NEW HORIZZZONS had to cancel our set tonight due to medical reasons. New Positions is playing instead.
I host karaoke at the Beaver Sunday night (1192 Queen west)
Come celebrate the
release of this down beat record (with MP3 download code and art
booklet)! Album to be listened to at 11 pm and sold for a special one
night only price! Appropriately moody DJ set by DJ Body Beautiful (aka
Robert Dayton) PLUS: a midnight candlelight recitation by The Canadian
Romantic !
In Vancouver, BC during the late 90s Robert Dayton,
Dan Bejar and Julian Lawrence recorded an album called "Offshore" under
the name Points Gray. This is an album that the three of them are proud
of even these years later. It has never been released on vinyl. In fact it has never been released in its' entirety! But now it has!
The late 90s in Vancouver were an interesting and artistically exciting time.
Julian and Robert were going full steam with their act July Fourth
Toilet, Canada's wildest and most unpredictable band ever with a mandate
of no two shows the same and were in the midsts of recording their
first album, an album where they wanted people to feel loved. And Robert
had not yet started work in the comedic song and dance duo Canned Hamm.
Dan had released the second album "City Of Daughters" by his act
Destroyer and he had just begun playing in the band The New
Pornographers. Robert approached Dan saying that acid folk music is
long forgotten -oh, if only they knew what was to come a few years
later, if only, though they were too unique to ever fit in anyways- and
it would be good to give it a melodramatic downer damage vibe to suit
all the intense lyrics that he had. Work was begun in earnest and it all
seemed to flow easily and freely from the two of them. Julian joined
them to provide important atmosphere with electric guitar, banjo, keys
and samples and such. It certainly has a distinctive quality and is rather unlike most albums.
They played only one show under the unfortunate monicker of AIDS- hey,
it was the end of the 90s! No one had thought to put that unpleasant
word in a bandname back then! They changed the name to Points Gray as
they wanted something honest and direct that would not overshadow the
music. The album was recorded by Mark Gabriel at Method Studios engineered by July Fourth Toilet member Mark Gabriel.
It really informed their later work, certainly for Robert with the acts
Canned Hamm, Hallmark, and Wet Dirt and for Dan with his This Night
album. With this LP Robert, who is also a visual artist, has
designed a brand new cover using pen and ink and washes, it comes with a
lyric and art booklet, quality mastering done by Josh Stevenson who
always does an incredible job, he had previously mastered such things as
a Destroyer reissue and the second July Fourth Toilet album as well as
recording such acts as Sex Church. With liner notes by Kevin
"Sipreano" Howes who is neck-deep in a wide range of multimedia projects
designed to preserve criminally undocumented Canadian music history.
His reissue work w/ Seattle-based Light In The Attic on the Jamaica To
Toronto series, Doug Randle, Sixto Rodriguez, Monks, and Motown's Mowest
label has been featured in MOJO, Rolling Stone, Pitchforkmedia, The New
York Times, The Globe & Mail, CBC, BBC, and NPR.