Frank YangWith most club-level festivals, some intense venue-hopping is par for the course and in a city with a downtown as spread out as Toronto, the logistics of getting from point A to point B in the allotted time can be an art form all its own. Unless you do things as I did on the Thursday night of NXNE and basically plant yourself at one intersection and let the bands come to you. This wasn’t an arbitrary decision, mind. Dundas-Ossington has gone from borderland outpost to hot spot in the past few years and between The Dakota, Painted Lady and Garrison, you can generally count on a good number of live music options on a regular night, never mind during a festival.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that every option will turn out to be a good one. I feel like there’s some rule that says every time I got to a multi-band bill at The Garrison, one of them will be a solo guy with a keyboard and pedals who will try my patience. This time out it was Kentucky native James Friley, who operates as Idiot Glee, and while it wasn’t necessarily terrible, the Animal Collective-ish aesthetic of effected vocals, looped rhythms, and triggered noises doesn’t do anything for me when it’s done well – Idiot Glee wasn’t even interesting enough to be annoying. It just goes to show – what maybe works in a studio or even on record doesn’t necessarily do so live. Some things just aren’t meant for the stage.

Photos: Idiot Glee @ The Garrison – June 14, 2012
MP3: Idiot Glee – “Don’t Go Out Tonight”
Video: Idiot Glee – “Let’s Get Down Together”
Video: Idiot Glee – “I Want The Night To Stay”

The avoid a second Mac DeMarco set in as many nights, I then hopped around the corner to The Painted Lady where Cincinnati trio The Seedy Seeds were setting up, and their set of unabashedly quirky, geeky power pop was just the thing to pick me back up. They were armed with a kitchen sink’s worth of synths, banjo, acoustic, percussion, accordion – and on-the-fly instrument changes between them – to say nothing of the harmonies, but rather than allow it to become sonic clutter, it was all in service to the song and the melody. It was fun and danceable, even though the close quarters in the bar meant the band was doing the most dancing – though the burlesque dancer on the bar seemed to be moving to her own soundtrack.

Photos: The Seedy Seeds @ The Painted Lady – June 14, 2012
Video: The Seedy Seeds – “Telephone The Constrictor”
Video: The Seedy Seeds – “Verb Noun”
Video: The Seedy Seeds – “I Am The Conductor”
Video: The Seedy Seeds – “Drive Me To The Center”

Back at The Garrison, Mac DeMarco fans were clearing out and Grass Widow fans were filing in. I was neither, having heard nothing of the latter besides seeing some of the kerfuffle about that heinous Vice review (no linkbait biting, sorry) of their third album Internal Logic which was enough to reaffirm that I will never read Vice but didn’t persuade me to give the album a listen. In fact, only when they took the stage did I know they were a three-piece (the aforementioned piece tipped me off that they were all female) and only when they said they were from San Francisco did I know they were from San Francisco. I probably could have guessed the garage pop thing, though. The were exceedingly sloppy at first but got within the parameters of acceptable within a few songs, even flirting with charming at points. That sweet spot remained a moving target through their sets but it a few of their jams landed it quite effectively. Still not feeling like checking out the album, though.

Epitonic and The Riverfront Times have feature pieces on Grass Widow.

Photos: Grass Widow @ The Garrison – June 14, 2012
MP3: Grass Widow – “Time Keeps Time”
Video: Grass Widow – “Fried Egg”
Video: Grass Widow – “Shadow”
Video: Grass Widow – “Milo Minute”
Video: Grass Widow – “Give Me Shapes”
Video: Grass Widow – “Tattoo”

Nashville’s The Black Belles may have been another female power trio (they’d recently contracted from a quartet), but they couldn’t be more different from the band before them. Being a Jack White production, it was a foregone conclusion that they’d have a) a strong aesthetic – sheer black dresses, witchy velvet hats, sexy-goth makeup, check – and b) a classic rock vibe. Unfortunately, the Third Man association also meant that hooks and melody were a secondary concern to a) and b) and so while they looked good and sounded heavy, the songs didn’t have a lot of staying power. I’ve no doubt that their label associations will take them a long ways, but at some point they’ll need some tunes to back it all up.

