Search Results - "The Raveonettes, Nicole Atkins "
Saturday, September 29th, 2007
By rights, Nicole Atkins’ debut full-length Neptune City should have been in heavy rotation in my CD player for well over a month now – except it got pushed back from its original release date of August 20 to its new street date of October 30 and so I’ve had to make do with the Bleeding Diamonds EP and the various album tracks that’ve crept out via her MySpace or videos or what have you – until now.
Check out the link below for a full album stream of Neptune City which, I’m happy to report, confirms that the album is every bit as good as I’d hoped. The production is ultra-lush – some might complain too much so, but I think with a voice as powerful as Atkins the arrangements need that extra bit of goosing to keep up. It’s also stylistically broader than the Bleeding Diamonds EP, less torch and more rock. I’ve been reserving a place in my year-end list for this record – looks like it wasn’t jumping the gun.
Upstage has an expansive interview with Atkins in which she talks about her clothes, her dreams, her music and the series of American Express ads she and her band are currently appearing in. She’s in town on October 14 with The Raveonettes at Lee’s Palace.
Stream: Nicole Atkins & The Sea / Neptune City
Commercial: Nicole Atkins for American Express
MP3: Nicole Atkins – “Bleeding Diamonds”
MP3: Nicole Atkins – “Carouselle”
Video: Nicole Atkins & The Sea – “The Way It Is” (MySpace)
Video: Nicole Atkins – “Neptune City” (YouTube)
MySpace: Nicole Atkins
I had hoped to find the time to talk about Jens Lekman’s new album Night Falls On Kortedala before its October 9 release date, but looking ahead over the next week and change, it’s doubtful I will. So I’ll just say that it’s wonderful in the same way that his earlier work so if you like that… there you go. The Guardian has an interview and there’s a bit of an embarrassment of riches in the way of AV from the album to dive into.
MP3: Jens Lekman – “The Opposite Of Hallelujah”
MP3: Jens Lekman – “Friday Night At The Drive-In Bingo”
Video: Jens Lekman – “Sipping On The Sweet Nectar” (MOV)
Pitchfork reports that Cat Power will release her second covers record on January 22 of next year.
Dave’s Live Music Blog has some audio from Great Lake Swimmers’ instore at Criminal Records in Toronto earlier this week. They’re playing the Phoenix tonight and will be opening up for Feist on February 18 at the Sony Centre For The Performing Arts. NPR has an interview and session with her and Chart has a conversation with her boyfriend, Kevin Drew about the possible return of Broken Social Scene in a non-“presents” capacity next year.
Okkervil River does press with The Philadelphia Daily News, The Daily Tar Heel and AM New York.
Billboard gets an update on that recording of Mates Of State’s fifth album, due out early next year.
John Vanderslice, in town at the El Mocambo on Monday, is the subject of features from ArtVoice, Washington Square News, The Boston Herald and WikiNews.
The San Jose Mercury talks to Matt Berninger of The National. They’re at the Phoenix on October 8 for a show that may well be sold out by the time you finish reading this sentence. Or maybe this one.
NME reports that Liam Gallagher of Oasis no longer hates Blur. In other news, no one cares.
And tangentially, Drowned In Sound reports that all four members of Blur are meeting for the first time in five years to discuss reunion plans. Will NME be sending paparazzi and reporting back on who had what for lunch? Of course they will.
Friday, August 31st, 2007
If there was such a thing as the sound of a bird made of honey, it would sound like Jenn Grant. The Haligonian songstress, who I first discovered way back last December, released her debut album Orchestra For The Moon in May and while most everyone I know who’s heard her has been beguiled, the numbers that seems to amount to are far less than she deserves.
Possessed of a marvelous voice that’s sweet, supple and dexterous, Grant has crafted a record that deftly combines pop, folk, jazz and country styles into something that could easily fit into any of those genres yet resists such pigeonholing. But what isn’t up for debate is that Orchestra is a terrific showcase for both Grant’s vocal and songwriting talents that goes down real nice and easy – and therein lies my only complaint, and it’s a minor one. Orchestra is so smooth that it can make one yearn for just a little bit of grit or earthiness. Grant sounds like she’s gliding through the whole record and it might be nice to have her touch the ground now and again, get her feet dirty a bit. The way the best angels do.
