NXNE (June 15-16, 2012)

  Friends @ Lee's Palace: photo by Michael Ligon

First, apologies for the lack of posts this summer. I wish I could say I was off on same fabulous adventures, but no I've just been lazy. Oh and pooped from work and not wanting to deal with the summer heat. It's not to say that I've stopped going to shows - I've been to a bunch of good ones this summer and over the next week or so will make an effort to at the very least get up the photos. Don't hold your breath for reviews (well, at least in-depth ones). I do hope you will stay tuned. So let's go way back to June and my last two nights of NXNE:

Friday June 15, 2012
Eight And A Half @ Yonge Dundas Square (7:30 pm) ----- Arts & Crafts supergroup of sorts featuring The Stills' Dave Hamelin and Liam O’Neil – and Broken Social Scene drummer Justin Peroff. I only caught a few songs and was more focused on people-watching in the square but what I'd heard of the band reminded me of semi-slick pop-rock of The Stills, although perhaps with more emphasis on synths.

Plants And Animals @ Yonge Dundas Square (8:30 pm) ----- As the sun was setting, I was a bit more focused for Montreal pop-rock trio Plants and Animals. A few of the members came out in long Blonde-haired wigs and Hawaiian shirts in what I thought was a half-successful attempt at ironic humour but the band settled into a set playing some old faves and think a few new tunes. A bit of a draggy set for me, they didn't take full control of the large crowd although I think they really could if they'd just put more effort towards crowd participation.

Diiv @ Lee's Palace (10 pm) ----- I caught the tail-end of scruffy young Brooklyn trio whose debut full length Oshin just came out released through Brooklyn indie label Captured Tracks. I wished I'd caught more of the set as I'm pretty keen on their song "How Long Have You Known?" but I do remember Lee's already been pretty packed for their set. I also remember the band wearing baggy sweatshirts, like a group of skate-punks from the 90's.

Friends @ Lee's Palace (11 pm) ----- The main reason I'd ventured to Lee's (after feeling I'd not been there in ages ) was for the another Brookyn act whose rnb / funk / disco / pop melange seemed like a fun set to check out. With echoes of Tom Tom Club, Madonna and perhaps ESG and their minimalist approach with bits of percussion, guitar and bass, keys and vocals, I sort of imagined them as a band that might have sprung out of the NYC post punk scene of the early 80's after discovering Chic and disco and the power of booty-shaking. Pretty entertaining set and the crowd was having a lot of fun, as my photo above asserts.


  Crowd @ The Flaming Lips, Yonge Dundas Square: photo by Michael Ligon

Saturday June 16, 2012
The Flaming Lips @ Yonge Dundas Square (9-11 pm) ----- With initial plans for me and my brother to take in the Radiohead concert down at Downsview Park taking a tragic turn of events, the one positive outcome was opening the opportunity to catch the free NXNE headlining performance down at YDS featuring none other than Oklahoma City's finest. A capacity crowd filling every nook and cranny in the square and a few of the surrounding streets (Yonge st. and Dundas Sq had both been closed off), frontman Wayne Coyne took the stage and wasted no time to acknowledge the tragic events that forced the cancellation of the Radiohead show earlier in the day. Retweets of Coyne's tweet earlier in the day had extended an invitation to the Radiohead crew to come by their show and there were rumours amok that maybe Radiohead would even play a song. Well that did not pan out but as a consolation of sorts the Lips performed their poignant cover of Radiohead's "Knives Out". From my vantage point, I hardly actually saw the band nor the stage but once the balloons and confetti started floating above us, it hardly didn't matter. The set list was alright (all that I wished they'd played either "Fight Test" or "Race For The Prize") but their encore of "Do You Realize?" was an appropriate and stunning closer.

