Katuwapitiya

What can I say about The Joy Formidable that I haven’t already said? They’re my favourite band. The expansive sound that these three are able to achieve is honestly as good as it gets for me. On one hand, I cannot wait until this band gets bigger because they deserve every bit of fame bands like Metric and Florence + The Machine have. On the other hand, I know I’ll never have as good a night as I did on Tuesday. Seeing them in their raw element at a free show in the tiny Horseshoe Tavern (their first performance in Canada), being right in front of the stage, getting to talk to them after the show and having our freshly-pressed CDs autographed. My ears are still ringing. The set, which consisted mostly of songs from their killer EP “A Balloon Called Moaning”, had no down time whatsoever. It was perfection (even with broken drums and guitar straps). With the exposure that they’re bound to get, I know that such an intimate concert will probably never happen again. I’m just glad that it at least happened once.

Here are some high-definition videos that I took of “Ostrich” and “Anemone” (the second track blew me away as I hadn’t heard it before!):

Openers “The Dig” also impressed me a lot. I bought their album and will be doing an album review soon!

Toronto had a great line-up of concerts last week, most of which were in town for Canadian Music Week. Let me tell you a little bit about the bands that I saw. It’s been a blur but I’ll write what I can remember.

Silversun Pickups and Muse at the Air Canada Centre (March 8th, 2010)

It’s been ages since I’ve been to the Air Canada Centre for a concert (Coldplay in 2006?) and I can’t say that I miss sitting a hundred rows away from an act. With that said, the act that I was there to see definitely knows how to fill arenas with their brand of rock. The openers, Silversun Pickups, were as good as I expected. The stuff from their new album was tight but “Lazy Eye” was definitely a highlight. Here is a video of that performance:

Next up was Muse and they definitely had a shitload of stage effects (lights, platforms, lasers) that made the show a great audio-visual experience. I must say that I’m not the biggest Muse fan. I find that there are times when they take themselves way too seriously and tracks from their new album pale in comparison to songs from Absolution and Black Holes and Revelations. With that said, Muse puts on a hell of a live show and it’s tough to compare the acts that I normally see to such a bombastic production. Here is a video of their performance of “Plug In Baby”, complete with a rain of eyeballs:

Parlovr, Winter Gloves, and Handsome Furs at El Mocambo (March 12th, 2010)

What a contrast to the stadium rock from earlier in the week! El Mocambo didn’t even have a place to check my coat. Besides that annoying aspect, the venue was definitely a great place to take in my first Canadian Music Week experience. From what I can remember, this was a hell of a show. Parlovr really impressed me with their stage presence and instrumentation and I now consider myself a fan. Here is a video of their performance of “All The World Is All”:

Winter Gloves followed with a great set, complete with free CD’s handed out to the crowd.

Great energy for some great indie tunes. I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from them soon enough.

Handsome Furs ended the night on an even higher note. So much energy from two people (Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry), a guitar and some buttons on a synthesizer/drum machine.

Dan Boeckner

Alexei Perry

The songs from Plague Park lept off the stage and had the entire crowd moving. Really surprised me how well the songs translated to a live performance.

Here’s a video of “I’m Confused”, complete with an earring flying off of Alexei Perry:

P.O.S. at Sneaky Dee’s (March 14th, 2010)

My memories of this night are a bit hazy but I do remember the headliner, P.O.S. quite vividly. I missed most of the sets of openers Astronautilus and Dessa but they did join P.O.S. during his set and were quite impressive.

P.O.S.’s lyricism and ability to control the crowd made this concert one of the best rap shows I’ve ever been to. His underground rap-punk rock style had the crowd going batshit crazy in parts. The night left me wishing that I knew more of his catalog. Definitely think that he’s one of the most underrated MC’s in hip hop today. Here are two videos, Drumroll and Half Cocked Concepts:

Overall, an amazing week of concerts. Next up, Temper Trap on March 30th!

