Osheaga Music and Arts Festival @ Parc Jean Drapeau, Montreal (August 1-2, 2009)

It's always daunting writing a review of a multi-day concert festival, so rather than work up a headache over it let's just stick to the highlights. Compared to past Toronto Virgin Festivals which took place over at Olympic Island, Montreal's Osheaga Music and Arts Festival which took place at Parc Jean-Drapeau was such an easier experience. The Metro runs from the mainland right over to Parc Jean-Drapeau on the island. The 2-day festival was operated over four stages with two side stages which were down a path at the farther edge of the island while the two main stages were side by side. The two main stages alternated performances so that as one stage concluded the other stage would begin the next set almost immediately or with minimal wait time.

During the first day of the festival, a friend and I caught La Roux, K'Naan, Elbow, Jason Mraz, The Roots, and Coldplay. La Roux's electro-dance-pop was enjoyable although I wasn't really in the mood for it that sunny afternoon. Toronto's K'naan was far more enjoyable than I expected, fusing hip-hop, r'n'b, pop and his Somalian upbringing into songs that were danceable and singable. I particularly liked his song "Wavin' Flags" which featured K'naan prompting the crowd to sing along to the chorus. UK's Elbow turned out a gratifying festival set of their emotive pop-rock. I'm not a fan of Jason Mraz - I guess he does a capable job of his blue-eyed soul and r'n'b although I found him particularly out of place amidst the mostly alt-rock acts of the weekend. The Roots were by far one of the best sets of the weekend playing many of their most well known songs, and throwing in some great covers like Guns n' Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine" and Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up". Say what you will, but Coldplay know how to headline. Playing many of their most well-known songs, they also kept things interesting by playing some more intimate performances at different stages setup in the crowd. They even did a touching acoustic tribute to Michael Jackson with a fantastic cover of "Billie Jean". Oh, the yellow balloons during "Yellow" and the confetti bombs later on were magnificent. Off to the right of the stage in the distance, an unrelated fireworks display added a further visual element to the already memorable set.

Day Two of the festival my companion and I took in The Ting Tings, Vampire Weekend, Rufus Wainwright, The Decemberists, Arctic Monkeys, Tiga(well I caught him brifly myself), and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The early part of the day experienced some torrential downpours even during part of The Ting Tings' set. I'm not too much a fan of them at least compared to the friend I was with but they put on a fun festival set I guess. The sky would clear up basically for the rest of the day after that thankfully. Vampire Weekend's set was neither here nor there for me - I don't hate 'em, but I don't love 'em either - but seeing them play the same stage that Coldplay played the night before, I realized that Vampire Weeked are no where near capable of playing a stage of that size. They have some fun songs, but on a such a big stage, they're boring to watch. Another of the greatest sets of the weekend belonged to hometown boy Rufus Wainwright playing a solo set of his torchy, cabaret-like pop songs. His mom Kate McGarrigle joined on piano for Rufus rousing rendition of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". Rufus also performed a fantastic cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". Confined to a festival-length set(ie. about an hour), The Decemberists', dressed to the nines, took the stage to concentrate on their most recent album "The Hazards of Love" - proggish, conceptual, and dramatic. It's quite different from the sea-shanty folk-pop of their older material, but the new material's also of the type that really fit well on a big stage. I'd stuck around for the first part of Arctic Monkey's set, enough to see they've grown shaggy heads of hair and to experience their scrappy pop-rock, before venturing on my own to the MEG stage to catch a bit of Montreal DJ Tiga who was stirring up a dance storm as the day turned to night. I headed back to the Arctic Monkey's just in time to hear off in the distance as they segued into their hit "You Look Good On The Dancefloor". Unfortunately, my solo venture to Tiga's set made it difficult for me to hook back up with my friend for Yeah Yeah Yeahs set so with a quick text to meet afterwards, I positioned myself as close to the front of the stage as I could possibly get and settled in for the YYY's. One could argue, without much debate, that Karen O is Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I can't possibly imagine the band without her. A commanding front-person both vocally and visually, she sung with energy and emotion and presented herself in a dizzying array of colorful attire and costume. Karen sent out a special message to Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch and wishing him well during his current health issues. I was initially disappointed that Beastie Boys had to cancel their headlining slot but Yeah Yeahs more than stepped up to the plate. And wasn't that giant eyeball as part of Yeah Yeah Yeahs stage set up just friggin' fantastic?

