Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
How strange is it that of the three shows I’ve got lined up this week, all feature double-bills with acts that could each easily headline on their own. Of course, last night’s show featuring Yo La Tengo and British Sea Power at the Berkeley Church doesn’t technically count as a double bill since they were being recorded for separate episodes of Beautiful Noise but from the POV of the audience, it was a pretty terrific few hours of music without having to move an inch.
British Sea Power got the nod to go on first and led with a solid block of selections from Do You Like Rock Music?, executed in grand – and loud – fashion. After their mildly disappointing set at our Hot Freaks party at SxSW, it was exciting to see them come out with a set that did the new material justice. It’s hard to define what was present now that was lacking then, but everything seemed to come across with more authority, more forcefulness. Better sound, better atmosphere. Whatever it was, it started out strong and gained more intensity (and seemingly volume) as the show progressed and when they stepped away from the Rock Music material via “True Adventures” from Open Season and culminating in an exhilarating “Spirit Of St Louis” and a finale that I couldn’t identify. Some of the on-stage antics like the shoulder-climbing, handstand walking and whatnot may have seemed a bit perfunctory but they were still entertaining and got a great response from the audience. And will look great on TV, I bet. Consider me not so disappointed that I’m missing them at Lee’s on May 16 when they return to town for a more conventional show.
After all that, I had to wonder how Yo La Tengo was going to follow up that spectacle. Though their last album I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass was a welcome step back from the rather narcoleptic stylings of their previous couple records, they’re still not necessarily your first pick when you need some hot rock injection. As it turns out, they went the other way completely, bringing their “Freewheeling Yo La Tengo” tour format to Toronto and opting to play seated, mostly acoustic and with as much talk as tunes. They invited the audience to ask questions of the band, leading to entertaining discourses on the quality of television, the Juno soundtrack, Stevie Ray Vaughan, the New York Knicks and Rush, among other topics. Considering that Ira Kaplan’s stage demeanor has usually been on the prickly side whenever the band has played Toronto, hearing him as chatty and charming as he was was a treat.
As was the musical component of the show. Not knowing that they’d be doing things mostly unplugged, I’d been a bit worried before the show about how jammy the band was going to be feeling – I’ve found Yo La live to be a bit of a crapshoot as the breadth and depth of their repertoire is such that they could play whatever they felt like, and if they were feeling noodly… But no, within the context of the show they stuck to their poppier numbers – often recast and rearranged in revelatory fashion – and with the quiet atmosphere, the beauty in their collective vocal work really shone through. And lest things get too sedate, Kaplan had his acoustic run through a distortion pedal that still let him unload the skronk for the likes of “Sugarcube” and via a frenzied solo in “Little Honda”, coax sounds out of an acoustic guitar that it was never meant to make. They played (and talked) for over an hour and a half – far longer than I’d expected them – and by the end of it had turned in the best show I think I’ve seen them play. I do wonder if the fact that it was recorded for television kept them from delving too far into the dustier corners of their closet for material – gotta play the “hits” after all – but all the impromptu requests and covers (which can’t be broadcast) made it pretty clear they weren’t sticking to any sort of script.
Both this show and the MMJ one last week were really special experiences, thanks to the environs of the church and the amazing performances. I’m eager to see the finished broadcast shows for these and the ones I missed, whenever/wherever they air, though it’s a shame that so much of it will have been edited down for time. My thanks to the producers for letting me run the contests for guest list spots and I hope everyone who went to tapings this week had a great time. Bring on season four!
NPR has a radio session with the band available to stream. The photo above is taken from Yo La Tengo’s last proper Toronto show, back in October 2006. You know it’s not from this show because Ira a) has an electric guitar and b) is standing up.
MP3: Yo La Tengo – “Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind”
MP3: Yo La Tengo – “Beanbag Chair”
MP3: Yo La Tengo – “The Summer” (live on KEXP)
MP3: Yo La Tengo – “I Feel Like Going Home” (live on KCMP)
MP3: Yo La Tengo – “Little Eyes”
MP3: Yo La Tengo – “Don’t Have To Be So Sad”
MP3: Yo La Tengo – “From A Motel 6”
MP3: British Sea Power – “Waving Flags”
MP3: British Sea Power – “No Lucifer”
MP3: British Sea Power – “Atom” (edit)
MP3: British Sea Power – “Please Stand Up”
Video: Yo La Tengo – “Sugarcube”
Video: Yo La Tengo – “Tom Courtenay”
Video: British Sea Power – “Waving Flags”
Video: British Sea Power – “No Lucifer”
Video: British Sea Power – “It Ended On An Oily Stage”
Video: British Sea Power – “Please Stand Up”
MySpace: Yo La Tengo
MySpace: British Sea Power
My Morning Jacket’s Jim James gives Rolling Stone a video sneak preview of Evil Urges, out June 10. Via ILB.
