Sunparlour Players w/ Josh Reichmann Oracle Band @ The Theatre Centre

So here is the last of my latest batch of completely negligent classic concert reviews. This one's bordering on almost three weeks old now (as part of the Summerworks Festival) but its interesting mix of the bizarre and spastic has enabled it to lodge itself comfortably in my brain so that the details are as fresh to me as if I had attended this one yesterday. Also The R.O.B. reviewed it on his blog and I just basically copied most of the details from him.

The previous and only time that I had ever seen Josh Reichmann was when he was in an amazing rock 'n roll band known as The Tangiers. This was way back in 2003 (or was it '04?) when they played an outdoor type thing in Hamilton with some of my favourite bands at the time (The Weekend, Flux AD, Warsawpack). I thought that they were amazing and as I went into this show having not even heard a note of his current project, known as Oracle Band, I must admit that I entered The Theatre Centre reasoning, "How different can this project possibly be?" Answer? Pretty dang different!

Choosing him as the opener for a spastic folk band was kind of an odd choice to say the least, as his brand of theatrical performance art caught me, and many others I spoke to, a little off guard. This isn't to say that it was bad by any means, just perhaps a little bit out of place. The band was basically made up of Josh on vocals while accompanied by a pre-recorded electronic backing track, while Laura Bolton joined him by performing some modern interpretive dance. His between song banter was quite amusing, yet very random, and seemed to have no relation to the songs that he was singing. I thought the music itself was quite interesting though, as it straddled a line incorporating elements of soul, electronica, ska and whatever you call what Roxy Music was doing in the 70's. Upon visiting his myspace page, I have to admit that there is something intriguing about his output, and certain songs even have a habit of remaining embedded in the brain for a bit. I'm not sure if his live shows always consist of Josh, his girl and an iPod or not, but I would be very interested in seeing how the performance translates when a full band is backing him up.

Photos: Josh Reichmann Oracle Band on flickr
Myspace: Josh Reichmann Oracle Band

The aforementioned R.O.B. has mentioned on several occasions that Sunparlour Players are the best live band in Toronto. Problem is, the last time I saw them they were opening for the ACTUAL best live band in Toronto, The Sadies. (We bloggers are nothing if not unreasonably opinionated.) At that show, I remember thinking that, although their energy was undeniable, they could probably do with a little bit of control. Their unbridled enthusiasm for what they were doing seemed to run ahead of them just a little bit, resulting in a performance that was fun, but a little bit sloppy. This time around, the band on that stage was one of great control, and their instrumentation demonstrated a tightness that easily places them at a level that one would be hard-pressed to match, locally or otherwise. Well, except for The Sadies.

Probably increasing my appreciation was the fact that I've been listening to their latest offering Wave North pretty much every week since I first obtained the album. Andrew Penner's gruff vocals sounded even more forceful and penetrating on the live stage and, once again, it's hard not to be charmed by the intensity of its three multi-instrumentalist members. The fact that all three of them likely lost about 10 pounds of sweat due to their rabid performance served as no surprise to anybody who had seen them before, which I assume applied to most of the audience. There were many great moments throughout the night, but the song Nuclear was one particular highlight for me, as the song's build up sounded twice as potent on that stage as it does on record. This is an amazing accomplishment considering that the original version does a pretty good job of blasting into the atmosphere on its own. For the encore, the band played their oft lauded cover of AC/DC's Thunderstruck, which was an impassioned performance indeed.

At this point, there is no doubt that the Sunparlour Players are, in fact, one of the best bands in the city, and as they continue to grow in experience and inventiveness, it'll be great to see tham continue to progress as an active part of the local indie scene.

Photos: Sunparlour Players @ The Theatre Centre on flickr
Myspace: Sunparlour Players

"Like a freight burning down the track, illuminating all the things you lack..."

Reviews of Sunparlour Players, The Grass and Dinosaur Jr.

