I have a dig/no dig relationship with this band. I think I was in my pop psychaledia phase at the time I first heard them because after I read an article in the NME in 2002 which mentioned comparisons with The Doors, The Kinks and Paul Weller, I had to get their eponymous debut. I of course loved it. What really impressed me was the first time I watched them live. They opened for Supergrass at the Kool Haus (March 2003) and this being their first tour of North America one could tell they wanted to prove they weren’t just hype. I came out of that show being much more impressed with The Coral, which is saying a lot seeing as I’m a big fan of Supergrass.

Let’s hop in the Delorian and jump to 2007 past ‘Magic and Medicine’ and ‘The Invisible Invasion’ with enough time to save Doc Brown and purchase ‘Roots and Echoes’. As an album it is listenable, much more than their past couple releases but a track that really stands out is ‘Cobwebs’. One thing about The Coral that I’ve noticed over the years, there seems to be an innocence about them amidst their mostly dark-psych-folk driven music. Cobwebs is a perfect example this, it’s a simple song with a breezy melody and a shuffling beat. Combine this almost cutesy lyrics like ‘There’s a place where the creatures play I’m going there at the end of the day’, you cant help but nod your head and tap your feet.

 

 The Coral - Cobwebs: Play Now

Toronto - The beginning of March in Toronto brings two things - one, the realization by Toronto Maple Leaf fans that their favorite team will not be winning the cup and two, Canadian Music Week. Usually seen as the Eli Manning to Peyton Manning’s North By Northeast, Canadian Music Week plods along every year trying to win that elusive Superbowl and come out of their bigger brothers shadow. Maybe this is the year? I am not sure, however, I am here to tell you about some acts that will be playing this week at the festival. It starts here.

Saturday March 8 - The Pigeon Detectives - Lees Palace, 12:15 am.

What better way to start off writing about Canadian Music Week then to write about a British band. Yep. Don’t forget your roots, Canadians - your ancestors were all English at one point. Well, the non recent immigrant people anyway. The Pigeon Detectives - who are they and why the atrocious band name? Well. I can only answer the former. The Pigeon Detectives are from Leeds and they excel in making excellent - EXCELLENT two minute songs that are catchy as hell. Back when I first got hold of their album ‘Wait For Me’ last summer, I listened to it a hell of a lot. Every song is catchy, and its only half an hour. Thats awesome.

Apparantly, they will have an album out on May 26 called ‘This is An Emergency’. I am wondering how they can release two cds in two years and not have quality suffer, but I guess we’ll see at the show.

Note: Reading about them on wiki, they came up with the name as a joke but it somehow stuck. Lesson to aspiring musicians: dont have joke names for your band.

As stated above: Pigeon Detectives play Lees Palace as party of Canadian Music Week, at 12:15 am. So you will be able to watch the show and still head over to a bar nearby for last call. Most excellent. I’ll be at this show.

 

 The Pigeon Detectives - Im Not Sorry [3:42m]: Play Now

Toronto - Supergrass. They’ve managed to build up quite the career despite never really reaching the apex of the music world. You can argue that “Pumping On The Stereo” was quite a hit here overseas, with the crazy video with all the colors and stuff, but they were never in the upper tier of britpop bands. Those bands are the Oasis, Suede, Pulp and Blur and what not. I think they have always been the second tier of britpoppers like the Super Furries, Embrace and James. Having said that, britpop was a good almost 15 years ago, and its a testament to their talent (or persistent) that the band is still together and putting out music.

Enter “Diamond Hoo Haa”, the new album coming out on March 24 via Parlophone records. This album sees the band take a bit of a departure from their regular sugary brit pop sound. The sounds on this album seem more mature with more of a homage towards 70s rock maybe? it has abit of a loungey, big band feel to it as well. I can’t quite put my finger on it. All I know is that this album is good. Definately better then the past two albums they have put out

Vik thinks its his second favorite album so far of 2008, I say its in the top 10. So yea, its quite delish.

