Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin It might seem like Björk doesn't tour much anymore - after all, it's been nearly five years since she was last here headlining V Fest 2007 in support of Volta , but that was actually her last album before 20112s Biophilia . So besides the fact that she's been working at a slower pace than when the '90s triumvirate of Debut / Post / Homogenic made her one of the most unconventional pop stars of Alternative [...]
Frank Yang Even though Sigur Rós' show at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday night was announced back in November , I was on the fence about attending, rationalizing that I had seen them twice just last August , and as much as I enjoyed the atmospheric charms of last year's Valtari , I didn't know that I needed to see it live again. Then word came that not only would the staging of the show be different this time, thanks to the shift in venue from [...]
Jonathan Barnbrook While the surprise announcement in January that David Bowie would be releasing his first new album in a decade was largely met with equal parts shock and delight - though perhaps as much because he'd managed the impossible in keeping the existence of it a secret in hyper-connected 2013 as the actual prospect of new Bowie music. Most remarkably, though, was the fact that an artist who had successfully withdrawn from public life and transitioned into myth - and was alive and well enough to enjoy that status - had chosen to [...]
Frank Yang I had to think for quite a while about including this show under my Canadian Musicfest coverage. Although the festival would like you believe that Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' visit on Saturday night was as a festival headliner, everyone knew that this show had little to nothing to do with Canadian Musicfest and everything to do with the tour in support of their latest effort, Push The Sky Away ; I don't even know if any of the VIP wristbands promised access actually got in. [...]
Frank Yang If you're ever debating what to do on a given evening of either Canadian Musicfest or NXNE , you can always do far worse than to simply post up at either The Horseshoe or Lee's Palace for the entire evening. These Toronto anchors always host a solid bill of bands, both local and international, buzzy and unheralded, covering a swath of genres that will surely have something to delight the ears. Granted, I was there with a more specific mandate than to just take in some music - I wanted to see [...]
Frank Yang Show cancellations are pretty much part and parcel of the Canadian Musicfest experience, particularly when you're most keen on the international acts who've been duped coerced into playing the fest, but it's especially disappointing when it's a) one of the bands you most wanted to see, b) they were one of the very first acts confirmed for the fest in November , and c) it happens just hours before showtime. But things like lymph node infections do happen, and with Efterklang singer Casper Clausen out [...]
Frank Yang I went into this year's Canadian Musicfest with a pretty basic plan - see as little as possible. Okay, that's not really accurate since that would have easily been accomplished by staying home and I was still out four nights in a row, but rather than engage in the club-hopping that the fest usually demands, I opted to choose one thing a night that I was genuinely interested in seeing rather than trek around the city hoping to shake something worthwhile out of the lineup. Wednesday night, that honour went to a show that [...]
Carlos van Hijfte Who: Chelsea Light Moving What: A relatively new band out of New York City whose lineup includes this one guy who used to be in another New York outfit that's garnered a bit of a following over the years - Thurston Moore and Sonic Youth. Perhaps you've heard of them? Why: They released their self-titled debut back in February, and with Sonic Youth on indefinite hiatus, does a pretty good job of filling in that noise-and-melody, abused guitar-shaped void in your [...]
Jem Goulding Since their first single was released in June 2012, London post-punk foursome Savages have steadily become one of the most-talked about new bands in the UK on the backs of their ferocious live performances, the experience of which they sought to capture on the live I Am Here EP released last Fall. Now, as they come off a series of much-talked about shows at SXSW and prepare to make a similar impression with a couple of shows at Canadian Musicfest, they've announced details of their debut album. Entitled [...]
Roger Kisby You can probably blame the entire music industry's post-SXSW hangover for this week's roundup of concert announcements being a little late and a little lean. But there were still some. And here they are. While I believe the official status of The Fiery Furnaces is that they're a going concern, it's pretty clear that the burner that they're on is pretty far back. Since they finished touring 20092s presciently-titled I'm Going Away , both Friedberger siblings have busied themselves in solo form. Matthew Friedberger released [...]
Steve Gullick Sad news out of Indianapolis yesterday morning, as word got out that Jason Molina , had died. Unbelievably prolific from the late '90s through the mid '00s first as the skeletal Songs: Ohia and then the lushly-arranged Magnolia Electric Co., as well under his own name, he helped craft the template of raw yet elegant, emotionally bare and beautifully sad songwriting within the folk, blues, and roots-rock idioms. Following the release of Molina and Johnson , his 2009 collaboration with Will Johnson of Centro-Matic , Molina seemed [...]
