Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
Review of The Futureheads’ The Chaos and giveaway
Goldest EggIf there’s a rule that bands are supposed to mellow and get more introspective as they age, no one told Sunderland, England’s Futureheads. After briefly making Newcastle the next epicentre of Brit-rock with their 2004 self-titled debut – Maximo Park and Field Music would emerge from the same scene – the quartet would release two more records of their distinctive, harmony-laden jerky New Wave with less success than their debut, some complaining that the breakneck rhythms and energy that made The Futureheads so infectious were lacking on the follow-ups.
I can’t comment on the veracity of those comments, as I don’t think I heard either News & Tributes or This Is Not The World though I did see them on tour for the former in Summer of 2006, and they certainly had as much energy as I could have expected. And having made the acquaintance of their newest record The Chaos – out today – I think I can say that if the last couple records were indeed a bit soft, then this can be considered a return to form as sonically, it’s pretty much monolithic. The four-part harmonies, with their clipped phrasing and sharp accents, are still exceptionally tight and as far from a barber shop quartet as you can get and the guitars, if aptly described as “wiry” circa their debut are now akin to electrical transmission lines in girth. Coupled with songs that are maybe a notch or two less immediate than their earlier material but still eminently catchy and performed at a pace that only a bona fide speed freak would call anything but barrelling, The Chaos has all the manic energy promised by its title, encapsulated in compact 3-minute pop packages. Some more dynamics – or just an opportunity to catch one’s breath – over the course of the record would have been welcome, but there’ll be time enough for that when they’re older.
The Futureheads are kicking off a North American tour tonight in New York and will be rolling through Toronto on June 10 for date at the Mod Club. Advance tickets are $18.50 in advance but courtesy of Goldest Egg, i’ve got a pair of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to have a Futurehead” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and get that in to me before midnight, June 7.
Futurehead guitarist Ross Millard talks to Spinner about some of the political themes that have worked their way into the new record.
MP3: The Futureheads – “Struck Dumb”
Video: The Futureheads – “Heartbeat Song”
Stream: The Futureheads / The Chaos
MySpace: The Futureheads
Drowned In Sound reports the new Manic Street Preachers record – the one Nicky Wire compared to Aerosmith’s Pump – will be entitled Postcards From A Young Man and be out in the UK on September 20. Was not expecting new MSP so soon; very happy.
Natasha Khan of Bat For Lashes talks to Billboard about some of the ideas she’s kicking around for album number three, including working with Beck.
aux.tv have premiered a new video from Vampire Weekend, who are at the Molson Amphitheatre on September 7.
Video: Vampire Weekend – “Holiday”
Flagpole and The Daily Record have interviews with The Hold Steady while NPR has the band in for a World Cafe session. There’s an MP3 now available to download from Heaven Is Whenever, which they’ll be performing at the Kool Haus on July 17.
MP3: The Hold Steady – “Hurricane J”
Chart talked to LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy before their show in Toronto last week. The Vancouver Sun and The New York Times also have interviews.
The National’s Aaron Dessner talks to The Boston Herald. They’re at Massey Hall next week on June 8 and 9.
The Guardian chats with Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste.
NYC Taper has a recording of Holly Miranda’s homecoming show in New York City last week available to share while Aux.tv has a video session recorded on the University of Toronto campus which includes a cover of Sparklehorse’s “Hundreds Of Sparrows”. If one good thing comes out of the passing of Mark Linkous, let it be more and more beautiful Sparklehorse covers. The Sydney Morning Herald also has an interview with Ms Miranda.
Uncensored has an extensive video interview with Nicole Atkins.
The Times-Union profiles Phantogram.
NPR talks to Josh Ritter and premieres the new video from So The World Runs Away.
Video: Josh Ritter – “The Curse”
Chart, The Windsor Star, Chart, The Colorado Springs Independent and NOW profile Broken Bells, in town at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre tomorrow night.
The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle gets sombre with The Georgia Straight.
NPR is streaming Blitzen Trapper’s new album Destroyer Of The Void in advance of its release next week. Learn all the words and sing along when they play the Opera House on August 3.
