Though never really intended for mass consumption, we were pretty tickled when Allan MacInnis reviewed in the Nerve magazine the raw collection of live takes we threw together to help us cement our love affair with Portland, OR in early October.

(untitled at press time)
self-distributed
What doesn't kill you may make you stronger – but being able to laugh about it sometimes sure helps. Vancouver's Creaking Planks offer more or less deadpan presentations of songs from a wide variety o'sources, rearranged for accordion, ukulele, washtub, kazoo, lap steel, fiddle and/or banjo. Topics tackled on their debut CDR include aging ("Man Cougar" by Bob Uker), underemployment ("Sandwich Artist," again by Uker – he says the Planks "give my songs much more reverence than I think they deserve"), cunnilingus ("Girl in the Pink Canoe" by Big Rude Jake), and love/sex in general (Momus' "I Want You, but I Don't Need You, NIN's "Closer," and Peaches' "Fuck the Pain Away"). They also work in a couple favourites by Al Mader, AKA the Minimalist Jug Band ("I'm a Lousy Lay" and "Dead Man's Pants," brilliantly twisting the latter slightly towards rockabilly). Call it novelty music for the humiliated, with a nod here and there to Jewish/European folk traditions. I preferred the mixes on the last four non-professionally recorded tracks, done in banjoman Ole's basement with a slightly different lineup, to the first 11 Little Mountain Sound cuts, but then, I'd've liked 'em even better mastered off a scratchy 78 RPM. Arrr!

Now he's taken his charity a step further and also mentioned the self-same recording as one of his top 3 albums of the year, keeping good company with Al Mader and the Rebel Spell (on separate recordings, regardless of to what extent theirs is a match made in heaven.)

The Planks' CDR is amusing, engaging, and has all the best of their live set, including covers of songs by Al, above. If the idea of hearing "Closer" by NIN – with its chorus of "I want to fuck you like an animal" – played and sung by a nerdy deadpan accordionist named Rowan Lipkovitz, with ukulele accompaniment and maybe a banjo, sounds entertaining, you need to hunt this CD down. Laughing gas for music geeks.

It may be the case that the endorsement should have been saved for an ensemble whose recording is actually available for sale... but we can't deny that the flattering attention brings a wry grin to our faces.

(There is, however, still time to purchase a copy of us on this year's Very Vancouver Christmas II charity compilation!  Won't do us a lick of good but other licking experts may well benefit down the line.)

The Creaking Planks have contributed our first *entirely* original track to A Very Vancouver Christmas Vol. II! You can find out how to get your copy here:

http://www.veryvancouverchristmas.com/

All proceeds go to benefit BCSPCA.

In addition to the rough demo we were giving away down at this year’s Horace Phair Columbus Day party, on which we understandably figured somewhat prominently, the parallel caravan from Vancouver was distributing a mix entitled Vancouver ? Portland, where we appear alongside such local peers as the greenbelt collective, Ok Vancouver Ok, kisses give you powers, the Winks (not Vancouver for a while though), the Organ, Destroyer and the New Pornographers.

And which track?  Why, as a defiant gesture toward our feeble attempt at circulation control, it was the non-downloadable track from our myspace page, the copy of NIN’s "closer" from a recording session in Ole’s basement last winter.

Thanks to our new (and old) American friends in Portland, Seattle and further points for a memorable weekend... now we have to put on our cabaret hats and moustaches for a surprise show back home.  Hopefully we’ll be back soon!  (No promises that this blog will be updated any more frequently, however.  PS, I lied about us recouping the live recordings from HP4, but maybe by HP7 next year we’ll have them... in any case, there is some footage floating around of this year’s performance, so we may well render the past redundant and irrelevant 8)

A dozen or so of you may have had the fortune to pick up a copy of the Horace Phair fiVe Home Planet Mix on your way out of the Saluthaus this past weekend, where you can find us keeping good company with the Ginggang and Bad Mintons (among others) who helped us rock that basement but good Saturday night.  It's true, it's the same lossy recording of Al Mader's "I'm a Lousy Lay" that's been available for free up here (and hence, is likely to some degree now legally the property of Rupert Murdoch)... but it's a start.

(Did You Know: Lousy Lover was previously recorded by Jaymz Bee and the Look People?  It appears on their album Boogazm and the "Canadian Alternative '92" compilation.  Here's a taste.  I know what you're thinking: where's the accordion?)

While we were down there we managed to snag the live recording of our sprawling appearance one year prior; also an old invitation was extended that might conceivably yield further recordings this winter.  In the meantime... keep posted at our bulletins!