Search Results - "Howe Gelb "
Wednesday, December 20th, 2006
Didn’t I tell you that Sunday night’s show with Howe Gelb and the ‘Sno Angel Project would be something special? You’re damn right I did. And I was right.
The third of three Canadian shows with Ottawa’s Voices Of Praise gospel choir with whom he collaborated on the ‘Sno Angel Like You album, there was a very laid back electricity in the club – like everyone knew it was going to be a great show, but there was no need to get all worked up about it beforehand. It’d come. And so it did when Gelb, his four-piece band (three Ottawans and one Torontonian) and the eight-piece choir ambled onstage and began performing.
As good as the material on ‘Sno Angel is, it was evident that the extra time spent between Gelb and the choir touring and playing since the album was recorded has paid off huge. The songs maintain their low-key, wise and weary resonance but the choir sounds richer and more powerful behind them, lifting them up without overwhelming. Particularly moving were the songs of Rainer Ptacek – they sounded marvelous and the obvious love Gelb had for his late Giant Sand collaborator, essentially dedicating the show to his memory, made them that much more poignant.
I kind of regret having used up all my good Gelb descriptors in my review of Giant Sand’s show at Pop Montreal in October. Allow me to reuse the “visiting, vagabond uncle with a twinkle in his eye” line again, as it was just as apt on this night as it was on that one. The biggest difference was that he seemed much more focused, which only makes sense as you can’t really meander when you’ve got a dozen other people onstage playing with you. Wry, warm and a wholly entertaining storyteller, Gelb mentioned that this – meaning the ‘Sno Angel project – was the best time he’s ever had and even as long and storied as his musical career has been, I totally believed him. Likewise, the Voices Of Praise seemed to be having an outstanding time, dancing, smiling and sounding simply marvelous and uplifting, their energy contagious. Though Gelb is confessedly non-religious, there was no denying the deep spirituality being manifested musically by those onstage.
They closed off the encore in charming fashion as well – wanting to dust off an old Giant Sand Christmas song for the season but not remembering the words, they played it karaoke style with the track coming over the PA and Gelb lip synching along and attempting to sing where possible. Goofy but utterly endearing. I know this wasn’t my last gig of the year, but if it was? What a perfect way to finish up.
Radio Free Canuckistan has posted the complete transcript of the interview with Gelb that yielded last week’s eye feature as well as a 2003 interview dug out of the archives. And Zoilus has a review of the show in yesterday’s Globe & Mail.
Photos: Howe Gelb & The ‘Sno Angel Project @ Lee’s Palace – December 17, 2006
Stream: Howe Gelb / ‘Sno Angel Like You
MySpace: Howe Gelb
Aimee Mann’s special holiday session for WOXY is now available to stream. She also talks to The Washington Times about her career choices and her Christmas album One More Drifter In The Snow.
And in happy news, I’ve been granted a photo pass for SxSW 2007 which, as the long time reader will recall, has been a holy grail of sorts for me for years now. And as much as fun as it’s been to smuggle the ol’ SLR and be able to say, “why yes – that IS a Canon in my pants”, this will be better.
np – Spacemen 3 / The Perfect Prescription
Friday, December 15th, 2006
First: Sparklehorse and Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter. Mod Club. February 23. $21, on sale December 21. HELL YES.
Ahem.
Howe Gelb, who so dazzled at Pop Montreal in his Giant Sand guise is back in Toronto this Sunday with Ottawa’s Voices Of Praise gospel choir as The ‘Sno Angel Project, from whence his latest album ‘Sno Angel Like You got it’s name. Mixing new compositions with old ones rejigged for the format (compare the drunken roar of “Get To Leave” in it’s original form on Long Stem Rant with the hushed hymnal of that opens ‘Sno Angel), the record is bluesy and spiritual and despite its wintry title and Canadian origins, still carries a lot of Gelb’s trademark raffishness and distinctive Arizonan desert vibe throughout.
Released back in March, ‘Sno Angel is a slow, subtle and steady grower and has been a real late-year favourite for me – just in time for Sunday’s show. This one’s got my highest recommendation to check out, so if you’re free on Sunday night then I strongly urge you to head over to Lee’s – this is one of only three shows he’s doing with the ‘Sno Angel Project (they play Montreal and Ottawa tonight and tomorrow respectively) so you should go, if not for yourself than for the Gelb fans out there who’d probably give their left arm to be there. They go on at 9:15 – tickets are still available, $17.50 advance and $20 at the door.
He discusses the transcendent experience of the live performance with eye and the making of the album with NOW and The Toronto Star. Back in the Spring, he talked to Harp about discovering the Voices Of Praise choir and his long-simmering feud with former collaborators Calexico. And despite being one of the best-reviewed albums of 2006, I’ve noticed it to be conspicuously absent from many year-end lists which is really a damn shame.
