Thursday, August 23rd, 2012
Ladyhawk are back. No, the other Ladyhawk.
KillbeatIt was pretty fun times to be an artist named for (or almost named for) a Matthew Broderick vehicle back circa 2007/2008. Pip Browne was turning heads with her hooky, ’80s synthpop-referencing tunes from all the way in New Zealand as Ladyhawke and in Canada, four guys were making a name for themselves with hooky, ’70s bar rock-referencing tunes from all the way in Kelowna. Hard to confuse the two (unless you were the guys in this story), but it was interesting that both were active at the same time and then basically disappeared around the same time in 2009, neither taking advantage of the other’s inactivity to increase their Ladyhawk/e identity mindshare.
But while Ladyhawke’s disappearance was because of a prolonged process of recording album number two, Ladyhawk went on a proper hiatus after finishing with their second album Shots, with frontman Duffy Driediger putting together a new outfit in Duffy & The Doubters, bassist Sean Hawryluk pulling time in Baptists, and drummer Ryan Peters and guitarist Darcy Hancock recording as SPORTS. Fast-forward to 2012, though, and they’re back. Both of them.
Ladyhawke released Anxiety back in May, and Ladyhawk will let their third album No Can Do out of the pen on October 9. Note how the two records look nothing alike and most certainly don’t sound anything alike (a track from the new record is available below for reference). Possibly creating some genuine confusion is the fact that both artists are touring North America this Fall, though fully a month apart. Toronto gets Ladyhawke (the feminine article) September 15 at The Hoxton, and Ladyhawk (the band of bros) on October 25 at The Horseshoe ($15 in advance). I suppose it’s conceivable that you could get those two venues mixed up, but I really hope you don’t. Unless you’re the guys from London.
MP3: Ladyhawk – “You Read My Mind”
It’s a little bit of Montreal in Toronto on November 15 when Plants & Animals and Parlovr play The Great Hall, tickets $15.
MP3: Plants & Animals – “The End Of That”
MP3: Parlovr – “Pen To The Paper”
The Weeknd are making it a three-day weekend stand at The Sound Academy, adding a third show for November 4 to go with the November 2 and 3 ones that are presumably just about sold out.
MP3: The Weeknd – “Life Of The Party”
Pitchfork has got a new song from Yamantaka/Sonic Titan, recorded for Adult Swim’s Singles Series, available to download. And if you’ve had trouble finding their YT/ST album in stores – despite it being Polaris shortlisted, they’ve been label-less since March – fear not; they’ve just signed to Paper Bag Records, who will be reissuing it and making it available pretty much everywhere on September 11.
MP3: Yamantaka//Sonic Titan – “Lamia”
Torq Campbell of Stars gets all fired up about topics political with The Huffington Post. Their new record The North is out September 4 and they open up for Metric at the Air Canada Centre on November 24.
Claire Boucher – aka Grimes – also has some thoughts on politics of the Russian variety, which she shares with NME. She has two nights booked at Lee’s Palace on September 21 and 22 and has just released another wacky-ass video from the Polaris shortlisted and heavily-favoured Visions.
Video: Grimes – “Genesis”
The Line Of Best Fit talks to Jonas Bonnetta of Evening Hymns.
Talk Rock To Me chats with You Say Party, who will be back in action at The Great Hall on September 29.
Also playing that Paper Bag anniversary show at the Great Hall on the 29th are Young Galaxy; Stephen Ramsay discusses with Spinner the changes of direction that will come with their next album when it comes out next year.
Exclaim has details on the second of Gentleman Reg’s digital Leisure Life EPs, the second of which will be out on September 4. A track from it is available to stream courtesy of Ion.
Stream: Gentleman Reg – “Make It Better”
CBC Music gets some tips on eating on the road from Great Lake Swimmers’ Tony Dekker.
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012
Wild Nothing streams Nocturnes; clever headline eludes blogger
Shawn BrackbillWhen I first started playing guitar in high school, I spent an inordinate amount of time in music and pawn shops looking for pedals – they were (relatively) cheap, fun, and would obviously make me a far better player than, oh, practice. And one thing that these shops’ stock had in common were chorus pedals. So many chorus pedals. Some shops were like a veritably baby blue sea of Boss chorus pedals. Because this was the early ’90s, when grunge was king and everyone wanted distortions and no one wanted to sound like Andy Summers.
