So this past weekend was the big Indie Unlimited to-do at Harbourfront, an excellent festival with a bad name. It seemed Mother Nature is more a classic rock kinda broad because the weather was far from co-operative for the Summer send-off, raining Friday, threatening all day Saturday and a mix of the two Sunday. Granted, the main Harbourfront stage is well-protected from the elements but grey skies don’t really encourage trips to the waterfront. I made the trek down Saturday expecting to stick around through the whole afternoon and evening but ended up making it two separate trips and that turned out to be a logical thing to do as the contrast between the daytime performers and the evening ones was, if you’ll pardon the pun, day and night.

Starting things off were Great Lake Swimmers, who got some blog love last week and are currently a featured Torontoist interview. There’s something quintessentially Canadian about Tony Dekker and his band, and they were a perfect way to start the afternoon. Perfectly accompanied on backing vocals and harmonica by Serena Ryder, especially on an a capella version of Neil Young’s “Love Is A Rose”, Dekker and his crew were spellbinding for 45 minutes and even managed to lure the sun out for a short while with their delicate, graceful folk songs. Simply lovely.

Star gone solo Amy Millan was up next and given that I hadn’t heard Honey From The Tombs yet, nor seen her perform solo since that album was released, this was my first real opportunity to consider her country holiday. Amy’s voice has a light, natural twang that works great in Stars but is a bit too breezy for country – similarly, I found her material to be pleasant but slight. Her strengths are in pop music and those strengths don’t necessarily translate to creating real country music where hurt and heartache are essential to providing real gravitas. But still, for soundtracking a gentle afternoon on the water, she and her band sounded fine. Her set was very well-received from the Arts & Crafts fan contingent who cheered everything she did, in particular the single Stars tune in the set, “Look Up”, which also stood out as the best song of her afternoon.

The matinee portion of the day was very traditional and pretty, a miniature Canada Day of sorts. Adding to this was the presence of the Six String Nation guitar, a beautiful acoustic crafted from over 60 culturally important pieces of Canadiana (Pierre Trudeau’s canoe paddle. Paul Henderson’s hockey stick from 1972). Both Tony and Amy played a song on the guitar, joining a long line of Canadian artists who’ve done so. It was very cool. But if the daytime was Canada Day, then the evening was the Pride Parade.

Fritz Helder & The Phantoms? Complete unknown to me before Saturday night, though I had been advised last week that they were worth showing up early for. And man, were they ever. Sporting black baseball caps studded with their stage names and pantomime whiteface, they started as trenchcoat-clad robots and quickly stripped down to sweaty sexpots over the course of four or five songs. Coming across like Prince fronting an electro-funky Kraftwerk, Fritz Helder and his Phantoms put on an audacious, sexy and pelvic-thrusting show that was one of the most entertaining things I’ve seen in ages. It also made me feel good to know that they were doing so at a venue funded by my tax dollars. Awesomeness.

I found it interesting that an act like Fritz Helder was on before The Hidden Cameras, considering that the latter built their reputation on similarly over the top and memorable live performances. How would the Cameras follow up? Somewhat surprisingly, with a polished, mature and PG-rated – almost wholesome – show. Equally excellent but extremely different. Flanked on one side by a string section and an arsenal of keyboards and glockenspiels on the other, Joel Gibb and his band of merry Cameras – a core band of around 11 players but exanding to 18 or so at points – celebrated the release of their new album AWOO this past Tuesday by playing the whole thing to the smallish (for a free Harbourfront show) but tremendously enthused hometown crowd. I thought they started out somewhat restrained but certainly grew increasingly lively as the night progressed, culminating in the rousing encore-closer of “Golden Streams”. What better place than the waterfront for some watersports?

But for the most part the band seems to have shed the “gay church folk music” descriptor that followed them around for most of their existance – it’s no longer so easy to describe them in four words. As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, the themes on the new record are much broader and universal than perhaps they once were. But what hasn’t changed is the sheer joy and exuberance of the Cameras live. While there was no go-go dancer this time (an audience heckler was invited onstage to fill the wrestling mask and diaper – he declined), there was a designated dancer who happily pranced around stage most of the night in just his boxers. No, it wasn’t the same but probably less confusing for the passers-by.

