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Friday, June 2nd, 2006
…So starting next Wednesday, NxNE officially descends upon the city and we will be inundated with bands from (mostly) near but some from very far all hoping to… well, to be honest, I’m not sure what they’re hoping for. To become beloved by Canadians, I guess.
Though we’ve got the acronym and the stylish lower-case “x”, this ain’t SxSW – not by a long shot. Locals don’t even refer to it as “North by” (actually what many locals call it is far less flattering, but that’s another topic). But as easy as it is to be cynical about NxNE, the fact is is that there really is a fair bit of excitement amongst a lot of people for the fest. Seeing people club-hopping, lining up for shows or otherwise just taking it all in is really quite heartening. Of course, those warm fuzzies are offset by bands travelling halfway around the world to play to an empty delicatessan with a 2×4-on-cinder-blocks stage, but that’s rock’n’roll for ya.
One act that’s coming to town from afar and is somewhat surprisngly generating approximately zero hype is Jason Falkner. Something of a pop legend in certain circles, Falkner cut his teeth with such acts as The Three O’Clock, Jellyfish and The Grays (with uber-producer Jon Brion) before striking out on his own. He’s since achieved no small amount of success as a solo artist and producer (Brendan Benson, Magnet) as well as a sideman to the stars (Beck, Air). Falkner’s thing is pure, classic ultra-melodic West Coast pop and while his records tend to be densely produced, he’s up here all by his lonesome for the 9PM slot at the NOW showcase at the Reverb. If you’re curious, go early – there’s some more heavily-hyped acts later on the bill and the club is almost certain to be full.
Check some of his stuff out at MySpace or thanks to his SxSW 2005 profile.
MP3: Jason Falkner – “Lost Myself”
Since I’ll be making some effort to at least half-assedly cover NxNE this year, I’ve done a little digging through the lineups looking for possible shows to hit and I figured I’d share my findings with y’all. Some of these are artists I’ve seen or heard before, others are sort of random picks from the NxNE sched based on some MySpace clips or whatever. Sorry I didn’t have the energy to write more than a short descriptive blurb for each of them but if you have the time, I encourage you to at least click through to their MySpace and sample stream a song. That’s pretty much what I did… for almost every performer… Note to bands who submitted too-clever, non-descriptive one-paragraph bios? You’re helping no one, especially not yourselves. NOW has assembled an guide to the fest (which they also sponsor) but considering they make their recommendations based on groups of similarly-themed band names, take em with some salt.
Thursday, June 8
Nathan Asher & The Infantry (Raleigh, NC) @ Healey’s, 9PM (MySpace) – Tense, verbose indie.
MP3: Nathan Asher & The Infantry – “Turn Up The Faders”
As The Poets Affirm (Ottawa, ON) @ The Savannah, 9PM (MySpace) – Instrumental post-rockingness.
MP3: As The Poets Affirm – “A Lie Told Before Breakfast”
City Field (Halifax, NS/Toronto, ON) @ The Silver Dollar, 9PM (MySpace) – Eclectic pop.
MP3: City Field – “Linda’s Hair”
Land Of Talk (Montreal, PQ) @ The Boat, 10PM (MySpace) – Brooklynvegan-approved indie.
MP3: Land Of Talk – “Breaxxbaxx”
Kill The Lights (Toronto, ON) @ The Boat, 11PM (MySpace) – Kinda Cure-ish, but not derivative.
MP3: Kill The Lights – “Orestes”
Mission To The Sea (Dallas, TX) @ The Savannah, 12AM (MySpace) – Latin-tinged folk.
MP3: Mission To The Sea – “Red Light”
Frontier Index (Toronto, ON) @ Healey’s, 12AM (MySpace) – Cosmic twang.
MP3: Frontier Index – “Someday”
Fjord Rowboat (Toronto, ON) @ Crowbar, 1AM (MySpace) – Good ‘ol shoegaze.
MP3: Fjord Rowboat – “Paragon”
Friday, June 9
Lullaby Baxter (Montreal, PQ) @ The Drake Underground, 10PM (MySpace) – Gallic torchy loungy.
MP3: Lullaby Baxter – “Rattled Little Clam”
Royal Wood (Toronto, ON) @ The Art Bar, 10PM (MySpace) – Great pipes, opened for My Morning Jacket.
MP3: Royal Wood – “Weigh Me Down”
The Besnard Lakes (Montreal, PQ) @ The Silver Dollar, 11PM (MySpace) – Spacey and kinda creepy.
