Recording: Amos the Transparent

Artist: Amos the Transparent

Song: New Beginnings

Recorded at Sunrise Records, in-store performance during NxNE Festival. June 18, 2009.

My notes from this gig can be found here.

Recording: Dinosaur Bones

Artist: Dinosaur Bones

Song: Ice Hotel

Recorded at Sunrise Records, in-store performance during NxNE Festival. June 18, 2009.

Dinosaur Bones - Ice Hotel

My notes from this gig can be found here.

In-store: Amos the Transparent / The Coast / Dinosaur Bones

Amos the Transparent / The Coast / Dinosaur Bones

Sunrise Records. Thursday, June 18, 2009.

Getting away from work earlier than expected, I headed downtown with plenty of time before the NxNE showcases started, so I decided to take in some action at the Sunrise Records just off Yonge and Dundas. There was a small, low stage set up, just enough room for a drummer plus two people up front. Walked in just as Dinosaur Bones were getting ready to play, and that tiny stage meant that Dave Wickland (keybs) and Branko Scekic (bass) were relegated to the floor alongside, but the rudimentary P.A. and monitors had a bit of a democratizing effect, pushing Wickland's Roland up in the mix a bit. The band played a solid half-hour, including a good new song, "Highwire Act".

Listen to a track from this set here.

After stepping outside for some fresh air, headed back in to find a smaller crowd waiting for The Coast to finish setting up. The band seemed a bit out of their element with the in-store setup — perhaps they hadn't brought all their usual gear along, or weren't anticipating the stripped-down system, but there was a faint awkwardness at hand, such as a power cord from a pedal stretched taut in the middle of the stage, creating a bit of a tripping hazard. I got the impression they weren't entirely satisfied with their sound and performance, although I found it generally satisfactory. Although these local lads have been hotly tipped in some quarters, I'd garnished a (probably unfair) impression that they were filed under retro angophilia, which doesn't normally cause me to rush out of my way to see a band. From what I heard live, I wouldn't categorize them so narrowly. With a textured two-guitar sound, The Coast's songs weren't in-your-face hooky, but had plenty of crinkly bits around the edges to keep one engaged. They also tried out some new material, including one with Luke Melchiorre moving from bass to keyb to give a different sound to the bottom end. If this was what they sounded like when playing within in-store constraints then I would imagine the full show would be good stuff.

Ottawa's Amos the Transparent are a band that gets large bloggy love in this town. Despite their many local appearances, I'd only caught them once — spring '08, opening for Basia Bulat — and came away feeling rather neutral. So no reason not to stick around and see if I was more struck the second time 'round. The band decided to tackle the limitations of the in-store environment in a different way, going with a acoustic, sit-down performance. This seemed to push the band out of their comfort zone a little, as the arrangements were a little off-the-cuff, but it gave the proceedings an unforced, enjoyably casual air — "we're playing at The Drake tonight," Jonathan Chandler said, pushing their later showcase appearance, "and it sounds nothing like this". The band was also playing to a small crowd, although it looked like everyone present was filming/taking photos with elaborate cameras, ready to add to the online cavalcade of Amos-love. The songs were all enjoyable and had lots of room for vocal interplay between Jonathan Chandler and Kate Cooke — and for variety a nice one from Mark Hyne. Although this might not be typical of the band's sound, it was a nice chance to witness the band's genial personalities in a relaxed atmosphere. Put me in a good frame of mind to begin the "night" part of the night in a series of dark, dank bars.

Listen to a track from this set here.

Gig: Festival on Bloor

Jenny Omnichord / $100 (duo)

Tranzac Stage, Festival on Bloor. Sunday, June 14, 2009.

