Saturday, November 12th, 2011
Paper BagWho: Elliott Brood
What: Toronto-based, self-described “death country” practitioners who just released their third album Days Into Years earlier this Fall.
Why: In the midst of a cross-Canada tour in support of the new record, the trio will make a stop at home to play to their neighbours and do some laundry.
When: Friday, November 18, 2011
Where: The Phoenix in Toronto (19+)
Who else: Fellow Toronto country-singing types $100 will open up.
How: Tickets are $20 in advance but courtesy of Collective Concerts, I have two pairs of passes to give away for the show as well as a copy of Days Into Year on CD. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Elliott Brood” in the subject line and your full name in the body – one winner will get the CD and passes, the other just the passes. Winner will be drawn at midnight, November 15.
What else: CBC Radio 3, BC Local News, Uptown, Metro, and Winnipeg Free Press have feature pieces on the band.
MP3: Elliott Brood – “Northern Air”
Saturday, November 12th, 2011
Vanessa HeinsWho: The Rural Alberta Advantage
What: Toronto folk-rock trio who released their sophomore effort Departing in Spring of this year.
Why: Ever the road warriors, they’ve done at least two if not more North American jaunts in support of Departing; this hometown performance will be their last of the year.
When: Thursday, November 17, 2011
Where: The Phoenix in Toronto (all-ages)
Who else: Parlovr and The Paint Movement round out the bill.
How: Tickets for the show are $21 in advance, but courtesy of Collective Concerts, I have a pair of passes to give away to the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want the Rural Alberta Advantage in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, November 15.
What else: The band have just premiered a new video from Departing at IFC.
MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “North Star”
MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Stamp”
Video: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Tornado 87”
Friday, November 11th, 2011
Sharon Van Etten and Shearwater shake of February blahs with new albums, joint tour
Dusdin CondrenYes, it’s the shortest month but February is generally acknowledged as the coldest, darkest and generally shittiest month as well. Which is why it’s nice that Sharon Van Etten and Shearwater are teaming up to make sure that there’s something lovely to look forward to for at least three weeks of the four. On February 7, Van Etten will release Tramp, her third album and the follow up to 2010’s gorgeous epic. Pitchfork has details on the record and a list of the many guest artists who contribute to the record, which was produced by National guitarist Aaron Dessner.
Austin’s Shearwater will follow that up with a Valentine’s Day (February 14) release of Animal Joy, their first album for Sub Pop and the first in years to not be part of their Palo Santo/Rook/Golden Archipelago “Island Trilogy” and as much as I loved those records, I can’t wait to hear where they’re going next; the band have promised it’s going to be different. Exclaim has some specifics.
And perhaps best of all is the fact that the two artists will be teaming up for a Winter tour which stops in Toronto’s Lee’s Palace on February 21, tickets $15.50. It’s interesting that just a couple years ago, when Van Etten’s star was just beginning to rise, she tour managed Shearwater through a series of dates – now she’s headlining their double-bill. Life’s funny, innit? In any case, the powers that be haven’t opted to offer any tastes of either new record just yet, so if you need to hear a bit of what I’m going about, here’s some tunes from each of their last records.
MP3: Sharon Van Etten – “Love More”
MP3: Shearwater – “Castaways”
Also filling out the Winter release schedule is Nada Surf with their first album of new material since 2008’s Lucky; look for The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy on January 24 and a Spring tour that brings them to the Opera House on April 4, tickets $16.50.
MP3: Nada Surf – “When I Was Young”
And if your tastes run to the louder/strobier, A Place To Bury Strangers have announced the release on a new EP in Onwards To The Wall for February 7; details at Exclaim, MP3 below.
MP3: A Place To Bury Strangers – “So Far Away”
State interviews Peter Silberman of The Antlers, who are drumming up interest in their new EP (together) by making available their xx cover as a download at Pitchfork.
MP3: The Antlers – “VCR”
NPR serves up a World Cafe session with Beirut; The Lexington Herald-Weekly and The Philadelphia Inquirer have interviews with the band.
