Record Review

Sometimes Dean reviews another artist’s work.

Merry Holiday! – 2011 In Summary – Recording a New Album!!

Hi,

In typical Dean fashion, this post is about multiple things and we would probably be better served making it 3 distinct posts instead one massive novel-length post. Oh well…

Dean’s Year End Record List!

The year is not over yet (I know, I know) but I thought I would list the albums I purchased that carry the stamp “2011” (in no particular order).  Since I did a similar post in late 2010 (link) this is now formally an annual tradition here at p’maps dot net!

Now, as with last year’s post, I will only list records purchased on vinyl and pressed or first made available in 2011.  This list does not include the many CDs I’ve purchased or received from other bands or my iTunes downloads or the numerous (read hideously copious) back catalogue purchases I make for reasons of musicological research. Also, as with last year’s post I will not indicate whether said records were awesome or bust (but you can safely assume I am very careful about vinyl record purchases).

Also, my musical taste only accounts for 1/5th of the band and does not represent the views and opinions of PAPERMAPS as a whole.

OK,
Without Further adieu:
Belong — The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Eureka — Mother Mother
Deformer — Dog Day
Mountain Tops — Mates of State
King of Limbs (Newspaper Edition) — Radiohead
E.S.P — Love Inks
Native Speaker — Braids
Intae Woe — Heartbeat Hotel
Hurry Up We’re Dreaming — M83
Gloss Drop — Battles

The following records get honourable mention because although they are stamped “2010” they were not available on vinyl until 2011.

A Balloon Called Moaning — The Joy Formidable
Innerspeaker — Tame Impala

~*~

OH ALSO: The Year in Review

It’s been a great first year for PAPERMAPS!  We got to release our debut album (available in good record stores across Canada) and played a bunch of gigs all over the place including showcases for some great festivals like NXNE, CMJ Music Marathon and Halifax Pop Explosion.  Our songs got played on campus and community radio stations all across the nation as well as the on the Verge and XM Radio, CBC Radio 3 and CBC Radio1 and a few forward-thinking commercial stations (Yo! we charted nationally!).  We got to make live appearances on several of these stations as well as do on air interviews.  The music blog community embraced us with their support, interviews, videotaping and positive reviews.   We made our own music video (with the help of our fans, thanks!) and have a yet unseen video  in the can.  We expanded our ranks adding a 5th member to the team.  We owe all this to our supporters and fans! Thank You!

~*~

AND ALSO: Heading into the studio to make the next album!

We are currently in preproduction for our next album and will be heading into the studio(s) on December 18th (wow, this Sunday!) to begin work on it, proper (due August/September of 2012).  I know this is going to sound weird, but we are starting the album at a different studio than usual.  Instead of Chemical Sound, we are going to record some of the bed tracks (those are the bass/drums/rhythm guitar tracks) at Vespa Studios here in Toronto.  Why?  Mostly,  we want to experiment with a different sonic palate on a few select songs.  Vespa has a very different feel and sound from Chemical.  Putting the band in a new environment might yield some interesting results.  Rest assured, 80%-90% of the new album will be cut at Chemical, I’m pretty confident about that, but I thought I’d mention this as I plan to blog about the process  (and take pictures).

Have a Happy Holiday Season and New Year’s Celebration,

-dean

VISTAVISION

This is s record by a band called VISTAVISION that I produced.  I’m very proud of this album.  Perhaps my finest work (to date) as an engineer/producer.

I had a strong vision going into this project. I wanted to make a naturalistic rock record. I wanted the listener to hear how a live rock band interacts within a space. Instead of throwing the amps in isolation boxes or in far off corners of the studio I had the band set up as if they were playing live on stage, in a line with the amps adjacent to the drums. I did some very minimal baffling between the drums and the amps. About 15 feet away I set up a an array of microphones facing the drums and amps (one stereo pair and a mono centre) and had the band adjust the levels of their amps until everything sounded balanced in the array. I then placed close mics on the amps and certain drums, but the array remained the foundation for the sound of each track. I believe that the VISTAVISION record is the most representative of the inherent sound of Chemical — you can really hear the space in the music. It’s almost like a 5th instrument. It is only by chance that this particular space works so well with this particular band — that was a risk — but it really was a match made in heaven. I feel the realness of the sound enhances the eerie vibe of the performances and compliments some outstanding and evocative songwriting.

Photos I took of the session can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chemicalsound/sets/72157626105983965/with/5511998225/

I want to thank Dave and JM for letting me share this with you.  Consider it a Holiday gift from us to you.  Thinking about this project and sharing it with the world puts me into the right frame of mind in terms of working on our own album!

