Grand Trine

Grand Trine is one of my favorite live bands to watch when I lived in Montreal, but also because I love tobias and shub like my brothers, and they've been going at it for a few years now, constantly progressing and maturing from genre bending weird punk to blown out Rock N Roll mayhem.



Free Download Link Here

you can get more info of the tape on grand trine's blog HERE

Its been long sold out and out of print for a few years now, so I'm glad they decided to upload them and share with us this special tape again.

Carl Didur / Slim Twig

Carl is probably one of the best kept secrets of the Toronto underground scene, and more people outside of Toronto should know about him. I first made a post about him on my blog after we played a one man band fest in toronto curated by our friend Max Turnbull, AKA Slim Twig. Ever since that show, I've been a fan of Carl's and follow his music endeavors, whether its the 2 man prog/space jazz/fade out outros minimalist experimental works of Zacht automat , or his collaboration with Broken Treefort, theres a sense of genius brewing underneath the quietness of his demeanor.

Watch out for the new full band of Slim Twig, it features both Carl and Mark of Broken Treefort, now full time band members.

They will be playing some shows in eastern Canada, be sure to check them out. Can't wait to see the full band version of Slim Twig. Its gonna be amazing.

Slim Twig East coast dates

A friend sent me the link to this video this morning, saying that I would like it, and from the moment it started, the aquatic coloring of the images took over me. Reminded me of early Christopher Doyle Cinematography Ala Chungking Express and Fallen angels, the frantic editing also reminded of WKW and french new wave cinema.

Check out Grace Denis' cool photography site:

http://www.gracegloriadenis.com/

RIP Gil Scott Heron. Your words will echo through out history for generations to come.

me and zach in Omar souleyman's promo video

Just saw this on Zach's lantern blog, you can see zach on my shoulders at 0:33 holding the omar souleyman LP, haha.

Fixture Records Compilation 2

Fixture Records just released their 2nd compilation which features some of my friends from Montreal like Cresting, Brave Radar, Chevalier Avant Garde (ex-postcards), Lantern, and many more. In addition, there will be some new Dirty Beaches tracks that were B-sides from badlands, and will be later released on the 12" split vinyl with Ela Orleans, coming soon in June by Night people and LSR. Very excited about this release, and I'm a fan of Ela's work and I'm really stoked that we finally got to work together.

Stay tuned folks for more releases coming this summer.

FREE DOWNLOAD LINK

This is one of the best interviews I've seen in a really long time, touching in on timeless themes for every artist of any platform and period: Progression, growing up, being yourself, not going to those parties, work hard, play hard, get paid, write more. Who the fuck wants to struggle and be poor? Hustle and get your shit out there.

post WYRD fest III

Many thanks to Aaron, marie, paul and Jane for being such amazing people and everyone involved to help wyrd fest work and blossom into a celebration of underground weird Canadian music. The comraderie was amazing as everyone helped out to load in and load out, weird match ups and jam outs that will become the staple and spirit of wyrd fest future generations to come.

Personal highlights for me were good buddies that I know from montreal that have all moved on to new interesting territories.

FEATURING:

My favorite brother combo Eddy and Andy's raw power brother telepathy related psych rock in tonstartssbandht, femminielli's new homo erotic sleeze electronic dance music that actually feels dangerous like Gasper Noe's films. Another highlight I was really stoked to see was my friend Frank from hobo cubes, as he progressed into free jazz electronic skronk that is truly coming into his own form, and I'm super excited to see what projects will be coming out of his amazing eclectic weird multi-media label HOBO CULT RECORDS.

The one surprise discovery from wyrd fest for me was WYRD VISIONS whose twin neck dan electro classical/ghost folk/loop station compositions almost brought me to tears. Truly inspiring, dark, moody, folk music that is haunting yet beautiful. Highly recommended.

After waking up at 4am during a 12 hour night drive from Calgary to Vancouver, I woke up to see the towering rocky mountain landscape, with its snow caps barely illuminating in the dead of night. Exhaustion and dreams concocted into one weird experience that I will probably remember for the rest of my life.

