Wednesday, July 25th, 2007
I always find it a bit tough previewing a show or reviewing an album just days before I see said act live, and then have to write up a review. After all, I’d have surely used up all my good material in the first go-around, leaving me with… what for the follow-up? Just a review of the show, I guess.
Case in point, PEI’s Two Hours Traffic, whose new record Little Jabs I gave the once-over on Sunday and in celebration of the record’s release yesterday, they played a free show at the Horseshoe last night before a pretty full and enthusiastic room. And anyone who wasn’t paying attention at first was before long, their perfect pop is just that irresistible. As a live act, Two Hours Traffic aren’t going to win any awards for on-stage antics or excess charisma. Instead, the quartet concentrated intently on playing their songs and playing them well and in this, for thirty-plus hook-filled, harmony-laden minutes, they succeeded. They sounded exceptionally tight, yet played with just enough looseness to offer some extra bounce relative to the studio recordings.
And what this show did more than anything was give me an even deeper appreciation for Little Jabs‘ perfect blend of breeziness and earnestness, and I already liked this record quite a bit. Songs that were stuck in my head from listening to the record repeatedly last week came even more alive and I’m actually a bit worried that they won’t be leaving anytime soon (I went to bed with “Nighthawks” in my head and woke up with “Heroes of the Sidewalk”), though there’s far worse cranial soundtracks one could have. It’s always exciting to see a band as young and fresh-faced as these guys are achieve as much as they already have. It’ll be fun to watch where they go from here (I mean that figuratively – literally, they’re going to play continuing to tour Southern Ontario including a Saturday afternoon set at Hillside in Guelph).
The band talks to Exclaim! about the origins of their band name (Shakespeare!) and life in the littlest province (expensive but relaxed!) while Durham Region News asks them about recording the album. Director Ron Mann talks to Chart about making the band’s video for “Jezebel”. They’re also featured this week at I Heart Music.
Photos: Two Hours Traffic @ The Horseshoe – July 24, 2007
MP3: Two Hours Traffic – “Stuck For The Summer”
Stream: Two Hours Traffic / Little Jabs
Video: Two Hours Traffic – “Stuck For The Summer” (YouTube)
Video: Two Hours Traffic – “Jezebel” (YouTube)
MySpace: Two Hours Traffic
Drowned In Sound has info on Land Of Talk’s new album… except it’s their old album. Except not. The band will re-release Applause Cheer Boo Hiss in the UK on October 22 – by my count the fourth release of this album – but with three extra tracks, thus bumping it up from mini-album status to official full-length. But where are these tracks from? Freshly recorded and a preview of the next record? Cast-offs from same? Dug out of the vaults? Ask them when they play the El Mocambo on September 4.
Some digging has revealed that Nicole Atkins & The Sea will indeed be on the bill with The Raveonettes at Lee’s Palace on October 14 – this comes from tour dates posted by Gliss, who themselves are also on the tour. Indisputable proof? Not really, but enough that I’ve added it to my calendar. And so should you.
Ryan Adams returns on September 21 to play a venue a little more spacious than last time… Massey Hall. Full tour dates at Pitchfork.
Ohbijou will be playing a free show at Harbourfront Centre on August 10 as part of the Hot’N’Spicy Food Festival. Because if there’s two adjectives I think of when I think of Ohbijou, it’s “hot” and “spicy”.
Sloan and The Golden Dogs will make up one power-poptacular bill at the CNE Bandshell on August 25. I’ve no idea if these shows are extra admission or included with entrance to the Ex.
Exclaim offers a quick guide to all of this year’s Polaris Music Prize nominees including The Dears, who tell Chart that after this weekend’s festival double-header at Hillside on Saturday and the Rogers Picnic on Sunday, they’re done playing live for the year and are working on their next album.
The Guelph Tribune previews Hillside.
Muzzle Of Bees gets nine questions with Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste. Droste and the Bear will be in town on September 20 for a show at the Mod Club – full Fall tour dates at Pitchfork.
The Village Voice tries to talk to Voxtrot, gets a fire drill instead. They’ll be at the Mod Club October 10.
Pitchfork has details on Jens Lekman’s new record Night Falls Over Kortedala, out in North America on October 9.
AOL Music Canada and The Toronto Star consider the current reunion trend, using Smashing Pumpkins and The Police as case studies, and not necessarily in a good way.
