway Rock, You Say?

*scene: a dark stage. suddenly, a single spotlight flickers to life, illuminating...an empty chair. From somewhere, a familiar voice begins to speak.*

Ju: ...

*sounds of shuffling, and one sharp microphone squeal*

Ju: -this thing on? Hello? Okay, we're good. Sorry everyone. Sheesh...here I was going to be all dramatic...I guess Chad Vangaalen is the only person that can make technical difficulties charming.

*polite cough interrupts*

Ju: Okay, got it...move this thing along. Here's the bit where I apologize for being largely absent from the blogosphere for ages, and give the usual "I'm an illustrator, and a few hours sleep comes before writing anything more involved than a post-it note. BUT! If you want to see what I've been doing...here! A peace offering in the form of illustrations about toilet squids!"

page 1
page 2 - spread

Ju: Now that I've thoroughly managed to confuse and befuddle the issue, I see fit to actually get to the point, being why I've decided to update the blog. Also, why I decided to try something new out with the theatrical setup (whether or not it failed is irrelevant; I guess I've always been better suited to backstage work).

The point here is Stagehands, a self-styled "Broadway rock" band from Toronto with both aspirations of creating something just a little bit different and bringing back that good ole thing called "narrative" that us illustrators are oh-so-fond of (and which has been missing from music in general, with a few exceptions).

I'm not going to lie; I thought long and hard about how to swing this; how do you go about featuring and describing a band that says it's not exactly a band, but also a production that claims influences from sources as diverse as Nightmare Before Christmas and Green Day? I agonized on this point for a bit, until I realized that frankly, the idea speaks for itself. Admittedly, the idea could fall flat on its face if not executed properly; the tough thing about walking the line between several genres is that you run the risk of losing your point.

Take Visual Kei, for example. A genre I have problems with in general, because I've never been a fan of bands that put fashion above music (grunge school graduate speaking here, of course). I always figured that if a band is good, the music should speak for itself, even if everyone looks like they just got up and threw on whatever was on hand. On the other hand, I've always loved theatre, which the VK bands claim to be influenced by.

Ay, there's the rib.

Or the rub, even.

Point is, looking at what Stagehands does, they succeed where all those VK bands fail, because their music is more about embracing the aspects of theatre and narrative than about using it as a gimmick. It's not about costumes, it's about NARRATIVE. Because theatre (and even music) is storytelling, and stories are always better when visual and auditory and sensory things collide with a decidedly satisfying "clang". What VK bands do is fashion, what stagehands does is theatre (with enough of a rock injection to make it exciting for those who think music + theatre = Gilbert & Sullivan, or worse yet, jazz hands, Mamma Mia! and Stage West for the Calgarian set...*shudder of horror*).

Stagehands's album, "The Silent City", actually has a storyline. A kickaxe one which I would give my eye teeth to illustrate as a graphic novel, actually. It's got the meta-level of being about a songwriter, a fantasy setting, masks, an evil-yet-charming Mayor who controls an entire city, the battle between individuality and fame...this is some serious Tim Burton sh*t right here. In fact, my drawing hand is itching to start on designs for characters as we speak (makes it exceedingly difficult to type, if you must know).

While I know that there's been narrative concept albums before, the difference is, this band actually theatrically inclined enough to perform the thing as a production rather than a concert. (In fact, I'm not-so-patiently checking their touring schedule to see if they might come anywhere close to the lonesome crowded west...>.>)

In this world of endlessly referential acts that "sound like ___" or "are a mix of band x and band y with an injection of genre z", where PR obscures the music with a blizzard of buzzwords and meaningless categorization, it's nice to see someone genuinely try to come up with something a little bit different.

~Ju


Stagehands:
website
on Myspace

publicbroadcasting.ca: Will CBC Axe Radio 3?

publicbroadcasting.ca: Will CBC Axe Radio 3?

As a Canadian, this topic is close to my heart.

As a fan of music in general, this topic is absolutely VITAL.

"Why should I care?" you might wonder, especially if you're the type of person who:

a) Doesn't live in Canada
b) Thinks that all broadcasting is lame, anyway
c) Has never heard of Radio3

Frankly, you should care because Radio3 is the only national support that the numerous stellar indie bands this country can boast about has (of which The Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene are only two).

