Toronto – Another year, another Canadian Music Fest. From March 9 through to March 13, a whole lot of bands both Canadian and otherwise will be filling venues throughout the city. Here’s a selection of the ones who caught our attention.
Alcoholic Faith Mission: If you’ll forgive the bad alcohol based pun, these Danes have had a good buzz going lately. Ricky wrote about them here.
Alcoholic Faith Mission play Rancho Relaxo on March 9 @ 12:00 pm, The Dakota on March 11 @ 12:00 pm, and The El Mocambo on March 12 @ 8:00 pm.
Alcoholic Faith Mission – Closer To Dallas by Paper Garden Records
Butterfly Explosion:These Irish shoegazey alt-rockers have been described as “My Bloody Valentine meets M83 meets Sigur Ros in Heaven.”
Butterfly Explosion plays The Hideout on Thursday, March 10 @ 2:00 am.
Butterfly Explosion :: Closer by Harmless Noise
Charlotte Cornfield:This Montreal based singer-songwriter offers up some catchy folk-rock that has already garnered her radio play on the CBC as well as appearances at the Hillside Festival, Mariposa Folk Festival, the Ottawa Folk Festival, and Pop Montreal.
Charlotte Cornfield plays Thursday, March 10 @ 8:30 pm at Sneaky Dee’s as part of the Audio Blood showcase.
Elephant Stone: Awesome sitar tinged, poppy psych rock from Montreal. They’re playing here before they head to SXSW to play about a billion shows. Should be a good time.
Elephant Stone play Rancho Relaxo @ 1:00 am on Friday, March 11.
Elephant Stone – Bombs Bomb Away by 360degreemusic
Heavy Cream: Fun, energetic punk rock from Nashville. They definitely bring the goods live. Their video for “Watusi”is all kinds of awesome and features smoke bombs, ouija boards and various shenanigans.
Heavy Cream play Wrongbar @ 11:00 pm on Saturday, Mar. 12. Also on the bill are The Pack A.D. and Ty Segall.
J Mascis/Kurt Vile/James Vincent McMorrow: If you’re looking to stay in one place for awhile, this is a pretty good lineup. The Dinosaur Jr. frontman and Mr. Vile will offer up some guitar heroics while McMorrow brings the mellow folk tunes.
At The Great Hall on March 11. James Mc Morrow @ 9:15 pm, Kurt Vile @ 10:00 pm, Kurt Vile @ 11:00 pm.
Janet Jackson: Because you never know when you might witness a wardrobe malfunction in action.
Janet Jackson plays The Sony Centre on March 12 and 13.
Maestro Fresh Wes: Let your backbone slide!
Maestro Fresh Wes plays Maro on Saturday, March 12.
Monster Truck: Let’s face it, monster trucks are awesome. They can crush other, smaller vehicles and have cool names like Grave Digger. Therefore, a band named Monster Truck must also be awesome. The Hamilton band’s bio describes their sound as “big like metal, classic like rock, fierce like punk and sweet like pop.”
Monster Truck play 2 shows on Friday, March 11 @ 11:00 pm at The Bovine Sex Club and @ 2:00 am at Lee’s Palace.
Topanga:Calm down, Boy Meets World Fans. Danielle Fishel will not be appearing at CMW. However, this Toronto band, whose rambunctious sound falls somewhere between folk and punk, will be.
Topanga plays The Silver Dollar @ 2:00 am on Thursday, March 10.
Topanga-Loose Circus by Topanga
Young Galaxy: Ricky wrote about them here.
Young Galaxy play Lee’s Palace on March 10 @ 11:30 pm
There you have it. Just a small sample of the many bands playing Canadian Music Week. Enjoy.