TV On The Radio - Dear Science,

I've been spending a lot of time lately talking about, and listening to, bands that are more significantly under the radar. This reality had caused me to be completely unaware of the fact that the now major labellers TV On The Radio were releasing a new CD entitled Dear Science,. Of course, as soon as the news hit my ears, I rushed out to pick it up.

The reason for my enthusiasm is the fact that TV On The Radio still remain as one of the most consistent bands in the world of indie rock or mainstream rock or whatever category the kids are putting TVOTR in these days. A new TVOTR album is just about always a shoe-in for my personal year end top 10, and what can I say, Dear Science, will likely be there as well in December.

Many comments have been made that this is their attempt at becoming mainstream. I would have to disagree. Sort of. First of all, I never thought that their sound was not mainstream. I realize that the radio never played them, but as far as melody, catchiness and appealing vocals go, they've always had that. Secondly, indicating that they're now having an attempt at the mainstream would indicate that this album is significantly different than their other work. I'm not hearing it. They've always tried to incorporate several different styles and genres in their work, and they're still doing so here. You've got a touch of their trademark new wave doo wop in Halfway Home, gorgeous balladry in Love Dog and Family Tree, some Prince-like funkiness in Crying and Red Dress as well as a horn section that falls somewhere between Fishbone and Sly and the Family Stone. Tunde Adebimpe's vocals have never been better. Whether he's delivering a bassy croon, a funky falsetto or a tongue-in-cheek (yet still socially conscious) rap, Tunde displays some superb vocal control and variety. The highlight for me is Golden Age, which reminds me of Bowie at his most epic, and sounds quite euphoric over all. Clearly, TV On The Radio have still got it, and it appears that, although they're slightly cleaning it up and reigning it in, they won't be losing it anytime soon.

Photo by Ludis Mergins
Myspace: TV On The Radio
Video: Golden Age (live) on youtube

Other stuff: I (Heart) Music has just compiled its annual list of The Hottest Bands In Canada and this year I got the privilege of contributing to this list. Upon reading the final results, I've learned a few things. First of all, I talk too much. My comments are several words more than everyone else's. That's a bit embarrassing. Gonna have to tone that down a bit next time. Also, Chad Vangaalen's place at number one was a bit of a brain fart for me, in the sense that I forgot all about him. He wouldn't have been my number one but still. Sheesh. Finally, I think next year I'm going to put a little bit more personal opinion into my list, because I totally would have included Entire Cities and Golden Hands Before God... since they are definitely hot in my mind. I just didn't realize that there was enough other people out there who felt the same way. Really glad to see them both on the final list. On Monday, Matthew will be posting all of the other bands that received votes but didn't make the final cut. Should be interesting.

Jon Doe and Kathleen Edwards are about to embark on their co-headlining Hurtin' and Flirtin' tour that takes them all over the USA in November, but as a warm up, their doing a little intimate show at the teeny tiny Dakota Tavern (249 Ossington Ave) on Monday November 3rd. I believe the tickets are $20, and they're only available at the door, which opens at 8. Should probably get there early. I'm still undecided myself, although it would be an outstanding show.
Myspace: John Doe
Myspace: Kathleen Edwards

This just in! Toronto's Cancel Winter are going to be interviewed TODAY at 3:30pm on a UK Radio station. Go to www.playradiouk.com and click Listen Now. They're playing at the El Mocambo on December 19th.
Myspace: Cancel Winter

Tracy Shedd has a new video for the song Whatever It Takes from the CD Cigarettes and Smoke Machines.
Myspace: Tracy Shedd

Hello Operator has a new video for the song 55 Regrets from the CD The Breaks.
Myspace: Hello Operator

The Bicycles are doing a free instore performance at Soundscapes on Tuesday November 4th at 7pm.
Myspace: The Bicycles

Finally, did you know that Feist played a surprise show at The Rivoli last Tueday night? Yah, me neither. Apparently it was a songwriter's circle type thing with Wayne Petti, Hayden and others contributing. Woulda been cool to be there, had I have known!?!?! Will she be doing that again? Rumours, rumours....
Myspace: Feist
Myspace: Wayne Petti
Myspace: Hayden

NXNE 2007: Day 3

By day three, it was becoming painfully obvious that I wasn't going to be sticking to my original planned schedule for NXNE. Upon reaching The Horseshoe on Saturday night, I could see that trying to catch Ohbijou was only going to irritate me since we were already late and the lineup stretched down Queen St and turned onto Spadina. That didn't bother me too much since I knew that they played throughout the city regularly. So instead we just headed straight for The Rivoli in hopes of catching Hello Operator.

Hello Operator gets the NXNE prize for most energetic band that I saw. Ah, the youthful energy! I saw a lot of older, more seasoned bands this time around so seeing a powerhouse like these guys was a very welcome change. They blasted through their new wave set with rapid speed, and that suited their style nicely. All the songs on their myspace page were represented here. On vinyl, (haha!) they sound a lot like The Cars, but in a live setting they have a much harder edge to their sound, which easily whips a young crowd like Saturday night's into a delightfully hysterical frenzy.

Hello Operator is on myspace / Download: 55 Regrets mp3 / My pics of Hello Operator are on flickr.

After that, we scooted on over to Lee's Palace to see the airy orchestral pop of Great Northern. The band is from California, but there are definite similarities between their music and the type of bands that have been floating around our fair city, or, perhaps more accurately, the Montreal music scene these days. There are male and female vocals a-plenty, and the darkly lit stage created a mood of melancholy that was suitable to their style of music. I had heard a little bit about this band but I was actually very unfamiliar with their sound. I definitely like what I heard, although I think I would have to listen to the album a few more times to really appreciate it. Very enjoyable show nonetheless.