Photos: NXNE (June 15-16, 2012)

Supercrawl in Hamilton, ON (September 10, 2011)

While the Toronto International Film Festival occupied most of my time during the period of September 8 to the 18, I'd consciously took Septemeber 10 off in order to check out a arts and music festival called Supercrawl in Hamilton, ON. I'd heard of the festival for a few years now and had hopes of going but it didn't happen, but when I'd seen the musical lineup this year which included amongst others, Broken Social Scene, J Mascis, Plants and Animals and Basia Bulat performing with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, I made up my mind quick to check it out. Somewhat serendipitously, I was clued into the festival and the music lineup by Basia Bulat herself who I'd spoke to briefly after her solo show in Mississauga at Celebration Square just a week prior to Supercrawl.

Taking over several blocks of Hamilton's James Street North neighbourhood, there was an array of artwork, sculptures, vendors, and music stages. While I was there primarily for the music, I was impressed with the art that could be found at different spots along the street - photographs, paintings, street murals, sculptures. As well there was an array of artisans selling and vendors selling their wares. In addition to that, there was a variety of food trucks, food vendor as well as local restaurants and cafes providing a variety of food choices for hungry Supercrawl-ers. But yes it was the music lineup that brought me out, and in short it was fantastic.

It was only by chance that I caught Toronto's Bruce Peninsula as I'd happened by their free show (a CD release at that for their new album "Open Flames" which comes out October 4) at Christ’s Church Cathedral. Apparently, Toronto's Snowblink had opened the show. Funny, but I'd never had seen the band live before, and have more than an ounce of regret after hearing what little I did that day. Within the sublime acoustics and environs of the church, the vibrant, vocal indie-folk of the band was mesmerizing. I'd only caught their last song and their encore, but it was enough to count me now as a convert. The band are in the midst of a tour and will be in Toronto on October 27 for a show at Lee's Palace.


Bruce Peninsula @ Supercrawl: photo by Michael Ligon

Having only seen Basia Bulat the week before, playing a solo show in Mississauga at Celebration Square, I was super excited to see her perform with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. With the Orchestra adding illustrious arrangements to Basia's tunes and with Basia herself changing the phrasing of her vocals somewhat, these versions were quite a bit different than I'd heard from her before. And yes it worked very well. As a Hamilton outsider, when I think of Hamilton, a symphony orchestra does not come to mind, but after this set, Hamilton has proven its cultural depth with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra's blissful performance with Miss Bulat.


Basia Bulat with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra @ Supercrawl: photo by Michael Ligon

As the sun went down and then set, after a long setup, Montreal trio Plants and Animals took the stage for a vibrant set of their tactile and jammy rock music. "Faerie Dance" with the audience participation of "la la la la la la la la la" was perhaps their finest moment of the night. Terribly disappointing that the band's long set-up time meant the band had to cut their set short, but otherwise it was a fine set.


Plants and Animals @ Supercrawl: photo by Michael Ligon

Who might Paley and Francis be? Well, the Francis refers to Black Francis - yes, that one, sometimes also referred to as Frank Black. But no this was not a Pixies set nor the Frank Black show. Francis and Paley (Reid Paley that is) took relatively equal duties on lead vocals, and the music drew a bit on the garage rock eccentricities of the Pixies though perhaps with a bit of a blues flavour. With the duo rounded out with a bass player and drummer, it was not as electrifying as I'd hope it be but still to see Black Francis was exciting.


Paley and Francis @ Supercrawl: photo by Michael Ligon

Shooting back to the mainstage I went, to catch Dinosaur Jr. frontman J Mascis sitting on a chair, playing his acoustic guitar through an amp and performing some of Dinosaur Jr.'s more well known songs. Later on in the set, J would bring up Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew to sing along on "Not Enough". Musically I loved it and J tore through some fantastic guitar solos, although as a whole it was somewhat underwhelming to watch a solo set as the quiet crowd gazed towards him. Part of me wished I could have caught Junior Boys' set down the street, but that stage was too far to get to and I wanted to secure a spot for Broken Social Scene's headlining set.


