Kurt Vile @ Criminal Records (In-Store Performance)

As of today, my most listened to album of 2010 has got to be Kurt Vile's Childish Prodigy, which is just about perfect as far as I'm concerned. There is something very seductive about its lo-fi melding of trippy 70's sounds and in your face songwriting that I find myself returning to it a couple of times a week. What's interesting is that, while expressing my enthusiasm toward seeing him perform in the intimate confines of a local record shop, a friend recently asked me to describe his music, and do you think I could do it? Of course not. And although my fumbling for the right words frustrated me a bit at the time, I suppose it's a testament to the originality of his material that I was unable to hurl a tag at him so easily. There's definitely some elements of psychedelia in there, but Roky Erickson, Mr. Vile is not. He's a little bit freaky and a little bit folky, but when the term 'freak-folk' calls to mind artists like Devendra Banhart, it hardly seems like that is an accurate tag either, although enjoying both of those artists may be a step in the right direction. Until I think of something better, I'm just going to go with fuzzed-out, lo-fi, Philadephian psychedelifolk, with a hint of classic rock throw in for good measure. And as lame as my particular description may be, the performance on that blustery winter eve was anything but.

When I heard his performances on CBC's Q earlier in the day, it seemed as if he was going to have some accompaniment on guitar and percussion with him for the show, but as it turned out, this was a solo performance and although he seemed slightly awkward on his own, that mild timidity still boasted an assured-ness that was quite endearing. There were a few issues with getting the sound just right, and although I don't think they ever really did, the slight hiss actually added to the overall effect, creating an atmospheric buzz that was well suited with Vile's fuzzed out tones. He opened with Overnite Religion and immediately followed that up with Dead Alive, both songs sounding even warmer and more haunting than on the album, largely as a result of his deliberately muffled vocals. One of the biggest surprises to me was the fact that he was a dang good guitarist, taking the opportunity to showcase his finger picking abilities several times throughout the show. His banter was laid back and brief, yet even simple questions like "What's the Opera House like?" was met with great enthusiasm. He played many of the great songs from the album, but unfortunately he didn't get to perform my favourite song Freak Train, likely due to the song's use of heavy percussion, of which he had none. Still, it was a short set that was still surprisingly heavy on material, and as he neared the end, an audience member loudly requested Blackberry Song, which had Vile respond by saying something like, "um, yah, well..." before he lunged into something entirely different. His sense of humour shone through though as he ended off with "that song for that dude" which, of course, was his way of introducing the aforementioned request. Sadly I wasn't going to be able to make it out to the Opera House for the actual show that evening, but I felt more than satisfied with what I did see, and there's no doubt that I'll likely get the opportunity to catch a full set next time around.

Photos: My pictures of Kurt Vile @ Criminal Records are on flickr
Myspace: Kurt Vile
Download: Overnite Religion mp3
Download: Hunchback mp3

Other stuff:
Born Ruffians are set to release their sophomore album entitled Say It on June 1st on Paper Bag Records. The first single, Soul Brother, is available as a free download. [Myspace: Born Ruffians]

The Weakerthans will be releasing a brand new CD/DVD set entitled Live at The Burton Cummings Theatre on March 23rd. They'll be celebrating this release with an all ages show at Queen Elizabeth Theatre on May 26th with their special guest Bahamas whose Pink Strat is up for a Juno in the Best Roots Album category. All ticket information is here. [Myspace: The Weakerthans, Bahamas]

Yah, so OK Go are officially the greatest music video makers of all time. Watch their latest video for This Too Shall Pass for proof. [Myspace: OK Go]

Two Way Monologues has ten questions with British Colombia's We Are The City. They are playing the Rancho Relaxo tonight for $5. [Myspace: We Are The City]

BBC Radio 6 Music News reports that Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse's Dark Night Of The Soul album is going to FINALLY get an official release sometime this year. Because last year's leak of the album made it an unofficial release, I was not able to include it on my year end best of, although in my opinion it would've definitely made it into my top 3. Maybe this qualifies it to be included on this year's list. Hmmmm.... [Myspace: Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse]

"If You Ever Get Lonely, Just Go To the Record Store And Visit Your Friends"

RECORD STORE DAY - SATURDAY APRIL 18TH.

