At Odds With Even

Last week I received a 3 song demo from a local Toronto band who call themselves At Odds With Even. Upon first listen, I have the impression that this is a trio of music lovers who are up on their musical history. I hear traces of The Minutemen, The Melvins and The Cramps who are all bands that only the most astute music fan could successfully draw inspiration from. On the other hand, it's quite possible that Adam Tiessen, Anthony Randall and Dan Roffey are not familiar with those bands at all and they just simply stumbled into this sound without any preconceived mental prodding whatsoever. Either way, this a band that is worthy of our attention.

The demo was presented in an envelope covered in some very original looking artwork and the CD jacket also offered more of the same which leads me to believe that this band is determined to be noticed. The three songs presented on the demo show a broad range of musical styles. Recognize contains some mind altering psychedelia and Adam's vocals remind me a lot of D. Moon from the aforementioned Minutemen. Plastic Bag is the most immediate of the three songs, boasting a lo-fi garage sound and a chunky guitar breakdown that is not dissimilar to the aforementioned Melvins, as well as perhaps begging some comparisons to Mudhoney or Dinosaur Jr. And On The Corner is the third song, a slowed down reggae beat accompanied by some bassy vocals in the chorus that remind me of, yes, you guessed it, The Cramps. There are other songs on their myspace page that showcase a band that does not want to stay confined by any specific musical niche. It'll be interesting to see which direction the band decides to take in the next year or so, but in the meantime they're still playing the occasional gig throughout the city (and likely looking for more gigs too) so keep your eyes peeled and check them out.

At Odds With Even will be playing The Savannah Room on October 31st. PWYC.

Myspace: At Odds With Even
Download: Plastic Bag mp3


Other stuff: 50 extra tickets were just released right now for The Hold Steady and Drive By Truckers show at The Phoenix on November 11th. They are only available through Ticketmaster so all you Toronto cowboys better get on that quickly!
Myspace: The Hold Steady / Myspace: Drive By Truckers

R.E.M's new video for Until The Day Is Done is up on youtube.
Myspace: R.E.M.

Thanks to Chromewaves for directing me to a really cool article about Sloan at Crawdaddy online magazine.
Myspace: Sloan

Historyjen has put up her personal list of the Top 10 Canadian Bands (just below the radar) for 2008. You can check it out here.

Danny Michel has three shows at The Rivoli coming up with Jenn Grant on December 11th, 12th and 13th. Tix are $18 and you can get them here.
Myspace: Danny Michel / Myspace: Jenn Grant

Band and film submissions for NXNE 2009 are starting as of November 1st and running till the end of January. More info can be found at nxne.com.

Ryan Adams' Cardinology is out today. According to some early reports, the album is being touted as lacklustre, but people were saying that about Easy Tiger too and I really liked that album. So we'll see.
Myspace: Ryan Adams