Artist: Rival Boys
Song: Recovery
Recorded at The Great Hall (SummerWorks Festival Closing Party), August 19, 2012.
Rival Boys - RecoveryFull review to follow. Rival Boys have added some new textures to their live set since last time I saw 'em, with Lee Rose playing keyboard, violin and bass pedals alongside her bass. But they could also just blast ahead in straight-up fashion as they did on this number.
The SummerWorks Theatre Festival — Music Series
All Music Series shows are at The Theatre Centre, in the basement of The Great Hall (1087 Queen Street West, at Dovercourt). Doors 9:30 PM, Show 10:30 PM
After a couple years at The Lower Ossington Theatre, the fifth year of SummerWorks' Music Series sees the shows returning to their original home in the basement of The Great Hall.1 It's a nifty spot to see a gig, with a variety of viewing options — hanging back and sitting, up front and dancing, or watching from the oval balcony above. It does get warm down there, though, so dress like you're going to sweat. As always, the artists are well-selected (this year by Julie Fowler) and there are promises that several of these are going to spectacles beyond just the regular sort of show.
Most of these shows are fifteen bucks (Buck 65 is $20; the opening party is free) with tickets available online through the festival website or at Soundscapes/Rotate This. You'd do well to check out any of these shows, but if you're wanting to learn more about the bands, I've reached back to some of my past live reviews to give you a hint of what to expect — and some live samples, too.
Opening Party
The Great Hall. Thursday, August 9, 2012. Doors @ 7:00 pm
I reckon there'll be plenty of art-scene schmoozing going down amongst the "performances about bodies" and free donuts, but there's a really fine musical lineup to head down for as well. Three of the sets come from artists that I know well, but who are out to remake/remodel themselves in modern digital form.
I'm especially eager to check out Kashka, which started as a solo-electronic sideline for Kat Burns, but is now her main outlet with Forest City Lovers having wound up. She's always excelled in clear-eyed rememberings of hearts won and lost, and her new Vichada album covers a similar emotional terrain, but it's now bathed in the warm digital beats she's assembled with co-producer James Bunton. Singer-songwriter grooves for the new century.
I've also never caught a set by Chrome And The Ice Queen, but given that the band is a sort of dark-mirror'd version of Del Bel, I'm familiar with the players here. Rumours suggest that behind Lisa Conway's languorous vox you should be ready for faint hints of trip-hop and Twin Peaks.
Warm Myth made their live debut back at NXNE, and I found it to be atmospheric, but not sedate — which isn't out of line for what you'd expect from principals Casey Mecija and Kieran Adams2. Woozy synths share space with assertive guitar and drum parts, making this more than just a typical bedroom solo-electronic project, and an intriguing new setting for Mecija's vocals.
Listen! Warm Myth - Working
The Magic (Ark Analog)
Friday, August 10, 2012
Cynics might get caught up in accusing The Magic of being mere '80's revivalists. Everyone else is too busy dancing. The Guelph crew, led by brothers Geordie and Evan Gordon, was building up a rabid fanbase a couple years ago based on their killer live shows. When they went quiet and got busy serving as sidemen in other bands (most notably in Islands), I wondered if the project was wrapping up, but it turns out they were just taking the time to properly record their songs. The release of the excellent Ragged Gold has more than justified the wait, and they'll be celebrating its release en route to fullscale disco inferno world domination. Taking inspiration from vintage episodes of the Midnight Special, the band has been dropping hints about "dancers, glitter, props" and confetti cannons. This night is not to be missed.
Listen! The Magic - 5th Business
Sealing the deal is a chance to check out Ark Analog, the new collaboration between Maylee Todd and Dan Werb. Anyone who knows their previous work (and especially Todd's collaborations with Woodhands) would have a notion of what they're in for here — something energetic to dance to.
Listen! Ark Analog - Was That It?
Buck 65
Wednesday, August 15, 2012.
