Canadian Music Week will soon be upon us once again, taking over various venues across our fair city from May 2 – 8. And because I don’t have any better ideas and it seemed to work well enough for us last year, we have decided to once again preview CMW by picking one band for every letter of the alphabet and explaining why you should spend your precious time checking them out next week … or just saying random shit about them. Here we go!
Acid Dad
He’s cool, he’s groovy, he’s tripping balls – he’s Acid Dad! OK, not really, but Acid Dad are a psych punk band from New York, which actually sounds a whole lot better than watching somebody’s Dad on acid.
BAIO
No, not Scott. Rather it’s Chris Baio, taking a break from Vampire Weekend to bring us some ’80s-inspired synthpop sounds. He may also possibly be dressed somewhat like a waiter – only time will tell.
Collective Soul
C’mon and shine!
Dorian Gray
Part of the fun of fests like CMW is checking out random international bands who’ve travelled a fair distance to play some shows and Italy’s Dorian Gray, who’ve been going since 1989 and have a mildly psychedelic, mellow sound, definitely fits that bill.
Eyeballs
Any band that defines their sound as “noise dance” is a must-see in my books. Lend these eyeballs your ears.
Fat White Family
Noisy, shambolic, and quite often in various states of undress, the Fat Whites are rock and roll at it’s best. Or worst, I haven’t quite decided yet. Either way, they’re definitely a band worth seeing during CMW.
Grown Up Avenger Stuff
Did they get their name from a piece of Robert Downey Jr. dialogue from one of those Marvel movies? I don’t know, and I’m too lazy to look it up right now, so let’s just assume that’s the case.
Holy Holy
Famed producer Tony Visconti and drummer Woody Woodmansey are known for their collaborations with the late David Bowie and they bring their tribute to the Thin White Duke back to Toronto for a Sunday night show at The Phoenix.
If Birds Could Fly
I may go see this Appalachian duo just because their name reminds me of this moment from WKRP:
JEFF The Brotherhood
This Nashville brother duo brings the seriously scuzzy rock ‘n’ roll jams. They rock. Do it up.
Kvav
According to their bio, members of this Swedish five piece used to be in a progressive metal band, though they seem to lean more towards a spacious piano-based sound and list Radiohead, Sigur Ros and Mew as influences.
Lemon Cash
Based on their press photo, I assume that this Ottawa indie/pop/rock band are given to hanging out in taverns across our nation’s capital waiting patiently for someone to take their drink orders. They’re willing to wait for a few more minutes, but really, they could just take their business elsewhere, so hurry up already. They’ve got other things they could be doing, you know …
That’s enough alphabetizing of bands for now. Part 2 is on it’s way soon. Stay tuned.