I'm back to work today with post-holiday depression almost setting in but I hope to stave off with some good musical things to look forward to(not that I'll be partaking in all of these, but hopefully at least a few of them):
Via Stillepost, Mongrels and The Brown Hornets will be at the Bovine to bring the rock this January 11. I can't speak for The Brown Hornets who I haven't heard yet, but I can vouch for Mongrels who I saw live last year in March opening for The Zoobombs at The Comfort Zone and to quote myself, they "...played a devasting set of rock riffage..." with Janis Joplin-esque vocals.
There's a few shows coming up this week that I'd only found out about - Aesop Rock will be at Sound Academy(formerly The Docks) on January 11 while De La Soul hit the same venue on January 18 - tickets for both shows $20.00.
Playing their first Toronto show in a long while(at least from what I recall), Magneta Lane will be at the Rivoli for an early show on January 16, playing new songs from their upcoming album "Gambling with God".
Republic of Safety are at Sneaky Dee's on January 26 for a "Border Closing Show" according to their MySpace - I'm assuming this is their hometown farewell show. It's a shame I only ever caught them once live(back in 2005 at the El Mo which I believe was one of their first live shows).
In addition to their already announced free show at Nathan Phillips Square on February 2(as part of WinterCity Festival), The Weakerthans will also be at Sonic Boom Records in Toronto the day prior on February 1(6:30 pm) for a free instore performance.[via It's Not The Band I Hate...]
North American tour dates are still forthcoming for February according to their MySpace, but newest Last Gang recording artists Crystal Castles, with Los Angeleans Health and Stab City are so far confirmed for a show in Hamilton, ON at The Casbah on February 22, tickets $10. [via Stille Post] I know I'm sort of a late-comer, but I'm addicted to their song "Crimewave".
Jose Gonzalez has introduced a whole bunch more of North American tour dates and will coming back to Toronto for a show at the Phoenix on March 15 - a portion of the tour(starting on Feb 29) will be in "eco-friendly" according to Pitchfork.
There's a few unconfirmed events that I came across: Dave Bookman's "3 n' Out" column in the Jan 3/08 column of Eye Weekly(the print version) mentions that the rumour is that The Constantines will celebrate their record release for their forthcoming still-to-be-titled new album with a shows on April 22 and 23. Also the Lee's Palace website indicates that Glasgow, Scotland's Sons and Daughters will be hitting the venue sometime in the near future[my guess would sometime after February but before they travel to Austin for SXSW in March]. The band's new album "This Gift" will released in North America on January 29 through Domino Records. Update: Thanks to Chromewaves for the S & D tour date info - they'll be at Lee's Palace on March 26 - info confirmed at their US booking company Ground Control Touring. Whoopee! (So, I was a little off with my estimate.)
In non-concert news, Billboard has details on the upcoming new Destroyer album "Trouble in Dreams" to be released March 19 through Merge and Torontoist has an interview with The Hidden Cameras' Mississauga-hatin' frontman Joel Gibb.
The Diableros have launched their new website and in the spirit of giving have graciously provided an mp3 of an acoustic version of their song "Broken Barns". Thanks guys! They'll be heading to SXSW in March but hopefully they'll squeeze in a hometown date or two. I finally got around to picking up their most recent album "Aren't Ready For The Country" but if you haven't yet, you can stream it here.
Showing posts with label Mongrels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mongrels. Show all posts
Monday, January 07, 2008
Sunday, March 11, 2007
CMW - March 9, 2007
concert review: Canadian Music Week in Toronto, March 9, 2007
1)The Besnard Lakes, Rock Plaza Central, Wayne Petti, Woolly Leaves @ Lee's Palace
I'd unfortunately missed Baby Eagle's set and only caught a few songs of Woolly Leaves acoustic country-folk but did manage to catch Cuff The Duke's Wayne Petti's set in its entirety. I was already a fan of Cuff The Duke's brand of alt-country, a band who put an interesting spin on country music with an interesting, sometimes artier interpretation but always had a knack for writing a good melody. Wayne's solo material maintains that melodicism with great success. He even tried to get the audience along for a sing-along which he achieved with at least partial success. Torontonians might not dance but they can definitely sing.
