Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
Jeff Tweedy and Snowblink at The Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto
Frank YangThis show was a week ago; I think this may actually be my longest delay between witness and writeup ever and, in fact, Jeff Tweedy’s solo tour is just about over. So if you were waiting on some kind of report from opening night at Toronto’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre to decide if it was worth picking up one of the few remaining tickets for a later date… I’m sorry. Sorry that you would allow anything I say or do to influence your decision-making – you know I’m drunk most of the time, right?
But if I had gotten this review up sooner, I could have exhorted everyone going to any of the shows to arrive early enough to catch Snowblink, as local duo had been tapped to open up every show on the tour – maybe those at Wilco HQ had seen my glowing review of their debut Long Live? Either way, even though it was a tremendous opportunity for them, as soon as the lights dimmed it was clear they weren’t just happy to be there. The pair of Daniela Gesundheit and Dan Goldman took the stage carrying lanterns and eventually set up in their own, white cloth-strewn side of the stage – they were going to put on their show. And what a show it was – Gesundheit’s voice was strong and clear and sounded divine in the theatre’s acoustics, and their simple two-guitar arrangements – including an oustanding cover of Springsteen’s “State Trooper” – were subtly embellished with loops, percussion and electronic flourishes. Gesundheit might be a California native, but Toronto now proudly claims her as our own.
Wilco might have last been here as recently as October 2009, but it’s been much, much longer since Jeff Tweedy has come to town with just his acoustic guitars and songbook – so long that Tweedy himself didn’t remember ever having done so. In fact, it had been almost a decade exactly since he played Trinity-St. Paul’s on March 1, 2001, and when reminded of that by the audience he wryly referred to those as “the bad old days”. And while that may have been true for him from both a personal and professional sense, it’s impossible to deny that those were also some of Wilco’s most creatively fertile years, but also an era not often revisited with the full band.
And for about 90 minutes, alone on stage save for a circle of five acoustics and occasional visits from his guitar tech Steve (who was celebrating a birthday), Tweedy would revisit all eras of his career as well as some of his side-projects to air out some songs which would likely never otherwise be heard in these parts. Such as the original, non-Krautrock arrangement of “Spiders (Kidsmoke)”, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot b-side “Magazine Called Sunset” or Loose Fur selections “The Ruling Class” and “Chinese Apple”. And of course there were the couple of rare forays into the Uncle Tupelo canon – I know “Gun” would have been too much to hope for, but “Wait Up” was a most certainly welcome and the encore-closing, unamplified “Acuff-Rose” was for the ages. And from Wilco proper, there was a “Poor Places” which I thought turned out better than he seemed to, a rousing “Shot In The Arm” and a new song which has been unofficially dubbed “Open Up Your Mind”.
Considering who the Wilco dynamic has changed with the addition of virtuoso players like Nels Cline and Glenn Kotche, it was good to be reminded that without Tweedy’s songs at the core, beautiful and resonant even stripped down to their essences, it’d all be for naught. Tweedy on his own was also a different sort of performer, more inclined to engage and banter with the audience (and not berate us for not standing up this time), debate grammar, vocabulary and requests and crack more than few jokes, his best being that which accompanied the photographic evidence of his visit to local Wilco-themed sandwich shop Sky Blue Sky, and to which he added they “seemed a little safe – why not try some mulch, tinsel or fibreglass?”.
With a new Wilco album likely due out in the Summer, it’s a pretty safe bet that Tweedy will be back with his cohorts in tow for another couple nights at Massey Hall. And it’ll be expansive and filled with amazing musicianship, no doubt, but that just makes simple shows like this one all the more special.
The Toronto Sun, The National Post, The Globe & Mail and Chart were all in attendance; three out of four dentists agreed it was a great show.
Photos: Jeff Tweedy, Snowblink @ The Queen Elizabeth Theatre – March 22, 2011
MP3: Wilco – “What Light”
MP3: Wilco – “Spiders” (live)
MP3: Snowblink – “Ambergris”
MP3: Snowblink – “The Tired Bees”
Video: Wilco – “What Light”
Video: Wilco – “Outtasite (Outta Mind)”
Video: Wilco – “Box Full Of Letters”
Video: Wilco – “I Must Be High”
Video: Snowblink – “Ambergris”
Video: Snowblink – “The Haunt”
From the ashes of The Broken West and to The Drake Underground comes Pasadena’s Apex Manor; Ross Flournoy’s new band will be opening up for Jonny on June 3 and 4. Their debut The Year Of Magical Drinking is out now.
