Saturday, August 14th, 2010
Frank YangWho: Vampire Weekend
What: Jangly, chart-topping indie-poppers who tend to drive people crazy in both the good sense and bad sense
Why: Having sold out the Sound Academy lickety-split before Contra was released and topped the charts, they’re returning to play their biggest room yet
When: Tuesday, September 7
Where: The Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
Who else: Even if you don’t feel the Vampire Weekend, the presence of Beach House and Dum Dum Girls should make this a worthy evening
How: Tickets for the show range from $30.75 to $55.75 plus fees but courtesy of LiveNation, I’ve got three pairs of tickets to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want a Vampire Weekend” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Entries due before midnight, August 31.
MP3: Vampire Weekend – “Horchata”
Video: Vampire Weekend – “Cousins”
Saturday, August 14th, 2010
Frank YangWho: Gramercy Riffs
What: Newfoundland five-piece who released their debut album It’s Heartbreak earlier this year and were one of the best new finds at this year’s NXNE.
Why: Headlining a showcase of rock from The Rock in an event they’re calling The Bonavista Social Club
When: Friday, August 27, 2010
Where: The El Mocambo
Who else: Newfoundlanders past, present and future Jetset Motel and All Day Driver support
How: Tickets are $7 in advance but I’ve got two prize packs consisting of a pair of passes to the show and a copy of both Gramercy Riffs’ It’s Heartbreak and Jetset Motel’s self-titled debut on CD to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Gramercy Riffs” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, August 24.
MP3: Gramercy Riffs – “Call Me”
Friday, August 13th, 2010
Warpaint and Javelin at Wrongbar in Toronto
Frank YangWith all sympathy to Brooklyn’s Beach Fossils, who thanks to some lost passports were unable to get across the border, and to the fans who had been waiting to see them, I can’t say I was too disappointed that they had to cancel the engagement at Wrongbar on Wednesday night because it meant that my night out would be that much shorter and that I would get to see Warpaint that much sooner. We’re talking a difference of maybe an hour, but still – I’d been waiting to see them again after they bent my mind on the opening night of NXNE in June. Yeah, that was barely two months ago, but what can I say. I’m not a patient man.
Up first, though, were Javelin – also from Brooklyn but with their papers in order. With the stage festooned with old gutted boomboxes as props, the duo staged a live mixtape/mash-up dance party built around R&B and world music sounds, even though initially not many people seemed to feel like dancing. Their energy was relentless as they multi-tasked between drums, keys, stompboxes, kazoos and cowbells overtop taped backing tracks and samples and while it got a little exhausting towards the end of their set – it went on maybe 10 minutes longer than I’d have liked – but still a fun set if oddly paired with Warpaint.
The Warpaint portion of the evening got off to a good start even before they took the stage, what with being able to pick up a copy of their debut EP Exquisite Corpse on vinyl; not an easy find in Canada. And things just got better when the Los Angeles-based quartet did come onstage and soundcheck turned into a rhythm section jam over the house DJ’s tunes and then transformed seamlessly into the start of their set, all signs were that they were going to be on this night.
The musical chemistry of this unit is remarkable to behold – more than a band, they’re like a single, wholly organic unit with drummer Stella Mozgawa the musculature, bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg the blood and the pulse and guitarist/vocalists Theresa Wayman and Emily Kokal the two hemispheres of the brain, though which is the right and left seems to change moment to moment. Together, they seem to operate almost subconsciously or on pure instinct, effortlessly pushing and pulling each other as they sculpt their dreamy, sensual rock that’s as beguiling as it is unsettling, simultaneously chaotic and utterly in control. Watching them exchange looks and smiles on stage as they did their thing, seemingly as fascinated with seeing what they created as the audience, was almost as much a highlight of the show as the music.
This performance wasn’t as beautifully brutal as the Horseshoe show, instead feeling more limber and textured, and was built mainly around the new material which seemed to allow Wayman to more equally share lead vocals with Kokal. Still, the couple of Exquisite Corpse selections they did perform, they jammed the hell out of and set closer “Elephants” was positively explosive. The only facet of the show that could be considered disappointing was that it was all over in 40 minutes, their headlining show running only slightly longer than their more rigidly-timed festival appearance. Though the promotional push around their full-length debut – due mid-October – hasn’t begun yet, the buzz has been building steadily since last Fall and using this show as a barometer, they’re ready to take that and blow it right up.
