The fates seemed destined to make my first experience at a Radiohead concert a terrible one. Between the torrential downpour, getting stuck in the muddy lawn of the Molson Amphitheatre, and being surrounded by a group of drunken assholes, I was finding it a little hard to get into the show. Luckily, the rain stopped the minute the band walked on stage, and I managed to ignore the jerks for most of the show. Walking through the Exhibition, there were two rainbows ending directly at the amphitheatre, which I now know was a good omen.
The opener was 15 Step, going in line with the new album. The light show kicked in after the second verse, and it was pretty impressive. I knew beforehand that In Rainbows would be played in its entirety, so the rest of the set would have to be made up of older material. While all the albums (minus Pablo Honey) got some representation, they surprisingly skipped out on their mainstream hits (by which I refer to stuff like Karma Police, Just, and the like.) That’s not a complaint, as you can see below it was a pretty diverse set. Notable surprises were Talk Show Host and Climbing up the Walls. The atmosphere was just haunting. Other highlights for me were All I Need, Wolf at the Door, Planet Telex, and Street Spirit. Planet Telex in particular had the best moments of the light show, with a psychedelic rainbow backdrop on the stage. Thom Yorke’s thanks for braving the elements was followed by advice to find someone to take home and get warm. While the stage banter was light, what was given was enjoyable.
I could’ve used Fake Plastic Trees or Let Down, but I was pleased with what I got. The only song I would’ve booted off the setlist was Pyramid Song. Not my cup of tea. Hopefully my next Radiohead experience will be drier and closer to the stage, but it was definitely an awesome show.
Setlist
15 Step
Reckoner
Optimistic
There There
Morning Bell
All I Need
Pyramid Song
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
The Gloaming
Wolf at the Door
Faust Arp
No Surprises
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Idioteque
Climbing Up The Walls
Nude
Bodysnatchers
First Encore
Like Spinning Plates
Videotape
Airbag
Talk Show Host
Street Spirit (Fade Out)
Second Encore
House of Cards
Planet Telex
Everything In Its Right Place
For the past couple of years, a free music and arts festival has been put on in downtown London in September, this year from the 18th to the 21st. Last year saw Final Fantasy, Grizzly Bear and The Constantines on the bill, this year has a bunch of relative unknowns. Holy Fuck returns from last year, and I know of Do Make Say Think, Plants and Animals, Bocce and the Hylozoists, but the rest is new to me. I would’ve preferred more star power to the line-up, but since it’s free, I’m not sure how much I can complain. Any recommendations from the rest of the bands playing?
The Lineup
Do Make Say Think
Plants & Animals
Holy Fuck
The Drift
Hylozoists
Torngat
Sandro Perri / Silences Sumire
Laura Barrett
Feuermusik
Off The International Radar
Muskox
Bocce
Tin
Olenka & The Autumn Lovers
We Are Wolves
Woodhands
Megasoid
Lowfish
Nada Surf make perfect pop songs. And they’re really great songs too. I’m always surprised that they aren’t bigger than they are.
They hit huge in ‘96 with their massive single “Popular”, than they were dumped by their major label. 7 years later they came out with Let Go and have been working their way back up in the indie music scene.
Their new album Lucky is my new soundtrack for this summer. Each song just bounces with catchy hooks and pretty interesting turns. It’s very easy to listen to, but has enough depth to keep bringing you back, not revealing everything at first listen. The album’s center track, “Are You Lightning?” is one of my favorite love songs written in the past few years.
I also got the chance to go see them a few weeks ago at the beautiful Opera House. First thing i noticed was the much older crowd. I’m guessing most of them have been following them since 1996… I even spotted a couple of The Barenaked Ladies in the crowd. But anyways, it was a pretty solid show, of almost 2 hours of pop rock perfection.
Have a listen, and pick their music!
http://www.barsuk.com/shop/nadasurf
Hopefully everyone got their tickets in today’s Radiohead melee. I can’t wait until August.
In other concert-going news, tonight I saw Born Ruffians at Call the Office. I wasn’t entirely familiar with them, but I’ve listened to the new album, which I found intriguing, and $10 was the right price. Plus, I needed a study-break, so it fit the bill.
Opening was the Problems out of Guelph, featuring a bassist with an unfortunate mustache, a guitarist with a crutch as a fashion statement, and the drummer from Cuff the Duke, who’s suggested problem was a colostomy bag. *ba dum ching* But seriously, this was quirky, fun rock and roll with more of that banter I love. The only song title I recall was “How to Raise a Canary,” but they delivered a solid set of quick songs that left me wanting more.
