Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Suspiros de Chile from basketball on Vimeo.
New stuff from Basketball. "Suspiros de Chile" is another insane, electro banger from the worldly (now) quartet. A new song from Basketball is always good news in my books, but this one is extra special, because it's the first release from their forthcoming full-length.
Check the video above and download the mp3 here.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
mountains
First off, thanks to the always wonderful MT-40 and the now-on-my-list-of-bands-to-see-as-much-as-possible, No L.A. Kill for playing Damaged Goods on Friday.
Second, thanks to Tristan and the guys from Winnie Cooper for putting on one of (if not the) local shows of the year on Saturday at the packed-by-midnight Funky Winkerbean's. I've sung the praises of Basketball, Gang Violence, and Boogie Monster before, and they were amazing as usual, but I should make special note of Babe Rainbow, who rounded out the bill.
A lot of you probably already know Cam from his other ventures (playing in Hot Loins - RIP - and working to make Music Waste happen every year), and if you read real music publications (Exclaim, NME, etc), you may have heard them praise him. I haven't piped up about it, since I usually just talk about live shows, and this was actually his first. It wasn't exactly the best dance party music (although, neither is Boogie Monster, I suppose), but it was pretty damn good. Check it out, if only to tell your friends you were into him before he blew up.
Regulars: October 13th-18th
Monday
Tuesday
Shindig @ the Railway: Kidnap Kids, Move On Citizen, and the Receptionists
Boosh Tuesdays @ ?:
Sailing @ the Astoria: Detention
Wednesday
Fake Jazz Wednesday @ ?:
The Beehive @ Honey: back on October 21st
Discorder Presents... @ the Astoria: back in the beginning of November
Gypsy Fade Wednesday @ the Media Club: back on October 28th
Thursday
Honey Lung Thursday @ Honey: Shipyards, Stamina Mantis, Frozen Stake, and Burrow Owl
Blastramp @ the Bourbon: no live act
Friday
Damaged Goods @ the Astoria: Cobras Cobras Cobras
Far Away @ the Media Club: Kick Evrything
Good Burger @ Funky Winkerbean's: Heavy Chains (Andrea from Nu Sensae, Ann Marie from White Lung, and Brody, ex-Mutators)
Saturday
Glory Days @ the Biltmore: no live act
Night Shift @ the Astoria: Defektors, White Lung, and Random Cuts
No More Strangers @ Funky Winkerbean's: "Covers night" featuring the Friends, Eeek, and the SSRIs
Thursday, May 14, 2009
journey to the end of the night
Basketball dropped a line to let everyone know what they've been up to since relocating their home base to Spain. There should be a couple more tour diaries coming from the band before they get back to Vancouver at the end of summer:
now playing: Japandroids - Wet Hair
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
desolation row
Here is a very quick weekend recap and a whole bunch of show announcements, minus links, because I'm sort of busy and lazy:
The Sweatshop on Friday was pretty good. No Gold were their usual charming selves. Ballz' set turned into a percussion free for all, which hurt them musically, but it made the performance - their last in Vancouver for a long, long time - a memorable one, to be sure. The last act I caught was Sorcerers. Their lead singer seemed pretty wasted, but the band sounded extra tight. It was sort of a nice contrast, actually.
Before the Sweatshop, I was at the Garage to see Dylan. I was expecting him to sound rough and live up to his reputation as "difficult," but even with that in mind, it was pretty terrible, perhaps depressingly terrible. I've always been fond of his ability and willingness to re-arrange his own songs, but, when in the past, he'd lead his band through a song in an entirely new way that was fresh, creative, and never different for the sake of being different, last weekend, he was content to mumble most of the lyrics to changed up numbers over a rotating series of generic 12-bar blues shuffles. Oh, and lest you think that reports of his voice being shot were exaggerated (which is what I thought, to be honest), you are wrong. He can play the hell out of a harmonica though, if that's any consolation... not that Bob Dylan needs any consolation, but you get my point, which is that I should have used by budget for an expensive show by an old guy on Neil Young (who was amazing last time I saw him a few years ago and apparently better last week).
On Saturday, I made it out to Bend Sinister's album release show. It was a pretty great performance by the band and it was coupled by a stage show that was straight out of 1975, complete with a string section, horns, video projections, and, yes, lasers.
Some stuff at the Biltmore:
-November 19th Justin Rutledge and Jenn Grant w/ Jody Glenham
-November 21st Jay Crocker, The Pack A.D., Swank, Beladeans, Valerie Graham, Spitfires, Hawaiian Bibles (Benefit show for Mike Gurr of Hotel Lobbyists)
-November 25th Holly Golightly
Some stuff not at the Biltmore:
Aja Rose and Gabriel Solomon are at Charles H. Scott Gallery (1399 Johnston St.) tomorrow night.
Sex With Strangers, the SSRIs, and Collapsing Opposites are at the ANZA for the latest One Cool Word release party on Thursday.
Also Thursday, Adjective, Terrorbird, and Zombie Pistolero & His Guns are at Honey.
There's an extra edition of Fake Jazz on November 11th.
Stamina Mantis, Ahna & Richard Catwrangleur, n213, and Holzkopf are at Blim on November 21st for a night that features music made by homemade, circuit bent, or otherwise altered electronics.
The same night Boys Noize and Paul Devro are at Celebs.
Franz Ferdinand is at the Commodore on December 9th.
Fake Blood is at the Republic on December 18th, to celebrate my birthday, I'm pretty sure.
Metric, Tokyo Police Club, Dears, Sebastian Grainger et les Montagnes, and Mike Relm are at the Vogue on December 21st for "Jingle Bell Rocks," a show in support of Covenant House.
