Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
Sufjan Stevens stages massive North American tour
Denny RenshawWhen Sufjan Stevens came out of nowhere last August to announce a show that October at Lee’s Palace, people – particularly those not among the 500 who got tickets – were wondering why he’d choose to play his first show here in four years in such a small room. Surely he was big enough to play a room on the size and stature of, oh, Massey Hall? Well, almost a year to the day from that Lee’s announcement comes another one for a show almost a year to the day at – wait for it – Massey Hall.
The date will be October 13 and comes at the start of a massive North American tour that makes those intimate club dates last year seem even more intimate and but hits many more markets and while Stevens and his merry troupe will be welcomed with open arms at all of them, there is the question of exactly why he’s doing it. Last year at least, there were the BQE multimedia project and Run Rabbit Run rework to justify a tour – even though neither of those records was represented in the shows – but there’s been no official word about a follow-up to 2004’s Illinois. Perhaps this is their way of hinting that the album that The National’s Bryce Dessner told Exclaim that Stevens was recording this Summer is done and ready for release in mid-October? If that’s the case, then they’re clearly eschewing the traditional long lead time and will probably spring the official release of the album with short notice, thereby driving the indie-net into a tizzy and ensuring that people mispronounce “Sufjan” well into the Winter.
Whatever’s happening on that front will be revealed when it’s revealed. Far more pressing is the matter of presales for this tour, which goes TODAY at 1PM Eastern time for all dates – presumably through Asthmatic Kitty – and regular public onsale for all other seats goes this Friday at 10AM. Tickets are $40 for floor and balcony and $34 for galleries. And yes, the October 13 date does indeed come one day after Belle & Sebastian play the same venue – we may as well just wrap up the Old Lady of Shuter Street in a ratty cardigan and be done with it.
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “The Henney Buggy Band”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “The Man Of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “Casimir Pulaski Day”
Other announcements of note… Amusement Parks On Fire – who were held up as the second coming of My Bloody Valentine a few years back but turned out to just be pretty good if not especially original shoegaze disciples – will release their third album Road Eyes on October 5 and be accompanying The Boxer Rebellion on their North American tour including the September 27 date at the Horseshoe.
Video: Amusement Parks On Fire – “Venus In Cancer”
Rae Spoon has booked a cross-Canada tour in support of his new record Love Is A Hunter which is due out on August 17. Exclaim has the dates, which includes an October 21 engagement at the Gladstone in Toronto.
MP3: Rae Spoon – “You Can Dance”
Video: Rae Spoon – “Love Is A Hunter”
Hey, remember a couple of years ago when Mumford & Sons were here as support for Laura Marling? Or back in February when they played Lee’s Palace? Well friends, those days are long gone and British bluegrass is apparently very much what’s hot now – witness their just announced Fall tour which puts them at the Sound Academy on November 13, tickets $21 general admission and $35 for VIP balcony on sale Friday at 10AM.
Video: Mumford & Sons – “The Cave”
Sarah Harmer has set a date at Massey Hall on November 20 in support of her new record Oh Little Fire. Tickets will range from $32.50 to $42.50, on sale next Monday at 10AM. The Edmonton Journal and Vancouver Sun have interviews.
Video: Sarah Harmer – “Captive”
And because you apparently can’t giveth without taketh, the October 1 Gayngs show at the Phoenix has been cancelled; no reason given. Everyone hoping their slow jams would get them some lovin’ is just going to do it the old fashioned way and get their dates liquored up.
Monday, August 9th, 2010
Maps & Atlases, Cults and Laura Stevenson & The Cans at The Horseshoe in Toronto
Frank YangHeading into Saturday night, I had a managed to go a full six weeks without hitting a club show – only partly by design – and feeling on the cusp of official “shut-in” status and a full week of activities coming up, I figured that it was a good time to start getting back into game shape with a trio of bands with whom I was only passingly familiar – enough so to think that it might be a good show, but not enough to really know what to expect.
Leading off were Brooklyn’s Laura Stevenson & The Cans, who at the core are sweet, jangly and slightly twangy pop-rock but get a bit orchestral and right noisy around the edges. Namesake Stevenson has an immediately likeable crystalline voice and her bandmates do a fine job of providing the proper accompaniment to keep things dynamic and interesting. Apparently not enough to keep the folks standing beside me from believing that loudly quoting 30 Rock jokes was more entertaining than what was going on onstage, but what can you do. Stevenson’s record A RecorD is available for free download with donations welcome. You should do both of these things.
New York duo Cults came into the night with the highest buzz-to-recording ratio, the enthusiasm that met their “Go Outside” 7″ earlier this Summer being responsible for their being able to tour the continent before they’d released anything else and do it as a full six-piece band instead of just the core two-piece with taped backing tracks. And while they had more than the four songs released so far to fill up a set, it may have been a blessing that being held up at the border and arriving at the club late forced them to truncate their show a bit. While the newer material fit the Motown-in-Summer mould that the single did, none of it was as instantly catchy and their relative green-ness as a live act was also evident – what made Madeline Follin’s vocals sound sweet and girly on record came across thin on stage and co-conspirator Brian Oblivion had the annoying habit of constantly brushing his hair back behind his ears while playing. That aside, they were clearly comfortable as live performers – no given – and they’ve got a good sound so one hopes they’ll improve with time. What I got most out of their set, though, was just how much I miss Saturday Looks Good To Me, who did what Cults do so much better and were summarily ignored for it. Oh SLGTM.
