Tuesday, October 12th, 2010
Chapterhouse, Ulrich Schnauss and Fjord Rowboat at Lee’s Palace in Toronto
Frank YangOne might think that after last weekend’s three-day salute to the ’90s I’d be ready to get back to the 21st century, musically-speaking, but instead last Wednesday night turned the dial on the wayback-machine even further – Chapterhouse was in town. The North American leg of their reunion tour, which began in late 2009, was delayed from May until this Fall due to volcanic ash though the Toronto show was cancelled earlier for reasons unknown. Hogtown was back on for the new dates, however, and at a larger venue no less that was respectably filled. Clearly whatever reason nixed the original date wasn’t lack of interest.
For anyone with even a passing affection for the British shoegazing movement of the early ’90s, it was hard not to be interested – My Bloody Valentine aside, this was the only first-wave shoegaze band in recent memory to reunite, let alone play shows in North America, in well over a decade (if anyone wants to fact-check that statement, feel free). And while Chapterhouse weren’t as seminal – in my eyes/ears, anyways – as the likes of Ride, Slowdive or Lush, their credentials are indisputable and their debut Whirlpool an essential listen for the genre. Which is basically another way of saying, “if you are a shoegaze fan and Chapterhouse come to your town, you go”.
Locals Fjord Rowboat know how that goes, but for them it was “if Chapterhouse comes to your town, you lend them your gear and open for them”. Which they did, and in return got to play an impressive show for probably a more receptive audience than they’ve ever had. I used Chapterhouse as a reference point their 2007 debut Saved The Compliments For Morning and that still holds for the just-released follow-up Under Cover Of Brightness, the band remaining faithful to the spirit of shoegazing while remembering, unlike many modern-day purveyors of the style, that what made the greats great was that underneath the layers of sound, there were solid songs. And in the interests of disclosure, I should mention that Fjord has two former bandmates in their number. High five!
I’d lived the Ulrich Schnauss experience twice before and thought I’d figured out the secret to appreciating his electro-ambient stuff – close your eyes. Then you don’t notice that the entire “live” set consists of Schnauss playing preprogrammed tracks off his laptop while adding keyboards overtop or mixing things in real-time, or at least I assume that’s what he was doing – I couldn’t actually hear anything changing in the mix as he clicked and fiddled. This time his set came with its own visual component – projections of European urban scenes, mostly looking as though they’d been filmed from a moving car, which held ones interest for a while but after they began to loop, one’s attention began to wander. By the end, I had a new way to enjoy Schnauss’ set – as a particularly cosmic soundtrack to a game of iPhone Civilization.
One of the first thing you notice about Chapterhouse is how young they all still look – all five are barely 40 (if even) and frontmen Andrew Sherriff and Stephen Patman still look remarkably boyish. This is less a comment on their skin care regimen than the fact that they were barely into their twenties (if even) when Whirlpool was released and so, returning to Toronto for the first time in nearly 20 years, they still seemed younger than many acts making their debuts. Also setting them apart from many other acts on the road today was the fact that they weren’t out trying to win over new fans or make a name for themselves – if you were there, you knew why and what you were going to get and were just happy to be there. This isn’t to suggest that the bar for performance was lowered at all, but any mistakes or less-than-perfection – and there was some, in the way of feedback (the bad kind, not the good kind), some awkward re-learning of songs onstage and a “Crystal” that wasn’t as tight or together as you’d want – were quickly and easily forgiven.
Instead, it was much easier to focus on the good. There was the seemingly endless rotation of my favourite guitars and the massive sounds the three guitarists coaxed out of them, including Simon Rowe whose status in Mojave 3 is as unclear as the band’s itself and who missed their last tour. There was their cover of The Beatles’ “Rain”, which got a pass on my usual “no Beatles covers please” rule, their pretty much perfect rendering of “Pearl” – more than making up for “Crystal” – and a set list that, while curiously light on their second album Blood Music, delivered almost all of Whirlpool and a selection of b-sides and rarities that they must have known would be appreciated by an audience of the faithful.
While they were hardly monsters of rock onstage, it was hard to imagine that their performances inspired the originally-derisive “shoegaze” label – sure, Rowe stood pretty much stock-still through the set but Sherriff and Patman moved around and hardly glanced at their feet. Of course, unlike many of their peers Chapterhouse have always been as much about the groove as the wall of sound, sometimes referred to as “baggy-gaze” and moving further towards dance and electronic sounds with Blood Music. None of which makes them sound any more contemporary, but no one was here for contemporary. We were here for 1990 and Chapterhouse brought it.
