DUST ADAM DUST

Winnipeg’s answer to the Jesus and Mary Chain came out of the ashes of epic space rockers National Monument. Alex Janusz and Jason Hovland kept on going while Hovland began writing songs with his wife Anna as far back as 2007.

“We applied for a drummer at the Australian embassy and Steve came highly recommended,” the band quips via email. Its debut disc, a lo-fi, self-titled popsterpiece, was recorded in four days (and mastered in two) with Jeff Patteson at Home Street Recording.

“We wanted to capture a natural performance and that’s what Jeff gave us,” the band says. “Jeff’s an awesome dude, really patient and professional. He has a dedication to local music and it’s great to hook up with people like that.

“We felt really prepared for the recording,” the band continues. “Every note had to count, and the fire was under our butts to get it done before we hit the road for a western tour in July/August 2011.”

Not necessarily a throwback to the sugary sounds of the ‘60s, but a continuation of the bands that were inspired by that sound, Dust Adam Dust is an animal all its own.

“Music is evolving beyond this idea of a genre, and if you weigh yourself down with an idea, you pretty much know where it’s going to start and where it’s going to end. It’s up for interpretation,” the band says. “As far as it goes from the band’s perspective, our inspiration comes from a lot of places - gospel, soul, Built to Spill, Sleigh Bells, The Byrds, St. Vincent, Os Mutantes, Spiritualized - it goes on and on, as it should.”

Dust Adam Dust plays Ozzy’s on Friday, April 13 with Ex Modern Teen and Vampires.

Visit www.dustadamdust.com.

- Nicholas Friesen

JOEL PLASKETT EMERGENCY

It was something that hadn’t been done before. Rock and roll in record time - a song a week, released exclusively on CBC Radio 2 Drive and iTunes, all leading up to the album Scrappy Happiness, which is in stores now.

Joel Plaskett’s new album (which includes a video of eight live tracks as a bonus incentive to purchase the physical copy) is something special. His seventh LP since disbanding his teenage band Thrush Hermit in 1999, the 36-year-old has had an incredibly consistent output.

“Focusing on one song per week is a very neat thing,” Plaskett told Toro Magazine recently. “You don’t have time to step outside (the music) a week later and say, ‘Is this any good?’ because it’s already out. I wanted to be as ‘in-the-moment’ as I could be, and I think that’s part of the problem with the music industry nowadays, everything takes a long time to come out. Not everybody can be Radiohead. I romanticize a time when things came quickly - ... Neil Young’s Ohio coming right on the heels of its tragedy.”

Doing a record like Scrappy Happiness takes a lot of discipline and sticking to deadlines.

“A couple went right down to the deadline,” he says. “Every Thursday at noon, to be delivered. I met it every week but was sometimes mastering at like, nine in the morning.

“The songs on Scrappy Happiness were commitments to a national broadcasting service, the CBC, so there was no wiggle room - kind of like writing exams for 10 weeks. It was on my mind the whole time.”

Check out Joel Plaskett with his band The Emergency at the Garrick Centre on Saturday, April 21 at 8 p.m. with Frank Turner. Tickets are $27.50 in advance at Ticketmaster. Visit www.joelplaskett.com.

- Nicholas Friesen

SITDOWNTRACY

Local indie pop rock five-piece SitDownTracy is about to unleash its second disc, Twenty Something Winters onto an unsuspecting audience. Recorded with Ryan McVeigh (Boats) semi-live-off-the-floor at Private Ear and mastered by Harris Newman (Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade), the record was a long time coming.

“We did (the bed tracks) over the course of a weekend, and then took several months to finish overdubs of vocals, percussion and saxophone,” drummer Matthew Powers says by email.

With a slight shift to a more poppy tone, the disc is sure to raise a few eyebrows, but it’s pure SDT.

“The poppier sound of this album is largely a result of people bringing in songs that are more idiosyncratic, more a part of their personal style,” Powers says. “In the past we wrote within something of a definite genre, whereas things are more diverse now. So the poppier sound is not a conscious decision, just the natural result of songs being allowed to be what they are. This attitude also helps to explain the appearance of more diverse instrumentation (saxophone, strings, keyboards).”

The main question every band has to face is if it is going to do this full time and take the fruits of its labour on the road.

“We want to play everywhere,” Powers says. “With so many avenues for online promotion we’re finding new ways all the time to expand beyond Winnipeg.”

SitDownTracy releases Twenty Something Winters with a show on Saturday, April 21 at the Lo Pub. Modern Romantics and Scotch + Tape also perform.

Visit www.sitdowntracy.com.

- Nicholas Friesen

Published in Volume 66, Number 26 of The Uniter (April 5, 2012)