-dean

NXNE 2011 Part Deux

Hey y’ all!

First off,  I want you all to go out and get a copy of this season’s the Big Takeover Magazine (#68) not only because Jack Rabid gave us a great review (and even spun us on his NYC radio show) but because we are in good company with features about The Pains of being Pure at Heart  (shown on the cover) , Best Coast, REM and the legendary no-wave band Swans plus you can see our ugly/sexy mugs on page 151 . . . (compliments of our label, Sparks).

BTO #60

Mostly, I’d like you to take note of our upcoming NXNE showcase (tomorrow night!) and our summer dates thus far.  The powers that be in the Big NXNE 2011 Directory say:

“It’s comforting to know that a contemporary band has reached as influential a status amongst newer bands as the heroes that originally influenced them. Papermaps clearly love the Strokes and, with their own picture perfect power pop, this is no bad thing. Great. If you like GBGBs ”

Well, we are not sure we totally agree with that description, but we are flattered none-the-less.  I’m sad that CBGBs is gone — I always wanted to play there!

More importantly:  Papermaps NXNE appearance:  Saturday (June 18th) at the Rivoli, 12AM!!!

Also we have some awesome shows coming this summer:

June 25th, Corktown Pub, Hamilton (we are the special guest headliner at the Hamilton Music and Film Festival)
July 9th, The Phog, Windsor (more details soon)
July 12th, Frankenstein’s, Guelph, (Spillside Fest –an anti Hillside Fest — with From East to Exit)
July 30th, Underground Cinema, Toronto (a yet to be named Art and Music Festival with Ruby Spirit)
September 8, Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto (w/ Heartbeat Hotel — more details TBA)

Wow that’s a lot to digest!

Talk soon,

-d

Tuesday Happenings #6 — Album out Today!

Well . . . here we are . . . the final instalment of Tuesday Happenings.

Today is the official release date of our self-titled debut album as Papermaps.  That means stores across Canada will  get their copies today.  Slowly but surely (over the next few days) those records should get put in the bins (somewhere between  Papercuts  and Pavement) or even racked (as they say in the music biz).  If you are a record store stocking our record, let me take this opportunity to thank you! If you are not (but want to) you know where to get it.

Item 1: Virtual Ink
Today we are featured on Alan Cross’ very excellent and influential Explore Music site:
http://exploremusic.com/indie-track/papermaps-reunion/
And the super keener blog, Panic Manual reviewed our record today (and are giving away free passes to our CD Release Party on April 29 at Sneaky Dees):
http://www.panicmanual.com/2011/04/18/cd-review-papermaps/
And we just love the review by our friends at Buying Shots for Bands:
http://buyingshotsforbands.com/2011/04/17/papermaps-st/

Item 2: Radio, Radio
I did my first on-air interview (a phone in) with DJ and MD,  Rob Grant over on the very excellent West Coast station 103.5 FM  The Bridge. Man was I nervous!  In other big news, Todd called me up to inform me that he heard our song Reunion on the CBC One! Sure enough, they tweeted it  – – so a big thank you to our friends at the CBC!

Item 3: Shows, Shows, Shows
The Papermaps 401 Tour continues and Waterloo is next! Here are all the FB events this month:
Waterloo / Maxwell’s — http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=160539607335607
Guelph / Jimmy’s — http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=193479334022272
Windsor / Phog — http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=211983462161172
St. Catharines / Mansion — http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=162441260477180
London / APK Live — http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=181729778542099

And our hometown show:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=104957892922307

Item 4: Buy the Album!
The main thing we want you to take away from this instalment is:  go out there! Get yourself a copy!  We appreciate your patronage and support!

Thanks and Dean out!

Family Matters

Hi folks,
Being just one more day before our album drops (I hate that expression) we thought we’d share with you  the thoughts and reactions of our most revered music critics — our own parents! Perhaps these words from an older and wiser generation will sway you (one way or the other). Here goes:

“Ooh, I like this one!”
– Todd’s mom, upon hearing Reunion (though, to be fair, she likes the whole album)

“Can I hear you singing in that? If  I can’t hear you singing I’m not going to listen.”
– Wendy’s dad, re: Reunion (where Wendy’s piano-playing, harmonies and gang vocals are heavily featured)

“Your dad hasn’t plugged in the record player so we haven’t listened to that yet.”
– Wendy’s mom, re: the 7″, sitting on the windowsill

“I really like that song, Wishful Thinking (sic).”
– Dean’s mom (who loves the album, despite the Freudian slip)

“I hear some heavy Kinks and Beatles influence in most of the tracks but that song, Complicate Things reminds me of the Doors. Do you guys practice? You guys really need to work on your vocal harmonies in the live show — that can make or break a band, you know.”
– Dean’s dad (used to play in Garage/Beat bands in the late ’60s)

Bobby: “Hey Dad, did you and mom get a chance to listen to the album yet?”

