Frank YangI would say that a band that’s been around as long, as influential and as consistently excellent as The Wedding Present has been over their quarter-century existence is entitled to a little indulgence, and what better occasion than the 21st anniversary of one of your most beloved albums? But indulgence isn’t the Wedding Present’s style, so rather than make a big production of it, they rolled into town on Wednesday night to do their thing, same as they’ve done a number of times since David Gedge put the Cinerama name on the shelf and brought The Wedding Present out of mothballs.

Unlike their past few visits, however, this show was booked into the cozier Horseshoe rather than their usual digs at Lee’s Palace – a greater than normal number of hot tickets in the city that evening meant that the Toronto concert-going public would be split amongst any number of venues, but another benefit of longevity is a loyal fanbase – for many, when the Wedding Present comes to town and promises to play Bizarro in its entirety, there is no plan B.

Support for this leg of the tour seemed a curious choice on paper – Girl In A Coma hail from San Antonio, are named for a Smiths song and are signed to Joan Jett’s label. What woud you expect them to sound like? If you said a catchy blend of punk aggression and rockabilly twang, you’d be correct. Frontwoman Nina Diaz was petite but had a big presence, both with her guitar and voice – the latter, in particular, was an elastic and expressive instrument that she mostly chose to utilize via snarling but was obviously capable of more. I hadn’t gone in expecting a lot, but was pleasantly surprised and entertained.

My past reviews of Wedding Present shows tended to focus on how consistently good they were and, with the exception of incorporating material from the latest record, how fairly the song selection covered all eras of The Wedding Present’s career. That held true on this night, even with 3/5 of the set fixed in stone 21 years ago. The front bit of the show covered the non-Bizarro material – three new songs and four more strategically picked from key points of their career and which, if presented to someone who’d never heard the band before, would have provided a pretty accurate picture of what they were all about. At any other Wedding Present show, selections like “Corduroy” and “Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft” would have been more than a meal, but at this one they were just the appetizer.

The beginning of the main course was heralded by the PA, through which came an audio collage of the late, great John Peel intoning the band’s name over and over again – it went on a little while as the Wedding Present were one of Peel’s very favourite acts and were fixtures on his radio show, and as soon as it ended, the wonderful descending riff of “Brassneck” began and they were off. Bizarro might now be old enough to drink in all 50 states, but it’s aged amazingly well, as the live renderings would attest. The dry, dueling guitars with their combination of jangle and pummel have lost none of their vitality and the tales of romantic frustration and futility that David Gedge has been mining and pointedly articulating for a quarter-century will never cease being topical. And they certainly still inspire fervor amongst the faithful, a fact borne out by the enthusiastic middle-aged mosh pit that frequently broke out throughout the night, particularly for the heavier moments of “Kennedy” and the nine minute-plus centerpiece, “Take Me!”. The relatively gentle “Be Honest” provided the denouement to a run-through of a classic album that’s sadly not really appreciated as such – just as The Wedding Present aren’t properly appreciated for all they’ve done. But that’s those who don’t get it’s loss. For the rest of us, well, Seamonsters turns 20 next year. See you there.

And oh yeah, early on in the show I got hit in the head with a semi-inflated sex doll. Why someone had that with them and not a beach ball, I will never know. But I’m over it.

Exclaim was also in attendance and has some thoughts on the show.

Photos: The Wedding Present, Girl In A Coma @ The Horseshoe – April 14, 2010
MP3: The Wedding Present – “The Thing I Like Best About Him Is His Girl Friend”
MP3: Girl In A Coma – “Clumsy Sky”
MP3: Girl In A Coma – “Static Mind”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Don’t Take Me Home Until I’m Drunk”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Ringway To Seatac”
Video: The Wedding Present – “I’m From Further North Than You”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Don’t Touch That Dial”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Interstate 5”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family”
Video: The Wedding Present – “No Christmas”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Loveslave”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Boing!”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Come Play With Me”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Silver Shorts”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Three”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Go Go Dancer”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Blue Eyes”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Dalliance”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Crawl”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Brassneck”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now?”
Video: The Wedding Present – “Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm”
Video: Girl In A Coma – “Static Mind”
Video: Girl In A Coma – “El Monte”
Video: Girl In A Coma – “Their Cell”
Video: Girl In A Coma – “Clumsy Mind”
Video: Girl In A Coma – “Say”
Video: Girl In A Coma – “Road To Home”
MySpace: The Wedding Present
MySpace: Girls In A Coma

Kate Nash tells Spinner that people seeing her on her upcoming North American tour – which begins April 26 at the Mod Club in Toronto – shouldn’t automatically assume they’ll hear “Foundations”. But they will hear her new record My Best Friend Is You, which comes out next week. One assumes.

