Sunday, July 5th, 2009
Florence & The Machine covers Beirut
RCRDLBLThe buzz around Londoner Florence Welch, aka Florence & The Machine, has been going for well over year – I first caught a whiff at SxSW 2008 and since then, it’s been growing steadily and should culminate with the impending release of her debut album Lungs.
But for the longest time, there was only a handful of Florence material available to stoke the fires – a couple of fine singles released on IAMSOUND – and some random session MP3s, including this Beirut cover, taken from something dubbed “The School Sessions”. It’s a lovely rendering, showcasing her powerful vocals while managing to stay mostly restrained. It doesn’t necessarily showcase her more manic/maniacally creative side, but that’s sure to be more than on display on the album. It’s nice to have a quieter moment to retreat to.
The Independent and The Times have feature pieces on Welch. Lungs is out this week in the UK but North America will have to wait until October 13 to see a domestic release. Hopefully the delay means that the record will be properly promoted over here with touring and all that good stuff. Speaking of touring, Beirut are currently on the road and will be in town on July 9 for a sold out show at the Phoenix in support of their new EP March Of The Zapotec.
MP3: Florence & The Machine – “Postcards From Italy”
Video: Beirut – “Postcards From Italy”
Saturday, July 4th, 2009
As those of us in Toronto sit and wait not quite as patiently as we one did for news of our – or Ontario’s – Virgin Festival, it’s hard not to look longingly up the 401 to the rather excellent party happening in Montreal the weekend of August 1 and 2 at Parc Jean-Drapeau – Osheaga. Having both come into being in the same year – 2006 – and even taking place the same weekend (and swapping many acts) in 2007, the two festivals have always had a friendly competition very much in the spirit of all Montreal-Toronto rivalries, punters endlessly comparing lineups and experiences.
This year, however, the edge has to go to Osheaga by simple virtue of the fact that it officially exists. The fact that this year’s lineup is pretty stacked, featuring Coldplay, Beastie Boys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Elbow, Lykke Li, The Decemberists, Arctic Monkeys, Eagles Of Death Metal and craploads more, is just gravy. This isn’t to say that V couldn’t come up with something comparable, but it’d have to be pretty left-field. Either way… we shall see.
But if you’re sold on Osheaga – and it’s not like you have to choose, they’re almost a month apart – then maybe this giveaway is for you. Courtesy of the festival, I’ve got a pair of weekend passes to give away to one lucky winner. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to Go-sheaga” in the subject line (yes I used that in last year’s contest but I like it) and your name and full mailing address in the body and get that in to me before midnight, July 14.
MySpace: Osheaga
Friday, July 3rd, 2009
Sonic Youth at Massey Hall in Toronto
Frank YangIt’s a long way from CBGBs in New York to Massey Hall in Toronto – geographically, stylistically, even temporally. The former defined by its role as the primordial ooze from whence punk rock first emerged, the latter known largely for the legendary folk and jazz artists who graced its stage. CBGBs was a place to begin, Massey a place to arrive, but the path between the two is one that’s been trod by few acts. As of this past Tuesday night, Sonic Youth became one of them.
At first, the venue seemed a peculiar choice – putting a band whose reputation was built so heavily on dissonance in a room with the most splendid acoustics in the city. But in truth Sonic Youth became about so much more than just noise a long time ago and the complexity of their songs really were demanding of the room in which they were performed. Plus it held about the right amount of people.
I didn’t arrive in time to catch most of openers The Entrance Band, but did hear enough to find it ironic that such a trad-sounding hard rock band would be supporting such an avant-garde one. I didn’t feel like I’d missed much but if I did, I could console myself with the knowledge that they’d be back in town on August 20 at the Annex Wreck Room supporting Nebula.
I’ve already come clean about being only a casual Sonic Youth fan, but most of that enthusiasm has been built on their most recent records, say from Murray Street up to and definitely including their latest The Eternal as they’ve struck what, to my ears, is the perfect balance of atonality and melody. And having only ever seen them once live before, at Lollapalooza 2006, I was pretty excited to do so again. From the buzz in the hall, it was pretty clear everyone else was excited as well but I suspect that most were much more hardcore than I and thus exponentially more stoked. Takeaway: people were looking forward to the show.
