Saturday, May 5th, 2012
Jason TangWho: Allen Stone
What: Unlikely-looking but wholly convincing funk/soul singer from the backwoods of Washington state.
Why: He put out his self-titled effort last year, his second self-released, digital-only record. He sounds like the past but he’s living in the future.
When: Friday, May 11, 2012
Where: The Mod Club in Toronto (19+)
Who else: Support comes from Sugar & The Hi Lows and ZZ Ward
How: Tickets for the show are $18.50 in advance but courtesy of LiveNation, I’ve got a pair of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Allen Stone” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me by midnight, May 9.
Video: Allen Stone – “Unaware” (live)
Stream: Allen Stone / Allen Stone
Saturday, May 5th, 2012
Dry The RiverI’ve talked a fair bit about British folk-rock band Dry The River over the past few months, thanks in large part to their rousing performances at SXSW in Austin in March and their Toronto debut supporting Bowerbirds shortly thereafter, but unless you were at those shows or one of their others, you had to take my (and everyone else who’s seen them’s) word for it – though their debut debut album Shallow Bed was released in the UK at the start of March, its only been available domestically in North America for a couple of weeks now.
That’s certainly enough time to have tracked down a copy for yourself, but if for whatever reason you haven’t done so, then procrastination may have been your friend. Courtesy of With A Bullet, I have three copies of Shallow Bed on CD to give away to. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to Dry The River” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body, and have that in to me by end of day, May 13. And sorry, only residents of Canada are eligible to win.
MP3: Dry The River – “New Ceremony”
Video: Dry The River – “No Rest”
Video: Dry The River – “Chambers & The Valves”
Video: Dry The River – “Weights & Measures”
Friday, May 4th, 2012
School Of Seven Bells and Exitmusic at The Hoxton in Toronto
Frank YangWhen I think back to School Of Seven Bells’ last headlining show in Toronto in September 2010 circa Disconnect From Desire, two things leap immediately to mind. One, that it was less than a month before Claudia Deheza announced her departure from the band and two, that it was shockingly poorly attended – as in you could count the dozens of people there on one hand from where I stood. That these come to mind before the fact that it was a great show – the best I’d seen from them at and not uncoincidentally the first time I saw them with a live drummer – was unfortunate.
Wednesday night wasn’t their first time back since then – they opened up for Interpol at The Sound Academy in February of 2011 – but it was their first in support of Ghostory, their third album and first as a duo, and first in front of their own local fanbase, however many that would turn out to be. To my ears they’d recovered quite well from losing a third of the band as far as writing and recording went, but was certainly curious to see how their live show adapted. Questions about whether or not they had fans in the 416 were thankfully answered early on as The Hoxton, while not nearly sold out, was respectably full. We’ll call that last show an exception, then.
Support on this tour came from fellow New Yorkers Exitmusic, a new act – their debut EP From Silence came out last year and their first full-length Passage is due May 22 – but one whose face may be familiar to viewers of Boardwalk Empire. Not that this tidbit offered any insight into what sort of music they might make; indeed, you don’t get much further from the sounds of the prohibition era than the dark and goth-y dreamscapes that they offered. They moved at a steady, determined pace that preferred to render dynamics on the scale of their set than in each individual song. Aleksa Palladino’s voice has a great range, but rather than show it off she tended to restrict it to what was necessary for the song – a commendable approach that you don’t hear as much as you should. Utilizing plenty of electronics but with few synthetic affectations, they succeeded at creating a distinct mood but were light on melody and the songs were ultimately only intermittently memorable.
I probably make too much out of the loss of Claudia Deheza from School Of Seven Bells. Certainly it disrupted my sense of symmetry and novelty, but as Ghostory proved it didn’t adversely affect them creatively, this show proved it wasn’t even a speed bump in their ever-improving live show. Recall that when they first started performing, it was as near to a literal translation of a studio project to stage as you could get with the Deheza sisters on guitar and keys flanking Ben Curtis on guitar, all playing over dense backing tracks – it sounded note-perfect, but felt overly mechanical. Now with their sound having evolved towards a full-on dance-rock hybrid, having a live drummer and keyboardist/backing vocalist augmenting Allie Deheza and Curtis may have made them a more conventional band, but also a much better one.
