Monday, September 20, 2010
call it something else
A few quick things:
1) A reminder that Shindig continues with week #2 tomorrow. As a bonus, Tuesday's are also cask beer night at the Railway (they didn't get one last week, for some reason).
2) Quick (and almost exclusively local) picks for Olio:
Thursday:
4) Oh, and I don't know when Godspeed tix go on sale. But you will when I do, internet.
now playing: Guided by Voices - The Best of Jill Hives
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
tremor in the elevator
A quick reminder that Shindig! starts tonight at the Railway at 9:30pm. Isla Taco's on first, then Keep Tidy at 10:30pm, and Clockmakers at 11:30pm, plus jokes for beer!
See you there.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
nightclubs
Let's start with some free music.
Jay Arner (from Fine Mist, International Falls, Poison Dart, and probably some other things I'm missing) had a few extra songs that didn't become Fine Mist material that he recorded solo, and he's giving the resulting four song EP away for free. Jay Ferguson from Sloan guests on one track and Dave from Japandroids sort of guests on another (Jay sampled his drumming) and like his last solo EP (that you can still get here), it's pretty great.
Download it in mp3 or Apple Lossless on his tumblr.
Also worth noting, is an unprecedented tie at Shindig yesterday between Hidden Towers (sweet, instrumental metal) and Pro Nails (sweet, spazzy, synth punk), which means there's going to be four bands for the finals on Tuesday... so get their early (or plan to stay late--I'd imagine the former though).
Prairie Cat plays Little Mountain on December tonight.
No LA Kill, Boogie Monster, and Shipyards are at Zoo Shop (223 Main St.) on Friday.
Luke Top plays the Media Club with Sun Wizard and the Shilohs on December 7th.
Parlour Steps and Aidan Knight play the Biltmore on December 14th. It's $10 to get in, but if you bring a donation of new underwear or socks (that the DTES Women's Centre and the Salvation Army will later give out to Vancouver's homeless), you get in for free.
Congress, Bogus Tokus, and Dead Meat play the Biltmore on December 21st.
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone are at the Biltmore on January 8th.
Frog Eyes, Apollo Ghosts, and Tyranahorse are at the Biltmore on January 22nd.
White Denim is at the Media Club on January 23rd.
Bowerbirds and Julie Doiron are at the Biltmore on January 23rd.
St. Vincent and Wildbirds & Peacedrums play Venue on February 4th.
Four Tet is at the Biltmore on February 24th.
now playing: the Abramson Singers - Take a Camera
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
brace yourself for the end
First things first, this week From Blown Speakers (hey, that's me) and Damaged Goods present two bands that I've never heard live before at the Astoria: Manta Raygun and Cat Attack. The easiest thing to do when two bands have recorded music that piques your interest is to book them to play... and I'm pretty lazy. Seriously though, their studio (or more likely, makeshift studio) stuff sounds great, and Cat Attack features one half of MT-40 (who know how to bring it live), so come down for good times (as per usual) at Damaged Goods.
Speaking of being lazy, this was supposed to go up on Tuesday, but I've been slacking when it comes to internerding. Sorry, Boosh/Sailing.
Speaking of Tuesdays, they're about to get a lot radder in September (and they're pretty good already), because Shindig is back soon! And because someone at CiTR is very kind, here's the list of bands to whet your appetite before the schedule is released in a week or so (if I were good at the internet it would say "FROM BLOWN SPEAKERS EXCLUSIVE" and there would be buttons for retweeting or something):
Aunts & Uncles, Bad Fate, Bench/Dawn Optimist, Blank Cinema, Bleating Hearts, Catamaran, Half Chinese, Hidden Towers, Humans, Jody Glenham, Kidnap Kids!, Lengthy List of Lovers, Machu Picchu, Manta Raygun, Modern Lakes, Move on Citizen, MT-40, No Time, Pro Nails, Search Parties, Seven Nines and Tens, The Living Deadbeats,The Receptionists, Thee AHs, Tigerhead, Weathered Pines, Witch Water
It's going to be a good year.
Regulars: August 179th-21st
Wednesday
Fake Jazz Wednesday @ the Cobalt: Eugene Chadbourne, Ora Corgan, and Yellowthief
The Beehive @ Honey: Dead Ghosts, Manic Attracts, Indian Wars
Gypsy Fade Wednesday @ the Media Club: back on August 26th.
Thursday
Honey Lung Thursday @ Honey: back on August 27th
Friday
Damaged Goods @ the Astoria: Manta Raygun and Cat Attack
Far Away @ the Media Club: unknown
Phantom Islands @ Hoko's: back at the end of August
Saturday
Glory Days @ the Biltmore: Old Money
Night Shift @ the Astoria: no Night Shift. Astoria Soul Club is on instead.
No More Strangers @ Funky Winkerbean's: Greenbelt Collective, Witch Water, and Adam Carter & Teal Booth
now playing: Manta Raygun - Melatonin
Thursday, October 16, 2008
burst transmission
Things started of with Ben & Gorodetsky, a one man act that was okay for the most part and hilarious when he whipped out a cover of a Russian dance tune (complete with dancing).
Boogie Monster followed after taking forever to set up (especially for a 2-piece). They were almost worth the wait. They might still be worth the wait. It was actually sort of hard to tell. The drumming was phenomenal. Problem was, the guy hit his kit so hard it was tough to hear the guitar at the best of times and damn near impossible at other times. I'd definitely like to seem them again though. And, despite the fact that it was sort of hard to judge the total package, I think they should have won.
Which brings us to the winners, the Sappers. It's hard to knock a band for being pleasant, but after a few songs of very polite, restrained, folk-pop, I was ready to call it a night. They were tight, but it was late, and after a few songs, they weren't doing much to keep me awake.
Here's some bad news: Wire is canceled tonight. Refunds available at point of purchase. No official word on why, but rumour has it that sales were really low. Thanks to everyone who emailed/messaged about that one.
