Toronto – The music of The Pack A.D. represents pretty much how you’ll feel after attending any music festival – a bit rock and roll, a bit dirty, a bit sleazy and a bit cooler then you thought you could ever be. The Pack AD are from Vancouver and consists of two girls – Becky Black on guitar and Maya Miller on the drums. They like to pound the shit out of their instruments. I saw them at Sneaky Dees for NXNE a few years ago and they definitely left an impression. They had the same effect on Wade at Pop Montreal. Basically, you will like them live. The Pack AD played over 150 shows last year, and this year appears to be no different as they’ll be bringing their blend of bluesy no bullshit rock and roll to five SXSW showcases.
SXSW March 18 AFM Party @ Canada House – Austin, TX
SXSW March 18 Mint/Six Shooter Hootenanny @ Headhunters – Austin, TX
SXSW March 18 The Best Damn Day of Duo’s ever @ Pie Guys Pizza – Austin, TX
SXSW March 19 Buddyhead.com Day Party – Austin, TX
SXSW March 19 Showcase @ Jaime’s Spanish Villa – Austin, TX
Toronto – So there’s two big festivals going on in march – SXSW and CMW, so in the next few weeks, we’ll be posting up some random stuff about bands that are playing at these festivals. First up is Floridian band Surfer Blood. These guys are currently riding a wave of critical acclaim (Pitchfork gave it 8.2) into Austin and you can be sure their showcases will be packed. Their album Astro Coast was released on January 19th and reviews have generally been favorable. Also, they have TWO songs named after a WWF catchphrase (“jabroni”). It’s kind of hard to pin point what kind of music they sound like. I guess it’s mostly indie power pop, filled with big riffs, occasional feedback and reverb. Check out the song Swim, aside from all the big elements I just mentioned, it also has a Vampire Weekend-ish instrumental in the middle.
Surfer Blood will also be at Sneaky Dees, March 6th as well as at SXSW.
Toronto – Yup, your favorite trip hoppers are touring North America once again. I saw them last time at the Carlu (2006) and it was my favorite concert of that year, they even brought Liz Frasor and Horace Andy. People were passing out, it was so good (or crowded). Highly recommended. I will even venture to the fifth level of Hell (aka the Sound Academy) for this one. Here are the tour dates thus far:
Massive Attack – 2010 North American Tour Dates
5/07 Toronto, ON – Sound Academy
5/09 Toronto, ON – Sound Academy
5/11 NYC, NY – Terminal 5
5/12 NYC, NY – Terminal 5
5/18 Los Angeles, CA – Wiltern Theater
5/19 Los Angeles, CA – Wiltern Theater
5/25 San Francisco, CA – Warfield Theater
5/27 San Francisco, CA – Warfiled Theater
5/30 George, WA – Sasquatch Festival
Toronto – With two Swedish bands playing, it was Nordic night at The Mod Club. In fact, taking into account the documentary on Norwegian black metal that I saw on Saturday, this was a whole Nordic themed weekend for me … but I digress. I will add though that El Perro Del Mar and Taken By Trees seem much nicer than Count Grischnach and are highly unlikely to burn down any churches.
When I arrived at the club, Taken By Trees were already more than halfway through their set, which was a bit disappointing as they sounded really good, a bit reminiscent of bands like Belle and Sebastien or Camera Obscura, but with maybe a bit more of an exotic vibe. They incorporated some bongos into their sound at times and the keyboard player had a nice trippy flute type sound he used from time to time, giving me the impression of the aforementioned bands jamming with Rick Wakeman or Kitaro. Awesome. The trippiness was further enhanced by the video screens showing nature images in a loop – things like flowers, raccoons, and what I think was people riding horses through the water. One of their last few songs was introduced as “a rare song … a b-side” and it ended up being the best of the bunch in my opinion, having a bit of a twangy vibe.
After a break, El Perro del Mar took the stage and I was surprised to find that singer Sarah Assbring was backed up by the same band that made up Taken by Trees (minus the keyboard guy). This is a good thing as they were a pretty solid band. The rhythm section was especially impressive, with the drummer hitting harder than I had expected and the bass was loud as hell, maybe a bit too loud at times, at least from where I was standing for the first few songs. Still, the bassist laid down some solid grooves, even sounding a bit dubby at times.
Sarah Assbring has a powerful voice and put it to good use this night. While singing, she alternated between playing an acoustic guitar and doing a sort of swaying dance that reminded me of something you might see from an 80s pop group like Bananarama or Boy George (I know he’s not a “group” but you get what I’m saying and besides I’m not sure if the other members of Culture Club did much dancing) or maybe a scene from some long lost John Hughes movie set in Sweden. The songs ranged from slightly uptempo tunes to some more downbeat yet lush sounding ballads like “It Is Something (To Have Wept).” She also engaged the crowd with some awkward but endearing attempts at stage banter that didn’t always elicit much response. That could have something to do with the fact that it was a Sunday, something she herself mentioned on stage.
“I know it’s a Sunday, but we’re going to try and get a groove going.” she said. They did.