Bobby’s dad: “Yes, it was good… But you’ll never make it. I wouldn’t buy it and none of my friends would either. Now will you be home for dinner tonight?”

Well there you have it. Reviews are…well…mixed. But who wants to make music their parents would listen to anyway? That ain’t very rock n’ roll, is it? Hmm, moms seem to like it, so maybe it would make a good Mother’s Day gift (but don’t get the 7″ unless your dad’s plugged in the turntable). Perhaps some words from the next generation may teach us something yet:

“Dad, play the ‘Come Out Anyway’ song!”
– Todd’s 3-year old son, requesting Reunion (a frequent occurrence)

OK, that’s more promising :)

We’ll talk tomorrow,

-dean

Tuesday Happenings #5

Holy Cow! Only one week left before this album drops!

Item 1: Radio Radio
A big shout out to 103.5 FM “The Bridge” (Nelson BC), CICK 93.9 FM (Smithers BC) and  CIVL 101.7 FM  (Abbotsford BC) for giving us some great West Coast vibes this week!

Thanks to the campus and community stations who are supporting us we have entered the ChartAttack top 40 this week at #32!!! http://chartattack.com/charts/campus-radio/2011-04-12

Item 2: Ink Ink Virtual Ink
NxEW.ca  is a top-notch music site with a Canadian point of view.  Our friends there have penned a very fine review:
http://nxew.ca/?p=5051

Item 3: Shows Shows Shows
We will see you this Friday Ottawa!
As promised, here’s the FB event for our Windsor show:
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=211983462161172

And there’s an event for our “Hide and Seek”  show at the APK in London:
https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=181729778542099

OK folks,

Only one more Tuesday Happenings instalment left to go!  Let’s make it a good one.

Cheers,

-dean

Tuesday Happenings #4

Here we are — only two more Tuesdays left to go!  We have lot’s of exciting news this week:

Item 1: Radio Radio
 We would like to thank CJSW 90.9 (Calgary) FM, CFRU 93.3 (Guelph) CJAM 99.1 FM (Windsor) CFBU 103.7 FM (St. Catharines) and especially CHMR 93.5 FM  (St. Johns NL — #1 chart position!!!) for their support this week! Apologies to anyone we may have missed.

Item 2: Read All About It
Look Mom and Dad, we are in this Saturday’s Toronto Star Entertainment section!  Thanks to music journalist extraordinaire John Sakamoto for featuring our single Reunion in his most-respected Anti Hit List last week (#3 between Death Cab and Alison Krauss).  Now that the print version has been taken away by the recycling truck, this short review lives forever here:  http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/article/966750–the-anti-hit-list-for-april-2

Speaking of reviews, our favourite music blog site, Inyourspeakers wrote us a excellent review here: http://inyourspeakers.com/content/review/papermaps-papermaps-04042011

Clue: Pick up the forthcoming copy of The Big Takeover (Issue 68)! Due sometime in late April!!!

Item 3: Shows Shows Shows
We have a Facebook event for the BIG SHOW, Friday April 29 at SNEAKY DEES:
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=104957892922307

We also have an event for April 22 at Jimmy Jazz (Guelph):https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=193479334022272

More info about our April 23, Phog Lounge (Windsor) show has come to light:  We are sharing the bill with Paper Beats Scissors and Luna Borealis.  More details soon.

Talk Soon,

-dean

Year End List

Hi,
The end of 2010 is in sight and everybody seems to be posting their “best of” lists. Well, although I consider myself a full-fledged musician, I am merely a budding music critic.  Instead of proclaiming what I think are the best albums of 2010, I’m going to make a list of the (vinyl) records I actually purchased in 2010 in no particular order. Most of these made up a significant portion of my soundtrack for 2010 (and some didn’t at all):

Lisbon — The Walkmen
Swim — Caribou
Frankie and the Outs — Frankie and the Outs
The Suburbs — Arcade Fire
Penny Sparkle — Blonde Redhead
Brothers — The Black Keys
Say It — Born Ruffians
Rough Travel for a Rare Thing — Bill Callahan
East General — The Bitters
Malaikat dan Singa — Arrington de Dionyso
EXPO 86 — Wolf Parade

Honourable Mention:
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart — The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (released in 2009)

Have a Happy Holiday Season and New Year’s Celebration,

-dean