Blog: For the 'records'

Maylee & PEGWEE POWER!!: photo by Michael Ligon Plants & Animals [ MySpace ] (March 12, 12 am, Lee's Palace): I already recounted how my Friday night during last week's Canadian Musicfest had started out. I ended up in line at Lee's Palace, optimistic I'd get in to the Billions / Chromewaves showcase but after waiting in line for an hour and half (and missing both The Russian Futurists' and The Acorn's sets) I just about threw in the towel, but fortunately the friendly people [...]

Hey Marseilles: photo by Michael Ligon New Look (March 11, 9 pm, Lee's Palace): It was a thin crowd onhand for Mississauga/Dundas electro-soul-pop duo New Look. The duo, who are also married, were comprised of lead vocalist/keyboardist Sarah Ruba (who started her career out as a fashion model) and Adam Pavao who handled the programming and beats. They strolled onto the stage to a quiet audience, myself overhearing Sarah utter the word 'silence'. It was a barebones setup with Sarah playing a keyboard strapped around her shoulder and Adam [...]

Dead Letter Chorus: photo by Michael Ligon It didn't seem my first night of Canadian Musicfest last week would start on a good note given I'd shown up to the Lee's Palace for The Bonfire Ball featuring Jason Collett, Zeus, and Bahamas later than intended(getting in line around quarter after 9) and saw a lineup bigger than expected. I took a chance and decided to wait but after an hour I gave up and bailed as it realistically did not seem like I'd get in. As it was a Wednesday night and [...]

Yes, I've decided to forgo the final night of Canadian Musicfest / Canadian Music Week . I made it out to 4 of the 5 nights which I'd say is a pretty good effort, but I'm pooped and I'm not in the mood to gamble on the lineups and getting in with my media pass at the 'big' shows tonight (ie. Born Ruffians / Young Rival / Parlovr @ the Phoenix and Woods / Real Estate @ the Horseshoe Tavern). Maybe I'll use my time constructively and process some of my photos from [...]

Firstly, just want to give a heads up, that I updated my previous post (my CMF picks for Friday, Saturday & Sunday) with hyperlinks to artists websites & MySpace sites. I have a few for-sures tonight but mostly playing it by ear. I'll also be taking in the non-CMF related Joanna Newsom show at the Phoenix which is an early show with doors at 6pm and the opener Kevin Barker going on at 6:30 pm. I'm not quite sure if I'll bother with Sunday night actually. I've managed to catch a band or [...]

FRIDAY MARCH 12, 2010 7:30 pm Julie Fader @ The Music Gallery 8 pm Isla Craig & the Continental Drift @ The Comfort Zone 8:15 pm Brian Borcherdt @ The Music Gallery 9 pm Postdata @ The Music Gallery The Name @ Silver Dollar Ghostkeeper @ The Garrison Children Collide @ Rivoli 10 pm Hannah Georgas @ Drake Underground Hyperpotamus @ Global Village Backpackers The Russian Futurists @ Lee's Palace Sally Seltmann @ Rivoli Gemma Ray @ Silver Dollar The D'urbervilles @ The Garrison 11 pm [...]

It's that time of year again, Canadian Music Week, and of course the music portion, last year inaugurally dubbed Canadian Musicfest, is the part I'm looking forward to the most. While Toronto's other major multi-venue, citywide music industry festival NXNE which takes hold of the city every June has upped the ante in recent years with buzzier bands and bigger draw acts(as well of course, a lot of unknowns), Canadian Music Week has remained for the most part, focused on mostly unknown acts. Frustrating to some, but I do enjoy the process of reading the artist/band descriptions, sampling the MySpace [...]

&nbsp photo from BAM's Blog Starting tomorrow hopefully, I'll be posting some Canadian Musicfest previews. Right now I'm taking a break from watching the Oscar's so I'll take the time to clear out some music news and linkage. Ted Leo + Pharmacists ' new album entitled "The Brutalist Bricks" out on Matador Records on March 9 is currently streaming out the band's MySpace . No Toronto dates at the moment but the band are touring the US, kicking it off in Brooklyn [...]

Massive Attack - "Angel" With the Vancouver Olympics now but a memory (it's gawdy closing ceremonies and all, Neil Young 's performance of "Long May You Run" being the lone highlight for me), there's a lot of other musical things on the horizon. The Canadian Musicfest schedule quietly went up recently and with the festival coming up next week, I do have some planning to do. I have a shortlist of acts, mostly unknowns, that I hope to post about next week prior [...]

