so we just drove through the desert for three days, I feel really wasted from sleeping in the car and just generally mind/body-numbness but we went to the UFO museum in Roswell and frolicked on these white sand dunes, so I basically love the desert even when it’s weird and cold
so far we have driven through 13 states on this part of the tour, and I think we will drive through 35 states in total (plus 6 or 7 countries in europe), many of them two or three times, and we are RUNNING OUT OF MUSIC TO LISTEN TO IN THE VAN
so … you, reading this right now! zip up a bunch of mp3’s you like and send them to snakesandladders.daniel [at] gmail.com, then me or airick will make a mix for you in return!!!
Sam from the amazing band FRIENDS is making one for us, Alex from Hellaluya and Dan from Hooded Fang too
WHAT R U LISTENING TO?? WE WANNA KNOW!! WE ARE BORED AND WE LIKE MUSIC
I also like maps, here’s where we have been/where we are going::::
just want to give super high-quality props to everyone who came out to the Daps Revue show on friday, Maddy’s party on saturday, or Owen Pallett’s secret show/Dorian’s birthday on monday … yall have made me glow in a womb-like fashion. twas very nice to see you all.
so I am about to embark on a very long and perilous mission, the first stop of which is mixing the new Moon King recordings in NYC next week with the amazing Shane Stoneback (who has worked with, among others, Fucked Up, Cults, Sleigh Bells and the Lyte Funky Ones)
I thought I’d share with you one of the new tracks the way we do it live; this is the “behind-the-scenes” nerd-out type of thing where you get to see what’s actually playing through the PA system at our shows, if u r a soundguy or in a band or can only hear one ear at a time maybe you’ll find it interesting. “”TRANSPARENCY!”"
Assunta Alegiani did a great profile on me for the Varsity this week, I feel kinda weird posting it cuz it gets a little “dark” and “personal”, but I really like her writing and it’s pretty darn accurate all the way through, so here it is::::::
To use music as a form of therapy is not uncommon. But in the case of Daniel Woodhead, one half of the Toronto electro-folk band Moon King, his songs revealed issues unknown even to himself. “With the newer songs, I found that if I sing them over and over again, eventually the sounds turn into words and they ended up being about things I didn’t even realize at the time.” With hesitation, he observes that “the lyrics are usually a lot darker than you would think, considering the songs — a lot of songs about my family and my brother.” While Woodhead writes all the lyrics, he says that Moon King is “totally a duo,” referring to the band’s other half, Maddy Wilde. The project was conceived last summer, and the two have since put out a 7” and released a few songs online; the debut album is yet to come. However, they’re far from being new to the whole band business.
Since 2003, they’ve been taking Toronto by storm in the folk-pop quartet Spiral Beach, along with Woodhead’s brother Airick (now busy with Doldrums and Phedre) and Dorian Wolf (now very busy with Austra). Sadly, I never got to experience one of the extravagant live shows that Spiral Beach was known for (think Rich Aucoin but more artsy). They were so popular that they got 400 people to take the ferry to Ward’s Island for an all-night show, appeared on MTV Live twice, and toured extensively across North America and Europe. When the band decided to call it quits in December 2009, it was probably “the most positive way to end a band ever.” Woodhead says that with Spiral Beach, it was always just about playing together as a group. “We never really decided what Spiral Beach should sound like. We always just did it. Everything was about those four people playing together. And that’s amazing — that’s really rare.” But as with most people in their early twenties, the members of Spiral Beach needed to figure their shit out. “We decided to make the last record and tour to infinity and then it was like ‘Okay, I guess we’re done.’”
2010 was a dark year for Woodhead, a time he spent soul searching, partly on the streets of NYC, “sleeping wherever, on benches and in parks. After we decided to end Spiral Beach, I was really lost. It was that classic tale of the young guy who doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life.” For a while he just played with various projects and put on shows under his blog moniker Snakes + Ladders. His parents are both artists; his mom does pottery and his dad is folk musician David Woodhead. To grow up in this environment makes musicianship a legitimate career choice, but for Woodhead, it all just so happened. After spending a year and a half wondering whether he wanted to be a musician at all, he finally made a decision and got together with Wilde, whom he has been playing with since they were kids. “I feel like there’s nobody that I really trust more, and we really know how to bounce off each other.”