On a fine Sunday, headed down to the Annex for the Annual "Festival on Bloor", the street shut down from Spadina to Bathurst. As in years past, the Tranzac was sponsoring a stage set up at the corner of Bloor and Brunswick, with a variety of musical acts throughout the afternoon. Despite some names worth seeing, the stage was a little underadvertised, and I think was more a source of entertainment for people streaming by than those who were coming out of the way just to see someone play. Following on the heels of a choir, Ian and Simone took the stage for a duo set of $100 material. Those who came down (or those just randomly wandering by) were rewarded not only with the airing out of the standards ("Fourteen Hour Day", "No Great Leap") but with some new material. The first (entitled "Courting My Heartache"?) was presented as a sequel to "Black Gold", being played in front of an audience "for the fourth time"¹. The finale was the premiere of "Four Grand Short" — "this is about the recession", explained Simone of a song about life's unappreciated and undercompensated work. Pared back to guit and vox, the focus is on the lyrics, giving a chance to show that $100's songs are solid all the way down. Always a pleasure.

After heading up the street to see Pink Mountaintops at Sonic Boom, wandered back down to Brunswick. Quite a fine day out — the sun felt surprisingly intense² and made me a little drowsy as I pulled up a curb. Ended up sitting by the cool kids as Jenny Mitchell got set up on stage. Mitchell, a member of the Barmitzvah Brothers and The Burning Hell, was playing in her her solo guise of Jenny Omnichord — named after the titular instrument. The omnichord's percolating electronic rhythms brought to mind something like Edna Boil playing "Popcorn"³, though fortunately, the personality behind the songs elevated them above kitsch, with Mitchell's smiling vox and plainspoken songs (about Elvis impersonators, epistolary skeletons and pregnancy) keeping things grounded. A pleasant set of homespun songs that put me in a good frame of mind to head back home and do laundry.

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¹ So perhaps those in attendance for Friday's Horseshoe gig got a full-band version?

² Though not so infernoriffic as the same festival a couple years back when Laura Barrett, Sunparlour Players, The Bicycles and Ninja High School all graced that same stage on a boiling hot afternoon that just about melted me.

³ Um, the synth-pop instrumental, not the James Brown jam.

Recording: Pink Mountaintops

Artist: Pink Mountaintops

Song: Outside Love

Recorded at Sonic Boom Records, June 14, 2009.

Pink Mountaintops - Outside Love

My notes for this set can be found here.

In-store: Pink Mountaintops

Pink Mountaintops

Sonic Boom. Sunday, June 14, 2009.

I recall when I was visiting Vancouver, back in ought-and-four, I went to check out the famous Scratch Records, and while I was there, I asked the clerk if he could recommend something to me that I might not have heard yet in T.O. He suggested the first Pink Mountaintops' album, which he pitched as a forward-looking fusion of The Velvet Underground and ZZ Top. Despite — or maybe because of — that description, the album never really worked for me. I couldn't decide if it was meant as a tinny-sounding wink at stoner-rock conventions, or just a celebration of them. Anyway, like so many things that don't quite click, the disc got filed away and more or less forgotten, and when Pink M. mainman Stephen McBean started to garner attention with Black Mountain, his other band, it didn't seem like a priority to check it out. It wasn't until last year's In the Future that I decided to get caught up and see what all the fuss was about, and I did manage to start to appreciate what he was up to a bit.

So it was in this context that I decided to check out the band down in the basement of Sonic Boom. This far down the line, and in what I'm guessing is a bit of a stripped-down sound, the band was utterly a bird of a different mountain from what I was expecting. Playing as a drumless four-piece with McBean on acoustic guit, backed by electric, violin and the deal-clinching vox of Sar Friedman who I am assuming is Amber Webber¹, the band's sound was gently rustic with a small hint of psychedelia, with McBean's slightly gruff tone giving that taste of a classic rock band caught at a gentle moment. The half-dozen songs were serviceable but really kicked up into something highly pleasant by those backing vox and the barefoot stylings of Sophie Trudeau.² So I guess I'm officially interested enough to keep the band in mind to check out further, the in-store magic having worked on me this time.

Listen to a track from this set here.

