Search Results - "Tilly "
Monday, October 4th, 2004
To quote Danny Glover, “I’m getting to old for this shit”. The last of three shows in three nights was queued up for last night, and it was probably my most anticipated of the three. Rilo Kiley can lay claim to having released one of my favourite records of the year in More Adventurous so I was obviously hoping the live show could enhance the musical experience.
Interestingly, the bill for the tour read like a snapshot of Saddle Creek through the ages – you had Rilo Kiley, who left the label, Tilly & The Wall, currently on the ‘farm team’ imprint, Team Love. Not that that means anything, I just found it interesting.
Tilly & The Wall are a 10-legged tap-dancing diabetic coma waiting to happen – they are so cute it borders on sickening. Taking the stage with a “T! I! L! L! Y!” chant, the combo immediately got their game on tapping, stomping and singing. As was pointed out to me, only Jamie Williams actually taps – Neely Jenkins and Kianna Alarid just stomp along while singing. But whatever you want to call it, whenever you get three cute girls in short skirts dancing and singing, a good time is going to be had. Their music is buoyant and happy and infectious like ebola, and while it is gimmicky (they tap dance for pete’s sake), it’s never jokey. They played a short 40-minute set, and while the crowd wanted more (they took a little while to comprehend what they were seeing), it might be for the best that they kept it brief. I’m not sure how much a body could take without needing an insulin shot.
The middle slot belonged to Athens, Georgia’s Now It’s Overhead. If you want to know what they sound like, just imagine what you’d think college rock in the mid 1990s would sound like. You’re pretty much there. NIE are a jangly, riffy, electronic-tinged, earnest and no doubt sensitive amalgam of everything you’d think a US college radio station would have played during the Clinton years. Live, their material was stronger than the samples I got off the website had hinted at and any act that brings uber-cutie Orenda Fink to town has my gratitude (leave me alone, I’ve had a crush on her since her Little Red Rocket days). Curiously, her Azure Ray cohort and NIE keyboardist Maria Taylor wasn’t along for the trip. Overall, I didn’t mind their set at all though follwing the nuttiness of Tilly & The Wall and leading into the hotly anticipated headliner, they came off as a little bit bland. They could be going onto bigger and better things, though – after they wrap up this tour, they will be supporting fellow Athenians REM on a leg of their North American tour.
If nothing else, Rilo Kiley can say they drew an exponentially larger audience this time around last time around – instead of the seven people or so who caught them at their Toronto debut in 2002, there were at least 49 in the audience last night, probably more. The band wasn’t to be outdone, though, doubling their on-stage contingent to eight – in addition to the core band there was a 2-piece string section, Orenda from Now It’s Overhead on trumpet and a third guitarist. The setlist drew mainly from More Adventrous and The Execution Of All Things, though they reached back to Take-Offs And Landings for “Small Figures In A Vast Expanse”. A nice treat was having the introduction to “The Execution Of All Things” rearranged for plucked strings, to great effect, and the charming-if-not-entirely-successful false ending of “I Never”. For the encore, Blake performed “Ripchord” solo, stopping between verses to gently chide a couple audience members for talking while he played (“This isn’t like TV, I can hear you!”) and then bringing the band back on to close things out.
All in all, a great and energetic performance that was sadly marred by the atrocious sound – everything was excessively loud, the mix was bad and the show suffered for it. This isn’t just my old man ears complaining, I know loud but my ears were almost in physical pain from the sonic assault. The vocals were barely audible at the start of the show and only improved incrementally as the night went on. The biggest culprit was the third guitarist who apparently felt that being number three meant having to be louder than one and two put together. I tried putting the earplugs in for the louder numbers and taking them out for the quieter ones with limited success. Note to self – get some proper fitted earplugs. NOW.
As always, lighting at the show started out great and got progressively darker. Sigh. Stupid Horseshoe. Pics here.
The New York Times profiles Nonesuch, the little major label that actually believes in crazy things like artistic integrity and good music. What a concept.
News from Pernice Brothers-land. They are prepping a DVD for release next month and have a new CD ready to drop in late January/early February of next year which will feature the recording debut of the current touring lineup.