You may recall that Okkervil River already released a video for “Your Past Life As A Blast” made up of Will Sheff’s old home movies, but they’ve just premiered a second one at IFC. Because.
Video: Okkervil River – “Your Past Life As A Blast”
An acoustic Telekinesis session at Epitonic Saki Sessions is now available to download, and if that’s not enough then there’s also a new video from 12 Desperate Straight Lines for your listening pleasure.
MP3: Telekinesis – “Your Turn Clear In The Sun” (Epitonic Saki Sessions)
MP3: Telekinesis – “Please Ask For Help” (Epitonic Saki Sessions)
MP3: Telekinesis – “50 Ways” (Epitonic Saki Sessions)
Video: Telekinesis – “Country Lane”
The Seattle Times interviews Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie.
The Stool Pigeon and Beatroute have interviews with the boys of Real Estate, who’ve just released a new video from Days.
Video: Real Estate – “It’s Real”
Pitchfork has posted a special church-recorded video session with Girls, who will be releasing a special heart-shaped, non-album 7″ single dedicated to Felt on December 6 – details at True Panther.
Paste has a video session with Mates Of State.
Beatroute, The Phoenix New Times and The AV Club talk to Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs, while College Times chats with bassist Nate Brenner.
The Iceberg solicits a song and a memory from Lauren Larson of Ume.
Le Blogotheque has posted a Takeaway Show with EMA.
Beatroute talks to Mary Timony of Wild Flag, while NPR welcomed the band for a World Cafe session.
Thursday, November 10th, 2011
Crooked Fingers and Strand Of Oaks at The Drake Underground in Toronto
Frank YangSo, let’s see. Crooked Fingers were just here back in July – yeah, covered that. Oh, but in the interim, they also released a new album in Breaks In The Armor; covered that too. So was there really anything new to report out of Tuesday night’s show at the Drake Underground? Actually, yes.
To begin with there was opener Strand Of Oaks, who definitely merit discussion. I’d been familiar with the project of Pennsylvania singer-songwriter Tim Showalter for a little while – his 2010 album Pope Killdragon coming highly recommended from a number of directions – but hadn’t caught him live on any of his previous visits to Toronto. And I almost didn’t catch this one as he started his set at least 15 minutes earlier than had been scheduled, but walking into the Underground to the sounds of Showalter and his two bandmates weaving some mesmerizing space-folk, I was extra thankful that traffic had been light.
Pope Killdragon was an impressive work – lyrically rich and emotionally resonant – but despite pushing beyond the voice-and-guitar template, was a pretty stark-sounding affair. Live, with two guitars, a bass and a small army of technology at their respective toes and fingers for triggering and controlling a multitude of backing tracks, it was a much richer and haunting sonic experience with the songs being lifted up on a bed of echoes and swells. I’ve heard some comparisons made between Strand Of Oaks and Bon Iver; they’re fair, though with less falsetto and vocoder. If you dig what Justin Vernon does, do yourself a favour and investigate Strand Of Oaks. And if you don’t, well, check them out anyways.
July’s Crooked Fingers felt special in the way that performances that take place outside the regular touring cycle for an album often do; more experimenting, more deep cuts, more unpredictability. What with the band consisting solely of Eric Bachmann and Liz Durrett at that point, it was necessarily simpler in arrangement but still a stirring showcase for Bachmann’s career so far. This time out they were formally touring in support of Breaks and added a rhythm section for the occasion but rather than show off benefits of the extra hands right off, Bachmann stepped offstage as soon as he got there and into the audience to open with a gorgeous, unamplified “Man O’ War”. Plugging in, the band would showcase much of the new record alongside selections from the entirety of the Crooked Fingers catalog, all tweaked and subtly adjusted to sit perfectly alongside each other despite the broad stylistic shifts between the albums from whence they came.
