Search Results - "Cat Power Lee\'s Palace Toronto September 4, 2006"
Thursday, August 3rd, 2006
Forget what I said a little while back about what I was looking for in a new band – I now wanna be in The Hold Steady instead. On Monday night the Brooklyn combo steamrolled into town and absolutely destroyed a surprisingly packed Lee’s Palace with a torrent of beer, sweat and pure rock.
Openers were Horsey Craze, the Neil Young cover band alter-ego of some of The Constantines, former tourmates of The Hold Steady. At points sloppy enough to make the real Crazy Horse look tight, there was no denying that the band was just there to have some fun – they even apologized a few times for their ramshackleness. But no one really minded and in a way, they were living the Canadian dream – Lord knows I’d love the opportunity to get up and jam on “Like A Hurricane” for an hour or two.
Sounding like Robert Pollard fronting the E Street Band, The Hold Steady may well have been having a better time onstage than the audience was below, and the audience was having a hell of a time. Rowdy, raucous and often hilarious, over the set and two encores, they tore through material from The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me and Separation Sunday as well as previewing new material from Boys And Girls In America, out October 3. The new stuff sounds a lot like the old stuff – classic blue-collar guitar rock overflowing with wry observations and recriminations of down-and-outs and low-lifes, courtesy of Craig Finn.
A transplanted Minnesotan, Finn looks more like a beer league bowling champ or subsitute teacher than a frontman for a rock band. Despite that – or maybe because of it – he’s a manic, magnetic figure at the mic. Flailing, gesticulating, clapping, riffing (both on guitar and verbally) and otherwise just being a hell of a performer, the man could put on a clinic on how to front a rock band. I’ve actually always wondered about bands that put on these, “leave it all on stage” shows – how they do it every night, how they keep it fresh and honest. My theory is that they are completely drained by the end of each show – perhaps from all the sweat – but then recharge with beer. And then it’s on to the next show. Whatever the secret is, The Hold Steady have got it down pat.
Gig photos here. Bands as animated as The Hold Steady are fun to shoot, that’s fer damn sure. Also check out some AV, including a Separation Sunday b-side available to download from their MySpace and two versions of their video for “Your Little Hoodrat Friend” – one that apparently their management didn’t like and one they did. I prefer the rejected one. Pretty girls > dancing hipsters.
MP3: The Hold Steady – “Your Little Hoodrat Friend”
MP3: The Hold Steady – “Curves Nerves”
MP3: The Hold Steady – “The Swish”
Video: The Hold Steady – “Your Little Hoodrat Friend” (YouTube)
Video: The Hold Steady – “Your Little Hoodrat Friend” (rejected by management) (YouTube)
MySpace: The Hold Steady
This MySpace blog has got five live Eric Bachmann tracks recorded last Winter. All of them appear on his new album To The Races and sound a lot like the recorded versions – which makes sense since they were largely recorded live and solo. They sound great – the live stuff and album both. He’s playing the Horseshoe September 16.
Just two days too late to make my themed post, Australia’s Grates talk to Chart about songwriting and K-Mart.
Yo La Tengo will be in town to beat our asses at the Phoenix on October 2. Yay! And if you haven’t heard the second MP3 from I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass, out September 12, well here you go.
MP3: Yo La Tengo – “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind”
File under: rip-offs a-coming: Billboard reports that Universal has acquired the rights to the Elvis Costello catalog and is planning to reissue them with. In case you ran out of fingers, this will be the fourth edition of Costello’s early catalog and the third definitive one. I can’t imagine that there’s much left in the vaults to make this of any value even to die-hard completists, so unless someone out there’s been holding out on getting My Ain Is True for the past 30 years hoping that a better version will come out, then I hope to god there’s no audience for these. Enough already.
The Village Voice bonds with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats over The Geto Boys and comic books. Darnielle is a Deadman fan. Who’d have guessed? Get Lonely! is out August 22 and they’re at Lee’s Palace on September 19.
And the comics section – PopMatters reviews the epic of Scott Pilgrim thus far (and to Largehearted Boy, who believes my life in Toronto mirrors Scott Pilgrim’s, I have to say alas – I never seem to get the power-ups). And the AV Club interviews the legendary Alan Moore about his controversial (it’s sexy) new graphic novel Lost Girls and shuffles up Brian K Vaughan’s iPod. Vaughan swears his musical taste isn’t that lame.
