Concerts

CMW Review: These Electric Lives, Piper Davis, Mar 12, El Mocambo

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Mark in Canadian Music Week, Concerts | Leave a comment

Toronto – In my books, it’s not truly a music festival in Toronto until I’ve been to either the Horseshoe or the El Mocambo. The only exception to this rule is the Toronto Jazz Festival. In which case it’s not truly a jazz festival until I’ve been inside that tent with the chandeliers at Nathan Phillips Square, or the Rex. With this in mind, I figured that the El Mo was a good place to start Saturday evening.

The first band on my agenda was These Electric Lives, a Toronto-based band that plays rock, alternative rock, and a brand new form of music I’m calling “indie rock”. The Lives are fronted by singer Chris Martin from Coldplay. At the very least he could have easily been Chris’ brother, or maybe his younger cousin. Their first tune was head-boppariffic, as I caught myself bopping my head almost immediately.

The best part for me was the contrast between the polished Coldplay-esque stage presence of the singer against the rough and tumble drummer. He reminded me of Animal from the Muppets. He looked rough around the edges and he played like he was rough around the edges. It was great. Just check out the lower left corner of the picture above to see what I mean. Although the band got off to a strong start, I felt the wind leave their sails pretty quickly. There was good indie rock moments in there. I just wish the momentum of the first song would have propelled them to an Animal-like craze similar to the Muppet Show theme song.

Next up was Vancouver-based Piper Davis. I don’t really know what to say about this band. The CMW site says “her songs represent a mixed bag of musical genres”. And how. Piper Davis herself danced in angular movements to what I’m told are “micro-sampled beats”. I can only guess that these are tiny beats that are kind of jarring and pierce your ears. I ran into fellow Panic Manualer Brian at the show. Thankfully for him, I had me an extra pair of earplugs.

“Thank you very much for these [earplugs]” – Panic Manualer Brian

Drink sales rose sharply during this set as people moved steadily away from the music and stumbly towards copious amounts of alcohol. Music is such an interesting thing; there’s an indescribable quality to so much of it. Take something and tweak it here and there and you get an amazing live show, or maybe a train wreck. I think there’s a lot to say about a musician’s stage presence, whether they’re truly into it, and the feedback between the artist and the crowd. Unfortunately this particular show seemed to lack all of that.

CMW Review: J Mascis, Kurt Vile, James Vincent McMorrow, March 11, The Great Hall

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Paul in Canadian Music Week, Concerts, Everything | Leave a comment

Toronto – “It’s a rare honour to be playing with the two gentlemen I’m on on before,” said opener James Vincent McMorrow of his cohorts on the bill.  “I don’t know if they know who I am … I don’t care.”  The Irish singer was clearly pretty stoked to be there, although he didn’t exactly show it in his body language, standing mostly pretty still during his set other than an occasional buckling of his knees in time to the music.  He had a high soulful voice that complimented his sparse, folky songs.  His voice was a bit reminiscent of Patrick Watson and maybe Jeff Buckley or Peter Silberman of The Antlers. 

I had seen Kurt Vile once before when he opened for Fucked Up on a pretty eclectic bill.  Vile referred to that show onstage, recounting the still-classic “Your mom” retort that he gave to a heckler that night.  Vile is an impressive player, but gives off such a vibe of being a pretty chilled out guy when performing.  At times it seemed like he was almost amused at the concept of performing altogether.  He ended his set with what I seem to recall him introducing as “a new song.”  As he started into it, I thought, “Wow you can really hear a Springsteen influence on this … it sounds a lot like Downbound Train.”  Of course within seconds I realized that it was actually that very same Springsteen song.  Whoops.

If Vile’s a laid back performer, he’s positively animated next to J Mascis.  However, Mascis’ laconic stage presence did not mean that he did not hold the audience’s rapt attention.  Large portions of the crowd listened intently to every note.  And Mascis played his fair share of notes.  Despite playing solo with an acoustic guitar while seated, he was still rocking pretty hard.  “I got a lot of songs, man …” he mused at one point and he played a lot of songs including several from his new album Several Shades of Why, an Edie Brickell cover (apparently Murph used to play that in the van a lot during the early Dinosaur Jr. days) and of course, “Little Fury Things.”   He was also joined by Vile and BSS’s Kevin Drew for harmonies on “Not Enough,” which I suppose makes them The Pips to Mascis’ Gladys Knight … but without the matching suits or synchronized dance moves, of course.

