Monday, July 6th, 2009

Shine A Light

Constantines and Chad Van Gaalen at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto

Frank YangFor the last few years, Harbourfront Centre has been the go-to spot for Canada Day celebrations in Toronto. Each year, they put on a free show on the lake with some of the top domestic acts of the moment, but on a year-to-year basis they’ve also been doing a pretty great job of representing all the facets of what we’d call Canadian indie rock. Back in 2007 (I missed the 2006 show featuring The Dears), they showcased the more avant garde end of the spectrum with Final Fantasy and Do Make Say Think, and last year put the spotlight on the female and folky with Martha Wainwright and Basia Bulat. For 2009, they traded the estrogen for some testosterone, bringing in hometown heroes Constantines and Calgary’s Chad Van Gaalen.

Van Gaalen I’ve honestly done my best to get into his records in the past – after all, with the sheer amount of love he gets from all quarters, he must have something going for him – but have never really managed to do it. There’s just something about his particular DIY sonic aesthetic that doesn’t do it for me. And so it’s ironic that I’d find someone who’s generally regarded as a home studio auteur to be so much more enjoyable in a live setting. He started the evening in interesting form, first coming out with a broom and sweeping the stage clean, then saluting the national anthem by way of dropping his pants, and then finally making funny but probably family-inappropriate gestures with his finger and his fly. Yeah. Musically, he led his band through selections from all three of his albums and damn if they don’t just sound much fuller and more realized than they do in their studio incarnations? Maybe it’s the extra oomph of the live rhythm section (helped by the fact that I had planted my ass right in front of the PA bass bin) or the fact that his voice sounds less reedy and the guitars fatter, but it was just so much more satisfying an experience and allowed me to see and hear the artist that others do – I just prefer his more direct and less idiosyncratic side. Odds are I won’t care so much for his next studio record but if he puts out a live album, I may pay more attention.

Constantines, on the other hand, I’m fully guilty of not having paid enough attention to since day one. That was resolved somewhat last year, when I got my first Cons record in Kensington Heights and saw them live twice – the first time at a super-intimate club show and the second at the somewhat less-intimate but still awe-inspiring V Fest. Both shows, though quite different, certainly confirmed their long-standing reputation as an incredible and intense live act. I expected nothing less from them this time out.

My education hasn’t reached too far into their back catalog, however, so aside from the Kensington material their set was only familiar from past live experiences and so rather than comment on what was played, I’ll focus on how it was played – in a word, exceptionally. The Cons have been at it a long time and as such, are about as tight a rock machine as you’ll find anywhere. Their songs are lean, but not thin – within each hard-charging piece are myriad little songwriting and arrangement details that give their sound extra complexity. But really, live, what you’ll hear – or more correctly FEEL – is the swirl of the guitar and keyboard riffs, the unrelenting thump of the rhythm section and most importantly Bry Webb’s big, raw rasp, occasionally augmented by guest Jennifer Castle’s gentler backing vocals. It’s just rock, yeah, but it’s rock done right.

And while they started things out dressed up for the occasion – Webb’s white suit over tropical shirt ensemble was particularly inspired – the intensity of the performance and sweat generated quickly got them looking less natty and, consequently, more appropriate. Clean and proper just doesn’t suit them. And the greatness of their show was pretty much encapsulated by a moment in “Shine A Light”, towards the end of their set, where one by one the Cons pointed out across Lake Ontario and the audience clued in and turned around, just in time to see fireworks going off. A magical moment. If you’re looking for ambassadors for Canadian rock or, as it turns out, a soundtrack to Canada Day, you can’t do much better than Constantines.

Photos: Constantines, Chad Van Gaalen @ Harbourfront Centre – July 1, 2009
MP3: Constantines – “Hard Feelings”
MP3: Constantines – “Nighttime Anytime It’s Alright”
MP3: Constantines – “On To You”
MP3: Constantines – “Love In Fear”
MP3: Constantines – “Soon Enough”
MP3: Constantines – “Arizona”
MP3: Chad Van Gaalen – “Willow Tree”
MP3: Chad Van Gaalen – “City Of Electric Light”
MP3: Chad Van Gaalen – “Graveyard”
MP3: Chad Van Gaalen – “Clinically Dead”
MP3: Chad Van Gaalen – “Somewhere I Know There’s Nothing”
MP3: Chad Van Gaalen – “Flower Gardens”
MP3: Chad Van Gaalen – “Echo Train”
Video: Constantines – “Credit River”
Video: Constantines – “Our Age”
Video: Constantines – “Hard Feelings”
Video: Constantines – “Working Full-Time”
Video: Chad Van Gaalen – “Flower Gardens”
Video: Chad Van Gaalen – “Clinically Dead”
Video: Chad Van Gaalen – “Red Hot Drops”
Video: Chad Van Gaalen – “Molten Light”
MySpace: Constantines
MySpace: Chad Van Gaalen

Summerworks has released the lineup to the music component of their annual theatre/performing arts festival, and with acts like Miracle Fortress, Think About Life, The D’Urbervilles and Forest City Lovers amongst the artists performing, you really should plan on spending much of the week from August 6 to the 15th at The Theatre Centre at The Great Hall.

dose.ca interviews Matt Cully and Vue talks to Neil Haverty, both of Bruce Peninsula, who are embarking on a western Canadian tour this week.

