Review: Coachella 2010, Part 1: Mind Blowing Acts

Posted on April 29, 2010 by sarahw in Concerts, Everything, Music | 5 Comments

Palm Springs – 130 bands, 3 days, 30+ degree desert weather, an abundance of mind-altering substances, pairs of wayfarers in every colour you can imagine, interesting headdresses, more sweaty skin-to-skin contact than you’d like to admit and 80,000 of your closest hipster friends baking and dancing under the desert sun…this is Coachella.

Admittedly I only managed to see 20% of the 130, but this still entailed 24 hours of pure concert bliss. To list the performances I saw with separate reviews would be boring and exhaustive, for brevity’s sake I will lump the performances into 3 categories: Mind Blowing, Surprisingly Sub-Par and Honourable Mentions.

Mind Blowing

I’ll start out with the best of the fest because well, I left California with a great deal of respect for the following 3 acts: Whitest Boy Alive, Thom Yorke and Gorillaz.

One: Whitest Boy Alive

Whitest Boy Alive is the brainchild of Erlend Oye, best known for his work with Kings of Convenience, one of my favourite bands. I have been a fan of WBA for a few years now and am embarrassed to admit I only learned of Erlend’s association with them about a week before Coachella.

When I received the set list for Coachella I was disappointed to see that their set coincided with Jay-Z during the first night. I caught most of Jay-Z’s show which was awesome as expected and then made my way from the Coachella main stage to the GOBI tent to see WBA. The tent was surprisingly packed and WBA was still setting up their equipment. After a few minutes the band casually walked on and opened with Keep a Secret, one of my favourites and then continued to play song after amazing song from both of their albums.

They have a very unique electronic and somewhat funky sound that, combined with Erlend’s silky smooth Norwegian voice is hard not to bop your head to. As far as stage presence, when Erlend walked on the first thing I thought was that he looked like Bill Gates, but where he lacks in style he makes up in tight melody. This was WBA’s second time playing in North America (they made a stop in San Francisco to play at a small venue called Slim’s which I’ve heard was equally as amazing) and I certainly hope they plan a more extensive tour that includes Toronto because I would love to see these guys at a more intimate venue.

Two: Thom Yorke

On the Coachella set list he was billed as Thom Yorke????, which most people thought was a typo, but apparently when he assembled his super group (who play with him on tour) of Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker and Mauro Refosco they never managed to name themselves so they stuck with the ever mysterious Thom Yorke????.

I’m big fan of Radiohead, but have never seen them live so could not understand the cult following they garnered and the immediacy at which their lives shows sold out. Boy do I realize why now! Thom Yorke has one of the strongest and most beautiful voices live, even heard from way at the back of an outdoor stage. He played his entire Eraser album, beginning with the slower songs and slowly building with the harder driving electro-heavy tunes.

Thom does it all, during the set he sang, played guitar, piano, keyboard and percussion. While his Eraser set was nothing short of jaw-dropping, I would say most people lingered around to catch some Radiohead tunes. Knowing this Thom closed with an acoustic version of Airbag (OK Computer) and a classic, Everything in its Right Place (Kid A, Radioheads closest album to The Eraser). I was blown away with Thom’s talent and cannot wait for what comes next, whether it be Radiohead or another solo album.

Three: Gorillaz

Gorillaz headlined the last day of Coachella and went on right after Thom Yorke at the main stage. Before the festival I hadn’t heard much of their new Plastic Beach album but I was a big fan of their debut Demon Days. Gorillaz is made up of Damon Albarn, formally of Blur and Jamie Hewlett, the mastermind behind the famous Gorillaz comic book cartoons. Now if you’ve ever listened to a Gorillaz album you’ll know that it’s heavy on collaborations and it crosses all musical genres so I was wondering how the hell they would pull off a live show.

They opened with a video of Snoop Dogg singing Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach, now we were pretty far back in the crowd so our surrounding concert goers thought Snoop was actually on stage which stirred some hype! Unfortunately Snoop was not actually there, but from where I was standing I could see that with Damon on the keyboard and vocals, they had back-up singers, a string quartet and various other members.

They played most of their classics; Kids With Guns, Clint Eastwood, Last Living Souls as well as most from their new album including my favourites Stylo (which featured Bobby Womack) and Melancholy Hill (they did not play DARE). Gorillaz closed their set and the entire festival with Feel Good Inc alongside De La Soul. Between the cartoons playing on the big screen, their backup ensemble and the truly original sound of Gorrillaz I was definitely impressed that they rocked a live show so well.

Concert Review: Alcest, April 23, Hard Luck Bar

Posted on April 28, 2010 by Paul in Concerts, Everything | 1 Comment

Alcest

Toronto – Black metal and shoegaze – two great tastes that tastes great together?  In the case of French band Alcest, the answer to that question is probably yes.  But the real question would be whether they could pull it off live.  The answer again – yes.  But more on that later.

First, a few words on the opening band.  Unlike Alcest, Monarque do not mix their genres.  They played straight ahead black metal, complete with (fake) spiked gauntlet wristbands, kind of crappy looking runny makeup and a candelabra on stage.  Lit candles?  Did they learn nothing from the Great White tragedy?  Regardless of the quality of their makeup (and the fact that, as my friend Chad pointed out, they looked “like they take themselves too seriously”), they were a pretty solid band.

