Posts Tagged ‘review’
Humans @ The Biltmore
Opening the show was Blood Diamonds and his reputation, as usual, preceded him. With the kids from Oh No! Yoko backing him up it was a perfect tease for our boys Peter and Robbie.
HUMANS have always been a Winnie favorite and all I can say about their live show is money well spent. Peter and Robbie have an infectious chemistry on stage that gets the audience frantically involved. Although I was excited to hear some of the new material for their next record, I can’t seem to stop enjoying Avec Mes Mecs; still.
Make sure you drop a line with the boys next time you’re out, they’re total sweethearts. Enjoy the single from their last record, “Avec Mes Mecs“, and “Dreams” from our Blood Diamonds.
Posted by John
James Blake at The Commodore
I was concerned that Blake’s live performance might mess with the integrity I had with his recorded material — it didn’t. This kid has talent; real talent. Not the kind you’re thinking of though… expressive, innovative, tangible shit you know? The raw stuff.
Opening the show were Logan Takahashi and Nick Weiss of Teen Girl Fantasy. I had never heard of these cats before until yesterday. Moving on.
James Blake came in with “Unluck” (the 1st track on his last album) setting the tone and seducing the crowd for some spectacle of a Sunday night. He bled through his heart on stage as his monstrous bass moved the audience like a pack of drones. All the while were the spastic lights washing over the crowd as a tsunami that was, for once, perfectly anticipated.
Of course, the Live Nation rep wouldn’t let me back stage to get a few words… it would have been nice to congratulate Blake himself for failing to be the best kept secret I thought I had.
Winnie ♥’s you.
Reviewed by John
Photo by Tristan Orchard
Check out James Blake – I Never Learnt To Share (Perfect Lines Remix)
Remember Those Awkward Nerds From High School?
Yeah… well these are the ones who ended up going somewhere. Local Vancouver group Lakefield are stirring up a buzz. Their album, Sounds From The Treeline, will give you a good sense of where we’re at on the west coast. The music caters to the mountains, breezy air, and the cold rivers of Western BC. If you like cute tunes shared vocally between a girl and a boy, backed up with an alt/indie feel, you’re sure to find some good cookies here. Enjoy these tracks from their album.
Reviewed by John
Sasquatch Recap!
Photos by Miriam Thom
Here it is u guyz… Winnie Cooper’s Sasquatch! 2011 review! Words by Dolly Compton.
TOP TEN SHOWS:
• MSTRKRFT
• Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
• Sleigh Bells
• The Antlers
• Ratatat
• White Arrows
• Foster the People
• !!!
• Das Racist
• Matt and Kim
DAY 1 FRIDAY HIGHLIGHTS:
DFA 1979: I had to keep myself from headbanging too hard so my neck wouldn’t be too sore for the rest of the weekend.
Foo Fighters: Dave Grohl is a modern icon, and he brought out Bob Mould from Hüsker Dü who shredded like he’d risen from hell.
DAY 2 SATURDAY HIGHLIGHTS:
Aloe Blacc: I need a dollar…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR6oYX1D-0w[/youtube]
The Antlers: Fantastic performance in broad daylight! The sunshine made their set more powerful and surreal than they’ve been at indoors venues in the past.
Washed Out: Ernest Greene tapped into the house market with a booming four-to-the-floor that overpowered the twinkling melodies and pillow-talk vocals.
The Glitch Mob: 3 iPad nerds geeking out on some heavy synth and drum machine apps and putting on a better show than Bassnectar (due2power)
Matt and Kim: They sampled every hip hop great and Kim did a handstand while shaking her booty like you would not believe.
Sleigh Bells: Alexis Krauss is the hottest bitch on the planet! Combining everything you could want: bangin’ beats and metal.
Robyn: Sasquatch! 2011 had so many amazing female performers. Robyn ate a banana on stage and, as one of my friends put it, was dancing “like she was from another planet.”
DAY 3 SUNDAY HIGHLIGHTS:
Beach House: Another female babe, Victoria Legrand commanded the hearts of every girl and the loins of every boy in the audience. It was sunny and beautiful during their set and I wept during “Take Care.”
Cold War Kids: My friends were passed out drunk in front of City and Colour so I went to the mainstage where Cold War Kids were surprisingly great!
Flogging Molly: Everyone caught a second wind for this set and jumped around dancing to Irish punk.
Das Racist: They pulled off the best audience interaction all weekend, making people choose between laughing and dancing. A white girl in a red bikini flashed them and Dap told her to “Eat something.”
Gold Panda: Money set in the Banana Shack dance tent. Expected nothing less.
Flying Lotus: A huge crowd came for Flying Lotus and you could tell he was just as stoked as they were.
MSTRKRFT: #FrenchHouse! I felt like I couldn’t dance hard enough for how good this show was.
Ratatat: Amazing visuals. They had a giant 3-D parrot that was hanging out on the side of the stage. The audience all looked like they were having out of body experiences.
