July 16th, 2010
After missing countless opportunities to see The Empiricals live, and hearing friends rave about their live shows, and even going to shows where they were the opening act and arriving too late, I finally got to see them live at the opening night of the Ottawa Bluesfest, on Tuesday July 6th, and they were simply unbelievably amazing.
Paul Hogan plays his guitar with the precision of a highly trained brain surgeon (but having a lot more fun, I’m sure) and can create sounds from his guitar that many can only dream of, and bringing back memories of The Ventures meet The Tiki Tones with some Sterophonic Space Sound and Huntington Cads thrown in for good measure.
(the pictures were borrowed from here - http://www.flickr.com/groups/601606@N22/pool/with/4771427652/ )
Mike Dubue, is also an extremely talented musician and multi-instrumentalist, who has quite an ear for music and I’m sure could be big time music composer like Ennio Morricone or Peter Thomas (he has actually done scores for movies and works with the The Mayfair Theatre Orchestra recreating old film soundtracks) and on top of that is a pleasure to watch as he is always on the move.
Phil Bova is quite the exceptional drummer and knows how to fill in the sounds at just the right moment. He is an extremely talented musician who has assisted countless Ottawa bands, through the years, not to mention his ear for capturing just the right sound in the studio (We have our very own Liam Watson).
I have to admit, I know even less about their fourth member, who I think was Daniel Sauve (at least Dan has played with them on earlier shows that I missed) or Damian Sawka (Who also plays in Ukrainia) - but here is a picture and I am sure someone will set me straight. (Sorry!)
The Empiricals are easily one of the most talented bands in Ottawa, and possibly even the Country, and I say this having only seen them perform 2 songs as part of the duel to the finish with The Flaps (The Flaps were also amazing but since this is about The Empiricals, they will need to wait for another post, in the meantime you can pick up The Flaps mighty fine debut on Kelp Records and ask for a copy of Kelp 16 which is also very impressive - sorry I am getting sidetracked - but before I get back on track I should also mention that there is a link to these 2 bands, that goes back some time, to another great Ottawa band Polaris in which both Pat Lawler and Paul Hogan both played in - now back to the program). I realize that instrumental music is not everyone’s cup of tea, but these lads make it interesting and intriguing as they draw on a wide diversity of sounds, whether it’s Oriental soundtracks or Indian spy movies, Joe Meek’s 1960’s surf instrumentals and even beach party B-movies, for their influence they sound quite original and yet strangely familiar at the same time.
The Empiricals are band that I have a great fondness and respect for and in many ways are a band who have helped inspire our very first International POP compilation “Into The Jetstream of Pop” (Beauty 004). When I first heard their self released 4 track CDEP, I loved it so much I wanted to help in some small way to spread the word about them and so after speaking with Paul and Mike it was arranged that their exceptional track “Seven And A Half Stars” would be the intro to that compilation (some of the same band members also appear with the HiLo Trons track which was also on that compilation) and so it all started.
I have wanted for some time to see if they would be interested in releasing more songs on our label and if I could only find some more time, maybe encourage them to release an EP or an album (if Kelp Records is not already doing that), but in the meantime they have agreed and will be featured on our instrumental compilation - The Many Moods Of Beauty, which has been in the works for about 3 or 4 years and is yet to be released (hoping for later this year).
The members of this very talented band have also had links to many Ottawa bands and musicians, which I will not even begin to start mentioning as I don’t know the half of it (Ok ok, maybe I will mention a few The Acorn, Ukrania, Kepler, Boycrusher, The Hammerheads, Clark, Bande Senore, The Holger Schoorl Trio and Polaris which I already mentioned, but the list goes on), but I will also say that several of our releases have featured the talents of Mike Dubue and Phil Bova as they have played on various Nick Danger and Social Icons releases. I should also mention that Phil has done the mastering on almost all our releases.
It is a shame that The Empiricals don’t actually have many releases, if any actually easily available (I know they self-released an 4 track EP and an album “Golden Beat” a few years back, but try and find a copy - I recently got a request to help someone find a copy of their EP, which is now quite rare), and search for information on them and you will not likely find very much. So as you can see I have had their music circling around my world and in my head for many years and they are long overdue to have a proper release of their own so their wonderful sound can spin circles and figure eights in your world.
