Raha, Battle Creek, Maneli Jamal and The Anti-Q's @ The Rivoli

I finally had a free Saturday night so I thought I'd consult my personal showlist and see if there was any cool live music in town. Nothin'! Unbelievable! Still, I was hankerin' for a little live rock and/or roll so I surfed the net for anything that seemed remotely interesting (and preferably cheap.) What's this? The Rivoli! 4 bands! 5 bucks! Bingo!

This was an eclectic night (to say the least!) and the most eclectic of them all was Toronto's own Raha. Her music is literally all over the map as she dabbles in classical, jazz, pop, baroque, rock, etc, etc, etc and she has a voice that can be sweet but often morphs into something biting, sarcastic and deliciously bizarre. Her live show has her sitting behind the keys whilst alternating between playing them and her violin. She also makes generous use of one of those crazy looping machines (that seem to be all the rage these days), to astonishing effect. This allows her to provide most of her own instrumentation as well as her own backing vocals creating a real "more than meets the eye" affair. I think that fans of Joanna Newsom and perhaps even Bjork, to an extent, will really enjoy her music. Personally, I was very impressed.

Listen to her music on myspace.
See my Raha pictures on flickr.

Battle Creek are from Guelph, Ontario and they play that rough and kinetic almost-emo-but-not-quite-emo style of music that is often more of a delight to see live than to actually listen to. However, I've listened to their songs on myspace, and although I'll admit it's not really what I'm listening to these days, it's actually pretty good. Sure there's screaming, but it's used in moderation and it sounds good. The inclusion of the horn is really the biggest selling point for me, as well as the intricate song structures that propel them above the usual teenemo fare. They put on an energetic show, which was not easy considering the downright stoicism of the crowd that night.

Listen to their music on myspace.
See my Battle Creek pics on flickr.

Filed under "Holy Crap!" is Maneli Jamal. This is some of the best guitar work I've seen in years, and as far as originality goes, possibly ever! Maneli plays classically tinged instrumental guitar music which may not be your cup of meat if you like the music I regularly feature on this site. But for me, he was definitely the highlight of the evening. He's a gifted instrumentalist and probably an even more gifted composer, creating movements and soundscapes over the usual pop fare. He has a very unique and original "two-hand" tap techinique that may borrow from traditional Flamenco stylings, but is a little bit too different to be entirely lumped into that category. It takes a lot for a solo performer to command an audience's attention by playing instrumental music, but Maneli is no ordinary solo instrumentalist. I was beyond impressed, and I will definitely be seeing him perform again soon.

Listen to his music on myspace.
See my Maneli Jamal pics on flickr.

Finally, St. Catharines' The Anti-Q's blasted out some rock 'n roll that was the perfect way to end the night. Citing Ben Lee as a major influence on their music is probably a good way to give you an idea of what they're all about. They are simply a fresh blast of 60's style rock, the kind that puts me in my happy place every time. Once again, the crowd was probably not what one would call ideal for this type of energy, but the boys in the band didn't let that discourage them as lead vocalist Ryan Dobbin ran through the small crowd with hyperactive abandon, handing out tambourines to anyone who would take one. They look incredibly young, but they obviously understand the true spirit of rock 'n roll, and they're having a lot of fun in the process.

Listen to The Anti-Q's on myspace.
See my Anti-Q's pics on flickr.

NXNE 2007: Day 2

Day 2 of the NXNE festival was the day of legends for me. I saw several of my all time favorites that night. I started early by heading on over to The Phoenix during that wicked rainstorm to make sure that I get in to see Dinosaur Jr. No problem. The opening acts for that show were both fantastic.Awesome Color is a semi-psychedelic garage band from Michigan. They warmed up the crowd admirably with their Stooges-style rock. Upon looking into them some more, what's most impressive is that their album was partly produced by none other than Thurston Moore. His influence is definitely there, although the band seems to draw more influences from the early Detroit rock scene.

