Great Lake Swimmers @ Sonic Boom in Toronto (February 5, 2010) / Concert Announcements (February 9, 2010)

I was fortunate to take in the instore performance by Great Lake Swimmers last Friday at Sonic Boom in Toronto. As a teaser for their proper show which was at Trinity St. Paul's the following day, the instore turned out to be quite substantial itself, with the band performing a good twelve songs for the fairly packed crowd onhand. A five member setup with Tony on guitar/vox, Darcy Yates on bass, Greg Millson on drums, Erik Arnesen on guitar, and and a fifth member on violin/background vox[who I apologize for not getting their name], the band devoted much of the set to the most current album "Lost Channels" which I'd unfortunately not heard prior to the show. They also played several older tunes including the dreamy, sepia-tinged "Moving Pictures, Silent Films", as well as the shuffling, folky "Your Rocky Spine" and the more uptempo "I am Part of a Large Family", the latter featuring the audience clapping throughout the song. The new material, or at least some of it, seems to have a more conventional, rootsy sound, complete with rootsy fiddle playing or country rock sound - case in point, "Pulling On A Line" from the new album is a perfectly competent roots rock song, but does somewhat pale in comparison to the older material in terms of effect. I appreciated the set overall, and at 12 songs long[setlist courtesy gittingsc] and the instore being free, there was no doubt that we lucked out.

gittingsc, myslowdescent, and Ivys League have photos from the instore.

Great Lake Swimmers played Trinity St. Paul's in Toronto the following night and The National Post and NxEW review the show.

Photos: Great Lake Swimmers @ Sonic Boom in Toronto (February 5, 2010)
MySpace: Great Lake Swimmers

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If saddened by the fact the Thrush Hermit sold out their two night stint at Lee's Palace in Toronto for March 26 and 27, it's good news that they've added a third show[albeit, an all-ages one] for Sunday March 28. It's a matinee performace with doors at 2:30 pm. Tickets are $17.50 advance, $20.00 @ the door, and go onsale Wednesday February 10 at 10 am EST.

San Diego's The Soft Pack stop in for a show at the El Mocambo on April 7. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, and go onsale February 10 at 10 am EST.

The estrogen-band-named double bill of Girls(from San Francisco) and Dum Dum Girls(from NYC) take over the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto for a show on April 9. Tickets are $16.50 advance, $20.00 @ the door, and go onsale February 10 at 10 am EST.

Land of Talk play Lee's Palace on April 8. Tickets are $10.00 advance, $12.00 @ the door, and go onsale Friday February 12 at 10 am EST.

You Say Party! We Say Die! have a wack of new tour dates up now including a date at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto on April 2.

80's post punk pioneers Killing Joke are coming to Toronto for a show at the Phoenix on May 25. Tickets are $25.

Finally, The National have added a second show for Toronto at Massey Hall on Wednesday June 9(the first show being the previous night). Tickets are $53.50 in advance and go onsale Friday February 12 at 10 am EST. Don't dawdle this time if you dawdled for the first one.

Ooh La La

concert review: Goldfrapp, Great Lake Swimmers @ The Music Hall (Toronto, Ontario), September 14, 2008

Goldfrapp @ The Music Hall (September 14, 2008)


This past Sunday was a blissful evening of Autumn-toned folk melodies with Toronto's Great Lake Swimmers warming up the audience with its brand of hushed acoustic folk-rock before UK's Goldfrapp took the stage to continue the trend before switching gears to their danceable electro-pop sound.

Though I'd just saw Great Lake Swimmers perform a few days earlier(at Yonge Dundas Square), it's never too soon to see them perform again. Minus Julie Fader, it was Great Lake Swimmers as a four piece this time around. It's somewhat redundant to judge on musical merits, one Great Lake Swimmers show to the next. As usual, Great Lake Swimmers were musically tight and physically laid back though the varying component for me really now seems to be the venue that they play in. They've played dank clubs, churches, and and more recently the concrete surroundings of Yonge Dundas Square and now the seated theatre environment of The Music Hall. As with their show at Church of The Redeemer last year, I think Great Lake Swimmers are mostly a band that is best enjoyed as a spectator when seated although when Great Lake Swimmers pick up the tempo like on 'Your Rocky Spine', it's those rare occasions when the band's encouraging the audience to clap (which we did), and we're tempted almost to get out of our seats (which we didn't in the end).

