Song of the Day

NXNE Song Of The Day: The Men – Please Don’t Go Away

Posted on by Brent in Everything, Song of the Day | Leave a comment

The Men aren’t your typical Brooklyn-based band. Little self-promotion, no sign of them chumming up with any of the neighbourhood talent, and mostly DIY-released material up until recently. Their online footprint is slowly growing though and several self-released cassettes since 2008 have led them to record a third LP this past March.

Open Your Heart is strictly a rock record. One minute they’re driving through three-minute verse-chorus-verse tracks and then they’re following it up with seven-minute mostly instrumental post-rockers. “Please Don’t Go Away” is track five and one of the former. The title, being it’s only line of lyrics, is repeated eleven times (yes, I counted) but the focus here is guitar-driven punk with an abundance of cymbal-crashes.

The Men play NXNE twice next week at the Garrison Thursday at 1:00am
and Wrongbar Friday at midnight before touring down south for a few
weeks.

Tour Dates:
6-13 Ottawa, ON – Club Saw
6-14 Toronto, ON – The Garrison
6-15 West Toronto, ON – Wrongbar
6-16 Grand Rapids, MI – Pyramid
6-17 Madison, WI- The Frequency
6-18 Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry
6-19 Fargo, ND – The Aquarium
6-21 Spokane, WA – Mootsy’s
6-22 Seattle, WA – Barboza
6-23 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
6-24 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
6-25 Santa Cruz, CA – 105 Pioneer St.
6-26 Los Angeles, CA – The Smell
6-28 Phoenix, AZ -The Rhythm Room
6-29 El Paso, TX – Lips Lounge
6-30 Austin, TX – Red 7
7-1 Beaumont, TX – Victoria House
7-2 Jackson, MS – Hal & Mals
7-3 Atlanta, GA – 529
7-4 Belmont, NC – Haunted Mill
7-5 Washington, DC – DC 9
7-13 Pittsburgh, PA – The Shop
7-15 Chicago, IL – Pitchfork Festival

NXNE Song Of The Day: Boxer The Horse – Rattle Your Cage

Posted on by Paul in Everything, Song of the Day | Leave a comment

Hey, remember the ’90s? I sure do. And I sure did enjoy a lot of the indie rock that came out of that decade, chief among it the slacker-rific tunes of Pavement and their ilk. 

Prince Edward Island’s Boxer The Horse certainly deliver on that front through Pavement-esque songs such as “Rattle your Cage” off of their French Residency album. And in case you didn’t notice, these guys are named after the horse in Animal Farm … a reference I didn’t really notice until I Googled these guys. I guess I need to brush up on my Orwell. Animal Farm was the one with the spider who talked through it’s webs and wrote stuff about that pig, right? No wait, that was Babe, wasn’t it? Or was Babe the one with John Travolta and the talking baby? One thing I definitely do remember from Animal Farm though: “Four legs good, two legs bad.”

Also good? This song. Check it out.    


Boxer The Horse play The El Mocambo (upstairs) on June 14 @ 8:00

Song Of The Day: Michael Kiwanuka – I’m Getting Ready

Posted on by halley in Everything, Song of the Day | Leave a comment


Michael Kiwanuka makes beautiful noise.

While I don’t find each of his songs that different from the next, Kiwanuka’s sound is enjoyably consistent, soothing, and melodious. The British soul singer’s newest song, “I’m Getting Ready” is yet another example of solid guitar-playing, rich vocals, and perfect harmonies. Extra points to Michael for apparently being a top-quality person. After Googling around for deets on the singer, I have to say I’ve honestly never seen such a high compliment about someone – and published on a website as well-renowned for its accuracy as Wikipedia no less: “He was regarded as a very friendly and modest student with a huge circle of friends and a great appreciation for all different genres of music.” Considering his newest single is available for free download, supporting the man and the musician is really a no-brainer. You should also check out his current tour and his full-length album, “Home Again,” once it’s released July 31.

Michael Kiwanuka Upcoming US Tour Dates

June 7-10 || Manchester, TN || Bonnaroo
June 9 ||Atlanta, GA || Smith Olde Bar
June 10|| Nashville, TN || 3rd & Lindsley
June 13 || New York City, NY || Highline Ballroom*
June 14 || Brooklyn, NY || Prospect Park#
June 15 || Philadelphia, PA || World Café Live (Downstairs)*
June 16 || Washington, DC || Rock and Roll Hotel*
June 18 || Allston, MA || Brighton Music Hall*
June 19 || Toronto, ON || Phoenix Concert Theater*
August 3-5 || Chicago, IL || Lollapalooza
August 10-12 || San Francisco, CA || Outside Lands
August 14 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Music Box (supporting Alabama Shakes)

*with Bahamas
#with Laura Marling

NXNE Song Of The Day: Connoisseurs Of Porn – Re-gifted Fruit

Posted on by Paul in Everything, Song of the Day | Leave a comment


Are you a connoisseur of porn? Do you have arguments about which period of a porn star’s career was their most artistically rewarding? Are you able to recognize the cinematographic variations between the oeuvres of different porn directors? What are your thoughts on the XXX Parody of Scrubs? What does it really mean to lay claim to the title of connoisseur of porn? Well, in the case of Toronto noise rock band Connoisseurs Of Porn, it simply means no one else had taken the name first. It may also mean that they really enjoy porn, I can personally neither confirm nor deny that. What i can tell you is that these guys make a furious bit of noise that’s influenced by the likes of Captain Beefheart, Sonic Youth, and The Jesus Lizard. Listen to their song, Re-gifted Fruit, while watching some porn. Or don’t, I can’t tell you what to do.

Connoisseurs Of Porn play Sneaky Dee’s on June 16th @ 12:00