Photograph by Eric Kayne Perhaps as a result of the build-up and massive amounts of hype, I approached my first listen of The Suburbs with a bit of caution and cynicism. Right around ‘Deep Blue’, after questioning why a chess-playing computer was being name-dropped, I was feeling a little unsure of the album. Whereas Funeral and Neon Bible strived for an anthemic sound, The Suburbs takes a more low-key approach. While not as immediate as its predecessors, The Suburbs is likely the band’s most cohesive album [...]
Photograph Dave MacIntyre Few bands are capable of inspiring a rabid fervor in their fanbase like Arcade Fire. It’s hard to believe that we’ve only known about The Suburbs for about two months, with almost daily news, tracks and tour dates coming from a band that has largely been inactive since the Neon Bible tour. With the album released yesterday, what better way to celebrate than by grabbing some tickets to one of Arcade Fire’s storied live shows? Courtesy of the fine folks at Collective Concerts, we’re giving away three pairs of passes to [...]
With the short list announced coincidentally close to Canada Day, the Polaris Music Prize has been cleverly disguised as an icon of national pride. The saga of Polaris says that not only are we geographically gargantuan as a nation, but musically we’re in fine proportion to our size. It takes time to look at all the details, since we as a nation put out an obscene amount of music, but an award like Polaris gives us great cause to wear out our Canadian vinyl through the summer months. From the Besnard Lakes to Broken Social Scene and from Shad to [...]
The problem with youthful bands is that they grow up. Lyrics shift from optimistic exuberance and young love toward bitterness and broken relationships in an effort to become more mature. We witnessed this phenomenon earlier this year with Los Campesinos!, but Mystery Jets look to avoid falling into the same trap with Serotonin . The album’s tone is both wistful and whimsical, though it would have benefited from at least some of crunch heard on tracks like ‘Hideaway’ or ‘Half in Love with Elizabeth' from their 2008 release Twenty One . Though a bit less rocking and a little floatier than its [...]
All Photographs by Levin Samuel On July 14, Titus Andronicus took the Horseshoe Tavern by storm, delivering an energetic performance that got the crowd just as into it as the band. They covered favourites from both their debut The Airing of Grievances and their latest The Monitor . From start to finish, Titus delivered rip-roaring vocals, balls to the wall guitar tone with anthemic sing-a-longs that made their performance one for the books.
Photograph by Alex Felipe With their decadent new release, Talking Sporty , Times Neue Roman cut a long slit down an elegant dress and remind those who would dismiss so-called "nintendo-rap" that sometimes the senses are drawn most to what's not there. Stripped down to the barest digits, the sparsity at the core of these songs serves primarily to clear a space for the style to ooze through. Alexander The's brash staccato beats hold up a mirror to the percussive precision of Arowbe Arowbe Arowbe's vocals, and while there is always a paradoxical danger with [...]
Photograph by Meqo Sam Cecil It’s really not Wolf Parade’s fault. Five years ago, when the Canadian rock fetish was just getting sexy and every new act seemed to be named after some kind of Canis lupus, Apologies to the Queen Mary rocked our cores before lighting our own hearts on fire. With a debut album that stellar and a wave of hype washing across the continent, there really was nowhere else to go but down. While 2008’s At Mount Zoomer may have been more of a commercial success, it [...]
Flawlessly able to cross back and forth between reverb-ridden classic rock and low fidelity sludge, Kurt Vile's presence alone would be enough to make this a classic show, but completing the best one-two punch tour of recent memory are New Jersey natives and fellow lo-fi stalwarts Real Estate. If you're the type that was slightly disappointed by Dum Dum Girls, eagerly await Best Coast, and don't think there's anything ridiculous about Chillwave besides the title, then this is definitely the show for you. There have been some truly phenomenal releases in the past couple of years on labels like [...]
The 2010 Polaris Music Prize Long List was released a couple weeks ago, and it is a long list. At first, I thought I was reading a list of all the albums released in this country over the last year. Not surprisingly, Swim , the latest release from Caribou, the moniker used by expatriate canuck and 2008 Polaris winner (for his 2007 LP Andorra ) Daniel Snaith's electronic orchestrations, made the list. I don't expect the jury will award him the honour again, not that it wouldn't be deserved. With Swim, Snaith has deviated [...]
Photograph by Jonathan Taggart Just over a week ago, the long list for the 2010 Polaris Music Prize, honouring the year's best Canadian album, was announced. The eclectic mix of artists includes former Polaris winners Owen Pallett and Caribou, as well as an array of previous Shortlisters and newcomers to the award. Having only heard about a quarter of the albums on the list, it's hard to say if there's a frontrunner. Like Frank Yang over at Chromewaves , I was a big fan of Reverie Sound Revue, so that snub leaves me [...]