And now I’m off to Lollapalooza. Dispatches from Chicago to come.
np – Shearwater / Everybody Makes Mistakes
Saturday, July 22nd, 2006
Everyone who complains about the lack of plot coherence, character development or general heart in Summer blockbuster films, consider Superman Returns, which features all of the above and as a result, runs a solid two and a half hours. And unlike most films of this length that can suffer for having so much crammed into the running time (Lord Of The Rings, Harry Potter), Superman Returns feels a little too uncompressed. Director Bryan Singer is so determined to make this film weighty and momentous that it moves at a bit of snail’s pace as a result. Or maybe it just felt like that because I saw it in a theatre with no working air conditioning or ventilation.
But when it steps up the action, it’s spectacular. Superman’s rescue of an out-of-control airliner in the Earth’s outer atmosphere is a truly stunning piece of FX-ery and action filmmaking and while the other action sequences scattered throughout the film are also impressive – hell, anytime Superman flies it looks amazing – they don’t really compare to that first salvo. But what was pointed out in another review that I concur with is that Superman doesn’t fight anyone. In Singer’s world, there are nogiant robots or alien invasions or super-villains, there’s just Superman. Even Lex Luthor, for all his genius, is just a man (at least without his stylish power suit). The only true challenges for Supes are disasters, either natural or man-made. I’m not suggesting that we need another Nuclear Man in future films or even a General Zod, but surely there’s someone in the rogues gallery that’s filmable and could offer Superman a decent throw-down? As much as I hate Bizarro… Bizarro? Nah, probably not.
The cast is pretty much uniformly excellent, to my surprise. Even though compared to their counterparts in the original film they look like kids playing dress-up, both Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth are very good in their roles, even though Routh’s channelling of Christopher Reeve only proves how iconic Reeve was in the role. And even though she barely looks as old as her 23 years and far too young to have accomplished as much as Lois Lane has, Bosworth brings a real strength and sense of experience to the part. As Lex Luthor, Kevin Spacey is excellent. While Gene Hackman’s portrayal was more used car salesman than criminal mastermind, Spacey gives him a real sense of evil – he hates Superman on a level far deeper than a costumed dogoodnik who interferes with his plans. Interesting that over the whole film, the two arch-enemies only actually share a few minutes of screen time.
Above all though, Superman Returns is a character piece. Singer seems like he’d be perfectly content to have spent the whole time examining the relationships between Superman, Clark Kent and Lois Lane or just hanging out in the Daily Planet newsroom. Which I can understand – it’s no secret that this is the film that Singer has wanted to make pretty much all his life, of course he’s going to milk it. And as slow as it is at (many) points, I never found it to really really drag and enjoyed being along for the trip as much as anyone. As disposable as many critics regard them as, I’m always pleased to see comic book adaptations given serious film treatment but not at the cost of the wonder and whimsy of the source material. Superman Returns strikes a good balance there, even if it’d be nice if he’d have been able to punch something/someone…
Harp talks to (almost) everyone’s Superman impersonator Sufjan Stevens about Illinois and The Avalanche.
And I somehow missed this Harp feature on Golden Smog in my writeup on them earlier this week, which is weird since the piece is pretty damn big. Minnesota Public Radio also has a radio session with Kraig Johnson and Gary Louris.
Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning tells The Japan Times that he’d have no problem with winning the inaugural Polaris Music Prize.
Pitchfork has some info on the new Decemberists record The Crane Wife, out October 3, including tracklisting and tour dates. They’re in Toronto on November 4 6 at the Kool Haus. Yeah, the Kool Haus. Come on, you knew that was coming.
Mates Of State’s September 16 show at Lee’s Palace will also have Starlight Mints on the bill, tickets are $13.50. And Art Brut, We Are Scientists and The Spinto Band are scheduled to play the Opera House October 14.
Stylus spent the week counting down their 100 greatest music videos of all time. Like Pitchfork’s recent “100 Awesome Music Videos” feature, it’s YouTube-d to death.
PopWatch has some spoilers about the upcoming season of 24, namely who the new President is. Hint – he’s got a familiar surname. My question is what does this news reveal about the timeline for season six? If they’ve had time to elect a new President, does that mean that Jack will have been in Chinese custody for at least that long? I can’t imagine that he’ll have found his way to freedom in the off-season, that would be a waste of a truly interesting plot line and a chance for James Hong to cement his place as the only Asian actor in Hollywood.
np – Greg Laswell / Through Toledo
Friday, June 16th, 2006
So this Wednesday was the initial deadline for nominations for the Polaris Music Prize and I have a confession to make – I had a very shallow pool of qualifying records in my collection to pick from. Most of the Canadian stuff that most impressed me either didn’t make the definition of album (30 minutes or 8 tracks) or wasn’t released between June 1, 2005 and May 31, 2006 and what I did have seemed kind of obvious, which was a little disappointing (not the albums themselves, just that I couldn’t get creative with my picks). So I went on a little research mission over the past couple weeks trying to catch up on stuff that was homegrown and that I might have missed out on.