Sad sad day for Canadian baseball yesterday. The Expos played their final game in Montreal and the Jays capped their worst season in over two decades with another loss which was likely the final game of longtime franchise player Carlos Delgado. All that seemed inconsequential, however, with news that former Jay pitcher John Cerutti was found dead at the age of 44 in his hotel room before the game. Cerutti was a mainstay of the pitching staff in the late 80s when the Jays captured the AL East pennant in 85 and 89, when I started watching baseball, and had been Jays commentator for CBC and SportsNet since the 97 season. Rest in peace, John. Dave Perkins of The Toronto Star has a eulogy.
np – Tilly & The Wall / Wild Like Children
Sunday, October 3rd, 2004
It was an eclectic-ish bill at the Horseshoe last night centred around The Magnolia Electric Co’s first Toronto show in something like seven years (that’s what I overheard, anyway). Mainman Jason Molina has a cultish sort of following that I don’t quite understand, but the club was quite packed early on with the faithful.
Starting things off was Jon-Rae Fletcher & The River, who trade in what I have henceforth dubbed ‘spaz-country’. This label goes beyond just looks, though Fletcher would certainly qualify in that department, but musically as well. While not the most polished or professional of performers (dude, tune your guitar BEFORE you start the song) The six-piece band played druken, goofy country-western music, all stomping and shouting and generally carrying on. It was pretty entertaining, but I couldn’t help get the feeling that the performers were in on a joke that the audience wasn’t.
Sea Snakes just released their debut record Clear As Day, The Darkets Tools on Guelph’s ultra-hip Three Gut Records and wouldn’t be a bad bet for one of the next breakthrough acts out of Toronto. Their deal is intricate, melodic and jazzy post-rock with high, keening vocals. Make no mistake – these boys can play, the intertwining guitarwork and intricate drums were mesmerizing, but I found the songs a little lacking. Maybe I’m too hardwired for pop hooks but nothing of their set really stuck with me, it was more like waves of lovely ambience that washed over me while they played but left nothing behind. Perhaps I’d have to hear the record to properly appreciate it.
When this was initially announced months ago, I had the idea that it would be a solo show for some reason. I was completely wrong as the current incarnation of the Magnolia Electric Co is six members strong. I can’t comment on how much of the set material was from the forthcoming Magnolia Electric Co album and how much was old Songs: Ohia material (I only have the Songs: Ohia Magnolia Electric Co album… yeah, don’t get me started) but juding from the polite response some numbers got and the enthusiastic response others did, I think he mixed it pretty well. The best adjective I can use to describe the MEC’s blend of psychadelic-country-blues-rock is ‘polished’. Everything just sounded so smooth, not least of all Molina’s clear voice. For an act that gets compared to Neil Young so much, I don’t think you could get much more opposite from Crazy Horse’s sonic chaos than Molina & co. They did let loose a little more in the encore (as well as putting on some paper animal masks – yeah, I dunno), but on the whole the hour-and-a-half set was a study in fine, professional songcraft and musicianship.
And I maintain that the Horseshoe is one tough room to shoot photos in. Even when it seems lit up, it’s actually dark, or so my camera would seem to believe. Check them out here.
The Boston Globe profiles tap-tacular Tilly & The Wall, opening for Rilo Kiley on their current tour, which includes a stop at the Horseshoe tonight. From LHB.
There is now a trailer for Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean’s Mirrormask. Gaiman says the music isn’t actually from the film (thank goodness) and there’s no sense of the narrative, but the visuals are quite neat.
So in addition to being on the CBC Radio 3 website playlist, as I mentioned yesterday, Lake Holiday also made the RADIO playlist. That’s right, at around 3:50 AM last night, we made our national radio debut with “American Summer”, sandwiched between tracks by local heroes From Fiction and The Hidden Cameras. That’s just keen, I must say, though no, I didn’t stay up to listen. I’ve heard the song before and I don’t actually have a radio.
FYI – tomorrow’s post will probably be a little late. I’ve got the day off and I’m a-gonna use it. To sleep, I mean.
np – Teenage Fanclub / Thirteen
Saturday, August 14th, 2004
The Forests Have Feelings Too show at Magic Pony was pretty dang cool. Showcasing the work of Nathan Jurevicius, almost the entire shop was filled with figurines large and small, original artwork, prints and sketches from his Scarygirl comic strip. There was also a collection of figurines decorated by local folks (including Graig and Carla), some fantastic, some disturbing. His work definitely has a Tim Burton influence, but with a more whimsy and less creepiness and a definite Japanese flavour. I like his stuff a lot. I bought a little figurine thingee that you assemble yourself in grand Mr Potatohead fashion. Some pics from the exhibition, which runs through September 18, here.