MP3: The Besnard Lakes – “You’ve Got To Want To Be A Star”
Mike Doughty (New York, NY) @ Lee’s Palace, 12AM (MySpace) – Dude from Soul Coughing.
MP3: Mike Doughty – “Bottom Of A Well”
Any Millan (Toronto, ON) @ The Reverb, 12AM (MySpace) – NOW”s easy, breezy, beautiful cover girl.
MP3: Amy Millan – “Skinny Boy” (ZIP)
Novillero (Winnipeg, MB) @ The El Mocambo, 12AM (MySpace) – Keyboard pop from the ‘Peg.
MP3: Novillero – “The Hypothesist”
The Coast (Toronto, ON) @ The El Mocambo, 1AM (MySpace) – Anglo-inspired shimmer pop.
MP3: The Coast – “The Lines Are Cut”
Saturday, June 10
Paper Moon (Winnipeg, MB) @ Healey’s, 9PM (MySpace) – Sublime girl-pop.
MP3: Paper Moon – “String Of Blinking Lights”
Pedestrian (Toronto, ON) @ The Black Bull 10PM (MySpace) – Unknown quantity with Intriguing MySpace samples.
MP3: Pedestrian – “GrasStains”
Doris Day (Barrie, ON) @ Holy Joe’s 11PM (MySpace) – Highly regarded by people who know.
MP3: Doris Day – “Quarantine Girl”
Jo Mango (Glasgow, Scotland) @ The Drake Hotel 12 AM (MySpace) – Beautiful folky music.
* No MP3s but Jo Mango also plays Dundas Square at 1PM on the 10th.
Aberdeen City (Boston, MA) @ Lee’s Palace, 1AM (MySpace) – Beantown alt rock.
MP3: Aberdeen City – “God Is Gonna Get Sick Of Me”
Also note there’s a series of “bonus” shows featuring bigger local and out-of-town names that are mostly ticket-only, but will admit a limited number of NxNE wristbands and badges. These shows are Be Your Own Pet at the Mod Club on June 7 (75 wristbands), the June 10 Hawksley Workman show at Massey Hall (60 wristbands) and Amy Millan show at the Mod Club (50 wristbands) and on Sunday June 11, Tilly & The Wall at the Mod Club (75 wristbands) and Pink Mountaintops at the Horseshoe (75 wristbands). Also note that the Television show at the Phoenix June 9 is also very limited wristband/badge, so if you’re dead set on going (as I am) get a ticket (as I have).
There’s also some good non- (or anti-) NxNE shows going on next weekend, mainly at Sneaky Dee’s. On June 8 catch Great Lake Swimmers, Mean Red Spiders and friends while on June 9, the venue hosts The Diableros and The Paper Cranes, amongst others. Your silly wristband is no good here.
And another “looks like it should be a NxNE show but isn’t”, courtesy of Paper Bag Records – controller.controller, Magneta Lane, Uncut, Cities In Dust and Tokyo Police Club will play two shows at the Mod Club on the 9th – one an all-ages matinee and one a licensed evening show, each $15. Hey, that’s a Friday. What are the kids doing at a rock show on a school day?
Finally, Zoilus talks about the just-announced Polaris Music Prize, which is intended to be a Mercury Prize for Canadian artists. One $20,000 prize for “Best Canadian Album”. Like Carl, I’m honoured to have been asked to be on the jury for selecting the winner, so all you prospective nominees? Start sending the bribes now. I like how the name of the prize is quintessentially Canadian – reflecting our national inability to not remind others (or ourselves) that we are, indeed, in the north. And cold. And snowy. It’s quaint, isn’t it? Anyways, expect to hear more about this over the next week. Update: JAM! has more info on the Polaris prize.
And that’s it for today. Gawd.
np – The Flaming Lips / At War With The Mystics
Wednesday, May 31st, 2006
One of my birthday gifts a few weeks ago was a pair of tickets to the gala premiere of SARSical. As the name implies, it’s a musical based on those fun-filled halcyon days of Spring 2003 when dear old Toronto was made an international pariah for our dalliance with the SARS virus.
It originally debuted at last year’s Fringe Festival and was a big enough hit that it’s being restaged for a three-week run at the Factory Theatre. Brimming with song and dance and wit to spare, it was a hell of a lot of fun and I don’t think I stopped laughing for almost the entire duration. While it follows a few storylines, the main target of the satire is the media’s coverage of our fair city during the crisis and how our then-mayor, Mel Lastman, handled/bungled the whole thing. I don’t know how well it would translate outside of Toronto as you really have to have lived through that time to truly appreciate it, but for me it was a blast. I don’t remember the last time I had this much fun at the theatre – granted, I don’t remember the last time I was AT the theatre, but whenever that was, I think this was better.
