Saturday, October 30th, 2010
Frank YangWho: The Morning Benders
What: Bay Area power-poppers who are enjoying a pretty good year on the strength of their breakout record Big Echo.
Why: Not believing in such a thing as market saturation, they’re returning to Toronto for their sixth show of 2010 which included opening stints for Broken Bells and The Black Keys (a two-fer) and an in-store at an ice cream parlour sandwiched between headlining gigs.
When: Friday, November 5, 2010
Where: The Mod Club in Toronto (19+)
Who else: Twin Sister and Oberhofer will open things up
How: Tickets are $15 in advance, but courtesy of Collective Concerts, I’ve got two pairs of passes to the show to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want my Morning Bent” in the subject line and your full name in the body. The contest will close at midnight, November 2.
What else: The band talks to The San Jose Mercury News about their name and to eater.com about the joys of eating on the road.
MP3: The Morning Benders – “Promises”
Video: The Morning Benders – “Promises”
Saturday, October 30th, 2010
Jon BergmanWho: Junip
What: Before Jose Gonzalez found fame as Jose Gonzalez, he was frontman for this Swedish trio who sound – surprise – like Jose Gonazlez backed by a band. Which is to say hypnotic folk-pop, but with electronic textures and a rhythm section.
Why: Five years after releasing their debut EP and an extended break, Junip have finally released their debut album Fields and are taking said record on tour around the world.
When: Friday, November 5, 2010
Where: Lee’s Palace in Toronto (19+)
Who else: Sharon Van Etten is opening up on this tour and is worth the price of admission alone.
How: Tickets are $15 in advance, but courtesy of Mute Records and Collective Concerts, I’ve got goodies to give away. One winner will get two copies of the deluxe, triple-disc edition of Fields on CD and two copies of the Rope & Summit EP on 12″ vinyl to go with a pair of passes to the show, and two runner-up winners will get a pair of passes to the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Junip” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body. The contest will close at midnight, November 2.
MP3: Junip – “Rope & Summit
Video: Junip – “Always”
Friday, October 29th, 2010
Blood Red Shoes and Sky Larkin at The Horseshoe in Toronto
Frank YangIs it possible for a band to steal their own show? It is when you’re far more interested in the support act than the headliner, as I was Wednesday night at The Horseshoe. I had already planned to attend even when it was just Brighton, UK’s Blood Red Shoes on the bill – I liked their two albums, including their latest and first North American release Fire Like This, well enough – but when Sky Larkin were announced as support, well it became an absolute must-see.
I had loved the Leeds trio’s 2009 debut The Golden Spike and rate this year’s follow-up Kaleide only slightly behind it, though at only a few months old it’s got lots of time to curry more favour. The difference between the two is really just degrees, as both are packed with wiry, spiky pop whose melodic qualities make them immediate and yet whose quirkiness allows them to continue to grow and unfold with repeated listens. And while these traits are very much in evidence in the live setting, what you notice most about the band on stage is just how much fun they’re having and how effortless they make it all seem.
When they’re playing, you just have to watch frontwoman Katie Harkin and how she seems at one with her guitar whilst dancing, hopping and swaying around the stage without missing a beat or note, or maybe drummer Nestor Matthews as he gives some epic drummer face while punishing his kit for some heinous transgressions. And between songs, their bantering with the audience and each other was just as entertaining – bassist Doug Adams may have been generally more placid on stage than his bandmates, but he did offer some choice words about Toronto’s new mayor-elect (“I’ve been reading about this Rob Ford guy – he’s an asshole!”). Their set didn’t crackle quite and fiercely as their visit to the Cameron Houe down the street a year and a day earlier, but it was still plenty great and Matthews got to celebrate his birthday without bleeding all over his kit.
