Monday, February 4th, 2008
I don’t understand what there is to celebrate about Winter. It’s a cold, dreary season that seems to last far longer than the time allotted to it by the calendar and the only sensible way to spend it is indoors, with double-paned windows and central heat. So, of course, the city decides that it’s the perfect time to throw an outdoor festival and to make sure that it can’t simply be ignored (from indoors), they get The Weakerthans to play a free show. Outside. Of course.
Taking place at at Nathan Phillips Square, aka City Hall (of Toronto or Raccoon City, whichever), they did this last year as well. That show starred Sloan and was an excruciatingly cold night. This year’s forecast was considerably warmer but I made the mistake of interpreting that as warm, which it most certainly was not. Which is why I was wearing neither my boots nor my warm socks on Saturday night. Yeah. I is smart. Anyway, though I wasn’t as bowled over by Reunion Tour as many were (something about it seemed just a little too precious, too consciously maple leaf pin Canadian), I’m still a huge fan of the band and was sad to have missed both their shows back in November (on account of exhaustion) so I was pleased to get a chance to make that up, even at the risk of losing a toe or two to frostbite (okay, I exaggerate but I really couldn’t feel my feet).
Though Winnipegers theoretically have a greater tolerance for cold than your typical Torontonian – not for nothing is it nicknamed “Winter-peg” – John K Samson seemed a bit alarmed that the onstage heaters were cutting out almost as soon as the show began and attempts by the crew to get them working was a running theme through the night. Regardless, the Weakerthans soldiered on. Bassist Greg Smith and guitarist Stephen Carroll kept their circulation going with the rock moves – guitar necks aloft! – Samson was his typically reserved self, staying close to the mic and singing his songs of curlers, cats and Antarctic explorers. The set started off with selections from the more recent records but began wandering further back into their repertoire as the show went on and over the course of an hour and change, via their seamless blend of pop, rock, punk and folk, made yet another compelling argument for declaring them one of the best bands the country has to offer, a fact that the fairly massive crowd gathered in the shadows of City Hall would certainly testify to and probably with less whining about the weather than I’ve done.
Photos: The Weakerthans @ Nathan Phillips Square – February 2, 2008
MP3: The Weakerthans – “Sun In An Empty Room”
MP3: The Weakerthans – “Night Windows”
MP3: The Weakerthans – “Plea From A Cat Named Virtue”
MP3: The Weakerthans – “Aside”
MP3: The Weakerthans – “The Last Last One”
Video: The Weakerthans – “Civil Twilight”
Video: The Weakerthans – “The Reasons”
Video: The Weakerthans – “Psalm For The Elks Lodge”
Video: The Weakerthans – “Our Retired Explorer”
Video: The Weakerthans – “Aside”
Video: The Weakerthans – “Watermark”
Video: The Weakerthans – “Diagnosis”
MySpace: The Weakerthans
A few of the bigger Canadian Music Week showcases are starting to come together. On the Thursday, March 6, the Horseshoe is hosting what’s shaping up to be a sterling lineup of Canadian talent with Immaculate Machine, Katie Stelmanis, Dog Day and The Acorn along with two secret acts that Chart (who are presenting the showcase) swears will be worth the wait when they’re revealed in three weeks or so. Uh huh. Dog Day are also at the Rivoli on the Saturday night along with Jenn Grant and over at Lee’s Palace that night, it’s a UK thing with Yoav, Archive, The Pigeon Detectives and The Duke Spirit.
Wish I’d noticed this when I did the American Music Club post on Friday – Merge is now streaming all of The Golden Age in advance of its release on February 19. Yay.
Stream: American Music Club / The Golden Age
Weekend America challenges The Mountain Goats to write a song about Super Tuesday. The Mountain Goats accept. Their new album of songs they weren’t dared to write – Heretic Pride – is out February 19.
Band Of Horses keeps a tour diary for Filter.
DCist talks to Aimee Mann about her next album Smilers, due out in March.
The Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt talks Distortion with Chart
The San Francisco Chronicle has an interview with Bob Mould. NPR has a streamable concert. NPR wins. District Line is out tomorrow and he plays the Mod Club on March 10.
Magnet talks to Beach House. Their second album, Devotion, is out February 26 and they have a show at the El Mocambo on March 28.
Saturday, February 2nd, 2008
Someone was complaining to me earlier this week that I hadn’t been running any contests lately. You now be silent.
Cat Power’s last album, The Greatest, was a watershed moment in both her life and career. Her long-running battle with alcohol came to a very public but also very triumphant conclusion (hopefully) that saw her shed her frail folksinger persona and reinvent herself as a full-on, soul-singing diva. Her live shows, which had previously run the risk of being as much spectacle as show went from “afraid-to-watch” to “must-sees”. In short, 2006 and 2007 saw her become a star.