Tomorrow, Lover! are here from Memphis. They play the Sweatshop with B-Lines and Dead Ghosts
Saturday, BA Johnston, Ghost House, and What's Wrong with Tohei? are at Pat's.
The same night, No Gold, Gang Violence, Ballz (Dave and Luke from Basketball), and Candles are at the Peanut Gallery.
And also on Saturday, Usaisamonster, Miami Nights, and Nu Sensae, and Robe and Allied are at the Emergency Room.
Sex with Strangers are at the Bourbon on October 22nd with Princess and the Paradise.
Carolyn Mark is at the Railway on October 24th.
The Buttless Chaps are at the Biltmore on Halloween with Ghost House and Fond of Tigers.
Also on Halloween, The Pack AD are at the Rail.
Slow Down Molasses are at the Railway on November 5th with Portico.
The Cobrasnake is throwing a party at Celebs with Pase Rock and Expendable Youth on November 7th.
The Bicycles are at Di'Metric Studios (1114 E. Pender) with Hot Panda on November 15th.
And those Half Alive guys are bringing Metronomy to the Bourbon on January 25th.
Now playing: Sleater-Kinney - Turn It On
Thursday, September 18, 2008
trapped in an elevator
Shindig sort of kicked off with more of a whimper than a bang on Tuesday. None of the bands were out and out terrible (someone might argue with me on that one), but nothing really blew me away either. I should note that a late (they were running behind) set in a bar setting wasn't the best place to get introduced to eventual winner (and Petroleum By-Products member) Zombie Pistolero, so I'll definitely reserve final judgment on his solo stuff. I have a feeling that I would've enjoyed the show at Cafe Montmartre more.
For the record, that photo is of some old dudes who sounded like they listened to a lot of Wire, not Zombie Pistolero. I think I liked them more than most people there.
Dead Ghosts and Manic Attracts are at Psych Night at the ANZA on the 25th of this month.
K-Os plays the Pit Pub at UBC with the Good News on the same night.
Taxes are at the Astoria (which will be open again) on the 27th for Better than Nothing. We Are Wolves will be their for a DJ set after their show, while locals Sex Attack! and Tyler Fedchuk hold things down for the rest of the evening. It's also Dustin's birthday. I would say to buy him a drink, but he gets a bar tab for running the night... and he's a jerk. Taxes are on at "11:30pm sharp."
Stamina Mantis kick of their tour on October 1st at Fake Jazz Wednesday at the Cobalt. gr8-2000, Blackmage, and Bird Costumes round out the bill.
Quintron & Miss Pussycat are at the Biltmore on October 18th. (thanks Carmen)
Land of Talk are at the Media Club on November 12th with Josh Reichmann. (thanks Jeff)
now playing: Wire - Heartbeat
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
we hate this city
Jesse Taylor by Sarah Cordingley
So, I was going to do up a Music Waste guide of sorts. In fact, I had already written part of it. But then I scrapped it.
If I were to write up my picks for the fest, they'd be plucked out of the bands I know, and if you've been here with any regularity, they'd be bands that you've likely already read about. And you know what? That sort of betrays what I think is one of the beautiful things about Music Waste: seeing things that you've never seen and even seeing things that you maybe wouldn't normally see.
So, while there are a few live favourites that I don't plan on missing (Mutators, White Lung, Mohawk Lodge) and I'm definitely catching the live debut of Mt. Career, my Music Waste pick is to buy a pass, put on your favourite walking shoes, and hit as many different shows as possible.
Vancouver is building a rep for it's noise/punk scene, but there's something for everybody at this year's fest, from the most docile of folk bands (Dyad) to good old fashioned heart on your sleeve rock (Mohawk Lodge) to glitchy electronic (gr8-2000) to the harshest of the aforementioned noise (check the Cobalt tonight for 2[!] stages of non-stop action)
And about those passes, they're only $15 and you can still grab them at Zulu, Scratch, Limelight, RedCat, and Audiopile... and you should, because there's not a Hell of a lot else going on this weekend anyhow.
Chalked Up has an interview with half of the organizing duo, Cam Reed (the other half took that striking portrait of Jesse up there).
Oh, and while we're talking about one of my favourite musical happenings that this city has to offer, let's also mention one of the other ones: Shindig is accepting submissions for this year. I can already hear the awkward silence when I tank my first joke for beer.
now playing: Wilco - She's a Jar
Thursday, December 06, 2007
oh sailor
I'm striving to make this blog your go to source for two day old music commentary.
As mentioned yesterday, Shindig! wrapped up on Tuesday night and Fanshaw doomed herself with the Shindig curse, by taking home top spot (only kidding about the doomed part).
No disrespect to the SSRIs, but I was pretty surprised to find out that they beat out Petroleum By-Products (second photo). In fact, even though I liked Fanshaw's set the best (which was even better than the previous week), I still would've put money down on a By-Products win.
A big thanks to Ben Lai and CiTR for another great year. And a special thank you to everyone that I swore at during jokes for beer after my punchlines got called week after week... all seven of you.
This Friday, Ok Vancouver Ok, Rose Melberg, Lala, Collapsing Opposites, the Unreliable Narrator, Chris-a-riffic, and Hymn for Her Little Man are at Little Mountain Studios... which is right by my house now.
A week later on the 14th at the same place, Organ Trail, A Relative Distance, Lost Lover's Brigade, Fanshaw, and Grayscales play. Darren from the Trail promises that the band will be thoroughly unpracticed... but they've got new tunes and a new line-up to debut.
Atlas Sound are at Pat's on March 5th.
Sex Attack! are at 1/2 Alive on December 21st.
Bend Sinister are at the Media Club tonight.
