Thursday, November 26, 2009
city lights
Bend Sinister, who in addition to being great guys, are a great band who penned one of my favourite local tunes ever (see above), and they're up for $150k in a contest put on by the Peak.
Why not help them out by voting here. It's really quick and there's no arduous form to fill out or personal information to give or any crap like that, so if you've got a second, help them get some money so they can afford to put out more records and concentrate even more time on putting out great music.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
needle and the damage done
Classy.
A real update coming later with some show announcements, free local music, and some other junk.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
you all want the lovely music to save your lives
Drive By-Truckers followed. I've heard a ton of good things about their live show. They didn't blow my mind, but I can see where they got the rep.
We took an ill-advised midday C-train trip and got lost when attempting to find a restaurant that no longer existed, so we didn't make it back to the field until Of Montreal. They were their usually entertaining selves, but mostly stuck to pretty new stuff, which was a touch disappointing.
Wire wasn't as good yesterday as they were on Friday night at the Legion. The crowd wasn't as amped, which might have been part of it, and they didn't seem to have as much energy either. Still great though.
Mogwai finished things up on the big stage. Honestly, the soundsystem didn't really do them justice. Mogwai shows are all about making your insides rattle, and they couldn't really reach that level of volume... though they tried.
From Mogwai I booked it over to Broken City to give Bend Sinister some hometown support, not that the guys needed it, as the crowd was pretty into them.
And from Broken City it was back to the Legion for the BSS/Spiral Stairs' collaboration entitled Human Milk. Honestly, the new songs they played weren't all that special, and Stephen Malkmus' former right hand man was a bit disappointing, but the set closing take on "It's All Gonna Break" was phenomenal. Great end to a great weekend.
Show announcements and photos and other catch up when I get back to Vancouver.
Monday, September 17, 2007
through the broken city
I've always maintained that while I never felt that Bend Sinister were my thing, I've always thought that they're extremely talented. There's the old argument about whether "good" music is a subjective or objective thing, and while there's definitely a subjective component to any criticism, I always brought up Bend Sinister as an example of a band that I thought were, objectively speaking, a great band. With that in mind, I also felt like one day I'd be watching them and things would click. I think that day came on Saturday night. They're still a few steps removed from what I usually listen to (Naben once jokingly - or maybe seriously - said that judging by what I listen to, if I liked them, they'd be doing something wrong), but they're set this weekend was immensely enjoyable. So, I guess I have to think of someone else to point to when I make my objective criticism argument, and if Naben reads this while they're on tour he might have to reconsider some of his riffage. It's business as usual for everyone else though.
Sinister singer, Dan Moxon, organized the weekend soiree at Brad Gough Studios as the kick-off for their CBC Radio 3 sponsored tour, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate their latest trek across the country. While the place was absolutely packed (by about 10pm), the space was such that it didn't seem as weirdly cramped as gallery shows usually are. Don't get me wrong, the place was stuffed with people, but rather than feeling like it was a show in an art space, it felt like the place was actually designed with performance in mind. The sound system wasn't the most amazing thing in the world, but other than that, you it didn't feel like the music was intruding on somewhere that it didn't usually belong. Hopefully, things went off without any major hitches, and we'll see a few more shows there in future.
The Clips, who are out on tour with Bend Sinister for the first half a dozen dates or so, played right before their tour mates, and further cemented themselves as one of my favourite local live acts. Apparently, people were unfortunately still during No Gold's set (which I unfortunately missed), but things definitely got moving once the Clips got going. It was hot as hell inside, but that didn't mean people were holding back at all... it just meant that it got really sweaty in there. And, since the people came to move, the band obliged by sticking almost exclusively to their upbeat numbers, which was just fine by me.
How much am I looking forward to their forthcoming (out Nov. 3rd) full-length? A lot.
After the tour, their next scheduled show is November 29th at the Bourbon (for Blastramp). The equally poptastic, Good News are also on the bill... and hey, doubles are four bucks.
I missed No Gold (damnit), because I was interviewing Bison over at the Balmoral (woo!). I actually didn't get to catch their set (my original plan was to skip between venues, but the Bend Sinister show was so full there were no ins/outs), but I did take in Taxes before heading East. Sean seemed even more animated than usual, and I think the somewhat sparse crowd that was there would agree that they were pretty ace. I'm kicking myself for forgetting to pick up their freshly burned CD-R release, but hopefully they'll have some on hand when they play Shindig on October 30th (against Adjective - that one'll be close).