Prefix and The Faster Times have Chapterhouse interviews and Jess Barnett a conversation with Ulrich Schnauss. Exclaim and Panic Manual have reviews of the Toronto show.
Photos: Chapterhouse, Ulrich Schnauss, Fjord Rowboat @ Lee’s Palace – October 6, 2010
MP3: Chapterhouse – “Pearl”
MP3: Ulrich Schnauss – “Passing By”
MP3: Fjord Rowboat – “Carried Away”
MP3: Fjord Rowboat – “Paragon”
Video: Chapterhouse – “Breather”
Video: Chapterhouse – “April”
Video: Ulrich Schnauss – “Medusa”
Video: Fjord Rowboat – “Carried Away”
MySpace: Chapterhouse
MySpace: Fjord Rowboat
Beatroute and The Boston Globe talk to The Vaselines; they’re in town on October 30 for a show at The Horseshoe.
The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Record and DCist have feature pieces on Teenage Fanclub.
NPR talks to Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian. He and his band are at Massey Hall tonight and their new album Write About Love is also out today – the promo TV talk show put together for the record is streaming at PitchforkTV and the performance of “I Want The World To Stop” from said programme has been excerpted as the first official video from the record.
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “I Want The World To Stop”
Video: Belle & Sebastian Write About Love
A track from Idlewild’s latest (and final?) album Post-Electric Blues has been made available to download to mark the album’s North American release today.
MP3: Idlewild – “Younger Than America”
Drowned In Sound has gone a little British Sea Power-crazy, what with the release of the new Zeus EP in advance of next year’s new full-length – they’ve commissioned a number of features from the band, including their top five UK castles, ten things they wish they hadn’t done, the joy of knitting and a guide to keeping amused on the road.
Charlatans drummer Jon Brookes takes to the band’s blog to thank fans for their support as he convalesces from surgery for a brain tumour while Clash talks to frontman Tim Burgess. A track from their new record Who We Touch has been made available to download.
MP3: The Charlatans – “Love Is Ending”
Barry Hyde of The Futureheads tells Spinner they’re planning on releasing an a capella record early next year.
The Fly has a first listen to the new White Lies record Ritual, due out January 17 in the UK.
A whole slew of new videos in the past few days from the other side of the Atlantic – let’s start with Kele, who has a new clip from his solo record The Boxer.
Video: Kele – “On The Lam”
Foals have rolled out a new video from their second record Total Life Forever.
Video: Foals – “Blue Blood”
Mystery Jets have a new short from this year’s Serotonin. eFestivals and MusicOmh also have interviews.
Video: Mystery Jets – “Show Me The Light”
6 Day Riot have a video for the first single from their forthcoming record On This Island, available in the UK on November 1.
Video: 6 Day Riot – “Take Me Out”
Oxford University’s Cherwell talks to Kate Nash, who has a new single to coincide with her North American tour. It kicks off later this month and includes a date at The Phoenix on November 13.
Video: Kate Nash – “Later On”
For whatever reason, the powers that be have decided that the UK video for La Roux’s “In For The Kill”, out for over a year, just won’t cut it for American audiences and have commissioned a new one. I guess their focus groups demanded more snakes, less cars.
Video: La Roux – “In For The Kill” (US)
Video: La Roux – “In For The Kill” (UK)
The Telegraph talks to Duffy, who releases her second album Endlessly on November 30.
Word is Johnny Flynn’s October 18 show at Lee’s Palace has been postponed until mid-November; all other shows on the North American jaunt, including the 19th in Montreal, appear to still be on, so no idea what the problem with T.O. is. Anyone else hear “Kentucky Pill” on last week’s Weeds? Of course not, because no one with any dignity should admit to watching Weeds anymore. Me, I just heard about it. On the Twitter. Yeah.
Spinner talks to Elvis Costello about his new album National Ransom, out November 2. You can download a track from the record at his website.
Norway’s Serena-Maneesh have rolled out a new video from S-M 2: Abyss In B Minor.
Video: Serena-Maneesh – “D.I.W.S.W.T.T.D.”
NPR is streaming a complete show from The Tallest Man On Earth.
Sunday, October 10th, 2010
Belle & Sebastian cover The Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson
Frank YangFlashback to November 2003 and Belle & Sebastian’s second last visit to Toronto and first at Massey Hall – an eminently memorable show for both reasons bad and good. The bad being an invitation to have an audience member come up and sing a song with the band backfiring when she demanded they play one of HER own songs (which they did, politely and awkwardly) and the good being pretty much everything else but particularly their impromptu (at hollered audience request) cover of The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back”, which began with Bob Kildea goofing on the bassline, the rest of the band looking at each other, shrugging and joining in with Stuart Murdoch showing off his falsetto.
