Cuff the Duke - Dakota Tavern (July 23/13)

Taking to the lovely Dakota Tavern stage as a five piece, filled out by Tom on the keys, were Oshawa's own Cuff the Duke. They've got a country-current running through them that perfectly suits this notorious downstairs enclave. With Wayne pumping his pipes they did some deeper cuts early in the night and were impressed with the crowd's attention. Everyone solidly held their own on their instruments however the keys were an especially nice touch, but the lead guitarist really fills everything out. Standing on the Edge was a particular highlight, that is until they covered CCR's Looking Out My Back Door and then invited the beloved Hayden to join them onstage. Slightly surprisingly he immediately took over as CtD backed his song, Miles Away, before all performing his favourite Dylan cover. Unfortunately that was all we'd see of him as Hayden and the Duke crew stepped off for a deserved intermission.

Upon returning they rejuvenated the crowd with a good many more well-known tunes from their catalogue, among them Count on Me, Side By Side, Belgium or Peru and Take My Money and Run. Another cover was sprinkled in before Paul set down the bass and came busting out the fiddle on a rousing If I Live Or If I Die that had the crowd divided in their singalong. Despite the good vibes and promises of hits to come the third set would not be mine for the taking.

M.I.A - Danforth (July 18/13)

A lot of swagger comes in this little package as M.I.A. celebrated her birthday at the Danforth Music Hall with us. The stage was full, top to bottom, with large, intricate wheels that were a cross between a snowflake and a doily, until MIA bounded onto the stage and they lit in all sorts of strobe patterns to invigorate the set. This didn't leave much room for equipment besides a partial drum kit and a small sampler table so it was primarily a singalong for the leading lady, dropping lyrics onto her own tracks which at times was lacking but for the most part was fine. Throughout the night these tunes proved too quiet for the dance party she was attempting to create as she pleaded for her songs to be cranked further. It didn't seem to bother the intensely sweaty crowd though who took their cues from the dance pack hype crew who broke it down all over the stage. She opened with a forthcoming song, closed with a recent one and dabbled throughout her catalogue in between - not always finishing the track before jumping into the next. Tunes from her gloriously received debut such as encore-included Galang, and its follow-up, including Bamboo Banga were greeted with enthusiasm though even the recent banger Meds and Feds got people grooving despite the heat wave. In under an hour she had exhausted herself to the point of needing a break - probably a bad decision to put that sweater back on overtop of your gold outfit. However after a number of minutes in the dark, including an attempt at a birthday serenade, MIA and her crew returned to lay it down - asking for tequila and faking a sit-down session of puff-puff-pass. You knew Paper Planes would go off so it was especially exciting when at its conclusion she announced they had one more trick in their bag and dropped the most excellent song from her recent repertoire, Bad Girls. People worked up an absolute shine before pushing into the only slightly less oppressive air of the outdoors.

The DJ was spinning in the hall and kept it up as Le1f arrived on the scene. At least I assume it was Le1f judging by the silhouette of a man in a maid of the mist poncho through the blue fog as it was very dark. With hints of contemporaries like Childish Gambino he whipped through a sometimes repetitive set, going back and forth with the DJ from time to time. Nearing the end he broke out some more outlandish dance moves, called out people of all sexual orientations and dropped a couple of his stronger tracks to finish well.

The National - Yonge Dundas NXNE (June 14/13)

A large group fleshed out the touring sound of NXNE big, free act for 2013. An even larger group of fans thronged to the stage and well beyond, closing Yonge Street in fact, to catch their adult indie rock. The National entertained for a long time, drawing from their now wealthy horde of songs with the addition of the very enjoyable Trouble Will Find Me collection just this year. That being said there is somewhat of a formula and having come into them hard with Alligator and eased off a little more from Boxer until the latest there were admittedly a few numbers that may have been released but didn't really register with me. Unfortunately from my close, but to the side location I couldn't see much of the guitar and bass section however the brass was bumping. And of course there's the gruff voiced Berninger who leads the way with mic in hand. Actually he led it all the way out into a tour of the crowd more than once (to the chagrin of security who had to deal with these ventures and the tangle of cables that resulted.) The stronger songs did draw me in so if I'd been a bigger fan I think I would have lapped it all up, thereby not matching their Massey Hall performance that had drawn me back into the fan fold. A generous encore naturally delivered Mr. November but then returned with an a cappella Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks version which was lost on some of the crowd for lack of familiarity or projection of sound. All told it was a decent set in a kinda crummy venue that could have shortened the length to remain focussed, at least for this casual fan.

Polaris Prize 2013: Short List Reaction

Well a fair number of my picks actually made it to the short list this year (indicated with an asterisk*). However the ones I was really rooting for did not (Evening Hymns, A.C. and Jimmy Guthrie). With these out of the running I'm going to throw my support behind either Purity Ring or Colin Stetson, and I'll need to listen to this Zaki Ibrahim disk - the only one I haven't heard yet.

Of note is some mainstay pop - Teegz 'N Sassy, Metrix - plus some highly-acclaimed indies in Godspeed! and Stetson. Very cool to see the Tribe Called Red on there as they're doing something unique. If Whitehorse wins it'll be a bigger yawn than last year's Metals.