Do Make Say Think brought their post-rock stylings to the Enwave Theatre last night for the last of 3 concerts at the venue. Overall, the venue impressed me. Nice balcony seating, awesome acoustics and a pretty great location right in front of the Harbourfront Centre.

Opening act The Happiness Project (made up of members from DMST) had me skeptical when they first started, but eventually won me over. The album is made up of personal stories set to music. The build-up of “Vanessa”, a neighbour who was born deaf talking about her ability to hear music with cochlear implants, is a gem.

DMST also impressed with some awesome instrumentation and slow builds to climaxes of epic proportions. My personal highlight was “Make” but most of the songs were about 10 minutes long so it’s hard to remember. To be honest, DMST isn’t really my sort of music. I guess I’m more of the instant gratification type. With that said, patience paired with a song by DMST pays off. Definitely an experience that I’d love to repeat.

Now stay tuned to this blog over the next few weeks for my year-end lists including: 10 worst lyrics of 2009, 10 best albums of the decade and 10 best songs of the decade.

“This isn’t a TV screen, this is MASSEY HALL!“- Emily Haines

I asked a question long ago about whether Karen O was the most electric lead singer of a band that I have ever seen. I was unsure because I felt like Emily Haines might be better. Having seen Emily while I was young and naive, I needed to see Metric in their current state to make up my mind.

I’ve just come home from seeing Metric at Massey Hall and I’ve made up my mind. Emily Haines is the best. Hands down.

Openers The Stills are a band that I’ve never quite understood. To me, they sound a little too mundane, too middle of the road.

Needless to say, I was bored out of my mind waiting for Metric to start. Their two recent singles were the only bright spots of what was a mediocre setlist. But that’s just me.

My analysis may be a bit harsh but compared to Metric, most bands sound like crap. Once Metric came on, it was like a blast of energy.

They completely rocked the sold-out venue. They mixed in a lot of old and new and were able to add a few new touches here and there to keep things truly fresh and engaging. Sick Muse had a few of these touches and had the crowd going mental. Stadium Love also had the same effect. Overall, Emily Haines was the same bottle of energy that I first encountered in an 8 dollar concert at The Wave on Western’s campus in 2005.

I love it.

The only negatives (besides The Stills) were due to the venue itself. 8 dollar beers? Come on Massey Hall, I see indie bands for 10. I’m also not used to everyone around me not jumping around bumping into one another. The seated venue, while amazing acoustically, left a bit to be desired in terms of a raucous atmosphere. Finally, there was a douche security guard on our side of the room who seemed to be on a power trip. He went around telling people to stop recording (while there were clearly others on the left side of the room going nuts with their cameras). I managed to get a video of Gold, Guns, Girls and also pushed my luck with the final encore of Combat Baby (acoustic) (which was an amazing sing-a-long). The Combat Baby video was filmed after a warning so I tried to hide my camera behind someone’s head. It didn’t work for the whole song as you’ll see the security guard’s bald head at the end as I was turning my camera vertically and stuff to pretend that I was taking pictures. Haha, it was worth it.

From memory, I think the setlist was:

1. Twilight Galaxy
2. Help I’m Alive
3. Satellite Mind
4. Handshakes
5. Poster of a Girl
6. Gold, Guns, Girls
7. Collect Call
8. Empty
9. Gimme Sympathy
10. Sick Muse
11. Dead Disco
12. Blindness
13. Stadium Love

Encore:
14. Monster Hospital
15. Combat Baby (Acoustic)

They’ll be playing Massey Hall tomorrow night and there should be tickets at the door. They’ll also be in London, Ontario on Friday!

It was a tiny room and the heat of the capacity crowd made the temperature almost unbearable. It didn’t matter though because we were there to see Canada’s best female musician. No it wasn’t Feist or Amy Millan, instead, it was London/Toronto’s own Basia Bulat.