With Deheza as the focal point – okay, the glowing Ghostory glyphs on either side of the stage were also eye-catching – they worked a set that had good weight and flow and stretched equally across their discography, sounding much more organic than you might have expected but still sleek and gleaming where it counted. Allie Alvarado didn’t try to replace all of Claudia’s departed harmonies, but when called on to double Deheza as on “Iamundernodisguise”, she acquitted herself alright – for the most part though, they were able to get the listener to gently accept that that facet of the band was no more but it was going to be alright. It was impressive just how many great songs they’ve produced in just three albums and half a decade, but it was the set-closing selections from Alpinisms that still got me the most – “Half Asleep”, which opened the encore, is still pure and glorious pop. And this time, there were people there to see it.
The Detroit Free Press has an interview with School Of Seven Bells’ Ben Curtis and The Daily Kansan Q&As Exitmusic’s Aleksa Palladino.
Photos: School Of Seven Bells, Exitmusic @ The Hoxton – May 2, 2012
MP3: School Of Seven Bells – “Lafaye”
MP3: School Of Seven Bells – “The Night”
MP3: School Of Seven Bells – “Windstorm”
MP3: School Of Seven Bells – “Babelonia”
MP3: School Of Seven Bells – “Connjur”
MP3: Exitmusic – “The Sea”
Video: School Of Seven Bells – “Reappear”
Video: School Of Seven Bells – “Lafaye”
Video: School Of Seven Bells – “Windstorm”
Video: School Of Seven Bells – “My Cabal”
Video: School Of Seven Bells – “Half Asleep”
Video: Exitmusic – “Passage”
Video: Exitmusic – “The Hours”
Before opening up for Bear In Heaven at The Garrison later that night, Blouse will stop in at Sonic Boom’s Kensington location this Saturday – May 5 – for a little record-shopping and in-store performing at 5PM. There’s features on the Portland dream-pop outfit at The Boston Phoenix and SSG Music.
MP3: Blouse – “Into Black”
Exclaim reports that How To Dress Well – the pseudonym of Brooklyn’s Tom Krell – will bring his take on R&B sounds backed by a full band to The Drake Underground on June 7 as part of a Summer tour, presumably in support of a new record.
Video: How To Dress Well – “Lover’s Start”
!!! have made a date for Lee’s Palace on July 7, tickets $16.50 in advance. Could a follow-up to 2010’s Strange Weather, Isn’t It? be on the way?
MP3: !!! – “AM/FM”
MP3: !!! – “Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass”
After putting on a helluva show at The Horseshoe in November, Chicago soul outfit JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound will return to that same room for a show on July 13, tickets $9. For a taste of what to expect, check out their Epitonic Saki Session and read and interview at Go Pride Chicago. They also just released a new video from Want More.
MP3: JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound – “Everything Will Be Fine”
MP3: JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound – “Sister Ray Charles”
Video: JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound – “Sister Ray Charles”
Reunited San Diego hardcore legends Hot Snakes are coming to town for a show at The Horseshoe on September 21, tickets $20 in advance.
MP3: Hot Snakes – “Who Died”
NPR welcomes Hospitality for a Tiny Desk Concert. They’re at The Garrison tomorrow night – May 5 – opening up for Eleanor Friedberger.
NYC Taper has a recording of a recent Lower Dens show and Paste, Blurt, and The Baltimore Sun have interviews. They’re at Lee’s Palace on July 17.
Design Sponge gets a tour of Sharon Van Etten’s apartment. Can’t say I’m not disappointed that she’s got one of those terribly Crossley turntables… There’s also interviews at The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Nashville Scene. Van Etten plays The Phoenix on July 31.
DIY interview Peter Silberman of The Antlers.
Perfume Genius has released a new video from Put Your Back N 2 It, starring Mike Hadreas and his mom.
Video: Perfume Genius – “Dark Parts”
The Alternate Side and The Guardian both have video sessions with The Magnetic Fields and The Silver Tongue an interview.
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
Shoegazing under the microscope, starring My Bloody Valentine and Ride
Steve DoubleWhenever an old/classic album is reissued these days – which is pretty much every day – it’s inevitably advertised as having been remastered, and it’s assumed that that’s a good thing. And not unreasonably – when a lot of these albums were originally released on compact disc, they were poorly converted from analog to digital and could generally sound thin/quiet/uninspiring. But remastering is no guarantee of improvement – at best, things will sound incredibly better (the 20th anniversary redo of The Stone Roses’ debut by original producer John Leckie is a revelation), at worst, they’ll be posthumous victims of The Loudness Wars and make those original pressings that much more valuable.
All of which is only salient because the specifics of remastering were brought to the fore this week thanks to a couple of coincidental analyses of some high-profile reissues of classic shoegazing albums; My Bloody Valentine’s seminal Loveless, finally being re-released next week, and Ride’s debut Nowhere, which was polished up and put out in November of 2010.
