Canadian Music Fest 2010: Day One

featuring Fergus Brown, The Wilderness of Manitoba and Dead Letter Chorus

Although this year's Canadian Music Fest seemed somewhat more disorganized than usual, I was actually able to keep my personal schedule pretty much in tact, sticking relatively close to my original plans, with the exception of a couple of minor snafus on the Friday night. Even my mood was organized as I opted to go for the festival acoustic ease-in, and lead up to a rock 'n roll finale for Saturday night. (As anticipated, I was a little bit too brain-dead by the time Sunday came along.) Choosing to go mellow for Wednesday night meant that I was starting things off at a place called The Painted Lady on the corner of Ossington and Dundas, a place in my neighbourhood that I must've walked by on several occasions, but failed to notice until this evening.

To describe it as intimate would be an understatement, and when I arrived at the venue, I was a little worried that only myself and the bands would be in attendance for this one. Still, I grabbed myself a beer and settled down at one of the tiny circular tables near the stage. A small but healthy group of people began rolling in, and we prepared ourselves to chill out with the quirky sounds of Australia's Fergus Brown.

When a man named Fergus Brown releases an album entitled Burgers Frown, then you just know that he's going to be of the whimsical sort, and that he was. What made him even more interesting was that those sounds were contrasted with beautiful melodies that could possibly make a sensitive person cry if they're not really paying attention to the lyrics. He started with a solo acoustic number that really highlighted his pitch perfect voice, and even though the guitar was apparently slightly out of tune, it didn't affect his delivery in any way. (I, or course, didn't notice that it was out of tune, but he mentioned it after that first song, jokingly complaining that Air Canada broke his guitar.) For a few numbers, he had some musical accompaniment onstage to flesh out some of the rockier material and the chemistry was obvious. His first single, wryly entitled John, She Was Never Only Dancing (a response to a Bowie song with a similar name, in case you didn't know, although you should) was probably the highlight of his set, which all flowed together nicely as he concluded by thanking us for having him in our "lukewarm city."

Myspace: Fergus Brown
Photos: My pictures of Fergus Brown @ The Painted Lady are up on flickr.
[My refusal to leave my comfortable seat to get up close for a better picture of the man resulted in some of the crappiest photos of my career but I've included them for your entertainment pleasure anyway.]

While the rest of the world continues to sing the praises of the very good, but kinda dull Fleet Foxes, I've been continually ingesting the sounds of The Wilderness of Manitoba, a band that follows that same line of harmony laden folk, but with a lot more imagination and depth, which allows me to listen to their album often, in its entirety, on repeat, which admittedly is something I can't do with everybody's favourite foxes. Still, due to circumstances beyond my control, I had not yet seen them live, and although the opportunity to see them play venues such as The Horseshoe, The Garrison and Glenn Gould Theatre have all eluded me, it seemed somewhat fitting that my introduction to their live selves should be at a place as warm and intimate as this one. Besides the songs from their excellent EP, they showcased a few newer songs as well, some of which were layered in a little bit more atmosphere than before, reminding me a bit of a band that I liked a few years ago called A Northern Chorus. The vibe suited them well and filled me with great expectations on their follow up release, whenever that may be. The song Evening, which is a cover of a song by lead vocalist Will Whitwham's mother, is a beautifully touching tribute to someone who was obviously very instrumental to creating the 60's folk sound that pervades throughout the album and I just loved seeing them perform it. They ended the set with a Timber Timbre cover, that I personally thought outshone the original, making it sound like something that they could have written themselves. There's a reason why they're one of the most loved bands in the city right now, and I'm glad that I got the chance to finally see them live.

Myspace: The Wilderness of Manitoba
Download: Bluebirds mp3
Photos: The Wilderness of Manitoba @ The Painted Lady on flickr.
[Still seated. Pictures still relatively crappy.]

My evening ended with the first really impressive discovery of the festival, Australia's Dead Letter Chorus. The band was mega-excited about their first trip to Canada, and they were clearly determined to impress the socks off of every person that they performed for, and at this showcase they did so swimmingly. A terrific blend of alt-country and power pop, they performed a set of songs that were instantly likable, and perfectly tailored for the live stage. The hooks are strong, the melodies likewise, the musicianship delightful, but the greatest selling point is the vocals of Cameron Potts and Gabrielle Huber, who both encapsulate all of the throaty well worn gruffness and slightly saccharine sweetness that their songs require. They also followed all of the rules of the perfect setlist by starting strong with an upbeat number, simmering down midway so as not to exhaust us all before closing the show with their most anthemic number which no doubt finally made converts of any in attendance who may have been a little bit more difficult to please, although I doubt that there were too many that felt that way. If you missed this show or any of their other sets during CMW, than I highly recommend heading down to The Horseshoe on Tuesday night (March 16th) where they will be playing their CD release show before heading on a cross Canada tour with Two Hours Traffic. It's free.