If I’d only known that in about 20 years, that shiny, shimmery guitar tone would be back in style courtesy of bands like Real Estate and DIIV, I’d have grabbed a few. Jack Tatum certainly did, and you can hear it all over his recordings as Wild Nothing, the second album of which – Nocturne – comes out next Tuesday. I actually rate Wild Nothing ahead of most of his stylistic peers as in addition to having great melodic chops, Tatum is able to give his songs some tension to go with the pretty.
If you don’t want to take my word for it, the album is available to stream in whole right now at Death & Taxes; take it for a spin. They’ve also got a stream at Dazed but their interface is kind of terrible so maybe just go there for their interview with Tatum, and if you want more there’s also features at Under The Radar and Stereogum. And if you agree and want to see them live, be reminded that Wild Nothing is on tour with the aforementioned DIIV this Fall, stopping in at The Great Hall in Toronto on September 18.
MP3: Wild Nothing – “Shadow”
MP3: Wild Nothing – “Paradise”
Stream: Wild Nothing / Nocturne
A whole brace of concert announcements to get through… Former emo kids – though I guess they’d be emo adults, now – rejoice. Movement forebears Mike Kinsella and Bob Nanna will be in town as Owen and Braid respectively for an acoustic evening at Wrongbar on September 20. Tickets $18.50 in advance, details at Facebook.
MP3: Owen – “Places To Go”
MP3: Owen – “Abandoned Bridges”
MP3: Braid – “Consolation Prizefighter”
MP3: Braid – “Eeyore And Easel”
Austin’s Ringo Deathstarr will release their second proper album Mauve on September 24 and follow it up with a world tour that brings them to The Garrison on October 13 with Halifax’s previously endorsed Kestrels. Fuzz pedals will be stomped, shoes will be gazed upon. Vice has an interview with Ringo Deathstarr.
MP3: Ringo Deathstarr – “Imagine Hearts”
Video: Kestrels – “The Past Rests”
If you remember Laura Burhenn from her tenure as half of Georgie James or have heard some of the praise for Generals, her new album under the name The Mynabirds, you may be interested to know she’ll be supporting AC Newman on most of his Fall tour dates including the kickoff at Lee’s Palace on October 21. Colorado Daily, The San Francisco Examiner, and College Times all have interviews with Burhenn.
MP3: The Mynabirds – “Generals”
MP3: The Mynabirds – “Body Of Work”
MP3: The Mynabirds – “Radiator Sister”
Because I’ve learned it’s not worth it to aggravate the still-legions of Corgan apologists, I offer this without comment. Smashing Pumpkins will be at the Air Canada Centre on October 25 as part of a cross-Canada tour, tickets available in $39.50, $49.50, and $79.50 brackets. They will perform their new album Oceania in its entirety and then delve into their back catalog for selections both obvious and not. It will be a half-arena configuration, not full, because not even Billy is that deluded. Oh damn, almost made it.
Video: Smashing Pumpkins – “Cherub Rock”
If that Ringo Deathstarr/Kestrels bill is the sort of thing that gets your juices flowing, take note of the bill hitting The Garrison on November 3, as a double-bill of Bay Area dreampop in the form of Tamaryn and Young Prisms will be taking the stage. The former release their new album Tender New Signs on October 16 and the latter are still riding their sophomore effort In Between, released back in March. Tickets for that show are $10.
MP3: Tamaryn – “Sandstone”
MP3: Young Prisms – “Floating In Blue”
Brookyln’s The Men, who tore the shit out of the Garrison during NXNE, return to do the same thing to The Hoxton on November 9, tickets $16.50 in advance.
MP3: The Men – “Ex-Dreams”
MP3: The Men – “Open Your Heart”
MP3: The Men – “A Minor”
Though he put the Pedro The Lion name to bed back in 2006, David Bazan will be revisiting their beloved 2002 album Control in its entirety on a Fall tour that hits The Horseshoe on November 11, tickets $14.50 in advance.
MP3: Pedro The Lion – “Rapture”
MP3: Pedro The Lion – “Penetration”
Austin’s …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead will be in town in support of last year’s Tao Of The Dead with a show at Lee’s Palace on November 20, tickets $18.50 in advance.
