Broken Social Scene w/ The Beauties @ Sound Academy

It would have to be a pretty special band to get me out to the dreaded Sound Academy for the always dreaded all ages show. But when the band in question is Broken Social Scene (whom I haven't seen for about two years now,) well, one has to set aside his own personal beefs and put forth the effort to be there. And what can I say?...the band once again proved themselves to be nothing short of epic, as they put on a show that once again solidifies the fact that when it comes to championing the Toronto indie community spirit, Broken Social Scene have certainly set the standard.

It's an established fact that there seems to be a bit of a hipster backlash against the band these days, no doubt spurred on by the fact that bloggers and know-it-all scenesters are not supposed to like a band anymore once they've reached a certain level of popularity. Sure you can flame me all you want for making such a blanket statement, but let's face it, music snobs are a fickle bunch. However, I've never been one to give in to semi popular opinion and, although I long for the magic that came along with seeing BSS at a time before the general populous caught on, it warms my heart to know that, in this case, the non-snob masses have chosen wisely.

From what I heard, Thursday night's performance was excellent as they showcased several songs from Brendan Canning's sort-of-solo-but-not-really-solo album Something For Everyone, as well as pulling out all of the crowd favourites. There's always the debate as to whether it's better to attend the first show or the second, but Kevin Drew has stated somewhere that he feels that the second show is always the better one. I don't want to be biased, but I'm pretty confident that attending show #2 was a solid choice. The show opened with the one two instrumental punch of Late Night Bedroom Rock For The Missionaries and Shampoo Suicide before seguing nicely into the unmistakable guitar strains of KC Accidental. Man, I love the way that song starts! Lisa Lobsinger joined in to cover the Feist part of 7/4 Shoreline and did an admirable job although, as we all know, she's not the most enthusiastic performer in the world. After that Brendan Canning took centre stage to perform Churches Under The Stairs and Hit The Wall from his own (sort of) album. The first major highlight for me was a couple of songs later when Andrew Whiteman sang Looks Just Like The Sun, which I don't believe I've ever heard them perform live, unless they did it on Toronto Island the first time that I saw them, which would have been before I was familiar with the song. That was followed by a strange sort of jazzy beat poet type of performance comprised of sax player Leon Kingstone tooting along to a recording of Charles Spearin's Jamaican neighbour talking about stuff. Trust me, being there wouldn't have made my explanation come across any clearer but let's just say that it was equal parts confusing and impressive. This brings us to semi-surprise number one: the appearance of Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock to perform a few songs. I say it's a semi surprise because anybody who read about the show the night before likely already had a hunch that he would be there. I've mentioned before my own opinions on Modest Mouse, but it was still cool to see the audience get excited, and he actually played a couple of the songs that I don't mind that much, namely Good Times Are Killing Me and Paper Thin Walls (which is actually one of my favourite MM songs.) The real surprise however came a few songs later that when Emily Haines took to the stage to perform Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl. I am firmly of the belief that she is the only one who should be allowed to perform that song and when she's not there, the song should be stricken from the setlist. That's just my opinion. Needless to say, she did a splendid job. Even more exciting was hearing her and Drew perform Swimmers, another song that I've never heard them do live. Amazing. The show continued along with some cool performances, including Canning's flashy display during the discofied Love Is New, where he came out all decked in a gold sequined outfit while some girls in the background danced around all Robert Palmer like creating a scene that I never would have expected at a BSS show, but still enjoyed immensely. After Isaac and Emily performed MM's World At Large, the whole band came out performing a triumphant Ibi Dreams of Pavement as balloons came cascading over the audience, reminding all in attendance that this was indeed an indie rock party of grand proportion. The last song of the night was Pacific Theme, another one that I've never heard live, and one of my personal faves that really served as the icing on the cake for me. While it's true that there are some things that I could complain about, they generally fall in the 'grumpy old man surrounded by a bunch of pushy tweens' category, and I realize that this is not the bands fault. (Please refer to my blog title ;) Still, overall I couldn't have asked for a better show, and whether or not I get the chance to see them again, I'm looking forward to hearing what else we can expect in recorded material from the BSS camp.

UPDATE: I just came across some excellent video footage from the show on youtube. 'Swimmers' is particularly magical. If you listen carefully, you can also hear what type of crowd we had to deal with. (grr, all ages shows...)