So even before the headliners even set foot on stage, the night was deemed a success but even if, on paper, you preferred Sky Larkin’s more classically indie guitar-pop, there wasn’t going to be any resisting of Blood Red Shoes’ blunt instrument, ’90s alt rock-saluting attack. With Laura-Mary Carter on guitar, Steven Ansell on drums and both on vocals, their musical approach may have been less nuanced than their openers, but they understood the effectiveness of coming on strong and not letting up for a moment. And so it was that their relentless set focused on the most aggressive moments of Fire Like This and their debut Box Of Secrets and the permutations of their simple musical recipe – thick riffs and spidery lines from Carter’s Telecaster and steady, heavy rhythms from Ansell’s kit. On record, the balance of the vocals seems to favour Ansell, his hollers coming across more forcefully than Carter’s dulcet singing style, but live, it was much more evenly split and it was for the better. There may have only the two of them but they roared like a much larger band and in response, the smallish but enthusiastic audience cheered like a packed stadium. Go for the Sky Larkin, stay for the Blood Red Shoes, leave dazed and satisfied.
The Valley Star, Georgia Straight and San Francisco Examiner have features on Blood Red Shoes.
Photos: Blood Red Shoes, Sky Larkin @ The Horseshoe – October 27, 2010
MP3: Blood Red Shoes – “Light It Up”
MP3: Sky Larkin – “Kaleide”
MP3: Sky Larkin – “Molten”
Video: Blood Red Shoes – “Heartsink”
Video: Blood Red Shoes – “Don’t Ask”
Video: Blood Red Shoes – “Colours Fade”
Video: Blood Red Shoes – “This Is Not For You”
Video: Blood Red Shoes – “Say Something, Say Anything”
Video: Blood Red Shoes – “I Wish I Was Someone Better”
Video: Blood Red Shoes – “It’s Getting Boring By The Sea”
Video: Sky Larkin – “Still Windmills”
Video: Sky Larkin – “Antibodies”
Video: Sky Larkin – “Beeline”
Video: Sky Larkin – “Fossil, I”
Video: Sky Larkin – “Molten”
Video: Sky Larkin – “One Of Two”
MySpace: Blood Red Shoes
MySpace: Sky Larkin
Interview talks to Elly Jackson of La Roux.
Clash and Dallas Voice have feature interviews with Antony Hegarty of Antony & The Johnsons.
Prefix has an interview with The Drums, who’ve just released a new video from their self-titled debut.
Video: The Drums – “Me & The Moon”
The Daily Iowan and Interview discover Phantogram.
The Walrus and Consequence Of Sound catch up with Liz Phair, who tries to explain every song on her mostly awful new record Funstyle to New York Magazine.
The Lissie show originally scheduled for last Tuesday and then cancelled when she lost her voice has now been rescheduled for January 18 of next year, but moved from the relatively cozy confines of the El Mocambo to the more spacious Opera House. Tickets for the new show are $15 and tickets for the old one will still be honoured.
MP3: Lissie – “Everywhere I Go”
New York Magazine gets some choice words from Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields. Strange Powers, the documentary on Merritt and his music, opens in Toronto next Thursday.
Thursday, October 28th, 2010
Mogwai want to remind you of your own mortality and will do it in person
Steve GullickWith 2010 tasked largely to the production and promotion of Burning and Special Moves, their aural and visual live summation of their first decade and half of existence, Mogwai will enter 2011 with eyes pointed straight ahead. The Scots have released released details of their seventh studio album, which will carry the typically wonderful title of Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. There really is something to be said for being a mostly-instrumental band who never has to sing their titles in a chorus or anything.
Their first record to be released in North America on their new label SubPop, it will be made available on February 15 over here while coming out the day before on their own Rock Action label in the UK. An extensive world tour will precede, coincide with and follow the record’s release, starting in the UK and Europe and making its way across the Atlantic for North American dates come April – Toronto gets our on April 26 when the band plays The Phoenix.
And apropos of nothing, besides the fact that it’s a Mogwai song, the new Batman movie has a title and it’s Hallowe’en this weekend … Batcat! LOL.
Video: Mogwai – “I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead”
eMusic, PhillyBurbs and The Chicago Tribune have interviews with Teenage Fanclub.
Chart, eye and Clash talk to The Vaselines, who are coming to play The Horseshoe on October 30.
La Roux’s Elly Jackson tells Spinner she’s losing interest in the old synth-pop sound.
Matador has revealed details on and offered up the first MP3 from the forthcoming debut album from Brits Esben & The Witch; Violet Cries will be released in North America on February 7, a week after it’s out in the UK. I said after seeing them live in September that I’d wait to hear the record, when presumably they’d be operating with more structure, before deciding if I liked them or not. So here we will go.