Cheers to the Indie Unlimited organizers for assembling a top-notch, eclectic bill. I was only there for one day, and not even the whole day, and was wholly impressed with what I saw. From what I heard, the performers were consistently good over all three days. This town needs more free shows of this scale and stature, so keep it coming next year. Just do something about that name…

Lots and lots of photos from the show. Even though the lighting was erratic for the Cameras set and I had to shoot most of it from the audience, I still got some choice ones. All the others I got to spend the duration of the set in the pit. Be sure to check out the Fritz Helder pics, they communicate the experience far better than words do. The photo sets are split into two, one for the day and one for the night. Makes more sense thematically and keeps them (more) manageable.

Photos: Amy Millan, Great Lake Swimmers @ Harbourfront Centre – August 26, 2006
Photos: The Hidden Cameras, Fritz Helder & The Phantoms @ Harbourfront Centre – August 26, 2006
MP3: Great Lake Swimmers – “Bodies And Minds”
MP3: Amy Millan – “Skinny Boy” (ZIP)
MP3: The Hidden Cameras – “AWOO”
Video: Great Lake Swimmers – “To Leave It Behind”
Video: Amy Millan – “Baby I” (MOV)
Video: The Hidden Cameras – “Awoo” (MOV)
MySpace: Great Lake Swimmers
MySpace: Amy Millan
MySpace: Fritz Helder & The Phantoms
MySpace: The Hidden Cameras

More Toronto/Can-rock love tomorrow. But for now, I leave you with an important dispatch from the Department of Michael Bay Is Awful: Michael Bay’s Megatron.

np – Steve Earle / Transcendental Blues

Broadcast / Future Crayon (Warp) Released last week, this b-sides and rarities comp covers the “full-band” era of Broadcast’s career, before they were whittled down to a duo for last year’s Tender Buttons. And as much as Trish Keenan and James Cargill should be commended for keeping it together and productive, this disc is a reminder of how much fulller and to my ears, enjoyable the larger band was. The hazy, detached, ’60s Kraut-lite lounge vibe is very strong and with the extended mixes and instrumental passages, it’s a fine soundtrack to your next hazy, detached, ’60s Kraut-lite lounge party. Stream: Broadcast – “Unchanging Window” (SWF) Stream: Broadcast – “Still Feels Like Tears” (SWF) MySpace: Broadcast

Page France / Hello, Dear Wind (Suicide Squeeze) Baltimore’s Page France were one of the smaller buzz bands at SxSW this year. I generally enjoyed the brief set I saw, their winsome indie-folk is definitely charming, but over the course of an album something about their earnest peppiness begins to grate. I think it’s Michael Nau’s voice – a kind of nasal, adolescent rasp that when backed by Whitney McGraw’s little girl voice, the strummy acoustic arrangements and the liberal sprinklings of religious imagery throughout the lyrics, sounds like Sunday School coming out of my speakers to give me a big hug. This is not someting I necessarily want from my music. Page France makes me want to go out and get in a fight. Hello, Dear Wind is being reissued by Suicide Squeeze on September 12. MP3: Page France – “Junkyard” MP3: Page France – “Bush” MySpace: Page France

