Chad VanGaalen - Diaper Island

(Sub Pop, 2011)

The answer is yes. Yes; you can love, possibly more than anything else, at least for the moment, an album titled Diaper Island. What Chad? You get a kid or something? It’s definitely a less death-focused VanGaalen affair (and more Womenly, given his recent exploits).

Chad VanGaalen - Sara by subpop

Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane

Chad VanGaalen
Soft Airplane
(09.2008, Sub Pop)
Verdict: Glorious

After releasing two of the most enjoyable albums known to mankind, I had galaxies full of expectations for the new Chad VanGaalen album. Somehow, all those expectations were fulfilled and then some. Chad VanGaalen is a genius, and not only that, his music genuinely makes me feel good. Not just a happy good, but some deep cosmic feeling that everything is going to turn out and that the world aint so bad type of good. I guess that might be weird considering most all his song lyrics are about death, revenge, and other morbid topics, but somehow Mr. VanGaalen laces these topics with a little bit of euphoria, a dash of love, some small bits of mysticism and magic, and tops it all off with a whole lot of quaint charm. His amazing song writing skills are carried out through bluesy acoustic guitar, electro dance beats and inventive percussion all layered under a quavering fragile and emotive voice. Soft Airplane is exceptionally beautiful and wonderfully light. Mr. VanGaalen does his own illustrations for his albums and music videos, and the new video for "Molten Light" is the most creepy, ugly one to date, but for some reason they always draw my curiosity in no matter how gross looking they are. Enjoy below.

-Sassigrass

Women - Women

Women
S/T
(07.2008, Flemish Eye)
Verdict = Sunny oscillation from Canada

Sassigrass actually had dibs on this review. I think that Wooly Mammal had his eyes on typing something up on this band as well, but I’ve decided to sneak it away from both of them, for better or worse. It is not that I feel that I will be able to do some exceptional justice to the album, it’s just that I am way too excited about it and literally couldn’t last another day without it adorned on our little blog. Sorry guys. I personally feel that 2008 has been blossoming exceptionally as of late with albums from Aufgehoben, The Fun Years, Navigator and now this (along with some reviews to come), it seems like every genre is getting rocked with some sort of awesomeness. Women actually fall into the somewhat trendy “poorly-recorded-hook-laden-art-rock-with-token-bits-of-textured-ambience” crowd. Catch that? I’m talking the about No Age, Times New Viking and the endless troupe of conspirators coming out of the Siltbreeze label (lets throw Deerhunter in there as well, just for fun!). Yeah, Women could rightly be compared to all of them, but that comparison is also somewhat lazy because Women are pretty much way freaking better in my personal opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Times New Viking and think Nouns is alright, but by golly, Women is just pristine. So what makes this brand of art rock so much better than the rest? Well, for starters, while Women may have found similar joy in the beauties of low fidelity recording (thanks, in part, to the awesomeness of Chad VanGaalen who produced it) they don’t over do it or rely on the recording aesthetic to save them from poor songwriting. By that I think I mean that Women (who, for the record, are actually men) seem authentic; there is no artsy pretensions here, just great songs executed with passion and enthusiasm. Oh, and there is the charm. I guess one of the major differences between Women and their previously cited contemporaries is their mining of left-field 60’s pop. Women straddle the line between the modern analog grit and The Velvet Underground, The Kinks and The Zombies - and they do it well. With their self titled debut Women have managed an Album with a capital A. Ten tracks of glorious tape hiss married to sunny pop and endangered rock. So, my apologies in being competitive, Women just have better hooks, better textures, better influences and better songs. If there is one thing that I know for sure it’s that you will not want to miss this album; sheer pop destru/perfe-ction!

-Mr. Thistle

Women - Black Rice

Chad VanGaalen- Skelliconnection

Chad VanGaalen
Skelliconnection
(2006, Sub Pop)
9.0/10

Skelliconnection is Calgary native Chad VanGaalen's follow-up album to the impressive Infiniheart. Infiniheart was an instant classic for me, but the album felt like it had a few holes of disinterest. Chad has filled the holes and released one of my favorite albums that I own. Last year Forest Gospel created a Top 50 Album of 06' list and this album was #4. So why did I give it a 9, probably because I've played it out like crazy since it's release last August (almost a retrospective, but not quite!). Chad VanGaalen sings his curious lyrics in a humble broken tone over ever changing instrumentations. The names of most the tracks are two-word morphs, like the album title, which seem fitting for one of the most contrasting yet congruent albums of late. The songs vary in a wide range from drum-machine dance flavored trance songs like "Flower Gardens," all the way to strummy blue's folk ballads like "Wing Finger." The album is organic and ever changing, soothing and discoordinate. The songs were all written and performed by him, except an occaisional guest drummer (he even created a few new instruments just to records this album.) Seeing Chad VanGaalen live is also an amazing experience. When he opened for Band of Horses last fall at Club Sound he played solo on stage with a guitar in his hands, a harmonica around his neck, and three drums on the floor which he played with his feet using bass pendels. His talent doesn't stop at the audible only, he is also a very skilled illustrator and animator, and makes his own music videos. Chad VanGaalen seems like an unstoppable indie force right now and I am hungerly waiting to hear more from this super-musician.

-Sassigrass