Music

Montreal's Johnny de Courcy serves up slinky glam

by Jesse Locke

No Rest for the Obsessed is a column spotlighting some of the most exciting new music AUX’s Associate Editor Jesse Locke finds each week. It began in 2010 for Calgary’s dearly departed alt-weekly FFWD, and takes its name from a Lightning Bolt song.

Johnny de Courcy – Master Manipulator (Euth Coast Records)

Montreal-via-Vancouver multi-talent Johnny de Courcy has been in the news lately for his “fresh and orgasmic” bread, but what you should really be paying attention to is his fantastic new EP. Master Manipulator’s title track is a slinky piano-backed glamorama cramming sexy sax and guitar solos into its 4:41 runtime. Late contender for the song of the summer! Grab a free download on JDC’s bandcamp and check out the rest of the wares from Brooklyn’s Euth Coast Records.

Slim Twig – Thank You For Stickin’ With Twig (DFA/Pleasence Records)

Toronto’s Slim Twig is a longtime favourite around these parts, and I’ve been fiending for the follow-up to the strange strings of his 2012 platter A Hound at the Hem. After bumping up to the big leagues at DFA (while maintaining his ties to local label Pleasence Records, who first released the Hound), he’s delivered in fried and freaky deeky fashion on the wonderfully titled Thank You For Stickin’ With Twig. Sex(ual politics), drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll (tropes) are tackled head on with the fearless/peerless U.S. Girls splitting songwriting credits. Kick back with a glass of merlot for a full album lyric video featuring intros from Twig, then grip the LP from DFA or the cassette from Pleasence.

New Fries / Old & Weird – Split 7” (Pleasence Records)

While we’re on the topic of Pleasence, the label is inching closer to its five year anniversary with another stacked batch of releases. This includes the earhole-tickling solo piano LP from Drainolith’s Alex Moskos (complete with liner notes from my personal hero Byron Coley) and a “double shot of weirdo-punk” from West Coast fuzz coven Hag Face and Montreal road warriors Babysitter (co-released by Resurrection Records). Best of all is the split dish of wonkaloid pop from the spiritually aligned pairing of Toronto’s New Fries and Halifax’s Old & Weird. Stream it above and get your mitts on the goods here.

Glassine – No Stairway (Patient Sounds)

One of the most surprisingly gorgeous releases to flip my wig recently is this Wayne’s World-nodding collection of manipulated field recordings from a Maryland Guitar Center. In a bizarre instance of collective conciousness, Danny Greenwald (a.k.a. Glassine) is the second Guitar Center employee to try out this concept, yet the gurgling drift of No Stairway is something you’ll actually want to listen to more than once. If we’re getting down to brass tacks, it sounds like something that could have been released by Not Not Fun in 2010. Snatch up the stylish cassette release from Patient Sounds.