House Shows = The Future

As venues become harder to get into and the world becomes more oversaturated with bands and musicians than ever, I have come to one conclusion. House shows are the future. You don’t need to go through the trouble of working with a promoter or booking a venue, just play at one of your friend’s houses.

            Of course, some bands may still be a bit iffy on playing at a house. What if no one shows up? It really doesn’t matter, because in a house you’ll definitely be able to find a room that will look packed even if there’s only two people watching you play (the bathroom for example). Seriously though, as long as you play in a town with a healthy music scene or one with a university and/or college (such as Guelph), there will always be a decent-sized crowd that will show up to any house show. People love the intimacy of seeing an amazing band or heartfelt acoustic troubadour play in a living room or on a back porch, and being able to talk to them after as if they are hanging out with them at a party. The artists will love the instant cred-boost they will get from playing house shows (they’re in touch with the fans, man), and the sound quality is always surprisingly good. Plus, there is guaranteed to be an abundance of cool photos and videos taken of you that you can put up on your Facebook page for months of use. House shows also operate on a pay-what-you-can/pass-the-hat type of system, and people are generally more inclined to be generous while sitting on a couch than if they’ve been paying for drinks all night in a bar.

            House shows are definitely the future of live music, and once you’ve been to one where a 10-piece band is playing in a tiny front room and you’re with friends, dancing on someone else’s furniture, you’ll be inclined to agree.

-Scott Kendall

Are The Junos Relevant?

One of the major complaints music fans have always had is that awards shows aren’t relevant, or that they don’t reflect the current musical climate. Many of these people are, of course, just upset that their favourite artist wasn’t nominated, but they do have a valid point. Most awards shows are extremely safe, in both their choice of nominees and the artists they have performing at the show. They know what artists people have wanted to see in the past, or have sold millions of records, and bring them back year after year. The question is, are the Junos guilty of any of this, and are they relevant?

One of the main things Canada is known for throughout the world is our indie music scene, which is constantly innovative and sounds unlike anything else. We are also known for producing some of the most hated artists in the world, such as Nickelback and Justin Bieber. It says a lot about the stance of the Junos then, that Nickelback opened the show this year. They usually keep the performances Safe with a capital S. Hedley came on midway through playing a song that sounds like it could have been made by almost any artist in the last 20 years. It was among the most generic songs I have ever heard. Simple Plan, who were popular in 2003 but haven’t done anything of any merit in the last few years, performed a song that didn’t show any traces of their pop-punk roots, instead blatantly ripping off Jason Mraz and Bruno Mars’ recent hits. Deadmau5 ‘performed’ his usual dull-as-dishwater dance music with no defining characteristics. But, strangely, the Junos also have another, more adventurous side. The third performance of the night was a medley of comparatively unheralded Canadian artists performing snippets of songs, such as Dragonette, Mia Martina, and JRDN. This was arguably the highlight of the show, with the exception of Alyssa Reid, who looked and sounded like she belonged in a karaoke bar in Barrie, Ontario. Elsewhere, Feist and City and Colour restored people’s faith in good, soulful music, and Hey Rosetta! were the token indie rock band. The Junos have always tried to have one new and/or ‘cult’ band perform every year, who in the past have been names such as The Sadies and The Rural Alberta Advantage, but the obvious question this year was why were Hey Rosetta! playing instead of Dan Mangan? Mangan was nominated for four awards, and won two, so why were a band who were only nominated for one award chosen instead of him? Such things will remain a mystery. Speaking of the awards, they are one place where the Junos definitely are relevant. With the bizarre exception of Michael Buble’s Christmas album winning Album of The Year, the winners of the awards were definitely spot on.

So, to conclude this article, the Junos manage to straddle a thin line between being safe and being relevant, without really committing to one side. This is something that many other awards shows would kill to be able to pull off, such as the Grammys and the BRITs, which both ceased to be relevant years ago.