J Mascis (with Kevin Drew) @ Supercrawl: photo by Michael Ligon

Broken Social Scene's show at Harbourfront Centre in 2009 was my favourite show by them ever, with the extended BSS family like Feist and Emily Haines popping out the woodworks to make it a very special show. Broken Social Scene are a much more streamlined animal these days with a core lineup of Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Charles Spearin, Andrew Whiteman, Justin Peroff, Lisa Lobsinger and Sam Goldberg making up the band. Kevin mentioned that this was their last show in Ontario for a long time, and with recent news of the band going on an indefinite hiatus, I'm glad to have caught the band this time. No special guests unfortunately for this how, but the band did seem to have a pep in their step as they played selection of favourites from their last three albums and apparently also including a cover of Modest Mouse's "World At Large". It was neither the band's best nor worst show but as a capper to the festival it was a keeper. I have no doubt the band will be back (and have not broken up). I think we've all started to take the band for granted, especially over the last several years, and I think now's the perfect time for the band to take a break, both for themselves and from us, but I think when the band eventually make their return, it will be monumental.


Broken Social Scene @ Supercrawl: photo by Michael Ligon

For my complete photoset of Supercrawl, check out the link below:

Photos: Supercrawl in Hamilton, ON (September 10, 2011)

Canadian Musicfest w/ Plants & Animals, Think About Life, The Brother Kite, that's the spirit, Maylee & PEGWEE POWER!! (March 12-13, 2010)

  Maylee & PEGWEE POWER!!: photo by Michael Ligon

Plants & Animals [MySpace] (March 12, 12 am, Lee's Palace): I already recounted how my Friday night during last week's Canadian Musicfest had started out. I ended up in line at Lee's Palace, optimistic I'd get in to the Billions/Chromewaves showcase but after waiting in line for an hour and half (and missing both The Russian Futurists' and The Acorn's sets) I just about threw in the towel, but fortunately the friendly people in line kept my spirits up and finally I got in just in time for Montreal trio Plants & Animals' set. I'd first seen them live during the 2008 Canadian Music Week festival at the Horseshoe (a bill which coincidentally also included The Acorn) but wasn't immediately impressed. They displayed a good amount of energy but their jammy qualities weren't in line with my musical tastes at the time. However, the strange thing is I ended up seeing them live in a park in Barcelona, Spain (as part of the Primavera Sound Festival), and maybe partially it had to do with the favourable response from the Spaniards, but Plants & Animals displayed such a 'joie de vivre' that pretty much converted me on the spot. Since then I'd also seen them perform live on the third stage at last year's Virgin Festival @ Molson Ampitheatre which was equally as enticing as their set in Barcelona. Last week's set at Lee's Palace showed the trio grateful to be playing in Toronto again. Their new album "La La La Land" set for release on April 20 provided most of the set's song choices, although the set did give nods to their debut like fan favourite "Faerie Dance" (and of course, it's audience singalong part of 'la-la-la-la la-la la-la la'). Although, the trio still possess a jam-my streak, it's something I'm less critical about these days, as the band seems to balance it nicely with equitable forays into more conventional pop songwriting. Energetically performed to the point of sweat-soaked shirts, the slight warble in the vocals of lead singer Warren Spicer complimented nicely the textured guitar strums and melodies and vibrant rhythm section.