Stream: Howe Gelb – “But I Did Not” (QT)
MySpace: Howe Gelb
Ottawa’s The Acorn are at Lee’s tonight with Elliott Brood and in regards to their new EP Tin Fist, this five-star review at eye says everything I would want to, only more articulately. It, and its short-form predecessor Blankets! are both wonderful and almost set the bar impossibly high for their full-length due out next Spring but you know what? I’m not worried. The Acorn are on at 11PM tonight.
And as long as I’m raiding this week’s eye for fodder, I’ll point out this nifty Great Lake Swimmers item – the Zunior/Great Lake Swimmers digital box set. It’s a USB drive with digital versions of the first two GLS albums, the new Hands In Dirty Ground EP, tour photos and the video for “To Leave It Behind”. Cute, eh? For those not so technologically inclined the new EP will also be available on 10″ vinyl. Tony Dekker tells The Waterloo Record to look for a new Great Lake Swimmers full-length in the Spring. And Zunior also has a free holiday mix available to download.
Owen Pallett of Final Fantasy discusses his next album, Heartland, with Pitchfork. He also talks about how he spent his Polaris winnings and his work with Arcade Fire, who are finally ready to drop their new album. It’s called Neon Bible, will be out in March and you can hear the first single, “Intervention”, at ArcadeFire.net. Update: MP3 is gone but link to BBC webcast from which it was taken is available. Expect Toronto show(s) to be announced soon-ish, as well. There are rumours flying about the where and when but I will refrain from spreading gossip until it’s confirmed.
The Sydney Morning Herald talks to Carl Newman of The New Pornographers about the art of songwriting. Newman and co will be at Nathan Phillips Square on February 3 as part of the WinterCity 2007 festival. Thanks to For The Records for the link to the sked.
Looking way ahead, Edmonton’s Shout Out Out Out Out are at Lee’s Palace on March 3, tickets $13.50.
np – The Brother Kite / Waiting For The Time To Be Right
Thursday, November 9th, 2006
Not necessarily the first person you’d think of as a workaholic, but Isobel Campbell just released her second album of 2006, Milk White Sheets. Recorded amidst the sessions for Ballad Of The Broken Seas (while waiting for Mark Lanegan to find time to record his parts), it’s quite a different beast from its Mercury-nominated sibling. Whereas that record saw the Scottish songstress exploring new and interesting country-soul directions, Milk White Sheets is a collection of traditional and traditional-sounding songs that is very much in the vein of the wispy, folk of her earlier records.
To be fair, Campbell’s voice – while pretty – isn’t the most versatile instrument and there’s no fault in sticking to one’s strengths. The songwriting (she contributes a number of originals alongside the standards) and arrangements both serve the fairy tale atmosphere of the record quite effectively and for what it aspires to be, Milk White Sheets can be called a success. And yet I can’t help feeling a bit frustrated and even a bit disappointed by this release, which is odd because I don’t actually have many/any expectations of Ms Campbell. I guess I just hoped that the Lanegan collaboration, which I found intriguing if not entirely successful, might signal a new, less predictable phase in her career. But then again, she tells Billboard that she’s been working a little with Giant Sand-man Howe Gelb – that could be promising. What can I say – I think she works best in ampersand-ed projects.
Campbell also talks a bit about making the record with Aversion while Metacritic tallies up the critical response.
MP3: Isobel Campbell – “Beggar, Wiseman or Thief”
MP3: Isobel Campbell – “Cachel Wood”
MySpace: Isobel Campbell
PopMatters has an interview with another artist who walked away from an ultra-successful British band to pursue his own muse – Mr Graham Coxon. His latest, Love Travels At Illegal Speeds, is out now.
The Toronto Star goes quote fishing with Noel Gallagher of Oasis. “…Placebo — I don’t mean to bring that band down, although they are shite…” – got one!
Under The Radar has posted online the whole of their interview with Joanna Newsom, an abbreviated version of which appeared in their Fall issue.
NME reports that the next album from Bright Eyes, due in Spring of next year, will be more apocalyptic. APOCALYPTIC BRIGHT EYES. Think about that.
James McNew of Yo La Tengo talks to Drowned In Sound.
The Constantines inject a little rock into the December concert calendar (which is looking pretty anemic right now) with a show at Lee’s Palace on December 1. Then the next day they’re part of an all-ages matinee benefit at Lee’s for Care Canada, on a bill that also features K-OS and Jason Collett. Collett will then headline the evening show at Lee’s. Tickets for the three shows are $17.50, $16 and $15 respectively and go on sale tomorrow (the Collett tickets are already available). Also just announced – Elliott Brood are at Lee’s on December 15 and are also playing the Weewerk show thing at the Toronto Reference Library next Saturday evening. No idea if tickets for that are still available.
