Artist: Allie Hughes
Song: Elevator*
Recorded at The Horseshoe, November 5, 2010.
Allie Hughes - ElevatorMy notes for this set can be found here.
* Thanks to Adam for passing along the title to this one.
Showing posts with label allie hughes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label allie hughes. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Gig: Forest City Lovers
Forest City Lovers (Hooded Fang / Golden Ghost / Allie Hughes)
The Horseshoe. Friday, November 5, 2010.
It was nice to see the Horseshoe's stage brightened up with some banners strung across the stage and a giant donut (or, more likely, some sort of pool flotation device) hanging from the rear wall. And if that weren't enough, further illumination would come from Allie Hughes, starting things off with a Broadway-style overture/instrumental medley of snippets of the set's songs. The elements of what would become her "wedding shows" — Hughes' wedding veil, the thematic arc of the songs — looked to be falling into place here, just not quite amped up or explicitly calling attention to themselves.
Her distinguished band included Randy Lee (violin), Bram Gielen (keyb) and Thomas Gill (guit) as well as a pair of mannequin heads on her keyboard. Cue the dramatics. As she asked her man why he'd wanna break her heart, Hughes dropped to her knees, pounding the floor — but at the same time, breaking character and laughing at the over-the-topness of it all.
The band was joined by Rouge's Jess Tollefson and Kelly McMichael on "O Chad", but the numbers slimmed down to just a pair on "Headmaster", considerably stripped down from the last time I'd heard it — here with just Hughes' keys and some violin from Lee, everyone else exiting the stage for a much more contained version of the song. That exploded into a screaming, swirling vortex of sound1 that segued into "Damaged Nail". In this context, the jarring shiftiness of the song works better than in its recorded incarnation, where the mildly schizo bounding feels unearned. From an insane cabaret spurned bride, it makes more sense.
Shifting tone once again, the brisk twenty-five minute set closed with "Not the Stars", the "pop hit" once again amped up over the top with goofy gusto. I remain fascinated with the fact that there's so much in Hughes' sets that shouldn't work on me, and yet I'm fully entertained every time.
Listen to a track from this set here.
On a busy bill with three local acts I knew well, the unknown quantity on the night was Golden Ghost, a duo out of Endicott, New York with Laura Goetz on guit and most vox backed by Brendon Massei's drums. The music was unassuming folksy rock driven by Goetz's gently-picked guitar and ambling lyrics. The pair give off a charming vibe — looking like they fell out of the pages of an Adrian Tomine sketchbook, Massei actually said "gosh" while whipping up enthusiasm for Forest City Lovers ("Who's getting excited for Forest City Lovers tonight, besides ourselves? Gosh... it's gonna be good.") It all made me want to like them, but the songs didn't cast much of a spell on me.
It probably didn't help that their quieter, less direct sort of music was sort of just being played toward a semi-indifferent void — without a crowd of friends to cheer along, there weren't too many people attentively checking it out. April Aliermo from Hooded Fang was right up front and centre, though, getting into it.
When they picked up the pace, it got more engaging, but I found the slower stuff to drag along — and the longer that went, the more it was up against the chatter from the crowd. Mixed results, overall. Credit Goetz for having faith in her meandering sensibility, but there wasn't a lot here that engaged me.
Listen to a track from this set here.
Leaving the crowd with something catchy stuck in their heads wouldn't be a problem for Hooded Fang. With their album on the cusp of being released, the band had plenty of shows lined up to get the word out. But even with that release a few weeks away, there were plenty of patrons on hand who knew most of the new material well, such as the one-two punch of "Laughing" and "Sleep Song". Except for an appearance from the earlier EP's "Land of Giants", the Album material would fill out the set.
The band seemed eager to get as much music in their timeslot as possible, zipping through songs without stopping to chat much. Which isn't to say they were rushing through the set list — "Green River" stretched out a bit, and soon the dancefloor pretty full with people moving along, especially during "Highway Steam". Finishing with the poptimistic bounce of "Love Song", there were some calls for one more from the crowd, but the band cleared off to make room for the night's headliner.