Photos: Plants & Animals @ Lee's Palace (March 12, 2010)

Think About Life [MySpace] (March 12, 1 am, Lee's Palace): Montreal's Think About Life were the final band of the night for me. I'd been meaning to see them live based only on the good things I'd read about them and never ever hearing a note of them. Comprised of vocalist Martin Cesar, keyboard/guitarist Graham Van Pelt, drummer Matt Shane and bassist/vocalist/dancing girl Caila Thompson-Hannant, I was immediately drawn to their DIY-soul-pop-funk. Vocalist Martin Cesar wearing dark sunglasses exuded pure charisma in his stage presence, while bassist Caila was most appealing when she broke out into free-spirited dance moves, at times providing co-vocals as she cozied up to Martin. Musically, they remind me of a less-sample-happy Go Team!, mining a similar territory in their collision of pop, soul, and funk filtered through a DIY aesthetic. Performed loose and fun, and hey what was not more fun than when guitarist Van Pelt broke out into a Theme From Shaft-like guitar line, the crowd was eating every little bit up. When Cesar jumped down to the floor to get up close and personal with the crowd it was only icing on the cake. The band's most recent full-length entitled "Family" is out now.

Photos: Think About Life @ Lee's Palace (March 12, 2010)

The Brother Kite [MySpace] (March 13, 10 pm, Rancho Relaxo): A later start to Joanna Newsom's set over at the Phoenix meant that any 9 pm Canadian Musicfest plans were now shot. By the time Ms. Newsom's set ended and the time that it took to take the streetcar over to Rancho Relaxo I had about 20 minutes to spare before Providene, RI's The Brother Kite took the stage. The five member(4 guys, 1 girl) outfit specialized in a sound that was as much in debt to shoegaze as it is to Brian Wilson. What you get are spright melodies sung with buoyancy and musical instrumentation that straddles a line between a shoegazey textures and more cleaner sonics. While there was a respectable quantity of patrons in the establishment, I didn't feel the repsonse was overly enthusiastic which is very much a shame. The Brother Kite are very much a genre band ie. indiepop, shoegaze, what-have-you which is always a difficult thing to overcome, but if a slightly similar band like The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart can experience a certain amount of exposure and success, I'd think with some good promotion, The Brother Kite have bright things to look forward to.

Photos: The Brother Kite @ Rancho Relaxo (March 13, 2010)

that's the spirit (March 13, 11 pm, Rancho Relaxo): The last time I'd seen Ottawa's that's the spirit was at last year's NXNE as a duo featuring songwriter Ben Wilson on guitar/vox and friend Tom Thompson on pedal steel/guitar. It was a relatively hushed set of intricate, introspective pop, reminiscent of Red House Painters. For this year's Canadian Musicfest, Ben and Tom rounded out the band with a drummer and bassist, in turn amping up the volume and the rock. Ben sings in a somewhat introverted tone reminiscent of The Shins' James Mercer, so even while the full band performance provided a bit more grit and volume at times, they're hardly AC DC. But that's quite alright with me; we need introvertedness in music sometimes because really that's where some of the best music comes out of. Visually, they're kind of non-descript looking as a band and didn't exude much stage presence but thankfully they make up for it musically.

Photos: that's the spirit @ Rancho Relaxo (March 13, 2010)

Maylee & PEGWEE POWER!! [MySpace] (March 13, 12 am, Bread & Circus): The final act of the night and the festival for me was a local act I'd been meaning to see live for some time, called Maylee & Pegwee Power!! And wow, what a way to end! Coming out of left-field, the pixie-ish lead vocalist Maylee Todd broke all expectations I had of her, proving herself to be one of the most dynamic vocalists and performers Toronto has to offer. With her three-member band Pegwee Power which featured a drummer, stand-up bassist, and multi-instrumentalist(keyboards, trumpet, and at one point an old-school Sony walkman), Maylee (at times on guitar and harp) led the group through a variety of musical genres from Astrud-Gilberto-inflected jazz-pop, James Brown-like soul numbers, garage-y pop song, and pristine harp-augmented folk tunes. But it's not just the variety of musical genres tackled that is impressive but the fact that she can do them well and make each song feel so natural. It was one of the sleeper sets of Canadian Musicfest and one of the best Toronto music revelations I've had in a long time. What better way to end my Canadian Musicfest on that high note. Fortunately for you all, she'll be playing around town over the next two months with her next show being at The Drake on March 25. Do check her out.