Categories: 2010 Favourite, Great Music, Past Projects, Upcoming Projects |
Tags: HILOTRONS, Into The Jet Stream Of Pop, Kelp Records, Ottawa Bluesfest, The Empiricals, The Many Moods Of Beauty, The Social Icons | No Comments
February 13th, 2009
After trying to figure out just who The Social Icons are and what is their significance to life and just what is a Social Icon, I did a bit of research and came across an amazing discovery - The Social Icons represent the new society as we know it and Music has now become The Social Icon of choice.
The dictionary (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/icon) defines Social as:
adjective - 1. relating to human society and its members; “social institutions”; … “societal forces”; “social legislation”; 2. living together or enjoying life in communities or organized groups; “a human being is a social animal”; “mature social behavior” [ant: unsocial]; … 5. of or pertaining to human society, esp. as a body divided into classes according to status: social rank.
Icon is defined:
noun (also i·kon) - 1. An image; a representation; …3. An important and enduring symbol: “Voyager will take its place … alongside such icons of airborne adventure as The Spirit of St. Louis and [the] Bell X-1″ (William D. Marbach); 4. One who is the object of great attention and devotion; …: “He is … a pop icon designed and manufactured for the video generation” (Harry F. Waters).
So as you can see in today’s day and age, music has taken on mythical proportions, we are always plugged in, surrounded by sound and music has become the representation of choice for so many people - the new Social Icon. People relate to others by the kind of music they enjoy and even categorize people by their listening choices, divided into classes according to status or the music, the music becomes the person, whether it is a Punk, an Indie, a Rocker, a Mod or even a Deadhead (for fans of the Greatful Dead), why we even have Goth dating sites, Indiepop festivals, Mod rallies.
Bands are groups of people who gather together to enjoy life and bring enjoyment to others, but they have also become an important and enduring symbol of styles and generations, not to mention they have become the object of great attention and devotion (of which this blog is just further proof).
At this point you are probably wondering what is this guy talking about, so let me explain: A friend of mine had a band that was called The Social Icons and although I admit that I never heard any of their music, I loved the band name and borrowed it to name a cassette compilation “Music For A Social Icon” - a collection of songs that was slightly off the beaten track but perfectly reflected the creative genius and diversity that makes the perfect music, the beautiful music. The Social Icons took a bit of a diversion and mutated into another band, but now we have the return of The Social Icons (http://www.myspace.com/thesocialicons), who will be releasing their very first release on Berlin’s uber cool Edition 59 label ( http://www.myspace.com/edition59 ) alongside such luminaries as The Laughing Apple, Biff Bang Pow, Phil Wilson, Apple Orchard and more.
The Social Icons have also created the perfect video for the “Youtube Video Generation” that reflects their creative genius both aurally and visually, with obvious references to what’s influential to any true music collector (ie. Creation Records, Wild Swans, etc. - these are hints) - Stop, Look and Listen and if you can spot all the references, leave a comment or send us an e-mail and we may just send you a free CD. You can find the video here:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=51660814
Tags: [Apple Orchard] [Edition 59] [Mod] [Nick Danger] [Pop] [The Social Icons] [mp3] [Hilotrons] [Phil Wilson] [The Laughing Apple]
Categories: Great Music, Upcoming Projects |
Tags: Apple Orchard, biff bang pow, EDITION 59, Mod, Nick Danger, Phil Wilson, Pop, Pop is Falling Apart, The Laughing Apple, The Social Icons | No Comments
December 12th, 2008
Great things to come in 2009! and watch out for 2010.
We are really looking forward to the upcoming year off to a bang with the fresh face on our label “The Social Icons“, starting with their pre-release Edition 59 EP limited release followed by their full LP later this winter. Check out their page on our main site. Pop is certainly falling apart!
Not far behind will be the sophomore release from Skytone which is almost complete, and if the secret listening party is any indication of the sheer brilliance of what lies ahead - the world is in for a treat. Stay tuned for some samples and videos coming soon.