Solars are also on the bill for the November 6th Wood Family Creeps show. It also starts at 8pm, not 8:30pm now.
Sex Negatives are now on the bill for the AIDS Wolf show on November 24th.
Nu Sensae, Gang Violence, and Role Mach are at the Astoria on November 28th, provided it's open by then.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
winner's blues
Not a bad way to end the summer.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
yucca crown
For all of the issues with venues, or lack thereof, there is something to be said about the fact that Vancouver is one of the few places in this country where you can see one of your favourite bands on a beautiful night on one of the last days of the summer in the middle of a forest with this in the background:
There was a bit of an impromptu (actually, "impromptu" is a bad term - a lot of people put in a lot of work to make it go off) show in Stanley Park last night. If you didn't hear about, sorry for not giving a heads up here, but I was a bit wary about posting about this kind of show ahead of time in public on the internet.
Anyhow, I pedaled myself up to the park in time to find No Gold setting up. For whatever reason, a lot of the times when I've seen the band in the past have been when I'm feeling sort of under the weather and for some reason, they always make me feel at least a little bit better. No miracle musical cure was needed last night for me, but it's still an absolute joy to see these guys play every single time. The best part is that I think they might be having an even better time than I always am.
Last night, I was also given a heads up that No Gold's signed with a label, so we can finally expect some proper recorded output from them. It's about time.
When Basketball initially reconvened to really start playing a lot of shows again, I thought they were pretty good. Nothing to get too excited about, but definitely a welcome (re-)addition to the city's local scene. Every time that I've seen the since has been better and better though. This was their second last show in Vancouver for a long, long while, and while I'm sad to see them move away, I'm still pretty amped that I got to catch them one more time before tomorrow (at the Vic Square Block Party). My girlfriend turned to me mid-set and said, "I know how much you love Mutators, but this is the best band in the city right now." On certain days, it could be anyone of Mutators, Basketball, Taxes, Twin Crystals, Japandroids, or a growing list of great acts for me, but yesterday, I wasn't about to argue with her.
I hung around for a bit after Basketball, but since the clock was pushing 4:30am, I didn't stick around long enough for Secret Mommy. I'm sure they were great, as usual, though.
If you're looking for something to do tonight, and aren't already at the Stanley Park Singing Exhibition or !!!, there's a !!! after party at Library Square. Sex Attack! are holding the fort for the first part of the evening and !!! will drop a DJ set after that. I *think* it's free early and probably pretty cheap after that.
Although, it's one of the last nice days before the rain hits again, so finding something to do outdoors ain't a bad plan either.
See you at Victory Square tomorrow!
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
this one's out to the wasted space kidz
Friday, I hit the Sweatshop for the first time since it moved (surprising, I know) and caught the Clips, who were celebrating the re-release of their (great) debut, Matterhorn. The guys were their usual dance-tastic selves. I left before Faunts (combination of drunk and tired). Anybody catch them?
Saturday, I started my evening off at Hoko's. Ora Cogan was pleasant, but I wasn't really in the mood for her very soft sounds. It would have been nicer in a different venue.
Aja Rose Bond was a little more up my alley (on that particular evening). And things really got rolling when the sound got cranked a bit. In fact, I would've liked to hear her stuff even louder. Things were just great at a normally palatable volume, but I imagine that I would've loved all the swirling noise had the decibels approached something closer to ear splitting. But that's just me.
A big thanks to Kris and Jesse for letting me know that they were putting on this show, because I'd never heard of Grouper before they emailed to say they were bringing her to town, and she was absolutely wonderful. If you described what the performance was - essentially layers of heavily delayed instrumentation and looped/delayed/reverb laden vocals - it sounds like a bit of a sonic mess, but it was anything but. As with Ora Cogan, it wasn't exactly the most fitting environment, but I would've watched her pretty much anywhere.
My only regret is that, because I had my bike, I didn't have anyway to carry an LP or two home.
After the Hoko's show wound down, I made my way over to the Peanut Gallery, where No Gold had just started playing. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but something about that band just cheers me up, no matter what my mood... and I was in a pretty decent mood before arriving.
I will take any Secret Mommy show that I can get, but their rather intricate arrangements suffered from the less than optimal sound at the Peanut Gallery. It's still nice to cram together on a Summer evening to see one of the city's best bands do their thing, but if you missed it, you can count on the fact that you can catch them with some better acoustics at some point.
Basketball weren't held at bay by the sound system. In fact, they weren't held at bay by anything. Cam sort of nailed it on the head this afternoon when he asked me, "how amazing were Basketball?"
This band get's better every time I see them, so I'm more than a little bummed out that Vic Square is going to be their last Vancouver show for the foreseeable future.
Oh, and Cheylene from the Peanut Gallery lost her jacket, ipod, and cell phone on Saturday. If you took it my accident (or you upped it and have decided to have a conscience since then), drop her a line and give it back.
Speaking of the Block Party, for the anonymous facebook-less person who asked awhile back, the rest of the line-up (thus far - there's more to come) is: Evaporators, No Kids, Ice Cream, and Defektors, with Bison and Sorcerers playing the after party. And, there should be a real website up here sometime before the show.
Speaking of Sorcerers, Budgie's Burritos is celebrating their soon-to-be finished renovations with a party on August 15th at the Biltmore. Sorcerers and VPD play and the headliner's being advertised as a "big, hairy, East Van bovine." Wonder who that could be?
Speaking of Cam, he's got a new monthly with My! Gay! Husband!, and they're kicking it off with a bang at the Sweatshop on August 16th. Ladyhawk and Hard Drugs perform with Jason spinning tunes before and after. It's really wouldn't be proper to make it all the way through summer without a Ladyhawk show (I know they opened for the Cons, but I was in Calgary).