Telus just called me at work to day my home internet should work now. After my failure to properly set a line on Shindig, I'm offering 5:4 that my modem still won't receive a signal when I get home tonight.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
checkerboard
The thing about my picture taking (ne photography) is that I'm lazy. As you can see above, if I had bothered to move back two feet that photo of Liv and Johnny might be half way decent. I illustrate this point to help explain why there are only Fanshaw photos up. When Adjective. (don't you forget the period) andBroken Greenbelt Schools Music ProjectCollective Scene were on the front of the stage was kind of crowded, and so while both bands are generally fairly easy on the eyes, I was sitting too far back to take any snaps, and I couldn't be bothered to wade my way any closer.
Adjective have chops, but they also wear their influences prominently on their sleeves. Whether or not that's okay with you probably hinges on how much you like Joy Division... if they had a girl in the band. Although, it should be noted that I haven't seen Ryan break into seizures on stage yet.
Perhaps it points to the fact that I'm a miserable, misanthropic curmudgeon, but I can't really get into the Greenbelt Collective. My patience for bands that project unrequited, childlike joy for more than 5 minutes at a time is reserved for few acts, and the quota for cuteness at Shindig got used up by Petroleum By-Products (like seriously, those kids are adorable and they rock). And speaking of bands sounding like other bands, someone give them a copy of "Space Oddity" for Xmas.
I was informed when I arrived to work this morning that Fanshaw won. I actually hadn't seen Liv play her solo material before last night, and to be completely honest, I didn't think that it would excite me all that much live. Her soft delivery and muted arrangements (at least recorded) seemed to lend themselves more to at-home-hungover-on-sunday listening than live performance, but I was rather pleasantly surprised. She could probably get by on being a cute girl with a (very) pretty voice, but her songs are good, her usually coy lyrics are better, and with a little help from her friends (including Johnny from Victoria, Victoria, who seem to be suffering from the Shindig winners' curse) the proceedings had a enough energy to hold your attention for the duration of her/their set.
Finals go on December 4th. The resident From Blown Speakers bookie is giving 5:4 on a Petroleum By-Products win.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
rat face
If you haven't had a chance to see them, they're (roughly) the same age Be Your Own Pet, dress like the Polysics, and sound like the B-52s, and that ain't half bad. In fact, it's quite good.
They play Library Square (for Casbah!) with Culte du Cargo (whose record is sitting perpetually on top of my growing "must listen to" stack of CDs) and Stolen Bicycles Gang on November 30th and at Unicorn on December 14th with Hallmark and Ladies Night. I don't know the actual order for either of those shows... so just show up on time for once.
Japandroids played what was apparently the "latest set ever" at Shindig, which unfortunately resulted in half the room being cleared by the time they played. They're still one of the - or perhaps the - local act(s) that I most enjoy live, but there was a drunk girl in front of stage who was having a better time than anybody... maybe ever. They closed with a cover of my favourite Wire song.
Today a coworker of mine noted that he "enjoyed that middle band (Treacherous Machete) more this time, because that guy (Burnside) wasn't drunk - or so drunk, anyway." I suppose I would agree. Although, drunk or sober, the duo are more entertaining than when the same people say/write the same "Blues Hammer" joke about six times. I mean, don't get me wrong, I dig Ghostworld too, but at least throw in another racist joke or something (just kidding. I love you, Only).
Liam from No Gold was kind enough to email to let me know that they're playing Pat's on November 30th with Colorbook, Basketball (formerly Raking Bombs), who are playing their first show in ages, and International Falls (whose CD I also need to give some proper spins to). I'm moving the next morning, but I'm still going to try to check this out after Cadence Weapon.
I finally picked up a copy of the Mutators 7" that's out on the Broadway to Boundary (the fine gentleman who also brought you the Hot Loins 7"). If you've ever seen them play, then hearing me tell you that it slays will come as no surprise. Expect a "proper" (you know, as in, I expand that previous sentence with a bunch of descriptors and unrelated anecdotes you didn't need to know) review on Streethawk soon-ish (there's a White Lung one up right now - surprise: also slays). Each side of the 45 ends on a locked groove so the blissful noise goes forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and yougetthepoint.
In case you forgot, they're playing on Saturday with AIDS Wolf and Shearing Pinx for an early show at the ER.
Twin Crystals are playing Fake Jazz tonight at the Cobalt, which is where I'm going right now...
now playing: Nurse & Solider - Satellightning (thanks Luke!)
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
we need air
- Japandroids won. They closed with a new song. I think it was called "Born to Run." It slayed. It's not actually called "Born to Run," but it is Springsteen-related, though not Springsteen-esque. Brian, I'm sorry for yelling out "assholes" at you. I didn't know that was your mom sitting behind me.
- Lownote sort of sounded like Lord of the Dance meets Judas Priest. Maybe you're into that.
- Honestly, I only paid attention to Vonnegut Dollhouse for one song before deciding I would prefer to chat outside.
- Kudos to Dan McCash for upping the ante in the as-offensive-as-possible-without-being-racist-or-sexist joke category!
- Chris-a-riffic held it down in the MC department, because Ben Lai was away. He did a splendid job.
Mark gave the heads up about a fundraiser that Oxfam is holding, I'll let him tell it in his own words:
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
the most perilous of foes
The Skedaddlers started things off, and were a bit of a rarity for Shindig in a couple of ways. For one, they were sort of old. Before anyone gets offended by that, they weren't old enough for me to pass them on the street and notice, and they weren't old enough for me to offer my bus seat, but they weren't in their 20s, which is the Shindig norm. They also stuck out because they played a pretty straight ahead brand of rock. Think really old Wilco, Tom Petty, 54-40, and you get the idea. They didn't blow me away, but the musicianship was strong, they had some decent tunes, and there are far worse things to endure than a better than average bar band.
Hawaiian Bibles were a last minute fill-in after A Relative Distance dropped off the bill. For some reason, I was certain that they were called "Hawaiian Babies," until I actually got to the Rail, and I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed that their set didn't involve any tiny hula dancers. Thankfully, they didn't harp on the bible part either, but I couldn't really get into their songs.
