'Sup in March: Ten Picks

After a couple of months of relatively casual concert going action, it looks like the month of March is going to be a busy one for me, concert-wise. If you couple that with the fact that life is also going to be quite busy life-wise, than you're going to be looking at a fairly exhausted guy come months end. For the most part however, it'll be worth it, since the month promises not to leave me wanting in terms of high quality shows, so here are a few picks if you're looking for something to do.

For more detailed listings, as usual, go check out Stillepost, Zoilus and Jen's Semi-Weekly List (of shows under $10)

1. Joanna Newsom / Kevin Barker @ The Phoenix
(Saturday March 13th; Cost: $28)

I've been listening to Joanna Newsom's (pictured above) latest 3-disc opus Have One On Me over and over and over again this week, which is amazing considering the fact that it is certainly what one could classify as a daunting listen. Her voice may be a tad normalized this time around (no doubt making some people quite happy) but this is still an example of primo Newsom as it showcases her usual penchant for adventure, both lyrically and instrumentally. There are so many layers to peel back throughout this recording that I hope I'll be able to have it fully absorbed in time for the show, which is sure to be a classic performance. [Myspaces: Joanna Newsom, Kevin Barker]

2. Thrush Hermit @ Lee's Palace
(Fri. Mar 26th - Sun. Mar 28th; Cost: $17.50)

The reunion of the boys in Thrush Hermit admittedly brought me mixed feelings since my tastes have changed a little bit over the last 15 years, and I'm fairly indifferent to the solo version of Joel Plaskett. Both this fact, and the other fact that I have not listened to the Thrush for several years had me wondering if the old tunes would still do it for me in my advanced age. Well, I recently dusted off both the Smart Bomb EP and Sweet Homewrecker and I hafta say that both of those albums held up exceptionally well, proving to me that Plaskett's former band truly was a different beast altogether. Two sold out nights at Lee's, with undoubtedly a third one on the way confirms that they've still got the ability to generate some great enthusiasm. [Myspace: Thrush Hermit]

3. Canadian Music Fest @ Various Venues
(Wed. Mar 10th - Sun. Mar 14th; Cost: $63 for the 5-day pass)

To be honest, I'm still perusing the schedule for this one, trying to use the opportunity to focus on bands that I wouldn't normally get to see, but making a decision on what to do ain't coming as easily as it has in the past. I'll keep you posted on some picks in relation to this as we get closer to the date. [Myspace: Canadian Music Fest]

4. Language-Arts/ The Pinecones / Allie Hughes @ The Garrison
(Friday March 5th; Cost: $6)

Vancouver's Language-Arts are an amazing band that I only recently was introduced to, but within seconds of listening to their debut LP Where Were You In The Wild, I knew that this band was going to be right up my alley. Their airy and organic tones, in theory, should really serve as a contrast to Kristen Cudmore's pixie-ish vocals, but the pairing is one of pure magic as the compositions themselves are abstract works of art that defy characterization by showcasing something new with every listen. This is mesmerizing stuff that I'm curious to see how it will translate to the live stage. [Myspaces: Language-Arts, The Pinecones, Allie Hughes]

5. David Ford @ The Drake
(Tuesday March 9th; Cost: $11.50)

At first listen, David Ford doesn't seem like much, as his vocals are certainly not all that unfamiliar and the songs themselves at first seem like your typical pop fare. But as you let his sounds linger a bit, it becomes apparent that there is some pretty impressive Tom Waits-ian lyricism taking place, not to mention the articulate musicianship that refuses to limit itself within the confines of the 3 or 4 minute pop song. The looping machine is being used by many these days, but I guarantee that you have never seen it used to the impressive extent that it is used by this multi-instrumentalist, to the point that you can actually hear the sound of a full stadium band emanating from that stage, even though Ford may be the only person up there. If you haven't seen him live yet and you appreciate pure musicianship, than you owe it to yourself to be at The Drake on March 9th. [Myspace: David Ford]