On Wednesday, David Eby is having a fundraiser for his City Council bid. Taxes, Brasstronaut, Language Arts, and Tyler Fedchuk are all flexing their political muscles for the evening at the ANZA.
Hawaiian Bibles, Familia, Ruskin, and i/i are at the Media Club on Friday.
Also on Friday, Mutators are having their LP release party at the ER. You may remember their being a previously held LP release party where the celebratory mood was dampened slightly because the records got delayed due to a mastering problem. Well, they're all packaged and ready to go now! I, for one, am absolutely amped to hear their full-length. Hopefully, you are too. Shearing Pinx and V. Vecker are on hand, along with Zs (from Brooklyn), who go on last.
now playing: BSS w/Liz Powell - Horses (Patti Smith Covery)
Friday, June 27, 2008
the damage is done
I decided that I'm going to do all the recap stuff for Sled Island on the fly, and I'll just upload some photos when I get home, so if you're killing time at work today (*high five, Neil), this one is for you.
After 11 hours of driving and zero sleep the night before, we picked up our passes, checked in, and ripped back to the Pumphouse Theatre as fast as we could for the Yo La Tengo "Freewheelin' Retrospective Q&A."
I like YLT quite a bit, but I'm not a die hard fan. Last night's show (that they've been doing on and off for awhile), was a treat though. The band took questions from the crowd (and even turned the rather boring ones into entertaining anecdotes) and then performed songs that tied in to their answers.
Highlights included a wild version of "For the Turnstiles" where Ira laid some echo-y distortion on his acoustic and whipped out a noisy solo that would've made Neil proud, "Let's Save Tony Orlando's House," "Mr. Tough," and also an awesome version of "Damage" ("we don't play this one very often").
I also can't stress how fun the Q&A part of the evening was, and I'm usually a bit lukewarm on those types of things.
If you have the slightest interest in the band and can see them do this show, definitely do it.
From YLT, we headed over to Broken City and caught Women. Maybe it was the hometown audience, but they were even better than at Hoko's. I can't say enough good things about this band. Check out their album as soon as you can.
We stuck around at Broken City and gave Basketball a little hometown love. Cam (ex-Hot Loins, Music Waste, Vic Square) lent them a hand on percussion. I know I rave about them all the time, but the Calgary crowd was loving them, and when we were leaving I overheard a guy say "see, that's why Vancouver's music scene is so much better than ours."
We tried to see Crookers at Hi-Fi, but it was slammed, so I caught Elliot Brood (who was ok) and then a bit of Okkervil River at the Legion before completely crashing.
Not a bad first night.
Today: mystery bands>BSS>Deerhunter>the RZA>WIRE(!!!)
Oh, and while I usually don't list Seattle shows (other than festival), Matt won't let me get away without letting you know that the Jesus and fuckin' Mary Chain are in Seattle (at the Showbox) on July 16th.
If I can somehow swing MBV this summer, it'll make all my post-punk dreams come true.
I have to go drink some rye or eat beef or something Albertan now.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
alice practice
I tempered my disappointment over missing Mohawk Lodge at the Astoria by continuing to sit in my apartment drinking since we didn't have to be at the show at 10pm anymore, so you are free to take that into consideration when I say that Crystal Castles were awesome live. I'm pretty into the album, but with a live drummer, and perhaps more importantly, with the sound cranked way up, their songs sounded about twice as good.
When the record was released, I know there were a few people who felt that, while it was good, it didn't deliver on the massive amount of pre-release buzz. I don't really see how anyone could, but regardless, when it comes to their live show, believe the hype.
Thanks to Trevor at Last Gang for the ticket hook-up.
Since we weren't going to make it to the Astoria until there was only about 20-minutes left in Mohawk Lodge's set, we went straight to 340 for Basketball. I've been pretty big on these guys for awhile, but they get better and better every time I see them.
When I was at 340, I ran into Justin from Mutators, who just got back from an epically long tour. He let me know that his band will be at the ER next Saturday to celebrate the release of the Emergency Room compilation. It's an LP and comes with a booklet that sounds amazing. Nu Sensae, White Lung, Sick Buildings, Petroleum By-Products, Twin Crystals, Vapid, and Defektors also perform and feature on the comp. This show, and the accompanying record, will be amazing.
Mutators are also having an LP (!) release at the Emergency Room on June 28th. Certain Breeds, Josh Rose, and Dozell Brothers help them celebrate. As excited as I am for Sled Island, I'm pretty bummed that I'll be in Calgary when this goes down.
Music Waste day 4 tonight!
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
til i felt the floor
Here is a quick and dirty weekend update in two parts:
1) You know how you can get Unibroue products in six packs at private liquor stores now? Well, you can. You know how they're all at least 8% (except for Ephemere, which is sort of gross anyhow)? Well, they are.
Well don't drink most of one of those and then a bunch of other beer when you get to the Cobalt, or you will find yourself leaving before Taxes plays. Japandroids, Basketball, and Baby Control were all pretty awesome though. It was my first time seeing the latter, despite many half-hearted attempts. Worth the wait.
2) On Saturday, I missed Edgefest at Hoko's, the Vancouver Festival of Noise at Video In... I mean "VIVO"... and Modern Creatures w/Culte du Cargo because I had Black Mountain tickets.
It was my grandmother's birthday, so I didn't make it into the Commodore until Ladyhawk had already started. I want to say it's the first time that I've seen them since I got my hands on Shots, but that might be a lie. Regardless, while I'll take Ladyhawk on a bad day over most anybody, they really were something else on the big stage in the Ballroom.