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¹ Factcheck me here, Pink Mountaintop fans!

² Sophie Trudeau? Poking around through various sources, it looks like both of McBean's bands have overlapping and fluid memberships, and I'm not entirely sure who came out on tour.

Recording: Bell Orchestre

Artist: Bell Orchestre

Song: Icicles/Bicycles^*

Recorded at Harbourfront Centre, Luminato Festival, June 13, 2009.

Bell Orchestre - Icicles/Bicycles

My notes from this gig can be found here.

^* Thanks to Joel for providing the title to this one. Check out his blog to get your Arcade Fire fix.

Gig: Bell Orchestre

Bell Orchestre

Luminato Festival. Harbourfront Centre. June 13, 2009.

And all at once, it felt like summer had arrived. Maybe part of it was just making the trek down to Harbourfront, but it just felt seasonally adjusted outside. Harbourfront was pretty packed — Luminato crowds out for Cirque de Soleil and gourmet food booths lining Queen's Quay. Met up with J. & J. and we went for some fancy ice cream before winding our way over to the stage and finding ourselves some spots. Although we were there in good time, the seating area was filling up quickly, with a not-unusual Harbourfront mix of people there to see the band and people hanging out just because there's something free coming up — plus a healthy dose of people who'd came down to see Québecois circus performers and thought this might be part of the Cirque programme.

Things were running a little behind schedule, and by about ten past seven the crowd was clapping and calling for the show to start. J. & I killed time by exchanging Angel Riots jokes, and eventually a pair of Cirque performers led the VIPs onstage. Indicating that this wasn't just your usual night out at Harbourfront, the show was preceded by some speechifying from the heads of Harbourfront and Luminato and the Mayor in person, who went on to mutually admire each other. After putting a pitch in for everyone to call their councillor and get them to vote for the Queen's Quay revitalization, hizzoner introduced the band, somewhat misguidedly — to their later delight — suggesting that everyone get up and dance.

Bell Orchestre took the stage running seven deep and played for about seventy minutes. Their swelling brand of indie rock played with symphonic tools was a good fit for the venue, giving a chance to enjoy moments of both quiet ambiance and rousing crescendos. It might have helped that right as they hit the stage, my drugs kicked in,¹ but I was in a good frame of mind to lean back and soak it in. The band was attentive to their arrangements, but relaxed enough to not make it feel too stiff. They took some pains to try and get the audience involved and clapping — and by the end, when the tempos picked up, even dancing.

Meanwhile, after the first number, a certain segment of the crowd grudgingly accepted that this concert wasn't going to include leotard-clad clowns leaping from trapezes and fled the joint. But the seats were quickly filled up by those more keen on the music, including a family that settled in in front of us. Dad was really into the music, and Mom had the Younger Brother on her lap, leaving Older Brother, about seven or eight, to squirm around and see me as an object of interest.

"Hi!" he shouted. I nodded.

"Hi!" and he shouted something else. I gave a vague 'can't quite hear you shrug', so he shouted it again louder. I turned my head and tapped at my ear.

"Oh," he said brightly, "you're wearing earplugs!" And in one of those brilliant bursts of kid logic, he stuck his fingers in his ears, squinted his eyes and shouted "HELLO!" at me. He was honestly confused as to why I'd want the music to be quieter, not louder, and seemed convinced I couldn't hear anything at all.

Such is part of the experience at Harbourfront, just like the party boats going past, booming their music. One big boat going by actually stopped for a few minutes, the decks filled with people standing and listening to the show. The final number was especially affecting, the strings and horns playing off each other just so, evoking a sort of etherial melancholy, well matched by the kid in front of me, who was now a little tuckered out and feeling a bit cranky and ready to leave. The band put down their instruments and left the stage to a looping ambient swirl, before being called back for one more. A hightly enjoyable show, and hopefully the first of many at Harbourfront this summer.

Listen to a song from this set here.