The show has gotten a fair bit of local and national coverage with pieces in Macleans, NOW, CBC and The Toronto Star. And I could help but be reminded of this tasty treat I saw in a vending machine in Taipei a couple months ago. Mm mmm good!
Mars Needs Guitars offers up a list of his top ten shoegaze songs. Only one I don’t have/haven’t heard is Loop’s “Arc-Lite (Sonar)”. Motel De Moka also has a two part tribute to shoegazing. It’s apparently the meme of the week.
And speaking of old-school British music, YouTube has House Of Love videos! That shirt in “I Don’t Know Why I Love You”? That, Guy Chadwick, is why you guys were never big. I admit I am a little concerned about the total lack of news from the House Of Love camp since November – generally not good news for a band that rather famously imploded the first time around. It’d be a shame if they’d packed it in again – Days Run Away wasn’t a total triumph but it was solid enough to prove there might still be some gas left in the tank. Or, it appears, not.
Video: The House Of Love – “I Don’t Know Why I Love You” (YouTube)
Video: The House Of Love – “Shine On” (YouTube)
Video: The House Of Love – “Christine” (YouTube)
Bradley’s Almanac has got the recording of Film School’s recent show in Boston all nicely MP3-ed for your enjoyment to go along with the Margot & The Nuclear So And Sos set from the same show he posted last week. The Tripwire has a live acoustic video of a percentage of the band performing “Jen Is Bringin The Drugs” while The Nashville City Paper has a chat with lead Margot Richard Edwards. And hey look – the band has a Flickr account which apparently confirms “MNSS” as the official band acronym. Duly noted.
Stylus ponders magical moments from the Mountain Goats. Their new one Get Lonely is out August 22.
Dose – dead as a print publication but carrying on in a zombie online form – talks a bit with Mogwai’s Barry Burns.
Concretes drummer Lisa Milberg gives Chart some Q&A action.
Mates Of State gives Paste a five-point guide to being in a band with your spouse. Harp gets some baby talk.
So thanks to everyone who entered the Mission Of Burma contest over the past week – it’s closed now and I’ll sort out the winners in the next couple days. I’ve got the eight 12″s I’m to give away as prizes and let me tell you, they’re something else. Whoever gets these is a lucky pup. Next up in the freebies queue is a Tilly & The Wall prize pack. I’ve got three pairs of tickets to the band’s June 11 show at the Mod Club as well as copies of their new album Bottom Of Barrels, which came out last week. Because the tickets and the CDs go together, this’ll only be for locals or people willing to come to Toronto to see/get em. More info here.
np – Sonic Youth / Rather Ripped
Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006
Tilly & The Wall release their second album Bottom Of Barrels today, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little surprised that they’ve stuck around this long. If ever there was a candidate for fast-track novelty band status, it’d have been these tap-dance-powered sunshiney Omahans signed to Saddle Creek’s farm team label.
But their debut Wild Like Children was solid if maybe a little long for maximum effectiveness. Behind the tap-dancing and summer camp counsellers on upppers persona you actually had some good songs so I was perfectly happy to give them the old thumbs up, particularly after seeing them live a couple times. They were like injecting pure glucose into my eyeballs and eardrums, but in short controlled doses – neither of their opening sets were longer than half an hour – they were the most fun ever.
Which bring us to the new record. It’s simultaneously better and not – on one hand, their sound has grown. There’s actually drums on a couple of tracks, and for that I applaud the band for not being too beholden to their aesthetic and doing whatever’s best for the songs. On the other hand, some of the songwriting has crossed that dangerous line of treacle and now they don’t just sound like camp counsellers, they sound like Church camp counsellers – so positive and affirming that you just know they have to be shooting up behind the mess hall after hours. Back on the plus side, Neely and Kianna’s harmony vocals still sound great and Derek Pressnall’s voice sounds even morer eerily like Conor Oberst’s but without the annoying vibrato – which could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you feel about Bright Eyes.
The band will be at the Mod Club on June 11 with David Dondero for a mini Team Love-in. Considering what I said earlier about “short, controlled doses” we’ll see how well they hold up in a headlining context. Bring insulin, just in case. I’ll be running a little Tilly contest next week, so stay tuned. More Tilly content to see and hear – the band discusses the effectiveness of free downloads in marketing something as cliched as a tap-dance powered folk-pop combo to The Los Angeles Times and Take Your Medicine has some live Tilly audio and video. There’s some MP3s from the new album below and they’ve got a MySpace but there’s no new audio there so all you can do is become, like, BFF with them all.
