ALDEN PENNER surface to air missive

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Alden is a spirit-political-thinking musician. not a popstar.

it's that easy.

back in the spring of 2005, at a time this 7" was supposed to be released (more or less simultaneously with this one), he had invited J.O. and myself for a dumpster-diving-dinner. i was quite reluctant.

it was superb.

now, in the early year of 2012, is there anything left of this wide opening?

listen.

JULIE DOIRON it's nice to come home

i thought my emotional tie to her music had loosened with the years.

but today, in the tube, listening to this very song, tears inevitably came to my eyes.

listen.

buy!

HANK teardrops [Womack & Womack cover]

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oh Dave, where are thou?

remember how you insisted on downloading this Hank song on my laptop, in november 2004:



listen.

buy as long as you can!


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THE BESNARD LAKES aviation

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Alden loves them. and that means something!

this 7inch came out before the buzz started, at a time when they were playing semiprivate shows at Sala Rossa.

if you wanna get an idea of their meanwhile highly distinctive sound, dig this:






they deserve it.



listen.


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LES LUTINS laissez-nous vivre

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a Dave-gift.

mid-sixties yeye-beat from Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec.

is this an appropriate description? tell me.

listen.


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CLUES ledmonton (7" endless forever version)

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they played yesterday night at the Bang Bang Club. one of the best shows this year in town.

55 minutes of grace and energy.

Alden and Brendan (and of course the other three musicians involved) are musicians. doing music.

until you haven't seen them playing live, you won't be able to really get it.

this song reminds me a lot of the original Arcade Fire (until Brendan, Myles, Dane and all the other musicians left; at that time, they were closer, in their spirit, from Neutral Milk Hotel than from U2).

a dynamic born out of uncramped concentration, seemingly boundless in its scope.

there would be so much to say about this band.

there will be. soon.




this song appears in a rawer version on the b-side:


it's Brendan who sings on that one, of course.
he should do this more often. (listen to his vocal appearence on Think About Life's first album's Bastian and the boar - it's devastating, really.)





listen.


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ALDEN PENNER l'espair

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the woman i once loved and myself manufactored the covers for these 100 vinyl copies that alden got from the australian label that originally released it - another obscure edition coming with a crayon pack meant to color in the b/w silk-screened cover.

this one is different.

potato-stamped paperbags from the saint hubert-chicken-fastfood-chain, 7"-size-folded in a highly elaborate way: you have to take off the form-fixing staples to unfold it and get the essential inlay!

there are two different inlay-designs:
50 copies come with a tent-manufacturer-embossing, a company that was run in the 1920ies somewhere in ontario, canada;
the other 50 copies come with a unique foot-print (alden's, of course!).

34 covers are stamped in red, 33 in blue, 33 in white.

A is the first letter, number one. 9 is the highest numeral.

just in case you're wondering if there's any deeper signification.

listen.


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THINK ABOUT LIFE paul cries

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Japanther's brothers in mind. and Dan Deacon's, if you ask me.
that's a fucking compliment.

here on a japan-only 7inch.

on stage this band has epiphanious powers:

two different songs - from the current album:

and this is DISHWASHER - Martin all by himself:





listen.


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LES ANGLES MORTS la ronde

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friends.
don't need to keep in touch to be.

played one show with them, as an opener to Nina Nastasia. long time ago, summer of 2003. played that song, actually.

all the music they did was meant to be joined by super 8-film screens. if my memory is intact, Myle's grandfather had made a bunch during the olympic games in montreal, back in 1976.

Brendan plays nowadays [since the spring of 2010: used to play] in CLUES.
Kirk Douglas in his young days-Kyle is THE man at sala rossa, if E. is right.
Myles travels the continent as a bandmate for different acts.

all the three of them used to be in this band, at this moment, that i liked a lot at that time:

in case you care: the cover is a Seripop-print.

even though this is longtime gone past, it remains present.
montreal. city of lost dreams and born certainties.

too cryptic for you?
more to come.


listen.


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