Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
Fucked Up win 2009 Polaris Music Prize to delight of critics and dismay of censors
Frank YangThroughout this year’s process for the Polaris Music Prize, I’ve been saying that I’m thankful that I was on the Grand Jury last year – when there were no shortage of albums on the short list that I could get behind and the one I felt most deserving, Caribou’s Andorra, won – rather than this year, where the nominees by and large leave me feeling cold. That’s not saying that they’re not good or great albums worthy of the prize, just that I don’t think that I could come up with a real heartfelt advocacy for any of them. So while I’m glad I wasn’t sequestered in the jury room, I do sort of wish I had been a fly on the wall to see just how they decided to award this year’s prize to Fucked Up’s The Chemistry Of Common Life.
Make no mistake – I am thrilled that they won. Not necessarily because I’m a fan – hardcore is not my thing – but because if I were to have a horse in this race, it’d either have been them or K’Naan for no other reason than they would be the most surprising and interesting winners (though also, somehow, the least controversial). Both represent genres that most would have thought would be too niche to actually win the big prize, too outlier to win over a jury (theoretically) representing a broad cross-section of a diverse country. And yet here we are – a band with a name that can’t be printed or pronounced in most media outlets and a record that has more screaming than singing – has been declared the best this country has to offer. Fun-fucking-tastic.
So while Fucked Up improbably took the competition portion of the evening, the almost three hours of celebration leading up to it belonged to pretty much everyone. For the first time in the four-year history of the gala, all ten nominees were slated to perform – which made the scheduled allotment of two hours pretty absurd. Things were definitely going to go to overtime. Things started off with Metric – at least the James and Emily half of the band – performing acoustic renditions of “Help, I’m Alive” and “Gimme Sympathy”, trading the slick synth-powered album arrangements for something simpler and prettier, a side of the band not often seen. Great Lake Swimmers and Malajube followed up with solid but fairly typical two-song sets that were enjoyable and certainly reaffirmed that they belonged on the short list, but were not revelatory – especially not after being followed by Patrick Watson. The 2007 Polaris winner is a bit of a punching bag in some quarters precisely because he won the 2007 prize, but stunts like the one he pulled on this evening – leading his band into the hall like a marching band while decked out in a harness of megaphones and lights, all weird and wonderful – can’t help but generate good will. You’re winning me over, Watson, though it’s got little to do with your music.
If there was a prize to be awarded by the audience based on the performances, though, the Polaris would have gone to K’Naan. The man had an irresistible charisma onstage and his selections from Troubadour so powerful and anthemic, you wanted to give him the award – hell, every award – right then and there. Joel Plaskett followed up by taking things down a few notches, his first selection a downbeat and mellow piece performed with his father and then inviting Three collaborators Ana Egge and Rose Cousins out for a more upbeat “Deny Deny Deny”, and in the process reaffirming the fact that it’s impossible to dislike Joel Plaskett. It’s also impossible to keep a straight face whenever Chad Van Gaalen gets near a microphone. Though his set showcasing the noisy and delicate sides of Soft Airplane – which are often the same side – was fine, it was the introduction from Radio Free Canuckistan’s Michael Barclay and Van Gaalen’s own demented and rambling thank-you speech – both paying tribute to Leonard Cohen in the process – that were the real highlights of his moment in the spotlight. If you’re inclined to think that someone who makes the sort of animations that he does isn’t quite right in the head… you’re probably right.
Windsor’s Elliott Brood ratcheted up the audience participation quotient, handing out metal baking trays and wooden spoons and encouraging the house to clatter along, making for a righteous racket and turning the gala into a hoe-down. As the band gave shout-outs to the other nine nominees, it seemed clear they weren’t here to win – just to have a good time. Newfoundland’s Hey Rosetta! were pretty much an unknown quantity to me, but did their part to reaffirm as a land that likes big bands. They numbered 14, and I’m not sure if they played one song or two, but the first half was a down, piano-led dirge that thankfully blossomed into a grander, orchestral sort of thing. Maybe it was the lateness of the hour, but my attention was starting to wander. Hey Rosetta made little impression.