Stream: Blitzen Trapper / Destroyer Of The Void
The Brother Kite’s Isolation has finally been granted a release date – look for the CD on September 14 and a vinyl edition to follow in November. Preview a few tracks at their website and count the days.
Before playing the Horseshoe that evening, tUnE-yArDs will do an in-store at Soundscpaes on June 13 at 3PM in the afternoon, perfect for those – like myself – who are curious but not ready to commit an evening to see her.
MP3: tUnE-yArDs – “Sunlight”
Video: tUnE-yArDs – “Real Live Flesh”
Fresh off opening up for Sharon Jones at the Sound Academy last week, UK funk-soul brothers The Heavy will play a free show at Harbourfront Centre on July 9 at 8PM as part of this year’s edition of Beats, Breaks & Culture.
MP3: The Heavy – “Colleen”
Langhorne Slim, who was great supporting Drive-By Truckers back in April has his own date at the Horseshoe on July 21, tickets $12.50 in advance.
MP3: Langhorne Slim – “I Love You But Goodbye”
It’s being billed as “Disco Lemonade”, but other appropriate names might be “You Got Your Sensitive Singer-Songwriter In My Dance Party”, “When Disparate Tours Collide”, “I Want The Venue No *I* Want The Venue” or just plain “WTF”. I speak of the show taking place at the Molson Amphitheatre on July 30, which will feature Keane, Robyn, Ingrid Michaelson, Kelis, Fran Healy, Dan Black and Far East Movement. Tickets range from $29.50 to $49.50, the show begins at 3:30PM – yes, that’s on a Friday – and it’s reasonably safe to say that everyone who goes to this show will see something they probably would never have gone to see otherwise. I actually saw this bill on Pollstar a couple weeks ago and assumed it was a typo. Silly me.
Video: Keane – “Clear Skies”
Video: Robyn – “With Every Heartbeat”
Video: Ingrid Michaelson – “The Way I Am”
Video: Kelis – “Milkshake”
Video: Travis – “Why Does It Always Rain On Me?”
Video: Dan Black – “Symphonies”
Video: Far East Movement – “Fetish”
Goth godfather Peter Murphy has a date at Lee’s Palace on August 10, tickets $29.50 in advance.
Video: Peter Murphy – “Cuts You Up”
Mice Parade have a date at the El Mocambo on September 29.
Monday, May 31st, 2010
Fucked Up and $100 at The Toronto Reference Library in Toronto (duh)
Frank YangTruth be told, I don’t really like listening to Fucked Up. This isn’t any sort of comment on them in particular, just the fact that hardcore – their genre of choice – has never done much for me though if I were given the choice of current hardcore acts to listen to, I’d certainly choose them. If The Chemistry Of Common Life was Fucked Up’s Zen Arcade, then let me know when they release their Candy Apple Grey.
That said, I am a big fan of how they’ve become unlikely but excellent musical champions and ambassadors for Toronto at home and abroad, how they’ve used their elevated profile as reigning Polaris Prize winners to shed light on important social issues and their ridiculously entertaining and intense live shows. The hometown pride and sense of community was in full effect this past Friday night when they played a free show in the atrium of the Toronto Reference Library. That’s right, a free hardcore show in the lobby of a public library – no tickets, just show up – as part of the Toronto Public Library’s Make Some Noise Take Some Noise program, which makes sure that the library system is well-stocked with local and Canadian music, holds periodic concerts and workshops to engage the community with their local scene and generally be awesome.
The undercard for the night was almost as far from screaming hardcore as you could get – local country-rock outfit $100, themselves 2009 Polaris Prize long-listers for their debut Forest Of Tears. On record and live, they’ve always come across to me as a decent but not especially exciting act – good at what they do, but not really bringing anything fresh to the table. That general opinion hasn’t changed much, but their set was more entertaining than I remembered them being and the material they introduced as new had more immediacy and personality. And points to singer Simone Fornow for pointing out, while introducing their ode to the bleakness of work “Fourteen Hour Day”, that the Reference Library’s many floors overlooking the atrium would offer librarians an easy way out. A bleak sentiment, but pretty hilarious in context.
