Partner/Fuck The Facts
Partner
Never Give Up // You’ve Changed Records
Growing up I was exposed to some of the coolest music through my Mom. She had a killer record collection. All the glorious 70’s Rock she introduced me to… The hours I’d spend listening to her records in the basement were endless. Bless her soul for giving me the gift of music.
So my love of Rock began at a young age, and it still runs rampant through my veins. I find myself going back to the good old sound. Whether it be The Guess Who or some Nazareth... you gotta admit the 70s and 80s had some great Canadian classics, eh! Some of the sweetest and most supreme guitar licks of all time. That was what I thought... until I heard Never Give Up by Partner.
Partner consists of two besties Josée Caron, and Lucy Niles. They’ve been rockin’ the block, and perfecting their luscious classic rock sounds since their debut single Hot Knives in 2015. The first full album In Search of Lost Time came out in 2017 followed by a few singles in between. Never Give Up is their second full length album. This one was recorded at Palace Sounds and released through You’ve Changed Records in November of 2020. We really needed something really rockin’ this year! Something blazing friendly but honest and authentic too. Written cleverly lyrically and musically. Super deadly guitar riffs, thick bass lines, and it’s complete with some Cowbell! Yes this year needed more Cowbell to brighten things up! Maybe more yet!
“Hello and Welcome” kicks things off, and sure makes you feel like you belong at this party. It starts off light, and friendly with a puff then kicks in like a big old bong hit. It quickens up, and gives you a little a flavour to taste what they’re about. Don’t be fooled. They’ll play your guitar, start it on fire, and light a doobie off it.
Seriously don’t be doubting their mad skills.
“Honey” is the big banger, and my fast favourite. They tell a story of the sweetest kickin’ guitar. How it came to be, and what it feels like to play it. I gotta know what kind they are talking about it…. Fender, Gibson, Epiphone? I hope I find out one day. This song is Honey and is super sweet!
“Good Place to Hide” is definitely that 80’s classic rock vibe I was talking about earlier. It’s got the feeling of Rush and a little Kim Mitchell. This one is definitely for the listener. The drums should have a Neil Peart in training sign on them. Geddy Lee would be proud… Yup… Rush would approve but what about Kim Mitchell? Well it’s safe to say he’d tell you to “leave the patio lanterns on for this one.”
This new album Never Give Up by Partner is just what 2020 needed, some old school feel of good classic rock with some new school cool that you're surely going to dig! Give it a listen... your ears will thank you for it!
Love Always,
Green Noreen
Fuck the Facts
Pleine Noirceus // Noise Salvation
After half a decade, Ottawa-based Fuck the Facts have returned with the release of their anticipated record, Pleine Noirceus. The band consists of Topon Das (guitarist/founder), Mel Moneon (vocalist), and Mathieu Vilandre (drummer) who have made their rounds of touring across North America and Europe, playing large festivals and some of the smallest basements possible in the true spirit of Grindcore. And with an extensive repertoire of 6 full-length records and 6 EPs, Pleine Noirceus came in as their latest entry into their discography on November 20, 2020.
Pleine Noirceus is a hefty 12-track record, running around 42 minutes and featuring tracks that are both in English and French. The first track, “Doubt, Fear Neglect” is very much an intro that takes its time to build on a very dynamic song. Just punchy and engaging. It also introduces the themes of the collapse of the drive and impulse to life, which has sundered into indifference for the living moment – always suspended for some expectation or anticipation that assumes a sense of precedence. “Ailleurs,” by contrast, is a return to basics, just fast grind and noise that sounds pleasantly crisp. Lyrically, the song talks about leaving everything behind and it establishes some ongoing reflections throughout the album. The title track, “Pleine Noirceur” resembles something akin to melodic skrams like Touche Amore. The quiet section in the track is a fine chance to hear the vocalist with some clarity before picking a galloping pace for the rest of the song. And this track surprises us once more with the smooth transition over to “Aube,” a slower and grimier song that has some of the impressive drumming that makes this short track very dynamic. This is followed up by “Sans Lumiere,” which gets us back into that classic hardcore groove with swaying guitars, break beats, and blast beats. But reels it all back into a slow grime, ending with some haunting harmonies. Lyrically, we are introduced to themes of alienation and the utilitarian abstractions that organize everyday life, slowly producing indifference through commodification. “Sans Rancines” is a fast short burst that works well as an interlude into the next track about rootlessness and lacking any stable grounding. Then “Everything I Love Is Ending” chugs itself into a discordant song with wailing vocals, and just a grimy rhythm section that brings it up to a loud beat that breaks up to accentuate the piercing screeching vocals, and then onto a fast grind through the rest of the song. Mongeon’s vocal’s really drive the energy – the lyrics are quite passionately reflecting on the crushing feeling of the titular concern. A short interlude, “A Dying Light” is a nice opportunity to just listen to Fuck the Facts jamming out and play on the macabre atmosphere of the strings and bass drop for a stripped-down track that brings back the noise to play itself off. Thematically, the song is a hopeless admittance to seeing the end and a lack of readiness for it. “Dropping Like Flies” picks up on the build up from “A Dying Light” and drives it to a more complex death metal song. The only track to fade out with a quick frequency change that changes the entire song into a noisier lo-fi track only to punch back by kicking back the frequencies. Lyrically, the song presents us to an on-going state of decay occurring at various levels – the metaphor of an untreated infection, where the institutional powers-that-be keep at an arm’s length distance from actually helping the planet or communities. “Pushed to the breaking point / Everyone is scrambling to save lives / As long as you feel their lives do not matter, they will keep dying.” “L’abandon” plays with the higher frequencies laid down by “Dropping Like Flies” and uses it as intro into a short track driven by its melodies and harmonies. In the context of the album, the lyrics here speak to a lucid moment that faces abandonment and detachment. “An Ending” plays on the melodic aspects introduced in “L’abandon” and makes a triumphant song that starts wrapping up the album. The only lyric is a confrontation with the state of separation that makes us unable to face and overcome the predicaments explored by the album: “If we stand together we might have a change / But we’re so far apart.” “_cide” covers themes of untimeliness and systematic oppression. “The violence too often accepted, even encouraged / Perpetrated within a system that believes you are inferior / and ensures you remain there / You are more an object, a commodity, not an equal.” The song is looking at the built-up pressures of violence to procure commodification, and we are left to ask: “How will this all end?”
Needless to say, this album doesn’t disappoint after such a long wait. Going from a 90’s recording to an underground sort of interest and onto major notoriety, Fuck the Facts has been at a significant intersection between big labels with Relapse Records from 2006-2011 and DIY releases from their beginning and in their most recent releases. These various changes in perspective have gone on to reflect within their mature musical output with further independence and creative control, where working from their own studio and self-releasing gives unique room to grow personally and musically in their art. Such a space for reflection has allowed the band to pay attention to what is going on in music around them and to cultivate a strong thematic cohesion throughout this latest record. This album is simply unmissable if you are into hardcore.
- Simone A. Medina Polo