So Much Silence talks to Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison.

Gareth Keenan investigates the new video from Slow Club.

Video: Slow Club – “Giving Up On Love”

CBC and Spinner talk to Handsome Furs about how it feels to be Juno Award nominees.

White Hinterland will follow up her show at the Drake on Sunday night, April 18, with an in-store at Soundscapes on April 19 at 6PM.

MP3: White Hinterland – “Icarus”
MP3: White Hinterland – “No Logic”

The Acorn will celebrate the June 1 release of No Ghost with a show at Lee’s Palace on June 11 and a handful of other dates around southern Ontario and Montreal.

All those who like their synth-pop slinky and ’80s-styled would do well to check out New York’s Class Actress at Wrongbar on June 12.

MP3: Class Actress – “All The Saints”

The folks at Buffet Libre have put together some impressive compilations in the last while, but they may have outdone themselves with Peace, a 180-song collection featuring artists from all over the world and assembled in conjunction with Amnesty International. They’re offering the collection for a minimum donation of 5 Euro to Amnesty and if you need further persuading, they’ve made a number of tracks available to download for free. Goodness knows that these ones – a Kate Bush cover by Patrick Wolf, a new Voxtrot song and – most excitingly – the first new Dubstar song in a decade. Dubstar! With Sarah Blackwood! Exclamation!

MP3: Patrick Wolf – “Army Dreamers” (Kate Bush cover)
MP3: Voxtrot – “Whiskey and Water”
MP3: Dubstar – “I’m In Love With A German Film Star”

Record Store Day hits tomorrow, April 17, and honestly the list of RSD exclusive goodies that will go on sale Saturday has reached ludicrous proportions. There’s a few digital items being made available but the emphasis is hugely on limited edition wax, which I find both exciting and bewildering. I mean, I know that vinyl continues to make a comeback – I myself decided to buy LPs whenever possible at the start of this year – but to see people who weren’t even alive the last time turntables were in vogue scrambling for 7″s is… neat. To do their part in marking the occasion, PitchforkTV is streaming I Need That Record, a documentary on record stores for one week, and if you miss it (or love it), it is one of the items that will go on sale tomorrow. Convenient! Spinner also talks to Flaming Lip Wayne Coyne about the phenomenon of Record Store Day.

Video: I Need That Record! The Death (Or Possible Survival) Of The Independent Record Store

NOW looks forward to Record Store Day by talking to some of the proprietors of Toronto shops taking part in the event – I’ve tried to round up as many of the specials and special happenings that people can look forward to at the various shops in the 416 in addition to random and unknowable quantities of the aforementioned RSD exclusive items (most of the store links have details on what they have going on), while eye has done the same in map format:

– Criminal Records has been reporting arrivals of goods via Twitter and Facebook and will be offering discounts on regularly priced merchandise as well as door crashers.
– Soundscapes will be offering 10% off all CDs, vinyl, DVDs and books
– Sonic Boom is having giveaways and hosting an in-store festival starting at 3PM and featuring sets from Valery Gore, Buck 65, METZ, Meligrove Band, Adam Green and Sloan, who are slated to go on around 9. Admission free with donation of a canned good. Update: Lullabye Arkestra are now kicking things off at 2:30, Adam Green is on at 4:45, METZ at 7PM and Pink Eyes from Fucked Up is MC-ing all day.
– Rotate This is having a sale
– Vortex will have a day-long 25% off sale on used items and holding raffles of sweet prizes
– Kops will be hosting an in-store with The Junction at 5PM and City Sweethearts at 6PM.
– Sunrise Records at Yonge and Dundas will have in-store sets from Justin Nozuka, Moneen, Ash Koley, Fox Jaws and Hunter Valentine. Those get started at noon and run all afternoon.
– Slinky Music is having a 10% off sale
– Penguin Music, Neurotica and Hits & Misses are also all listed as participating stores, which means at the least there should be some sort of sale and/or RSD exclusives to be had.

And maybe the greatest record-related thing I’ve seen this week is the return of the Sound Burger, albeit under the less moniker of the Crosley Revolution. There’s probably no way this thing sounds anything but terrible, but the sheer cool points you’d get from having one of these hanging from your belt more than makes up for that. Right? It’s cool, right?

