Young Doctors In Love - 5 Golden Greats EP

When I'm in the mood for writing about something, yet lacking the time for anything too elaborate, I can be very thankful that bands like Toronto's Young Doctors In Love exist. I received their 5 Golden Greats EP in my email inbox about 30 minutes ago, started listening to it about 5 minutes after that, finished it about 16.6 minutes after that and realized that their instantly catchy brand of accessible pop music would be easy to sell in only a few brief words. There is nothing challenging or particularly surprising about their music, but the hooks are prevalent throughout as they accomplish exactly what a good hook is supposed to, that is, get lodged into the brain with enough force so as to make a person desirous for more. Every song on this delightful disc has 'hit single' written all over it, yet there's enough variety from song to song that it doesn't come across as a band lacking in ideas. Eloise And Her Sister Marta has a bit of a new wave bend to it, Oh Caroline has some surprising harmonica that adds something slightly unique to its 70's dance pop vibe. The album then proceeds to make some mild forays into ska and disco before ending with an acoustic ballad called Don't Turn Away that suggests that this EP is only meant to be a teaser for something a little bit more involved later on. While the album may not have you brimming over with enthusiasm, it's still a very catchy and enjoyable first release, and it'll be interesting to see in what ways the band will attempt to expand as they record more material in the future.

Young Doctors In Love will be celebrating the release of the new EP on March 27th at Rancho Relaxo. Charms and The Phonemes will also be joining them for the show, which will be $5 at the door.

Myspace: Young Doctors In Love

Other stuff:
The Fratellis'  Jon Lawler is involved with a new project called Codeine Velvet Club who's self-titled debut is set to be released April 6th on Dangerbird Records. They will be playing a few dates stateside opening for Metric, but there aren't any Canadian dates as of yet. The majestic sounding first single Hollywood is available as a free download. [Myspace: Codeine Velvet Club]

Xavier Rudd has a released a new video for a song called Time To Smile which will be featured on his upcoming album Koonyum Sun. Reminds me more than a little bit of Paul Simon's Graceland period. He's playing Queen Elizabeth Theatre on May 20th and 21st. [Myspace: Xavier Rudd]


The Shins' James Mercer and Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton) will be releasing a joint project known as Broken Bells later this month. They're interviewed in the latest issue of Exclaim! [Myspace: Broken Bells] 

Clothes Make the Man are featured on the latest episode, erm, I mean webisode, of Minilogues. [Myspace: Clothes Make The Man] 

Megan Bonnell (formerly of Reily) has just released a video on Southern Souls for a beautiful new song called Apple Trees. [Myspace: Megan Bonnell]

Lastly, I'm still piecing together my personal schedule for next week's Canadian Music Fest and hopefully I'll have my final picks posted early next week. See you then. [Myspace: Canadian Music Fest]

Toronto Bands To Watch in 2010

It's becoming increasingly more difficult to keep on top of all of the great new sites and blogs emerging throughout the city of Toronto and the surrounding area these days, much like the scene itself. Richard Trapunski is a writer for one of the good ones, a site called Resonancity. The site's mandate is to cover the Toronto music scene on a very local level, and from what I've read so far, it's doing an excellent job. The site has recently published its list of Toronto-area bands to chase for 2010 and Richard has asked several local music buffs (including myself) to contribute some their thoughts and choices. The final list was as diverse a list as I've ever seen, and it was good to see such variety. The final list of 20 acts was divided into three parts and they can be found here: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

For my list, I decided to go beyond some of the more obvious choices in favour of some of the ones that are still hovering quite below the radar right now, but given the current musical climate here in the city, still have a good shot at breaking out in the year ahead. And here they are, in no particular order:

The Davey Parker Radio Sound (pictured above)

Thanks to The Hoa Hoa's and The Disraelis, the Toronto psych rock scene is finally starting to get some recognition, which means that this band from the right side of Parkdale should be raising a few eyebrows in the new year. Their live shows are apparently getting better and raunchier with every blast and the city seems to be poised and ready for their high octane, fuzzed out, bluesy guitar sound. [Myspace]