Back in May 2005, I'd reminisced about Goldfrapp's infamous show at The Opera House in 2001 when vocalist Alison Goldfrapp stormed off stage (not before throwing her beverage on the ground; or was that in the audience?), apparently because she wasn't satisfied with the sound. Other accounts I read also mentioned that part of the reason that Goldfrapp had left the stage (only having performed about 7 songs) was not just that they were frustrated with the sound problems but also were not happy with something a heckler had said. To this day, I still don't know the full story. It's been a long 7 years since then that I've been waiting to see Goldfrapp live again [although having surfed the internet I've come across that they may have been in Toronto in 2003 - how did I miss that?]

Goldfrapp loosely divided the set between their quieter restrained material performed during the first half of their set with their uptempo and or danceable electro-pop numbers anchoring the second half. As perhaps I should have expected, they only performed two songs('Paper Bag', and 'Utopia') from "Felt Mountain" while as expected much of the set was drawn from their most recent effort "Seventh Tree". It's the inbetween albums("Black Cherry", "Supernature" that I wasn't as familiar(although I did recently pick up "Supernature") with although the songs from these albums that were included in the set(like 'Number One', 'Ooh La La', 'Train', 'Strict Machine' which all came during the latter half of the set) were almost immediately recognizable and with the aforementioned songs in particular, deliriously infectious and energetic. With encore(which ended up being two songs), the show was about an hour and a half in length though had it been longer I would have loved to hear more off "Felt Mountain" (like 'Pilots') or various album tracks like 'Ride A White Horse' and 'Beautiful' (off of "Supernature"). Musically, I loved every song in the set, though perhaps too painstakingly did they reproduce the studio versions in this live setting. It didn't matter much with the audience who were rapturous(especially this one girl who took it upon herself to dance alone) with every song performed, especially so when 'Ooh La La' was performed, prompting the entire audience including myself to finally get out of our seats and dance.

Allison Goldfrapp exuded a eccentric, earthy vibe dressed in her clown-inspired moumou dress which wasn't so much frumpy since it fit more like a mini dress. Her band(which included a harpist who for most of the set I couldn't see from my vantage point) wore similar white attire. In terms of stage decoration there was a geometric patterned backdrop and a few what-seemed-to-be taxidermed animals decorating the stage. It seemed to be a similar stage production to their recent show in NYC at Radio City Music Hall but not nearly as much colourful lighting.

Overall, it was well worth the seven year wait and at $32.50 a ticket a steal compared to the in-excess-of-$100 that I'd overheard some people in the audience mention that some suckers had to pay for tickets to see Goldfrapp at Radio City Music Hall. Toronto 1, NYC 0.

Photos: Goldfrapp, Great Lake Swimmers @ The Music Hall (September 14, 2008)

Video: Goldfrapp - 'Clowns' (live at The Music Hall - Sept 14, 2008)
Video: Goldfrapp - 'A & E' (live at The Music Hall - Sept 14, 2008)
Video: Goldfrapp - 'Eat Yourself' (live at The Music Hall - Sept 14, 2008)
Video: Goldfrapp - 'Number One' (live at The Music Hall - Sept 14, 2008)
Video: Goldfrapp - 'Ooh La La' (live at The Music Hall - Sept 14, 2008)*
Video: Goldfrapp - 'Monster Love' (live at The Music Hall - Sept 14, 2008)

video courtesy of flickeringwasteland
* except which is from mrwillw

More reviews of the show from The Panic Manual, Fazer, Jam! Showbiz and Will-W, Wong (Facebook).

