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Golden Bloom, Zeus, Steve McKay

Frank Yang — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:51:29 +0000

Who: Golden Bloom
What: Latest record Fan The Flames is chock full of thoughtful and shimmery power-pop oft compared to Summerteeth-era Wilco. A bevy of downloads and an interview with main man Shawn Fogel available at Ryan’s Smashing Life.
MP3: Golden Bloom – “Doomsday Devices”
MP3: Golden Bloom – “E.H.M.”
MP3: Golden Bloom – “The Fight At The End Of The Tunnel”
Video: Golden Bloom – “Doomsday Devices”
MySpace: Golden Bloom

Who: Zeus
What: Retro-minded Toronto quartet whose debut EP Sounds Like Zeus strikes a perfect balance of pop melody and virtuostic riffery with a Genesis cover that’s either points for or against, depending on your opinion of Collins-era Genesis. They play the Rivoli on Thursday night, November 12.
MP3: Zeus – “Marching Through Your Head”
Video: Zeus – “Greater Times” (live on alt.sessions)
Video: Zeus – “Fever Of The Time” (live on alt.sessions)
MySpace: Zeus

Who: Steven McKay
What: The drummer for Bruce Peninsula steps out from behind the kit with some unexpectedly rich and intricate folk-pop orchestrations which inhabit a similar fantasy landscape as St Vincent. He plays the Drake Underground on Thursday night with Catriona Sturton & The Pigeons and Abigail Lapell.
Video: Steven McKay – “Andy’s House” (live on Southern Souls)
Video: Steven McKay – “Restore Me” (live on Southern Souls)

Billy Bragg covers The Smiths

Frank Yang — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:36:00 +0000

WikipediaBilly Bragg and The Smiths go way back. Besides being contemporaries and stalwarts of the English indie music circa the 1980s, Bragg was/is obviously chummy with Johnny Marr, the Smiths guitarist guesting on a number of records as well as producing some of Bragg’s most pop numbers.

His relationship with Stephen Patrick Morrissey is a little less clear, however. Though they surely know each other, the litany of hilarious Morrissey-centric anecdotes that Bragg busts out during his live shows – a tale of Bragg and Morrissey riding roller coasters together at Canada’s Wonderland comes to mind – are so mythology-deflating that they must be fiction. Or at least the hordes of Moz fans out there would hope so.

Not up for debate, however, is Bragg’s admiration for the Smiths’ musical output. He covers them frequently live, either wholly, in quote or medley, has released interpretations of “Jeanne” and “Back To The Old House” as b-sides and also contributed this cover of one of the dirgier numbers from The Queen Is Dead to the 1996 10th anniversary tribute album The Smiths Is Dead.

Johnny Marr is presently busy as a member of both The Cribs and Modest Mouse. Morrissey just released his contract-fulfilling b-sides compilation Swords and is trying to make it through a UK tour without collapsing or being assaulted. Billy Bragg kicks off a Canadian tour this Saturday out east and makes southern Ontario stops next week at the Phoenix in Toronto on the 17th and The Studio at Hamilton Place in Hamilton on the 18th. Wonder what Morrissey story he’ll bust out?

Beatroute has an interview with Billy Bragg.

MP3: Billy Bragg – “Never Had No One Ever”
Video: The Smiths – “Never Had No One Ever” (live)

CONTEST – The Wooden Sky @ Lee’s Palace – November 13, 2009

Frank Yang — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:25:53 +0000

Frank YangIt’s been over two months since The Wooden Sky released their fine new album If I Don’t Come Home You’ll Know I’m Gone, and in that time they’ve toured across this country and the one below, made a documentary and gathered accolades wherever they’ve gone, but they’ve yet to play a proper hometown show in support of the new record. They’ve done little gigs in basements and on rooftops but nothing in what you’d call a conventional space – a situation they’ll be rectifying next Friday evening when they put down stakes for an evening at Lee’s Palace.

Tickets for the show, which also feature Hooded Fang and Brian Borcherdt on the bill, are $12.50 in advance but courtesy of The Musebox, I have two pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to live under a Wooden Sky” in the subject line and your full name in the body and get that in before midnight, November 11.