MP3: Apex Manor – “Under The Gun”
With the May 10 release date of their new record Burst Apart not really all that far off, The Antlers have put together a North American tour that includes a June 14 stop at The Mod Club with Little Scream supporting. She had to bail on the last few dates of her tour with Sharon Van Etten, including the April 12 date at The Drake, to go to Europe with Junip so this will be her next local date. Not that you needed the extra incentive to go see The Antlers, of course. The band performed the whole of the new record live at SxSW and NPR has the stream.
MP3: The Antlers – “Two”
There were here no less than four times last year, and they’re totally coming back for more – that’s Phantogram, and they’ll be at 69 Bathurst on July 28 in the company of The Glitch Mob.
MP3: Phantogram – “When I’m Small”
The Village Voice talks to Amy Klein of Titus Andronicus, who are in town for a show at The Horseshoe on April 1 and again on June 10 at The Phoenix supporting Okkervil River.
Exclaim, Billboard, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Post and Mother Jones all have features on The Mountain Goats. Their new record All Eternals Deck is out now and they’re at The Opera House on April 3.
MP3: The Mountain Goats – “The Age Of Kings”
Blurt, The Huffington Post, Fogged Clarity, Los Angeles Times and The Von Pip Musical Express have profiles of Wye Oak, in town at The El Mocambo on April 9.
Sharon Van Etten is featured in The Phoenix New Times, Spin and Georgia Straight while NPR is streaming one of her SxSW performances. She’s at The Drake Underground on April 12, and yes that’s her doing backing vocals on The National’s contribution to the soundtrack for the film Win Win, which is now available to download.
MP3: The National – “Think You Can Wait”
Spinner, Pedestrian TV and Vanity Fair have interviews with The Kills, whose new record Blood Pressures is out next week. NPR is streaming one of their SxSW performances so you know what to expect when they hit The Sound Academy on May 1. The new album is also streaming in whole at their website.
Stream: The Kills / Blood Pressures
Low have made available a new MP3 from their forthcoming C’Mon, which is out April 12. They’re at The Mod Club on May 2 with Memoryhouse supporting.
MP3: Low – “Especially Me”
CNN has an interview with Shonna Tucker of Drive-By Truckers, who have a date at The Phoenix on June 15.
PopMatters and Blurt have interviews with The Dodos, who’ve put out a new video from No Color. They’re at The Phoenix on June 16 for NXNE.
Video: The Dodos – “Black Night”
Exclaim reports that My Morning Jacket have assigned a May 31 release date for their new record Circuital. They will be at The Kool Haus on July 11 to support.
Metro Pulse talks high fidelity with Asobi Seksu.
Paste and Blurt have interviews with J Masics, who has released a new Chad Van Gaalen-directied video from Several Shades Of Why
Video: J Mascis – “Not Enough”
MTV Hive has an interview with Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes while NPR is streaming their show from Auditorium Shores at SxSW.
NOW interviewed those involved with the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour that rolled through town a few weeks back, while NYC Taper has a recording of one of the New York shows.
eye and The Georgia Straight check in with Warpaint.
The Los Angeles Times, Spinner, The Boot, The Telegraph and Publishers Weekly all talk to Steve Earle about I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive, which is both the name of his new record, out April 26, and first novel, out May 12.
Rolling Stone chats with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, who has set a June target for their second record.
Spinner, The Phoenix and The Fly have interviews with Buffalo Tom.
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart discuss their new record Belong with The Line Of Best Fit, The University Observer, Jambands and Exclaim. And oh hey new video.
Video: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – “Heart In Your Heartbreak”
Pitchfork pays tribute to the hanging-it-up LCD Soundsystem with an exhaustive analysis of the band’s catalog. Seriously, it’s exhausting.
Austinist and The Huffington Post interview Liz Phair.
NYC Taper has posted a recording of Yo La Tengo’s show at Maxwell’s in New Jersey last week.
NPR doubles up on The Head & The Heart, streaming both one of their SxSW sets and a World Cafe session. The Big Takeover has an interview with the band, whose self-titled debut gets a reissue on April 16.
Monday, March 28th, 2011
Frank YangFull writeup of the evening’s itinerary over here.
Yuck
– Hotly-tipped band of London youngsters who channel the spirit of the ’90s, evoking the likes of Teenage Fanclub, Dinosaur Jr and Pavement on their self-titled debut. The Line Of Best Fit and Dirty Laundry have video sessions and The National an interview with the band, who open up for Tame Impala at The Phoenix on May 1. NPR has a stream of the Stubb’s show.