Chartattack has an interview with Alison.

MySpace: Great Lake Swimmers
MySpace: Goldfrapp

Moving Pictures, Silent Films

My TIFF-ing (yes, I've just made it a verb) was limited this year. I got partially caught up in the all the excitement with daily strolls by Toronto Life Square (I work right downtown) where I'd see the lineup to the box office, as well as the 'big board' of movie listings indicating a continually fluctuating of onsales and offsales. I ended up one Friday night just after work lining up for 2 hours to pick up tickets to one movie "In The Shadow of Naga" which would be the only movie I'd make it to this TIFF. It's premise of "monks with guns" and insight into Buddhist principles seemed promising though having seen it this past Thursday with a friend the pacing of the film was languid and sometimes melodramatic. Although piecing together the pieces of puzzle of the 'crime caper' (and the intertwinement of Buddhist principles) did offer its own thoughtfulness - I just wished I enjoyed the film overall more.

During the duration of the festival, my celebrity-watching was a bust, though not that I'd actually tried to hard (although I did even stroll through Yorkville for a glimpse of something/anything but no luck). I did make it to Yonge Dundas Square for a TIFF-related concert this past Thursday which had Emm Gryner and Great Lake Swimmers performing live as both artists appear on the soundtrack for the Canadian film "One Week". Amidst all the distractions of the surroundings, it'd be the last place I'd want to listen to Great Lake Swimmers but strangely Tony Dekker and band (which included Julie Fader on keys and backup vox) could still conjure up moments of beauty especially on the relevant-titled "Moving Pictures, Silent Films".

The festival's come and gone for another year. Perhaps it's a blessing that I didn't go to more films - I got a crap-load of DVD's at home that I need/want to catch up on.

Photos: Great Lake Swimmers @ Yonge Dundas Square (September 11, 2008).
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Although not TIFF-related, I just want to mention I'll be going to see Goldfrapp (whose music can be certainly cinematic, not to mention the frontpage of their website) at The Music Hall tonight. The Toronto Star and Chartattack did some pre-show press last week.

St. George and Bay

concert review: Great Lake Swimmers and friends (early show) @ Church Of The Redeemer(Toronto, Ontario), April 14, 2007



Capping off the Canadian leg of their current tour(which takes them next to Europe), Toronto's Great Lake Swimmers with a few special guests performed two immaculate shows(well, I'll vouch for the early show) Saturday night at Church Of The Redeemer in Toronto. It was my first time seeing a show in Church of The Redeemer which is a quaint, old church situated in downtown Toronto, conveniently off the subway line. Fortunately, I made it down to the church just before the show got started although on the other side of the coin, the pews and chairs were packed like if it were Easter Sunday. There were a few of us that ended up having to stand, so I made the best of it and stood at the back, situating myself almost directly in front of the centre aisle. Come to think of it, my view was fairly good - at the very least, my view was probably better than that of the people who were sitting down near the back who had to look over people's heads.

On deck for the show were of course head Swimmer Tony Dekker, with Erik Arnesen(banjo/guitar), Mike Overton(upright bass), and Colin Huebert(drums/percussion). The friends that night turned out to be Owen Pallett(aka Final Fantasy) on violin, pedal-steel extraordinaire Bob Egan, and the lovely Ms. Basia Bulat who provided some gorgeous vocals to the night, as well as Andy Magoffin manning the soundboard at the back of the church near where I was standing. Through roughly an hour and a quarter's set of material Tony Dekker performed his set through a variety of configurations. There were awesome full-band performances like set-opener "Your Rocky Spine", "I Am Part Of A Large Family" and "Moving Pictures, Silent Films"(a strikingly beautiful song already made even better by Basia Bulat's lovely vocal touch). Tony performed several numbers solo including the song he came back to the stage for the encore. Quite possibly the most sublime song of the night was the trio performance of "To Leave It All Behind" which featured some spare upright bass(courtsey of Mike) and violin(courtesy of Owen) accompaniement with Tony's guitar and fragile vocals.