As memorable as the last show was, it was great to have the muscle of the rhythm section overtop the skeleton presented in the Summer this time out. Besides the obvious extra infusion of energy, the songs were able to loosen up and breathe more and Bachmann given the freedom to rock out more on guitar where he saw fit. The additional personnel also allowed them to explore more complex arrangements of songs – sure, it would/could have been simpler to arrange everything for two guitars, bass and drums and it probably would have sounded great, but you have to appreciate the creative choices such as Durrett’s more felt than heard keyboard contributions or the way that Bachmann started “The Counterfeiter” instrumentless and then jumped onto keyboards for the last verse while the bass carried the chords. Sure, that’s how it goes down on Armor, arrangements-wise, but watching it done live gives you a new appreciation for it all.
Just as they did mid-set in July, Bachmann and Durrett led off the encore with an intimate, unamplified “Your Control” and proved that there was an upside to a band as great as this playing criminally undersized rooms. On the other hand, the unscheduled guest appearance of a mouse running across the floor during “Lonesome Warrior” reminded that there’s something to be said for playing nicer venues as well. To close, Bachmann acquiesced to an earlier request and made the requisite Archers Of Loaf song in the set a beautiful “Chumming The Ocean”, a song I’d not heard before but won’t soon forget. It’s been a recurring theme through this year, what with the return of Archers Of Loaf and the new Crooked Fingers record, but man. Eric Bachmann. He should be on postage stamps.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has an interview with Eric Bachmann.
Photos: Crooked Fingers, Strand Of Oaks @ The Drake Underground – November 8, 2011
MP3: Crooked Fingers – “Typhoon”
MP3: Crooked Fingers – “Phony Revolutions”
MP3: Crooked Fingers – “Angelina”
MP3: Crooked Fingers – “Big Darkness”
MP3: Crooked Fingers – “Devil’s Train”
MP3: Crooked Fingers – “When You Were Mine”
MP3: Crooked Fingers – “New Drink For The Old Drunk”
MP3: Eric Bachmann – “Carrboro Woman”
MP3: Eric Bachmann – “Lonesome Warrior”
MP3: Strand Of Oaks – “Bonfire”
MP3: Strand Of Oaks – “End In Flames”
Video: Crooked Fingers – “Let’s Not Pretend (To Be New Men)”
Video: Crooked Fingers – “New Drink For The Old Drunk”
Video: Eric Bachmann – “Man ‘O War”
Video: Eric Bachmann – “Lonesome Warrior”
Video: Strand Of Oaks – “Last To Swim”
Tom Waits has released a video from his new record Bad As Me.
Video: Tom Waits – “Satisfied”
The Quietus has a final interview with Michael Stipe of R.E.M., whose career-capping/ending compilation Part Lies Part Heart Part Truth Part Garbage 1982-2011 is out next week. You can stream it in whole right now at NPR, including the two of three final new songs from the band. Over at Under The Radar, actress Kirsten Dunst explains how the screen test-like video for their last single, “We All Go Back To Where We Belong”, came about.
Stream: R.E.M. / Part Lies Part Heart Part Truth Part Garbage – 1982-2011
Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy tells The Sun that they have a sense of humour. Because putting a camel in a party hat on their last album cover didn’t make that clear.
NPR has a World Cafe session with Ryan Adams. He plays the Winter Garden Theatre on December 10.
The Mountain Goats have given away a free unreleased track, just because.
MP3: The Mountain Goats – “Thucydides II:58”
Colin Meloy of The Decemberists and sister Maile talk to Salon about the benefits of a creative childhood.
Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn will release his solo debut, Clear Heart Full Eyes on January 24. Details at Tiny Mix Tapes.