Myspace: Dead Letter Chorus
Download: Down In The Valley mp3
Photos: My shots of Dead Letter Chorus @ The Painted Lady are on flickr.
[No longer seated and standing much closer to the stage. Pics significantly less crappy.]

An Horse @ Criminal Records (In Store Performance)

There really is no excuse for me to not have seen Aussie duo An Horse prior to last night's in store appearance at Criminal Records on Queen Street. While it's true that, under normal circumstances, bands from that far away don't come around all that often, these catchy little popsters have been to Toronto five times in the last year, playing venues big and small and creating a buzz at every one of those performances. Heck, even if I was a hermit who never left the house, I could've caught An Horse when they appeared on David Letterman's show earlier last year. The fact is that, for whatever reason, I just hadn't gotten around to seeing them live, even though I thought that their debut album Rearrange Beds was a pretty solid and enjoyable listen.

When my wife and I arrived at the show almost half an hour early, the crowds were already starting to build, and the possibility of visibility was already leaning towards slim to none. However, Singing Lamb and Criminal Records employee Melody informed me that I needn't worry since we were all going to be asked to sit down anyways, which sounded great at first, until the time came to actually sit down, and we realized that this just may be the most uncomfortable thing ever, as my feet fell into a deep coma resulting in a painful pins and needles type situation, the like of which I had never experienced before. ("I hate when my feet fall asleep during the day because that means that they're going to be up all night." Arf! Arf! Groan!) Still, the mild pain was not enough to detract from the fact that Kate Cooper and Damon Cox are very endearing performers, both in the way they play their tunes and in the way they connect with the audience. I'd imagine that the setting of a record store just lends itself to a more intimate vibe, but I thought that their storytelling techniques were just as enthralling as the performance of the songs themselves. Cooper delighted us with stories about an unfortunate cockroach infestation at the independent record store that she and Cox worked at prior to becoming a band, and they even ended the set with Kate taking a picture of the waving audience so that she could show her mom what it is that she does. They only played about five songs, focusing mainly on the ones that wouldn't sound like "rubbish" in such a stripped down format. One such song was Postcards, where Cooper's accent sounded even thicker and more spine-tingling than it does in the recorded version, which is hard to believe is even possible. Even though the crowd shouted out many requests, the duo chose to end with Horizons, which they assured us would sound better than any of the requests in this particular setting and I have to say that it sounded great. The songs may be simple and unassuming, but they're presented with a grand fragility that is impossible not to be seduced by. Although I've already missed my opportunity to see them on a proper stage (five times now), I'll definitely have to take note of the next time they come around and mark the old calendar so I don't make the mistake of missing them again.

Photos: My shots of An Horse @ Criminal Records are on flickr
Myspace: An Horse
Download: Postcards mp3

Other stuff:
Jay Sparrow is featured on the latest episode of minilogues. He's playing Rancho Relaxo on Friday February 5th. [Myspace: Jay Sparrow]

The Wilderness of Manitoba has an In Turns Session featured over at Spin Earth TV. They're playing The Garrison tonight. [Myspace: Wilderness of Manitoba]

Latest Nevado Records signee Leif Vollebekk re-released his debut album Inland earlier this week (January 19th) with new artwork including a booklet and song lyrics. This new version is available on CD and 12" vinyl, as well as an iTunes exclusive version that includes a live recording of Don't Go To Klasvik and a previously unreleased track Te og Kaffi. He will be celebrating this release on Friday night (Jan. 22nd) at The Cameron House. [Myspace: Leif Vollebekk]

And lastly, although it's been mentioned at both Chromewaves and For The Records already, it's worth mentioning here that Brian Jonestown Massacre have announced a date to play The Phoenix on June 2nd. Besides the obvious originators of psychedelia back in the sixties, BJM are the band that all other psych rockers measure themselves against, and rightly so. Their latest album Who Killed Sgt. Pepper? was scheduled for release on Jan. 1st, but it has now been pushed back to Feb. 23rd. My love of BJM and all things psych-like has been well documented on this here blog, but to be honest, for every album they release that is perfection, they release ones that are simply dreadful. This is why I'll have to hear the album first, and read up on reports on the current tour to see if I'll be attending this one. The band's reputation for, shall we say, unconventional behaviour, has me proceeding with extra caution, but if reports remain generally positive, then I should be making my way out to this one. The fact that Joel Gion has returned to the fold as of 2004, and Matt Hollywood is back as a full time member as of last year certainly adds to my enthusiasm a little bit. [Myspace: Brian Jonestown Massacre]

