Blog: For the 'records'

We Cause Scenes All the documentaries I'd got to see this year for Hot Docs were music documentaries and also online screeners which I was able to watch from the luxury of my iPad. On the other hand, there were times when I'd have preferred to watch a film with an audience -I think that really is an important part of any film festival experience. On the last weekend of Hot Docs I managed to catch one documentary entitled We Cause Scenes: The Rise Of Improv Everywhere [...]

Finding The Funk Directed by Nelson George (better known perhaps for his 2007 directorial debut entitled Life Support starring Queen Latifah for which she won a Golden Globe for), Finding The Funk is a fine effort overall. Neither complete nor comprehensive in its scope, it's somewhat like an introductory college course serving to give a general understanding of the evolution of funk and to touch on some of the major progenitors of the genre. Dutifully narrated by The Roots' drummer ?uestlove [...]

The Punk Singer What was I doing in 1990? I'd just graduated high school and was entering my first year of university. I'd been a music fan (mostly the alternative British music scene of the 80's and John Hughes films) and hadn't really delved too much into the indie music scene. The next year, Nirvana's "Nevermind" would be released, grunge would go mainstream and well, the rest is history. Back then I never really gave it a second thought that the music scene had been much of a boys club. So when a band [...]

Wolfe Island Music Festival Late post here, but another summer music festival you may want to mark on your calendar is the Wolfe Island Music Festival which takes place every year on Wolfe Island in Ontario [the largest of the Thousand Islands], a quick ferry ride away from Kingston. This year's edition of the festival takes place over the weekend of August 9 and 10 and the full lineup was announced recently , with this year's headliners being Joel Plaskett Emergency .  Early bird weekend passes (with camping) went onsale [...]

Mistaken For Strangers When I'd read that The National 's Matt Berninger's brother Tom Berninger directed this documentary of the band entitled Mistaken For Strangers , I had initially imagined it might be your standard tour documentary. Tom, whose film work prior to that, seemed to be relegated to low-budget, indie, horror movies (none of which I'd ever heard of), on his brother's request offered him a job as a roadie on their European / American tour, and also gave him permission to film them for a documentary. [...]

I was hoping to have gone out to a few Hot Docs screenings by this point but unfortunately due to other things [nephew's birthday over the weekend, picking up my new 'used' car a few nights ago] I wasn't able to. I was however able to view the screener for the documentary Good Ol' Freda yesterday evening and I very much enjoyed it. Produced and directed by Ryan White , it's a scrap-book look at the fandom of The Beatles from one insider who perhaps many people [...]

Do you like DJ's? Then you may want to mark July 26 on your calendar as the travelling Mad Decent Block Party (who this year have partnered with partnered with PUMA , Pepsi , Red Bull Music Academy , Serato , and The FADER ) makes a stop in Toronto at Fort York Garrison Common . As per the Mad Decent blog , the artists announced so far for the Toronto show are Major Lazer , Zeds Dead , RiFF RAFF , Grandtheft , and Thugli [...]

Little Green Cars: photo by Michael Ligon Blame it on Jimmy Fallon. Well, at least I will. Last month, Irish folk-rock band Little Green Cars had been booked for an intimate evening at the Drake Underground which I had not anticipate would sell out. But then just prior to their show in Toronto on March 28, fresh from their appearance at this year's SXSW, they got booked to perform live on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon for what was their American television debut. I guess at least a few people saw it [...]

Mistaken From Strangers Another edition of Toronto's beloved docmentary fim festival Hot Docs Just began yesterday but kicks in to full gear today. And I haven't really taken a gander at the schedule at all. No media accreditation this year so what ever I see this year will be on my own dime, but the festival has graciously given me access to screeners of some of the music documentaries, which I'm very appreciative so expect to see reviews of those in the future. With the Toronto International Film Festival [...]

Cookie Duster: photo by Michael Ligon It took a while but here's the last part of my coverage of this year's Canadian Musicfest . I ended this year's festival, as a traditionally do, on the Saturday night and dropped anchor at the Horseshoe Tavern for two sets. At about a quarter past eleven, Toronto's Cookie Duster took to the stage. You can read up on the history of the band here but this is the project of Brendan Canning(of Broken Social Scene) and Bernard Maiezza, and the [...]