Postscript: in a tidy bit of synchronicity, we ambled away from Harbourfront after the show, and made our way north looking for some eats. Getting out of the subway at St. George, who should be headed into the station but hizonner himself? Small world.

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¹ On my way down to the Waterfront, I'd stopped in to visit A.'s cat while he's out of town for the weekend. Though I quite like the wee beastie, my allergies came on strong, and by the time I was at Harbourfront I was red-eyed and sneezey, so I popped a pill for it, which always puts a pleasant downer effect on me — "non-drowsy", my ass. Good for langourously focusing on the show at hand, but it put a real crimp in my plans to operate heavy machinery later on in the evening. There'll aways be other tractor pulls, I guess.

Album: Chain and the Gang / Down with Liberty... Up with Chains!

Artist: Chain and the Gang

Album: Down with Liberty... Up with Chains!

The latest vehicle for Ian Svenonius, known for his work in Nation of Ulysses, The Make-Up and Weird War. After being introduced via their live show, the album sounds a little dinky in comparison — clean and spare, almost like a demo. That robs the songs of the sweaty raunch they really need to get over, and without their live energy, they could be mistaken for aimless rehashed genre exercises. I don't think that's the case so much as I think this albums isn't the best of all possible arguments for these songs. The vox and some of the garage-primitive R&B bring to mind David Johansen, but when at his best, Svenonius manages to work in a sneaky critique of nothing less than contemporary American society. Not without its charms, though, as Svenonius has a slightly unwholesome magnetism and an ear for subtle sloganeering.

Track Pick: 5 - "What is a Dollar?"

Gig: Daniel Lanois / The Campbell Brothers Band

The World of Slide Guitar (feat. Sonny Landreth Band with Cindy Cashdollar / The Campbell Brothers Band / Daniel Lanois)

Luminato Festival. Yonge-Dundas Square. June 7, 2009.

On J.'s suggestion, decided to head down to Dundas Square to check out Daniel Lanois. Looking up what else was on offer at the "World of Slide Guitar", thought that The Campbell Brothers might be worth checking out, do went on down a little early. For some reason, things were running an hour behind the posted schedule, so I ended up catching pretty much all of the Sonny Landreth Band with Cindy Cashdollar. Which, observed from the edge of the square, was pleasant in that bar-band rockin' kind of way.

Met up with J. & J. just as The Campbell Brothers Band were taking the stage, and we moved in for a slightly closer look. Billed as exponents of the "sacred steel" style, combining gospel songs within a bluesy musical framework, the band were certainly virtuosos. All of their selections were given extended treatments, with scorching solos aplenty, including guest appearances from the musicians that had already been on the stage. This was all slickly enjoyable, and wildly popular with the crowd. Perhaps it was just that I was feeling mildly under-caffeinated that it didn't make that much of an impact on me — but it may also have been the fact that I was kinda hoping for more sacred and less steel. The final number, with a jump-out-of-your-seat-and-testify vibe, put things closer to the mark I'd been seeking. More "rock" than "Rock of Ages" in the final analysis, but I guess that's okay too.

After that, Daniel Lanois was a shot of something else. Taking to the stage only with the accompaniment of a bassist to begin with, they settled into a lengthy improvised piece that would have sat well alongside, say, something from Kranky Records. After the feel-good populism of the previous acts, this felt really different and exciting. The piece lasted for about twenty-five minutes before Lanois moved over to the pedal steel and did a couple ambient/country pieces evoking with work with Eno on the Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks album. Well-suited for the cement moonscape of Dundas Square, and as he was crouched over his pedal steel, barely visible past the crowd, it felt like the concert had collapsed into something more like an audio installation on a massive scale, and, for a brief moment, everything felt a little bit serenely altered. Very nicely done.