Colour Revolt / Colour Revolt (Esperanza Plantation) The bio for Mississippi’s Colour Revolt describes their sound as “post-grunge”, which intrigued me since I lived through (survived?) grunge the first time and am curious as to what logically comes after. Based on their debut, self-titled EP (originally released in December 2005 and now re-released by Interscope subsidiary Tiny Evil), it means 90s angst informed by 00’s indie rock. Jeesse Coppenbarger’s howl is more than a little Cobain-esque but with a healty dose of Oberst/Brock-ian inflection. They also eschew the quiet/loud/quiet dynamic that became so cliched and formulaic in favour of a slower, post-rockish build from the quiet bit to the (inevitable) loud bit. They’ve also got a pretty strong melodic sense and the blues harp that appears here and there feels natural and fits well. I’m pleased to know that if this ends up being a real genre, post-grunge is more than just a rehash of the 90s and it’s also somehow comforting to know that a whole new generation of kids hate themseves and want to die. MP3: Colour Revolt – “Mattress Underwater” MySpace: Colour Revolt

np – Pet Sounds 40th Anniversary Edition

I think you can tell a person’s age by how excited they are about the return of The Lemonheads, who will release a new, self-titled album on September 26. Of course, it’s not really a reunion at all and is just the resurrection of a brand name – the band always featured a heavily rotating cast of players and besides mainman Evan Dando, there’s no one in the current lineup who’s ever been a Lemonhead before.

Folks of my generation will be nostalgic for It’s A Shame About Ray and the days when he was a staple on the cover of SPIN making out with Adrienne Shelley or begging Juliana Hatfield in song to get it on with him. Others only know Dando as a drug abuse cautionary tale or as that guy who fucked up the MC5 reunion shows recently. And the younger generation probably have no idea who he is at all.

But the one thing that’s been consistent through all that time was that he had a knack for writing a killer pop song. And that he was a junkie. Okay, two things. Judging from the first MP3 from the new record, which is now available courtesy of AOL’s indie music blog (and that’s a bizarre contradiction in terms unto itself), he hasn’t lost his touch on the former. The song is pretty damn good and yeah, that’s J Mascis ripping the guitar solos over top, not Dando. Different stoner icon.

As for the drugs, Dando tells The Guardian that while he’s living a healthier lifestyle than he did in the ’90s, psychedelics are still a regular part of his diet. LiveDaily also has an interview but they just talk about making the new record. You know, boring stuff.

MP3: The Lemonheads – “No Backbone”
MySpace: The Lemonheads

Update: The Weekly Dig gets Juliana Hatfield to talk about that whole virginity thing. Via Stereogum via Leafblower.

Pitchfork recounts a conversation with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats that pretty much tells you everything you need to know about Get Lonely. Or maybe not everything as this piece Darnielle has written for The Los Angeles Times about the writing of the new album is essential reading. That the Metacritic rating for the album is anything less than 100% (or even in the 80s) says to me that more rock critics need to get dumped. Both Sixeyes and I have tracks from John Darnielle’s recent instore at Amoeba Records in Los Angeles, but you can also grab the whole set at Archive.org. So much for exclusivity. Also note there’s a high-res version of the video for “Woke Up New” at the director’s website. I also just received my copies of Nothing For Juice and Protien Source Of The Future … Now! in the mail with All Hail West Texas en route. Thanks to everyone who helped guide me through the Goats’ back catalog.

MP3: The Mountain Goats – “Moon Over Goldsboro” (live at Amoeba)

Chart has more details on the forthcoming Mercury Rev compilation. It’s now called The Essential Mercury Rev — Stillness Breathes (1991-2006) and will be a double-disc set. The first comprising singles and album tracks, the second features live tracks, rarities, remixes and covers. It’s out October 3 on V2.

Also housecleaning, Billboard reports that Pinback will release Nautical Antiques, a stopgap collection of rarities and whatnot, on September 5. They continue to work on the follow-up to 2004’s Summer In Abadon.

Paste features The Long Winters, in town at Lee’s on October 4.

Metromix asks Headlights’ Erin Fein if the midwest really is the best. Apparently it is not. OH IRONY.

Sunset Rubdown have cancelled their October 7 show at Lee’s Palace, no reason given. No word on if it’s just the Toronto date or the whole tour.

The new blog-powered Pernice Brothers website is offering up pre-orders of the new album Live A Little that will come with a bonus, 17-track CD with demos of all the songs and a sleeve hand-printed by ol’ Joe himself. Nice. They’ve even provided a video of Joe autographing the sleeves. It’s riveting.