Listen to a track from this set here.
As Forest City Lovers eased into "Phodilus & Tyto", it took the chatty crowd a few minutes to settle down. As it would turn out, FCL had an eager audience, but more in a "we want to party with you" sense than in being conservatory quiet.
The band featured a slightly shuffled roster as compared to their album release show, with Randy Lee sitting in on violin for the absent Mika Posen plus Kelly McMichael on keybs. There were plenty of friends in the crowd as well — besides several members of Ohbijou dancing in the front row there was also a handful of older friends from younger days in the crowd, shouting out school slogans between songs. "Durham region represent," commented Kat Burns, acknowledging them between songs.
The set was front-loaded with material from new album Carriage, with a half-dozen tracks showcasing its ample virtues before the band reached back for "Pirates". "Pocketful of Rocks" and "Minneapolis" shined here. Then the band reached all the way back to the first Forest City Lovers album (2006's Haunting Moon Sinking) for "Castles", which was dedicated to Ohbijou's Casey Mecija, who was celebrating a birthday.
That opened the door for more old favourites which dominated the rest of the set, including "Don't Go", "Song For Morrie" and "Country Road" as the big finale, the band stripping back for these to the core four-piece, with Kyle Donnelly, Christian Ingelevics and Timothy Bruton behind Burns.
Perhaps all those suburban highschool friends in the audience were the trigger in the encore for a big singalong run through Green Day's "Longview", a chance for drummer Ingelevics to hammer enthusiastically. Burns struggled to remember most of the words, laughing all the way through before closing things out with the quieter "Orphans" and a chance for a last few singalong woah-ohs.2
Listen to a track from this set here.
1 "I think it's supposed to symbolize her descent into madness," as Lisa said.
2 Kat Burns will be playing a solo set to open up for Basia Bulat at The Great Hall on Saturday, March 26 and the whole band will be playing The Garrison on Friday April 1.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Preview: SummerWorks Festival 2010
For the third year, Toronto's long-running SummerWorks festival is supplementing its theatrical programme with a Music Series. This year the music portion finds a new home at The Lower Ossington Theatre (100A Ossington), and has expanded beyond just the concert-format shows of the past couple years to include Musical Works in Concert ("an opportunity for creators, composers, and lyricists with a platform to showcase musical work in development ") as well as shows in the Performance Bar (downstairs at the Ossington Theatre) where a bevy of musicians will be special guests to some manner of freewheeling drop-in improv.
It looks like a very well-chosen lineup that you can look over here. Many of the artists — both in the concert series and in the performance bar — will be familiar to readers of this blog, and I feel like I can recommend quite a few of them. Plus, I can back up my words with some live samples to give you an idea of what you might be in for.
If you want to read more about any of these artists, just click on the labels at the bottom of this post.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 5TH, 2010
Mainstage: The Hidden Cameras
Leading things off with a two-night stand is one of the city's most theatrical bands, a perfect fit for this Festival. In fact, word is that the band will be doing a theatrical re-interpretation of last year's Origin:Orphan. The band's performances always have the sense of being an event, and this one looks like it might be something special.
Listen! The Hidden Cameras - Fear of Zine Failure (Recorded at the Opera House, December 5, 2009.)
Performance Bar: Allie Hughes
Allie Hughes has transcended past a flirtation with reality TV (as a contestant on How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria) to craft sophisticated pop that's smart enough not to alienate jaded listeners in Toronto's indie scene, daring to be a technically proficient singer in a milieu that often prefers the cough-ahem-authenticity of the rough-hewn.
Listen! Allie Hughes - Headmaster (Recorded at The Garrison, March 5, 2010)
FRIDAY, AUGUST 6
Mainstage: The Hidden Cameras
see above
Performance Bar: Maylee Todd
Whether performing space-funk workouts with her band Pegwee Power or performing soulful solo jams on her harp, Maylee Todd brings star power to the stage.