Magic Pony is a neat shop – I am definitely going back to pick up some of the Kozyndan prints they have for sale (and very reasonably priced, too). I’ve loved their work since they designed the artwork for the two Postal Service singles (The District Sleeps Alone Tonight and Such Great Heights) but didn’t know that the prints would be available locally. Yay. This one, titled “The Household”, is the one I want, though I wouldn’t be surprised if I got this one as well – just look at the detail on them. Amazing. I’m not sure where I’d put them up yet, the walls in my apartment are weirdly-shaped and not necessarily conducive to hanging artwork, but I’ll find somewhere.
After the show we headed over to the Horseshoe to catch some local music. There were four bands on the bill but we were only collectively interested in two of them, The Frontier Index and The Parkas. There’ll be no comment on the other two bands – Supergarage I didn’t stick around for and Stirling… Well, if you can’t say anything nice (and I could say a lot not nice), then we’ll leave it at that.
Carla had been telling me about Frontier Index since I missed them (but she hadn’t) opening for Preston School Of Industry earlier this year. The stuff on their website sounded promising so I made a note to try and catch them the next time the opportunity presented itself. They trade in fairly standard ‘cosmic American music’ (read: alt.country) but with some particular attention paid to the ‘cosmic’ part of that. The unconventional spacey and textural lead guitar work was distinctive as well as their glorious three-part harmonies which weren’t used nearly enough. It looks like these guys are on an upward trajectory, if the remarkable attendance in place for their early set is any indication. Furthermore, word is they’re on the verge of signing with Rainbow Quartz though their country-esque sound would probably be more at home on their Turquiose Mountain imprint. Good stuff, and worth watching.
Then Stirling played. I blacked out for about an hour.
I saw Thunder Bay-via-London’s The Parkas last year at an Endearing Records showcase at CMW last year, and while I think I liked them alright, I don’t remember anything about them. They certainly made more of an impression last night, though. Going through some recent lineup flux, they were playing with a couple of ringers to fill in for a departed guitarist/vocalist but if that had put them off their game at all, I certainly couldn’t tell. The guys are a quintissentially Canadian rock band (in the Joel Plaskett vein, not April Wine) and sure know how to throw a party and work a crowd. I didn’t know any of their stuff and still had a great time at the show – that’s not an easy feat. I wouldn’t have wanted to be the band that had to follow them.
I got pics of the Frontier Index and Parkas sets here.
The Rilo Kiley/Now It’s Overhead/Tilly & The Wall show has a venue – you will want to be at the Horseshoe on October 3 to take in the show.
Okay, wait a minute – THIS is the guy who beat me for best music blog this year? Only Moby could make a night out with strippers, cocaine, booze and all-night sex sound utterly lame and pathetic. Bitter? Me? Nah. From 10:51am Toronto.
np – Sonic Youth / Daydream Nation
Wednesday, August 11th, 2004
Rilo Kiley may have left Saddle Creek to release More Adventurous (out next Tuesday) on their own Brute/Beaute label, but they still seem to like partying with the Nebraskans. Joining them on their Fall tour will be former labelmates Now It’s Overhead (featuring Maria and Orenda from Azure Ray) and tap-dancing Tilly & The Wall. The October 2 Toronto date still hasn’t been confirmed, but I’d imagine they’ll be playing Lee’s Palace. Apparently the last time they played Canada it was to a whopping 5 people… That apocryphal factoid was taken from the preface of this interview with Jenny Lewis, and isn’t a direct quote. I don’t know what they’re talking about, their last time in T.O. was Fall 2002 at Lee’s Palace opening for Idaho, and while I wasn’t there I have to think that there was more than just the bar staff in attendance. (Photo by Wendy Lynch for Under The Radar)
Speaking of Saddle Creek, Bright Eyes will be releasing not one, but two new albums in January, one “traditional and folksy”, the other “more digital and poppy”. The incomporable Emmylou Harris does backing vocals on three tracks on the first album – now there’s a bizarre combination of voices. Anyway, both albums are intended for release on the same day next year. For the record, Bright Eyes are still on my shit list for cancelling their show in town last summer out of SARS fears, doing absolutely nothing to dispell Conor Oberst’s reputation as a scaredy cat. Hear that Conor? You’re on my shit list. Gonna cry? Gonna write a song about it?
The Morning News had a terrific round-table discussion about MP3 blogs with some of the top names in the game, including Sean from Said The Gramophone and Dave from Largehearted Boy, two of my daily reads. There’s a lot of good discussion about the value and influence mp3 blogs have to promote new music and each blogger’s personal aesthetic. There’s even a shout-out from Dave to your’s truly (thanks, Dave!). If nothing else, it reminded me why my site will never properly qualify as an mp3 blog – I’m lazy and they sound like a helluva lot of work. I have my hands full with daily posting and a weekly mp3.
