Concert Review: Joseph Arthur, August 3, The Dakota Taven

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Paul in Concerts, Everything | Leave a comment

Toronto – Joseph Arthur generally gets lumped into the singer-songwriter genre.  That’s pretty accurate, but there’s a lot more to him than just that.  He makes extensive use of loops and layering in his live performance and it’s pretty impressive to watch.  Each song begins with a general structure – some rhythm guitar or a beat pounded onto the body of his guitar – and then gets built up from there.  Dude is basically jamming with himself.  As I said, it’s pretty impressive to see, but on the other hand, it’s also a little jarring to see him stop playing guitar while the sound continues on.  At one point, he set his guitar down and just sang for a bit over the loop and it came dangerously close to being like a karaoke performance.  A really good karaoke performance though.  Still, of all the performers I’ve seen do the looping thing, he’s one of the better ones.  He even used an awesome talkbox/vocoder effect on his vocals at one point, which brought Tupac’s “California Love” to mind, and ok, some Peter Frampton as well.

For the last few songs of his set, Arthur relied less on the looping and switched to an acoustic guitar.  He even sang the last two songs unamplified while standing at the end of the stage – we’ve talked here before about how that’s a great way to reel the audience in and/or shut them up.  Although Arthur didn’t really have to do much to get the audience’s full attention.  In fact, he pretty much already had it.  It was a pretty intimate show – the dance floor at The Dakota was filled with tables and chairs.  And those chairs were filled with more than a few hardcore fans.  Arthur opened up the floor to requests and of course they came fast and furious.  He ignored many of the requests as it had been awhile since he’d played those songs, but he did take a few requests.  He didn’t play “In the Sun” though, which is probably his biggest song, but he’s got a pretty extensive back catalogue so it wasn’t really missed.

Not just a talented songwriter, Joseph Arthur is also a visual artist and he was actually painting during his set … with one hand … while singing.  That’s pretty impressive.  He actually sold one of those paintings at the end of the night.  As far as merch goes, that’s a pretty unique item.

Songs that remind me of the OC of the Day: Joshua Hyslop – Nowhere Left to Go

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Ricky in Song of the Day | Leave a comment

Toronto – Thanks to The OC, all acoustic melodramatic folksy songs by singer-songwriters will forever be associated with the show. Joshua Hyslop isn’t even from California, or the United States. He’s a folk singer from Vancouver with a voice designed to remove a girl’s underwear. Soothing and intimate in every way possible, Joshua recently released an EP titled Cold Wind. The first track from the EP, entitled “Nowhere Left to Go,” is a good sample of this man’s music. It really could be some scene from the OC episode, probably from the second or third season when Marissa was constantly crying and wondering if she was a lesbian. Anyways, I’m getting sidetracked, check this track out.

Where is Mischa Barton these days? (besides faking British accents)

A Mid Summerworks Dream – The Preview

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Ricky in Summerworks | 1 Comment

Toronto – The beginning of August is synonymous with many things in Toronto – heat, Caribana, cottage weekends, the Blue Jays official elimination from playoff contention, etc. Lately, there has been one more entry to this exclusive list of summertime words – The Summerworks Theatre Festival. One of Canada’s largest theater festivals, the festival return this year is extra sweet this year since it’s funding got stripped by the man earlier this year. Thanks to a host of generous people, the festival was able to get funded privately and as a result, the festival is still on. Suck on that, Heritage Canada.

Not only a theatre festival, Summerworks has expanded to include a music lineup and this year’s music lineup is quite stellar. So without further delay, here is a quick preview.

Hooded Fang!

Wow, do I ever like Hooded Fang‘s new album Tosta Mista. Normally, I don’t usually give too much thought to local bands when local bloggers rave about them but this band’s new release is just wonderful. With classic rock odes the the diner/milkshake era from the 50s, this record has captured my attention this summer like few others have and I would totally be at their showcase Friday night if I wasn’t laying on a beach somewhere.

Bruce Peninsula!

Everyone’s favorite band named after an Ontario summer weekend destination. Bruce Peninsula was one of the hottest tickets at NXNE and even won over our writer Stacey with their lively show at the Rivoli in June. If you missed what all the fuss was about, then make sure you head over to the Lower Ossington Theatre next Thursday to check out this band in all it’s shoe tapping, head bobbing glory.