Rock Plaza Central definitely had a more energetic show this time around compared to their opening set for the Apples In Stereo at Lee's Palace a few weeks ago. They had the benefit of a 10 pm slot, and an energetic and appreciative crowd. The simple 3-chord melodicism of "Gutterdance" with the urgency in it's instrumentation and vocals was the highpoint of the set for me. The band's 3-way brass arrangements and background vocal harmonizing also were standouts as were the drummer's fluid playing and the violinist's lovely playing. At one point or another, every one in the band had their moment to shine. Best banter of the set: one of the brass playing members of the band who took the task of renaming everyone in the group using names of members from Public Enemy. I wonder if Public Enemy(who were in Toronto for CMW coincidentally) were in the audience if they would have found the joke funny.
The Besnard Lakes performed a set of eerie-sounding rock-pop psychedelia, utilizing alternating male/female vocals from Steve Raegele's cool falsetto at times to Jace Lasek's sweet(but not too sweet) vocals. Definitely something I'd like to explore in the future. And having read reviews about the band's music(well the vocals, melodies) being compared to the Beach Boys, yes I did hear that influence but Besnard Lake's version was more eerie than I would have imagined.
Here's the rest of my photos from Lee's Palace that night.
2)The Zoobombs, Mongrels @ The Comfort Zone
I rounded out the evening choosing to catch Dan Burke's show over at The Comfort Zone where I caught a portion of Montreal's Mongrels who played a devasting set of rock riffage led by the Janis Joplin-esque vocals of their female frontperson who wore a satin-y black/white/grey patterned dress with long black boots. Closing out the evening were Japan's The Zoobombs who didn't let the Mongrels upstage them in the least. I'd say that The Zoobombs played a much more varied sounding set this time compared to the times I'd seen them live in the past, going from garage rock, to funky jams, to something which almost aspired to hip-hop and even a song that closely resembled melodic indie rock. The Zoobombs only played about an hour with no encore, but since it was getting late I couldn't really blame them.
Here's the rest of my photos from The Zoobombs' set that night.
1)The Besnard Lakes, Rock Plaza Central, Wayne Petti, Woolly Leaves @ Lee's Palace
I'd unfortunately missed Baby Eagle's set and only caught a few songs of Woolly Leaves acoustic country-folk but did manage to catch Cuff The Duke's Wayne Petti's set in its entirety. I was already a fan of Cuff The Duke's brand of alt-country, a band who put an interesting spin on country music with an interesting, sometimes artier interpretation but always had a knack for writing a good melody. Wayne's solo material maintains that melodicism with great success. He even tried to get the audience along for a sing-along which he achieved with at least partial success. Torontonians might not dance but they can definitely sing.
Rock Plaza Central definitely had a more energetic show this time around compared to their opening set for the Apples In Stereo at Lee's Palace a few weeks ago. They had the benefit of a 10 pm slot, and an energetic and appreciative crowd. The simple 3-chord melodicism of "Gutterdance" with the urgency in it's instrumentation and vocals was the highpoint of the set for me. The band's 3-way brass arrangements and background vocal harmonizing also were standouts as were the drummer's fluid playing and the violinist's lovely playing. At one point or another, every one in the band had their moment to shine. Best banter of the set: one of the brass playing members of the band who took the task of renaming everyone in the group using names of members from Public Enemy. I wonder if Public Enemy(who were in Toronto for CMW coincidentally) were in the audience if they would have found the joke funny.
The Besnard Lakes performed a set of eerie-sounding rock-pop psychedelia, utilizing alternating male/female vocals from Steve Raegele's cool falsetto at times to Jace Lasek's sweet(but not too sweet) vocals. Definitely something I'd like to explore in the future. And having read reviews about the band's music(well the vocals, melodies) being compared to the Beach Boys, yes I did hear that influence but Besnard Lake's version was more eerie than I would have imagined.
Here's the rest of my photos from Lee's Palace that night.
2)The Zoobombs, Mongrels @ The Comfort Zone
I rounded out the evening choosing to catch Dan Burke's show over at The Comfort Zone where I caught a portion of Montreal's Mongrels who played a devasting set of rock riffage led by the Janis Joplin-esque vocals of their female frontperson who wore a satin-y black/white/grey patterned dress with long black boots. Closing out the evening were Japan's The Zoobombs who didn't let the Mongrels upstage them in the least. I'd say that The Zoobombs played a much more varied sounding set this time compared to the times I'd seen them live in the past, going from garage rock, to funky jams, to something which almost aspired to hip-hop and even a song that closely resembled melodic indie rock. The Zoobombs only played about an hour with no encore, but since it was getting late I couldn't really blame them.
Here's the rest of my photos from The Zoobombs' set that night.
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