The headliners weren't to be outdone though. Last time I saw Black Mountain, it got a little too drawn out at times for my taste. And while the band stretched things out here and there, the jammy bits were mostly a chance for McBean to demonstrate some killer riffage. Plus, the one time that the proceedings started to border on meandering (a organ playing chords while Amber sort of wailed over top for about 15 minutes), it was a good chance to head to the washroom (they don't fuck around with lengthy encore breaks, that's for sure). Oh, and "Don't Run Our Hearts Around" cemented itself as one of my favourite live songs ever.
The Cons are at Richard's on June 26th. Their newie hits stores next week, and while my jury is still deliberating their final verdict, stylistically it's a pretty good mix of all three of their previous albums and that ain't bad at all. I'd be bummed that I'll in Calgary when they're here... except I'll be in Calgary to see Wire.
And you can break the bank for Feist at Deer Lake on August 5th. You can buy an iPod (shuffle) for the price of a pair of tix... although the Shuffle will probably last the same length as the show. (thanks to Chris for the last two)
Dead Meadow are at Richard's on May 18th.
Oasis and Ryan Adams headline the "50% Chance of Unexplained Cancellation Tour 2008" at the Garage on August 27th. (thanks Matt)
Oh, and I'll do hyperlinks when I'm not in a rush and/or procrastinating from writing other stuff, like now.
Double-oh, if you're willing to stay up until obscenely late, apparently Radiohead tix for the entire second leg go on-sale via WASTE at sometime around 3am tonight. fun. If I stay up all night, they better be doing that "headzone" thing again.
now playing: Constantines - Time Can Be Overcome
Thursday, March 06, 2008
glitter pills
Apparently 90% of the people who had planned to see the nearly sold out Crystal Castles/HEALTH show were going for the former, because after the duo was forced to drop off the bill, attendance was a bit sparse at Dick's last night, despite the newly discounted ticket price.
Basketball started off the evening. To be completely honest, the last two times I saw them, I was really drunk, though I remember them being pretty good. Last night, they were awesome. I didn't notice - or, at least, I didn't remember - all the sequenced drums and synth squeals that laid the backbone for most of their songs (although David assured me that they'd always been there). Some of the jammy outros were a bit too long for my tastes, but on the whole they were really good. See that kids? You don't need alcohol to have a good time. In fact, you might want to avoid it, if you plan on appreciating what you're seeing and hearing.
Mutators were vicious. I don't think there's band in the city that sounds more brutal and menacing. But if you've been here before, you know my feelings on them.
I was pretty enamored with HEALTH the the last time they came through Vancouver, but their set last night was amazing. One of the best things I've seen all year, and even more impressive because, due to the rather small crowd, the band didn't really have anything to feed off to bring such an energetic performance to the stage. Their album is one of my favourite records right now, but yesterday's live show brought things to the next level.
And because sometimes I like to throw to semi-related, shameless plugs, if you want to pick up the new copy of Color you'll find the article that I wrote on them..
Hey, let's give away a Hot Chip record. Congratulations go out to Gabriel, who takes home the ultra sick "Ready for the Floor" single that many of you (and me) wanted. Thanks to Will at Cornerstone Promotion for hooking up the much sought after prize.
This month's edition of Technotown Boogiedown is a doozy. Secret Mommy, Montag, Colby Sparks are the featured performers, while regulars (and part-organizer) the Swords of Righteousness Brigade holds it down as usual. DNGROUS ADDRESS provide some added visual flair and it all goes down on March 20th.
Terrorbird, White Owl, and the Boogie Monster are at the Astoria on March 29th.
The Blow does an all-ager at St. James Hall on April 17th.
Buck 65 is at the Commodore on May 7th. Cadence Weapon, whose fantastic new record came out on Tuesday, opens.
The Kooks are at the Commodore on May 24th.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
death letter
If you're going to go out, you might as well go out with a bang, and that is just what the now defunct Tooth & Dagger did on Friday. I also snuck off early and caught the last half of Basketball at the Astoria.
I'm kind of tired, so I'll just leave you with (poorly composed) photos (due to alcohol consumption)... plus, I've talked about all of these bands before. All that past praise still holds true.
Sex Attack are totally facebooking you while they play tunes.
No Gold, pre-set
No Gold in action
Last time I saw the By-Products, their drummer complained that I didn't get any photos of him. So here is one.
They should've renamed themselves "football" just for this weekend.
now playing: Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You
Suspiros de Chile from basketball on Vimeo.
New stuff from Basketball. "Suspiros de Chile" is another insane, electro banger from the worldly (now) quartet. A new song from Basketball is always good news in my books, but this one is extra special, because it's the first release from their forthcoming full-length.
Check the video above and download the mp3 here.
Labels: basketball, mp3, video
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
mountains
First off, thanks to the always wonderful MT-40 and the now-on-my-list-of-bands-to-see-as-much-as-possible, No L.A. Kill for playing Damaged Goods on Friday.
Second, thanks to Tristan and the guys from Winnie Cooper for putting on one of (if not the) local shows of the year on Saturday at the packed-by-midnight Funky Winkerbean's. I've sung the praises of Basketball, Gang Violence, and Boogie Monster before, and they were amazing as usual, but I should make special note of Babe Rainbow, who rounded out the bill.
A lot of you probably already know Cam from his other ventures (playing in Hot Loins - RIP - and working to make Music Waste happen every year), and if you read real music publications (Exclaim, NME, etc), you may have heard them praise him. I haven't piped up about it, since I usually just talk about live shows, and this was actually his first. It wasn't exactly the best dance party music (although, neither is Boogie Monster, I suppose), but it was pretty damn good. Check it out, if only to tell your friends you were into him before he blew up.
