Search Results - "Cat Power Lee\'s Palace Toronto September 4, 2006"
Wednesday, September 6th, 2006
I will confess that I have avoided seeing Cat Power live in the past on account of her reputation as an… unpredictable performer. Though I’m sure for some that gamble is part of the appeal, I think I’d have just felt really uncomfortable if one of the shows I was at was one of her off-nights. So news of her recent sobriety and the fact that she was supporting what, for my money, is her best album – The Greatest – got me out on Labour Day evening for the second half of a double-header solo show. That and the guest listness.
While a little disappointed that the full Memphis Rhythm Band wasn’t going to be along for the ride, it was evident that she was deliberately going for an intimate vibe, what with opting for two shows at Lee’s Palace instead of one at a much larger venue. From the moment I arrived, I had the feeling that it was going to be a different sort of evening – for starters, the lineup was snaked all around the venue and into the parking lot around back. I cannot remember the last time, if ever, I stood in line at Lee’s Palace. Bizarro. Somewhat surprisingly, there still appeared to be some tickets available at the door – a betting man would have expected the show to be completely sold out. But if it wasn’t, it certainly felt it once everyone was inside. It was warm – not as stifling as I’ve experienced, but there would be more than one fainting victim before the evening was out. More on that later.
The scheduled 10:30 start time came and went and the natives began to get a little restless until Chan strolled out onstage at maybe 10 minutes to 11 to rapturous applause. Smiling – nay, BEAMING – Marshall seated herself with her electric guitar and began with, “House Of The Rising Sun”, and from the first whisper out of her mouth, that was it. For the next two hours plus, she would own us – every one. Her voice is like velvet and honey, delicate and raw and inhumanly expressive and perfectly accompanied by her guitar and piano playing. Playing from a tattered, red magic marker setlist (I suspect if anyone grabbed it as a souvenier, the rest of the tour would have to be cancelled), she mixed up new material with old and a liberal dose of covers and standards. The Greatest material sounded drastically different stripped of its R&B production, but still incredibly satisfying. And that voice. My God.
But perhaps more important and memorable than the actual performance was Chan Marshall herself. On this night, she was smiling, chatty, happy and radiant and seemed to be enjoying herself immensely. Seeing her for the first time, I was having great difficulty reconciling the artist onstage, communing with her audience, with the mercurial, difficult performer of legend. Not that I don’t believe the stories – I’ve heard far too many of them – but she must have checked that persona at the border because for Toronto on Monday night, she was just sublime. And beautiful. Hoo-boy.
Not that there wasn’t some eccentricity. About a third of the way through the show, she caught sight of someone in the wings offstage and became a little agitated, calling security to check it out because she had her personal belongings stashed in that room. But even that was more endearing than odd, with her alternately saying, “I got my stuff back there” with a little blues guitar riff, over and over again, until she was satisfied that she hadn’t been robbed. And then a while later, a girl in the audience near the front collapsed, likely from the heat, and taking notice, Chan became quite alarmed and came offstage to see what was the matter. Then, apparently satisfied that matters were in hand, disappeared without a word, leaving the audience confused and a little disconcerted. She was doing so well! But lo, after around 10 minutes, she came back onstage with a refilled mug of tea (“sober!”) and picked up where she left off, not a word of explanation. Not that anyone cared – as long as she was back (I think it was a smoke break).
All told and including impromptu intermission, she played for about two hours fifteen and though my knees and back thought that was plenty long enough, I’d have happily stayed and listened to her another couple hours more. I can’t speak for any other show on the tour or even the early show, but for this evening, Cat Power was simply amazing. If I’m ever ambivalent about seeing Cat Power live again, it’ll only be because I don’t know how she could top this performance.
Photos: Cat Power @ Lee’s Palace – September 4, 2006
MP3: Cat Power – “The Greatest”
Video: Cat Power – “Living Proof” (YouTube)
Video: Cat Power – “Lived In Bars” (YouTube)
And note that while Matador is rereleasing The Greatest next week with three different slipcovers and a lower list price, there are NO bonus materials that would require fans to re-purchase the album. They’re just trying to give the album a second life in retail. But if you do want something new, there’s an exclusive iTunes session available as of yesterday – full details on both these releases and some pre-emptive defense of the re-release here.
