Concerts

Concert review: Maps and Atlases [Horseshoe Tavern, August 7, 2010]

Posted on August 11, 2010 by Gary in Concerts, Everything, Reviews | Leave a comment

Maps and atlases, SXSW, March 17

Toronto – “In the sweltering heat 17C heat of Austin TX this March, covered Maps and Atlases, we have. But math rock they make, we did not know.”

Alright. Yoda.

Although I know little about music, math is something that I am inclined to check out. So I went to see them again, with the expressed goal of discovering if there are equations behind their music. That’s when I felt that there’s a little green midget behind the stage fiddling with the cables, making great music that theoretically flows as well as the septic tanks at Ashbridge’s Bay. Believe it or not, I ran their songs through a Matlab program and found that cumulative autocorrelation of their songs isn’t much more interesting than other bands… but then again I’m no expert in math and don’t know if that’s even a measure for anything. So I don’t know about an equation – but there is definitely a madness to their methods.

We walked into the Horseshoe Tavern around 12am, about 10 minutes after the quartet started to play. I have heard several that they played this night, for example, Carrying the wet wood, Pigeon, and Banished be Cavalier before. Eventually I was able to correlate this set almost entirely back to their new album – Perch Patchwork, which just came out a month ago. I might mention that this is their debut full album. I guess on the strength of EPs alone they have built quite a following. Of the 100+ people there, many were fist-pumping to the tunes and on-beat. At first I ran into the same wall that I did at SxSW – I was analyzing it too much, and couldn’t bring myself to enjoy the music. It took me about 5 minutes to settle down and start to really enjoy the twists and turns. I feel that their songs are sequences of musical non-sequiturs. Beats of the singing change mid-bar, melodies turn into slides. The title song Perch Patchwork is a good example. I still couldn’t sing along on the basis of the melody. The first time I heard it, my brain went ballistic and thought that it’s dissonant. But the music grows on you. I have not updated the good vibes when listening to them – a good thing. When I put the new album on shuffle for the first time, I couldn’t even catch the transition between songs. It’s either that smooth, or they have just successfully brainwash me for those musical transitions to sound normal. The Charm might be the most normal song they have on this album – the incessant marching drum forces a large contrast with the lament, giving the feeling of no return. Solid Ground is quite pedestrian – but look over it because it sounds like Magnolia’s soundtrack and nothing can be wrong with that movie. Dave Davidson’s voice is slightly thin and agile enough for what the scores demand. The bass and guitar don’t work the audience overly hard. To add to that, the band is very gentlemanly and genial, without the stereotypical hipster attitude. Mathematical precision, I presume. I think the Canadian crowd really appreciated that fact. After about 45 min of play and 3 more encore songs, Maps and Atlases took their bow.

You can find one of their more “famous” numbers here free: Pigeon has a memorable guitar hook. Was, is a cool instrumental piece. I liked Living decorations and Perch Patchwork. So I guess this is also a solid YES to their new album. Math (or little-green-man) on!

Maps & Atlases – Living Decorations by FatCat Records

Summerworks: Hidden Cameras, August 6, Upper Ossington Theatre

Posted on August 8, 2010 by Ricky in Concerts, Summerworks | 1 Comment

Toronto – Well, what can you say about the Hidden Cameras‘ showcase at Summerworks? Their theatrical interpretation of their 2009 album Origins: Orphans has elicited some interesting reactions.

I had received a fair warning about the show from people who went the previous night, saying it wasn’t really a concert, kinda weird and that sitting on the floor sucks. Knowing this, I went into the show with an open mind and obviously, got myself seats at the back of the Upper Ossington Theatre upon entry on Friday. I may or may not have budded everyone in line on the way in, but this is an arts festival, and art thrives on creativity and chaos, not structure, so taking that cue, I just went to the front.

