Blog: For the 'records'

The new music video for Austra 's song "Spellwork" directed by Yelena Yemchuk . The user comments over at YouTube aren't all positive but I like it. There's something very soothing about the pacing of the camera work and the framing of the shots in my opinion. Conceptually, it seems very random - the whole scene at the end with the girls gorging themselves on watermelon seemed very tongue-in-cheek but overall I'll give it a thumbs up.

Wavelength , the Toronto concert series [for many years until the last few years that had been running as a weekly concert series] which has introduced fans to a cornucopia of new music acts over the years turns twelve this year, and of course will be celebrating the occasion. TWELVE: The Wavelength 12th Anniversary Festival will be taking over several Toronto music venues over the long weekend [thank you Dalton McGuinty] of February 16-19 with featured acts including Fucked Up , P.S. I Love You , No Joy and Bonjay . An all-access [...]

Curing the post-holiday blues, a late date announcement brings news of this year's lineup for Coachella taking place as usual on the grounds of the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. In an interesting move but odd move, the festival this year will be replicated over two weekends, first on the weekend of April 13-15 then the next weekend April 20-22. I imagine that festival organizers want to be able to accommodate as many ticket buyers as possible, but doesn't having the festival occur on one weekend and then having [...]

As with my favourite album posts for 2007 , 2008 , and 2009 as well as my favourite songs of 2010 (a year which I couldn't even concentrate on whole albums) have pointed out, my favourite albums over recent years have either been by established favourites of mine, or else new artists I've gravitated towards have been a select few. I've missed out on many an album released in 2011 out of the sheer exhaustion in seeking out new music but there have been a few artists that had piqued my interest that I'm [...]

Peelander Z @ Public Assembly, NYC: photo by Michael Ligon Last day/night of my trip to New York City and CMJ back in October 2011. (Next year, if I do the NYC trip again, I think I'll just post updates on a daily basis - this is too much work after the fact.) For my last day/night in The Big Apple I took it relatively easier than the other days: - Starbucks near MOMA - Radio City Music Hall - General Electric [...]

Emmy The Great @ Public Assembly, NYC: photo by Michael Ligon - started out the morning exploring the neighbourhood around my hotel (walked down Bowery and then turned on Prince; nice Ralph Lauren and Gant Rugger shops on Prince St, although both way too expensive for what I was willing to pay (I've slowly become a clothes horse over the last few years, although I never buy regular price) - walked to Lafayette for coffee at Dean & Deluca then went window shopping (David Z, Converse, Ben Sherman [...]

Givers @ Ace Hotel, NYC: photo by Michael Ligon So yes, I'm pretty late on posting this (and still have to more days from my CMJ/NYC trip in October to post, so bear with me). And so here it is, point form, with a link to the photoset below: - swung by the CBGB's site again (noticed the etching in the concrete this time). - saw the Joey Ramone Street sign - @ Ace Hotel to catch tailend of Widowspeak 's set, part of [...]

The National @ Air Canada Centre: photo by Michael Ligon <!-- Just taking a moment to post a link to my photos from the fantastic triple bill of The National, Neko Case, and Wye Oak which happened down at Air Canada Centre near the beginning of the month. By all accounts, it was a fantastic show. Part of me was dreading having to see the show at Air Canada Centre, but the "theatre" configuration that the venue was transformed into, combined with my fantastic seat which was just about dead centre in the [...]

Sloan @ The Great Hall: photo by Michael Ligon Review to come. Photos: Sloan, Rural Alberta Advantage, Ohbijou, Bonjay @ The Great Hall, Toronto (December 21, 2011) MySpace: Bonjay MySpace: Ohbijou MySpace: Rural Alberta Advantage MySpace: Sloan

Bon Iver @ Massey Hall: photo by Michael Ligon The second show I'd gone to this month was the first show of a two-night stint put on by Bon Iver at Massey Hall on December 6. As it seems with me over the last several years, I've not put too much effort into exploring much new music. I haven't totally ignored new music but rather have been really selective. As a result, I've caught on to some artists a little late. I'd only given Bon Iver's debut album [...]

