Wednesday, September 26, 2012

A Week of Concerts: Vol. 1

Am I an idiot? I've been called worse, but I'll let you be the judge on this occasional.  I returned from 2 weeks in the UK, sick as a dog after working myself to the bone for a client. I flew in Sunday at around 5pm and promptly spent the subsequent 3 days denying my dripping nose, nasty cough and stuffed up face while attending 3 straight nights of concerts. If that sounds like idiotic behaviour, then you can call me an idiot.

So yes... we're in agreement then... I'm an idiot.

In my defence, I'm in the midst of a live music bender. Tonight, I was almost at DZ Deathrays, however, I opted to take the night off instead so that I could recover and properly enjoy the rest of my week of concerts.

Sunday night was bumpin at Lee's to UK's own, The Heavy. I managed to drag Eddy, Kellye and Iain along for the ride. I'd been following this band for a few years, however, this was their first trip to Canada in around 5 years. Consummate prowlers of the stage, this band pulled no punches as they methodically got the asses of everybody in the joint shakin. No shortage of sound came from this 8 piece barrage of tunes and even with it well past everyone's bedtime for a Sunday night, The Heavy showed Lee's one hell of a good time.

Monday night I went solo.  While jetlag still weighed heavy on my eyes, body and soul, nothing was keeping me from seeing Bob Log at the Horseshoe. After stumbling upon Mr. Log following a Speaking Tongues set last year, I quickly fell in love with the one-man-shit-show and his swaggering, fingerpicking, bluesy ways. I tried to sit quietly in the back, however, was quickly drawn towards the stage by Log's drunkenly charming personality. Fighting through technical issues, he still managed to captivate the audience and get them excited and moving more energetically than most 4 piece bands.  This man is a one-man party and I challenge anyone in the world to show me a better entertainer.


At this point, I was still sick, exhausted, chose to work from home on Tuesday and feeling like I was one foot in the grave.  Who, you therefore must ask yourself, could possibly drag me out to continue this insanity of bodily mistreatment and musical torture? That would be none other than one of my favourite bands in the world, Mutemath. After being an unhealthily obsessed fan of MM since their inception, I was almost ashamed to admit that this was the first time seeing them live. I had studied their DVDs to such detail that I felt I could nearly predict the entirety of their live show, however, in true fashion, the band continued to blow my mind, musically, visually and creatively. Aside from eerily perfect renditions of some of my favourite songs, I couldn't decide which elements of their live show were my favourite: crowd surfing on a giant, lit up, inflatable mattress; the expected, but still mind-blowing drum circle; Darren King and the madness of a drummer that is Darren King; keyboard planting or Paul Meany's seemingly endless supply of energy. I had been anticipating this show for almost 5 years and not only did it live up to my expectations, it completely blew them out of the water.

I now take my one night of rest to continue the onslaught on Thursday. Catch you in the crowd.

-Oh it's true, I've been in love with everybody but you

Monday, September 17, 2012

Digital Oldschool

Kid Koala reinvented the turntable with his spun classic rock project, The Slew and now, the funky marsupial has done it again with one of my personal favourite genres, the blues.

I've been anticipating his latest release 12 bit Blues for some time now, and finally, this mind-expanding piece of work has been made available to stream and is out to buy.  While I still need to give it a few more listens, I'll take a premature gamble and call it the Kid's best work to date and something that will likely wear out more than a couple of needles with the play its going to get.

Canada should be proud, and everyone in Toronto should get their asses to the Hoxton on Nov. 30th.


-Take or leave the things we already took and left behind

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Failing Winnipeg

Still going strong 26 years later, Propagandhi is back with their latest Failed States. Once again, my Manitoban anti-everything punk rockers have done it.



-A plea to save the messenger