Concerts

Concert Review: Yacht, May 2nd, Lee’s Palace

Posted on by Ricky in Concerts | Leave a comment

Toronto – It’s been two years since Yacht put on an epic performance at the Wrongbar. Sold out and buzzing with energy, the Portland duo put on a fantastic show featuring above all else, a prayer circle to expell the crowd of all evils. Yacht’s return to Toronto on Monday just happen to coincide with this little event called the federal election and produced a decidedly smaller crowd at Lee’s Palace, but that did not deter the group from putting on a stellar show. They were in town to preview their new record, Shangri-La off DFA Records

Dressed once again in contrasting black and white outfits, Jona Bechtolt and Claire Evans rocked the stage on Monday night with a mixture of new material with songs off their hit album See Mystery Lights. Barefooted and dressed in a white dress, the wiry Claire was a mesmerizing force on stage – she danced, she sang, she climbed things and during parts of the song The Afterlife, went into the crowd and started tapping people on the head. As my friend put it “if I was in a band, I would be like her … just. do whatever I want on stage!” I was quite surprise with Jona’s decision to remain in the background for most if the set, content with playing synthesizer, guitar and providing the vocals when needed. Last time I saw them there seemed to be a lot more vocal interplay between the pair.

The new tracks blended nicely with the older material, which follows the classic formula of dance worthy beats and upbeat lyrics that eventually lead to singalongs. The disco-esque new single Dystopia (The Earth Is on Fire) got a great reaction and as usual the single Psychic City got the crowd singing. It’s impossible to not want to dance a bit when they are on stage. The energy and positive energy they radiate is infectious and the people who were at Lees ate it up. Let’s hope there’s a few more people here next time they roll into town.

Yacht – Dystopia by theQuietus

Concert Review: Brother, May 3, The Horseshoe Tavern

Posted on by Paul in Concerts | 1 Comment

Toronto – Brother have recently been touted by the British music press as one of the “next big thing” buzz bands.  They first caught my attention back in December on a trip to London when I picked up a copy of NME and read a feature on them.  The band gave a pretty good interview, bringing up the ghost of Oasis (while taking care to stress that they don’t sound like Oasis), slagging off fellow Brit buzz bands of the moment The Vaccines and Mona, and offering up ridiculous, cocky quotes like “we self-elected ourselves to be the future.”  Being slaves to the whims of the British music press, Team Panic Manual was out in full force for the Slough band’s Canadian debut at The Horseshoe.

Given the Oasis comparisons and the braggadocio on display in the aforementioned interview, these guys seemed a lot nicer than I expected them to be.  I imagined four cocky Liam Gallagher clones, all wearing sunglasses on stage.  What we saw instead was four lads (plus a keyboard player and a backup singer) having fun onstage and rocking out.  There was a bit of swagger on display in comments like, “Come on, Toronto, you’re supposed to be going crazy.  This is Brother!” and “This is the part where you show us you like us and clap along.”  However, these comments were probably a bit tongue in cheek, not obnoxious at all, and kind of endearing.  Also effective – people did clap along for a bit. 

Basically, these guys play some solid, decent, guitar based Britpop/rock.  They’ve got a few catchy tunes (the highlight being “Darling Buds Of May”), some good stage banter and kept things moving along at a good pace.  Also, as Ricky pointed out, their set was twice as long as fellow buzz band The Vaccines’ similar Horseshoe showcase a few months back.  It was probably equally as effective though.  I’m not so sure about the effectiveness of singer Lee Newell’s choice of a tie-died t-shirt though.  I kept waiting for them to bust out a Grateful Dead cover. 

So will these guys turn out to be the future of music that they’ve elected themselves to be or just flashes in the pan?  More likely the latter, but in the meantime, they put on a pretty good show and they’re riding a wave of popularity and hype.  Might as well enjoy the ride.

Darling Buds of May (Single) by vivaBROTHER

Concert Review: Low, May 2nd, Mod Club

Posted on by Allison in Concerts | 3 Comments

Paul Neshevich

Image from Paul

slow·core /slow?core/ Noun

1. A genre of music characterized by haunting slow tempos, somber melodies, and forlorn vocals; also called sadcore

Slowcore is one of those mysteriously overused terms in modern music that some British journalist must have coined in the 90’s (see also: shoegaze–though no post 90’s band that seems to be labeled as such seems to be shy about looking up from their shoes during performance). I still have no idea what the “slowcore movement” is, but I suppose it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Funny how we never have these kinds of heated arguments about other subgenres, like whether a du-wop band is a du-wop band, or an Afrobeat band is indeed Afrobeat, and so on.