There is plenty more BSS related live action in Toronto for the month of December as Jason Collett does a weekly Tuesday night stint at Dakota Tavern, with the exception of Tuesday December 9th when Kevin Drew performs. Tickets to all of these shows are $15.

Photos: Broken Social Scene @ Sound Academy on flickr
Myspace: Broken Social Scene
Myspace: Brendan Canning
Myspace: Kevin Drew
Myspace: Emily Haines
Myspace: Jason Collett
Myspace: Modest Mouse
Download: Hit The Wall mp3


Some may feel that the Friday nighters may have received the short end of the stick by missing out on having tour mates Land Of Talk as the opening act. As for me, I have no problem with my opening act being an opportunity to be introduced to someone I don't know and Land of Talk is back in town at The Horseshoe on January 15th anyway. So for us, the opening act was The Beauties, who are the house band at The Dakota Tavern, not to be confused with a punk band from Vancouver, boasting the same name. As the first song was playing through, I remember thinking something along the lines of "Hmm, bar band. That's cool. Whatever." However, as their set carried on, each song grew more and more impressive as the band successfully harnessed the spirit of Sun Records circa 1954 with an exciting blend of old school country and upbeat rockabilly. Their original songs were all quite good, but the money moment for me was their faithful cover of the Velvet Underground's I'm Waiting For The Man. It's such an amazing song and their energetic performance was incendiary. For the last song, they were joined onstage by Lisa Lobsinger and Serena Ryder.

As far as I can tell, these guys don't even have a myspace page which is very strange. However from what I understand they play The Dakota Tavern every Sunday night.

Photos: The Beauties @ Sound Academy on flickr

R.E.M. w/ Modest Mouse & The National @ Molson Amphitheatre

And another artist whom I've waited all my life to see can now get crossed off that list. Sunday night marked a historical night in the concert going life of yours truly, as I finally got around to seeing R.E.M. in concert. The show was nothing short of spectacular and although I could (and will) make all of the typical long time fan type of complaints, there were still enough surprises to keep me as entertained as a little girl.

First off the band opened with These Days from Life's Rich Pageant, a personal fave and an awesome way to open a show. I cannot express how much that excited me! They continued to rock most triumphantly, following up with Horse To Water (from Accelerate) and What's The Frequency, Kenneth?, ensuring that the fans got off to a delightfully hyper start. I was actually amazed at what a dynamic frontman Stipe is. For some reason, I always pictured him to be much more introverted. But nothing could be farther from the truth. He played the role of eccentric rock star perfectly, with just the right mix of pomp and charisma. Following the John Cusack rule of mixtape making, at that point they took it down a notch with Drive. I'm confident enough with my manhood to admit that I may have teared up a little bit during this song, coming to the realization that the band who practically raised me was actually on the stage in front of me. The show continued to me a fine mix of the old and new, the band pulling out songs like Begin The Begin and 7 Chinese Brothers, all to my surprise, and my favorite moment was during the encore when Johnny Marr joined them onstage for Fall On Me, one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

As I mentioned, my complaints about the show are all very fanboy and typical. They didn't play a lot of the songs that I would've liked to hear. I could've done without hearing BOTH Losing My Religion and Man On The Moon since those are the only songs in the R.E.M. catalogue that I am truly sick of. But clearly my opinion is really only an opinion, because the crowds ate it up. And let's be honest, if they played something like Letter Never Sent, I probably would have had a heart attack. I actually thought it was funny how when Religion was playing the people went nuts, rushing to the front and into the aisles, screaming with unmitigated enthrallment, only to have the band kick them with a shocker by following up with the far less known Second Guessing. I loved jumping around and singing along to that one while all those who were proclaiming their love for the band just a few moments ago, suddenly didn't know what to do with themselves. Bwahahaha! Miss your Mix 99 much?

I also wanted to quickly mention that there was actually a tornado warning for Toronto, and the Amphitheatre is right by the lake which is probably not where you want to be when there's a tornado warning. Prior to R.E.M. hitting the stage, rain was falling and lightning was crashing. But just before they hit the stage, the sky cleared and a rainbow appeared in the sky. It was pretty cool.