Photos: Yuck @ Stubb’s- March 16, 2011
MP3: Yuck – “Get Away”
MP3: Yuck – “Georgia”
MP3: Yuck – “Automatic”
MP3: Yuck – “Daughter”
MP3: Yuck – “Coconut Bible”
Video: Yuck – “Get Away”
Video: Yuck – “Holing Out”
James Blake
– the current face of dubstep and electro-soul just released his self-titled debut and will be touring North America in May. His May 14 date at The Rivoli in Toronto was just moved to Lee’s Palace, allowing another 300 or so people to either swoon or not get it. Pitchfork has a feature interview with Blake and NPR is streaming the performance from Stubb’s.
Photos: James Blake @ Stubb’s – March 16, 2011
MP3: James Blake – “To Care (Like You)”
Video: James Blake – “The Wilhelm Scream”
Video: James Blake – “Limit To Your Love”
Now, Now
– Minnesota power-pop trio who recently dropped the “Every Children” from their name and the Neighbours EP. A new full-length is being recorded and should be out this year.
Photos: Now Now @ The Parish Underground – March 16, 2011
MP3: Now, Now – “Neighbors”
MP3: Now, Now – “Roommates”
MP3: Now, Now Every Children – “Everyone You Know”
MP3: Now, Now Every Children – “Sleep Through Summer”
MP3: Now, Now Every Children – “Cars”
Video: Now, Now Every Children – “Friends With My Sister”
Clock Opera
– grandiose electro-rock from London with enormous upside; currently only releasing singles but should be due out an album sometime this year.
Photos: Clock Opera @ The Bat Bar – March 16, 2011
MP3: Clock Opera – “Once And For All”
Video: Clock Opera – “Once And For All”
Video: Clock Opera – “White Noise”
Ellie Goulding
– Declared the BBC Sound of 2010, the young English “folktronica” artist is seeking to break into America, releasing her debut Lights domestically earlier this month and touring the continent. The Baltimore Sun and The Big Issue have interviews.
Photos: Ellie Goulding @ The Bat Bar – March 16, 2011
Video: Ellie Goulding – “Your Song”
Video: Ellie Goulding – “The Writer”
Video: Ellie Goulding – “Starry Eyed”
Summer Camp
– London duo whose sense of nostalgia for the ’80s is matched only by their ability to craft perfect retro pop tunes, as evidenced by last year’s Young EP.
Photos: Summer Camp @ Latitude 30 – March 16, 2011
MP3: Summer Camp – “Ghost Train”
Video: Summer Camp – “Ghost Train”
Monday, March 28th, 2011
Owen Pallett, Donald Glover, Veronica Falls and more at SxSW
Frank YangAs mentioned, Saturday nights at SxSW have traditionally been kind of slow as far as options go, but this year seemed especially lean – when The Bravery are your headliner at Stubb’s, you have a problem. For my part, I had a number of options circled but nothing that I’d classify as a tentpole show to build my night around and so was glad to see an 8PM listing for IAMDONALD at Red 7 that I’d somehow missed in past schedule scans – and it was a 90-minute show! Double score.
The titular “Donald” was Donald Glover, aka “Troy” from Community, aka all-around funny dude. This, however, wasn’t going to be stand-up. It would be a preview of the IAMDONALD tour which would be kicking off in April and offer both comedy and music, the latter in the form of Glover’s Childish Gambino hip-hop persona. So would this particular showcase be one or the other or both? No one in line was particularly sure, but all were pretty keen to find out. Especially when Community co-star Danny Pudi was spotted entering the venue, briefly raising hopes of a full “Troy & Abed In The Morning” taping.
What it would end up being was more of a dry run than anything else. Much time both pre- and during the show was spent hovering over laptops, working out the synching of multimedia elements and technical details of the live instrumentation, but when they finally got down to brass tacks, it was… alright. The combination of a really bad sound mix – instruments way too loud, vocals mixed too low and yet distorting – made it really difficult to understand what Glover/Gambino was saying, and so a lot of the time it was just, “hey it’s the guy from that TV show jumping around on stage!”. Perhaps if I’d done some prep work like a lot of the audience appeared to have, it’d have gone over better – folks around me were dancing and rapping along with what I gathered were rather graphic and weird descriptions of Gambino (and hopefully not Glover’s) sexual proclivities. Content aside, Glover was an impressive rapper and singer – there was some soul/R&B-style grooves in there as well – and while there’s humour in what he’s doing, it’s pretty clear he’s serious about it. I was a bit disappointed that the stand-up portion of the IAMDONALD tour wasn’t part of this show, though the offhand between-song banter was pretty great, and I can only hope that it allows them to smooth things out before the actual tour. Like turning down the keyboards. Gawd.