Warpaint return to town as support for The xx at Massey Hall on September 29; The Daily Times has an interview with drummer Stella Mozgawa. Daytrotter just posted a session with Javelin and another with Beach Fossils which will hopefully hold fans over until they can get new passports in hand.
Photos: Warpaint, Javelin @ Wrongbar – August 11, 2010
MP3: Warpaint – “Elephants”
MP3: Warpaint – “Billie Holiday”
MP3: Javelin – “Oh! Centra”
MP3: Javelin – “World MIDI Classics, Vol. 2”
Video: Warpaint – “Stars”
Video: Warpaint – “Elephants”
MySpace: Warpaint
MySpace: Javelin
After turning in an awesome free show at the Horseshoe back in May, great Welsh hopes The Joy Formidable will return to said venue for another show on November 3 as part of a Fall tour – this one you’ll have to pay for, but it will be worth every penny. Their full-length debut is now set for release in early 2011.
MP3: The Joy Formidable – “Whirring”
Drowned In Sound goes through Sky Larkin’s new record Kaleide track-by-track with the assistance of the band. They also interview and are interviewed by Michael Lerner of Telekinesis, who will be in town on September 4 for a show at the El Mocambo.
M.I.A. was busy on the YouTubes this week, releasing not one but two new videos from /\/\/\Y/\.
Video: M.I.A – “XXXO”
Video: M.I.A. – “Illy Girl”
Chart has the full transcript of an interview with Beach House which ran a little while back in much abbreviated form. They’re at the Molson Amphitheatre on September 7.
NYC Taper is sharing a recording of a Holly Miranda show at a wine bar last week.
The Line Of Best Fit and Chart interview The Morning Benders.
Spinner has a feature and also a Q&A with Greg Edwards of Autolux; The Georgia Straight also has a chat. They’re at Lee’s Palace on August 24.
NOW previews this Saturday’s Arcade Fire show on the Toronto Islands with a cover feature. The Los Angeles Times talks to Merge head honcho Laura Ballance about their road to the #1 record in the US, UK and Canada while Nylon also talks to Ballance, but in her capacity as bassist of Superchunk. Their new record Majesty Shredding is out September 14.
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World finally opens today, and the media blitz continues. eye has a cover feature interview with Edgar Wright and Michael Cera, Interview gets Jason Schwartzman to interview Cera, The AV Club talks to Schwartzman and Anna Kendrick and both Under The Radar and Spin get some face time with Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
Thursday, August 12th, 2010
Interpol at The Kool Haus in Toronto
Frank YangEvery relationship waxes and wanes over time, and mine with Interpol is no different. Like many/most, I fell for the blend of post-punk and atmospheric rock on their debut Turn On The Bright Lights, an infatuation cemented by a stellar show at the Horseshoe way back in September 2002. The bloom started coming off the rose not long after, though, with a lacklustre show at the Kool Haus a year later where they were clearly exhausted from touring the world and should probably have just gone home and gotten a good night’s sleep rather than book one more North American leg.
When their second album Antics arrived in 2004, surrounded by a sea of sonic imitators, my attention was already wandering and by the time their major label debut Our Love To Admire came out in 2007, I was detached enough to be able to regard it objectively and heard a band struggling with how to grow artistically without losing their distinctive sound and ending up compromising on both fronts. Their V Fest 2007 appearance, however, was still pretty solid and reminded me of why I liked them in the first place.
Fast-forward to 2010, specifically Tuesday night at the Kool Haus in Toronto. Circumstances beyond their control – namely their leaving Capitol after one album and the departure of founding bassist Carlos Dengler – have forced Interpol out of their comfort zone and though three years isn’t that long a time, the musical landscape has changed enough that they may be finding themselves in the unfamiliar position of being underdogs. And though these dates in advance of the September 7 release of their self-titled fourth album were ostensibly to make up for their support slots on the cancelled U2 Summer tour, also on the agenda was retrenching and seeking to remind fans why Interpol were the soundtrack to their early-mid ’00s.