Speaking of Adjective, they'll be the guest live act at Better Than Loneliness on October 3rd at the Biltmore.
Chromeo are set to make-up for their canceled show from a few months back on October 4th at Sonar.
The Winks are back home on November 3rd to play an all-ager at the Ukrainian Hall with Secret Mommy, No Gold, and Collapsing Opposites.
While you may want to head down to the Plaza for Boys Noize on Wednesday night, you should know that the Makeout is celebrating it's first birthday at the Unicorn. That's a whole year of Thursday morning hangovers!
I've got an awesome contest to announce tomorrow, so check back/stay tuned/get excited.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
time breaks down
If you'll recall, tonight's show is a fundraiser for the upcoming CBC Radio 3 sponsored Bend Sinister/Clips tour, which sees the two bands playing shows out to Winnipeg together, with Bend Sinister (and singer/keys come videographer, Edo) heading all the way across our great nation (as well as several nations within the nation). What that means is that, in addition to seeing three of the city's finest live acts, you can feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that your $10 is going to brighten the day of someone in Regina when this mobile party rolls through their crappy town (err.. sorry... Regina-ites... Reginians... whatever). Not only that, but you'll be able to check out some great art, as some of Terminal City's finest artists are putting their personal favourite works on display. And, to top it all off, after all the bands play, Expendable Youth (aka those ChalkedUp dudes) are spinning for your dancing pleasure (although the Clips should get your ass shaking as well). Oh, and there'll be tons of beer... and it'll be cheap.
I know Bison, Taxes, and Cobra are playing the Balmoral tonight as well, and while that would usually be a no brainer, this party is going to be a guaranteed good time. Plus, if you're really keen on catching some of the show at the Bal, it's not that far of a walk. And, if you're worried about missing out on the Unicorn, you can always catch the Salbourg guys with Boyz Noise (eep!) on Wednesday.
Dan from Bend Sinister (and also Small Fame) put together a great compilation that features the three bands that are playing tonight, and also a whole slew of bands that they'll be playing with when they make the trek out to Pop Montreal and back. I want to say that it'll be available at the show, but I'm not sure if that would make me a liar or not. If they do have some kicking around at the merch booth, it's worth picking up.
now playing: Blue Sky Addicts - End of the Beginning
Sunday, July 15, 2007
2nd hand deal
Our next stop was Wintermitts CD release at Frank's on Franklin. The band describes themselves as "ADD" and "genre bending," and I wouldn't disagree. With that in mind, my fondness for them varied from song to song. The only other time I saw them, they were playing as a 3-piece, but last night they were a five strong version of the Wintermitts, and that was definitely a good thing.
After the Wintermitts finished, I made it to the Sweatshop in time to catch most of the Clips set. I'm way more into their upbeat material than the down tempo stuff, and luckily for me, that's mostly what they stuck to. If for nothing else, they get loads of admiration for being able to get most of the crowd to dance when it felt like it was too hot to move at all. Their last song, especially, was pretty intense.
Bend Sinister finished off the evening (well, my evening - the party kept going after they played). As I've said before, they're just stylistically not my thing, but if you're into prog (minus the pretension), there's nobody doing it better in this city. They also got a new drummer. No offense to the old guy, but this new dude is an upgrade, which makes them even tighter than they were before.
now playing: Autolux - Sugarless
city lights
Bend Sinister, who in addition to being great guys, are a great band who penned one of my favourite local tunes ever (see above), and they're up for $150k in a contest put on by the Peak.
Why not help them out by voting here. It's really quick and there's no arduous form to fill out or personal information to give or any crap like that, so if you've got a second, help them get some money so they can afford to put out more records and concentrate even more time on putting out great music.
Labels: bend sinister
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
needle and the damage done
Earlier today, the fine gentlemen in Bend Sinister let me know that they were set to play a benefit/protest in support of Insite on Thursday. They were going to go on before Bedouin Soundclash. That is, apparently, before the radio darlings (or someone in their camp) found out that Bend Sinister was planning to play fully plugged in and decided they didn't want to go on with acoustics after Bend Sinister played with all of their gear. So, the guys, who've very generously donated their music here to benefit Insite in the past, let me know that because of Bedouin's complaint, they've been removed from the bill.
Classy.
A real update coming later with some show announcements, free local music, and some other junk.