MP3: The Wooden Sky – “Bit Part”
MP3: The Wooden Sky – “Something Hiding For Us In The Night”

Ume at The Horseshoe in Toronto

Frank Yang — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:35:35 +0000

Frank YangWhen I got all effusive about seeing Austin’s Ume way back at SxSW in March, it wasn’t just because they their showcase blew me away – it did – but because I also figured that it would be my last chance to see and write about the trio until SxSW next year, so there was no point in being measured. After all, they were a small band with no label, no tour support and hailing from a long ways away from Toronto meant the odds of catching them up live again were remote. Sound logic, and also completely wrong. They found their way up here in June to play NXNE, turning in a fiery performance at Neutral that proved to everyone I’d harassed to attend that I wasn’t full of it and they were, indeed, the awesome.

And it must be true that good things come in threes because they were back – again – this past Tuesday night for a free show at the Horseshoe. This time, it was a combination of a modest Canadian tour appended onto a jaunt to CMJ in New York and the proper (read: physical) Canadian release of their Sunshower EP, which had heretofore only been available digitally. But the whys were unimportant – all that mattered was that Ume were back in town; rock would ensue.

For a review of the actual performance itself, I can really just refer you back to the other two I did, or offer the Coles/Cliffs notes: songs that balance sweet pop hooks with snarling heaviness, equal debts to punk, stoner, shoegaze and alt rock, insane guitar abuse/heroics and awesome hair-whipping from frontwoman Lauren Larsen and an audience awestruck and won over. It’s hard to say for sure, but I think there were at least a couple of new songs in the mix compared to the Neutral gig and considering that the unfamiliar stuff still sounded great; as much as I like the fact that they’re touring relentlessly hither and yon, I hope that once they’ve returned home and taken a breather, that they’re hitting the studio to work on a new album. Sunshower has done a fine job of sustaining me, but its only five songs – I need more.

There’s an excerpt of Ume’s cover feature in Austin’s Soundcheck magazine available online and the full magazine (and article) are downloadable in PDF form.

Photos: Ume @ The Horseshoe – November 3, 2009
MP3: Ume – “The Conductor”
MP3: Ume – “Pendulum”
MP3: Ume – “Wake”
Video: Ume – “The Conductor”
MySpace: Ume

Girlysound.com is offering downloads of the famous early Liz Phair demos of the same name. Oh Liz, where did it all go wrong (that’s rhetorical – everyone knows exactly where it all went wrong).

MP3: Liz Phair – “Fuck And Run”
MP3: Liz Phair – “Polyester Bride”

The Guest Apartment has a video session with Headlights.

Crawdaddy profiles White Rabbits.

State interviews Yo La Tengo.

Beatroute talks to Lou Barlow of Dinosaur Jr. Barlow will play the Phoenix on January 21 both solo and with Dino Jr.

Neko Case talks to The Seacoast.

Soundproof and Clash have features on The Dodos.

HeroHill solicits five funky stories from Oh No Forest Fires, who’ve got a show at the Horseshoe on December 12.

Jenn Grant, who plays the Glenn Gould Theatre on November 26, has released a new video from Echoes.

Video: Jenn Grant – “You’ll Go Far”

The Aquarian interviews Peter Moren of Peter Bjorn & John, who have a date at the Phoenix on November 11.

Swedish electro-soul outfit Miike Snow, who is a “they” and not a “he”, are at the Phoenix on April 3.

Video: Miike Snow – “Black & Blue”

The Music Slut asks eight questions of Mew. They have a date at the Mod Club on December 6.

The Raveonettes are giving away a free b-side from In And Out Of Control. The San Francisco Examiner and North Country Times also have interviews.

MP3: The Raveonettes – “The Chosen One”

Sigur Ros are streaming their Heima concert film at PitchforkTV for a week.

Video: Heima

Pitchfork reports that Mogwai’s live documentary film Burning will premiere at a Danish film festival next week and that an accompanying soundtrack album entitled Special Moves will follow.

New Jarvis Cocker video! Watch Jarv bring the title track and cover art of Further Complications to life.