Photos: Osheaga Music and Arts Festival @ Parc Jean-Drapeau, Montreal (August 1, 2009)
Photos: Osheaga Music and Arts Festival @ Parc Jean-Drapeau, Montreal (August 2, 2009)

Dive Deep

I had no idea that Morcheeba were releasing a new album until I read the news over at Speed of Dark, but apparently the band's new album "Dive Deep" was released in the UK today. I haven't heard it yet...actually I'd lost interest in them for a while, mostly because I don't think they'd come to Toronto for a full band tour since maybe circa "Big Calm"(I think a few of them came over for a mini acoustic set a few years ago but that's it). According to their MySpace, they'll be in Toronto for a show at The Opera House on March 30. Songs from the new album are streaming at their MySpace.

Cat Power was in the BBC 6 Music Studio's for a live performance on the George Lamb show. Listen here and also check out some photos from the session. Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues are at Kool Haus on February 9.

The Raveonettes performed an acoustic session for LiveDaily recently - they performed stripped-down versions of "Dead Sound", "Aly Walk With Me", and "Lust", three new tunes off their latest record, "Lust Lust Lust". They come to The Opera House in Toronto on March 21. [via Skatterbrain]

Via Pitchfork comes confirmation of an upcoming New Pornographers/Okervill River tour. Both bands will be at the Phoenix Concert Theatre on April 9. Also confirmed lately, sometime-New Pornographer(although not for the upcoming April 9 show at the Phoenix), Dan Bejar aka Destroyer has his own show booked for Lee's Palace on April 19[via Chromewaves].

Eels return to Toronto for a show at The Mod Club on April 4 to promote its latest discs(yes, plural), hits and rarities collections ("Meet the Eels" and "Useless Trinkets", respectively). Via Pitchfork.

NME reports that Billy Bragg and The Blokes newest album 'Mr Love And Justice', is slated to be released in the US on April 22. The UK release date is March 3. NME has the tracklisting.

Just a reminder, that blog-faves Vampire Weekend make what I believe is their network television debut tomorrow night on Late Show With David Letterman. Their debut self-titled full-length was just released in North America recently.

Who'd have thought that perky television chef/cutie Rachael Ray was an indie rock fan. She invited Battles and Holy Fuck to perform at her SXSW party. I bet she makes some mean barbeque.

California (All The Way)

Stay tuned today for the announcement of the Coachella lineup. Update: Among the early confirmations for this year's Coachella are Portishead, My Morning Jacket, and The Verve according to Billboard. The rest of the lineup is expected to be announced by later on today. Update: Billboard updated their original story and other confirmed acts for Coachella include Jack Johnson, Kraftwerk, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters (performing the band's classic album "Dark Side of the Moon"), the Breeders, Rilo Kiley, Death Cab For Cutie, the reunited Love And Rockets, Justice, M.I.A., Sasha & Digweed, Fatboy Slim, Cafe Tacuba, and The Raconteurs. Update: Full lineup here. The Canadian contingent going down to Cali for Coachella include Tegan and Sara, Stars, Islands, Metric, Holy Fuck, and DJ A-Trak.

One of the bands rumored to be there this year(and who could possibly sway me to consider to go to Coachella this year) is Portishead who recently announced some long-overdue tour dates, with more dates to come(cross your fingers for Toronto!). Update: Portishead headline the second night of the 3-day Coachella festival.

From Blown Speakers points out that Vancouver indie-choral group The Choir Practice will be singing the US and Canadian National Anthems for tonight's Vancouver/Minnesota NHL game - game's at 10 pm EST on SportsNet.

The Montreal Mirror spoke to Young Galaxy's Stephen Ramsay. Young Galaxy open for Peter, Bjorn and John at the Phoenix on January 22.

I guess I haven't been paying attention. Firstly, I didn't know that Metric had filmed a live performance(at Metropolis in Montreal in 2006) of theirs for a DVD. Secondly, I didn't know that they show the film at The Royal in Toronto twice last week(including Jimmy, Emily and Joshua participating in a Q & A after the screening). Well, the DVD "Live at Metropolis" gets its release on February 12 and BlogTO linked to the trailer. The band takes a break from the recording of its fourth album and to celebrate the release of the new DVD with a show at Sound Academy in Toronto on February 7.

The Kooks are back in Toronto for a 19+ show at The Mod Club on February 11, onsale through Ticketmaster on January 26 at 10 am, tickets $20.00.

Brooklyn's Vampire Weekend performed a live session on BBC 6 Music's George Lamb program last week which you can listen to here and see some photos from the session here. They return to Toronto for a show at Horseshoe Tavern on February 11. The band's self-titled debut full-length gets its official release January 29 through XL Recordings.

In addition to their already announced date in Toronto at Circa on March 28, Crystal Castles have a secret show in Toronto on February 21. Full dates over at their MySpace.

