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Trans Am at The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto

April 22, 2010

21 April 2010

Thrill Jockey’s post-rock synth trio, Trans Am, played to a full house at The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto on Wednesday night, and goddamn it was LOUD. My ears they still be a buzzin’. Live shows at The Horseshoe always tend to be a bit on the louder side, but Trans Am had it right cranked — to the point where it’s so loud it makes no difference even if you have your ears plugged. But I guess a little aural degradation is the price you gotta pay to live like a rock star.

I love Trans Am. But I haven’t listened to any of their albums since Red Line came out in 2000. They’re one of those bands from my youth that hold a very special and revered place in my heart. However, over the years the trio started getting weird and inconsistent, and although I liked the robot and electronic angles they were embracing, there were just so many other musicians who were making similar sounds and doing it better, and so I abandoned Trans Am for close to a decade. But when I heard they were on tour, some friends and I decided to go for nostalgia’s sake, and as an excuse to drink on a Wednesday, so we bought tickets and showed up and were pretty much blown away by their show. It was deep, dark, moody, tight, heavy, trippy, aggressive, poppy, and 100 percent relevant. In short, Trans Am still kick ass.

Drummer Sebastian Thomson was an absolute machine, banging hell out of his kit, shirtless (as always) and spitting and swearing in between tracks. Best quote from him when the crowd requested “Futureworld”: “NO. We play what we want, when we want.” Haha. Fucking rock stars. And true to his word, they didn’t play it, but it didn’t matter, their set still rocked.

Philip Manley was stellar on guitar, effortlessly playing big fat riffs and soft delayed chords to the delight of the crowd. And frontman Nathan Means is always a large presence on stage, and not just because he’s 6 foot 5. He gets right into it, all smiles and occasional looks of innocent wonder, as if while he’s playing the song he’s surprised that it’s actually his band he’s hearing. Plus he loves him some vocoder and did a sweet job playing the part of the robot last night. ‘Twas a tight set and a great one. Go see Trans Am if they play in your town.

Warp Records up and comers Nice Nice was second on the bill and also played a fun and hectic, sample heavy set, that was pretty damn loud and awesome in its own right. Check out their debut album Extra Wow at your local record store. I missed the opener’s Jonas Reinhardt because I had to work late, but all in all it was a great midweek concert to help usher in the weekend.

Loved it.

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Matthew Herbert – One One

April 21, 2010

For Juno Records

Avant-garde musician Matthew Herbert welcomes spring with the release of the first installment in his “One” trilogy, entitled One One. The album’s title is fitting, because the man of many samples has chosen to use just one here — himself. Herbert wrote, performed, produced and recorded everything on the album, and also decided to add vocals in the mix, sung all by his lonesome. Sounding somewhere between Alexis Taylor and Erlend Øye, Herbert lulls with soft vocals and self assured lyrics detailing a day in the life of one man.

For those hoping for the return of Herbert’s signature deep house, you’ll have to wait for the last installment in his trilogy, One Club, because with One One, Herbert displays his soft side, and in many ways this record could be considered a sort of eclectic folk album. Each track has an intimate feel to it, as Herbert confides in his listener, asking: “Who knows where this journey will be taking us? Who cares?” on “Leipzig”, and croons about his second home in the stripped-down and emotional “Berlin”.

Each track’s title is the name of a city, and this quiet collection of songs is like a travel guide through Herbert’s thoughts and memories. Highlights are “Dublin”, “Porto” and “Milan”, which best reveal his knack for melody and newfound vocal chops. For those of you looking for a subtle and introspective album by an ever-changing musician, One One is for you. Overall it is slightly forgettable, but it’s a nice album worth checking out, even if only to hear Herbert sing. Peace.

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The xx at The Phoenix in Toronto

April 5, 2010

4 April 2010

London trio the xx returned to Toronto for their first headlining show on Easter Sunday and delighted the crowd with an intimate and understated live show. Beginning the set with moody album opener “Intro”, the band was shrouded behind a white curtain and their silhouettes were cleverly illumined against the scrim. As the track ended, the curtain dropped revealing the giant X (that has become their hipster branding) and their trademark light boxes lit up in the centre of the stage. They immediately followed with “Crystalised” and had the crowd in melancholic rapture. The overall mood was dark and big props have to go out to their lighting team who deftly added excellent atmosphere to the band’s timid and shoegazey stage presence.