Hip-hop lifer/drive-time DJ Rich Terfry probably requires no introduction. It's widely known that he's a fine live entertainer, but this show intrigues with its promise of a collaboration with dancer Ame Henderson. I have no idea what that's going to entail, but advance word promises "strange and beautiful faces, mirrors and ghosts and obstructions".
Listen! Buck 65 - Small Town Boy
Aline Morales & Sandro Perri
Friday, August 5, 2011
Birthed from Tranzac's primordial folk/improv ooze, Sandro Perri has put a futureactive spin on his music, with the tunes on last year's Impossible Spaces album vibrating with subtle but undeniable grooves. Live, his band pushes this even further into extended polyrhythmic bliss. I don't know Brazilian-born singer/percussionist/bandleader Aline Morales, but it sounds like this should be an inspired match with Perri — and unlike the other "x with y" music shows, this is billed with that intriguing ampersand — I don't know if that means anything, but it would be cool to see some sort of collaboration here.
Listen! Sandro Perri - Changes
Evening Hymns (Fiver)
Friday, August 17, 2012.
The sound of dusk settling in over a backcountry lake; of driving down a narrow gravel concession road in a thick, darkened forest; of families: lost, broken and cherished. Previous album Spirit Guides announced Jonas Bonnetta's sound and themes, but the new Spectral Dusk is more vibrant and more personal, mixing atmospheric abstraction and dust-level detail — in other words everything that you can see both close up and far away from a log cabin window.
Listen! Evening Hymns - Arrows
Also on hand will be Fiver, the latest project from One Hundred Dollars' Simone Schmidt. Pitched as an outlet for the sort of songs that might not easily fit into her usual projects, there's certainly an element of that at play — but there's no doubt that they're "Simone Schmidt" songs, and the stories she weaves are fully engaging whether they're backed by a full band or, as will be the case at this show, in a duo with Paul Mortimer.
Listen! Fiver - Beeton
Bry Webb (Doug Paisley)
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Ex-punk Bry Webb's Provider album impressed a lot of folks, but it's been live that he's really been shining — finding his "mature" voice against a spare, acoustic musical backdrop. This is sit-down-and-listen music, about growing up and facing sobering responsibilities. But it's also about the small victories — at the end of every hard-earned day people find some reason to believe, which is the reason Webb'll take time to remind you that he's not singin' a sad song.
Listen! Bry Webb - Ex-Punks
Webb's rootsy counterpart for the night will be troubadour Doug Paisley, a smooth-voiced craftsman who makes it seem easy with deceptively-simple songs about complex truths. His set should be one of the series' gems.
Listen! Doug Paisley - Always Say Goodbye
Closing Party
The Great Hall. Sunday August 19,2012. Doors @ 7:00 pm
The festival closes with a jam-packed night back upstairs in The Great Hall proper, with some fabulous local talent on the bill. Inspired by 90's smooth R&B, OG Melody are writing the jams to celebrate summer in our city. Tuxedo-clad Chris Cummings used to be known as Mantler but is becoming Marker Starling — but he's still guaranteeing good times with his sad-lounge Wurlitzer stylings. Chrissy Reichert's Tenderness is one of most intriguing under-the-radar projects in the city right now, her loop-based, fader-flicking music kept untethered by a rotating cast of top-flight improvisers — and coming out of the clash rough-edged but user-friendly. And sibling-rockers Rival Boys hint at rock'n'roll sophistication in a trio that leans just a bit more to "pop" than "power".
Listen! OG Melody (feat. Peet Moss) - We Can Do It
Listen! Mantler - Husbands
Listen! Tenderness - We Lay Our Broken World in Sorrow at Your Feet
Listen! Rival Boys - Mutual Feelings
Besides all of this — and, of course, all of the theatre that is the festival's original raison d'être — there are also some cool bands at the performance bar, which promises nightly "eclectic performances and happenings". I'd especially recommend you keep your eye out for the tom-waits-for-no-man stylings of Ronley Teper (Friday, August 17) and the positive revolution vibes from the conscious Abstract Random hip-hop crew (Saturday August 18).