Andrew Synowiez Know what week it is? It's Canadian Music Week , which means it's also Canadian Musicfest , which means it's the week where all the Toronto clubs filled up with acts from near and far and folks who would normally be out and about with a fistful of tickets guaranteeing admission were now brandishing wristbands that they hoped would get them into the clubs and prove to be the mathematically superior value that they hoped. And if those equations included trying to get into the shows of advertised headliners Rihanna or Nick [...]
Frank Yang Who: Phoenix What: French electro-pop outfit who became international superstars on the back of 20092s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix and have graduated to headlining festivals and playing very big rooms. Why: The long-awaited follow-up to Wolfgang finally arrives on April 23, and advance word on Bankrupt! is that it sounds very much like Phoenix, which should be a relief to all. Phoenix is not necessarily a band that people want massive [...]
Norman Wong Increasingly, Friday posts are for clearing off the decks of whatever hasn't gone out earlier in the week, but that doesn't mean the content isn't quality - this ain't no fire sale, son. But it also doesn't mean I'm not giving some stuff away. Because I am. Earlier this week, Toronto electro-operatic sensation Austra announced details of their second album, to be entitled Olympia and due out June 18. And because they believe in deeds, not words, they also made the first single from the new record available [...]
Frank Yang So this is the first time in nine years that I am NOT in Austin for SXSW; reasons for this are myriad, but the broad strokes can be inferred from this . So while this means rather than embarrassment of concert riches to choose from, my live music options amongst bands not deep in the heart of Texas were decidedly shallower, but still pretty great - after all, Veronica Falls were back in town. It was at SXSW 2011 that I first made the acquaintance of the Anglo-Scottish quartet, [...]
Roger Sargent I find it equally amusing/confounding that veteran artists who return after long hiatuses or breakups are almost always initially met with open arms - my favourite band when I was a teenager is back! - but it's rarely long before that goodwill starts turning a bit sour. Tour the greatest hits that everyone thinks they want to hear, and it's all "you're just cashing in on my nostalgia!" but have the audacity to record new material, and with few exceptions the best they can hope for is a tepid, "it's not as good as your old [...]
Facebook Most bands of a certain vintage these days have at least one of a break-up, extended hiatus, reunion, core lineup turnover, artistic irrelevance, diminishing fanbase, or becoming a nostalgia act in their narrative. Depeche Mode , however, largely bucks that trend. At it - it being one of the most influential electronic/alternative bands going - for more than three decades now, their output may have slowed a bit following their opening pace of six albums in seven years, but since 19872s massive Songs Of Faith and Devotion , they've kept a remarkably steady cycle of [...]
Frank Yang However you choose to bracket the timeline - the three weeks since Saturday night's show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre was announced, the two months since her First Thursday performances at the Art Gallery Of Ontario were announced, or the 37 years since her first album Horses was released - I've been remiss in my Patti Smith education. To be clear: as long as I've been a remotely informed music fan, I've known who she was and her importance - you couldn't be an R.E.M. obsessive [...]
Zoran Orlic Who: Low What: Duluth, Minnesota three-piece still too-often pigeonholed as slow-core pioneers but who've arguably been one of the more adventurous bands of recent years, able to completely invert their sound without compromising their strengths. Why: Their tenth studio album The Invisible Way is maybe the most warmest and most stripped-down effort since 20022s Trust , with producer Jeff Tweedy bringing the focus on those aforementioned strengths: Mimi Parker and Alan Sparkhawk's voices, Sparhawk's guitar, and their [...]
Windish Agency And we wrap the week with (again) some link housecleaning from overseas, led by the next great Scottish synth-pop - if not spelling - hope, CHVRCHES . The trio, who placed a commendable fifth in the BBC's Sound Of 2013 poll, don't offer a groundbreaking sound but inviting electronic textures, sweetly earnest vocals, and big pop hooks really don't ever go out of style. They recently told an audience that their full-length debut shouldn't be expected until the Fall, but they're hoping to keep the excitement that started building around the [...]
Chromewaves
Boards of Canada – Reach For The Dead
L D R U – The Tropics
Ace by @thebigsleepnyc #nowplaying
HAERTS: “All The Days”