Grant has been through town innumerable times since that show at the Drake in December and I’ve, sadly, missed them all – and I’ll probably miss the next one when she plays the El Mocambo this Wednesday, September 5 opening for The Veils, here all the way from Australia. After that, her next date is at the Phoenix on November 8, opening for The Weakerthans. Tickets for that show are $25 and go on sale next Saturday, September 8.
MP3: Jenn Grant – “Dreamer”
Video: Jenn Grant – “Dreamer” (YouTube)
MySpace: Jenn Grant
And if you’re not familiar with The Veils, here’s a single and video from their current album Nux Vormica.
MP3: The Veils – “Advice For Young Mothers To Be”
Video: The Veils – “Advice For Young Mothers To Be” (YouTube)
And if that’s not your speed but you’re still looking for something to do next Wednesday, The Bruce Peninsula, who so impressed at Dog Day Afternoon a few weekends ago, have a show at the Tranzac along with Tusks and Snailhouse. eye has an interview with head Bruce Peninsulan Neil Haverty while NOW talks Tusks.
Nicole Atkins & The Sea’s debut full-length Neptune City finally has a release date of October 30 and she’ll be celebrating that night with David Letterman. She’s at Lee’s Palace two weeks prior on October 14 with The Raveonettes. Thanks to For The Records for the info.
NOW five questions Craig Minowa of Cloud Cult, opening up for Land Of Talk at the El Mocambo on Tuesday. The Boston Globe and The Portland Mercury also have interviews.
John Vanderslice’s October 1 show has undergone a change of venue and picked up some support acts. It will now go down at the El Mocambo and feature Two Gallants and Blitzen Trapper. Horseshoe tickets will be honoured at the ElMo.
Also October 1 – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at the Kool Haus. Tickets $24.50, on sale this morning.
Good news – Patrick Wolf returns to Toronto for a show at Lee’s Palace on October 6. Bad news – I’m in Montreal. Well, bad news for me. Everything else is good news. Tickets are $17.50 and go on sale Saturday.
Glenn Hansard and Marketa Irglova – aka “the guy” and “the girl” from Once – bring the musical component of that film, The Swell Season, to the Danforth Music Hall on November 23. Hopefully the DVD will be out sometime around then as well – I still have to see it. Tickets are $28.50, on sale September 6.
Longwave, who I’m rather pleasantly surprised to see are still active, will be supporting Robbers On High Street at the Horseshoe on September 24.
Chart has details on the gala ceremony for this year’s Polaris Music Prize. It’s happening September 24 at the Phoenix, is invite-only (sorry) and will feature performances from half the nominees, namely Miracle Fortress, Julie Doiron (in Eric’s Trip band configuration), Patrick Watson, Joel Plaskett and Chad Van Gaalen. And in regards to the Arcade Fire kerfuffle reported on earlier this week, apparently the band did eventually give permission for a song to be used on the Polaris compilation CD but the disc was already at the manufacturers by the time they did so.
Harp gets acquainted with Fionn Regan, in town on September 26 with a show at the Horseshoe.
Will Sheff of Okkervil River insists to The Arizona Daily Star that that’s his natural hair colour. Also check out Down The Oubliette, a new fansite for the band dedicated to cataloguing facts, figures and trivia about the band. Okkervil plays Lee’s Palace on September 21.
Matt Berninger tells The Washington Post the story of The National. They’re at the Phoenix on October 8.
Metro Pulse confers with Jason Isbell.
Spinner interviews Bjork. She headlines day one of V Fest next Saturday.
Wednesday, August 15th, 2007
Kind of a slow day, which is actually good for me because it meant this post took far less time to write than usual. Which gave me time to finish the last Harry Potter book. Which was surprisingly satisfying.
