diamond rings

Summerworks: Diamond Rings, PS I Love You, August 11, Upper Ossington Theatre

Posted on August 12, 2010 by Ricky in Summerworks | 3 Comments

Toronto – A very good Wednesday night at Summerworks was spoiled when we walked to the House of Poutini after the show and realized it was closed. Having played a soccer game, going home, eating a quick and small portion of black bean salad and then going to the show, I didn’t have the chance for a proper dinner. The show was great and I wanted to cap it off with poutine. They were CLOSED. Amazing. I wasn’t aware it was Wednesday. Worse of all, I dragged fellow bloggers Jen Polk and Joe from Mechanical Forest Sound along with me on my quest to fill my stomach with potatoes, cheese curds and gravy. Now they were there standing with me, dejected, empty handed and probably hungry. I felt that perhaps this was my White Castle moment, only I wasn’t high. I wasn’t even drunk, despite sneaking in a small little bottle of cognac into the theatre.

The Diamond Rings set at Summerworks Festival ended with a new song for an encore, called Leftovers. With PS I Love You on stage with him, this song definitely had a strong almost new wave meets grunge rock vibe to it, and it was good. Each line of the song was punctuated by a WOOOOOAH that might have sounded contrived if it didn’t sound so good. I’ve concluded that John O’Regan can write a perfect pop hook in his sleep.

One of the beautiful things about local shows is that you know if their friends are in town or something, they’ll show up for the set and there will be some kind of collaboration. This was such the case for the last two songs of the Diamond Rings set, when PS I Love You was invited back up on stage to do the two biggest hits of each act – Facelove and All Yr Songs. Both songs sounded awesome and I marveled at how good the rock version of All Yr Songs sounds live. That song is probably the perfect pop song, the hook on it is amazing. You get the feeling if someone like Rihanna got a hold of it, it would become the biggest song of the summer. The drummer and guitar added a nice rock feel to it that I enjoy. PS I Love You’s Paul Saulnier is quite a talented guitarist and I enjoyed the nice guitar solo he added to that song. Luckily for us, Joe from Mechanical Forest Sounds recorded it so you too, can enjoy it.

Having seen Diamond Rings a few times, I was quite please to hear some tunes I had never heard before. All of it was good. I like how he occasionally incorporates 90s style mid song raps into his songs. I think that was influenced by New Kids on the Block, where during the middle of a pop song, Donnie Wahlberg would deliver a rap out of nowhere. The more I listen to Diamond Rings, the more I realize it’s a great homage to 90s style pop music, mixed in with the electronic DIY influences of the 2000s. It’s a great blend of nostalgia and freshness. Naturally, the singles Show Me Your Stuff and Wait and See got the best responses from the audience, which was, for once, a nice balance of girls and boys. Did I mention I love summers?

When Diamond Rings took the stage wearing some sort of makeup with a 1992 Blue Jays shirt, I was once again reminded of how much stage presence the dude has. It’s quite hard to be up there on stage all by yourself but John O’Regan pulls it off quite naturally and his appearance instantly commands your attention. The crowd, which was half sitting and half standing during the PS I Love You set, instantly crowded up a little closer when he took the stage.

I was so glad that the intermission between acts wasn’t as long as the intermission for the Hidden Cameras show on Friday. That intermission was so long, I could have went home, marinated some ribs, put it in the fridge for awhile, pulled it out, go to hardware store and buy a smoker, hike into the forest and cut down some hickory or mesquite wood, go home, set up the smoker, cook the ribs and then ate it. This intermission was nice and brief.

Openers PS I Love You impressed me with their set. As you may recall, I wasn’t overly impressed with their set at NXNE. I think that was partially because of who came before them (Japandroids) and the time of the night (1 am). This time around, I got a nice dose of 90s era grunge rock. I didn’t hear the track Facelove, but I guess that was a surprise for later. For a band with just one guitarist and one drummer, they made quite a racket and their songs while immersed in a dense guitar sound did have elements of pop to it, with Paul Saulnier showing us his different vocal ranges with some of his screams and yells.

In case you didn’t know, PS I Love You and Diamond Rings are two acts that are quickly rising through the music scene. Diamond Rings has been a Pitchfork endorsed youtube sensation with his videos All Yr Songs, Wait and See and Show Me Your Stuff and PS I Love You released a critically acclaimed single/EP last year as well. Both acts were playing at the Upper Ossington Theatre as a part of the Summerworks Festival.

I went into the Ossington Theatre on Wednesday expecting a good show and it was delivered as promised.

I re-watched the movie Memento earlier this week. It was good.

Diamond Rings feat PS I Love You – All Yr Songs (live 2010-08-11) by panicmanual

Summerworks Festival: Music Preview

Posted on August 4, 2010 by Ricky in Summerworks | 2 Comments

Toronto – August usually brings a few things to Toronto – heat, the Beer Festival, the Taste of Danforth, some sort of strike, really high utility bills and the Summerworks Festival. Now in it’s 20th year in existence, the Summerworks festival celebrates the best of Toronto’s thriving indie theatre and arts scene. Recently, they have also incorporated a music portion to this festival as well and this year the lineup features an impressive list of performers. Lets take a look at some of the acts.

The Hidden Cameras

August 5th and August 6th.

It only seemed yesterday when the Hidden Cameras released their single Ban Marriage and people were saying they were like a Canadian Belle and Sebastian, only gayer. Mississauga’s favorite band, the Hidden Cameras are arguably the biggest draw at Summerworks and will be playing two shows to kick off the festival. Seeing how this is a Toronto show, look for some “special” guest appearances.