Video: Jarvis Cocker – “Further Complications”

Radio Free Canuckistan has an interview with Jon Cook, the author of the Merge Records book Our Noise, which I look forward to picking up now that I’ve finally finished A Confederacy Of Dunces. A wonderful book which should not have taken me anywhere near the 6 months or so it took me to get through it; I just stopped reading anything, really, through the Summer. And now I have much to catch up on.

Florence & The Machine at The Mod Club in Toronto

Frank Yang — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:30:29 +0000

Frank YangInitial buzz around Florence & The Machine was largely built on a handful of singles, live recordings and performances that positioned Florence Welch as a big-voiced musical eccentric (or as I put it last November, “batshit crazy”) surely set for a career of creative left turns and cul-de-sacs that would delight as often as it confounded. But the surprise – in these quarters, at least – came when it was announced that Florence had signed with major label Island for her debut, majors never really being the most adept entities at marketing “crazy”.

But they are better at marketing “glitz” and there’s far more of that in evidence than psychosis on Florence’s first long-player Lungs, a bright and shiny showcase for Welch’s pipes. Stylistically, it’s hard to pin down as it veers from garage rock to gospel/soul wailers through big pop productions, the only common denominators being Welch and her flair for the dramatic, not to mention an apparent determination to include as much harp as possible, everywhere. Credited to a brace of different producers, there’s definitely a whiff of “by committee” about the proceedings, some numbers are more show than song and are sometimes delivered with more bombast than necessary, but when the combination of Welch’s primal voice and pop hooks connect – and that’s still far more often than not – the results are remarkable. While some/many have their knives out for Welch for whatever reason – the amount of hype that buoyed her rise to fame, her admittedly over-played and over-calculated kooky public persona, whatever, they’ll find no traction in criticizing her talent – the packaging may be debatable, but the goods are for real.

And those goods were well on display on Monday night before a completely sold-out Mod Club, the final night of a North American tour that included four shows in addition to her CMJ appearances. Hardly a grueling itinerary, but that was perhaps to our advantage as Welch still had plenty of energy and nothing to conserve it for. Though starting small with “Between Two Lungs”, the show quickly picked up in scale and volume, thanks to a five-piece backing band – including harp – that was a far cry from the raw duo format she first turned heads with at SxSW – and hit an early peak a few songs in with a vigorous “Kiss With A Fist” before stepping away from Lungs briefly for a b-side and Cold War Kids cover, all delivered with that huge voice that was as powerful live as one would have imagined and hoped. Throughout the show, Welch managed to maintain her theatrical bearing, all arm gestures and flourishes, while connecting with her audience, genuinely and appreciatively. I fully expect that she organized the mass leaping for “Dog Days Are Over” at every show, but that doesn’t make her obvious glee at watching some 500 people bouncing up in down in unison any less real – it was a thing to see and my obvious high point of the night. Judging from the collective swoon that met the encore, for many others it was her reading of “You’ve Got the Love” that was the singular, crystalline moment of the night. I think all could agree, however, that “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)” was a superb finale, pretty much encapsulating everything that is great and grand about Florence & The Machine – the voice, the drama, the songs and yes, of course, the harp.

eye has an interview with Welch while The Toronto Sun, Panic Manual and The Globe & Mail offer reviews of the Mod Club show.

Rolling Stone declares La Roux a “breaking” artist.

The Music Magazine has an interview with Charlotte Hatherley, whose new record New Worlds should be available everywhere but is sadly available almost nowhere (at least in physical form). But is worth seeking out.

IFC has an interview with The Clientele frontman Alisdair MacLean while WFMU has a studio session available to stream.

Good news from Drowned In Sound – Lightspeed Champion will release his second record Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You on February 1 in the UK and February 16 in North America – The Quietus has an interview with Dev Hynes about what to expect off of album number two. He’s also the guest vocalist on the new single from Basement Jaxx.

Video: Basement Jaxx featuring Lightspeed Champion – “My Turn”

Eastscene caught an interview with Sky Larkin during their visit to Toronto last week.

Noah & The Whale have just released a second video from First Days Of Spring.

