Riot Fest @ Fort York Garrison Common, Toronto (August 25, 2013)

Ushering in the dog days of summer a few weeks back was the two-day long weekend travelling music festival Riot Fest which took over the grounds of Fort York Garrison Common. Day One was strictly for the younger generation (eg. A Day to Remember, Pierce the Veil, Every Time I Die, Mayday Parade, Grade, The Ghost Inside & Structures) which I passed on and so I chose to take in Day Two only which while including newer acts like Best Coast mostly featured bands of an older ilk including Dinosaur Jr., Rocket From The Crypt, The Weakerthans, Iggy and The Stooges and of course the much anticipated reunion of The Replacements, Toronto which had the honour of hosting the first live reunion of Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson (plus backing band of Josh Freese and David Minehan) after 22 years. Other than Best Coast, I'd not seen any of the other acts live. I'd caught a J Mascis solo set at the James Street Supercrawl in Hamilton a few Septembers ago, a Lou Barlow in-store a few years back and a John Samson solo set at Lee's Palace back in 2009 but save for that, Riot Fest was my first time seeing their respective bands as well as my first time seeing Rocket From The Crypt, Iggy and The Stooges and The Replacements.


  Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast: photo by Michael Ligon

I kind of remember Best Coast as a one trick pony, playing the same garagey, surf-pop number over and over, but that wasn't true at all during their set. They're more varied sonically than that and although their are particularly innovative, they managed to charm me by the end of their set. Bethany mentioned how it was an honour to play the festival and that she was the only girl amongst the bands in the lineup, which drew applause from the crowd.


  J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr.: photo by Michael Ligon

Dinosaur Jr.' set, while great, felt low-key surprisingly even during J's most shredded guitar solos but it was great to hear "The Wagon" and "Just Live Heaven". Lou Barlow seemed much more animated on bass than I would have imagined.


  The Venue: photo by Michael Ligon

Ah yes, Fort York Garrison Common. You became almost a second home to me this summer, having been there already twice before for other festivals [TURF, The Grove Music Festival].


  Rocket From The Crypt: photo by Michael Ligon

San Diego's horn-embellished punks Rocket From The Crypt were a name that floated around during my indie rock 90's days who I never really explored in depth back then. They were very much an enigma then and still are today with their punk-driven brand of rock n' roll with more than a dash of horns, like a collision of rockabilly and punk but without the awful aftertaste. I remember the sun coming out during the set (after it had been mostly grey prior to this) and the dust storm being kicked up near the front of the stage by what I presume were concert-goers really getting into the music. With the band wearing matching black and white, rockabilly shirts they were perhaps the best-dressed band of the day.


  John Samson of The Weakerthans: photo by Michael Ligon

In his off-time, it appears that Weakerthans vocalist John Samson has mountain-men'd himself up with his beard and outgrown locks. Mellowest set of the day for sure, and perhaps the odd-band-out, their lyrical pop-rock in contrast with the punkier roots of all the other acts on the bill. Fox Jaws' Carleigh Aikins was a special guest on one song to sing duet with Samson.


  Iggy and The Stooges: photo by Michael Ligon

Still sounding dangerous after all these years, Iggy and The Stooges (which included The Minutemen's Mike Watt on bass, plus original members guitarist James Williamson and drummer Scott Asheton) played pretty much what amounted to a greatest hits set playing classics like "Raw Power", "Fun House", "Search and Destroy", and my personal favourite "I Wanna be Your Dog" as well as plugging the most recent Iggy and The Stooges album Ready To Die (released earlier this year}, and then throwing in a great performance of a solo Iggy tune ("The Passenger") for good measure. Though well-meaning I think it was an error in judgement bringing up audience members on to the stage for a dancy party during the more askewed punk-jazz of "Fun House" but other than that this was a terrific set.


