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.

Reily - We Were Archaeologists

It’s odd, but so far this year the CD’s that have blown my mind the most are both only 5 song EP’s. The first one is the excellent Hero Cycle’s phenomenal “Lakes And Ponds” EP, which I reviewed a few weeks ago. The second of course, is Reily’s “We Were Archaeologists.” I know that I’ve raved about them quite a lot this week, and I assure you this will be it for a little while, but this EP is beautiful beyond words.

I purchased both their first full-length and the EP at the same time. “Listen To The Rain” is a very promising debut that relies heavily on Lisa Horvath and Megan Bonnell’s captivating and unique vocal style. It’s a little bit like The Cranberries meet Sarah Harmer, and it definitely falls more into the singer-songwriter end of the spectrum. “We Were Archaeologists,” however, takes giant leaps forward into orchestral pop territory that has been grazed by artists like Stars, Delgados and, more recently, Young Galaxy. But in many ways this EP surpasses even them. Again, Lisa and Megan’s harmonies are like nothing I’ve ever heard before. They both possess a similar technique, but Lisa’s vocals are in a slightly lower register than Megan’s, which makes them sound almost haunting together. For this release, they also introduce the bass-y vocal stylings of Nathan Stretch, which offsets the female vocals, adding yet another layer to this already multi-layered outfit. There are two songs in particular where the three voices are used to enormous effect. “When You Came Around, I Came Around Too” is your typical boy-girl relationship-type song, but then the third voice comes in, acting as sort of an inner monologue-type idea that simply blows the doors off of anything that’s been done before. And the final track, “Talk Sweet; Walk Tall [Breathe Deep]” is an exercise in vocal gymnastics, where all three singers seem to be in some sort of vocal competition with one another that sounds nothing short of awesome, especially when you consider that Nathan’s pounding bass, Anthony James victorious drum technique and Nick Bernal’s wailing guitar are also an active part of the competition. The song “We Are Geologists” is probably the hookiest song in the bunch, with a repetitive chorus that is very BSS-like. And “Raindrops” is just so darned beautiful.

I’ve been given many CD’s to listen to this week, some good, some not so good, but in between every CD on my list, I’ve been enthusiastically coming back to “We Were Archaeologists.” At their shows, they’ve introduced a few songs for an upcoming CD that sounds like it’s going to be absolutely euphoric. Pick up their music now, and go see them live before you’re dishing out $50 to see them at Massey Hall.

You can listen to their music on their myspace page and you can purchase their CD’s and other merchandise at their online store.

Photo is courtesy of Brian Emmanuel.

The Coloured Lights, Sleep The Season, Elephant & Reily @ Sneaky Dee's

Schizophrenic, spasmodic, and insane. That’s probably the best way to describe the hyperactivity surrounding the dudes in The Coloured Lights. The music ranges from punk to dance to garage to just good ole rock ‘n roll, but on stage (or slightly offstage) this band aims to please. They started the night off in a highly energetic way that got everybody riled up for the rest of the show.

You can listen to their tunes on myspace.
You can look at some pics I took at the show on my flickr page.

Next up was Sleep The Season, and they were the complete opposite of The Coloured Lights, but no less attention-grabbing. The music is very atmospheric, and the presence of the cello makes for a very distinctive sound. Lead vocalist Dave Fontaine, who’s stage presence reminded me a bit of Conor Oberst, has a voice that is very sincere and emotive. To quote one of their own lyrics, you’ll be “paralyzed by the sound and the beauty of it all.”

Listen to them on myspace.
Purchase their album’s here.
My pics of the band can be found on my flickr page.

I had been hearing a lot about the band Elephant, so it was a pleasure to see them perform on Friday night. They have a slightly progressive edge to them that keeps things very interesting without getting pretentious. The performance that night was of epic proportions, and they played with a level of professionalism that contradicts their relative newness to the indie music scene.

You can listen to and download some of their stuff on their myspace page.
And I took some pics of them as well. Check ‘em out on flickr.

Finally, I hope you don’t mind but I’m going to be promoting Reily quite heavily on my site. I’ll be posting a review of their EP “We Were Archaeologists” probably later this week. Remember when I raved about their show at Clinton’s last week? It was nothing compared to their performance at Sneaky’s on Friday night. The instrumentation was extremely tight, Megan and Lisa’s vocals were captivating and the whole experience was that of seeing a band that definitely has break-out potential. With bands like Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire being all the rage amongst indie hipsters, Reily is a natural progression, fitting in nicely with the aforementioned bands. And judging by the new material they played that night, they’re just getting started.

Listen to them on their myspace page.
Buy their music over here.
And check out the pics I took from the show on my flickr page.

Santa Dog, The Coast & Reily Live @ Clinton's

The only show I caught at this year’s Canadian Music Week was Saturday night at Clinton’s on Bloor, where I was eagerly looking forward to seeing how Santa Dog’s retro brit-pop sound would translate to our Canadian bar patrons. They did not disappoint, although they definitely had their work cut out for them.

They were preceded by Ottawa’s Loudlove, who were your typical hard rockin’, funky bar band with a bit of ska thrown in for good measure. They were better than average, and they brought the house down (as bar bands generally do in bars.) However, the only logical follow up would have been a 70’s band like Foghat, not Santa Dog. But The Dog did not let that deter them from playing a stellar show. Lead singer Rowena Dugdale is just as charming as I expected she would be, and her overall enthusiasm for coming to icy cold Canada (although Saturday’s temperature wasn’t too bad), just added to her onstage fervor. It should also be noted that bassist Rob Ash has rock star swagger down to a science, and he also gave those who stuck around a good show! They played several songs from the “Belle de Jour” EP and also included several cuts from their upcoming full-length “Kittyhawk” which I’ve listened to and it’s fantastic (more on that in a later post.) It was also very nice to meet them and I was very glad to hear that the rest of their visit to Canada had been a rousing success.

Santa Dog on myspace.
View my pics of Santa Dog live at Clinton’s on my flickr page.

I was going to leave at that point but some friends showed up and we decided to stick around for the next two bands. Glad we did. I had wanted to see The Coast for some time now, and their live show was exactly what you would expect if you’re familiar with their music. They play full-out stadium rock, complete with ringing guitars and triumphant vocals. Their songs are encompassed in atmosphere, and although they sounded exceptional, I would love to hear them open for a bigger band at a larger venue. Still, their songs really translated well to the live stage and The Coast will no doubt continue to get bigger and better as they continue to hone a sound that is tailor made for fans of U2 or The Verve.

Listen to The Coast on myspace.
View my pics of The Coast live at Clinton’s on my flickr page.

The greatest surprise of the night was Brampton’s Reily. How have I not heard of them? If the expression “destined for greatness” were to apply to any indie band, Reily would be the one. They all look like they’re pretty young, but their sound boasts a real maturity, particularly in the harmonies, which are above and beyond anything I’ve heard in a while. Female vocalists Megan and Lisa have such intricate and unique voices that it’s really hard to give those who haven’t heard them a point of comparison. With the inclusion of Nick’s equally impressive vocals, I suppose I hear a bit of Stars, and then a touch of Arcade Fire in the instrumentation. The songs they have posted on myspace do not sound like the type of songs you would hear on a debut release. If they are this good already, it is mind boggling to think how good they will be as time goes on. I am eagerly looking forward to picking up their CD, and I guarantee I’ll be introducing them to more than a couple of my friends.

Reily are playing this Friday at Sneaky Dee's on College St. and Saturday at The Mod Club also on College St. I highly recommend checking out their show.

Listen to the music of Reily on myspace.
View my pics of Reily live at Clinton’s on my flickr page.