The Toronto Star has a piece on how the folks in charge of the Toronto edition of the Virgin Festival, happening September 9 and 10, were in the UK last weekend to see how the mothership operates. That bit about free kabobs for Virgin Mobile customers? RUN WITH IT.

np – The Mountain Goats / Nothing For Juice

It has been five long years since we got a new full-length from Sparklehorse. Now if you’re going to go away for a half decade, then It’s A Wonderful Life is certainly an album to do it with. Sublimely creaky, crackly and otherworldy (to say nothing of Nina Persson and PJ Harvey-enhanced), it was pretty much a masterpiece of the genre that can really only be called “Sparklehorse”.

But lo, Mark Linkhous has returned and will release Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain on September 26. I haven’t heard it yet but based on the two new tracks they’ve made available via stream, it sounds like, well, Sparklehorse. Which is to say it sounds great. Like the last record, this one features a host of guest stars including Danger Mouse, Flaming Lip Steve Drozd and Tom Waits in an outtake from Wonderful Life. Let’s hope it’s better than “Dog Door”. Regardless, I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while and do hope it’ll be one of the musical highlights of the year.

Junkmedia has a nice interview with Linkous that asks where he’s been for the past five years (“really depressed”), why he creates music (“so I can pay the rent again”) and why he’s historically had more success in the UK and Europe than at home (“it seems like in the past as a rule you had to knock American audiences over the head”). As evidence, GigWise reports on the three limited edition 7″s that will be released in the UK in advance of Belly Of A Mountain‘s release over there. And also celebrating Sparklehorse’s return, this fansite has given itself a facelift and is now overflowing with audio snippets and video goodies. I had no idea that there were so many Sparklehorse videos out there.

The ‘Horse will embark on a brief US tour next month to be followed by a European jaunt that will take them through October. They were last in Toronto back in 2003 opening for R.E.M. at the Air Canada Centre – not really my ideal venue for seeing them. It sounds like Linkous is down with going the whole promo nine yards for this record, so I would expect there’ll be a local date sooner or later.

Stream: Sparklehorse – “Don’t Take My Sunshine Away” (ASX)
Stream: Sparklehorse – “Shade And Honey” (ASX)
MySpace: Sparklehorse

The Hold Steady have made some rare old tracks available to download via MySpace. Boys And Girls In America is out October 3 and they’re at the Horseshoe October 28.

MP3: The Hold Steady – “Milkcrate Mosh”
MP3: The Hold Steady – “Hot Fries”

Bob Dylan’s tour in support of Modern Times, out Tuesday, will hit Toronto on November 7 with a show at the Air Canada Centre, unplugged Foo Fighters will support. I very much want to see Dylan live but don’t much fancy the idea of an arena show. I still kick myself for missing his intimate show at the Phoenix a few years back. LiveDaily has full tour dates.

Bloc Party and Panic! At The Disco are teaming up for a Fall tour that will hit the Ricoh Coliseum on November 16. Full tour dates at The Tripwire.

Good news – Mew are coming to town! Bad news – they’re doing so with Kasabian. That show is at the Phoenix on September 27.

The local press covers this weekend’s Indie Unlimited festival at Harbourfront. eye, NOW and The National Post chat with The Hidden Cameras, on Saturday at 9:30PM, while The Toronto Star and eye profile The Hylozoists, on Sunday at 2:30PM.

Exclaim! talks to TV On The Radio’s Kyp Malone. Those of you who waited for the domestic release of Return To Cookie Mountain were wise to do so – the domestic edition will have three extra tracks not available on the UK edition. And Pitchfork has an audio clip of Tunde Adebimpe explaining those funny/weird little promo clips they’ve been runnin on their website to promote the record (in lieu of having a proper website). Their tour brings them to the Opera House on October 12.

Rather than finish recording their new album, Billboard reports that Wilco will instead be heading out on tour this October. But as a holdover, Nonesuch will release a Jeff Tweedy solo tour DVD, Sunken Treasure, on October 24 and as a bonus, all the songs performed will be made available to download as MP3s to those who purchase the DVD. Very nice. Now finish that damned record.

