Took some rallying to get out in the 3 degree rain and wind yesterday for a (long) run but made it happen. 13KM around the seawall via Burrard Bridge. It felt good but probably wasn’t ready for that distance right now. Still managed to get it down, slow and steady. Legs and lungs felt good; both feet felt better from there aches the previous run. Ended the run will an insane appetite. Needed some nutrition during the run. Strava link.
2017 and all of those runs are in the books. I met my 2017 goals (three half marathons and three 10KM races) and felt really good through most of it. By the the final half marathon in November I was mentally burned out and took a much needed break.
2018 has me thinking about new running goals. I’m still not certain what they are but I’m leaning towards another go at the marathon. I’ll see how these first two months of 2018 go before committing. If it’s not a marathon, my goal will be at least 2 half marathons. Why less than the last year? There didn’t feel like enough gap mentally between races. Once one ended it wasn’t long until having to ramp back up into training mode. The key for me is to try to keep running as enjoyable as possible. Not all runs are going to work but I believe most should leave me feeling better than I did before it. I also want to try keeping a running diary this year. Being my first run of 2018 here it goes...
It’s been two weeks since my last run. Today was 7KM, (see it on Strava) along my favourite route, towards Jericho Beach and back. Left heel felt sore on impact and right ankle was also sore throughout. Both felt better after about 5KM when they were fully warmed up. Temperature was good today with just a little January mist. Seeing the King Tide along the running route was a sight to see!
Today is a big piece of what is now in its ninth year of a journey to be the best & healthiest I can be. It started with June 24, 2007 and quitting smoking. January 10, 2012 started a diet after weighing in at 254 pounds. June 22, 2014 completed my first half marathon. August 10, 2015 had lost 85 pounds. May 1, 2016 finished my first marathon. Change is possible. Living the best healthy life is too. Thank you to everyone whose supported me on this journey; couldn't do it without you. (at Vancouver BMO Marathon)
It’s been four years since The Lumineers seemingly appeared out of no-where and took over radio for the next couple of years. This is the same band that played Vancouver’s Vogue theatre in 2012 but was then moved to the much roomier Deer Lake Park the following visit and will play that same park June 1st.
On Cleopatra the formula remains the same as what they laid out in their self-titled debut. Write beautiful catchy songs but usually come backed by a painful theme. The first single ‘Ophelia’, described as “is a vague reference to people falling in love with fame. That spotlight can seem like an endless buffet, but in reality, you’re just shiny, bright, and new to people for a quick moment-and then you have the rest of your life to live “ according to singer Wesley Schultz. It’s an immediately catchy song with the kind of sing-along infectious chorus The Lumineers have dominated speakers with.
The album bounces along at a good pace with a strong three-song opener that includes the fantastic ‘Sleep on the Floor’ and culminates with the album title namesake ‘Cleopatra’. The story telling and themes dealt with in the lyrics on this album beg for further listening. Sadness has never been shied from by The Lumineers. Case in point; listen as Schultz’s voice cracks and strains as he sings about a hospital stay during ‘Long Way From Home’.
I’m still not sure why in a streaming dominated world, artists need to release a ‘Deluxe’ version in addition to a regular album version but it is once again the case here. The three extra songs (and acoustic version of Cleopatra) are actually my favourite three songs of the entire album! ‘Where the Skies Are Blue’, ‘Everyone Requires A Plan’ and ‘White Lie’ is a brilliant run of three songs (much like the opening three) to close this album out. ‘White Lie’ is an absolute stand-out and might be one of the best tracks form The Lumineers camp… so far.
Essential tracks: Ophelia, Sleep on the Floor, Cleopatra, Where the Skies Are Blue, Everyone Requires A Plan and White Lie
The return of Vancouver’s seventies rock throwbacks, Black Mountain, has arrived! How better to tip the cap to the heyday era of classic rock than naming your fourth album, IV? But don’t mistake this album for an album stuck in the 70’s. Instead it’s a 70’s infused record that Black Mountain is able to put it’s trademark stamp on and fit it into today.
An absolute brilliant album cover greets you, featuring the Concorde and some sort of spaceperson looking over his/her/it’s shoulder, Black Mountain have tapped into their classic sound once again, this time with even more synthesizer. The album cover also acts a doorway or preview to the otherworldly dimension theme this album carries throughout.
The vibe on IV is fluid with a loose flow more prevalent then previous Black Mountain releases. Black Mountain have never been shy from long weaving songs but on IV there is a feeling of letting each song grow and breathe.
The haunting ‘Mothers of the Sun’ opens with an explosive riff and takes you across the Black Mountain sonic landscape for the next eight and a half minutes. Singers Stephen McBean and Amber Webber trade vocals on the song, building in the early parts to McBean’s ‘let’s count together…’ lyric, leading to another explosive riff and mid-point guitar solo.
