Music

Coalesce

Guest Spot: Sean Ingram of Coalesce explains hardcourt bike polo

Coalesce: OxCoalesce: OX (Relapse, 6/9/09)

Coalesce: “The Comedian in Question”

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Kansas City, Missouri-based hardcore band Coalesce has spent the last decade in flux, with shifting lineups, hiatuses, and sporadic shows prior to a full-blown reunion that spawned a new seven-inch, a full-length, and an EP.

But just because its output and appearances have been limited, the band isn’t out of touch. The scene has simply changed, and lead vocalist Sean Ingram wanted to rediscover the magic of its early days. Now, he finds himself on the ground floor of yet another nascent, independent movement: hardcourt bike polo.

Punk Living Through Non-Musical Means, or This Bike is a Weapon
by Sean Ingram of Coalesce

There was a point a few years ago that I was completely depressed by the world I had created around myself with electronics and new media. A fellow I knew had offed himself, and it was great sport to come up with the best pun skewering his illness in the comments. A band from Japan wrecked on the highway here in the States, seriously fucking some of them up, and the response was, “Van frip, Paypar prease,” in a mocking and fairly racist manner. For whatever reason, this kind of assholery was getting to me, and I made a pact with myself that I would turn everything off, and do my best to disassociate myself from cynicism. A major task, I know. But there is only so much one can take of faceless assholes telling them what is and isn’t cool. So it was done. I was out.

Without all of this extra noise, it was easier to focus on tasks at hand. Planting an orchard, building some old-school hemp rope-swings, not knowing what someone’s done for the last week before catching up with them in person for a beer. Little things were more enjoyable. As my attitude started to ease up, and I started to take more time to enjoy the little things, I noticed some guys on some bikes with big hammers, knocking the shit out of a little ball. I spent the day by the sideline checking these guys out. It was like hockey, but on these Mad Max-looking bikes. But these guys clearly weren’t jocks. These were guys that probably heard “Skate or die, fag!” yelled at them a million times in high school, just like me. So I gave it a shot.

Coalesce

Esmerine

Q&A: Esmerine

Esmerine: La LechuzaEsmerine: La Lechuza (Constellation, 6/7/11)

Esmerine: “A Dog River”

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Cello/percussion twosome Becky Foon and Bruce Cawdron, of Montreal’s Godspeed! You Black Emperor and Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, began recording minimalist chamber music under the moniker Esmerine about a decade ago. Two instrumental albums and numerous (sometimes collaborative) performances later, the duo has doubled to include percussionist Andrew Barr and harpist Sarah Page and completed its third full-length album. Both developments can be attributed to the late Lhasa de Sela, a Montreal vocalist and common thread between all four band members.

Lhasa passed away due to breast cancer at the age of 37 on January 1, 2010, and in her remembrance, Esmerine created La Lechuza, a beautiful, moving album. With several guest artists (including Colin Steton, Sarah Neufeld of Arcade Fire, and Patrick Watson) and the addition of steel drums, violin, harp, and saxophone, La Lechuza is a testimony to Esmerine’s musical progression.

ALARM caught up with Foon, Esmerine’s cellist, to discuss the band’s expansion, its new record, and its inspiration.

What was the initial motivation to create your own musical project as Esmerine?

We (Becky and Bruce) met recording the first Set Fire To Flames record, Sings Reign Rebuilder, in 2001 and became really interested in exploring the world of cello and melodic percussion. Bruce and I started to improvise together quite a bit, which then naturally evolved into writing songs. About a year later, we decided to record our first record at the Hotel 2 Tango in Montreal.

During the six-year time span between Aurora in 2005 and La Lechuza, was Esmerine on a hiatus, or were you just waiting for an appropriate time to start another album?

Bruce and I had been playing the occasional Esmerine show in Montreal since our last round of touring in 2005-06, inviting various guests to join us for some of them, but we hadn’t been thinking much about future recording. Lhasa asked us to open up for her in Montreal in 2009, which we did as a duo, and that’s where we met Sarah and Andrew, who were in her band at that point. We really hit it off, and soon after we invited Sarah and Andrew to join in an Esmerine show (where Lhasa also sang on a song), and everything evolved very naturally from there.

Love is All

Love is All: Telling Stories with Raucous, Lo-Fi Pop

Gothenberg, Sweden-based band Love is All hails from a historic city with a burgeoning indie-music scene. Unlike its contemporaries, the band’s noisy, guitar-driven pop songs are bolstered by an undercurrent of recklessness.

Morrow vs. Hajduch

Morrow vs. Hajduch: Tom Vek’s Leisure Seizure

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

Tom Vek: Leisure SeizureTom Vek: Leisure Seizure (Downtown / Island, digital = 6/7/11, physical = 9/13/11)

Tom Vek: “A Chore”

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Hajduch: Alt-pop singer/multi-instrumentalist Tom Vek released his under-the-radar debut, We Have Sound, in 2005.  Since then, he’s remained very quiet.  It turns out that he was holed up in a studio, preparing more of his rhythmically propulsive, sort-of-electronic, meticulously produced post-punk pop jams.  Leisure Seizure recently arrived digitally (a physical release is forthcoming), and it’s very solid, if largely unsurprising.  Banging drums and sing-along choruses have always been Vek’s MO, and they serve him well here.

French Miami

French Miami: Self-Reliant Post-Punk from the Bay

Bay Area post-punk trio French Miami is focused on the integrity of its art. Its DIY reputation and self-described “dynamics and bombast” have landed it more than a few fans — including one rock legend in a bar in Ohio.

Junior Boys

Guest Playlist: Junior Boys’ musical motivation

Junior Boys: It's All TrueJunior Boys: It’s All True (Domino, 6/14/11)

Junior Boys: “ep”

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With a new full-length, It’s All True, out today on Domino, Canadian electronic duo Junior Boys takes another trip down the sultry, synth-studded path that it deftly paved on previous albums. What better way to get a sense of how the band arrived at its signature sound than to examine the music that inspired it? We asked Jeremy Greenspan to put together a 10-track playlist of his favorite songs. He did us one better, coming through with 11 songs ranging from soulful to skittering and timeless to Top 40.

1. Blawan: “Bohla”

It’s super exciting to be buying so many R&S records again.