"They sound like robots... in the jungle." Sunset Rubdown @ Richard's -- 06/30/09

Sunset Rubdown is quite possibly my favourite project of Spencer Krug, and considering his other bands are Wolf Parade and Swan Lake, that's saying something. (Though, for full disclosure, I am not a huge fan of Wolf Parade. I think it's that I don't care for the other half, Dan Boeckner... but that's for another time).So when they come in to town there's no doubt I'm gonna be there. Especially when playing Richard's.

The first band of the night was Elfin Saddle, and wow. Their website touts them as "the unusual union of a small Japanese woman, a Canadian woodsman, and a ramshackle pile of objects and instruments" though the live act consisted of a third member. And through the course of their set they played the following instruments: upright bass, baritone, banjo, ukulele, kick drum, symbol, full drum set, xylophone, accordion, saw, recorder. At the very least. And the main two members were playing multiple instruments at once. The "Canadian woodsman" (Jordan McKenzie) was playing a kick drum on the floor with hit foot, accordion with one hand, and the xylophone with the other. While singing. It was a very impressive display. Musically, they were very good as well; they had a kind of Bjork and/or Animal Collective feel, but without the pretentious suck. The vocals were split between the two, with some of Emi Honda's songs sung in Japanese, and while they were good live, I could see the vocals, from both of them, being a bit much over the length of a full album. I would have liked them much better had they been an instrumental band. That being said, I still really enjoyed them and am kind of regretting not picking up their album there.
I also attempted to take a video of the last song from my fancy new phone, but the sound wasn't the greatest. The above pic is just a cap from the video, hence the questionable quality.

The second band of the night was another three piece, Witchies from Montreal. They were Perfectly Acceptable Music. Nothing too spectacular, but nothing terrible. With guitar, drums and synth, they had kind of a generic indie rock sound going for them, and after some technical problems to start played a decent set. Ultimately forgettable, however.


And finally, Sunset Rubdown. Having not seen them live before, I was not sure what to expect, since their albums can be very dense. Turns out me fears were unfounded. With leader of the band Spencer Krug alternating between guitars and keyboard, another guitarist, bass, at times two drummers, and what can only be described as a Dan Deacon-esque table of crazy sounds, they had a full, rich, and incredible sound. Starting things off with an older and lighter song, The Empty Threats of Little Lord before bringing the house down with Idiot Heart, a song from the newest album, Dragonslayer. From then on the rest of the set focused mostly on the later two albums, that & Random Spirit Lovers, and the more high energy songs from those, for the most part.
Krug had a great energy about him while playing, like a bottled storm, yet between songs, when talking was very humble and appreciative of everyone. Aside from wishing his father, in attendance, a happy birthday and dedicating a song ("This song is about getting really drunk. This one's for you, dad!") and telling a story of climbing the giant cross on Mount Royal in a blizzard, he didn't have too much to say, though. Some other highlights of the set included Apollo and the Buffalo and Anna Anna Anna Oh!, Winged/Wicked Things and The Mending of the Gown, all of which played with an incredible intensity and got everyone moving.
The main set ended with the awesome, ten minute long saga Dragon's Lair, then they came back out for the "encore", starting with an older & mellow song, Us Ones in Between and then going absolutely crazy ending the night with Nightingale/December Song. Krug introduced the song as one he was unsure that they would be able to pull off live, since it could be "a bit of a clusterfuck", but brought out some extra hands, two members of Elfin Saddle came out to play guitar & bass, substituting while the other members went and played more drums.

While probably not amongst my favourite shows of the year, it was still a damn good show put on by Sunset Rubdown. I have heard rumours that the stalled construction that was to tear Richard's on Richards down is getting going again, and it may be gone soon. If that's the case, this was a perfectly good "last show" to see there.
Though I do hope they have some sort of good-bye-extravaganza with local musicians playing a farewell show. Like Matt Good. And New Pornos. And Destroyer. And then they all jam together at the end.

Fantasies by Metric

Last nights appearance on the Craig Ferguson show reminded me that this was the next review I needed to do on my ever growing list of albums, so it's time to put a dent in the mountain.

Fantasies, the long awaited follow up to 05's Live it Out, is probably the most accessible Metric album to date. I am not sure if it's more mainstream, or if the mainstream has just shifted closer to their sound, but my first thought after listening to the album was that this would be the album that got them the recognition they deserve. And I don't think that's too far off.

As different from Live It Out as that album was from its predecessor Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, the album takes their sound and boils it down to everything that works about Metric and shucks what did not; yet not in a cold and calculated way. It does not seems like a play to be the next big thing, but rather a natural evolution in the bands sound. Nor does it feel stagnant and like a retread of old Metric.