Over the past couple of months, secular work and concerts have pretty much taken over the bulk of my life, meaning that I haven't had much of an opportunity to tell you about some of the CD's that I've been enjoying lately. So, why don't I do that now:

Sunparlour Players - Wave North

I'm kinda weird sometimes. There are times where I look just as forward to disliking an album, as much as I look forward to liking one. The hype surrounding Sunparlour Players' latest release was of the sort that I was actually looking forward to spouting several thoughts on what makes this album so overrated, and why everyone should accept that my opinion is right and everyone else's is wrong. After all, I saw them open for The Sadies last year, and although I enjoyed the show, it was certainly not in a 'best artist ever' sort of way. It was a good, energetic show. Period. Therefore, the album could not possible be 'best of the year' worthy, could it?

Well, that slurping that you might be hearing, is that of an arrogant music blogger licking his wounds. Right from the opening track, entitled North, the stripped down, yet shredding vocals of Andrew Penner have pierced my very being. The song opens with subtlety, as each strum of the guitar gets thicker and thicker before the song explodes in a way that reminds me of some of Glen Hansard's more powerful pieces in the movie Once. The album takes that opening point and continues to build on it, creating a sound that is much fuller than an ordinary three piece would normally be able to pull off. This is illustrated most obviously on the first single, Battle of 77, which wouldn't sound all that out of place on an Arcade Fire album except, once again, this is only a three piece. A grand achievement indeed. For the most part, the simpler tracks work just as well. Joy In What You Lack is one example, where the arrangement is as simple as it gets, and the lyrics are even simpler, yet there is still something epic about the song's presentation. An area where the two elements combine and create something really special is with the song Nuclear, which begins with a down south vocal and banjo accompaniment. This creates a certain historical mood that gets blown to smithereens during the song's second half, where the pace picks up, the tempo changes and the song becomes enigmatic.

Sunparlour Players have broken me down and taken their folksy brand of gospel-rock to the next level, and it'll be great to see how this translates to their live show, which I'm sure I'll be taking in sometime before the year is through.

Sunparlour Players are playing the Hillside Music Festival in Guelph from July 24th - 26th, and the Summerworks Music Series at The Great Hall in Toronto on August 14th.

Myspace: Sunparlour Players
Download: Battle Of 77 mp3


The Grass - Rogue Waves

I don't usually listen to the CD's that I didn't ask for right away, simply because I can't listen to everything. But there are two reasons why I popped this one in my CD player earlier than usual: First of all, I quickly looked at the title and mistakenly thought it was a new album by the band Rogue Wave. But secondly, and this is the main reason, the CD's trippy cover looked like something circa 1967, leading me to believe that this is likely another psych-rock recording that I am sure to dig. Looks like, in this case, I can judge a book by its cover, because psych-rock this is, and sure enough, I'm digging it immensely.

Upon researching this band from Nova Scotia, I was blown away to find out that this is their fourth album. It certainly sounds like a band that has experience behind it, but how come I've never heard of them before? To pigeonhole them into the psych-rock genre isn't exactly accurate, since they seem to find inspiration in all of the music of the sixties. The album opens with the soulful piano of Ain't Runnin' Scared, which is a song that oozes a real Motown vibe. Spreadin' The Blues, as its title would suggest, is a bluesier number, reminiscent of some of the classic rock output of artists like Cream, or perhaps even the Grateful Dead without all of the jammy-ness. Songs like Lucky and Without You take us back to the early 60's, with a sweetly saccharine malt shop style; the latter song even boasting a syrupy female vocal that is hard not to be charmed by. The psych-rock tag gets more appropriate in the loud and freaky The Ballad of Davey Jones while their sense of melody in Down At The Station reminds me of Big Star, Matthew Sweet or even The Action's Rolled Gold album. And the whole things ends with the southern rock jam of Skyline Daisy, showing that the band still knows how to bring the country that earned them a nom for Best Country/Bluegrass Recording at the Nova Scotia Music Awards back in 2006.

Rogue Waves is a really good album that makes me want to go back and examine the rest of their catalogue since they seem to find inspiration amongst many of my personal faves.