Listen! Maylee Todd & Pegwee Power - Aerobics in Space (Recorded at The Drake Underground, March 25, 2010)
SATURDAY, AUGUST 7TH, 2010
Performance Bar: Tasseomancy
Previously known as Ghost Bees, this duo of twin sisters Sari and Romy Lightman transfix with their spare folk stylings. A little bit of off-kilter spookiness that would go down well in any cemetery or haunted house.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 8TH, 2010
Performance Bar: Laura Barrett
One of the city's best, Laura Barrett brings her kalimba-powered songs to bear on pressing issues of love, optimism, and other science projects.
Listen! Laura Barrett - Ferryland (Recorded at Jason Collett's Basement Revue, Dakota Tavern, December 22, 2009)
MONDAY, AUGUST 9TH, 2010
Performance Bar: THOMAS / Snowblink
Most recently gaining attention as Owen Pallett's on-stage co-conspirator, Thomas Gill — the band THOMAS' namesake — has in fact collaborated with many local musicians in addition to leading his own combo. With falsetto vocals augmented by Felicity Williams' soulful pipes, THOMAS dares to be soft in the face of a hard world.
The musical partnership of Daniela Gesundheit and Dan Goldman, Snowblink takes a beautiful voice and wraps it in reverb and antlers, then loops more voices around that. The band have been playing some choice new material lately, and often throw in a stripped-down cover recasting a song you thought you knew in a haunting new light.
Listen! Snowblink - unknown (Recorded at Poor Pilgrim Island Show 4 (St. Andrew-by-the-lake Church), July 18, 2010)
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11TH, 2010
Mainstage: PS I Love You / Diamond Rings
Singer/guitarist Paul Saulnier of Kingston duo PS I Love You fills the stage with guitar and bass (courtesy of foot pedals), bringing a hard-edged rock attack with DOR attitude. Suitable for those who want to hoist their beers up in the air but not alienating those who want to dance.
Listen! P.S. I Love You - Facelove (Recorded at Wavelength 494, The Garrison, December 20, 2009)
Quickly becoming a sensation, Diamond Rings (a.k.a. John O'Regan of local rockers The D'Urbervilles) has gained notice and rapidly-increasing audiences not because of gimmicks or eye-catching videos so much as from bringing some top-notch pop songs to the stage. Presented with increasing assuredness, O'Regan knows how to meld melancholy bedroom pop with electro-glam bombast, pulling off more than a few anthems in the process.
Listen! Diamond Rings - Something Else (Recorded at Owen Pallett's 30th Birthday Party, Lula Lounge, Sunday, September 6, 2009)
Performance Bar: Grand Analog
Reggae and soulful flourishes complement Odario Williams' ecumenical hip-hop, brought to life with an energetic live band. A guaranteed party-starter.
Listen! Grand Analog - Not Enough Mondays (Recorded at Daps All-Ages V, Kapisanan Philippine Centre, April 10, 2010)
THURSDAY, AUGUST 12TH, 2010
Mainstage: The Wilderness of Manitoba
Those who came to folk-rock via Fleet Foxes will find as much to like in this band as those who came to folk-rock via Crosby, Stills & Nash. Featuring warm harmonies and banjo, this band has advanced their craft pretty rapidly in a fairly short time. (appearing with The Mountains & The Trees, Entire Cities and The Weather Station)
Listen! The Wilderness of Manitoba - Evening (Recorded at The Garrison, January 21, 2010)
FRIDAY, AUGUST 13TH, 2010
Mainstage: Picastro / Evening Hymns
The two adjectives that come first to mind when describing Picastro would be "sleepy" and "downer" — this is not music to listen to while operating heavy machinery. But there's a melancholy beauty in the slowly-spun arrangements behind Liz Hysen's songs. Highly recommended for those who don't finch in the face of interiority.