Given the disparity in styles between the two acts, it’s not surprising that there was some audience turnaround between sets with some folks who’d been sitting genially at the foot of the stage for $100 wisely decamping for somewhere more out of the line of fire. Wise, because when Fucked Up finally got up there, pretty much all hell broke loose in the very best way. I don’t know if anyone thought that their fanbase might have gotten tamer what with having (marginally) more mainstream exposure, but even though there were many, like me, who’d probably never be at another hardcore show in their lives, the kids crowdsurfing, stage-diving and generally going batshit. It was the sort of thing you’d normally only expect to see in such a locale after some breaking and entering, but this was an officially sanctioned and sponsored event. By the library.
There was a relative lull about mid-set where they invited some strings onstage and frontman Damian Abraham – by this point half-naked as always – set up behind a lectern for the epic-length “Year Of The Ox” but that just gave the audience an opportunity to catch their breath and when the band revved back up, so did the crowd. Despite being knocked down a couple of times, I managed to hold my position at the front side of the stage for most of the show but eventually had to pull back when my camera lens was knocked off the body – that’s not supposed to happen – and ceased functioning. A casualty of rock’n’roll – if you’re gonna go, that’s the way to do it (actually it’s just going to be in the shop a couple weeks). Anyways, from my final vantage point on the perimeter, watching the final throes of the chaos, I couldn’t help marveling – again – that this was happening in the public library. Sometimes – okay, lots of times – I love this city.
Exclaim rounds up what’s coming up for Fucked Up – a Fall tour with Public Enemy and new album entitled David Comes to Life in October chief among them, while Vue, See and Uptown ran features on the band when they were out west a couple weeks ago.
Photos: Fucked Up, $100 @ The Toronto Reference Library – May 28, 2010
MP3: Fucked Up – “Neat Parts”
MP3: Fucked Up – “No Epiphany”
MP3: Fucked Up – “Twice Born”
Video: Fucked Up – “Black Albino Bones”
Video: Fucked Up – “Crooked Head”
MySpace: Fucked Up
MySpace: $100
Interview talks to Emily Haines of Metric. They’re at the Molson Amphitheatre on July 9 and have released a new video from Fantasies.
Video: Metric – “Stadium Love”
Spinner, The Winnipeg Free Press, Whistler Question and Pique talk to Shad about his new record TSOL. He plays the Opera House on June 12 and has a new video. Yes.
Video: Shad – “Rose Garden”
Stereogum gets a status update on the new Black Mountain album from Amber Webber. It may or may not be called Wilderness but it will definitely be previewed when they play the Horseshoe on July 23.
Carl Newman of The New Pornographers gives Chart the incredible true origin of their band name – and it’s not the Jimmy Swaggert quote that’s usually cited. They’re at the Sound Academy on June 15, and as a sidebar, New Pornographers vocalist/keyboardist Kathryn Calder has a solo record coming out entitled Are You My Mother? on August 10.
MP3: Kathryn Calder – “Slip Away”
NPR talks to Win and Will Butler of Arcade Fire about their new record The Suburbs, coming August 3. They play the Toronto Islands on August 14.
Dallas Good of The Sadies talks to JAM and The Winnipeg Free Press while brother Travis chats with The Vancouver Sun. They play a free show at Harbourfront Centre on Canada Day, July 1.
NOW and Exclaim have interviews with Born Ruffians, whose new record Say It is out tomorrow.
Audio Blood Media is kicking off NXNE this year in style – and altitude – with a show on the observation deck of the CN Tower featuring The Meligrove Band, Hollerado and The Balconies. Admission is by contest only – enter here.
Also happening during NXNE is the release of the new Diamond Rings single, which will happen at his June 18 show at Wrongbar. Pitchfork, however, has a streamable preview of the new track – “Show Me Your Stuff” – right now.
And to double back on the “things about Toronto that are awesome/things that happened in the Toronto Reference Library” tip… new Scott Pilgrim Vs The World trailer! Book six – Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour – is out July 20 and the movie opens August 13. Midnight opening night screening – who’s in?
Trailer: Scott Pilgrim Vs The World
Sunday, May 30th, 2010
The National cover The Psychedelic Furs
Johnnie CluneyThe what: The National recording a rare and unexpected cover – a shimmering interpretation of “Pretty In Pink” by British art rockers Psychedelic Furs, which inspired the John Hughes ’80s teen classic film of the same name and in turn, became one of the band’s biggest hits in North America (after being re-recorded and cleaned up, of course).