Regulars: October 13th-18th
Monday
Tuesday
Shindig @ the Railway: Kidnap Kids, Move On Citizen, and the Receptionists
Boosh Tuesdays @ ?:
Sailing @ the Astoria: Detention
Wednesday
Fake Jazz Wednesday @ ?:
The Beehive @ Honey: back on October 21st
Discorder Presents... @ the Astoria: back in the beginning of November
Gypsy Fade Wednesday @ the Media Club: back on October 28th
Thursday
Honey Lung Thursday @ Honey: Shipyards, Stamina Mantis, Frozen Stake, and Burrow Owl
Blastramp @ the Bourbon: no live act
Friday
Damaged Goods @ the Astoria: Cobras Cobras Cobras
Far Away @ the Media Club: Kick Evrything
Good Burger @ Funky Winkerbean's: Heavy Chains (Andrea from Nu Sensae, Ann Marie from White Lung, and Brody, ex-Mutators)
Saturday
Glory Days @ the Biltmore: no live act
Night Shift @ the Astoria: Defektors, White Lung, and Random Cuts
No More Strangers @ Funky Winkerbean's: "Covers night" featuring the Friends, Eeek, and the SSRIs
Labels: babe rainbow, basketball, boogie monster, gang violence, mt40, no l.a. kill, show recaps, weekly listings
Thursday, May 14, 2009
journey to the end of the night
Basketball dropped a line to let everyone know what they've been up to since relocating their home base to Spain. There should be a couple more tour diaries coming from the band before they get back to Vancouver at the end of summer:
The photos in question are here, here, and here, for the record. The guys are doing pretty well for themselves over there (they even opened some shows for HEALTH in England), but not that well... yet.
NOTE
May 11th, 2009.
Hey Everyone!
We're in Croatia at the moment taking a break from running around the earth, before we start up again and run around Europe during June and July. Spain and Portugal were amazing as were all the UK shows. I think Bono is going to front the bill for one of our shows in Lisbon (@ Campo Pequeno = little camp...see photos attached)
There are some videos and photos from our trip on our myspace.
And... we return home in August to record a full length and play in forests, oceans, parking lots, and houses.
Miss you all and we cannot wait to party with you all again.
Take care and we'll see you all soon.
xo
tome/david/luka
www.myspace.com/basketballanimal
now playing: Japandroids - Wet Hair
Labels: basketball
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
desolation row
Here is a very quick weekend recap and a whole bunch of show announcements, minus links, because I'm sort of busy and lazy:
The Sweatshop on Friday was pretty good. No Gold were their usual charming selves. Ballz' set turned into a percussion free for all, which hurt them musically, but it made the performance - their last in Vancouver for a long, long time - a memorable one, to be sure. The last act I caught was Sorcerers. Their lead singer seemed pretty wasted, but the band sounded extra tight. It was sort of a nice contrast, actually.
Before the Sweatshop, I was at the Garage to see Dylan. I was expecting him to sound rough and live up to his reputation as "difficult," but even with that in mind, it was pretty terrible, perhaps depressingly terrible. I've always been fond of his ability and willingness to re-arrange his own songs, but, when in the past, he'd lead his band through a song in an entirely new way that was fresh, creative, and never different for the sake of being different, last weekend, he was content to mumble most of the lyrics to changed up numbers over a rotating series of generic 12-bar blues shuffles. Oh, and lest you think that reports of his voice being shot were exaggerated (which is what I thought, to be honest), you are wrong. He can play the hell out of a harmonica though, if that's any consolation... not that Bob Dylan needs any consolation, but you get my point, which is that I should have used by budget for an expensive show by an old guy on Neil Young (who was amazing last time I saw him a few years ago and apparently better last week).
On Saturday, I made it out to Bend Sinister's album release show. It was a pretty great performance by the band and it was coupled by a stage show that was straight out of 1975, complete with a string section, horns, video projections, and, yes, lasers.
Some stuff at the Biltmore:
-November 19th Justin Rutledge and Jenn Grant w/ Jody Glenham
-November 21st Jay Crocker, The Pack A.D., Swank, Beladeans, Valerie Graham, Spitfires, Hawaiian Bibles (Benefit show for Mike Gurr of Hotel Lobbyists)
-November 25th Holly Golightly
Some stuff not at the Biltmore:
Aja Rose and Gabriel Solomon are at Charles H. Scott Gallery (1399 Johnston St.) tomorrow night.
Sex With Strangers, the SSRIs, and Collapsing Opposites are at the ANZA for the latest One Cool Word release party on Thursday.
Also Thursday, Adjective, Terrorbird, and Zombie Pistolero & His Guns are at Honey.
There's an extra edition of Fake Jazz on November 11th.
Stamina Mantis, Ahna & Richard Catwrangleur, n213, and Holzkopf are at Blim on November 21st for a night that features music made by homemade, circuit bent, or otherwise altered electronics.
The same night Boys Noize and Paul Devro are at Celebs.
Franz Ferdinand is at the Commodore on December 9th.
Fake Blood is at the Republic on December 18th, to celebrate my birthday, I'm pretty sure.
Metric, Tokyo Police Club, Dears, Sebastian Grainger et les Montagnes, and Mike Relm are at the Vogue on December 21st for "Jingle Bell Rocks," a show in support of Covenant House.
Solars are also on the bill for the November 6th Wood Family Creeps show. It also starts at 8pm, not 8:30pm now.