Guitarist Romy Madley Croft and bassist Oliver Sim stood on either end of the stage, while beatmaker Jamie Smith worked the drum pads behind them. At times the percussion seemed a bit muted, but the bass drops were deep and rattled appropriately. Croft’s guitar work was a bit rusty, perhaps still adjusting to the absence of rhythm guitarist Baria Qureshi, but I enjoyed the very live feel of it all — a young band on their first big tour, exploring the capabilities and further possibilities of their sound in a live setting. They played every song off their debut album and one cover by UK artist Kyla called “Do You Mind”, which featured Smith manipulating the vocals to great effect and vigorously playing a snare and floor tom during the song’s kick. The additon of real drums is one thing the three-piece will surely realize as a necessary expansion for live gigs, but overall, the xx are a young band with loads of potential and subtle class. I dug it.

Sweden duo jj, on the other hand, played a ridiculous set of their Pitchfork lauded, pot leaf and blood stained album covered, cheese pop garbage, to a very bored and befuddled crowd. jj are sure to fade into indie-rock obscurity just as soon as Pitchfork finds another crappy band they decide to make popular for no reason other than the fact that they can. The singer Elin Kastlander does have a very nice voice, but it could do nothing to save their set from totally sucking. The guy was air-guitaring on stage instead of actually playing the real one next to him. Haha. So bad.

We missed Nosaj because he went on so early, but I have seen him twiddle his knobs before. Next time he comes back, he better bring his visual accompaniment with him. But overall, yes, twas a great night. I’m out.

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Beach House at the Opera House in Toronto

March 31, 2010

30 March 2010

Beach House played to a sold out crowd at The Opera House in Toronto on Tuesday night and lulled us with hits from their newest album, Teen Dream. The best word to describe the capacity crowd would be sedate — they stood, unmoving, in typical unenthused Toronto fashion, as the duo with the addition of a live drummer, faithfully rendered their songs live. With eyes closed it was close to impossible to tell the difference between live show and recording, which isn’t a bad thing, but sometimes the joy of a concert is seeing the band jam out a little and reveal new twists and extended codas to favourite songs. Nevertheless, Victoria Legrand’s voice is absolutely stunning live — powerful and assured, yet restrained. I’m sure she can just belt it out if she really wanted to, and it would’ve been nice to hear a bit more of her vocal chops live.

I guess what I’m saying is I felt a bit disappointed, even though the show was totally great. They played just about every song off the new album, plus my personal fave, “Gila” off Devotion, but it simply wasn’t mind blowing. Perhaps, I was expecting too much from a band that writes quiet and sparse pop songs, but still . . . I dunno, maybe the blasé crowd also had something to do with it, or the fact that the sound guy needed to turn up the guitar a bit, or maybe I’m just a curmudgeonly sonofabitch myself, but overall I was underwhelmed.

Our generation’s two greatest forms of entertainment, films and concerts, are supposed to be engaging, unforgettable, thought-provoking, and reassuringly visceral collective experiences that change us, even if only a smidgen. And the best ones do in fact do this. Before the show I completely expected Beach House to be one of these “best ones” — where the crowd leaves the show slightly high, smiling, elevated beyond the normality of life and work and all the stupid stresses that come about in our personal day to day — but unfortunately all I wanted to do after the show was head to the bar for another drink.

Yet, as my friend Trish said as I complained to her about the lackluster crowd, good vibes are infectious, and I guess mine just weren’t reverberating loudly enough last night. Wow. Maybe that one too many drink I had after the show is also inflecting my opinion here. Who knows? I still love the album and the band, but I probably won’t pay 30 bucks to someone on Craigslist for a Beach House ticket again.

Good vibes to you all. Haha.
 