Photos: My shots of R.E.M. at Molson Amphitheatre are on flickr.
Myspace: R.E.M.
Video: Hollow Man youtube

Typical conversation in my life:

Indie loving friends: Modest Mouse is the greatest thing in the world ever!
Me: Yah, I don't know, I....
ILF: Have you ever seen them live?
Me: No, I haven't
ILF: Oh, well that's why! Cuz' they're just so unbelievably fantastic that their fantasticness makes me feel all fantastic inside!!!
Me: I guess I'll have to check them out...

Well, now I've seen them and it was great in its own way, but now I can confidently say that I will never be one of those people who really 'get' them. The playing was tight though, and although I'm not a big MM fan, I am a pretty huge Johnny Marr fan, so there was something very surreal about seeing him. The album I like best is The Moon and Antarctica, and they surprisingly played a couple from that, which was sorta cool. But Isaac Brock's voice still gives me a migraine and their lack of variety still miffs me. But there were a lot of people that were clearly there specifically to see them, and I'm sure that they left completely satisfied.

Photos: Modest Mouse @ Molson Amphitheatre on flickr
Myspace: Modest Mouse
Video: We've Got Everything on youtube

First openers The National, on the other hand, were gold. They played a 45 minute set that included mainly songs from last years critical darling Boxer, and this show just solidified the fact that they are more than deserving of all of the hype. When I got off the bus at Lakeshore, I heard the band opening with Start A War, so I ran like Forrest Gump to get in the stadium as fast as I could. The sound was magnificent, and it was fun to see this already successful band winning over even more fans. Scattered sporadically throughout the crowd were clearly people who were there specifically to see them, but there were far more in attendance poised for conversion. I saw someone sitting a couple of rows in front of me rush out to pick up their CD. I saw people looking at their significant others and doing that "Wow, they're pretty good" head shake thing. I'm pretty sure that they have been and will continue to be winning over fans throughout the course of the entire tour. Fake Empire sounded downright inspirational and Mistaken For Strangers was also a highlight.

Photos: The National @ Molson Amphitheatre on flickr
Myspace: The National
Video: Mistaken For Strangers on youtube

'Sup In June?

Short answer? Tons. Grab yourself a drink and some cereal, sit back and relax because this is going to be one lengthy post. June is a month of legends and NXNE and it's going to be so full of the rawk that I'm going to make sure that I chill out a little bit in July. I won't pull another January hiatus or anything, but I'm fairly sure that June is going to cause me some significant wipe out action.

Things get all started tomorrow night when I see the reunited Eric's Trip at The Mod Club. For those that aren't in the know, the Trip are one of the truly great lo-fi bands of the 90's, cranking out four official CD's and several independent EP's and cassette releases during that time. Since then, Rick White and Julie Doiron have gone on to have some more success in their own write, but nothing compares to the insane heartbreak fueled distortion that they created when they were together. I've been listening to Love Tara and Forever Again all day today in preparation for the show, and it's amazing how well those songs hold up. Can you tell I'm excited? When picking up the tickets, the brother at Soundscapes told me that I should be sure not to miss the opening bands because they're also spectacular. He's got impeccable taste so I'll take his word for it. They are Quest For Fire and $100.

Myspace: Eric's Trip
Myspace: Quest For Fire
Myspace: $100.

If seeing Eric's Trip isn't enough, Sunday June 8th marks the day that I FINALLY see R.E.M. In the next few days, I'll be composing my love letter to R.E.M. that will help you more fully understand why this is such a big deal for me, but for now let's just say that, in many ways, R.E.M. has made me the obsessive musical compulsive that I am today. Also, Accelerate is their best album in 15 years. The opening bands are not too shabby either and you may have heard of them also. They are Modest Mouse and The National. Familiar with them? Opening for R.E.M. should give them that little push that they need in their little careers. (YES! Sarcasm, give me more!!!) It's been a long time since I've been to a show in an amphitheater setting, so we'll see how I handle being in the 200 level as opposed to being up front like I always am. Hopefully I don't get too grumpy.