Though Woodhead emphasizes that Moon King is “totally a duo,” the new project posed a profound change from the collaborative song writing he used to do with his brother Airick in Spiral Beach. “The idea of doing a solo thing was pretty daunting,” he admits. At the moment, Moon King is deep into recording, going for a “dream punk” sound
“Basically, I’m trying to record as much as possible and we’ll carve an album out of that. We’ll probably release a couple more singles or 7” [until the album comes out].” Moon King’s songs take time to unfold. They appear simple and contain the directness of punk but reveal subtle layers that give them more intricacy. “[Our music] is really loud, but I wouldn’t say it’s aggressive. It has harmonies and softness,” Woodhead says. This “softness” he speaks of is not the subtle caressing of Spiral Beach’s dream pop, but rather, a danceable, beat-heavy weaving of entrancing harmonies. And while lyrics like “whenever it’s summertime well I’m dead/all I wanted I forget, things I guess I never had” certainly indicate darkness, the music itself conveys a carefree attitude.
What is most notable about Woodhead and his approach to musicianship is his communal nature. If anything, that is the recurring theme that shines through in the interview. Whether he talks about the Toronto music scene, his motivation for putting on shows, or his own music-making, it’s evident that the collaborative aspect of making and playing music is what he revels in. He wanted to be a writer when he was young and says that “how I express myself is more in the lyrics.” But considering the solitary nature of the writing profession, it’s not surprising that he came back to music after his “literal and figurative wandering” of 2010.
See Moon King at the Great Hall on February 24.
Check out Moon King and friends here: http://snakesplusladders.com/
well the next few weeks are gonna be really, really crazy
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-this friday feb 17 I’m playing drums in HUT (which is one of Daniel Lee [Hooded Fang, Tonkapuma, Phedre etc]’s projects. it kinda sounds like The Clean. and we cover The Clean. anyway we are opening for Fucked Up, it’s part of Wavelength’s 12th anniversary festival, which is happening all week, and has four more really great shows. more info on it here.
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-friday feb 24 is the Daps Records Revue at the Great Hall — L Con followed by Moon King followed by Doldrums followed by Hooded Fang followed by the live debut of Phedre — a sick lineup, to be sure. tickets are onsale now from Rotate and Soundscapes. we are gonna try out the new Moon King tracks live and I might wear a cape.
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-saturday feb 25 is Maddy’s birthday party. the theme is “anything but clothes”.
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-monday feb 27 is Dorian’s birthday party show (tho his birthday was in january but whatever) and it is gonna be REALLY REALLY FUN and there will be more info on that soooooon
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-march 3 Tonstartssbandht are finally coming to Toronto and of course I’m leaving for NY that day. go see them, cuz I can’t … they are playing with Tropics and Wyrd Visions, not sure the venue but here’s the FB event
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-march 6 we are doing another big Revue show, in New York this time, with Moon King, Hooded Fang and Odonis Odonis all at Glasslands —- get tickets!! gonna be sick!! T.O takeover USa
-march 8 I am playing with Doldrums, opening for Trust at Mercury Lounge in NYC
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then I may go on tour for three months, or I may not, we shall see lolololololol
hey so I’m watching this movie Buffalo Rider right now and I just wanted to share it with you, like why would I go out on a friday night when I can stay in and watch this… it’s kinda funny sure, but movies like this are my favourite, this is so soothing and peaceful, like the story of Buffalo Jones makes sense to me and nothing else does right now…
gotta do a double feature soon with Where The Buffalo Roam which is also one of my faves … anyway I’m gonna go back to watching this now
OK, so once a year I’ll stop talking about myself and my friends, and post up all the songs I’ve really been listening to the most over the past year … which apparently consists mostly of over-produced, hyperactive pop hits … ’tis a markedly different list from last year, which was filled with really dark + intense songs … sorry to get all inward-eye for a second, but perhaps it’s a reflection of my year, which was honestly a helluva lot more fun than 2010. thanx to you, dear reader + friend, for making this year a little lighter for me.
again, this is not a list of songs from 2011 … in fact I think a lot of them are from 2010 … but whatever … oh and if you’re a giant nerd, download all these songs here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/nd0tit
one of the weirdest experiences of the year was discovering this smash hit from 1986 and then having the singer die just a few weeks later … it is so important that you watch this video, Darryl Pandy is one of a kind, makes you want to laugh and cry and scream all at once
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. Britney Spears – “Till The World Ends”
OK, real talk people – three or four songs from Britney Spears’ last album were some of my favourite songs of 2011. this shit is the most subversive mainstream music has been for ages, completely psychotic and paranoid and dehumanized and mechanical and futuristic and post-apocalyptic (especially the video of course) – the same feeling I get from plenty of “DIY”-styled shit but blown up to a million-dollar budget. I liked this for the same reason I liked Transformers 2. except Transformers 2 doesn’t make me want to squirm like a sex-crazed honey bee.