The album starts strong, with their hit single, Help I'm Alive. Differing ever so slightly from the single released last year, it sets the stage for the whole album before diving headlong into some of the more frantic songs like Sick Muse, which I have no doubt could be a huge single, and Satellite Mind a very raw and emotionally frank song, which is not unfamiliar territory for Metric. Twilight Galaxy brings things down for a moody and almost eerie moment before they explode back with laser-like precision of Gold Guns Girls, the standout track of the album for my money.
Second single Gimme Sympathy starts the latter half of the album, which is a little calmer than the first. Which is not to say the album runs out of steam at the end, but rather settles with some more lush, piano and synth based tunes, like Collect Calls and Front Row. Blindness is another mellow and emotional number which builds to a somewhat subdued ending before the album ends perfectly, and on a more energetic note, with Stadium Love, a song that would make for one epic music video, given the lyrics.

My biggest nit pick about the album, and Metric in general, actually, is that they never really take full advantage of Emily Haines' voice. As seen (or rather, heard) in her solo work, or with Broken Social Scene, she has an incredible voice, and you get hints of that in Metric, but it's never really fully realized. Come to think of it, I have the same problem with guitarist James Shaw. When listening to his work on the albums, I am always impressed, but rarely blown away. It is not til I see him live, with Metric, electric or acoustic, or with Broken Social Scene, that I am reminded how brilliant a musician he really is. Not to say Metric is less than the sum of its parts, but perhaps they could be... better utilized.

In the end, it's a solid album. Energetic, raw, emotional, thoughtful, and insanely danceable; before long you'll be humming songs without even realizing it. While their albums are hard to compare against each other, they seem to be doing nothing but getting better. Now here's hoping there's not another four years before the next new album.



Download Gold Guns Girls


Download Blindness


Download Stadium Love

Clicky here to exchange monies for music

Review-kus.

Originally I wanted to review every album I bought/otherwise listened to this year. Clearly, I've slacked on that. Partially cos there have been a lot of albums that, for whatever reason, I don't feel like writing a full review for. So what I have decided to do is give a few really quick reviews all at once.... in haiku form. Here we go!

Enemy Mine by Swan Lake
Bejar, Krug, Mercer
Less than the sum of its parts
Yet still quite awesome

Reliquiae by Carbon Dating Service
Best band name ever
Puts free album on the web
Superb indie pop

The Open Door EP by Death Cab For Cutie
Some left over songs
Exactly what you'd expect
For better or worse

Everything is Real by Leeroy Stagger
Very well written
If a little too "twangy"
Some great alt-country

"until you have to put cornstarch in your underpants, it's not a heatwave" | Neko Case @ The Vogue -- 06/03/09

Wow, this show marks the ninth show I've seen in a six week span. I don't know what I'm going to do now that I don't have another one lined up for almost three weeks...

Opening act for the night was Jason Lytle, of Grandaddy, and he was... decent. Musically, it wasn't bad, if a little on the generic side, but his stage presence? You would have thought this was his first time on stage and not that he's been a musician for over 15 years. At first he joked about jet lag and humourously exclaimed "that's why we're the opening band!", but when you're sitting on stage trying to tune for what feels like an eternity of silence... at least say something, so you don't lose the audience, or have another member play some random jams. Even Spanish Flea. Again, the music was good enough, and he threw in some Grandaddy songs, so the performance wasn't terrible, but it was almost as if he didn't know how to work a crowd at all.

Speaking of the crowd, I am going to take a brief moment and mention the crowd. Or rather, the person directly behind us who had no notion of the concept of an "indoor voice". Highly amusing bits of conversation filtered forward, such as seeing George Micheal live (and almost seeing Britney Spears), her disgust with facial hair and beards (especially neck beards), side burn tattoos which looked like dragon and/or bat wings, Mark The Man-Whore ("why does everyone sleep with him [except her, of course]) and the quote of the night: "Friday should be fun; Friday is the holocaust!"
Pretty sure she was a teacher (the prospect of which is frightening) and is teaching about WW2... but if anything goes down today, you'll know why.

But I digress. During the break between sets a CBC Radio 2 (not 3) host came out to inform us the concert was going to be recorded and hosted on their Concerts on Demand section of their website, which is pretty cool. As soon as it goes up, I'll share the link so everyone may partake.

