The Rural Alberta Advantage – Tornado ’87 by ObscureSound
Why? Because I love this song… what other reason is there to do this silly thing called bloggerin”?
Cheers,
Aaron
The Rural Alberta Advantage – Tornado ’87 by ObscureSound
Why? Because I love this song… what other reason is there to do this silly thing called bloggerin”?
Cheers,
Aaron
Photography by herki
Kaloo-kalay, the new Rural Albert Advantage is finally FINALLY here. Sweet. Jesus. What took it so long? It was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY back in 2008 (which is 21.4 blog years, by the way) that we first heard of these lovely Canadians.
Back then they were unsigned and, for the most part, unheard of… But oh what a difference 21.4 blog years make, eh? They were eventually signed to Saddle Creek where they then re-released the album and started touring and video making and stuff and stuff.
Which is great and all that, but it also meant we music geeks in freaks down here bloggerin’ land had to wait, sit on our 30+ minutes of Hometowns, barely above the length of your favourite EPs, for what? Forever maybe? yeah… Forever for a new collection of songs.
And, my friends, Departing was oh so worth the wait.
In one sense, RAA picks up where they left off. Same awesomely whiny voice, same haunting female back-up vocals, same noise-acoustic guitar effect, and same balance of frenetic & folk/roots/whatever. That’s kinda their sound, so it all makes since. I think a half-hearted listen may get them the “Hometowns II” tag from a music cricket or two.
Who knows. Don’t care.
In the vacuum of it’s own existence, we have ourselves a beautiful & often woefully sad break-up album. There’s depth to the sound, depth in the lyrics… Like our friends from the great north not only got their collective hearts broke, but also saw it coming and didn’t or couldn’t do anything about it.
It’s wonderful. My only complaint is the same as before. It is so fucking short! God, I want more. So…. me being me, here’s what I think you should do. Make a playlist/CD (it fits)/whatever of Hometowns & Departing played back-to-back. You know what you get? 1.1 hours of Rural Alberta Advantage and one happy mother fucker…….
Have a wonderful weekend everyone! We’ll be doing some arts & crafts (and my first boudoir photo shoot for some awesome & beautiful friends), riding my bike, and (of course) hanging out with Baby.
And….. if the good lard’s a-willin’ and the creeks don’t rise, maybe doing a little zinin’ for Issue No. 4?
;)
Until then… Enjoy!
1. Two Lovers
2. The Breakup
3. Under the Knife
4. Muscle Relaxants
5. North Star
6. Stamp
7. Tornado ’87
8. Barnes’ Yard
9. Coldest Days
10. Good Night
Previously from Hometowns…
Don’t Haunt This Place
Frank, AB
RAA Love: Official | Label | Twitter
Cheers,
Aaron
Zine by TSURUFOTO!!!
Busy busy boy thanks to crazy work action and short weeks! BUT…that didn’t stop us from releasing our very first zine that you see up above and over to the right!!!
That’s right… a zine! Appropriately titled TSURUFOTO NUDIEZINE, we essentially took the idea of a classic playboy (photosets combined with articles) and the old punk zines, mixed them together, tsuru-style, built a 16-page (including the cover) 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ closed, black & white photocopied zine with 3 photosets, our zine-exclusive review of the Decemberists The King Is Dead, a tribute of sorts, a craft activity, a new Bears Retweeting, as well as other goodness, ALL for only $4!!!
Yep!
We’ve already shipped out 6 of them since it was released on Sunday. All orders are shipped with a TSURUFOTO button (while supplies last) and a link to the pdf version for your e-zine needs!!
Hot damn, eh?
If you reeeeally don’t want to do it through etsy, just email me and we’ll work it out!
Now… in celebration, I figured we’d go through some of those hot & hyped songs floating around on the intertubals of love canals and try to get a little caught up on what you kids are jammin’ to this chilly ass winter solstice! So hows abouts we gets to its????
Alright! First up….
The Rural Alberta Advantage – Stamp
Wow. Wow… I can not WAIT until this album!!! Leak. Now. Please.
Ah, surf cut with whistle action sounding like it was recorded in a hall way in the 60s. Missing that Turbo Fruits pop & kick but pretty sweet nonetheless.
Hmm… quiet and slightly awkward start, but settles in pretty quickly to a sweet sound. Can’t go wrong with an organ keeping things in line. Her voice sounds so fragile. Then BLAMO! Now we are grooving. Such a lovely juxtaposition in her voice with the band. Kinda meanders along but it works!
Young Galaxy – Cover Your Tracks
Ah, Young Galaxy, where you guys been? Been a long time. Let’s see what we got here. Ooo.. very 80s start. What is that, calypso? Steel drums and synth? I think these guys are shape shifters, from a spacey vibe to a dance thing on their last album to this trippy thingy. Pretty nice, kinda haunting in a old school way. Nice…
Alright, that’s good for today, eh? Time to get back to work! Those zines ain’t going to make themselves! WOOT!
Cheers,
T…
Photography “Born In A Bottle Rocket” by Tsuru, Model by Isabella Misery
Well it’s time for the weekend. Finally, right? Can I get a high-five?
Sweet.
What you doing this weekend? Looks like more snow here, so my riding will be relegated to The Tank. BUT, if that good lard’s a-willin’ and the creeks don’t rise, Tuck and I will be driving out the route for April 3rd Super Awesome NO-FRILLS Bike Ride for Breast Cancer!
Keep an eye out for an update for a start location and route if all goes well!
WOOT!
I’m so excited for the ride. No idea how many will show up. But even it’s just a handful of people, it’ll be great and, of course, SUPER AWESOME! Haha!
Okay… got a little Friday mixtape for you today. Kept it old school, just built a nice collection of songs in the order I’d like to hear them. No “mixing”, no necessity for gapless play (though, I recommend it anyway because, well, those 2 sec gap things are just stupid).
This one was inspired by so many things. Matt obsessing over Rural Alberta Advantage, gud giving us a Tom Waits New Orleans song down in the Society, catching Velvet Underground in a movie the other night, or like when Colin Meloy was having his mind blown by Besnard Lakes. Just little things like that, “Ghost”, of course, appears due to the photo at the top of this post, plus our discussion of The Greatest Song Trilogy Of All Time, & my desire to have the lyric tattooed on my arm ASAP.
So yeah, it’s the little things that seemed to hook onto me, latching to my brain. Feels good, feels right. And after all this #musicblogocide2k10 madness going, I wanted to end this week on a good note. So, I’ll shut up and let’s just get to it.
Have a wonderful weekend, bundle up, and keep riding! Oh, and by the way, got a “special valentine’s day” treat for you this weekend, well, maybe more of an anti-valentine’s day treat, by way of our good friend Neil. Keep an eye out, should be ready by Sunday!!! Okay, let’s do this as…
TSURURADIO Presents…
And She Was Born In A Bottle Rocket, 1929!!!
Full Zip – REMOVED. Sorry kiddos, Broken Bells has hired the Web Sheriff to make sure you don’t hear the album until they are good and ready.
SIDE A
01 The High Wire – The Midnight Bell
02 Miles Kurosky – Pink Lips, Black Lungs
03 The Beatles – Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
04 Sophie Madeleine – You Are My Favourite
05 Lightspeed Champion – I Don’t Want To Wake Up Alone
06 Beach House – Silver Soul
07 Shabby Rogue – My Future With You
08 Midlake – Acts of Man
09 Sambassadeur – Stranded
10 Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings – I Learned the Hard Way
SIDE B
11 The Rural Alberta Advantage – Frank AB
12 The Besnard Lakes – Chicago Train
13 Electric President – Mr. Gone
14 Clem Snide – Forgive Me, Love
15 Velvet Underground – Pale Blue Eyes
16 The Ruby Suns – Oh, Mojave
17 She & Him – In the Sun
18 Broken Bells – Citizen – REMOVED via Web Sheriff request. Please insert you own more-awesome track here & enhance this mixtape by 10%. Thanks!!
19 Neutral Milk Hotel – Ghost
20 Tom Waits – I Wish I Was In New Orleans
WOOT! Hear something you like? Go to your local record shop and buy it, dammit.
Cheers!
Tsuru
contact me @ tsurumail
