Here’s a fun one from Sub Pop solo act Chad VanGaalen – “Samurai Sword” is a folksy strut about, of all things… Losing your good friend’s samurai sword. There’s something pleasantly strange about a Calgary-based folk artist writing a twangy song about an ancient Japanese weapon. Our favorite part? The clangy, pots-n-pans percussion. Check out the quirky, Adult-Swim-esque music video below.
As a newcomer to the land of Chad VanGaalen, Shrink Dust is quite the brazen introduction to the Albertan singer-songwriter’s musical ethos. Known for his imaginative lyrics, full of sci-fi world-building, offbeat preoccupations, and demented wordplay, VanGaalen is on his fifth full-length oddity with the Flemish Eye record label. A compelling cross between OK Computer-era Radiohead and the delicate indie-folk of Daniel Johnston, VanGaalen’s approach feels both richly realized and disarmingly sincere. His latest work is awkwardly arresting from its starting lyric: “Cut off both my hands and threw them in the sand / Watched them swim away from me like a pair of bloody crabs.” The starting track is a mild ditty, however, compared to the howling desperation of its follow-up, the drum-driven “Where Are You?”. After a bit more experimental dabbling, the album quickly backs away from immediate Radiohead comparisons, blending the countrified with the psychedelic (VanGaalen claims The Flying[...]