beach house

Concert Review: Wye Oak, Lou Barlow, August 28, Horseshoe Tavern

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Allison in Concerts, Music | 4 Comments

Toronto – Saturday night, the Horseshoe Tavern turned into a Merge Records showcase with Maryland duo Wye Oak and legendary rocker Lou Barlow with his new band the missingmen.

Although I walked in towards the end of their first song, I could tell that Wye Oak has already attracted a following. Unbeknownst to me, this girl/boy duo has been around since around 2006, showing me that there’s something in the water in Baltimore.

It’s difficult to resist the temptation to at least make superficial comparisons with Beach House, our favorite duo of 2010. Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner has the same husky soulful leanings as Ms. Legrand; Andy Stack’s drumming and keyboards is a parallel reversal of Alex Scally’s guitar work. I’m not saying Wye Oak is the bizarro-world Beach House–they’re notably noisier, thrashier, and higher energy, but it’s reassuring to know that the two bands are good friends. Jenn Wasner showed a flair for interacting with the audience, and I’m sure her solicitation for a Canadian Spouse will be met with a shitload of offers.

Best: I Hope You Die off My Neighbor / My Creator EP

From Backstage Rider

Next came the legendary Lou Barlow, who had confessed he was napping backstage before his set. There are a few people in this world that have always oozed the intrigue of 90’s cool, but Lou is definitely one of those people. It kind of grinds my gears that to this day, he seems to be almost as associated with Dinosaur Jr. as he is with Sebadoh, Folk Implosion, his plethora of hybrid side projects, or solo career.

He started off without his band, playing an acoustic set comprised of a historic rainbow, not dissimilar to what I had read about his Carrboro North Carolina show last week. What surprised me about his solo set though, was that I actually found it highlighted how hard it is to tame a venue like the Horseshoe due to the bar set-up outside of the performance area. The crowd was a decent size, but I would say that the bulk of attendees not directly around the stage area were there to go out on a Saturday night, making it one of the chattiest shows I’ve been to in a long time (and though he may not have cared, I found this unacceptable for Lou fucking Barlow).

As readers of the blog will know, this is definitely my crotchety old lady pet gripe about Toronto show goers. I can relax this policy for enthusiastic fans (and there were several upfront); but for people wanting to talk about how so-and-so is a bitch because they used your name in a text message, it’s just not cool. It’s just plain disrespectful, and I would not do that to anyone I had paid to go and see perform.

Now that we have that out of the way, I’ll admit that I probably would not have noticed the background noise at all, had the one-man aspect of his set not highlighted it. I have covered the difficulties of completely solo performance before, but I’m glad that Lou’s glistening catalogue saved it from deteriorating into a level of discomfort. For me, and I’m sure for a lot of the younger (read, younger in this case would mean 35 and under) attendees, hearing songs like “Magnet’s Coil”, “Too Pure”, “Soul and Fire”, and especially, “On Fire” live is something that is irreplaceable. His voice is still beautiful, and he has passionate stories about bootlegs gone wrong (someone had mentioned the “Life in Japan” bootleg, which a band member had angrily made and distributed when he was told they wouldn’t cover the cost of admitting his girlfriend into the show).

The second part of his set involved Mike Watt’s (the illustrious punk bassist’s band has purchased a lot of Kinder Surprise eggs and YOP in Canada) missingmen  joining him onstage to perform his more recent stuff. To me, this was what really blew me away…after all of these years, Barlow is still churning out high caliber music and it’s unfair to expect him to be a one-trick jukebox of past Sebadoh / Folk Implosion tunes. I actually felt that this half of the set was the best thing about the show, bringing a much needed energy / interaction and effectively shutting up all of the background chatty cathys. Goodnight, Unknown and Emoh are both great releases that I have left lingering on the shelf because I haven’t made the effort to re-conceptualize an artist after a long period of neglect.

Barlow came out again on his own to perform a solo encore with what I think was a ukelele for the first few songs. Together or Alone and On Fire were the big standouts here, and when 1:15 A.M. rolled around, he was still going strong with even more. The reviews have been consistent with marathon-long sets and encores, and you can rest assured that if you see these guys on this tour, you’re going to get your money’s worth.

Concert Review: Hot Chip & The XX, April 20, Kool Haus

Posted on April 21, 2010 by Ricky in Concerts | 4 Comments

Toronto – Rarely do you see a double bill of epic proportions. Both The XX and Hot Chip could have sold out many venues in Toronto by themselves, yet they have chosen to join forces like Crosby and Malkin and take over the Kool Haus for one night. The show was beyond sold out and I was lucky enough to have tickets for the show. Having seen and loved both bands live before, I was quite excited for the show.

The XX

I like to do this thing called ‘call the venue beforehand and ask for set times’. I did this, and the women on the other end on the phone said that The XX was going to be on at 9:45. Great! I thought. I would have time to watch most of the Pens-Sens game and then go to the Kool Haus. Since when are bands ever on time? Well, not only was the XX on time, but they were early! I was shocked when my coworker texted me at 9:35 and said that the band just took the stage. Luckily, Toronto is a city of cabs and we were able to get one right away. However, the cab driver did not know where the Kool Haus is. How is that even possible? If I was a cab driver, I would scope out all the concerts and show up right when the show ends and take all the 905ers back to the suburbanite basements where they belong. Clearly this man had spent too much time studying medicine or neurosurgery and not enough time studying traffic routes in whatever country he had come from.