CMW Review: Mz. Chawles and The Wonderfuls, Mar 11, Czehoski

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Mark in Canadian Music Week, Concerts | 2 Comments

Toronto – Last Friday evening Mz. Chawles and The Wonderfuls played some sweet soul music at Czehoski’s to a densely packed crowd. The band is fronted by Tanika Charles, a Toronto-born but Edmonton-raised singer that has returned to the city to ply her trade. Toronto is happy with her return to the city; she brings with her both a considerable stage presence and an impressive voice.

This was my first time at Czehoski’s for live music, and it makes for an interesting venue. It’s a long and narrow room with the stage at the very back. Both sides of the aisle are straddled by tables for the restaurant folk, making the live music more of a side entree rather than the main course. This however, was Canadian Music Week, so it was all about the music and the drink. The upshot with such a tiny hall is that just a few dozen people can make the place feel cozy.

The Panic Manual is by and large a huge fan of soul revivalists. Although I just made that last sentence up, I can tell you this: I am a huge fan of soul revivalists. There was a lot of charisma and musicianship emanating from Ms. Charles. As superbly fun as this show was, I can’t help but wonder what a few extra years experience will do to Ms. Charles’ diva persona. There certainly seemed to be times when she was channelling soul queen Sharon Jones. I can’t wait to see what Ms. Charles will be like with a few more years worth of gravitas.

I don’t think the Pips would ever dare do this to Gladys Knight. As a matter of fact, I’m confident that every single Pip knew exactly which side of their bread was buttered.

If there was one minor slight about the set, it had nothing to do with Ms. Charles herself, but the backing band. As the set drew to a close with a candid song about money, they decided to surprise the singer by abruptly launching into Pink Floyd’s Money. It was apparent that Tanika had no clue about the pre-meditated prank. She was surprised, but made a valiant attempt to keep composure. She asked the crowd if they knew the lyrics and encouraged a sing-along. This was a jarring loss of momentum and an underwhelming way to end what was otherwise a fantastic set of music.

Any group with name that follows the format of  “Bandleader and the Backups” is largely being powered by the sheer force, charisma, and presence of the lead singer. I don’t think the Pips would ever dare do this to Gladys Knight. As a matter of fact, I’m confident that every single Pip knew exactly which side of their bread was buttered. Surprising Tanika with a prank like that broke the magic spell that she had the audience firmly under. It demonstrated poor judgement. Sadly, the Wonderfuls were anything but, with the notable exception of soul sister twins Keisha and Leisha Cameron on backing vocals.

The good news is that as a starlet like Ms. Charles grows, she will be able to command the attention of the best, brightest, and most dedicated of backing bands. The afore mentioned Sharon Jones did it with the Dap-Kings and their talented bassist and band-leader Bosco Mann. I can see Ms. Charles doing the same in due time. Then things will really get wonderful.

CMW Review: Bloodgroup, March 10, Rancho Relaxo

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Paul in Canadian Music Week, Concerts, Everything | 1 Comment

Toronto – On the second night of CMF, I found myself back at Rancho Relaxo, where things were running a bit late.  Icelandic electro band Bloodgroup didn’t even take the stage until 11:10 and even at that they still had to take a few minutes to plug in their gear and get set up.  Needless to say, I was getting a bit impatient.  It probably didn’t help that I really wasn’t digging the tunes being played by the between band DJ either.  But when they finally got things underway a few minutes later, I thought to myself that it was worth the wait. 

Bloodgroup is actually a fairly apropos name for this band.  While some electronic music can seem a bit lifeless when performed live, this band was full of energy and played a bunch of energetic electro tunes that could certainly get your blood pumping.  Sonically, they had a bit of an 80s vibe, featuring some vintage synthesizers, a drum pad  and two keytars along with an array of various other electronic doodads.  Let me just pause here to say that I absolutely love the keytar – it’s a keyboard that kind of looks like a guitar, what’s not to love?  The lead keytarist (is that a word?) also had a pretty impressive mullet going on.  In closing, I will give the final word to one of their vocalists.  “Come and say hi after the show.  Give us high fives, get your boob signed, whatever.  I don’t know if you’re into that in Toronto … it’s big in eastern Europe.”  As far as I know, there were no boobs signed at Rancho Relaxo that night. 

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