Thursday, October 13th, 2005

He Lays In The Reins

I may have closed the book on the 2005 record release calendar yesterday, but the ’05 concert season’s not dead yet.

Firstly, I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that the Toronto Calexico/Iron & Wine date has been confirmed for December 9. The bad news is… The Docks. Goddamn, people. I may have to suck it up for this one and go regardless. I can’t think of a less complimentary venue for Sam Beam’s music (besides, say, a monster truck rally – which they could probably also hold at The Docks) but I have faith/blind hope that those two acts could transcend the crappiness of the hall. No tickets info yet, but the Montreal show is costing $26.50, so there’s your ballpark. I’m not worried about it selling out, at least. Sam would have to appear on The O.C as Mischa Barton’s crazed hippie drug dealer boyfriend before they could sell 3000 tickets.

At least going to the show will provide to opportunity to pick up Calexico’s new tour-only CD, The Book & The Canal. It will feature 17 demos, unreleased and live tracks to satiate the masses until their new studio album is out in the Spring. Also, I still haven’t heard Lays In The Reins. I went to Rotate This yesterday fully intending to pick it up on vinyl, but calamity – they were sold out. Maybe I’ll (gasp) download the tracks until I can get the record at the show or find it somewhere else for a decent price. I hear it’s solid, maybe not as sublime as some might have hoped with the talent involved, but pretty damn good regardless.

Other show news – California’s Innaway have been added as support to the Echo & The Bunnymen show at the Carlu November 23. I reviewed their debut album a few months ago, and quite positively so. If I wasn’t already booked for that night, I’d probably be leaning (more) towards going.

Rogue Wave descends like vultures on the Horseshoe November 27. Their new album, Descended Like Vultures (see my clever wordplay?) is out October 25. People are saying nice things about it. I mentioned before that their debut Out Of The Shadow didn’t really do it for me but I should still give the new one a listen, I suppose.

Montreal’s Kiss Me Deadly are at Sneaky Dee’s December 8. I got a copy of their album in the mail last week. Haven’t listened to it yet but I have a good feeling about it. Based on absolutely nothing. The Subways are at the Mod Club December 9. I’m under the impression these guys are big back home in the UK? Flavour of a recent month? And finally, Anglo-Texan outfit The Earlies are at the El Mocambo on December 12.

And if you’re looking for shows in the more immediate future, check out Torontoist.

Say hello to the redesigned Prefix, now with a new hat. And thanks to Prefix for pointing to this SPIN Q&A with Metric.

As if I needed another reason to hate hate HATE local radio station CFNY (I refuse to call them “The Edge”), check this out – a photo gallery of Rob Dickinson’s visit to their station last week. Only they’ve somehow misspelled his name “Simon Collins”. I guess I shouldn’t expect too much from a radio station that trumpets themselves as “New Rock” on their billboards and then list off bands like U2, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Lenny Kravitz as evidence of their bleeding edge playlist. Someone needs a molotov cocktail through their window. Update: The fixed the caption. But that doesn’t mean they don’t still suck.

Matador has posted an unreleased Laura Cantrell song for your downloading pleasure.

The Believer puts Salman Rushdie and Terry Gilliam in a room together. Ultimate fighting ensues. Via Largehearted Boy.

So if you’re wondering why today’s post is about an hour and a half later than usual, the answer’s simple – I SLEPT IN. It’s what unemployed people do. Yes, yesterday was my last day at work and now I’m living it up, slacker-style. It’s sweet, I tells ya. Of course, I’m only getting to enjoy it for one day as I’ve got a short-term contract lined up starting tomorrow… But until then? Woot. Sloth city.

np – Explosions In The Sky / The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place

By : Frank Yang at 10:34 am
Category: Uncategorized
RSS Feed for this post14 Responses.
  1. Anonymous says:

    Hopefully the Calexico/Iron and Wine gig will get moved to the Phoenix when then don’t sell 3000 tix…

  2. Seth says:

    Yeah, I really hope it gets moved. The Docks blows.

  3. matthew says:

    I saw Iron & Wine at a poolhall in Detroit last summer. And they were still letting people in to play pool.

    I’m sure The Docks will be fine.

  4. Anonymous says:

    I really don’t like CFNY either. I find what they play repetitive and at times boring. When I left Toronto for the long weekend, I came upon FM96 in London and was blown away in how good their station is. It’s what you "wish" CFNY could be but they’re not.

  5. torr says:

    The Subways have had a couple singles in the top 25 and an album in the top 35, so they’re pretty successful in the UK.

  6. Mike says:

    I’ve been digging the Kiss Me Deadly tracks I’ve heard from their website. I had read an old Stillepost post that said the Montreal band recently played a gig at U of T at one of the halls/pubs?. I wish I’d caught onto the band sooner. They’re playing in Hamilton soon so I might go check ’em, out; otherwise possibly I’ll try for that Sneaky Dee’s show.

  7. Eugene says:

    Don’t forget about Sarah Harmer – she has a Canadian tour and new album coming out next month.

  8. doug says:

    No way frank — you heard wrong about the new I&W. The three real gems — 16 maybe less, dead man’s will, a history of lovers — rank up with the best of his work. I got mine on vinyl!

  9. Alan says:

    It’s funny, I just saw that Gilliam/Rushdie interview on the bonus disk for ‘Lost in La Mancha’, which I picked up because you recomended it a month or so ago. I didn’t know that Rushdie was such a film geek.

    I like the part where they both talk about how Speilberg could improve his movies. IE: ET should have been ugly, AI should of ended with the kid jumping off the building.

  10. John says:

    Regards to the CFNY, the only thing that they are on the edge of is the crapper. Here’s hoping they fall in! SPLASH!

    As far as I’m concern, "college/university" radio is where it at. LONG LIVE CIUT, CFMU, C101.5 and CHRY

  11. I&W says:

    Iron and Wine should do a covers album.

  12. daniel says:

    How were Iron and Wine live? I’ve read a couple negative reviews as of late.

  13. fatcitizen says:

    Frank,

    What have you heard about a Montreal gig? I haven’t seen any info anywhere and would be REALLY interested in seeing the show (even if it costs 26.50 and they hold it in a parking lot on Peel street).

  14. frank@work says:

    Montreal show:

    Thu Dec 8 The Spectrum Montreal, PQ