Myspace: R.E.M.
Myspace: Modest Mouse
Myspace: The National
Video: R.E.M's Hollow Man on youtube

Which brings us to NXNE! Boy, did I have a hard time deciding where I was going to go. There's a lot of great stuff going on, but a whole whack of conflicts as well. However I think that I discovered a feasible schedule that has the greatest number of good bands with the least amount of traveling. So take a deep breath .... and here goes:

The fest doesn't officially start until Thursday June 12, but there are a few early shows that are part of the NXNE-Extra series. Wednesday night (June 11) I'll be trying to attend Lightspeed Champion at Lee's Palace. This might be tricky since the press badges are not available for pick up until Thursday at noon, but I'm trying to see what I can do. I'd like to get in though because I think that this will be an incredibly fun way to get the festival started.

Myspace: Lightspeed Champion

On Thursday night (June 12), I plan on making my way to The Supermarket to see Cancel Winter (10pm), followed by Amos The Transparent (11pm). Amos' Jonathan Chandler eluded to the fact that this was going to be a very exciting and different show the last time that he was in town, so I'm looking forward to finding out what he meant by that. I would go and check out Sloan at The Mod Club, but I'm not available until 10, and they come on at 9. However, there's a rumour circulating that they will be heading on up to Lee's Palace afterwards for a 1am show. If said rumour is true, then I'll be leaving after Amos The Transparent's set and heading down to Lee's. If not, then I'll just stay put and check out Great Bloomers (midnight). Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

Myspace: Cancel Winter
Myspace: Amos The Transparent
Myspace: Sloan
Myspace: Great Bloomers
Stream: Sloan's Parallel Play on yeproc records.

And here's a short list of the band's that I also want to see but can't due to there only being one of me: The John Henry's (Criminal Records @ 7pm & Dakota Tavern @ 10pm); Krief's Black Diamond Bay (Clinton's @ midnight); Danielle Duval (C'est What @ 10pm); Melissa McClelland (Dakota Tavern @ 11pm); The Coast (The Horseshoe @ 9pm); Two Hours Traffic (Rivoli @ midnight) and Key Witness (Velvet Underground @ 8pm)

I'm going to try to start things off a little bit earlier on Friday night (June 13) by zipping on down to Yonge and Dundas Square to see Hospital Bombers at 8pm, followed by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists at 9. The rest of the evening was very difficult to choose but I think I settled on seeing Julie Doiron (11pm), followed by Evan Dando (midnight) at The Horseshoe. I loved The Lemonheads but they're another band that falls into the love 'em but never seen 'em section of my life. Afterwards I might take a chance and tunnel through the center of the Earth to catch Swervedriver (1am) at Lee's, but I'm really not going to get my hopes up for that.

Myspace: Hospital Bombers
Myspace: The Lemonheads
Myspace: Julie Doiron
Myspace: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Myspace: Swervedriver
Download: Julie Doiron's No More mp3

Download: Julie Doiron's Snow Falls In November mp3


And here are the acts that I wanna see but cannot on Friday night: Will Currie and the County French (Drake Hotel @ midnight); Ruby Coast (Drake Hotel @ 9pm); Songs From A Room (El Mocambo @ 9pm); Jason Plumb and the Willing (Gladstone @ 11pm); Beth In Battle Mode (Holy Joe's @ 11pm); Oh No Forest Fires (Kathedral @ 9pm); the whole line-up at The Reverb was very very tempting, namely The Priddle Concern (9pm); Great Lake Swimmers (10pm); Laura Barrett (11pm); The Meligrove Band (midnight); and Justin Rutledge (1am). Missing Fox Jaws (Rivoli @ midnight) and Golden Hands Before God Conducts Incredible Magic Band And The Spirit (Savannah Room @ midnight) is also killing me! But I had to go with Dando because opportunities to see him are far less frequent than the other local bands. And I've seen Fox Jaws five times. And I'll likely see them many more times. This year.

And now for Saturday night (June 14th)! If Thursday and Friday night are as action packed as I think they'll be, then I'm going to look forward to spending time with my wife on Saturday because it is our anniversary. 11 years! Where does the time go?

However, once dinner and a movie is done, the wife and I are still planning on catching a couple of shows and here's the plan. Spiral Beach (10pm), followed by Hey Rosetta! (11pm) at The Horseshoe. Some may feel it's sacreligious to exit before Matt Mays and El Torpedo (midnight) takes the stage, but I've been looking forward to the next show at Lee's Palace for a long time. We start with Miss Derringer (midnight), followed by another blast from the past in Redd Kross (1am). Should be fun! If we still have an unbelievable amount of energy, then we might go to El Mocambo to see Patrick Krief's latest project entitled Black Diamond Bay (2am) But probably not.

