Monday, October 19th, 2009
Camilla StephanI commented in passing last week that I was surprised how much I was enjoying The Raveonettes’ latest record In And Out Of Control, and that “they no longer sound like a band that I always feel like I should like more than I do, and like a band that I could actually really like”. And by that, I meant that past records seemed a little heavy on concept and aesthetic but light on actual execution, but with just enough hookery and substance to provide a decent sugar buzz.
In And Out Of Control still has those qualities in spades as well as all the Spector/Wilson-worshipping fuzz-pop production, but just feels more substantial and satisfying somehow, like they’ve found a way to infuse sugar bombs with actual nutritional value. Or maybe they’ve just made them so irresistibly sweet and poppy that you don’t care that they’re wholly empty calories. I actually think that’s it. Either way, those first three songs are fizzy-pop bliss and the rest of the record measures up pretty well as well.
The Danish duo will be in town this Thursday night, October 22, for a show at the Phoenix. Tickets are $18.50 in advance but courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away to this show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to Rave On (ette)” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, October 20. And if you enter this one and the David Bazan one for the same night, note which you’d prefer.
Out has an interview with The Raveonettes – who else could get away with asking, “Are either of you gay?” – and there’s a couple more pieces at hour.ca and The Quietus. There’s also tons of performance videos and interview bits at their own website.
MP3: The Raveonettes – “Last Dance”
Video: The Raveonettes – “Last Dance”
MySpace: The Raveonettes
Monday, October 19th, 2009
The OrchardThere’s no question that discussion of David Bazan should center around his music, in particular his latest record and first under his own name Curse Your Branches, but to be honest, far more fascinating to me than his work is hearing the former Pedro The Lion frontman and Christian indie-rock standard bearer speak frankly about his crises of faith that have recently led him to leave those names, titles and beliefs behind.
In particular, this extensive interview at eMusic had me riveted, and for someone as ADD as I typically am (though generally tempered by my OCD), that’s saying something. If you’ve got the time and inclination to delve into some heavy themes, it’s worth a read. And I expect similar ground is covered in these pieces at The Village Voice and Express Night Out, as well as this audio interview at NPR.
But hey, he may be out on the road but he’s not evangelizing (or reverse-evangelizing, as the case may be) – he’s playing music. And he’ll be playing said music at Lee’s Palace this Thursday night. Tickets are $11.50 in advance but courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away to this show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I believe in David Bazan” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, October 20.
And more music, check out his recent session at Daytrotter.
MP3: David Bazan – “Bless This Mess”
MySpace: David Bazan
Monday, October 19th, 2009
The Horrors and Fucked Up at Lee’s Palace in Toronto
Frank YangThe second half of last week was one of those stretches where it seemed like there were a half-dozen things going on at the same time, each of which would under normal circumstances be a no-brainer as far as attendance was concerned but instead, would require some painful sacrifices. And so it was that after shooting the first three songs of Wilco’s set at Massey Hall, I bolted for Lee’s Palace to catch The Horrors. Some/most would call this madness, but I had Wilco tickets for the following night (which itself called for passing on the School Of Seven Bells Show – ouch) and I had already missed seeing The Horrors back in May and grown fonder of their latest record Primary Colours in the interim.
Also filed under the incentive column was the rather poorly-disguised fact that one of the openers was going to be reigning Polaris Music Prize winners Fucked Up. They’d already announced they’d be playing a secret show that week and the listing of a band called “Polaris Pricks” that otherwise didn’t exist pretty much sealed the deal. Seeing them play the Polaris Prize gala was my first exposure to the Fucked Up live experience and while it was as entertaining and chaotic as their reputation promised, it was still only one song so I was looking forward to this one. Unfortunately, they seemed to be consciously on their best behaviour and shenanigans were kept to a minimum. Fortunately, they were still loud and fast and there were some even minimum shenanigans equals some shenanigans. Singer Damian Abraham clambored around on the Lee’s Palace railings and speaker cabs, shed his shirt (of course) and frolicked in the crowd in the way that rather large, shirtless men frolic. I’ve listened to The Chemistry Of Common Life a few more times since the Polaris win but still have trouble distinguishing one song from the next, but that’s alright – it was still entertaining to witness. I expect they’ll more than compensate for the lack of carnage on this night when they host their annual Fucked Up Fest at various venues around the city at the end of the month.