This Saturday is the Second Annual Record Store Day, which is the day that music lovers such as you and I are encouraged to take the opportunity to stop downloading and support your local record shop. Some of my favourite music-related memories have to do with spending hours perusing the local record stores, staring at those huge elaborate covers and stewing over whether or not it would be in my best interest to drop my hard earned money on that rare 3 disc clear vinyl box set that included the one song that I had never heard of, in amongst 15 other songs that I've already purchased about five other times before. I think back to my formative years growing up in the sleepy industrial town of Oshawa, and walking into a little place on Simcoe Street called Star Records. This place was awesome! At that age, I was hungry for all things relating to progressive rock, and I remember being encouraged, nay... instructed, to pick up anything and everything by The Strawbs. Since then, it didn't matter which town I moved to next, there was always a small record store that I could check out. In Brampton, it was the now sadly defunct New World Records on Queen Street. When I moved to Oakville, there was Recordings on Kerr Street, with its massively intimidating basement of vinyl, where I picked up my first Van Der Graaf Generator album, several rare releases by The Cure and a little something by Generation X. Right across the street was the much smaller but still endearing Cactus Records, where the owner reluctantly let me have his last copy of The Mothers of Invention's Uncle Meat. And then the move to Burlington introduced me to Looney Tunes on Brant Street, where I had picked up Big Star, Captain Beefheart and 13th Floor Elevators all in one shot. Now of course, I live in downtown Toronto, and places like Soundscapes, Criminal Records and Rotate This! have enabled me to create even more memories.

Yes, I have no problem remembering what I bought at these stores and approximately how old I was at the time. But I can't remember the albums that I've picked up at the more popular chain retailers. The chains simply lack the personality that comes from frequenting the local indie record store. I do download quite frequently these days from sites like eMusic and Zunior, but I'm sorry, nobody feels like reminiscing about the tunes I've downloaded from an impersonal spot on the internet. In the same way that the advent of the VCR failed to completely destroy a movie buff's need for a cinematic experience at the movie theater, I still have that need to enjoy the feeling that comes from asking for a recommendation from your local record store clerk. And I hope that the record stores will always continue to be here to fill that need.

Here's what some of Toronto's record stores are up to on Saturday:

Sonic Boom (512 Bloor St W) is hosting the biggest event on Saturday, starting at 4pm. They will be giveaways, exclusive releases and tons of live bands, including Hooded Fang, Green Go, Sunparlour Players and more. The full band listing is here and the price is free with a non-perishable food item.

Criminal Records (493 Queen St W) is also hosting a couple of free in-store performances featuring Rock Plaza Central at 6pm and Great Bloomers at 7pm. There will also be sales and prizes and things all starting at 11am.

Soundscapes (572 College St W) is offering 10% off all CD's, vinyl, DVD's and books.

Rotate This! (801 Queen St W) is also offering 10% off of all purchases on that day, as well as a bunch of 'limited edition record store day only' stuff, whatever that means!

And finally Sunrise Records (336 Yonge St) also has some live performances by Emma Lee, Honeymoon Suite, Thriving Ivory and others. Full band list is here.

Other stuff:
Just a couple of other interesting local concert news announcements that you likely already know:

The Olympic Island Festival was announced on Monday, and this year it looks like Broken Social Scene will be headlining again. Also on the bill is Explosions In The Sky, Thunderheist, Beach House, Apostle Of Hustle and Rattlesnake Choir. The date is July 11th and the cost is $57.50. Should be good but I just saw BSS and I don't really feel like paying that much so I think that I'm likely to sit this one out.

And The Decemberists are coming to the Kool Haus on Monday August 3rd with The Heartless Bastards supporting. The tickets are an insane $30.50 and they go on sale on Thursday April 16th. Don't quote me, but I believe that they will be performing their latest rock opera The Hazards Of Love in its entirety. The album seems to be polarizing the masses but I think that it's absolutely brilliant, and their most impressive release by far. Of course, I'm an unapologetic prog lover so make sure that you judge my opinions accordingly.

The quote above is from Penny Lane, Kate Hudson's character in Almost Famous.

The Von Bondies @ Criminal Records (In-Store Performance)

Over the last year or so, the in-store performance has become much more frequent than I remember it being in years past, and I loves me a good in-store show for a couple of reasons. First of all, it's usually quite brief, which caters nicely to my personal attention span. Secondly, it's generally early, which caters nicely to my love of sleep. And thirdly, they are always free, which caters nicely to my being broke. After thoroughly enjoying The Hylozoists performance at Soundscapes earlier this week, I figured that I may as well go down to Criminal Records on Queen Street and check out the rock 'n roll assault that is The Von Bondies.

