Polaris Music Prize Long List announcement
The 2015 Polaris Music Prize Long List was revealed recently in Halifax.
I did a bit of reporting and surface-level analysis on the 40 albums that made the Long List for the official Polaris site.
By the way, only two the five acts I voted for on my Polaris ballot made the Long List — Alvvays and Frazey Ford.
Filed under Music, Shameless Promotion
The Sadies at the Horseshoe Tavern during NXNE 2015
The ringing in my ears has stopped, my feet no longer hurt and my two-a-day restorative naps seem to have made my left eyeball stop twitching. This must mean I’ve survived yet another NXNE.
Here’s a notable performance I saw on each day of the festival:
Giant Hand
Cameron House
Wednesday, June 17
Giant Hand’s Kirk Ramsay says “I sing about death mostly” in his Twitter bio and that statement is a very literal and sometimes uncomfortable truth. A slight, singular presence on stage with his guitar, Ramsay’s songs are diary-like confessionals, filled with references to family, friends and a need to be part of a simpler, more natural world. That, and death. Always death. The Grim Reaper is never far away in the music of Giant Hand and when Ramsay is singing about how he doesn’t want to die you can actually sense those dark forces circling around and that his songs are keeping them at bay.
Comet Control
Silver Dollar
Thursday, June 18
The lineal descendant of psych act Quest For Fire and, before that, garage rockers The Deadly Snakes, Comet Control are readymade to dominate a world where events like Austin Psych Fest and Vancouver’s Levitation festival are quickly becoming a thing. Led by Chad Ross (vox/guitar) and Andrew Moszynski (guitar), Comet Control aim for something a little more focused, a little darker and less technicolor than The Desert Sessions. The biggest revelation from watching Comet Control live was the situationally perfect keys from Christopher Sandes. Something of an afterthought for Comet Control on their self-titled album, on stage his explorations help take the band to a place where Deep Purple decide to set controls for the heart of the sun.
George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic
Nathan Phillips Square
Friday, June 19
Not actually a part of NXNE, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic’s free show at Nathan Phillips Square was actually a kickoff event for the Toronto Jazz Festival which was taking place at the same time. My expectations were modest from Clinton. The man, after all, has lived a life that could make Keith Richards blush. But as friend David Dacks’ radio documentary from a couple years ago revealed, Parliament Funkadelic have some deep connections to Toronto and the opportunity to see them play at city hall felt like there might be something special to it. Unfortunately, special might have been an overstatement. The band, buried deep in a marquee VIP tent with its flaps up so the common folk could see the stage, felt sequestered from the audience. Clinton, meanwhile, made only token contributions to the set, frequently ceding the stage to his younger, healthier, more able colleagues. Most concerning though was the not-so-funky-levels of funk on display. I get that Clinton’s only one part of a big machine, and I get that Parliament Funkadelic are a dynamic act that can swerve from rock to blues to soul to rap to jazz effortlessly, but their raison d’etre is the funk. And beyond the anthemic “One Nation Under A Groove,” for much of the set I was left asking mommy, where’s the funkadelic?
View of George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic set at Nathan Phillips Square
The Auras with Tess Parks
Smiling Buddha
Saturday, June 20
Whether it was discovering dad’s Nuggets box sets, a heretofore previously unknown millennial appreciation for 13th Floor Elevators, or seeing Brian Jonestown Massacre documentary Dig! as teens and deciding for some peculiar reason it was aspirational, The Auras and their associated label Optical Sounds have carved out an entirely quality niche by mining 1960s psych, 1990s Creation-gaze and early-’00s garage rock. A late start due to some technical problems was certainly a hitch to The Auras’ showcase set, but starting 10 minutes late probably made them play 10 per cent faster, which was entirely fine for their tripped out boogie. Calling on Tess Parks (who they collaborate with on a split single) for the last couple songs was a solid change of pace as well and helped push the band to be more.
The Sadies
Horseshoe Tavern
Sunday, June 21
It’s easy to take The Sadies for granted. They play Toronto multiple times a year and their albums are always reliably good in a sorta comforting way. But to pass The Sadies off with a simple “Oh yeah, I dig those guys” is a disservice. The band — Dallas and Travis Good, Sean Dean and Mike Belitsky are very good. And it’s not until you see them play live — in this case for a free hangover cure Sunday afternoon matinee at the Horseshoe — that you remember, “Oh yeah, these guys are spectacular.” The proof was in the effortless set that cherry-picked from their Internal Sounds and Darker Circles albums as well as deeper catalog songs. The Sadies masterfully guided us through a wild west of psych rock, bluegrass, spaghetti westerns and country reels, reminding everyone why they’re masters of their craft.
Planet Creature at Smiling Buddha as part of Optical Sounds’ NXNE showcase
No Joy at the Silver Dollar as part of NXNE
Zola Jesus
The North by Northeast music festival kicks off today in Toronto and with it hundreds of bands will descend into the city’s clubs.