The Short List

Godspeed You! Black Emperor – 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
Zaki Ibrahim – Every Opposite
Metric – Synthetica
METZ – METZ*
Purity Ring – Shrines*
Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light*
Tegan And Sara – Heartthrob*
A Tribe Called Red – Nation II Nation
Whitehorse – The Fate Of The World Depends On This Kiss
Young Galaxy – Ultramarine*

*my picks from the long list

Sound of Music Festival, Burlington (June 15/13)

Dan Griffin
Tucked off the main strip Dan Griffin, best know as a former member of the Arkells, was about to begin a set of music under his own name. I hadn't heard any of his music but was open to what appeared would be a solo male acoustic set. Often times this is a yawn, with so many only moderately talented men attempting this and failing to engage. But not Dan. Dan had a snide confidence that endeared the smallish but engaged crowd seated around the tables and chairs. His music was performed solely on the guitar but had some heart to it and he lyrics told relatable stories, plus had a damn good Dylan impression. Besides that his banter was random and amusing, allowing him to win me over easily. A fine set that really turned me on to his music. Often I'm looking for an escape after a couple of singer songwriter's songs but in this case I will go out of my way to watch him again. 

Ill Scarlett
Ill Scarlett seem not to have changed much in their years since the mild success of All Day With It. In fact they are still a few months from the release of their next album so the set still pulled from the aforementioned primarily. Perhaps it is me and my musical tastes that have changed but the punk rock reggae sound doesn't draw me all that much these days. That said the live show, and the energy of the performers did draw me back, at least momentarily, to those raucous late nights of especially youthful partying and road trips. It truly was enjoyable, even if the majority of that was for nostalgia. A nice touch was their loyal Nirvana opening into Nothing Special. Granted I caught only a couple off the top as well as a few near the end, like Mary Jane, but it was decent fun.

Abrams Brothers
There seemed to be a gaggle of Abrams Brothers playing your classic folk country assortment of instruments. However where I was expecting touches of Mumford and Sons I really was getting mostly country and not much to catch my ear. Mind you the distraction of friends whose catching up was in my ear may have played into that. 

USS
A hype squad the boys in USS have unbelievable stage presence. Their music is undeniably upbeat and fun too but their onstage antics really push the point across. These guys were literally bounding across the stage, doing round-offs and headstands. Actually the headstand was while clapping his feet AND reaching up to scratch a record on the table - impressive! It's all over the top right down to the dressed up Santa doll but it sure is fun.

Royal Wood
Royal sets the tone in his fashion. An elegant, romantic set of music awaits as you sit down to watch and he sits down to play. From the piano bench he can bring such emotion forward and draw it out of the audience. This show was no difference. Being an afternoon set at the Sound of Music festival the crowd was primarily middle aged parents but the music touches home with most anyone with a heart, for friends, family, loved ones. Stay classy.

Counting Crows - Arch, St. Louis (July 6/13)

August and Everything After was perhaps the first album I loved front to back, that having been released in 1994. In all those years since I have never had the opportunity to see any of it performed live but all that was about to change, brought to me by America's Independence Day and the great city of St. Louis, Missouri. On the Mississippi's edge we peered as a rousing intro song over the loudspeakers introduced the Counting Crows to  the stage. Without further ado they began their signature song, Mr. Jones. As Adam delivered a wanton vocal performance, smacking gum in a version rather unlike the original I was worried that he was just phoning it in a couple decades later. As the set continued I became accustomed to his interpretive style, as he "walked on a wire in the circus" (amp edge) during Round Here and threw in a long-winded side trail to the same song before bringing it back around. For the acoustic/piano accompanied Colorblind he busted out the hipster chic glasses for an educated look. Outside of the singer the 7-piece band played a solid set around him, accompanying the somewhat loose singing with tight guitar work, some solid drumming including a song beat out on a book, organ, slide guitar and even an accordion. Adam chipped in on the piano for a song or two but primarily held the mic and let his cohorts handle the music itself. Another stunner, not from A & EA, was Long December on which they actually let the crowd sing along to the na na na na's, whereas other singing along was basically useless. Being a pre-fireworks festival show there wasn't an encore per se but they did close out and then give us the American rendition of This Land Is Your Land - actually I guess that was the second singalong. Perhaps the best follow up to the CC set was the nearly immediate beginning of a bursting night sky - even if it was accompanied with Fourth of July themed top 40.

Alvvays - Arts & Crafts NXNE Pop-up Shop (June 13/13)

Alvvays have been on my radar since the Two Hours Traffic shakeup saw Alec O'Hanley leave to join Molly Rankin in this endeavor. Also on my radar, though for a much shorter time period, was the Arts & Crafts photograph installation for NXNE. The latter would prove interesting for what it was, while the former turned out not to be worth the wait.

The gallery included B&W close-ups of members of nearly all the current label’s roster, many of which blown up to larger-than-life proportions. The Snowblink pic was particularly interesting as it showed half of each members face, one in profile, the other half-covered by the first. In the back room was a collage of candid (and not so-) photos that chronicled the lifespan of Broken Social Scene, which in itself branches throughout much of the other bands featured elsewhere. A neat glimpse into the down-to-earth social lives of the artists whose art so many of us have come to idealize.

Back in the front room the band was behind schedule – a NXNE no-no. The reason was a terrible soundcheck by a seemingly unpractised, or perhaps just inept, sound technician and despite the delay there was a noticeable buzz that persisted for the entire set. At first it seemed this was what was bothering Alec as he dully played his guitar with a frown on his face and attempted to rearrange amps and mics between songs in a futile attempt to clear the air. From what I’ve heard from - and about - Molly Rankin I was expecting her vocals to save the day but was dismally disappointed. At no point did she enunciate or even put anything that could be construed as emotion into her performance. With uninterested members, monotone vocals and rather bland songs there were not many redeeming qualities. The parade of hand-holding adults who streamed by the Queen Street window provided the best distraction of the set!