Chart and BlogTO talk to The Jealous Girlfriends who, if you missed them opening for Nada Surf at the Opera House last night, will be back in town on June 3 at the El Mocambo opening for Sea Wolf. They also did a show for MTV Live yesterday evening but that information really doesn’t do anyone any good at this point. Their new self-titled album is out on April 22 and a copy of it will be winding its way to my ten lucky contest winners very soon… as soon as I pick them. Been busy, sorry.
Pitchfork interviews Portishead about their third album Third, due April 29.
Ms Queen-of-the-Junos Leslie Feist hasn’t even played her sold-out May 13 show at the Sony Centre and she already has another date lined up for November 3 at the Air Canada Centre. Hey, remember when she played those three NXNE shows at the Reverb, the Mod Club and Sneaky Dee’s? Those were the days.
Monday, April 7th, 2008
Photo by Dave Gourley
I have a hunch that UK label Fat Cat Records has a secret lab, somewhere in the Scottish highlands, where they have a team of scientists concocting bands specifically engineered to be addicting to my ears. Last year, they got me hooked on The Twilight Sad and this year, the aural drug of choice is The Midnight Organ Fight, the second album from Frightened Rabbit due out next Tuesday.
The parallels are more circumstantial than quantitative, however, related more to the timing of the discoveries – I got the Twilight Sad record in early April of last year and discovered Frightened Rabbit just before SxSW this year – and the sheer gobsmacking effect both records have had on me. Musically, there are some comparisons to be drawn – thick Scottish accents delivering declarations of angst, in particular – but there’s more differences than similarities. Whereas The Twilight Sad deal with with abstracted, existential concerns bellowed overtop a churning wall of sound, Frightened Rabbit are focused more on the personal and mundane and are less an aural wall than a wire fence in a meadow, albeit a fence that’s electrified and barbed.
But despite the rootsiness inherent in their songs, there’s little on Midnight Organ Fight that you’d call pastoral. Head Rabbit Scott Hutchison’s anxious ponderings and perplexions on matters of the heart are delivered with a healthy dose of downcast desperation – consider lines like “Twist and whisper the wrong name/I don’t care and nor do my ears… I need company/I need human heat” from “The Twist” and “You’re the shit and I’m knee deep in it” from “My Backwards Walk” – but thanks to producer Peter Katis (The National, Interpol), they still manage to be grand, anthemic and uplifting without losing their essential dourness.
The Twilight Sad’s Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters proved to have the legs to remain a favourite through 2007 to today, and while it’s obviously early on, I’m not seeing any reason that The Midnight Organ Fight can’t do the same – it’s held up quite well to heavy rotation thus far. I can only hope that there is an intention to work this record hard on this side of the Atlantic, and a tour is forthcoming sometime soon. The half hour or so I saw them play at SxSW wasn’t nearly enough, especially when it was obvious they were just as potent live as on record. And if they are putting together a tour, I have a suggestion for tourmates…
WOXY features a downloadable Lounge Act session with the band recorded at SxSW, The Scotsman talks to Scott Hutchinson about the differences between the new record and their debut Sing The Greys while FatCat is offering downloads of the demos from that record that attracted the label’s interest in the first place.
MP3: Frightened Rabbit – “Head Rolls Off”
MP3: Frightened Rabbit – “The Modern Leper”
Video: Frightened Rabbit – “The Grey”
Video: Frightened Rabbit – “Heads Roll Off”
MySpace: Frightened Rabbit
Pitchfork has details on a new release from The National. Almost a year to the day after the release of Boxer, the Vincent Moon-helmed film detailing the creation of said masterpiece – A Skin, A Night – will be getting a release on DVD come May 20. It will be accompanied by a 12-song companion disc entitled The Virginia EP (EP?) comprised of live tracks, demos and whatnot. The National are in town June 8 at the Molson Amphitheatre with R.E.M. and Modest Mouse. Speaking of which, I love how my $30 lawn seat managed to pick up 66% worth of service charges en route to the checkout. Oh Ticketmaster, I hope you get gout.