Tuesday, July 24th, 2007
Nottingham’s Six By Seven, officially back from the dead and with original guitarist Sam Hempton back in the fold. Their new studio album, If Symptoms Persists, Kill Your Doctor (such cheerful lads) is available via the band’s website and will be in UK stores October 1. The fact that it’s limited to 1000 copies – presumably including both the online and retail sales – gives you the impression that the band isn’t necessarily expecting this release to burn up the charts.
Their last few releases – the bass-less, three-piece Artists Cannibals Poet Thieves and the closet-cleaning Peveril Hotel records – were passable but were weighed down by the uncertainty that plagued the band’s situation, namely is the band broken up and if not, who’s in it? But it was only a few years ago that they released the quite excellent :04, which only just got an American release earlier this year via The First Time Records, so with Hempton back on board I’m optimistic they’ve got more great records in them. They better – this new one just cost me $30!
I offered a lengthy write-up on the band when :04 was first released and a brief obituary when they announced their dissolution in 2005 and am happy to welcome them back now. Cheers to a band that deserves to be recognized for far more than just inspiring Bloc Party’s wardrobe or soundtracking Harry Potter’s real-life first kiss.
Listen to “Bochum”, off of :04 below, and tell me it’s not one of the best things you’ve heard in ages. And for the completist, eMusic has the band’s entire catalog available, including singles and EPs, all the way through to last year’s Artists. I just blew this month’s downloads on b-sides.
MP3: Six By Seven – “Bochum (You Light Up My Life)”
Video: Six By Seven – “Ready For You Now” (YouTube)”
Video: Six By Seven – “Nowhere To Go But Home” (YouTube)”
MySpace: Six By Seven
Also in the “welcome back” department, Angry Ape reports that Dot Allison will finally release her third album, Exaltation Of Larks, on September 10 in the UK. She’s been streaming samples from the Kramer-produced album on her MySpace for ages, it’ll be nice to finally hear the finished product.
National Nine News talks to The Long Blondes’ Kate Jackson about the influence their hometown of Sheffield has had on their career.
Under Byen’s Nils Grondahl chats with The Georgia Straight, Morten Svenstrup with OC Weekly.
Doug Martsch of Built To Spill chats with The Denver Post. I find it fascinating that Warner Bros wants to release every Built To Spill record on vinyl to celebrate the band’s tenth anniversary with the label (and that it’s the little indie labels that are holding it up). On one hand, it seems like a terrible business decision that speaks to why the major labels are losing money hand over fist. On the other, it’s incredibly cool.
The Los Angeles Times considers the kinder, gentler Ryan Adams. Also taking advantage of the less volatile interview subject are The Globe & Mail and Pitchfork. The San Francisco Chronicle settles for asking him about his watch.
Jeff Tweedy plays record critic for the New York Times and reviews some of the records he’s been listening to lately.
Some bills filling out for October 5 – Oakley Hall will be playing with Black Mountain at The Horseshoe on and Chicago’s OFFICE – caps mandatory – are playing with Earlimart at the El Mocambo.
Drowned In Sound talks to The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Their new EP Is Is is out today, and you can stream it below:
Stream: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs / Is Is
I’m not sure if I missed the memo on this, but a couple months ago, Adult Swim made available a free, downloadable compilation called Warm & Scratchy featuring mostly new tracks from the likes of TV On The Radio, Broken Social Scene, Asobi Seksu and The Brother Kite. Not necessarily a-side stuff from everyone but come on – it’s free.
And also free is this Get Digital 2 from Insound, pulling together tracks from various Summer albums including those from Editors and Okkervil River. Swedish pop factory Labrador are also feeling generous with a massive 68-song Summer Sampler available for freesies (via For The Records). And a reminder that Zunior offers up a free downloadable compilation every month – this month’s set will introduce you to Los Campesinos! and The Russian Futurists, amongst others.
Harp looks at the forthcoming Guilt By Association compilation, out August 7. They also talk to Yo La Tengo and Son Volt, amongst others, about the art of cover selection and execution. And finally, The New York Post lists off their 100 greatest covers of all time.
Every new photo from the set of the Iron Man film always seems to go over gangbusters, so head over to Entertainment Weekly to see Robert Downey Jr wondering if anyone still says, “Talk to the hand”. Or maybe “Smell the glove”.
Monday, July 23rd, 2007
Friday night’s visit to Tiger Bar by Bottom Of The Hudson and King Of Prussia was a lightly-attended affair, and not surprisingly so. Neither band has what you’d call a high profile or brand name recognition and were far from home – Brooklyn and Athens, Georgia respectively – so in that sense, I kind of feel grateful we had a show at all.