Billboard has info about the Sufjan Stevens Christmas box set due out November 21, Songs of Christmas will compile five Christmas records and a stocking full of holiday bonus goodies. More info at Asthmatic Kitty.
NME reports that The Shins will release Wincing The Night Away on January 23 of next year. Just in time for a really really late Christmas gift.
And that was a really long review, so that’s it for today. Except for this – Hedgehogs vs McDonalds – and the hedgehogs win. How does something like this become an epidemic?
np – Grizzly Bear / Yellow House
Thursday, August 31st, 2006
Hailing from Connecticuit via New York, singer-songwriter Jennifer O’Connor released her third album and first for Matador. Over The Mountain, Across The Valley And Back To The Stars last Tuesday. I haven’t heard the whole record but from what I have sampled, her stuff has a definite, mid-90s college rock vibe to it whether it’s an strummy acoustic folk song or an electrified full-band rocker. Whichever way she goes it’s consistently rather spare and downbeat, though with just cause as this New York Press interview reveals. That sorrow and heartbreak from her personal life definitely informs her work but in more of a “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” way than a morose, “woe is me” sort of way. Both hearbreaking and heartening at the same time.
Daytrotter has an interview and exclusive session available for download and Matador has made a couple tracks from the record available to download. She’s scored some choice opening slots in the past for the likes of The Silver Jews and Jeff Tweedy, but her latest tour takes her on the road with Mason Jennings, including a stop at the Drake Underground on September 12, before heading back out on the road with Portastatic in October. It’s kind of a shame about the timing as I’m already booked for that night, otherwise I’d probably have liked to check this show out, but that’s the Fall calendar for you.
MP3: Jennifer O’Connor – “Today”
MP3: Jennifer O’Connor – “Exeter, Rhode Island”
MySpace: Jennifer O’Connor
Bradley’s Alamanc has an almost complete live Ted Leo show available to download. “Almost” because Brad has courteously excised new material that Ted prefers not to be passed around the internet before he’s ready for them to be.
Everyone’s all agog about Sufjan Stevens’ new moustache, but Pause & Play is listing a new release from him on November 21 – the Songs For Christmas set which has become a holiday staple for the blogger crowd. Will this be a three-disc set as the uploaders generally (and unnecessarily from a space efficiency viewpoint) divvy it up into or a single disc stocking stuffer?
Cat Power tells NOW she loves Tricky. Note that there is no opener for her shows at Lee’s Palace on Monday, so when they say “show at 7:00/10:30”, they mean it. Be punctual.
Gothamist reports that some lowlife ripped off Dinosaur Jr’s gear the other night, including J’s vintage Jazzmasters. That just makes me sick. The Ottawa Sun talked to Lou Barlow about the Dino Jr reunion in happier, better-equipped times.
The Lemonheads “reunion” tour will include a stop at Lee’s Palace on December 12.
TV On The Radio’s Kyp Malone tells Chart he was, “sick to my stomach” when an early, incomplete version of Return To Cookie Mountain leaked to the internet while Tunde Adebimpe discusses the album’s political undertones with Harp. MTV has the scoop on what to expect from the band’s first video from the album for “Wolf Like Me” – werewolves and supermodels. The album is out in North America September 12.
Misha4Music has made some very early Galaxie 500 demos available to download, more than half of which do not appear on the Uncollected Galaxie 500 comp. Full Of Wishes also points out that Rhino has some limited edition prints of the Best Of Luna artwork available for sale. I’m not much of a fan of Adrian Tomine’s Optic Nerve stuff, but I do like his album art for the disc. Not $175 US worth of like, though.
Brookville, aka Andy Chase of Ivy, and Tahiti 80, whose records Chase has produced, are on tour together and will stop at the Horseshoe on November 18.
I’ve been trying to make my picks for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, which you’d think would be easier considering I’ve only got to choose two films and only have four evenings and one day available to try and see something. The immediate temptation is to want to see the films I’d likely see in regular release, which sort of defeats the purpose of the festival, so reading through the descriptions of the other available films – primarily foreign – is an interesting adventure unto itself. So far the most interesting pick would be Jade Warrior – a Finnish/Chinese kung-fu flick. Kind of cliche, I know, but they might just do something interesting with the genre this time.