Listen! Picastro - Hortur (Recorded at Wavelength 500 (night 4), SPK Polish Combatants Hall, February 13, 2010)
Jonas Bonnetta's Evening Hymns, meanwhile, also have a bit of a haunted quality to them, evoking ghost-filled forests and abandoned cabins. Working in a roots-y vein, Bonnetta is capable of creating striking music on his own, but fleshed out with a band works toward a ragged grandeur.
Listen! Evening Hymns - Dead Deer (Recorded at the Out of This Spark 3rd Anniversary Party, The Garrison, January 22, 2010)
Performance Bar: Nifty / Bob Wiseman
A one-man band with a laptop and bin full of electronics, Matt Smith (a.k.a Nifty and/or Nif-D) is also a master of the looping pedal, folding layers of his own vocals into his real-time electronic compositions. Equally capable of creating ambient soundscapes and dancefloor bangers, Nif-D never plays the same set twice.
Listen! Nif-D - Centre of Gravity excerpt (Recorded at Centre of Gravity, November 21, 2009. Bite Your Tongue #2)
Returning to the music programme after presenting his musical/theatrical hybrid "Actionable" in last year's SummerWorks, activist, bon vivant and Canadian music legend Bob Wiseman may bring some or all of these elements to this show: guitar, accordion, keyboards, storytelling, outrage, short films, love songs.
Listen! Bob Wiseman - The Disappearing Trick (Summerworks Festival (Factory Studio Theatre). Saturday, August 15, 2009)
SATURDAY, AUGUST 14TH, 2010
Mainstage: Bocce / RatTail
Last chance to dance! As kinetic and mildly chaotic as the sport that they are named after is not, this synth-rockin' crew will probably leave the Lower Ossington Theatre in a sweaty mess.
Listen! Bocce - Disco Juan (Recorded at Lee's Palace (Friends in Bellwoods 2 release party), Friday, August 28, 2009)
Purveyors of a smartly-torqued indie-rock sound, trio RatTail features guitarist Jasmyn Burke's vocals, with a flattened monotone affect that veers off into yelps, as the most immediately arresting element in their arsenal. They fit well against the lean post-punk groove of the music, with Ryan Mounsey's bass often seizing the melodic lead space against the slashing guitar lines.
Listen! RatTail - George Mounsey (Recorded at Wavelength P.S. Kensington, May 30, 2010)
Monday, April 12, 2010
Recording: Allie Hughes
Artist: Allie Hughes
Song: Headmaster*
Recorded at The Garrison, March 5, 2010.
Allie Hughes - HeadmasterMy notes for this set can be found here.
* Thanks to Allie for passing along the title to this one.
Gig: Language-Arts
No Shame presents Language-Arts / The Pinecones / Allie Hughes
The Garrison. Friday, March 5, 2010.
Walking up to Dundas from my earlier gig, arrived at The Garrison pretty much just in time to catch the start of this Friday night No Shame showcase. First up on the evening was Allie Hughes. As the band finished setting up, I was pretty sure that this was going to be worth watching, as the Randy Lee rule was in effect.1 Besides his violin, the band featured keybs, bass, guit and drums — a group capable of playing the carefully-arranged material, lending a sort of mellow mafia-like sophistication to the proceedings. Apparently this was only the unit's fourth gig together, but they were well-rehearsed. As for the leader, I came in knowing nothing about her but it was quickly apparent: here's someone who could really sing. Like, advanced technical proficiency. Stylistically, imagine, maybe, if Kate Bush had emerged from Laurel Canyon in the 70's with Broadway aspirations.2 It's not quite unprecedented to present theatrical-styled tunes in an indie rock context, but it is a bit unusual — not to mention, I think, mildly brave. There's no doubt some folks would write off music like this for being mawkish or precious3 but in Hughes' hands, it was generally pulled off with aplomb. There were some top-shelf songs here, too, which certainly helped — as did her upbeat stage presence, keeping things nicely grounded.