Great Northern on myspace / Download: Just A Dream mp3 / My pics of Great Northern are on flickr.

Finally, we stuck around to see Urge Overkill. I really only have a mild interest in this band, and my reasons for sticking around to see them were really out of curiosity to see if these guys are still capable of rocking out. As you likely know, their self-destructive history has led many to wonder if they still have it in them. Answer? Yep. They rocked it old school without missing a beat and running through all of the crowd favourites. By this time I was now beyond tired so I only stayed for the first encore. The way the fans were cheering, I'm sure that they had at least one more and I'd be curious to know if they did bother to whip out the old Neil Diamond cover or not.

Urge Overkill on myspace / Download: Sister Havana mp3 / My pics of Urge Overkill are on flickr.

Off to NXNE again this year! Woo-hoo!!

This years’ NXNE festival is rapidly approaching (June 7-10) and I couldn’t be more enthused. I sort of laid off the concert going this month in preparation. Of course, The Mystery Jets canceling their shows this week (due to a Visa situation) certainly made it easier to do so. But I’ve perused the acts and I think I have a personal schedule all made up and prepared. The cool thing is that you can actually make up a printable schedule right there on the NXNE site. So right now, here it is.

Thursday night, I want to start off at The Art Bar and check out Christa Couture, a folk singer from Vancouver. I’ve admired her music for a few years now and her song “I Will” is still one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. I meant to see The Ghost Is Dancing last year but didn’t, so maybe this year I will. And then it’s a beautiful repeat of last year when I check out the always fantastic Jason Falkner. Maybe I can meet him again and he won’t remember how much of a dork I was last year. The Old Soul is playing at the Horseshoe and they’re described as “an orchestral explosion of horns, drums, saxophones, vibraphones and accordions.” Sounds pretty cool to me. Follow that up with Adam Franklin at the Reverb and then, depending on how tired I am, it’s Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland at Lee’s Palace. However, the chances of me staying awake that late are basically slim to none.

Friday night is devoted to being one of the first 100 wristbands at The Phoenix to see Dinosaur Jr. It’s an early show (doors at 6) but there are two opening acts as well, Awesome Color and Uncut. Never heard of them. But I have to be there early if I’m going to get in. I do have a back-up plan if that one falls through but I'm fairly sure I won't need it. After that, I know many who will be zipping over to the Voxtrot show. Although I wouldn’t mind seeing openers Au Revoir Simone again, I reckon the crowd is going to be massive and since the Dino Jr crowd will likely already give me a headache, I think I’ll pass on that one and check out The Sadies instead at Lee’s Palace. That will be followed by Birds of Wales at The Drake.

My Saturday night schedule consists of Ohbijou at The Horseshoe. Everyone is telling me that I HAVE to see them so I will. Then I am really excited about seeing Hello Operator! I love those guys and I’ve never had the opportunity to see them live so it’s going to be great. It’s not going to be easy, but I’ll try to get from The Rivoli to Jeff Healey’s Roadhouse quick enough to see Soundtrack Of Our Lives. I think that one will be pretty busy though and I may be pressing my luck. But I’ll try anyways and after that I’ll go to The Horseshoe again and see In-Flight Safety, whose live show was very impressive the last time I saw them.

Although I’ve received endless amounts of mockery from several friends, I like Fountains of Wayne. I realize “Stacy’s Mom” made them incredibly uncool, but I’m sorry, I’m a sucker for a well written pop song. I also don’t understand how it’s alright to like Matthew Sweet, but not FoW. To me they both write and record the same brand of catchy, hooky and hummable pop music. Whatever, I’m looking forward to seeing them and on Sunday night, the first 50 wristbands at Lee’s Palace are going to be allowed in to see them. So, I’ll be there early. Because I love them. And I don’t care if you don’t.

Downloads & Streams:

Christa Couture - I Will (stream)
The Ghost Is Dancing - People (mp3)
Jason Falkner - Lose Myself (mp3)
The Old Soul - Stream all of their songs here.
Adam Franklin - Cannery Row (mp3)
Dinosaur Jr. - Almost Ready (mp3)
The Sadies - Loved On Look (mp3)
Birds Of Wales - Stream several of their songs here.
Ohbijou - Misty Eyes (mp3)
In-Flight Safety - Stream their entire album here.
Fountains of Wayne - Watch the new video for "Someone To Love" featuring Dimitri Martin at youtube.

Hello Operator - Hot Step

I first heard the Toronto band Hello Operator last year on a podcast. It was when they were still known as Go! and it was a song entitled "Hot Step". To put it simply, it blew my mind! The band describe their sound as "The Cars covering "Cars" by Gary Numan." That's actually pretty funny, because I remember thinking that this song is the best Cars song I've heard in years! Now that's a compliment considering that The Cars have been the band to emulate over the last few years. Fountains of Wayne paid homage to them in one of their videos, Weezer had been desperately trying to shed their emo-image by being more Cars-like (until they finally gave up), and have you heard Franz Ferdinand? C'mon!

Hello Operator does it better than anybody. They've received a lot of praise for the first E.P., which garnered them a spot opening for Hillary Duff's last tour (I know, I know...please don't hold this against them too much.) And judging by the demos they've been posting on their myspace page, their full-length is going to be way more fun than mainstream radio usually allows a music lover to have (and many an indie-snob as well for that matter.)

Sadly, I don't have any free downloads to post for this band, but the E.P. is ONLY $5.99 here.
If you don't trust me, than listen to the truly amazing, hella funness of the song "Hot Step"
which, for now, can still be heard on their Pure Volume page which can be found...here!
And you can hear more tunes over on their myspace page.
Then you should buy the E.P. Now.