Pitchfork announces that Brooklyn cosmic country workaholics Oakley Hall have signed with Merge Records and will release their next album sometime next Summer, probably by August.
np – XTC / Oranges & Lemons
Monday, October 2nd, 2006
So I’m off to Pop Montreal this Thursday and am getting quite excited about it, if for no other reason than it means that one way or another the deadlines at work have passed and I am out of this burg for a few days at least. And though it’s just five hours away, I haven’t been to Montreal in about… 30 years. So that’s also exciting.
Besides the festival, I’ll be participating in this panel at the Future Of Music policy summit, which should be interesting and terrifying at the same time. But back to the festival. There’s obviously lots of talent in attendance, but no really big draws for me personally – at least no one that I’d have otherwise travelled five hours to see (and anyways, most of the will have played in Toronto immediately before or after their Montreal gig).
But ask me who I’m most excited to see and I’d tell you Denmark’s Under Byen. whom I wrote up a little while back. In conjunction with the first North American release of one of their records – Samme Stof Som Stof, out October 10 – they’re conducting a short tour of Canada that includes two Pop Montreal shows, one in Ottawa and one in Toronto on October 9 at the Horseshoe. The first Pop Montreal date is opening for Joanna Newsom so you know they’re going to have the opportunity to impress a packed house. The second, and the one I’m planning to attend, is with sometime-collaborator Howe Gelb who will be performing with Giant Sand. That’s the same bill that’ll be in T.O. on Thanksgiving, and if they blow me away and if I can muster the energy, there’s good chance I’ll be at that show as well.
Samme Stof Som Stof continues to engross me and all accounts are that the band are astonishing live. Both Chart and Exclaim! have interviews with the band.
MP3: Under Byen – “Af Samme Stof Som Stof”
MP3: Under Byen – “Den Her Sang Handler Om At Fa Det Bedste Ud Af Det”
Video: Under Byen – “Af Samme Stof Som Stof” (YouTube)
MySpace: Under Byen
As for the rest of the fest, because of how the Pop Montreal RSVP system worked for media folk I basically had to pick out my main shows for each night a week in advance. While there’s nothing that says I can’t change my mind and see something else, but percluding club-hopping these are the lineups that I’ve signed up for:
Thursday, October 5:
The Hot Springs, Tokyo Police Club, Portastatic and Snailhouse @ La Sala Rossa
Sloan, The Yoko Casionos and Flames! @ Theatre Nationale
Hexes & Ohs @ Preloved
The Diableros, Andre Ethier @ The Green Room
The Soft Disaster @ Casa Del Popolo
Dragonette @ L’Hemisphere Gauche
Basia Bulat @ L’Escogriffe
A Northern Chorus @ O Patro Vys.
– I’ll probably take the Hot Springs over Sloan. I haven’t seen Sloan in 12 years or so but also haven’t really cared about them in 4. The rest I will simply spin the bottle and see what comes up.
Friday, October 6:
Islands, The Big Sleep and Miracle Fortress @ Les Saints
Jessica Bailiff @ La Salla Rosa
The Dandybeards @ The Green Room
Henri Faberge & The Adorables @ L’Escogriffe.
– The Big Sleep is the big draw for me here. I will probably head out after them to give hometown kids Henri Faberge some long-delayed attention. But as you can see, I’ve got a pretty light sched for Friday so far. If you’re going to help me out with any night, make it this one.
Saturday, October 7:
Giant Sand, Under Byen and Mike O’Brien @ Cabaret du Musee Juste Pour Rire
Laura Barrett @ The Green Room
Dirty On Purpose @ Quai Des Brumes
Charlamagne @ Missy Bar
The Besnard Lakes @ Club Lambi
– Sort of a shame I’m dead set on the Giant Sand/Under Byen since there’s a fair bit of other interesting stuff going on at the same time. Alas, sacrifices must be made.
Sunday, October 8:
The Constantines and Favourite Sons @ The Mile End Cultural Centre
Regina Spektor, The Only Son @ Le National
Carolyn Mark, The Acorn and Schooner @ Casa Del Popolo.
– I didn’t actually manage to get an RSVP in for the Constantines, but am hoping to be able to see both the Acorn and the Constantines regardless. But if all else fails, I do have an RSVP for the Regina Spektor gig… of course, I won’t find out I can’t get into the Constantines until after Regina Spektor starts… right, we’ll play this by ear. But for the record, Schooner sounds VERY promising.
And that’s what my weekend looks like. Seems like a lot, but compared to my schedules for SxSW, this is a cakewalk (or a promenade de gateau, as they say in Quebec). Of course, recommendations on who else I should see in addition to (if not in lieu of) what I’ve already picked out are welcome. There are free downloads from many Pop Montreal artists available over at Puretracks – do yourself (and possibly me) a favour and check them out.