The Hidden Cameras – Kingdom Come (Hidrogenesse Remix) by ArtsandCrafts

Diamond Rings, PS I Love You

August 11th

Anyone who has seen or heard Diamond Rings will know it’s just a matter of time before the glammed up John O’Regan becomes one of the bigger indie-electro music acts around. The songs are fantastic 80s influenced synth pop and the videos are visually arresting. He’ll be teaming up with his buddies in PS I Love You for a nice showcase on Wednesday night. PS I Love You failed to make an impression on me at NXNE, but they went after Japandroids, which is a tough act to follow.

Diamond Rings – Wait & See by Royalty Central

PS I Love You – Facelove by wavelengthtoronto

Wilderness of Manitoba, The Weather Station

Aug 12

The Wilderness of Manitoba are riding a nice wave of positive reviews from their latest release – When You Left the Fire. Expect some good vocal harmonies and a bowl. I have no real idea who The Weather Station are, but my friend Jen Polk said it was a band that’s her type of music, so it’s probably quiet folky music with some nicely layered acoustics. It’s during these shows I am most afraid my phone will go off and I accidentally forget to switch it to vibrate. It’s called showinterupptphobia, I think.

The Wilderness of Manitoba – “Evening” by wavelengthtoronto

The Weather Station – “March” by wavelengthtoronto

The following bands are pay what you can acts. Here’s a quicky preview. Maylee Todd is someone I’ve seen several times and have generally come away impressed. She has a nice voice and her soul-disco-bossa music is quite unique. Laura Barrett is Wade’s eternal crush so I figure I will check her out base on that alone. I also want to see her use the Kalimba. Ghost Bees were one of the weirdest acts I’ve seen, but I am interested to see them again because of that. Also, Mark almost singlehandedly sabotaged their NXNE showcase at C’est What with his loud talking so I feel like we might have to make up for that.

For a more in-depth look at Summerworks, check out Joe’s blog: Mechanical Forest Sounds. Joe actually knows the local music scene really well and digs deep into it.

Maylee Todd – Summer Sounds by Do Right

Laura Barrett – Bluebird by wavelengthtoronto

Brian will be checking in sometime this week with a theatre preview!

Concert Review: Fucked Up, Kurt Vile, The D’Urbervilles, Give, Peasant. Feb. 26, The Opera House

Posted on February 27, 2010 by Paul in Concerts, Everything | 4 Comments

Toronto – “So this is an interesting evening … I think, anyways.”  These were the words of Peasant, AKA Damien DeRose, as he began his set this evening, and truer words were never spoken.  This was certainly an interesting evening, one full of a wide range of musicians and a lively crowd.

Peasant started the night off early, playing a short but sweet unaccompanied set of acoustic guitar based songs which brought to mind performers such as Elliott Smith or Badly Drawn Boy.  The crowd was pretty sparse at this point, leading to the somewhat odd sight of one man playing to a largely empty and cavernous seeming Opera House.  This may have inspired his comment of this being an interesting night, or perhaps it was the fact that he was almost the sonic opposite of the night’s headliners.  Still, a small group listened appreciatively.  His gentle folky songs were a nice way to start off the night  and he had a funny off the cuff manner of interacting with the crowd, telling them about how his shoes were wet from the snow and joking about how he was “a little scared” about playing this show.

Next up was Give, who I believe are from Washington.  They were OK, but pretty unremarkable.  Sounded kind of like a mix of ’90s grunge (the really obscure kind made by bands that never made it big) and hardcore with a singer who sounded a little bit like Glenn Danzig.  Also, I swear they started off one of their songs with the intro to Pearl Jam’s “Even Flow.”

The D’urbervilles are a local band fronted by John O’Regan, who also performs as Diamond Rings.  They played some synth heavy, punkish indie rock tunes that at times had hints of ’80s Rush (at least in terms of the types of sounds the syths were making – they actually sound nothing like Rush.  But if you’re reading this, D’Urbervilles, a Rush cover would be pretty sweet.  I’m just sayin’.).  O’Regan was an engaging frontman, switching between guitar and synth and dancing.  Also, their bass player looks a little bit like Morgan Grimes from Chuck, which, combined with the 3 synths on stage, made me think of Jeffster.  Unfortunately, Jeffster would not be appearing tonight. 

Kurt Vile took to the stage and definitely switched things up a bit.  Playing along with one other guy, who accompanied him on guitar and percussion (as well as with Fucked Up drummer Jonah Falco joining him for one song), Vile delivered a set full of spacey , bluesy psychey tunes.  For 2 guys, they made a fair bit of noise.  While the Philedelphia singer has been compared to Springsteen and Tom Petty, I heard a bit of a Spacemen 3/Spiritualized vibe or maybe even hints of The Verve in his sound.   Kurt Vile also brought one of my favourite moments of the night when a heckler shouted “You Suck!” after his first song.  His response: “Your mom.” delivered in a total deadpan and filtered through the reverb and echo effects on his mic. 

Another favourite moment from the night came between bands, when a crowd of hockey fans gathered near the back bar and cheered loudly when Canada won.  Shortly after this, Fucked Up took to the stage and began playing their album, The Chemistry of Common Life in it’s entirety.  They were joined by guest stars galore, including a flautist, a bunch of backing vocalists and for several songs, former Deadly Snake Max McCabe-Lokos.  It was a high energy set – for both band and fans.  It’s been awhile since I’ve seen that many people stage diving.  Unfortunately, one individual got a bit too excited and strangely attacked a friend of the band who had briefly taken the mic.  This excitable idiot was taken off stage and thrown out of the club.  Regardless, the show went on from there and even continued on after it was done with an after party at Blue Moon, a bar three doors over from The Opera House. 

An interesting evening indeed.