This post is for all the Feist fans out there (Liam)…this is so fucking hilarious...
***If you have been trying to watch the Natalie Portman gangster rap video, it has been removed due to copyright infringement… however, if you go here, you can watch it in QuickTime***
[UPDATE] the above link no longer works... but you can still watch the video here! turn the volume up and enjoy!!!!
Before this show, I have actually never really heard anything by Andy Stochansky. The reason I went to this show was because my friend Robin really likes him and there weren’t really any other shows I wanted to check out until around 10 anyways. Stochansky played a very solid show and the audience was very into his performance as well. At one point, he walked toward the edge of the stage, turned around so that his back was toward the audience, then, he fell backward into the audience and crowd surfed for a few seconds. The sound of the show was great and the show lasted for a long. Not only did Andy do the traditional encore, but he came out for a second encore. At this point, the lights had already come back on and the tech people were starting to clean up the stage and equipments. He did an additional song unplugged on his acoustic guitar; I thought that was really cool of him to do that! Overall, Andy Stochansky’s show was decent, but again, I don’t think I will be rushing off to buy any of his CDs nor would I be dying to see him live any time soon.
It was now time to head to the next show: Great Lake Swimmers at the Reverb. Haha, I love concert hopping! We got to the Reverb just when the members of GLS were setting up their equipments. After only about 5 minutes of waiting, they started their set. During the show, I have come to a conclusion that the singer/song writer of GLS, Tony Dekker, has one of the most mesmerizing singing voices ever. In fact, after the show, I purchased the old GLS CD, the first CD I bought since May/June of 2005.
When we got inside, this band from Montreal called The Lovely Feathers had already started playing. We walked up to the front of the stage and started watching the show. All of the members in the band had so much energy, especially the guitarist. In fact, he was so energetic that at one point, he tripped and actually tumbled off the stage. It was great! Oh, and it really helps that the music was extremely catchy!
Sounds like: New York Dolls, The Darkness
MSTRKRFT
The main attraction of the night was MSTRKRFT. As I have mentioned before, MSTRKRFT is the team of Jesse F. Keeler from DFA1969 and AI-P from Girls Are Short. There’s not much to say about their performance… it was just two guys going stuffs on their turntables and programming on an i-Mac. I was actually a little disappointed because they did not mix any Bloc Party or Buck 65. However, they did start off the show with the Metric's 'Monster Hospital'... I don't really like the original song, but the MSTRKRFT remix is pretty damn good!
View photos from CMW here
I guess I should have posted this on day one since Gentleman Reg played a show on Thursday at the Reverb as part of the opening day for CMW. I heard about Gentleman Reg for quite a long time now, but have not actually heard their music until a few weeks ago at the Final Fantasy concert. I was mesmerized by the singer/song-writer: Reg Vermue’s stage presence and his unique voice. In addition, I immediately fell in love with a song call ‘The Boyfriend Song’. Really, how can you go wrong with the chorus “boyfriend, boyfriend, I ain't got no money, and I ain't got no boyfriend…” From what I have gathered from the concert as well as the handful of mp3s I downloaded, the musical style of Gentleman Reg is a combination of pop, country, and folk.
The Weskerthans’ Reconstruction Site is probably my favorite Canadian records ever! This 2003 release is on my stereo regularly. The album features some great and complicated metaphors, as well as references to literature and politics. As a result, certain songs really make you think on top of making you feel stupid. For instance, (and I did not know this until I read it somewhere on the internet), the songs ‘(Manifest)’, ‘(Hospital Vespers)’, and ‘(Past Due)’, which were strategically placed in the start, middle, and end of the album, all followed the sonnet form of Shakespeare. By the way, (Manifest), one of the best songs on the album, is a very strange, yet beautiful song. The other standout song on Reconstruction Site has to be ‘One Great Town!’. The song is clearly about John K. Samson’s (the singer/sing writer) hatred for suburban lifestyle. He talks about meaningless jobs: “…in the dollar store the clerk is closing up, and counting loonies trying not to say, I hate Winnipeg!”; doing the same routines countlessly: “…in the turning lane, someone stalled again, he's talking to himself, and hears the price of gas repeat his phrase, I hate Winnipeg!”; and my favorite line in the song: “the Guess Who suck, the Jets were lousy anyway.” This line always puts a smile on my face.