Striding on stage besuited and dapper as ever, the five-piece touring ensemble started things off with the new and hopefully prescient “Success”, the pulsing opener to Interpol. It’s interesting that after getting progressively cleaner-sounding with each album, the new record dives back into the sonic muck, relatively speaking, thanks to post-production work from uber-shoegaze producer Alan Moulder, and while it still doesn’t reach the heights of their debut, it does possess a pleasing denseness and sophistication that hits the balance that they were striving for on Love. It would be only one of four new songs previewed, though, as the bulk of the set stuck to their first two records and thereby ensured the just-about sold-out house would remain largely enraptured for 90 minutes or so and lose their shit more than a few times for numbers – classics? – like “PDA”, “NYC” and “Slow Hands”.
In the past, it was Dengler – all low-slung bass, questionable moustache and irresistible aloofness – who acted as the visual focus for the band but with him gone and touring players Dave Pajo and Brandon Curtis off to the side tending to their bass and keyboard duties respectively, it left guitarists Paul Banks and Daniel Kessler to provide the band’s stage presence. Kessler obliged, barely standing still throughout the show in favour of dancing/lurching around the stage and Banks, never the most magnetic frontman, was somehow more charismatic and animated than in the past. Even with the new players, Interpol were superbly tight throughout, performing with a nimbleness and weight that you can’t take for granted. That cohesion has always their greatest strength, moreso than any showmanship, so it was a relief to see that that survived the lineup changes.
It can be argued that Interpol sound and style are so tightly tied to a time and place that it would be hard if not impossible for them to ever regain that level of relevance. But it’s also true that while all the imitators that followed in their wake have largely disappeared, the original article has persisted and stayed true to themselves well past fashionable, and it still resonates. Either way, it feels good to have Interpol back.
eye, The Chicago Sun-Times and Charleston City Paper talk to Fogarino and aux.tv with Paul Banks about life in Interpol post-Dengler. Exclaim, Chart and Music Vice have reviews of the show.
Photos: Interpol @ The Kool Haus – August 10, 2010
MP3: Interpol – “Lights”
MP3: Interpol – “NYC”
MP3: Interpol – “PDA”
Video: Interpol – “Lights”
Video: Interpol – “The Heinrich Maneuver”
Video: Interpol – “No I In Threesome”
Video: Interpol – “Mammoth”
Video: Interpol – “C’Mere”
Video: Interpol – “Evil”
Video: Interpol – “Slow Hands”
Video: Interpol – “PDA”
Video: Interpol – “Obstacle 1”
Video: Interpol – “NYC”
MySpace: Interpol
Belle & Sebastian have released some of the salient details about their next album – it will be called Write About Love, look like this and be out on some yet to be announced date this Fall – probably sometime around their October tour dates that include Massey Hall on the 12th of the month.
Pitchfork talks to Isobel Campbell about her new album with Mark Lanegan Hawk, out August 24, cancelled shows and the state of her relationship with her old band. She and Lanegan are at Lee’s Palace on October 20.
The Vaselines have released a video for the title track from Sex With An X. The record is out September 14 and they play The Horseshoe on October 30.
Video: The Vaselines – “Sex With An X”
The triple-bill of Dawes, Peter Wolf Crier and Vetiver will be at the Horseshoe on November 8. For Peter Wolf Crier, it’ll be their second time in town in just over a month and a half as they’re also part of a bill with Rogue Wave and Midlake at the Opera House on September 24. There’s a concert video with them available over at Baeble Music.
MP3: Dawes – “Love Is All I Am”
MP3: Peter Wolf Crier – “Hard As Nails”
MP3: Vetiver – “Strictly Rule”
Support for Band Of Horses’ October 21 show at the Kool Haus has been announced as Jenny & Johnny (as in Lewis and Rice) and The Besnard Lakes.
MP3: The Besnard Lakes – “Albatross”
NOW features Forest City Lovers, playing a record release show for Carriage at the Great Hall tonight.