And not a TIFF film but one I’m really looking forward to anyways is The Science Of Sleep, the new film from Michel Gondry. It opens in limited release September 22 but until then, you can read this interview with the director at Filter, listen to another at Salon or just watch the trailer.
np – The Mountain Goats / All Hail West Texas
Saturday, August 26th, 2006
I think you can tell a person’s age by how excited they are about the return of The Lemonheads, who will release a new, self-titled album on September 26. Of course, it’s not really a reunion at all and is just the resurrection of a brand name – the band always featured a heavily rotating cast of players and besides mainman Evan Dando, there’s no one in the current lineup who’s ever been a Lemonhead before.
Folks of my generation will be nostalgic for It’s A Shame About Ray and the days when he was a staple on the cover of SPIN making out with Adrienne Shelley or begging Juliana Hatfield in song to get it on with him. Others only know Dando as a drug abuse cautionary tale or as that guy who fucked up the MC5 reunion shows recently. And the younger generation probably have no idea who he is at all.
But the one thing that’s been consistent through all that time was that he had a knack for writing a killer pop song. And that he was a junkie. Okay, two things. Judging from the first MP3 from the new record, which is now available courtesy of AOL’s indie music blog (and that’s a bizarre contradiction in terms unto itself), he hasn’t lost his touch on the former. The song is pretty damn good and yeah, that’s J Mascis ripping the guitar solos over top, not Dando. Different stoner icon.
As for the drugs, Dando tells The Guardian that while he’s living a healthier lifestyle than he did in the ’90s, psychedelics are still a regular part of his diet. LiveDaily also has an interview but they just talk about making the new record. You know, boring stuff.
MP3: The Lemonheads – “No Backbone”
MySpace: The Lemonheads
Update: The Weekly Dig gets Juliana Hatfield to talk about that whole virginity thing. Via Stereogum via Leafblower.
Pitchfork recounts a conversation with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats that pretty much tells you everything you need to know about Get Lonely. Or maybe not everything as this piece Darnielle has written for The Los Angeles Times about the writing of the new album is essential reading. That the Metacritic rating for the album is anything less than 100% (or even in the 80s) says to me that more rock critics need to get dumped. Both Sixeyes and I have tracks from John Darnielle’s recent instore at Amoeba Records in Los Angeles, but you can also grab the whole set at Archive.org. So much for exclusivity. Also note there’s a high-res version of the video for “Woke Up New” at the director’s website. I also just received my copies of Nothing For Juice and Protien Source Of The Future … Now! in the mail with All Hail West Texas en route. Thanks to everyone who helped guide me through the Goats’ back catalog.
MP3: The Mountain Goats – “Moon Over Goldsboro” (live at Amoeba)
Chart has more details on the forthcoming Mercury Rev compilation. It’s now called The Essential Mercury Rev — Stillness Breathes (1991-2006) and will be a double-disc set. The first comprising singles and album tracks, the second features live tracks, rarities, remixes and covers. It’s out October 3 on V2.
Also housecleaning, Billboard reports that Pinback will release Nautical Antiques, a stopgap collection of rarities and whatnot, on September 5. They continue to work on the follow-up to 2004’s Summer In Abadon.
Paste features The Long Winters, in town at Lee’s on October 4.
Metromix asks Headlights’ Erin Fein if the midwest really is the best. Apparently it is not. OH IRONY.
Sunset Rubdown have cancelled their October 7 show at Lee’s Palace, no reason given. No word on if it’s just the Toronto date or the whole tour.
The new blog-powered Pernice Brothers website is offering up pre-orders of the new album Live A Little that will come with a bonus, 17-track CD with demos of all the songs and a sleeve hand-printed by ol’ Joe himself. Nice. They’ve even provided a video of Joe autographing the sleeves. It’s riveting.
