Toronto – August usually brings a few things to Toronto – heat, the Beer Festival, the Taste of Danforth, some sort of strike, really high utility bills and the Summerworks Festival. Now in it’s 20th year in existence, the Summerworks festival celebrates the best of Toronto’s thriving indie theatre and arts scene. Recently, they have also incorporated a music portion to this festival as well and this year the lineup features an impressive list of performers. Lets take a look at some of the acts.
The Hidden Cameras
August 5th and August 6th.
It only seemed yesterday when the Hidden Cameras released their single Ban Marriage and people were saying they were like a Canadian Belle and Sebastian, only gayer. Mississauga’s favorite band, the Hidden Cameras are arguably the biggest draw at Summerworks and will be playing two shows to kick off the festival. Seeing how this is a Toronto show, look for some “special” guest appearances.
The Hidden Cameras – Kingdom Come (Hidrogenesse Remix) by ArtsandCrafts
Diamond Rings, PS I Love You
August 11th
Anyone who has seen or heard Diamond Rings will know it’s just a matter of time before the glammed up John O’Regan becomes one of the bigger indie-electro music acts around. The songs are fantastic 80s influenced synth pop and the videos are visually arresting. He’ll be teaming up with his buddies in PS I Love You for a nice showcase on Wednesday night. PS I Love You failed to make an impression on me at NXNE, but they went after Japandroids, which is a tough act to follow.
Diamond Rings – Wait & See by Royalty Central
PS I Love You – Facelove by wavelengthtoronto
Wilderness of Manitoba, The Weather Station
Aug 12
The Wilderness of Manitoba are riding a nice wave of positive reviews from their latest release – When You Left the Fire. Expect some good vocal harmonies and a bowl. I have no real idea who The Weather Station are, but my friend Jen Polk said it was a band that’s her type of music, so it’s probably quiet folky music with some nicely layered acoustics. It’s during these shows I am most afraid my phone will go off and I accidentally forget to switch it to vibrate. It’s called showinterupptphobia, I think.
The Wilderness of Manitoba – “Evening” by wavelengthtoronto
The Weather Station – “March” by wavelengthtoronto
The following bands are pay what you can acts. Here’s a quicky preview. Maylee Todd is someone I’ve seen several times and have generally come away impressed. She has a nice voice and her soul-disco-bossa music is quite unique. Laura Barrett is Wade’s eternal crush so I figure I will check her out base on that alone. I also want to see her use the Kalimba. Ghost Bees were one of the weirdest acts I’ve seen, but I am interested to see them again because of that. Also, Mark almost singlehandedly sabotaged their NXNE showcase at C’est What with his loud talking so I feel like we might have to make up for that.
For a more in-depth look at Summerworks, check out Joe’s blog: Mechanical Forest Sounds. Joe actually knows the local music scene really well and digs deep into it.
Maylee Todd – Summer Sounds by Do Right
Laura Barrett – Bluebird by wavelengthtoronto
Brian will be checking in sometime this week with a theatre preview!