'Sup In October

Since this monthly post tends to turn into a run on sentence of sorts, I'll try not to be too overtly blabby but get right to the point as much as I can. No promises (a leopard can't change his spots after all) but my concert going activities can be lumped into two categories: the shows that I probably will see and the shows that I probably won't see. Nothing is ever definite either way, but here goes:

I've decided that I'm going to be making The Sadies my one regular yearly go-to. The reasons for this are simple: they are are one of the best live bands that the city has to offer, and they play several times every year. This weekend they have a show on Friday October 3rd, as well as Saturday October 4th. Both shows are at their favourite venue, The Horseshoe. I'll be there on the Friday. $15.

Myspace: The Sadies

Besides The Sadies, there are a number of great shows on Saturday October 4th, none of which I will be at. The reason for this is that the 3rd annual Nuit Blanche all night downtown art festival is taking place. It's not specifically music related so I've never really talked about it on this blog before, but it's a time of the year that I eagerly anticipate and this year is no exception. For a sampling of the fun that I enjoyed last year, feel free to peruse my flickr photos. Free.

Photos: Nuit Blanche 2007 on flickr

Also on Saturday October 4th, we've got Chad VanGaalen performing with Women at The Mod Club ($13.50) and Johnny Flynn performing with Laura Marling at The Rivoli ($10.50) Johnny Flynn will also be performing an instore at Criminal Records earlier in the day at 5pm, while Women will be doing the same at Soundscapes on Sunday October 5th at 1pm. Both shows are obviously free.

Myspace: Chad VanGaalen
Myspace: Women
Myspace: Johnny Flynn
Myspace: Laura Marling

Hot on the heels of their outstanding release Visiter, is California's The Dodos, who are playing at The Horseshoe on Monday October 6th. I don't have my tickets for this one yet, but I anticipate that I will be there. $12.50

Myspace: The Dodos

I already mentioned in a couple of earlier posts that Vesta Varro are going to be all over the Toronto area from Tuesday October 7th to Saturday October 11th. My as-of-yet-not-solidified plan is to attend the Indie Music Week Lunch Party on Wednesday October 8th at the Tattoo Rock Parlour. Also on the bill is Fred and The Dunes. $10.

Myspace: Vesta Varro
Myspace: Fred
Myspace: The Dunes

The Dears are playing two nights at The Music Gallery on Thursday October 9th and Friday October 10th. I will be attending the Friday show and I'm looking forward ot checking out the new lineup as well as hearing some of the new songs. From what I've already sampled, it sounds like the band is progging it up once again, just like the old days. Nice. $20.

Myspace: The Dears

An excellent alternative choice on Friday October 10th would be to attend the Oh No Forest Fires CD release party at The Supermarket. I miss those guys. Although I can't make it too that show, I'm hoping that I'll get to see them again soon becasue it's been far too long. Their playing with Dinosaur Bones and Black Hat Brigade. $5.

Myspace: Oh No Forest Fires
Myspace: Dinosaur Bones
Myspace: Black Hat Brigade

I actually already had my ticket for Okkervil River at The Phoenix on Sunday October 12th but I actually had to pass it on to someone else since some friends of mine were all getting together for a little shindig that same night. Yes, I actually chose friends over music! I feel like I've grown. (BTW, although I haven't really talked about it, Okkervil's latest CD, The Stand In's is another brilliant slice of vinyl. Yep, yep.) $15.50

Myspace: Okkervil River

Sunset Rubdown are playing Lee's Palace on Monday October 13th. $12.

Myspace: Sunset Rubdown

This next one is very interesting. I'm thinking that a large majority of my readers are not familiar with the works of Peter Hammill. He was the lead singer of one of my favourite prog bands of the 70's called Van Der Graaf Generator. He's gone on to release over 40 bizarre albums, and his maniacal Shakepearean cackle has garnered praise by everyone from David Bowie to Johnny Rotten to Nick Cave. He is nowhere near being a household name, yet he's playing The Phoenix on Tuesday October 14th. As of right now, I'm not sure if I'll be able to attend, but there's a part of me that would consider it to be a privilege. Oh, and all of my friends whom I've played his music for, um, hate him. Definitely an acquired taste although I think he's awesome. He's playing with Priya Thomas. $25.