The Horrors were largely an unknown quantity to me prior to their current record, but I was aware that most of the critical praise heaped at Primary Colours came with a healthy amount of incredulity that such an album could have come from a band that was previously not taken very seriously, to say the least. But the past is the past and all that was really relevant was that the new record is good and they no longer dress ridiculously. I’d also been told that they liked to play in total darkness and really didn’t move at all – both thankfully incorrect, though the latter far moreso than the former. No, their show was actually pretty animated and intense, feeding and feeding off an enthusiastic audience I didn’t know they had. Sonically, they did a fine job of reproducing the haze of metal shavings abrasiveness of Geoff Barrow’s production job, giving the brooding some extra juice for the stage, and while it could be argued that they overplayed the rock theatrics a bit, particularly frontman Faris Badwan’s lurching and grimacing (though being as tall and gangly as he is, the lurching may have been perfectly natural), it suited the dramatics of the material and the overall tone of the show. The encore pulled the energy levels up higher and felt looser and more naturally unhinged – seeing as how it was made up of (presumably) all older material, it whipped their already frothy fans into an even greater frenzy. Obviously they’ve accepted the band’s newer shoegaze-inspired sound but still love them some goth-punk. Yeah I know I missed a great Wilco show for this, but I think I came out alright in the end as well.
The Horrors are releasing a non-album single entitled “Whole New Way” on 7″ on November 3 and have just released a video for it and The National Post has an Q&A with Faris Badwan. Hearty has an interview with Fucked Up bassist Sandy Miranda.
Photos: The Horrors, Fucked Up @ Lee’s Palace – October 14, 2009
MP3: The Horrors – “Sea Within A Sea”
MP3: Fucked Up – “No Epiphany”
Video: The Horrors – “Whole New Way”
Video: The Horrors – “Mirror’s Image”
Video: The Horrors – “Who Can Say”
Video: The Horrors – “Sea Within A Sea”
Video: The Horrors – “She Is The New Thing”
Video: The Horrors – “Gloves”
Video: The Horrors – “Count In Fives”
Video: The Horrors – “Sheena Is A Parasite”
Video: Fucked Up – “Crooked Head”
Video: Fucked Up – “Black Albino Bones”
MySpace: The Horrors
MySpace: Fucked Up
State and The Independent have interviews and Uncensored a video chat with The xx. NPR is also streaming a World Cafe session with the band, who make their Toronto debut at the Phoenix on December 2 alongside Friendly Fires.
Under The Radar has an interview and Dirty Laundry a video session with The Twilight Sad.
Drowned In Sound meets The Big Pink. You can do likewise at Lee’s Palace on November 29.
PitchforkTV is streaming for this week only the Bat For Lashes documentary short film Two Plus Two, which documented the making of her new record Two Suns. The deluxe edition of the record, which includes said doc on DVD and a second disc containing eight bonus tracks, will be out on November 3.
Video: Bat For Lashes: Two Plus Two
Florence & The Machine have released a new video. She’s at the Mod Club on November 2.
Video: Florence & The Machine – “You’ve Got The Love”
Lily Allen also has a new vid.
Video: Lily Allen – “Who’d Have Known”
Spinner’s Interface has a session with Little Boots, who also has a new video out.
Video: Little Boots – “Earthquake”
My Old Kentucky Blog and Pitchfork talk to The Clientele.
Mumford & Sons have unveiled video number two from album number one Sigh No More.
Video: Mumford & Sons – “Gentlemen Of The Road”
The Yorker has an interview with Noah & The Whale, whose in-store at Criminal Records on October 31 has been moved up – way up – to a noon hour start. And that evening’s show at the Horseshoe has been dubbed “Night Of The Living Dead”, with attendees invited to come dressed as their favourite dead celebrity. I look forward to spending the evening surrounded by bad Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett lookalikes.
Drowned In Sound has a the third part of Fanfarlo’s tour diaries, which Black Cab Session features a session recorded way back at SxSW in March and Clash solicits a list of “Top Ten Tracks to stalk around a Norwegian Forest”. Fall North American dates are still trickling in, but the fact that they’ll be in Minneapolis in mid-November and Boston in mid-December implies a long stay, hopefully with a Toronto date in there somewhere.
Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit tells The Popcop that their breakout record The Midnight Organ Fight wasn’t the one he wanted to make and he likes the new one, due out in the new year, much better. Give the first single and video a listen and judge for yourself, if you can disregard the shabby audio quality.
Video: Frightened Rabbit – “Swim Until You Can’t See The Land”
Glasvegas talks to Spinner about their plans to track album number two in Los Angeles
Arctic Monkeys have released a new video from Humbug.
Video: Arctic Monkeys – “Cornerstone”
BBC reports the future of Bloc Party appears in doubt, with the band canceling dates on their current tour so drummer Matt Tong can get medical attention and a lack of interest in his part on returning when it’s all sorted. Sad news if it’s true, because Intimacy is not the note any band wants to go out on.
James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers talks to Under The Radar about their decision to use Richey Edwards’ lyrics for Journal For Plague Lovers.
Spinner talks to Bad Lieutenant principal Bernard Sumner. Their debut Never Cry Another Tear is out November 10.
Interview and The San Francisco Examiner have interviews with Echo & The Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch. They’re at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre tomorrow night for an orchestrally-enhanced performance of Ocean Rain.
Pitchfork discusses bands that are not The Smiths with Johnny Marr.
Sunday, October 18th, 2009
Pavement cover Echo & The Bunnymen
WikipediaOh reunions are funny things, aren’t they? Intellectually, it’s hard not to be cynical about them – they’re usually more fiscally motivated than anyone would care to admit, rarely capture the magic of their heyday and usually feature principals balder and paunchier than their fans really want to remember. And if the outfit tries to tread down the “still artistically relevant” path of new material, the results usually pale in comparison to what came before. But emotionally, the idea of seeing a favourite band thought lost to the ages in the flesh again can overwhelm reason.
One on side, you have Echo & The Bunnymen – after dissolving in 1988, original members Ian McCulloch, Will Sergeant and Les Pattinson reunited in 1997, well before reunions were all the rage, and though Pattinson would leave again in 1999, with the release last week of The Fountain, they have released as many albums in their second go-around as they did in the first (ignoring the McCulloch-less Reverberation) – no mean feat, especially considering that the new records have been uniformly pretty decent. And on the other side, Pavement. After much whispering and rumouring, the indie heroes recently announced they were ending a decade-long hiatus with a world tour next year that would not feature any new material or continue on past the dates tied to the 2010 jaunt, which at present starts in March in New Zealand and ends in September in New York City, but promises to hit most every major market with fans willing to pony up for the opportunity to sing along with, “Cut Your Hair”.
And the two did intersect both when Pavement covered the Bunnymen classic, “The Killing Moon” as a b-side on Major Leagues, their final EP and in live sets, replacing the overt drama of the original with their own distinctive brand of disaffected emotion. Those who prefer the grandeur of the original or would like to hear it with even more grandeur won’t want to miss one of the orchestral Ocean Rain shows the band is putting on during their current tour, including this Tuesday night at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto.
MP3: Pavement – “The Killing Moon”
MP3: Pavement – “The Killing Moon” (live)
Video: Echo & The Bunnymen – “The Killing Moon”
Saturday, October 17th, 2009
PitchforkBroadcast are a band whom I’ve not really kept up with since their 2000 debut The Noise Made By People, though I’m aware that they’ve downsized considerably since that album and now exist mainly as the duo of Trish Keenan and James Cargill. Similarly, Deerhunter are a band whom, on paper, I should adore but the little I’ve heard from them appeals superficially but has yet to actually grab my attention and not let go. So I have less to say about Atlas Sound, the solo incarnation of Deerhunter leader Bradford Cox than I do about the main band, which is not a lot.
But I can tell you that Broadcast are releasing a split EP with The Focus Group entitled Broadcast and the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age, out on October 27, and Atlas Sound have a new record entitled Logos out next week. They are also co-headlining a tour which hits Lee’s Palace next Saturday night, October 24. Tickets are $13 in advance but courtesy of Rootmeansquare, 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 broadcast sound around the atlas” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, October 21.
MySpace: Broadcast
MySpace: Atlas Sound
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