1. “Diamond Hoo Ha Man” - 3:26
2. “Bad Blood” - 3:03
3. “Rebel In You” - 4:41
4. “When I Needed You” - 2:31
5. “345″ - 3:39
6. “The Return of…” - 3:36
7. “Rough Knuckles” - 3:25
8. “Ghost of a Friend” - 3:54
9. “Whisky & Green Tea” - 4:16
10. “Outside” - 3:32
11. “Butterfly” - 5:11

 

 Supergrass - Rough Knuckles [3:25m]: Play Now

Toronto - Feeling guilty about downloading all that music? Don’t. Just make sure you get out to see the live show and buy a T-Shirt. HERE is an article (via Chromewaves) that was in the Star last week here in Toronto. They talk to notable Canadian acts like Buck 65 and Jason Collett about the touring situation and financial rewards of touring for new bands.

Across North America, the clubs are packed. Because musicians aren’t making money on the sale of their records, they are all on the road trying to make a go of it at their live shows. Booking tours can be a tricky job because there is so much competition for venues out there on the road. Here in Toronto, the venue crunch isn’t as bad as in other cities in North America because there are a lot of venues here, with new ones opening up all the time. Toronto is an attractive spot for touring musicians because of this.

If you can’t make it down to SXSW next month, don’t worry; be patient. April is going to be a jammed packed month as the wave of touring bands makes their way to the Great White North.

*title quote taken from Elaine Miller in Almost Famous

Toronto - Saturday night. What to do? Well, I was intending on going to a pajama party, but my friend who was going to it failed to invite me, not wanting to be ‘that guy who goes to a party and brings another party’. so off i was, not really having a plan. Luckily, my other friend had won guest tickets for a show at the Horseshoe, by a band called ‘Two Hours Traffic‘. (he won it off Chromewaves, a site that has many giveaways). Being Chinese, I could not realistically turn down a free show.. thusI went, not having known anything about them. All I knew was what Dwayne and Wade had told me, which was ‘blah blah blah Joel Plaskett blah blah blah PEI blah blah blah CBC Radio 3′. Sounds interesting enough. The Maritimes seem to generate good tunes. Maybe thats what happens when theres nothing to do - you make good music. Thats probably why Sweden is so good at it, aside from designing easy to put together furniture, eating meatballs and drinking that drink they drink..theres really nothing to do there.

So who are these guys? Well, Joel Plaskett produced them and they are from the East Coast. That means one thing - good ole guitar rock. I expected a bunch of pastey ass white boys with longish hair and maybe a few plaid shirts. I was correct. They have a album coming out …last year… its called Little Jabs. I guess this band really flew off my radar. With a boring name like ‘Two Hours Traffic’, I can see why. Despite the name, these guys drew a large crowd. Half of which are probably from PEI (and related to each other) and half fans of the CBC. Quite the dichotomy. I actually had my CBC shirt on for the show, which is coincidental and also a bit odd, since I am a big advocate of not wearing band shirts at a show.

The show was quite energetic, the crowd was really into it. Most fans seem to know all the tunes which would indicate that, they too, have heard of the band. A lot of people yelled out ‘East Coast’. I did too. I wanted to yell out ‘Tupac 4 life! nigga what up!’ but that would probably not go over too well. The band played for about 45 minutes. Maybe an hour. Maybe not. I don’t remember. All I can say about Two Hour Traffic is this: it felt like a Canadian rock show, it sounded like a Canadian rock show and the crowd was that of a Canadian rock show. And sometimes, thats all you really need, is a slice of Canadiana. Follow that up with a nice bowl of pho and you got a good night at the Horseshoe.

Here is a link to Chromewaves review of the show, which probably makes more sense, is less offensive and actually contains relevant details about the band. Everyone has their ways, I guess.

Here is a song off their album Little Jabs. It is off the label Bumstead Productions, which is a label Wade may or may not look at this year in his yearlong article series on Canadian labels.

 

 Two Hours Traffic - Jezebel [3:30m]: Play Now

If this was my child, a single tear of pride would roll down my cheek while filming this. ‘Shiny Guy’ and ‘Obi Kanobi’ = Priceless.