If you still have joy in your heart for music you will find it extremely difficult to see all the things you’ll want to see during the fest. That’s why, as a personal service to you the reader, I’ve compiled a list of recommendations to help you prioritize what to see when you’re pounding the pavement.
Wednesday, June 17
8 pm Etiquette @ Danforth Music Hall
Electro-Sade as interpreted by smooth operators Julie Fader and Brian Borcherdt.
11 pm White Cowbell Oklahoma @ Silver Dollar
Though they’re more proper boogie rock and less perverted minstrel show these days, a NXNE Cowbell show is a 15-year tradition at this point.
12 am Zola Jesus @ Lee’s Palace
There are a LOT of Zola Jesus imitators playing the fest this year. You might as well start at the top and work your way down.
Honourable mention: Murder Murder @ Handlebar at 11 pm. They mostly sing songs about murder.
Thursday, June 18
8 pm Lydia Ainsworth @ Phoenix
Where Grimes and Kate Bush intersect in a Venn diagram.
9 pm A Place To Bury Strangers @ Opera House
“Do you like Jesus And Mary Chain?”
“Totally, dude.”
“Awesome. Me, too. Let’s start a band.”
11 pm Comet Control @ Silver Dollar
Friday, June 19
9 pm George Clinton @ Nathan Phillips Square
George Clinton is playing a free show at Nathan Phillips Square. It’s not part of NXNE. If you’re downtown you should probably go to that.
10 pm Votiiv @ Garrison
[Young woman discovers older brother’s Nitzer Ebb records. Enjoys them.]
12 am Warpaint @ Adelaide Hall
When faced with a viewing conflict (Warpaint vs. No Joy at midnight), ALWAYS default to trying to see the international act. You’ll probably have less chance to see them in the future.
Saturday, June 20
4 pm The Holy Gasp @ St. James Gazebo
People think I’m nuts because I want to see some kooky bongo band, but this totally looks crazytown bananapants.
8 pm Best Coast @ Yonge-Dundas Square
Now that the hype has long since evaporated you can judge them on their merits alone.
11 pm The Auras @ Smiling Buddha
Smiling Buddha has a super-pysch-y bill going all night. This is probably the peak, maaaaan.
Honourable mention: Heartless Bastards @ Horseshoe Tavern at 11 pm.
Elijah Wood and Jared Leto
One of music’s most mercurial figures, Jared Leto of 30 Seconds to Mars, is getting the documentary treatment as part of the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.
In Artifact, the actor and rock star exposes his soul as his band faces off against their record label, Virgin/EMI, in a bitter court battle and also works on a follow-up to their album A Beautiful Lie.
Spinner’s uncertain whether we’ll be able to talk to the notoriously press-weary “Jordan Catalano” during the festival, but we did recently ask his fellow music-loving actor Elijah Wood about the pair’s much-publicized spat at the 2006 MTV U Woodie Awards. Basically, Wood, who just curated a vinyl rarities box set, once confessed to Blender Magazine that he wasn’t overly fond of the whole musician-turned-actor thing.
“I would never try to be like other actors and attempt to make [music] myself. I mean, have you heard 30 Seconds to Mars?… Fucking awful, man!” he was quoted as saying in their January/February 2003 issue. Leto didn’t take kindly to the comment and very publicly yelled and cursed at the Lord of the Rings actor at the MTV event. Although Wood dismissed the confrontation as “ridiculous” in a subsequent interview with Jane magazine, the bizarre event has developed a sort of mythic status among music geeks over the years, enough so that we felt the need to check in with Wood and see if there was any lingering hard feelings between the two actors.
“I have no idea,” Wood tells Spinner. “There’s certainly no animosity from my perspective. I think, honestly nothing really happened. I don’t think that there was anything to smooth over. Not like there was something or some sort of grudge that started that night. I don’t know. I’ve seen him at things and I’ve not, like, talked to him or anything.”
As minor as the actual situation was, though, he does regret making that original comment in retrospect.
“I think I partially made a mistake in saying that I didn’t like that band and that wasn’t really… I try to stay away from criticism just because if you can’t say anything nice, it’s not really good to say anything at all.”
These days Wood has a much more positive attitude toward anyone who wants to branch out and try different things.
“I think anybody should be able to do what they want to do creatively,” he says. “I think my thing was that it didn’t always yield the best results, but you can say that about pretty much anyone in one profession moving to a different profession. But I think that also, to a certain degree, that was narrow-minded of me as well, because I think that everybody should have the opportunity, without criticism, to jump into anything they want, if there’s something that they want to express themselves in.”
This story originally ran September 13, 2012 on Spinner.
Neil Young and Promise Of The Real
Neil Young is rather clear on his feelings about Starbucks, Monsanto and genetically modified foods with his new song “A Rock Star Bucks A Coffee Shop.”
He really dislikes them.
I explained a bit about his new song and video and why he feels this way for Samaritan Mag.
To read the story go here.
Filed under Food, Music, Shameless Promotion
I Overcame My Autism And All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder: A Memoir
Risky Fuel 