Read the post, of course; they articulate a million times better why Radio3 is worth saving. But I'll add my two cents and say that the station is one of the only ways that many people can actually gain exposure to the exciting and original things going here musically; we, who lament of a national identity could very well boast: "Well, I'm not sure exactly what being a Canadian means, but we damn well have some of the best music in the world!"

...well, it could happen. >.> Don't grudge me my hopes and dreams, dammit.

Here's hoping the government pull their heads out of their rears on this one. >.>

Here's the link to the petition:

http://petitionspot.com/petitions/saver3


Thanks for listening

~Ju

Album Review: Unsparing Sea - A Cloud in the Cathedral

This has been a long time coming, for which I apologize a million times over to this wonderful band; it's easy to get lost in the plethora of minutae that seem to make up life at large, and before you know it it's already 2009.

I still have trouble remembering to write an '8' at the end of the date. >.>

I know what you're thinking: "Man, you must be getting senile in your old age, the rambling is worse than usual." However, in this case, you'd be wrong; the preamble ties in, I promise!

What I'm getting at is this: with the frantic pace of modern life, it's sometimes difficult to take time out and enjoy the things that, in reality, are the best parts.

See: The Unsparing Sea

(How's THAT for a smoking gun? *is smug*)

A Cloud in the Cathedral is one of those albums you want to listen to completely and wholly; it's the type of album I'd buy on vinyl, because this would guarantee that I wouldn't be tempted to multitask. I'd just sit back and listen to the beautiful melodies weaving through my head and forget the world for a blessed few minutes of sheer music bliss.

Opener "O! Form O! Place" gets us started; in our minds, we are taken to the musical equivalent of your Happy Place. A place where nothing bad can happen, at least melodically speaking. Easygoing guitar, vocals, percussion, and violin carry us through the passing landscape at a comfortable pace. I'd compare it to an establishing shot in a film, one where the landscape is as important and grandiose as any of the characters.

You feel the passage of time suspended within a seemingly timeless moment; from the melancholy moments ("National Guard") to the happy and energetic ("I Wasn't There, That Didn't Happen") to the waterborne ("On Sinking Ships"...okay, usually road trips aren't seafaring, but I've always wanted them to be in part. I'll allowed >.>); there are moments of breathtaking beauty and moments of regularity, each moment has its place, and none seem rushed or out of place. The transitions are natural, and all in all, we are different people at the end of the journey than we were at the start.

Overall, A Cloud in the Cathedral reminds me of traveling across open spaces; it's the sound that plays in your head on a long drive with no hurry, where you're completely at peace and in a state of contentedness, watching the landscape outside your window as it rolls past. (Usually, in this scenario, I would probably imagine myself as not being the driver >.>) Or, much like their name, you could maybe slow it down and make the connection to a slower, more majestic time and the feeling of traveling across an ocean.

All in all, it's a journey you won't regret taking.

P.S: check out their website; it's actually really nicely designed, and really gives you a feel for their sound in visual terms.


Grade: R, for road trip; an album that goes places and changes in subtle ways.

Notable stops: "National Guard", "God Will Protect the Naive", "A Lion With No Teeth"



music:
"God Will Protect the Naive"
http://www.mediafire.com/?wzyf3rxy3ic

on Myspace:
http://myspace.com/unsparingsea

on the web:
http://www.unsparingsea.com/

~Ju

[Opinion] The Fr0k is Full of Failure

So.

It HAS been a while. >.>

I know, I know...aren't we all getting tired of every post starting the same way? "Can't you ever think of some new and refreshing way to say it?" you ask. Or, better yet, "Why don't you just update WHYH regularly and avoid this whole song-and-dance altogether?"

To which I answer: "No. Writing is a pleasure, and thus is denied me during the school year. Now sit down and read the damn post."

Well, we'll leave the last part optional. See, this is a different sort of article for WHYH...sure, we've touched on these topics before, but never in a full, limelight sense.

So no, there are no new Calgary bands being highlighted in this particular post. You'll have to wait for our coverage of the phenomenal Sled Island Festival 2008 for that stuff.