Frank YangFull writeup of the day over here.

Lissie
– Big and raw-voiced Illinois native Lissie Maurus released her debut EP Why You Running last year. Aquarium Drunkard and BBC have interviews.
Photos: Lissie @ Red-Eyed Fly – March 20, 2010
MP3: Lissie – “Little Lovin'”
MySpace: Lissie

Sharon Van Etten
– Brooklyn singer-songwriter who released her spare and beautiful debut in Because I Was In Love last year was recently featured in a Daytrotter session. She plays the Horseshoe on April 5.
Photos: Sharon Van Etten @ Red-Eyed Fly – March 20, 2010
MP3: Sharon Van Etten – “For You”
MP3: Sharon Van Etten – “Consolation Prize”
MP3: Sharon Van Etten – “Love More”
Video: Sharon Van Etten – “For You”
MySpace: Sharon Van Etten

Free Energy
– Philadelphia champions of ’70s-styled, arena-sized power-pop will release their debut Stuck On Nothing on May 4.
Photos: Free Energy @ Red-Eyed Fly – March 20, 2010
MP3: Free Energy – “Free Energy”
MP3: Free Energy – “Hope Child”
Video: Free Energy – “Free Energy”
MySpace: Free Energy

The Middle East
– Dramatically-inclined Australian collective collected more and more accolades with each day of SxSW. Their debut EP The Recordings of The Middle East came out last Fall. They will play The Horseshoe on May 5.
Photos: The Middle East @ Red-Eyed Fly – March 20, 2010
Video: The Middle East – “Blood”
MySpace: The Middle East

Slow Club
– See writeup from a day two.
Photos: Slow Club @ Barbarella – March 20, 2010

Frank YangFull writeup of the day over here.

Freelance Whales
– New York twee-popsters whose debut Weathervanes is being re-released on April 13, will be in town twice over the next while; at the El Mocambo on April 6 with Cymbals Eat Guitars and May 8 at the Mod Club with Shout Out Louds. NPR has a World Cafe session with the band, The San Francisco Examiner an interview and they’re keeping a tour diary over at Spinner.
Photos: Freelance Whales @ Eastbound & Found North Stage – March 18, 2010
MP3: Freelance Whales – “Generator 2nd Floor”
MySpace: Freelance Whales

Diamond Rings
– Toronto electro-glam solo artist is prepping his debut full-length Special Affections for release later this year.
Photos: Diamond Rings @ Eastbound & Found South Stage – March 18, 2010
MP3: Diamond Rings – “All Yr Songs”
Video: Diamond Rings – “All Yr Songs”
Video: Diamond Rings – “Wait & See”
MySpace: Diamond Rings

Ume
– Austin power trio continue to spread the word of last year’s Sunshower EP while working on a full-length follow-up.
Photos: Ume @ Eastbound & Found North Stage – March 18, 2010
MP3: Ume – “The Conductor”
MP3: Ume – “Pendulum”
MP3: Ume – “Wake”
Video: Ume – “The Conductor”
MySpace: Ume

Warpaint
– Los Angeles quartet will follow up last year’s Exquisite Corpse with a debut full-length due out later this year. Spinner has an interview.
Photos: Warpaint @ Eastbound & Found North Stage – March 18, 2010
MP3: Warpaint – “Elephants”
Video: Warpaint – “Stars”
Video: Warpaint – “Elephants”

Slow Club
– Sheffield duo whose giddy folk-pop debut Yeah, So? just got a North American release after coming out last Summer in the UK.
Photos: Slow Club @ Eastbound & Found South Stage – March 18, 2010
MP3: Slow Club – “It Doesn’t Have To Be Beautiful”
Video: Slow Club – “It Doesn’t Have To Be Beautiful”
Video: Slow Club – “Because We Are Dead”
Video: Slow Club – “Me & You”
Video: Slow Club – “Trophy Room”

The Morning Benders
– San Francisco quartet whose latest Big Echo shows they’ve discovered the joys of noise and drama to go with their unerring pop sensibility. They play the Drake Underground on April 14; Express Night Out and The San Francisco Examiner have conversations with the band.
Photos: The Morning Benders @ Eastbound & Found North Stage – March 18, 2010
MP3: The Morning Benders – “Promises”
MP3: The Morning Benders – “Waiting For A War”
Video: The Morning Benders – “Waiting For A War”
Video: The Morning Benders – “Damnit Anna”
Video: The Morning Benders – “Boarded Doors”
MySpace: The Morning Benders

