Gravity Wave

(Toronto) For those who don’t know, every few months the Steam Whistle Brewery hosts a concert series called Unsigned, where, you guessed it, bands who are not signed entertain the Pilsner happy beer crowds that gather. Although the location of the show (The Steam Whistle Brewery, right beside the CN Tower and SkyDome) is a bit out of my typical Annex walking show radius, I decided to make the hike downtown to check it out. A couple of things I learned about this Unsigned series:

1. It is only $5, and that one payment at the door goes to charity, gets you a drink ticket and if you are fast enough, a free slice of pizza. Plus, additional drinks are only $4. Those are east coast booze prices.

2. The charity is the Artists’ Health Centre Foundation(AHCF). This foundation helps artists who have been injured and who might not be covered by OHIP. Since most artists are self employed, they don’t have health plans. For example if you make your money as a dancer and some jack ass runs into the back of your foot with their cart at Loblaws and injures you so that you can’t dance, the AHCF will help you out. By dancer, I don’t mean stripper, but I suppose even they could get help from the AHCF.

First up on the bill was Hexes & Ohs from Montreal. A pretty impressive looping, drum playing, girl bass busting two piece outfit from Montreal. They cranked out Whadaya Know?, which I was really looking forward to. I was familiar with this track since it has gotten some recent CBC3 airplay over the past couple of years. It rocked and left me with warm fuzzies. The rest of their set was tight with Edmund switching between instruments and Heidi sticking with the solid bass lines.

Next up was Bocce. I missed most of them. I was busy getting beer and more ice.

Headlining the show was Gravity Wave (The). I first heard of Gravity Wave about a year ago when he played at Sneaky Dee’s. A friend of a friend had told me that Gravity Wave (Ken Farrell) teaches little kids how to play hockey and that he makes music with his Nintendo. Cool. Ken started his set off this night with an interactive video rap-off which didn’t really hit with the crowd. It required people to shut the fuck up and actually pay attention for more than 5 seconds. Which they didn’t.

The Gravity Wave stage show and sound has definitely changed over the last year. The most obvious difference would be that Mr. Wave has added a full band to back him. Even a trombone. This has given him a bigger sound. Although bigger, I feel like the subtleties of his sort of electronic music were lost in the shuffle. Songs like Princess where you are waiting for the Jump, Fireball sequence lost their catchy, cutesy, admiration. Even Footprints seemed to blend into the other songs, where on his Maytr’s Brrigade CD (available for download on his site) is a stand out track. Ken has a great unique voice and a stand out rock star confidence about him when he performs, rubber boots and all.

The night was caped off by a couple of Steam Whistle yahoos who introduced the bands and hosted the evening. At one point I think they threw T-Shirts into the crowd as if it was the seventh inning stretch at a J’s game. Whatever. Still a good night and worth the trip downtown.

Toronto – If you have read the Panic Manual at all in recent months, you will know that I am a massive fan of British Sea Power’s new album “Do You Like Rock Music?”. So it was no surprise that I was anxiously awaiting the band’s show at Lee’s Palace on Friday night. I had missed the bands prior outing here at the Berkeley Church as part of the Beautiful Noise tapings. Damn you Tokyo!

The show at Lee’s Palace was actually a double bill, with the Rosebuds opening for BSP. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to attend the Rosebud’s showing although a friend of mine said it was ‘good’. That is no surprise. I arrived just as they were finish setting up the stage – the typical BSP stage, that is – foliage and all. There was definitely more greenery here then last time. The show was sold out, which goes to show the enthusiasm of people towards the new album.

At around midnight, the chimes of “All in It” signaled the start of the show. Kay Von then came out and introduced the band. He did this last time too, I believe. I am actually not sure which came first, the intro or the song ‘all in it’. Alcohol – bad effects on memory at times. It doesn’t really matter since that tune was just a recording/intro song. Once the band took on stage, they started to rip into “Atom”, off their most recent album. The normal four piece band was also joined by a lady on the violin and did little talking through out the eighty minute set.

The set consisted of songs mainly from DYLRM and some songs from “The Decline of..” (“Carrion”,”Remember Me”,”Fear of Drowning”, “Blackout”). The sophomore album – “Open Season” got mostly ignored, except for “Oh Larsen B”. I believe. Having seen them tour for each of the three albums, I found that the band seemed extremely polished now. The sound was crisp, the vocals were clear and breathy and unlike the past two shows, there was little shenanigans this time around – maybe because Eamon left for Brakes, or maybe because the band has now matured to the point where they can rely on the strength of the music to carry the show and not having marching drummers run thru the crowd or nearly getting decapitated by a ceiling fan when hoisting the guitar player on your shoulders to play a solo. I am not sure.

Overall, I enjoyed the show quite a bit – DYLRM translates nicely in concert and the older material is still strong. I was kind of disappointed they didn’t play “Apologies to Insect Life” or “Please Stand Up”, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be there the next time they visit, so it is not a big deal.

4/5

(Toronto) Really, this show was a maybe for me, but when Rickys’ friend had an extra ticket, it became a must see.

We got there in time to hear the opener, The Mobius Band. I felt bad when they took the stage and started playing because they essentially played in the dark. The low mood that was used to illuminate the slew of instruments on stage as people entered the Phoenix, also served as performance lights for the Mobius Band. Needless to say, seeing them live didn’t want me open up iTunes to listen to them again. Bring on the Black Kids.

Since they formed in Jacksonville, Florida two years ago, Black Kids have:

-Got press in NME after performing at the Athens Popfest
-Released an EP for free download
-Got a ‘Best New Music commendation and an 8.4 from Pitchfork
-Signed with Quest Management (who manages Bjork and Arcade Fire)
-Named one of the best new bands of 2008 from Rolling Stone
-Recorded their first full length, Partie Traumatic with Bernard Butler form Suede
–I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You debuted at #11 in the UK.

So yah, they are riding some momentum into this year for sure. I guess the most obvious thing that I was interested in seeing was if they were actually Black or not. Upon them taking the stage I found out that the Black Kids are two-fifths black. The five-member ensemble took the stage in the usual American Apparel hoodies and T’s and reminded me, visually at least, of The Go Team! As for their sound, they have some catchy, dance tunes that I am sure will be re-mixed and released in the coming months.

Their stand out single “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You” was the highlight of the show for sure. If you are a band and you are selling a t-shirt with the title of one of your songs on it, it had better be a good tune. Songs that I hadn’t heard, such as I Wanna Be Your Limousine and Look At Me When I Rock Wichoo (it is really spelled that way too) were pleasant surprises that were not included on there downloadable EP earlier this year.

Apparently at their live show, their front man, Reggie Youngblood, starts every song with “Hey Toronto…” I’m not too sure how they are going to feel about this in Boston on May 12th. Maybe he thought we in attendance couldn’t remember where we were? I hate that shout out shit that bands do.

Ricky made a good comparison on the way home that they seem to be on the same track as Vampire Weekend. The lead singer has a unique sound, they are fun, and they are getting lots of press. They’ll be back in the coming months for a headlining show, guarantee.

Overall, a good show. When they come back, I want them to be louder with more energy.

After Black Kids, Cold Cut went on. If you saw them and want to leave a note about their contribution to the evening, please do.