Video: Noah & The Whale – “Love Of An Orchestra”

The Tripwire converses with The Horrors.

The Line Of Best Fit talks to Editors bassist Russell Leetch about this, that and the other thing.

State interviews White Lies.

The Herald and The Independent catch up with former Suede frontman Brett Anderson, who’s just released his ~~second~~ third solo record in Slow Attack.

Thao With The Get Down Stay Down and The Portland Cello Project at The El Mocambo in Toronto

Frank Yang — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:27:19 +0000

Frank YangIf I’d managed to get to the El Mocambo on Sunday night in time to catch first act David Schultz & The Skyline, I think I could legitimately lay claim to have seen the longest bill – in character count, at least – of all time. But it didn’t happen so I had to settle for just one of the longest in recent memory, thanks to Thao with The Get Down Stay Down and The Portland Cello Project.

As the more insightful might have discerned, The Portland Cello Project is indeed a cello-based musical project hailing from Rose City. Though infinitely scalable when at home, the touring edition of the PCP numbered four cellists who entertained a reasonably healthy-sized Sunday evening crowd with some great banter and mostly-instrumental covers of songs familiar and unfamiliar, including ones by Pantera and Elliott Smith. For one song they were joined by Justin Power for an original number taken from their latest record The Thao & Justin Power Sessions and closed with an audience participatory “Hey Ya!”, assisted by the Get Down Stay Down.

If nothing else, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down are taking home some great road stories from this tour. Both the Portland Cello Project and Thao seemed to be in a state of disbelief of the previous night’s Hallowe’en show in Detroit where they played next door to an Insane Clown Posse party and its attendant hordes of Juggalos, and while Toronto couldn’t compare with that degree of absurdity, the band – and particularly deathly allergic bassist Adam Thompson – was haunted by a phantom cat, who could be heard meowing throughout the between-song lulls, but was never found.

None of the above had anything to do with the show itself, but were still key facets of a terrific evening because Thao with The Get Down Stay Down were all about having and providing a good time through jokes, stories, banter, beatboxing and oh yeah, the music. Until this night, I’d missed Thao every time they’d come through town as well as a myriad of opportunities at the last two SxSW’s but now, finally, I can add my voice to the chorus of those who extol their live show – in short, it’s fantastic. Though both of their records, 2008’s We Brave Bee Stings And All and this year’s terrific Know Better Learn Faster, crackle with a giddy energy, seeing Thao Nguyen utterly dominate the fretboard of her giant hollowbody guitar while lurching around stage and hollering into the mic is something to behold. Similarly, the intense rhythmic aspect of the band doesn’t seem to be done justice by the albums because live, everything felt like a dance song or at least one that you wanted to dance to whether you had any moves or not. They put on an unrestrained, joyous show that was made me simultaneously glad I finally made it out to see them, angry that I had waited so long and determined that I wouldn’t miss them again. And also grateful that at no point did Adam Thompson go into anaphylactic shock. A night of win.

Blurt has a large feature and Metro a super-short one on Thao. And grab an MP3 of “When We Swam” at RCRDLBL.

The AV Club gets the whys behind recent changes with Nicole Atkins and her band.

Spinner talks to J Tillman, who brings his new album Year In The Kingdom to the Horseshoe on November 11.

Bishop Allen have premiered a new video from Grr… over at Stereogum. The Omaha World-Herald has a short interview with Justin Rice.

Video: Bishop Allen – “True Or False”

Antlers’ Peter Silbeman talks to The San Antonio Current and Orange County Weekly.

PopMatters has an interview with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats.

John Vanderslice talks to State.

Daytrotter have got a session with White Rabbits available to download while LAist talks to frontman Stephen Patterson.

Paste reports that the release of Neil Young’s Harvest Moon-era live record Dreamin’ Man has been pushed back until December 8.

You Ain’t No Picasso has an interview with Joel Gibb of The Hidden Cameras. They play the Opera House on December 5.

Two Hours Traffic – who were just here last month, yes – have made another Toronto date for November 21 at The Garrison, but the difference is this one is an all-ages gig. Tickets are $10 in advance.