Songs like ‘Florian Saucer Attack’ brings back the more sped up feel explored on ‘The Hair Song’ from their last album, 2010’s ‘Wilderness Heart’. While ‘Cemetery Breeding’ comes complete with a David Bowie ‘Ashes To Ashes’ riff.
The album closes with the spaced out epic ‘Space to Bakersfield’. It’s songs like this that Black Mountain shines. Where they’re able to take the live music element and put it to an album. The last line uttered from McBean asks ‘are we listening…’ before the music softly fades. Sung almost as if he’s taken off, looking back, wondering if you’ll join him, it is the perfect bookend to the huge riffs of the opener.
Essential tracks: Mothers of the Sun, Florian Saucer Attack, You Can Dream & Cemetery Breeding
Sometimes I felt like I was listening to a Queens Of The Stone Age (‘Break Into Your Heart’) record. Then Artic Monkeys (‘Choclate Drops’). All of the sudden, is this Bowie (‘Sunday’)? And then back to Iggy (‘Paraguay’).
Of course this is an Iggy Pop record. Maybe even Pop’s final record. What Josh Homme has been able to bring out of Pop on Post Pop Depression* is nothing short of exceptional. There are so many twists and turns on this record, Pop’s many influences bleeding through each song that if this is truly IT for Iggy, he’s going out as a master.
Pop has alluded that Post Pop Depression is his final album and tour. No where is that more evident than on “American Valhalla’, which also happens to be my favourite song on the album. When the album first came out, I began scouring the web for the meaning of ‘Valhalla’. According to Wikipedia, Valhalla is:
In Norse mythology, Valhalla (from Old Norse Valhöll "hall of the slain" is a majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin. Chosen by Odin, half of those who die in combat travel to Valhalla upon death, led by valkyries, while the other half go to the goddess Freyja's field Fólkvangr. In Valhalla, the dead join the masses of those who have died in combat known as Einherjar, as well as various legendary Germanic heroes and kings, as they prepare to aid Odin during the events of Ragnarök.
Lyrical the song finds Pop looking for answers on what’s next and almost pleading to be brought into his own Valhalla. I imagine Pop’s Valhalla to already have Bowie as one of its top residents. As I was writing this review, a podcast was published, “Song Exploder”. The podcast talks with Bowie and Homme on the creation of Valhalla, originally titled “Shitty Demo”. In the podcast Homme talks about the vulnerability in the lyrics of the song and how hard these lyrics hit him. Pop talks about the character in ‘American Valhalla’, the same character that rides through the entire album, as a veteran over 40. You can’t help but feel Pop is looking inward constantly during Post Pop Depression and looks to himself as a the inspirational muse for this character.
On the final song ‘Paraguay’ Pop sings
“I'm goin' where sore losers go
To hide my face and spend my dough
Though it's a dream, it's not a lie
And I won't stop to say goodbye”
It sounds like Pop is completely content with everything he’s done up to this point and instead of big farewell, he’s fine to just leave.
Pop’s final lyrics on what appears to be Pop’s swansong album are a moving goodbye,
“And I'm gonna go heal myself now
Yeah!”
Essential tracks: Break Into Your Heart, Gardenia, American Valhalla, Sunday, Chocolate Drops
✓ Inclusion in Best of 2016 Playlist
*Post Pop Depression is
Iggy Pop — vocals, acoustic guitar
Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age)— vocals, guitar, bass, piano, synthesizers, mellotron, production, percussion
Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age) — guitar, piano, synthesizers, bass guitar
Brian Fallon has never made his admiration of Bruce Springsteen a secret. It is that Springsteen sound that has influenced the albums from his regular day job with The Gaslight Anthem. Titling a song ‘Nobody Wins’ is no doubt a tip of the cap to Springsteen’s unofficial motto, “Nobody wins unless everybody wins.”
Fallon’s latest, a solo project called ‘Painkillers’, picks up that Springsteen torch and runs with it. Immediately ‘A Wonderful Life’ starts and you’re transported to New Jersey. ‘Painkillers’ is reminiscent of the hopeful records that have made up the past decade of Springsteen records (see High Hopes and Working On A Dream). Through all of life’s tough and uncontrollable moments both singers are yearning to see the best of what life has to offer.
Even a song (and album) titled ‘Painkillers’ has a hopeful message:
“And we want love like it was a drug
All we wanted was a little relief
And every heart I held in between
They were painkillers to me
They were painkillers to me”
‘Painkillers’ feels like a relaxed Fallon, going back to The Gaslight Anthem’s ‘’59 Sound’ debut. Shaking whatever shackles he may have felt under The Gaslight Anthem moniker over the past couple albums, Fallon has broken free on ‘Painkillers’ delivering a collection of his best songs in years.