  The Replacements: photo by Michael Ligon

Having been in highschool back in the mid to late 80's I was too busy listening to the British acts like The Smiths, The Cure, and New Order perhaps too immature to have cared much about or appreciate an American band like The Replacements. It probably wasn't until the early 90's when Muchmusic and their alternative music video show The Wedge seemed to feature The Replacements' music videos for "Left Of The Dial" and "Bastards of Young" (both videos similarly filmed with a fixed shot of a speaker) as staples of the program. Sign of the times back then I guess that music videos got me to take notice of an artist. I'd still count myself as a sporadic listener of them even after that but, colour me impressed [how pun-ny of me], after witnessing their reunion set at Fort York Garrison Common a few weeks ago. Covering all aspects of their career from their early punk days to their later major label releases, it was a fantastic setlist all around. That the band had limited their reunion (at least for now) to only three cities (Toronto, Denver, Chicago) on the travelling Riot Fest roadshow is a shame for everyone else but wow, what an honour and an experience it was to see them.

Photos: Riot Fest @ Fort York Garrison Common, Toronto (August 25, 2013)

Natural's Not In It --- Gang of Four in town this Friday; new disc "Content" just released

  Gang of Four (photo via)

The Toronto Star, chartattack, The Toronto Sun, Eye Weekly, and Spinner all have pieces on seminal post-punk outfit Gang of Four who play a show in Toronto at the Phoenix this Friday and are promoting their recently released new disc Content. They were a band that I'd caught on to about 5-7 years ago(or perhaps more) when I randomly found a copy of their Peel Sessions release, then found that the public library system in Mississauga had a copy of their retrospective collection 100 Flowers Bloom: Anthology. Over time, as luck would have it, I'd collect their albums on vinyl including a near mint copy of their debut Entertainment which I found at a local Goodwill for $2. But my interest was further piqued when the band reissued their debut album on CD in 2005, as well as the band's inclusion (with their song "Natural's Not In It") on the soundtrack of the 2006 Sophia Coppolla-directed film "Marie Antoinette". Most recently a segment of the band's song "Natural's Not In It" can be heard in of all things, a television ad for Xbox Kinect.

For the price of an e-mail , you can download the track “You’ll Never Pay For The Farm” from the new album Content - head over to the band's website.

Rural Alberta Advantage talk with AUX.TV. Watch the band's recent music video for their song "Stamp" from their upcoming new album Departing, out March 1, 2011 on Saddle Creek.

Toronto electro-rock trio Young Empires have announced they will be playing the Canadian Music Fest showcase, along with Yukon Blonde, at The Great Hall on March 10.

The pyschedelic-looking new music video from UK outfit The Go! Team is cool, but the song entitled "Buy Nothing Day", with vocals from Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino, is pure pop terrificness. Best Coast are in town for a show at the Phoenix this Sunday February 6 with openers Wavves, and No Joy. The Go! Team play The Opera House in Toronto on April 10; the band's new disc Rolling Blackouts came out February 1.

Have been meaning to check out Toronto outfit Bonjay live and a probably have to skip their upcoming instore at Soundscapes on February 12(at 7 pm) since their Facebook Event Page says it's gonna be a short performance, but that doesn't mean you have to skip it. One of these days.

The Journal interviews Julie Doiron. She's at the Horseshoe tomorrow night for a show.

So long to The White Stripes.

NXNE in Toronto (June 17, 2010)

  Best Coast: photo by Michael Ligon

This year's NXNE was arguably the best Toronto's had since it's exception in 1994, at the very least the best I've experienced since I started regularly attending the festival in 2004. Although the festival officially kicked off on Wednesday June 16, it was the next day[Thursday June 17] that the festival kicked into high gear with most people, like myself, beginning their venue hopping. Having booked off June 17 and 18 from work, I devoted some of my free time on the 17th to finally give the NXNE schedule a good look, eventually coming up with a rudimentary schedule that had me confined to the Queen West corridor for my first night of NXNE. Here's how it went:

(09 PM @ The Great Hall) - Demon's Claws (Montreal, Quebec)
Having read about this young garage trio from Montreal touring with the likes of Black Lips and King Khan & BBQ Show piqued my interest to check them out. That, combined with the fact that their set preceded bands Women and Best Coast who I really wanted to se who were also playing the same venue later that night. Unfortunately, whatever qualities the band have didn't seem to be on display that night. While the venue was far from full at the time, neither was it empty, so really there was no excuse for the band not to bust loose and show some energy. The performance seemed a little studied, like they were trying to hit all the correct notes and rhythms, and in the end it seemed they hardly broke a sweat.

