5TH AVE CAT SANCTUARY SOUNDS

  SUNWATCHERS MUSIC IS VICTORY OVER TIME TROUBLE IN MIND RECORDINGS/ 2023 My first exposure to this crew comes via their most recent effort, the aptly titled MUSIC IS VICTORY OVER TIME, a collection of flowing instrumental jams that hit ecstatic and majestic heights from the word go. I've heard their name about and I love a lot of the stuff that Trouble In Mind releases but I just never got around to checking them out 'til recently. This one is really doing it for me, its rock solid rhythms and expansive sax/guitar workouts run the gamut from stormy and heady freaks to some more contemplative wanders. The presence of the sax doesn't limit them to a reductive "jazz rock" tag nor is their music constructed that way (to these ears anyway). Tracks like the shuddering TUMULUS and TOO GARY hit big grooves and swaggers whilst never going on for too long and wearing out their welcome. Call it soundtrack/ cinematic/ improv-ish/ full on rawkin whatever you will, it's a

  ACID ROOSTER/ IRRLICHTER 2021 CARDINAL FUZZ/ LITTLE CLOUD/ SUNHAIR My lord, this one is a winner. Cut from the same cloth of groups like Wooden Shjips/ Spacemen 3/ HILLS, et al, Leipzig's Acid Rooster go for the gold on this collection of Floydian rippers, great energetic jams and star weirding guitar workouts. Definitely a notch above most of the current crop of sike/space crews going (is fashion-psych a real thing now?), this now sold out album is worth tracking down and blaring out. This one is gonna stick around, and be (re) discovered for quite some time, methinks. Yeah its from 2021, but I only recently really listened hard. TOP!  https://acidrooster.bandcamp.com/album/irrlichter   ELEVATOR/ VAGUE PREMONITION 1999/ REISSUE 2022 BLUE FOG RECORDINGS Going back lots to this one as of late. I got to open for them on this tour (I think??) with a band I was in back in 2000, my memory is hazy, as the say. They killed it infinite and were the nicest people you'd ever want to me

 RECENTLY...FEB 2023 Here we go with a plethora of sounds from near and far, recent and from years past that have been blowing up the spot here at the 5th Ave Cat Sanctuary here in (currently balmy, relatively speaking) Saskatoon SK. JAIRUS SHARIF/ WATER AND TOOLS 2022 Telephone Explosion Records LP Unmoored and leaning into forever far out sounds from Calgary and released on the venerable Telephone Explosion label outta Toronto. Jairus weaves organs, guitars, horns, sounds, whatever he has at hand  it seems, into widescreen tapestries of blare and reverie that can recall Pharaoh Sanders in a top down jeep, a darkened sky threatening rain, quiet moments of bliss and dense soundtrack music of the highest order. Assisted by label-mate and Badge Epoque Enemble chief head Max Turnbull on some of these jams, this collection of recordings are a stone cold wonder and deffo this LP is one of the best to come out of our little vast corner of existence in quite some time. The near 12 minute open

  ALAN VEGA live March 16/1986 Clarendon Hotel London In a big Alan Vega/ SUICIDE seam right now. This burner of a show from 1986 is one of the best shows you will find on the Yub, hands down. Alan on vox, one Mark Kuch on guitar and machines on loops, drum machines (Alan hammers on a keyboard at some points). The setlist features songs from Saturn Strip heavily, plus a Springsteen song and some Suicide bangers. A heavy,  towering live sound here, subtlety jettisoned in favor of impact. Kuch's no-nonsense/ no-frills wall of sound finds the middle ground between James Burton's Ricky Nelson riffs and Faust's high wire air raid siren squalls. As evidenced here, Alan is one of THE great rock showstoppers. Hypnotic. The high priest raining sweaty truths down on his congregation, lost in the noise. Turn it up and flashdance in front of your mirror, smoke a cigarette and have a holler. Fun, fun, fun indeed.  Thanks to ScottishTeeVee on YT for this. Also, check out Sacred Bones ong

 UNDERWORLD/ BEAUCOUP FISH 1999 Junior Boys Own 2LP When talk turns to "summer" albums, this one will always be close to hand for me on those long sunny days, when perhaps its just a BIT too hot out. I got promo CDs of this from an old job at CD Plus on 8th St back in the day, 99 for sure. I had no frame of reference for them really, not too up on the UK dance scene at the time (tho in the UK they would probably be considered pop/indie at the time). I was aware of them like many through Trainspotting, thought Born Slippy was a cool enough tune, and that's about it. The thing about them for me is that for all the sequenced lines, dance-inspired architecture of the tracks and spoken word ranting of frontman Karl Hyde, is that. around this time especially, they were masters of melody, hooks that would get lodged in my head for days. The track Jumbo that opens side 2 on the record is a deceptively light pulsing house-y track with Hyde muttering about locked doors and Tetris k

 New one from Chad Ross, he of Quest For Fire/ Comet Control/ Deadly Snakes/ Nordic Nomadic plus a lot more outfits thru the years. For full disclosure I have the pleasure to call this man a good friend, our bands having shared stages and floors over the years. We've had many great times together and many more to come. Having said that, I.ve always been a huge fan of his music in whatever form it takes, his unique and highly melodic way with the word and riff is instantly unique and recognizable. This one, recorded and mixed by Josh Wells at the Balloon Factory in Vancouver, deffo leans to a more gentle/ folkier side of things, opiated soundscapes that drift on by with a sigh. Echoes (gettit?!)of post-Syd Floyd, drowsy synth washes lap up against the tunes like waves on the shore, especially on a track like the title cut Skull Creator, my favorite one thus far.  Chad played most of the instruments on this record, with help from Josh Wells on drums/percussion/keyboards, Aaron Goldst