Listen to a track from this set here.
Providing the rock'n'roll edge to the bill were The Pinecones, a retro-minded four-piece with flare for things Beatles-y.4 Leading off with "Sage", the title track of their recently-released album, the songs succeeded by nosing up against the familiar tropes of British invasion pop without quite getting too familiar — evidenced by how the band's own "Tea Tonight" slid into a cover of The Kinks' "The Village Green Preservation Society".
A broken guitar string led to some impromptu setlist shuffling as a friend in the audience pitched in to replace it while Brent Randall slid over to the keys. The band — now Toronto-based but formed in Halifax — had previously been known as Brent Randall & His Pinecones, but the contraction acknowledges an evolved democratic approach, with the band now sporting songs and vocals more spread around. They're certainly emerging at the right moment, as there seems to be an increased appetite for bands working in this tradition. The knock against 'em might be that they aren't at this point inventing anything new. But nuts to that — it's good fun to hear 'em live, and that counts for a lot. Plus, they give the impression of being serious students who could yet leap into something of a more innovative approach to new wine in old bottles.
Listen to the a couple songs from their set here.
The out-and-out rockin' of that set was the exception on the night, but it made for an effective contrast to Language-Arts. With their bookish name, it's no surprise that the band looked as if they might have met at band camp or Reach For The Top practice — in fact, I was initially worried that roving gangs of jocks might be out on the prowl for them. Their most distinctive feature is Kristen Cudmore's insistently chirpy vox, delivered in a bright-eyed sing-speak.5 She was backed by an equally eclectic instrumental palette: her own nylon-stringed, classically-played guitar6 plus keyb, double bass and co-founder Gregor Phillips' jazz-inflected drums — all of which came together in a unique sort of avant-MOR sound. While the band is technically a duo of Cudmore and Phillips — both from Nova Scotia, but based in Vancouver — they are boosted to a quartet for touring purposes. In their live configuration, the arrangements were robust and the band was clearly comfortable in treating the music as more than mere decoration to the words.
Perhaps the most immediately appealing of the batch was the "Where Were You in the Wild?", the title track of their recent album, but the other songs in the set were generally cut from the same cloth. "Benson" and "Coughdrop", to name a couple, had a nice groove going. The band got a good response from the fairly robust crowd, and Cudmore seemed genuinely pleased — if not slightly taken aback — by the positive vibes.7 The band played eight titles in just under forty minutes and it was good stuff, fun to listen to and certainly no cookie-cutter pop.
Listen to a track from this set here.
1 The Randy Lee Rule: "Any band with Randy Lee on violin is worth paying attention to."
2 Or, to give a more current point of orientation, Hughes closed with a cover of Regina Spektor's "Us".
3 And that's a finger pointed, somewhat, at myself, as I know I've been disdainful at the sort of broad emotionality associated with show tunes. But ultimately, it's arguably just a different kind of "faking it" than rock and roll delivery — which, ultimately, isn't really any "realer" anyways.
4 The band were pretty self-aware in that regard, and not above poking a bit of fun at themselves, introducing some of the songs in a cod-Liverpudlian accent.
5 The quick shorthand here would be to describe Cudmore's vox and delivery as "quirky" — and so googling provides quite a few hits. But though that certainly popped into my mind in quick order, a bit of reflection on it gives me pause, as there's a certain negative undertone to the word, especially in the manner it's applied to women to imply they are weird or somehow flawed by virtue of exhibiting intelligence. (Some of us, of course, feel the opposite way about that matter.) So let's set that descriptor aside for now.
6 Played with one of those around-the-neck classical straps like a saxophone player might use. Willie Nelson plays with a strap like this, so it's arguably pretty cool.
7 Full credit, of course, to Lauren Schreiber for getting the crowd out. Though she tends to play down the diverse skills she shows in putting shows like this together, her efforts deserve our ongoing thanks and praise.
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