My Top 10 Hottest Canadian Bands 2009

Well, it's that time of the year that every Canadian music blogger loves the most: I (Heart) Music's carefully calculated compiling of The Hottest Bands in Canada. Matthew is the head maestro of that high quality music blog from Ottawa and what he does is he asks several of the country's finest music aficionados (and me) for their personal picks of the 10 hottest bands in Canada. He then takes our respective lists and, using a team of highly respected scientists and mathematicians, puts together the final selections. I was flattered to once again be asked to contribute my thoughts.

The two points of criteria remained the same: the bands had to be Canadian and they had to have a particularly "hot" year. As far as how these rules were to be defined was left up to our own discretion. I decided that the first point meant that they had to be in Canada, but I took a slightly different approach to that second point this year. Last year, I basically went with hot = popular, which meant that I included a couple of acts that were not necessarily my cup of meat, but included because they were everybody else's. This year I decided, screw that. I'm an opinionated music blogger and therefore I made the list a little bit more bob-centric. But fair.

This meant that I didn't include the bands I don't like, even if everyone else does (see Gentlemen Reg, Chad VanGaalen) and I also excluded the ones that I sorta like but find incredibly overrated (see Metric, Joel Plaskett, Still Life Still.) There are also the choices that were originally on my list but I opted to leave off in the end since I had a good feeling that they would ultimately make the list just fine without my help (see Great Lake Swimmers, Coeur de Pirate.) This allowed me to give that extra nudge to the not-so-sure-they'll-make-it-without-my-vote bands on my list. (By and large, that didn't work.) Finally, by definition, a band's hotness factor is, of course, not all about me, which means that the band needed to have a measure of significant buzz this year that made them stand out, which means that I also had to leave out a couple of my own personal favourites too, as much as it hurt my feelings to do so (see Fox Jaws, Amos The Transparent.) The only exception to this rule was my number 10 pick, whom I knew would likely not make the list, but I thought that I had a pretty strong argument for their inclusion so there you go.

Which brings us to my personal ten selections. Only a select few made the final cut, but this was a pretty difficult year for limiting the choices to only ten, since the level of quality this year was immense. And here they are:

1. Rural Alberta Advantage- Having reaped praise from just about every noteworthy music source over the last year, both here and south of the border, culminating in the support of the mighty Saddle Creek label, the RAA are now mere steps away from being a household name. Very impressive (although I'm still struggling to believe that Stephen Harper honestly listens to their music.) [Myspace]

2. The Balconies - Their debut album encapsulates a brave form of ambition that most bands save up for their third of fourth album. This means that, in theory, their third or fourth album is going to be the greatest thing ever. [Myspace]

3. Bruce Peninsula - Successfully duplicating a live performance that is amongst the most uplifting anywhere onto a studio recording is no small task, but Bruce Peninsula have done so with ease. [Myspace]

4. Wilderness of Manitoba - Folk bands are a dime a dozen these days, but this band's hotness factor lies in their ability to make a semi-tired genre sound fresh and beautiful again. [Myspace]

5. Ohbijou - Beacons is a reminder that even though life in the city can get pretty ugly at times, there is always an inner beauty to be discovered and exposed. [Myspace]

6. Zeus – They’ve made classic rock cool again. And, most impressively, by covering Genesis’ That’s All, they’ve made Phil Collins (semi) cool again. For these reasons, along with the fact that they're ridiculously good, they definitely get my pick for hottest new Arts and Crafts signing. [Myspace]

7. Whale Tooth – I’ve said it before, but in an indie world that tends to take itself too seriously at times, it’s refreshing to have a band like Whale Tooth around to remind us to have some fun. [Myspace]

8. Green Go – Finally, a dance band with a sound that is both organic and honest. [Myspace]

9. The Paint Movement – Not only have they released what, in my opinion, is the most captivating local release of the year, but they’ve done so with a brass rock comeback that, unbeknownst to most of us, was desperately needed. [Myspace]

10. The Hoa Hoa’s – They may not be hot in the sense that everybody has heard of them, but within the massively overlooked Canadian psych-rock scene, they are the saviors of aural experimentation, simultaneously urging us to gaze at our shoes while floating into a sonic high. Reaping praise from psych legend, the late Sky Saxon, is no small feat either. [Myspace]

[RAA photo above by Patrick Leduc]