I guess my objection to the term might align with Minnesota’s Low’s same disapprovals. It just sounds boring, vague, and debbie-downerish. But if bands like Low and Red House Painters fit into this loose category, there is a kind of energy in it that is getting lost in the definition. Particularly when it comes to live performances. Those who remain skeptical need only refer to my brief encounter with Mark Kozelek.

Low’s performance at the Mod Club Theatre in Toronto Monday night was yet another proof point that everything 90’s is new again, with the band touring in support of their new album C’mon.

Last night’s concert brought together one of the most random collection of show-goers I’ve seen in awhile (it’s one thing if you see a man your dad’s age at a concert, and quite another when you see a woman your mom’s age. Not sure why that is, but older moms just seem to look like fishes out of water at a club show) with frat boys, hipsters, and et cetera all mixed into one big stew. That said, a few things struck me immediately off the bat: first, this might possibly be the second best taming of an audience I’ve seen this year (Mark Kozelek comes first, but only by brute, abusive force). Low’s elegant set commanded major attention from everyone–to the point where the bartender whispered “I feel guilty–it’s so quiet” when we were ordering our beers.

I’m debating whether the nature of Low’s music would be best classified as quiet versus “slow burn”. There’s a build-up there, with natural progressions towards a creamy centre, and a fade-out again. I’ve decided that this style of music is very conducive to captivating a live audience, as is Mimi Parker’s understated, light drumming. Between frontman Alan Sparhawk and his wife, I’d say that Mimi’s sparse but sweet vocals trump his hand. Maybe it is time for her to fly solo.

I’d say the highlight of the show for me was Sunflower, but it was generally very well balanced with light conversation about Sparkhawk’s laments about “being from a country that celebrates the bombing of a person in the streets” and the coming woes we were to experience as a result of a conservative majority.

Their set may have been on the short side, but all in all, a nice night out.

Setlist:

  1. Breaker
  2. Try to Sleep
  3. You See Everything
  4. Monkey
  5. Silver Rider
  6. Witches
  7. Especially Me
  8. Last Snowstorm of the Year
  9. $20
  10. Majesty/Magic
  11. Nightingale
  12. Nothing But Heart
  13. Sunflower
  14. Something’s Turning Over
  15. Murderer
Encore:
  1. Canada
  2. Two-Step
  3. When I Go Deaf

Concert Review: Foals, April 30, Phoenix Theatre

Posted on by Ricky in Concerts | Leave a comment

foals

Toronto – I should make a rule – never see a band on the second show of the same tour, especially when it’s a larger venue and the first show was fantastic. Foals – Oxford’s favorite math-indie-dance rock outfit was back in Toronto on Saturday seven months after their blistering performance at Lee’s Palace in September. Since that fateful day, the band has seen their popularity steadily increase to the point where they were playing a sold out Phoenix.

Playing once again with what appears to be the world’s biggest chip on their shoulder, Yannis Philippakis and company took the stage shortly after 11 and delivered a blistering set that hit the crowd with a fistful of intensity. I don’t know what it is about them, but they never seem to be happy. It translates well into the music which is heavy on percussions and moves along at a frenetic pace. Songs like Miami, Black Gold and Total Life Forever whipped the crowd into a jumping frenzy. Only the opening sombre notes of Spanish Sahara settled the crowd a bit before the eventual tempo change set them loose once again. Yannis, for the most part, matched the crowd’s energy level, at one point playing the guitar while crowd surfing. I was particularly impressed when he did a running jump into the crowd, getting quite the air time and clearing a good few rows of people.He would then wander around the Phoenix, including a trip up into the balcony.

On paper, it was a great show, but for me, something was missing. Maybe it was the thrill of seeing them for the first time. Maybe it was the much larger and less intimate venue. Either way, Foals are pretty exceptional live – providing an endless, relentless jolt of energy into the jubilant Toronto crowd before setting them loose into the night.

Blue Blood
Olympic Airways
Total Life Forever
Balloons
Miami
After Glow
Black Gold
Spanish Sahara
Red Socks Pugie
Electric Bloom

Encore:
One (Swedish House Mafia cover)
The French Open
Two Steps, Twice

Foals – Miami by Electric Audio