Labels: bedouin soundclash, bend sinister, bullshit, insite
Sunday, June 29, 2008
you all want the lovely music to save your lives
Started the last day of Sled Island with Still Flyin' at the mainstage. I'm not huge on the uber-happy giant pop groups, but they were pretty good.
Drive By-Truckers followed. I've heard a ton of good things about their live show. They didn't blow my mind, but I can see where they got the rep.
We took an ill-advised midday C-train trip and got lost when attempting to find a restaurant that no longer existed, so we didn't make it back to the field until Of Montreal. They were their usually entertaining selves, but mostly stuck to pretty new stuff, which was a touch disappointing.
Wire wasn't as good yesterday as they were on Friday night at the Legion. The crowd wasn't as amped, which might have been part of it, and they didn't seem to have as much energy either. Still great though.
Mogwai finished things up on the big stage. Honestly, the soundsystem didn't really do them justice. Mogwai shows are all about making your insides rattle, and they couldn't really reach that level of volume... though they tried.
From Mogwai I booked it over to Broken City to give Bend Sinister some hometown support, not that the guys needed it, as the crowd was pretty into them.
And from Broken City it was back to the Legion for the BSS/Spiral Stairs' collaboration entitled Human Milk. Honestly, the new songs they played weren't all that special, and Stephen Malkmus' former right hand man was a bit disappointing, but the set closing take on "It's All Gonna Break" was phenomenal. Great end to a great weekend.
Show announcements and photos and other catch up when I get back to Vancouver.
Labels: bend sinister, broken social scene, drive by truckers, mogwai, sled island, spiral stairs, still flyin, wire
Monday, September 17, 2007
through the broken city
I've always maintained that while I never felt that Bend Sinister were my thing, I've always thought that they're extremely talented. There's the old argument about whether "good" music is a subjective or objective thing, and while there's definitely a subjective component to any criticism, I always brought up Bend Sinister as an example of a band that I thought were, objectively speaking, a great band. With that in mind, I also felt like one day I'd be watching them and things would click. I think that day came on Saturday night. They're still a few steps removed from what I usually listen to (Naben once jokingly - or maybe seriously - said that judging by what I listen to, if I liked them, they'd be doing something wrong), but they're set this weekend was immensely enjoyable. So, I guess I have to think of someone else to point to when I make my objective criticism argument, and if Naben reads this while they're on tour he might have to reconsider some of his riffage. It's business as usual for everyone else though.
Sinister singer, Dan Moxon, organized the weekend soiree at Brad Gough Studios as the kick-off for their CBC Radio 3 sponsored tour, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate their latest trek across the country. While the place was absolutely packed (by about 10pm), the space was such that it didn't seem as weirdly cramped as gallery shows usually are. Don't get me wrong, the place was stuffed with people, but rather than feeling like it was a show in an art space, it felt like the place was actually designed with performance in mind. The sound system wasn't the most amazing thing in the world, but other than that, you it didn't feel like the music was intruding on somewhere that it didn't usually belong. Hopefully, things went off without any major hitches, and we'll see a few more shows there in future.
The Clips, who are out on tour with Bend Sinister for the first half a dozen dates or so, played right before their tour mates, and further cemented themselves as one of my favourite local live acts. Apparently, people were unfortunately still during No Gold's set (which I unfortunately missed), but things definitely got moving once the Clips got going. It was hot as hell inside, but that didn't mean people were holding back at all... it just meant that it got really sweaty in there. And, since the people came to move, the band obliged by sticking almost exclusively to their upbeat numbers, which was just fine by me.
How much am I looking forward to their forthcoming (out Nov. 3rd) full-length? A lot.
After the tour, their next scheduled show is November 29th at the Bourbon (for Blastramp). The equally poptastic, Good News are also on the bill... and hey, doubles are four bucks.
I missed No Gold (damnit), because I was interviewing Bison over at the Balmoral (woo!). I actually didn't get to catch their set (my original plan was to skip between venues, but the Bend Sinister show was so full there were no ins/outs), but I did take in Taxes before heading East. Sean seemed even more animated than usual, and I think the somewhat sparse crowd that was there would agree that they were pretty ace. I'm kicking myself for forgetting to pick up their freshly burned CD-R release, but hopefully they'll have some on hand when they play Shindig on October 30th (against Adjective - that one'll be close).
Speaking of Adjective, they'll be the guest live act at Better Than Loneliness on October 3rd at the Biltmore.