The next act was Young Rival. I saw them in Port Dover three or four years ago when they were known as the Ride Theory, and aside from the name, not much has changed. It was dull, boring and kind of lifeless rock. It felt like there was no energy coming off the stage. I’m sure they’re technically good at what they do, but I just don’t get them.
Finally, Born Ruffians took the stage, despite the singer appearing to have a bit of a cold. Normally when I see bands I’m not too familiar with, there’s a bit of a disconnect. However, from the opening chords of Red Yellow and Blue I was drawn into the ensuing party. I wish I knew more of the lyrics at the time so I could’ve joined in the joyous sing-along more than I did. It felt like going down a rollercoaster, minus the fear of dying. Best of all they finished off the set with my favourite song off the new album, I Need a Life, prior to coming back for an encore. I highly recommend you see them if you get the chance.
This Thursday I attended my first Foo Fighters concert, an event several years in the making. Skipping opening acts Hi-Fi Handgrenades and Against Me, I arrived about 15 minutes before the Foos started their set. I managed to get to a spot on the floor with a decent view for most of the night. The opening song was “Let it Die,” from the surprisingly solid Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace, and it set the tone for a night made up of hit singles. I was a little disappointed the band didn’t delve further into their catalogue, but that’s to be expected at this point in their career. They did however pull out Stacked Actors, Cold Day in the Sun and Nirvana rarity Marigold.
I challenge anyone to not be won over by Dave Grohl’s charisma. After running across the arena to the second stage to play a 5 song acoustic set, greeting the audience with “Now who has the shitty seats, fuckers?!” reminded me why I’m a fan. Not to mention finally hearing Everlong live. Though looking back at the setlist, the best song of the night was clearly Monkey Wrench, if only for the shouting of an arena prior to the final chorus. The Big Me Mentos story was also a hit, largely due to the spot-on Rivers Cuomo impersonation. Apparently Weezer covering the song during the Foo Fighters/Weezer tour from a few years back is the reason it’s back on the set list. It’s a pretty enjoyable cover. I walked away from the night with a handful of blurry photos, a t-shirt, and a smile on my face.
Feeling somewhat bored and in need of adventure on a Thursday evening, I decided to make a trip to the Salt Lounge to see the former voice of Death from Above 1979. Being unfamiliar with his solo material with the Mountains barring a few listens via his website, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. Luckily, I experienced some excellent rocking.
The opening band was a local one, known as To Tell. And I’m sorry to have to tell (*snicker*) you this, but they weren’t my cup of tea. After opening with a thoroughly out of place cover of Sweet Caroline, I was expecting a Neil Diamond cover band, but got a rather obnoxious poppy punk band in the vein of, oh I don’t know, +44 or something. Combine that with the guitarist being cut out of nearly the entire final song, and it all seemed rather amateurish.
The next band, Hot Springs, was more to my liking. Hailing from Montreal, they made an impression on me with some of the weirdest stage banter I’ve heard since Isaac Brock. The lead singer seems to have a little Karen O. in her, and it made for some great music to warm up for the main show.
Finally, Sebastien graced the stage and opened the show by claiming that tonight, “someone’s gonna get PREGNANT.” Sebastien et les Montagnes proceeded to rock out for the rest of the night. Sebastien’s antics on stage made the show well worth the price of admission, and the new tunes, which had a more traditional rock sound overall but still with quirks, gained my approval in the form of a high five. I can safely say I’m eagerly awaiting the album hopefully coming later this year. In the meantime, here’s a song from the debut 7′’ Single.
I first heard of Spiral Beach when I saw them opening for The Go! Team last year. Later, in December, I bumped into Airick and Maddy, the two lead singers of the band, at Bathurst Subway Station downtown. They told me about these free concerts at The Drake Hotel that take place every Monday, and that these concerts were supposed to be some kind of secret. “No one’s supposed to know about them,” they said. Spiral Beach was to play at one of these concerts on January 14th, and Airick and Maddy invited me to come and see their show.
The Drake Hotel is this great little place on Queen St. West claiming to be a “hotbed of culture,” and has an archive of newspaper and magazine clippings on their website to boast about it. The weekly free concerts take place at the Underground and are called “Elvis Mondays”. Apparently these concerts aren’t that much of a secret as they are advertised on their website and MySpace. However, they don’t do very much advertising on top of that. The tradition of Elvis Mondays was started by William New, and they’ve had notable bands such as Billy Talent and Sum 41 perform there before they were even famous. On Monday January 14th, Elvis Mondays celebrated their 30th anniversary.