MP3: Esben & The Witch – “Warpath”
NME has details on the inevitable forthcoming deluxe edition of Mumford & Sons’ debut Sigh No More, the “deluxe” referring to the new accompanying live CD and DVD. It will be out in the Spring but apparently those who’ve already shelled out for the non-deluxe version – which is to say most everyone who would have wanted it – can download the bonus material for free. Details on how that’ll work forthcoming, I assume. Mumford & Sons play a sold-out gig at the Sound Academy on November 13.
Spinner interviews Damon Albarn, presently of Gorillaz but for all time of Blur.
NME reports that Charlatans drummer Jon Brookes, felled by a brain tumour last month, has already recovered enough to have reclaimed his (drum) throne by playing the band’s encore in Birmingham last Saturday.
Under The Radar and The University Observer talk to Two Door Cinema Club, who offer Drowned In Sound a guide to bands on how to “make it”.
The Von Pip Musical Express chats with Lisa Milberg of The Concretes. Their new record WYWH is out November 8.
John Eriksson of Peter Bjorn & John (he’s the John) gives Spin a status update on their next record.
Wednesday, October 27th, 2010
Shearwater + Xiu Xiu = Blue Water White Death
Pitch PerfectFor fans of a certain artfully raw and dramatic brand of indie rock, neither Jonathan Meiburg nor Jamie Stewart really needs an introduction. The former was a principal in Okkervil River and now fronts Shearwater, while the latter has been the creative force behind Xiu Xiu since 2002, and for the benefit of those familiar with one and not the other, their bands had toured together in recent years.
And now, they’ve made an album together. Over the course of a week earlier this year, Meiburg and Stewart came together in a studio to write and record and the result is Blue Water White Death – the name of both the project and the album. Presented in very spare sonic terms, it sounds very much like what you’d expect the offspring of Shearwater and Xiu Xiu to sound like, taking advantage of the fact that Meiburg and Stewarts voices are similar enough to sound like flip sides of the same emotional coin; Meiburg the powerful and Stewart the fragile. I didn’t really expect to like Blue Water White Death as much as I do, figuring my affection for Shearwater and disinterest in Xiu Xiu woulf cancel each other out, but these eight starkly beautiful and unsettlingly discordant songs are surprisingly compelling listening throughout.
Interview talks to Jonathan Meiburg about the origins of the project and working with Stewart.
MP3: Blue Water White Death – “Song For The Greater Jihad”
Video: Blue Water White Death – “Grunt Tube”
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals will bring their new self-titled album to town for a show at Lee’s Palace on December 7, tickets $15.
Video: Grace Potter & The Nocturals – “Paris (Ooh La La)”
Proving that there’s still no shortage of demand for things broken and/or social, Broken Social Scene have added a second show at the Sound Academy on December 10, tickets $30 in advance. Note that Superchunk don’t appear to be playing that second show, so they’ll only be performing on the 9th. The Courier-Journal talks to the ‘Chunk’s Mac McCaughan.
MP3: Broken Social Scene – “World Sick”
Former Beta Band frontman Steve Mason released his solo debut Boys Outside back in May and will be playing some select North American dates in mid-December to support; his tour wraps on December 20 at Wrongbar in Toronto. Wales Online has an interview and there’s a couple acoustic live tracks to download over at Domino.
MP3: Steve Mason – “All Come Down”
Video: Steve Mason – “Lost & Found”
Personal matters have forced Dum Dum Girls to cancel the remainder of their tour supporting The Vaselines, including Saturday night’s show at The Horseshoe.
eMusic and BBC have features on Warpaint. Their debut album The Fool was released this week.
Spinner talks to Rhett Miller of Old 97’s – he and bassist Murry Hammond will be playing songs from their new album The Grand Theatre Volume One when the pair play the El Mocambo on November 10.
Strange Powers, the documentary about Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields, will be making its Canadian premiere at the TIFF Lightbox on November 4. No idea if it’s a one-off or limited run, but if you want to see it on the big screen, you best set the evening aside and finagle tickets.
Trailer: Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields
No Comments
facebook
![[Valid RSS]](http://www.chromewaves.net/images/interface/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed"){kind=small}