Myspace: Peter Hammill
Myspace: Priya Thomas

Jason Collett is at Lee's Palace on Saturday October 18th. $16.50

Myspace: Jason Collett

Spiral Beach is at Lee's Palace opening for Spinto Band on Tuesday October 21st. $12.50.

Myspace: Spinto Band
Myspace: Spiral Beach

And finally, although Lykke Li is an artist that falls into the category of "someone who I really could do without hearing about for awhile", it doesn't change the fact that Youth Novels is a dang good album. It's just that it's not the only good album out there right now. However, the way all of my friends are talking, you'd think that maybe it is. I like her, I'm just saying. Anyways, she's playing The Mod Club on Friday October 24th for $15.

Myspace: Lykke Li

Photo of The Dears by Liam Maloney.

Vesta Varro - Exit Here

The current wave of 'stadium' bands that are not quite large enough to play stadiums yet, all seem to follow a similar pattern. That is, that they generally come charging out of the gate fast enough only to be shot in the leg at the beginning of the next race. In other words, the debut album is usually powerful and promising, while album #2 showcases a band that seems content in simply mailing it in, so to speak. Thankfully there are exceptions to the rule (for me, Muse comes to mind.) Of course it's too early to tell which category Vesta Varro will fall into, but for their debut Exit Here, they definitely have the potential to be nothing short of legendary.

Vesta Varro has been garnering some notable praise in their hometown of Limerick, Ireland since their album was released around this time last year, but they've been collecting their fair share of Canadian love as well. In fact, they were the winners of 2007's Indie Week Canada, which allows them to headline the festivities this year, running from October 7th to 11th. They've also made quite the splash at this year's CMW and NXNE festivals too. However, while this is all well and good, if I didn't like the album, I wouldn't be talking about them right now. And the album is very very good.

Exit Here has an incredibly large sound, that grabs you immediately right at the start. And the album never lets up, not for a moment. Every song is a sharp blast of new wave intensity, complete with ringing guitars and pounding drums that help to emphasize the bands ultimate strength, which is the formation of powerful songs and anthemic choruses. Pyramid Clocks is one such example. The song wastes no time getting to the point, with lead vocalist Damien Drea starting the song at the same time as the rest of the band, engaging the listener in clever build up before the predictable but ultimately timeless power chords kick in for the chorus. The guitar solo is understated but still a nice lead in to the outro chorus. I love Shane Lee's drums in the song I Agree as they create a powerful backbeat of emotion that gives the song a slight air of mystery. Yellow Rooms comes charging at you with such grand ferocity that it is almost over way too quickly. As a matter of fact, this can be said of most of the songs on this release. The album is the type that demands that you start it over again as soon as it is done, as all great albums should. Hopefully the band will keep up the good work on album two. For now though, the challenge would be to see if they can replicate that high energy and massive sound to the live stage. From the reviews that I've read, they seem to do so rather successfully and as I've mentioned earlier, Indie Music Week will present several opportunities to see if the band can do so. Here are the dates:

Oct 7th @ Rok Boutique (invite only)
Oct 8th @ Tattoo Rock Parlour
Oct 9th @ The Rivoli
Oct 10th @ The Hideout
Oct 11th @ The Edge 102.1

Myspace: Vesta Varro
Video: Believe on youtube
Video Montage: Reaching Out on youtube

Other news:
There are some great (and not-so-great) reviews of the My Bloody Valentine show at the Kool Haus last week. You know, the one that I wasn't able to go to? Apprently, it was wicked loud!

Reviews at: Toronto Star, Toronto Sun, Chromewaves, Chart, Eye and Exclaim!
Myspace: My Bloody Valentine

Forbes magazine has published this years list of the richest rockers of 2008. It's as boring and predictable as always, but this year it warms my heart to see The Police at the top of the list 'cuz, I kinda like those guys.

See the rest of the list here.
Myspace: The Police

This is probably too late since most of you will likely read this tomorrow morning, but The Watson Twins are on Conan O'Brian tonight.

