Hillside Friday - Arkells, Kathleen Edwards, + (July 27/12)

A pleasant surprise at the first workshop of the night was when the female trio of Belle Starr incorporated a form of tap dancing as percussion in their set. How cool is that?!

Swapping out for New Country Rehab they were predictably country and then gave way to Kathleen Edwards. She played a love song for Hamilton, seeing as we were straight up the highway from there. There'd been whispers of Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) sightings that didn't make much sense considering their apparent split. Regardless he didn't show but Kathleen played a few of her own songs here in the Island Tent in warm up for her main stage set later in the evening.

Stepping away from the Belle Starr fancy stepping there was a Guelph showcase going on at the Lake Stage. All of Bry Webb, Esther Grey, Mike Brooks (in all white) and a bunch of others were on stage doing a Dylan cover with a slide guitar and cello too upon arrival. Esther jumped offstage for another tune and I slipped back away as well.

My expectations of Maylee Todd were not what transpired. There was a slow groove sound coming from the stage, bordering on reggae, that really wasn't translating to me. She had a bongo and drum, a couple of keyboards in addition to bass/drum/guitars but I just couldn't get into it and strolled off.

I was glad that I did too as I got to catch a chunk of Bombay Bicycle Club who I'd heard of but not being Canadian I had little exposure to them to this point. What I heard was enjoyable peppy indie rock from across the pond. The all-male five piece included keys and a sort of electronic drum machine. Later in the set a girl came out to join them and she returned on the finale that ominously asked "Where's the lightning?" which thankfully never came weather-wise. There was an additional standalone drummer for this tune and the female vocalist returned and all of this culminated in a thunderous, crashing ending. Won-over.

Caught just a minute of the gruff Crooked Brothers over at the Lake Stage. There were a plethora of mics on stage for this workshop with the Magnificent 7's and they helped to capture the multitude of voices used in the call and response of "This city should rise to heaven".

Following this workshop was another that had potential but with Joel Plaskett not in attendance due to illness, and Chad VanGaalen barely contributing in a main way it fell rather flat. The Birds of Chicago did take their first step to winning over Hillside as they would throughout the weekend but Geoff Berner was frankly terrible with his accordion song about the police. I expected Chad to counter with Freedom for a Policeman but he just made a bunch of noise and handed the reigns back over. Following this I couldn't hold out anymore and gave up on the whole thing in favour of Kathleen Edwards' main stage set.

Kathleen Edwards seemed to be in great spirits as she played a bunch off her latest, and in my opinion, most compelling, album Voyageur. Moving through the album there was Empty Threat and Chameleon/Comedion which both featured some solid electric guitar work from Jim Bryson and backing vocals from Julie Fader. She played a mix of acoustic and electric guitar, and a mix of songs from the title track of Asking for Flowers to Going to Hell, Change the Sheets, and Sidecar. Jim swapped out for keys at times and Kathleen even played the violin for a song. Ms. Edwards seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself throughout as they moved from a Jim/Kathleen duet to songs that were intended to make us dance. She even dropped a bunch of "motherf**rs" in her banter which at first seemed slightly potty coming from her but was said in such a positive way that she could hardly be faulted. Having finally see her play I was impressed with what I saw.

Unfortunately while Kathleen was entertaining me Young Empires were putting on a party over in the Island Tent. I only managed to catch their final song, White Doves, used for the Olympics, but what I did catch was fun. The 4-piece included some big bass and samples and had everyone in the tent up and dancing about, banging beach balls around and having a time.

The Arkells always seem to put on a heckuva show and this was no exception. Some exceptional elements were their Hall and Oates cover of You Make My Dreams. During Oh, the Boss is Coming! they installed a quick shout out to the former Guelph band, The Constantines, with a chorus of Nighttime/Anytime (It's Alright!). Naturally part-time/former Arkell, Dan Griffin, joined them on stage beginning with On Paper having performed earlier in the evening with his backing band The Regrets. Another special guest was Kathleen Edwards who had just vacated the stage so the Arkells could close it down. She appeared gleeful to be out on stage singing along with Max on Agent Zero - in fact she was still dancing and beaming even when she returned side stage. They closed out with Whistle Blower but of course were cheered back out for Deadlines (and a blip of This Little Light) before calling people (Aaron Goldstein, Kathleen and Dan again) out on stage for a rendition of a Bob Dylan with The Band song. The only way to wrap was a little John Lennon (their song, not the man - note the italics and not the bold) and this sent everyone home happy at the conclusion of Hillside night one.

