The 5th Annual Bob Marley Birthday Bash is here, raising vital funds for charity. This year’s charity if choice is Yonge St. Mission and its food bank. The legendary reggae icon’s birthday is officially Feb. 6th, the night of the event. If you’ve ever been to Jamaica, you’ll know how colossal an event Marley’s birthday is.
Indie Reggae bands will be entertaining everyone throughout the evening, with raffles for prizes. One other reason will be seeing some b/w photos of Bob Marley in the 70s, from the Analogue Gallery.
Bob Marley Birthday
The Great Hall (1087 Queen St. West)
Saturday, Feb 6th
Doors 9pm
Saturday, February 6th
$15 at the door w/non-perishable food item
Thunderheist w/Everything All the Time
Mod Club
12.03.09
It’s been quite an electric 3 years for Thunderheist’s power duo, Isus and DJ/producer Grahm Zilla. This was their final show before they take some time to pursue their own solo projects. It comes at a good time for them, riding the heels of their wildly successful self titled release in March 2009.
Up-and-coming electro-pop band Everything All the Timebegan the night. They’re quite a peculiar bunch, with some members looking more like they were heading straight from the set of the O.C. to a rock show.
Lead singer Alanna Stuart sported a sharp business casual look as she sauntered onto the stage, looking a little reserved in her mannerisms; perhaps it was the nerves, or perhaps it was the fact that she could be roasting in her multi-layered “you aint seeing any of my skin” look.
Wardrobes aside, Everything All The Time executed their job well: getting the crowd moving and warmed up. Stuart has a sharp soulful voice with some attitude, surprising us with her vocal range and use of dynamics. I can see her voice only getting stronger as they grow. Stuart executed her job was lead vocalist onstage to promote the band, by naturally slipping their name into banter between songs. No one in the crowd would leave without thinking “that opener was great. What was their name again?”
Standout winners in their set were “Getting Higher,” a warm and uplifting indie-pop tune, and “Start. Stop,” an explosive closer that showcased Stuart’s vocal range and the bands’ ability to drive a solid beat. Their losing song turned the crowd into Thundergear – the barely 19 year-olds at the front of the stage were ready party, with or without the band.
Isus rocked onthe stage with an incredible outfit made from seat belts, with her tiny body all wrapped in a corset. As their final performance asThunderheist before pursuing solo projects, it was clear the band was ready to go out with a bang.
Boy, did they deliver. They played a great blend of old and new tracks, and worked the crowd like no other. Isus even had the crowd waving to her parents, watching safely in the balcony. The show felt more like a farewell party for friends, rather than a performance. A few times during the show Isus would stop midway and yell cheekily, “ah fuck it. I fucked up. We need to do it RIGHT so let’s do THAT one again!”
They played all the crowd favourites including “Bubblegum,” “Suenos Dulces,” and the infamous “Jerk it”. Mom was proud.
Although they were having a great time, there was a sense of passing for this project that started as an exchange of .mp3’s over myspace. Rather than riding the wave to a faded wash on the beach, this band has decided to take a bow while the wave is crashing into the shore. As much as I do appreciate their explosive electro-rap get your ass moving deal, this was a limited wave couldn’t sustain its tsunami dance level for too much longer. Look out for what Isus and Zilla come out with in their own projects in the near future.
DJ Champion w/Madrid
Mod Club
11.27.09
Doors @7pm | $15
DJ Champion and his G-strings (guitar strings) from Montreal are making a triumphant return to the Mod Club on Friday. Their highly entertaining blend of electro-beats and guitars, all orchestrated by master DJ Maxine Morin. They hit the electronic dance scene when they released Chill ‘Em All in 2004, and a follow up remix in 2006.
So it’s really been 5 years since Morin has come up with a sophmore album – and you can definitely hear the evolution, most discernibly recruiting the talents of montreal raw-power singer Pilou Côté, in replace of the signature soulful female vocals Betty Bonifassi that electrified their live show. Let’s see how they do!
The Rural Alberta Advantage have exploded into the indie music scene after garnering some big thumbs up from CbcRadio 3, Exclaim! and X3 a few months ago. I was lucky to see them at the Hillside Festival on July, instantly recognizing the insane drumming styling of Paul Banwatt from Woodhands. They sing about (suprise) the life, love and laments of Alberta: summers in the Rockies, oil boom, mine workers to name a few, in an indie-rock style that isn’t anything near Nickelback.
They have a completely SOLD OUT show at Lee’s Palace on Friday Nov 20, but here’s your chance to see them. The band will be performing at Soundscapes (College and Manning) playing a FREE SHOW at 7pm tonight. Go early since the place is the size of your (Toronto) living room.