While we wait patiently for the new album from Kathleen Edwards entitled "Asking For Flowers"(out March 4), the Hamilton forum at Stille Post is indicating a show in their fair city on March 22 at Westside Concert Theatre, tickets $25.00. I'd assume a Toronto date wouldn't be far off.

Domino Records is streaming clips of songs from UK's Lightspeed Champion (ie. Dev Hynes) debut album "Falling Off The Lavender Bridge", out in the UK this week and in North America the following week. Frankly, I never had listened to his music until last week when Chromewaves wrote a post about him - his music is quite lovely at times. There's something about Brits performing twangy, pastoral pop music - it just sounds so good. As Chromewaves mentioned last week, Lightspeed Champion is heading to North America for SXSW and an acoustic tour with a stop in Toronto on Tuesday March 4 at Horseshoe Tavern(Tuesdays at the Horseshoe traditionally being no cover, Nu Music Nite). It's circled on my calendar as a definite maybe.

I See A Mansard Roof Through The Trees

concert review: Vampire Weekend, We're Marching On, The Torrent @ El Mocambo (Toronto, Ontario), December 13, 2007



I like to think that I'm not easily swayed by the buzz surrounding certain new bands but when something as savorily saccharine as Brooklyn band Vampire Weekend's "Mansard Roof" is, with it's playful keyboards, lush strings, and strummed guitar, vibrant rhythm section, and delectable melodies, that was enough for me to decide to check out the band live when they came to Toronto for a show at El Mocambo last week on December 13.

Opening the show were Toronto 3-piece The Torrent, generally a guitar/drums/keyboards configuration, with some violin at times. The baritone vocals of Cameron Groves reminded me of Calvin Johnson although not as deep perhaps and the minimalist guitar/keyboards/drums arrangements had a new-wavey pop feel a la B-52's . Guitarist Michael Edward Barry was in The Hidden Cameras - his guitar playing was primitive but was more than well-suited to the music. Tara Azzopardi did double-duty energetically alternating between keyboards and drums. I think they're a new band - they're MySpace songs have barely a 100 hits as of now. They're official website indicates they're full-length is out this spring. You can also check them out live in January, first on the 11th at Silver Dollar, then on the 27th at Sneaky Dee's as part of Wavelength.

Next up were Toronto's We're Marching On, a group of young gents exhuberantly performing their brand of skewed pop music, hints of melody intermixed with quickly strummed electric guitar, added keyboards, and vocals that at their most vibrant were shouty and yelpy. Prior to the start of their set, I'd ducked out of the club only to come back to find that the club had filled in nicely(and quickly I might add) for We're Marching On's set. They were energetic, and yes even entertaining - I could imagine them bringing down the house say at The Boat or Sneaky Dee's, a few of Toronto's more indie rock oriented music venues - but the crowd at the El Mocambo, from what I recall seemed somewhat subdued. I believe the gent on keyboards is also in Ohbijou if I'm not mistaken, but then you know, all these indie rock kids start to look the same after a while.

And finally, Brooklyn four-piece Vampire Weekend. They set up their own equipment, at that time giving the audience a glimpse of their now-somewhat-known preppy wardrobe, albeit the keyboardist and drummer in particular looking like they just rolled out of bed. But for all the preconceptions of them being spoiled rich kids just because they all met while going to Ivy League school Columbia University, I couldn't give a shit. Their self-proclaimed music style of "upper west side Soweto" is interesting - I think they succeed when the Paul Simon "Graceland"-era comparisons are toned down. While the African-esque "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" on it's own merits is an entertaining melodic throwaway, part of it sounds like it came straight out of "The Lion King". During that song and a few other moments I felt their appropriation of African rhythms and instrumentation(based on my layman's knowledge of African music) felt a little unsettling(ie. how is that this Brooklyn band came to be influenced by such influences. Is this a gimmick?). Fortunately, I think the guys succeeded overall in not sounding too gimmicky. They started their set straight off with my favourite song off their MySpace, "Mansard Roof", later performing the punchy English Beat-esque pop of "APunk". The band got the audience involved with a song entitled "One(Blake’s Got A New Face)" being sure to point out that the song "One" that they would perform was not a cover of either the Metallica or U2 song, although Metallica's "One" was obviously present in part of the guitar arrangements of Vampire Weekend's "One". At a point in the song, lead vocalist Koenig got the audience to shout out the song's bracketed titled ie. "Blake's Got A New Face", which the audience did with enthusiasm. The musicianship was skillfully performed overall, more than enough proof that these guys are no flukes. Their debut album will be in stores on January 29 of the new year through XL Recordings and you can see the tracklisting here.

Check out a few of my photos from the show.

MySpace: The Torrent
MySpace: We're Marching On
MySpace: Vampire Weekend