Nothing rings in the holiday season like some loud, sweaty Can-rock so with that in mind, courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got three pairs of passes to see Toronto’s Constantines at Lee’s Palace next week on December 1, with Toronto’s Lullabye Arkestra and Haligonians Sackvillians Shotgun & Jaybird as support.

To enter, email me at contests@chromewaves.net with “I want to see The Constantines” in the subject line and your full name in the email body. Then just sit back, cross your fingers and check your mail the morning of November 28 – the contest closes at midnight the night before and you’ll then find out if you’re one of the lucky winners or not.

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. Congrats to Stuart, Cameron and Jeff who’ve won the passes.

MP3: The Constantines – “Soon Enough”
MP3: The Constantines – “Love In Fear”
Video: The Constantines – “Working Full-Time” (MOV)
MySpace: The Constantines

I’ve written about Toronto’s The Coast a number of times in the past so after seeing them perform a CD re-release show at the UKULA store a couple weeks ago, I opted to go a different route for the accompanying post. Namely, instead of a review (they were as good as they always are and I don’t have that many different ways of saying so), I contacted guitarist Ian Fosbery for a casual IM interview about some of the recent developments in Coast-land, namely their signing a deal with Aporia Records and the rerelease of their self-titled debut EP.

You can read the full, barely-edited text of the conversation after the jump – only a couple of irrelevant cul-de-sacs and emoticons were removed. This blog is now and will remain a smiley-free zone. But besides discussing The Coast, we talk about men’s fragrances, Jack White and favoured albums and live shows of the year.

Photos: The Coast @ UKULA Store – November 9, 2006
MP3: The Coast – “Circles”
MP3: The Coast – “The Lines Are Cut”
eCard: The Coast
MySpace: The Coast
(more…)

“If I’m ever ambivalent about seeing Cat Power live again, it’ll only be because I don’t know how she could top this performance.” – me, on September 6, 2006, on whether or not I’d ever take the chance of seeing Cat Power live again.

When I wrote that, I really didn’t expect to have to make that decision again just two months later, but Ms Marshall was coming back to town – this time with the Memphis Rhythm Band – and I had to roll the dice again, and by the end of Wednesday night”s show, I was feeling like I should have been buying a lottery ticket. In addition to bringing the 10-piece band with her, she was booked into the much larger Phoenix ensuring that we wouldn’t be getting a repeat of intimate vibe of her September solo Lee’s Palace shows again, but as it turns out that was okay – in fact, comparisons to those performances were mostly inapplicable. While those sets saw a delicate singer-songwriter getting up-close and personal with her audience, this show opened and closed with a radiant Southern soul singer in full diva mode.

The band came out got into a deep instrumental groove for the first 10 minutes or so before finally breaking into the opening of “The Greatest”, Cat Power strolling onstage to huge applause. Hearing the songs from The Greatest played with the full band, as rich and gorgeous as they were meant to be, was pretty special. Mostly free from playing guitar for the first portion of the show, Marshall moved through a variety of interesting and singularly Cat-like dance moves while singing, obviously having a wonderful time being up there. And how good was her band? Guitarist Teeny Hodges, who was so visibly under the influence of something that he needed a roadie to help him get his guitar on and who ill-advisedly tried to make “Where Is My Love” a duet with Chan still managed to get up to the mic and lead the band through a number without missing a note while Marshall departed momentarily. Now that’s a pro.

They then cleared the stage while Marshall returned for the solo folksinger portion of the show, working her way through some older material solo on piano or guitar, very much the way she did in September. And while she had kept it together quite impressively to this point, she did become agitated about the sound onstage and aborted one song as a result despite it sounding fantastic out in the room. She would matter-of-factly explain that her nerves were on account of it being almost her time of the month and her inability to get action while on tour (at which point you could hear a thousand people resisting the urge to offer to help her out with that). Thankfully, that was the extent of her neuroses getting the better of her and the remainder of the solo set was wonderful though not as great as the Lee’s show (though I may just be saying that because I was there and maybe you weren’t).