And the long-time fans were catered with the first song, “She Is Not Alone” dating back to the band’s 1982 debut. Of course I didn’t know this song – it and most others were verified via set list – but it was a slow, hypnotic sort of dirge featuring massive guitar freak-out from Thurston Moore that many probably hoped would be a set loaded with classic material. These people would probably be disappointed. With “Sacred Trickster”, the band made it clear that they would not be partaking in any career retrospectives – they were still creative and vital and had eyes dead set forward, and would prove it by playing eleven straight songs from The Eternal.
Now these were some of the songs I was most familiar with, but that’s a pretty relative statement – I don’t find Sonic Youth to be a band I necessarily enjoy on an individual song basis, but more as a whole aural experience and that’s exactly what they delivered. A massive, dense and cinematic sonic rendering that was simultaneously aggressive, gentle, intense and detached. Seemingly incongruous guitar parts wove around each other perfectly, lunging and lurching around the alternating vocals of Moore, Lee Ranaldo and Kim Gordon, all of whom initially looked every bit their age but with every song, became more and more ageless – the healing power of music, I suppose. And you know, for a band that’s been around as long as they and are so unquestioningly influential, it’s remarkable how no one but no one sounds like them. Following a stunning rendering of “Massage The History”, featuring the unexpected sight of Moore on acoustic guitar, the band finally threw the old-timers a bone with a searing set closer in “Pacific Coast Highway” from Sister. The two encores were similarly steered towards older material with the exception of “What We Know”, the final Eternal track that hadn’t yet been aired. If they’d run them in order, they could have billed it as a “Don’t Look Back” show, albeit for their newest record.
I can understand if some fans felt let down by the focus on the new stuff – I would have even liked to have heard some Rather Ripped stuff, as that may be my favourite recent album of theirs – but with a catalog as broad and deep as theirs, there’s no way they could have satisfied everyone. But from a sheer performance point of view, I can’t believe anyone was actually disappointed in any way by the show they were given. Simply epic.
There’s further reviews of the show at The National Post, eye, NOW and Fazer. Check out interviews with the band at Crawdaddy, eye, The Toronto Sun and Spinner.
Photos: Sonic Youth @ Massey Hall – June 30, 2009
MP3: Sonic Youth – “Sacred Trickster”
MP3: Sonic Youth – “Incinerate”
Video: Sonic Youth – “Sacred Trickster”
Video: Sonic Youth – “Incinerate”
Video: Sonic Youth – “Death Valley 1969”
MySpace: Sonic Youth
Blurt has an interview with Dinosaur Jr, while Exclaim has assembled a career-spanning timeline of their existence. They’re at the Phoenix on September 30.
The Big Takeover has a massive five-part interview with Bob Mould. He’s at the Mod Club on October 5.
Gibson Guitars talk to Neil Young about Archives Volume One.
Wilco (The Album) was released this week and in its wake comes Wilco (the media glut). There’s interviews with Jeff Tweedy at Time, The New York Times and JAM while American Songwriter chats with Nels Cline and Paste with Cline and John Stirrat.
St Louis Today and The Colorado Springs Independent discuss Son Volt’s American Central Dust with Jay Farrar.
PopMatters considers the legacy of Uncle Tupelo.
Steve Earle talks to Cincinnati.com. He’s at Massey Hall on July 11.
Daytrotter is sharing a session with Mark Olson & Gary Louris, recorded in March at SxSW.
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
The Grates get North American release date for Teeth Lost, Hearts Won, tour erratically to celebrate
MySpaceWhat’s that, you thought there’d be a review of Tuesday night’s Sonic Youth show top of page today? So did I, but it turns out that holidays can be the absolute worst days to try and get work done. So SY tomorrow, this today.
And “this” is the happy news that Brisbane, Australia’s most energetic pop band – The Grates – have finally inked a North American deal to release their second album Teeth Lost, Hearts Won on this side of the world. Considering how much fun their 2006 debut Gravity Won’t Get You High was, I found it confounding that the trio were at SxSW this year without a deal for their sophomore effort, released last August down under, especially after seeing their rhythmic gymnastic-infused set at Hot Freaks. But that’s been resolved, as Teeth Lost, Hearts Won will be getting a domestic release via Thirty Tigers on September 15.