Interview, The National Post, Spinner, and The Chicago Tribune have interviews with the band.

Photos: The Black Belles @ The Garrison – June 14, 2012
Video: The Black Belles – “Wishing Well”
Video: The Black Belles – “Lies”
Video: The Black Belles – “What Can I Do?”

For a lesson in balancing out heavy with hooks, you needn’t look any further than the night’s headliner – New York’s The Men and their latest Open Your Heart. If you wanted to hear many of those hooks this night, however, you would have been best served going home and putting the album on the turntable because the live show was an electrifying dose of punk rock thunder. The songs were there, but just as launching pads for the pure, aural adrenaline delivered via riffs, solos, and hollered vocals from any and all of their three lead singers. It’s hard to pick one thing out of the tumult to focus on, but recent addition Ben Greenberg – prior to March they didn’t have a bassist at all – would be a good one; running his bass through a guitar amp and pummelling chords, he was more third (albeit baritone) guitar than traditional bass, but was still the anchor, the ragged, jagged pulse of the band. How they did it before he joined, I can’t imagine. Unsurprisingly, their set was like a call to action for the moshing-inclined so despite trying to stick it out up front for as long as possible, I retreated to the back for the last few songs. With a few shows on their NXNE schedule, there were other opportunities to see them in probably less rowdy environs, but really – a dark, sweaty bar was really the only correct setting for this. Invigorating.

NOW, Paste, and 77 Square have features on The Men.

Photos: The Men @ The Garrison – June 14, 2012
MP3: The Men – “Ex-Dreams”
MP3: The Men – “Open Your Heart”
MP3: The Men – “A Minor”

The Toronto Star and NOW have features on A Place To Bury Strangers, themselves making a racket the Thursday night of NXNE although I wasn’t there.

Daytrotter has posted up a session with White Rabbits, who were also getting their NXNE on on Thursday night.

NPR is streaming the first new Beachwood Sparks album in over a decade – The Tarnished Gold – ahead of its release next week.

MP3: Beachwood Sparks – “Sparks Fly Again”
MP3: Beachwood Sparks – “Forget The Song”
Stream: Beachwood Sparks / The Tarnished Gold

Matador has finally confirmed details of the new Cat Power record, which will indeed be called Sun and be out on September 4, a week earlier than expected. The first track is available to download and The Stool Pigeon has posted up the full interview with Chan Marshall about the new record; it was only excerpted last week.

MP3: Cat Power – “Ruin”

A touch short notice but if you’re around the Soundscapes area at 6:30PM tonight, pop in to catch an in-store from Michael Kiwanuka before he heads over to The Phoenix for his headlining show. BBC America and The Winnipeg Free Press have interviews with the singer.

MP3: Michael Kiwanuka – “Tell Me A Tale”

Weezer has reached another career milestone; they’re now playing casinos. They’ll be in the area on September 14 with a date at Casino Rama. I’m certain this is actually in Rivers Cuomo’s master plan.

Video: Weezer – “The Good Life”

And folks, the show announcement I’ve been waiting on forever is here – The Afghan Whigs at The Phoenix on October 3. I daresay that there’s not a band I’ve listened to more this year. Tickets are $35 and the presale goes Wednesday morning at 10AM, link and password at Collective Concerts. This. Will be. So. Good.

Video: The Afghan Whigs – “Crazy”

And some interesting exchanges of ideas on the whole topic of illegal music downloads, first from a 20-year old at NPR, then a rebuttal/open letter from David Lowery (Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven) at The Trichordist, and some points at both from Laura Snapes of Pitchfork/NME. Really worthwhile reading if just to remind yourself that this is still a thing and it still affects artists.

Frank YangLast week turned out to be a pretty spectacular week – weather-wise – for a festival. Good thing that Toronto had one. Or four. At least three. In any case, I was focused on NXNE; anything else going on in the city were just obstacles to be navigated around – literally. The relatively lighter Wednesday night of the programme meant that there’d be less need for club-hopping, though, and one could ease themselves into the festival grind gently.