It was a magical moment that still stands out in a magical show, and one that since it came before camera phones with video and audio capability became ubiquitous, one that I thought was undocumented except by anecdote and a handful of blurry photos. As it turns out, I just haven’t been looking hard enough, because an audience recording of that Massey show – or at least that one song – has been circulating in live bootleg circles for some time and only just came into my possession. The audio quality is pretty dire, as to be expected of anything of that vintage, but it’s listenable and more importantly triggers the right memory synapses. But since I prefer to have the stuff I post here be of a certain aural standard, I’m making this week’s post a twofer with a slightly better-sounding MJ cover of undetermined origins.
Belle & Sebastian return – triumphantly, I’m sure – to Massey Hall on Tuesday night in support of their new record Write About Love. And, if they do anything interesting – or anything at all – I’m sure a million videos will appear on YouTube within 30 seconds. Ah, technology.
MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “I Want You Back” (live in Toronto)
MP3: Belle & Sebastian – “Billie Jean” (live)
Video: The Jackson 5 – “I Want You Back” (live on American Bandstand)
Video: Michael Jackson – “Billie Jean”
Saturday, October 9th, 2010
Frank YangWho: Two Door Cinema Club
What: Belfast quartet whose debut Tourist History provided some of the sugariest, indie-dance sounds of the Summer
Why: Their first visit to Toronto back in May turned out to be the hottest ticket in town; these bigger digs should be able to accomodate everyone this time around.
When: Monday, October 25, 2010
Where: The Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto
Who else: Openers for the show are Penguin Prison and Funeral Party. I’m not going to pretend I know anything about either.
How: Tickets for the show are $17.50 in advance but courtesy of Embrace, I’ve got three pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to join the Two Door Cinema Club” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, October 18.
What else: Varsity, Houston Press and The Dallas Observer have interviews with the band
MP3: Two Door Cinema Club – “I Can Talk”
MP3: Two Door Cinema Club – “Something Good Can Work”
Video: Two Door Cinema Club – “I Can Talk”
Video: Two Door Cinema Club – “Undercover Martyn”
Video: Two Door Cinema Club – “Something Good Can Work”
Saturday, October 9th, 2010
Jason NocitoWho: Dr. Dog
What: Philadelphia five-piece whose prescriptions include beards, good time, jammy rock, multi-part harmonies and bare feet
Why: When they were here back in April, their new record Shame, Shame had only been out for a week. Now they’re expecting people to cheer the new songs instead of standing politely
When: Saturday, October 16, 2010 (early show – doors at 5:30PM)
Where: The Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto
Who else: Support comes from Brookyln’s Here We Go Magic
How: Tickets for the show are $19.50 in advance but courtesy of Collective Concerts, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want an appointment with Dr. Dog” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, October 13.
MP3: Dr. Dog – “Stranger”
Video: Dr. Dog – “Shadow People”
Friday, October 8th, 2010
The Rural Alberta Advantage make it home for the holidays
Joe FudaAnd now, a bunch of stuff that has nothing to do with a certain record label that is now old enough to drink in the US.
Starting locally, with The Rural Alberta Advantage. After one of the best and busiest 2009s on record, the trio has been relatively quiet through most of this year working on the follow-up to their debut Hometowns, as these photos (sort of) attest. But you can only keep road warriors in one place for so long and they’ll be on the road again starting at the end of this month with a pretty extensive Fall tour that takes them out across the prairies to the west coast of Canada, across the Atlantic for a slew of European and UK dates and then, finally, back home to Toronto for a show at Lee’s Palace on December 16 – their first proper local show in over a year. It’ll be good to hear some of the new material that will appear on album number two when it hits sometime next year, but mostly it’ll just be nice to see them again. Tickets for the show are $15 in advance.
MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Frank, AB”
MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Don’t Haunt This Place”
And more to the show announcements from the past week or so – Avi Buffalo will precede their October 18 show at the Horseshoe with an in-store at Soundscapes on October 17 at 7PM. It’ll be interesting to see if Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg can tear it up as fiercely on acoustic as he does electric. I am guessing yes.
MP3: Avi Buffalo – “Remember Last Time”
MP3: Avi Buffalo – “What’s In It For?”
Also doing it free for the kids is PS I Love You, whose just-released debut Meet Me At The Muster Station has been getting some impressive Pitchfork-love. They’ll be at Soundscapes on October 26 at 7PM before heading down to The Garrison to open up for Diamond Rings. The duo are profiled in The Province, National Post, Chart and Exclaim.