I’ve been a fan of hers ever since hearing “Snakes and Ladders” on a CBC Radio 3 podcast a few years ago and when I heard she was playing The Grad Club in Kingston, I knew I had to be there. For the record, The Grad “Club” should be renamed The Grad “House”, as that’s all that it was. A room in the house ended up being the “venue”.

Opener “The Phonemes” ended up just being a solo female singer/songwriter and she was full of surprises. Though she started off shaky (it’s hard not to be when the crowd is literally 1 foot away from your face), she eventually won us over with her overwhelming cuteness. For one of her songs, she passed out sheets of newspaper for us to crinkle during appropriate parts (which ended up being the entire song, lol). Overall, a definite positive impression.

Basia came on next and was as phenomenal as always. It always surprises me to see such a strong voice come out of such a tiny person and she has such an exuberant energy that always lights up the stage. She played a lot of the classics from her solid debut “Oh, My Darling” but also played a bunch of new tracks from her upcoming album “Heart of My Own” (due out in January). Overall, it seems like there will be a similar balance on the new album: Subtle, sweet melodies on some tracks and more urgency and power on others.

I love a lot of what I heard and just hope that they’ll translate well to a studio recording. It’s hard to hear the lyrics during a live set but if the title track is any indication, they’ll live up to the standard she set on her debut. My favourite song of the night was “The Shore” in which a simple autoharp melody was paired with a sweet fragility. I took a couple of videos from that night,  both of which are new songs.

Here is what I believe to be the first video on the internet of a great track called “Walk You Down”:

And here is “If It Rains”, the ballad which will close the album:

The final tracklisting for Basia’s Heart Of My Own is as follows:

1. Go On
2. Run
3. Sugar and Spice
4. Gold Rush
5. Heart of My Own
6. Sparrow
7. If Only You
8. I’m Forgetting Everyone
9. The Shore
10. Once More, for the Dollhouse
11. Walk You Down
12. If It Rains

You can download new single “Gold Rush” from her website.  (Just click the MP3 button on the black bar)

So it’s been a while since I last updated. In that time, I applied to a bunch of things, gotten busy with a lot of volunteering, thought I had swine flu and more. But I’ve also been going to a lot of concerts. One of these concerts was Ra Ra Riot on September 11th at Lee’s Palace and what a show it was!

Openers Princeton reminded me a lot of Vampire Weekend, right down to the whole collegiate theme of their band name. They had some rough edges but I feel like with some more time to expand and really find their sound, they can definitely be a band to look out for! You can download an MP3 of one of their tracks here.

Maps & Atlases were next and I wasn’t expecting too much. I hate to judge a book by its cover but when every member comes on wearing a plaid shirt, it’s hard not to pass judgment. (Luckily they changed soon after.) Nevertheless, they were able to impress! The rhythms were accompanied by some phenomenal drumming and the highlight of their set, “Witch”, had the entire crowd moving with a reigned-in eclecticism that was just perfect. (For a non-reigned-in eclecticism, please see Animal Collective).

Finally, we have Ra Ra Riot. I’ve been obsessed with this band for a while now and was disappointed when they cancelled their show earlier in the year. I was so desperate, I almost considered sitting with a bunch of screaming girls at a Deathcab show to see them as the openers (Do girls scream for Deathcab? I don’t even know anymore).

But luckily, I didn’t have to. Lee’s Palace, my favourite venue in Toronto, was the perfect setting for Ra Ra Riot’s brand of indie rock. The songs sounded even better than on their phenomenal album “The Rhumb Line” and the energy that they brought to each song was infectious. There was only one “problem” that I noticed during their set…

Their cello player, Alexandra Lawn, was by far the most gorgeous human being I’ve ever seen on stage and it was somewhat distracting when trying to listen to the less-gorgeous lead singer. I can’t have been the only person who had this problem. How can someone who looks like a supermodel be in an indie band as a cello player? It baffles me. Hmmmm… I guess there could be worse problems….

You’ll see what I mean below, here are live vids of “Oh, La”, “Can You Tell”, and my favourite (as written here) “Too Too Too Fast”: