Monday, October 08, 2007
night windows
On the bright side, I didn't find myself being the guy at the show who was yelling "booooooring" every time they played a down tempo number. They're not boring, you're slow, asshole.
Anyhow, more than seeing the Weakerthans again, I was pretty excited to see the Last Town Chorus. Megan Hickey and her slide guitar were backed up by a lone acoustic guitarist for most of the set, although they were joined by Stephen Carroll and Jim Bryson (who was a Weakerthan for the evening) for a couple numbers. Despite the limited instrumentation the country-folk meets shoegaze thing that characterizes the record was still in full effect. She's also got one of those voices that could prop up songs that are far less well composed than the ones she writes. I think the whole set was a bit too low key for most of the Friday night crowd, but I was in a pretty low energy mood, so it was more than fine with me.
On an unrelated note, Ladyhawk has a blog.
now playing: Robert Johnson - Love in Vain
Saturday, May 19, 2007
wintering in brooklyn
Promo Pile: Vol. 4
The Last Town Chorus - Wire Waltz
When you pop Wire Waltz into your computer, iTunes spits back that the appropriate genre is "folk." It's not completely off the mark. Megan Hickey's songs drip with the same slow moving molasses that flavours early Cowboy Junkies releases and her weapon of choice - a lap steel - certainly fits in with the traditional folk/country aesthetic. On the other hand, I have a hard time filing this along side my Jayhawks, Jolie Holland, or Gillian Welch records. Instead, it seems like it'd find a better home next to my Slowdive records.
While she can certainly wail in the traditional sense, more often the noises that Hickey coaxes out of her guitar are like the Americana version of the washes of sound that characterized the shoegaze movement. The comparison's helped along by the album's production as well. The vocals are drenched in reverb, giving them a Hope Sandoval-like quality.
The obvious attention grabber is a slow burning version of Bowie's "Modern Love," but the cover doesn't overshadow some of the stronger originals. The title track starts the album off on a strong point, but "It's Not Over" is my personal highlight. The lost love subject matter might be a bit overdone, but the theme's given a more sinister tone on the track, especially after the squeals of slide guitar fade out, and a ghostly nursery rhyme chant that plays out the coda.
download: The Last Town Chorus - It's Not Over
now playing: Sloan - Deeper Than Beauty
night windows
I'm not overly fond of the new Weakerthans record. It's not bad per se, but I certainly haven't had it on repeat. I'm sure that's part of the reason that I wasn't overly excited about their performance on Saturday night at the Commodore either. They're still really tight live, and as a group they're probably the most affable musicians in Canada, but a set that leaned so heavily on their last two records left me mostly waiting for them to drop in the occasional "oldie." And I hate being that guy at shows.
On the bright side, I didn't find myself being the guy at the show who was yelling "booooooring" every time they played a down tempo number. They're not boring, you're slow, asshole.
Anyhow, more than seeing the Weakerthans again, I was pretty excited to see the Last Town Chorus. Megan Hickey and her slide guitar were backed up by a lone acoustic guitarist for most of the set, although they were joined by Stephen Carroll and Jim Bryson (who was a Weakerthan for the evening) for a couple numbers. Despite the limited instrumentation the country-folk meets shoegaze thing that characterizes the record was still in full effect. She's also got one of those voices that could prop up songs that are far less well composed than the ones she writes. I think the whole set was a bit too low key for most of the Friday night crowd, but I was in a pretty low energy mood, so it was more than fine with me.
On an unrelated note, Ladyhawk has a blog.
now playing: Robert Johnson - Love in Vain
Labels: show recaps, the last town chorus, the weakerthans
Saturday, May 19, 2007
wintering in brooklyn
Promo Pile: Vol. 4
The Last Town Chorus - Wire Waltz
When you pop Wire Waltz into your computer, iTunes spits back that the appropriate genre is "folk." It's not completely off the mark. Megan Hickey's songs drip with the same slow moving molasses that flavours early Cowboy Junkies releases and her weapon of choice - a lap steel - certainly fits in with the traditional folk/country aesthetic. On the other hand, I have a hard time filing this along side my Jayhawks, Jolie Holland, or Gillian Welch records. Instead, it seems like it'd find a better home next to my Slowdive records.
While she can certainly wail in the traditional sense, more often the noises that Hickey coaxes out of her guitar are like the Americana version of the washes of sound that characterized the shoegaze movement. The comparison's helped along by the album's production as well. The vocals are drenched in reverb, giving them a Hope Sandoval-like quality.
The obvious attention grabber is a slow burning version of Bowie's "Modern Love," but the cover doesn't overshadow some of the stronger originals. The title track starts the album off on a strong point, but "It's Not Over" is my personal highlight. The lost love subject matter might be a bit overdone, but the theme's given a more sinister tone on the track, especially after the squeals of slide guitar fade out, and a ghostly nursery rhyme chant that plays out the coda.
download: The Last Town Chorus - It's Not Over
now playing: Sloan - Deeper Than Beauty
Labels: promo pile, the last town chorus