They’re also doing some touring during July, but not through any sort of conventional routing – the band has a residency scheduled at Pianos in New York on July 15, 22 and 29 but on the off days are apparently putting making Tourism Canada very happy by crossing the border for a show in Ottawa at the Live 88 Lounge on the 12th, then back up to play Hillside in Guelph the weekend of July 24 to 26 and the following Tuesday, July 28, at the Horseshoe in Toronto. You can reasonably expect more North American dates to get added in and around those shows, but if you want to try and predict where and when they’ll be, you’re braver than I.
There’s one of the tracks from the new record available to download below and you can get another by signing up to their mailing list.
MP3: The Grates – “Burn Bridges”
Video: The Grates – “Burn Bridges”
Video: The Grates – “Aw Yeah”
MySpace: The Grates
Ex-Concrete Victoria Bergsmann has completed her second album as Taken By Trees – East Of Eden will be released on September 8, more details at The Line Of Best Fit.
NPR offers up a session with Loney Dear – they have a date at the Horseshoe on October 13.
Also on that bill are Asobi Seksu. There’s a “Getting To Know” feature on them at Filter.
Altsounds interviews The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, who have a date at the Horseshoe on September 7.
Drowned In Sound has an interview with The Twilight Sad. Forget The Night Ahead is out September 22.
PitchforkTV heads down to the New York Stock Exchange with The Thermals.
Also at PitchforkTV – an installment of their Cemetary Gates series featuring Ra Ra Riot – they’re at Lee’s Palace on September 11.
Elvis Perkins In Dearland have a new video out, taken from their self-titled album.
Video: Elvis Perkins – “Chains, Chains, Chains”
Also with a new vid are Death Cab For Cutie. It comes from their recently-released The Open Door EP.
Video: Death Cab For Cutie – “Little Bribes”
A free and legal MP3 from Patrick Wolf’s The Bachelor, getting a North American release on August 11.
MP3: Patrick Wolf – “The Vulture”
Filter gets to know Howling Bells, whose Radio Wars will get a North American release on July 28.
Le Blogotheque has a video session – more of a party, really – with Beirut. For more in that style, check out The Flying Club Cup video series from a few years back – still beautiful. They’ve got a sold-out show at the Phoenix on July 9.
Blurt has an interview with St Vincent’s Annie Clark. She is at the Horseshoe on August 8.
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
Review of Great Lake Swimmers' Lost Channels and Hillside Festival giveaway
Ilia HorsburghThe discography of Great Lake Swimmers is not unlike those “one self-portrait a day for 10 years” photography projects. From one record to the next, the differences might seem superficial or even non-existent, but jump from their 2003 self-titled debut to their latest, Lost Channels, and the growth is dramatic. You could be forgiven for not noticing, as the common threads running through each record – specifically Tony Dekker’s gently haunting vocals and the slow-motion beauty of his songwriting, steeped in history and geography – haven’t changed much, but the adornment and production around them certainly has.
In addition to the gorgeously stark songcraft, the most distinctive feature of the debut were the acoustics, recorded as the record was in an abandoned grain silo. The rustic aesthetic was less outwardly pronounced on subsequent records but the spirit of it remained, seemingly infused in Dekker’s voice itself – you could put the man in an anechoic chamber and have him sing, and it’d still sound like it was coming from another world. What also changed was the musical adornments – with each album, things grew more expansive and textured. It felt like the sepia-tones were slowly bleeding away and leaving a greater palette of colours – not blindingly vibrant by any means, but certainly richer in hue. This was most evident on 2007’s Ongiara, which saw Great Lake Swimmers sound more like a band than a solo project and the pop sensibilities that had always remained as more undercurrents to the folk bubble up to the surface – these weren’t tunes for driving around town with the top down, but there was an immediacy to some of the songs that hadn’t been there before.