Hut

I'm sure that Daniel Lee's main project Hooded Fang, along with the all ages showcases that he provides as part of Daps Duo, is going to be keeping him plenty busy throughout the upcoming year, and I don't even know if this lo-fi side project of his is something that he's working hard to expand upon or not, but I do know that Hut continues to be recording new material, and hopefully that will translate into a full release with accompanying live shows because the city needs more cool post punk lo fi sounds. [Myspace]

Pick A Piper

Each show brings them closer and closer to being one of the most exciting bands in the city, eliciting a rapturous response every time. Their psychedelic percussive onslaught is just so intoxicating that they are sure to garner even more enthusiasm as they embark on an east coast tour in March. [Myspace]

Clothes Make The Man

I remember being seduced by CMTM's rocking blend of raw emotional energy and smooth musical ability all the way back in 2006 when I reviewed their debut album for the (now defunct) indie music project. After basically forgetting about them for a couple of years, I saw them again in '09 and was blown away by how much they had progressed. They have a new album poised and ready for release and from what I've heard, Ryan Mclennan's throat tearing rasp is sounding stronger than ever. [Myspace]

Krupke

Although they're still pretty new, Krupke is a band that continues to impress with every show that they perform. At first listen, they can be a bit jarring since they're so difficult to pigeonhole into any one category. But this is not a case of a bunch of amateurs banging on pots and pans and proclaiming it art. These are multi talented instrumentalists indeed, and I think that, although a bit of an adjustment period may be in order for the average listener, their ambitious nature may be just enough to win people over. [Myspace]

Jen Polk has recently posted her picks, and all of the expert lists, with full commentary, will be posted as a secondary article over at resonancity.com.

These Electric Lives, SUNRiSER, Clothes Make The Man & Pants and Tie @ The Horseshoe

Last Saturday night was a rare occurrence in that it was a summer weekend where I actually had nothing planned. No anniversaries, no family gatherings, no prior commitments, nothing! So I scanned the live show listing and found an interesting bill at The Horseshoe featuring a couple of bands that I was unfamiliar with, a band that I've heard lots of great things about, and an old favourite that I hadn't seen for a while.

The evening began with Pants & Tie who are a local band with a very unique sound. On paper, it seems like something I should've enjoyed quite a bit. Mark Colbourne has a wicked voice that frequently hits the upper register of piercing, as he yelped maniacally with sort of a James Brown on helium vibe. When you couple that yelp with a slap bass sound that was straight out of the P-Funk schoolbook, you've got a recipe for some funky jams that would ordinarily get me out of my seat and onto the dance floor. I think what throws me off though is the band's use of electronic beats, as opposed to incorporating an organic drum sound into their mix. It's kind of a strange amalgamation of Talking Heads styled experimentation and Hot Chip blips and bleepage that created a conflict of interest that wasn't really working for me. I give them big 'ups for striving to create an original sound though, and it appears that there were many in attendance who dug them quite a bit. For now, I think that Pants and Tie falls into the 'respect' category for me, more than than the 'enjoy' category, although, as always, I'm not averse to checking them out again sometime to see if my mood has changed.