MP3: …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – “Mistakes And Regrets”
MP3: …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – “Crowning Of A Heart”
Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and Pitchfork both have feature interviews with Chan Marshall of Cat Power, while Exclaim offers a bullet point chaser to their cover piece. Cat Power’s excellent new record Sun arrives September 4 and the second sample from it is now available to download. She plays The Kool Haus on October 20.
MP3: Cat Power – “Cherokee”
Daytrotter has a session with Wye Oak, stopping in at the Horseshoe on September 17.
Dinosaur Jr has released the first video from I Bet On Sky, out September 18. They play three nights at Lee’s Palace from September 24 to 26.
Video: Dinosaur Jr – “Watch The Corners”
The first sample of Mark Eitzel’s new solo record Don’t Be A Stranger is now available to stream. It’s out October 2.
Stream: Mark Eitzel – “I Love You But You’re Dead”
Richard Avery talks to Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs. Their reunion tour hits The Phoenix on October 3.
The Skinny has an interview with Mike Hadreas of Perfume Genius. He plays 918 Bathurst on October 5.
Wayne Coyne gives Rolling Stone a preview of the next Flaming Lips record, which might be called The Terror and might also be out as early as this Fall.
Interview talks to Jim James of My Morning Jacket.
The Hook interviews Will Sheff of Okkervil River.
Tom Tom hosts a drummer summit between Georgia Hubley of Yo La Tengo and Rachel Blumberg, formerly of The Decemberists and now of Norfolk & Western.
Magnet has an interview with Steve McDonald of Redd Kross ahead of giving he and his bandmates control of their website for the week.
Tuesday, August 21st, 2012
The FaintWho: The Faint
What: American New Wave outfit who made Omaha, Nebraska an improbable launching pad for the dance-rock movement of the early ’00s; they helped teach the indie kids how to dance.
Why: Their pivotal Danse Macabre album is getting an ultra-fancy reissue on October 30, and to help mark the occasion The Faint are embarking on a Fall tour to perform the album in its entirety, as well as material from their other albums as well as new songs to preview the follow-up to 2008’s Fasciinatiion.
When: Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Where: The Sound Academy in Toronto (19+)
Who else: Toronto’s TRUST and Omaha’s Icky Blossoms will open.
How: Tickets for the show are $23.50 in advance and go on sale this Friday, August 24, at 10AM, but courtesy of LiveNation, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for the show to help you Beat The Box Office. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to Faint” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, August 23. You’ll know if you’ve got your tickets before they go on sale.
What else: Exclaim has details on what sort of bonuses you’ll get in the deluxe edition of Danse Macabre, as well as a stream of one of the bonus tracks.
MP3: The Faint – “Agenda Suicide”
MP3: The Faint – “Glass Danse”
Tuesday, August 21st, 2012
Saint Etienne to deliver Words & Music in person
Elaine ConstantineThe show was only announced last night, but I’m just going to go ahead and say that I don’t think people are nearly as excited about Saint Etienne’s first show back in Toronto in, if my calculations are correct, in almost a decade. I know this a) because I made note of this in the very salad days of this blog, and b) because I’ve regretted my indifference to that show since I finally wised up to the dance-popping glory of the London trio.
Granted, they met me a little of the way in, what with them moving away from being just a dancefloor concern to a properly brilliant pop band. Of course that’s not really an excuse since that transition started as early as their second album, So Tough, but in my defence for the longest time I only really knew their discotheque-friendly debut Foxbase Alpha and guys, this was in the ’90s when buying imported UK albums was effin’ expensive. Also, my musical tastes were less refined in my twenties; Saint Etienne were far too happy for my tastes. Yeah, I know. I inevitably saw the error of my ways when I picked up a copy of their 1996 Too Young To Die compilation, but that was too late to catch that November 2002 show at The Opera House in support of Finisterre.
So hooray for second chances, even if they’re a while in coming. The band are returning to North America for some dates in support of this year’s Words & Music By Saint Etienne, and it includes an October 24 date at The Mod Club, tickets $28.50. The tour – I don’t have the other dates yet, sorry, but understand it’ll run from October into November so it’s not that short – also coincides with the DVD release of the What Have You Done Today, Mervyn Day? documentary. The 2005 film was written by and featured a soundtrack by the band and examined the Lower Lea Valley area of London, much of which became the site of the 2012 Olympics. A precise date for the release is still forthcoming, but details on it can be had at Pitchfork.