DAY 4 MONDAY HIGHLIGHTS:
Black Mountain: Vancouver’s own! Dark, dance-able rock. So so good.
White Arrows: All these guys are babes. The crowd quadrupled during their set.
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings: Soul good on the mainstage. Sharon wore a royal blue flapper dress and had everyone on their feet getting down to soul jams like this or this.
Foster the People: Every Sasquatch bro’s summer anthem
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDTZ7iX4vTQ[/youtube]
!!! (“Chk Chk Chk”): Lead singer Nic Offer was gyrating like Prince, strutting into the crowd to ham and steal the audience’s clothing. Glad I saw it!
Skrillex: Dub-step sweetheart Skrillex opened the door from a room of brostep euphoria LFOs into some hallways of dnb roots, dancehall, and not enough French house.
Major Lazer: Diplo and Switch ended Sasquatch! 2011 with a rager in the dance tent, narrowly avoiding a bum-rush after inviting ten girls onstage, and telling the audience that they were going to “F*ck everybody.”
THE ONE TO WATCH:
DJ Anjali and the Incredible Kid: Portland bollyhood DJs who played an unprecedented all four days! Catch them in Portland before they get too big!
NAUGHTY LIST:
Yeasayer: Somewhere along the line these guys decided they wanted to be a boring indie rock band. They played mostly their new album with a neutered version of “O.N.E.” and you could tell they were bored. At least change your name if you’re going to be a completely different band.
Best Coast: Expectedly sarcastic, unexpectedly boring.
Shad / Miracle Fortress @Fortune
Saturday night Scion presented East Vancouver’s Shad and Montreal’s Miracle Fortress at Fortune Sound Club.
A nominee for 2007 Polaris Music Prize, Miracle Fortress is another one of Secret City Record’s gems. Explained as “bedroom club,” their indie pop sound is highly versatile, delivering heavy tech sounds and plenty of reverb.
Most of the kids I chatted to post show had no idea who Miracle Fortress were before tonight – but every single one of ‘em said they would check the band out after the set they had delivered. New record Was I the Wave hit stores Apr 26th.
Miracle Fortress – Raw Spectacle by SecretCityRecords. Uploaded with BandPage by RootMusic
Juno Award winner (2010) and nominee (2011) for Rap Recording of the year, 2008 Polaris Music Prize nominee and National Posts’ “best rapper in Canada”, Shad K is a Canadian who has been compared to the likes of Common and K-os. A slightly more old-school 90’s sound that focuses on social causes with an air of humor that keeps everyone stoked.
The 5 minute a-cappella Shad turned out kicked everyone’s ass Saturday night. Whereas most of his set was hard to hear over the bass heavy tracks. Song, “Rose Gardens” was a crowd fave and “Old Prince” got everyone hyped. Playing with a live bassist added a genuine flair that really suits Shad’s whole appeal. His new album Tsol is worth checking out.
The Teaches of Peaches
Peaches was so fucking good that my friend let some acne-plagued teenager grind her from behind just because she was to focused on enjoying the last encore. That’s love.
I decided 5 seconds into Peaches’ set that it was too good to take notes, plus I drank moonshine for the first time, so I’m not sure how skewed my retrospective analysis is, but let me say this, a Peaches concert could easily inspire a city wide orgy and after attending Sunday’s show at the Commodore I would gladly marry her and/or adopt her as my Mom.
Peaches works with the primary agenda of being fucking awesome and putting on a rad show, but she also works in the context of addressing gender roles, made clear by her album “fatherfucker.” Cause why is saying “motherfucker” so easy when you spill your cereal, but “fatherfucker” is worthy of a bar of soap in your mouth? The presence of gender bending is evident in her prop choices: a laser between her legs, a neon phallic saber, and a blinking light over her cooch.
I’m not really even into talking about male/female power role shit, all I know is that Peaches is hairy and looks like she stinks, but she’s fucking sexy. So is her female keyboard and guitarist who did a “Hegwig and the Angry Inch” transformation during the show from an Iggy Pop look-a-like into a sparkly-lingerie-wearing bombshell.
The whole show played out like a Broadway musical that your grandmother would hate. There were multiple costume changes, including an elaborate Elvis outfit for the last of three encores. The performance also included a parody on dear old Britney Spears and her disappearance from GM place after claiming there was too much smoke in the air. Peaches stormed off the stage claiming there wasn’t enough pot smoke. She also complained that the crowd at the Red Deer show was more amped to take off their shirts. I’m not sure why, but I was enraged by this fact, I wanted everyone to take off their shirts, and their pants, beat by Red Deer?! What an embarrassment, get naked! Prove our superiority! Make Peaches love us too! Then I remembered I was wearing a bodysuit which I’d never be able to put back on given my present state, and being nude in the Commodore ballroom when the lights go on and you see all the hideous sweat faces was just not what I envisioned for myself.