Exclaim reports that after celebrating their 10-year anniversary earlier this year, Constantines have gone on indefinite hiatus.
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
A deluge of Scott Pilgrim stuff
Bryan Lee-O’MalleyYesterday afternoon, the words “Scott Pilgrim” became the top trending topic worldwide on Twitter, a remarkable if probably fleeting accomplishment that kind of underscores how big a deal the release of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (the motion picture) this coming Friday is… at least to people on Twitter. And like indie rock. And comic books. And (old-school) video games. And Toronto. In other words, people like me. And possibly/probably you.
And so I present to you a selection of particularly interesting or entertaining links culled from the veritable ocean of Pilgrim-related articles, interviews, videos, games and online tchotchke related to the film. Or at least the ones I found. There’s this About.com interview with series creator Bryan Lee-O’Malley, these The Los Angeles Times and AV Club conversations with film director Edgar Wright, this The Toronto Star interview both Wright and star Michael Cera, this series overview for newbs from The Globe & Mail, this collection of fake Lucas Lee movie posters, this MTV cast interview video at their Lee’s Palace soundstage (with an explanation of why they didn’t use the real Lee’s as a set), this Newsarama interview with various cast members and this other Los Angeles Times piece interviewing music supervisor Nigel Godrich and contributor Beck about putting together the music for the film.
Advance reviews of the film are pretty good but I’m sure once you adjust for geekdom, it’s awesome. I will have to wait a while to see for myself, though, as other engagements will keep me from making it to a theatre probably until Monday or Tuesday. But to hold me over, I re-read the whole series last night and have this fascinating interactive trailer, this brilliant trailer assembled from frames of the comic, this video of Jason Schwartzman and Michael Cera doing the weather for an Atlanta news broadcast and as the domino that will finally get me to perhaps get a modern video game system (or at least borrow one for a while), the video game trailer. And both the soundtrack and original score of the film are available to stream in their entirety at Spinner.
Stream: Scott Pilgrim Vs The World Original Soundtrack
Stream: Scott Pilgrim Vs The World Original Score
Bradley’s Almanac is sharing a recording of Arcade Fire’s show in Boston a couple weeks ago while Zoilus has posted a transcript of an interview with Win Butler. They play the Toronto Islands this coming Saturday, and congratulations to the band on scoring #1 records in the Canada, the UK and USA.
Owen Pallett will release a new EP on 10″ come September 28 – details on A Swedish Love Story available at Domino Records.
Movie Entertainment profiles celebrity Basia Bulat while The Edmonton Journal finds out about her next project. She’s at the Phoenix on October 26.
Prefix interviews Stars, who will be setting up at Massey Hall on October 23.
PopMatters asks 20 questions of Tokyo Police Club, who will be opening up for Phoenix at the Ricoh Coliseum on October 26.
Paste talks to Liz Powell of Land Of Talk, whose new one Cloak And Cipher is out next week. They’re at Lee’s Palace on September 16.
American Songwriter profiles American songwriter Samantha Crain. She’s at the Horseshoe on September 26.
Spinner inquires about The Thermals’ Personal Life. It’s out September 7 and they follow it with a show at Lee’s Palace on October 9.
Daytrotter has posted a session with First Aid Kit and another with Ferraby Lionheart, who will be opening up for them at the El Mocambo on October 15.
The first video from Grinderman’s Grinderman 2 is out and yes, it’s 100% ridiculous. Grinderman 2 is out September 14 and they play the Phoenix on November 11.
Video: Grinderman – “Heathen Child”
Kate Nash, having played the deliberately undersized Mod Club back in April, brings her second album My Best Friend Is You back to town for a show at the Phoenix on November 13 as part of an extensive Fall tour. The Sydney Morning Herald has an interview.
Video: Kate Nash – “Do Wah Do”
The Cribs have just released a new video for a non-album single entitled “Housewife”.
Video: The Cribs – “Housewife”
This Is Fake DIY has got an acoustic session with Sky Larkin and The Yorkshire Evening Post an interview.
Blurt has a feature piece on The Wedding Present.
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