The collection of songs here are beyond Fallon simply strumming solo on a guitar. Instead there is fullness to the songs complete with background vocals that shine through on songs like ‘Rosemary’ and ‘Nobody Wins’.
There is a punk rock Americana feel to this album. After losing his way Fallon seems to be winning once again. And as we learned from The Boss, that means everybody wins.
✓ Inclusion in Best of 2016 Playlist*
Essential tracks: A Wonderful Life, Painkillers, Among Other Foolish Things, Nobody Wins
*I keep an ongoing playlist in Apple Music where I continually add my favourite albums of the year. I plan to add a note to future reviews if they’ve made the playlist or not. Check out 2016 so far and 2015.
“George Fest – A Night to Celebrate the Music of George Harrison”
George Fest, not to be confused with Seinfeld’s George Costanza’s ‘Summer of George’ where he lounged in pajamas at home all day after being fired by the Yankees. Instead George Fest is a live album and concert DVD package documenting the George Fest tribute concert to former Beatle George Harrison, held at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles on September 28th, 2014.
The two album set is loaded with performers from all musical (or even comedy) backgrounds including Brian Wilson and Al Jardine of the Beach Boys, Dhani Harrison, Norah Jones, Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd of the Flaming Lips, Conan O'Brien, Spoon's Britt Daniel, and Brandon Flowers of the Killers. Other performers included Ben Harper, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Ann Wilson of Heart, and Ian Astbury.
The list of performers combined with Harrison’s impressive catalogue is reasons enough to give this celebratory album a listen. As far as live albums go, often times what happens in the live setting doesn’t always transfer to the stereo. That is indeed the case in places here but overall the songs and guests performing them, more than make up for those places.
There are a few very special moments here. One of those is how good and how much Dhani Harrison sounds like his Dad. Dhani tackles ‘Savoy Truffle’ and ‘Let It Down’ leaving you thinking you’re hearing George himself deliver them. Other strong surprises came from the comedic corner, Conan O’Brien (‘Old Brown Shoe’) and Weird Al Yankovic (‘What Is Life’).
At times things don’t work on this collection and sadly the Brian Wilson spin on ‘My Sweet Lord’ is one of those times. On paper this had me the most excited…hearing a Beach Boy sing The Beatles, how can it go wrong? But sadly Brian just never sounds comfortable and suffers from what sounds like a mixing issue with his vocals sounding distant (and almost disinterested).
The artists don’t stray very far from Harrison’s original versions on this compilation but that doesn’t matter. Hearing different voices deliver songs you’ve known for years and no doubt loved, gives them enough of a new spin, worthy of future listens.
What this album also does is reinforce how strong the George catalogue of songs is. The ensemble of singers that come together to close the album out with ‘Handle With Care’ and ‘All Things Must Pass’ cap off what sounds like a special evening celebrating The Quiet Beatle.
Essential tracks: Old Brown Shoe, I Me Mine, Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp, Savoy Truffle, What Is Life, Here Comes The Sun, All Things Must Pass
And within the first 10 seconds you instantly know Wolfmother is back! A ferociously perfect yell (that is almost a mirror to how Wolfomther started their career with ‘Dimension’ on their debut self-titled record) and guitar riff kick off the Andrew Stockdale led Wolfmother’s latest offering, ‘Victorious’.
The opening track ‘The Love That You Give’ is vintage Wolfmother and is exactly what made you fall in love with this group in 2005. The formula isn’t anything new but in 2005 it was a refreshing injection into the alternative rock & roll music landscape to hear that vintage 70’s classic rock sound.
‘Pretty Peggy’ is one of my favourite things on this new record. It starts with Lumineers-esq acoustic guitar. It’s a far way from anything Wolfmother have ever done, which makes it so welcome. It also provides a nice intermission from the three songs punch that kicks the album off. It is yet another nod to the past classic rock records where slower ballads fit neatly beside the rock anthems.
The album concludes with a vintage Wolfmother thumper, ‘Eye of the Beholder’, that brings that same kick-drum quick pace of their classic (and one-time Canuck power-play song) ‘Joker and the Thief’.
On Victorious, Stockdale has released his most succinct record to date. Comprised of 10 songs with nine of them clocking in less than four minutes. Stockdale wails on ‘The Simple Life”, about his protagonist looking for that elusive simple life. You can’t help but wonder, with the revolving door of band mates, long breaks between records, that maybe Stockdale has finally hit on finding his own simple life with ‘Victorious’.