The Online Film Critics Society has compiled their 100 Most Overlooked Films of the 1990s. I don’t know exactly what their definition of “overlooked” is – I see films that have amassed great critical acclaim and more than a few Oscar nominees on the list – but it’s probably just meant as a list of “films we like that weren’t blockbusters”. I’ve seen a mere twenty of these selections, perhaps I’ve found a new list for when I hit the video store without a clue of what to rent? Oh yeah, glad to see Truly, Madly, Deeply ranked so high up on the list – that’s been a long-time favourite of mine. Alan Rickman’s best role and he’s not even playing a villain! It’s what Ghost could have been if it didn’t suck so hard. If you haven’t seen it, do so. And if you’re making fun of me for liking a chick flick, fuck you.
The Bourne Supremacy was solid – not in the 70s Blaxploitation film hero/heroine sense, but in the ‘that was entertaining and did not have massive plot holes that offended my very being’ way. It’s much less character-driven than the first film and much more action-oriented. Matt Damon pretty much has one facial expression through the whole film, that of stony-faced determination, Julia Stiles cries like a little girl, Brian Cox is a bad guy and Franka Potente probably gets the easiest second-billing she’ll ever have. Much has been made of Paul Greengrass’ hyper-kinetic direction, with super-fast cuts through all the action sequences, and for the most part it works. The shaky-cam does get annoying at times but it’s not so overbearing as to be disruptive. Somehow your brain is able to process all the images being thrown at it and assemble a coherent idea of what is transpiring. That or I was just imagining the car chases out of Ronin instead.
David O Russell’s new film I (Heart) Huckabees will be playing at the TIFF in September. It will be gala premiere, so I would think it’s reasonable to assume that some of the cast will be in town for the festivities – Helloooo Naomi Watts. I’ve found my #1 choice for ticket selections.
So… the Olympics start on Friday, right? I like the Olympics. These sorts of sporting events are pretty much the only time you’ll find me being all “rah rah” patriotic, ever. Not face-painting foam-finger “rah rah”, but following sports and results for Canada that I usually have absolutely no interest in. “How did we do in table tennis?!?”
And finally, witness – Best. Ad. Ever. From TMFTML.
np – Paco / This Is Where We Live
Saturday, July 31st, 2004
I discovered Omahans Tilly & The Wall through Allmusic.com’s Artist Spotlight feature on their homepage (which you may have noticed if you weren’t too busy raging at their redesign), which just goes to show that having cute girls in your band really can help your career. Who knew. Signed to Conor Orbest’s Saddle Creek-spinoff label Team Love and featuring some Bright Eyes alumnus (though really, is there any musician in Nebraksa who’s not?), the five-piece outfit plays big, buoyant Spector-ish pop songs made distinctive by their wonderful co-ed wall of vocals and their decision to eschew a drummer in favour of a tap-dancer (!). Yeah, it sounds gimmicky, but it really works and you’ll be too busy grooving to the songs and vocal harmonies to give it too much notice – and I’m betting it makes for a terrific live show (Jasper at jenyk calls them “the cutest band in the world” and is willing to testify about the live experience). I’m liking this quite a lot, it’s just so happy. Go here to download their whole debut album Wild Like Children (it’s cool, it’s from their label) which came out last month and watch the video for “Reckless”.
Jay Farrar talks to The Orlando Sentinel about the state of radio, politics and his new live record Stone, Steel & Bright Lights. He also mentions that he and Jeff Tweedy haven’t been in touch “this century”, so stick that in your Uncle Tupelo reunion pipe and smoke it. Link from LHB.
First, there was no news. Now there’s just conflicting news. Billboard has an interview with Matthew Sweet about his two upcoming records, as does Rolling Stone. Whereas my initial information had Living Things coming out on September 7 and Kimi Ga Suki on October 5, the Billboard piece hsa Kimi Ga Suki released on September 7 and Living Things on October 19. To muddle things up even more, Rolling Stone says they’re both out on October 19. Whichever it turns out to be, they’re at least in consensus on the material itself. Sweet gets his electric ya-yas out on Kimi Ga Suki and goes for a much lusher, more orchestrated and acoustic feel on Living Things, though it features many of the same players. Touring should commence in October.
The French Kicks are at the Guvernment on September 21. I don’t know if this is a headlining show – are they big enough to have their own show at the Guvernment? That surprises me.
Thrashers Wheat has taken the trouble to compile every press clipping comparing Jeff Tweedy’s guitar playing on A Ghost Is Born with Neil Young. In case you wanted all those quotes in one convenient location, of course.
np – Old 97’s / Drag It Up
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