The Memphis Rhythm Band then rejoined her for one hell of a finale – whereas they’d been a super-tight soul band before, they were now rocking out (though soulfully). Possibly the highlight of the night was their version of “Cross Bones Style”, which was simply revelatory. I hope that a good recording of that from this tour shows up soon. They followed this with the chorus-less arrangement of “Satisfaction”, a take on Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” which was far superior to the original in my estimation and a scorching “Love & Communication” to close things out. The Rhythm Band took their bows and left the stage, leaving Chan to play a couple more songs alone on piano before she too bid the adoring audience a prolonged goodbye.

Say what you will about Cat Power, but I can’t think of another performer that is as guileless and emotionally sincere onstage as her – when she talks to her fans, it’s not rehearsed banter, she’s actually trying to have a conversation with everyone there and when she’s up there and smiling, you know she means it. The affection between her and her musicians was also very tangible, their relationship seeming more akin to family than just singer and band. It’s enormously cliche to say that whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, but watching Cat Power perform, knowing what she’s been through, you really have no choice but to agree. If you’d told in January that I would not only see Cat Power live twice before 2006 was over but that both shows would rank very highly in the best I’d see this year, I’d have surely thought you loco. But indeed, here we are and I am indeed saying that. Likewise, I came into this year only a casual fan and I leave a wholly won-over devotee.

And everyone should read this Spin interview with Chan – she talks in-depth about her breakdown and recovery, her fears of playing live, making The Greatest and her future plans – look for another covers record out next Summer, a new album already entitled The Sun in 2008 and for her to anchor “Weekend Update” on Saturday Night Live next Fall. Yes, she still seems to be on that. Commercial Appeal and The News & Observer also cover similar ground. And don’t forget that her Monday night show from DC is available to stream at NPR.

Photos: Cat Power & The Memphis Rhythm Band @ The Phoenix – November 22, 2006
MP3: Cat Power – “The Greatest”
Video: Cat Power – “Living Proof” (YouTube)
Video: Cat Power – “Lived In Bars” (YouTube)
MySpace: Cat Power

The New Pollution talks to Under Byen violinist Nils Grondahl.

Chart demands to know why Yo La Tengo are not afraid of them and will beat their ass. Ira Kaplan refuses to explain.

The Guardian examines what it calls “The Pitchfork Effect” in regards to the influence music websites hold over today’s music fans. PopMatters, Stylus and Drowned In Sound are also discussed.

Not to be all muscling in on Quinn’s turf, but I’ve got a contest that should be of interest to readers out in turbidity central, aka Vancouver. The Transmission Festival is an industry shindig going down in Lotusland next week and the part that will be of interest to you folks is the industry-only showcase happening on December 1 and 2. Performing will be:

Small Sins
Hawksley Workman
My Latest Novel
K’naan
Wintersleep
Coral Egan
Amy Milan
Malajube
Menomena
Mr. Hudson & the Library
DJ Champion
Jets Overhead
Circlesquare
Hell On Wheels
The Little Ones
Luke Doucet
Fleet Foxes
Super 700

As you can see, they’ve assembled a very deep and international lineup of talent who will be playing over the two nights, trying to impress a gaggle of coked-up music execs… and you! Even though it’s an invite-only soiree, I’ve got a pair of passes to both nights for some lucky Vancouverite (or person willing to be a Vancouverite for a weekend) to help them forget about their rain and water quality issues.

To enter, email me at contests@chromewaves.net with “I want to go to Transmission” in the subject line and your full name in the body. This contest has to happen fast, so it’ll run till midnight on November 26 and then, no more. Though to better your odds, From Blown Speakers also has a pair of passes to give away though his contest wraps up tomorrow.

But that’s not your only opportunity to catch some of these bands – the festival will be holding a block party on the 2nd at the Vancouver Art Gallery at the Georgia Street Plaza and will be free to everyone, rain or shine. My money is on rain. But performing at this will be Hawksley Workman & The Wolves, K’Naan, DJ Champion, Mr Hudson & The Library, My Latest Novel, Hell On Wheels and Yuca. You can get information on this here and at their MySpace. Yes, even parties have MySpace pages now.