The second half was more conventionally "rock", and while good stuff, didn't have that same pleasantly dislocating quality, aiming more towards ragged glory. Bringing out a drummer to accompany him, Lanois started with a casual, slowly-unfolding take on "The Maker" and moved on through a few more of his own compositions. The Square, which had been pretty full at the end of the Campbell Brothers, had cleared out a fair amount by the end of Lanois' seventy-five minutes, but that probably had as much to do with a dour grey sky and bitingly cold wind as much as his sounds. I thought it was a real treat — that first half moreso, but still left a warm glow against the cold evening as we fled the square before the free country line dance lessons could begin.

Recording: Tri-Continental

Artist: Tri-Continental featuring Bill Bourne

Song: Dance and Celebrate

Recorded at "The Traveling Blues", Luminato Festival, Metro Square, June 6, 2009.

Tri-Continental (featuring Bill Bourne) - Dance and Celebrate

My notes for this gig are here.

Recording: Alpha Yaya Diallo

Artist: Alpha Yaya Diallo

Song: Unknown^*

Recorded at "The Traveling Blues", Luminato Festival, Metro Square, June 6, 2009.

Alpha Yaya Diallo - Unknown

My notes for this gig are here.

^* Anyone know the title to this one? Let me know!

Gig: "The Traveling Blues"

"The Traveling Blues" (feat. Harry Manx/Kevin Breit, Alpha Yaya Diallo Quartet, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Tri-Continental, Fiona Boyes, Mamadou Diabaté, Taj Mahal Trio)

Luminato Festival. Metro Square. Saturday, June 6, 2009.

So — the blues. Most venerated of genres yet also source of lots of dull, derivative crap. It was with less that 100% confidence that I decided to head down to Metro Square¹ to check out this Luminato freebie show. Some of my apprehension also came from the fact that the two artists I wanted to see the most were scheduled for four o'clock and nine o'clock, leaving a bit of gap in between.

The square was busy but not too filled when I arrived, a small crowd on chairs in front of the stage, and people scattered around on the grass, casually taking things in. The event was impressively set up, showing how how big bucks can dwarf the usual logistical problems. The west side of the square was filled with a large double stage, so the one act could be set up and ready to go as the other finished. So it was pretty much non-stop music all day. I found a spot on the grass and settled in for the end of Harry Manx and Kevin Breit's set, catching a couple songs that seemed pleasant, including a nice take on "Summertime".

But it was the next up act that I came for. Canadian-Guinean Alpha Yaya Diallo gained some renown for his participation in African Guitar Summit project, but is talented enough to seek out in his own right. Diallo, a deft, lyrical guitar player, was backed by bass, drums and balafon. Diallo's songs tend to be in a simmering mid-tempo, leaving plenty of room for rhythmic interplay between guit and balafon and time for the hypnotic grooves to unfold themselves. The band played a half-dozen songs in his forty-five minute set — excellent stuff. The least formally "blues" thing I saw all day. Also the best. Lots of local world-music gentry out for this one — I saw John Leeson up front, no doubt getting some photos that will turn out much better than mine.²

Listen to a track from this set here.

Shuffled over to the other stage for a short solo set from Alvin Youngblood Hart, a W.C. Handy Award winner and generally well-regarded within the blues fraternity. Playing on an electric with a slightly distorted tone, his sound had a greasy, back-country feeling that brought to mind some of the Fat Possum artists. Pretty enjoyable stuff.

And then back to the other side. What I had seen originally billed as a set by Madagascar Slim — another African Guitar Summit veteran — turned out to be a three-headed collaboration known as Tri-Continental, teaming Slim up with Bill Bourne and Lester Quitzau. Neither of the last two were known to me, but they quickly demonstrated they were both excellent musicians. Looking over their c.v.'s now, it seems especially strange that Bourne's name had never crossed my path. Gifted with sonorous voice and steely eyes, he had the look of a mythic prairie hero.

The three musicians took turns on vocals and backed each other's songs, complementing each other's approaches. It had a very relaxed and loose feel as the songs stretched out and allowed the interplay of different styles to come to the fore. Most of the music was at a relaxed pace, the guitars trickling over each other like a quietly determined brook. Very nice stuff in a genteel way, and even better when it picked up — the highlight coming with Bourne's "Dance and Celebrate", with an old-timey Cajun dance feel.