6. Scout Niblett / Picastro @ The Horseshoe
(Wednesday March 17th; Cost: $11.50)

Scout Niblett is the perfect antidote for those who are suffering from "lack of rawness" syndrome. Too many artists start out with an intensely raw sound, only to trade it in for delicacy later on. (I'm looking at you Chan Marchall). Scout Niblett, on the other hand, is about as raw as it gets, with a sound that encapsulates all that grunge attempted to create, without actually be grungy at all. In fact, Scout probably has more in common with P.J. Harvey than Kurt Cobain, but if you're in the mood for some a little bit harsher than usual, her show comes highly recommended. [Myspaces: Scout Niblett, Picastro]

7. Spoon / Deerhunter / The Strange Boys @ Sound Academy
(Monday March 29th; Cost: $32.50)

There was a lot of excitement generated by this double bill, featuring the consistently catchy indie rock of Spoon and the atmospheric, yet still mildly hooky, ambient-punk of Deerhunter. While I'd imagine that a certain majority of the crowd will be there for Britt Daniel's band, I really hope that many will show up early enough to catch Bradford Cox's band, since they really are awesome live. I, however, won't be there in time for either since I think I've lost my ability to not be grumpy when I'm at the Sound Academy. Yep, don't think I'm in the mood for that. [Myspaces: Spoon, Deerhunter, The Strange Boys]

8. Justin Townes Earle / Joe Pug @ The Horseshoe
(Monday March 1st; Cost: $15)

When your father is a country legend and you're named after another country legend, I think it's safe to say that certain expectations are going to be pretty dang high. Well, if there was one thing proven by last year's Midnight At The Movies, it was that Justin is not one for undermining the aforementioned expectations. He may have definite similarities to his father Steve and his mentor Townes, but Justin Townes Earle is very much an individual songwriter and performer that is all his own, and from what I've heard, he puts on a pretty impressive live show too.  [Myspaces: Justin Townes Earle, Joe Pug]

9. Rodrigo y Gabriela @ The Phoenix
(Friday March 5th, Cost: $29.50)

I was recently thinking that I simply don't cover enough jazz tinged, acoustic guitar, instrumental duos from Mexico on this here blog, so I figured Rodrigo y Gabriela's show at The Phoenix would be an excellent opportunity to do so. Seriously though, Rodrigo Sánchez' natural abilities on lead guitar coupled with Gabriela Quintero's accompaniment on rhythm guitar is one of those great musical wonders of the world that I don't get the chance to see too often these days. [Myspace: Rodrigo y Gabriela]

10. The Besnard Lakes @ The Horseshoe
(Thursday March 11th; Cost: $16)

I would've assumed that The Besnard Lakes were big enough to fill a larger capacity venue than The Horseshoe by now, but I guess that the collective longing for neo-progressive orchestral flourishing isn't as intense as I thought. Perhaps the release of their upcoming new disc entitled The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night will be epic enough to change that, In the meantime, smaller venues seem to be the way to go for this trippy outfit, and if The Horseshoe is still a little too large scale for you, than perhaps you can catch their instore performance the day before (March 10th) at Criminal Records at 6:30pm. [Myspace: The Besnard Lakes]

Honorable Mentions:
Steam Whistle Unsigned #13 takes place at the Steam Whistle Brewing Club featuring three of the city's finest in Make Your Exit, Everything All The Time and Dinosaur Bones (Mar. 5th / $5); TWM 58 looks pretty interesting, boasting a lineup including BA Johnston, Racoon Wedding and Andrew Vincent (Mar. 6th / $7); Brooklyn's Vivian Girls are playing The Wrongbar (Mar. 10th, $14); my friends Maned Young Lions are at The Horseshoe (Mar. 15th / FREE); and finally, one of my favourite local alt-country acts Elvyn is celebrating the release of their new album The Decline at The Silver Dollar with The Champion Heartache opening for them. That show takes place on March 26th (Cost: TBA)

Where I'll Be:
I've already got my tickets for Joanne Newsom, David Ford and Thrush Hermit, and I'm pretty positive I'll be going to see Language-Arts as well. Canadian Music Fest is pretty much a sure thing whether I'm officially accredited or not. I'll also be checking out as many instores as I can, including Zeus at Soundscapes on March 6th, as well as whatever other ones I can squeeze into my schedule. Gonna be a busy one peoples, so we'll see how I fare.