Listen! Ronley Teper - Cornered in the Alley
Listen! Abstract Random - Mi Nah Wanna
1 I seem to recall that one reason the music series moved was the amount of time required to turn the venue over and get it ready for the musical performances after the plays had finished, leading to a series of late starts. There are plays going on in the Theatre Centre at seven on most music nights, so hopefully there's enough turnover time now incorporated into the organizers' plans.
2 Mecija is best-known for her work in Ohbijou; Adams has many projects on the go, including the fab new DIANA, and has also recently been seen backing Bonjay.
Artist: Rival Boys
Song: Mutual Feelings
Recorded at The Garrison, June 3, 2011.
Rival Boys - Mutual FeelingsMy notes for this set can be found here.
Rival Boys (The Guest Bedroom / Wax Mannequin)
The Garrison. Friday, June 3, 2011.
Heading up from an early show, I was sad to have missed an opening set by Planet Creature, but I've had my chances otherwise.1 As it was, I arrived with Chris Adeney, who operates under the bandonym Wax Mannequin, just finishing his setup.
I didn't really get it the first time I saw him play, but given the technical troubles he was fighting through then, I figured it'd be sporting to see him again. Just like that last time, Adeney presented himself musically with a stripped-down, vaguely old-timey presentation — though technologically, he'd mix old with new: dressed like a Depression-era troubadour, but with a laptop concealed in a beat up old suitcase, which'd add basic rhythm tracks under his songs. And his giant cocoon.
"I've got a very large crystal," he said, referring to the chrysalis-like thing on stage to his right. "Would you like some crystals?" With that, he tossed what turned out to be, on closer inspection, decorative glass beads into the crowd.
There's an entirely subjective line between "entertainer" and "guy with gimmicks", and in the early going, I was admittedly assigning Adeney to the latter camp. Especially when some of his songs also seemed a bit gimmicky as well. That said, the songcraft of "Volcano God" and "Everything and Everyone" did reach me somewhat. And it's hard not to be at least somewhat entertained by a guy who is maniacally working himself up to some sort of weird ceremony.
"Once things get really randy, I'm going to invite the most excellent person in the room — I don't know who it is yet, but I'm gonna figure it out — the most excellent person in the room is going to come up and open the chrysalis. They're gonna extract the contents and get it all over everybody in here. So I hope you're ready for that — we're really gonna get this party started." He tried to start a dance competition during "Tell the Doctor" to find that most excellent person, and once she was selected, during "The Log Driver's Waltz" (which turned into a spontaneous singalong), she tore open the chrysalis — which was, in fact, a repurposed blanket filled of balloons — and unleashed them upon the crowd.
So, there was definitely a bit of a spectacle afoot. Which was a welcome diversion, as the set, running past forty-five minutes, was a bit on the long side. Still, I did like some of the songs — like closer "Thing Game", filled with absurd bee/bird imagery. I guess the persona is just part of the package, but there is some element in Adeney's presentation that rubs me the wrong way a bit. It doesn't put me off so much that I think I would become counted among the "enemies" that he sings several songs about, but I wouldn't consider myself a fellow-traveller.
Listen to a track from this set here.
I was more eager to get another chance to hear The Guest Bedroom, who led off with "Magical Thinking"2, one of the new songs the band had played the last time I'd seen 'em. That the next song was "Curses" might imply something supernatural in vocalist/guitarist Sandi Falconer's worldview but on the whole, her concerns seem more grounded. Or at least the music is, the steady pulsations of the rhythm section providing a framework for snaky guitar work and Rob Castle's keybs. The playing is taut and well-paced, and the quartet play with telepathic, no-look pass certainty.