MP3: Two Hours Traffic – “Territory”

Final Fantasy will mark the January 12 release of Heartland with a hometown show that evening at the Mod Club.

Seattle duo The Dutchess & The Duke have a new album out in Sunset/Sunrise and are touring it through the Winter including a just-announced date at Sneaky Dee’s on January 12.

MP3: The Dutchess & The Duke – “Living This Life”
MP3: The Dutchess & The Duke – “Hands”

It’s a double-shot of Dave Lowery when Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven hit the road together this Winter and stop in at Lee’s Palace on January 16. Cracker also have a new video out featuring one Patterson Hood.

Video: Cracker – “Friends”

Noah & The Whale and Robert Francis at The Horseshoe in Toronto

Frank Yang — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:31:03 +0000

Frank YangWhen Noah & The Whale made their debut Toronto appearance back in September of last year, I noted how effectively they were able to offset the inherent twee-ness of their debut Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down in a live setting simply by turning up the rock – not only did those songs survive being run through a distortion pedal, they actually benefited from it. That being said, the gig still only rated about an “all right” – they were a band who wrote some good pop songs and delivered them well, but I didn’t sense that certain something that implied they could be more than that.

Their second record First Days Of Spring certainly went a long way to changing that opinion. Both the emotional rawness of the subject matter and the spare, orchestral dressings were unexpected and certainly earned the band a re-think in these parts, so Saturday was dedicated to seeing them perform not once, but twice in Toronto. The first opportunity came courtesy an in-store performance at Criminal Records bright and early at noon – convenient for those with Hallowe’en plans that night but a bit of an ordeal for those unaccustomed to having to be doing anything, anywhere at that time on a Saturday. This apparently included the band, who looked a bit bleary-eyed as they got up to play in front of a fairly packed store of fans, including no shortage of under-agers who wouldn’t be able to attend the show later that night. Their set was short – four songs, I think – but sweet and highlighted by Spring’s “Love Of An Orchestra”, which one would have expected to be the most difficult to translate live with just a five-piece band but which they managed to do quite well. This boded well for the full show.

A show for which I missed most of opener Robert Francis’ set, thanks to a mix-up regarding set times. The couple of songs I did catch from the Los Angeles native, who’s just released his second album Nightfall, sounded alright in the earnest, rock-radio singer-songwriter sense, but didn’t make me especially wish I’d arrived earlier. And it meant a shorter wait for Noah & The Whale and an earlier finish time, both of which were alright with me. In the spirit of the season, the band had invited fans to come dressed as their favourite dead celebrity and for their part, they took the stage in simple but suitably corpse-like whiteface makeup and perhaps intended to satisfy the dead celebrity part of the theme with the covers that opened their set. Certainly Buddy Holly (”Everyday”) and Jackson C Frank (”Blues Run The Game”) no longer walk amongst us, but it’s not clear how “You Are Always On My Mind” was supposed to fit the meme – Brenda Lee, Willie Nelson and Pet Shop Boys are all decidedly alive. Maybe they were going for Elvis? Hard to say.

Following that opening trick-or-treat, it was all Noah & The Whale. They began with “Give A Little Love” from Peaceful but the bulk of the show would be devoted to First Days Of Spring, and Noah & The Whale are obviously believers in the adage of every problem looking like a nail when all you have is a hammer. In this case, the nail being the question of how to recreate their songs effectively on stage and the hammer being, well, volume. Just as they were able to beef up the older material and avoid having their lunch money stolen with a heavier approach last time, they were able to recreate the sense of scale of the new material, if not the delicacy, by turning up. This is not to say they bludgeoned the songs, far from it. Instead they showed just how effective a guitar, piano, bass, fiddle and drums could be when properly and dynamically arranged. And just as the depth of emotion underpinning the songs helped First Days Of Spring transcend some of Charlie Fink’s barer, more awkward lyricism, it also made the noisier interludes of the show feel more cathartic than indulgent. So while the show had a quotient of angst, it was still primarily a fun affair – there was no “Five Years Time” but it’s saying something that even without playing their biggest song, Noah & The Whale didn’t leave anyone wanting.