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. Congratulations to Mark for winning the passes.

As strange as it may sound, I can’t help but feel some pity for the executives at Columbia Music. After all – when they dropped wunderkind Nellie McKay at the end of last year following a very public and snippy tiff over the release of her second album Pretty Little Head (they wanted it a 16-track single disc, she insisted on a 23-track double-disc), it looked to be another case of majors trying to stifle a creative soul who would have no part of it.

But now that Pretty Little Head is out, independently on McKay’s own label and as the artist originally intended, it’s actually pretty easy to see Columbia’s POV. Besides the fact that the two discs clock in at under 65 minutes and could easily have fit on one, more than a few of the songs could easily be labeled throwaways or indulgences (or just outright bad) and if excised, would have made the record an easier and theoretically more sellable listen, though whether Nellie McKay’s idiosyncratic jazz-cabaret-pop could ever really be considered sellable on major label terms is debatable. Some have theorized that the blow-up over the record actually served both parties well – Columbia got rid of an artist whose payoff/headache ratio likely wasn’t nearly as favourable as they hoped and McKay got the full creative control over her work she so obviously demands. Sure, it stalled the release of the record by over a year but it’s here now – so let’s examine.

Firstly, I don’t know about others, but it can take me a few listens to get into a Nellie-appropriate headspace as she’s generally several degrees removed from my usual listening fare, but once there it’s generally quite an enjoyable visit. The sound is very much in the vein of Get Away From Me, though broader and more ambitious with more instrumentation and denser production and though you’d expect. The wit, precociousness and smart-aleckery are still very much intact, though – you’d expect that for an artist as young as she is (how old is she claiming to be these days?), there’d have been some significant and detectable maturation between albums one and two but not so much here – so either she was preternaturally mature on the first record or a little arrested on this one. But considering that two of the strongest songs on the record(s) are the ones that lean on veterans Cyndi Lauper and kd lang (“Beecharmer” and “we had it right”, respectively), it shows that as talented as McKay is, there’s still much she can learn.

But watching and listening to the process is quite gratifying, even if it means having to sit through (or skip past) ill-advised rap-dramas like “Mama & Me”. So while I can empathize with Columbia’s position on the now-ancient history kerfuffle, I remain steadfastly on Team Nellie. And as critics go, I’m not alone. It’s unclear what sort of touring or promotion will be undertaken for this record (this is when you miss the major label pockets, I guess) but my understanding is that even when she hits the road, she’ll be pulling a Mozzer and giving Canada a pass as means of protest over the seal hunts in Newfoundland. Because obviously that’s something that her fans in Toronto have a whole lot of control over. Thanks a lot.

MP3: Nellie McKay – “There You Are In Me”
Video: Real Life
MySpace: Nellie McKay

Maybe making a post about hardcore vegan McKay on a day when millions of her countrymen will be devouring turkeys isn’t the most appropriate, but whatever.

Futurehead Barry Hyde talks to Pitchfork about their newfound label-less status.

I got passed a copy of the debut, self-titled album from London’s The Early Years this week and while I don’t want to get into it too much just yet, I’ll just say that if a mix of Velvet Underground, Stereolab, Six By Seven, Spiritualized and early Verve sound up your alley, you should check this out. The album isn’t out stateside till late next January but in the meantime, you can sample some of their brew below including an exclusive MP3. I’ll surely be talking more about them come next year.

MP3: The Early Years – “All Ones And Zeros”
Video: The Early Years – “All Ones And Zeros” (YouTube)
Video: The Early Years – “So Far Gone” (YouTube)
MySpace: The Early Years

The Toronto Star talks to Montreal’s Malajube, in town at Lee’s Palace Saturday night to get all Francophone on your asses.

Tad Kubler of The Hold Steady tells The Independent Weekly he wishes when people talked about his band, there’d be less Springsteen, more Zeppelin.

np – Cat Power / The Greatest