Even at this point, the band was certainly stocked with new songs on a par with the tasty Year's Supply Of Rabbit's Feet, including "Fine Lines"3 So hopefully we will be hearing more soon about getting a chance to engage with the new material.
Listen to a track from this set here.
Bringing a cake and everything, Rival Boys were celebrating the release of their debut full-length Mutual Feelings of Love. Leading with "Recovery" (with its "we're calling out" refrain), they managed to elicit some call-and-response action from the crowd — an early sign that this was a fully-engaged audience. And a good-sized one, to boot, very enthusiastic for the material, clapping along and, um, reacting to "React To It". Over the course of the set, the band would play the whole of their new album, moving quickly and efficiently from song to song. (They did shuffle up the order, though, for better stage dynamics.)
The trio is led by siblings Lee and Graeme Rose (bass and guit respectively), backed by Sam Sholdice on drums. Lee handles the lead vocals, showing quite a range from the yearning "Bow and Arrow" (showing off an affecting pop sensibility) to a bit more of a yalp as required. Graeme, meanwhile, acted as the rougher contrasting sandpaper with his backing vox. The trio format gives them a stripped-down lean edge, but the music often leans to "pop" more than "power". It also makes for an engaging tension between a scrappy tendency and the more restrained dynamics they seem to be growing into. One upshot of that is that while they do a good job at the slower stuff like "Dream of Stones", it's harder to hold a crowd who are going ape for the upbeat stuff.
That was especially evident as they closed things out with "Construction Work", a song from their earlier EP. With Graeme leading the crowd in a raggedy singalong, at first I thought it was a cover, the band playing a song that everyone on hand except me seemed to know. And while that went over very well with their friends up front, it didn't have anywhere the impact on me of the newer, more sophisticated stuff. It will be interesting to see how the band navigates this as they go on. But even at this point, there was no doubt they could put a charge into a room — as they wound up, they left the crowd chanting for more.4
Listen to a track from this set here.
1 The connections between Planet Creature and the headliners would subsequently get even closer with Rival Boys' Lee Rose becoming Planet Creature's bass player.
2 Their mix of groundedness and, um, magical thinking and is evident in the song's rather nifty video (directed by Ryan Mounsey), which contains both mythical wizards and all-too-real transit woes. This song is due for inclusion on a forthcoming EP now due "sometime in 2012".
3 This one also has a video, and, in fact, there has been talk about all the songs on the new EP getting clips, so stay tuned for more.
4 Rival Boys are playing Hillside at the end of this month, and they'll be getting ready for that with a warmup gig at Clinton's on Thursday, July 26, 2012.
Out Of The Box Music & Arts Festival
While it's all fresh in my mind, a few notes from this weekend's Out of the Box Festival. Longer, more comprehensive reviews will follow down the road a piece.
There were definitely some things to celebrate in these three days and seven shows. First and foremost, there was a chance to see a whole lotta local talent on display in generally well-curated shows. For that, Randal Harris and his fellow organizers deserve congratulations. Unfortunately, each of the shows I was at were rather under-attended — with two large spaces to fill (simultaneously on two nights to boot) there just weren't enough bodies on hand to give the events the critical mass required for an exciting show. And, as K. adroitly noted, most of the time it felt as if there was a different crowd for each band, but too few people who just came out to experience each night as a whole.
Friday, July 29, 2011. Toronto Underground Cinema
Each of the shows were presented as a themed night, and the first two evenings at the Underground were billed as "3 Dimensions of Rock And Roll", with 3-D glasses being handed out at the door to watch the films being projected on the big screen behind the bands. Now, I'm no big fan of cinematic 3-D — I began to suspect it was a scam after the likes of Jaws 3-D and Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone — but the implementation here didn't really win me over. The projections included a repeating series of random clips that looked as if they were sourced from some 3-D version of youtube — hi-def they weren't. The visual quality was often pretty lousy once blown up to movie-screen size. But it was what it was, and at any rate it was usually a harmless diversion that didn't distract from the bands.