At times the performance was a bit sleepy, although the band and Tony did make small efforts to keep the audience's interest. I was rather taken by the punctuated guitars of new song "Put There By The Land" off "Ongiara"; it's maybe the closest I've heard Great Lake Swimmers to rocking out. Maybe they'll even introduce some guitar distortion on future releases. A few times Tony Dekker in his shy way made an effort towards banter - humourous things like introducing "I Am Part Of A Large Family" as a song about being part of a large family(well duh!), or the interesting story about him living in Toronto or the first time, getting a job at a film company downtown and commuting the same four subway stops for a period of time which led him to integrating those subway stop names("Spadina", "St. George", "Bay" and "Yonge") into the lyrics of his song "I Will Never See The Sun"). Maybe it's no coincidence that Tony chose to end the Canadian leg of his current tour at Church Of The Redeemer which is located off the subway line between "St George" and "Bay".

I was rather disappointed that there was no sort of creative, mood lighting utilized at all although I could understand that maybe the church wasn't equipped for such things. The lighting was probably beneficial to those taking photographs and were up close but from my vantage point at the back of the church the lack of mood lighting was a disappointment considering how much Great Lake Swimmers music might have benefitted from it within the church's glorious surroundings. It was good news to hear from Tony that the evening(well at least the early show) was being recorded by CBC Radio, presumably for radio broadcast but hopefully also for a live album release if we could be so lucky.

NOW Magazine speaks with Great Lake Swimmers' Tony Dekker about the collective vibe that permeated the recording of the band's newest album "Ongiara".

MySpace: Great Lake Swimmers

Backstage With The Modern Dancers

I'm surprised I haven't seen this mentioned on any blogs yet, but Great Lake Swimmers have a new music video for their song "Backstage With The Modern Dancers" which is off their recently released new album "Ongiara". The video is directed by local talent Scott Cudmore.

video: Great Lake Swimmers - Backstage With The Modern Dancers (music video) (YouTube)

MySpace: Great Lake Swimmers




On the other side of the pond, Sweden's The Concretes are ready to release their third album "Hey Trouble" in Sweden on April 4. I have no idea when and if there'll be a domestic release. The new album will be the first to feature drummer Lisa Milberg as the new lead vocalist. Here's a music video for their song "Kids" from the new album, a song which I'd noted previously, "...tells the story of Lisa and Maria growing up, sat side by side by the record player, forming a taste in and for music that would much later result in The Concretes." As the band points out on their MySpace blog, music blog Obtusity has taken time to write an essay about the video.

Video: The Concretes - Kids (music video) (YouTube)
Video: The Concretes - Kids (music video) (Quicktime)

MySpace: The Concretes

There Is A Light

Great Lake Swimmers were on MTV Live yesterday. GLS' Tony Dekker talked about the new album "Ongiara" then him and the band performed new songs "Your Rocky Spine", "I Am A Part Of A Large Family" and "There Is A Light". (Sorry, I think only Canadian residents will be able to view this.) I found the first 2 songs more 'uptempo' than I'm used to hearing GLS. The third song was more how I like GLS - hushed, tranquil, and atmospheric. I'm looking forward to seeing Tony and co. when they come to Church of the Redeemer in Toronto on April 14[two shows scheduled, one at 6 pm and the second at 9 pm - get tickets while they're still available]. Check GLS' MySpace or band website for more tour dates.

The new GLS album, entitled "Ongiara", will be released on March 27th 2007 in Canada (two weeks later in Europe, and in May in the U.S.).

Tony spoke to The Star Phoenix about the experience of recording the new album in "...an abandoned grain silo on the outskirts of Port Colborne, Ont., near Lake Erie in the rural area where he spent his youth."[via Largehearted Boy] Hamilton, ON's View Magazine also spoke to Tony.(Hope I can make it to GLS' show in Hamilton at Pepper Jack's tomorrow.)