I find myself feeling like an observer during a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde play. The reason being, I am reviewing the CD of a band that recently wowed me during their April 20th concert at Richard's on Richards. I anticipated Mute Math's self titled debut CD to be a raucous, keenly produced, wall of frenetic sound.

I definitely received a keenly produced, wall of sound (not a frenetic note to be heard) that was self produced with guidance from Tedd T. However, Mute Math's energetic and animated Dr. Jekyll performance, had been replaced by a melodic, attention-to-detail, layered upon electronic layer, luscious Mr. Hyde.

This is not a complaint. It is an observation and I almost wish I hadn't seen the band live as my expectations were completely misguided. If I had been expecting a U2 meets Coldplay meets The Police type of sound, then I would have been prepared.

After my initial consternation, I settled into the sound of Mute Math. The New Orlean's band (consisting of: Paul Meany, Darren King, Greg Hill, and Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas) brings an explosion of atmospheric riffs.

Paul Meany created Mute Math in 2003 after leaving the 'Christian' pigeonholing of his former band, Earthsuit. Not that Paul is no longer Christian; he was tired of his faith being one of the main adjectives describing his music.

If you prefer the jauntier, livelier version of Mute Math, stick with their 2004 Reset Ep (9/10). If you want to evolve and mature alongside Mute Math, then their self titled CD is the one for you. 8.5/10

image: purevolume.com

Today I attended a performance of the locally based group Ache Brasil. They are a performance group originally from Brazil who do a fusion of Brazilian music, dance and capoeira (a combination of Brazilian martial arts and acrobatics).

The performers explained a bit about the origins of their music, which started in the slave fields; the guards were afraid to allow the slaves to do any form of martial arts or fighting, for fear that it would give them enough practice that they could use these skills to escape. Instead, the slaves ended up incorporating their fighting moves into a dance which they would practice in full view of the unsuspecting guards.

But it was the music which really intrigued me. Dave's been listening to a lot of Brazilian music over the last five or ten years, acts like Os Mutantes and Gaetano Veloso. The influence of the traditional Brazilian music as played by Ache Brasil is readily apparent in the more contemporary Brazilian acts.

Ache Brasil was up for a Juno for best live act; they also have a cd out called Ecosda Mangue. And if you're into doing something a bit more physical than just listening to music, maybe you can try out some capoeira - in Vancouver, it's taught at the Capoeira Ache Brasil Academy.

Go to www.achebrasil.com for more details.

I was recently looking at some stats for the March, 2007 South by southwest Music Festival. It's quite an amazing production that they put on down there!

Taking place in Austin, Texas, it's the largest showcase of new music in North America. This year South by Southwest was held March 14-18, in 62 different official venues - not to mention all the unofficial ones. Over 1700 bands applied, and ultimately over 1400 were accepted. This year saw the highest number of Canadian acts ever (108) and also the first time francophone bands have played (3 this year).

Some Canadian bands that played were Malajube, You Say Party! We Say Die! (see previous Swanktrendz article on these guys), Mstrkrft (featuring Jesse F. Keeler of Death From Above 1979), my!gay!husband, Peter Elkas (formerly of one of my fave bands, The Local Rabbits), Wintersleep, and Young Galaxy.

Go to www.sxsw.com for more details.

Just as the now defunct television series, Queer as Folk used to introduce us to original, cutting-edge, alternative music, The L Word appears to be providing the same. As with movies, the soundtracks to television series are becoming equally as important as the series' plotlines. I was introduced to The Cliks after reading the media buzz fuelled by the song, Complicated. Thanks to The L Word, The Cliks’ CD, Snakehouse, has been added to my daily listening regimen.

Lead singer Lucas Silerira has been compared to a young Chrissie Hynde mixed with Leisha Hailey, but I don't hear it. When I listen to Lucas I hear... and I am not being sarcastic nor critical when I say this... I hear Wayne Newton. I have played this CD countless times, only to arrive at the same conclusion each time; Lucas channels a gritty, hard rockin' Newton and I love it. I heard strains of Newton from the first song, Complicated through to the last track, Back in Style (These two are also amongst my favourite tracks with Oh Yeah rounding out the top three.)

Lyrically, the opening lines of Complicated are like a bucket of ice water being thrown in one's face - It's definitely an attention grabber. The Cliks also perform a cover of Justin Timberlake's 'Cry Me a River' . With its beat slowed down considerably, the vocals come across as soothing, melodic and heartfelt, but the track remains my least favourite song on the CD.