Skytone Audio Player
Our third installment of the tribute to the Television Personalities will also hit the shelves, and although it seems impossible it keeps getting better and features some familiar old faces and a multitude of new ones with Jo providing the story (remember Blue Train and Go Service!). We are already receiving contributions for volume four and work on volume five (Edward Ball Tribute is underway), for more info visit our main site (TVP Tribute)
The long awaited Many Moods Of Beauty instrumental compilation featuring a brilliant array of international contributions that say a thousand words without using words! Can’t wait for that one.
We also have a few other releases that we are keeping under control for now - top secret stuff - where’s the cone of silence when you need it.
Our new blog has been launched to assist us in communicating with all you collectors of beautiful music (check out This Almighty Pop and Pop Noise Records also before it’s too late). We are going to be adding podcasts and web radio shortly and hope to have this entire site up and running as your one stop shop or springboard to the greatest music on earth.
Be seeing you,
Wally
the new number 8
Categories: Upcoming Projects |
Tags: Skytone, The Many Moods Of Beauty, The Social Icons, TVP 3 | No Comments
November 20th, 2008
The mighty fine folks at Vollwert Records have launched one of the coolest new labels in the world Edition 59 - a specialty boutique label that features great Pop tunes with fabulously cool artwork and housed in a 3″ CD to top it off. You can check them out here:
http://www.vollwert-records.de/
http://www.myspace.com/edition59
I know I am a little slow telling you about this, but there is a very selfish reason which I will explain and I’m sure I will regret spreading the word. The releases only come in a limited number of 59 copies - yes that’s correct, only 59 copies (in the fine tradition of Cloudberry, I Wish I Was Unpopular, and Heliotone among others) and I wanted to get copies of all the releases before I told everyone. Since some are already selling out and the roster and releases growing very quickly, I’m going to tell you anyway and hope that I can at least still manage to snatch up a few (I did get 2 already with another on the way).
The calibre of the artists that are featured are truly impressive and some of my all time favourites are and will be featured - Phil Wilson, Apple Orchard, Horowitz, The Social Icons, The Pristines, etc., why even The Laughing Apple (Pre Biff Bang Pow Alan Mcgee and Pre Primal Scream Andrew Innes) will see their debut on CD - songs from an early 7″ for the very first time available again - can it get any cooler than that?
Now if you think I am getting a bit carried away, I just dare you to give The Apple Orchard - Turning Point (012) release a spin and if these three wonderful tracks don’t get you - check for a pulse. “Turning Point” is a dreamy classic with just the right sounds drifting in and out at just the right places - sleep doesn’t get much better than this in a month of Sundays - there is no ‘turning point’, no way back even if this breaks your heart. Now if that song wasn’t enough “Careful, Careless” continues this fine euphoric feeling. To top it off the final track is a wonderful cover of the Steinbecks classic “2-Star Motel” which interestingly was also covered by Buddha on The Moon on their twin split 7 ” on Drive-In Records many years back.
(Pop History 101 - Sarah Recording artists, The Sugargliders came from Melbourne, Australia and featured brothers Josh and Joel Meadows. In 1994 The Sugargliders became The Steinbecks and have released many fine records on many fine labels like Summershine, Pop Boomarang, Microindie and have links to Pencil Tin, The Earthmen, Robert Cooper, The Jordans, Tim Best, Snowblind, etc. etc. - see here for lots more info http://www.thesteinbecks.net.au/history.htm - there were even rumours of a Sugargliders tribute which has sadly never surfaced).
Now I am getting carried away (and I have not even got to the Pristines single or the Phil Wilson release, which has a Scars cover) as I usually do with music so I will stop here and the music can play on …
What are you waiting for - go buy a few of these collectors items so that you don’t regret it later.
The Music Collector
The Apple Orchard - “2-Star Motel”
Technorati Profile
Categories: Great Music |
Tags: 2-Star Motel, Apple Orchard, Cloudberry, EDITION 59, Phil Wilson, The Laughing Apple, The Social Icons, Vollwert Records | 1 Comment