MP3: Tilly & The Wall – “Bad Education”
MP3: Tilly & The Wall – “Lost Girls”
The reason you have to wait till next week for my Tilly contest is because this week, if you’ll note the shiny new Mission Of Burma contest banner up in the corner, I’ve got one set of the super-limited edition A Time To Punctuate 12″ series to give away, complete with fancy ethings, courtesy of Matador. That’s EIGHT 12″ singles, people. Super limited edition. File under: amazing. You can listen to the tracks here and become the band’s friend here but you can only win the 12″s here. And The Phoenix talks to the band (as DJs) who today release what some are calling their heaviest album yet, The Obliterati. And hey – Pitchfork loves it – what higher endorsement is there? They’re at the Horseshoe on July 26.
Illinois Entertainer talks to Mike Cooley of Drive-By Truckers while The Monitor chats up Jason Isbell and Minnesota Public Radio has got a recent radio session up for listening. I just picked up A Blessing And A Curse the other day (it’s out officially in Canada today) and have to say it’s another triumph for the boys (and girl) from Alabama. And I think Isbell has clinched the title of fave Trucker – “Daylight” slays me.
The Guardian discusses the demise of Grandaddy with Jason Lytle while The Houston Chronicle compares the band with The Flaming Lips while The Seattle Times talks to Wayne Coyne with nary a mention of Grandaddy. So Much Silence has the audio from Lytle’s recent stop at Cincinatti’s WOXY.
24: Finally – some educational content to the show. How to kill a man with a penknife silently from behind! Actually, this is some of the most graphic violence we’ve seen nice. Yes. So, twenty minutes in and everything scary has been addressed. Now it’s time to go after everything simpering! Have Jack and Logan ever actually met before? Not really the best foot to get started on, tasering the secret service and interrupting the President’s Sudoku session. Ah, if it were only really so easy to kidnap the President… Aside – man, David Palmer selling car insurance during the commercial break. Surreal. End aside. Now this wasn’t a season finale climax I was expecting… talking. Jack and Logan talking. Oh, here’s some gunplay. That’s more like it… and Jack loses. But lo and behold, a hysterical First Lady somehow manages to ask exactly the right questions – BECAUSE SHE WAS IN ON IT. Huzzah! You know, I found this more gratifying than if Jack HAD shot him. See? Violence isn’t the answer to all our problems – only most of them. And now, I guess the Vice-President takes over. I dunno, man. I saw Twin Peaks – he’s crazy. Oh, Bill and Karen are TOTALLY going to get it on. That’s nice – we know how well CTU romances work out. Bill’s gonna lose a limb.
HAHAHA. THE CHINESE HAVE THE LAST LAUGH. DO NOT FUCK WITH US! Remember this post from last season? I may have been off by a season, but I STAND BY IT. And I’ll stop shouting now. So not the most action-packed finale, but definitely a satisfying and ballsy one. And a decently strong season all around with relatively minimal WTF moments. Except one – where’d Chloe’s ex-husband come from again? I must have blinked when he was introduced.
np – Mission Of Burma / Vs.
Thursday, May 4th, 2006
Oh, Mates Of State, if only we could bottle your energy and pep and sell it to the masses. Well until someone comes up with a way for us to mainline Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel, we’ll have to settle for aural fixes. Though on paper there’s many angles from which to apply the gimmick tag to the drum-and-keyboard duo (They’re married! They have no guitars! They’re as cute as kittens riding puppies!), the bottom line with them is they make some unbelievably hooky pop records and their latest Bring It Back may well be their best one yet.
What I’d heard of Mates Of State in the past was undeniably fun and catchy, but was always a bit too much on the saccharine side for safe prolonged exposures. Something about the new record is different though – while all they’ve still got all the exuberance, there are some laugh lines showing, a little bit of weariness. It’s subtle, oh so subtle, but I hear it and it gives things a little more emotional heft. There’s some newfound sonic heft as well, the arrangements being unbelievably full for just a two-piece act.
But the husband-wife angle does make for some entertaining interview dynamics. Nerve asked the duo about their porn habits and groupie action (of course they did), Suicide Girls wants to talk about their daughter and Indieinterviews does the podcast thing with the band.