Anyways, she played everyones fave Peaches tunes and her stellar new material and it was one of the best shows ever. In conclusion, here is the Haiku that I was going to submit as the review, but I thought I’d get in trouble.
Peaches Haiku
Peaches, Camel-toe
Lazer beam where dick would be
Light saber hand-job
Grizzly Bear – 5_26_09
So their album is really great and all that stuff, but both times I’ve seen Grizzly Bear’s live set I almost had a little nap between the other concertgoer’s feet.
Maybe it’s just too soothing, or maybe the Commodore’s velvet curtains reminds me of the womb or maybe it was because it was tuessday, but I found myself battling to focus my attention on the stage and not the neon-clad young woman behind me who was whining “I thought you said they were ELECTRO” to her sheepish boyfriend.
They are signed to electronic label “Warp Records,” which I guess could be confusing, if you were really dumb.
It definitely wasn’t a sold out show, but there were enough people there to result in the Commodores infamous “floor of broken glass” from people just dropping their empty cups when they were finished. Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste seemed pleased with the crowd’s enthusiasm because he said he “couldn’t believe this was a Tuesday night crowd.” Their voices are super dreamy, and “Knife” got people really into the show for a bit, but I still prefer listening to them while eating toast at home.
Another thing that may have tainted my listening experience was the fact I got a nerd injury before the show (some sweet carpal tunnel in my right hand from using my keyboard too much), so at the show I couldn’t really take legible notes, and I couldn’t hold a beer. The only thing I could do was make some left handed stick drawings to give you a feel for the show.
Weeeezer & Born Ruffians
Weezer and Born Ruffians were in town last Friday.
I am the biggest Weezer fan, well at least of their early material otherwise known as their first two albums. If I had to pick five albums to be stuck on a desert island, their self titled debut would be one of them.
I was pretty disappointed a couple of years ago when Rivers announced the band was breaking up, that I had never seen them, when I heard that they were back together and coming through town I knew this was my opportunity.
One of the first things I noticed upon entering GM Place was how hideous Weezer fans are, yes douchebag central which I fit perfectly in with.
One thing worth mentioning about GM place, if the ticket says doors at 7 it means the first band will be on at say 7:15 (right around the time I wake up) and that no matter how good your delicious pre concert spirits are you should be at the venue if you plan on seeing the opening band. I was very disappointed to discover I had missed the Tokyo Police Club and that Angels and (H)Airw(e)aves were on.
WTF is up with Tom DeLong’s of Blink 182 fame and his side project, Angels and Airwaves?? I knew I wouldn’t enjoy this band but holy fuck fuckity fuck, (ignorant people use swear words to express frustration when their vocabulary fails them) I now have a new least favorite band. Sure Travis is all burnt and all, but why so angst’y grey skies? You’re a 32 year old, rich aging rocker not a confused 13 year old.
Sure Weezer may be the original emo band but why do they have to be paired with the current champs of, “nobody wants to touch my wien” rock? A lot of milk has gone sour along the way.
The moment where I threw up in my mouth the most came when Tom, holding his hand out in front of him (see above but minus any hint of irony), as if reaching out to his audience emoted how much he apparently loves Vancouver and that, “when the summer fades into winter, he wants us to look up over to the mountains and sing this song” and then started off into something worthy of self castration.
Rivers and Weezer arrived on stage in the nick of time opening with My name is Jonas and continuing into a fan pleasing early set of old school weezy which I along with my new bff’s sang along to. The group went through a number of costume changes from painter outifts to track suits and managed to trade instruments and singing duties quite a bit and managed to fit in a cover of Pink Floyds, Time. The second half of their set featured more of their newer material which a lot of the other people there seemed to really dig. I managed to catch a bit of their encore where they brought on what looked like 50 or so highschool music students to play “Island in The Sun” with the group to great effect and missed thier cover of Nirvana’s Sliver as I had to make it to Richard’s for Born Ruffians.
All in all i’m glad I went and have removed any piecings I once had.
Now, not enough people know of the Born Ruffians as you could still get tickets at the door, although the place was quite full. Here’s a picture of them, now you know them. They are from the small 2,300 person town of Georgian Bay just North of Toronto. They are signed to Warp who you may of also heard of? They deserve just as much hype as MGMT or Vampire Weekend.
I’m going to keep this short as I’ve rambled way too long for most people’s attention span and probably lost most people at the douchebag bit. Born Ruffians are amazing live as their formula of barn funk indie rock lends it self quite nicely to loosing yourself on the floor and the crowd ate it up. The group did three encores as the mob refused to leave even after the lights and music came on and everyone had lost it by the end. Not having a third encore planned they improvised with their cover of Grizzly Bear’s, The Knife with members of the opening act Plants and Animals on the stage.
If you made it to here, good on ya, I would of just copped the mp3z and ran.
Born Ruffians - Knife (Grizzly Bear Cover)
Weezer - Suzanne from the Mallrats OST