The themes of alienation, betrayal, and confusion run throughout Snakehouse. Similar in its raw emotions as Alanis Morissette's debut, Jagged Little Pill, The Cliks are sure to attract a huge following with this well produced (thanks to Moe Berg of The Pursuit of Happiness) offering. Snakehouse is definitely the perfect soundtrack for many listeners' angst filled lives.

8.5/10

images from xtra.com archives and amazon.com

Every time I use an apostrophe, it ends up looking like this ’. Can anyone tell me why that is? I only get this on tblog - not blogger, buzznet, etc.

Can anyone please explain to me why this is?

Thanks in advance, Christine

Richard's on Richards

Full Capacity

...because they are one of the greatest live bands touring the club circuit these days. Their experimental... sound good on disc, but phenomenal when brought to life... (By Jen Cray @ ink19.com - December/06)

I republished the above excerpt after coming across it on Saturday. It summed up perfectly what I felt after leaving Mute Math's concert.

Mute Math (Darren King - drums, Greg Hill - guitar vocals, Paul Meany - guitar/vocals, and Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas - Bass) played Richard's on Richards Friday, April 20th. The venue was close to being sold out - if not already sold out. This was a good sign considering another cult fan favourite, Blonde Redhead was simultaneously playing at The Commodore. (Personally, I'd rather have three hours of dental work than bear witness to BR's caterwauling again.)

Swank's superficial crowd observations: this was a young crowd aged approximately 19 - 25. The male to female ratio was 5 to 1, which I have come to realize is a good sign for a band's staying power. Plaid shirts, Royal Air Force tees and various grunge getups were the outfits du jour. Mute Math's appearance on stage had me scratching my head and double checking the CD pictures. Not that they're an unattractive lot - far from it - but they are also not the 'eye candy' they appear to be in the CD's photos. I want their photographer to snap some pictures of me.

After a bland 2nd (Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin) opening act, Mute Math singer, Greg Hill, took the stage drumming, banging a gong and making a huge entrance. Drummer, Darren King, is a force to be reckoned with. He is mesmerizing on his own - laying down the huge sound that has made Mute Math so popular on the indie scene. King also had headphones taped on (listening to a click track?) The tape came in handy given the amount of energy Darren pours into his playing, frenzied and fabulous. Hill could have used some headphones as well, just to tone down his occasional screams blasting through such an acoustically challenged venue.

Kudos to Mute Math's sound and lighting technical crew. The band focuses on giving an exciting show no matter how small the booking. The lighting was impressive - floor to ceiling neon, often triggering the crowd into an anticipatory frenzy. The sound highlighted MM's attention to song endings. The sound was crisp - with songs ending perfectly, swift and concise and no over the top, solo, trailing guitars/ drums. Again, with Richard's on Richards being known for its poor acoustics, sounding this good was an achievement in itself.

Mute Math has around eight songs that, after the first three chords are played, send the crowd into blissful ecstasy. Bands usually have around three to four songs (unless, of course, they're a band with 5 albums under their belt) that draw the, 'Ohh! I looovve this song!' response. Mute Math had released an EP in 2004, and in 2006, their debut CD. Given this stat, eight songs is a huge percentage. This band is here to stay.

A marketing aside - Mute Math's CD reminds me that all the downloads in the world cannot replace good CD liner notes/inserts. Mute Math is obviously aware of this and gives their fans a portable, in-your-hand publicity prompt. As well, their clothing/merchandise line has a simplistic, catchy design and all merchandise was selling at a brisk pace.

Mute Math is selling out venues all across Canada and the USA during their North American tour.

4/24/2007 - Virgin Megastore, 6:00 PM, San Francisco, CA

4/24/2007 - Slim's, San Francisco, CA

4/25/2007 - House of Blues Sunset Strip, West Hollywood, CA

4/26/2007 - M-Theory Music, 6:30 PM, San Diego, CA

4/26/2007 - House of Blues, San Diego, CA

4/29/2007 - The Clubhouse, Tempe, AZ

5/1/2007 - Sunshine Theater, Albuquerque, NM

5/3/2007 - La Zona Rosa, Austin, TX

5/4/2007 - Granada Theater, Dallas, TX

5/6/2007 - The Meridian, Houston, TX

5/7/2007 - House of Blues, New Orleans, LA

Images from Joy and others at Mute Math's Myspace.com page

www.mutemath.com/

www.myspace.com/mutemath

I immediately declared heresy on Jesse Malin's Glitter in the Gutter(March, 2007) after spying on the liner, a remake of The Replacements' timeless 'Bastards of Young'. However, after a couple of listens, Malin's acoustic, world weary, slowed-down version of Paul Westerberg's lost generational anthem, gradually grew on me until it inched its way to the top of my daily 'must listen' cd shuffle. No easy feat, me being, Miss Morning-Misery, here. Then again, that's not to say I prefer it to the original - not a chance.