Mix talks to Fink about the recording of the record, there’s a video acoustic session with the band at They Shoot Music and Spinner reports back from a screening of the film portion of The First Days of Spring in New York.

Laundromatinee welcomes The Twilight Sad to their studios for an acoustic session. Acoustic Twilight Sad. Yes.

Friendly Fires tell BBC they’re working on album number two and are targeting a May release date. Expect to hear some of the new material when they play the Phoenix on December 2.

JAM, The Toronto Star and The Boston Herald interview The Swell Season, who’ve just released a new video and are at Massey Hall tonight.

Video: The Swell Season – “Low Rising”

Paste talks to Sufjan Stevens, whom they credit with creating the best album of the decade. Oh I’m sorry, did I ruin the list for you? NPR also has a short feature.

Pitchfork has details on the next Spoon record, entitled Transference and out January 26. Britt Daniel talked to Spinner about what to expect from the new album.

The Antlers are featured in a downloadable Daytrotter session.

Loft Life gets a tour of the fabled Wilco loft.

A gentle reminder that Austin’s Ume, interviewed recently by The Brock Press, are in town tonight for a free show at the Horseshoe. They’re on at 10:50PM – be there and have your face rocked off.

Austin City Limits (the television show) is streaming videos of performances from their shows online – check out this one featuring M Ward and Okkervil River or this one with Andrew Bird and St. Vincent to get started. And yes indeed, those archives do go back.

A note to Canadians that the Beautiful Noise concerts that were recorded at the Berkeley Church in Toronto last Spring are now airing on SunTV on Saturday nights. Almost makes me wish I had cable so I could watch them.

Olenka & The Autumn Lovers, The Wilderness Of Manitoba and Slow Down Molasses at The Garrison in Toronto

Frank Yang — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:10:47 +0000

Frank YangLast Thursday night was spent at The Garrison, the newly-opened west-end venue that’ll be home to the final year of Wavelength as well as a plethora of other local music happenings. A fine example of this was this evening’s bill, featuring bands with long names from near, far and sorta-near-but-not-that-close: The Wilderness Of Manitoba, Slow Down Molasses and Olenka & The Autumn Lovers.

Slow Down Molasses represented the “far”, hailing from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and were up first. I’d spent some time with their debut I’m An Old Believer in advance of the show and while the seven-piece outfit obviously has no shortage of ideas, largely revolving around a heartbreaking, widescreen country-rock epic I can definitely get behind, but I didn’t find Believer to be as focused or immersive a listening experience as it’d have probably needed to be to really wow me. Live, however, they make it work a lot better – all the many pieces come together nicely and the punchier delivery makes up for some of the thinner/wispier production choices and sometimes hesitant delivery on record. And bonus points for not only thinking to use a typewriter as a musical instrument but for making it work.

The Wilderness Of Manitoba got some face time here last week and were certainly a big part of the draw for this show. Though still a relatively new act, the word of mouth around them and the harmony-laden folk songs of their debut mini-album Hymns Of Love And Spirits has been spreading quickly so there was a pretty good size crowd assembled for their performance. And, indeed, the harmonies were pretty impressive – not divine, as the more hyperbolic might want to believe, but certainly rich and well-arranged. They brought more to the table than just their voices, though, and tastefully filled out their sound with cello, singing bowls and ukulele in addition to the more traditional guitar, bass and drums. As with the preceding band, I found the live Wilderness Of Manitoba more engaging than the recorded one, mostly thanks to the additional sonic weight of the live instrumentation – whereas Hymns seems to float above, on stage they sounded decidedly more anchored and some of the new material would certainly seem to demand that extra oomph. I know the EP just came out but I look forward to hearing what they do next.