Arts & Crafts has released some official information on the next Hidden Cameras record – Origin:Orphan will be released on September 22 and they’re offering a free download of “Walk On” in exchange for your email.

Emily Haines of Metric tells The National Post about some of her favourite things about Toronto in the Summertime. Curiously, navigating piles of uncollected garbage on the city streets because of the city worker strike does not make the cut.

MBV Music has the second installment in the Reverie Sound Revue blog tour – a bit later than expected, but maybe they got held up at the border or something. This video is a stripped-down studio rendering of “Off Rooftops” from their just-released self-titled debut.

The results of those TARA Secret Sessions which have been taking place at The Audio Recording Academy – perhaps you’ve seen the ads somewhere online – are being made available online to download and enjoy, including some by Oh No Forest Fires and Great Bloomers. The sessions continue through the month of July and admission to all is free. Oh No Forest Fires have blogged a bit about their session.

Spinner.ca – née AOL Music Canada – has posted the first of a multi-part feature on the history, present and future of independent music in Canada, featuring conversations with journalist types and members of Sloan and The Stills.

Congratulations go out to Eric’s Trip and Rheostatics, the inaugural inductees to the Zunior Canadian Independent Music Hall of Fame, whose aim is to select and salute two trailblazing Canadian independent artists each year and for which I was honoured to be a juror for the 2009 edition.

If you missed or enjoyed Amazing Baby opening up for Phoenix last month, you will be pleased to know they have their own show scheduled for August 4 at the Drake Underground in support of their new album Rewild – tickets $13.

MP3: Amazing Baby – “Bayonets”

Modest Mouse have added as second Toronto date to their Summer tour – they’ll be at the Sound Academy on August 22 in addition to the 21. Tickets $30.

The Cave Singers and Lightning Dust have a date at the Horseshoe on September 14, tickets $12. Both have new albums coming soon – the former with Welcome Joy, out August 18, and the latter with Infinite Light, out August 4.

MP3: The Cave Singers – “Beach House”
MP3: Lightning Dust – “I Knew”
MP3: Lightning Dust – “Never Seen”

The Hold Steady are also rolling into town a little earlier than planned – there’s a second Lee’s Palace show set for September 26 to go with the September 27 one, so if you’d rather rock yourself into oblivion on a Saturday night, you’re all set. Tickets $21.50.

Icelandic electro-dream-poppers (is that still an accurate, if broad description?) Mum return with a new album due out on August 24 entitled Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know and will follow that up with a Fall North American tour that includes an October 27 date at The Phoenix in Toronto, tickets $20.

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007

Song Song Song

The Canada Day shows at Harbourfront Centre are quickly becoming a local tradition, and for good reason – free shows on the lake featuring top-notch Canadian talent are always a welcome event and as good a way as any to celebrate the nation’s birthday. Relative to some of the past performers (Feist, The Dears) it could be argued that this year’s bill of Final Fantasy and Do Make Say Think offered a little less marquee value as far as name recognition went but that didn’t mean that the venue wasn’t jam-packed before showtime with both fans and bystanders. And considering that not so long ago, “free Canada Day show” would have meant Moxy Fruvous at best, having a sprawling orchestral post-rock collective and solo looping violinist playing to the multi-generational audience certainly felt like cultural progress as a nation.

Do Make Say Think’s new record You, You’re A History In Rust is the first of their albums I’ve really been able to get into at all – I tried a couple of their older releases but while the musicianship on display is undeniably excellent, I found their compositions to be a little too abstract for me to get my pop-centric head around. Rust isn’t any less cerebral, but it seems to have some more weight to it and even a few tracks that you might call hooky. For this show, the 11-piece band filled an hour with their dense, complex and undulating sounds that veered from math to jazz to orchestral to straight out rock, usually in the same song. It was fascinating to watch them work though when all was said and done, like their records, their show still appealed more to my head than my heart. But Do Make’s fans, and they are many and loud, obviously get it more than I do because they were whipped into a frenzy by the show and helped energize the audience.