No descriptions needed… just watch these videos:
Bell Orchestre is an instrumental band from Montreal. I say instrumental because their latest album Recording a Tape in the Colour of the Light has absolutely no voice on the entire album – it focuses only on instrumentation. Some songs are quiet, with no regular musical form such as metre or rhythm, while other songs on the album are fast, upbeat, and even danceable. The Bell Orchestre applied great contrasts throughout Recording a Tape in the Colour of the Light, creating some lovely textures and dynamic level to the album. Some of the more quiet songs do get a little boring at times, and certain sections on the album might be too abstract or avant-garde for me. It will be interesting to see what they’ll do for their next record… my suggest: add a harpsichord and maybe more strings.
Wow, I have lost count on how many times I saw Moneen live. These Bramptonians are always so much fun to watch: so much energy and passion put on each show. All I have to say is that it has been way too long since I’ve gone to a Moneen show (last time was December of 2003) and it has been almost three years since the last album, Are We Really Happy With Who We Are Right Now? came out… I NEED to hear new Moneen!!!! Luckily, the wait is almost over: the new album The Red Tree, is coming out April 11. Can’t wait to hear it! Wow, I've just noticed, this little writeup about Moneen is pretty lame! Oh well.
I actually don’t know anything about this band …or artist …I think it’s only Joel Plaskett himself. I don’t have any Joel Plaskett Emergency albums nor do I have any mp3s on my computer or ipod. In fact, I have only heard one song by Joel Plaskett on an episode of CBC 3 Radio podcast last year. But I have repeated that episode (well, that song) countless times now and I am totally in love with it. The song I’m talking about is 'I Love This Town', from the album La De Da. (haha, I love it, an Annie Hall reference!) I won’t say anything further about the song; I am not going to deconstruct it, there’s no need! It is just a beautiful song.
It features some lovely additions of female vocals that were not present in pervious Buck records. Some songs actually have a Tricky-ish feel to them. On his website, the very humble Buck gave his album a 3 out of 5. (in my opinion, it deserves at least a 4 out of 5!) He described the album as being “totally organic. It sounds like human beings at work - very talented human beings (I'm not talking about myself).” This guy is so talented; I don’t know why he hasn’t hit it big yet?! And yes, Buck 65 is the guy dancing with Feist in the One Evening video.
GLS’s disc Bodies and Minds is enlightenment. The vocal and melodic sound is light, clear, and perfectly balanced in nature. The timbre is lively and bright, but calming at the same time. The whole album create such a simple, peaceful harmony, it is THE perfect driving CD, especially on a sunny, mid-May drive down the coast of Prince Edward Island. GLS are playing at the Reverb tomorrow night; go to CMW for further information.
Their album Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? has some of the craziest off-beat and musically unusual sound I’ve ever heard. Unfortunately, the band has disbanded for a while now. However, members of The Unicorns: Nick Diamonds and J'aime Tambeur formed a new band in early 2005 call Islands. Their full length debut entitled Who Has Return to the Sea? is coming out on April 4.
I don’t even know where to begin with this band. I guess I’ll start by saying that Final Fantasy is not really a band, but it is a solo project by Owen Pallett. FF’s debut album, Has a Good Home was #4 on my 2005 top 20 list... if that means anything at all. Has a Good Home and the style of Final Fantasy is indie pop/rock influenced music and vocal style that features predominant violin instrumentation. (I think that is the best description I can come up with) Since I can only say so little about the musical style, I will tell you about my FF concert experience. I saw Owen perform twice so far, and I was blown away both times. In addition, the two concerts were completely different from each other. The first time I saw him, he brought along with him a string quartet. As a result, adding an orchestra feel to the songs. But really, he didn’t need any backups or extra members/players to accompany him because the second time I saw Owen, he performed solo for most of show. (with the exception of Lex Vaughn on drums for a couple of songs... oh Lex, she was so good!) The layers of violin music and the technicalities at this concert were just astonishing; I was staring in awe at Owen the entire time. He uses this foot pedal thing that loops his previously played musical phrases/melodies while he plays on top of that. (again, very hard to explain!) Final Fantasy’s second album He Poos Clouds is set for an early May release date.
Like many hardcore bands from Washington, D.C. during the early 80s had done, Boys Night Out made the transition from being a hardcore band to an ‘emo’-ish band. Their album Trainwreck is one of the coolest and most interesting concept albums I’ve ever heard! I won’t go into details here because I don’t want to spoil the story for you. But basically, the album deals with the themes of love and murder, dreams and reality, freedom and restriction… very cool!
