Tami Neilson - Dynamite!

If you live in New Zealand you're likely already hip to Canadian-expat Tami Neilson. Her album Dynamite! came out there in the spring of 2014 and has racked up awards and plaudits since its release. On September 4th the fine folks at Outside Music will bring Neilson home - or at least bring her record to the Canadian market when they issue it on their own imprint (home to the likes of Jill Barber, The Weather Station and The Sadies among many other great Canadian acts).

Neilson's record is on the cover of the latest release sheet from Outside and it certainly caught my attention. A quick Google search led me to videos from Dynamite! and I am hooked on this record and the Sun Studios throwback quality of the tunes. Watch the lead single "Walk (Back to Your Arms)" and "Texas" below and I'm sure you'll be writing September 4th in your calendar as well.

Fallgrapp - "Galaxy / Basic"

I kinda like it where I stumble across a track that has a host of names involved and I'm unfamiliar with a great number of them. I only recognized Fallgrapp from the cut "Orion" on Gergaz's Beat Garden Compilation 4 released this past January, and all the vocalists are entirely new to me. Now I'm about to do a deep-dive on The High Corporation, The Unused Word, Isaac Aesili and Ashley Abrman. Maybe after listening to these tracks you'll be following me down the rabbit hole Alice?

The Gene Dudley Group - Zambidoose

As a bit of a traditionalist (and former record store employee) I was taken aback when they first announced moving release dates to Friday instead of the traditional Tuesday. That said, there's no better start to the weekend than a great new record dropping and that's what we've got here from The Gene Dudley Group. This time, there are actual collaborators (there's no "Group" involved in GDG) including E from Myron & E on lead-off cut "I've Changed" and the wonderful Annie Frankenstein on a trio of tracks. You can hear the whole thing for yourself on Bandcamp below and go get it via iTunes or the Wah Wah 45 shop.

My Polaris 2015 Voting Record

I meant to write this ages ago when the Longlist voting-period ended. Instead, I procrastinated and now the deadline for both the Longlist and the Shortlist voting have come and gone and now the official Shortlist has been announced this morning.

If you're unfamiliar with how it works, each juror votes for their personal Top Five and through some 'secret-sauce' style aggregating / tallying, the Longlist of 40 albums is created. From that list of 40, the jurors then vote for another top five (if they're lucky, some of their initial selections) out of the eligible pool.

My first round of balloting was as follows:

1. **Various - Native North America, Vol. 1 [Light In The Attic]
2. Allison Au Quartet - The Sky Was Pale Blue, Then Grey [Independent]
3. Conduct - Fear and Desire [Public Tone Records]
4. **The Acorn - Vieux Loup [Paper Bag Records]
5. Zaum - Oracles [Independent]


I put together my own Longlist throughout the year based on my own listening and recommendations from other jurors and the other albums under consideration were (listed alphabetically):




**BBNG & Ghostface Killah - Sour Soul [Lex Records]
**Bahamas - Bahamas Is Afie [Brushfire]
Bent By Elephants - The Shore [Sunset Hill Music]
**Braids - Deep In The Iris [Flemish Eye]
Etiquette - Reminisce [Hand Drawn Dracula]
**Pierre Kwenders - Le dernier empereur bantou [Bonsound]
Lee Reed - The Butcher, The Banker, The Bitumen Tanker [Independent]
**Elizabeth Shepherd - The Signal [Linus]
Shimmering Stars - Bedrooms of the Nation [Shitty Bike Records]
Spek Won - Sofa King Amazing [Independent]
**The Weather Station - Loyalty [Outside]
**White Lung - Deep Fantasy [Domino]

[** means the selection made the Longlist]

I was able to keep the  Native North America complilation in the top spot and moved Vieux Loup up to #2 which left me three votes from among the seven albums that were on both my initial Longlist and the official Polaris one.

Ultimately, I voted for the following on the Shortlist ballot:

1. Various - Native North America, Vol. 1 [Light In The Attic]
2. The Acorn - Vieux Loup [Paper Bag Records]
3. The Weather Station - Loyalty [Outside]
4. Bahamas - Bahamas Is Afie [Brushfire]
5. Pierre Kwenders - Le dernier empereur bantou [Bonsound]

So after "going two-for-five" on the first ballot, I went "oh-for-five" on the second one. I'm certainly happy to see Deep In The Iris and Sour Soul make the cut as both were strong considerations for me. I really enjoyed the Viet Cong record, but with the controversy surrounding the band name, I couldn't bring myself to vote for it. Ultimately, I think the official Shortlist is fine, but it leaves me feeling flat (maybe getting none of my selections on there has something to do with it). I'm definitely throwing my support behind Braids, for what it's worth.

Katie Moore - "Leaving"

She's not out at Birds Hill Park, but listening to the first track from Katie Moore's forthcoming LP Fooled By The Fun, I think she might end up there at some future fest. Lovely.

Karin Krog - "Maiden Voyage"

An oldie but a more-than-goodie. Just discovered Norwegian free-jazz vocalist Karin Krog (there's a new anthology of her work from 1963-99 called Don't Just Sing) and a YouTube deep-dive lead me to this chestnut. Her cover of Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" from the 1968 album Joy.

Massive Suits Quartet - "Dancing With Her (Woman's Theme)"

One of two tracks streaming on the Bandcamp page for the forthcoming LP Full Moon Wizard, "Dancing With Her (Woman's Theme)" is a blissfully easy, vibing tune from the Massive Suits Quartet. Who're they? Turns out it's actually just one man - Grégoire Marty - aka Dandy Teru. I got hip to Teru via Tall Black Guy and the first volume of Tempo Dreams, but had no idea MSQ dates back to 2011. Colour me caught up. And entranced.

AFX - "Serge Fenix Rendered 2"

Apparently Richard D. James has dusted off the AFX moniker and is set to release Orphaned Deejay Selek 2006-2008 on Warp August 21st. First tease of the album is below, entitled "Serge Fenix Rendered 2."