Arriving at the Kool Haus at around 9:45, I gathered we had missed about two or three XX songs. Bummer for Gary I guess. The XX must really hate England or have some severe gambling debts back home, for they have been touring FOREVER since their album came out, and this is their third show in Toronto since December. Having seen them in December, there has been notable growth in their live performance. The band is definitely more calm on stage and definitely have developed the confidence to tweak a lot of their songs in the live environment. The set was more or less identical to their set at SXSW, right down to the crazy drumming at the end of Infinity by Oliver Sim. As you would expect, they played all the songs off their debut album. The vocals were somewhat muffled by the Kool Haus sound system, which was a shame. The crowd was mostly enthusiastic for the band but there were definitely some chatty betty’s in the crowd and considering the XX’s music contains some quiet parts, that was quite the distraction.

All in all, a good showing by The XX. Even though they aren’t very lively on stage, their music speaks for itself. You can see them many times and still get shivers whenever Infinity or Basic Space places.

Hot Chip

Judging by the colorful nature of the crowd’s fashion choices, I would say most people were here for Hot Chip. The London band was in town to promote their latest album – One Life Stand. I’ve seen Hot Chip twice already, so I knew what to expect – a good dance session. I skipped my gym workout Tuesday night because I figure I’d get my exercise in at this show. I was correct. Going to a Hot Chip concert is like going to any other electronic act – if you aren’t dancing, then you will not enjoy the concert. That’s what their music and shows are about. If you want to stand there and sway, then go to Beach House or She and Him. Hot Chip is for people who like to dance. Having said that, I felt kinda sorry for all the people cramped in the middle of the Kool Haus. The show was sold out, so unless you were off to the side (like we were), you were pretty crammed in. This does not bode well for dancing and so I figure most of the people in the middle did not have as great a time.

Hot Chip played around 80 minutes. The set consisted of a handful of tunes off their new album and some carefully chosen numbers from previous recording. I am not that familiar with their new material but Thieves in the Night, One Life Stand and the single I Feel Better (in the encore) got some good reception. For my money, Over and Over is still their best song and the crowd went bonkers for that tune. I kind of described what that song is like live in my review of their last show. Other classic Hot Chip tunes played included A Boy From School, Hold On and set closer Ready for the Floor. Needless to say, the Kool Haus was transformed into a sweaty dance pit.

Overall, a great night of music, featuring two bands of extremely different sounds. Both were great and you can’t really ask for more.

Check out the new XX video, Islands, here:

Concert Review: Beach House, March 30, Opera House

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Allison in Concerts, Everything | 6 Comments


Ricky’s magic* iPhone photography ©2010

With an album like Teen Dream, it’s no surprise that 2010 has been Beach House‘s mass (I use this term loosely)-breakout year. Yeah yeah, I know Pitchfork loved them after their debut in 2006, but no one I know was really paying attention at that time. Flash forward four years to 2010 and they are playing to sold-out crowds all across major cities North of El Rio Grande.

It has been a bit of a slow burn for Baltimore duo Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, which in today’s fully internet-driven flash-in-the-pan indie world is I think, a good thing. They have attracted quite the following three albums in and, as is known to most Panic Manual-ers, have made me absolutely smitten.  Teen Dream is already my top pick for best of 2010 and while the year is still young I can guarantee you that they will not be dislodged from a top three placing. I often think of this album in majestic road trip terms and wide open spaces, empty highways and emotional freedom.

The show itself was a Teen Dream exhibition. The duo (and touring drummer whose name I couldn’t rustle up) hasn’t been in Toronto for two years, and only a small selection of Devotion songs were hand-picked. Fine by me. Hearing Teen Dream in its entirety was something I was hoping for but not fully expecting. They went on right as planned at 10:30 and barely paused to catch their breath for the next hour. Light attempts at chit-chat were made and other than a couple of awkward mumblings by Alex, Victoria handled most of it blurting out “We built this city on rock and roll…wait, why did I just say that? Sorry that was one of those dorky moments…”. She also won more hearts over by saying “Toronto is one of those cities that for one reason or another, is magical”.

Ricky has noted that their performance was kind of akin to listening to the album on an iPod in Shuffle mode with the volume turned up. I can’t really argue with that–their set was impeccable but lacked any serious variation from the studio recordings, which begs the question of “Should a band sound different live than they do on their album?” This is one that continuously comes up and my answer is always, if the band created an air of intimacy, I couldn’t care less if their show is a  note for note replica, because there are bound to be subtle differences either way. As always, I thought the percussion was a lot more prominent live than on the album. Other observations: that Alex’s guitar was just a bit too quiet, that Victoria sounds like a more soulful kick-ass 21-st century version of Kim Carnes (the one hit husky smoker voiced Bette Davis Eyes vocalist), and that Sub Pop really needs to give their more prominent up and coming bands more than $30 to spend at a party supply store.

So what the heck was up with those twirling Christmas-ornament things, anyway?

Furthermore, what was up with Alex Scally’s pr0n star moustache (for the love of God you’re a good looking guy–please shave it off!), Victoria Legrand’s shoulder-padded white three-quarter lengthed blazer, Dynasty gold jewelry, and cut off  arm warmers, and the lack of Apple Orchard throughout the set? The truth is, that at the end of the day none of this really matters. Beach House delivered a spine-tingly sonic yet mellowly acoustic show last night. Well worth every penny of the $14 I paid.

SET LIST: (thanks to teshsayspeace)

Walk in the Park
Lover of Mine
Gila
Better Times
Norway
Silver Soul
Master of None
Astronaut
Used to Be
Zebra
Heart of Chambers
Take Care

ENCORE:

Real Love
10 Mile Stereo

Best: Walk in the Park, Silver Soul, and I think everyone will agree 10 Mile Stereo all made our heads implode from eargasms.

Wouldn’t it be Nice if: Chamber organs were portable? I’d love to hear these guys in a church someday. The acoustics would be amazing.

*Legal notice: By magic I really mean, “awful”.