The when and where: It was recorded in 2007 for internet treasure Daytrotter whilst the band were on tour in support of Boxer.
The why now: The National released their latest opus High Violet earlier this month. Violet isn’t too far off from pink on most colour wheels worth their salt. The National are in town next week for two shows at Massey Hall – June 8 and June 9. The Psychedelic Furs are in town for an intimate show at Lee’s Palace for the first of those nights, June 8. I don’t expect any Richard Butler guest spots with The National or anything, but these are the sort of sychronicities that make me happy.
The what else: The Houston Chronicle has an interview with The National while Consequence Of Sound has found some videos of Matt Berninger and the Dessner brothers playing stripped-down versions of “Anyone’s Ghost” and “Fake Empire” outside of Los Angeles garage. Just because, I guess.
MP3: The National – “Pretty In Pink”
Video: The Psychedelic Furs – “Pretty In Pink” (original)
Video: Psychedelic Furs – “Pretty In Pink” (soundtrack version)
Saturday, May 29th, 2010
AmazonWhen Sloan sang, “it’s not the band I hate, it’s their fans” in “Coax Me”, they were referring to Consolidated but the sentiment could well have applied to their fellow Canadian rock icons The Tragically Hip, who have the dubious honour of possessing some of the most obnoxious fans north of the 49th. My last run-in with them was thankfully some 17 years ago (whew!) but I still shake my head at the memory of them essentially booing Daniel Lanois off the stage at Molson Park, as though it would have brought The Hip out to play any sooner. And amazingly, all these years later, they still come out in throngs and sit through all the new material that the band continue to produce, just waiting to hear “50 Mission Cap” and “New Orleans Is Sinking” and high five one another.
So while I’m sure that Gord Downie appreciates his fans and the fact that they’re loyalty pays his mortgage, it’s not surprising that he’s felt the need to craft a solo career, separate from The Hip, that in theory allows him to explore his art without worrying about how it might be received by his band’s less open-minded fanbase. His third such solo endeavour The Grand Bounce finds him backed by a new band called The Country Of Miracles and produced by Death Cab For Cutie’s Chris Walla. With its bright, faintly country-rock vibe and Downie’s ever-evocative lyricism, The Grand Bounce is honestly the first Hip or Hip-related project I’ve listened to since the turn of the century and, if they’ve all been nearly as good as this is, perhaps I shouldn’t have let those aforementioned fans put me off their more recent works. That said, you still couldn’t pay me enough to go to a Hip show. No sir.
The Grand Bounce is out on June 8 on CD but the double-vinyl edition was quietly released yesterday and courtesy of Universal Music Canada, I’ve got a copy of the LP to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want The Grand Bounce” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body and get that to me before midnight, June 8 – contest open to residents of Canada.
Video: Gord Downie & The Country Of Miracles – “The East Wind”
Friday, May 28th, 2010
Mono and The Twilight Sad at Lee’s Palace in Toronto
Frank YangThe curious pairing of Japan’s Mono and Scotland’s Twilight Sad probably hasn’t yielded many tour stories as they trek across North America – after all, the former can barely speak English, if at all, and the latter might speak English but it’s delivered in such a thick brogue that even native Anglophones would have trouble deciphering it. I imagine there’s been a lot of nodding and pointing. But what they lack in linguistic common ground, they make up for in their mutual affinity and expertise in sonic devastation and those skills were put on display on Wednesday night at Lee’s Palace.
Though they’d finally earned headlining honours their last time through town in October of last year, The Twilight Sad were again in the support slot this time. Now I’m never one to complain about venues leaving the stage lights up, but seeing a band whose music tends towards a certain mood – darkness and melancholy – it was odd seeing the Glasgow five-piece so well lit… at least for a song. Singer James Graham asked for them to be dimmed, not for ambience but because it was hot enough in Lee’s without a bank of incandescent stage lights pointed at you.