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Hudson Mohawke at Wrongbar in Toronto

March 27, 2010

25 March 2010

Ross Birchard aka Hud Mo played to a wild and packed house at Wrongbar Thursday night. Returning to Toronto after two years for his proper Hogtown ‘debut’, the young producer (who recently released his full-length Butter on Warp), had the crowd acting as if they were at a rock concert. People were crowd surfing, moshing, jumping up on stage, and just going ape shit as he ripped through tracks from his last few releases. It was a great vibe and Hud Mo seemed totally excited at the capacity crowd’s reaction as he threw down his bass heavy crunked beats and “wonky” sounds. To be honest, I find Butter hard to listen to all the way through. It’s a really eclectic mix of almost too many things slapped together, however, it totally worked live, and I was glad I was able to catch this upstart musician at a small venue, cuz he’s about to blow right the fuck up.

A big props has to go out to local promoter and DJ mymanhenri who has helped bring some great talent to Toronto: Flying Lotus, Falty DL, Nosaj Thing, Mayer Hawthorne, Joker, DâM-FunK, and Hudson Mo are just some of the artists he’s helped usher in over the last year. He’s becoming known as a tastemaker around town and deserves all the cred he can get. Please keep it up my man! Good times all around.

Peace.

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AUTECHRE – OVERSTEPS (Warp)

March 22, 2010

 
Warp Records stalwarts Autechre return with their tenth, count ‘em, tenth album. Rob Brown and Sean Booth usher in the new decade with the complex and intriguing “Oversteps” — a melodic and strangely emotive record that emits far different sonic vibrations than the duo’s last three full-lengths.

There’s no conscious way one can fully understand the compositional mind of Autechre, you just put them on and know that patience will reward. But with this new album the duo’s vibe will immediately pull you in and have you convinced machines must feel love before opening track “r ess” is done. Their signature klings, klangs, and syncopated rhythms are in full effect here, and with repeated listens they become infectious, full of darkened corners strobed with light. Yet, one wouldn’t call this a beat heavy album at all, the tempo is more subdued and textured, which reveals a definite maturation of the duo’s sound and synthesis. All this to say for non-fans: this is Autechre’s most accessible album in over a decade, and for non-non fans: their most solid release since “LP5”.

Tracks “see on see” and “O=0″ are the most heartfelt electronic songs I’ve heard in quite some time. I have no specific explanation as to why, but they hit hard and true and feature those brief moments of light I was talking about amidst darker and more heady tracks like “ilanders”, “known(1)”, and the fantastic “Treale”. My cousin Chris said he was unsure what to make of “Oversteps” after his first playthrough, but after a few days and a couple more ‘relaxed’ listens he likened it to BOC meets Blade Runner. I find the comparison fitting, and highly recommend the album for all fans of more challenging electronic music.

Another win for Ae. Please play Toronto this year.

Peace.

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Pawel – Pawel [Dial Records]

March 6, 2010

 

 
Co-founder of Dial Records, Paul Kominek, has finally released a full-length under his Pawel moniker. The self-titled long player was years in the making, but well worth the wait, because it’s a surprisingly tight and refreshing collection of smooove tech-house beats reminiscent of Audion, Theorem, and his Dial buddies Sten and Pantha du Prince. This album grows on me with each listen and has been a daily staple on my playlist for weeks now.

Tracks like “Coke” and “Dawn” get things cooking with that classic Kompaktesque four on the four vibe that’ll have you up and groovin’, until he slows it all down with “Mate” — a beautifully atmospheric and subdued composition marking the album’s middle. Kominek then turns it right back up with “Muscles” and “Crillon”, the disc’s heaviest hitters, and closes shop with two excellent tracks: the emotive and pulsing “Kramnik” and the fantastic, vocally-charged, “Wasting My Time”, which may actually be the album’s highlight. Kominek’s music fits nicely in the space left open on Dial after Pantha du Prince’s departure to Rough Trade, and with Pawel’s debut sounding as true as it does, Pantha need not be sorely missed.

Check it and dance to it.
 


 

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INAUDIBLE INTERVIEWS WOLFANG VOIGT

February 25, 2010

Inaudible teamed up with Headphone Commute and scored an interview with Kompakt Records founder and electronic music legend Wolfgang Voigt to discuss Kompakt’s latest Pop Ambient collection, the infamous Cologne sound, and his work as Gas!