Evening Hymns (Summerworks Theatre, Aug 17/12)

Rushing in from the airport I would not let the delays after delays prevent me from missing this show. Thankfully I was on the list and gained access to the sold-out performance only three songs into it - in time for early stand-out You and Jake. My introduction to Jonas' music had been through a live show over a year ago but since then I have taken to 2009's Spirit Guides while eagerly anticipating what is now Spectral Dusk. This showcase had a much fuller band throughout as they acted as a full seven-piece. Although Jonas' softer and looping work is beautiful on its own, it was quite nice to have these added layers of lushness to the live show. It was super effective on Asleep in the Pews that started out quiet and acoustic but grew in intensity as the drums and trumpet came in. Also amazing what an accordion and violin can add to a song, as they did on Dead Deer - one of a few older songs on the evening, including a fantastic version of Broken Rifle.

The scene was even set with blankets and branches on the stage to give it a country feel in the city and augmented by splendid projected effects made live through lighting and shadows and sparklers and all sorts of things. The sparklers were joined with confetti on a particularly joyous version of new track Cabin in the Burn followed by 'their most summery' Mtn. Song - a beautiful rendition to close the set.

In encore Jonas returned on his own with simply an electric guitar to fill the room one last time with his sweetness in Spectral Dusk. From what I've heard and what I witnessed on this evening these new hymns are worth the wait and my earlier prediction of big things for this band has taken a giant step forward.

Set List
- (Intro)
- (Arrows)
Family Tree
You and Jake
Moon River

Cedars

Asleep in the Pews

Dead Deer

Broken Rifle
Cabin in the Burn

Mountain Song

Encore

Spectral Dusk

Cold Specks, Snowblink (Great Hall, Aug 8/12)

Snowblink opened with the song I know them best for, Green to Gone, as the Daniela Gesundheit, leading lady strummed her electric guitar and her backing fellow played his while seated, like the rest of us. Her vocals soared above her looped guitar in The Great Hall. Visually she was dressed all in white and had a set of antlers affixed to her instrument. Following a Springsteen cover of State Trooper they launched a vote that was sorta won in favour of a Spanish ranchero tune. Next up was a really strong song from the forthcoming Inner Classics album before finishing with one more song. With the great vocals in a nice venue it served as quite a warm up for the main event.

Cold Specks
Al Spx opened a cappella, much the way that she carried the entire night with her voice. Not to say her band didn't play their role, with the cello (sometimes bass), keys, sax (!), electric guitar and drums to reinforce her guitar and voice. Unable to decide on a set list they decided to play the I Predict a Graceful Expulsion in order - potential to be boring but broken up by the Fresh Prince opening song, opening verse, cover. Additionally she broke the somewhat serious mood her music seems to convey with lighthearted banter between songs.

The way the songs are composed is really quite interesting as the instruments ordinarily take the back seat to her magnificient voice, and rightly so. The instrumentation does come in and out in flourishes; an intricate blend that is unlike most music today yet followed the recorded songs well.

On a sweaty, Toronto night the capacity crowd had no issue sitting through this set. The band also sweat through it wearing their Sunday best but not being hampered by it in the least. Nearing the end of the set they played Lay Me Down for one of the first few times live and then had a finale where she stepped away from the mic to fill the hall with her booming, gospel voice. This received an emphatic standing ovation that welcomed them back on stage. Unlike Hillside where the encore needed to be cut short here she sang a gospel song on her own before the band returned to play the new All Flesh is Grass and one other tune to wrap up the night.

Tokyo Police Club (Humblemania48, The Ossington, Aug 8/12)

Originally this Humblemania was billed as a Dave Monks set which could have been something to see in its own right and was what I was expecting right up until the introduction. At least it explained the massive amount of people who had turned out at The Ossington and were now cramming themselves in the bedroom-like back room. (Social media had apparently let the cat out of the bag a few hours previous.) Beaming, the boys - Dave, Josh, Greg and Graham Wright- launched into Cheer It On and the crowd yelled out the band's name for it was a real treat to see a festival headliner just up the street on a Wednesday. Despite the heat and tight space people swayed to Nature of the Experiment and clapped along to Citizens of Tomorrow. By this point the set list was feeling pretty familiar and it turned out that it carried on with the Lesson in Crime EP. It was a serious love-in with the band truly enjoying themselves and the Toronto crowd, peppered with recognizable local musicians, pouring it out for the trail blazers.

Following the live EP (clocked at a mere 17 recorded minutes) the band could hardly leave their position and made another offering instead. Dave quipped that it was now time for his solo set and that we should all sit down (where?) and listen quietly (yeah right) and then launched into a rumbling, rock tune that despite its unfamiliarity had people shaking it, coming across akin to Graham's faster solo tracks like Soviet Race. When it was all done people trickled out of that room happy, having witnessed a sweet, little Toronto treat.