“I’m 23 and I’m scared shitless”. That’s how Carmen Elle, the guitar-slinging/lyric-singing half of Army Girls introduced their set at Supermarket, and you were just going to have to take her word for it because if you were looking for some evidence of those frayed nerves in their performance, they were nowhere to be found. As much as I go on about this band, I actually hadn’t seen them live since last October, and as good as I thought they were then the heavy playing and touring they’ve done since then – they just finished up a North American tour with PS I Love You – has made them even better. Exceptionally tight with a side of jam, Elle performed with poise and verve, the only thing better than seeing them live again was hearing all the new material in the set. Only two songs from their Close To The Bone EP made it into the set – and were highlights, sure – but the new material arguably demonstrated more songwriting range without sacrificing any of the punch. But the best takeaway on the night was Elle’s declaration that they were planning to release not one but two albums this year; I’ve heard such ambitions from other artists before and will believe it when I see it, but for as long as I’ve been saying that Army Girls have what it takes to be as big as they want to be, it seems like they finally want it. Look out.

Photos: Army Girls @ Supermarket – June 13, 2012
MP3: Army Girls – “T W I C E”
Stream: Army Girls / Close To The Bone

The next and last stop of the night was The Drake Underground where the lineup guaranteed plenty of buzz, if not quality. First up was Virginia’s Eternal Summers whom you could be forgiven for assuming was a hazy post-chillwave outfit, but who in fact were a decidedly loud, faintly angry, garage-bred power trio specializing in what you might reference as surf-gazey, sonically youthful noise. And while I hate myself a little for writing the previous sentence, I’m sticking with it. They weren’t necessarily the most charismatic performers, but it certainly sounded good. Their new record Correct Behavior isn’t out until July 24, but that still leaves plenty of Summer – if not an eternal amount – for it to enjoyably soundtrack.

The Singing Lamb and We Love DC have interviews with the band.

Photos: Eternal Summers @ The Drake Underground – June 13, 2012
MP3: Eternal Summers – “Millions”
Video: Eternal Summers – “Wonder”
Video: Eternal Summers – “Millions”
Video: Eternal Summers – “Safe At Home”

The first thing I noticed about Montreal’s Mac DeMarco was that they exceeded the Surgeon General’s recommended allowance of baseball caps in a band; three of four is just unacceptable. Musically they were fine; their smooth, yacht/lounge rock was hard to actively dislike and with a SXSW-calibre schedule for the week ahead – this was the first of something like 10 shows – and claiming fatigue from the trip into town, some laying back and clearly uncharacteristic sloppiness was allowable, but it was certainly easy to not dig the overt bro-ness of the band. Belching into the mic? Yeah, no.

Toro has an interview with DeMarco.

Photos: Mac DeMarco @ The Drake Underground – June 13, 2012
MP3: Mac DeMarco – “Baby’s Wearin’ Blue Jeans”
MP3: Mac DeMarco – “I’m A Man”
Video: Mac DeMarco – “Only You”
Video: Mac DeMarco – “Exercising With My Demons”
Video: Mac DeMarco – “European Vegas”
Video: Mac DeMarco – “She’s All I Really Need”

Given the number of influences and styles name-dropped in reference to Italian-in-New York Mauro Remiddi’s Porcelain Raft and his debut Strange Weekend, I would have expected something decidedly more experimental but the live two-piece – Remmidi and a drummer/multi-instrumentalist – were much more about big, crescendo-friendly dance pop with a distinct European accent, which was also cool. Their songs may have been built on a base of samples and loops but they were defined by the guitars, drums, keys and vox – all pretty conventional and also pretty pretty. Engaging at first, the set seemed to lose form somewhat as it progressed, but that may have just been me taking their song “Put Me To Sleep” a little too close to heart. After their set, I checked out. It was going to be a long weekend.

