Weather Station duets - Dakota Tavern (Feb 15/13)

Tamara Lindeman was the brainchild behind this intimate night of duets from a group of familiar faces from the Toronto indie music scene. Tamara plays a key role in Bruce Peninsula but takes center stage as a solo artist under the moniker The Weather Station. However on this evening she was more than willing to share the limelight with deserving artists that run within the circle. For as she mentioned off the top during her introduction, music is something often written from a very personal, and even lonely, space yet it then becomes an integral part of a musician's identity and the conversations that they then have. She looked at this duet project as a way to open up that conversation from the beginning. This evening was the display of the fruits of this attempt.

It began in an understated manner as Tamara simply went from soundchecking to picking her small acoustic guitar lightly until the crowd, diners and drinkers alike, realized and cut conversation completely. She played two lovely solo songs to set the mood before inviting her first guest of the early evening show - Simone Schmidt (who plays in One Hundred Dollars and Fiver). Coupling this country twang voice with Tamara's excellent, but delicate, sound worked amazingly well as they both picked away. Things were off to a sweet start and they did a second number together before passing the baton to Misha Bower.

Misha and Tamara must be used to singing together from their roles in Bruce Peninsula so it wasn't surprising to hear the great harmonies they could produce with just the two of them. After a tune accompanied by guitar they put away all instruments for a gutsy a capella number which wowed us all.

Continuing with the BP band members the second bearded man in command from that band, Matt Cully, accompanied for a nice song called Brothers and Sisters (which he admitted to giving to writing for this purpose and then retaking it for his forthcoming solo project). Misha chimed in on the following as the three of them sang Chair on Fire.

The man going by Marine Dreams joined next. The first song was fraught with confusion as things sounded amiss but it wasn't until partway through the song that they realized his guitar was tuned differently. Once that was rectified they carried forward, completing the song and playing two more.

To return from the intermission we once again had to notice the soft strumming coming from the stage and silence soon fell. Steve Lambke aka Baby Eagle (aka Constantines member) was up next and their duet was quite engaging as well.

As Steve left a duo of females took his place - one named Felicity, though I didn't recognize either. They sang a poem converted to song as a threesome before Tamara stepped aside to allow them to sing an old standard that Tamara herself admitted stole the show to that point. These three petite females then sang a song backed by the towering Afie Jurvanen (Bahamas) on guitar. The juxtaposition between Afie's deep voice and the much higher Tamara's actually worked extremely well.

To close out the evening Tamara gushed about Ryan Driver's songwriting as she introduced him to play piano and sing, as well as a man named Charles to play the stand-up bass and sing as well. They then displayed this songwriting ability on the first song of the evening to feature any instruments beyond the acoustic guitar. It worked. To conclude the evening they played a song "we all wished we'd written" and wrapped the night up with a quick-stop ending that brought a rousing round of applause.

As was pointed out it is not that easy to get all of these talented people into a room together at the same time. It was a real treat to see the depth of the talent in even this small sampling of the Toronto pool of artists. We should all feel the bump of civic pride.

Elliott Brood, $100 (Phoenix, Nov 18)

Elliott Brood


Elliott Brood, the solo-named three-piece, were ecstatic to be home playing for an adoring hometown crowd. The Phoenix seemed a large venue when I first heard of the show but who knew all the misfits that their 'death country' could draw. The place was full and people were audibly excited. It was unfortunate that the beginning of the set after the initial excitement of their appearance was hampered slightly by less familiar new material and more so by technical difficulties. The latter visibly frustrated the seated (in a wonderfully EB branded wooden chair) guitarist who spent nearly an entire song sang by his partner and drummer swapping cables, guitars, pedals and amps before plugging in and ripping an electric guitar solo straight off to close out the tune. Nothing like making up for lost time!

It seemed that as the set passed the midway point of a damn good chunk of their catalogue, primarily Days Into Years new, but also touches of old, that the energy and intensity grew. Don't get me wrong - If I Get Old, Hold You and Northern Air are strong additions to their repertoire and nice to hear live, but what takes off with a crowd more than a round about their country's provinces? (Oh, Alberta) Follow that up with the double ukuleles of The Valley Town and you've got the crowd playing into your hands. By the end people were jumping up and down and hollering out the lyrics and it was as an Elliott Brood show we've come to know. Perhaps it was the larger space or the newer songs but given enough time they brought it around. Their final song, Chuckwagon, had them playing two acoustic guitars and drums so intently that is was awesome to watch. Even though it had been a plentiful set they crescendoed at the right time and had us begging for more.

First encore song must have been a cover that brought things back into this realm only to ratchet it right back up there for Miss You Now! How could I have forgotten about that classic? And it was phenomenal to see people handing the love over to their hometown heroes (sorry Windsor, they live here now). Elliott Brood were bringing it home for the hometown crowd. Nothing beats ending on a high note.

$100

There are a small handful of bands that win adoration from critics and adoring fans that I just can't seem to crack into. One Hundred Dollars would fall into this category. Due to love from fellow artists that I enjoy I have seen them a few times but the female-vocal, peppy (for country) country just can't worm its way into my heart. Simone's delivery is unique but seemingly without much effort. She performed one song with a simple drum pulse which was interesting. The electric guitar lead is pretty impressive on songs, and the drumming from the fill-in female on somewhat repetitive Waiting on Another was great too. Fifty minutes of this was too much for me and I was fine to see them go after Ties that Bind.

One Hundred Dollars - Hillside Saturday 2011

I try to keep an open mind when it comes to country. Folk is fine. I've even warmed up to Corb Lund. However I just can't break down the barrier between myself and One Hundred Dollars. Even during their acoustic sun stage set that simply had them on guitar (first three then two then only the lead female) it just didn't do anything for me. Based on her banter it seems that the songwriting is probably part of it but from the back I couldn't make anything of it and so despite another chance I am not yet won over.