This show was my inaugural Wavelength show and only the second time I'd been to Sneaky Dee's. A Sunday night show is really hard to justify going to since I'm usually wiped at the end of the weekend and I have to drive down from Mississauga but since I wasn't working the next day and the lineup for the show was great, going to this show was a no-brainer.Another selling point for this show was opener vitaminsforyou who I'd only discovered a couple of days ago. In particular, his cover of The Arcade Fire's "No Cars Go" done in an electro-pop style was so intoxicating. vitaminsforyou is really just one guy behind a barrage of keyboards and laptop screens. With the colourful screen projections behind him, vitaminsforyou exuded a confidence and enthusiasm that made the set more interesting. I think it helped that rather than hide behind his keyboards, he chose to turn his equipment setup towards the left side of the stage which physically opened him up to the audience. It was cool to see him groove to his own beats. Musically, he touched upon 80's electro-pop influences, hip-hop beats, and more atmospheric synth soundscapes. His songs had a way of starting off softly but would gradually grow in intensity by adding layers of beats, synths, and vocals. Actually, his music reminded me alot of Junior Boys, and like them, vitaminsforyou puts a bit of humanity back into electronic music.
I was really anxious to see Julie Doiron. Man, it's really been too long. I've unfortunately missed her swings through Toronto over the years and I think the last time I saw her live was sometime in the mid to late 90's when I believe she was still under the Broken Girl moniker. The crowd grew quite rapidly for Julie Doiron's set, and although I wasn't quite up front, thankfully most spectactors near the stage decided to sit on the floor which left me with a great view of the stage. Half the charm of Julie is her humble and quite endearing spoken manner. She thanked the audience every chance she could and was quite taken back by everyone that came out to see the show yesterday night. She started the set off solo accompanying her modest vocals with her spare electric guitar playing. There was a sad and innocent tone to her music that was really beautiful. Mike Feuerstack aka Snailhouse, came out later on to provide accompaniment with additional vocals and guitar which complimented Julie's musical style quite nicely. By the enthusiastic response of the crowd at the end of the set, I think the crowd appreciated her the most.
By the time Snailhouse's set rolled around it was about twenty minutes after midnight and the crowded had thinned out a bit, perhaps because it was getting late. To return the favour, Julie joined Mike for his set. Julie had joked during her set she'd have to learn how to be a guitar player for Mike's set. Although, Julie and Mike share the same vulnerable, forlorn vocal style, their guitar playing's quite different. In comparison to Julie's modest guitar style, Mike's style is quite accomplished as he finger-picked and guitar-picked rich, melodic arrangements. The new song "Birds and Bees" was wonderful as Mike and Julie's vocals beautifully meshed together, interwoven with the desolate melody that drove the song. Really, it just makes your heart ache. It's this quality that embraced the Snailhouse set. As much as I like the solo format, I'd be interested in hearing fleshed out band versions of these tunes some time in the future. Next time perhaps. Unfortunately, as Mike took the stage for an encore, I had to duck out to catch the TTC, but Snailhouse's main set was a more than sufficient example of his awe-worthiness. [photos]
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Watch 12 webcast performances from this year's Glastonbury including The La's and New Order. [link from the tear that hangs inside my soul forever]
Elvis Costello will be releasing a video compilation of 27 of his music videos entitled "The Right Spectacle: The Very Best of Elvis Costello". It is due out on September 6th and will also include 70 minutes of rare archive television footage. Go over to Soul Shine Magazine for more info and the track listing.
Read reviews/comments of the Modest Mouse/Broken Social Scene Olympic Island show over at broken telephone. nippleholic also gives a rundown of the show. Apparently, all of BSS's ladies(Emily, Amy, and Leslie) were there. I'm dying! Of all BSS shows to have missed.
On the other hand...Broken Social Scene will be headlining a FREE opening celebrations concert for this year's Celebrate Toronto Street Fest! It goes down at Yonge-Dundas Square on Friday July 8th and Broken Social Scene go on at 10 pm. Read the press release for more info. [thanks to a post over at stillepost.ca for pointing this out!]
And lastly, congrats to my nephew for graduating from elementary school tonight. Having not been to anyone's graduation for a while, I forgot how optimistic things are made out to be. Man, if they only knew. ;-)
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