12
Arts & Entertainment
A note on cigarettes
Kandle (EP), Album Review
November 7th 2012 • Over the Edge
Chilly Gonzales - Solo Piano II , Album Review
JORDAN TUCKER ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT I started smoking casually around the middle of 2011, when I realized that I too could smell of death and a desperate want to be cool. There's something to be said for a habit that you know can do you absolutely no good. Maybe it's the nihilist in me, but something about staring at the red ember in the middle of the night, after all sane measures to fall asleep have been exhausted, makes me feel as though I'm capable of perfect honesty with myself. It's a sort of awareness of mortality. The thing about having a such a habit is that it forces you to be honest with yourself about why you do anything, really. So many things that we do, from skydiving to falling in love, are centred around a desperate and curious need to understand death, or to shy away from it. Inhaling into your lungs a giant freaking' stick of nothing-good-for-you is sort of liberating. Screw you, caloriecounting! Nuts off to you, coffee naysayers! Go stuff yourselves, RRSP salespeople and Jesus' holy team of canvassers. I am slowly killing myself and being a terrible example to the future generation of Canadians and I am loving it! Hack hack cough. The thing is, and we all know it, smokers are cooler than the rest of us. I don't mean social smokers or pansy little insomniac smokers like myself. I mean the tormented, tortured smoker-types. The surly guys who have to duck out of big family gatherings in their weathered denim jackets to perch on the end of the curb to light up, their dark blue eyes glinting darkly as they think about past regrets. Gwyneth Paltrow in The Royal Tenenbaums, a secret smoker from age 12, lighting up in the bathtub. Even the trail of smoke in the Replacements' Bastards of Young video is cooler than any five handfuls of cranky little hipsters with owl necklaces and whimsical off-kilter earrings. This is why I've always shied away from becoming a full-time smoker: I'm not cool enough. I was talking to a smoker-type friend of mine, and, after pondering the question of quitting, they admitted to me that it didn't matter, because they were sure they were going to die young anyways. That sort of morbid confidence is exactly why smokers can haphazardly leap onto motorcycles and lounge about campfires contemplating philosophy, as I imagine they do. Because smokers are okay with the idea of dying, they are more willing to do things that the rest of us won't. Because smokers won't submit to the usual mortality jibe like the rest of us, they're immune to the frantic fluttering of gyms and social groups. If not to emphysema and lung cancer. The Surgeon General is just a jealous fellow. One should take cigarettes seriously. Be it in a moment of reflection with a friend amidst a night of revelry, or just solo on the balcony; a smoke at the end of the night is a time to contemplate what is, and to meditate. Serious health conditions aside (and seeing as we're young, we're invincible anyways), smoking is a therapeutic tool, conversation starter, and an
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This EP was actually released back in 2011, but was rereleased this year by Mercy, Happy Life records. The main draw here is Kandle’s voice; it’s strong and hearkens back to Nancy Sinatra - maybe a bit too much, as for the first three tracks of this EP, I had the impression that I was listening to slightly reworked versions of “These Boots Were Made For Walking.” Kandle also sounds a lot like a less-melancholy version of Warpaint, or like a slightly more depressed Best Coast, but without the weird dissonance and spoiled sweetness. “Play with Fire”, a swing-style Rolling Stones cover and the last track on the six-song EP, is cool and has some cute little hooks, but overall the album seems off-tempo due to what feels like a lack of solid vision between the instrumentalists and the singer. Also, the lyrics are not terribly strong; if Kandle had just hired a songwriter and told them the general direction she wanted the tracks to go in, this might have been a better
album. This is an album for illicit boozy picnics in the park; simply put, Kandle would be great to see live. Kandle has a lovely voice, rich and tonal. The songs themselves are full of raw emotion and energy, and would likely be well-suited to an outdoor venue and dark beer in brown paper bags. The production (done by her father, 54-40’s Neil Osbourne) is better suited to vocally driven rock performances, but actually works well with Kandle’s ghostly tones. However, without lyrical complexity or real range to the songs, the EP just sounds sort of flat, and gets annoying and repetitive after a couple of listens. Listen and let me know: am I on key or way off?
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Chilly Gonzales is a beautiful musician in any genre. A Canadian treasure, he's made waves in genres from jazz to hip-hop to classical. However, at heart, he will always be a pianist. After having taught himself piano at age 3, Chilly (née Jason Beck) trained classically at McMaster University before moving to France to distance himself from the Canadian music scene. Having worked with Warner Canada and found them to be uninterested in creativity and more enamoured with sales, he played it solo for a while, recording hiphop songs and electronica. He eventually went back to his roots (with a twist) with Solo Piano in 2004, a record of original piano songs. He has since released four piano albums, Solo Piano II being the last of the set, and had numerous adventures. These include, but are not limited to: breaking the world record for longest solo-artist performance with an act of 27 hours, 3 minutes and 44 seconds; winning a piano battle against fellow Canadian musician Andrew W.K
by throwing a gold necklace at him; and having his song “Never Stop” featured on an Apple commercial for the iPad in 2010. He is also a member of the German hip-hop band Puppetmastaz in addition to his solo career. This ought to give you an idea as to the breadth and scope of his career and work: Chilly Gonzales is a man whose work often defies and reinvents genres. This new album is no exception, featuring gentle and caressing piano and thoughtful pauses. It was recorded in a 10-day studio session in Paris, France, and each track was reworked and rerecorded over and over again to ensure utmost clarity of tone and intent. Buy this album. It may not be the typical college review, but it is beautiful and full of feeling and gut-clenching moments. Listen to it on the bus, listen to it when you're doing your homework, get drunk to it. Just listen to it.
Top 20 Albums 1. Parallels - XII 2. Wax Mannequin - No Safe Home 3. The Caretakers- Love, War, and Propaganda 4. AC Newman - Shut Down the Streets 5. Mother Mother - The Sticks 6. The xx - Coexist 7. The Sheepdogs - The Sheepdogs 8. Rah Rah - The Poet’s Dead 9. Cat Power - Sun 10. Nuela Charles - Aware
11. Kreayshawn - Somethin ‘Bout Kreay 12. Amanda Palmer - Theatre Is Evil 13. Nu Sensae - Sundowning 14. Chilly Gonzales - Solo Piano II 15. Artichoke - Etchy Sketchy Skies 16. Sienna Dahlen - Verglas 17. Pet Shop Boys - Elysium 18. The Zolas - Ancient Mars 19. Lou Wreath - Exploding Diagram 20. Kandle - Kandle