Miracle Fortress!

Here are the acts that I have seen twice this year

– Miracle Fortress
– Sheezer
– Men Without Hats
– Ellie Goulding
– Foster the People
– The Vaccines
– OMD
– Sheezer

Pretty odd list, but it’s small, which means it’s exclusive. So does that make Miracle Fortress special? I don’t know. What I do know is that Graham Van Pelt aka Miracle Fortress’s new album Was I The Wave? took the artist in a new and unexpected direction and the results has been rather positive. The new electronic world that the Montreal artist now lives in contains swirls of synthesizers and beams of lasers, some of which I hope will be projected into the tiny Ossington theatre.

Theatre!

Nobody in the history of life has ever said the words “I’m going to the theatre” and felt bad about it. You know why? It’s the theatre, it’s a play, something that has gone on since the beginning of time. Go hit up the festival and check out some plays by talented actors and actresses.

Here’s a few that look interesting

You Should Have Stayed Home – a play about one man’s detainment after the G20 fiasco from last year.

Zugzwang – a play about chess and it’s players

Lizardboy – A One Man Show – a one man tale about growing up, it’s interesting because one man shows can usually go either way.

White Rabbit, Red Rabbit – A different actor at every show will try to convey the story the experiences of the playwright from Iran.

There are many many things going on during Summerworks festival, so go check it out.

For more previews (probably with less vague terms) head over to my friend Joe’s site Mechanical Forest Sound, he knows what he’s talking about.

Also, read this blog.

Concert Review: Craft Spells, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, August 2, Opera House

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Allison in Concerts | Leave a comment

http://kevchino.blogspot.com

If there’s one thing you can say about New York’s Pains of Being Pure at Heart, it’s that they certainly know how to choose an opening act. When we first met them in April 2009, I was dazzled by their openers Zaza (drummer Kurt Feldman was still pulling double duty for both bands at this point). Two years later, POBPAH have steadily and predictably climbed the Toronto live venue hierarchy:

Freshman: Lee’s Palace
Sophomore: Horseshoe Tavern
Junior: Opera House, Mod Club, or Phoenix
Senior: Massey Hall, at which point you are probably not considered an “indie” band anymore unless you’re an opener

In the midst of the touring, POBPAH have remained affable and keen to stay in scope with their March release Belong–something of a semi-departure from their self-titled debut. A sound that our friend at IKVDK refers to as the de facto “Smashing Pumpkins” factor (it’s certainly noisier, graduating from tinges of the Ramones to tinges of…dare I say it…skate rock). I”m not sure I agree with that, but admit that Belong didn’t capture me for nearly as long as their first release did.

That said, I think Belong plays better as a live album because it’s seemingly less-dependent on saccharine vocals and pulls from frontman Kip Berman’s development as a guitarist. Out of all of the band members, I’d say he’s blossomed the most as a performer in spite of sometimes inconsistent vocals. Bassist Alex Naidus often reminded me of the twitchy Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory and Peggy Wang’s wavering voice seemed too quiet at times. However…and this is a big however, they are still only a couple of years old and at least have the good sense to initiate some audience banter, having mastered the art of settling a room with charm and graciousness.

As for Seattle-based Craft Spells, I missed about half of their short 7-song set, but am sure just about everyone can concede that these kids are something special. First of all, they look like they’re still in high school. Second of all, from what I heard of Idle Labor (one of Josh’s favorite releases of the year with an album cover strangely reminiscent of New Order’s Power, Corruption, and Lies), what they were showcasing has what I call the “sparkle sheen nostalgia” quality to it. It’s the kind of release that wraps you in sickly-sweet memories from the 1980’s–probably the most comfort anyone can feel outside a womb for most people in my age group–there’s dimension there that feels familiar while discouraging comparison if that makes any sense. It doesn’t hurt that Justin Vallestero’s voice is reliant on scrapes and bumps rather than prone to them. These guys are kind of like a rich man’s Mary Onettes‘ with depth and breadth, and I suggest checking them out. It’s likely they’ll be eclipsing as headliners soon. I guess I’m becoming as fickle as those teenagers I bash after all.

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