NXNE

NXNE Song Of The Day: Andre Williams & The Sadies – I’ll Do Most Anything For Your Love

Posted on by Celeste in Everything, Song of the Day | Leave a comment


My 12th grade English teacher once made the statement that modern music lacked vitality. In her words, when she turned on the radio in her time, “a revolution came out of the speakers” whereas she thought that contemporary music was frivolous and shallow. While I disagree with her (I defy anyone to listen to the likes of Andrew Bird or Fleet Foxes and call them frivolous and shallow), I do think there’s much to be gained by collaboration between older and younger artists, and I think that the collaboration between Andre Williams and The Sadies is a perfect example. The Torontonians and the Midwesterner teamed up for the album “Night & Day”, and they’ll be playing together at NXNE

“I’ll do most anything for your love” is a nice sample from the album, with the Sadies supplying the alt-country infused instrumentals while Williams brings it home with his infectious and surprisingly moving lyrics/rhyming couplets. My only judgment against the song is that I had to listen to it a couple of times before I stopped expecting Meatloaf to bust in and end the line with “but I won’t do that.” The group is playing at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern June 15th if you like what you hear.

NXNE Song Of The Day: Chang-A-Lang: Listen Up Buttercup

Posted on by Celeste in Everything, Song of the Day | Leave a comment

Chang-A-Lang, a Toronto-based trio, has achieved the dream of every twitter-user ever – to be pithy and witty. I can find absolutely nothing on this band besides the following three factoids: the band’s biography is, “WE PLAY! YOU DANCE! CHANG-A-LANG!!! CHANG-A-LANG!!!CHANG-A-LANG!!!”, the band’s interests are, “Watching Golden Girls reruns, playing rock with the roll and Busch beer”, and their influences include ‘foxtrot, electric guitar, communism, the metric system and wedding photos’.

Love it. I’m also really enjoying “Listen Up Buttercup” on their album “No Clean Rock-N-Roll.” Check it out.

Chang-A-Lang play The Hard Luck Bar Saturday June 16th at 10:00pm as part of NXNE

An Eulogy: Broken Social Scene (1999-2011, Coachella 2013-?)

Posted on by Ricky in Everything, Rickys Random Articles | 3 Comments

Toronto – In an interview published earlier today by esteemed online music journal Pitchfork Media, Kevin Drew of the popular Canadian rock band Broken Social Scene declared that the band was going on hiatus indefinitely after concluding their current tour for their most current LP Forgiveness Rock Record. Arguably one of the most significant bands to emerge in Canada in the past fifteen years, the 67 members of Broken Social Scene have done their part in shaping the landscape in Canadian music for years to come. Alumnus of the band have gone on to great success, especially bands such as Stars, Metric and of course, Feist. The abrupt news of their impending hiatus is sure to bring tears of sadness to many music fans all around.

My own experience with this Toronto band has surprisingly been quite minimal. I only saw Broken Social Scene once. It was 2009, during SXSW of all places. I was walking back to my hotel (the Sheraton..yeah THAT one) and it was about 1:15. As I was approaching Stubbs, I quickly remembered that BSS was playing there. Having never seen the band before, I decided to break my SXSW rule (never see a Canadian/Toronto band in Austin) and check out this act. Forgiveness Rock Record was about to be released later on in the summer and I was lucky enough to hear the track The Sweetest Kill performed then. It was a track I enjoyed. Kevin Drew then introduced some very special guests – Emily Haines and James Shaw to perform Anthem for/of/? a Seventeen Year Old Girl. The crowd went kinda nuts, and I was like “really? is this surprising? Metric is also playing at SXSW, what was the odds of this happening? 1 to 1?” Anyways, the two came out and then performed a beautiful rendition of the track. I then got hungry and went and got a panini, thus ending my first BSS experience.

My second/third BSS experience happened last year during the NXNE charity soccer game, Brendan Canning was on one team and I was on another and I ran into him almost full speed during the game. I kind of expected his seemingly frail body to collapse in a red hairy heap, but it turns out Brendan Canning is a beast on the soccer field so instead, he took the ball away and ran with it. He would later score a goal or two. This year I was in the same soccer game and at the barbecue afterwards, he made me a cheeseburger and I was rather happy about that, even though they used processed cheese instead of the real thing.

There you go, not only were Broken Social Scene important musicians to the industry, they are also people. People with real lives who have to move on, just like you or me. I never saw BSS here because I figured they would always play Toronto, and they would always bring random people on stage to sing songs, and I would always be able to roll my eyes and say ‘that’s so obvious’. Only now, it’s over and I lost my chance. That’s life I guess. The only blessing is that we won’t get to see any more crappy concert films disguised as some weird drama films like the one released last year. For that, I am thankful.

Best of luck to the band in the future, we’ll see you at your eventual reunion.

Broken Social Scene – 7/4 (Shoreline) by artsandcraftsmx

NXNE Review: Lindy, June 16, Bread & Circus

Posted on by Mark in Concerts, North By Northeast | 1 Comment

Toronto – I have to admit, my Thursday evening NXNE gameplan was cobbled together about 5 minutes after I woke from a nap. I read the bio’s for the bands playing on that evening, listened to what music snippets I could, and drew up an itinerary. When I’m in a state like that, I naturally lean towards either Mozart piano concertos, or chill singer songwriter fare. This is why it’s no huge surprise that one of the bands I chose was a chill singer songwriter Lindy at the Bread & Circus.

Over the years, I’ve increasingly become a fan of Bread & Circus for both CMW and NXNE shows. It’s a great spot to catch live music in an intimate venue. They have classy tables and candles in the back, and the staff is friendly. Lindy played a set of acoustic songs, with an occasional harmonica thrown in for good measure. It was well-constructed music, and exactly what my post-nap self had sought out after sweet blissful sleep. There was some intricate finger-picking work and solid vocals. Many in the crowd were familiar with this Toronto-based musician’s work and were shouting out requests. It was a chill and tidy set of music.

Beautifully Undone by LINDY