Real Sickies, Joe Vickers, and The Luvmenauts
Real Sickies
Love is for Lovers // Stomp Records
Well summer came early for some of us. This heat, you either love it or hate it. I choose not to complain because I know what’s to come. I also haven’t felt some good plus 40 weather since my last trip to Vegas. But with all this heat I do manage to keep cool with this latest super cool release, Love is for Lovers by Edmonton’s Real Sickies. Out on July 9th, 2021 via Stomp Records. A fabulous follow up to their 2020 release Quarantined. All I know is that Love is for Lovers is the ultimate album of summer! When you listen, you will see for yourself, and then you’ll decide you want it on vinyl for your own collection. The Real Sickies are just that Rad!!!!
Produced and recorded by Rob Lawless with mixing and mastering from Terry Paholek, all down at the Physics Lab in Edmonton. Pretty much everything coming out of there is golden. Lawless and Paholek truly have a gift and it shows in their work. I’m always so excited to see and hear what comes out of the Physics Lab.
“Communication Breakdown” is the first track and first release from the album. It busts in and sets the mood for the best summer album ever!!!!!!! I really love those ever so snarly guitars and fun vocal stylings of Ben Disaster. They always have a positive and cheery sound no matter what. I really like that uptempo happy Ramones vibe they got going on (whether they feel it’s a compliment or not). It’s what keeps me listening to their music. Ben sings of running away before the phone lines go down. Then we’ll have a real communication breakdown on our hands. It’ll be like going back in time... maybe to a time before phones. Oh ya did I mention this one has a super fun music video! I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did!
The title track gives you the feeling like you're a young teenager in love and you don’t care. You know that giddy butterflies feeling in your tummy. The guitar comes screeching in right from the get go. Lawless keeps those essential punk rock drums fast and steady. Packs a nice punch. I love that the chorus makes this one so easy to sing along to. Whether you're single, newly dating, newly weds, or an old married couple… you’ll fall in love with this song.
Eric Budd’s organ playing skills really shine through on “I Think of Sunshine”. Hearing them just makes my heart sing!! I had to take organ lessons when I was a kid so I can really appreciate this sound. There’s a nice little breakdown with nice harmonies and the Ba-ba-baa-bu-bu-baa’s are the ba-ba-best!!! This one is an earworm you will sing the whole day through. It’s getting me through my days right now.
Every song on this album is stellar and deserves props so you better check it out for yourself. You’ll most definitely be the cool kid at the pool party if you spin this! I don’t like to be like I told you so... but I told you this album was gonna be album of summer 2021!!!!
Love Always,
Green Noreen
Joe Vickers
Waiting on a Muse // Gunner Records
Southern Alberta singer-songwriter Joe Vicker's album Waiting on a Muse, is earnest and honest and beautiful. From arguably the nicest guy in the Alberta music scene, the album surprises you around every corner with rollicking foot-stompers and pretty country-folk ballads. Recorded at Calgary’s OCL Studios in December 2019 and released in April 23, 2021, the album is exclusive to vinyl lovers until the first batch of records sell out. Joe took an old school approach to his marketing strategy, focusing on the pure magic of music, for the music lovers. Not to mention that the vinyl package is gorgeous. It comes with a Fanzine featuring lyrics, chords, poems, a printed inner sleeve and mint green vinyl. It’s a throw-back to the traditional vinyl packages from the classy musicians of the past.
Like the songs themselves, there's something pure and true about hearing an album in its entirety for the first time via a physical, hold in your hands record. Picture it: A stormy summer evening. You’re feeling like you need a little chill time but want to immerse yourself into something more powerful than passively watching TV and scrolling on your phone for the night. You pour yourself something delicious to drink. You purposely put on that record. You take it out if it's sleeve, look at the artwork and contemplate the thought that the artist put into the details. You sit back, drink your drink and get into the music. Active listening and imagination put into force and a chill night ensues.
Well, that's how I did it the first time I listened to the album anyway. I sat, drank a drink with my husband, and listened to Waiting on a Muse four times in a row. That's me getting off my lazy ass, flipping the record 8 times. And I did it with purpose and intention. The songs are deep and soulful. The album starts off with "Gunshy" (Side A), a toe-tapping upbeat tune, and goes on to work through thoughtful ballads (“Moses Lake Diner”. “Spiral Stairs”, “Keeper of the Flames”) and catchy, storyteller tunes (“Deadly Sins”, “Thief Takers”). The album leaves us off with the last song on Side B, "Artery of the Continent", which made me cry with it’s heartfelt sorrow. It was a beautiful night.
- Mo Lawrance
[*Note From Editor - Joe is nearly through all his LPs, get yours here before they’re gone]
The Luvmenauts
In Space // Do Right Music
Toronto 4-piece The Luvmenauts have once again created a genre defying soundtrack. This time to a fictional cosmic sci-fi. Over the course of three albums (this being the fourth), The Luvmenauts have become defined by their impressive ability to really dive into a concept by creating soundtracks to fictional films. This has led their discography to be far ranging. Thus far, their experimentations with country western, surf music and even Latin elements full with horn sections, has been largely guitar focused. The Luvmenauts deep dive In Space sees a shift into a more electronic approach, yet the band resolutely pay homage to an array of vintage sounds, a practice paradigm to the groups sound.
Sonically the record plays like a hyper-focused funk jazz psych fusion record from the 70s. There’s a jam-like element in that each song is carried by the groove and drive of the bass and percussion. Songs are shaped around a signature groove to always come back to while soloists are given space and variations build with each cycle. The soundtrack element of the concept gives certain moments more purpose while focusing the record as a whole. Hooks never grow old or jam for too long. Some tracks provide more of a feel or emotion than a hook or something to really grasp onto. The fact that In Space is meant to be more of a soundtrack rather than a traditional album makes for a really great passive listening experience. Letting it soundtrack your daily routine provides a great experience. The album never reaches extreme moments of grandeur. It certainly grooves but never rocks out too hard, always giving space for what's happening around you (or to imagine a visual for the soundtrack). That being said, it’s in the deep listen where one can truly appreciate the band's musicality. The range of synth, organ and electric keyboard tones, the unique sounds provided by the use of taishogoto, a Japanese harp instrument, or the sultry contributions on the Sax by BADBADNOTGOOD’s Leland Whitty.
With each release The Luvmenauts manage to one-up their previous efforts, consistently adding new elements making each record more impressive than the last. In Space continues this tradition providing a soundtrack at times light and humorous, heavy handed and groove laiden and even purposefully confused as you suffer a spatial anomaly with the album's subjects. An effort that proves The Luvmenauts ability to fully embrace a concept while simultaneously giving nods to the greats of the film scoring world.
- Kennedy Pawluk
