vintage

The fabulous Matthew from i (heart) music has been doing the Hottest Bands in Canada annual poll for quite some time now. I have had the honour of being part of the jury for two years so far, and this year’s list just went up — and some of my picks actually made it. I felt somewhat out of touch with Canadian up-and-comers this year at times, so it is nice to know some people agree with me!

You can check out the list right here.

My own band, Entire Cities, squeaked onto the list at #32. Thank you to whoever nominated us — that is totally awesome! I tagged us onto the end of my list as a laugh, but it seems as though at least one person did think we were worthy of a spot. This is great news! We’re in good company.

Just saw Buffy Sainte-Marie and Richie Havens at Massey Hall, but I didn’t actually see a long enough portion of either to properly review them (I was observing from outside a set of doors, so I heard it quite well but was often occupied). Richie Havens was amazing, though, and the fact that he had a cellist was an awesome addition. I really enjoyed what I saw.

I am going to try to procure a few albums this week that I have been meaning to get (such as Wolf Parade, Elliott Brood, and Chad VanGaalen), so look out for some reviews of those sometime soon. It is nearing year-end list time, and I am doing some thinking!

Last night was the much-anticipated performance by legendary David Byrne at Toronto’s Massey Hall, and let me tell you, all that anticipation was worth it. Byrne — sans opening act — rocked the house for a good two hours, including encores (three of them!), and the set featured a whole lot of classic Talking Heads material as well as new tunes from the record with Brian Eno (Everything That Happens Will Happen Today).

Notably, the large cast of performers included three dancers and three backup vocalists (the latter often doubling as dancers as well). The dancers were a pretty awesome addition, I have to say — even Byrne was choreographed into their routines much of the time, and what looked like a casual step back ended up being one part of a perfectly executed setup. Most of the choreographed tunes were old Talking Heads favourites, which included “Once in a Lifetime”, “Take Me to the River” and “Burning Down the House”. Byrne himself was relaxed and having a great time, smiling a lot and cracking jokes about the American election (”Why don’t you all drive to Buffalo and cast some ballots? They’ll never know!” — to which an audience member hollered “Drive to Ohio!”).

The new tunes translated really well to stage; the set opened with “Strange Overtones,” a nice solid way to start off the night. Also featured were “My Big Nurse”, “I Feel My Stuff” (particularly great), and, at the end of the night, “Everything That Happens”. The band was tight, the vocalists excellent, the dancing sublime, and Byrne himself was an absolute treat. I’m a Massey employee, but I was still getting my groove on a little during “Life During Wartime”. This ain’t no disco!!

David Byrne is clearly doing all this stuff because he loves it, and although not having Brian Eno on the tour was disappointing (though not at all surprising, since he never tours anyway), Byrne and company more than made up for Eno’s absence. It was an excellent show — well worth the excitement.

The record is also really good; it sounds more like a new wave album than My Life in The Bush of Ghosts did, but it certainly does a great job bridging the gap between Talking Heads and the aforementioned collaboration album. It’s out digitally right now (iTunes, Amazon, emusic, etc) and will be, as Byrne put it, “manifesting itself in the physical world” fairly soon. Expect a review when I have had more than three days to digest it!

In quick news, Stephen Harper unveils the new Cabinet to create the “right team for these times”; one cheeky commenter on the CBC website wonders “Two weeks ago, everything was fine and dandy; Harper said that due to his foresight the Canadian economy was fine and would resist recession. Now we have the right team for these times. If the times didn’t change, then did we have the wrong team before?”

Last night was also Barack Obama’s 30-minute televised infomercial, which is making waves all over the place today. Check it out. More on both of those topics coming soon.

I owe you a few recaps, I think!

On September 27th and 28th, Martin Tielli performed at Hugh’s Room in support of his upcoming record, scheduled to drop around Christmas. I checked out the second show, which turned out to be well worth the $20 advance ticket. Tielli played for probably about two and a half hours (with a “cigarette break” or two), and not once did the time drag or the set become boring. His backing band was stellar, featuring musicians such as Selina Martin and Monica Gunter, and a large handful of Rheostatics favourites found their way into the setlist between excellent new Martin tracks — I was particularly thrilled to hear “Saskatchewan”.