We begin with a dip in The Besnard Lakes. Pitchfork brings word that the band’s 2003 debut album Volume 1 will be reissued by Jagjaguwar come October 23. You can check out a video from their debut below. The band are also releasing a 12″ single/EP on September 11 with “Casino Nanaimo” as the a-side and a nine-minute, live of the floor version of “Disaster” as the b-side. And finally, Sound Opinions has made available to download in podcast form a session the band recorded for them last week. Via Gorilla Vs Bear, who’s helpfully converted “Disaster” into MP3 form already.
Video: The Besnard Lakes – “The Spy Turned Musician” (MySpace)
And to their fellow aquatically-named labelmates, Okkervil River, who are sporting a shiny new website that is streaming The Stage Names in its entirety. A a good thing since I STILL haven’t gotten my copy in the mail. Pre-orders, shme-orders. Wireless Bollinger (I have no idea what that is) has an interview with Will Sheff about the myriad influences that inform the record. Under The Radar also offers up an interview with Will about the album. The Stage Names is currently rocking a solid 82% on Metacritic, for the curious among you who put stock in such things.
The New York Times profiles Ms Nicole Atkins, who still has no release date for Neptune City but hopefully sometime before her show at Lee’s Palace on October 14 opening up for The Raveonettes.
Soundscapes -the local record store turned music journalist – has an interview with Annie Clark, aka St Vincent. They’ve also got one with Los Campesinos! I forgot to link last week.
Drowned In Sound talks to Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai about copycats – both being and having. The band are working on their next album between festival appearances and hoping for an early ’08 release.
The AV Club shuffles Paul Smith of Maximo Park’s iPod. He also talks to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Cracked has assembled a fascinating list of its top ten movies never made because Hollywood sucks.
Wednesday, July 25th, 2007
I always find it a bit tough previewing a show or reviewing an album just days before I see said act live, and then have to write up a review. After all, I’d have surely used up all my good material in the first go-around, leaving me with… what for the follow-up? Just a review of the show, I guess.
Case in point, PEI’s Two Hours Traffic, whose new record Little Jabs I gave the once-over on Sunday and in celebration of the record’s release yesterday, they played a free show at the Horseshoe last night before a pretty full and enthusiastic room. And anyone who wasn’t paying attention at first was before long, their perfect pop is just that irresistible. As a live act, Two Hours Traffic aren’t going to win any awards for on-stage antics or excess charisma. Instead, the quartet concentrated intently on playing their songs and playing them well and in this, for thirty-plus hook-filled, harmony-laden minutes, they succeeded. They sounded exceptionally tight, yet played with just enough looseness to offer some extra bounce relative to the studio recordings.
And what this show did more than anything was give me an even deeper appreciation for Little Jabs‘ perfect blend of breeziness and earnestness, and I already liked this record quite a bit. Songs that were stuck in my head from listening to the record repeatedly last week came even more alive and I’m actually a bit worried that they won’t be leaving anytime soon (I went to bed with “Nighthawks” in my head and woke up with “Heroes of the Sidewalk”), though there’s far worse cranial soundtracks one could have. It’s always exciting to see a band as young and fresh-faced as these guys are achieve as much as they already have. It’ll be fun to watch where they go from here (I mean that figuratively – literally, they’re going to play continuing to tour Southern Ontario including a Saturday afternoon set at Hillside in Guelph).
The band talks to Exclaim! about the origins of their band name (Shakespeare!) and life in the littlest province (expensive but relaxed!) while Durham Region News asks them about recording the album. Director Ron Mann talks to Chart about making the band’s video for “Jezebel”. They’re also featured this week at I Heart Music.
Photos: Two Hours Traffic @ The Horseshoe – July 24, 2007
MP3: Two Hours Traffic – “Stuck For The Summer”
Stream: Two Hours Traffic / Little Jabs
Video: Two Hours Traffic – “Stuck For The Summer” (YouTube)
Video: Two Hours Traffic – “Jezebel” (YouTube)
MySpace: Two Hours Traffic
Drowned In Sound has info on Land Of Talk’s new album… except it’s their old album. Except not. The band will re-release Applause Cheer Boo Hiss in the UK on October 22 – by my count the fourth release of this album – but with three extra tracks, thus bumping it up from mini-album status to official full-length. But where are these tracks from? Freshly recorded and a preview of the next record? Cast-offs from same? Dug out of the vaults? Ask them when they play the El Mocambo on September 4.