Loveless is an interesting case because rather than being half-album, half-outtakes and rarities as most double-disc reissues typically are, it comes as two complete versions of the album – one a remaster from “the original tapes”, the other a remaster from “the original 1/2-inch analogue tapes”. I use the quotes because, to be honest, I don’t know what the difference is in terms of origin or timeline; Spin also takes a close listen to the two versions and offers their thoughts on the curious release. An interview with Kevin Shields that went up at Pitchfork this week sheds a lot of light on all facets of the subject, but I guess I accept that I’m amongst those who don’t hear a difference between the two. You can see if you can hear a difference for yourself as The Guardian is streaming both remasters, though Soundcloud compression and computer speakers probably obliterate any subtle differences between the two. They’ve also dug up an interview with Shields circa 1992 that you can read while listening.
Spin also has a gander at one of the previously unreleased songs that makes the EPs 1988-1991 double-disc comp so necessary for fans. “Good For You” surfaced as a bootleg via YouTube a few years ago, but is finally going to be available – along with other goodies – in proper, high-fidelity form. The official version is available to stream via the aforementioned Pitchfork interview and the bootleg was found on YouTube.
Stream: My Bloody Valentine – “Good For You”
Stream: My Bloody Valentine – “Good For You” (bootleg)
Stream: My Bloody Valentine / Loveless (both remasters)
With respect to the Nowhere reissue put out by Rhino Handmade – generally a reliable and responsible archival outfit – Bradley’s Almanac has put “Vapour Trail” and “Paralysed” under the microscope – or oscilloscope – to see just what the remastering job by Rick Webb at Abbey Road Studios accomplished. Interesting and illuminating analysis over there that’s gotten me thinking maybe I do need to re-buy this album at least one more time.
And because Boston loves Ride – clearly – I direct you to another Beantown blog in Clicky Click, who’ve compiled a tribute album to Nowhere comprised of all-Boston bands entitled Nofuckingwhere. Download it and discover some new bands while listening to some classic tunes.
The AV Club talks to Johnny Marr about supervising the remastering of the entire Smiths catalog for their Complete reissue series last Fall and his feelings about the band, decades on.
Jason Pierce of Spiritualized talks to NOW and The AV Club in advance of Saturday’s sold-out show at The Phoenix.
2:54 are streaming a new track from their forthcoming self-titled/numbered debut, due out May 29. They’re at Lee’s Palace on June 15 for NXNE.
Stream: 2:54 – “Creeping”
Beatroute gets Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai on the horn. They play The Phoenix on June 18.
Interview and Musicfeeds talk to Mystery Jets about their new just-released new record Radlands; they’re at The Sound Academy on June 19 supporting Keane.
Michael Kiwanuka has released a new video from Home Again. Note that his June 19 date at The Great Hall has been moved to The Phoenix and a few hundred more tickets will be on sale shortly.
Video: Michael Kiwanuka – “I’ll Get Along”
Having had to cancel last Summer’s show at The Phoenix (and the attendant tour) in support of Whatever’s On Your Mind due to illness, Gomez are making things up intimate-style with a show at The Mod Club on July 23, tickets $25.50.
Video: Gomez – “Whatever’s On Your Mind”
Micachu & The Shapes have announced that the follow-up to their 2009 debut Jewellery will be entitled Never and be out on July 24.
Little Boots has released a video for her latest single, taken from an album that has not been announced yet but is surely coming sooner or later.
Video: Little Boots – “Every Night I Say A Prayer”
Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons tells NME that album number two is in the can, as they say.
Joshua Hayward of The Horrors opines to NME his thoughts on how big a room he thinks his band can play and their recording plans for the Fall.
Beatroute, The San Francisco Examiner, and Spinner all have interviews with Arctic Monkeys.
State interviews Friendly Fires.
The Skinny talks to Stephen Morris of New Order.
Lisa Hannigan and Joe Henry – who produced Hannigan’s latest album Passenger – will team up for a show at The Phoenix on June 10, general admission seated tickets $25 in advance.
Stream: Lisa Hannigan / Passenger
The Chicago Tribune interviews Anthony Gonzalez of M83, in Toronto at The Sound Academy this coming Sunday, May 6, and again at Historic Fort York on August 4.
Maria Linden of I Break Horses – who open up for M83 at Sound Academy on Sunday – talks to Denver Westword.
The Line Of Best Fit has an acoustic video session with Niki & The Dove recorded for Swedish site PSL while DIY is streaming two of the bonus songs that appears on the deluxe edition of their debut Instinct, out May 14 in the UK and in North America on August 7.