Myspace: Spiral Beach
Myspace: Hey Rosetta!
Myspace: Miss Derringer
Myspace: Redd Kross
Download: Spiral Beach's New Clouds Hot Clouds EP for free at Zunior.com

I wish that I could see these bands too but alas, I cannot: Entire Cities (Cadillac Lounge @ 1am); Revival Dear (Cadillac Lounge @ midnight); The Two Koreas (El Mocambo @ 11pm); The iSpies (El Mocambo @ 10pm); The 6ixty 8ights (Hideout @ midnight); Serena Postel (Free Times Cafe @ 11pm); Tin Bangs (Kathedral @ 1am); Grace Emily's (Neu+ral Lounge @ 8pm); Foxfire (Reverb @ 11pm); Magneta Lane (Rivoli @ 1am); Matthew Barber (Rivoli @ 10pm); Spookey Ruben (Yonge-Dundas Square @ 7pm) and Bran Van 3000 (Yonge-Dundas Square @ 9pm)

Exhausted yet? If you've read this far, you're the king. But wait there's more! On Monday (June16), I'm breaking my promise and actually going back to the Kool Haus to catch Besnard Lakes with the mighty mighty My Morning Jacket, one of the greatest live bands ever in the world ever. I am puh-huh-mped about this one!

Myspace: Besnard Lakes
Myspace: My Morning Jacket
Download: Besnard Lakes' And You Lied To Me mp3

Download: Besnard Lakes' For Agent 13 mp3


And so ends my ridiculously full month of June. Unless you include Ohbijou with Jill Barber at Harbourfront Center on June 28th. Which I don't see any reason why you wouldn't.

Myspace: Ohbijou
Myspace: Jill Barber
Download: Ohbijou's St. Francis mp3

Download: Ohbijou's Steep mp3


Whew.

Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank

There has been an awful lot of anticipation over Modest Mouse’s new CD “We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank.” The reason of course is that indie rock legend and former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr is now an official member of the band. When I first heard that, my feelings were mixed to say the least. The Smiths, of course, are one of my favourite bands of all time. Modest Mouse, on the other hand, I’ve never really understood. It’s not that I dislike them, it’s just that while many of my peers feel that they’re the saviors of indie rock, my feelings have always been more, well, modest. I do like a lot of their music, but they are flawed in many ways as far as I’m concerned. Still, I am mildly fond of the “The Moon And Antarctica”, and songs like “Space Travel Is Boring” are fantastic. But I never ever ever have to hear “Float On” again for as long as I live. So how do I feel about the new one?

It’s pretty good. The first song “March Into The Sea” is very energetic, and while Isaac Brock’s voice usually gives me a migraine, I actually found his maniacal cackle to be somewhat amusing on this one. Many people are referring to “Dashboard” as this album’s “Float On”, but I think “Dashboard” is a significantly stronger single. The tracks that appeal to me the most are “Spitting Venom” and “Parting Of The Sensory.” “Parting…” has James Mercer of The Shins lending his vocal talents, and “Spitting…” is classic epic MM, 8 minutes of fevered intensity. To be honest, I can’t say that I really hear Johnny Marr’s influence all that much on this album. In the past, I always thought that he had a very unique style to his playing, but this CD doesn’t sound all that different than MM’s past releases. I suppose it’s a little bit more upbeat than fans of the Mouse are accustomed to, and that may be a result of Marr’s influence. But overall, the things that I enjoy about MM are still there and the usual complaints are still there too. The CD’s way too long as usual and Brock’s voice does grate on me after awhile. However, the “it’s not you, it’s me” adage can certainly be applied to my relationship with this band. Regardless of my personal views, the talent they possess cannot be denied, and I think we’ll be seeing this album on many a “best of 2007” list come year-end.

Modest Mouse will be at the Hummingbird Centre on April 24^th.

Downloads:
March Into The Sea mp3
Dashboard mp3

Visit Modest Mouse on myspace.
Purchase “We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank” on Amazon.ca