Some digging has revealed that Nicole Atkins & The Sea will indeed be on the bill with The Raveonettes at Lee’s Palace on October 14 – this comes from tour dates posted by Gliss, who themselves are also on the tour. Indisputable proof? Not really, but enough that I’ve added it to my calendar. And so should you.
Ryan Adams returns on September 21 to play a venue a little more spacious than last time… Massey Hall. Full tour dates at Pitchfork.
Ohbijou will be playing a free show at Harbourfront Centre on August 10 as part of the Hot’N’Spicy Food Festival. Because if there’s two adjectives I think of when I think of Ohbijou, it’s “hot” and “spicy”.
Sloan and The Golden Dogs will make up one power-poptacular bill at the CNE Bandshell on August 25. I’ve no idea if these shows are extra admission or included with entrance to the Ex.
Exclaim offers a quick guide to all of this year’s Polaris Music Prize nominees including The Dears, who tell Chart that after this weekend’s festival double-header at Hillside on Saturday and the Rogers Picnic on Sunday, they’re done playing live for the year and are working on their next album.
The Guelph Tribune previews Hillside.
Muzzle Of Bees gets nine questions with Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste. Droste and the Bear will be in town on September 20 for a show at the Mod Club – full Fall tour dates at Pitchfork.
The Village Voice tries to talk to Voxtrot, gets a fire drill instead. They’ll be at the Mod Club October 10.
Pitchfork has details on Jens Lekman’s new record Night Falls Over Kortedala, out in North America on October 9.
AOL Music Canada and The Toronto Star consider the current reunion trend, using Smashing Pumpkins and The Police as case studies, and not necessarily in a good way.
Friday, July 13th, 2007
I’ve been making much of the fact that this past Tuesday and Wednesday night’s Built To Spill shows were the band’s first in Toronto, but it wasn’t my first time seeing them – I got to check them off my “must see” list at Lollapalooza last year. But a rigid festival-length set really isn’t enough to fully contain the majesty that is Built To Spill, so I was still pretty stoked to see at least half of their Hogtown debut.
The opener for the Toronto and Montreal dates seemed an odd choice for the indie rock legends – Attack In Black share a label with screamo mall-punks Alexisonfire as well as a point of origin in the Niagara Peninsula (AiB are from Welland, of canal fame). A quick MySpace listen didn’t do much for me and I considered missing their set in favour of naptime but I headed out regardless and learned that you can’t judge a band by their MySpace (except that usually you can). Rather than the shouty, adolescent angst-rock I’d expected, I found band channeling old sounds – well, 80s old – with great youthful energy. Raw and rootsy in the vein of Springsteen or The Replacements but enough suburban sheen to appeal to modern rock radio. Still not a band I’d have thought would appeal to the BTS demographic but worth skipping a nap for.
Lee’s Palace was rightly packed well before the headliners’ scheduled start time and it’s just as well as they got started a good 20 minutes early. I suspect a good portion of them had been there on Tuesday night as well and the investment paid off well as the setlists for Tuesday and Wednesday had minimal overlap – just four songs – and were overflowing with awesome. Surely appreciating the fact that this was the first time many/most in attendance had ever seen them, Doug Martsch led his band on a leisurely stroll through their whole catalog, from the compact spiky pop gems of the earlier independent records to the expansive, prog-psych rock outs of the Warner years.
Built To Spill are not much to look at onstage. Five guys, about as middle-aged and unassuming as you can get and dressed for comfort but put guitars in their hands and oh man. Though technically you can call it jammy, but the noodly connotations of the word don’t do Built To Spill justice – I prefer to think of it as sonic sculpture. Martsch, Brett Netson and Jim Roth’s guitars create cascades, torrents, DELUGES of sound that intertwine, tease, attack and make sweet love to each other – it’s a 22-string orgy up there – and yet it’s all done within the context of superb pop songs and none of it is self-indulgent, it’s all in the service of the song.