Photos: Porcelain Raft @ The Drake Underground – June 13, 2012
MP3: Porcelain Raft – “Unless You Speak From Your Heart”
MP3: Porcelain Raft – “Put Me To Sleep”
Video: Porcelain Raft – “Unless You Speak From Your Heart”
Video: Porcelain Raft – “Put Me To Sleep”
Video: Porcelain Raft – “Tip Of Your Tongue”
Video: Porcelain Raft – “Drifting In And Out”

Welsh singer-songwriter Cate Le Bon, whose Cyrk garnered glowing reviews on its release earlier this year, will be releasing a second album from those same session entitled Cyrk II on August 20 and accompany it with a North American tour – she’ll be at The Rivoli on September 18.

MP3: Cate Le Bon – “Puts Me To Work”
Video: Cate Le Bon – “Puts Me To Work”

The long-rumoured David Byrne/St. Vincent collaboration is not only real, it has a name – Love This Giant; a website – LoveThisGiant.com; a first MP3 – “Who”; and a tour – look for them at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on September 20.

MP3: David Byrne & St. Vincent – “Who”

Morrissey may be sticking to his guns on not playing Canada until we stop eating any meat and wearing leather, but you have to see his just-announced US tour as throwing southern Ontario a bit of a – if you excuse the metaphor – bone. He’ll wave to us from the Rapids Theatre in Niagara Falls on October 19; you might say that as he continues to ignore us, this is as close as he’ll get. Maybe make a road trip of it, hit the Anchor Bar for some wings.

Video: Morrissey – “The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get”

A track from Metric’s new album Synthetica is available to download.

MP3: Metric – “Artificial Nocturne”

Also now yours to take home – the first single from Grizzly Bear’s still-untitled forthcoming album. It’s out September 18 and they’re at Massey Hall on September 26.

MP3: Grizzly Bear – “Sleeping Ute”

Sympathies to the friends and family of Radiohead drum tech Scott Johnson, who died in the stage collapse on Saturday and best wishes to those injured.

And further sympathies to the friends and family of former American Music Club/Sun Kil Moon drummer Tim Mooney, who passed away on the weekend. There’s remembrances from his bandleaders Mark Eitzel and Mark Kozelek, and donations to his family can be made via PayPal.

Discogs.comWithout actually bothering to check if it’s true, I would submit that The Beach Boys’ 1966 classic Pet Sounds is the most-covered album – taken as a whole – of all time. Or at least of all the albums I can think of right now. Certainly helping me reach that conclusion is that in addition to the countless takes on individual songs over the last 45 years, there’ve been at least two complete tribute albums in the past few – the contemporary, indie-centric Do It Again in 2006 and the even more contemporary and still indie-centric Mojo cover CD off this month’s issue.

Not that Mojo needs a particular excuse to celebrate vintage bands or albums, their justification this time is the Beach Boys’ 50th anniversary reunion and tour, with brings Brian Wilson back into the fold, and their new studio album That’s Why God Made The Radio, which came out a couple weeks ago. They’re in town this week, playing The Molson Amphitheatre on June 20.

The tribute album kicks off with a sleek and swinging take on “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?” by Saint Etienne, which is quite appropriate – Sarah Cracknell makes most anything sound nice. They themselves are celebrating a bit of a return with the release last month of Words & Music By Saint Etienne, their first long-player in seven years. The Sun, Londonist, and The Huffington Post have interviews with the band.

MP3: Saint Etienne – “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?”
Video: The Beach Boys – “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?”

Frank YangWho: JEFF The Brotherhood
What: The Nashville-based Orrall boys, who are both brothers and bros and masters of hooky yet snotty garage rock.
Why: They were here in February opening up for The Kills but are now back on their own to pump up the upcoming release of their major label debut Hypnotic Nights, due out July 17.
When: Saturday, June 23, 2012
Where: Wrongbar in Toronto (19+)
Who else: Montreal’s Uncle Bad Touch – who are presumably better than their name implies – open up.
How: Tickets for the show are $13.50 in advance but courtesy of Embrace, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see JEFF The Brotherhood” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, June 20.
What else: As mentioned, Hypnotic Nights isn’t out for over a month but as a teaser, they’ve made a preview EP entitled Hypnotic Knights available to stream right now. The News & Observer has an interview with Jake Orrall.