It seems most bands that have come out of Athens recently have a distinctive sort of sound, and ironically it’s nothing like R.E.M. Instead, it’s the shadow of the Elephant 6 that falls most heavily over this hotbed of art and music, King Of Prussia being no exception. Think British Invasion jangle on only mild psychedelics, faithfully retro at the core but not dogmatic about it and willing to add unexpected twists into the recipe. They’re one of the first signings to the newly-resurrected Kindercore label who will be bringing their debut mini-album Save The Scene to the people.
I talked about Bottom Of The Hudson’s new record Fantastic Hawk last week, so I won’t rehash that background info. Live, the Hawk material suffered a bit outside the cohesiveness of the album structure but still sounded good. The main difference I noticed was that there wasn’t so much of the bummed out vibe of the album – I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was upbeat, but Eli Simon cracked a joke or two and the band seemed to take the general lack of crowd density in stride. Ah, the life of a touring indie rock band. Don’t worry guys, those of us who were there enjoyed it. Well I did, anyway.
Photos: Bottom Of The Hudson, King Of Prussia @ Tiger Bar – July 20, 2007
MP3: Bottom Of The Hudson – “Bee Hive”
MP3: Bottom Of The Hudson – “Handwriting”
MP3: King Of Prussia – “Spain In The Summertime”
MySpace: Bottom Of The Hudson
MySpace: King Of Prussia
Some big news for local boys Tokyo Police Club, who’ve signed on with Saddle Creek for the release of their debut full-length, being recorded this September (presumably after their appearance at V Fest day two) and targeting an early 2008 release date. Pitchfork has details on the deal as well as some pictures of their celebratory cake. My Old Kentucky Blog is sharing some songs the band tracked for his Sirius radio show last week and Denver Westworld has a long feature on the band.
The Guardian gave Miracle Fortress’ Five Roses an impressive five out of five stars.
Emily Haines submits an essay about her father to The Toronto Star and she talks to The National Post about his influence. Don’t forget my contest for a copy of her new EP and her father’s poetry book closes at midnight tonight. And I don’t think I’ve commented on the recent re-release of Metric’s “lost” debut, Grow Up And Blow Away. While the vocals and lyricism as distinctly Metric, the overall songwriting isn’t as strong and the synth-pop sound feels a bit toothless compared to their current, rock-infused aesthetic. Interesting as a curio from the band’s past but the world wasn’t a poorer place for its absence.
MP3: Metric – “Hardwire”
MP3: Metric – “Grow Up”
The Times wonders if with a Summer chock full of festivals and touring, the Arcade Fire runs the risk of burning out.
Chad Van Gaalen has been tapped to open up for Great Lake Swimmers at the Phoenix on September 29.
Metromix talks to The New Pornographers’ Carl Newman about some of the business-ier aspects of Challengers, out August 21. He also gives them a guided tour of his new hood in Brooklyn.
Some more details about Toronto’s upcoming Virgin Festival have been released – there will be three stages dotting the Toronto Islands on September 8 and 9 plus what’s called the “B-Live tent”, most likely for dancing and carrying on. Some more bands have also been announced, hailing from both near and far. Locals Noah’s Arkweld, Birds Of Wales and Clothes Make The Man join London’s Enter Shikari on day one while Scots The Cinematics and Biffy Clyro, San Diegans Louis XIV and Toronto’s Justin Nozuka will now be playing on day two. Official word is that still more acts are coming but safe money is that this is close to the final lineup.
The Village Voice looks at the effect that America’s Homeland Security is having on Canadian bands trying to tour the land of the free. Handsome Furs, Frog Eyes and You Say Party We Say Die (who’ve been banned from the US for five years due to border shenanigans) testify to their experiences crossing the 49th.
Sunday, July 22nd, 2007
Do you want to go see Daft Punk at Arrow Hall on August 5? Yes? Well then maybe you should have bought tickets when the show was announced way back in March. Okay, maybe you thought you’d have some other plans for the August long weekend – maybe some cottaging, maybe a trip abroad, maybe just puttering around the house doing some gardening. That’s your business. But if you, instead, want to be in a converted hangar by the airport dancing your ass off to some Gallic electronic electrofunk as well as The Rapture, Sebastian and Kavinsky, then I’m here to help.
Courtesy of Emerge, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away to this dance dance revolution. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I Want The Daft Punk” in the subject line and your full name in the body. This one will run until midnight, August 1.
Trailer: Electroma
MySpace: Daft Punk
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