Burn Planetarium - Valse Mechanique

Sharp, disjointed post punk. These four words describe the debut LP of Bradford native, (but currently Guelph resident) indie rapscallions Burn Planetarium’s Valse Mechanique. Despite the foursome’s academic obligations, they have managed to hunker down and write a collection of very upbeat dance punk songs that are both anthemic and hook laden.

Utilizing pop vocal arrangements and amalgamating them with quirky, intellectual lyricism seems to be the band’s aural objective, and with very effective results in this reviewer’s opinion. The constantly layered dual vocals compliment the infectious shout along choruses and “oh oh oh “s throughout, allowing singers Ben Landau and Sean Mckee to express their individual manifestos on love, art, and the future existence of humanity simultaneously. Their dense form of songwriting is extremely effectual, for two perspectives are provided vocally for a single song, evoking a dualism that does not allow the listener a moment to breathe while being barraged by the post-punk dance party.

Bombarding the listener right off the bat with screamed “ha ha ha”s is the foursomes method of beginning Valse Mechanique. Shoving their abrasive brand of dance punk in the face of the listener with the opening track “Death Death Death” brought smiles of delight to this reviewer’s oral cavity. Setting the tone for the rest of the record, this track showcases the bands up tempo, driving beats and their well attuned hook writing capabilities. Their utilization of dual vocals is established during this opener as well. The composition of the chorus consists of one singer hitting a higher note and holding it while the other rifles off a line underneath in a lower register, all at the same time, being a motif that the band employs throughout the record.

Subtle drum taps accompanied with clapping hands and a sparse keyboard melody is the ground work laid for the next track, “Frankenstein Kids.” Landau’s declaration of latent inhibitions “the future scares you, rattles the bones, impairs you” leads into the driving verse of the song, showcasing the band’s ability to transition very effectively from subtle to driving aesthetic . Their usage of stop, go, soft, loud dynamics advocates the duality inherent in the band as mentioned before. This dual nature allows the paunchiness of the transitions to ring out proficiently, which is another pattern that is dominant within the record.

Lastly, this reviewer’s personal favourite track on the album is the romper “Skeptics.” Beginning the song once again is the band’s sparse instrumentation, the rattling drum beat and bass line being accompanied by Mckee innocently vocalizing likeable passes at an addressee who is of pseudo-academic inclinations. The first transition implements another guitar line, with singing duties being taken over by the other respective voice, Landau. Imploring “so every skeptic burn,” the song kicks into another hook encumbered chorus, chock full of “who-oh-ohs” and Burn Planetarium ‘s quirky wit.

All in all, this debut is very formidable. Having self created and recorded this album, the band has a final product to be proud of. Weak spots are few and far between, and the shear number of stand out tracks on it induces the talent present within the four young men. Poignantly uttered in my favourite tune, “skeptics, be forewarned” … Burn Planetarium will be entering the stratosphere fast and strong.

Brian Gillis
March 26, 2008

I Luv Myoozyque

I have a story to tell you, but first the history. A little while ago (a month?) my band that I love entered willingly into a battle of the bands, sponsored by Mazda, which offered the grand prize of opening for Sam Roberts. This battle titled the Mazda Muzik Tour (clearly targeted at the morons who find pleasure in fighting the man through spelling) was, apparently, aimed at discovering Canada’s best indie talent (keep this in mind). Grand! we said. What excitement! we offered. Not all of us are #1 Sam Roberts fans to be honest, but we respect the man and what he does, and we would have appreciated the exposure of our music that we care about to a greater audience. To use foreshadowing poorly: this all goes to shit.

As the story goes, my band needed to receive enough votes to be in the top five of our region even to be allowed to play for anyone. Excitedly we encouraged those we knew to vote for us and they—being the good persons they are—did enough to get us into the Big Gig (that title being my own). This was exciting for us, our friends, our family because it was a chance to be recognized. Now all we had to do was wow the audience with our creativity and skill, convincing them to vote in our favour. We prepared a set list and practiced before hand. We cared about this because it was recognition of our efforts, and it would be amazing to play a show with Sam Roberts. Luckily, once we arrived we realised that none of this mattered because we were unwilling to sell our souls—then things got worse.

At this show we suddenly realised we were being used as dancing monkeys to give Mazda “indie cred,” or something equally inane. The first sign was having to pose for a photo in front of a banner with Mazda Muzik Tour scrawled across it. Then it was the type of people we were seeing. Originally there just seemed to be a bunch of really friendly folks working this event for Mazda. They all wore shirts with “Tour Roadie” on the front which was lame, but they were older and so who can blame them. By the end of the evening everything stunk of insincerity and I hadn’t seen any attempt at appreciation of the art that is music. The people had sales pitches and were committed to throwing them around shamelessly.

I will pause here to explain something. I am a whole-hearted supporter of capitalism. I believe in free trade, and I am not offended by a company’s attempts to increase its profits. Here’s the issue though: the music suffers at an event like this. I would love it if companies were sincerely invested in finding talented, creative bands in order to give them exposure to a larger audience, indie or no. However, why would any company other than a record company invest sincerely in independent music?

Anyways, I understand that this may all seem like sore losing, but I assure you it is not. I wish the winners of our round and all the others the best of luck if they are looking for what Mazda is offering. I was just too bothered by the imbalance of product placement to art appreciation. Maybe I was looking in the wrong place though. That would be a fair comment. Should I expect anything more from a company selling cars? Was I fooling myself to hope that Mazda was truly looking for talented Canadian musicians? Probably. A company has to watch out for itself—but if that’s true than my band looking out for itself by avoiding events devoid of integrity is equally fair. We both set out to take advantage of one another, and luckily we both failed.

This is the first year for the Mazda Muzik Tour, and—God willing—it will be the last. I say that from the perspective of someone concerned with the survival of talented, committed and creative musicians. This is meant not as a slight to the winners or participants of this event, but wholly as an attack at the corruption of music by Mazda. They have high-jacked the concept of indie music to sell cars (beware of the term indie in the future as well—it’s a word that sells more and more by the day and means less and less), and they are willing to allow the musicians to suffer. There are other ways to get exposure, and I recommend up-and-coming bands find them.

John Law
March 12, 2008