And this was, by my standard, a pretty decent lineup, with bands familiar to anyone who dabbles in the garage-ier end of the local scene. I only got down just in time to catch the last couple songs from The Cheap Speakers, which was a little sad as they were the only band on the bill I hadn't previously experienced. I was just starting to appreciate their groove when a song clattered to a halt, the set ending abruptly, it appeared, with an amp conking out.
I was more settled in as Davey Parker Radio Sound took the stage. Playing their first show with a new drummer (welcome to Mike Jacques), the band pumped out a series of snarling nuggets.
The Hoa Hoa's followed up, taking the stage the same day that the bittersweet news came out that the band would be taking an "extended break" after the release of their forthcoming EP. With a lot of friends on hand, the band played some of the songs from that, mixed in with a couple older ones. "We don't often play with the keyboard anymore," noted Richie Gibson before launching into "Modern Men". There's only gonna be a few more chances to see The Hoa Hoa's for a while — mark down August 25 & 26 at The Boat as a must-see farewell party.
After an appealing set from Rival Boys, the night was closed out by Planet Creature. Having finished recording for their forthcoming full-length, the band is playing with a lot of confidence and mastery of their material. Sometimes that shows in an ability to put the foot down on the accelerator and take their songs to previously-unheard velocities. That was a helpful move, as by the end of a long night, I was wearing down some.
Saturday, July 30, 2011. Toronto Underground Cinema
A second night of the 3-D projections made some of the same material feel even less fresh, but that was countered by a lineup with a couple bands that I'd been meaning to catch live. Foxes in Fiction, the bedroom-pop project of Warren Hildebrand, was just getting underway as I arrived. With an ironing board holding up a heap o' electronics as well as guitar, Hildebrand built up a series of warm and slightly-woozy tunes. Though backed by drum-machine steadiness, there was mostly a relaxing, chilled-out vibe to his songs. On stage, the lack of showmanship might have been a drawback, but in a lean-back-and-watch-the-screen environment like this, it worked out pretty well.
Listen to a track from this set here.
There was a visual switch-up for Human Bodies, with the 3-D remake of Night of the Living Dead playing behind the band. That wouldn't exactly be the sort of imagery that their music would bring to mind — with five players, some horns and a propensity to switch instruments between songs, there was a particular indie-pop sensibility at play here, a sort of languid echo of Broken Social Scene with the shoegaze-y sprawl stripped away. Paint Movement came to mind a little, though this crew wasn't evoking the same kind of Yacht Rock signifiers.
There were a reasonable number of bodies on hand at this point of the night, but in the rather large cinema (it could easily fit well over six hundred) it felt a bit like a Tuesday night at the Skydome — whatever crowd there was was simply dwarfed by their surroundings. Still, the band did manage to get a few people up in front of the stage dancing.
They were followed by Kitchener-Waterloo's Trap Tiger, who were broadly in the same genre as Human Bodies — a sort of third-hand Modest Mouse/BSS thing — but with a bit more of a generic, mersh approach. This wasn't my sort of thing — especially a lengthy, shifting "epic" penultimate song — but there was a group of excitable younger folks up and cheering for it.
Better results from Heartbeat Hotel, who have been getting noticed lately for their recordings. Their textured, swoony pop was propelled by a countervailing propensity towards mildly psychedelic noise, which was a pleasant surprise, and though there was a tension between those modes, it wasn't an unfruitful one. The rhythm section (Andy Smith on drums and Matt Mitchell on bass) drove this along nicely in an unflashy way. High on my list for further exploration.
There was some extra-fancy 3-D for closers Papermaps, with new-fangled glassed being handed out, but it wasn't particularly more effective. But I did enjoy the quartet in front of the screen. The band's stock-in-trade hearkens back to a certain strain of early 90's alt-pop — not in-your-face, but generally effective.