I’d given Maps & Atlases’ latest Perch Patchwork a number of listens in advance of the show to try and get a handle on exactly what the Chicago quartet were about and… well, I’m pretty sure I failed. Were they math-rock? Prog-rock? Jam-rock? Pop-rock? Folk-rock? Just rock? The answer, apparently, was yes. Maps & Atlases somehow straddle all of these genres and while you can’t say their union is seamless – some sounds weren’t meant to go gently together – they largely make it work thanks to the fact that they’re all astonishing musicians and they seem to think what they’re doing is perfectly normal. Constantly shifting tempos and time signatures rendered by heavy yet nimble percussion and mad guitar tapping figures underneath, high and lonesome vocals and plaintive melodies overtop. Certainly, no one sounds like them and like most distinctive bands, they drew a modestly-sized but wholly enthusiastic audience who cheered wildly for every feat of musicianship, of which there were many. I didn’t fall in love with them, but I was impressed. And that was enough.
Photos: Maps & Atlases, Cults, Laura Stevenson & The Cans @ The Horseshoe – August 7, 2010
MP3: Maps & Atlases – “Solid Ground”
MP3: Cults – “Go Outside”
MP3: Cults – “Most Wanted”
MP3: Laura Stevenson & The Cans – “Holy Ghost!”
Video: Cults – “Oh My God”
MySpace: Maps & Atlases
MySpace: Laura Stevenson & The Cans
Spinner has an Interface session with The National.
NYC Taper has a recording of Spoon set opening up for Arcade Fire at Madison Square Garden in New York last Wednesday.
In conversation with Spinner, Interpol’s Sam Fogarino discusses Interpol and the band’s journey from indie to major to indie again. The record is out September 7 and they’re at the Kool Haus tomorrow night.
NPR is streaming a World Cafe session with Laura Marling.
St. Louis Today chats with Phoenix guitarist Laurent Brancowitz. They play the Ricoh Coliseum on October 26.
NPR interviews Bjork.
Sunday, August 8th, 2010
The Hold Steady and Malcolm Middleton cover Bryan Adams
This is a track that I forgot I had in my archives and which elicited a double-take when I was cruising for something to post. I didn’t believe it was tagged correctly or was some sort of hoax, but no – that thick Scottish brogue does indeed belong to former Arab Strap-per Malcolm Middleton, he is indeed trading verses with Craig Finn whilst the rest of The Hold Steady back him up and yes, that is indeed a Bryan Adams tune they’re tackling.
It was recorded in May of 2009 for the BBC Radio 1 and it was a Hold Steady session and interview with Colin Murray and the necessary background for how and why the Brooklyn bar rockers and Glaswegian moper got together in the first place is well-covered at Lip Service Librarian and MP3s of the whole interview and session – which also includes a Zep cover – can be found at The Hold Steady Taped Show Archive.
The Hold Steady are spending 2010 promoting their latest record Heaven Is Whenever. Malcolm Middleton’s last solo record Waxing Gibbous came out last Summer. The first two Arab Strap albums The Week Never Starts Round Here and Philophobia are being reissued on August 17, each with a bonus disc of BBC session material. Bryan Adams is spending more time as a photographer than musician lately and Canadian music is all the better for it.
MP3: The Hold Steady with Malcolm Middleton – “Run To You”
Video: Bryan Adams – “Run To You”
Saturday, August 7th, 2010
Frank YangWho: Forest City Lovers
What: Toronto folk-pop outfit who’ve just released their third and far and away best album in Carriage.
Why: The band are capping a cross-Canada tour in support of the new record with a hometown record release show.
When: Thursday, August 12, 2010
Where: The Great Hall
Who else: Support comes from Gentleman Reg and Carmen Elle
How: Tickets for the show are $12 in advance but courtesy of Out Of This Spark, I have one prize pack to give away consisting of a pair of passes to the show, a copy of Carriage on CD and a t-shirt. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Forest City Lovers” in the subject line and your full name and address in the body, as well as t-shirt gender/size. Contest closes at midnight August 10.
What else: The Star Phoenix and Uptown have interviews with Kat Burns. They also play a free in-store at Soundscapes on August 10 at 7PM.
MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Light You Up”
MP3: Forest City Lovers – “If I Were A Tree”
Video: Forest City Lovers – “If I Were A Tree”
MySpace: Forest City Lovers
Saturday, August 7th, 2010
Frank YangWho: Warpaint
What: Los Angeles four-piece whose debut EP Exquisite Corpse tantalized with its blend of art-rock and dreampop textures, setting expectations for their debut album this October.
Why: A highlight of NXNE in June, they’re back playing some headlining dates around their Lollapalooza appearance before signing up as support for The xx’s Fall theatre tour.
When: Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Where: Wrongbar
Who else: Support comes from Javelin and Beach Fossils
How: Tickets for the show are $12.50 in advance but courtesy of Embrace, 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 to see Warpaint” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, August 9.
What else: Drummer Stella Mozgawa talks to The Riverfront Times.
MP3: Warpaint – “Elephants”
Video: Warpaint – “Stars”
Video: Warpaint – “Elephants”
MySpace: Warpaint
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