Blues Control / Solars / Gross Xmas
Little Mountain Studios, Vancouver, BC November 2

By Al Smith

Noise-positive Vancouver concert promoter and record label Twee Death consistently puts on the most interesting shows in town, but they can be a hard sell to the more casual music fan. More often than not, these shows take place on weeknights in the cramped confines of Little Mountain Studios, and to a crowd of about 50 record store clerks and other music diehards. It was no surprise, then, to see these usual suspects assembled for a performance by Queens, NY psych/noise collagists Blues Control, in support of their latest — and best — record Local Flavor.

Opening the evening were local noise upstarts Gross Xmas, fronted by the ever-prolific Tom Whalen but playing without regular saxophonist Jessica Parsons. Next up were fellow Vancouverites Solars, who furthered their case for being our city's premier drone peddlers with a hypnotic set of doomed psychedelics.

After an eternity of gear-twiddling, Blues Control's set began with the distant, dub-inflected beats (played from a garden-variety Walkman) that have become a calling card of sorts for the duo. Keyboardist Lea Cho played hazy, delayed riffs while Russ Waterhouse spun a web of noise from guitar, synths, vocals and a tangle of effects, with the dull, thumping Walkman-generated drums plugging insistently away like a heartbeat.

The effectiveness of this formula was best demonstrated when they played Local Flavor standout "Tangier." Waterhouse dropped a startling, off-kilter drum pattern over Cho's hypnotic piano, only to pull it back again, revealing the song's original plodding rhythm. It was an understated but eye-opening performance, and those lucky enough to have attended were shown what's behind the Blues Control hype.
Neon Indian
Sunparlour Players / Sheesham & Lotus
The Idan Raichel Project
Real Estate - Real Estate
The Mayfair Set - Young One + Self-Titled
Leyland Kirby - Sadly, The Future Is Not What It Was
Kraftwerk - 12345678: The Catalogue
Cloak/Dagger - Lost Art
Bebel Gilberto - All In One
Lyle Lovett - Natural Forces
Will Hoge - The Wreckage
Will Stratton - No Wonder
Dave Rawlings Machine - A Friend of a Friend
Juliette Lewis - Terra Incognita
Sea Wolf - White Water, White Bloom
Yim Yames - Tribute To
Ambarchi / Fennesz / Pimmon / Rehberg / Rowe - Afternoon Tea
Wooley / Lytton / Grubbs - Seven Storey Mountain
Ganesh Anandan & Hans Reichel - Self Made
Todor Kobakov - Pop Music
Castanets - Texas Rose, The Thaw & The Beasts
Low Low Low La La La Love Love Love - Feels, Feathers, Bog And Bees
Nocturnal Fear - Metal Of Honor
Slayer - World Painted Blood
Green Jellÿ - Musick To Insult Your Intelligence By
DRUDKH - Autumn Aurora
Letting Up Despite Great Faults - Letting Up Despite Great Faults
Comanechi - Crime of Love
Brilliant Colors - Introducing
Star Fucking Hipsters - Never Rest in Peace
Bastard Child Death Cult - Year Zero
Antonio Valdetaro e Grupo - Letícia
Ken Aldcroft’s Convergence Ensemble - Our Hospitality
Devin Townsend Project - Addicted
The Expos - Blackwater
Ray Charles - Genius Hits the Road
Marek Hemmann - In Between
Emptyset - Emptyset
Bassnectar - Cozza Frenzy
Basement Jaxx - Scars
David Sait - Postage Paid Dues — Volume 2
Muskox - 5 Pieces
Friendly Rich - Presents Pictures At An Exhibition
March Fourth Marching Band - Rise Up
Fat Freddy’s Drop - Dr. Boondigga & The Big BW
Collage - 54’05”
The Quiet Nights Orchestra - Chapter One
Sabrina Malheiros - New Morning
Chief - Collabo Collection
Paten Locke - Super Ramen Rocketship
DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid - The Secret Song
Scottt Catolico - Massacre
The Bushpilots - Seven Ways to Broadway
Coalesce - Ox EP
Black Anvil - Time Insults the Mind
Culted - Below the Thunders of the Upper Deep
Between the Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect
Gossip - Music for Men
Bell Horses - This Loves Last Time
Shonen Knife - Super Group
Hockey - Mind Chaos
The Dudes - Blood Guts Bruises Cuts
Lee & Willbee - North Carolina
Teenage Bottlerocket - The Came From The Shadows
Krum Bums - Same Old Story
Los Yetis - Nadaismo A Go-Go!
Sacrifice - The Ones I Condemn
Priestess - Prior To The Fire
Various - Fire In My Bones: Raw & Rare & Otherworldly African-American Gospel (1944-2007)
The Schomberg Fair - Gospel
Various - D-Funk: Funk, Disco & Boogie Grooves From Germany 1972 — 2002
Grand Archives - Keep In Mind Frankenstein
7 Worlds Collide - The Sun Came Out
A Fine Frenzy - Bomb in a Birdcage
Raveonettes - In And Out Of Control
Headlights - Wildlife
Jakartah - In the Nervous Light of Coincidence
Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary
The Noisettes - Wild Young Hearts
Tinted Windows - Tinted Windows
Alice in Chains - Black Gives Way to Blue
Fashawn - Boy Meets World
Corporation - Return of the Corporation
Idlers - Keep Out
Mark Matos and Os Beaches - Words of the Knife
Genitorturers
The Jesus Lizard / Brides
Deastro / Max Tundra
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson / These United States
Dinosaur Jr. / Pink Mountaintops
Young Galaxy / Politique / Blazer
The Fiery Furnaces / Cryptacize
Jonas Reinhardt / Sinoia Caves / Valet
Muse - The Resistance
Ricca Razor Sharp - Causeways & C-Trains
Muneshine - Status Symbol
Magnolius - Mary Musht
Port-Royal - Dying In Time
John Abercrombie - Wait Till You See Her
Mark Knopfler - Get Lucky
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