1000 Songs: Melody Lau

1000 Songs: Melody Lau

I have now posted one thousand songs from my live recordings to this blog. My introductory thoughts on that landmark can be found here, but long story short: I asked some folks to pick some of their favourites to help me celebrate.

Today's list is from freelance music journalist Melody Lau (twitter: @melodylamb). There's too just much going on under the umbrella of the "Melody Lau brand" to list it all here, but if you ask her at tomorrow night's launch show (with trivia! and prizes! and bands!) for the new issue of Static Zine, she might reel off an impressive list of publications for you. Look for the one in a top hat and/or sombrero.

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To Joe and Mechanical Forest Sound — the most hardworking man in the Toronto music scene. How we haven’t given you the key to the city yet, I do not know. Get on it, Rob Ford!
Here's a bit of nostalgia from me but as you will soon notice, I am a young'un and with youth comes plenty of embarrassing anecdotes. Only for Joe!

The Hidden Cameras - I Believe in The Good of Life

The final night of Wavelength 500 will always be a memorable night, even if I can't remember fragments of it. This is what happens when you're single on Valentine's Day: you have a few too many drinks, watch a bunch of amazing bands, tell Owen Pallett you love him as he politely walks away from you and conclude the night by jumping onstage with The Hidden Cameras. I shared a mic with Kevin Drew briefly; I now know how Leslie Feist feels, kind of. Who needed a Valentine when we all had Wavelength?

Rich Aucoin - It

This was my first time seeing Rich Aucoin live and to say he blew me away is a serious understatement. I didn’t know anything about him prior to his set but I was assured by a friend that he was "a mix of Daft Punk and the Arcade Fire" — quite the loaded descriptor but hell, he lived up to it. Shows don’t get more life-affirming and magical than this; Rich Aucoin is the showman of our generation.

Wayne Petti - Up On the Hillside

Listen to this recording and tell me that you don’t have a crush on Wayne Petti. Exactly. Little did I know that we would go on to be co-workers at Criminal Records, except not really. We never had a shift together but that might be because I had mentioned my huge crush on him during my job interview. Regardless, we will always have this show at the Music Gallery. He asked the audience to sing and, yes, I sang (possibly off-key).

The Balconies - The Slo

I had convinced my bosses at Criminal Records to book this in-store so I feel particularly proud of this in-store set. The Balconies have been one of my favourites, live and on record, since I first saw them in 2009 and even though they've yet to release a new full-length since, I still listen to their 2009 self-titled record and think, "Holy shit, that voice! Those melodies! Yes!" Surely, they’ll return with some more of that soon.

Gentleman Reg - The Boyfriend Song

"Boyfriend, boyfriend, where are you? I ain’t got no money and I ain’t got no boyfriend." Needless to say, my best friend and I found these lyrics quite perfect as we spent that New Year's single. It sounds like I'm single a lot but I swear, I dat... oh, I can’t lie. I'm essentially dating my career these days. After all, I ain't got money!

Bonus memory! The Rural Alberta Advantage - Goodbye

I was still a young, impressionable (and under-aged) blogger when The Rural Alberta Advantage played this Canadian Music Week showcase. They remain one of my favourite Toronto bands but it's tough to take them in at a venue like the Phoenix nowadays after seeing such intimate performances like this one. And one can't get more intimate than this song, specifically. [Ed. note: Indeed. Man, I really wish I had a recording of this show.]

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You can always click on the tags below to read more about the shows these songs came from. Have there been four or five songs posted here that made an impact on you? If you'd like to get in on the action and make a list, feel free to send me an email: mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com.

Recording: Thieves

Artist: Thieves

Song: Cut You Down^*

Recorded at Placebo Space (Wavelength 533), January 27, 2012.

Thieves - Cut You Down

Review to follow. A pleasantly laid-back, folky evening at the comfy Placebo Space was given a jolt from Wayne Petti & co.'s Thieves.

^* Thanks to Wayne for passing the title to this one along.