Stream: JEFF The Brotherhood / Hypnotic Knights

Derrick BelchamIt figures that the first year that I would have been able to actually attend the long-list unveiling for the Polaris Music Prize, they up and move it from its usual home atop the Drake clear across the country to give Vancouver a taste of what the grand unveiling of the 40 albums selected as the top musical achievements in Canada over the past 12 months is like. But that’s alright because as it turns out, this was also the first year that I don’t need to make any changes to my ballot as all five of the records I submitted have made it onto the long list so unless I have some massive change of heart about which record is more artistically achieving than another, my role in this year’s Polaris is done.

Which is a surprise because at the start of this year’s eligibility period, I’d have only been able to predict one – maybe two – of my nominations. One of them I’d have sworn I’d never get behind and one I’d never even heard of. And yet. That said, the long list itself is simultaneously one of the most varied in recent memory, from a stylistic and profile point of view, and also one of the most predictable if you’ve been privy to the internal discussions of the 200+ jurors (or at least the ones who participate in the Google group). In any case, nows the time for forty artists to enjoy their time in the large-ish spotlight, send out press releases and update their Wikipedia pages; the short list is announced on July 17 and that, I’m far less confident in my ability to predict. Then, come September 24, there will only be one.

And as I do every year, here are what made my final ballot and why. There was more indecision and last-minute jockeying than there usually is, but I’m pretty comfortable with my picks and also with the fact that two of my three runners-up also made the long list. What can I say, this was just the year that I was wholly in sync with the zeitgeist or something.

1. Fucked Up / David Comes To Life
As with Arcade Fire’s eventual champion The Suburbs last year, this one felt like a no-brainer for the number one slot if for no other reason than it aspired to more, artistically, than most of its peers and arguably succeeded far more than it fell short. Certainly, questions abound: Does the rock opera narrative hold up? Is it hardcore anymore? Will this be the year an artist finally repeats as Polaris champ? To these questions, I have no answer, but I do know this: those guitar riffs friggin’ shoot for the moon.
MP3: Fucked Up – “The Other Shoe”
MP3: Fucked Up – “Ship Of Fools”
MP3: Fucked Up – “A Little Death”
MP3: Fucked Up – “Queen Of Hearts”
Video: Fucked Up – “Turn The Season”
Video: Fucked Up – “The Other Shoe”
Video: Fucked Up – “Queen Of Hearts”

2. Yamantaka//Sonic Titan / YT//ST
I fully expected to hate this band and this record. I mean, how much more pretentious can you get than a bio like, “the pan-Asian cultural collective, Yamantaka // Sonic Titan has crafted a debut LP that sets new standards for the creative heights and satisfactions of genre fusion. They call it Noh-Wave”. And yet that may very well be what they’ve done. Within it’s barely-qualifying seven tracks (really six) and 30 minutes, there’s incredibly deft moves through rock, metal, no-wave, and jazz, all with a genuine Eastern flavour that’s more than just affectation; by rights, it should collapse under the weight of its conceit but instead it soars. It’s operatic, metallic, exotic, and fantastic.
Video: Yamantaka // Sonic Titan – “Hoshi Neko”
Stream: Yamantaka // Sonic Titan / YT//ST

3. Bry Webb / Provider
Never the biggest Constantines fan, I didn’t have much in the way of expectations of their frontman’s solo career, and with its low-key production and ruminations on age and family and life, Provider doesn’t seem like it’s necessarily expecting you to expect much from it. And yet it’s an unquestionably powerful and resonant work, with Webb’s rich, rasp of a voice proving to be just as effective – if not more – in a conversational tone as it was as a defiant bark.
MP3: Bry Webb – “Rivers Of Gold”