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds at Massey Hall in Toronto
Frank YangSo here we are, with both post-Oasis projects with their debuts officially out in the wild – the Liam-led Beady Eye having released Different Gear, Still Speeding back in March and Noel Gallagher’s Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds out this week. Given the not-so-greatness of Liam’s Oasis output, the bar for the former was set fairly low and Different Gear‘s meat-and-potatoes Brit-rock had no problem clearing it, with “not bad” counting as a big win. Noel, on the other hand, had considerably more to live up to what with not only having penned some of the most memorable British rock anthems of his generation, but having been the one pulled the pin on the grenade that finally, inevitably, killed Oasis. Though looking at it from another perspective, Beady Eye had everything to prove while Noel could point as his songbook and say, “what the fook have YOU done?”.
The best and the worst thing you can say about High Flying Birds is that it’s pretty much what you’d expect from a Noel Gallagher solo record, with his respective weaknesses and strengths on full display. Amongst the former are his penchant for cribbing lyrics and melodies from others wholesale, and may of the words that are his are vague and nonsensical, though at least they rhyme. However just as he did in Oasis, he’s able to marry them with an unimpeachable gift for melody, a delivery that makes them sound profound and a flair for dressing them up in big arrangements that aren’t too overcooked (obviously this took some time to learn). It can be frustrating to sing along with words that make no sense, but sing along you will.
That said, for all the familiar motions, Birds feels distinct from an Oasis record for reasons beyond the absence of Liam’s rock’n’roll sneer. Perhaps in being freed from the inherent compromises of a band and being able to take full creative control, Gallagher has been able to fully assume the role of composer rather than just songwriter and consequently, Birds feels more meticulous in its execution than any Oasis record I can recall. Some might bemoan its mid-temponess or dearth of guitar heroics, but let’s be fair – he’s made those records already. High Flying Birds doesn’t necessarily revitalize or recontextualize what Noel Gallagher is about – not even remotely, if we’re being honest – but it is well-crafted, tuneful and likeable. Well I like it, anyways, and that’s why despite not getting accredited to cover the show in an official capacity, I headed down to Massey Hall about 20 minutes before showtime and patronized my first ever scalper. Less than half face value? Sure.
Though not sold out – two nights at Massey is a tall order for many acts, even one who sold out arenas with his old band – the hall was nearly full and crackling with the energy of fans who’d not seen the elder Gallagher since that fateful Virgin Festival 2008 appearance where he was assaulted onstage, if not earlier. The vibe was not unlike that at The Sound Academy in June when Liam led Beady Eye into town for their first visit, though feeling a bit older and with fewer (no) Union Jack flags hanging from the balconies.
Unlike Beady Eye, however, Noel had already said that the Oasis songbook was very much fair game for his solo shows and to prove it, the show opened with “(It’s Good) To Be Free”, a 17-year old b-side from a non-album single. Not just the hits, then. Oasis material would actually comprise almost half the 90-minute set, spanning the breadth of their catalog but with no small amount of revisionist history applied – “Wonderwall” got the Ryan Adams treatment, “Supersonic” was stripped down to acoustic guitar and piano (and would be a post-show point of contention for being a Liam song) and “Talk Tonight” given the full band treatment. It was as though Gallagher was more than willing to indulge his fans’ desire to hear the old material, but wasn’t going to make head-to-head comparisons of Oasis and his High Flying Birds easy.
As for the new material, not only was the album played in its entirety, but a b-side and new song thrown in for good measure. All of it was played pretty much verbatim from the album arrangements and in workmanlike fashion from Gallagher and his five-piece band – the crowd was enthused but Gallagher didn’t seem particularly interested in stoking the fires, just in doing his thing. It would have been unreasonable to expect him to discover some heretofore unknown wellspring on on-stage charisma upon assuming the role of frontman, but at least Gallagher seemed chipper in bantering with the crowd.
Early on, he told an audience member who’d not heard the new record that, “it’s going to be a long fucking night for you then” and later, when the inevitable topic of his younger brother came up (he has a home in Toronto), he responded to someone calling out that they’d seen Liam around town buying shoes, “were they high heels?”. Noel has a well-earned reputation for shooting his mouth off about anything and everything, but he’s got a sense of humour. The encore was a triple-bill of Oasis numbers – “Little By Little” from Heathen Chemistry, “The Importance Of Being Idle” from Don’t Believe The Truth and, finally, predictably and thrillingly, “Don’t Look Back In Anger”. That finale was spared any rejigging and performed as it always has – how else do you lead the singalong? And sing along everyone did.
