Music

Concert Review: Active Child, School of Seven Bells, September 15, Mod Club

Posted on by Allison in Concerts, Everything, Music | 2 Comments

Let me first qualify this review by explaining I just underwent major dental surgery. Half my face is frozen, I just cut my pinky finger opening a can of soup, and I’m about to pop two Tylenol 3’s once my local anesthetic wears off. In short

Now that we have that out of the way…

One of the greatest things about writing for the PM is that you often get to see potential realized. There is nothing that pleases me more than seeing a band’s potential; and there is nothing quite as satisfying as seeing them get the recognition they deserve, especially if it’s a slower burn.  Almost two years ago now, Brooklyn outfit School of Seven Bells opened for M83 on their North American tour. In fact that show was my very first review.

The sultry sisters returned last night, preceded by Bishop Morocco and another brownstone town band, the electronic-driven Active Child. I walked in as Active Child was playing their last song in their set, When Your Love is Safe, and was surprised at how polished they sounded live. I’d see these guys again, given the chance, and am sorry I missed most of their set. I just hope that next time, they won’t be playing to an eerily quiet crowd (not that I’m not always guilty of this myself).

School of Seven Bells were having some technical difficulties setting up their MacBook, but they played such a killer set I would’ve forgiven far more. All I can say is that their maturation has really surprised me…a lot of Alpinisms was great, but played a lot off of the electronic thing. If this show is any indication of where they might be heading in the future (or where Disconnect from Desire goes, I still haven’t listened to it), then we are in for a guitar-driven ride. It’s hard to believe that the band claims they are driven by lyrics first and music later, because Curtis’s guitar playing is really the centerpiece of their live show.

This guy can really shred it. And if you’re going to stand anywhere close to the stage, you had better come armed with earplugs (I didn’t)…

In fact, a lot of their set reminded me of the classic Simple Minds album, New Gold Dream. The ended with My Cabal and came back for an encore that I wish I could write about, but I’m starting to (simultaneously) drool involuntarily and prevent my head from hitting my keyboard at the same time.

Concert Review: Mystery Jets, September 13, Horseshoe Tavern

Posted on by Ricky in Concerts, Music | Leave a comment

Toronto – Monday night saw English band Mystery Jets start the first and potentially last stop of their North American tour in order to promote their new album Serotonin. Apparently, the band had not acquired a work visa as of last night. Despite the potential financial implications of a one off tour to North America, the band was still in good spirits as they took the stage for their show at around 22:45.

Starting with a one-two punch of new song Show Me The Light and recent hit single Half in Love With Elizabeth, it was quickly established that this show was going to feature a heavy dose of tracks off their new album Serotonin sprinkled with the popular tunes off their sophomore effort, Twenty One. I had previously written that the bands new album, Serotonin, is basically a pop album and the live renditions of these songs – The Girl is Gone, Too Late to Talk, Dreaming of Another World cements the idea that the Mystery Jets is more or less a good pop band capable of writing very radio friendly singles – infectious beats, catchy melodies and singalongable choruses (is that a word?). In other words, they are ready to rule the world. The band was quite good live – Blaine Harrison (he of the rag doll hair) has a strong voice, their harmonics were fun and catchy, the banter was witty and they appeared to have a good time.

As the 70 minute show wore on, I came to sad realization that their eclectic but good debut record, Making Dens, was going to get very little to no representation. This meant tracks like You Can’t Fool Me Dennis, The Boy Who Ran Away and Alas Agnes did not make appearances. This did not seem to bother the rest of the crowd, that despite being only 1/3 full, was having a good time. No one could have went to this Mystery Jets show without mentioning the insane group of mangrinders up in the front. As much as I admire their enthusiasm, I just wonder what it is about UK bands and the ‘lads’ loving it up with each other. Maybe it’s a phenomenon.

Despite the lack of any first album materials, it was a solid Monday night concert featuring one of the better up and coming bands from overseas. Lets just hope they don’t have to fly back today because of visa issues.

Mystery Jets – Dreaming of Another World by to9_lmao

Classic Album Review: Prince – 1999 [1982, Warner Bros.]