Jesse has been making music for over 27 years, starting at the age of 12 with punk/rock bands. His third solo album, Glitter In The Gutter was not what I expected. I was hoping Malin's album would invoke the same jaded rocker angst as The Fine Art Of Self-Destruction.

This album has everyone noteworthy on it, to the point where I wonder if 'solo' release is truly accurate. The album features appearances from Ryan Adams, Chris Shifflett (of Foo Fighters) Josh Homme, Jakob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen who contributes his vocals to 'Broken Radio'. While Springsteen's vocals flavour 'Broken Radio' in a very “Boss’ way, the result is that the tune becomes both predictable and, for some, comfortable.

In listening to the cd several times to and from work, I was struck with the fact that the songs are well crafted from a technical/business point of view. There are the prerequisite hooks, fun and interesting lyrics (gotta love, 'you know I can’t resist, my little anarchist' on Black Haired Girl) and good melodies. Listen to the music and turn down Jesse's vocals; you can almost hear The Gin Blossoms or Toad & the Wet Sprocket. Turn up the vocals and you have the same well written tunes, fronted by a chain smoking, hard-livin' voice that was predominate on the airwaves before the studios' advent of autotune (not to say that Jesse smokes, drinks, etc - he just has that hard voice.)

Let's just say that Jesse Malin is an acquired taste. This CD is good, but I would recommend buying his CD, The Fine Art Of Self-Destruction prior to this venture. Call it an ice-breaker, if you will. 7/10

I have starred the songs worth a download purchase

1. Don't Let Them Take You Down*

2. In The Modern World - featuring Ryan Adams

3. Tomorrow Tonight - featuring Josh Homme

4. Broken Radio - featuring Bruce Springsteen & Ryan Adams

5. Prisoners Of Paradise - featuring Chris Shiflett (Foo Fighters)

6. Black Haired Girl - featuring Jakob Dylan (Wallflowers)

7. Lucinda*

8. Love Streams

9. Little Star - featuring Ryan Adams

10. Bastards Of Young - The Replacement's cover written by Paul Westerberg.*

11. Happy Ever After (Since You're In Love 2007)

12. NY Nights

13. Aftermath - featuring Ryan Adams*

GUSTER Satellite (EP)

JARRE, JEAN MICHEL Teo & Tea

MANX, HARRY & K. BREIT In Good We Trust

PANTHERS The Trick

VEIRS, LAURA Saltbreakers

APRIL 17

SHY'M Mes Fantaisies

APRIL 24

CLIKS, THE The Cliks

FERRER, IBRAHIM Mi Sueno

HALLYDAY, JOHNNY Flashback Tour Palais Des Sports 2006 (2 CD Set)

LIL' FLIP I Need Mine

ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST Evil Dead: The Musical

REDMAN, JOSHUA Back East

STARS OF TRACK AND FIELD TBD

VARIOUS ARTISTS A Tribute to Joni Mitchell

MAY 1

ACADEMY IS..., THE Almost Here

BUBLE, MICHAEL Call Me Irresponsible (CD, Special Edition)

COLD WAR KIDS Robbers and Cowards

GENESIS Studio Albums 1976 - 1982

GYM CLASS HEROES The Papercut Chronicles

MITSOUKO, RITA Variety

OST Spider-Man 3: Music From And Inspired By

PARAMORE All We Know Is Falling

SHELTON, BLAKE Pure BS

SPILL CANVAS, THE Denial Feels So Good (EP)

PORCUPINE TREE Fear Of A Blank Planet

VARIOUS ARTISTS World Circuit Presents

MAY 8

ADAMS, YOLANDA Greatest Hits

BJORK Volta

FIELDS Everything Last Winter

VARIOUS ARTISTS Aubade: Sensualidad

MAY 15

ANDERSON, JOHN Easy Money

LINKIN PARK Minutes To Midnight (CD, CD/DVD)

VARIOUS Atlantic Records: The House That Ahmet Built

WILCO Sky Blue Sky (CD, CD/DVD)

MAY 22

HILL, FAITH The Hits (CD, DVD)

USED, THE Lies For The Liars

VARIOUS ARTISTS Atlantic Standards 2

MAY 29

VARIOUS ARTISTS In The Name Of Pride

WILEY, NATHAN The City Destroyed Me

JUNE 5

BIG & RICH Between Rising Hell And Amazing Grace

COWBOY TROY TBD

DEEMI Soundtrack Of My Life

LARRY THE CABLE GUY Morning Constitutions (DVD)