Anyways, the show started at around 10:30 pm. The Hidden Cameras band featured both a horn and string section, which always impresses me. I’m sure there were some local music artists recruited to play various instruments, but I am not familiar with local artists much. I think one of them was Laura Barrett, based on her glasses. Joining the band on the floor space was a dance troupe that included a 12 or 13 year old kid. They were joined by Joel Gibb for their opening dance sequence, to the tune of the title track Origin: Orphan. They started off in a ball on the floor, and then got up into some sort of fishing motion, like, when you are reeling in a very large fish. That’s my take on it anyway.

The rest of the show consisted of songs off the album and the dance troupe acting out the interpretations of the song. Dressed like extras from a modern day Oliver Twist meets the Gap play, I gather the play was about an orphan being raised in some sort of harsh environment, constantly under the threat of abuse from some authoritarian figure played by Keith Cole. Halfway through the album, that figure decides that life is better as a woman or a cross dresser, then everyone is happy. Lots of dancing then follows.

Overall, the show was enjoyable on both an audio and visual perspective and not as weird as some had speculated. I’m not the most artistic person so I didn’t try to personally interpret anything going on, or try to figure out if each song was part of some sort of bigger message. The band and the music itself was rather strong and made me a fan of their latest album. I could have done without the 30-40 minute intermission, something that may or may not have killed any momentum the band had achieved. All in all, a very fitting way to start off Summerworks.

The hidden cameras – Walk on by jslacasa

Review: Beer Festival, Squeeze, Rihanna, August 5th, Molson Amphitheatre/Ex Grounds

Posted on August 6, 2010 by Ricky in Concerts | 9 Comments

Toronto – My Thursday night consisted of attending the Beer Festival (featuring 80s band Squeeze) and then making the 10 minute walk over to the Molson Amphitheatre to check out R n B sensation Rihanna. Let’s take a look.

Beer Festival

What can you say about the Beer Festival? It’s awesome. You get in, and for $1, you get a 4oz sample of many different types of beers from many different brewers. Usually, they fill a lot more then 4 oz. In fact, if you were to go to the Beer Festival, I suggest you ONLY order the 4 oz for 1 token drink, not the 8 oz for 2 token drink as they will probably fill 6 oz or so for your 1 token. It’s all mathematics. Here are the drinks I had, and my comment for each beer.

Nickelbrook Maple Porter – Good
True North Cream Ale – Bad
St. Ambroise Apricot – Good
Weihenstephan – Really Good
Old Credit – ok, a bit too carbonated
Sam Adams Summer Ale – It is what it is, kinda orangey
Hop City Weiss Beer Lawnchair – Too carbonated for weiss beer
Wellington Silver – Not that great. Disappointment due to the quality of their other beers.
Flying Monkeys Smashbomb Atomic – Decent beer, might only be able to drink once a night
Muskoka Pilsner – Not good, especially in comparison with their Weiss Beer, which is excellent
Flying Monkey Hopitical Illusion – good for it’s price range
Tug n Tread – decent
Nickelbrook Organic White – Really Good
Flying Monkey Guava Beer – Too light
Mill Street Lemon Tea

All in all, my favorites where the Weihenstephan Weiss Beer and the Nickelbrook Organic White. I’ve been on a Weiss beer kick lately so perhaps that will skew the results. The one I did not like the most was the True North Cream Ale. I had both the Weihenstephan and the Nickelbrook Organic White about three times.

If you are a beer appreciator aka alcoholic, I highly recommend the beer festival.

Squeeze

Squeeze is an UK New Wave band that has existed longer then I have. They are most famous for their single Tempted, which is in every 3rd commercial you see on tv. They are also famous because their former member is Jools Holland, who besides John Peel, is one of the greatest contributors to the music industry in the UK media. I don’t really know much about Squeeze. I imagine they were big in the day and obviously, have a lot more songs then the one I know. Which is why it was so interesting they were playing Beerfest.

I don’t imagine playing the Beer Festival to be a good gig, most people there are drunk and most of them don’t even care who is playing. So what Squeeze basically had was a few hardcore fans and a large group of people who were walking around, going from one beer vendor to another. Not the best setup. Still, you can tell that the band was making the best out of the situation. They were pretty sharp and from what I heard from a distance, it was pretty good. I didn’t really catch much of their set, as I was busy trying to rid myself of the beer tokens before the place shut down for the night. I did manage to hear an extended 6 to 10 minute version of their commercial song Tempted, which made me happy. I was already happy, so it made me stay at the same level of happiness, I guess.