MP3: PS I Love You – “2012”
MP3: PS I Love You – “Butterflies & Boners”
MP3: PS I Love You – “Facelove”
Forest City Lovers have set a date at The Horseshoe for November 5, amidst a smattering of Fall dates. They’ve also just put out a new pensive-to-party video from Carriage.
MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Light You Up”
Video: Forest City Lovers – “Tell Me Cancer”
Horse Feathers and Anaïs Mitchell will team up for a show at the Drake Underground on November 8.
MP3: Horse Feathers – “Curs In The Weeds”
MP3: Anaïs Mitchell – “Flowers (Eurydice’s Song)”
The Balconies, who like The RAA were omni-present in 2009 but relatively quiet in 2010, are back for a show at The Horseshoe on November 9 – hopefully as a precursor to a second album.
MP3: The Balconies – “Serious Bedtime”
The Meligrove Band have put together both a North American tour for and a video from their just-released new record Shimmering Lights. They’re at The Great Hall on November 12 and there’s interviews at The National Post and dose.
MP3: The Meligrove Band – “Bones Attack!!!”
MP3: The Meligrove Band – “Halflight”
Video: The Meligrove Band – “Racing To Shimmering Lights”
Rufus Wainwright has a date at Massey Hall on December 4.
Video: Rufus Wainwright – “Zebulon”
Damon Gough, aka Badly Drawn Boy, has slated a North American tour in support of his new record It’s What I’m Thinking Pt.1 — Photographing Snowflakes. The record is out next Tuesday and will be available in a variety of deluxe and standard packages, as detailed at Exclaim. The Toronto date of the aforementioned tour is December 8 at The Great Hall, tickets $27.50 in advance.
Video: Badly Drawn Boy – “Too Many Miracles”
Interpol will be making good on the support slot for U2 this past Summer which was canceled along with the entire tour when Bono realized he was an old man. They’ll be at the Air Canada Centre on July 11 of next year.
MP3: Interpol – “Lights”
BeatRoute discusses The Age Of Adz with Sufjan Stevens. The record is out October 12 and he plays Massey Hall on October 13.
Murray Lightburn of The Dears talks to eye in advance of the band’s three-night residency at The Garrison next week, October 13 through 15, where they’ll play all of their new, as-yet untitled and release date-less album, start to finish.
The Oklahoma Daily and Austinist talk to members of Local Natives, who’ve put out a new video and have a sold-out show at the Mod Club on October 19.
Video: Local Natives – “Wide Eyes”
Spinner has an interview with Lissie, who brings her full-length debut Catching A Tiger to the El Mocambo on October 19. There’s also a new video from said record.
Video: Lissie – “Everywhere I Go”
Uptown and The Ottawa Citizen profile Rae Spoon, in town for a show at the Gladstone on October 21.
Stars, who are playing Massey Hall on October 26, are interviewed by BeatRoute and The Huffington Post.
Spinner talks to Black Mountain. They’ll be dressing up as a band playing The Phoenix on Hallowe’en.
Thanks Captain Obvious, The Village Voice and Spinner talk to Sharon Van Etten about her new record Epic. She is at Lee’s Palace on November 5 supporting Junip.
The Wooden Sky, who’ve got a date at Lee’s Palace on November 6, have just been featured in a Daytrotter session and a Gateway interview.
Wolf Parade have rolled out a new video from Expo 86. They’ll be at the Sound Academy on November 26.
Video: Wolf Parade – “Yulia”
NPR has a World Cafe session with Ra Ra Riot, in town for a show at the Mod Club on December 1. There’s also interviews at The Omaha World-Herald and Wall Street Journal.
Kevin Drew tells Spin why Broken Social Scene are called Broken Social Scene while Brendan Canning talks to The Georgia Straight and Andrew Whiteman to The Gateway. They are at the Sound Academy on December 9.
BeatRoute chats with Owen Pallett.
Pitchfork interviews Arcade Fire.
Spinner, The Gateway, See and BeatRoute talk to Holy Fuck.
Over at YouTube, Daniel Lanois offers a track-by-track analysis of Neil Young’s Le Noise from the view of the producer’s chair.
Didn’t The Flaming Lips just release a video from Embryonic last week? Yes they did. But here’s another one anyways.
Video: The Flaming Lips – “The Sparrow Looks Up At The Machine”
How do you know Of Montreal were just in the UK? Interviews with Kevin Barnes at Drowned In Sound, The Quietus and The Line Of Best Fit.
The Fly talks to the ladies of Warpaint about their forthcoming debut The Fool, hitting the streets on October 26.
MOVE talks to Mountain Goat Peter Hughes.
Craig Finn of The Hold Steady discusses the benefits of getting older with The Boston Globe.
And seriously, this isn’t even nearly everything I’ve had backlogged to post over the past week.
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