At this point the stage was set for Neko Case to come on, and what a stage it was. With various instruments, ranging from lap steel to upright bass to a banjo to a hand-cranked music box, everything was in front of a giant projection screen, flanked by two tall trees painted on either side and being held up by a giant owl. Seriously, on the screen were two wings holding on to it, and above a giant cutout of an owl head. With eyes that, during the show, lit up (and may or may not have peered into your very soul). When Case finally did come out, she kicked off with Maybe Sparrow and People Got A Lotta Nerve, setting the tone for the whole show. Songs were mostly from her latest two albums, but she had no problem going further into her backlog to play some older hits. The projection screen mostly showed random images that were related, literally or symbolically, to the songs at hand -- with the exception of People Got A Lotta Nerve, which ran the video for the song. She played for about an hour and a half, in total, and every time I see her (twice solo, twice with the New Pornographers, I think the count is at) I am constantly amazed by her incredible voice. And, of course, her backing band did a great job as well. Case was also her usual self, joking around with band mates and the crowd between songs (see: entry title). She is one of those performers that, while on stage, you can just tell she is thrilled to be up there, and that kind of energy translates into a superb live show.
Well, except for one major factor, which was no fault of Case or anyone else on stage...

I may go off on a little bit of a rant here, but that reason was The Vogue Theatre. When I saw the Jingle Bell Rock show (Metric, The Dears, Tokyo Police Club & Sebastien Grainger ) back in December, it was a freezing and snowy day. You'd think being in a live music venue would be granted some respite from the cold, but no. It was as cold, if not colder, in the venue as it was outside. The other night was the exact opposite. It was pretty damn hot outside and indoors was even worse. With a sold out crowd all packed in, it got so hot and muggy that it was pretty dang uncomfortable. When you have the on stage performers talking and joking about how hot it is in the venue, and they themselves almost looking uncomfortable at some points, you know there is something wrong.
I like the vogue. It has a really good sound to it, and I don't mind how grungy it looks, or the holes in the ceiling or anything. But they have got to get some sort of climate control in there. It's to the point where I am almost dreading going to see The Decemberists in late July.

The Dears @ Richard's -- 05/30/09

In my life, I try not to go into anything with high expectations. Concerts, movies, albums, TV shows, video games... anything like that. That is not to say I am always a pessimist with low expectations, but I find it healthy to have no expectations for things. "He who expects nothing never will be disappointed" and all that. Sometimes, however, that doesn't work out. Like when I am going to see one of my top 4 favourite band, The Dears, live. At Richard's. With another band I really like, Jets Overhead. And a third band, Black Diamond Bay, which, I found out the day before, is the new band of ex-Dears member Patrick Krief. How could I not have high expectations for a show like this?

The "early" show started a little later than advertised with Black Diamond Bay hitting the stage a half hour after the advertised showtime, at 8. Consisting of the aforementioned Krief, another ex-Dear, George Donoso III on drums, a keyboardist that had some Weird Al hair, and a bassist with a darker Kyle Broflofsky do, the band vaguely reminded me of early Dears, though I'm not sure if that was more due to their sound, or the fact that half of them used to be. They had that very indie-retro sound that seemed equally influenced from brit-pop and blues. In fact, I am inventing a new genre for them right now: indie-retro-rock-brit-blues-pop. Krief wasn't much of a talker, saying hi and thanks and the sort a couple times, but for the most part let the music do the talking. And holy shit did it ever. Between his face melting solos and Donoso's incredible controlled-chaos style drumming, they absolutely blew me away. I think I even fell in love with Patrick Krief a little bit. If I had any problems with the set, it was that it was too short, with them only playing for a little under 40 minutes, but at the time it didn't actually feel that short at all. Needless to say I picked up their new album, and I can not wait to see them again.

Then after a quick turnaround, Jets Overhead took the stage. I had seen then a couple times prior, and am quite the fan of them, but I hadn't heard anything from them in a while, since their 06 bedut, Bridges, so while I hadn't really... forgotten about them, rather they just fell off my radar a little. Their 45 minute set consisted solely of songs from their upcoming album, out next week -- though I snagged a copy early, as they were selling them at the show! -- which was a little disappointing, but understandable since they are promoting that. The new stuff, however, sounded pretty awesome and in the same indie-trance-rock vein as their prior sound, but without sounding too similar. The best possible analogy I can come up with for them is that their sound is like sitting in the surf at the ocean. Sometimes calmly washing over you and gently ebbing away, sometimes crashing down on you and threatening to drag you out to with them. Even with the unenviable task of following Black Diamond Bay, they performed an excellent swt that had me excited to hear the new album. Still, though, I wish they had played at least one or two from Bridges...

