Pugs and Crows
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Pugs and Crows

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"CD Review - November 17,2009"


The Pugs and Crows Band—Slum Towers (indie)

This band’s name makes me think of my neighbourhood and its healthy populations of both pugs and crows. The pugs are roly-poly and happy to be out for a walk; the crows are often ornery and will dive at your head during nesting season. In terms of temperament, The Pugs and Crows Band fall somewhere between the two creatures—neither eager to please nor randomly hostile. Their music swings gracefully between moods jaunty and despondent.

Slum Towers is the work of composer/guitarists Cole Schmidt (from Cortez the Killer, reviewed here) and Clayton Murray, along with Russell Sholberg (bass), Ben Brown (drums) and violinist Meredith Bates. The 11 instrumentals and one vocal track feature a lot of tasty playing, but the approach is clean and careful. They will not pin you against the wall with screaming solos. Each tune establishes a strong theme right off the bat.

The haunting, placid opener “’Lil Red Spiders” immediately reminds me of The Dirty Three, but that direction doesn’t return until the superb “Ballet for BC” (featuring a beautiful bowed solo from Sholberg) late in the album. The rest of the record stumbles into some exotic grottoes. Tracks like “Two Tastesless [sic] Italians” and “Ramadan” have a gypsy air that reminds me of Estradasphere without that band’s speed metal digressions. “Turducken,” one of the longer tracks, has a desert caravan feel, a waltz chorus, and a more abstract, improvised section to heave the whole thing off balance. Even at its bounciest, Slum Towers carries a sombre dignity.

The only non-instrumental is “Scarecrow Shadow,” a macabre, sepia-toned ballad that sits in the middle of the album. Sung wonderfully by Debra-Jean Creelman, I can picture it playing over the opening credits of a David Lynch movie.

The Pugs and Crows Band finds an unsettled and unsettling territory between rock and jazz—a sound that has a gritty elegance, with none of the funky elevator-music cheese that “fusion” often entails. An interesting, enjoyable new cross-breed unleashed on Vancouver's musical landscape.
Posted by The Mule at 9:33 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: album reviews, jazz, local
- Difficult Music (review by the Mule)


Discography

We released a full length CD with 12 tracks in September 2009. The Disc is entitled 'Slum Towers'.

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Bio

Formed in the Fall of 2008 by Vancouver-based guitarist Cole Schmidt, The Pugs and Crows perform a blend of original compositions and free improvisations that draw inspiration from a myriad of influences ranging from Argentinian tango music to the compositions of John Zorn. Often described as cinematic, The Pugs and Crows' debut album, Slum Towers, takes listeners on a journey through a varied soundscape of songs that, according to a review in Difficult Music, have "a gritty elegance."

Winners of the Galaxie Rising Star Award at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival in 2010, the members of The Pugs and Crows have a chemistry when playing that fuses their music with playful creativity and reflective musicianship. The band's unique sound is derived from the blend of their diverse musical backgrounds. Meredith Bates majored in classical violin at Dalhousie University, Cole Schmidt, Catherine Toren, and Ben Brown studied guitar, piano, and drums, respectively, at the Capilano University Jazz Studies Program, and bassist, Russell Sholberg, graduated with a fine arts and an education degree from Simon Fraser University. It is their varied paths that give The Pugs and Crows' music it's originality. They approach their compositions with a clarity, opening up into tasteful solos and duos, with occasional departures into frenzied or meditative, but always inventive, improvisations.

The Pugs and Crows have performed at the 2009 and 2010 Vancouver International Jazz Festival, many venues throughout Vancouver and plan to tour the West Coast in the December of 2010 before recording their sophomore album in January of 2011. Their first album, Slum Towers, was released independently in the Fall of 2010. Over the past two years the band has featured guest musicians such as guitarist/composer Clayton Murray, singer Debra Jean Creelman (Debra Jean and the Means, Mother Mother), clarinetist Sam Davidson (Brasstranaut), and singer EN Roberts (Cortez the Killer).