Filling the gaps
The problem with my new 'blog every couple of weeks instead of every couple of days' system is that I forget what happened in between entries. Most times it amounts to a list of bands that I've managed to catch in the last dozen days...so lets start with that.
Fucked Up were one of the best bands I've seen all year. They encompass so much of what is right about music here and now, the revisionism that is a tribute, not a ripoff. They don't have a myspace, they have
a blog... and they don't sign major, the go with a major indie. And most importantly, they have something important to say.
I saw them play at an outdoor stage wedged between a parkade and a business tower at St. Catherines Ontario's SCENE Fest. It was a really fun and interesting event - 150 tiny to fairly big bands, over a dozen venues, for 14 hours straight. It was a long, intensely hot day, but it was interesting to get out of town and see what other scenes look like. In this case...a whole lot like other scenes. Other highlights of the fest: The ye olde Constantines were deadly. SO heavy. The opposite of heavy was a rare acoustic show by Moneen, old bros of mine from back in my promoting days. They touched on new and old tunes, took requests...y'know, respectful-like.
The combination of my job and living in Ontario has afforded me the opportunity to check out a lot of different festivals. In fact,just this past weekend Leah and I went north to Guelph for their annual Hillside Festival, a gorgeous little party along a lake with 5 stages, 3000 people and one of the best vibes I've felt at a summer festival in years. I'd heard it referred to as "the best festival in Canada", and I have to say that it really did step up to prove that claim. It was just so well organized, the music is top notch; Do Make Say Think playing at sunset on the main stage was a spectacle of its own, while Apostle of Hustle and The Besnard Lakes in a tent by the beach proved to be a sublime time too.
A 180-degree switch up came the next day when we attended the first annual Rogers Picnic...I won't gush about it, because there is simply less to say. It reminded me of being 14 and going to EDGEFest, seeing an odd balance of old and new acts, some on the verge, some past it, all propped up under gigantic logos, lineups for everything snaking around the site, oh, and Bad Brains scaring the hell out of the crowd.
That part was cool.
That catches us up on the festival front...club-wise I saw some interesting stuff in the last couple of weeks - They Might Be Giants were predictably weird, funny and iconic, all at once. One of the best surprises came on a night when I went to go see my peeps in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and this PHENOMENAL band opened...
Shapes & Sizes are from Victoria, and now housed in Montreal, and are signed to Asthmatic Kitty, Sufjan Stevens' label. The band plays the most delicious combination of post-punk jazz-funk in the vein of the Slits or 23 Skidoo, but with a new-school math/spazz vibe that caught my attention the moment they stepped on stage. The band isn't going to be selling a million records, but they could be coming to yr town...so get into it!
------
I'll leave on a personal note - there are those in my life, and I'm sure in yours, that are hurting inside right now, deeply and truly. Take a moment, as their friend, to reach out. Trying is still just that - an effort to let those people know you're there for them. It could make all the difference.
Take care friends, I'll try to be a more frequent visitor to the blogtron4000.
Fucked Up were one of the best bands I've seen all year. They encompass so much of what is right about music here and now, the revisionism that is a tribute, not a ripoff. They don't have a myspace, they have
a blog... and they don't sign major, the go with a major indie. And most importantly, they have something important to say.
I saw them play at an outdoor stage wedged between a parkade and a business tower at St. Catherines Ontario's SCENE Fest. It was a really fun and interesting event - 150 tiny to fairly big bands, over a dozen venues, for 14 hours straight. It was a long, intensely hot day, but it was interesting to get out of town and see what other scenes look like. In this case...a whole lot like other scenes. Other highlights of the fest: The ye olde Constantines were deadly. SO heavy. The opposite of heavy was a rare acoustic show by Moneen, old bros of mine from back in my promoting days. They touched on new and old tunes, took requests...y'know, respectful-like.
The combination of my job and living in Ontario has afforded me the opportunity to check out a lot of different festivals. In fact,just this past weekend Leah and I went north to Guelph for their annual Hillside Festival, a gorgeous little party along a lake with 5 stages, 3000 people and one of the best vibes I've felt at a summer festival in years. I'd heard it referred to as "the best festival in Canada", and I have to say that it really did step up to prove that claim. It was just so well organized, the music is top notch; Do Make Say Think playing at sunset on the main stage was a spectacle of its own, while Apostle of Hustle and The Besnard Lakes in a tent by the beach proved to be a sublime time too.
A 180-degree switch up came the next day when we attended the first annual Rogers Picnic...I won't gush about it, because there is simply less to say. It reminded me of being 14 and going to EDGEFest, seeing an odd balance of old and new acts, some on the verge, some past it, all propped up under gigantic logos, lineups for everything snaking around the site, oh, and Bad Brains scaring the hell out of the crowd.
That part was cool.
That catches us up on the festival front...club-wise I saw some interesting stuff in the last couple of weeks - They Might Be Giants were predictably weird, funny and iconic, all at once. One of the best surprises came on a night when I went to go see my peeps in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and this PHENOMENAL band opened...
Shapes & Sizes are from Victoria, and now housed in Montreal, and are signed to Asthmatic Kitty, Sufjan Stevens' label. The band plays the most delicious combination of post-punk jazz-funk in the vein of the Slits or 23 Skidoo, but with a new-school math/spazz vibe that caught my attention the moment they stepped on stage. The band isn't going to be selling a million records, but they could be coming to yr town...so get into it!
------
I'll leave on a personal note - there are those in my life, and I'm sure in yours, that are hurting inside right now, deeply and truly. Take a moment, as their friend, to reach out. Trying is still just that - an effort to let those people know you're there for them. It could make all the difference.
Take care friends, I'll try to be a more frequent visitor to the blogtron4000.
posted by Eli at 8:05 PM
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