Every once in awhile, some unidentifiable thing will trigger a sudden memory for me. Whether it be a smell, sound, image, or whatever, it is always completely random, and usually something from childhood. I had one such backflash late on Monday evening as I was perusing YouTube videos and was struck by the following chorus: “I can move, move, move any mountain”. It was kind of like the “burnt toast, I smell burnt toast” Canadian Heritage Minute.
A quick Google search later, and the autocomplete function reveals a whole lot of other people have been remembering this song, too. What was it, and who was it by, anyway? Besides the incredibly catchy chorus, I couldn’t remember much else.
But then I watched this video
…and it all came flooding back to me.
The song is Move Any Mountain, and the group is a techno-infused-acid-house outfit out of the Aberdeen Scotland (Groundskeeper Willie’s hotly disputed place of origin) called The Shamen that spanned throughout the 80’s and 90’s. Josh informs me that they were one of his favorite bands from back in the day, openly admitting that he has 10+ copies of the En-Tact album (in case of natural disaster, we might presume he would strategically place these in different residences and locations). As wonderfully cheesy as the video may be (it has it all–a twirling descent of bodies on a dated graphic, kareoke-video-like ocean footage, an appropriately poofy looking duo against scenic mountain backdrops), and as painful as the short rap run-ons might get, Move Any Mountain is still a fantastic song reminding me of the schitzophrenic ranges of highs and lows a song can take you to.
Unfortunately, one half of the creative duo met an untimely demise after heading to Tenerlife Spain to tape the video for Move Any Mountain. I believe it was the guy with the dreads, but am not really sure. They enjoyed some modest success in the U.K., and irregardless of their tragic end, have managed to record some other good tunes in their time and I really enjoyed Possible Worlds. There’s a little Primal Scream, a little bit of Soup Dragons, predating that flash in the pan rock/dance thing with EMF and Jesus Jones. There’s some guilty pleasure in enjoying this stuff I suppose, but despite what some folks may think, I am not a music snob.
Toronto – Originally, I was going to tack this on to Brian’s post but given my tendency to blabber on about things, I decided to spare his article from my drivel and create my own. Basically, me and Brian were both invited to the Sony Centre‘s Opening Night performance of Cirque Eloize
I love food. I love free food. I love hor deourves. These little finger size trinkets of deliciousness usually make my night at any media / pr party I am in. The pre party had five separate food stations set up representing various parts of the world. Each countries relation to this night is unknown. I was going to guess why each country was there, but that would make this article racist so instead I shall review each food station.
Russia: Caviar and Chicken Kiev + shot of Vodka
Caviar’s one of those foods you think should be good because only rich people seem to eat it, but for me, I didn’t get too much out of these little bits of fish egg. It’s just the bigger version of the roe you get when you order a dynamite roll or something. The chicken kiev was pretty tasty as there was a nice liquidy surprise for you when you bit inside it. It wasn’t so nice for people who didn’t know about the said surprise though. I skipped the shot of vodka, provided by Absolut, who probably sponsored the event.
Chinese – Spring Rolls and Various dimsum + sweet vodka drink
I hate how spring rolls is associated with Chinese food since its mostly a Vietnamese thing. No self respecting Chinese family would order spring rolls at a restaurant, let alone put it as one of the foods that would “represent” their country. This shocks me even more since the food was done by some dude named Stephen Lee. However, I am sometimes reminded that some people named Lee are actually not Chinese so maybe this is the case. Regardless of my complaints, the spring rolls were pretty good, I think they had duck in it. A more appropriate dish would have been Peking duck, I guess.
India – Shrimp on stick and Vegetarian Samosa + tamarind vodka drink
Shrimp is always good, so I wholly agree with this decision. The vegetarian samosa was most likely an attempt to appease the vegetarians in the crowd, who would have nothing else to eat otherwise. Curious decision by the chef to include only one tiny vegetarian dish for an artsy gathering. I think if you poll most vegetarians, I think most of them are in artsy industries. I wonder if samosa is to Indians as spring rolls are to Asians in terms of it just being a food to appease to colonials.