Sunday, July 31, 2011. The Great Hall (and The Great Hall's Theatre Centre Lobby)
Went for different surroundings on the festival's final night. With one of the city's most intriguing acts slated to play ten minutes after the nine o'clock door time, I hustled to get there in time to find a pretty quiet scene. In fact, there wasn't even anyone in sight to work the door as I headed in, but a few minutes later Loom did indeed take the stage to a thin handful of people. On this night, singer/guitarist Brooke Manning was joined by Elaine Kelly (harp) and Thom Gill (keybs), adding subtle touches to her hushed songs. I'm captivated every time I see Manning perform — her songs are like the quiet aftermath of some sort of emotional neutron bomb, but still situate themselves in a world where tenderness is possible. Her Epyllion album (forthcoming on Nevado Records) is going to be a big deal — but instead of waiting for it, I suggest that you seek her out at the earliest opportunity.
Next up were the more sprawling numbers of The Cautioneers. Bringing to mind a couple of the bands I'd seen the night before, this was another example of that sprawling BSS-y thing, taking that sound and severing it from its more unruly precedents and replacing it with a pop-flavoured twist. The band was decent at it, though, and had a reasonable sound, even if the songs weren't strongly memorable. Keyb player Amanda Barroso's vocals stood out on the crowded stage — there seemed to be a half-dozen core members, but there were also some guests on percussion and extra horns. Nothing very unique yet, but there's some potential here.
A sudden shift in the evening after that, as the crowd was led down from the Great Hall to the street-level gallery/café space that acts as the entrance to the Theatre Centre below. At first I thought this was going to be a quick mix-it-up site for a quick set before returning upstairs, but it turned out that suddenly this was the site for the rest of the night. I don't know what happened behind the scenes, but suddenly a totally different crowd was milling around to take over the Great Hall for a DJ night, while the smaller OOTB crowd was consigned to the more intimate room below.
On the one hand, this space felt sized to the crowd that was on hand and gave the rest of the night a not-unpleasant livingroom feel. But the un-airconditioned space was a real sweatbox, which wasn't so pleasant. And the art/theme element of the night ("Planet Earth - An Art Installation celebrating our home. Earth.") was abandoned — a giant globe that someone had put some work into ended up undeployed.
Meanwhile, after the delay of shifting things around, there was a most pleasant set from Lake Forest. This is a new-ish side-project from The Wilderness of Manitoba's Will Whitwam. He was joined for the set by Elaine Kelly (backing vocals and violin), doing double duty on the evening. Given Whitwam's other band and the hardly-less-woodsy name here, I was surprised that the material was less straight-up folks-rootsy here, and hewing closer to a classic singer/songwriter template. Once the lights in the room were replaced by candles and the shifting glow of the Dovercourt traffic lights, the surroundings felt about as cozy and intimate as the songs. Good stuff.
And then something else entirely, courtesy of The Jessica Stuart Few. The quartet played a sophisticated, jazzy brand of pop, with Stuart's nimble guitar work and strong vox at the centre — Joni Mitchell comparisons are the easy route here. She was backed by drums, stand-up bass and glockenspiel — and then, for something even more unique, she played koto on a couple songs. That added an appealing slightly-out-of-kilter element to the music.
Listen to a track from this set here.
There were a couple more bands on the bill after that, but I decided to let that be an agreeable ending to my festival. It had been a long day out in the sun, and I was feeling wiped, and, frankly, the vibe was starting to get a little weird. People looking for the upstairs DJ party were wandering in in increasing numbers, treating the space like a holding chamber for their event, making it feel like the festival was receding into background noise.
Although there were some bumps on the road, everyone behind the festival should be applauded for making a worthy effort. And though the crowds that I saw could have easily accommodated in a smaller, bar-like space — Sneaky Dee's would have felt fine — it's laudable to want to present a different kind of show in a different, er, out-of-the-box environment. If there's going to be a second annual festival a year from now, hopefully there will be some lessons learned here that can be applied to balance music and art and audience.
Posts
All Comments