None of which is really meaningful except to say that it started their set off on a strange note that seemed to carry over into their performance. Part of the joys of The Twilight Sad live has always been the sheer, visceral impact of their sound and though it was plenty loud – I pulled the earplugs out a couple times to verify – it still didn’t seem quite loud enough. Certainly Andy MacFarlane had his amps turned up and James Graham was hardly taking it easy on the mic, but it took them a while – almost the whole set – to get the momentum going sufficiently to create what I’d call a proper Twilight Sad experience. They got there, though, and by Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters‘ “I Am Taking The Train Home”, I was feeling the magic and pulverizing set closer “Cold Days From The Birdhouse” sealed the deal.
I’d never seen Mono before, and my experience with their recorded works only went so far as their EP collection Gone. Even so, instrumental post-rock isn’t really the sort of genre where you have to be intimately familiar with a band’s compositions to appreciate the show – it’s more about the impact and emotiveness of the performance as it happens rather than the hearing of a favourite tunes. And in the case of Mono, the performance is in reference primarily to the music and not the band’s showmanship. The four members are rather the epitome of staying in the background and letting the music speak for them, for not only did they not utter a word, they set up a ways back into the stage and only bassist Tamaki Kunishi played standing up – both Takaakira Goto and Yasunori Takada played primarily seated and hunched over their guitars, hair obscuring their faces, though they occasionally stood and still managed to strike some impressive rock poses at various points in the night.
Trying to describe Mono invites some obvious comparisons, at least in my frame of reference, but really, in this style you’ve only got a certain number of tools to work with. The clean, intertwining guitar lines, the deafening riffage, the quiet-loud dynamic shifts… what sets the artists apart is the emotional quotient of their work; what they’re trying to convey to the listener. And where the likes of Mogwai evoke tension and anxiety and Explosions In The Sky trade in uplift and anthem, Mono’s prevailing mood is of elegant, elegiac sadness. The way their set unfolded was like an alternately hypnotic and crushing epic, wordless tragedy – surprisingly western in classical musical influence but wholly eastern in its solemn dignity. As previously noted, I couldn’t tell you what songs they played but I can say that whatever the individual components were, the sum of it was nearly two hours of breathtaking, bludgeoning beauty. Astonishing.
The Twilight Sad will release a new EP entitled The Wrong Side Of The Car on July 26.
Photos: Mono, The Twilight Sad @ Lee’s Palace – May 26, 2010
MP3: Mono – “Ashes In The Snow”
MP3: Mono – “Follow The Map”
MP3: Mono – “Gone”
MP3: Mono – “The Flames Beyond The Cold Mountain”
MP3: Mono – “Halcyon (Beautiful Days)”
MP3: The Twilight Sad – “Reflection Of The Television”
MP3: The Twilight Sad – “Cold Days From The Birdhouse”
MP3: The Twilight Sad – “That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy”
Video: Mono – “Follow The Map”
Video: The Twilight Sad – “The Room”
Video: The Twilight Sad – “Seven Years Of Letters”
Video: The Twilight Sad – “I Became A Prostitute”
Video: The Twilight Sad – “And She Would Darken The Memory”
MySpace: Mono
MySpace: The Twilight Sad
Drowned In Sound meets Charlotte Gainsbourg, who has released a new video from IRM.
Video: Charlotte Gainsbourg – “Time Of The Assassins”
Nicky Wire resorts to Aerosmith analogies in describing to XFM how the Manic Street Preachers’ new record is shaping up.
PitchforkTV has a Tunnelvision session with The Clientele.
Elvis Costello will have at least two new releases this year: an album of new material entitled American Ransom on October 3 and a best-of covering the past 20 years called Pomp & Pout: The Universal Years, due on June 29.
Mumford & Sons have a new video from Sigh No More; City Pages has an interview.
Video: Mumford & Sons – “Roll Your Stone Away”
Spinner continues their conversation with Tender Trap’s Amelia Fletcher.
The New York Times has a profile of M.I.A. which has ignited a bit of a brouhaha – details at Exclaim. M.I.A.’s new record /\/\/\Y/\ is out July 13.
Fucked Up have posted some details and thoughts on tonight’s free show at the Toronto Reference Library. Doors are at 7:30, things start at 8 and while the library atrium is big, you’d best get there early if you’re planning on attending. Forewarned.
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