MEG & DIA Something Real (CD, CD/DVD)

PETTY, TOM Highway Companion (Special Edition)

JUNE 12

BOYZ N DA HOOD TBD

PARAMORE TBD

STRATA TBD

TRAVELING WILBURYS Traveling Wilburys

TREY SONGZ Trey Day

VARIOUS ARTISTS Instant Karma: The Campaign To Save Darfur

JUNE 19

WHITE STRIPES, THE Icky Thump

JUNE 26

CLICK 5, THE Modern Sounds in Power and Pop

ELEPHANT MAN Let's Get Physical

JUNE

ARMOR FOR SLEEP TBD

AVENGED SEVENFOLD In The Beginning (CD+DVD)

CINCOTTI, PETER East Of Angel Town

HIGGINS, MISSY On a Clear Night

OST Entourage Soundtrack

SLAYER Unholy Alliance (CD/DVD)

TWISTA TBD

YOUNG, PEGI TBD

JULY 10

CRIBBS, THE Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever

HIM TBD

SMASHING PUMPKINS TBD

YUNG JOC Hustlenomics

JULY 17

KWELI, TALIB Ear Drum

T.I. T.I. vs T.I.P.

JULY

AGAINST ME New Wave (CD, CD/DVD)

DANGEROUS MUSE TBD

MICHAEL, KEVIN TBD

AUGUST 14

MCKENNA, LORI Unglamorous

SEPTEMBER 4

HOT HOT HEAT Happiness Ltd (CD, CD/DVD)

images from amazon.com

Back in September and October I wrote an article encouraging submissions to the International Songwriting Competition (Deadline was October 16, 2006). The ISC judges included such notables as: Brian Wilson; Tom Waits; Rosanne Cash; Sean Paul; Mark Chesnutt; Jerry Lee Lewis; Frank Black (Pixies); Robert Smith (The Cure), etc.

Almost 15,000 songs by amateur and professional songwriters from 88 countries were submitted to the 2006 competition, confirming ISC's status as the world's leading global songwriting event. Entries were received from faraway countries such as Rwanda, Uzbekistan and Hungary, to the more common countries such as Canada, The USA, and the UK.

More than $150,000 in cash and prizes will be shared among the 56 winners, including an overall Grand Prize of $25,000 (US) cash - the largest cash grand prize of any songwriting competition in the world.

This year's Grand Prize Winner is Scott Leger of Austin, TX, USA for his song "Maybe Tonight, Maybe Tomorrow."

(Image from wideawake.com)

Scott wrote the song after a personal friend’s disclosure of a cancer diagnosis. The song was meant both as a personal coping mechanism and as a tribute to cancer survivors across the world. Leger’s hope is that the song will encourage people everywhere to live life to its fullest, whether they're dealing with cancer or any other challenge. In addition to its lyrical content, the song's memorable chorus and strong pop sensibility resonated with the ISC judges, culminating in it being awarded this year's Grand Prize.

Leger’ is also the lead singer and main songwriter of the award-winning band, Wideawake. Wideawake's two releases, ‘Bigger than Ourselves’, and ‘Not So Far Away’ have sold well, and they have shared a stage with Switchfoot, Blue October, Third Eye Blind, Sister Hazel, Sheryl Crow, Hootie and the Blowfish, and Tears for Fears.

The other 18 categories in the competition provided a list full of winners. To see the complete list of all of the winners (and to hear their songs) go to www.songwritingcompetition.com/winners.htm.

You can also browse other music making information on the site, especially information/promotion of a DVD that records a seminar on the music industry. The DVD covers beginner questions such as: Things to say (and not say) when an A&R person contacts you; What makes an Artist/Band signable, and How to improve your songwriting talent.

Swanktrendz would like to extend our congratulations to Leger as well as all of the entrants in the International Songwriting Competition

800+ Capacity April 6, 2007

The 800 or so crowd and I saw one of two things: a seminal emo/punk band that will hone its chops and end up another arena-rock-act, or a band that will consistently fill smaller venues with faithful fans.

Formed in 1995, Blue October established a solid fan base with the 2nd release of their Calling You single, which was included in the American Wedding movie soundtrack. Their recent chart topping Hate Me and Into the Ocean songs were released (April, 2006) on their fourth album, Foiled, and welcomed a new audience into their steadily growing numbers.

Blue October’s 18 song set began with a rockin’ HRSA and ended with the favourite, Hate Me. The band's sound is hard to pin down. At times there was the Terence Trent D’Arby poppy synth sound; the snarling punk infused Hate Me, or the addition of a violin to an already moody love song. So, which direction does Blue October prefer -the biting hard emo/punk, or the melancholic mood crooning? Either way frontman, Justin Furstenfeld, clearly enjoys his job and plays the audience like a well-seasoned pro.