Though Owen Pallett has played stages the size of Harbourfront and larger before, they’ve usually been as member of bands such as Arcade Fire or The Hidden Cameras – seeing him up there, alone, in the Final Fantasy guise was a bit odd, at first. But rather than scale up his show to fit the venue, he succeeded at bringing the venue down to his preferred level of intimacy. As he did at the Tranzac back in February, Pallett stood off to the side of the stage while visuals projected onto a plain white sheet backdrop took centre stage. The winds off the lake caused some problems by blowing the overhead transparencies around but the atmosphere was simple and charming and an effective component of Pallett’s show. But even without the visuals, as long as Pallett had his violin, pedals, keyboard and microphones a terrific show was all but guaranteed.

Like the Tranzac show, the set list drew from both Final Fantasy albums including last year’s Polaris-winning He Poos Clouds but I think my high point came early on with his cover of John Cale’s “Paris 1919″ – just like in February, Pallett offered up a beautiful reading that just made me happy, though hearing “This Lamb Sells Condos” in the shadow of all the condo developments along the waterfront had its own distinct irony. Unlike the Tranzac show, however, he took the opportunity presented by having Do Make Say Think on hand to perform some of his songs that don’t lend themselves to the man-plus-looper context and hearing “Arctic Circle” bolstered by what was essentially a full rock orchestra was breathtaking. The show was kept shortish, Pallett’s main set running just an hour including the encore, which in perfectly Canadian fashion he gave half of for Do Make to perform one more song. But wandering out along the waterfront in the shadow of our pimped-out CN Tower, it felt like a pretty good Canada Day to me.

The Toronto Star talked to both Final Fantasy and Do Make Say Think before Sunday’s show, while X-tra and The Manchester Evening News have extended conversations with Pallett. Do Make Say Think are playing the Guelph Hillside Festival at the end of this month and were supposed to have a headlining show at the Phoenix on October 20, but that date is now apparently going to be going to The New Pornographers – Filter has all other tour dates through the Summer and Fall, sans the Toronto show, though I would imagine that will be set and confirmed sooner rather than later.

Photos: Final Fantasy, Do Make Say Think @ Harbourfront Centre – July 1, 2007
MP3: Final Fantasy – “If I Were A Carp”
MP3: Final Fantasy – “Many Lives 49 MP”
Video: Final Fantasy – “He Poos Clouds” (YouTube)
Video: Final Fantasy – “This Lamb Sells Condos” (YouTube)
MySpace: Final Fantasy
MySpace: Do Make Say Think

Segue time! Final Fantasy was one of the artists who contributed to Stars’ stop-gap remix record Do You Trust Your Friends – well they will be back with a proper new record on September 25 with In Our Bedroom After The War, about which Pitchfork has details. Expect to hear the new material when the band plays V Fest on September 9.

MP3: Stars – “The Night Starts Here”
MP3: Stars – “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” (Final Fantasy remix)

And while I’m rounding up Arts & Crafts stuff, I should point out that the first MP3 from Kevin Drew’s solo record Spirit If…, out September 18, is up. The Scotsman has a conversation with Feist and exclamation-happy Welsh A&C signees Los Campesinos! release their debut EP Sticking Fingers Into Sockets over here this week – Spinner is streaming it and they’ll be in town August 7 for a free show at the Horseshoe to support, as well as playing the Hillside. May as well check out the videos from the EP while you’re at it, but check your insulin levels first. These kids could mess you up.

MP3: Kevin Drew – “TBTF”
Stream: Los Campesinos! / Sticking Fingers Into Sockets
Video: Los Campesinos! – “We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives” (YouTube)
Video: Los Campesinos! – “You! Me! Dancing!” (YouTube)

90s Can-rock heroes Eric’s Trip play a reunion gig at Lee’s Palace on September 15.

Dinner With The Band breaks bread with Tokyo Police Club and gets an MP3 out of it.

MP3: Tokyo Police Club – “Be Good” (on Dinner With The Band)

And finally, to wrap up this post-Canada Day post, Exclaim! has an interesting piece about Canadian artists whose career paths take them outside the Canadian label system – some cases in point, Basia Bulat and Born Ruffians, who instead struck deals with established international labels for their debuts (Rough Trade and Warp, respectively), rather than with a homegrown label. Good points are made for and against, though I will say for the umpteenth time that it’s a crime Ms Bulat’s record still isn’t available in this country. But while the artists in the article may not release their records here, they will play here – Basia Bulat and the Ruffians are both playing at Hillside as well as the Wolfe Island Music Fest in Kingston on August 11. Bulat is also doing a free noon-hour show in Dundas Square on September 12. The Ruffians are also opening up for Caribou (also in the article) on his upcoming Fall tour. And finally, We’re Marching On, who have a sidebar in the piece, are playing the Drake Underground on July 18 as part of a FilmCAN benefit.