Sometimes it feels like you can't throw a White Stripes CD without hitting a two-person, guitar and drums, blues band, but Treacherous Machete pulled out a few tricks to differentiate themselves from the pack (err... no pun intended). Even though Burnside has a pretty classic sounding croon, he never came across as overly serious. In fact, he was wasted, which was sort of awesome. The guys handle standard three chord blues pretty well, but they were at their best when they stretched things out, and got a bit noisier. Bonus points for bringing out an actual machete at the end of the night. Maybe it came in handy if the guy who mumbled "everyonnneezzz herrrrrree izzzz dead" after he found out the Skedaddlers hadn't won was serious.
Admittedly though, the best part of the evening was the wasted dude who danced right in front of the stage for every band.
JPNDRDS play next week!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
oh me oh me
The National Shield started off the evening. I was really digging the more upbeat stuff they played, but was less keen on the slower stuff. They've got that characteristic Vancouver power-pop thing going on, and it's a lot more fun when they're pushing the "power" part of the equation.
Speaking of power, the Remedials certainly had it. Their bass player warmed up with the opening riff from "Holiday in Cambodia," and that gives you an idea of what they sounded like: young, loud, and snotty. Luke Meat said something along the lines of "don't you find it comforting that no matter what happens, there will always be some band making this kind of music?" And I suppose it's nice to know that some things truly never change, and there will always be dudes banging out three chords in a basement somewhere. They had a song about date rape, which was... ballsy, but their set peaked about 1/3rd of the way through when they ripped into a tune that had a chorus that proclaimed "I like to fuck. I like to drink. I like to drink and fuck." I can't say that I don't agree, honestly.
The SSRIs closed out the evening, and were the eventual winners of night one, round one. I saw them at Hoko's awhile back, but honestly, I wasn't paying all that much attention that night. They didn't blow my mind, but there were hints of a lot of things that do blow my mind. I heard a bit of Blood Brothers between the discordant guitar and the wonky piano, and while their singer was sometimes reminiscent of the guy from Billy Talent (not good), he also aurally resembled Conrad from Trail of Dead (better) at times.
Overall, it wasn't the greatest night of music, but it was a pretty good warm up for what looks like is going to be an excellent year for Shindig.
Mike from the London Spy emailed me to let me know that they'll be on the bill at Casbah! on the 21st (with Ludvico Treatment and Sex with Strangers). It'll also be the band's last show for at least a year, as Peter is heading off to Cambridge for school. Come down and bid them adieu, if you're inclined.
Kevin was kind enough to send two videos from Friday's Wolf Parade show. Here's the new song that they opened with:
And check out "It's a Curse" right here.
The Pipettes show, previously at a venue TBA, is at the Plaza.
Oh, and today while I was on lunch I was pleasantly surprised to find Leeroy Stagger playing a solo show here at UBC. I always enjoy hearing him play - especially solo - but it was even more welcomed since SUB Plaza is pretty much constantly plagued with the frats pumping out jock jams at obnoxious volumes right now. He played a new song to close out his set, that bodes well for his next record (whenever that happens to come out).
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
the battle
Rock'n is at Pat's this Friday. I once got convinced to check out a frat party at UBC just to see these guys. Surprisingly, I didn't hate myself for saying "yes."
The Clientele are signed up to open for Peter Bjorn & John. The likelihood that you'll be bored to tears for the duration of the evening (maybe, minus "Young Folks") just went up two-fold.
High on Fire is at Richard's on October 24th with (the Japanese) Mono and Panthers. If you treasure your hearing, you might want to bring ear plugs to this one.
Dr. Dog is at the Media Club on October 16th.
The Painted Birds are celebrating their CD release on August 2nd at the Plaza with Bend Sinister and Elias
Earlimart is at the Lamp on September 29th.
Henry Rollins is at the Centre on October 30th.
now playing: the Russian Futurists - Telegram from the Future
call it something else
A few quick things:
1) A reminder that Shindig continues with week #2 tomorrow. As a bonus, Tuesday's are also cask beer night at the Railway (they didn't get one last week, for some reason).
2) Quick (and almost exclusively local) picks for Olio:
Thursday:
The Abramson Singers (10:30pm at Guilt & Co) - Their latest record is amazing. Buy it)Friday
Piper Davis (11pm at the Met)- Back from the depths of Alberta for one night only!
Koban (11:30pm at Lick) - I will watch Britt and Sam whenever I can.
Fine Mist (midnight at the Met) - I love their forthcoming LP so much, I'm helping them pay for it. Please also buy it (soon).
Shout Out Out Out Out (12:30am at 560) - Honestly, I haven't listened to their recorded output in ages, but they're always a good time live.
No Gold (1am at Honey) - Everyone is going to be at the Very Best, but if you're not there early, you're probably not getting in.
Graham Clark and Dave Shumka (7pm at the Rickshaw) - I know zip about comedy, but these two guys make me laugh. Also, last provincial election I (protest) voted for Graham.Saturday
Watermelon (10pm at Blim) - Their official write-up doesn't make any sense, as does not seeing them if you have a wristband.
Joyce Collingwood (11pm at the Astoria) - They totally killed it at Music Waste.
Nu Sensae (midnight at the Astoria) - I guess the fact that I haven't seen them play in too long isn't really a reason for you to see them. But the fact that they rule is.
White Lung (1am at the Astoria) - Just camp out at the Astoria all Friday, ok? See also: "early contender for local record of the year."
B-Lines (10pm at the Media Club) - One of the city's most consistent(ly great) live acts.3) And, since the Polaris winner gets announced tonight, check out this great article in Spinner that Carl Wilson penned.
Needles x Pins (11pm at the Media Club) - Download their EP and be convinced.
Defektors (midnight at the Media Club) - I mean, you're already going to be there, right?
4) Oh, and I don't know when Godspeed tix go on sale. But you will when I do, internet.
now playing: Guided by Voices - The Best of Jill Hives
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
tremor in the elevator
A quick reminder that Shindig! starts tonight at the Railway at 9:30pm. Isla Taco's on first, then Keep Tidy at 10:30pm, and Clockmakers at 11:30pm, plus jokes for beer!