Listen to a track from this set here.

The next act up was Alvin Youngblood Hart, back with his band. He launched into a high energy set of what sounded like very-well executed blues-rock. I decided it was time to go for a walk. Stretched my legs out for a spell, and came back to the square as the set was finishing off. Found a nice patch of grass to settle on and flip through my newspaper while Australian Fiona Boyes played a solo acoustic set. She was a very accomplished fingerpicker, but a less distinguished songwriter, and I didn't feel the need to stand up and move closer during her set. It was followed by a short set from kora master Mamadou Diabaté. I had actually seen Diabaté perform at Harbourfront a couple summers ago, so instead of getting in for a look, I craftily swooped in and got a sweet spot near the front of the other stage to be ready for the headliner, twisting the ends of my moustache and cackling to myself.³

Once the rest of the crowd did move over, I was curious to see how things would work themselves out between the (mostly older) crowd sitting down right up front and the (mostly younger) crowd pressing up to get close. In the end, even when the woo-yelling drunks showed up, things were mostly fine — the seated middle stayed seated, with people standing to the sides and in front. And a pretty decent crowd on hand by the time Taj Mahal took the stage. Long an advocate for "world music" even before that was a marketing niche, he started off with a "teachable moment", bringing Mamadou Diabaté over to sit in on the opening selection "Queen Bee". And after that, it was The Blues. Playing on an acoustic throughout, Taj was backed just by bass and drums, but it was a full-on, rockin' set. The 67-year-old was every inch the entertainer, full of praise for Toronto and Canada, recalling, in the late '60's, telling Canadians to cheer at his shows like their hockey team had just scored a goal. He was in good voice, switching from his gruff baritone to respond to himself in his lower, froggy register.

It was all very good fun, and worthy to see a master in action. At that, though, I found that the ninety minutes plus started to feel like a bit too much of a good thing by the end — after a baker's dozen of 12-bars, they start to blur together: the second time Taj sang about how the sun was gonna shine in his back door some day,⁴ I was thinking to myself, "haven't we been here already?" Still, there were no shortage of highlights, including "Fishing Blues" and "Corrina" back-to-back plus "Take a Giant Step". Taj even busted out the banjo in the tailfeather-shakin' encore, sending me from the Square feeling pretty good.

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¹ Motto: "Downtown's least-loved civic square." Which isn't to say that it's that lousy a space, but it just seems to be cloaked from our consciousness, generally. All things considered, it's rather nicer than, say, the ad bath of Yonge Dundas Square.

² If you don't subscribe to Mr. Leeson's very useful e-mail list, focusing on local world music events, you should go to his site and sign yourself up.

³ Ed.'s Note: You should save this image for some occasion when you do something that's actually devious.

⁴ Neither of which were "Trouble in Mind" — I leave it to the blues scholars among you to work out what some of the other possibilities are.

Gig: Amadou & Mariam / Mélissa Laveaux

Amadou & Mariam / Mélissa Laveaux

Phoenix Concert Theatre. Thursday, June 4, 2009.

One of the great things about living in this town is that there's an inexhaustible stream of new, excitingly unheard bands to check out. The flipside of the coin, though, is that we also get the occasional chance to see the world's best when they pass through. After a glut of small-scale indie shows, it feels nice to be switching gears a bit and going to something on a whole other plane. Mali's Amadou et Mariam utterly blew me away when they played Harbourfront in the summer of 2006, and I promised then that I'd not miss them when they returned our way. So this was absolutely a highly-anticipated gig for me, and not even lingering bleh-ness from a cold could dampen my enthusiasm too much.

