beach house

Album Review: Morcheeba – Blood Like Lemonade

Posted on July 7, 2010 by Ricky in Albums, Music | 2 Comments

Toronto – I’ve always liked the idea of Morcheeba – good relaxing down tempo music featuring the smooth sultry voice of one Skye Edwards. Little did I know that she was actually dismissed in 2003 and the last two albums – The Antidote and Dive Deep were made without her. Despite liking the idea of Morcheeba, I had never fully submerge into their discography. However, after listening to their seventh album – Blood Like Lemonade, I think I will definitely take a trip into their world.

Blood Like Lemonade features the return of Skye Edwards and also, as Paul Godfrey says, “it sounds like Morcheeba”. I am assuming they took a departure from their sound in the past two albums and did not find great success. So what does Morcheeba sound like? It’s a blend of trip hop, soul and r & b. It’s music you want to listen to if you are sipping a fancy, yet heavy drink at a lounge in your best suit. It’s music you want to put on when you return home after a heavy night of partying and want to reflect on your life. Basically, it’s a soundtrack to low key adventures in the night. Skye Edwards voice has a nice whispy, soulful sound to it, her vocals sound so effortless, yet it is probably difficult to duplicate.

Lead single Even Though is as smooth and catchy as they come. Heavy breathing, catchy chorus, tender guitars and la-de-da-da, it’s bound for radio play somewhere. The rest of the album is equally good, and it’s nice to listen to albums with a nice cohesive sound. Morcheeba, like Beach House and The XX before that, are great in that they are albums I like to just put on and listen to it in it’s entirety, which of course, makes it difficult to single out songs. However, Morcheeba’s Paul Godfrey has already done that, go here to read up on his take on the album, song by song.

The trip hop/rnb type sound is mostly mood music, and Morcheeba’s Blood Like Lemonade can be a great soundtrack to your life when the time is right.

Morcheeba – Even Though by Any Groove

Album Review: Suckers – Wild Smile [2010, French Kiss]

Posted on July 5, 2010 by Ricky in Albums | 5 Comments

Toronto – This review has been a long time coming. If you look at my top 10 artists that I listen to while I’m at work for the last 3 months, you will see a band called Suckers near the top list:

Well, who are these guys? Suckers is the latest band from white hot label French Kiss to put out a truly excellent album. At this point, I’m willing to try anything this label puts out. Suckers is a quartet from Brooklyn and Wild Smile is their debut album. The album is good enough so that I can comfortably ignore the band name.

Sounding a bit like Wolf Parade, a bit like Modest Mouse and a bit like every other band you’ve come to enjoy, Wild Smile strikes an instant chord with it’s artsy guitar rock vibe. However, there’s more then that – falsetto wailings, gang vocals, tribal drums and catchy dramatic choruses all make frequent visits throughout songs like opener Save Your Love For Me, Black Sheep, the slow building A Mind I Knew and the surefire classic, It Gets Your Body Movin.

Aside from perhaps Beach House, I would say there is no other album I’ve enjoyed more this year. The strength of the entire album keeps me from ever leaving this album out of my rotation for too long. I asked Gary what he thinks this sounds like and he thinks its reminiscent of some britpop albums, everyone I ask has different opinions on what it sounds like, but there is always a constant – we’ve always compared it to something really like, and that’s because this album is something we really like.

Suckers – Roman Candles by tadpolegames

Check out the video for Black Sheep here

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:

 

icon for podpress  Hot Chip – Boys From School: Play Now

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”.

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