Of course, this is what every jam band fan would say about their bands but Built To Spill are just different. Only on the 27-minute encore of “Randy Described Eternity” did they seem to really start to wander but they’d been playing nearly two hours at that point, so they can be excused. But my favourite part of the encore was watching Scott Plouf begin packing up his drum kit while the guitarists were still playing. A too-funny cap to an amazing show that, while I don’t know if it was worth the fifteen-year wait – what possibly could be? – was certainly a fine debut. Here’s hoping it’s not a decade and a half wait for their next visit.
You can stream both sides of BTS’ new reggae single at Spinner and The Toronto Star has a quick review of Wednesday’s show to which I’d like to point out that while guys do love guitars, I noticed there was a significantly higher proportion of XX-chromosones in the audience than I’d have expected at the show. Which isn’t a complaint at all. But a guitar geek question – does anyone know how Doug’s Strat is wired? He had no pickup selector and only one volume control. My Lollapalooza pics show he stayed on the middle pickup the whole time (or at least the first three songs), maybe he got tired of accidentally knocking it out of place? I guess that makes more sense than assuming he’s got all three wired in series for triple output and the volume control actually turns up the awesome when he needs it…
Photos: Built To Spill, Attack In Black @ Lee’s Palace – July 11, 2007
Video: Built To Spill – “Conventional Wisdom” (YouTube)
MySpace: Built To Spill
MySpace: Attack In Black
So really, the best thing about this week’s Polaris Music Prize finalists announcements weren’t so much seeing which records made the cut but the fierce discussion/debate/hand wringing that inevitably followed, most of which focused mainly on the Anglo indie-rockness of the final ten. AOL Music Canada looks on the bright side (and calls the Besnard Lakes alt-country? Wha?) but eye opted to consult former Village Voice music critic Robert Christgau on the matter and he suggests that the 170 jurors that contributed to this year’s list constituted too many cooks and a watered-down meal. Similar topics are raised in Zoilus’ comments as well as some analysis of the regionalism of the jurors and finalists while CBC Radio 3’s commenters are far more fixated on the language issue and at Torontoist, they rather gauchely debate how last year’s winner spent his $20,000, prompting Final Fantasy to chime in in his own defense.
And some bits from some of the finalists – Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry talks to Drowned In Sound about the European festival circuit, JAM! and Radio Free Canuckistan talk to Miracle Fortress who, profile-wise, has arguably benefited most by the Polaris attention and The Besnard Lakes have got a new video. Grok it. Grok it now.
Video: The Besnard Lakes – “For Agent 13” (YouTube)
And (hopefully) a candidate for next year’s list, The Acorn will release Glory Hope Mountain on September 25.
JAM chats with Sloan about opening for the Rolling Stones.
Thanks to For The Records for pointing out that the Sadies release date reported yesterday is likely for the US – Chart reports that Canadians can celebrate New Seasons on September 18.
Happy to see The Last Town Chorus will be opening for Camera Obscura at the Phoenix on August 26. I wasn’t planning to go to this having seen CO tour Let’s Get Out Of This Country twice already but the combination of the two acts in a very slow concert month may prove too tempting to resist.
Also just announced – former Jayhawk Mark Olson is at the El Mocambo on August 28 in support of his new solo record The Salvation Blues and legendary popsmith Nick Lowe brings his new record, At My Age, to the Mod Club on September 24.
Britt Daniel gives eMusic a look at the working process behind Spoon’s Ga5.
Sea Wolf will release their debut full-length Leaves In The River on September 25.
Filter and The New York Post admire Interpol’s love.
The AV Club rightly commits Luna’s Penthouse to their Hall Of Fame. I still prefer Bewitched by a hair, but that’s probably because it was the first of their albums I discovered.
The Balitmore Sun talks to Colin Meloy of The Decemberists about the intricacies of staging an orchestral tour, as they’re doing right now.
The Scotsman says hello to Wilco.
Inside Bay Area talks to Nicole Atkins, who has pushed back the release of her new album Neptune City from July 24 to… sometime after that. I’m still trying to sort out if she’s opening for The Raveonettes at Lee’s Palace on October 14 – she’s with them in Chicago and Minneapolis the following week, but I haven’t figured out when she joins the tour. I suppose I could just ask, but where’s the fun in that?
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