I know I’d been intending to see London, Ontario’s Olenka & The Autumn Lovers for a long time – at least a year, and certainly they’re on my schedule every time CMW or NXNE rolls around – but it just hasn’t happened until now. So I won’t dwell on time and opportunities lost and just be thankful that finally, I am enlightened to their myriad charms. Calling them a folk band is accurate but insufficient; however trying to get more specific can be tricky. Their musical roots are Olenka Krakus’, which is to say the Old World/Eastern European/Balkan traditions which have been well-plied by the likes of Beirut and DeVotchKa in recent years, but rather than destinations as they are for those acts, for the Autumn Lovers they’re more of a starting point and they go wherever Krakus’ rich voice and vivid songwriting would go – brassy country twang one moment, mysterious Gallic chanteuse the next and all points in between. All of that was on display on Thursday night, as Krakus led her band through a spirited set which showed off their musicality and versatility and the sort of tightness that a couple weeks on the road tends to provide. I can’t provide much more specifics than that on account of not really knowing their material at the time but I’ve been rectifying that, having already put their recent Papillonette EP on heavy rotation and can say that what the cover of “Dancing In The Dark”, with which they closed the encore, lacked in polish, it more than made up for in enthusiasm and manpower. Joyous stuff, and be assured I won’t be missing them again.

Olenka’s just-wrapped eastern Canadian tour yielded features in BlogTO, JAM and The Chronicle Herald while BlogTO also talked to Slow Down, Molasses in advance of their show.

Photos: Olenka & The Autumn Lovers, The Wilderness Of Manitoba, Slow Down Molasses @ The Garrison – October 29, 2009
MP3: Olenka & The Autumn Lovers – “Eggshells”
MP3: The Wilderness Of Manitoba – “Bluebirds”
MP3: Slow Down, Molasses – “I’m An Old Believer”
MySpace: Olenka & The Autumn Lovers
MySpace: Slow Down Molasses

And this segues nicely into the second half of this post as Olenka & The Autumn Lovers placed an impressive 27th in the 2009 edition of I Heart Music’s “Hottest Bands In Canada” poll, the results of which were announced at the end of last week and which was topped by The Rural Alberta Advantage – which, really, was the only possible sensible outcome. As always, it’s a far from comprehensive survey of Canadian online music writer/blogger types, but does give a decent impression of who’s being talked about… by Canadian online music writer/blogger types. Eight of my ten picks made the final list, and as in past years, my picks were a melange of subjective opinion and objective fact, served with a healthy dose of rushing to get it in before the deadline. My full ballot with pithy blurbage is below.

1. The Rural Alberta Advantage – To hear them or see them is to love them, and while buzz had been growing steadily since last Fall, it was a storybook SxSW this past Spring that made them arguably one of the hottest Canadian exports of the year and it’s a tale that shows no signs of ending anytime soon.

MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Don’t Haunt This Place”

2. Fucked Up – Winning the Polaris Prize should pretty much guarantee you a top-5 spot in this poll, and by doing so, Fucked Up have taken hardcore just a little bit further into the mainstream and are as unlikely and appropriate ambassadors for Canadian music as you’ll find.

MP3: Fucked Up – “No Epiphany”

3. Metric – The tale of the tape doesn’t lie – they scored their second Polaris nomination for “Fantasies”, sold tens of thousands of records and are selling out large theatres across the country. they may be hated by many but are loved by even more.

Video: Metric – “Sick Muse”

4. Ohbijou – They released a glittering jewel of a sophomore effort in “Beacons”, toured relentlessly across Canada, the United States and Europe and with their Bellwoods house, now a thing of myth, essentially acted as a fulcrum for a new wave of bands coming out of Toronto. And somehow managed to raise almost $20,000 for the food bank at the same time.

MP3: Ohbijou – “Black Ice”

5. Woodpigeon – Calgary’s best-kept secret has started getting the sort of accolades at home that they’ve been earning abroad and turned a limited run record of non-album tracks into a Polaris long-listed record. Just imagine what they’ll do when they release Die Stadt Muzikanten in January, an album that’s actually meant to be an album.

MP3: Woodpigeon – “Love In The Time Of Hopscotch”

6. Final Fantasy – Getting ranked for a record that’s not out yet and a hot year that’s not actually occurred yet is a bit like winning the Nobel Peace Prize without having actually brokered any peace, but the anticipation for Owen Pallet’s first record in almost four years is substantial enough to warrant it.