Things were much more conventional over at Latitude 30, where London’s Veronica Falls were setting up. Though 50-50 co-ed, Veronica Falls is a “they” and not a “she”, offering a distinctly English take on the ’50s retro garage pop movement. Rather than invoking the sun and beach of their American peers, they’re decidedly darker in outlook though twee-er in sound and come off as though their garages were located in dreary landlocked council estates. Though prevailingly cute, they offered more intensity than you’d expect from the style and were capable of getting right loud when necessary.
And around the corner from the British Music Embassy (as Latitude 30 was dubbed for the week) was the Chilean Music Showcase at Maggie Mae’s, and at the Chilean Music Showcase was a band called Intimate Stranger who, despite the unfortunate name, got my attention during a random schedule browse. Not that this should be interpreted as a broadening of my musical horizons to include more international flavours; Intimate Stranger are fronted by a Brit and sound more like they hail from London than from Santiago. Their guitar-driven tunes are relatively simple, built on tight, unrelenting grooves that bloom and evolve with deviations and improvisations on the theme as it progresses. From that description you might call it jamming but the focus on the song and the melody always keeps things in line. Like many of the acts I saw this week, they were laden with potential but the charisma wasn’t quite there yet – frontwoman Tessie Stranger was a stunner but didn’t seem entirely comfortable with herself and her bandmates preferred to keep their heads down and just go about their business. They owe it to themselves to do better than that.
To cap off the festival, I went off the grid somewhat and hit the Stereogum-sponsored unofficial after party at the Purevolume House, determined to catch Owen Pallett before the clock struck 12 (figuratively speaking) and SxSW turned back into a pumpkin. And in the process, I was introduced to what would be my stock answer should anyone ask me, “what was the worst thing you saw at SxSW?” – Puro Instinct. The Los Angeles outfit has apparently been getting some buzz of late and I can only imagine it’s because of the angle of being fronted by two sisters, one 23 and the other 16. It surely can’t be because of the music. Actually, musically they weren’t bad, with kind of a bubble-goth thing going on and the younger sister, Skylar Kaplan, a perfectly decent guitarist. But big sis Piper… well, if she was going for the drunken aunt at a wedding thing, she nailed it. Possessed of nothing resembling a singing voice, she rasped and croaked her way through their mercifully short set, unable to carry a tune and unwilling to put her drink down as she tried. It was a sad, sad thing to behold and I may be mistaken but I think I saw Courtney Love standing at the side of her stage, shaking her head with disdain.
I’ve mentioned my general boycott of Canadian acts when I’m at SxSW and a sort of extension of that is my habit of taking local acts for granted, in the “I’ll see them next time, they play all the time anyways” sense. And that is how, with the exception of his two-song set at last year’s Polaris gala, I’d gone nearly three years since seeing Owen Pallett live, either as himself or Final Fantasy. And that, kids, was simply far too long – especially since his Twitter feed was implying a format change after the festival, though that may just be recruiting a band. And if that’s the case, I’m sure it’ll be marvelous but part of the wonder of Owen live was how he was able to recreate his miniature symphonies entirely on his own (and with a little help from technology). A wonder I was finally able to get reacquainted with after a couple of near misses over the week. Granted the Purevolume House was kind of an odd setting for him, what with it’s over the top light show and underage afterparty vibe, but you take what you can get. And what we got was a shortish but satisfying set that served to either remind or reveal, depending on how well you knew his work, his musical brilliance. I may not constantly sing his praises hereabouts, but make no mistake that I think he’s one of the most creative talents working in Canada right now, and any time he gets on stage he proves it. For me, a terrific way to close out the festival and for the kids, I think they liked his Mariah Carey cover.
And that, folks, is SxSW 2011 in the books. There’s still the A/V posts with pics (all of which are up), MP3s, videos and links but those will be mixed in with your regularly scheduled news and spews starting tomorrow. I appreciate your sticking through this somewhat decompressed reportage schedule, at least compared to years past – it’s amazing how much you better you feel when you’re not up until 4AM trying to write up the past day. And to anyone who’s heard me insisting loudly that this would be my final SxSW, that I’ve got other/better things I want to do with my travel budget and vacation time… I have nothing better to do. See you next year?