Photos: Maylee & PEGWEE POWER!! @ Bread & Circus (March 13, 2010)

Locate The Pieces

Touring their most recent album "Last Light"[which I still haven't picked up yet], Matt Pond PA have announced more dates which include a stop in Toronto on April 2 at Lee's Palace which will be an opening slot for Carbon/Silicon (The Clash's/Big Audio Dynamite's Mick Jones & Generation X's/Sigue Sigue Sputnik's Tony James, plus Leo Williams of Big Audio Dynamite and Domonic Greensmith of Reef). Matt Pond PA has a new music video below(and Matt's penchant for popsmith-ery continues to be a wonder):

Video: Matt Pond PA - "Locate The Pieces" (music video)

The New Pornographers(including Neko Case) performed a live session of four tunes off of their most recent album "Challengers" at AOL's The Interface. They're at the Phoenix with Okkervil River on April 9.

At least according to Pollstar, Montreal's Plants and Animals will be part of the Chartattack CMW showcase taking place at the Horseshoe on March 6.

Pollstar also points out that White Denim are set to open for Tapes N' Tapes at The Opera House on April 14.

Kathleen Edwards, in celebration of her new album "Asking For Flowers" out March 4, will have a show at the Phoenix on April 23, tickets $22.50.

Torchy crooner k.d. Lang has annouced a whole bunch of tour dates which will include a stop at Massey Hall on May 31. Tickets on sale February 23 at 10 am.

And on today's date in 1964, The Beatles made their US television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, with an estimated viewership of 73 million people[if I recall correctly when I was listening to the radio this morning]:

Video: The Beatles - "I Want To Hold Your Hand" (live on The Ed Sullivan Show - Feb 9, 1964)

ps. Oh, congrats to Anne and Craig for winning the Nicole Atkins CD contest I ran a little while back. They'll be going out in the mail soon[Craig, I still need your address].

The Supine

concert review: Andrew Bird, Plants and Animals @ The Opera House (Toronto, Ontario), September 25, 2007

Montreal's Plants and Animals opened the night, of their set I'd only caught the last two songs, but which were enough to pique my interest. Their second last song was loud, with hints of an underlying melody trying to creep to the surface while their last song was on the other end of the spectrum, undeniably melodic, slow with some psychedelic pop influences. They're back in Toronto at Lee's Palace on November 16 then at The Drake Hotel on November 17.

Amidst a darkened stage, Andrew and his two bandmates(drummer & guitarist) took to the stage. I'm mostly a newbie to Mr. Bird's music only having made the effort for the first time earlier this year to listen to some of his songs. He straddles the line between standard pop conventions and more sophisticated, classical influences. His show at The Opera House was a fine performance, and somewhat like says Rufus Wainwright, Andrew Bird brings a new sophistication to pop music without suffocating what makes good pop music good - that is, the melodies. Andrew's an impressive multi-instrumentalist shifting from violin, to guitar, and xylophone, plus a generous amount of whistling, often times all within the same song. I also appreciated Andrew's different violin techniques, playing the standard way with a bow, but then shifting to playing it like a ukele and casually plucking at its strings. Not to leave his bandmates out, both drummer Martin Dosh and guitarist Jeremy Ylvisaker were more than capable in their own rights, adding subtle nuances to their arrangements. With a multitude of multi-coloured lighting effects and the wonderful vintage amps and spinning gramphophone-like contraption on stage, the visual elements complimented Andrew's tunes nicely. The only thing I felt missing from the show was more stage banter from Andrew, and given the conceptually abstact song titles of his most recent album "Armchair Apocrypha"[which I picked up at the show], you'd figure Mr. Bird would have more to say. A minor disappointment of what was otherwise a terrific set.

Check out a few photos from the show below. More of my photos from the show over at my Flickr.





Check out more reviews of the show at Torontoist and Jordan Bower's blog.

MySpace: Andrew Bird
MySpace: Plants and Animals