Check out J. Tillman (from the critically acclaimed Seattle band Fleet Foxes, self described as “Baroque harmonic pop jams”). He’s currently on tour promoting some of his solo folk work, performing at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern tomorrow.
I’ve yet to hear much of his work, but from what I’ve heard he has taken a very delicate, melodic and lyrical direction. Check out some of his work:
Since catching Woodhands at Hillside, I’ve been yearning to see them again. I was wondering how they would fare, opening for an 90s-inspired down-tempo synth pop duo. Although the Jr. Boys crowd weren’t actually prepared for their high octane brand of skat, intense beats and frequencies, they were going to get it full on.
I was in awe over drummer Paul Banwatt’s intense drumming style, relentlessly attacking the snare and cymbals with robotic precision. Rather than keeping up with the electro-funk beats and heavy bass drummed up by Dan Web (vocals/synths/key-tar), Banwatt drove the rhythm locomotive, thus showing that you DON’T need to replace the drummer with a cold beat box.
Dan Web was also fantastic in keeping the crowd pumped. His tourette skats fused with his key-tar were memorizing and showing the hesitant crowd that Vancouver nerds can rock. By the end of their set, when they performed ‘Dance” they just started to wake the crowd, leaving them wanting more. It was a perfect set up for the headliner. The duo are poised to release a new album in the new year, spending the winter to lock themselves up to finish it. It should be a killer album, based on the tracks they were testing in the crowd tonight.
Junior Boys returned to the stage from a long Euro-tour. “It’s been ages since we’ve been back home,” announced vocalist/keyboards/guitarist, Jeremy Greenspan. “It’s so nice to be back.” It was an eclectic crowd who had clearly been following the band for a number of years now – they seemed to know most of their music. The band quickly broke into their groove and tranced the crowd with their contagiously ambient electro-pop music.
It was a nice touch adding some visual interest through green lazers and an overzealous use of a smoke machine. They played a solid set of tunes stemming across many of their albums, including hits “In the Morning”, “Like a Child” and “So This is Goodbye”.
Many times through their set, it felt like the music simmered just before boiling point – it needed just one more ‘umph’ to push them over the proveribal stovetop. I take this as more akin to the late 80s/early 90s synth music they were pushing out, vs. their live performance… but compared to the explosive opening Woodhands set, the contrast was all the more poignant.
What didn’t help was their choice of a ballad to close their set, slowing it down to a close flatline. “So we’re gonna leave you with a slow one.. we’ll just wimper away.” Wimper? Not exactly the best way to leave the crowd, and some decided to call it a night though the song – But most of the crowd didn’t look like they seemed to mind. It still begs the question, why leave the crowd on such a downer?
Their one-song encore, however, did pick up the pace and resulted in a few people crowd even crowd surfing, making the song more upbeat than it honestly suggested. It was clear they were ready to finish off in a party, regardless of what the Boys put out (many walked straight upstairs to the Dance Cave to let out the rest of their pent up energy after the show). All in all it was still good show, playing in one of the best concert venues in the city.
Steeltown’s own electro-pop band Junior Boys are returning to Lee’s Palace tonight, supported by the high octane electronica dance duo Woodhands. Given the wide variance of sound between the bands, it’ll be interesting to see how the crowd will respond. Nonetheless, both bands are amazing – I was able to catch the mental set Woodhands put on at Hillside 2009 (see the clip below). Let’s hope they can rise up the crowd like they did in July.
Junior Boys w/Woodhands
Friday Nov 6
Lee’s Palace
Tickets $20 adv. (tm-Rt-Ss), $25 at door
Set times: JUNIOR BOYS @ 11:45p, WOODHANDS @ 10:30p
Ever since coming across Reid Jamieson about 5 years ago, floored from his acoustic EP “Noise in my Chest,” I’ve been meaning to see him live. Ever since he moved to Vancouver, it has been tougher and tougher to catch him. I was lucky enough to hear about his return to Toronto last Wednesday.
Walking into the Rivoli, I was taken aback by the revamp of it’s typically drab (yet intimate) backspace. The space was transformed into a classic 1940s-inspired jazz bar, complete with tables w/white table cloths and candle lights. Not bad for a quick turnaround; enough so you didn’t care much about the plastic patio chairs and sticky floors from the previous weekend’s shenanigans.
Guelph folk darling Jessie Bell Smith kicked off the night with a solo set of gutteral roosty songs about old age homes, dead mice and drunken jagermeister. Bell has a commanding raspy twang with the potential of great dames Etta James, Janis and Emma Lou Harris,powerful enough to fill the room without a mic. I wished she opened our eyes more as she was belted out those raw alto notes to strengthen her already powerful connection to the audience during her set. She has a ton of potential – look out for her as she grows and returns backed by full band.
