Rock-hard grit and all-girl soul from the Coachella Valley: just, take it all in… its good, like vitamins, and just in time for summer. Deap Vally is the howl of Lindsey Troy and rhythm of Julie Edwards (Heisenflei of The Pity Party); together, the duo breaks blues down to its simplest, most fundamental form: beat, melody, and meaning. Although they have only been a band for one year, they’re already playing wicked SoCal gigs like Moon Block Party and are about to jet-set to England for Latitude Festival while also going public about their desire to one day live inside of Bill Clinton.

The ‘Baby I Call Hell’ session was filmed at Bedrock Studios in Los Angeles inside a tight, sweaty, yett formidable space for six adults. The walls were adorned with lacquered old newspapers, old wood panels and blue acrylic smatterings. The ladies are wearing designs by Kittinhawk: Welcome to the Deap.

To commemorate the 2012 TransCanada Alberta Music series, we at the West teamed up with Jodi Lucas at the Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts to offer a glimpse at some of this year’s acts from within the institute’s hallowed walls. On the eve of St. Patrick’s day – and following the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra – our crew and a small audience met up with local folk man, Mike Tod and snuck in the back door.

The ‘Take You Down’ session was filmed in the tight confines of the Epcor’s Founders Room abandoned elevator shaft. The crew and audience all pitched in to lift and displace various pieces of the theatre’s timber refuge in order to carve out a corner for Tod to set up his set up this minimal arrangement (suitcase, kick pedal and mandolin).

Mike Tod’s namesake is getting known all around town for these raucous unassuming upstarts; he needs only a couple of cubic feet to achieve the ferocity of a full band. If you were at either of his St. Paul’s Fish Creek performances or walked by the Epcor prior to the Low Anthem/ City and Colour concert to see him busk, you already know this.

Discover a couple of tracks from his most recent EP with the Buffalo Lake Kid (Dillon Moulfield). Mike Tod also hosts a tasty old time radio show on CJSW called Mind Folk’d (Thursdays 10am). He performs on the Saturday of the Alberta Music Series alongside West vets, Cowpuncher.

It was Saturday and closing in on Christmas in Los Angeles. The streets were what you’d expect: traffic, sunshine and dust; radio interference and bursts of commotion among people rummaging together merchandise for the season. Inside Black Iris Studios sits Rachel Fannan, working to prepare a new composition to spell all of life’s meaningless noise. On this day, like many more ahead, hers is an unmistakable coyote call in the heart of Echo Park.

For Fannan, the past year has seen her add a new dimension to an already acclaimed young music career. Since ending her tenure as front woman in San Franciscan psych band, Sleepy Sun, she has not only developed a touring solo repertoire, but also an excellent all-girl group called Only You.

For the Let Me Sing You Love Songs session, Fannan duos with Brandon Intelligator of Slang Chickens and the West teams up with Michael Harris of Black Iris, located in the Bedrock LA multiplex (aka the Disneyland for musicians).

The Ramblers arrived on the first weekend of the 2011 Calgary Stampede; it was the same weekend Will & Kate lodged in the province and were also slated to appear in the Parade. Many Calgarians eagerly camped out the night before in order to secure their best vantage point or perfect photo op. However, it proved quite the disappointment when the Royal couple hurriedly scooted along the downtown thoroughfare in a covered sedan. Nonetheless, the Moonshine Ramblers would perform a set with the Bitterweed Draw in the heart of town that weekend and hand delivered the first country music performance during Stampede we could get behind since god knows when.

The following afternoon was spent on the banks of the Bearspaw Dam. We could have never made this video without our friends Mark Collins and Angela Wolfe – they did the work of six people by hiking into the brush to meet us with plenty of firewood, refreshments and smokies. At around 3:30 in the video you can see smoke from the fire and hear their baby Hudson saying something or other in the background. This session was, for us, a homecoming of sorts with Alex Hastie (seen on guitar) – it was, after all, one of his songs that became the very first Welcome to the West video. That song is called Heavy Drinkin’ Woman and it also appears on the Moonshiner’s debut, which we staunchly endorse.

Those who know, know well and good by now that Victoria’s TMO is perhaps the most polarizing act in Canada. They are equal part balladeers as they are raucous dancehall creators; they serenade in Spanish; and the undertones of Patrick M’Gonigle’s violin and Ian Griffiths’ accordion make for incomparable texture.