I am new to this whole interview thang, and realized afterwards that my questions kind of suck because they don’t allow room for much elaboration, but hey . . . I’m learning and still pretty damn happy with it.

Please click here to check it out.

Big thanks to ML from Headphone Commute for making it happen!

And thanks to Mr. Voigt for taking the time to answer the questions!

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Tortoise at Lee’s Palace in Toronto

February 20, 2010

18 February 2010

Post-rock darlings Tortoise played to a packed house at Lee’s Palace on Thursday night in Toronto and effortlessly showed the crowd why they are one of the best bands in the business. Playing choice tracks from their extensive repertoire, they had us hanging on every note, synth line, and cymbal crash — and I gotta say, the crowd at Lee’s was one of the most agreeable Toronto audiences I’ve experienced in recent memory. Strangers cheered and slapped each other five, all of us momentarily morphing into a contented collective that was simply enraptured by Tortoise’s good vibes.

Tortoise are professional musicians that love what they do, and it’s wonderfully apparent on stage, as they’re grooving and smiling and rocking out a fabulously tight set. With two drum kits up front, and synths, Vibraphone, guitars, and an electronic xylophone set up around them, the quintet played tracks from their latest release “Beacons of Ancestorship”, and fed the crowd hits from “TNT” and “Standards”. They came out for two encores and ended with one of my all time faves, “Glass Museum”. It was an emotional, nostalgic, and mature set that never failed to impress. Simply put, you can’t go wrong seeing these guys.

Tortoise and I have a long history together. I have been with them since the beginning. I’ve seen them play live 7 or 8 times. I saw them at The Magic Stick in Detroit for their “Millions Now Living” tour way back when, where they showed up on stage silent like automatons with little headlamps and played “Djed” in its entirety. Jeff Parker wasn’t even with them yet. And now over a decade later, they’ve only gotten tighter and classier at their craft, and it’s amazing that at the same time they remind me of good times and great memories from the past, they’re also launching me into this new and bright decade. Love ’em.

Peace.

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Pop Ambient 2010 (Kompakt)

February 14, 2010

Kompakt Records kicks off the new year with the tenth installment in its annual Pop Ambient series — a decade of densely layered drones, tones, and sounds, showcasing the best artists making music in modern classical and ambient genres. The compilation is curated each year by label head and music legend, Wolfgang Voigt (aka Gas), and has basically been a staple in my morning and late evening playlists for an entire decade.

The musical discoveries I have made because of this yearly comp are unparalleled — over the years the series has acted as a who’s who in forward thinking electronic compositions that aren’t concerned with beats, bass, or the dancefloor. Artists like Marsen Jules, Klimek, Andrew Thomas, Markus Guentner, Donnacha Costello, Triola, and Thomas Fehlmann have all been mainstays throughout the decade long series, and all artists I respect and adore.

The opening track for the 2010 edition starts with quite possibly the best Marsen Jules track I have ever heard. The aptly titled “The Sound of One Lip Kissing” sweeps from right to left channel and builds around a single dark and reverberating chord that is accompanied by the hesitant tinkle of piano to amazing effect. Brock Van Whey is welcomed into the Pop Ambient family this year and lulls listeners with two beautiful tracks under his bvdub moniker. “Lest You Forget” follows the opening track and offers a sense of air and light, after Marsen Jules’ somewhat ominous beginning. Van Whey also closes the album with the sprawling “Will You Know Where to Find Me”. It features haunting vocals and rich delay that peacefully dissipates as the 17-minute track comes to an end, leaving you calmed and happily brooding.

Kompakt’s own Dettinger, returns with “Therefore”, his first new song in nearly a decade — a smooth and droney track that features a slight hi-hat shuffle buried deep in the mix. Label head, Wolfgang Voigt also shows up with the excellent “Zither und Horn”, which sounds like nothing I’ve heard from him before. It’s a pastoral and string-based track that feels more traditionally “song-like” in its composition, and much different than his work as Gas. Offerings from DJ Koze, The Orb, and Jürgen Paape are equally as strong, and overall, this is another sterling edition to an already fantastic oeuvre of ambient music.

Check out ten years of the smooove stuff. Peace.

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