Stream: Niki & The Dove – “Taylor”/”All This Youth”
Spin has premiered the new video from Ane Brun, performing at The Great Hall on May 10.
Video: Ane Brun – “One”
DIY has a video session with First Aid Kit, back in town for a show at The Music Hall on September 26.
Drowned In Sound talks to Jonsi about returning to Sigur Rós after going solo. Valtari is out May 29 and they play Echo Beach on August 1.
Rolling Stone is offering a download of one of the songs Ladyhawke recorded for an All Saints session earlier this year. Her new record Anxiety is due out May 25 and I neglected to post the second video from it when it was released last month; let me rectify that.
MP3: Ladyhawke – “Black White & Blue” (acoustic All Saints version)
Video: Ladyhawke – “Sunday Drive”
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012
Review of PS I Love You’s Death Dreams and giveaway
Vanessa HeinsKingston duo PS I Love You have a pretty well-established aesthetic. Over there, you’ve got Benjamin Nelson manning the kit with an impressively nimble brutality while looking bored to a degree that would impress Charlie Watts, and then there’s Paul Saulnier shredding every neck on his guitar while simultaneously howling and yelping into the mic. It’s a recipe best served loud and live and that’s where I preferred to experience them, where it was easier to focus on Saulnier’s fantastic fretwork than his acquired-taste vocals which I had trouble acquiring. Still, enough people enjoyed the recorded version that their 2010 debut Meet Me At The Muster Station made the 2011 Polaris Prize long list and allowed them to tour the world, seemingly incessantly.
Somewhere in all that time on the road, however, they found the time to write and record a second album and that album – Death Dreams – is out next week. And while the aforementioned aesthetic still technically hasn’t changed, there’s still been a remarkable degree of growth between albums one and two. Saulnier’s delivery is still what it was – I guess I’m mostly used to it by now – but the melodies it carries are more tuneful and memorable. Along the same lines, the guitarwork is denser more textured and puts Saulnier’s ’70s prog rock influences ahead of the the ’90s college rock-ness that defined Muster Station, but the tunes as a whole are more pop than before, with more shiny highs to go with the heavy lows. And Nelson? Still doing what he does, probably without having cracked a single smile since the first record came out. When Muster Station first came out and people were singing its praises, I was skeptical. Yeah, it was alright for what it was, but just how far can they take this? Death Dreams answers that with a resounding, “this far and probably a lot further”.
And also as far as the cover of this month’s Exclaim, which goes nicely with their advance stream of the new album and this additional online featurette. Clash is also hosting the third of their Paper Bag Sessions live videos.
Exclaim loves them some PS I Love You and so can you – the band kicks off their Spring tour at The Garrison in Toronto on May 15 and courtesy of Embrace, I have two pairs of passes to give away for the show – to enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see PS I Love You” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, May 10.
MP3: PS I Love You – “Princess Towers”
MP3: PS I Love You – “Sentimental Dishes”
Video: PS I Love You – “How Do You” (Paper Bag Sessions)
Stream: PS I Love You / Death Dreams
Opening up that PS I Love You show and the whole tour are another excellent twosome, Toronto’s Army Girls. Their new single “T W I C E” which was streaming last week is now available to download, so you should totally do that.
MP3: Army Girls – “T W I C E”
Toronto’s Modern Superstitions are well overdue for their debut album, but they continue to release music in drips and drabs. The Sunbleached EP that was to follow 2010’s debut All The Things We’ve Been Told EP was finished last Summer but hasn’t seen the light of day and now a couple of new songs – presumably from those sessions – will be released as a 7″ on May 29, though it’s available to buy digitally right now. One of the tracks is up to stream and they have a couple live dates ready to go – May 31 at The Garrison May 31 and a NXNE showcase on June 16. Tickets for the Garrison show are $8 and include a copy of the 7″.
Stream: Modern Superstitions – “School Days”
NME has two pieces from an interview with Metric’s Emily Haines about their new album Synthetica, due out June 12. The first single from the record was just made available to stream and… I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about what it augurs for the record.
Stream: Metric – “Youth Without Youth”
The Guardian and The Fly have feature pieces on Grimes.
The Broken Speaker has an interview with Joel Plaskett, headlining two nights at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on May 18 and 19.
Exclaim and Interview talk to Patrick Watson; they’re at The Music Hall on May 29.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse have released a video from their forthcoming album of American folk standards, Americana, out June 5.
Video: Neil Young & Crazy Horse – “Oh Susannah”
No Comments
facebook
![[Valid RSS]](http://www.chromewaves.net/images/interface/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed"){kind=small}