Charlotte Church: photo by Michael Ligon Charlotte Church (yes, that Charlotte Church) came to town last month for a show at El Mocambo during Canadian Music Week . The Welsh soprano who's mainly known as an angel-voiced classical singer whose prodigious talent was first introduced to the masses in the late 90's before she even hit her teens. She branched out into pop in the mid-2000's with her album Tissues and Issues and then came back in 2010 with a singer-songwriter pop album [...]

The Grapes of Wrath: photo by Michael Ligon Yes, bands can have a second life, as proved by Kelowna, BC's The Grapes of Wrath . The band consisted of Kevin Kane and brothers Chris Hooper and Tom Hooper. The band's first album September Bowl of Green was released in 1984 although the band really hit their stride with 1987's Treehouse , the album that turned me on to them. I remember back then reading that they were Canada's answer to American band R.E.M. (who were also relatively early in their [...]

The initial lineup for Edgefest '13 (sponsored by Toronto radio station 102.1 the Edge and in association with Dine Alone Records ) was announced a few days ago and, let's say it was underwhelming. OK, I'm being harsh; it's just not my cup of tea but I'm sure the kids'll like it.I guess I like Band of Horses, but I'm also way over them at the moment. Pulled from the radio station's website, it states Edgefest '13 is set to return to Toronto with 17 acts already confirmed to perform at [...]

Lowell: photo by Michael Ligon On the Friday night of Canadian Musicfest , I chose quality over quantity, only checking out two sets that night, but both buzz-worthy acts that in my opinion lived up to the hype. First up was Toronto singer-songwriter Lowell at Lee's Palace who was totally unknown to me before the festival. According to the her bio on the Canadian Musicfest website, over 4 days in April 2012, she worked in the studio with Grammy award winning producer Martin Terefe and the other [...]

What Canadian Musicfest could perhaps benefit from is alternate venues for bands to play in like instores. I'm kind of surprised that more unofficial in-stores / performances aren't organized around Canadian Music Week like what has happened, especially in recent years, during NXNE . Well, I guess NXNE's warmer weather does help. Local artist & brand development company Audio Blood were in charge of Canadian Musicfest's social media and also organized a bunch of instores at several different locations under the banner of CMW EXTRAS , giving some of the artist/band participants more opportunities [...]

Aidan Knight: photo by Michael Ligon In past years, I'd normally take the Friday off from work just in case I had to recover from a late Thursday night during Canadian Musicfest but this year I was working. That I work in downtown Toronto worked to my advantage as I am down the street from Church Of The Holy Trinity which was featuring noon time sets on a few days during the festival. The noon time sets were hosted by CBC Music. I took a later lunch than usual and [...]

Via Art & Crafts Facebook page comes news that The Grove Music Festival which was originally suppose to be held in Niagara-On-The-Lake at The Commons At Butler’s Barracks National Historic Site on August 3 has now been moved to Toronto at Fort York Garrison Common for the same date. There's been a slight adjustment to the lineup for reasons unknown at present - Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Pretty Lights, and Bob Mould are no longer on the schedule - but at least the headliners are still there. As well the ticket price for the festival has been reduced [...]

photo credit From the Sled Island website comes a second wave of announcements for the festival which takes place in downtown Calgary Alberta from June 19 - 22, 2013: "Lineup additions include Danish hardcore phenoms Iceage , indie rock royalty Superchunk , the Miami-based doom pop of Torche , The Night Marchers featuring members of Sled Island 2012 faves, Hot Snakes, psych-rock hype factory Unknown Mortal Orchestra , Weakerthans frontman John K. Samson , and prolific lo-fi folksters Mount [...]

Alba Lua: photo by Michael Ligon Bordeaux, France is known for it's fine wines but if there's any justice, word will spread about young four-piece Alba Lua . The band explains their name as ʻa Spanish-Portuguese association that means the "moon of the dawn"- it describes that moment when something appears in some place where it shouldn't, and what first seems out of the blue shows in fact a real beauty.ʼ(via sxsw.com ) Originally a three-piece comprised of Pepo Durantez (lead-vox and rhythm guitar) Pascal Hoerner (lead guitar, backing vox and bass) [...]

Heather McEntire of Mount Moriah: photo by Michael Ligon After seeing Diana's set at the Mod Club , I could have just stuck around to see headliners, chvrches , a sold-out show as it was but I chose instead to hoof it down to the Drake Hotel to check out Durham, North Carolina country-rock band Mount Moriah . I first discovered them when I saw them at last year's CMJ festival in New York City when they played a Merge Records showcase (the label having released the [...]