That trend continues on Lost Channels, which takes even bolder steps into the pop realm without giving up any of the homespun intimacy that sets Great Lake Swimmers apart. There’s a newfound sprightliness and shimmer in the record’s more upbeat moments that provide a greater sense of dynamic alongside the quiet. It’s hard to imagine “Palmistry” having a place on the first record, but on this one, following Ongiara, it makes perfect sense as an opener and sets the table for what’s probably their finest collection of songs yet, at least until the next one. The understated nature of the band and their music probably hasn’t garnered them the amount of praise or attention they deserve and many are probably guilty of taking their unwavering consistency for granted – myself included. But stopping and taking a step back, it’s hard to argue they’ve quietly become one of Canada’s finest bands and Lost Channels is one more compelling reason why.
Guelph Lake isn’t technically one of the Great Lakes, but it’s a pretty terrific little body of water and unlike the big ones, you can actually swim there without fear. It also hosts one of the finest music festivals in southern Ontario every Summer in Hillside, and this year Great Lake Swimmers will be performing on the Sunday bill on July 26 and courtesy of Nettwerk, I’ve got two day passes (one pair, essentially) for that final day of the fest to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to be a Guelph Lake Swimmer” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body. They also ask that if you’re Facebook-indoctrinated, that you join up with the Great Lake Swimmers Facebook page – honour system, I can’t follow up on ya. Contest will run until midnight, July 19.
There’s an interview with the Dekker at hour.ca.
MP3: Great Lake Swimmers – “Pulling On A Line” (zip)
Video: Great Lake Swimmers – “Pulling On A Line”
MySpace: Great Lake Swimmers
Exclaim examines the whirlwind last few months for The Rural Alberta Advantage, leading up to next Tuesday’s official release of Hometowns and their July 30 record release show at the Horseshoe.
I Heart Music has taken the time to MP3-ify Woodpigeon’s set from NXNE a couple weeks back.
The self-titled debut from Reverie Sound Revue was released last week but is available to stream this week over at Spinner. Still waiting on the second stop of their blog tour, which kicked off here last week.
Stream: Reverie Sound Revue / Reverie Sound Revue
SoundProof talks to Joel Plaskett.
Exclaim has details on Cuff The Duke’s new album Way Down Here, due out September 8. Their next local show is August 9 at the CNE Bandshell for Toronto’s Festival Of Beer. Yeah. You’re going to go to see Cuff The Duke, and that’s all. Sure.
Spiral Beach have readied their second full-length album The Only Really Thing for a September 22 release and are giving away a first MP3 from it.
MP3: Spiral Beach – “Domino”
Gentleman Reg has released a couple new videos from Jet Black and talks a bit about the one for “Rewind” on his MySpace blog. Reg is playing a free show at Harbourfront Centre on July 25.
Video: Gentleman Reg – “How We Exit”
Video: Gentleman Reg – “Rewind”
Murray Lightburn of The Dears doesn’t necessarily give JAM good odds on the prospects of the most recent lineup of the band sticking together. Hopefully long enough to make their free June 26 show at Harbourfront Centre.
So the fourth of the five Canadian Virgin Festivals was unveiled yesterday for August 8 and 9 in Calgary, Alberta, and like all the others so far, you certainly can’t say it’s a predictable lineup. On the plus side, it has arguably the biggest single headliner of them all so far in Pearl Jam but thing drop off a fair bit from there, filling itself out with mid-level Canadian acts like k-os and Tokyo Police Club. I supposed Metric and Billy Talent are reasonably big draws, but it’s pretty obvious they broke the bank securing Pearl Jam. Of course, this leaves just Ontario/Toronto/Orillia to be announced, and I’ve been told to expect something within the next week or so on that front. I’m not going to spill anything but I know some of what’s been booked, have strong hints/rumours about others and all I’ll say is that it’s not what you might be expecting. Though with pretty much every band you might expect already booked elsewhere that weekend, it really couldn’t possibly be.
Oh yeah, happy Canada Day. Celebrate with a cold one, and Radio Free Canuckistan’s list of 30 Canuck singles he couldn’t live without, The National Post’s list of 10 Canadian bands you should be listening to (not all the usual suspects, thankfully), The Line Of Best Fit’s second downloadable Canadian mix and Quick Before It Melts’ coast-to-coast salute to Canadian blogs (disclosure: I’m flattered to be on the list).
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