For Home on Water, we yanked the band off stage at the conclusion of their set at the Marquee Room and played around in lobby of Calgary’s historic, Uptown Theatre. You can pick up ‘the Blanche Album’ HERE.

For the past two years, one band has not only defined psych-rock in Calgary; they have redefined it. Deadhorse epitomizes an unknown quantity; in that, you may receive doses of blues, metal, country, classic rock and even punk – these all wrapped into mind-numbing jams and harmonies from four individually incredible songwriters.

The Cushion video shoot happened over night on a plot of private land in East Coulee, Alberta – an area around the Red Deer river valley (often referred to as Dinosaur Valley). We were powered by inverter generators on a hoodoo cliff face, car headlights and a roaring campfire.

Deadhorse are on Saved by Radio, where you can uncover their excellent 2011 self-titled debut.

Pigs on L.

This is perhaps the first true glimpse of Sleepy Sun since they parted ways with co-vocalist, Rachel Fannan last year. The San Franciscan five-piece are backed by label/event extraordinaire, All Tomorrow’s Parties and are about to record their third LP in Joshua Tree with Queens of the Stone Age collaborator, David Catching and engineer, Ethan Allen. The West crew drove to Vancouver from Calgary in September 2011 to film this video for  Pigs on L in the 100 year old, Red Cedar house. With only a sampling of new music and a reintroduction to Bret Constantino’s disarming nature as a frontman, one can easily predict that this release will include some of their heaviest soundscapes to date and will further etch their namesake among the America’s elite neo-psychedelic bands.

Sleepy Sun
Rachel Fannan
Red Cedar
All Tomorrow’s Parties

Funny Word

It’s no secret that Deer Tick is the holy grail in our eyes. From the countless whiskey drenched nights singing War Elephant cover-to-cover with friends, to meeting John McCauley three years ago at a set in which he scaled the rafters of Mississippi Studios wearing nothing except a red pleated mini skirt – this band is surpassed only by, let’s say, Neil Young on our nostalgic master board.

During the Sled Island Festival, we collected the boys from Providence, RI and took them to the Area community arts space in Inglewood to eat sandwiches, crush lager and perform the song, Funny Word, which will appear on their fourth record scheduled to drop this fall. You may detect a sniff of Paul Westerberg in this tune as the band has had the opportunity to record with him recently amidst playing Bonnarroo and the festival circuit.

It was no easy task to independently round up this bad ass country back line for Deer Tick (Gear Tick), especially during a weekend where some 250 bands flooded this small city’s streets. We had to buy, borrow and beg while receiving some outstanding kindness: David and Kathryn at the Area, Audrey Burch and Moot for sound, Devon Boulton-Mills on camera and Bob from Beat It Drums for the Butcher Block – he was a heavy hitter.

www.deertickmusic.com

Sled Island

The Area

www.markofdevon.com

Beat It Music Ltd

Winter Song

The Head and the Heart’s set on Saturday night is proof of this: Calgary Folk Music Festival is perennially changing the way this city views music. Somewhere in between the numerous experimental morning workshops and needed reminders of just how influential some throwback Canadian acts are (this year it was k.d. lang, for me), the festival still heeds pressure to showcase a certain irreverence in order to attract new fans.

The Seattle six-piece took stage at 7:20 with the field folks in front of them seemingly content just to lounge in their folding chairs, cross-legged, and fully expecting to give this performance a good, long eyebrow wag. However, the crowd’s energy shifted to cheering early on – during sound check, in fact, when the vocalists of the group: Josiah Johnson, Jonathan Russell, and Charity Thielen each sang an original.

Folk Fest audiences are traditionally withdrawn by nature – in Calgary’s case, the epitome of success at the Fest often relies on setting up a sitting tarp close to main stage – so it came as a pleasant surprise that a relatively unfamiliar talent could have such an instant effect. Before the conclusion of the first song, dancing masses compressed toward the stage and reset the tarp occupying rules altogether.

To wrap up a brilliant weekend of tunes, music, food and friendship we did what anyone in that situation ought to do – we had a pool party on the 20th floor of the Westin Hotel and shot a video in the top tier of the stairwell. Kenny Hensley strums in this soaked version of Winter Song from their 2010 self-titled release.

Lose Your Mind

For the song, Lose Your Mind, you see Brian and Bob Sumner joined by Brandon Smith – a resident Cantos historian. His way with the keys had us endlessly entertained with renditions of various Mario Bros themes in between takes. As for the brothers, they were on the backswing of their cross-Canada tour in support of their spring release, I love you, Smile.

