BeatRoute Magazine [AB] print e-edition - [April 2018]

The Switching Yard
Yet Again
Cardinal Fuzz/Pre Rock Records
Teeming with fuzzed out, buzzsaw guitars,
Yet Again, the debut LP from Saskatoon’s The
Switching Yard, wears the gritty influence of
the earliest punk rock like patches on a worn,
cracked leather jacket. However, not content
to merely ride the style of Funhouse-era
Stooges through the LP’s 35-odd-minute
runtime, Yet Again is shot through with nods
to a number of other classic rock n’ roll acts,
while its lo-fi aesthetic keeps it current with
DIY energy and charm.
“Champagne Action” bangs off the get go
with a mid-tempo snarl, not quite the pace of
the MC5 or Funhouse, but the Iggy Pop sneer
will be immediately noticeable, as will the Fred
Smith rhythm guitars, or the wound up Scott
Asheton wah pedal freakouts in the lead guitars.
“Hard Luck” has a vibe that mashes up the early
‘90s alternative/punk explosions of Sonic Youth
and Mudhoney, leading into the nine-minute,
drifting galaxy brain stew of “Behind The Gates.”
The MC5/Sabbath burner “Hank It’s Midnight,”
is a ripping, revved-up, muscle car tear-assing
through the woods in the dark, with doomy
guitars pushing along on a repetitive riff while
other riffs circle the waters underneath like
sharks around a flesh wound.
If some of the tone of Yet Again sounds familiar,
it should. Formed by Brennan Barclay and
Steve Novakowski, along with Peter Henderson,
The Switching Yard also features Chris Laramee
and Jay Loos of Shooting Guns (Barclay also
plays with Shooting Guns). There’s some of that
local familiarity at work on Yet Again, but the
presence of dual vocals, especially the caustic
Iggy Pop sass, gives The Switching Yard a slightly
different aesthetic from their Saskatoon pals.
• Mike Dunn
Yamantaka//Sonic Titan
Dirt
Paper Bag Records
After a five year wait, Yamantaka//Sonic Titan
are back with a vengeance. Toronto’s distinctively
pan-cultural experimental music and
performance collective have released their
most ambitious, yet also their most cohesive,
record yet with Dirt, an album conceived as the
soundtrack to an unreleased 1987 anime with
Buddhist and Iroquois influences. “Someplace”
and “Dark Waters” set the stage in suitably
dramatic fashion with charging, prog-rock
rhythms and sweeping, melodic passages. “The
Decay” unfolds as the album’s true centerpiece,
an operatic dreamscape lead by deliberate
doom metal riffage and uplifting, airy vocals.
Dirt is a phantasmagorical journey.
• James Olson
Zeke
Hellbender
Relapse Records
After a hellishly long wait, Zeke are back
with their first album in 14 years. The punk
legends known for mixing the gritty might
of Motorhead with the cartoon fun of The
Ramones sound in great form right off the top
of the album as “On the Road” kicks out some
seriously caffeinated guitar solos. Thankfully,
each song continues to snuff out boredom
with an all-killer-no-filler approach.
“Burn” literally sounds like the band is
Yamantaka/Sonic Titan
about to spontaneously combust as the
snarling vocals spat out over the whip-crack
of the one-hundred-mile-an-hour snare
drum will leave any punk extremist dizzy.
The fun continues on “AR-15,” with the refrain
“Blow it away/Blow it away” whilst the
misanthropic anthem is taken even higher
with New York Dolls-like guitar leads sped up
to an un-godly tempo.
The inhuman speed that these short but
damaging blitzkriegs are belted out is truly
frightening and definitely makes this Zeke’s
fastest recording to date.
• Dan Potter
BEATROUTE • APRIL 2018 | 59