Sex Negatives are now on the bill for the AIDS Wolf show on November 24th.
Nu Sensae, Gang Violence, and Role Mach are at the Astoria on November 28th, provided it's open by then.
Labels: basketball, bob dylan, lazy show recaps, no gold, show announcements, sorcerers
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
winner's blues
Not a bad way to end the summer.
Labels: basketball, bronx cheer, lazy show recaps, man hussy, mohawk lodge, the evaporators, victory square block party
Sunday, August 31, 2008
yucca crown
For all of the issues with venues, or lack thereof, there is something to be said about the fact that Vancouver is one of the few places in this country where you can see one of your favourite bands on a beautiful night on one of the last days of the summer in the middle of a forest with this in the background:
There was a bit of an impromptu (actually, "impromptu" is a bad term - a lot of people put in a lot of work to make it go off) show in Stanley Park last night. If you didn't hear about, sorry for not giving a heads up here, but I was a bit wary about posting about this kind of show ahead of time in public on the internet.
Anyhow, I pedaled myself up to the park in time to find No Gold setting up. For whatever reason, a lot of the times when I've seen the band in the past have been when I'm feeling sort of under the weather and for some reason, they always make me feel at least a little bit better. No miracle musical cure was needed last night for me, but it's still an absolute joy to see these guys play every single time. The best part is that I think they might be having an even better time than I always am.
Last night, I was also given a heads up that No Gold's signed with a label, so we can finally expect some proper recorded output from them. It's about time.
When Basketball initially reconvened to really start playing a lot of shows again, I thought they were pretty good. Nothing to get too excited about, but definitely a welcome (re-)addition to the city's local scene. Every time that I've seen the since has been better and better though. This was their second last show in Vancouver for a long, long while, and while I'm sad to see them move away, I'm still pretty amped that I got to catch them one more time before tomorrow (at the Vic Square Block Party). My girlfriend turned to me mid-set and said, "I know how much you love Mutators, but this is the best band in the city right now." On certain days, it could be anyone of Mutators, Basketball, Taxes, Twin Crystals, Japandroids, or a growing list of great acts for me, but yesterday, I wasn't about to argue with her.
I hung around for a bit after Basketball, but since the clock was pushing 4:30am, I didn't stick around long enough for Secret Mommy. I'm sure they were great, as usual, though.
If you're looking for something to do tonight, and aren't already at the Stanley Park Singing Exhibition or !!!, there's a !!! after party at Library Square. Sex Attack! are holding the fort for the first part of the evening and !!! will drop a DJ set after that. I *think* it's free early and probably pretty cheap after that.
Although, it's one of the last nice days before the rain hits again, so finding something to do outdoors ain't a bad plan either.
See you at Victory Square tomorrow!
Labels: basketball, no gold, show recaps
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
this one's out to the wasted space kidz
Really quick recap of my weekend (I'm sure yours was different - there was a lot to do):
Friday, I hit the Sweatshop for the first time since it moved (surprising, I know) and caught the Clips, who were celebrating the re-release of their (great) debut, Matterhorn. The guys were their usual dance-tastic selves. I left before Faunts (combination of drunk and tired). Anybody catch them?
Saturday, I started my evening off at Hoko's. Ora Cogan was pleasant, but I wasn't really in the mood for her very soft sounds. It would have been nicer in a different venue.
Aja Rose Bond was a little more up my alley (on that particular evening). And things really got rolling when the sound got cranked a bit. In fact, I would've liked to hear her stuff even louder. Things were just great at a normally palatable volume, but I imagine that I would've loved all the swirling noise had the decibels approached something closer to ear splitting. But that's just me.
A big thanks to Kris and Jesse for letting me know that they were putting on this show, because I'd never heard of Grouper before they emailed to say they were bringing her to town, and she was absolutely wonderful. If you described what the performance was - essentially layers of heavily delayed instrumentation and looped/delayed/reverb laden vocals - it sounds like a bit of a sonic mess, but it was anything but. As with Ora Cogan, it wasn't exactly the most fitting environment, but I would've watched her pretty much anywhere.
My only regret is that, because I had my bike, I didn't have anyway to carry an LP or two home.
After the Hoko's show wound down, I made my way over to the Peanut Gallery, where No Gold had just started playing. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but something about that band just cheers me up, no matter what my mood... and I was in a pretty decent mood before arriving.
I will take any Secret Mommy show that I can get, but their rather intricate arrangements suffered from the less than optimal sound at the Peanut Gallery. It's still nice to cram together on a Summer evening to see one of the city's best bands do their thing, but if you missed it, you can count on the fact that you can catch them with some better acoustics at some point.
Basketball weren't held at bay by the sound system. In fact, they weren't held at bay by anything. Cam sort of nailed it on the head this afternoon when he asked me, "how amazing were Basketball?"
This band get's better every time I see them, so I'm more than a little bummed out that Vic Square is going to be their last Vancouver show for the foreseeable future.
Oh, and Cheylene from the Peanut Gallery lost her jacket, ipod, and cell phone on Saturday. If you took it my accident (or you upped it and have decided to have a conscience since then), drop her a line and give it back.
Speaking of the Block Party, for the anonymous facebook-less person who asked awhile back, the rest of the line-up (thus far - there's more to come) is: Evaporators, No Kids, Ice Cream, and Defektors, with Bison and Sorcerers playing the after party. And, there should be a real website up here sometime before the show.
Speaking of Sorcerers, Budgie's Burritos is celebrating their soon-to-be finished renovations with a party on August 15th at the Biltmore. Sorcerers and VPD play and the headliner's being advertised as a "big, hairy, East Van bovine." Wonder who that could be?