Here We Go Magic
– New York outfit led by Luke Temple will release their new album Pigeons on June 8; download the first MP3 from Secretly Canadian. They play Lee’s Palace on April 27.
Photos: Here We Go Magic @ Eastbound & Found North Stage – March 18, 2010
Video: Here We Go Magic – “Fangela”

Delorean
– Spanish electro-poppers bring their Summer-y new record Subiza – out already in the UK and out in North America on June 8 – to the Phoenix on April 3 in support of Miike Snow.
Photos: Delorean @ Eastbound & Found South Stage – March 18, 2010
Video: Delorean – “Stay Close”

Frank YangIf you’ve been following SxSW coverage anywhere else over the last few days, then you know that Saturday, the final day of the festival, was cold. Damn cold. Colder than Toronto on that same day cold, which was particularly galling. I had brought just enough clothes so as to be able to layer a reasonably suitable outfit, so the loss of approximately 15 degrees overnight wasn’t enough to stop me from going out, just make it a bit less fun.

That said, I got out and about a little later than usual, opting to hit up Flatstock at the convention center first (no purchases, just browsing). A quick stop at the Rachael Ray party at Stubb’s came to nothing as the lineups for free food were massive – I like quesadillas but not to the point of spending an hour in line for them – and the music was already running a half hour behind schedule, so I popped into Red-Eyed Fly next door for WXPN’s day show and basically stuck around the rest of the day.

I arrived in time to catch most of the set from Lissie Maurus, who simply goes by Lissie. She’s an old-school country-rock singer-songwriter who isn’t banking on being fresh or innovative to get attention, just good. And she’s pretty good. Her voice has a raw yet wistful twang and her songwriting evocative and melodic, and oh yeah, she can play a pretty mean guitar as well. People have gotten much further with less, and judging from the jam-packed inside room at the venue, she was well on her way. Or people were just trying to get indoors.

The crowd was only slightly leaner for Sharon Van Etten’s set, but she had to contend with the sound of Jukebox The Ghost making a racket outside. This didn’t make for the most sympathetic environment for her quiet, heart-rending tunes and while she gamely tried to keep up by turning up, I couldn’t help thinking how perfect a setting St David’s Historic Synagogue would have been for her official showcase two nights prior. Or at least I imagine it was more perfect – I didn’t make it out to that show. Here’s hoping things are quieter for her when she plays the Horseshoe on April 5.

Despite the chill, it was to the outside stage for the next couple acts, and though it was Winter that was reminding us it wasn’t quite finished, Philly’s Free Energy were ready to be champions of Summer, at least musically speaking. People may have been expecting Cheap Trick to be the flag-bearers for big, ’70s power pop at this year’s festival, but with all respect to the veterans, Free Energy were untouchable when it came to hugely hooky, ass-shakingly great guitar rock. After their set, they handed out free copies of their debut Stuck On Nothing to all in attendance even though it’s not due out until May 4. The only catch was that it was on cassette. Thanks, guys.

I’d never heard of Australian 7-piece The Middle East before SxSW began, but they were one of the acts whose name got mentioned more and more with each of their performances so by this, their second-last show of the festival, I was actually making an effort to see what the hubbub was all about. Apparently they used to be some odd hybrid of folk-rock and post-rock, but now had a sound that was much more the former, but with some of the scope and grandeur of the latter and a heart-on-sleeve emotionality that tied it all together. With a short set time that was eaten up with soundchecking of their many, many instruments, they probably didn’t have time to really deliver their A-game and I wasn’t as won over as many seemed to have been with previous appearances, but I could see how it could happen.

At this point I was done with Red-Eyed Fly and crossed the street to Barbarella, which I didn’t realize used to be Spiro’s. And while the name had changed, the fact that it’s an awful room hadn’t. But I didn’t want to miss the chance to see Slow Club again – their one appearance at Eastbound & Found on Thursday was not going to be enough, especially since there was no indication that there’d be further North American touring in support of the Stateside release of their debut Yeah, So?. And perhaps because that record is so old to the band, despite not being available over here till March 30, the set again didn’t seem to include many of my favourite songs from that record but instead fresh tunes that at least still adhered to the album’s recipe for success: simple, gleeful guitar-and-drums arrangements, and wicked (witty) sharp songwriting. Highlights of the set included inviting the sisters of First Aid Kit up to sing a song before picking up and heading into the audience to play a tune amidst their public. They went back onstage for one final tune, but I preferred to leave the final impression of the show as that one, and anyways there was an enchilada calling my name.