No, young ducklings...here is entirely a rant.

A rant against Pitchfork, nonetheless.

Some of you might gasp. "Blasphemy!" Or you might yawn, because our dislike has always been...well, at least rather obvious. Also, a few might think that we're ganking this sh*t from Hipster Runoff, but rest assured, you doubters; we disliked them first, and I can't stand reading a blog full of chatspeak, even if it is for the sake of irony. >.>

So, why now? Why the full post instead of merely snidely making remarks in the margins of our show reviews and band features, like usual?

The answer might seem a little innocuous at first:

Kensington Heights.

(For the uninitiated and, on the whole, asinine group that might have question marks over their heads, Kensington Heights is the name of the rather good, nay, fricking awesome new Constantines album. Ju would also like to add that you should all go buy it, or die in a fire)

Truthfully, Kensington Heights isn't the first album I've disagreed with Pitchfork's rating of. Usually, I can even concede the points they make, though whether or not said points are enough to break the album for me is a different matter. Hell, they're even right a lot of the time, like on the last Trail of Dead album. >.>

However, this might be the first time that I've felt so strongly. Possibly due to the fact that the review did not, in actuality, list any real points in justification of the poor rating the album received. Possibly because I hate the "build them up and knock them down" attitude that seems to purvey the blog's reviewing on the whole. Also, quite possibly, because I'm a rabid believer in the Second Coming that the Constantines and their music represent. ^^;

I've realized, though, that the issue seems to go deeper. For a while now, I've felt slight frustration with the overall jaded mentality of the review staff; the enthusiastic ones are kept entirely to news reporting, it seems. Above all, I begin to see that blog as damaging to the fledgling nature of a lot of indie music.

When was the last time you saw an album rated above a 9.0 on that site? Okay...now, when was the last time you saw a perfect 10?

I can understand the attitude of hyper-criticality that seems to grow and permeate the spaces of the "educated" in any subject, mainly because I'm in a very similar environment at school. Critique is an important and valuable tool to any artist. However, the fact remains that Pitchfork has vastly grown in both size and influence; now, the review your album receives DIRECTLY influences the amount of attention you, as an artist, receive...and sometimes your very reputation. Thus, this hyper-elitist critical sense no longer works as a balancing force, but an overwhelming one.

What I'm saying is this; while it makes sense that jaded critics might never give out a perfect album score these days, it perpetuates the belief that good/influential, nay, perfect music is something that could only happen ten-plus years ago. That good, influential, and classic albums aren't being made anymore; in turn, this stagnates the creation of music, because it keeps artists turning to the same old references, the same old albums, and the same old sounds.

See, this wouldn't be such a problem if the Fr0k wasn't so damn HUGE. But it IS huge; anyone can see that the place has expanded massively over the last few years, especially to become a powerhouse media force; since the digital realm is essentially the place where indies and majors compete on almost level playing ground, it's not a far stretch to compare Pitchfork to what MTV used to be back in the 80's; a venue for bringing music that doesn't get exposure through regular means to a larger audience.

And much like that media mogul, it's only a matter of time before the force that used to be an "in" for the little guy begins to act much like the forces that provoked its inception in the first place.

Anyways, I've taken the ball and run with it...if we focus this back down to a personal level, I'll leave it at this: Pitchfork is, above all, just one opinion. Too often, readers tend to hearken that opinion to some omniscient and all-powerful god of indie, but the truth really is that it's still run by average people. People who may get the news first, due to media connections and budget; people who are actually right many a time about positive reviews for bands; and people who generally have been around the circuit for a while...but still people.

As such, they can only suggest to you what to check out and what to ignore, but the final decision in terms of taste comes down to the individual; what we, as indie listeners often pride ourselves on is the fact that we've got a personal opinion on music that hasn't been force-fed to us via a glossy marketing campaign and sheer repetition. We've discovered these bands through personal effort and discerning taste, and decided ON OUR OWN that it's good. Why would you want to hand over that power to someone else all over again?

~Ju


P.S: Really. Everyone should check out Kensington Heights. At least in MY opinion, it's a great album; probably my favourite next to Shine a Light. ^^