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Chad VanGaalen
Diaper Island
Flemish Eye
B+

Need to know: Chad VanGaalen is many things: a prolific musician, producer and artist, an accomplished skateboarder and a well-known hermit. But it’s in his “rickety house” in Calgary, Alberta that he conjures up his creations, from demented illustrations, to mind-melting animated videos, to his critically acclaimed music. He released his debut album proper, Infiniheart on Flemish Eye in 2004, which was preceded by a bunch of homemade CD-R releases. Sub Pop picked up the album and edited it down for a release the next year. VanGaalen put out his second album, Skelliconnection, in 2006, which earned the respect of critics and was shortlisted for the 2007 Polaris Music Prize. His third album, Soft Airplane, was shortlisted once again for Polaris in 2009. That same year, he released Snow Blindness is Crystal Antz, his first electronic album under the alias Black Mold. Along with each album, VanGaalen has followed up with an accompanying EP. Diaper Island is his first release to be recorded in his new home studio, Yoko Eno. According to his label, Diaper Island “extends the adventure into deeper territory, tapping into VanGaalen’s lifeblood and mining the richness of his mind with sharper tools.”

Via Twitter: Diaper Island finds Chad expelling his experimental itch and short interludes to focus on a cohesive, fulfilling set of raw, gloomy rockers.

Sample: “Peace On The Rise”

RIYL: The Microphones, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Kurt Vile, Cass McCombs

Myspace.com/ChadVanGaalen

Tags: Chad VanGaalen, Diaper Island

Posted on Friday, May 20th, 2011 at 2:04 pm by Cam and is filed under Blog, Review, The Wedge.

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