Chromeo are set to make-up for their canceled show from a few months back on October 4th at Sonar.
The Winks are back home on November 3rd to play an all-ager at the Ukrainian Hall with Secret Mommy, No Gold, and Collapsing Opposites.
While you may want to head down to the Plaza for Boys Noize on Wednesday night, you should know that the Makeout is celebrating it's first birthday at the Unicorn. That's a whole year of Thursday morning hangovers!
I've got an awesome contest to announce tomorrow, so check back/stay tuned/get excited.
Labels: bend sinister, show announcements, show recaps, the clips
Saturday, September 15, 2007
time breaks down
You know, sometimes I wish this wasn't a one-man operation, if only so I could say things like "if there's one thing we like over here at From Blown Speakers, it's the Clips." For some reason, the group consensus implied in the "we" just makes the recommendation sound more trustworthy. But, as it stands, you'll just have to take my word for it, when I once again implore you to head down the Brad Gough Studios (870 E. Cordova at Hawks) tonight to catch the Clips, who are sandwiched between the equally formidable talents of Bend Sinister and No Gold.
If you'll recall, tonight's show is a fundraiser for the upcoming CBC Radio 3 sponsored Bend Sinister/Clips tour, which sees the two bands playing shows out to Winnipeg together, with Bend Sinister (and singer/keys come videographer, Edo) heading all the way across our great nation (as well as several nations within the nation). What that means is that, in addition to seeing three of the city's finest live acts, you can feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that your $10 is going to brighten the day of someone in Regina when this mobile party rolls through their crappy town (err.. sorry... Regina-ites... Reginians... whatever). Not only that, but you'll be able to check out some great art, as some of Terminal City's finest artists are putting their personal favourite works on display. And, to top it all off, after all the bands play, Expendable Youth (aka those ChalkedUp dudes) are spinning for your dancing pleasure (although the Clips should get your ass shaking as well). Oh, and there'll be tons of beer... and it'll be cheap.
I know Bison, Taxes, and Cobra are playing the Balmoral tonight as well, and while that would usually be a no brainer, this party is going to be a guaranteed good time. Plus, if you're really keen on catching some of the show at the Bal, it's not that far of a walk. And, if you're worried about missing out on the Unicorn, you can always catch the Salbourg guys with Boyz Noise (eep!) on Wednesday.
Dan from Bend Sinister (and also Small Fame) put together a great compilation that features the three bands that are playing tonight, and also a whole slew of bands that they'll be playing with when they make the trek out to Pop Montreal and back. I want to say that it'll be available at the show, but I'm not sure if that would make me a liar or not. If they do have some kicking around at the merch booth, it's worth picking up.
now playing: Blue Sky Addicts - End of the Beginning
Labels: bend sinister, no gold, the clips
Sunday, July 15, 2007
2nd hand deal
Yesterday, I'd half-assed planned to just chill out at Hoko's for a bit and take in Hefe and the Neins Circa. The "chilling out at Hoko's for a bit" part happened, but half way through Hefe it was decided that instead of trying to stick around at one show on such a busy night, we would hit up a bunch of them. I didn't catch any of the Neins Circa, and no offense to Hefe, but the undisputed highlight of Hoko's while I was there was the woman who did "Moondance" for the karaoke contest portion of the evening. It was pretty amazing.
Our next stop was Wintermitts CD release at Frank's on Franklin. The band describes themselves as "ADD" and "genre bending," and I wouldn't disagree. With that in mind, my fondness for them varied from song to song. The only other time I saw them, they were playing as a 3-piece, but last night they were a five strong version of the Wintermitts, and that was definitely a good thing.
After the Wintermitts finished, I made it to the Sweatshop in time to catch most of the Clips set. I'm way more into their upbeat material than the down tempo stuff, and luckily for me, that's mostly what they stuck to. If for nothing else, they get loads of admiration for being able to get most of the crowd to dance when it felt like it was too hot to move at all. Their last song, especially, was pretty intense.
Bend Sinister finished off the evening (well, my evening - the party kept going after they played). As I've said before, they're just stylistically not my thing, but if you're into prog (minus the pretension), there's nobody doing it better in this city. They also got a new drummer. No offense to the old guy, but this new dude is an upgrade, which makes them even tighter than they were before.
now playing: Autolux - Sugarless
Labels: bend sinister, show recaps, the clips, wintermitts