And then Fucked Up. The fact that they were scheduled to play last had less to do with their impending coronation – no one knew about that – but for the fact that they would be an impossible act to follow. Mayhem is to be expected at their shows and mayhem is what they brought. With inaugural Polaris winner Final Fantasy and Lullabye Arkestra along for the ride, they turned the heretofore genteel gala into something, well, fucked up. Frontman Damian Abraham wasted no time in stripping down to his underwear while performing and even gave himself a wedgie. They played just one song – I believe Chemistry lead track “Son The Father” – but that was all they needed to basically blow everyone away. Though I’d heard tale of their live energy, I’d never seen it before and wow. That’s all.
It was ironic that that this performance and this achievement would come at the Masonic Temple, a room they’d been been previously banned from by MTV.ca for causing a couple thousand dollars of damage. I think they can afford to pay that off now. During their acceptance speech, Abraham mentioned that the band had been frisked by security every time they came into the building for the gala. If they get searched on the way out, they’d better have an explanation for why Abraham’s got that giant cheque shoved into his pants (assuming he’s wearing pants). Because I don’t really have an explanation for how they won, just a hearty congratulations that they did.
The Toronto Star talked to Abraham post-win about their plans for the $20,000 prize. Spinner also reports back from the post-show press conference.
Here’s some photos from the night and after the jump, a recap of all the short list nominees, with attendant A/V materials.
Photos: 2009 Polaris Music Prize Gala @ The Masonic Temple – September 21, 2009
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Monday, September 21st, 2009
Ladyhawke, Semi Precious Weapons, Woodhands and Anjulie at the Opera House in Toronto
Frank YangOne can’t help but feel some satisfaction that the gossip king’s much-ballyhooed tour should be undone so quickly by the sort of offstage drama that’s typically the bread and butter of gossip bloggers. Not even a week into the tour and co-headliner Ida Maria was already generating the wrong sort of buzz, playing gigs drunk and disinterestedly, then walking off the stage in Boston and cancelling New York due to “illness”, to say nothing of weak attendance throughout. So it wasn’t much surprise that on Thursday, the day of the Toronto show, it was announced that Ida Maria had left the tour due to that same “illness” and substitute acts would be added to the bills of the next few dates.
Any degree of schadenfreude, however, was tempered by the fact that the lineup was now down one good headliner – I’ll just add this to the ongoing list of Ida Maria near misses (two cancelled SxSW appearances in March due to visa issues and her dropping off the Glasvegas tour early in April – and it was really the people who were going to show who were losing out. I was still committed to attend thanks to the continued presence of Ladyhawke on the bill. Semi Precious Weapons also remained in the lineup and the Toronto bill was rounded by a couple of hometown acts, Woodhands and Anjulie.
Anjulie I knew from the posters for V Fest, where she’d been one of the Radio stage performers, and that was enough to make me think I wasn’t going to be particularly interested in her. And no, while urban/r&b pop is not my thing, there’s no discounting that this girl is good at it – great voice, great look and thankfully not given to oversinging or the diva hand, and a #1 Billboard single to boot. Playing with a tight band and backing singers, she delivered a short but varied set covering a good range of styles and had enough old-school Motown and soul nods to please, which still sounding wholly contemporary. Hometown girl done good, indeed.
So while I kind of suspect Anjulie would have been a special guest whether Ida Maria had been on the bill or not, Woodhands were almost certainly an eleventh-hour addition to fill out the bill. And while a Perez Hilton show might seem a weird place for the local indie synth-rock heroes to show up, sonically they actually fit in quite well with the sort of dancey pop theme of the evening/tour – big beats, fat synths and frantic and fun delivery from Dan Werb. Though they’ve got a reputation as one of the most enjoyable live acts in the city, I’d never actually seen them in full, plugged-in fashion before and now that I have? I’ll give ’em the thumbs up.
The audience had been slowly filling in through the evening and while not nearly sold-out – I would put attendance at around 450 tops, and that includes the local acts’ probably-sizeable guest lists – it was pretty jammed up near the front for Semi Precious Weapons and why not? This was the first act of the night that the people would have actually paid to come and see (besides Hilton himself, who was not in attendance. Instead, we got weird little video-screen introductions with him looking like Max Headroom). Which went well with the Perez-curated video clips that constituted the between set music, giving me a look at top-40 music that I really didn’t need. Anyways.