Above photo is by Mallory Ryan.
Myspace: The Grass
Download: The Ballad Of Davey Jones mp3


Dinosaur Jr. - Farm

Dinosaur Jr. is sort of like the AC/DC of indie rock in the sense that they don't really change much from album to album but for whatever reason, we all seem to be quite content with that, myself included. In fact, personally, I wouldn't want it any other way. I suppose it's just because they're so great at what they do, that the old "if it ain't broke" dictum applies here, not to mention the personal nostalgic effect that they seem to have on me.

Their great comeback album of 2007, Beyond, was way better than anyone expected from them at this latter stage of their career, ranking among some of the best work they've ever done, and while Farm is perhaps a lesser album, it may be simply a matter of the surprise factor having been taken away. There is nothing wrong with this album whatsoever, and it is proof positive that the magic that is Dinosaur Jr is showing no signs of fading anytime soon. J. Mascis' voice is still as world weary as ever, and this time around it seems to be exposing a little bit more heartbreak than last time around, but it works well. The band has always been great at performing an excellent straight forward rock song, and there's plenty of them here, the best being Over It and I Want You To Know. The contributions by Lou Barlow add enough variety to keep things interesting. Your Weather is one of these songs, an almost Beatlesque number with great harmonies and an infectious melody. As usual, the standout tracks are the ones that prove wholeheartedly that J. Mascis is one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time. The Crazy Horse comparisons have been dropped before, but take a listen to the guitar work at the end of Said The People or, even more notably, the blisteringly euphoric I Don't Wanna Go There and try to convince me that the man is not worthy of, at least being the runner-up king to Shaky Young's Like A Hurricane throne. When the band comes to The Phoenix in a couple of months, that song is sure to rise as triumphantly as anything else in their catalogue, which means that I may have to make a special effort to be there. We'll see...

Dinosaur Jr. is playing The Phoenix on September 30th.

Myspace: Dinosaur Jr.
Download: I Want You To Know mp3

The Sadies w/The Sunparlour Players @ The Horseshoe Tavern

I still can't decide if The Sadies are my absolute favourite band in the city or not, but watching them perform on Friday definitely confirmed that they've got to be the most talented. Performing 50 songs in two and a half hours, the Good Brothers never missed a step, playing songs that alternated genres between rock, blues, garage, country and even hints of punk that had me wondering if there was anything that they couldn't play. Standing up front, I could really see how tight the band was, and there were even a few moments where I was trying really hard to pay attention to where exactly Travis' fingers were going along that fretboard, although most times they were just a blur. As per usual, my favourite moments were the band's sharp instrumental forays into surf rock, but I also really appreciated their excellent choice of covers this time around. I've heard their awesome cover of The Everly Brothers' Price Of Love before, as well as their crowd pleasing rendition of The Flamin' Groovies' Shake Some Action, but Friday nights' highlight for me was their hyped up version of Love's A House Is Not A Motel, which is a freakish masterpiece in psych-garage to start with, let alone when you get these cow-punk giants to put their stamp on it! They also showcased their usual gang of familial guest stars, namely Margaret Good (their mother) and well as Darcy Good (their cousin.) The other guests were more on the lower end of the popularity scale, but by no means less talented, including Justin Rutledge whom I had seen just a few weeks ago.It was hard for them to keep up with all of the requests being shouted their way, but they did the best that they could, making for a highly enjoyable evening that will hopefully continue to be a semi-regular occasion for me.

Photos: The Sadies @ Horseshoe Tavern on flickr.
Myspace: The Sadies

Opening for The Sadies were The Sunparlour Players. The Players are a local folk band featuring Andrew Penner, Dennis Van Dine and Rosie Rosenthal and judging by the audience's enthusiasm for them, it looks like they already have built up quite a local fanbase. One must tag them with term 'folk' rather loosely however, because I can't remember the last time that I had heard folk music played with such ferocious intensity. The band was quite heavy on percussion, with every member banging away on their own little bass drum, while introducing a little banjo, clarinet and organ pedal into the mix as well. They complemented The Sadies very well, boasting a sound that was like the Carter Family on a caffeine fix.

Photos: The Sunparlour Players @ The Horseshoe on flickr.
Myspace: The Sunparlour Players