Naturally, the local media is all agog with festival features – The Montreal Gazette talks to festival organizer Dan Seligman and also chats with FMC keynote speaker David Byrne, the Montreal Mirror previews some of the performers and hour.ca wonders where all the big names in this year’s lineup are.
And also, while a goodly amout of my time will be spent at the Future Of Music summit and Pop Montreal events, I will also (hopefully) have time to play tourist a bit. What should I make a point of seeing/doing? Remember – 30 years since I’ve been there.
Speaking of Howe Gelb, according to The Independent, he may be working with Isobel Campbell next. Okay, maybe this is a good time to mention I’ve never heard any of Howe Gelb’s music in any of his incarnations. Does this make me a bad person?
Toronto is going to Montreal… and a little bit of Montreal is coming to Toronto. Malajube will be at Lee’s Palace on November 25. Tickets $10.
Saturday night was the first-ever, Nuit Blanche city-wide art installation in Toronto, and while I didn’t do the all-night thing like some – I had to go in to work Sunday morning – I did hit a number of art installations in “Zone A”, aka the University of Toronto campus and Yorkville. I saw some really cool stuff (Fujiko Nakaya’s fog sculpture across Philosopher’s Walk – though really seemingly not more than some smoke machines – was amazing to experience) and some awful stuff (author Russell Smith, clad in leather pants, reading from his second-person, female-protagonist, pseudonym-published book of erotica? Not as bad as you might think – it’s worse) but the rain held off, the crowds were out and it was a very cool and un-Toronto vibe all around. Some photos at my Flickr and in the Flickr group. The Toronto Star reports back on the event.
np – My Morning Jacket / Okonokos
Monday, September 26th, 2005
I’m going to try and get back into the swing of things by recapping some of the news that’s come about in the past couple weeks. Some will be old news, I’m sure, but what can you do.
Wilco will put out their double-live album Kicking Television – Live In Chicago on November 1 after all, though it’s just the aural document. No word on what happened to the DVD, whether it’s been scrapped or will be released on its own at a later date. As it is, an official live record featuring Nels Cline in the lineup will be nice, though considering that every Wilco show in the last few years has been recorded and made available online, it’s not THAT exciting an event. But still. New Wilco. Yay. See the full-size album art here and the tracklist here. Jeff Tweedy is doing a smallish solo acoustic tour in November around the midwest/east coast, but nothing north of the border.
Circle March 7, 2006 on your release calendar as that’s the day that Neko Case’s new studio album, her first since 2002’s Blacklisted, hits stores. Fox Confessor Brings The Flood features many of the same guest artists as that record, including Calexico’s Joey Burns and John Convertino, Giant Sand’s Howe Gelb and The Sadies. New collaborators include The Band’s Garth Hudson and Visqueen’s Rachel Flotard. Prefix has the official press release.
Irish songstress Gemma Hayes has given her sophomore album a name – The Roads Don’t Love You – and a release date in the UK – October 31. Her first album, Night On My Side, came out in North America in a considerably different form than it did in Europe, with a significantly altered tracklist and running order. I wonder if we’ll get a domestic release of the second album and if so, whether it’ll get rejigged for the market.
Beulah fans will have to content themselves with the A Good Band Is Easy To Kill DVD as there will be no Miles Krukowsky solo album in 2005 after all. In a website update, guitarist Bill Swan reports that Miles had serious surgery on his arm recently and will only be going into the studio in January after he’s (hopefully) sufficiently recovered.
We also shouldn’t expect anything new from Tanya Donelly anytime soon – she’s pregnant with her second child. Congratulations are in order, as well as thanks that she had the foresight to record a live album of new material last year which will hopefully see release sometime soon.
The Guardian salutes Bob Dylan. Part one of No Direction Home airs on PBS tonight – I think I will just seek out the DVD.
Bob Mould chats with The AV Club (have they dropped the “Onion” brand completely?) before setting out on his North American tour in support of Body Of Song (now underway), which includes a show this Sunday at the Mod Club in Toronto.
Chart talks to Rob Dickinson about flying solo with Fresh Wine For The Horses. I got my copy on Friday and already I find weird discoloured scuff marks on the playing surface. What the fuck? I’ve spun this thing, like, four times. Rob and I will have words about the manufacturer’s quality control when he plays the Horseshoe October 7, believe you me.
Something I totally forgot while I was away was that the new television season was getting started. Not much network TV on the Baltic Sea, y’know. So when I got back I had to download myself the first two episodes of the new season of Justice League Unlimited and the Arrested Development season premiere. I was able to catch last night’s new West Wing in real time but will have to rely on bit torrent for the season premiere of Veronica Mars on Wednesday – I don’t think I get UPN here. So those are the returning shows on my viewing schedule (24 doesn’t return till January). Anything new worth my attention? I’ll need something to while away the hours while I munch on bonbons and wait for my EI cheque to arrive.
np – Rob Dickinson / Fresh Wine For The Horses
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