Trailer: A Skin, A Night
Spinner interfaces with Eric Bachmann, who covers all stages of his career including Archers Of Loaf and Crooked Fingers.
Chart talks to Billy Bragg about politics, activism and a possible return to Mermaid Avenue. And also his new album, Mr Love & Justice, out tomorrow. Bragg also recaps some music currently catching his ear for The New York Times. He’s playing Harbourfront Centre on June 17.
Support for the upcoming Rilo Kiley tour, which stops in at the Phoenix on May 28, has been announced as Thao, who is working her solid new record We Brave Bee Stings And All. I missed her show at Sneaky Dee’s last month thanks to a post-SxSW hangover and will have just returned from Europe a couple days before this one. Figures. QRO and Washingtonian.com have Q&As with Ms Nguyen.
MP3: Thao with The Get Down Stay Down – “Beat (Health, Life and Fire)”
MP3: Thao with The Get Down Stay Down – “Bag Of Hammers”
Chart talks to Dean Wareham about Dean & Britta while The New York Times gets Liz Phair to review his memoirs, Black Postcards: A Rock & Roll Romance. Which I still haven’t read. Don’t tell me how it ends.
A couple new additions to the V Fest lineup via their Facebook group. On Saturday you’ve now got The Midway State and Sunday will now feature The Cribs.
And speaking of festival lineups, how is it that the Lollapalooza 2008 roster can feature some of my favourite bands ever, past and present, and yet I’m feeling almost no compulsion to attend? Maybe it’s the fact that I already checked and there are, like, no hotels whatsoever to be found anywhere near Grant Park. Oh bitter irony that last year, I had a hotel booked across the street as far back as January and then cancelled it when I saw the lineup…
Pitchfork TV is now live and they’re kicking things off with a pretty sweet Radiohead performance vid. Thom Yorke drums? Who knew. Update: Pre-sale for Radiohead’s August 15 show at the Molson Amphitheatre – Grizzly Bear is opening – will have a presale on Wednesday, April 9, with general on-sale this Saturday, April 12. And if you’re getting lawns, Thierry’s point in the comments about maybe going down to the Amphitheatre box office and dodging service charges is a good one. Assuming it doesn’t sell out in two minutes. Which it will.
Video: Radiohead – “Bangers & Mash” (live)
The Catbirdseat pays tribute to the late Chuck Heston.
Saturday, April 5th, 2008
Photo via
Crime WaveThe 2008 edition of the Over The Top Fest doesn’t formally begin until April 30 but the film component of the programme is getting a jump on things early. Next week, on April 10 at 7PM at The Royal, they’re offering a rare double-bill screening of the works of Winnipeg director John Paizs, who will himself be in attendance.
The programme consists of Crime Wave, his 1985 film about the making of “the greatest color crime movie ever” and Top Of The Food Chain, a spoof/homage to the sci-fi invasion flicks of the 1950s. I’ve not seen either film but judging from the trailers below, they definitely look interesting.
Courtesy of the festival, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for the evening. To enter, send me an email at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to ride a crime wave to the top of the food chain” in the subject line and your full name in the body. The contest will close at midnight, April 7 and if you don’t win but still want to go, tickets are $10 for each film, available at the door.
Trailer: Top Of The Food Chain
Trailer: Crime Wave
Saturday, April 5th, 2008
Photo via
MySpace…So The Acorn’s Glory Hope Mountain. What’s left to say? Review the record? Check. See them live in different countries? Check. Finally find a linkable, high-quality version of their stunning video for “The Flood, Pt 1”? Check, thanks to Shots Ring Out. Mention their upcoming American tour dates? Check. Get my ass handed to me in Facebook Scrabulous by guitarist Jeff Debutte? Check.
What’s left? I guess, just to give away a couple copies of the album on CD. Courtesy of Pirate! PR and Paper Bag Records, I have two CDs of Glory Hope Mountain to give away to whomever, wherever. Yes, Americans – that means you. If you would like to throw your hat into the ring, shoot me an email at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I am a little acorn but will grow to a mighty oak” in the subject line and your full mailing address in the body. I will select the winners after midnight on April 12. Then I will put the CDs in padded envelopes, apply correct postage and send them off to you.
MP3: The Acorn – “The Flood, Pt 1”
MP3: The Acorn – “Crooked Legs”
Video: The Acorn – “The Flood, Pt 1”
MySpace: The Acorn
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