Speaking of Cam, he's got a new monthly with My! Gay! Husband!, and they're kicking it off with a bang at the Sweatshop on August 16th. Ladyhawk and Hard Drugs perform with Jason spinning tunes before and after. It's really wouldn't be proper to make it all the way through summer without a Ladyhawk show (I know they opened for the Cons, but I was in Calgary).
On Wednesday, David Eby is having a fundraiser for his City Council bid. Taxes, Brasstronaut, Language Arts, and Tyler Fedchuk are all flexing their political muscles for the evening at the ANZA.
Hawaiian Bibles, Familia, Ruskin, and i/i are at the Media Club on Friday.
Also on Friday, Mutators are having their LP release party at the ER. You may remember their being a previously held LP release party where the celebratory mood was dampened slightly because the records got delayed due to a mastering problem. Well, they're all packaged and ready to go now! I, for one, am absolutely amped to hear their full-length. Hopefully, you are too. Shearing Pinx and V. Vecker are on hand, along with Zs (from Brooklyn), who go on last.
now playing: BSS w/Liz Powell - Horses (Patti Smith Covery)
Labels: basketball, no gold, secret mommy, show announcements, show recaps, the clips
Friday, June 27, 2008
the damage is done
Hello from Calgary.
I decided that I'm going to do all the recap stuff for Sled Island on the fly, and I'll just upload some photos when I get home, so if you're killing time at work today (*high five, Neil), this one is for you.
After 11 hours of driving and zero sleep the night before, we picked up our passes, checked in, and ripped back to the Pumphouse Theatre as fast as we could for the Yo La Tengo "Freewheelin' Retrospective Q&A."
I like YLT quite a bit, but I'm not a die hard fan. Last night's show (that they've been doing on and off for awhile), was a treat though. The band took questions from the crowd (and even turned the rather boring ones into entertaining anecdotes) and then performed songs that tied in to their answers.
Highlights included a wild version of "For the Turnstiles" where Ira laid some echo-y distortion on his acoustic and whipped out a noisy solo that would've made Neil proud, "Let's Save Tony Orlando's House," "Mr. Tough," and also an awesome version of "Damage" ("we don't play this one very often").
I also can't stress how fun the Q&A part of the evening was, and I'm usually a bit lukewarm on those types of things.
If you have the slightest interest in the band and can see them do this show, definitely do it.
From YLT, we headed over to Broken City and caught Women. Maybe it was the hometown audience, but they were even better than at Hoko's. I can't say enough good things about this band. Check out their album as soon as you can.
We stuck around at Broken City and gave Basketball a little hometown love. Cam (ex-Hot Loins, Music Waste, Vic Square) lent them a hand on percussion. I know I rave about them all the time, but the Calgary crowd was loving them, and when we were leaving I overheard a guy say "see, that's why Vancouver's music scene is so much better than ours."
We tried to see Crookers at Hi-Fi, but it was slammed, so I caught Elliot Brood (who was ok) and then a bit of Okkervil River at the Legion before completely crashing.
Not a bad first night.
Today: mystery bands>BSS>Deerhunter>the RZA>WIRE(!!!)
Oh, and while I usually don't list Seattle shows (other than festival), Matt won't let me get away without letting you know that the Jesus and fuckin' Mary Chain are in Seattle (at the Showbox) on July 16th.
If I can somehow swing MBV this summer, it'll make all my post-punk dreams come true.
I have to go drink some rye or eat beef or something Albertan now.
Labels: basketball, elliott brood, okkervil river, sled island, women, yo la tengo
Saturday, June 07, 2008
alice practice
So, originally, the actual band performances at Richard's were supposed to go between 9-11pm with the 1/2 Alive guys doing their last night at Dick's from 11pm onward (they're at Pub 340 every second week starting next Friday). But sometime yesterday someone decided to switch things up, so Crystal Castles didn't end up going on until after midnight.
I tempered my disappointment over missing Mohawk Lodge at the Astoria by continuing to sit in my apartment drinking since we didn't have to be at the show at 10pm anymore, so you are free to take that into consideration when I say that Crystal Castles were awesome live. I'm pretty into the album, but with a live drummer, and perhaps more importantly, with the sound cranked way up, their songs sounded about twice as good.
When the record was released, I know there were a few people who felt that, while it was good, it didn't deliver on the massive amount of pre-release buzz. I don't really see how anyone could, but regardless, when it comes to their live show, believe the hype.
Thanks to Trevor at Last Gang for the ticket hook-up.
Since we weren't going to make it to the Astoria until there was only about 20-minutes left in Mohawk Lodge's set, we went straight to 340 for Basketball. I've been pretty big on these guys for awhile, but they get better and better every time I see them.
When I was at 340, I ran into Justin from Mutators, who just got back from an epically long tour. He let me know that his band will be at the ER next Saturday to celebrate the release of the Emergency Room compilation. It's an LP and comes with a booklet that sounds amazing. Nu Sensae, White Lung, Sick Buildings, Petroleum By-Products, Twin Crystals, Vapid, and Defektors also perform and feature on the comp. This show, and the accompanying record, will be amazing.
Mutators are also having an LP (!) release at the Emergency Room on June 28th. Certain Breeds, Josh Rose, and Dozell Brothers help them celebrate. As excited as I am for Sled Island, I'm pretty bummed that I'll be in Calgary when this goes down.
Music Waste day 4 tonight!
Labels: basketball, crystal castles, music waste, show announcements, show recaps
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
til i felt the floor
By "real post later," I meant way later, obviously.