-Scott Kendall

Top 25 Albums & Top 10 EPs of 2011

Top 25 Albums
1.Bon Iver-Bon Iver
2.Metronomy-The English Rivera
3.Lights-Siberia
4.Swimming With Dolphins-Water Colours
5.Dan Mangan-Oh,Fortune
6.Two Bicycles-The Ocean
7.Starfucker-Reptilians
8.The Devil Wears Prada-Dead Throne
9.The Rural Alberta Advantage-Departing
10.Com Truise-Galactic Melt
11.iwrestledabearonce-Ruining It For Everybody 
12.Cash Cash-Love Or Lust
13.Los Campesinos!-Hello Sadness
14.Ford & Lopatin-Channel Pressure
15.Asking Alexandria-Reckless And Relentless
16.Tennis-Cape Dory
17.The Human Abstract-Digital Veil
18.Alestorm-Back Through Time
19.Rich Aucoin-We're All Dying To Live
20.I See Stars-The End Of The World Party
21.Chad Valley-Equatorial Ultravox
22.Mastodon-The Hunter
23.Cold Cave-Cherish The Light Years
24.Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi-Rome
25.Born Gold-Bodysongs

Top 10 EPs
1.Innerpartysystem-Never Be Content EP
2.Starkey-Space Traitor Vol. 2
3.Between The Buried and Me-The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues
4.Saywecanfly-Home EP
5.Little Chords-Little Chords
6.Sock Hands-Division House
7.Teen Daze-A Silent Planet
8.Starkey-Open The Pod Bay Doors
9.Strange & Savage-Strange & Savage With Chris Godwin!
10.Skrillex-Bangarang EP

Album Review: Cold Cave: Cherish The Light Years

If you’re unfamiliar with the story of Cold Cave, I’ll summarize it for you. Wesley Eisold, longtime stalwart of the Chicago hardcore scene in bands such as Some Girls and American Nightmare, realized one day that some of Fall Out Boy’s lyrics were quite similar to his. He then decided to sue his acquaintance Pete Wentz, which resulted in a writing credit on Fall Out Boy’s most popular albums and also, more importantly, a hefty out of court settlement. Eisold decided to use this to invest in a bunch of vintage synthesizers and form the synth-pop band he always wanted to be in. The first fruits of this project, named Cold Cave, were assorted EPs and 2009’s debut album, Love Comes Close. Since then, Cold Cave have been touring as a three-piece and acquiring new influences for this, their sophomore album, Cherish The Light Years. The first thing you notice is how much bigger everything sounds on this album. Whereas on Love the electronics were more minimalist and often devolved into experimental noise, Cherish sounds like a huge synth-pop album straight out of the 80’s, even though it is still dark. Live drums, guitar, and bass are everywhere, and Eisold’s vocals are stronger than ever before. He used to sing like Joy Division’s Ian Curtis, but now he sounds more like The Cure’s Robert Smith. Some songs even come close to Killers/Bravery territory. So, a much poppier album, and while not necessarily better than Love Comes Close, it is still extremely strong and a nice listen.

-Scott Kendall

LISTEN

Cold Cave

March 9th, 2011: Titan/Dancing With Paris/Exalt, Parts and Labour, Toronto, ON

          After hours of waiting, Titan finally took the stage. Doors were supposed to be opening at 8:00 but they didn’t open until 11:00, so all of the bands and the people working the show had to spend 3 hours standing around doing nothing. This changed at 11:30 when a band that can accurately be described as Michael Cera fronting Converge started to play. Titan are a crushingly heavy band, shaking the building to its foundations with every riff. But why are they fronted by Michael Cera you may ask? Well, their frontman doesn’t physically resemble the infamous character actor, but in speaking voice and in the way they talk they are almost one and the same. Between every song there was a lengthy and awkward speech about some random topic, and I felt as if I was within Youth and Revolt. But music-wise, Titan were the best band on the bill.

            Second to play were Dancing With Paris. They were kind of out of place on this lineup, noticeably more poppy and mainstream-sounding than the other two bands. Your average scene kid at a hardcore show would enjoy this band, but sadly there weren’t any of them at this show, so Dancing With Paris didn’t get much of a crowd reaction. Their sound was closely akin to Vanna, sounding like a throwback to 2006/2007 before scene hardcore bands discovered electronic and mainstream pop music.

            Playing last were Exalt, inventors of the sport of Garbagebottle. Garbagebottle was how the band killed the 3 hours of down time, and it entailed two band members standing behind a garbage can and throwing a crushed up water bottle into the other person’s can, and eventually a highly elaborate set of rules was written up. But anyways, on to their music. Exalt were definitely the most energetic band of the night, with their frontman seemingly devolving into a rage as soon as he stepped onto the stage, and often screaming without a microphone. Their music was intense post-hardcore both similar and different to Titan. Whereas Titan were slow and crushing, Exalt were fast, intense, and heavy all at once.

-Scott Kendall

LISTEN

Titan

Dancing With Paris

Exalt