Lately I’ve been feeling like a lot of the acts I’m seeing are just doing the same thing over and over, you know, a cute little chord progression and a quirky-just-like-everyone-else’s voice and some whimsical lyrics. I get frustrated going to shows sometimes because I don’t feel like I’m seeing anything new. Refreshingly, though, Martin Tielli can never be described as “cookie-cutter”. Everything he does is different and interesting and unexpected, and I really appreciate it. Whether it’s writing songs prominently featuring coleslaw or continuing to make crazy noises on his Steinberger, Tielli is always a new experience, and I love it.

I also worked the Alanis Morissette concert this past week at Massey, and while I can’t put her on the list of artists I really love, there’s no denying that she has been incredibly successful (the RIAA lists her as the most successful female rock act of all time, and Jagged Little Pill is the top selling debut album ever — just to name a few). She certainly knows how to put on a show, too. There were lights and strobes and a New Age-y tapestry with her painted on it, and she danced and thrashed and ran around the stage as if her energy was totally boundless. I was pretty impressed. While there was probably an empty seat or two somewhere in the hall, it was virtually sold out and the audience was really into it.

Scottish songster Alexi Murdoch opened, charming and folky with just a guitar and a few effects. Some of the crowd was restless during his set, and by the end the volume of chatter had gotten considerably louder, but I really enjoyed his tunes. Perhaps something more energetic might have been more appropriate for an Alanis warm-up, but nevertheless, Murdoch did a fine job and there were at least a few people who enjoyed his work, judging by the “I love you Alexi!” shouts from the main floor.

In other news, Canada has a federal election on Tuesday. My prediction: another Stephen Harper minority. I’m terrified to even think of the prospect of a majority, and unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Stéphane Dion’s Liberals will have enough of a showing to turf Harper out. In other words … this election will more than likely end up being a complete waste of time, money, and useless attack ads. And an example of Harper breaking a law that he made to essentially avoid this exact situation. Politics is awesome.

And finally, a teacher from Alberta won the Hockey Night in Canada anthem challenge earlier today. Colin Oberst — no relation to Conor, I assume — of Beaumont won $100,000 and half the lifetime royalties for his composition “Canadian Gold,” which is the new Hockey Night in Canada theme song now that CBC no longer has the rights to Dolores Claman’s iconic and familiar one. 13-year-old (!) Robert Fraser Burke came in second with “Sticks To The Ice” — I hope we see more of him in the future.

Some of you might be aware that I recently started a totally awesome job: usher at the venerable Massey Hall. It means that I get to see some pretty sweet stuff while getting paid. Last night was my first show, and it happened to be Sigur Rós.

I know. Pretty awesome, right.

Parachutes provided the warm-up, which was short and sweet. I was surprised to learn that they were from Iceland as well, although in retrospect, I have no idea why. It kind of makes sense. Anyway, Parachutes’ eight members made some beautiful music in that beautiful hall, and their trombonist knew exactly what to do and when to do it. Kudos to the single horn player. I enjoyed their set, but at quite a few points it sounded like they were trying too hard to be another Sigur Rós, which just won’t do. If they stuck to their own sound - which peeked through a fair amount - it would be just lovely.

After an intermission, to deafening applause and cheers: Sigur Rós, direct from Reykjavík (via some North American cities on the tour). I’ll admit I wasn’t sure what to expect here. I’ve heard two of their songs (”Svefn-g-englar” and “Hoppípolla,” neither of which I would recognize if I heard them again) and didn’t really like them, although my tastes were incredibly different at the time. However, this show was a pleasant surprise.

Lead vocalist Jónsi Birgisson’s voice is something else. He has a beautiful falsetto which stretches to heights usually unattainable for those of the male persuasion. Coupled with his frenzied bowing (that’s “playing with a bow”) on guitar, he makes for a pretty fascinating performer. Add that to the incredible sounds coming from the rest of the players - I particularly enjoyed the drumming - and you have a great, great live act.

The thing about Sigur Rós is that they clearly play from the heart. It’s hard not to be drawn into the power they are channeling into their music, and seeing them in a venue like Massey Hall - beautiful, strong and fascinating - is the perfect touch. I have to say, too, that my opinion of their music is quite a lot different now; perhaps I just wasn’t ready for post-rock at the time, but I really enjoyed it. Icelandic is a very interesting-sounding language, and their songs were very haunting - they filled the whole hall with their surreal and beautiful sounds.

The final song of their encore involved some giant drums, played by what looked like a few lucky audience members, and a huge, joyful, soaring burst of coloured confetti. There are few moments more blissful than that, and I am certainly glad to have witnessed it. Time to search out some albums, I guess!

I think the next show I am working is Alanis Morrissette. Uh. Change of pace!