Here is a quick and dirty weekend update in two parts:
1) You know how you can get Unibroue products in six packs at private liquor stores now? Well, you can. You know how they're all at least 8% (except for Ephemere, which is sort of gross anyhow)? Well, they are.
Well don't drink most of one of those and then a bunch of other beer when you get to the Cobalt, or you will find yourself leaving before Taxes plays. Japandroids, Basketball, and Baby Control were all pretty awesome though. It was my first time seeing the latter, despite many half-hearted attempts. Worth the wait.
2) On Saturday, I missed Edgefest at Hoko's, the Vancouver Festival of Noise at Video In... I mean "VIVO"... and Modern Creatures w/Culte du Cargo because I had Black Mountain tickets.
It was my grandmother's birthday, so I didn't make it into the Commodore until Ladyhawk had already started. I want to say it's the first time that I've seen them since I got my hands on Shots, but that might be a lie. Regardless, while I'll take Ladyhawk on a bad day over most anybody, they really were something else on the big stage in the Ballroom.
The headliners weren't to be outdone though. Last time I saw Black Mountain, it got a little too drawn out at times for my taste. And while the band stretched things out here and there, the jammy bits were mostly a chance for McBean to demonstrate some killer riffage. Plus, the one time that the proceedings started to border on meandering (a organ playing chords while Amber sort of wailed over top for about 15 minutes), it was a good chance to head to the washroom (they don't fuck around with lengthy encore breaks, that's for sure). Oh, and "Don't Run Our Hearts Around" cemented itself as one of my favourite live songs ever.
The Cons are at Richard's on June 26th. Their newie hits stores next week, and while my jury is still deliberating their final verdict, stylistically it's a pretty good mix of all three of their previous albums and that ain't bad at all. I'd be bummed that I'll in Calgary when they're here... except I'll be in Calgary to see Wire.
And you can break the bank for Feist at Deer Lake on August 5th. You can buy an iPod (shuffle) for the price of a pair of tix... although the Shuffle will probably last the same length as the show. (thanks to Chris for the last two)
Dead Meadow are at Richard's on May 18th.
Oasis and Ryan Adams headline the "50% Chance of Unexplained Cancellation Tour 2008" at the Garage on August 27th. (thanks Matt)
Oh, and I'll do hyperlinks when I'm not in a rush and/or procrastinating from writing other stuff, like now.
Double-oh, if you're willing to stay up until obscenely late, apparently Radiohead tix for the entire second leg go on-sale via WASTE at sometime around 3am tonight. fun. If I stay up all night, they better be doing that "headzone" thing again.
now playing: Constantines - Time Can Be Overcome
Labels: baby control, basketball, black mountain, japandroids, ladyhawk, taxes
Thursday, March 06, 2008
glitter pills
Apparently 90% of the people who had planned to see the nearly sold out Crystal Castles/HEALTH show were going for the former, because after the duo was forced to drop off the bill, attendance was a bit sparse at Dick's last night, despite the newly discounted ticket price.
Basketball started off the evening. To be completely honest, the last two times I saw them, I was really drunk, though I remember them being pretty good. Last night, they were awesome. I didn't notice - or, at least, I didn't remember - all the sequenced drums and synth squeals that laid the backbone for most of their songs (although David assured me that they'd always been there). Some of the jammy outros were a bit too long for my tastes, but on the whole they were really good. See that kids? You don't need alcohol to have a good time. In fact, you might want to avoid it, if you plan on appreciating what you're seeing and hearing.
Mutators were vicious. I don't think there's band in the city that sounds more brutal and menacing. But if you've been here before, you know my feelings on them.
I was pretty enamored with HEALTH the the last time they came through Vancouver, but their set last night was amazing. One of the best things I've seen all year, and even more impressive because, due to the rather small crowd, the band didn't really have anything to feed off to bring such an energetic performance to the stage. Their album is one of my favourite records right now, but yesterday's live show brought things to the next level.
And because sometimes I like to throw to semi-related, shameless plugs, if you want to pick up the new copy of Color you'll find the article that I wrote on them..
Hey, let's give away a Hot Chip record. Congratulations go out to Gabriel, who takes home the ultra sick "Ready for the Floor" single that many of you (and me) wanted. Thanks to Will at Cornerstone Promotion for hooking up the much sought after prize.
This month's edition of Technotown Boogiedown is a doozy. Secret Mommy, Montag, Colby Sparks are the featured performers, while regulars (and part-organizer) the Swords of Righteousness Brigade holds it down as usual. DNGROUS ADDRESS provide some added visual flair and it all goes down on March 20th.
Terrorbird, White Owl, and the Boogie Monster are at the Astoria on March 29th.
The Blow does an all-ager at St. James Hall on April 17th.
Buck 65 is at the Commodore on May 7th. Cadence Weapon, whose fantastic new record came out on Tuesday, opens.
The Kooks are at the Commodore on May 24th.
Labels: basketball, contest winners, health, hot chip, mutators, self-aggrandizing, show announcements, show recaps
Sunday, February 03, 2008
death letter
If you're going to go out, you might as well go out with a bang, and that is just what the now defunct Tooth & Dagger did on Friday. I also snuck off early and caught the last half of Basketball at the Astoria.
I'm kind of tired, so I'll just leave you with (poorly composed) photos (due to alcohol consumption)... plus, I've talked about all of these bands before. All that past praise still holds true.
Sex Attack are totally facebooking you while they play tunes.
No Gold, pre-set
No Gold in action
Last time I saw the By-Products, their drummer complained that I didn't get any photos of him. So here is one.
They should've renamed themselves "football" just for this weekend.
now playing: Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You
Labels: basketball, lazy show recaps, no gold, petroleum by-products, sex attack, taxes