Posted on by Allison in Albums, Classic Albums, Everything, Music | 2 Comments

If you were to ask me who I thought was the most talented songwriter in the world, you might think I’d be hard pressed to come up with a definitive answer.

You’d be wrong.

In the hybrid category of overall singer / composer / musician of 26-odd instruments, there can only be one winner. Prince Rogers Nelson takes this title without any hesitation on my part, and despite his going off the eccentric Jehovah’s Witness deep-end well over a decade ago, I still think he is the most talented musical icon of all time. He trumps Madonna in chart-accessible rebirth. He kicks the Beatles’ catalog. He oozes pop from his every orifice. He is the most overtly sexual songwriter of all time. And more so than anyone else I can name, Prince has consistently proved that he is an endless factory of eclecticism, genuine sexuality, and ass-shakingness, which brings us to 1999.

1999 arguably takes the cake in terms of best party album of all time. Everything on this damn thing makes you want to either scream-sing at the top of your lungs or embrace the loose morality of getting “down” with your bad self (Dance Music Sex Romance). This album embodies the most positive and life-affirming heathen ethics. There are some gems on here that never fully hit the public’s radar with the full breadth I would’ve expected it to, and it’s puzzling to me why some of them weren’t chart toppers while others were.

Out of all of the albums I’m reviewing for this series, I would have to say that this is the most primal and lighthearted, least cerebral, and surprisingly, least emotional. All 1999 incites in me is a desire to get out like a dancing, singing fool (and I emphasize the fool part).

The album’s title track was something I couldn’t listen to throughout the 00’s, abandoning it due to Y2K overplay. It feels kind of like fictional farce 11 years later, but the nail-biting in 1999 was real. My computer science professor had managed to convince us all that the bulk of the world was running on COBOL, which was incapable of handling the rollover to 2000. Everything will revert back to 1900!, he said, and we either apathetically or stupidly semi-believed him (what can I say, he was dumb, and we were dumber). Listening to 1999 again, I think it’s a shame that it carried the taint of Y2K mania. It’s still an ultimate party song with all of the trimmings.

Let’s go through the rest:

Little Red Corvette – Prince seems to have a shitload of songs that play as explicit sexual innuendo. He is one of the few people who is able to balance “suggestive” with “crude”, while still staying under the radar of pop culture. It’s hard to believe that LRC is still Prince’s biggest hit to date, but then I used to listen to it like the dickens, not really picking up on anything it really meant (essentially sleeping with a slut). The drum beat is still ultra tight.

Delirious – Much of this feels borrowed from “Horny Toad”, but no matter. Another example of sex flying below the censors. Probably the weakest track off the album–weird to think this charted.

Let’s Pretend We’re Married – Another favorite that didn’t receive as much attention…I always notice this as a conspicuous oversight in all “best of” Prince collections, and I’m not sure why it never captured public imagination as much as some others.  “If you’re free for the next couple of hours / If you’re free for the next seven years!”

D.M.S.R. – May very well be my favorite track off the entire album. Over 8 minutes of ass shaking, love making, I guess this is the whole theme of the entire album. We’re all going to hell, but we might as well enjoy a lot of sex in the meantime, irregardless. I just felt like using the word “irregardless” there.

Automatic – Another gem. More than anyone else, Prince has a way with keyboards, and the head boppingness makes you completely forget about the completely inane lyrics.

Something in the Water (does not compute) and Free were kind of write-offs, with Free being the sort of life after death ballad that athiests ignore. Looking at the album’s two main themes, every song either revolves around sex, love or fear of God.

Lady Cab Driver – Sure, the sounds oddly like Irresistible Bitch, but if anyone were to ask me what good, accessible funk music was, I’d point them to Lady Cab Driver. It’s easy to see why Prince was such a ladies man in spite of the fact that he essentially looked like a short, wizened monkey in high heels.

All the Critics Love U in New York – Kind of an eerie number, but catchy nonetheless.

International Lover – Totally reminiscent of a jazzier Nothing Compares 2 U.

Although so many of these songs remind me of so many others in Prince’s catalog, I have to say that no one recycles like this man (and anyone who writes over 15,000 songs can be excused for some creative borrowing from himself). He has the ability to make new out of something familiar; to make something filthy sound innocuous; and to make a 9 minute musical tirade feel palatable.