One artist whom I’ve liked what I’ve heard but have never really gotten around to really digging into is Calgarian Chad Van Gaalen. His debut album Infiniheart was a (very) small sample of hundreds of songs Van Gaalen had accumulated over the years and it definitely plays like it. Stylistically all over the map, it’s as mesmerizing as it is maddening for its eclecticism. Gentle folk tunes bump uglies with hooky pop moments, ambient instrumentals and bits that would have been symphonies if not for the absence of, well, symphonic instruments. It’s all tied together by Van Gaalen’s high, delicate voice that combined with the breadth of his musical ambition begs Sufjan Stevens comparisons – but not yet. Maybe when he starts writing concept albums for all ten provinces.
Spacelab reports that Van Gaalen will release his follow-up Skelliconnection on August 22 and while I hope there’s a higher level of production fit and finish to it. I would like to hear a more cohesive artistic statement from the fellow rather than, “here are some songs” but it sounds like he once again had a pool of songs to draw on hundreds deep so it could well be another stylistic grab bag.
And yeah, while SubPop re-released Infiniheart in August last year, well within the nomination period, it originally came out on Flemish Eye waaaaaay back in 2004 – a fact that I uncovered after I bought the album. So much for doing my homework. Here’s a sampling of tracks from here and there.
MP3: Chad Van Gaalen – “Clinically Dead”
MP3: Chad Van Gaalen – “Echo Train”
MP3: Chad Van Gaalen – “Somewhere I Know There’s Nothing”
MP3: Chad Van Gaalen – “Traffic”
Video: Chad Van Gaalen – “Clinically Dead” (MySpace)
So who did I end up voting for? After much hemming and hawing, I submitted the following list:
1. The New Pornographers / Twin Cinema
2. Broken Social Scene / Broken Social Scene
3. Destroyer / Destroyer’s Rubies
4. The Diableros / You Can’t Break The Strings In Our Olympic Hearts
5. My Dad Vs Yours / After Winter Must Come Spring
Like I said, kind of obvious, especially the first two. I would have LOVED to be able to get behind something more dark horse or left field, but I had to be honest about it and those are the eligible CanCon releases that got the most rotation in the past year. And I could have voted for Neil Young but I suspect that goes against the spirit of the prize.
Note to all up-and-coming bands – knock it off with the EPs! Or at the very least, make them 30 minutes long. If The Coast, The Airfields or Land Of Talk had managed to squeeze one more song or extended space-rock jam onto their recent releases, it’d have been a very different list, I tell you what. Come on guys – we’re talking a cash money prize! But, alas, such was not the case and so this is what went in to the powers that be. Not meant as a slight against any of the bands I did nominate – all fine records – but a little frustrating nonetheless. But on the plus side, I am planning on being that much more plugged into Canadian music for the upcoming year if for no other reason than to avoid another such embaressing situation. And to everyone who suggested it – Neko Case is not Canadian. Seems like it, sure, but she’s not.
And I note with some interest that My Dad Vs Yours have a show scheduled for July 15 at Lee’s Palace. Opening? Headlining? I do not know. But there you go.
While the new album won’t be out till January of next year, Dean Wareham & Britta Phillips have posted a track from their new album on their MySpace page, an Adam Green cover. And Tuesday is Luna day with the release of The Best Of Luna on CD, Lunafied in digital download format and Tell Me Do You Miss Me on DVD. For appetite-whetting purposes, Rhino has posted a clip of the DVD online – a complete performance of “Bewitched” from the farewell tour.
Video: Luna – “Bewitched” (MOV)
NOW profiles vibraphonic ensemble The Hylozoists who will be having a CD release party for La Fin Du Monde at the Horseshoe this Saturday night.
Ultra-recluse Texan legend Jandek is coming out of hiding to play a Toronto show on September 17 at… well, no one knows. But it’s happening – read here. I’ll be honest – I don’t know boo about Jandek except that his name is spoken in hushed, reverential tones and this is an event of some significance. I’m sure I’ll be hearing more about it as the date approaches.
Calexico discusses the politics of Garden Ruin with The Vancouver Sun and about growing the band’s sound with The San Francisco Chronicle and The Georgia Straight. Those attending the July 6 show at the Phoenix should note that Jason Collett appears to be off the bill and Oakley Hall are on.