See you there.
Labels: shindig
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
nightclubs
Let's start with some free music.
Jay Arner (from Fine Mist, International Falls, Poison Dart, and probably some other things I'm missing) had a few extra songs that didn't become Fine Mist material that he recorded solo, and he's giving the resulting four song EP away for free. Jay Ferguson from Sloan guests on one track and Dave from Japandroids sort of guests on another (Jay sampled his drumming) and like his last solo EP (that you can still get here), it's pretty great.
Download it in mp3 or Apple Lossless on his tumblr.
Also worth noting, is an unprecedented tie at Shindig yesterday between Hidden Towers (sweet, instrumental metal) and Pro Nails (sweet, spazzy, synth punk), which means there's going to be four bands for the finals on Tuesday... so get their early (or plan to stay late--I'd imagine the former though).
Prairie Cat plays Little Mountain on December tonight.
No LA Kill, Boogie Monster, and Shipyards are at Zoo Shop (223 Main St.) on Friday.
Luke Top plays the Media Club with Sun Wizard and the Shilohs on December 7th.
Parlour Steps and Aidan Knight play the Biltmore on December 14th. It's $10 to get in, but if you bring a donation of new underwear or socks (that the DTES Women's Centre and the Salvation Army will later give out to Vancouver's homeless), you get in for free.
Congress, Bogus Tokus, and Dead Meat play the Biltmore on December 21st.
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone are at the Biltmore on January 8th.
Frog Eyes, Apollo Ghosts, and Tyranahorse are at the Biltmore on January 22nd.
White Denim is at the Media Club on January 23rd.
Bowerbirds and Julie Doiron are at the Biltmore on January 23rd.
St. Vincent and Wildbirds & Peacedrums play Venue on February 4th.
Four Tet is at the Biltmore on February 24th.
now playing: the Abramson Singers - Take a Camera
Labels: jay arner, mp3, shindig, show announcements
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
brace yourself for the end
First things first, this week From Blown Speakers (hey, that's me) and Damaged Goods present two bands that I've never heard live before at the Astoria: Manta Raygun and Cat Attack. The easiest thing to do when two bands have recorded music that piques your interest is to book them to play... and I'm pretty lazy. Seriously though, their studio (or more likely, makeshift studio) stuff sounds great, and Cat Attack features one half of MT-40 (who know how to bring it live), so come down for good times (as per usual) at Damaged Goods.
Speaking of being lazy, this was supposed to go up on Tuesday, but I've been slacking when it comes to internerding. Sorry, Boosh/Sailing.
Speaking of Tuesdays, they're about to get a lot radder in September (and they're pretty good already), because Shindig is back soon! And because someone at CiTR is very kind, here's the list of bands to whet your appetite before the schedule is released in a week or so (if I were good at the internet it would say "FROM BLOWN SPEAKERS EXCLUSIVE" and there would be buttons for retweeting or something):
Aunts & Uncles, Bad Fate, Bench/Dawn Optimist, Blank Cinema, Bleating Hearts, Catamaran, Half Chinese, Hidden Towers, Humans, Jody Glenham, Kidnap Kids!, Lengthy List of Lovers, Machu Picchu, Manta Raygun, Modern Lakes, Move on Citizen, MT-40, No Time, Pro Nails, Search Parties, Seven Nines and Tens, The Living Deadbeats,The Receptionists, Thee AHs, Tigerhead, Weathered Pines, Witch Water
It's going to be a good year.
Regulars: August 1
Wednesday
Fake Jazz Wednesday @ the Cobalt: Eugene Chadbourne, Ora Corgan, and Yellowthief
The Beehive @ Honey: Dead Ghosts, Manic Attracts, Indian Wars
Gypsy Fade Wednesday @ the Media Club: back on August 26th.
Thursday
Honey Lung Thursday @ Honey: back on August 27th
Friday
Damaged Goods @ the Astoria: Manta Raygun and Cat Attack
Far Away @ the Media Club: unknown
Phantom Islands @ Hoko's: back at the end of August
Saturday
Glory Days @ the Biltmore: Old Money
Night Shift @ the Astoria: no Night Shift. Astoria Soul Club is on instead.
No More Strangers @ Funky Winkerbean's: Greenbelt Collective, Witch Water, and Adam Carter & Teal Booth
now playing: Manta Raygun - Melatonin
Labels: damaged goods, shindig, weekly listings
Thursday, October 16, 2008
burst transmission
To be completely honest, the overall quality of the music at Shindig has been sort of lacking this year (although I missed one night and Hermetic were pretty good). Hopefully, yesterday is a sign of things to come, because it was pretty decent on the whole.
Things started of with Ben & Gorodetsky, a one man act that was okay for the most part and hilarious when he whipped out a cover of a Russian dance tune (complete with dancing).
Boogie Monster followed after taking forever to set up (especially for a 2-piece). They were almost worth the wait. They might still be worth the wait. It was actually sort of hard to tell. The drumming was phenomenal. Problem was, the guy hit his kit so hard it was tough to hear the guitar at the best of times and damn near impossible at other times. I'd definitely like to seem them again though. And, despite the fact that it was sort of hard to judge the total package, I think they should have won.
Which brings us to the winners, the Sappers. It's hard to knock a band for being pleasant, but after a few songs of very polite, restrained, folk-pop, I was ready to call it a night. They were tight, but it was late, and after a few songs, they weren't doing much to keep me awake.
Here's some bad news: Wire is canceled tonight. Refunds available at point of purchase. No official word on why, but rumour has it that sales were really low. Thanks to everyone who emailed/messaged about that one.
Tomorrow, Lover! are here from Memphis. They play the Sweatshop with B-Lines and Dead Ghosts
Saturday, BA Johnston, Ghost House, and What's Wrong with Tohei? are at Pat's.
The same night, No Gold, Gang Violence, Ballz (Dave and Luke from Basketball), and Candles are at the Peanut Gallery.