The Toronto Star has a piece on how the folks in charge of the Toronto edition of the Virgin Festival, happening September 9 and 10, were in the UK last weekend to see how the mothership operates. That bit about free kabobs for Virgin Mobile customers? RUN WITH IT.
np – The Mountain Goats / Nothing For Juice
Thursday, August 10th, 2006
Her phantom show that was scheduled and then wasn’t for July 3 may have disappointed Toronto, but Cat Power is making it up in spades with not one, but two shows at Lee’s Palace on September 4 to liven up your Labour Day long weekend and give you a reason not to go cottaging. Lee’s is less than half the size of the Danforth Music Hall where she was slated to play in July, so this will be a super-intimate affair – just Chan and you/me/us, no Memphis Rhythm Band. That last point is a bit of a shame but certainly doesn’t make this any less worthwhile.
So while there’s two shows, there’s only one date. It’s a double-header with one show slated for a 7:00 start, the other for 10:30, so the question is – which one to go to? The kid in me likes the idea of the late night, warmed-up and in-the-groove Chan, but the adult in me likes the early bedtime the early show would allow. Whichever you go for, get your tickets fast – they go on sale today, will cost you $22.50 and will surely gone lickety-split. Pitchfork has the full Fall Cat Power itinerary. Many of the dates are two-fers, either on successive nights or the same night like in Toronto.
September 8 will see Brooklyn electronica act Ratatat team up with Swedish whack-pop outfit Envelopes and Portland’s Panther – I don’t even know what to call them – at Lee’s Palace for a night of music that should be unique, if nothing else. I offered my thoughts on Envelopes’ Demon back in May and I just got a copy of Ratatat’s Classics, out August 22, and it’s strangely compelling.
Also Silversun Pickups and Viva Voce are at Lee’s October 17. BrooklynVegan has more tour dates and MP3s.
And note that Film School have dropped off the Serena Maneesh tour that would have brought them to Lee’s on September 13, and have also bid adieu to their rhythm section. But other than that they insist all is well and are working on their next album.
And while I’m talking shows, here’s something that’s NOT happening at Lee’s Palace. This Saturday night, August 12, a very solid and worthwhile benefit show goes down at the Kathedral (yes, the metal club at Queen and Bathurst). The Diableros, The Coast, In Support Of Living and These Electric Lives, among others, will play Music 4 Change, a concert in support of OXFAM. Tickets are $12.
Productshop NY has posted an acoustic radio session he did with Okkervil River’s Will Sheff, including a new song – “The President’s Dead”. Yes! Weekly reviewed a solo Sheff show in North Carolina.
Prefix profiles one/two of the best independent labels in America today, the double-headed beast that is Secretly Canadian and Jagjaguwar.
CMJ would like to introduce you to a hip new band out of New York City – they’re called Sonic Youth and I think they’ll go far. The Globe & Mail offers a Sonic Youth guide to aging gracefully and The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel talks to Kim Gordon. Having gone through my Sonic Youth photos yesterday, I can say that they may well have aged gracefully, but it’s still better not to look at them in bright daylight through a telephoto lens. Yikes.
Paste talks to Dallas and Travis Good of The Sadies about In Concert Volume One.
The AV Club, Glide and Billboard recount their respective Lollapalooza experiences.
np – The Mountain Goats / Get Lonely!
Wednesday, August 9th, 2006
“Do you remember the JAMC?”
If not, then Rhino’s series of The Jesus & Mary Chain DualDisc reissues, released last month, should help your recall – unless you’re really young in which case never mind. Prefix, Pitchfork, Paste and PopMatters have all taken the opportunity to revisit the Reid Brothers’ oeuvre (or most of it since the reissues don’t include swan song Munki) and since I’ve never been one for independent thinking, I’ve chosen to do the same. And yes, this post is brought to you by the letter “P”.
First off, a couple declarations of heresy: first, I don’t really like the Jesus & Mary Chain all that much and second, Psychocandy is my least favourite of ther five albums relevant to this discussion (and no, Munki wouldn’t have been it even if it qualified). While I appreciate the ultra-crap production is sort of the point with the early records, that doesn’t make them any less grating to listen to. And no, I don’t think that the remasters would help because even if I don’t like history it doesn’t mean that I support revisionism. It’s really only Psychocandy that hurts my ears – I remember the first time I heard it. I was in a friend’s car and we put it on the CD player – and the sound from the speakers was almost indistinguishable from the noise of the engine.