Photograph by Jan Kucic-Riker The Toronto Island Concert had many things working against it. Torontonians were busy constructing fake lakes for the G20 summit, thunderstorms were expected to figuratively and literally rain on our parade, and finally the past two years saw our beloved island at the mercy of public services and scheduling conflicts. But not this year, the show was scheduled, bands announced, and we at Ca Va Cool began planning pancake/beer brunches in anticipation of festival day. We faced hordes of security, eager fans, and sound checks on Queen Street as we thought to [...]
Photograph by Norman Wong It’s not often that a band debuts a full album in concert more than a month before its release, but that’s the way Stars chose to showcase The Five Ghosts. Having had that month to let the music gestate, I was eager to see if the recorded output could match the live show. After a May filled with releases but few that really delivered, I’m happy to find an album I can love from start to finish. Those who have heard the band’s Sad Robot EP [...]
Photograph by Victoria Jacob Suckers play indie rock. They play it at dizzying speed. Suckers are the answer to "hipsters don’t dance." Their recently released full-length Wild Smile has an immediate familiarity to it, their buoyant melodies keep you guessing – just when you think you’re getting bouncy Clap Your Hands Say Yeah synth lines you’re lifted into a roaring Yeasayer chorus and barraged with tribal drums à la Dodos. Suckers gravitate around booming anthems, experimental melodies, and harmonizing that would turn Robin Pecknold’s head. Their music is afloat in colourful rhythm sections and [...]
All Photographs by Levin Samuel On June 11, Arcade Fire began a surprise two-night stint at the Music Hall on Danforth Street in Toronto. Expectations for the band's forthcoming third album, The Suburbs , were high as the band previewed new material. Arcade Fire - Month of May Arcade Fire - We Used to Wait Arcade Fire - Ready to Start
Photograph by Sam Javanrouh There’s a day in June that occupies a special place in Torontonians hearts every year. Originally known as the Olympic Island Festival, the recently re-named Toronto Island Concert, is what many of my friends call their "favourite day of the summer". Curated by Broken Social Scene and their label Arts&Crafts, the day-long mini-fest takes place South of the city, just a few kilometres off-shore from Toronto’s modest and un-scenic harbourfront, on one of the city's most heavily protected natural gems, Olympic Island. With only a community in the hundreds that inhabits the [...]
Photograph by Mat Dunlap Toronto’s indie charmers The Meligrove Band (Mike Small, Brian O’Reilly, Jason Nunes and Darcy Rego) are ready to rock again. After a four year hiatus, their new singles-packed album Shimmering Lights is set for release by Nevado in Canada, and Last Gang in the U.S. on September 21. For the unfamiliar, high School pals Mike, Jason and Darcy have been jamming together for over 10 years, with Brian recently joining from the stylistically similar Halifax music scene. In 2006, their catchy yet artistic "concept" [...]
Photograph by Caroline Desilets The latest record from Plants and Animals proves with striking clarity that rock 'n' roll need not be convoluted and tedious. La La Land focuses on the twist and shout, sweaty psychedelia, and roaring guitars. The record opts to be played at full volume to an empty room rather than having to be throttled to an audience of thousands. Following up Parc Avenue , Plants and Animals have found a way to balance a louder, ripped-up sound while creating a tight collection of ballads that inherit the spirit of [...]
Photograph by Christopher Nelson Though not the first of the major summer festivals, Sasquatch! sure felt like early summer. The Gorge Amphitheatre is nestled in the eastern foothills of the Cascades just outside George, Washington (really), the mountains to the west managed to keep the coastal rains at bay, but the altitude and dry air made for some sunburnt days and brisk nights. We were woefully unprepared for these climatic factors, not to mention the sheer scope of this year's lineup. Festivals like this one lure you in with a laundry list of bands you would [...]
Photograph by Jason Creps Sure, the "supergroup" moniker is thrown around a bit too often, but it's kind of unavoidable when talking about The New Pornographers, who have established themselves as an institution of Canadian indie rock. You can keep yourself pretty busy just listening to the Pornographers' side/main projects, from the A.C. Newman solo albums, Neko Case, Immaculate Machine, Destroyer, Swan Lake, etc., but for me nothing beats a good listen to Mass Romantic , their debut album released in 2000. And who can ignore Twin Cinema , which we ranked as our [...]
Photograph by Scott Munn Growing up in rural Ontario didn’t afford me many opportunities for live music. What little options there were amounted to mostly terrible punk rock or screamo, though occasionally a band would roll into town to make the night out worth it. Wintersleep made their name touring relentlessly across the country, including my podunk little town, building a devoted fanbase. Going from that to opening for Sir Paul McCartney is surely a sign that they’ve "made it." New Inheritors marks some changes for the band. It’s their first [...]
Ca Va Cool
Dave Grohl to join The Rolling Stones in Anaheim tonight
Lana Del Rey is the “Queen of Disaster” on New ‘Born To Die’ Leak
Vacation – “Candy Waves”
Weekly Mix Vol. I