Sunday Playlist #4

Sunday Playlist #4: guitar + voice + microphone

Julie Doiron - Elevator Show

Grant Hart - Never Talking Talking to You Again

Leif Vollebekk - Don't Go to Klaksvik

Melissa Boraski - Too Tall

Wayne Petti - Up On the Hillside

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You can always click the tags below to see what I originally wrote about the shows these songs came from.

Recording: Wayne Petti

Artist: Wayne Petti

Song: Up On the Hillside

Recorded live at the The Music Gallery, Toronto. May 29, 2009.

Wayne Petti - Up On the Hillside

My notes for this gig are here.

Gig: Apostle of Hustle / Wayne Petti

Apostle of Hustle / Wayne Petti

The Music Gallery. Friday, May 29, 2009.

Despite having looked around a bit, couldn't find any opener listed for the Apostle of Hustle show, making it a pleasant surprise when the poster at the door listed Wayne Petti as the support. Petti is best known for his work with Cuff the Duke, a band I have drifted away from a bit, but his half-hour set certainly was a good reminder of his appeal. Filled with self-depreciating banter, Petti held forth on Oshawa, the awkwardness (for both performer and audience) of a rock show in a church, and the merits of the Apostle of Hustle mug available at the merch table ("an excellent vehicle for liquids"). The set was based on City Lights Align, his '07 solo disc, with a couple dips into the Cuff the Duke catalog for "Belgium or Peru"¹ and one (possibly titled "I Never Had Enough Time") from the group's forthcoming album. He threw in a cover of Guided By Voices' "Smothered In Hugs" for good measure, and closed on a high note with a rollicking singalong version of "Up On The Hillside".² It's always a bonus when an opening act leaves you wanting to hear more and gives you the impression that he'd be a fine fellow to hang out with over some beers. Good stuff.

Listen to a track from this performance here.

Perhaps a nod both to the Music Gallery's avant roots and to Andrew Whiteman's love for found sounds, the between-sets music was replaced by the looping call of a Buddha Machine, giving the darkened church a trance-y feel as Julian Brown, clutching an LED lantern, led the band onto the stage.³ The gig was the local CD release show for the new Apostle of Hustle disc, apparently a concept album about a loon that ingests darkness and excretes rainbows.⁴ The set started in the darkness and at the far end of the band's catalog, with "Sleepwalking Ballad" and the title track from '04's Folkloric Feel before moving to the new "How to Defeat a More Powerful Enemy". From there, it was a mix from all three albums, though even the old was made new by some radical reinventions, most notably a new arrangement of "National Anthem of Nowhere" that sounded like the song had been folded in on itself like an origami tesseract.

The band was in excellent form, and the textured, Cuban-inspired sounds filled every nook and cranny in the room. The mix was a little pew-vibratingly bottom heavy — even when there wasn't a bass being played — but the band's sonic details were captured well, especially when percussionist Dean Stone left his kit to play cajon and the close-mic'd tambourine. Whiteman had a table of electronics, including a sampler, with which he managed to replicate some of the album's sound montages — live and trimmed down a bit, they felt more organic than they do on disc. The band was relaxed and in fine form throughout, giving a very strong set to their perceived audience of "stoners, loners, introverts and bathtub people". The set ended with an extended version of "Soul Unwind" that compensated for the loss of Lisa Lobsinger's vox with a fiery guitar groove. With encore, the show lasted an hour and a half — quite satisfying.⁵

Listen to a track from this performance here.

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¹ Capo 7th fret if you're playing this one at home.

² In a spirited life-imitates-art moment, Petti momentarily couldn't remember the start of the third verse, which turned out to be about singing along if you know the words — "it comes from the heart, but my brain just can't remember".

³ Perhaps somewhat thematically, the band started off on stage in near darkness, and the lighting levels slowly went up as the night went on, culminating in the unveiling of the band's homemade footlight, which threw giant, dramatic shadows on the walls behind them. They also played their earlier song "Dark is What I Want" during the encore, perhaps underlining dark's recurring, unceasing appeal, regardless of how much light you add.

⁴ At least this is the impression I get based on the cover art and the band's large banner that was deployed behind the stage.

⁵ Anyone know what the final song in the encore was? ("Space is calling out your name") A cover? Something new or obscure from the catalog? I couldn't place it. Thanks to Zack for providing the missing title.