Hamilton, ON is becoming a veritable live music goldmine. Or maybe it always has been and I'm just only finding out. Matt Pond PA(as well as Head of Femur) played Sneaky Dees in Toronto last Thursday May 5th as part of the Over The Top Fest but I didn't end up going. With that eating away at me inside and having remembered how much I liked Matt Pond PA when they opened up for Ted Leo at The Mod Club in Toronto in December 2004, I decided to check out Matt Pond PA(again playing with Head of Femur) at The Casbah in Hamilton, ON. I missed Winter Equinox but made it in time for Chicagoans, Head of Femur. So apparently a member(members?) of the band has also played with Bright Eyes, but I had no idea who. Head of Femur is a 7-piece whose musical style varied over the course of their set. There was a little bit of Flaming Lips-inspired psych pop, a bit of alt-country(especially on the cover of The Band's "The Night They Drive Old Dixie Down"), and some good 'ole rock n' roll. Their guitar/bass guitar/drums foundation was rounded out quite nicely with generous amounts of keyboards, violin, and trumpet. One song featured some cool bongo playing, and the same gentleman playing the bongos later in the song got up, ran towards the entrance of the club, ducked down behind a wooden bannister, and would periodically pop up like a demented cuckoo bird, shouting out a vocal effect. It was sort of funny but also quite creative. Things were kept even more interesting with the changeup in instruments between the keyboardist and drummer. While I thought the keyboardist did an admirable job on keyboards, he really tore up the drumkit at times. All in all a good set.
I took off after Head of Femur to grab a breather and then came back just as Matt Pond PA had started their set. What can I say. They are such a tight band and their songs are so melodically rich. Their guitar/bass guitar/drums foundation is really improved upon greatly with the addition of cello and background female vocals of Matt Pond PA's Eve Miller. Their music's been described at various times as chamber pop or baroque pop and such descriptions only further emphasize the importance of Eve's string sound. At one point it was just her and Matt in a moment of vocal harmonic bliss. If I could have had only one wish for the already beautiful pop music of Matt Pond PA, it would to have had more instances of Eve Miller's beautiful vocals. The rest of the band did an admirable job as well, even taking a brief dub reggae instrumental excursion while, Matt got prepared for their next song. Matt Pond showed great technique on the guitar playing some nice guitar-picked melodic arrangements while his vocals were strong yet vulnerable. With the cello and all, the show wasn't necessarily a recital. I think they played "Closest(Look Out)" and "Grave's Disease" both off of "Emblems". On such upbeat-sounding pop songs the band displayed a real sense of urgency, that feeling of running as fast as you can not wanting to stop. I'm looking forward to the next O.C. mix soundtrack 'cause maybe the next mix will feature an original Matt Pond PA composition(rather than their cover of "Champagen Supernova" which graces the current O.C. mix). Yes, these guys are the next Death Cab. [photos from the show]
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Largehearted Boy points to a torrent of Matt Pond PA's live session for KEXP on 2005-04-07.
Just a reminder that The Arcade Fire will be performing a live session for BBC 6 music's Gideon Coe tomorrow May 10th. [The live sessions usually begin around the 20:40:00 mark(about 8:40 London, England time or about 2:40 Eastern Standard Time) and complete shows are usually archived for one week. Or else catch the archived performance some time in the future.]
One of my favourite discoveries of 2004, Scotland's Sons and Daughters will be playing some UK instores soon before heading out for a UK tour in June. All this precedes their upcoming new single "Dance Me In" which will be released on May 23rd in the UK. You can view the e-card for the single. The Stereo Effect reports that the new album "The Repulsion Box" will be released on June 6th. I saw the band twice last year, opening up for Franz Ferdinand as well as opening up for Clinic, and I'm looking forward for them to come back to Toronto.
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