Also well-versed in the art of album procrastination, The Shins tell Billboard that their new album Wincing the Night Away will totally be worth the delays.

Harmonium interviews Bryce Dessner of The National and asks him what the lyrics at the end of “Secret Meeting” are. Bryce ain’t talking.

np – The Grates / Gravity Won’t Get You High

So last night was the Shoegaze Cover Show I’ve been babbling on about all week. This wasn’t the first time I’d been to a show dedicated to paying tribute to the dreampop bands of yore – there was a Creation Records tribute night at the El Mocambo way back in the Spring of 2001 that was heavy on the shoegaze and even featured some full frontal nudity courtesy of White Cowbell Oklahoma.

Last night’s show was a more compact and penis-free affair, with the participating bands contributing a few covers and an original for good measure. Fjord Rowboat offered up the most faithful renditions on the night and I guess I’m a traditionalist because their set was my favourite. Their cover of Chapterhouse’s “Mesmerise” was a particular treat and right up their alley. After them The Assistants, whose pedigree is more C86 than shoegaze, tackled some Galaxie 500 and one-man looping drone factory Wyrd Visions… well I’m not entirely sure what he was doing. No Dynamics blew up an amp and while their set didn’t do much for me, their sound was intriguing enough that I’m going to check out their original material.

The final act, like that Creation night five years ago, went to a “supergroup” of sorts – this one called The Black Rabbit and featuring members of Uncut, The Two Koreas, Nassau and The Diableros. Boasting many guitars and dedicated to maximum volume, they played a ragged and too-short set including My Bloody Valentine’s “You Made Me Realise” and Spacemen 3’s “Take Me To The Other Side”. The venue’s curfew prevented them from really taking flight though, and they failed to take the title of “Toronto’s best shoegaze tribute supergroup who play deafening Isn’t Anything covers to close out the night” from the Voltron force comprised of Mean Red Spiders/Sloan/I-forget-who-else-but-if-you-remember-please-tell-me and their PA-destroying “Feed Me With Your Kiss”. Man, that was something. And the only point of heresy on the night – no Ride. W. T. F.

But this night was pretty good too – a little too short overall and maybe not enough of the straight covers to satisfy me but still a lot of fun and it was certainly heartening to see the interest in the genre (the turnout was quite good). If you’re curious, I’ve posted the tracklists of the three mix CDs I prepared for DJ duties last night after the jump – I didn’t get to play everything, unfortunately, but was generally pleased with how it sounded over the PA. Pretty good ebb and tide if I do say so myself. And I do. And bumping the CD player causing it to skip randomly? That’s the new scratching.

There are photos – certainly dark and blurry but there’s some decent ones. They’ll be up tomorrow-ish. In the meantime, here is some audio from the night’s performers’ day jobs.

Photos: Shoegaze Cover Night @ The Tranzac – August 23, 2006
MP3: Fjord Rowboat – “Paragon”
MP3: Wyrd Visions – “Bog Lord”
MP3: No Dynamis – “Josephine Baker”
MP3: The Assistants – “Taste It”
MySpace: Fjord Rowboat
MySpace: Wyrd Visions
MySpace: No Dynamics
MySpace: The Assistants

Club AC30 will release the second volume of shoegaze covers compilation Never Lose That Feeling, volume one of which I quite enjoyed, this October. To whet your appetite, they’ve updated their MySpace with more streaming tracks including tracks from Britta Phillips and Sing Sing.

Dirty On Purpose have got a new video from Hallelujah Sirens for “No Radio”. Jazzercise! And further evidence why indie rockers should never, ever, EVER wear shorts. Thanks to Clicky Click for the link.

Video: Dirty On Purpose – “No Radio”

Exclaim! talks to Asobi Seksu about their shoegazing ways. They’re at the Horseshoe September 20.

PopMatters profiles Mew.

np – The Coast / The Coast
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