And also on Saturday, Usaisamonster, Miami Nights, and Nu Sensae, and Robe and Allied are at the Emergency Room.
Sex with Strangers are at the Bourbon on October 22nd with Princess and the Paradise.
Carolyn Mark is at the Railway on October 24th.
The Buttless Chaps are at the Biltmore on Halloween with Ghost House and Fond of Tigers.
Also on Halloween, The Pack AD are at the Rail.
Slow Down Molasses are at the Railway on November 5th with Portico.
The Cobrasnake is throwing a party at Celebs with Pase Rock and Expendable Youth on November 7th.
The Bicycles are at Di'Metric Studios (1114 E. Pender) with Hot Panda on November 15th.
And those Half Alive guys are bringing Metronomy to the Bourbon on January 25th.
Now playing: Sleater-Kinney - Turn It On
Labels: ben+goredotsky, boogie monster, sappers, shindig, show announcements, show recaps
Thursday, September 18, 2008
trapped in an elevator
Shindig sort of kicked off with more of a whimper than a bang on Tuesday. None of the bands were out and out terrible (someone might argue with me on that one), but nothing really blew me away either. I should note that a late (they were running behind) set in a bar setting wasn't the best place to get introduced to eventual winner (and Petroleum By-Products member) Zombie Pistolero, so I'll definitely reserve final judgment on his solo stuff. I have a feeling that I would've enjoyed the show at Cafe Montmartre more.
For the record, that photo is of some old dudes who sounded like they listened to a lot of Wire, not Zombie Pistolero. I think I liked them more than most people there.
Dead Ghosts and Manic Attracts are at Psych Night at the ANZA on the 25th of this month.
K-Os plays the Pit Pub at UBC with the Good News on the same night.
Taxes are at the Astoria (which will be open again) on the 27th for Better than Nothing. We Are Wolves will be their for a DJ set after their show, while locals Sex Attack! and Tyler Fedchuk hold things down for the rest of the evening. It's also Dustin's birthday. I would say to buy him a drink, but he gets a bar tab for running the night... and he's a jerk. Taxes are on at "11:30pm sharp."
Stamina Mantis kick of their tour on October 1st at Fake Jazz Wednesday at the Cobalt. gr8-2000, Blackmage, and Bird Costumes round out the bill.
Quintron & Miss Pussycat are at the Biltmore on October 18th. (thanks Carmen)
Land of Talk are at the Media Club on November 12th with Josh Reichmann. (thanks Jeff)
now playing: Wire - Heartbeat
Labels: lazy show recaps, shindig, show announcements
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
we hate this city
Jesse Taylor by Sarah Cordingley
So, I was going to do up a Music Waste guide of sorts. In fact, I had already written part of it. But then I scrapped it.
If I were to write up my picks for the fest, they'd be plucked out of the bands I know, and if you've been here with any regularity, they'd be bands that you've likely already read about. And you know what? That sort of betrays what I think is one of the beautiful things about Music Waste: seeing things that you've never seen and even seeing things that you maybe wouldn't normally see.
So, while there are a few live favourites that I don't plan on missing (Mutators, White Lung, Mohawk Lodge) and I'm definitely catching the live debut of Mt. Career, my Music Waste pick is to buy a pass, put on your favourite walking shoes, and hit as many different shows as possible.
Vancouver is building a rep for it's noise/punk scene, but there's something for everybody at this year's fest, from the most docile of folk bands (Dyad) to good old fashioned heart on your sleeve rock (Mohawk Lodge) to glitchy electronic (gr8-2000) to the harshest of the aforementioned noise (check the Cobalt tonight for 2[!] stages of non-stop action)
And about those passes, they're only $15 and you can still grab them at Zulu, Scratch, Limelight, RedCat, and Audiopile... and you should, because there's not a Hell of a lot else going on this weekend anyhow.
Chalked Up has an interview with half of the organizing duo, Cam Reed (the other half took that striking portrait of Jesse up there).
Oh, and while we're talking about one of my favourite musical happenings that this city has to offer, let's also mention one of the other ones: Shindig is accepting submissions for this year. I can already hear the awkward silence when I tank my first joke for beer.
now playing: Wilco - She's a Jar
Labels: music waste, shindig
Thursday, December 06, 2007
oh sailor
I'm striving to make this blog your go to source for two day old music commentary.
As mentioned yesterday, Shindig! wrapped up on Tuesday night and Fanshaw doomed herself with the Shindig curse, by taking home top spot (only kidding about the doomed part).
No disrespect to the SSRIs, but I was pretty surprised to find out that they beat out Petroleum By-Products (second photo). In fact, even though I liked Fanshaw's set the best (which was even better than the previous week), I still would've put money down on a By-Products win.
A big thanks to Ben Lai and CiTR for another great year. And a special thank you to everyone that I swore at during jokes for beer after my punchlines got called week after week... all seven of you.
This Friday, Ok Vancouver Ok, Rose Melberg, Lala, Collapsing Opposites, the Unreliable Narrator, Chris-a-riffic, and Hymn for Her Little Man are at Little Mountain Studios... which is right by my house now.
A week later on the 14th at the same place, Organ Trail, A Relative Distance, Lost Lover's Brigade, Fanshaw, and Grayscales play. Darren from the Trail promises that the band will be thoroughly unpracticed... but they've got new tunes and a new line-up to debut.
Atlas Sound are at Pat's on March 5th.
Sex Attack! are at 1/2 Alive on December 21st.
Bend Sinister are at the Media Club tonight.
Telus just called me at work to day my home internet should work now. After my failure to properly set a line on Shindig, I'm offering 5:4 that my modem still won't receive a signal when I get home tonight.