Japan – Sushi + Pear/Ginger/Vodka drink
Easily the longest lineup of the night, because you know, there aren’t enough sushi restaurants in the city. If I jump off a moving bus on any major street, do a tuck and roll and walk into store/place where I landed, there’s a 1/3 chance I would have landed in a space occupied by a Japanese restaurant. The lineup for this was nice and slow, because when people were finally up to the front, they would ask the servers what everything is. Everyone appeared to be going for the sushi (not the California rolls), which is what we did. I believe we got one red tuna, one white tuna and mackerel. It was tasty but not worth the long wait.
Canada – Meat Pie + Rack of Lamb (with crusted cheese) + some cranberry vodka drink
Of course Canada would have the best food of the night. The rack of lamb here was ridiculously delicious. I went back for seconds. Wanted to go back for thirds. I honestly just wanted them to give me an entire rack, and then I could just go sit in the corner and eat it. Lamb is so hard to get right, but props to Stephen Lee, because it was cooked just right and the spices were perfect. Easily the best bit of hor deourves I have had at any party.
Now here is my bit about the show. Brian already has given you a nice professional well written review on the night, so here are my thoughts.
– Some of the feats the performers do are astonishing. It makes me want to work out more. The one tumbler who did all the crazy strength stuff was so ripped he had muscles coming out of his muscles. Definitely, if I was to get into a fight with him. I would lose. But then again, I would have a gun. So I would win. That’s kinda the problem with society today isn’t it? I mean, you can work out all you want, take all the martial arts class that you can, eat the right diet, and if you ever get into a confrontation with someone, all that training goes nowhere if that other person has a knife or a gun. It’s not like the good ole days anymore.
– As much as I liked the female contortionist, every time she bent herself in an odd way, I could feel my back hurting and my hamstring crying. It’s such a weird sight. On the flip side, if she ever wants to travel for cheap, she can just curl herself up into a moving box and just ship herself with Fedex.
– It’s a testament to how much influence urban hip hop break dancing/poppin/hip hop dancing has had on our culture lately when a show featuring mostly that genre opens up one of the most prestigious venues in Toronto. To think it all came from a Julia Stile movie.
– I really really want a trampoline. I could potentially put it in my living room and use that to jump up into my bedroom on the second floor. How awesome would that be?
Overall, quite an amazing night with good food, good company and good show. I felt quite physically inadequate after the show since everyone in the act was stronger, bendyer and generally in way better shape then I am in. It inspired me to think about working out more, stretching more and maybe take up gymnastics or something. However, that inspiration was short lived as the night was capped off with some midnight mac & cheese along with a pint of beer. Still, good times.
Ricky’s iPhone concert photography™. The trademark is for consistent blurriness.
Scotland produces great pop music. It’s a fact. Bands like Teenage Fanclub and Trashcan Sinatras that are still trucking after all these years are living proof that there is a way to age gracefully in rock ‘n roll. It always surprises me when older performers take the stage after a long hiatus to be met with gasps like “SHIT. They got OLD.” Newsflash! We are all always getting old. And yeah, the ravages of time are applicable to people we stop paying attention to. A Catholic Education was released in 1990–20 years ago. 20 years ago!
So, I’m impressed that after 20 years, the band is still releasing good material. I haven’t listened to this year’s Shadows, but if their performance of Sometimes I Don’t Need To Believe In Anything is any indication of what they are still capable of, the caliber is still there. I actually think some of their newer songs played better than some of the classics, maybe because of their freshness.
And a lot of the classics were still there throughout their set, even if the incredibly packed venue (full of very tall people standing around the stage) felt the need to continually shout out things they wanted to hear. It was great to hear Alcoholiday live, but some of the older tunes played a lot better than others. One thing I was totally impressed by was Gerard Love’s consistency (and I always thought he was the strongest songwriter, penning some of the best pop love songs)–Don’t Look Back was probably the highlight of the show for me with the 3 minute mark jam tearing up the place. The lumping of consecutive slow songs kind of lulled everything down in spots, but there would always be a tail end favorite serving as a wake up call.