Myspace: The Watson Twins

And for those of you that will read this tomorrow, here are my personal top 5 most notable new CD releases for Tuesday September 30th:

1. Miles Davis - 50th Anniversary Kind Of Blue (reissued w/bonus tracks)
2. Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs (The Bootleg Series Volume 8)
3. Gemma Hayes - Hollow Of Morning
4. Mercury Rev - Snowflake Midnight
5. U2 - Under A Blood Red Sky (remastered deluxe edition)

The Eatons - Firestarter

I've been in a bit of a good old fashioned power pop kick lately and The Eatons from Scarborough are exactly the type of band you're supposed to put on when you're in one of those moods. I use the descriptive term 'pop' pretty frequently these days, which is odd since I'm not even sure if use it in the right context. Just so you know, when I use it, I'm usually referring to an artist or song that makes good use of catchy hooks and memorable melodies. I am not referring to 'pop' as the short form of 'popular' as in Top 40 schlocky crappy boy band with ridiculously white teeth, mid-drift bearing young chick with the word flava on her jogging pants type of pre-programmed prepubescent overproduced happy time music. Got it?

The Eatons are definitely the former, and they do it extremely well. Their first EP is entitled Firestarter, and at 3 songs and 12 minutes, it's definitely a blink-and-you-miss-it affair. However, the perfect remedy for that is to just play it over and over and over again. The quality of the songs make this very easy to do. The title track is the opener, and it begins with a subtle da-da-da that quickly bursts into an infectious pounding drum part that is very effective at getting things started before settling into a perfect pop formula: simple verses + bombastic hooky chorus + solid guitar solo + very effective sing along moments = a truly catchy song. They keep this formula going for the next song Give Me Something To Go On, which was featured on the TWM Mixtape compilation. Lead singer Boris Chan gets a bit more emotive in his vocals on this one, and the harmonies are subdued but flawless. The CD ends with Holiday which showcases Boris' best Ric Ocasek impersonation on the vocals before settling on an almost whiny but effective vocal attack on the chorus. I really appreciate that the band obviously put a lot of work into the production on this EP, with every song sounding very professional and radio friendly without being devoid of the all important human factor. I anticipate that the band will likely have to mix things up a little bit when they're ready to launch an album past the 15 minute mark, but if they can do so without sacrificing any of their natural song crafting abilities, then I'm definitely on board for the next one.

The Eatons are playing a FREE show at the New Era Toronto Flagship Store at 202 Queen Street West as part of Nuit Blanche with a whole whack other bands. For more details go to urbanebloc.com

Myspace: The Eatons
Download: Give Me Something To Go On mp3


The Dears, whose Gang Of Losers was my favourite album of the year in 2006, will be releasing their new album Missiles on Oct 21st. Of course, the inevitable has happened and the album has been leaked all over the interweb. They're not happy about it, and they address such here. They're playing two shows at The Music Gallery on October 9th and 10th.

Myspace: The Dears

The Wallscenery Demos debut CD, which I reviewed back in April, has recently been added to the archives by Library and Archives Canada. The purpose of this group is to collect and preserve documents reflecting Canadian heritage. I don't know if this is a big deal or if this is something that happens to everybody, but it sounds pretty cool to me. The thought of future generations being exposed to this amazing, yet still pretty unknown, recording makes me kind of giddy.

Myspace: The Wallscenery Demos

Ireland's Vesta Varro is going to be all over Toronto during Indie Music Week, which runs from October 9th to 11th. They're playing Rok Boutique on the 7th, Tattoo Rock Parlour on the 8th, The Rivoli on the 9th, The Hideout on the 10th, and they're on Edge 102.1 on the 11th. Whew. If I make it to one of these, I'll let you know.

Myspace: Vesta Varro

Also, I was planning on checking out Land Of Talk at Lee's Palace on Saturday night, but it looks like Liz Powell's laryngytis is forcing her to take a little bit of time off. Ah well, next time. Hope you're feeling better soon. Looks like this means The D'Ubervilles also have the night off. For now.

Myspace: Land Of Talk