Labels: fanshaw, lazy show recaps, petroleum by-products, shindig, show announcements, ssris
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
checkerboard
The thing about my picture taking (ne photography) is that I'm lazy. As you can see above, if I had bothered to move back two feet that photo of Liv and Johnny might be half way decent. I illustrate this point to help explain why there are only Fanshaw photos up. When Adjective. (don't you forget the period) and
Adjective have chops, but they also wear their influences prominently on their sleeves. Whether or not that's okay with you probably hinges on how much you like Joy Division... if they had a girl in the band. Although, it should be noted that I haven't seen Ryan break into seizures on stage yet.
Perhaps it points to the fact that I'm a miserable, misanthropic curmudgeon, but I can't really get into the Greenbelt Collective. My patience for bands that project unrequited, childlike joy for more than 5 minutes at a time is reserved for few acts, and the quota for cuteness at Shindig got used up by Petroleum By-Products (like seriously, those kids are adorable and they rock). And speaking of bands sounding like other bands, someone give them a copy of "Space Oddity" for Xmas.
I was informed when I arrived to work this morning that Fanshaw won. I actually hadn't seen Liv play her solo material before last night, and to be completely honest, I didn't think that it would excite me all that much live. Her soft delivery and muted arrangements (at least recorded) seemed to lend themselves more to at-home-hungover-on-sunday listening than live performance, but I was rather pleasantly surprised. She could probably get by on being a cute girl with a (very) pretty voice, but her songs are good, her usually coy lyrics are better, and with a little help from her friends (including Johnny from Victoria, Victoria, who seem to be suffering from the Shindig winners' curse) the proceedings had a enough energy to hold your attention for the duration of her/their set.
Finals go on December 4th. The resident From Blown Speakers bookie is giving 5:4 on a Petroleum By-Products win.
Labels: adjective, fanshaw, greenbelt collective, shindig
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
rat face
The fact that I don't have a picture of Petroleum By-Products speaks to how much the crowd was feeling them at Shindig last night. The area in front of the stage was crammed about 5-minutes into their winning set.
If you haven't had a chance to see them, they're (roughly) the same age Be Your Own Pet, dress like the Polysics, and sound like the B-52s, and that ain't half bad. In fact, it's quite good.
They play Library Square (for Casbah!) with Culte du Cargo (whose record is sitting perpetually on top of my growing "must listen to" stack of CDs) and Stolen Bicycles Gang on November 30th and at Unicorn on December 14th with Hallmark and Ladies Night. I don't know the actual order for either of those shows... so just show up on time for once.
Japandroids played what was apparently the "latest set ever" at Shindig, which unfortunately resulted in half the room being cleared by the time they played. They're still one of the - or perhaps the - local act(s) that I most enjoy live, but there was a drunk girl in front of stage who was having a better time than anybody... maybe ever. They closed with a cover of my favourite Wire song.
Today a coworker of mine noted that he "enjoyed that middle band (Treacherous Machete) more this time, because that guy (Burnside) wasn't drunk - or so drunk, anyway." I suppose I would agree. Although, drunk or sober, the duo are more entertaining than when the same people say/write the same "Blues Hammer" joke about six times. I mean, don't get me wrong, I dig Ghostworld too, but at least throw in another racist joke or something (just kidding. I love you, Only).
Liam from No Gold was kind enough to email to let me know that they're playing Pat's on November 30th with Colorbook, Basketball (formerly Raking Bombs), who are playing their first show in ages, and International Falls (whose CD I also need to give some proper spins to). I'm moving the next morning, but I'm still going to try to check this out after Cadence Weapon.
I finally picked up a copy of the Mutators 7" that's out on the Broadway to Boundary (the fine gentleman who also brought you the Hot Loins 7"). If you've ever seen them play, then hearing me tell you that it slays will come as no surprise. Expect a "proper" (you know, as in, I expand that previous sentence with a bunch of descriptors and unrelated anecdotes you didn't need to know) review on Streethawk soon-ish (there's a White Lung one up right now - surprise: also slays). Each side of the 45 ends on a locked groove so the blissful noise goes forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and yougetthepoint.
In case you forgot, they're playing on Saturday with AIDS Wolf and Shearing Pinx for an early show at the ER.
Twin Crystals are playing Fake Jazz tonight at the Cobalt, which is where I'm going right now...
now playing: Nurse & Solider - Satellightning (thanks Luke!)
Labels: (excessive use of brackets), japandroids, mutators, petroleum by-products, shindig, show announcements, show recaps, treacherous machete
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
we need air
A brief synopsis of Shindig:
- Japandroids won. They closed with a new song. I think it was called "Born to Run." It slayed. It's not actually called "Born to Run," but it is Springsteen-related, though not Springsteen-esque. Brian, I'm sorry for yelling out "assholes" at you. I didn't know that was your mom sitting behind me.
- Lownote sort of sounded like Lord of the Dance meets Judas Priest. Maybe you're into that.
- Honestly, I only paid attention to Vonnegut Dollhouse for one song before deciding I would prefer to chat outside.
- Kudos to Dan McCash for upping the ante in the as-offensive-as-possible-without-being-racist-or-sexist joke category!
- Chris-a-riffic held it down in the MC department, because Ben Lai was away. He did a splendid job.
Mark gave the heads up about a fundraiser that Oxfam is holding, I'll let him tell it in his own words:
Murray Atkinson, Hey Ocean!, Lotus Child, The Wassabi Collective, Freeflow and DJ Jesse James play The Plaza Club this Thursday Oct 18.And finally, does anyone out there know anything about pressing up a 7". Specifically, where to get it done and what I can expect to pay (for... a couple hundred or so). Please and thanks.
Doors 8pm, and tickets $15 in advance (from Zulu and Scratch) and $20 at the door, and proceeds go towards Oxfam Canada's efforts to make poverty history (event's called Music4Change - Party against Poverty).
Labels: shindig, show announcements, show recaps
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
the most perilous of foes
I'm actually a bit busy at work, which is a change, so I'll leave the news until tomorrow, and just give you a little recap of night two of round two of Shindig.
