Wednesday 17 July 2013

Zero Hour - Nature (1987)


We'd like to thank Doug Swift for sending us this, and getting us back onto our original path of preserving old tapes (rather than amassing new tapes as it seems we've been doing lately).

We've seen Zero Hour on the Calgary Compelation and heard about this tape from Dan Izzo (we think? memory is fuzzy on this. Tubby Dog was involved). Doug tells us this tape is an evolution of the band from the Compelation track - original lead singer Lyndon Johnson split and eventually joined Rymes with Orange. The band carried on and put out this tape; Doug tells us:
Our practice space was Riley Manor on Crowchild and 5th until some rich people bought it and they moved it down the street. Our brother band was Eye on You as Murdoch MacLeod lived there too. He came up to Edmonton with us and played third guitar during one of our visits there. Mark "Egg" Sundberg was our tried and true roadie. Unfortunately, he died early in 2013. We loved that guy and I went to Elementary school with him. Although we didn't make it out of Alberta we played lots of shows with some other excellent bands - the list includes Eye on You, Color Me Psycho, Beyond Possession, SNFU, No Rebate, Corrosion of Conformity, Disciples of Power, Silent Terror, No Limbo Lasso, and some others I can't remember. I know we were supposed to play with Crucifucks in Edmonton at some church, but they didn't get across the border so we got to headline that show, which was cool.
This tape is probably more metal than skate punk, but hey, this is Calgary and we do like our metal.

Monday 15 July 2013

Mandates - The Mandates (2013)



So, a while back we were confessing about our problem with re-buying bands' albums because we discover they've been released on tape. Well, Victoria's Shake Records is doing a great job of exploiting that, with the release of another great Calgary band's LP on, er, tape.

We really like the Mandates - not just because of their pedigree, not just because of their infectious power pop and CERTAINLY not just because of their good looks. A bunch of folks have been raving about this LP since Mammoth Cave released it a few months ago, and having it on tape is an extra special treat for us at the CCPS.

Buy the tape here, the LP here, and the download here. With so many choices, how can you choose wrong?!

Saturday 13 July 2013

Un Blonde - Un Blonde (2013)


So, just when we think that we've got tabs on all of Jean Sebastien Audet's projects, we walk into Hot Wax to find this oddity (which comes with Jean's hair, blood and "instructions regarding them". Well. This is billed as satanic devotional - but it still has a lot of the weirdly dissonant pop hooks (uh, if that makes sense) that seem to be hallmark of his. 

You can order a copy of the tape or download the tracks from the Un Blonde bandcamp

Friday 12 July 2013

Seahorse - Mal de Débarquement (2013)


We've got a bunch of tapes sitting in the queue, and we've just about dragged Gene Poole out of a deep, deep depression caused by the sudden cancellation of this year's Sled Island for what we can only call very reasonable reasons. In fact, it's this tape that finally lured him back into the CCPS offices.

Seahorse were one of the bands that Gene was really hoping to see at Sled Island, and it looks like he really missed his chance, as these post-shoegaze popsters have already broken up. But not before they left us this tape (which comes without a j-card - perhaps intentionally?). We have to admit, Gene's right about being upset he never saw this short-lived band.



Thankfully, you can grab a download of this from the Seahorse bandcamp.