I’d been told that if nothing else, Semi Precious Weapons were fun to photograph and yeah, they would have been if the entire night hadn’t been defined by horrid backlighting that made getting anything decent pretty much impossible. Which meant that I head to enjoy them on their musical merits which, I have to saw, were few. They offer transgressive glam-rock for the mall-punk set, which basically means a lot of swearing and sophomoric pottymouth banter about boobs, sex and general self-aggrandizing interspersed with high-energy if unremarkable rock songs and shout-along choruses, all delivered with over the top costumes and on-stage antics. If that sounds specifically formulated to get a response, that’s because it is and it does. This isn’t to say it wasn’t entertaining and the excitement elicited from the crowd a real boost to the evening’s energy, but not necessarily something I need to see or hear again.
Unsurprisingly, the crowd did thin out some following Semi Precious Weapons but it was still a decent-sized and enthusiastic audience on hand to welcome Pip Brown for her first Toronto appearance – and hey, less people means more room on the floor to dance. I had seen her play at SxSW and while the quality of the tunes from her self-titled debut – recently re-released with more goodies – were unimpeachable (if you like hook-laden, ’80s-flavoured synth-rock), the performance itself was generally workmanlike and not especially noteworthy and as such, my expectations weren’t the highest. It was a pleasant surprise, then, to see that Brown has upped her game in the live setting or perhaps that night at Stubb’s had been an off one – either way, her show this time out was much better. It’s hard to quantify how or why, exactly – she’s still not the most animated or charismatic performer – but she seemed much more comfortable on stage and that looseness carried over into the music. Delivered by a five-piece band, the Ladyhawke material sounded much more guitar guitar-driven live than on album – all the necessary synth parts were accounted for, but the guitars were louder and rawer. They dished out all the singles and “up” tracks from the record plus an old b-side for about 50 minutes of pop bliss. Never mind the sponsor, never mind the circus, this show was Ladyhawke’s show and it was great.
There’s a review at ChartAttack. City Sonic has a video feature on Woodhands and the Don Valley Brickworks, site of one of their most memorable – and illegal – gigs. Long way from that to Perez Presents.
Photos: Ladyhawke, Semi Precious Weapons, Woodhands, Anjulie @ The Opera House – September 17, 2009
MP3: Ladyhawke – “My Delirium”
MP3: Semi Precious Weapons – “Semi Precious Weapons”
MP3: Woodhands – “Dancer”
MP3: Woodhands – “I Wasn’t Made For Fighting”
Video: Ladyhawke – “Paris Is Burning”
Video: Ladyhawke – “My Delirium”
Video: Ladyhawke – “Dusk Till Dawn”
Video: Ladyhawke – “Back Of The Van”
Video: Semi Precious Weapons – “Magnetic Baby”
Video: Semi Precious Weapons – “Rock N Roll Never Looked So Beautiful”
Video: Semi Precious Weapons – “Her Hair Is On Fire”
Video: Semi Precious Weapons – “Semi Precious Weapons”
Video: Woodhands – “I Wasn’t Made For Fighting”
Video: Anjulie – “Boom”
Video: Anjulie – “Love Songs”
Video: Anjulie – “Day Will Come Soon”
MySpace: Ladyhawke
MySpace: Semi Precious Weapons
MySpace: Woodhands
MySpace: Anjulie
Aussies The Temper Trap, finally turning some early-year buzz into success thanks to (500) Days Of Summer, will be in town for a free show at the Horseshoe on October 20.
Video: The Temper Trap – “Science Of Fear”
Video: The Temper Trap – “Sweet Disposition”
Also free at the ‘Shoe the following week – October 27 – is Seattle garage rock outfit The Blakes, whose new record Souvenir is out October 13. Check out a track from the new record courtesy of Under The Radar.
MP3: The Blakes – “Ramshackle Hearse”
It’ll be an east-meets-west thing at the Horsesehoe on November 5 as Victoria’s Immaculate Machine meet up with Halifax’s Dog Day, tickets $10.
MP3: Dog Day – “Rome”
MP3: Immaculate Machine – “Sound The Alarms”
Patrick Watson has a date at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on December 12, where he probably hopes to be introduced as “two-time and current Polaris Music Prize winner”.
Which segues nicely into the fact that the Polaris Prize is being awarded tonight. Exclaim ran a feature last week wherein the examined the possible gender and geographic biases that exist within the jury, though I have to say that as a Toronto-based male, I don’t see what all the hubub is about. Har Har. Oh, I am also the latest (last?) subject of the “Better Know A Juror” feature on the Polaris website. Read it and know my most innermost thoughts and feelings. So let’s talk about your feelings. Who do you think will win? Should win?