Coming straight off the heels of a successful tour with CBC’s Vinyl Cafewith Stewart McLean, Reid Jamieson came onto the stage to a warm and comforting crowd of close friends and family, including a few folks the Skydiggers. His elation and emotion came through very strongly, as if he was putting on a special show in his own living room. Jamieson was very professional and polite in his demenour, playing songs from his albums The Unavoidable Truth, The Presley Sessions, and his new EP, Courting Juniper, coming out this month.
Jessie Bell Smith came onstage to sing Paperback Fantasy, one the highlights of the night. Unfortunately he did not play any of his evocative and intimately private songs from his Noise in My Chest release, but it had been over 5 years since its release.
Although he started polite and professional off the gates, Jamieson loosened up to become his alter-elvis ego for his set of Elvis songs, and closing with a fun cover of Natural Woman. Looking forward to hearing his next album of (presumably) knee-shaking heartbreak tunes and sweet love songs – something for which I can never seem to get enough.
I had no idea what to expect as I walked into the Rivoli last Saturday night. What initially brought me into the bar was to see the return of an icelandic band, Sprengjuhollin (pronounced “spreeg-guuee-hollin”) who performed here at the same venue at March. How often do you get to see a band from Iceland?
Sprengjuhollin have been on a Canadian tour, playing in the East Coast and in Montreal before returning back to the big smoke. With their arty Norwegian look, they sprung onto stage with tons of energy and punch. Atli Bollason (piano/back up vocals) was charged as the lead frontman in getting the crowd into their music. Although no one had seen them a few months ago, or even heard of their existence before that night, the band was ready to party.
Sprengjuhollin put in a fun bouncy set of pop, egging the crowd to move up from hiding in the back bar to “get into it” with them. They did pause from their jumping, head banging and guitar raising to give a quick lesson in Icelandic pronunciation: teaching the crowd how to stay their name!
Their acoustic track, “Worry til spring”was a standout, showing us they had more to offer than a Saturday night drunken jump ‘n dance act. The lead singer had a sweet Sunday morning voice, and reminding me of Copenhagen’s darling, Teitur(planes and airplanes album). There were some issues with EQ levels through their set, to the point where it sounded like white noise on some of their faster and louder numbers. It never stopped these lads from having a great time and enjoying their time on stage. I’m looking forward to hearing more from this band as they grow from their icelandic roots and into the English pop music scene.
Winhara exploded onto the stage with a strong set of powerpop and synth (think a cross between Muse and The Killers), combined with an light show you wouldn’t expect from an indie band at the Rivoli. It was clear they had an eye for details, and kudos to them for that – they understood that experimenting alt-rock with electronic can mean layer disaster and gimmicky if you don’t watch yourself. All their songs had a strong musicality to them, and you could sense their progression from alternative to the electro-rock space.
There was some good energy in the crowd, despite a trio of drunk guys at the front of the stage who were a little over zealous in showing their love of the band. I understand that “friend-power” spark the beginnings of success, but sometimes this love can take away from the experience to others… especially when bashing into them or shouting like bandits on a cowboy manhunt. Is this better than a stone cold comatose crowd? Or the ambivalent yet noisy peanut gallery in the back bar during Dan Mangan’s intimate acoustic set?
All frat boys aside, I was impressed with one of their newer electronic songs, “Five Alarm”with an infectious electronic beat and power vocals.Their title track, “Hold Back Light Show”was full of OK GO fun, and something you could easily hear on the radio. Their encore cover ofDepeche Mode’s Precious (below)was also impressive and something I’m hoping they continue to explore their synth experimentation as they head back into the studio this winter.
Winhara put on a well crafted show and show lots of potential. They want it and you can feel it. I’ll be looking out to see them when they return in 2010.
Reid Jameson w/Jessy Bell Smith
Rivoli
10.28.09
Doors at 7pm (show at 8pm)
Tickets $7 at the door
Reid Jamieson, a talented Canadian singer/songwriter is returning to Toronto. Originally from Toronto and now based in Vancouver, I was wisked away by his achingly sweet songbird voice and heart break music on his “Noise in My Chest” acoustic EP. His follow up alt-country album, “The Unavoidable Truth” was supported by a full band and Canadian talent including Sarah Harmer and Bob Egan, garnering critical acclaim in the Canadian folk/country circuit. Reid also released “The Presley Sessions”, a set of Elvis covers (with a Reid Jamieson touch) in honour of the 30th anniversary of Elvis’ passing. He is currently on tour with CBC’s Vinyl Cafe and making a stop here in Toronto at the Rivoli on Wednesday Oct 28th.
