The Listening Post No. 14

The Listening Post No. 13

Interview, Video, Stream: Mark Mulcahy "She Makes The World Turn Backwards"

June 18th marked the release date for Mark Mulachy's first studio album in eight years, Dear Mark J Mulcahy, We Love You. Recorded in Northampton, Massachusetts, with Henning Ohlenbusch at the helm, the album was mixed by Paul Q. Kolderie and mastered by frequent Mulcahy collaborator Myles Mangino.  Long adored by fellow musicians and industry insiders, Mulcahy has tended a feverish core audience since his bow into the musical community in 1983 with Miracle Legion. Now, three decades on, the odds of the fever spreading are still in his favour with the arrival of a healthy new strain of Mulcahy music.

One of several standouts on the latest arrival is "She Makes The World Turn Backwards". A video which makes great use of Mulcahy's abilities as a live performer in that the song is performed live for the cameras.

Mr Mulcahy was more than kind to answer a few questions for Sixeyes. Also, Sixeyes must thank Mark Mulachy's manager, Ross Murray, for his assistance.

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S: How comfortable are you putting your music in the hands of another, so to speak, when making a video? Do you ever feel a loss of control?

MM: It's always  a gamble... good ideas on paper don't always translate to good ideas on film. A song is three to four minutes long, but only has to occupy your ears. A video has to keep you more interested and sometime three minutes is a long time. I've had some good fortune with a lot of directors, but sometimes it just doesn't work. It's no one's fault...  I think a budget helps, but money won't make honey.

S: Did performing the song live put you more at ease? Was this director Kyle Kochan's idea?

MM: I was for lip synching it, but we would've lost to the greatness of the chorus. They hated the idea. I'm also a pretty bad syncher. Live was the best and only way to do it. The band played it so well and the chorus added the unique perspective that singers of their stature bring to a song. It was a great day for me. Kyle thought of all the great ways to illustrate what was  happening in the room. He had it all blocked out, so the  story unfolded. That's the genius of Benton West.

S: Is the premise of a live video meant to address the fact you hadn't performed live in years?

MM: No, I don't think so. I'd like people to come see me live to see me live. Maybe we should make a performance video.

S: What to you feels most different about this album in comparision to those in the past?

MM: Just as a feeling, I'd say I accomplished a goal. I set out to make this record a certain way and thanks to henning and the rest, it we did pretty much what we planned. As for comparison, I don't know how to answer that. Even though I've played the nostalgia game, I'm lousy at looking backwards.


Thanks very much to the busy, Mark Mulcahy.


Below you'll find a streaming mp3 of Mulcahy's "She Makes The World Turn Backwards", along with the aforementioned video of the same song. As a bonus, we've also got a streaming selection of Mr Mulcahy's great past work!






TOUR DATES
July 12—Spaceland Ballroom—Hamden, Connecticut
July 13—Iron Horse Music Hall—Northampton, Massachusetts
July 25—The Hideout—Chicago, Illinois
July 27—Codfish Hollow Barn—Maquoketa, Iowa
Aug. 28—The Lexington—London, England
Aug. 29—Latest MusicBar—Brighton, England
Aug. 31—End Of The Road Festival—Salisbury, England
Sept. 14—The Barn On Green River—Williamstown, Massachusetts

The Listening Post No. 12

The Listening Post No. 11

Andy Shauf: 'The Bearer of Bad News' MP3s

The term Western Canada often brings to mind iconic images such as Lake Louise, the Rockies, or a Mountie on a horse framed by Lake Louise and the Rockies... but shift a tad east to the heart of the west, Saskatchewan, and you'll find flat plains and huge vista skies. This is the Canada of Andy Shauf, a criminally ignored singer/songwriter whose audience deserves to be much, much bigger. Beginning with his debut full length, 2008's Darker Days, and followed by 2012's The Bearer of Bad News, Shauf with his multi-instrumental ability and singular voice (like a young boy with downcast eyes and a big heart) has inched ever closer to perfection in the wide open fields of indie folk pop. Actually, Baroque pop can also describe the songs of Andy Shauf, what with the classy piano figures and creamy blue clarinets found throughout his minor chord gems. After countless demos, bedroom/basement recordings, EPs and full lengths Shauf has worked his songwriting to a fine point which would be hard to ignore. And now after touring and playing the best songs of his career—from the four-year-in-the-making The Bearer of Bad News—Shauf is likely once again in a dark corner of Regina, Saskatchewan, surrounded by guitars, mandolins, drums, and clarinet (also banjo, piano, etc.) piecing together the jigsaw of another 'musical' broken heart... all for our benefit.

MP3 and Video: Jordan Klassen "Go To Me"

Vancouver's Jordan Klassen must have been inhaling the same air as Carl Newman when he wrote this track. I know nothing of Klassen other than he's based in British Columbia, the home of The New Pornogapher's Newman. Although, now I know this song is just a touch baroque where Newman's pop is often in the 'power' camp. And that's not all... "Go To Me" has an air of Sufjan at it's start, but it's not long before Newman pushes him aside.

The Listening Post No. 9

The Listening Post No. 8

The Listening Post No. 7

The National performing "Pink Rabbits" on June 14th 2013 in CBC Radio's Q Studio. Watch the video here.

The Listening Post No. 6

The Listening Post No. 5

Culture Reject: Interview 2013

Culture Reject is Toronto based Michael O'Connell, a musician, songwriter, and you could probably throw in teacher and social worker. After learning more about him he is, as is usually the case, more than he appears to be, he isn't just some guy who makes music, it appears to me that music makes him. Michael was kind enough to find some time to answer a handful of questions for Sixeyes:

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A. Williamson: Hi Michael, first I want to know about the name, it's very distinctive... where did it come from and why not use your own name for what is essentially a solo project?

Mike O'Connell: There are many Michael O'Connells in this world.... maybe too many. I also wanted a name that could bring musicians in when needed and an easy opt out when I preferred playing solo or with other musicians. The name Culture Reject came from a lyric in "Inside the Cinema" which is a song about people (primarily homeless or street-involved.... also queer and transfolk) who I witnessed articulating their critique of the world that rejected them with such pointedness and accuracy that I realized people opt out of the mainstream for many reasons. I then started thinking in the larger social picture about belonging and the pressure to fit in; the elusive and also obvious benefits of belonging; our struggles to fit in, but how in those struggles, we let go so much of who we truly are. It's a question and sometimes crisis of identity. I think when people are honest about who they are they become increasingly aware of their own power and control to reject the rejectors equally. I also think it is arguable that we are all, at one time or another, alone and as rejectable as anyone else is in a culture that encourages or fosters divisiveness based on identity.

AW: Six years have passed since the debut release, how have you been keeping busy musically? Touring, producing, recording, session work?

MO: I have been writing and playing new songs with two wonderful singers: Karri North and Carlie Howell in Toronto. Since the debut I have toured Europe, Iceland and the US three times. That's how I formed a relationship with the French label Specific Recordings (in Metz). I started writing a little more towards a three person band formation, but still write for the orchestra in my head. I also have the privilege of operating a recording studio (sketch.ca) in the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto that serves young people living on the streets or on the extreme margins. We make A LOT of music.... grindcore, dubstep, old timey banjo folk, accapella, rock, rnb, Cumbia... and collaborations of artists who come out of those genres and are willing to play to make new sounds. It's an honour to witness and even more so to produce and facilitiate.

AW: How did it come about, the recording studio for young people living on the street? Was there one event, or experience which triggered the idea?

MO: It grew out of an initiative of artists who recognized the need to address the systemic barriers faced by people who are homeless and marginalized in the city.  The goal was and still is to offer art space, instruction and materials to allow people greater health and to increase control over the lives.  I was fortunate enough to be asked to coordinate the music studio.

AW: How do you choose the people you have playing on your recordings, or play live with?

MO: It's definitely a taste thing. They have to bring a passion for what they do musically, but also be willing to take on my musical vision. Often that means accepting the parts that I'm doling out. I've had horn players who I respect massively, look at me and say "that's more of a guitar line you want me to play on the sax... I don't think it translates." But they'll do it and they'll find a way to make it pleasing to my ears. I'm lucky that people are willing to embrace and contribute to the kind of music I hear and the way I want to express it.

AW: Do your songs grow out of jamming? I get a loose nearly funky feel when listening to much of your music.

MO: Not really. I really spend a lot of time recording. I guess I then jam with myself in an overdubbing kind of way and begin to come up with countermelody and melody to chord structure (it is, after all, just a form of pop music). The vocal arrangements are a little more collaborative and I owe a lot to Carlie and Karri for hearing and speaking up about what they think works best.

AW: Forces is on a French indie, Specific, how did you choose this label? Or was it more them choosing you?

MO: Florian Schall is an audiophile, super passionate vinyl lover, musician and community builder from Metz, France (he's the one that booked the band METZ before they were called METZ... but after that gig they took on the name...). He (and his partner Jennie Zakrzewksi) told me he was sick of a world that didn't have new Culture Reject music and told me to put together as many songs as I could and he would release it on vinyl. That's what happened. We're planning a vinyl re-issue of the debut record and a new collection of Culture Reject songs in 2014.

Thanks, Michael.

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Culture Reject's latest recording, the 'Forces' EP, is now out and available on iTunes, bandcamp (vinyl), and via his Canadian label White Whale Records.

Read Sixeyes review of 'Forces' and hear the entire EP.

The Listening Post No. 4

This Is Head Release Single: "Illumination" - Listen

Not sure how it's done... how This Is Head does it. There is 'computer' written all over some of what I hear in "Illumination", BUT it isn't turning me off, as it normally would. The song opens with a drugged and slo-mo'ed  Giorgio Moroder synthesized chug, à la Moroder's classic Miami Vice theme and then becomes some kind of indie feeling dance song as they add layers. And... still... I like it. If comparisions are being made, then Sweden's This Is Head are Franz Ferdinand with more computers and less sunlight... in the winter that is, but more sunlight in the summer... sooo, nevermind the sunlight part, it all balances out in the end. This Is Head are damn good, simply put.

But I do envy those Swedes their Swedish summers.




This is the band's second single off their second album, The Album ID.

"Illumination" Single Tracklist:
1. Illumination
2. Castaway (El Perro Del Mar & Bobby Bell Remix)
3. Staring Lenses (Prince Rama’s Setting of the Sun Swedish Black Metal Remix)
Buy the single on iTunes:

The Listening Post No. 3

Here's number three...

The Listening Post No. 2

This is No. 2. 

No, not that number two. So, plug a pair of giant metal cones into your ears and listen.