El Perro Del Mar: photo by Michael Ligon It was a female Swedish double bill which took over The Mod Club in Toronto this past Sunday with Taken By Trees and El Perro Del Mar . Having not heard the most recent material from both artists - Taken By Trees (the solo project of Victoria Bergsman ex of The Concretes ) whose most recent album is 2009's "East of Eden" and El Perro Del Mar's mini-album "Love Is Not Pop" also released in 2009 - the unexpected diversion [...]

Basia Bulat: photo by Michael Ligon Having treated fans to an apparently well-enjoyed show at the venerable Trinity St. Paul Church in Toronto back in mid-January, one probably wouldn't have expected London, Ontario singer-songwriter Basia Bulat to be back in these parts so soon. However, with a recently released new album "Heart Of My Own"[it's album cover, one of the loveliest things I've seen in a long time] to promote, I guess it wouldn't hurt to give fans another opportunity to see her live. Last Tuesday she played a well-attended instore at [...]

Review to come. Chromewaves , The Mad Ones , and She Does The City have reviews of and or photos from the show. Photos: Mumford and Sons, Sunparlour Players @ Lee's Palace, Toronto (February 15, 2010) MySpace: Sunparlour Players MySpace: Mumford and Sons --------- Working on the Mumford and Sons review still but I just got my review up for the Wavelength 500 [...]

Holy Fuck: photo by Michael Ligon Review to come. Photos: Holy Fuck, The Russian Futurists, Diamond Rings, Fembots, Professor Fingers @ Steamwhistle Brewery, Toronto (February 11, 2010) MySpace: Professor Fingers MySpace: Fembots MySpace: Diamond Rings MySpace: The Russian Futurists MySpace: Holy Fuck

Gentleman Reg: photo by Michael Ligon Review to come. Photos: Gentleman Reg, By Divine Right, The Balconies @ The Drake Undergound, Toronto (February 10, 2010) MySpace: The Balconies MySpace: By Divine Right MySpace: Gentleman Reg ---------- Just got my review up for the Laura Marling show which took place at Lee's Palace on Tuesday [...]

Laura Marling: photo by Michael Ligon Review to come. Photos: Laura Marling, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Wheel @ Lee's Palace, Toronto (February 9, 2010) MySpace: Nathaniel Rateliff & The Wheel MySpace: Laura Marling ------- ps. I have my review now up of The Magnetic Fields show from last week which took place at Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

Review to come. It was a busy concert week last week for me. Chromewaves has a review and photos from the show. Photos: The Magnetic Fields, Laura Barrett @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Toronto (February 8, 2010) MySpace: Laura Barrett MySpace: The Magnetic Fields

Photos: Great Lake Swimmers @ Sonic Boom in Toronto (February 5, 2010) MySpace: Great Lake Swimmers gittingsc , myslowdescent , and Ivys League also have photos from the instore. Sorry - in a rush and am going down to the Laura Marling show at Lee's tonight, but I'll pad out this space with a few ramblings about the show and some other concert announcements I'd like to post, later on tonight. <!-- new broken [...]

I was fortunate to take in the instore performance by Great Lake Swimmers last Friday at Sonic Boom in Toronto. As a teaser for their proper show which was at Trinity St. Paul's the following day, the instore turned out to be quite substantial itself, with the band performing a good twelve songs for the fairly packed crowd onhand. A five member setup with Tony on guitar/vox, Darcy Yates on bass, Greg Millson on drums, Erik Arnesen on guitar, and and a fifth member on violin/background vox[who I apologize for not getting their name], the band [...]

photo by Michael Ligon January's gone and my February concert schedule's looks busy but my March schedule looks even busier not even counting this year's Canadian Music Week . So while precious little of the actual CMW(or more accurately, Canadian Musicfest ) schedule has actually been announced yet, Toronto promoter has already announced his NeXT-at-CMW shows running March 11, 12, 13 at The Velvet Underground, The Silver Dollar and The Comfort Zone. Mr. Burke's never been shy about reminding us how he used to run his own mini-festival AGAINST CMW but has [...]

If sleeping in on a Saturday morning isn't an attractive enough of an idea for you, why not do something constructive and drop by CBC studios (250 Front St. West, Toronto) for a live taping of CBC Radio's Go hosted by Brent Bambury (who by the way, I loved when he hosted Brave New Waves way back when). I haven't actually listened to this program ever and I'm not aware exactly what the program's focus is but it seems each episode features a live musical guest. And guess what, tickets are free, although as [...]