Essential tracks: The Love That You Give, Victorious, Pretty Peggy, Eye of the Beholder
New Music Week of February 15th from Kanye West ‘The Life of Pablo’
So Help Me God
SWISH
Waves
The Life of Pablo
27 months after he started it, many stops and restarts later, four album titles, an ever-changing track list, culminating with a massive Madison Square Garden fashion release, Kanye West has (finally) delivered his seventh album, The Life of Pablo (TLOP).
Only a handful of artists’ album releases get me as excited as a Kanye release. He has defined hip-hop and published music that extends past the norms in the 2000’s like few others.
When the momentum of TLOP started to hit that feverish pitch and we finally had a release date (originally February 11th) the curiosity of what Mr. West would deliver was huge. An early track list tweeted by West himself had TLOP at 10 tracks, the same as it’s predecessor, Yeezus. This only helped fuel my excitement because that is one of the major victories of Yeezus, it’s succinctness. You (and Kanye) can thank Rick Rubin1 for the Yeezus trimming and keeping it to the strongest 10 tracks Kanye had at the time. For all of TLOP brilliance (and believe me there are massive stretches of brilliance all over this record. It’s an early completely impulsively pick already for one of the best albums of 2016) it begs to have the Rubin slash treatment. We may never know why Kanye took his original 10-song track list for TLOP and blew it open to be 18 songs but this is one of the downfalls here.
Tracks like ‘Freestyle 4’, ‘Silver Surfer Intermission’ and ‘Facts’ all stand out as unnecessary here in this collection. Even the amusing ‘I Love Kanye’ could be dropped and kept as the Saturday Night Live skit treatment it got on February 13th.
True to form Kanye produces and includes some of the best samples and sounds to be found in hip-hop. Songs like ‘Ultralight Beam’ sound completely fresh and original. Samples on the outro of ‘Father Stretch Mt Hands Pt. 2’ and the dance fuelled beats of the final two minutes of ‘Famous’ and the album closer ‘Fade’ are brilliantly used.
Kanye’s ego or antics in the media have never been enough to turn me off of his music. Admittedly there are lyrics here in TLOP that give me pause. They seem to be included for nothing more than shock value… as if ‘look what I can say’. There is a stretch of songs starting with ‘Famous’ then ‘Highlights’ into ‘Freestyle 4’ that all have start with Kanye lines that leave (at least me) dumbfounded on the outrageous nature of what he is actually saying.
But in the end it’s the overall sounds and Kanye’s swagger that just have the ability to complete stand out and come back again (and again). He has delivered a record that sounds like nothing else right now and THAT is what is most refreshing.
In ‘Feedback’ Kanye yells “Name one genius that ain’t crazy”… After the lead-up to finally hearing this record, West’s constant tinkering, his twitter account with seemingly no-filter, crazy seems to be the perfect word. But I’d caution to not shrug this record off as the musings of a crazy man. Instead I would encourage you to hear it as the sound of 2016, delivered by a man who’s made it his business to soundtrack the 2000’s better than most.
Essential tracks: Ultralight Beam, Waves FML, Real Friends, 30 Hours, No More Parties in L.A.
1 “The rough cut ran nearly three and a half hours, Rubin said, and West had initially intended Yeezus to have 16 songs. Rubin suggested trimming. "That first day, before he even asked me to work on it, I said, 'Maybe you should make it more concise. Maybe this is two albums. Maybe this is just the first half,'" Rubin said. "That was one of the first breakthroughs. Kanye was like, 'That's what I came here today to hear! It could be 10 songs!'"” – rollingstone.com
New Music Week of February 1st, Nevermen ‘Nevermen’
Faith No More meets TV On The Radio meets underground rapper Doseone and decide to cut an album? First thing I ask is: When and where can I hear this potentially amazing creation?
Nevermen is a trio consisting of TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe, Faith No More's Mike Patton, and Doseone. Each of these members has their own unique sound so on paper the potential for something completely different is there. As much as this potential could have helped the album it also looks to be the main reason it bogs itself down.
At times an album with this ensemble in 2016 should sound exciting and new but instead I found myself thinking I’d time warped back to the mid to late 90’s. Now that’s not to say there isn’t some good moments here. The collaboration shines brightest on songs like ‘Tough Towns”, fronted by Adebimpe. Another shining point is “Non Babylon” which alternatively puts Patton’s vocals up front. I also enjoyed the moody ambience of the finale “Fame II: The Wreckoning”.
Is this album a mess at times? Absolutely! Will it garner future listens? Probably not. But what I do love about Nevermen is that none of these musicians needed to do this album. It’s purely for the love of music, art and creation. In today’s hustle of chasing that dollar or wracking up album sales, doing an album because it fuels your creative juices is ultimately one of the most refreshing things about Nevermen.