Concert Review: Wye Oak, Lou Barlow, August 28, Horseshoe Tavern

Posted on by Allison in Concerts, Music | 4 Comments

Toronto – Saturday night, the Horseshoe Tavern turned into a Merge Records showcase with Maryland duo Wye Oak and legendary rocker Lou Barlow with his new band the missingmen.

Although I walked in towards the end of their first song, I could tell that Wye Oak has already attracted a following. Unbeknownst to me, this girl/boy duo has been around since around 2006, showing me that there’s something in the water in Baltimore.

It’s difficult to resist the temptation to at least make superficial comparisons with Beach House, our favorite duo of 2010. Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner has the same husky soulful leanings as Ms. Legrand; Andy Stack’s drumming and keyboards is a parallel reversal of Alex Scally’s guitar work. I’m not saying Wye Oak is the bizarro-world Beach House–they’re notably noisier, thrashier, and higher energy, but it’s reassuring to know that the two bands are good friends. Jenn Wasner showed a flair for interacting with the audience, and I’m sure her solicitation for a Canadian Spouse will be met with a shitload of offers.

Best: I Hope You Die off My Neighbor / My Creator EP

From Backstage Rider

Next came the legendary Lou Barlow, who had confessed he was napping backstage before his set. There are a few people in this world that have always oozed the intrigue of 90’s cool, but Lou is definitely one of those people. It kind of grinds my gears that to this day, he seems to be almost as associated with Dinosaur Jr. as he is with Sebadoh, Folk Implosion, his plethora of hybrid side projects, or solo career.

He started off without his band, playing an acoustic set comprised of a historic rainbow, not dissimilar to what I had read about his Carrboro North Carolina show last week. What surprised me about his solo set though, was that I actually found it highlighted how hard it is to tame a venue like the Horseshoe due to the bar set-up outside of the performance area. The crowd was a decent size, but I would say that the bulk of attendees not directly around the stage area were there to go out on a Saturday night, making it one of the chattiest shows I’ve been to in a long time (and though he may not have cared, I found this unacceptable for Lou fucking Barlow).

As readers of the blog will know, this is definitely my crotchety old lady pet gripe about Toronto show goers. I can relax this policy for enthusiastic fans (and there were several upfront); but for people wanting to talk about how so-and-so is a bitch because they used your name in a text message, it’s just not cool. It’s just plain disrespectful, and I would not do that to anyone I had paid to go and see perform.

Now that we have that out of the way, I’ll admit that I probably would not have noticed the background noise at all, had the one-man aspect of his set not highlighted it. I have covered the difficulties of completely solo performance before, but I’m glad that Lou’s glistening catalogue saved it from deteriorating into a level of discomfort. For me, and I’m sure for a lot of the younger (read, younger in this case would mean 35 and under) attendees, hearing songs like “Magnet’s Coil”, “Too Pure”, “Soul and Fire”, and especially, “On Fire” live is something that is irreplaceable. His voice is still beautiful, and he has passionate stories about bootlegs gone wrong (someone had mentioned the “Life in Japan” bootleg, which a band member had angrily made and distributed when he was told they wouldn’t cover the cost of admitting his girlfriend into the show).

The second part of his set involved Mike Watt’s (the illustrious punk bassist’s band has purchased a lot of Kinder Surprise eggs and YOP in Canada) missingmen  joining him onstage to perform his more recent stuff. To me, this was what really blew me away…after all of these years, Barlow is still churning out high caliber music and it’s unfair to expect him to be a one-trick jukebox of past Sebadoh / Folk Implosion tunes. I actually felt that this half of the set was the best thing about the show, bringing a much needed energy / interaction and effectively shutting up all of the background chatty cathys. Goodnight, Unknown and Emoh are both great releases that I have left lingering on the shelf because I haven’t made the effort to re-conceptualize an artist after a long period of neglect.

Barlow came out again on his own to perform a solo encore with what I think was a ukelele for the first few songs. Together or Alone and On Fire were the big standouts here, and when 1:15 A.M. rolled around, he was still going strong with even more. The reviews have been consistent with marathon-long sets and encores, and you can rest assured that if you see these guys on this tour, you’re going to get your money’s worth.