Although Blue October have clearly played enough gigs, they don’t have confidence in their ability to keep their fans interested. This was evidenced in their play list. They threw their fans a ‘bone’, Calling You, 5 songs into an 18 song set. However, Into the Ocean was played at the ‘end’ of their set, which was clearly counting on an encore to bring the anticipated Hate Me to the audience. I do not like having my encore be manipulated. I would hope the band consider receiving an encore after all their charted songs have been played. That’s like wondering if 1000 fans clapping with one hand is better than 500 using both? One handed clapping is both absurd and orchestrated - so was the encore.

I came to the Commodore expecting to dismiss the band as a one (three?) hit wonder, destined to fade away to expired chartland, but instead found that I truly enjoyed the gig and the band’s charisma. Go figure. Perhaps with less polish and more spit, this band could pull off big venue future gigs (sans the song manipulation).

Blue October is scheduled to appear on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on April 25, 2007. Check them out.

first pix from justinstickets.com

in studio pix from blacktopguerillas.com

violin from epochstrings.com

Or... An Update on Andrew Hoshkiw

By Christine Albrecht

Swank Home

I have spent literally hours trying to find articles that I have posted on Swanktrendz between September 2006 and January, 2007. Why am I choosing to peruse old articles rather than have a life? It appears... (appears as no official statement or explanation has been offered) our website server/host suspended our account after mistakenly determining Swanktrendz was delinquent in its monthly payments.

These activities (searching for past articles and the suspension of Swanktrendz) brought to mind two questions: a) Do real live human beings actually work at website server/host sites (or anyspend time? Obviously one can spend money, but is spending time an accurate statement? Would my English Professor deduct marks for my use of slang/ colloquialism? Where did the expression originate? (Hell, if my English professor saw this website and my contributions, he would probably remove his name from my transcripts, thus obliterating any trace of his involvement in my education.)

Now, back to the server... After the mistake was found (again, not publicly acknowledged by the company), my website was restored to its former glory - not! The server somehow managed to post my main page, period. The page led to nowhere. Not a single link was live, in working condition. After repeated attempts to contact the live help desk (refer back to question a), I sent several responses to the host's email determining the Swanktrendz website looked fine from the host's perspective and to 'Please tell us exactly what the problem appears to be'. After a day or so, I managed to secure the rest of Swanktrendz's links/pages. Then came the next (current) problem.

Most of Swanktrendz's articles are intact, however, there is a period of time (September/06 to January/07), in which very few articles survived. These, par usual, eloquent posts have been expelled to cyberspace's Immense Black Hole of WWW Despair; destined to forever float about in Internet Purgatory. This being the very same intangible home for our so-called deleted emails (because nothing is ever truly deleted and some people have an odd, technological knack for recovering these Dear Aunt Mae, my boil is growing rapidly trashed correspondence) which can be restored and reposted for all the world to enjoy. Except, of course, Swanktrendz's posts for the block of time mentioned.

I could have just accepted the mishap, posted a notice saying, Whoops - we lost a whack of articles. Quite a shame as they were extremely well written with riveting topics. But, nooo. I am obsessed with recordingkeeping. I record everything, be it the weather, books I have read, movies I have seen, people's birthdays (even people I am not close to!), etc. So, not only could I not let the lost articles fade off into the IBHofWD (see above for definition), but I also abhor the dreaded Error 404 - Page not Found directive. (If you ever want to be rid of email pen-pals, send them a dead link.) Every lost article link on Swanktrendz's site gets a 404 message. There goes Swanktrendz's immense audience! (I believe it was six at last count). So, I have set about searching my casual blog entries, (thank you tblog!) hoping to come across my milk-carton, missing babies. (And NO, I do NOT have a back-up as that was the allure/drawing card of my host server.)

As I was reading through old articles, I came across a former Swanktrendz contributor, Andrew Hoshkiw. Andrew is a fabulous writer, and an actual columnist for a newspaper up North (in the Yukon). However, (I am not sure how he will respond to this declaration) his photography skills surpass his written. This fellow takes pictures that I would be (more than) willing to shell out my hard-earned cash for. He has an incredible eye for his subjects and their surroundings. To appreciate his talent, you must visit the working link below, and share with me your opinion of this man's photographs. I simply wanted to say that Andrew is still writing, away up North, and still producing fabulous art.

Image from www.hoshq.com/

Hoshkiw Home