MP3: Final Fantasy – “Ultimatum”

7. Chad Van Gaalen – I will personally probably never take a seat on this particular bandwagon, but there’s no denying that the cult of Chad continues to grow with every record he puts out. And if this were a poll of Canada’s oddest musicians, he’d be number one with a bullet.

MP3: Chad Van Gaalen – “City Of Electric Light”

8. The Wooden Sky – Long-time fixtures of the Toronto scene, their new record “If I Don’t Come Home You’ll Know I’m Gone” feels like a game-changer for the band in every sense. They’ve made records, they’ve toured their asses off and now, people are talking. A lot.

MP3: The Wooden Sky – “Bit Part”

9. Dan Mangan – while I still think that declaring him “artist of the year”, as Verge XM did, is a bit premature, there’s no question that “Nice, Nice, Very Nice” is a watershed record for the Vancouver artist and one that could and should elevate him to the ranks of the finest new songwriters in the country.

MP3: Dan Mangan – “Road Regrets”

10. The Balconies – “Hottest in Canada” is probably an overstatement as they’re still hardly known outside of Ottawa and Toronto, but this power trio have got the songs and the style to ensure that by the time this poll runs next year, they’ll have made a much bigger name for themselves. Consider this a pre-emptive move.

MP3: The Balconies – “300 Pages”

And a couple related notes – The Rural Alberta Advantage will play an in-store at Soundscapes on November 17 at 7PM as a warm-up to their big show at Lee’s Palace on the 20th. Oh, and they’re playing the Olympics, too.

The Torture Garden has an interview with Final Fantasy’s Owen Pallett. Heartland is out January 12.

Dan Mangan has released a new video for “Robots” from Nice, Nice, Very Nice. Brace yourself for adorableness.

Video: Dan Mangan – “Robots”

The Line Of Best Fit has posted a sixth “Oh! Canada” downloadable mixtape, chock full of the best new Canadiana as judged by the British.

Monsters Of Folk cover Bob Dylan

Frank Yang — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:51:03 +0000

last.fmBefore there was Monsters Of Folk, the band, or Monsters Of Folk, the album, there was Monsters Of Folk, the tour. It was the tongue-in-cheek banner applied to the shows featuring Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Matt Ward of M Ward Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes and unsurprisingly, found the three collaborating on stage as often as not.

One number that they’d lend their collective touches to was Bob Dylan’s “Girl From The North Country”, a live recording of which would find its way onto Dylan Covered, the September 2005 cover CD for Mojo magazine which featured a collection of Dylan covers. This track was credited to “M. Ward & Conor Oberst & Jim James” – I guess they hadn’t yet accepted their destiny to become the Voltron of folk. Which, I’m sure, was the original intended name for the project until the lawyers got involved.

Monsters Of Folk are on tour and will be at Massey Hall Monday night. Bob Dylan just released his Christmas album Christmas In The Heart and will be at the Memorial Auditorium in Kitchener this Saturday night, November 7.

The Lousiville Courier-Journal talks to the fourth Monster Of Folk – not officially involved with the original tour – Mike Mogis.

MP3: Monsters Of Folk – “Girl From The North Country”
Video: Bob Dylan – “Girl From The North Country”

CONTEST – Junior Boys and Woodhands @ Lee’s Palace – November 6, 2009

Frank Yang — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:30:22 +0000

Junior BoysLee’s Palace is the place to be next Friday night, at least for those who think the square wave is the sexiest sound out there. First you’ve got Toronto’s Woodhands, who favour the extroverted, in-your-face approach, their mating dance consisting of flailing limbs, showers of sweat and thrusting keytars. And at the other side of the spectrum, the smooth electro-soul sounds of Hamilton’s Junior Boys, the aural equivalent of the chilled champagne, the casual-but-deliberate brush against the arm and eyebrow arched just so. Two paths; one destination – “where are my pants?”.

Tickets to this seminar on seduction are $20 in advance but courtesy of REMG, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for the show – to enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to get sexy with The Junior Boys” in the subject line and your full name in the body – get those in to me before midnight, November 4. Awwww yeah.

MP3: Junior Boys – “In The Morning”
MP3: Woodhands – “Dancer”