The band has material new and old available on their MySpace page while new label Barsuk has put together an eCard for the new album with a bunch of songs streaming as well as the video for the single “Fraud In The 80s”, which you can download below:
MP3: Mates Of State – “Fraud In The 80s”
Video: Mates Of State – “Fraud In The 80s” (MOV)
NME has the whole of Howling Bells’ self-titled debut album available to stream right now. The record is officially out in the UK on Monday, but pre-orders were sent out in advance – I’ve had mine since Tuesday and it’s good. Go listen.
And more previews – the Golden Smog MySpace page has got one complete track and three teasers from their new album, Another Fine Day, out July 18. Smogger Gary Louris tells The San Francisco Chronicle that despite all the “yes we’re broken up no we’re not” back-and-forth last year, The Jayhawks are basically done.
And a Louris segue – Billboard finally has info on the all-star (including Gary) live Sadies album recorded at Lee’s Palace back in February. It’s a 41-track (!) double-disc set called In Concert Volume One and will be out August 8. Yep Roc has the official release.
NOW and The Toronto Sun preview the Over The Top Fest, happening right now. As we speak. This very second.
And on the concert tip – The Concretes will be performing an instore at Soundscapes tonight at 7 before their headlining show at the Horseshoe later this evening. Pitchfork previews the tour. Tap-tacular sugar buzz Tilly & The Wall will be at the Mod Club June 11 (tickets $13.50) to celebrate their new album Bottom Of Barrels, out May 23, and alt.country veterans The Bottle Rockets are at Lee’s June 12 ($10.50). Their new album Zoysia is out June 6. July 26 sees The Futureheads, whose News And Tributes is out June 13, along with new XL Recordings signees and blogosphere darlings Tapes N Tapes at the Phoenix.
Some of the festivals taking place at Harbourfront this Summer are getting announced. Some highlights – The Dears and Jason Collett as part of Power of Place, happening over Canada Day weekend, Konono No 1 and Jamie Lidell with Beats, Breaks & Culture the following weekend while The Weakerthans headline rom the Peg!, a salute to the music of Winnipeg, July 28, 29 and 30.
The AV Club’s rundown of this summer’s movie crop is almost certainly more entertaining than most of the films coming out between now and September.
np – Wilco / A Ghost Is Born
Thursday, November 3rd, 2005
There’s been a dearth of Mojave 3 news to report this year, but thankfully that drought appears to be ending. Neil Halstead has provided Mojave3online.com with a sneak preview MP3 from what will be the new M3 album, due out hopefully around March of next year. Says Neil:
“Trk is called “Big star baby” and will be on the new record. The version I’m sending is a rough version of the tune and is really a moniter mix, but we hope you like it
The record is coming on good now. We have got Victor Van Vugt to mix the record for us. He’s worked with Beth Orton, Nick Cave and a few others. The mixes he’s done so far sound awesome ( he hasn’t mixed big star yet)…way better than the mixes we were doing..were having a few problems in the studio in cornwall. There was a mouse invasion over the summer and we never quite recovered”.
Seeing as how it’s still an early mix, it’s probably premature to review the track in too great depth, but it’s a compact, jaunty number that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Out Of Tune – it’s certainly poppier than your typical Mojave 3 track. Have a listen:
MP3: Mojave 3 – “Big Star Baby (demo)”
The only other bits of remotely M3-related content I can add is a reminder that the Slowdive reissues are out in a couple weeks, on November 14.
The New Pornographers wrapped up their Twin Cinema tour last week with a bang – literally. Bassist John Collins’ appendix burst after the show in Chicago, necessitating the cancellation of the last couple shows of the tour in Minneapolis and Madison. There is a pre-appendicitis piece on the band at the The Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Bugmenot) and Glide also has a feature story.
Okkervil River’s Will Sheff insists to NOW that he’s not the black sheep boy. Really. Go see Okkervil River at Lee’s on Monday. The Torontoist week in shows thus decrees. So far, none of the other local rags have given Okkervil any love. Fools, fools!
Here are the photos from Tuesday night’s Spoon/Mary Timony show. And as a reward for waiting, check out some Gimme Fiction videos, including the new one for “Sister Jack” which SF Weekly pans in their piece on indie rock videos available around the internet. You know, some links would have been helpful. Jerks.
Tilly & The Wall are currently in the studio recording their follow-up to Wild Like Children… and they’re blogging the experience.
Being There looks at the immeasureable influence of Bob Dylan, including a look at his peers, forbears and followers.
The Pitch gives a shout-out to my MP3 of the week feature. Thanks!
np – Rob Dickinson / Fresh Wine For The Horses
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