Rihanna

When I told people I was going to see Rihanna, people were quite surprised. I like to think of myself as a fan of ALL music, and not just indie music. It’s nice to go out of your comfort zone once in a while. I went into the concert knowing all of five to six songs – Pon De Replay, SOS, Please Don’t Stop The Music, Rudeboy and of course, Umbrella. I was there just to see the song Umbrella, which I (like the rest of the world) really like. Let’s face it people, a good song is a good song. Doesn’t matter if it is top 40 or not.

Earlier in the night, we had decided that we like beer quite a bit so decided to skip the first half hour of the Rihanna show in order to get in more drinking, so we arrived slightly after 10 pm (she went on stage at 9:30, unlike the Livenation specified time of 8:45). The place was PACKED. Everyone was standing and some song was playing. The stage setup was impressive as there were big lights everywhere, a giant lit up R hanged on the left side of the stage and there was a bunch of dancers as well. At some point of the night, two of the dancers would use wires and dance in the air. Crazy. The theme was somewhat militaristic, as there were lights in the shape of guns. GREAT MESSAGE FOR THE LITTLE ONES!

Most of the songs sounded pretty much like the album versions, but I guess most people go to one of these shows to see Rihanna anyways. I can’t remember the last time I went to a show with costume changes, but sure enough she changed dresses a few times throughout the show. Most of it was weird stuff I don’t think any normal girl in the year 2010 would wear and all of it was designed to feature one of her best assets, which is her smokin body. Despite missing a quarter of the show, I still heard most of the songs I liked, and when we ended off her set with Umbrella, I left pretty happy, as did everyone else who was there.

All in all, a good night. Most of it was a blur, but Blur’s a good band.

Concert Review: Black Keys, Kool Haus, August 3rd

Posted on August 4, 2010 by sarahw in Concerts | 1 Comment

Toronto – What do you get when you combine Jimi Hendrix, the White Stripes and a little blues? Well, a beautiful love child called The Black Keys of course.

The Black Keys are a blues-rock band hailing from Akron, Ohio and boy do these guys make a killer duo.

First of all, what’s a concert review without a little venue commentary? This show was completely sold out and consequently the Kool Haus was jam-packed with a guy to girl ratio of 9 to 1, score. Apart from the sausage fest it was about a billion degrees in there and even before the Black Keys went on I almost melted, however, this excessive perspiration was well worth it.

The Black Keys have eight albums in total and kicked their set off by playing tracks from their first seven. You cannot help but tap your foot or bop your head to this percussion heavy, bluesy music, plus it’s pretty contagious when everyone in the crowd starts moving a bit. About half way through the set the duo took things up a notch and announced that they would play tunes from their new album, which seemed to amp the crowd up a little more. They even brought another guitarist and a keyboardist out for their newer songs which added a whole other dimension to their sound.

In my opinion the second half of the show was far better than the first, The Black Keys’ eighth album, Brothers is tight, polished, catchy and I love almost every single song on there. These newer tunes really got the crowd moving especially during Tighten up, Howlin’ for You and Next Girl.

Black Keys front man Dan Auerbach’s Hendrix-esque guitar skills impressed the bejesus out of me. I can honestly say I’ve never seen such guitar talent at a live show, he played the guitar with a maraca at one point for goodness sake. I would even be so bold as to compare his grainy falsetto voice to that of the great Robert Plant. Of course I can’t forget the other 50% of Black Keys, Patrick Carney, who by the end of the show looked as though someone had thrown a bucket of water on him, Pat did an impeccable job at making it sound like they had many other percussion instruments accompanying them on stage, for example he played one song using the tambourine as a drumstick.

Overall this show was excellent, in my top 3 concerts so far this year and well worth the sweat factor. Black Keys are a must-see live band and as far as I can tell get better with each album they make.

Black Keys – Tighten Up by vhernandez

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