Sunday, September 20th, 2009
Columbia RecordsThroughout his career, since the earliest days fronting Screaming Trees, Mark Lanegan has cultivated a distinct image as a man apart, solitary and brooding, an impression reinforced by his perma-scowl visage and voice like a gravel pit in hell. So why, if indeed this is man who just wants to be alone with a bottle, does he seem to be willing to work with everyone?
Post-Trees, he embarked on a well-received solo career before joining up with Queens Of The Stone Age for a while, and at the same time began an unexpected but fruitful collaboration with Isobel Campbell. On top of all that, he found the time to team up with ex-Afghan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli to form the ’90s alt.rock dream team The Gutter Twins. To suggest the man’s dance card was full is an understatement.
And still, he finds the time for more. Right now, his prime role is as frontman for Soulsavers – ostensibly a UK electornica production team though you wouldn’t know it from their latest effort Broken, which has only been released digitally in North America. It’s like rather than having Lanegan guest on their tracks, they’ve opted to play backing band for him and in doing so, have built a near-perfect aural landscape for Lanegan to sing overtop, all charred gospel and blues, a bleak, sweeping and cinematic Americana. These guys do remixes? Really?
And they also tour. With Lanegan along for the ride – there’s no way they could do it if he wasn’t – Soulsavers are currently playing North America and will be in Toronto this Friday, September 25, for a date at the Mod Club. Tickets are $20 in advance 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 to see Soulsavers” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest will close at midnight, September 23.
Video: Soulsavers – “Revival”
Video: Soulsavers – “Kingdoms Of Rain”
Stream: Soulsavers / Broken
Sunday, September 20th, 2009
The Antlers cover My Bloody Valentine
Chris ShontingHaving now gotten to the point where I can listen to The Antlers’ Hospice without having a panic attack – mostly – I’ve set about checking out some of their earlier recordings via the interwebs. Beyond that latest record the trio are mostly a tabula rasa to me, so there’s no real reason for me to be surprised that they’ve done a My Bloody Valentine cover… but I was.
And yet the way they’ve reinterpreted it makes perfect sense. Replacing Kevin Shields’ trademark “glide” guitar with heavily effected slide maintains the original’s wobbly intent without resorting to mimicry and Peter Silberman’s hazy, quaaluded vocals come at the dream-pop standard from a different angle. Fresh, yet faithful. Best I can tell, this recording was never part of a formal release, just one of those things that trickles out online from the ether. And thank goodness for that.
The Antlers are on the road and will be in Toronto on Thursday evening for two performances – an in-store at Criminal Records at 6PM and a headlining show at the Horseshoe later that night. Either/or/both highly recommended. You can stream a session with the band at KDHX. The touring portion of the My Bloody Valentine reunion has mostly wound down, with just a single festival appearance in December remaining, so hopefully they’ll get to dealing with those long-promised reissues, unreleased and new material. Yeah, right.
MP3: The Antlers – “When You Sleep”
Video: My Bloody Valentine – “When You Sleep” (live in San Francisco 2008)
Saturday, September 19th, 2009
Frank YangToronto has a reputation for being standoffish, but I personally don’t get it – I think we’re downright neighbourly. Or at least our bands are. Or some of them. Consider excellent The Balconies, just moved to Hogtown from Ottawa in the last couple months, and they’ve already scheduled a record release show for their excellent debut album at Lee’s Palace and they’ve gotten some of the buzziest up-and-coming bands in the 416 (and probably the 647 and maybe the 705) to join them. That’s next Friday night, September 25, at Lee’s with Oh No Forest Fires, Fox Jaws and Whale Tooth, all of whom have been feted in these pages at one time or another – you could rightly say this show is chromewaves-endorsed, top to bottom. For what that’s worth.
And to prove said endorsement, I have two pairs of passes to give away for the show. So confident am I that you will enjoy this show that I am encouraging to devote your Friday night to it! I don’t do that for just anything. Wait, I sort of do. Anyways. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see The Balconies” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, September 22. And if you don’t win, admission is $7 at the door – still a deal any way you look at it.
MP3: The Balconies – “300 Pages”
MP3: The Balconies – “Smells Like Secrets”
MP3: Oh No Forest Fires – “It’s Not Fun And Games Until Someone Loses An Eye”
MP3: Fox Jaws – “Quarantine Girl”
MP3: Whale Tooth – “Hibernation Song”
MP3: Whale Tooth – “6 Billion”
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