Photos: Pants and Tie @ The Horseshoe on flickr
Myspace: Pants and Tie

It's been a couple of years since I last saw Clothes Make The Man, and upon seeing them this time, you'd think that they had recently been inducted into the rock 'n roll hall of fame or something. I'm not saying that they're acting like big corporate rock stars or anything, it's just that this show was significantly tighter and more mature than I remembered them being in the past. Thankfully, this is not at the sacrifice of any of their style and fist pumping rockiness, since the band was still able to showcase their staggering ability to pen a perfect pop song and then make it rock on stage. They played several cuts from their self titled release, including Chile, which I still maintain is one of the catchiest pop songs I've heard since the turn of the century. They also showcased a number of newer songs which are slated to appear on an upcoming album, the release date of which is still undetermined. It's clear that they're making their sound even more focused than ever before, and it even sounds as if they're trying to play a part in possibly making the rock ballad a credible force again. Now calm down, I'm not suggesting that they're the second coming of REO Speedwagon or anything, but they clearly have a penchant for making a sappy love lyric acceptable by keeping it shrouded in killer hooks that refuse not to rock out. Speaking of rocking out, there was one moment in the show where the drummer accidentally did some damage to the drum kit due to some excessive skin pounding that required an emergency surgery of sorts (on the drums themselves, of course, not the drummer.) This allowed lead vocalist Ryan Mclennan to take center stage for a solo acoustic number. The song he played was a pretty tune called Down Like That, which is slated to appear on the upcoming album as well. After the show last week, I have to say that I'm looking forward to it more than ever before.

Photos: Clothes Make The Man @ The Horseshoe on flickr
Myspace: Clothes Make The Man

The third band on the bill, and the second band that I had never heard of was SUNRiSER. The band brought a little something from all around the world, with three members hailing from here in Toronto, one member from England and one more from Ireland. They also seemed to have generated a bit of a local fan base as a small crowd made their way to in front of the stage and sang along enthusiastically to the tunes. Frontman Daryl Webster has a very amicable stage presence that comes across quite natural and endearing, sort of a 'boy next door' charm, if you will. The band's style of indie pop was equally as non-confrontational, reminding me a bit of unassuming pop bands like Travis, while it provided some strong melodies and decent instrumentation, without ever being overly bombastic. They were the type of band that you could safely recommend to anybody and chances are that they would find something to enjoy in their sound.

Photos: SUNRiSER @ The Horseshoe on flickr
Myspace: SUNRiSER

I've been hearing great things about These Electric Lives for a while now but I had never really got around to sampling their music yet simply due to lack of time. Apparently their self titled João Carvalho produced EP earned them some critical praise, and their single We Should Be Believing was a bit of a small hit on college radio. I found their brand of 'melodic dance rock' to be pretty easy to digest in a live setting, as the band cranked out one anthemic blast after another. It quickly became obvious that they've done a good job at perfecting a solid live show that has already made a reputable name for itself. The crowd was dancing and shaking like crazy, as the vibe shifted regularly from moody key driven moments to epic sounding rock songs, usually wihtin the course of the same song.

Photos: These Electric Lives @ The Horseshoe on flickr
Myspace: These Electric Lives

Clothes Make The Man

Check out my article on Clothes Make The Man over at the Indie Music Project. They'll be playing the NXNE festival on Saturday.

[UPDATE JANUARY 23rd, 2009]
I don't usually make a habit of updating articles that I've posted from this far back in history, but since the above indie music project link is no more, I thought that I'd simply repost the original article below, for archival purposes. Enjoy.

I absolutely love a band that has the uncanny ability to write a hook. And I'm ALWAYS a sucker for a good hook. Well, Toronto's Clothes Make The Man are one of those bands. In fact, those very hooks not only grab you but they positively refuse to let you go.

What makes their music so appealing and catchy is that it's the right blend of raw emotional energy and smooth musical ability. For example, when the cymbals chime in on the standout track "Chile", you'll be immediately drawn in by the addictive nature of the melody. But just wait for Ryan McLennan to belt out the chorus, "It's all that I can do not to break down and cry over ... (cue possibly the greatest gut-wrenching rasp in indie music history)...YOU!!" Ryan has a growl that would make Dave Grohl jealous.

What is also impressive is that this band has done it themselves. From artwork, booking shows, accounting, the website, etc, they have created a buzz without the help of a major (or even a minor) label. And it's that determination that shines through in their music. So if you miss the distinguished college rock guitar sweat-laden chomp of Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr, then Clothes Make The Man is a good place to start.