Although there was quite a mix of people, definitely an older crowd out for this one, skewing into the "we drove down early and had a nice dinner before" middle-aged demographic. Which makes for less pushy types, although also very willing to stand around and gossip loudly about their neighbours while the opening act was on. That turned out to be Mélissa Laveaux, a young singer-songwriter from Ottawa, playing a solo acoustic set that might have been a case of "wrong place, wrong time". Though I moved up a good chunk through the crowd to try and hear her a little more clearly, the chattering audience really overwhelmed her music. Laveaux turned out to be a very nifty guitar player with a fine voice and an engaging manner on the stage, but it was just all swallowed up. Some numbers, including a beautifully-sung Haitian lullaby, still managed to cut through a bit, but as the set went on, it felt like more people were tuning out. She threw in a few covers (White Stripes, Sam Roberts, Elliot Smith) to try and get people to pay attention, but ultimately, it felt like this was just the wrong situation for her to display her talents.

I moved back a piece and found J. & J. by the soundboard, where we settled in and had a reasonable amount of personal space. Fortunately the crowd was more attentive for the main attraction. The six-piece backing band¹ emerged and launched into a groove before Amadou and Mariam were led on to a roaring welcome. They launched into the title track from their recent Welcome to Mali and basically didn't let up for the next ninety minutes. Drawing largely from their two North American breakthrough albums, it was pretty much "dancer ensemble, chanter ensemble, bouger ensemble" non-stop. Amadou was playing what looked like from our vantage point a solid gold guitar — utterly suited to his million-dollar chops. An utterly hypnotic player, Amadou can veer from mesmerizing circular riffs to fiery leads that never come untethered to the song's grooves. He had a handful of extended guitar showcases (including a stunning rip through "Coulibaly") that were, as the last time I saw them, highlights of the set.

Mariam took centre stage for single "Sabali",² a sweet love song that required no translation as the disco ball suddenly came on at the exact right moment and, at the end, Mariam ran her fingers through Amadou's hair — all of which spoke loudly enough that their subsequent run through English-language track "I Follow You" felt almost redundant. But, tout en tout, pretty amazing stuff. The encore included the incredibly pretty "Je pense à toi" and then flipped into a storm of a tune that was either unfamiliar to me, or just so stripped down (to a two-chord vamp of such ripping simplicity it would put The Fall to shame) that it was rendered unrecognizable. One to remember, and a good unofficial start to the summer when we can all get out of the clubs and see a whole world of excellent music — a lot of it for free to boot.

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¹ Kit drum, percussionist, bass, keyb and two dancers/backup singers.

² Powered on the album by Damon Albarn's oscillating synths, I was slightly surprised to see this one live, but the touring keyboard player — identified only as "Igor" — did a good job.

Album: Metric / Fantasies

Artist: Metric

Album: Fantasies

Metric has always been a band where, from the outset, my idea of them never lived up to the reality of their albums. Each of them had good singles and were generally okay, but still...

So it was an utterly delightful surprise put this one in, and then just feel compelled to keep playing it over and over. Head-and-shoulders this is their best album yet, though I'm at a loss to say they're doing anything radically different. I stuck to this disc for days, trying to puzzle out what went so gloriously right, but am ultimately without much in the way of insight, besides hoary old standbys like "consistency". This album starts out with four gems and hardly lets up from there.

Or perhaps it's just the band is working right in their comfort zone, musically taut and lyrically inhabiting a self-aware terrain throughout. "Twilight Galaxy" reads like an Emily Haines poster come to life, a savvy rockstar older sister dispensing advice ("keep doing it wrong") directly to the teenagers, while "Blindness" has a sublime warmth that recalls Hines' excellent solo Knives Don't Have Your Back, but more like an extroverted flipside of the coin to that disc. That outward-lookingness is pushed to its maximal conclusion on closer "Stadium Love". It's a bit sad an album like this could well push Metric into those stadiums, and out of my orbit, but with something this good, they well deserve as much success as they can grasp.

Track Picks : 2 - "Sick Muse", 3 - "Satellite Mind", 9 - "Blindness"