NXNE Review: Young Liars, June 16, The Painted Lady

Posted on June 20, 2012 by lauren in Everything, North By Northeast | Leave a comment

Young Liars

So it’s midnight Saturday night, I’m wiped out already (yea, I’m an old lady inside so what), but there’s still so much to see. Having heard a song by Young Liars, I thought it was definitely worth checking out as it would bring the dance. Bring the dance it did. First time in Toronto, (second showcase for NXNE) Young Liars are a 4 piece dance-rock band from Vancouver. We hit the venue just as they were setting up and made our way to the front. I don’t know if you’ve been to the Painted Lady, but it’s like every other bar on Ossington, long and narrow. How they packed this in for shows, I’ll never know, but loved the intimacy of the space, and the lighting. It made you feel as if you were in your parents basement hosting a secret dance party.

Young Liars played hard, and made us all dance up a storm. Much like Phoenix and a bit Cut Copy-ish, there’s nothing better than seeing people playing actual instruments and still making  you dance. Not hating on the electronic music genre, I love it too, but watching a dude/dudette wail on a guitar while getting all sweaty on the dance floor makes the experience seem much more authentic. Can’t pick just one, but the stand out songs were definitely “Colours,” “Echoists,” and “6/4”. Based on their talent and great live set, I would expect to see these guys touring around the area much more often. Hit them up next time they’re here and dance your fucking feet off.

 

NXNE Review: Flaming Lips, The Deer Tracks, Life In Vacuum, June 16 (Yonge Dundas Square; Rivoli, Detour Bar)

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Brent in Everything, North By Northeast | 1 Comment


It seemed that everyone’s plans changed Saturday night following the stage collapse at Downsview Park that resulted in Radiohead’s drumtech dying and several others being injured. So many other options for a Saturday night were at their fingertips, most notably Luminato and the NXNE shows that started earlier in the day at Yonge-Dundas Square.I arrived and caught the end of the of Montreal set. This was when I met up with several friends as well as several thousand strangers which made it slightly uncomfortable and at times claustrophobic. As well, it didn’t help that the Flaming Lips set started a half-hour late. I’m getting old. Balloons, confetti, ten-minute drawn out versions of crowd favourites, but a nice tribute/cover of Radiohead’s”Knives Out” though. A video of this can be found here. The Saturday night shows at Yonge-Dundas Square were filled with a mix of emotions because of what happened just a few hours prior. It was also filled with disorganization, cheesy MC-introductions, colourful bouncing balloons and just too many people. Most being people that had seemingly never been around other people before. Picture someone walking on the Tokyo subway on Monday morning with no shirt on and a hot pot of coffee.

Round two was to get out of there and make our way down Yonge and across Queen street. This allowed us to pass what seemed like several hundreds standing around staring at an empty stage with bright lights in preparation for the MMVAs the following night. People never fail to surprise me. By the time we made it to the Rivoli two-piece Swedish outfit The Deer Tracks were just finishing up.

I headed up to Kensington to catch Life in Vacuum at Detour Bar. Small, cramped and sadly no Kensington punks. Life in Vacuum (only one ‘c’) are a three-piece metal/punk band with groovey distorted bass. They’re from Waterloo and whenever I hear of bands from there I just assume they play math-rock which makes me a math-icist and I’m totally comfortable with this. Three white kids from the burbs that are passionate about their music. Loud and earplug-friendly. Great ‘stache on the bassist too.

NXNE Review: Daughn Gibson, June 16, Wrongbar

Posted on June 19, 2012 by lauren in North By Northeast | Leave a comment


Daughn Gibson is an odd duck. Based out of Pennsylvania, Gibson boasts a country sound mixed with electronics. Apparently taking stories from people around town and converting them into song, there were moments when I was really laughing out loud, and I hope I was supposed to be. There was a bit of what seemed like improv added to the end and pieces of songs where he spoke. At one point he said “We’re going to go down to Food Lion to pick up a sandwich and watch a video, Little Monsters”. Gibson was a former truck driver, and still works for a company as an HR representative. Playing in punk and metal bands throughout his teen years as a drummer, Gibson has been adept at music since a young age. Now 31, he is foraying into a strange world of electro-cowboy as I will call it, with Nick Cave type vocals. Speaking like Elvis between songs, one has to wonder if that was part character as well (since the sound guy told me Gibson was speaking to him in a British accent during set up). Definitely worth seeing at least once to make your own judgments, Daughn Gibson is an interesting outfit, sometimes funny, but certainly captivating.

NXNE Review: Dirty Mags, June 16, Wrongbar

Posted on June 19, 2012 by lauren in Everything, North By Northeast | Leave a comment

Dirty Mags

Saturday night of NXNE is a tough one, where to start, what to see, what you’re willing to sacrifice and miss. Instead of going with a tried and true band that I liked and had seen, or wanted to see, I used this festival for what it is, a place to catch new, upcoming talents that the world should know about. Also I wanted to be close enough to my house that I could pre-drink between acts. I also should have been at the Radiohead show with half of Toronto at that time, but we all know how that turned out, terrible tragedy. So after scouring the lists of venues near my house, Wrongbar looked like the best bet since Doldrums were playing (who I missed to run and catch Young Liars, coming to a review near you). This is where  my mind was blown by Dirty Mags for the first time.

Dirty Mags are a 4 piece local Toronto band, that have been around for a couple of years. They draw on many different influences; the closest genre description you can give them is a punk, garage rock outfit, but their influences go far beyond that. You can hear a lot of heavy 90’s grunge riffs in Justin Lemaire’s guitar playing, and also in vocalist Mike Kaminski’s long screechy drones (fantastic vocalist by the way, he has some far ranging chords on him). There were definitely times where you can hear some dark wave 80’s influences as well, giving Dirty Mags a well rounded sound all their own. Dirty Mags create a dark and heavy atmosphere with their music. It engulfs and entrances you so that you are lost in it with them. Definitely a band I will be scouring facebook events for in the future.

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