So with all the evidence gathered – live and on record – how do the two post-Oasis projects measure up? Both have turned in decent efforts without offering anything new, but neither is a patch on Oasis in their prime – but to be fair, most of Oasis’ career isn’t a patch on Oasis in their prime either. With Beady Eye, Liam seems to want to recreate the rock’n’roll heyday of Oasis without invoking Oasis, whereas Noel is content to acknowledge his legacy without resting on it. I’d go so far as to say if you took both their records and combined the best moments into one, you’d have the best Oasis record in some years. To be at their best, as both brothers once sang, they need each other. Maybe someday they’ll once again believe in one another.
The Toronto Sun, Exclaim, The Globe & Mail, Toronto Star, NOW, Spinner and National Post also have reviews of the show and Los Angeles Times and National Post also have feature interviews.
Photos: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds @ Massey Hall – November 7, 2011
Video: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – “AKA… What A Life”
Video: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – “If I Had A Gun”
Video: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – “The Death Of You & Me”
In talking to NME, Damon Albarn reveals that Blur have been recording and discussions about more touring in 2012 have taken place. None of which is a commitment to anything, but it is something.
BBC chats with Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner.
Band Of Skulls have set a date at The Phoenix for March 30 of next year in support of their new album Sweet Sour, out February 21. Tickets are $17.50 in advance. Exclaim has details and dates and there’s a video for the first single from the album.
Video: Band Of Skulls – “The Devil Takes Care Of His Own”
DIY talks to Kele about his new EP The Hunter.
Clash interviews Florence Welch of Florence & The Machine.
Artrocker profiles Los Campesinos!, whose new record Hello Sadness is streaming at NPR ahead of its November 15 release date.
MP3: Los Campesinos! – “By Your Hand”
Stream: Los Campesinos! / Hello Sadness
Interview, The Independent and Londonist talk to Summer Camp on the occasion of the release of their debut Welcome To Condale this week.
Pitchfork reports that The xx have begun work on their second album, and will be documenting the process via cryptic animated gif.
The ink barely dry on the their Toronto debut last month, London’s Still Corners will be back on December 9 at The Horseshoe in support of The War on Drugs. The Georgia Straight and Houston Press have interviews and Radio K is streaming a session with the band.
MP3: Still Corners – “Into The Trees”
The AV Club talks to Charlie Fink of Noah & The Whale.
Spinner interviews Laura Marling.
The Guardian gets two generations of folk music – Billy Bragg and Johnny Flynn – to discuss the relevance of protest music today.
Patrick Wolf has released a new video from Lupercalia, which continues to await a North American release. In 2012, perhaps. The Gay Times talks to Wolf about his impending nuptials.
Video: Patrick Wolf – “The Falcons”
Rocksucker talks to The Twilight Sad about their third album No One Can Ever Know, due out in February.
Clash marks the 20th anniversary of My Bloody Valentine’s landmark Loveless album, while The Quietus reflects on the significance of The Jesus & Mary Chain’s debut Psychocandy.
And while not nearly on the level of either of those records, I greatly appreciate Drowned In Sound saluting The Closer I Get, the second album from Nottingham’s Six By Seven. Terribly underappreciated over their tenure, at their best – which would be that record – there was no more beautifully aggressive and misanthropic rock band out there. After a few ill-fated reunions, the band is done but if you go to their website, their last great record – 2004’s relatively sunnier :04 – is available for free download in exchange for an email. You should do this thing.
MP3: Six By Seven – “Bochum (Light Up My Life)”
Video: Six By Seven – “Eat Junk Become Junk”
No Comments
facebook
![[Valid RSS]](http://www.chromewaves.net/images/interface/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed"){kind=small}