Sunday, November 02, 2008
have love, will travel
On Halloween, instead of catching Glassy Candy or some of my favourite bands doing their best Sabbath impressions, I drove down to Seattle to catch the Sonics, who were playing their first "hometown" (they're from Tacoma - close enough) show in 35 years.
More than any other act that I can think of, the Sonics succeeded in capturing an insane amount of energy on their studio recordings: they were raw, raunchy, and brimming with life. And, while they've understandably lost a bit of that as the last three or four decades have past, the guys can still play. Plus, while they've aged, their songs sure haven't, despite their relative simplicity.
To top things off, Steven Van Zandt (he played in this group called the E Street band that were pretty okay) joined them on guitar for three songs. Apparently, Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam recorded a version of "Don't Believe in Christmas") was invited as to perform as well, but he was at home with his newborn kid.
On Wednesday, I caught Soulwax's live set at the Plaza. I didn't really know what to expect, but they blew me away. On top of turning out ripping versions of their own songs, they also rocked (really rocked) live interpretations of LCD Soundsystem's "Get Innocuous" and Daft Punk's "Robot Rock." I was sort of on the fence about going, so an extra huge thanks goes out to Dustin for getting me in.
Before they played, they screened their new documentary, Part of the Weekend Never Dies. It didn't break new ground for documentaries, but as far as music films go, it's pretty good. Entertaining throughout, with a couple of really great moments. It's worth picking up as a rental at the very least or purchasing if you're really big on Soulwax/2 Many DJs/Nite Versions.
On Tuesday, I was at the Commodore for Yelle. I heard that in France her fan base is almost exclusively teenage girls, which is sort of fitting, since her performance sort of cemented the idea that she's the consummate pop star in my head. The singles were obvious highlights, but the album tracks really held their own as well. Bonus points for pulling off playing two different versions of "Je Veux Te Voir" (the album version and a really guitar heavy one) and having it come off really well, both times.
Women headline the previously announced show with Hot Panda and the Bicycles at Di'Metric Studios. The Clips and Gang Violence round out the bill. (thanks Gord)
No Gold, Mount Royal, Collapsing Opposites, and Fine Mist are at Pat's on Tuesday.
16mm open the Secret Machines show on the 7th.
And BSS and Tegan & Sara are getting what's probably a wild amount of money to play the Orpheum for VANOC on February 6th. Tix are fairly reasonable ($33-$37.50) and are only available here. (thanks Jessica)
now playing: Soundgarden - Rusty Cage
have love, will travel
On Halloween, instead of catching Glassy Candy or some of my favourite bands doing their best Sabbath impressions, I drove down to Seattle to catch the Sonics, who were playing their first "hometown" (they're from Tacoma - close enough) show in 35 years.
More than any other act that I can think of, the Sonics succeeded in capturing an insane amount of energy on their studio recordings: they were raw, raunchy, and brimming with life. And, while they've understandably lost a bit of that as the last three or four decades have past, the guys can still play. Plus, while they've aged, their songs sure haven't, despite their relative simplicity.
To top things off, Steven Van Zandt (he played in this group called the E Street band that were pretty okay) joined them on guitar for three songs. Apparently, Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam recorded a version of "Don't Believe in Christmas") was invited as to perform as well, but he was at home with his newborn kid.
On Wednesday, I caught Soulwax's live set at the Plaza. I didn't really know what to expect, but they blew me away. On top of turning out ripping versions of their own songs, they also rocked (really rocked) live interpretations of LCD Soundsystem's "Get Innocuous" and Daft Punk's "Robot Rock." I was sort of on the fence about going, so an extra huge thanks goes out to Dustin for getting me in.
Before they played, they screened their new documentary, Part of the Weekend Never Dies. It didn't break new ground for documentaries, but as far as music films go, it's pretty good. Entertaining throughout, with a couple of really great moments. It's worth picking up as a rental at the very least or purchasing if you're really big on Soulwax/2 Many DJs/Nite Versions.
On Tuesday, I was at the Commodore for Yelle. I heard that in France her fan base is almost exclusively teenage girls, which is sort of fitting, since her performance sort of cemented the idea that she's the consummate pop star in my head. The singles were obvious highlights, but the album tracks really held their own as well. Bonus points for pulling off playing two different versions of "Je Veux Te Voir" (the album version and a really guitar heavy one) and having it come off really well, both times.
Women headline the previously announced show with Hot Panda and the Bicycles at Di'Metric Studios. The Clips and Gang Violence round out the bill. (thanks Gord)
No Gold, Mount Royal, Collapsing Opposites, and Fine Mist are at Pat's on Tuesday.
16mm open the Secret Machines show on the 7th.
And BSS and Tegan & Sara are getting what's probably a wild amount of money to play the Orpheum for VANOC on February 6th. Tix are fairly reasonable ($33-$37.50) and are only available here. (thanks Jessica)
now playing: Soundgarden - Rusty Cage
Labels: show announcements, show recaps, sonics, soulwax, yelle
2 Comments:
There's something about Yelle that really bothers me. I don't buy her "cute french girl" act.
no prob sir.
i downloaded a torrent of the documentary pretty easily. it's pretty good. nicely filmed.
glad you've worked out a better blog/tumlbr ratio
By 
Unknown, at
12:48 p.m.
