Sunday, September 26th, 2010
Bettie Serveert covers Belle & Sebastian
MySpaceWhen the Matador 21 was announced back in the Summer along with the fact that it would feature performances from label alumni past and present, I thought for sure that Holland’s Bettie Serveert would be part of it. Though never one of Matador’s flagship bands, they had a good, three-album run with them in the ’90s and with the release of their latest Pharmacy Of Love, were planning their first US tour in many years for this Fall – surely the two would be intersecting.
It was not to be, however – though visa issues have rejigged their itinerary such that this Tuesday night’s show at the Drake in Toronto is the kick-off, they still don’t hit the southwest US until a week after Matador’s “Lost Weekend” is over. It’s probably too much to have asked to have been able to see them twice in the span of a week, alongside all of the other great acts who’ll be at the Palms in Vegas, and considering I get to see Belle & Sebastian twice in a fortnight – once in Vegas and once in Toronto at Massey Hall on October 12, the day their new record Belle & Sebastian Write About Love comes out – I have no grounds for complaint.
The Betties and Belles do cross paths on the Matador At 21 charity box set that’s coming out on Tuesday and also on this tune, though, which dates back to who knows when – I think I got it off Napster for god’s sake. It’s Bettie Serveert frontwoman Carol Van Dijk strumming the Sinster tune solo and acoustic.
MP3: Bettie Serveert – “Get Me Away From Here I’m Dying”
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “Get Me Away From Here I’m Dying” (live)
Saturday, September 25th, 2010
BandcampEgads, a contest that I can’t apply my (recently) new express who/what/where/why/etc concert contest format to. Was bound to happen, I suppose, and at least my laziness mechanisms are being compromised for a worthwhile giveaway of interest to more than just people in the 416.
It is, however, still limited to those interested to analog fetishists with a soft spot for pretty Canadian folk-pop – the sort that Mark Andrew Hamilton has been releasing as Woodpigeon over the last few years, and prolifically so. The Woodpigeon discography is like a set of Russian nested dolls, each album coming with a bonus album that is strong enough to stand on its own and is eventually released as its own entity… perhaps again with a bonus record. And so forth.
So it was that the CD editions of this year’s Die Stadt Muzikanten came with a second complete album entitled Balladeer – To All The Guys I’ve Loved Before. And since those songs, built from sessions with acclaimed producers Steve Albini, Howard Bilerman and Husky Hoskulds, were too good to restrict to just those handful of people who still bought CDs, it has now been released on 180-gram vinyl for the kids and as digital downloads… also for the kids.
And courtesy of Boompa, I’ve got two copies of the Balladeer vinyl available to give away to any resident of North America. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want the Woodpigeon LP” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body. Contest closes at midnight, October 5.
Woodpigeon is currently on tour in Europe but will be making a stop in Toronto on October 6 to play a free noon-hour show at Yonge-Dundas Square before returning to Calgary to record another album or six.
MP3: Woodpigeon – “I Am Your Balladeer”
Saturday, September 25th, 2010
Frank YangWho: Phoenix
What: Arguably the biggest French rock band on the planet right now and in years, scoring copious critical praise and record sales with their nonsensical but hugely catchy dance-pop
Why: Though this is their third show in Toronto for this record, when you score with album as massively as Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix has, you milk it. MILK IT.
When: Friday, October 22, 2010
Where: The Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto
Who else: They’re making the show a true international affair, bringing along Americans Wavves and inviting locals Tokyo Police Club to open things up.
How: Tickets range from $39.50 to $45.00 in advance – plus fees – but courtesy of LiveNation, 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 the Phoenix” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, October 14.
What else: Phoenix have posted up the multitrack audio stems of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix for fans to download and remix to their heart’s content. Haven’t you always wanted to remix a Frenchman? Sure you have!
MP3: Phoenix – “1901”
Video: Phoenix – “1901”
Video: Phoenix – “Lisztomania”
Saturday, September 25th, 2010
Munekazu ShimizuWho: Matt Pond PA
What: Philadelphia-born, Brookyln-based, Pennsylvania-saluting, orchestral-popping, always poignant indie rocker. And his band.
Why: Though their eighth album The Dark Leaves was released back in April, their touring itinerary is only bringing them up to Toronto now.
When: Friday, October 1, 2010
Where: The Mod Club in Toronto (early show)
Who else: Openers right now yet to be announced. But it’ll be someone. And they’ll be on first.
How: Tickets are $12 in advance but courtesy of Canvas Media, 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 see Matt Pond PA” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight , September 29.
MP3: Matt Pond PA – “Starting”
Video: Matt Pond PA – “Remains”
Friday, September 24th, 2010
Teenage Fanclub and Rick Of The Skins at The Horseshoe in Toronto
Frank YangAs a genre/style/pigeonhole, power-pop is not one that traditionally gets a lot of respect. Though its primary qualities of melody and harmony are essential facets of pretty much every style of music that can be hyphenated with “pop”, in its undiluted, guitar-driven form it can be far too easy to do middlingly and incredibly difficult to do well. And so even when you’re a band that does it masterfully, as Scotland’s Teenage Fanclub have for over twenty years, you still might not have more to show for it than confirmed cult status, an unwaveringly loyal fanbase and gigs booked into incredibly intimate venues. Come to think of it, that’s not so bad at all.
The Toronto chapter of that fanbase was out in force on Wednesday night for the first of two shows at the Horseshoe kicking off the band’s first North American tour in five years, in support of their ninth album Shadows. Like its predecessors in their discography, it doesn’t mess with the Fanclub formula, instead further refining it such that while they sound dramatically different from the quartet that burst into the scene with Bandwagonesque, they’re still very much the same band; just older, wiser and more inclined to use a single, clean guitar line whereas once they’d have let rip with a solo. Some might complain that their songs have gotten slower and quieter with each subsequent release – and this is true – but when a band’s strengths were always a tunefulness and almost supernatural ability to craft a pop song rather than rock out and those strengths are still very much intact, well there’s really no grounds to complain at all.