The Skedaddlers started things off, and were a bit of a rarity for Shindig in a couple of ways. For one, they were sort of old. Before anyone gets offended by that, they weren't old enough for me to pass them on the street and notice, and they weren't old enough for me to offer my bus seat, but they weren't in their 20s, which is the Shindig norm. They also stuck out because they played a pretty straight ahead brand of rock. Think really old Wilco, Tom Petty, 54-40, and you get the idea. They didn't blow me away, but the musicianship was strong, they had some decent tunes, and there are far worse things to endure than a better than average bar band.
Hawaiian Bibles were a last minute fill-in after A Relative Distance dropped off the bill. For some reason, I was certain that they were called "Hawaiian Babies," until I actually got to the Rail, and I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed that their set didn't involve any tiny hula dancers. Thankfully, they didn't harp on the bible part either, but I couldn't really get into their songs.
Sometimes it feels like you can't throw a White Stripes CD without hitting a two-person, guitar and drums, blues band, but Treacherous Machete pulled out a few tricks to differentiate themselves from the pack (err... no pun intended). Even though Burnside has a pretty classic sounding croon, he never came across as overly serious. In fact, he was wasted, which was sort of awesome. The guys handle standard three chord blues pretty well, but they were at their best when they stretched things out, and got a bit noisier. Bonus points for bringing out an actual machete at the end of the night. Maybe it came in handy if the guy who mumbled "everyonnneezzz herrrrrree izzzz dead" after he found out the Skedaddlers hadn't won was serious.
Admittedly though, the best part of the evening was the wasted dude who danced right in front of the stage for every band.
JPNDRDS play next week!
Labels: shindig, show recaps
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
oh me oh me
I was down at the Railway last night to check out the first day of Shindig. It's always one of my favourite events of the year, and I got this year's rendition off to a great personal start by telling a joke for beer that got zero laughter (I didn't get the beer - that's really the only tragedy). But enough about me...
The National Shield started off the evening. I was really digging the more upbeat stuff they played, but was less keen on the slower stuff. They've got that characteristic Vancouver power-pop thing going on, and it's a lot more fun when they're pushing the "power" part of the equation.
Speaking of power, the Remedials certainly had it. Their bass player warmed up with the opening riff from "Holiday in Cambodia," and that gives you an idea of what they sounded like: young, loud, and snotty. Luke Meat said something along the lines of "don't you find it comforting that no matter what happens, there will always be some band making this kind of music?" And I suppose it's nice to know that some things truly never change, and there will always be dudes banging out three chords in a basement somewhere. They had a song about date rape, which was... ballsy, but their set peaked about 1/3rd of the way through when they ripped into a tune that had a chorus that proclaimed "I like to fuck. I like to drink. I like to drink and fuck." I can't say that I don't agree, honestly.
The SSRIs closed out the evening, and were the eventual winners of night one, round one. I saw them at Hoko's awhile back, but honestly, I wasn't paying all that much attention that night. They didn't blow my mind, but there were hints of a lot of things that do blow my mind. I heard a bit of Blood Brothers between the discordant guitar and the wonky piano, and while their singer was sometimes reminiscent of the guy from Billy Talent (not good), he also aurally resembled Conrad from Trail of Dead (better) at times.
Overall, it wasn't the greatest night of music, but it was a pretty good warm up for what looks like is going to be an excellent year for Shindig.
Mike from the London Spy emailed me to let me know that they'll be on the bill at Casbah! on the 21st (with Ludvico Treatment and Sex with Strangers). It'll also be the band's last show for at least a year, as Peter is heading off to Cambridge for school. Come down and bid them adieu, if you're inclined.
Kevin was kind enough to send two videos from Friday's Wolf Parade show. Here's the new song that they opened with:
And check out "It's a Curse" right here.
The Pipettes show, previously at a venue TBA, is at the Plaza.
Oh, and today while I was on lunch I was pleasantly surprised to find Leeroy Stagger playing a solo show here at UBC. I always enjoy hearing him play - especially solo - but it was even more welcomed since SUB Plaza is pretty much constantly plagued with the frats pumping out jock jams at obnoxious volumes right now. He played a new song to close out his set, that bodes well for his next record (whenever that happens to come out).
Labels: leeroy stagger, shindig, show announcements, show recaps
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
the battle
Shindig is taking submissions:
Please forward to anyone who might be interested...The Weakerthans are at the Commodore on October 6th in support of their forthcoming newie, Reunion Tour (out on Sept. 25th). The Last Town Chorus opens.
Are you a band or musician located in the Lower Mainland? We are now accepting entries for SHiNDiG! 2007. All styles are welcome -- whether you are a solo country artist or a 10-piece jazz band. You'll need to send us:
- A minimum 3 song demo of original material (CD, cassette, vinyl, minidisk) **
- Contact phone number (and email if possible)
- Bio, photos or other information are not required but we will look at them if you send them in.
Put everything in an envelope. Mail it or drop it off before August 6th 2007 to:
SHiNDiG! 2007
c/o CiTR Radio
#233-6138 SUB Blvd.
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1
Canada
** We will also consider web-based submissions, such as ones via electronic press kits or MySpace. Please email shindig.2007@gmail.com
Website:
http://shindig.citr.ca
Rock'n is at Pat's this Friday. I once got convinced to check out a frat party at UBC just to see these guys. Surprisingly, I didn't hate myself for saying "yes."
The Clientele are signed up to open for Peter Bjorn & John. The likelihood that you'll be bored to tears for the duration of the evening (maybe, minus "Young Folks") just went up two-fold.
High on Fire is at Richard's on October 24th with (the Japanese) Mono and Panthers. If you treasure your hearing, you might want to bring ear plugs to this one.
Dr. Dog is at the Media Club on October 16th.
The Painted Birds are celebrating their CD release on August 2nd at the Plaza with Bend Sinister and Elias
Earlimart is at the Lamp on September 29th.
Henry Rollins is at the Centre on October 30th.
now playing: the Russian Futurists - Telegram from the Future
Labels: shindig, show announcements
