Hinterland's blog: 01/01/2004

Monday, January 26, 2004

Whay are we charting at UMFM in Winnipeg but not at Vancouver's own CITR? I have no idea, but I'm starting to get pretty pissed off about it. If it bothers you, too, why not contact CITR and request our music?

Sunday, January 25, 2004

WHAT I'M LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW:
It's a 1977 kinda day around my place. I started out with Television's Marquee Moon, and now Wire's Pink Flag is providing the soundtrack to my day. Maybe I'll rent Star Wars later.

Saturday, January 24, 2004

After some weirdness that's not worth going into here, Under the Waterline is finally available at Scratch Records in Vancouver. So... go buy it.

Thursday, January 22, 2004

WHAT I'M LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW:
White Trash Heroes by the Archers of Loaf. One of my favourites. To me, this 1998 album is the zenith of '90s indie rock, and it represents the Archers at their creative peak. In the keyboards and loops, you can hear the seeds from which Crooked Fingers would grow. And the guitar work is amazing. This is the album that inspired me to get an EBow.

Monday, January 19, 2004

Meet Henry. If you like him, why not marry him? Henry would very much like to be permanently married. Henry would make an excellent husband.

We're charting in Winnipeg!

Kyle found this really strangely written review of our album on a website from the U.K.

Is that how they're teaching their kids to write over there?

Sunday, January 18, 2004

Edward Burtynsky takes beautiful photographs of ugly things; the things we do to abuse the planet we live on.

Here are the details of our next show.

WHO: Hinterland, Parlour Steps, Woolly Mammoth
WHERE: the Piccadilly Pub
WHEN: Saturday, January 24
HOW MUCH: $8

Speaking of Brian Eno...

You might find yourself inspired, enlightened, enraged, comforted, or mildly piqued by the Oblique Strategies. Try to have some fun with it. Take one strategy every morning and make it your guiding principle for the day. (Longtime followers of the musical endeavours of John and Gregg might recognize "Oblique Strategies" as the title of a Flutter song. Or perhaps not. In any case, here's where we ripped it off from.)

Click here for the real thing instead of the online version.

Someone please please please send us a ton of money so we can record our next album at Tarbox Road Studios, preferably with this guy producing. Or this guy. Or this guy. Or maybe even this guy.

Why don't any of these people live/work in Vancouver?

Damn.

Thursday, January 15, 2004

Want to see some Sigur Ros videos? Here they are. The one for "Viarar vel til loftárása" is particularly poignant. I'm pretty skeptical about music videos in general, but that's a good one. And it's seven minutes! Edited down from 10, apparently. But still... seven minutes. Who says you can't make a good, seven-minute-long music video that doesn't have some band pretending to play their instruments?

I was just reading some interesting items on Chartattack.com. If you were a fan of the band Mellonova, you might be interested to know that two of the members have carried on as Beneath Augusta. They are touring the U.K. with A Northern Chorus. That would be a great show to catch!

Equally awesome (or even more so), is the line-up of this year's Coachella Festival. The Pixies, Radiohead, Kraftwerk, Air... how can you go wrong?

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

In case anyone was wondering, this band is not us. Not that it's ever come up.

And no, we're not changing our name.

Sunday, January 11, 2004

Our song "Divebomb" is currently featured on the CBC Radio 3 site. The player is in the top left corner of the page; just hit the downward arrows to reveal the full list of songs, which also includes good stuff by Neuseiland, Quadra, Great Lake Swimmers, and many others.

I miss the Blinding Light!!. Don't you?

People have been asking me where they can buy a copy of Under the Waterline. Hopefully this link will help. If you can't find it at your local record shop, you can order it directly from our label.

Saturday, January 10, 2004

If you happen to have a copy of today's Vancouver Sun, check out page F4. There is a picture of Hinterland and a quote from me in a feature story on Canadian indie music.

Friday, January 09, 2004

GUITAR FOR SALE
I am selling a vintage 1960s Yamaha SG-5A. It looks a lot like this one. I have recorded with this guitar; you can hear it on the song "Portrait of My Invention". It's a neat guitar, but I just never play it anymore, so I figured I'd sell it. If you're interested, please contact me.

WHAT I'M LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW:
The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place by Explosions in the Sky. I'm hearing it for the first time, but it strikes me as an astoundingly beautiful album, full of the sort of chiming, delay-treated guitars and minor chords that I'm always a sucker for. It makes me want to lay down my guitar in defeat. I am small and worthless. I think this album would have made my 2003 top-10 list had I heard it in time.

Here's a review from Pitchfork.

Thursday, January 08, 2004

A couple of our songs are included in the upcoming indie feature Lucky Stars. I haven't seen it yet, but there are apparently a few references to Hinterland in the movie. And I hear Nardwuar the Human Serviette is in it.

Wednesday, January 07, 2004

What promises to be a very fine show is taking place this Saturday, January 10 at the Purple Onion. The bands are In Medias Res, Maplewood Lane, and the mysterious Elias (of whom I know next to nothing). I'll be there, trying desperately to convince strangers to come to our show at the Pic on the 24th.

Tuesday, January 06, 2004

Oh man. If you live in Vancouver, take a look out the window. Oh man. I can't believe it. I feel like I'm in Inuvik or something. It's not supposed to do this here!

Monday, January 05, 2004

Two more songs from our album have been added to our New Music Canada page for your streaming pleasure. They are "wasntevenwinded", a moody soundscape with reverb-drenched baritone guitar and deep, dark synthetic strings that builds to a climactic wall of guitar and feedback; and "Red-Light Camera", a near-ambient number with backward guitar loops, cavernous vocal effects, and an unexpected banjo. Yes, a banjo.

Please have a listen. Your comments on the songs are most welcome.

CITR just released its first chart of the new year, and our album is not on it. No big deal, really, but it means that the main alternative/indie station in our hometown isn't playing our music. Which seems kind of... wrong. I'll say no more on the subject, other than to provide the contact info for CITR's music director, just in case anyone would like to make a request:

Luke Meat
CiTR Music Director
CiTR Radio 101.9fM
Room # 233
6138 SUB Blvd.
Vancouver BC
Canada
V6T 1Z1

Ph:604-822-8733
Fax:604-822-9364

email:citrmusic@club.ams.ubc.ca
Web: www.citr.ca

Friday, January 02, 2004

Hey, there's still time to vote for Hinterland in Chart magazine's 2003 Year-End Poll. You have until January 7 to get your votes in. We don't expect to be able to compete with the likes of Sam Roberts and Shania Twain or whoever else is leading the poll at the moment, but it would be nice to let the folks in Toronto know that we exist and that people like what we do.

Also... the gang over at the Shoegaze.co.uk forum is trying to compile a list of 2003's best albums, but not very many people are voting. So, why not let your opinion be known? And hey... a vote for you-know-who wouldn't hurt.

Hinterland's blog