No, I have to say my favourite JAMC album is Honey’s Dead, which incidentally is the one which consistently gets the lower reviews of the reissued works. Can’t really say why, maybe it’s just the brashness and attitude of it or the fact that it’s the first of their albums I got that I could actually hear the vocals. Objectively, then obviously Darklands and Automatic are better, but sentiment is a funny thing. The acoustic-y Stoned And Dethroned has some glorious moments but is far too long to be for the ages.
But these are all relative statements – as I said in the beginning, I rarely listen to my JAMC stuff. Their shadow might loom large over the last 20 years of British music (they were undeniably the proto-shoegaze band and the Reids could teach the Gallaghers a thing about brothers not getting along) but overall, I found them too rough around the edges and one-dimensional to really engage. But I am curious to those who’ve heard the reissues – how do the remasters sound? Did they mess with the sound? Or is the sound still a mess?
The reissues have stimulated a little blog activity as well – RBally posted a live JAMC set circa 1987 a few weeks ago and The Sound Of Indie dug up a video of an interview they did with The New Music waaaaay back in 1985. There’s also some videos YouTube-d in the PopMatters link above. Jim Reid continues to make music in Freeheat. What I’ve heard isn’t especially inspiring. Here’s a Psychocandy track and a Psychocandy cover by The Shins (whose new album has been pushed back to next year).
MP3: The Jesus & Mary Chain – “Some Candy Talking”
MP3: The Shins – “Taste Of Cindy”
MySpace: The Jesus & Mary Chain
Rhino also pays tribute to the late Arthur Lee. If you’re not familiar with Love, then take advantage of this sad event to learn a bit about Lee and his music – The AV Club has a lovely requiem and Chart has 12 reasons why Lee was cool. USA Today and The Los Angeles Times also have rememberences. If anyone asked me whether I was a Sgt Pepper’s or Pet Sounds guy, I’d probably say (or wish I said), Forever Changes. Lee and the reincarnated Love were supposed to come to Toronto way back in 2002, but had to cancel on account of border difficulties – namely Lee’s criminal record for firearms possession. I had always hoped that that would get sorted out somehow and I’d get the chance to see him play. Alas. Anyways, in tribute, here are some past Love covers that I’ve posted. If you’ve never heard them then do yourself a favour and find a copy of Forever Changes. I’m serious.
MP3: Billy Bragg – “Seven And Seven Is”
MP3: The Boo Radleys – “Alone Again Or”
Beth from Rock Paper Pixels interviewed Jay Ferguson of Sloan for BlogTO and got some insight into their new album Who Taught You To Live Like That? Never Hear the End of It, out September 19.
A fair number of concert announcements rolled out while I was away – let’s get caught up. The Strokes have been added to day two of the Virgin Festival – that’s September 10 – and Emily Haines will perform selections from her new solo album Knives Don’t Have Your Back at The Gladstone Hotel on September 12. The album is out September 26, full dates at Filter. Brooklyn’s Grizzly Bear will be promoting their new album Yellow House, out September 5, with a show at the El Mocambo on September 23 (Full dates here).
Looking to October, Jenny Lewis will return with more Rabbit Fur Coat for a show at Trinity-St Paul’s on October 7 (full dates at Pitchfork) and Juana Molina, who played there in June, returns with Adem on October 12 to play the slightly less formal Supermarket. Mojave 3’s October 16 show will be at the Mod Club, not Lee’s as I originally speculated, Billboard previews Frank Black’s Fall tour which brings him to the Opera House on October 26 and The Hold Steady, who were just here last week (and about which they’ve blogged), have added a Toronto date to their Fall tour in support of Boys And Girls In America (out October 3) – they’ll be at the much cozier Horseshoe on October 28. Man, if they thought their Lee’s Palace show was the hottest one yet, wait’ll they see the ‘Shoe.
Newsarama is serializing Bendis and Oeming’s Powers, one of the best comic books on the market today. They’re posting one page a day from the first story, Who Killed Retro Girl? so if you need even more pop culture to distract you from important things, there you go.
np – The Hold Steady / Separation Sunday
![[Valid RSS]](http://www.chromewaves.net/images/interface/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed"){kind=small}