During the silent movie era and into the early 1930s, theatre organs were built in large numbers in the US and (fewer) in the United Kingdom. As in a traditional pipe organ, a theatre organ operates on pneumatics: When depressed, a key sends a signal for a valve to open in a tube and allows a puff of air to engage the instrument. A blower generates the airflow, and the large bellows fill with air.

Cantos’ theatre organ, built by Kimball in 1924, features marimbas, drums, chimes, a bird whistle and various other instruments all built into one. It was first installed in St. Helen’s Theatre in Chehalis, Washington, then in a theatre in Seattle. Next it was transferred to the Fox Theatre in Victoria, then to Vancouver, and finally to Carol Otto in St. Albert, Alberta. There it served as her private practice instrument. Mrs. Otto donated this amazing instrument to Cantos in 2001, where it now resides.

www.thesumnerbrothers.com

www.myspace.com/thesumnerbrothers

Organ Service

Cantos Foundation

Under A Cloud Shaped Like A Tomb

AgesandAges are one big wonderful family of friends in a house filled with percussion gizmos and a wishbone shaped arbour flanking this backyard gazebo. They treated us to these harmonies and later tacos and sangria. Since releasing their debut record, Alright You Restless in February on Knitting Factory Records they have been critically acclaimed from a huge North American tour and were named one of Portland’s top new acts by Willamette Week. Led by Tim Perry, the band roster looks a lot like a basketball team – they’ve had a dozen contributors in rotation, but usually roll out seven or eight vocally diverse, multi-instrumentalists when performing.

www.agesandages.com

myspace

http://musicfestnw.com

Disappear

Portland psych outfit, Old Light were named to Willamette Week‘s list of the city’s best bands of 2011. The band has been pulling a great response for their debut LP, the Dirty Future which was released shortly after we filmed them as part of our Musicfest NW 2010 coverage.Frontman, Garth “Steel” Klippert (seen here on auto-harp) is an accomplished designer – he’s had a hand in building some of Portland’s trendiest cafes and boutiques. Klippert invited us to film the session in his shop among some state of the art equipment.

myspace

River Song

This version of Toronto’s, the Wooden Sky includes singer, Gavin Gardiner and violinist, Edwin Huizinga on the frozen banks of the Bow River near the Dean House. The band were in the midst of playing three incredible Calgary sets around their second album, If I Don’t Come Home, You’ll Know I’m Gone while on tour with the Rural Alberta Advantage. The Wooden Sky began their climb to national acclaim by virtue of a date-laden 2009/10 tour where they would perform in bedrooms, bathrooms and everywhere in between. The current release is waiting to be discovered on the band’s homepage.

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I’m So Lazy

The problem with playing out of continent – aside from increased border patrol and visa restrictions – is that bands often don’t get to travel with much of their own gear. Meeting up with London’s Let’s Wrestle was just this way – they were alongside Man Man at Hawthorne Theater for the Friday of MusicfestNW but only had their electrics. What we needed was two acoustic guitars in a half hour or the whole thing would be for not.

It seemed daunting for a pack of out-of-towners to do; after being spurned by a steep rental fee at our first music shop, morale took the back burner. Luckily enough, we tapped on the window of Artichoke Music just as Richard was closing up. He let us borrow an instrument based on our word we’d come right back with it. Moments later we ambushed a long-haired dude walking through a field with his guitar in tow. His name was Micah from Boulder, Colorado and everywhere else. He hopped into the car and we were in business, catching the band right as they were leaving to fetch some embroidered Nike jackets. Now with the first British contribution under the West’s belt – the commonwealth is alive and well in the states.

myspace

Because I’m a Boy

You don’t wanna play cards with Makeout Videotape because they’ll cheat. You wanna play 21 they got 22. You wanna play black jack they got two of those too. You want aces and eights well they got two many of those too. The bottom line is do not gamble with Makeout Videotape.

bandcamp

Honey Come Home

We met the Head and the Heart on the final day of Musicfest NW 2010 for a session in Portland’s Washington Park. They were an independent band who had recently formed out of a periodical open mic in Seattle with a demo disc for sale as they toured up and down the West coast United States. The coming months would prove quite successful for the band – their sugary harmonies bagged them a Sub Pop record deal, appearances on Conan and Letterman and opening slots for My Morning Jacket, the Watchmen and Dave Matthews (to name a few). Currently, they are headlining in Europe and North America.

myspace

http://musicfestnw.com

http://www.washingtonparkpdx.org