(10 PM @ The Great Hall) - Women (Calgary Alberta)
It wasn't my first time seeing Calgary indie four-piece Women live. I'd first saw them live at last year's Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, Spain whose angular instrumentation, jagged melodies and solid rhythms made an impression on me. By this time of the night, the venue had nicely filled in, obviously people there to start off their night with Women, or at least set themselves up comfortably for buzz band Best Coast who were coming up next. The pace of the set progressed nicely, so nice, that at the end I was left wanting more. The band's debut album Women was released through Flemish Eye / Jagjaguwar in 2008 and the band will be releasing their follow-up Public Strain through the same outlets on September 28.

(11 PM @ The Great Hall) - Best Coast (Los Angeles, California)
It's always fun to catch a buzz band or two during a music festival, and one such band of this year's NXNE was Los Angeles trio Best Coast. Marrying sunkissed-California pop music with Shangri-La's garage rock with just a touch of melancholy, it's a formula could be limiting but fortunately the band write such delectable melodies that they transcend those limitations. It was a bit seredipitous that the band were on just as their beloved Lakers were in the final minutes of securing their win in the NBA Finals over the Celtics. Vocalist Bethany Cosentino prompted the audience for the score with a member of the audience yelling out that Boston sucks and Ms. Cosentino responding back cheekily 'you suck'. I'm neither a Kobe hater or Lakers hater, but I was going for the Celtics myself so 'boo' to Bethany for cheering on the Lakers but 'yay' to the band's great set. The band's as-yet-untitled and label-less debut LP is apparently to come out later this year according to Pitchfork.

(12 PM @ The Great Hall) - CocoComa (Chicago, Illinois)
The midnight timeslot wasn't written in stone for me although I'd tentatively pencilled in seeing Toronto's The Coast down the street at the Gladstone Ballroom. Before I took off, and partly on Mechanical Forest Sound's recommendation, I stayed for several songs during the intriguely-named CocoComa's set. Featuring the husband & wife duo of Bill & Lisa Roe, TJ Brock on bass and Anthony Cozzi on organ, the band's sound has been described as garage-punk. They were as authentic, energetic and adept at their genre as I'd hoped and really made up for Demon's Claw's lacklustre set earlier that evening.

(12 PM @ Gladstone Ballroom) - The Coast (Toronto, Ontario)
While I'd been enjoying CocoComa's set over at The Great Hall, I made a conscious decision to leave partway to catch Toronto's The Coast who I hadn't seen live since their instore at Sunrise Records last year as part of NXNE. The four-piece outfit consisting of Ben, Ian, Jord and Luke, was also featuring a fifth member who I'm not sure is a permanent member of the group, but was adding some keyboards and background vox on occasion. As young as the core members are, this fifth member looked even younger than them. Unfortunatley I only caught several songs, none of which I recognized, and I believe some and or all were new songs. The band seems to have strayed from their Brit-infuenced, anthemic beginnings, opting nowadays for a more straightforward pop-rock sound. It doesn't leave me as breathless like they used to but, they still hit the mark more often than not. For the intimate settings of the Gladstone, it was a fairly full house, and if one thing is consisent, the band continues to maintain a loyal female contingent.

(01 AM @ Wrongbar) - Glass Candy (Portland, Oregon)
The final set of the night for me would be to see Portland, Oregon, electro-disco duo Glass Candy playing down the street from the Gladstone at Wrongbar. The last time I'd seen them play live was back in October 2009 at The Garrison. As Glass Candy initiated me into the then-new-to-me venue The Garrison, this time around the duo did the same with Wrongbar, a venue I'd never been to before that night. Like The Garrison, the packed house onhand for Glass Candy in Wrongbar made for a warm venue. While the duo's set back in October 2009 had the benefit of being a full headlining set, NXNE's restriction of set times to approximately half an hour in length meant that Glass Candy's set was over far sooner than anyone felt it should have. Glass Candy were pretty hot almost right from the start, producer/keyboardist Johnny Jewel at the helm of keyboard/sampler duties and working out the grooves with vigor and skill, and lead vocalist Ida No the very definition of disco-soul diva, prancing around the stage and singing and playing up to crowd. And the crowd were eating up every last bit of it. Too band it was over so soon.

Photos: NXNE in Toronto (June 17, 2010)