And how does she follow all that up? Well, last reports were that her next album of all-original material already had a title – The Sun – and a targeted release date of Spring 2008 but that’s obviously not going to happen what with the attention being lavished on her new record, Jukebox. On paper, it’s a sequel to her last such collection of interpretations, 2000’s The Covers Record but in reality it comes from a much different place. The Covers Record had the same fragile intimacy of her original material from that era, sounding like a woman taking shelter in the songs that she loved, hiding in the words of others.
Jukebox, on the other hand, evidences none of this vulnerability. It struts and sasses from the get-go, focused on Marshall’s marvelous voice and bolstered by the Dirty Delta Blues band coming off slicker than anyone might have imagined, even post-Greatest. Song arrangements and melodies are still turned on their heads but they’re done with a sense of conscious playfulness that I never picked up on with The Covers Record. It is worth noting, however, that the best track is one of two originals and the only new one, the Dylan tribute “Song To Bobby”. Even with her new strength and confidence, it shows that she’s still at her best when she lets the Cat Power drop a bit and reveals the Chan Marshall. Jukebox is a good sidebar but I’m still waiting for The Sun.
Cat Power and the Dirty Delta Blues are doing a shortish North American tour that stops in at the Kool Haus on February 9 and courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got one pair of passes to give away to the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I wish to attend the Cat Power concert” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, February 5.
MP3: Cat Power – “Metal Heart”
MP3: Cat Power – “Song To Bobby”
MySpace: Cat Power
Saturday, February 2nd, 2008
Love Is Where The Smoke Is, the debut from Calgary’s Jane Vain & The Dark Matter, was discussed at some length last month, so I won’t go back over that ground again except to say that just as when I wrote that bit, it remains a very good record and worthy of your attention.
Instead, I will point you to some interviews from The Calgary Herald, The Gauntlet and The Thunder Bay Source with frontwoman Jamie Fooks and remind that cross-country tour is now well into Ontario and they’re in Toronto this Thursday night for a show at the Drake Underground and then again on Sunday night at Sneaky Dee’s as part of Wavelength.
As to the Drake show, courtesy of Killbeat Music, I’ve got a pair of passes and a copy of Love Is Where The Smoke Is to give away to one lucky duck. To enter, shoot me an email to contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Jane Vain” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body (the winner will be mailed a CD). Contest closes at midnight, February 4.
MP3: Jane Vain & The Dark Matter – “C’mon Baby Say Bang Bang”
Saturday, February 2nd, 2008
The most surprising thing to me about MGMT’s debut album wasn’t that it was created by two guys from Brooklyn who didn’t sport big-ass porn star moustaches, nor that it was produced by Dave Fridmann, better known for his speaker-shredding, widescreen space-rock excursions with The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev. No, I was most surprised the fact that Oracular Spectacular was not, in fact, the new album from Australia’s Sleepy Jackson. Andrew VanWyngarden’s falsetto isn’t far off from Luke Steele’s and both outfits share a fetish for over the top paeans to the decadence of the ’70s. If Steele was to trade his Electric Light Orchestra records for some New York City disco, it would probably sound a lot like this.
But it’s not The Sleepy Jackson, it’s MGMT (not pronounced “management”) and it’s these two former art school students who can take credit for the record’s disco moves, sly funk and big pop. It could have been a recipe for ridiculousness, but they’re a bit too goofy to be too cool, a bit too earnest to be too ironic and the Oracular settles into a comfortable balance that’s fun and eminently danceable.
They’re bringing all of the above to Toronto next Saturday night, February 9, for a sold-out show with Yeasayer at the El Mocambo but courtesy of Against The Grain I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away to the show. But wait! There’s more! Courtesy of Sony/BMG Canada, I’ve got two copies of Oracular Spectacular on vinyl to give away. To spread the love (and accommodate those who want to go to the show and don’t have turntables or vice-versa), I’m offering these up as four prizes. If you want to enter the draw for the show, send me an email to contests AT chromewaves.net with “I can has MGMT show?” in the subject line and your full name in the body. IF you want to enter the draw for the LP, send me an email to the same address with “I can has MGMT LP?” in the subject line and your full mailing address in the body. Choose one or the other, not both. Entrants for the show are obviously limited to Toronto-area folks. Entrants for the LP are limited to residents of Canada. Contest closes at midnight, February 5.
Video: MGMT – “Time To Pretend”
MySpace: MGMT
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