Support for the first evening was Rick Of The Skins, an act I’d never heard of, and I expected my research to reveal them as some group of young upstarts who scored a plum opening slot. And indeed, I did find some positive reviews of their debut album Here Comes The Weekend – they just happened to be a decade old. The band’s story is unclear to me, but I gathered that they started out on the east coast, a fact borne out by their direct and occasionally primitive psychedelic pop sounds, and don’t really play regularly, evidenced by one of them commenting that this was “their fourth reunion”. Over a short set where all of them changed instruments almost every song and any rustiness – and there was their share – was made up for with enthusiasm.
Though they’d been touring throughout the Summer over in the UK, this was still the Fannies’ first gig of the tour and their first show in over a month and as such, a few hiccups were inevitable. These were limited to the occasional missed note or instrumental flub and corresponding grimace on either Norman Blake, Raymond McGinley or Gerard Love’s faces but rather than detract from the show, they gave it that extra bit of warmth. Not that the performance needed it – with a remarkably efficient 20 songs over 90 minutes, the Fanclub and their immaculate harmonies – up to five parts at times – were like a wonderful blanket of tunefulness that made any angst over having to wait a half-decade since their last visit evaporate. And while McGinley and Love were characteristically stoic through most of the set – though both cracked smiles at various points in the night – Blake did fine handling frontman duties on his own, cracking the requisite corny jokes and fielding requests and repartee from the audience.
The set leaned heavier than one might have expected on Shadows – bands at this point in their careers tend to make more concessions to the “greatest hits” type of show – but the new material made up over a third of the set and sound about as good as any of the more classic material. It’s been said but bears repeating – though they’re not as prolific as they once were, when Teenage Fanclub releases a record, it’s going to be a good one. As for the rest of the set, it was packed with glorious, sing-along pop gems from throughout their career, focusing on the late ’90s glory days of Grand Prix and Songs From Northern Britain with a few later works added in for good measure. “The Concept” may have been the only representative from Bandwagonesque but was done perfectly with McGinley showing he could stomp the fuzz pedal and rip a solo when the occasion called for it and both he and Blake would get the chance to show off their chops on “Everything Flows”, which closed out the show pretty much perfectly. Certainly there were several sets worth of material that didn’t get aired – not a single tune from Thirteen made the cut – but I’m sure they were saving some favourites for the second night (which would surely have a lot of repeat patrons) and the selections they did choose to play were pretty much beyond reproach. They may not release records or tour as often as their fans would like, but when they do, they do it right.
Panic Manual and Chart also have reviews of the show. hour.ca talks to Norman Blake about his move from Scotland to Kitchener, Ontario.
Photos: Teenage Fanclub, Rick Of The Skins @ The Horseshoe – September 22, 2010
MP3: Teenage Fanclub – “Baby Lee”
MP3: Teenage Fanclub – “It’s All In My Mind”
MP3: Teenage Fanclub – “Dumb Dumb Dumb”
MP3: Teenage Fanclub – “What You Do To Me”
Video: Teenage Fanclub – “I Don’t Want Control Of You”
Video: Teenage Fanclub – “Ain’t That Enough”
Video: Teenage Fanclub – “Hang On”
Video: Teenage Fanclub – “What You Do To Me”
Video: Teenage Fanclub – “The Concept”
Video: Teenage Fanclub – “Star Sign”
MySpace: Teenage Fanclub
Spinner interviews The Vaselines about their first new record in forever, Sex With An X. They’re at the Horseshoe on October 30.
Drowned In Sound, The Liverpool Echo and State have feature pieces on Manic Street Preachers while NME finds out why Tim Roth graces the cover of their new record Postcards From A Young Man. It’s out next week.
British Sea Power’s Scott Wilkinson talks to Spinner about their new album, as yet untitled but due out in January 2011, and the Zeus EP which will precede it on October 4. The title track from said EP is available to download now.
MP3: British Sea Power – “Zeus”
Elbow’s Guy Garvey gives NME a status update on their new record, due out next year.
eye, NOW, Chart and The Montreal Mirror have interviews with Foals, who have released a new video from Total Life Forever and will be at Lee’s Palace on Monday night.
Video: Foals – “2 Trees”
The Los Angeles Times and NPR talks to The xx; they’re at Massey Hall on September 29.
There’s a second video out from Johnny Flynn’s second album Been Listening gets a domestic release on October 25. He plays Lee’s Palace solo on October 18, tickets are $12.50 in advance.
Video: Johnny Flynn – “Barnacled Warship”
Paste declares Stornoway amongst their “best of what’s next” – they play the El Mocambo on November 30.
Tricky has scheduled a date at the Mod Club for December 12. His new record Mixed Race is due out October 5.
Video: Tricky – “Murder Weapon”
M.I.A. has a new video from /\/\/\Y/\ and it comes with its on URL and everything.
Video: M.I.A. – “Story To Be Told”
The High Wire have a new video from their gorgeous record The Sleep Tape.
Video: The High Wire – “Pump Your Little Heart”
New York Magazine talks to Kele about his impending move to New York City.
And the cause of Charlatans drummer Jon Brookes’ on-stage collapse last week and subsequent cancellation of the band’s North American tour has been revealed as a brain tumour. Pete Salisbury, ex of The Verve, will sub in for their Fall tour commitments while Brookes heals. Best wishes for a full recovery and return to good health.
2 Comments
facebook
![[Valid RSS]](http://www.chromewaves.net/images/interface/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed"){kind=small}