Then finally, it was time for The Dears. They had one of the most incredibly opening to the show that I have seen in quite some time. Just after 10, the stage grew dark, the house music went off, and the prerecorded instrumental part of Savior, the final song off their latest album, Missiles, started up. Then, with everything still dark, Murray Lightburn's disembodied voice began singing softly and heartfelt. Where was he? Backstage? About to come out? Nope. He was at the very back of the club, behind everyone (or below us on the balcony) and slowly wading through the crowd towards the front of the stage. With a small flashlight in hand, illuminating himself, shining on everyone around him, he made his way through the crowd singing at and to everyone there. Soon after, the other six members of the band took the stage for the backup vocals of oohs and aahs, with the sold out audience joining in as well. Jumping back on stage near the end, the members grabbed their instruments for the finale of the song, then went right into Money Babies (the first single from Missiles) and Demons, also from Missiles. From there, they went back a bit, to their previous album playing There Goes My Outfit, with Murray giving some a raw, emotional performance of the song I thought he was going to breaks down right there on stage... and that wouldn't be the last time that happened, either. You & I Are A Gang Of Losers, one of my favourite songs was next, and then they went back even further with Lost In The Plot, which included a really cool new ending to the song, with it slowly fading out and ending almost acousticly, with just Murray & his guitar. Murray then took the opprotunity to thank everyone for coming and all that before going into a few more songs from Missiles, with Disclaimer being pretty great live and Crisis 1 & 2 highlighting Natalia Yanchak's amazing vocals in a "starring" role, and not just as backup vocals (Natalia being not only the only other surviving original member of the original lineup, but also married to Murray). Going back to Gang Of Losers, they played the higly energetic Whites Only Party, which at one point had a funny visual moment of Murray at the back of the stage, then the guitarist & bassist moving in front of him to block him, only for Murray to "shove" his way back out front. Hate Then Love had Murray running all over the stage, from the back to sing, singing to the people on the balcony behind them, to the front and then right back in through the crowd, followed by Meltdown In A Major where Murray broke out the keytar (awesome). They ended the main set after an hour and a half by dedicating the last song to Stars Torquil Campbell (and/or his young child) before going into another one of my favourites, Lights Off. And holy shit, if that wasn't one of the most amazing live performances I have ever seen. I was a little sad Pat krief didn't come back out and do his amazing guitar solo for the song, but the new guitarist did just an amazing, and then the ending of the song, was just absolutely amazing and insane and intense and raw... and then! about half way through the song, during the long instrumental part (it's a nine minute song) a gentlemen in all white jumped on stage to assist in the backup vocals, the oohs and aahs. That gentleman? Torquil Campbell! The song came to an end with Murray shaming Torq off stage with his powerful vocals (jokingly, of course) and left the crowd not only in awe, but roaring for more.
They came back, of course, with a No Cities Left-focused encore, but not before some tomfoolery. The normalls quiet Murray joked about getting into their time machine to go to 2050 before trying to get the crowd to silence for anticipation for the next song. I'm sure you can imagine how that went, as there was always one jackass ruining the moment. After a couple tries and some more joking around on stage, we finally got silence enough for a ten second countdown and then launching into the opening chords of We Can Have It. Followed by a brief acoustic verse from Expect The Worst/Cos She's a Tourist, they ended the night off with 22: The Death of All The Romance (yet another favourite of mine, and one of my favourite music videos of all time), which again, climaxed to an incredible energetic end of the show.

I know I use a fair amount of hyperbole when I talk about shows. Every show is incredimazing and are frequently my favourite or best of the year. But this show? From the amazing opening through the crowd, the incredible raw emotion of the performances (I swear, the band, but Murray especially, must be a wreck after each show), the absolutely sublime Lights Off, with Torquil being simply the preverbial cherry on top. This is a show that I will never, as long as I live, forget. It hasn't even been 12 hours since it ended, and it is already one of my favourite shows of all time. Favourite all around, shows, too, since I have to give both Jets Overhead and Black Diamond Bay their due. Just another reminder of why The Dears are, as I mentioned above, one of my top four favourite bands/artists/musicians of all time.

I also kept track of the setlist, which is as follows!

saviour, money babies, demons, there goes my outfit, you and i are a gang of losers, lost in the plot, berlin heart, disclaimer, crisis 1 & 2, dream job, whites only party, hate then love, meltdown in a major, lights off. (encore) we can have it, expect the worst/cos she's a tourist (single, acoustic verse, segue to), 22: the death of all the romance