Frank YangBeyond the pleasure of being able to attach one’s name to a lineup of great acts that you can (mostly) whole-heartedly endorse, one of the big perks of presenting a day show at SxSW is that it gives you an excuse to NOT run around the city all day from showcase to showcase. If you’ve done your job in curating well enough, there’s no real reason you’d want to be anywhere but your own show. And so most all of yesterday afternoon was spent at a parking lot just on the wrong side of I35 where Eastbound & Found, the party put together by myself and esteemed bloggers and sponsors.

Freelance Whales were generous enough to take one of the earliest spots, their peppy co-ed indie-pop almost the perfect thing to rouse the keeners who were on site at the break of noon. At times I find them almost a bit too chirpy but there’s usually a hook or melody waiting just around to corner to get me back onside. Their show at the El Mocambo with Cymbals Eat Guitars on April 6 is probably a bit too soon for me to need to see them again, but I’m perfectly happy to have them opening for Shout Out Louds at the Mod Club on May 8.

Down the hill at the south stage, Toronto’s Diamond Rings was letting his unicorn flag unfurl, dishing out electro beats perfectly suited to the bright, sunny weather – same songs but somehow different vibe from his Canadian Musicfest gig last week. The crowd was pretty sparse to begin with but as Freelance Whales’ set ended and people discovered there was a second stage (not the easiest to locate without signage), they filled in and danced. And there was even some celeb-spotting, as Little Boots – who’s even littler in person/off stage than you’d think – was in attendance and tweeted her approval.

Back at the mainstage, Austin’s own Ume were setting up to shred some faces – they were one of my top discoveries of last year’s fest so I was very pleased to have them playing our show, and not just because a daytime performance meant I’d have enough light to try and capture Lauren Larsen’s guitar heroics on film (well, digital sensor). As they’ve done every time I’ve seen them, they played a demolishing set of pure rock drawn from their Sunshower EP as well as new material that will hopefully be out sooner rather than later. The only difference from past shows was that Larsen’s axe-mangling didn’t end with her on her knees, strangling notes out of her Fender – the painful-looking skin marks on her legs made it clear that there’d already been a little too much of that before this show.

Next up were Los Angeles’ Warpaint, who despite taking a kind of meandering approach to their set – were they soundchecking? Jamming? Playing songs? – walked a very appealing line of musical experimentation and pop sensibilities. I was only able to stick around for a couple of songs, but was intrigued enough that their remaining shows for the week – and there were a lot of them still – all stayed on my schedule so I could hear some more. Odds are I won’t, but it won’t be for lack of trying. Or wanting to try.

Back down at the second stage was one of my picks for the party, Sheffield’s Slow Club, whose debut Yeah, So? has been one of my favourite debuts of the year (in North America, anyways – it came out in the UK last Summer). Evidently I wasn’t the only one won over by the drum-and-guitar duo, as there was a small but very enthused audience gathered for their set of wonderfully hepped-up folk-pop. Charles and Rebecca are maybe the most adorable pairing since Matt & Kim, and after simultaneously destroying their guitar amp and kick pedal respectively, took to the edge of the stage with acoustic guitars to sing out to their fans unamplified. Giddy and glorious.

I’d seen The Morning Benders back in February of last year and while I found their indie-pop stylings pleasant, with the requisite jangles and hooks, but not especially distinctive. With their new one Big Echo, however, they’ve not only raised the ante but bet the house – it’s a much more massive and interesting record; noisier and moodier than I’d have thought them capable of but still immensely pop at its core. Correspondingly, the live show was much more intense and volume-abusing than I’d expected. Most impressive. They are at the Drake on April 14.

As Here We Go Magic got started on the main stage, I could feel myself hitting a wall in terms of being able to concentrate on new music, or even stand up for any period of time. Their stuff required a little too much attention to properly appreciate, so after a few songs I wandered back down to the south stage where Spain’s Delorean were kicking up a mostly-instrumental electro-pop dance party. That held my interest for a little while, but the need to not be where I was became overwhelming and I had to hoof it back to the hotel to get my head together. Which, sadly, meant missing our headlining set with GZA AND the fact that Bill Murray apparently accepted my invitation and showed up. For serious, people.