Wheat’s Brendan Haney reflects on the major label experience for Loose Record and admits that, yeah, it was a bad idea. I TOLD YOU SO. It’s a shame he dismisses Per Second completely, the original Nude version was a perfectly solid record – but I already proved that. Comeback album Every Day I Said A Prayer For Kathy And Made A One-Inch Square is out this Fall. Thanks very much to Mark for the interview link.
And dig it – Arrested Development Season 3 – on DVD August 29… just a week after Veronica Mars Season 2! No word of bonuses on either disc yet but I expect the AD to be chock full ‘o nuts. And I think I’m far too excited about the opportunity to watch television shows that I’ve already seen.
np – Wheat / Hope & Adams
Thursday, May 11th, 2006
It was a year ago tonight that I first discovered Austin’s Shearwater, opening for The Mountain Goats at Lee’s Palace and while they didn’t steal the show from the Goats, they definitely held their own as far as impressing the hell out of me went. From there, I would discover leader Jonathan Meiburg’s other band, one Okkervil River, which would come as close as any other band in the last few years to changing my life.
But this is Shearwater’s post (especially since I sort of half-assed them last year) so back to Palo Santo. While splitting the songwriting duties between Meiburg and Will Sheff on previous Shearwater records allowed for more great songs on a single record, it did take away from the cohesiveness of the albums somewhat, what with Sheff’s songwriting style being more earthy while Meiburg’s compositions were more of the sky. But with Meiburg taking over all songwriting duties with the new record, Palo Santo proves to be all the stronger for having a singular voice. And what a voice – Meiburg’s tenor soars like an angel but also proves willing and able to rage when necessary.
The two sample tracks that Misra has made available are indeed standouts on the record, and yet at the same time they don’t do the record justice. Or more accurately, being presented as individual tracks don’t do the songs justice – within the context of the other songs, as the fortissimo to the other songs’ pianissimo, they’re so much more powerful. Palo Santo demands to be heard as an album, start to finish. Truly, the whole is so much greater than the sum of its parts. The last full length Winged Life and last year’s Thieves EP were strong but had more promise than delivery – finally, Palo Santo pays off in full. Is it too early to start shortlisting albums of the year?
Pitchfork gives Palo Santo some love and Said The Gramophone is also not modest about doleing out praise – they’ve also got another track available to hear. There’s also some more downloadables on their MySpace and at their label.
MP3: Shearwater – “Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five”
MP3: Shearwater – “White Waves”
MP3: Shearwater – “Turn The Transmitters On” (demo for “Red Sea, Black Sea”)
There’s some touring news but nothing up here yet. Bradley’s Almanac mentions that they’ll be in Boston in September with Magnolia Electric Co so if not for July, we could well be looking at a Toronto date around then. Fingers crossed. They’re actually the only band I saw twice at SxSW but come to think of it, I’ve still never seen them play a full headlining set of their own.
And stepping back a moment to talk Mountain Goats, Largehearted Boy is so kind as to direct us to Standard Bitter Love Songs, a wonderful archive of live Goats shows. Last year’s May show from Toronto isn’t there, but the October one – which I missed – is. There’s some overlap with the Archive.org, er, archives, but there’s no such thing as too much Mountain Goats. Unless you don’t like them, in which case a little is probably too much.
And not quite done with the Shearwater segues, Okkervil River continue to traipse around Europe and their bus driver Michal is playing official tour documentarian via Flickr.
The AV Club interviews Mark Kozelek, also known as “The Koz” but not to be confused with “The Cos”, who is at Lee’s Palace July 12. Koz, that is. Not Cos.
More shows – Cat Power will be at the Danforth Music Hall on July 3 – hmm, timing. Dare I step off a plane at 3 in the afternoon and be at a show by 9? Maybe. Maybe. Elsewhere, The Rakes are at Lee’s Palace on July 4 and July 15 sees a new festival in town – Dog Day Afternoon will feature headliners Metric with The Fiery Furnaces, Holy Fuck, The Secret Machines and Electric 6. This goes down at Historic Fort York and tickets are $40, on sale Saturday. Chart has more info on the fest, which will also be hitting Ottawa and Montreal.
And hey, it’s my birthday. If it’s true that life begins at 30 – and I will admit, 30 was pretty damn good to me – what happens at 31? I hope it’s not gout.
Update: Wilco says – Row F (8th), stage right. Hrmm. Not as good as last time, obvs.
np – Gemma Hayes / The Roads Don’t Love You
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
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