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. Purity Ring – “Lofticries”
this sets the bar so incredibly high. the most chills-inducing music I’ve heard all year. and a really fucking cool and elaborate live show too…
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. Katy Perry – “Teenage Dream”
no matter how vapid and shitty you may think Katy Perry, the lyrics to this song dumb down some pretty heavy stuff::: “let’s go all the way tonight, no regrets, just love … this is real, now take a chance and don’t ever look back!”
sounds like rave logic to me
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. David Lynch – “Good Day Today”
I definitely HAD to include this… the theme song of the Grimes/Doldrums tour in march, documented by Marilis Cardinal HERE… one of the best experiences I’ve had with friends, on tour, in the sun, driving across america, evvvvah … really set the tone for the rest of the year I think
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. Robyn – “Indestructible”
also: “Call Your Girlfriend” and “Time Machine”
Robyn is killin it right now, enough said
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. Tears For Fears – “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”
also: “Head Over Heels” and “Mad World”
is it just me or was 2011 the year that everyone seemed to randomly re-discover Tears For Fears???? I met so many different people who seemed to be super-excited about them… like they are some “cool new band from Brooklyn”… just one of those things I guess…
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. Aphex Twin – “Ageispolis”
also: “Xtal” and“Pulsewidth” … the whole album really… I think I listened to that record more than any other in 2011. I was never really into Aphex Twin beyond those crazy Chris Cunningham videos, then my friend Sebastian put on this record while we drove into the sunset in Texas on the Grimes/Doldrums tour… extraterrestrial peace and tranquility and warmth!!
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. Fucked Up – “Queen of Hearts”
ok, ain’t gonna lie, I could not make it through David Comes To Life even once… it’s just too damn long!
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. Braids – “In Kind”
my brother played me a recording of this new Braids song they did at Hillside he had on his Zoom … this song is just scarily beautiful, makes my hair stand on end and my skin feel cold… the version from the Polaris awards is amazing too, watch it HERE
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Marnie Stern – “Don’t Stop Believin’”
so triumphant!! ebullient, even!! I won’t stop believing, Marnie I won’t!!!
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Madonna – “Get Into The Groove”
some of my favourite moments from Doldrums sets over the past year have been when Airick just stops the music and plays “Get Into The Groove” in it’s entirety
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. Cyndi Lauper – “Money Changes Everything”
look who it is!! that last high note ahhhhh!!!
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Bjork – “Possibly Maybe” (Lucy Mix)
I watched all these videos again after writing about them, and this one … just WOW … people do NOT make vids like this anymore … also when she sings “electric shocks” it sounds like she just got zapped by an eel and it gives me chills
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Cocteau Twins – “Heaven Or Las Vegas”
also: “Sugar Hiccup”
I’ve loved this band for awhile, but really got into them this year … originally cuz they sounded a bit like Jane Siberry
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. Jay-Z and Kanye West – “Why I Love You”
yah, I know, it’s that other song … but have you LISTENED to that other song?? it is not as good.
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Fleetwood Mac – “Dreams”
another song that people will always love … but this year it seemed to be EVERYWHERE…
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. Oneonitrix Point Never – “Returnal”
it’s really blowing my mind that this guy is somehow becoming a household name by making freaky ambient music … why does it stand out so much??? I dunno, but this track certainly does
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. Pixies – “Trompe Le Monde”
there is just no reason why the Pixies SHOULDN’T be on this list. this is a really cool vid.
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a good way to cap off this list I think … another track often played in the middle of Doldrums sets, an incredible climax, and an amazing voice
Arbutus Records
// Montreal label operates with fiery passion and good humour. home to Grimes, Silly Kissers, Sean Nicholas Savage, Tonstartssbandht and more
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