More music this week

Jay Crocker.
Mae Moore.
The Dodos.

JAY CROCKER

When Jay Crocker had to move out of his studio in Calgary, he did what any creative, enterprising musician would do.

He built a studio in the 10x10 shed in his backyard.

“Pretty much out of necessity I thought I’d build a studio,” said the 31-year-old in a phone interview from Montreal.

He filled the tiny space with “tape machine upon machine,” an ode to his preferred style of recording music, and named the shed Sea Legs.

“There are no windows or anything, and it has this pine ceiling that makes you feel like you’re in the bottom of a boat – the name sort of came from that,” said Crocker.

It’s there that Crocker recorded his latest album Co-Stars, a cheekily titled 10-track “Avant-pop” effort that features only Crocker.

“I find that (recording with tape) can have the rougher edges that I want to have. When you’re using tape, it really makes the performances hang together the way I want them to,” Crocker explained. “It adds to the depth of sound. You can’t go back and fix anything ... (or) you have to mould mistakes so that it actually turns out better in the end.”

Though Crocker is touring his music as a duo with musician Ian Jarvis, he’s still one to improvise, meticulously building instruments to play as much as he can at the same time.

“I can play drums and bass at the same time with my feet,” Crocker said.

Catch Crocker perform live Thursday, March 24, at the Lo Pub. Visit www.jaycrocker.com.

– Matt Preprost

MAE MOORE

By the time Mae Moore returns home at the end of the month, she will have criss-crossed Canada by train twice, adding more than 12,000 kilometres to her travel tally.

Moore is touring her album Folklore, her first solo recording after a 10-year absence.

“It was really good to take the 10 years off, ... just to step back, reassess, look at my writing style and explore other facets of myself,” Moore said in a phone interview from Ottawa. “It was a healthier choice for me to do some other stuff for awhile.”

When she took a break, Moore was perhaps at the height of her career. After penning Heaven in Your Eyes for the Top Gun soundtrack in 1986, Moore scored nine Top 40 hits, two Juno award nominations and two SOCAN awards.

Her work on Folklore began last spring, after her husband gifted her studio time and personal events sparked a new approach to her songwriting.

“Once I got in the studio, it was like getting back in the saddle again, and everything flowed from there.”

The album comes with a small coffee table book of Moore’s paintings, some of which she worked on while recording, such as the Manitoba-inspired Summer At The Lake.

“I noticed there are some people who know me for my music (and) not for my art, or vice versa,” she said. “This marries the two together, and I made it a smallish book (that) I’d be able to take on tour with me.”

Moore will perform at the Folk Exchange Friday, March 25. Read a review of Moore’s new album Folklore on page 13. Visit www.maemoore.com.

– Matt Preprost

THE DODOS

The Dodo bird may have gone extinct sometime in the 17th century, but San Francisco indie rock duo The Dodos are still evolving and collecting the accolades.

A string of performances at the South by Southwest music festival in Texas has had music critics fawning over the band’s frenetic and enjoyable sound.

“The band’s set was polished and tight. ...It was as if they had their stage show down to an art form – and the audience was witnessing a choreographed performance art piece, rather than an indie-rock show,” wrote music website Pitch.com. “The Dodos managed to pull off a set that was clean yet entertaining, perfectly timed yet spontaneously enjoyable.”

The band – consisting of Meric Long and Logan Kroeber – released their new album No Color on March 15.

“We spent so much time on it that there’s a lot to say about it,” said Long in an interview with Paste Magazine.

“For me, it’s like a validation that I spent all this time working on something. We worked in September and October, and since then, I’ve just been waiting and waiting and not doing anything. And whenever I’m depressed and feel useless, I go, ‘Oh yeah, I made this record a few months ago. I did something with my life!’ ”

Watch The Dodos live Friday, March 25, at the West End Cultural Centre. Visit www.dodosmusic.net/nocolor.

— Staff

Published in Volume 65, Number 24 of The Uniter (March 24, 2011)

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