Rural Alberta Advantage w/ Hooded Fang @ The Horseshoe Tavern

Not surprisingly, it seems that I was not alone in my highly anticipatory excitement over seeing the Rural Alberta Advantage return to our fair city. They've spent the last several months touring across the US in support of the fact that they've been signed to the highly acclaimed Saddle Creek label which means, depending on the amount of promotional support they receive from this label, this could potentially be the last time that we will get to witness this fantastic band in such a cozy venue at such a comfortable rate. This is why it came as no real surprise that the show was not only sold out, but the crowd was significantly more hyper than usual as we welcomed our current hometown heroes back to our favourite venue, The Horseshoe.

As is my usual Thursday night situation, I was unable to catch the first act, The Wilderness of Manitoba, who's music I had become acquainted with earlier in the week when I listened to their feature on the Zygiella podcast. They've got a great sound that boasts a folksy Simon and Garfunkel vibe that I look forward to experiencing live at a later date. The next band however, was one that I've had plenty of experience with in the past few months.

Hooded Fang will never be accused of being lazy. This is the fourth time that I've seen them over the last few months, which in itself is not all that unusual. The fact that I've never made any actual plans to ever see them is what makes this statistic something of note. They are obviously firm believers that 'practice makes perfect', which might be what enables them to accept as many opening gigs as possible. This strategy seems to work well in their case, as I've seen them progress from what I would consider to be a cute yet amateurish band, to actually being a highly energetic and professional sounding pop band. Interestingly enough, I still don't own their EP as of yet, but I'm at a point where I'm recognizing the songs at their shows anyway, and this familiarity helps me to appreciate the band more and more. However, all of this touring and performing, along with all of the many side projects that the band has going on (including the awesome Daniel-led lo-fi project Hut) is bound to tire them out from time to time, and that may be the reason for the general lack of enthusiasm that were displaying on this particular evening. For those of us who are familiar with the songs, the show was still quite enjoyable, but I'm not sure that they were able to garner too many new fans this time around. Hopefully I'm wrong, because they definitely do have the potential to become one of the better party bands that our city has to offer; a fact that became a bit more evident towards the final part of their set.

Photos: Hooded Fang @ The Horseshoe on flickr.
Myspace: Hooded Fang

I mentioned that the general enthusiasm for the return of the RAA was of no surprise to me, but the looks on the faces of Amy Cole, Paul Banwatt and especially Nils Edenloff led me to believe that they were, at least, mildly unaware of just how appreciated they are here in Toronto. Nils made a comment that after performing to various sized venues and performing to crowds of differing levels of appreciation, it was "really great to be back." The sound of relief in his voice made it clear that perhaps not everybody has caught on yet to the wonderment of this talented band, but I'm sure that it's only a matter of time. The chemistry between these three members is the type of thing that doesn't come around that often. Nils was singing with great conviction that was particularly noteworthy in some of the more throat expanding numbers, such as The Dethbridge In Lethbridge. Amy's harmonies added a depth to the songs that enabled them to sound fuller than they would otherwise. And then there's Paul Banwatt. He's the secret ingredient that stretches this band beyond anything else I'm currently hearing on the indie music scene. Several points of reference have been made in describing the RAA sound, many of which are justified. But if you listen closely to what Banwatt is able to accomplish on the kit, you'll quickly realize that his drumming style has a uniqueness that is subtle, yet accomplished. From where I was standing, Banwatt and his kit were directly in my field of vision, and I found it hard to pay attention to anything else while he played. Particularly noteworthy was his drumming in the song Don't Haunt This Place, where he interchanged the beats several times within the song which called for incredible precision, timing and co-ordination on his part. I'm not a drummer so I don't know if it's as hard as it looks, but dang, it does look (and sound) impressive!

For the encore, Edenloff played a solo cover of Eye Of The Tiger alone on the acoustic guitar. The fact that it took a couple of minutes for me to recognize it shows that he successfully made the song his own, with his unique vocals sounding more immediate than ever before. They closed with a new song that I was unfamiliar with that also sounded great.

With significant buzz, positive press and a push by Saddle Creek, the possibilities for what the future may hold for The RAA are tremendous. Being a rather opinionated guy, my standpoint seems to be that there are far too many times when the wrong band seems to get the breaks, while the right band continues on in relative obscurity. I've seen that on the local scene, and I've seen that on the much larger international scene as well. For once, it appears that the right things are happening to the right band. Although the music business can be fickle and unfair, I sincerely hope that, this time, the momentum continues on in this positive direction and the RAA gets the fame and recognition that they rightly deserve.

Eye, NOW, Narratives and even Much Music all have reviews of the show and judging by who I saw in attendance, I'm sure that there are many more to come.

Photos: Rural Alberta Advantage @ The Horseshoe on flickr
Myspace: Rural Alberta Advantage

Josh Rouse w/ Maria Taylor @ Lee's Palace

I haven't yet posted any words about Josh Rouse's latest release "Country Mouse, City House" so I should probably start by sharing a few words on that. Overall, it's a decent album albeit rather predictable. Here we have Josh once again settling into 70's AM radio vibe, which I felt worked triumphantly on 2003's "1972" album, but turns only slightly stale on this release. This isn't because the songs are bad by any means; it's just that they all sort of sound the same after awhile.

The same was relatively true about his appearance at Lee's Palace on Tuesday night. He obviously possesses a certain charm and charisma that immediately wins over a crowd (not that they needed any help.) However, at almost 90 minutes in length, I have to admit I was feeling somewhat restless at the 35 minute mark. (OK, I wasn't timing things, but we're talking in approximations here.) He obviously showcased many songs from the new one, but he also featured a happy helping of tunes from "Nashville," possibly my favorite Rouse release, although it alternates frequently with "1972," which he also played a few cuts from. He started out strong enough with "Saturday" which is an excellent show opener before settling into new material like "Pilgrim" and "God, Please Let Me Go Back." There were some humorous moments like when he distracted the audience from his guitar tuning by having the band play Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely," which resulted in only a mildly successful but ultimately enjoyable audience sing along. The encore consisted of 4 songs, including a cover of Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay," the infectious "Slaveship" and the beautiful "Sad Eyes." I read another review that described the new album as "for the relaxed" and that's as appropriate a description as one could give of his performance...very relaxed. Which is cool with me.

Photos: Josh Rouse @ Lee's Palace flickr (Incredibly grainy and noisy but what're you gonna do?)
Myspace: Josh Rouse
Video: Hollywood Bass Player youtube

Maria Taylor (formerly from Azure Ray) opened the night off in an equally relaxed way. She informed us that the van broke down so most of her band had to remain stateside. But she still had the accompaniment of Andy Lemaster (of Now It's Overhead, etc) on guitar, which allowed for her to showcase her velvety hushed voice for the crowd. I'm only mildly acquainted with her solo work, so her performance was also sort of an introduction to me, but I thought the songs were exceptionally strong. They settled nicely into that alt-country vibe, and she came across as a true professional who seemed genuinely happy to be performing for us. Andy Lemaster also did an excellent job of accompaniment; harmonizing, playing along, blowing a kazoo and telling jokes while Maria tuned up. (Why do penguins walk slowly? Because they can't walk hardly. Arf arf!)

Photos: Maria Taylor @ Lee's Palace flickr (Also grainy and noisy. Time for a new camera...)
Download: Song Beneath The Song mp3 / Speak Easy mp3
Myspace: Maria Taylor (more free downloads there.)