What would you do if your bandmate put out a solo record
and made you look like a lazy sod?
Would you a): tour the world with him to support his record, and between European and
American runs, score a little art-house film by Bruce McDonald and starring Ellen Page?
OR...
Maybe you’d opt for plan b): squirrel yourself away in a studio around the corner
with your neighbour, get comfortable, and write your own record utilizing the bits and
bobs you collect off good friends who pass through and lend a hand? And, all the while,
you bust your ass to help keep your soccer team in the premier division and still make it
home by 7 every night to cook your girlfriend dinner?
But Brendan Canning didn’t earn the nickname The Champ for nothing — he chose
both options. And, he still DJed the odd party when asked. And, starred in an upcoming
Bruce McDonald documentary about his life and career.
In January 2007, Canning — one half of the creative partnership that blossomed into
Broken Social Scene — decided to make the most of the new year and began writing
what would become the second offering from the “Broken Social Scene Presents”
series, following the September 2007 release of fellow BSS co-founder Kevin Drew’s
Spirit If…
Anyone who’s seen Broken Social Scene live over the past seven years had an idea of
what to expect from Drew’s album — after all, he voices the majority of BSS’ euphoric
anthems and bruised ballads, and also tends to dominate the stage banter. But with
Canning — the cornerstone of the band’s rhythmic foundation — there’s less empirical
evidence with which to form expectations. To date, he’s only taken the lead on three
BSS songs, each of them very drastically different from each other: the clap-happy
cacophony of “Stars and Sons” (from 2002’s You Forgot It In People), the free ’n’ easy
west-coast cruiser “Handjobs for the Holidays” (a respite from the simmering tension of
2005’s Broken Social Scene) and the understated psychedelic piano serenade “Market
Fresh” (a 2003 B-side).
“Something for all of us…” thus presents Canning with an opportunity to both
reintroduce and reinvent himself. Some songs provide an immediate sense of comfort
and familiarity: “Chameleon,” with its slow-building, time-lapsed ecstatic release, sounds just like the sort of brass-blasted ambient bliss BSS were coming up with regularly on the Ted’s Wrecking Yard stage back in 2001; and after all these years of Drew and Canning working together, the insta-anthem “Churches Under the Stairs” provides the
very first occasion for them to share a duet. But the music on “Something for all of us…”
is as much of a reflection of Canning’s life outside BSS as within. Though the album
features the expected assemblage of BSS buds (including Drew, drummer Justin Peroff,
Jimmy Shaw on horns, and Lisa Lobsinger on vocals), the bulk of “Something for all of
us…” was written and recorded with relative newcomers — and next-door neighbours
— Ryan Kondrat and John la Magna. Its 11 tracks are informed equally by Canning’s
time spent as a Sonic Youth/Dinosaur Jr.-worshipping indie-rocker in the early ’90s
(see: the fuzz-covered opening title track, “Hit the Wall”), an active Toronto disco/house
DJ (the spiky cowbell funk of “Love Is New”) and a bedroom electronic producer (the
glitch-tronic instrumental “All the Best Wooden Toys Come From Germany”). But the
album also exposes heretofore unheard Champ-ian sounds: “Snowballs & Icicles” is an
uncharacteristically stark and vulnerable acoustic elegy that sounds like it slipped out of
John Lennon’s White Album demo bag; “Antique Bull” is a rollicking, piano-rolled folk
shanty with a winsome lead vocal from Lisa Lobsinger; “Possible Grenade” is a dark,
menacing rumble of a track that yields to a suitably stormy finale.
Inhabiting that undefined space where rhythm, melody and noise coalesce, “Something
for all of us…” offers 11 different perspectives on Brendan Canning without ever
defining him by any one. If Canning was something of an enigma to Broken Social
Scene fans before listening to this album, its greatest triumph is that, now, he seems
like even more of one.
Your album is amazing thanks very much man, thanks to arts and craft too!! move on my page for see your pictures at Paris after your show!! remember!! take care my man. R
Your Chameleon song is beautiful. It has just about everything in it- soft, loud, melodic; all without feeling forced. The melody in every instrument note falls into place at exactly the right moment. Perfectly played out my friend. Cheers to the Chameleon.
Thanx for the add. I look forward to picking up the cd--It seems like every talented musician releases there cds at the same time. I still have to grab silver jews and will oldham--as well as Becks new album. Lots of listening to do.
Cheers friend, an honour having you here, be well, and do enjoy the library/blog's contents, here's hoping that it'll inspire you, as your creative spirit has inspired mine, sweet dreams then...
thanks for the album update, any idea when or if the album is gonna be up on itunes cause the A&C site wont take my credit card grrr! eagerly anticipating holding a hard copy though :)