I got there rather early as I was expecting it to be quite packed. The Von Bondies are part of the killer Detroit garage scene of the early 2000's. This was a scene that included such heavies as The Detroit Cobras, The Dirtbombs and, of course, The White Stripes. The Von Bondies have continued to garner further publicity since those days, but unfortunately it hasn't all been good. There was the much publicized barroom brawl between Von Bondies lead Jason Stollsteimer and Jack White, which inevitably led to the lack of support from Jack. In the meantime, they sued their previous label Sire Records and went through a bit of a lineup change. Still, I figured that any publicity is good publicity, and all of that buzz would certainly bring people to the store on a Friday evening. By showtime, the store did fill up quite nicely, although it wasn't as full as I expected it to be. Also, I think for the most part, it was people who were curious to see what these guys are all about, as opposed to die hard fans of the band. No doubt, the die-hards were all at The Horseshoe later that night. For this set, they played mostly songs from the new album, which sees the band shift slightly from being a hard hitting rock 'n roll band, to being more of a hard hitting power pop band. However, emphasis should be placed on the word "slightly" since the band made it clear that they can still rock out with the best of them. I noticed that the female presence in the band seemed to be more for the purpose of melodic accompaniment, as opposed to thrashy throaty screamfests. The contrast was most noticeable when the band pulled out an older track which, if memory serves, was It Came From Japan, from their 2002 debut. The Mudhoney-like immediacy of that song was quite the headbanging change from their newer material. Still, I really liked the newer material which was filled with catchy hooks and endearing boy-girl harmonies. I'm pretty sure that they recruited a few new fans from this performance, and this is a good thing, since I believe that ultimately, this is what the free in-store performance is all about.

Photos: My pics of The Von Bondies @ Criminal Records are on flickr
Myspace: The Von Bondies
Video: Pale Bride on youtube
Video: It Came From Japan on youtube
Video: C'mon C'mon (Live on Letterman) on youtube

The Pack A.D. @ Criminal Records (In-Store Performance)

I reviewed The Pack A.D.'s Tintype release back in July, and since then they've released another album called Funeral Mixtape which I still have not had the time to acquaint myself with as of yet. Still, based on that first album, I reckon that they would be the type of band that I could listen to in smaller doses through the earbuds of my Zune, but could go see live on a semi regular basis. They play the straightforward hard raunchin' guitar based blues that I can personally only take in small incremements at home, but love to see on the live stage.

Maya Miller and Becky Black were in town to perform a CD release show at The Horseshoe on Thursday night. Sadly, I was unable to attend, but I'm glad that I was able to check out their set in a slightly more subdued setting at Criminal Records for an in-store performance on Friday. The girls are definitely a powerhouse and I don't know how Becky manages to keep them vocal chords in check night after night, but she definitely sounded amazing. Maya's drumming skills are more than adequate also, and it's hard not to get sucked in to the throbbing force of their playing, especially when they turn it up a notch on some of the harder edged numbers. The crowd was quite modest (it was only 5pm after all) but those who were there seemed immensely satisfied with what they witnessed. Hopefully the next time they're in town I'll be able to catch them, because their music really does need to be experienced in more of a dank and sweaty blues bar type of setting.

Photos: The Pack A.D @ Criminal Records on flickr.
Myspace: The Pack A.D.
Download: Making Gestures mp3

Basia Bulat @ Criminal Records (In-Store Performance)

Ah, Basia. After melting my heart about a month ago while opening for Ohbijou at Lee's Palace, Basia Bulat's Oh My Darling has been in incessant rotation on the old ipod. As you can see by it's high placing on my year end best of, the album has pierced my very soul, and the opportunity to see her play for free at a local record store was an opportunity that I could definitely not pass up on. This wasn't your typical 20 minuter, as most in-stores are, because this one was being broadcast on CBC Radio 3. So, for all intents and purposes, this was a full out concert. What particularly warmed my heart was the turn out for this event. I got there early (just to be safe) and although I needn't of worried at that time, getting there right at seven may not have proved itself to be quite as advantageous. The place was packed, which was truly great to see. Basia's voice was flawless, as she opened the show singing accompanied only by her own foot stomps and handclaps. She could sing the phone book, as far as I'm concerned. Flawless. She always looks like she's genuinely having the time of her life when she performs, and she also looks at her bandmates as if she's a proud mother, truly blown away by all that they contribute. Add all that to her apparently sincere humility, and you've got yourself what I would consider to be a real Canadian treasure. Cuff The Duke's Wayne Petti also sang along for the last song. It'll be interesting to see what the next year or two holds for Basia. I've heard from a very reliable source, that with the Rough Trade label having recently been sold to the Beggars Group, her potential for significant promotion overseas is huge. I wish her all the success that she deserves.

I should also add that upon meeting her after the show, I've come to the conclusion that her adorabilty is no mere act of showmanship. This girl is genuine, through and through. (Added bonus: she explained how to properly pronounce her name. It's "Basha," if you're wondering...) It was really cool to meet her, and she treated us as if we've been her friends for years. If my predictions for the future are even remotely accurate, then you know I'll be playing the "I knew her when" card. How can I not?

Photos: Basia Bulat @ Criminal Records on flickr
Download: Snakes and Ladders mp3
Myspace: Basia Bulat
Video: Snakes and Ladders live in Brussels on youtube.