Sunday, March 27th, 2011
Wild Flag, TV On The Radio, Okkervil River and more at SxSW
Frank YangContrary to normal festivals wherein the biggest names are often held back until the final night so as to finish things off with a bang, at SxSW artists who typically play multiple showcases over the four days want nothing more than to get out of town as quickly as possible and as such, the Saturday lineup can be kind of lean. That’s what I was expecting out of the last day, anyways, as I’d forgotten to RSVP for one of the last stacked day parties – the Mog to-do at the Mohawk – and assumed I’d be club-hopping through the afternoon looking for something to pique my interest. Until it came to my attention that there was not, in fact, any RSVP for the party and all it’d take to get in would be to stand in line nice and early for an hour or so. Which I was willing to do.
And so it was I was in The Mohawk just a few minutes into Smith Westerns’ set. I hadn’t seen them yet this festival, which might sound like no big deal but considering the number of higher-profile parties and showcases they were playing, it was more of an achievement than you might think. And it wasn’t necessarily that I was avoiding them, but their lauded new record Dye It Blonde didn’t do much for me and so I wasn’t making an effort. Still, they’d finally managed to get in front of my eyeballs and in doing so, didn’t make me regret not having caught them sooner. There were traces of the glam-rock adjectives that their new record has been garnering, but the not-especially-lively delivery and sludgy-sounding mix made them seem more stoner (or stoned) than anything. I certainly wasn’t won over and the rest of the audience appeared to be various shades of nonplussed. Maybe I’ll be generous and chalk it up as another casualty of the noon hour set time.
Though if that were true, then an hour extra sleep must make all the difference because Wild Flag were up next and raring to go. The supergroup, featuring two-thirds of Sleater-Kinney, Mary Timony of Helium and Rebecca Cole of The Minders were one of the must-see acts of this year’s SxSW, both thanks to their alternative nation pedigree and reputation for ass-kicking live shows, and this was their last gig of the week. And while they’re a whole new band with new songs – Wild Flag have more classic rock affection than either Helium or SK did – there’s plenty familiar about them, most notably in Timony and Carrie Brownstein’s distinctive vocal styles. And while neither frontwoman was ever shy about showing off their guitar skills in their past outfits, seeing them trade riffs and solos amidst scissor kicks and over-the-head playing was fantastic to behold. Wild Flag seems to have been assembled with the single clear mandate of rocking out and having fun and while nothing of the new material jumped right out as a standout composition, at least on a first live listen, that they give these talents an excuse to get out there and show folks how it’s done is plenty of reason to celebrate anything they do.
Though there was no real imperative to see Okkervil River at this year’s SxSW – they’d be coming to town later this Summer – it’s always nice to see them do hometown shows and hey, I was right there. And following Wild Flag, so was Will Sheff… though I don’t know who those other folks with him were. Okay, that’s not fair – I’d seen most of the new members before on past tours, but the net turnover in personnel since 2005’s Black Sheep Boy is still pretty stunning – of the band that made that record, only Sheff remains. But if the change in faces wasn’t enough to convince you that this wasn’t the same old Okkervil, the sound they made on stage should have erased any doubts. Okkervil have always been a boisterous live act, but where they once had an unhinged, ramshackle folk-rock charm, they now have a distinctly squalling electric character. Lead guitarist Lauren Gurgiolo’s contributions give them a punchier attack but also makes them sound more conventional than in the past, and I’m pretty sure this was the first time I’d ever seen Sheff pick up an electric guitar. Their set favoured the older material, but still previewed three songs from the forthcoming I Am Very Far, which sounds to be a rawer work than their last couple efforts. Of course, that could just be the live treatment – the May 10 release will tell the tale.
I’ve never really counted myself as a fan of TV On The Radio. I respect their collective musical abilities and unique sound, but their records haven’t ever really connected with me – I’ve tried, but it just doesn’t happen. That said, I’ve always appreciated how good they are live and even though it’s been some four and a half years since I saw them last, that fact hasn’t changed – in fact, based on this performance, it may be even more true than ever. The Brooklynites graduated onto much larger stages than the Mohawk’s long ago, so it was very cool to be able to see them work at the club level. What I find most remarkable about their performance is how, no matter how explosive they get, they never revert to chaos to make an impression – led by the magnetically charismatic Tunde Adebimpe, they’re perfectly calm and wholly in control of everything happening at all times. Since bassist Gerard Smith was doing battle with lung cancer, these shows and the upcoming tour in support of new album Nine Kinds Of Light had regular drummer Jaleel Bunton covering bass duties and guest Japhet Landis taking over behind the kit but even with the changes in personnel, they were firing on all cylinders and basically affirming that while they’d taken some time off over the past year, they were absolutely back.
All things being equal I’d have stuck around for the final act of the day, Big Boi, but I’d already had a hell of a day of music and there was lunch to be had.
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