On to Alcest.  The French band is reminiscent of bands like Mogwai, Jesu, and of course My Bloody Valentine (you can’t not be at least a bit influenced by them if you’re playing shoegaze inspired music) with of course the requisite shrieky black metal vocals and blastbeat drumming.  In order to keep the mood mostly kind of dreamy though, they kept the vocals mostly clean until near the end of the set.  And the guitars were … well, shoegazey.  I guess that’s the best way to describe it.  But totally metal, too, if that makes sense.  I dunno, they were pretty good.  Here’s a video from the show (with admittedly really low sound quality):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31S89O8wnRg 

Hot Docs Review: Leave Them Laughing [2010, John Zaritsky]

Posted on April 27, 2010 by Allison in Everything, Hot Docs | Leave a comment

After the disappointment of the very cardboard documentary about the Magnetic Fields, I switched gears entirely to Leave Them Laughing, a documentary featuring one-woman entertainment machine (and Canadian) Carla Zilbersmith. A lead singer, comedienne, actress, teacher, and mother, her rapid deterioration to Lou Gehrig’s Disease sucks you in. In the first few minutes of the film I had written her off as a saucier, iller Rita Rudner but there are truly funny and genuine moments in this doc, regardless of how cliched they are.

Again, I reiterate that the reason this film (somewhat) works is because of Zilbersmith’s willingness to bear it all on camera. Her greatest fears seem real, her relationship with her son is unique, and even her most gaggingly “Bucket List” moments engage us. She has a wicked sense of humor throughout, peppered inbetween a horribly long-running routine about her world condom collection.

35% of the film features  nauseating triteness. There’s the bitter divorce routine (her husband left her for a 20-something before she was diagnosed) where she tosses her wedding ring into the ocean with a bunch of girlfriends, the “I need to have sex too” routine (which I admit sounded a little too close to home),  the tender moments with the teenage son who’s taking care of her (“life isn’t fair but don’t let this disappointing moment define you”), and her last bow routine (during her final live musical performance).

There are a couple of moments that surprised me.  Most notably her tongue-in-cheek trek to the Holy Land Experience, where she jokingly wants to present the Jesus performer with a heart shaped box of chocolates and a seasonal teddy bear, only to break down in tears when the Sheppard Girl is so touched by her story she fails to pick up on the joke. There is also her hilarious blog, which her son now updates. It seems Carla is on her last leg, and her ability to laugh at herself while calling herself a dried out cripple is pretty admirable.

Leave Them Laughing is co-presented with ALS Society of Ontario and is showing on:

Thu, May 06 9:15 pm, Isabel Bader Theatre
Sat, May 08 3:15 pm, Bloor Cinema

Hot Docs Review: Strange Powers: Stephin Merrit and the Magnetic Fields [2010, Kerthy Fix and Gail O’Hara]

Posted on April 27, 2010 by Allison in Hot Docs, Reviews | 2 Comments

While watching Strange Powers: Stephin Merrit and the Magnetic Fields, I was reminded of the following Seinfeld moment:

RUSSELL: No stories? So, what is it?

GEORGE: What’d you do today?

RUSSELL: I got up and came to work.

GEORGE: There’s a show. That’s a show.

RUSSELL: (Confused) How is that a show?

JERRY: Well, uh, maybe something happens on the way to work.

GEORGE: No, no, no. Nothing happens.

JERRY: Well, something happens.

RUSSELL: Well, why am I watching it?

GEORGE: Because it’s on TV.

http://www.wiretotheear.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/the_magnetic_fields.jpg

Don’t get me wrong. I love the Magnetic Fields. I credit them, and specifically Stephin Merrit, as a legitimate grandfather of this phenomenon sweepingly known as “indie rock”. They were college radio before indie rock was even suckling at its teet. All of the coolest kids I knew in high school were listening to 69 Love Songs back in the mid-late 90’s and the one uberhip friend I had (and am still friends with today) was telling me about them before they were on any music journalist’s radar.

Here is the problem I have with Strange Powers: it is a band documentary for the sake of being a band documentary, and just when you think it starts digging deeper into the more interesting personalities (Merrit himself comes across as dually witty and incredibly boring) and relationships (band manager and co-collaborator Claudia Gonson is Merrit’s surrogate mother slash non-sexual life partner), there is pullback into a stage performance, or a sudden pan to cable-access type staging around collections of the band’s CD’s. I continuously got this overwhelming sense that there were interesting stories to tell that the filmmakers hadn’t fully uncovered.

Best stories that they barely scratched the surface on:

  • Sam Davol (cellist) and John Woo (banjo, guitar) are revealed to be something of the equivalent to session musicians in the band; Sam talks about this honestly for a bit, but ultimately holds back–I felt they didn’t do these gentlemen justice with their interviews.
  • Stephin’s non-existent relationship with his folk singer father, Scott Fagan (whom to this day, he has never even met)

Too much:

  • Claudia and Stephin’s relationship is interesting in that they have been close friends since high school, but unfortunately even their bickering is dull
  • Extraordinarily ordinary concert footage
  • Incorporation of the fact that Merrit is gay – when the only “significant other” featured can only add that “when you’re in a relationship with Stephin you’re in a relationship with Claudia” (cue the Will & Grace theme song), why even feature it?
  • Literal cataloging of the creative musical process — as fun as it sounds to watch brilliant musicians jot down notes and lyrics, I’d rate it as being about as engaging as watching Chia seeds sprout (with the seeds marginally winning)

Overall, I’d say that without a keen eye for creative research, a documentary about someone as private as Merrit is pointless. This is not to say that there weren’t intriguing stories that the filmmakers told, most notably about the accusations against Stephin being a “pretentious racist cracker” and some priceless footage captured on AM Atlanta in which the cheery male host attempts to engage him only to elicit mildly funny one-word answers.

Stephin Merrit may be many things: Brilliant wordsmith, college radio hero, NYC icon, well-read and educated, charmingly depressing, but at the end of the day, a documentary subject who is unwilling to open the doors to a director is better left unprodded.

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