4. Patrick Watson / Adventures In Your Own Backyard
I will refer you back to this post in order to fully appreciate how remarkable I must think Adventures is for it to be on my ballot. And really, he’s not doing anything substantially different than he’s done on his earlier records – elegantly arranged and executed art-pop that’s content to just be lovely. And that he’s dialed down the fussiness a bit and dialed up the beauty a lot has apparently been enough to win me right over.
MP3: Patrick Watson – “Words In The Fire”
MP3: Patrick Watson – “Into Giants”
Video: Patrick Watson – “Into Giants”

5. Kathryn Calder / Bright & Vivid
I liked Calder’s first record a lot and loved her second, and yet was reluctant for a long while to put it on my ballot. Why? Because it’s pop music – pure and simple – without any particular stylistic angle or backstory, and pure pop is frequently dismissed or denigrated for aspiring to nothing more than creating indelible, earwormy melodies. Well you know what? That’s an incredibly hard thing to do, and to do it as well as Calder does on just her second time out? That deserves recognition.
MP3: Kathryn Calder – “Who Are You”
Video: Kathryn Calder – “Turn A Light On”
Video: Kathryn Calder – “Who Are You”

Plants & Animals have released a new video from The End Of That. Their NXNE schedule puts them at Yonge-Dundas Square tonight at 8:30PM for a free show.

Video: Plants & Animals – “H.C.”

NOW and The Ottawa Citizen talk to Yamantaka//Sonic Titan as they gear up for NXNE; they’ll be at The Garrison tonight at 12AM, will play an in-store at Sonic Boom on Saturday at 3PM and if you’re still up and about late Saturday night, maybe you’ll need a soundtrack for some nachos…

Toronto’s METZ – who have been fixtures around the city seemingly forever – have finally announced details of their debut full-length, which is still untitled but will be out on October 9 via Sub Pop. They talk to Exclaim about it, and will be at Wrongbar tonight and The Phoenix opening for Archers Of Loaf tomorrow.

The San Francisco Bay Guardian, City Arts, Denver Westword, Washington City Paper, Willamette Weekly, The Phoenix New Times, and Vice discover Destroyer’s Dan Bejar isn’t so media-averse after all. He’s at The Opera House on June 23.

Consequence Of Sound and Spin have features on Japandroids, in town at Lee’s Palace on June 23.

Reg Vermue has been pretty busy in the guise of Regina The Gentlelady in Light Fires, but Gentleman Reg is not being neglected; Exclaim reports that Reg will be releasing a new album entitled Leisure Life as a series of three digital EPs, the first arriving July 3 and all of which will be collected in physical form in the Fall. The first track from the collection has been made available to stream.

Stream: Gentleman Reg – “Waiting Around For Gold”

Basia Bulat will be opening up for Andrew Bird at Echo Beach on July 19.

MP3: Basia Bulat – “Gold Rush”

CBC Music asks Bry Webb to name his five favourite records of the last 20 years; The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, Uptown, and Regina Leader-Post. Webb plays The Theatre Centre on August 18 as part of the Summerworks festival, the lineup of which was just announced this week and also features the likes of Evening Hymns and Buck 65 in special performances that promise to better integrate the theatrical side of the festival; should be interesting. Dates and performer information can be had at Exclaim.

The National Post talks to Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers; they’re opening up for Blue Rodeo at The Molson Amphitheatre on August 18.

Exclaim, eMusic, National Post, and Spinner have features on Metric and The Alternate Side a video session to mark the release of Synthetica. The band have a new video from it as well.

Video: Metric – “Youth Without Youth”

PS I Love You have released another video in their Paper Bag Sessions series. The Halifax Chronicle-Herald and McMaster Silhouette have interviews.

Video: PS I Love You – “Death Dreams Pt 1 & 2”

Spin talks to Spencer Krug about the new Moonface record With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery, from which a new video has just been released.

Video: Moonface – “Faraway Lightning”

Macleans investigates why John K Samson is so popular in Germany. Check the Hasselhoff jokes, people. Just don’t.