Download: Free Man mp3 / Visit the band on myspace. / My Awesome Color pics on flickr.

Up next was Toronto's own Uncut. They also rocked pretty heavily with a real onslaught of loud guitars and insanely thrashing cymbals! All of the members (except the drummer) took a turn at lead vocals and I thought that they had a bit of a shoegazy vibe to their sound, albeit a heavy one. Besides Dinosaur Jr, they've also had the privilege of opening for the likes of Bob Mould himself.

Download: Breaking Glass mp3 / Visit the band on myspace / My Uncut pics on flickr.

The original lineup of Dinosaur Jr. was of course, very very loud. They cranked out all of the hits as well as several songs from their excellent new release "Beyond." The chemistry was still there in full force and the guys even seemed to be surprisingly enjoying themselves. For the encore, local stage hog Kevin Drew stepped up to the mike to perform "The Wagon" which succeeded in bringing the already hyperactive crowd to a rambunctious (but interestingly controlled) frenzy. It was fun. They were loud. I was deaf.

Download: Almost Ready mp3 / Visit the band on myspace / My Dinosaur Jr pics on flickr.

Although deaf, I picked up my wife and we headed on down to Lee's Palace to see yet another legend, John Doe. Upon looking at the schedule I was a little confused because some references said that John Doe was on first, and others said that The Sadies were first. Upon arriving I realized that the two of them had joined forces to put on an awesome performance that surprisingly even outshone the Dinosaur Jr show that I just attended. John Doe is the founder of the seminal punk rock band X, but he's been releasing his unique style of country-folk-punk rock music over the last few decades. He opened the night with a 45 minute set that was just him on the guitar cranking out the tunes. He sounded great. After that The Sadies hit the stage, and one of my closest friends had told me about how great they were in concert but I had yet to see them. Yep they're great. Their set was chock full of whiskey stained swagger and punk rock 'tude, and I expecially enjoyed their forays into surf guitar instrumentation. After about half an hour they called John Doe back to the stage and they played a few more alt-country tunes with special appearances from Kathleen Edwards and Dallas and Travis' papa Bruce Good of the legendary Good Brothers. I was completely exhausted at the end of the night, but boy, did I ever feel like I got my money's worth.

Downloads:
John Doe - The Golden State mp3 (fixed link)
The Sadies - Loved On Look mp3

Visit John Doe on myspace.
Visit The Sadies on myspace.

Unlike my pictures from the rest of the night, the pics for this show actually turned out really good. See them on flickr.

Tin Bangs, Danielle Duval & Reily @ The Mod Club

A dude on a budget should not be attending as many shows as I have this past month, but hey, if the price is right…

A mere toonie was the cover charge for Friday night’s show and to see four stellar bands, well that’s quite a deal. The night kicked off with Reily. I may have mentioned them to you before. OK, fact is I’ve reviewed them to the point of mild obsession this month so I won’t bore you with the details yet again, but I’ll just say that although the crowds didn’t really show up until later that night, Reily’s professionalism is becoming more and more apparent with every show. Feel free to read my other reviews here, here, or here.

Reily’s myspace page.
I took pics again. They’re on flickr.
A fan made sort of a video type thing for the song “Talk Sweet; Walk Tall [Breathe Deep]” on youtube. It’s pretty good.

Danielle Duval is a singer-songwriter from Montreal whom I heard was Sam Roberts’ cousin. I have yet to confirm that though. Regardless, she put on an excellent performance that had sort of a barroom feel to it. Her voice has a whisky-stained sort of huskiness that sounds like she’s already lived a fairly intense life for a young girl. Her original material sounds like it had been written and performed for decades. She sounds like the type of artist who’s been playing her songs for years at divey bars where you perform behind a mesh of chicken wire and old time drunk cowboy’s chuck beer bottles at you. (Most. Obscure. Reference. Ever.) Anyways, what I mean is there’s a real timelessness to her sound that gives her music an edge that I like. She also did a few covers, most noteworthy being the classic Bill Munroe hit “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” This song has already been covered by the best (Patsy Cline, Elvis, Ray Charles, etc.) but she still managed to make it her own. On the other hand, her cover of John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John’s “You’re The One That I Want” just may be one of the more original covers I’ve ever heard. How she ever came up with the idea of countrifying that song is beyond me, but it was definitely one of those rare strokes of genius.

