If you have ever listened to Of Monsters and Men and thought, jeeze, I really want to listen to another band that sounds like this one, then my friend, I have just made your day. Milo Greene are a quintet from Los Angeles, a place slightly less exotic then Iceland. However, they too have managed to blend male-female harmonies together in gorgeous fashion and this jangly folk pop number is a good track that summarizes this.
The band released a self titled album earlier this summer and are now on tour for this said album and will be in Toronto (for the second time this year) on October 29th. Check out this track.
I was going to start off this article by writing about how it’s been a long time since Grandaddy called it a day, but then I checked my guy on the internet (wikipedia) and it told me they have apparently reformed, rendering my heartwarming ode to early 2000s nostalgia useless. Instead, I will just leave you with facts.
– Jason Lytle has a new album coming out, called Dept. of Disappearance
– It’ll be his forth album
– Grandaddy got back together and are playing some shows
– I kind of really liked them when I was younger.
In town last night after a prolonged absence to promote her new album Sugaring Season, a flu-stricken Beth Orton proved two things to the crowd at the Mod Club.
1. Even with a cold/flu, she still has a magnificent voice.
2. She is without a doubt, one of the most charming and funniest musicians on stage.
Let’s start with the latter, here are some selected quips from last night. I’m mostly paraphrasing.
About her husband/opener Sam Amidon: “Please welcome back Sam Amidon! The artist whose show you just talked through”
“Sam’s from Canada, you know”
“Actually, I’m from Vermont”
About Toronto: “Toronto reminds me of a city in the future, from the 80’s…. I always thought it was clean, but really, it’s not “
About taking requests:
(in mocking voice) “Comfort of Strangers! Galaxy of Emptiness! It’s the man with the loudest voice!”
About video recording: “Don’t record me! I have a cold! My voice sounds like shit!”
Which reminds me, whatever you do at a concert, don’t be this guy:
Here are the reasons
1) This just looks silly
2) No one wants to watch your shaky hand smart phone music video, including yourself.
3) The audio is going to be entirely awful
4) Instead of watching the actual show, you are looking at a 4 inch screen.
So no, that was not and will never be a good idea.
Okay, let’s go to the actual music.
Despite harboring a cold, and having to blow her nose during the set (to which one audience member yelled out “You had a cold at the show in _____ , do you remember that?” Note to audience member: She probably does not), Beth Orton sounded fantastic. Playing an entirely acoustic show (Sam Amidon sometimes played guitar/violin during the set), Orton showed off a wide array of vocal and songwriting skills that simply elevated the show beyond your standard singer-songwriter-acoustic affair. Much like how her earlier albums played around with electronic beats, Orton would play around with her voice throughout the set, changing pitches, range and tempo and while it’s nothing new to any performer, it just seems to work better with her. Songs just sound more interesting. Mixing new tracks with her expansive back catalog, Orton definitely pleased the crowd with her set, which included favorites such as Concrete Sky, Comfort of Strangers and my favorite – Stolen Car.
Amazing music and hilarious conversations, a night with Beth Orton is a multi-faceted affair, let’s hope we don’t have to wait this long for her return trip.
In the words of LCD Soundsystem: “I hear you and your band have sold your turntables, and bought guitars”. In a world of dubstep, laptops and Apple, The Antlers are a classic example of what live music should be. They cast a spell in their live shows, and hold a power over their audience. It is very rare (at least for me) for a band to evoke such a strong emotional response, part of it I find, is where you were when the albums came out. Hospice for example is very clearly a themed album on death, loss and loss of love. If you were anywhere in the vicinity of those emotions and leaned on the album or Burst Apart as a crutch, seeing it live possesses you and transports you back into that time. Listening to the records, you are touched mostly by the lyrics and the arrangements, however it is the passion the play with at the live shows that affects me the most. Silberman and their touring guitarist/bassist Timothy Mislock rip through the guitar arrangements and you can see how The Antlers have grown together and gained a more solid foundation in their music writing, as they changed up and added more to the older material.
The Antlers aren’t a band that write lyrics for the hell of it, and then just play them, because that’s what they enjoy doing. Vocalist and lyricist Peter Silberman, is earnest and lays these raw emotions out bare, making it seem like this is his only catharsis. Penning his most intimate of feelings his only release and playing them for the masses is almost like his tragic torture, once moved past those moments, he is forced to relive them and we through his power, are transported back with him every time.
The Antlers, at the Great Hall
It is this talent and power that draws me back to them every time, even though sitting through that hour and twenty minutes or so of musical bliss is also so emotionally taxing. The Antlers played a great mix off of Hospice, they called that part of the set “the Hospice block”, a good mix off of Undersea and from Burst Apart as well as some new jams. Having seen them in Vancouver just a week prior (the top picture is featured from that show, far better than any pictures I could get at Great Hall), I was pleasantly surprised that the set list wasn’t identical.
Port St. Willow opened for them, a music project by Nick Principe, a brooklyn based artist. He sings in a high falsetto, and his music carries lilting, haunting melodies.
If you have not yet seen The Antlers, and this review is your first impression, check out their live performance at KEXP (also the greatest online radio station, based out of Seattle).