MP3: Saint Etienne – “Downey, CA”
Video: Saint Etienne – “Tonight”
Video: Saint Etienne – “I’ve Got Your Music”
Trailer: What Have You Done Today, Mervyn Day?
Also a pleasant surprise – less so because he never visits, because he does, but because when the dates for Neil Halstead’s Fall tour were announced, we weren’t on there. Happily that’s been rectified and Neil will be here with songs from his new solo album Palindrome Hunches – out September 11 – and snappy rejoinders to anyone who yells out a Slowdive request. And lest that discourage you from attending, know that he’s generous with forays into the Mojave 3 songbook – so at least there’s that. He’s at The Dakota Tavern on October 8, so if you don’t have plans for Thanksgiving Monday and $22.50 burning a hole in your pocket, you’re all set.
MP3: Neil Halstead – “Full Moon Rising”
Spinner talks to Bloc Party about some of the influences that went into their latest effort Four, out today. They play two nights at The Danforth Music Hall on September 10 and 11.
Paste has a quick chat with The Heavy and debuts the new video from The Glorious Dead, out today. They’re at Lee’s Palace on September 23.
Video: The Heavy – “What Makes A Good Man”
It could have been a hat trick of excellent concert announcements from across the pond yesterday if, say, Richard Hawley announced a jaunt to support the North American release of his latest Standing At The Sky’s Edge – out next week – but no luck. We’ll have to make do with the fact that it no longer costs an arm and a leg for a physical copy and a free MP3 from the record courtesy of Rolling Stone. And also this interview with the man at The Yorkshire Evening Post.
MP3: Richard Hawley – “Down In The Woods”
Tender Trap have a new video from their new album Songs About Girls, out September 10.
Video: Tender Trap – “Step One”
Frightened Rabbit have released a video for the title track of their new EP, behind which they’re touring North America this Fall. State Hospital is out September 25 and they play The Mod Club on October 10. Forres Gazette chats with frontman Scott Hutchison about the Rabbit’s return.
Video: Frightened Rabbit – “State Hospital”
The Guardian sees what Little Boots is up to; announcing details about her second album, due out this Fall, is not one of those things.
Spinner interviews Florence Welch of Florence & The Machine.
Monday, August 20th, 2012
Evening Hymns and Fiver at The Theatre Centre in Toronto
Frank YangJonas Bonnetta’s father passed away in February of 2009. Less than six months later, my own father was also gone. There’s a temptation to see that parallel as some explanation for why Spirit Guides, Bonnetta’s debut album as Evening Hymns, struck such a chord in me and would be one of the records that got me through that terrible year, but I think that presumes too much. I didn’t know any of the circumstances under which it was written and recorded; I just thought that it was a beautiful record.
I can’t make that same claim with respect to the follow-up album Spectral Dusk, having learned the circumstances behind its creation and being very aware of how it intersected with my own. And as curious as I was to hear Bonnetta’s meditations on the loss of his father, there was no small amount of anxiousness over here about what sort of reactions might trigger in me. For the fact is that while I write the equivalent of four or five short essays a week and can modestly claim to be pretty good at organizing and expressing thoughts, I’ve not really dealt in any tactile, therapeutic way with my own bereavement over the past three years. I’ve written nothing, only talked a little, and basically concentrated on just keeping my head above water and getting by; what else can you do? This isn’t to say that there’s an ocean of unresolved issues bubbling under the surface, but the prospect of hearing a son working through the experience in song – songs that I wanted to hear regardless – became a very real source of anxiety. Anxiety, but also hope. Perhaps I would be able to project my own story onto them – the way people are certain that the songs they hear on the radio are written specifically for them, about them – and use them as a shortcut of sorts to get myself through the grieving process.
Of course it wasn’t that easy. Death may be universal but is also intensely personal, and Spectral Dusk belongs to Bonnetta alone; he’s simply chosen to share it with us. It’s filled with vignettes, characters, and locales from his family history, rendered in fine detail and with light metaphor. The emotional reverberations may resonate with the listener in a way that could be their own, but Dusk is not nearly opaque enough to allow them to craft their own interpretation of what the songs are about. Unless you lived these songs, you are just a spectator. Musically, it aligns nicely with Spirit Guides in evoking rustic, mist-shrouded landscapes dotted with thick stands of trees, but simultaneously more expansive and fine-grained. A headphone record if ever there was one, it’s filled with determined little touches throughout the sonic field the pull you in and gives you a sense of the immense scale of what you’re hearing.