You can hear that cover, and some of her other songs on her myspace page.
You can see my pics of the Danielle Duval band over on flickr.

Next up was local rock and roll sensation Tin Bangs. These guys had the honor of opening up for The Killers just a few months ago and I’ve heard more than a couple of people claim that they blew those guys off the stage. After Friday night’s show, I believe it. These guys are everything a rock ‘n roll band is supposed to be. Their music screams with the simple intensity of a bomb going off, reminiscent of bands like The Clash, Hüsker Dü or even current bands like Editors. They display an outrageous overabundance of rock ‘n roll swagger, that was most noticeable in percussionist Robbie Butcher’s drum solo. (That’s right, there was a drum solo baby!) He reminds me of my other favorite drummer, that of course being Animal from The Muppets. Except I think that Robbie has more hair. Although the songs are hooky, riffy, and catchy, and I loved them in a live setting, I did have my doubts that the tracks may not translate as well offstage. However, I’ve been listening to them a little bit since the show, and they are definitely solid. I’ll certainly be checking out their show again in the near future.

Download:
Shake mp3
The Skinny mp3

Visit them on their myspace page.
Purchase their EP “Heavy Handed Darling” at Indiepool.com
Check out my pics of Tin Bangs over on flickr.

The last band of the night was post-punk revivalists The Amber Room and although I was pumped to see them as well, sadly I had to bolt before their performance. But I’ll check them out sometime soon. They sound pretty good.

Cold War Kids / Tokyo Police Club @ Mod Club

I finally got a chance to see what the hype is all about when Tokyo Police Club performed last night at an all-ages (ugh!) show at the Mod Club. I was curious to see them because the indie blog and podcast world has gone completely gaga for these guys, but, to be honest, I was there to see California’s Cold War Kids.

CWK’s recent long player “Robbers and Cowards” is an excellent blend of many musical styles. Performing like a poor man’s Jeff Buckley and a younger, skinnier man’s Tom Waits, they put on an excellent show last night. Lead vocalist Nathan Willett alternated from centre stage to singing on the keys, and his insanely original voice echoed sweetly through the crowd. The highlight was during my favourite song “Saint John,” where Tokyo Police Club joined them on stage to pound viciously on various props of percussion, to the demented delight of all in attendance.

Download:
The Soloist In The Living Room mp3
Heavy Boots mp3

Hear more of their recent songs on myspace
Purchase “Robbers and Cowards” at merchlackey.com
View my pics of Cold War Kids on flickr.

Now for Tokyo Police Club. Their EP “A Lesson in Crime” has been nauseatingly salivated over throughout the past year by several indie music bloggers. The fact that it blatantly rips off literally hundreds of better artists that have appeared before seems to be of no consequence to throngs of teenage posers the world over. However, their show was quite impressive, and the newer songs that they performed show that the band is starting to develop into better-than-average songwriters, and for that one has to give them props. I’ve heard that their earlier shows relied more on gimmicks and general tom-foolery than actually playing well, but I think that they must’ve improved a lot since then, because their show was honed, tight and professional. Although I wouldn’t call myself a “fan” just yet, I am certainly starting to gain respect for them.

Tokyo Police Club will be making the U.S. television debut on “Late Night With David Letterman” on April 19^th.

Download:
Nature Of The Experiment mp3

Tokyo Police Club are on myspace.
Purchase “A Lesson in Crime” at their online shop.
View my pics of Tokyo Police Club on flickr.