Six bands performed that night. In order, they were:
With Stars finishing off their Canada tour, I figured it would only be appropriate to write a piece in honour of them. However, I figured as far as Canadian indie music goes, Stars is just one iPod commercial away from being mainstream. So I figured everyone probably knows about them by now, right? So instead, here’s a piece on Torquil Campbell’s side project: Memphis (Website| MySpace).
If you like Stars’ new stuff, I think you’ll love Memphis’ most recent album, A Little Place in the Wilderness. For me, this album would be the perfect selection for a rainy Sunday afternoon, where all you wanna do is go back to sleep and keep dreaming. But maybe that’s just me.
Every word on this album is imbued with raw and powerful emotion, softly and sincerely sung and spoken by Torquil Campbell. The album starts off with “I Dreamed We Fell Apart” (which is actually the title of their album prior to this one). This song sets up the rest of the album to have the feeling like you don’t know if you’re awake or still dreaming (like I said, great for rainy Sunday afternoons).
Then it continues with “In The Cinema Alone” which is the first of three love songs in the album. Of these three love songs, my favorite has to be “I’ll Do Whatever You Want”, because of its dark lyrics which remind me of your typical evil Stars love song. But the most noteworthy might be “In The Highest Room” where Torquil gets his wife Moya to whisper a story about a couple who have been together for such a long time and help each other get through everything. It’s sad that my description of this song doesn’t do justice to the depth and meaningfulness of the lyrics. It might even be window into Torquil and Moya’s marriage?
Two other songs in this album worth mentioning are “Incredibly Drunk On Whiskey” and “A Ghost Story”. The first is probably the most light-hearted song of the album, whereas in contrast, the other is probably the most serious. I’m not sure what the whiskey song is about, but it’s possibly about being underaged and going to the megaplex to try to steal some alcohol (could be wrong). The second song is more obviously about a child being haunted by ghosts and then growing up to become a ghost to haunt other people. But I wonder if this could be a metaphor for something else?
Memphis is Chris Dumont (producer and guitars) and Torquil Campbell (words and voice), but includes contributions by long time friend James Shaw of Metric (mixer and bass). The album was released in August 2006 by the Good Fences Label. This album is a hard one to find on mininova, so if you like the sample offered below, I encourage you to get the album.
John Vanderslice is well known around the independent music scene as one of the nicest guys in the indie music scene. After his show in Toronto at the El Mocambo last month, i would have to agree.
I was set to sell his merchandise for the night, and as i arrived early, he invited me to go out to dinner with him and his band. You can talk to him like you’re an old friend, and is one of the most sincere guys I’ve met. After the show he makes sure to meet anyone who sticks around, and has hugs for everyone.
His new LP, “Emerald City”, is a beautiful follow up to his highly acclaimed Pixel Revolt. It’s filled with perfect pop songs, that are filled with his distinctive style of melody and observations. The title of Emerald City comes from the “Green Zone” in downtown Baghdad. The album has a political tone to it, but without being right in your face about it, wich is always nice. This is Vanderslice’s 6th full length LP, and is a perfect starting point if you have yet to listen to him.
I cannot say enough nice things about him, so here’s a track off his new album to listen for your self. And maybe go pick up the album!
As their title track and album cover might suggest, The Pipettes (Website|MySpace) would seem to be just another girl band trio, and are composed of members Rosay, RiotBecki, and Gwenno (top image: from left to right). But it would be misleading to say that they are “just another girl band trio”. First of all, there are actually seven members. The four male band members you’ll probably never see on a photoshoot provide the dance-punk musical accompaniment. The instrumental component of the band is independently known as The Cassettes, and includes guitarist and solo musician Monster Bobby who founded The Pipettes with former band member Julia Clark-Lowes. Secondly, it’s arguably unfair to say that they’re “just another” powerpop band. It’s actually a little bit of a controversy about how disposable this band might turn out to be. Given their manufactured origins and their post-retro 60s theme that motifs in the front girls’ polka-dot uniforms and finger-waving dance choreography, the band seems almost gimmicky. However, all that seems to be deliberate, and what’s more, they pull it off so damn well. One might even dare to think that The Pipettes actually have the potential to stay around long enough to make a chart-topping third album. One would hope so, because I personally haven’t had enough of these darlings!
Their debut album We Are The Pipettes was released in the U.K. just over a year ago by Memphis Industries, but has only been released in the U.S. last month by Cherrytree Records. The Pipettes are currently touring Canada and will be performing at Lee’s Palace next week on November 18th.