For the sad and angry places that it comes from, Spectral Dusk is a remarkably gentle record. Three years on, it exists in the acceptance stage; well past rage or bargaining. Inchoate grief has been allowed to coalesce into words and be spoken out loud, and when it reaches the inevitable point where words fail, as there will always be that which can barely be comprehended let alone conveyed, it steps back and allows atmospheric field recordings – as opens the album, underpins the instrumental “Irving Lake Access Road”, and provides the distant coda of “Spectral Dusk” – to articulate. With Dusk, Bonnetta has crafted a detailed and affectionate portrait of his father, family, and their relationships, and it’s certainly enough to know that our stories only intersect at tangents. Our fathers weren’t so similar in life and probably not in death and while I might have wanted Spectral Dusk to stand in proxy for working things out, it’s clear that it’s something I’ll have to do for myself. I can only hope that if and when I do, whatever comes of it will be a fraction as moving as Spectral Dusk is.
Whatever difficult emotions the Spectral Dusk material brought up in me as a listener must have been minuscule in comparison to how Bonnetta would feel in performing it live, but on Friday night in front of a more-than-full house at The Great Hall’s Theatre Centre, Evening Hymns held the record release show for the album – officially out on Tuesday – as part of the Summerworks music series. Opening things up were Fiver, perhaps better known as the new project from Simone Schmidt of $100. What the existence of Fiver means for the future of $100 is unclear, but Fiver are not the fraction of $100 that their name might imply. They’re smaller, yes – it was just Schmidt and a second guitarist up there this time – but fans will find much familiar about the sound of her worn vocals recounting tales of hardship over twanging, droning guitars.
Over the many times I’ve seen Evening Hymns live, the only constant in the band has been Bonnetta and Sylvie Smith (originally just on backing vocals, now on bass as well); the rest of the band has ranged in numbers from zero to a whole bunch, depending on who amongst their many collaborators were available or needed for the occasion. They were a seven-piece this time out, with a couple extra guitars, drums, violin/keys, and trumpet/accordion to fill things out nicely and ably recreate the many sounds and textures of the record
With the stage surrounded by branches and candles and the band bathed in the ghostly light of projections and home movies handled by artist Sean Frey, Bonnetta and company faithfully recreated much of Spectral Dusk. They managed to include many of the little nuances that most wouldn’t have been noticed had they been left out, and taking advantage of the dynamics that live performance, imbued the material with a level of emotional release that the recordings don’t quite reach; it’s not a shortcoming of the production by any means, it’s just something that you get with volume. The weightiness of the new material was defused somewhat by Bonnetta’s easy manner and between-song banter, and by reaching back to Spirit Guides for some of its more upbeat offerings. The show ended, as Spectral Dusk does, with the title track performed alone by Bonnetta as a single-song encore. A sombre, yet uplifting finale with a son trying to create and capture that one last conversation with his father.
BlogTO also has a review of the show, and while CBC Radio captured the whole thing for a future broadcast, Mechanical Forest Sound is already sharing a track from his recording with the rest to follow soon. NOW, Dorkshelf, Arboretum Festival, and DurhamRegion.com all have interviews with Bonnetta about Spectral Dusk, while CBC Music talks to Simone Schmidt about Fiver.
Photos: Evening Hymns, Fiver @ The Theatre Centre – August 17, 2012
MP3: Evening Hymns – “Arrows”
MP3: Evening Hymns – “Dead Deer”
MP3: Evening Hymns – “Broken Rifle”
MP3: Evening Hymns – “Cedars”
Video: Evening Hymns – “Family Tree”
Video: Evening Hymns – “Dead Deer”
Video: Fiver – “Oh Sienna”
Stream: Evening Hymns / Spectral Dusk
Having teased out the tour – he’s at Lee’s Palace on October 21 – and the existence of a new solo record, A.C. Newmam has revealed the title of said album – Shut Down The Streets – as well as the album art, viewable at Exclaim, and first MP3. All we need now is a release date more specific than “Fall”, but one of the Tuesdays prior to the tour’s commencement would make sense. My money is on October 16. Update: Missed it by that much. Matablog says October 9.
MP3: A.C. Newman – “I’m Not Talking”
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