After being a month on the road spanning across North America, I'm so glad to be home.

More recordings COMING SOON!

Work hard, play hard, get paid, write more.

WYRD FEST III

Come see us play at WYRD FEST III in Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver!

DB W/ Lantern @Glasslands

God, I fucking LOVE Lantern. Fucking love this band. Good people, super nice, super productive. MY kind of people.

Love you Zachary, Em and Sophie.

We had a great time last night it was the most fun I've had in a really long time. If anyone have filmed more of the full band set, please feel free to upload them to youtube or vimeo and share them with us! or feel free to email me the links and I'll post it here so more people can see it.

Thanks to everyone who came out, it was a really fun night.

Love
alex

NEW YORK CITY SHOWS INFO

Hi NYC, the mercury lounge show will be my usual solo set for this tour, playing a mix of materials from Badlands, and newer materials like the video showcased below.

As for the Glasslands show in Brooklyn, I will be joined by Philadelphia's Lantern as my back up band. They are good buddies of mine and both show will be dramatically different. If you wish to catch the usual DB material, come to mercury lounge. If you like DB and want to hear what I sound like when I jam with other people as a full band, this your chance.

Love
Alex

Graceland Too

After visiting the King's home at Graceland in Memphis, and a walk inside Sun Records Studio, we were haunted with the presence of the King on our minds as we drove into Oxford, Mississippi. After the show was over, we were chilling and hanging out and Cole from Dead Gaze asked, "yo you ever been to Graceland TOO? I think you'll dig this man, its some real fucked up shit right there...an old man runs this place...and he's bat shit crazy..." this was 2am. We were told Paul Mcleod does not sleep, and drinks a case of Coca-Cola to keep his dick hard, and has the most Elvis memorabilia collection in the WORLD. I was sold immediately. After a 45 min drive, we then arrived to the infamous Graceland Too. It was now 3am. We knocked and was received warmly by Mr. Mcleod within 30 sec. From the minute I walked in I could not believe my eyes. From Floor to Ceiling, covered in Elvis photos and other Elvis related items.

He had a electric chair in his back yard where he claims that's where Jailhouse Rock was filmed. Amongst other stories, about Barbara Streisand getting fucked by Nicolas Cage and tea bagged by Jack Nicholson, or Mohamed Ali visiting his place with Steven Seagal just a couple days ago.

Although Mr. Mcleod is a pathological liar, there was true passion in his eyes. He believes in every single word that comes out of his mouth. And he is dedicated to his shrine to Elvis, for over 50 years, which has costed him his previous house, his marriage, amongst other things. All for Elvis. And at moments when he bursts our singing random lyrics, you feel like he lives for this. Just when I started to like Mr. Mcleod, he turns over to my girlfriend and says "when was the last time you flew on a plane? Did they let you bring your tits on board as carry-on's? or did they make you check them in?" As the creep factor creeped in, he looks over at her and Cole's girlfriend and says "you ladies watch out, I'm hung like a god damn race horse" and then walked away talking about the blue hawaii 45 on the wall, saying its worth 50 million dollars.

Someone please make a documentary film about him. Its insane. The best $5 I ever spent. An unforgettable night in Mississippi.

Pay Mr. Mcleod at Holly Springs, Mississippi a visit anytime, he's open 24-7.

Door's $5 a head.



*Edit*
I'll compile all the videos I took of Mr Mcleod after I get home. I'll post them up here on my blog.

Heres one from youtube from someone else's visit there:

Graceland

Felt some really dark vibes and a sense of sadness in that house...strangely haunting.

First two taken at Elvis' Basement stairwell at Graceland...
more stories and photos coming soon: Paul Mcleod's Graceland Too in Holly Springs, Mississippi...

Photos Via Brent Wingen

This is where it all started. In 1996, when I first saw this. It planted a seed and grew into everything I do today. I love Tony Leung.

This video is amazing.

Take that, Tonetta.