The decision to encore with two Howdy! songs in a row was something I wasn’t expecting, but I did think that Near You was one of the best songs of the night. I do think the decision to throw in a slower song off Shadows made people feel that by the time The Concept rolled around, there was a “finally” moment instead of a slow build to a “fuck yeah” moment.
Still, a great show.
P.S. What the hell was up with that guy with the tripod and video camera standing in the back area of the stage?!
Toronto – The lineup for Summerwork’s music portion on Thursday night reads like titles from Farley Mowat novels – Wilderness of Manitoba, Mountain and the Trees, Entire Cities and The Weather Station. All four bands seem to draw inspiration from Canada’s large and vast space and the gentle and quietness that comes with it. It was basically acoustic-folk power hour at the Upper Ossington Theatre. Knowing that I myself was heading to a cottage on the weekend, I thought these bands would be a nice primer for my foray into nature.
First of all, I would like to thank the staff of Summerworks for putting on a well organized festival. There were no problems anywhere and one of the volunteers at the Festival was nice enough to retrieve one of my flip flops from underneath the seats after that flip flop decided to go rogue and escape from the clutches of my right foot.
Canadian duo The Weather Station started off the night. Tamara Lindeman, took on vocal duties while her partner Jack Donovan used the banjo for most of the set. They played nice set of songs that was a bit on the gentle side. Tamara told us she used to suffer from stage fright, and then played a nice little song that had some really complicated banjo action. After a few short enjoyable tunes, the band was joined by their tour mates, a 7 piece band from Toronto called Entire Cities. They had a more upbeat feel then the Weather Station and lead singer Simon Borer had a mustache that would rival any 70s era hockey player. They retained a similar wild country-folk sound of the Weather Station, but infused some layers onto their music – there was a flutist (is that a word?) and a few guitars as well. The band laid down some funkier songs that managed to get some people off the seats. They too played a few short but enjoyable songs.
Following a short intermission, Jon Janes took the stage with an acoustic guitar. Also known as The Mountain and the Trees, the man was dressed in plaid and instantly captivated the crowd with his blend of honest humor and impressive melodies. I had anticipated a good show after Patricia raved about the man in her CMW review. I think of all the acts I saw on Thursday, this dude definitely impressed me the most. Hailing from Newfoundland, Jon introduced each song with funny anecdotes that added a nice personal feel to the show. I was also impressed with the way he would loop his own guitar and then replayed it later in the song to make it seem like more then one person was on stage. Either he’s really ingenious or anti social, I am not sure. Either way, Mountain and the Trees was definitely impressive.
Considering one year ago, I had never heard of the band the Wilderness of Manitoba, I found it rather shocking that Thursdays night show was the fourth time I had seen the band. They are now tied with The Antlers, British Sea Power, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, The Rapture and Voxtrot as the bands I have seen the most. Having first seen them play in a garage in their very own backyard, one of the things that first caught my eye about their set on Thursday was how much they had grown as performers in merely a years time. If I had improved my coding skills in one year as much as these guys have improved their live stage skills, I would have created skynet years ago.
Their set this time around sounded sharper then I have ever heard them before and the band was properly spaced out, allowing their vocal harmonies to really fill out the room. The band has also upgraded their wardrobe considerably, looking quite dapper in suits and vests. I say they are taking the professional road now. The band sang a nice blend of bands between their debut release – Hymns of Love and Spirits and their new record, When You Left the Fire. It was nice to hear the recorded sounds of actual birds when they played the song Bluebirds. The next step would be for them to actually have birds in the audience during the set. I think that would be so great.
Overall, it was a nice pleasant evening. Those who know me would not classify me as an acoustic folk music kind of guy but I did enjoy myself at this showcase. If you are looking for something nice, quiet and melodic, then you should check out any of the four bands on the list.