Austra: photo by Michael Ligon Kicking off a busier month of concert-going than usual for me these days was Toronto's Austra at the Phoenix Concert Theatre at the beginning of the month. The bigger ticket that night was Feist at Massey Hall but there seemed to be a full-house (if not a sold out one) for the homecoming show for Austra who'd been making waves and touring all year. Doing double-duty that night were twin sisters Sari and Romy Lightman aka Tasseomancy who to me were better known [...]

Portugal The Man @ Ace Hotel, NYC: photo by Michael Ligon If it had to rain, then I'm glad it was at the beginning of my trip. More thankfully, I'm glad it only rained once the whole five days I was in New York City last month. Given the rain, I was confined to mostly indoor activities. With umbrella in hand, and rain jacket on (yes, I came prepared), I took off that morning to head to the Ace Hotel in midtown Manhattan for KEXP's "Free Yr Radio" CMJ sessions, and then for whatever [...]

Janet Weiss & Carrie Brownstein of Wild Flag @ Bowery Ballroom: photo by Michael Ligon Firstly, sorry for the late posting. CMJ and my trip to New York City in October has already been over for almost a month now, and I've been really lazing getting photos up on my Flickr and posting about the CMJ shows I went. Overall, it was great to be back in the Big Apple. The CMJ lineup this year felt more subdued than last year, but with the amount of acts I had to [...]

Evan Dando @ Lee's Palace: photo by Michael Ligon After a steady diet of The Smiths, New Order, The Cure and and The Jesus and Mary Chain in the late 80's, the 90's were to usher in a shift in my musical tastes. discovered the Pixies and their eclectic musical stew of surf, garage, punk and pop just prior to their breakup and their last album, 1991's "Trompe Le Monde" . The musical axis of 1991 and 1992 of course was dominated for me and many others by Seattle's Nirvana [...]

Beth Gibbons of Portishead @ Sound Academy: photo by Michael Ligon There are bands I wish to see live who I have accepted will probably never reunite (The Smiths, New Order) and then there are the bands that I think I will never get to see live but then miraculously the band comes out of hiatus or retirement and goes on tour. Of the latter category, I've seen The Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, Pavement, and most recently, as well as more dear to my heart, Portishead . Along with fellow Bristolians Massive Attack, [...]

Toronto's Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd is blowing up, quietly. He's been propped by Drake after he quoted a line from the track "Wicked Games" via Twitter and then linked to The Weeknd's website. He's released a few free mixtapes through his website, first "House of Ballons" and more recently "Thursday" , the former which had garnered him a Polaris Music Prize nomination. He's only performed a few live shows so far including The Mod Club in Toronto, opening for Drake at Molson Ampitheatre this past summer, and more recently at the Guelph [...]

As of the time of this posting, Bristol UK's Portishead are in the midst of their first show of a two-night stint at Sound Academy in Toronto. I'm super excited to see the group live tomorrow night, and even scored a photo pass for the show! And for Canadian Thanksgiving tomorrow, that photo pass will be one of those things I give thanks for, along with of course the important things like family and health. Portishead stopped in recently with "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" to perform a few songs including their new Amnesty International [...]

Another edition of Nuit Blanche , Toronto's "...sixth annual sunset-to-sunrise celebration of contemporary art" happened this past Saturday night. And aside from the night's chilly temperatures, I wasn't feeling thrilled in the quality of the installations and projects as I'd had in past years. Much of what I saw was visual which may make for interesting visual stimulation for a moment but didn't provide much in the way of a lasting impression. On the other hand, installations like "Soon" at Commerce Court, with spotlights situated atop buildings surrounding the area shone down on the crowd while an [...]

Sloan @ Echo Beach: photo by Michael Ligon Sloan @ Echo Beach: photo by Michael Ligon Sloan once were fashionable - for about a year, maybe two. They were right on board with the alt-rock movement of the early 1990's when Nirvana and Sonic Youth were bringing the indie and 'punk' music to the forefront of the music industry. But since their second album, 1994's "Twice Removed" , the band have gone the decidedly unfashionable route for [...]

Basia Bulat @ Mississauga Celebration Square: photo by Michael Ligon Basia Bulat @ Mississauga Celebration Square: photo by Michael Ligon As you may have guessed given my two recent posts, I'm trying to work my way backwards, posting photos/reviews of the shows I've gone to over the last several months, which brings me to the enchanting Basia Bulat who played Mississauga for the first time on August 26 at Mississauga Celebration Square . It was a solo [...]