Shotgun Jimmie @ Soundscapes (In-Store Performance)

Shotgun Jimmie's latest release Still Jimmie (which I reviewed here) is not an album that I would say I pull out on a regular basis, but whenever I do, it instantly brings a smile to my face. It really is a solid album through and through, and I really don't know why I never think about it other than the fact that I listen to a lot of music and it's hard to remember everything. When I heard that he was coming to town and including an in-store at Soundscapes on his stay, I hadn't initially planned on going. But as I was preparing to head out for another show last Wednesday night, it was really by mere fluke that I stopped into the store to check him out. And I must admit, that I'm very glad that I did.

I wouldn't say that I'm much of an expert on the works of Jim Killpatrick and to be honest, Still Jimmie, his third album, is actually the only one that I've heard. However, that album alone was enough to convince me that, lyrically speaking, his was a man of charismatic whimsy, and this was doubly apparent in his laid back performance. Every song he performed that evening was preceded and followed by a quip or two and, I've got to say, that Jimmie is one funny guy. But he's quite talented also, as was made obvious as he sang and played guitar at the same time as hitting the snare drum with one foot and the bass drum with the other. Most of his set featured material from the familiar album, which he explained was all killer, no filler and filled with only the greatest "pop" hits. He then attempted to take requests, but then had to admit that he couldn't remember how to play the one that was first suggested. He did follow that up with a different request though, and then went on to play some new songs, the second of which was obviously still a work in progress as he hilariously took to improvising some of the lyrics on the spot.

Overall this was a performance filled with much laughter and good times, which, as we all know, has always been the Maritime way and I, for one, appreciated him taking the time to bring some of that joviality to us.

Photos: My shots of Shotgun Jimmie @ Soundscapes are on flickr
Myspace: Shotgun Jimmie
Download: Mind Crumb mp3


Other news:
Sorry I haven't done these for awhile but I've been meaning to start them up again. And here goes:

Local psych-folk experience The Space Between Things is planning on re-issuing the Songs About You EP with additional songs and artwork on Friday November 13th. Like the original it is going to be offered as a free download on the TSBT website. [Myspace: The Space Between Things]

Tracy Shedd has a new video for a song called City At Night that will be the first track on an upcoming EP entitled EP88, which will be available on Eskimo Kiss Records in early 2010. [Myspace: Tracy Shedd]

Entire Cities will be re-releasing their amazing album Deep River on white vinyl. The show will be at The Garrison in Toronto on November 19th. [Myspace: Entire Cities]

Spoon is finally releasing a new album and it will be entitled Transference. It will be released in North America on Merge on January 26th and in Europe the day before on Anti-. Stereogum has the track listing as well as some live versions of a few of the songs. [Myspace: Spoon]

The amazing Montreal folkster Leif Vollebekk has just been signed to Nevado Records, which means that the label's streak of signing only the best in Canadian indie is still very much in tact. His debut album Inland will be re-released on January 19th on both CD and 12" vinyl. [Myspace: Leif Vollebekk]

Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

OK I haven't posted for over a week and it'll likely be over a week before I have a moment to post again so I'm going to attempt to prepare a slew of posts right now and than eke them out to you over the next few days. So you'll have to pardon me if they all have sort of a sameness to them. Truth is, my mind has been on several other things lately but that doesn't mean that I haven't been listening to a lot of stuff. And I mean A LOT of stuff. On Tuesday there were several notable new releases, one of them being "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga", the latest by Spoon. Spoon is always good and this album is no exception. They've got a lot to live up to since each successive album has been more critically praised than the one before. As usual, there is no filler on this one and they don't really stray too much from their Spoon-ness. You've got your new wavy cuts, (Don't Make Me Your Target), your minimalistic piano-based wonders, (The Ghost of You Lingers), and your perfect pop, (Don't You Evah.) But one of the things that I really like about this album is their discretion. Possibly the greatest atrocity of the modern musical age is the recording of the 88 minute CD. Waaaaaay too many CD's are just waaaaaaay too long! Not Spoon, baby! 39 minutes. That's what I'm talking about. Leave 'em wanting more.

Spoon is playing The Phoenix on October 15th.

Download:
Don't You Evah mp3

You can actually stream the whole thing here.
Visit Spoon on myspace.
Purchase "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" on Amazon.ca