Toronto Island Concert, Olympic Island, Toronto On. 6-19-10

Never has sunburn been more worth it.
Beach House:
I've said before that 2010 has been quite the year in terms of album releases, one of the best of which was Beach House's Teen Dream. The Baltimore duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally have quite the established sound, thick, poppy drone flushed out by Legrand's powerful, husky voice. With Teen Dream they added some more brightness, the songs tend to bend and shift. These transistions allow Legrand's voice to soar and match her keyboard's stride. As far as their performance here, they provided most of Teen Dream including Zebra, Used to Be, Heart of Chambers and Norway, as well as a couple tracks from 2008's Devotion. Legrand's stage presence is mesmerizing, a mass of hair covers all but 1/3 third of her face and she plays her keyboard with both a sense of grace and force. Scally is equally as impressive, adding almost waltz-y guitar lines to the band's lush, shinning pop. (Note: I saw Beach House play at Buffalo's Town Ballroom the night after the Island Festival. The show featured a similar set-list and was equally as incredible, I'll spare you the redundancy of a full review.)



Band of Horses:
Also released in 2010 was Band of Horse's third album Infinite Arms. I agree with most that it's not the band's best effort. Their brilliant debut Everything all the Time and their more of the same (but still good) sophomore effort Cease to Begin put Band of Horses in the position to either shake things up or continue their journey laterally. They chose the later, but unfortunately for them, Infinite Arms lacks the ease and charm of their earlier efforts. Some of the songs feel a bit over produced, but mostly I get the feeling that they may have just picked the wrong songs to group together. Since their first two albums, BOH have added more members into the songwriting process, it seems the larger pool of songs to choose from didn't do them any favors. That being said, in the era of the mp3, it's easy to just put BOH on shuffle and ignore any of the challenges of song choice. Despite the mostly concurring opinions on their new album, Band of Horses' set at Olympic Island proved that the band isn't taking much of it to heart. I had high expectations for their performance given that Band of Horses was responsible for one of my favorite shows at last year's Lollapalooza. Even without the "we're playing over Jane's Addiction" allure, the band managed to put on an incredibly energetic show, including plenty of crowd-pleasers along with their new material. Despite their relative misstep with Infinite Arms, the heart of Band of Horses is still intact. Ben Bridwell's voice never ceases to impress and the band's jangly buoyant esthetic is as addicting as ever. After seeing them here it's hard to imagine this band doesn't have another incredible album in them.



Broken Social Scene:
Being in Toronto, I knew that we were in for quite the treat from Broken Social Scene. The band's core members as well as their seemingly endless list of contributors are based in Toronto, giving the hope of seeing some of their more famous contributors a lot more weight. As is the pattern here, Broken Social Scene also released an album in 2010, and their much anticipated Forgiveness Rock Record did not disappoint. This is perhaps their most song-based album ever. The flexibility and looseness the band has enjoyed isn't lost here, it's just put to better use. There are still a few relatively indulgent moments (lengthy intros and outros), but mostly Forgiveness Rock Record is simply a collection of really great, accessible songs. Again, being in Toronto provided some guarantees, one of which was the excitement of the crowd. When it was about time for them to take the stage I felt the crowd start to pack in around me, and one look over my shoulder proved just how popular these guys are. The set-list started with Forgiveness' World Sick, and continued to include Texico Bitches, Fire Eye'd Boy, 7/4 (Shoreline), Lover's Spit, Stars and Sons, Sentimental X's and Water in Hell. As far as appearances go, Pavement's Spiral Stairs (Scott Kannberg) joined the band on Water in Hell, Leslie Feist sang her parts on a few songs including 7/4 (Shoreline) and Lover's Spit, and Emily Haines (of Metric) sang on Sentimental X's as well as the band's final song, Ibi Dreams of Pavement. Watching all of this unfold was almost surreal. Musicians left and joined the stage constantly, a horn section popped up now and then, and there seemed to be no less than 10 members on the stage at one time. Vocal duties were shared seamlessly by core members Kevin Drew and Brenden Canning as well as some playful microphone exchanges by Feist, Haines and newcomer Lisa Lobsinger. Overall Broken Social Scene put on quite the show, proving that despite their hesitation to adopt the title, they really are a super-group.










Pavement: When I named this blog Embassy Row (after track 7 on Pavement's Brighten the Corners), seeing them live was only a dream, one I doubted would come to fruition. As soon as word of the Pavement reunion spread, it became my mission to find a way to see them, if that meant flying to the far off land of California, I was game. Luckily, I was spared the expensive plane fare and only had to endure my traditional two hour drive to Toronto. For most music minded people, Pavement need little to no introduction. They were slacker 90's rockers whose lyrics were more about quirk than poetry, their low-fi sonics were innovations and ultimately influenced almost every relative band that followed. Pavement made legends out of members Stephen Malkmus, Scott Kannberg, Bob Nostanovitch, Steve West and Mark Ibold. The success of Pavement brought about an interest in Malkmus and Kannberg's pre-Pavement band, Silver Jews as well as later acts like Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, and a resurgence of Kannberg's Spiral Stairs moniker. Pavement's career spanned ten years, five full-length albums and established them as one of the most important bands of the 90's. Pavement played a 26 song set, beginning with the classic Cut Your Hair and ending with Stop Breathin. It seemed like Pavement knew what a reunion tour is about, their set-list was a string of crowd pleasing classics, but the band didn't seem to mind. Malkmus shared vocal duties with the bouncy, screaming Nastanovich, whose energy was really something to behold. Malkmus' awkward charm hasn't faded with age and he performed his duties wonderfully, even tossing his guitar around occasionally. Kannberg was equally as dutiful and content. The pattern of guest appearances continued here too, members of BSS (including Kevin Drew) and BOH's Ben Bridwell joined the band on stage. Despite their impact on the musical world, nothing about Pavement feels old or redundant. Every song still carries it's own weight, making it obvious that Pavement's cult following wasn't wrong in their adoration. Here's the entire set-list:
1. Cut Your Hair
2. Trigger Cut
3. Rattled by the Rush
4. Father to a Sister of Thought
5. Kennel District (w/ Kevin Drew)
6. In the Mouth a Desert
7. Grounded
8. Silence Kit
9. Elevate Me Later
10. Spit on a Stranger
11. Unfair
12. Starlings of the Slipstream
13. Fight This Generation
14. Shady Lane
15. Conduit for Sale!
16. Here
17. Stereo
18. Two States (w/ Kevin Drew)
19. Gold Soundz
20. Perfume-V
21. Range Life
22. And Then (The Hexx)
23. Summer Babe
Encore:
24. Date w/ Ikea
25. Debris Slide
26. Stop Breathin

Rockin at the Knox, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY. 6-18-10.

I'll confess. I saw The National play at Massey Hall in Toronto a couple of weeks ago and didn't write a review about it. Not because the show wasn't incredible, but I wasn't very close and I knew I would be seeing them a little over a week later. 2010 has been quite the year for these guys, their fifth album High Violet was released to much critical acclaim and they seem to be playing every festival around. I'll be seeing them three times this year myself and after the first two I would gladly welcome more. The National is one of those bands that I find myself listening to over and over, their whole catalog, and at very different times. I have a habit of having very distinct musical moods in which I can only listen to a certain artist. The National is one of those rare bands that seem to shirk any one particular feeling and encapsulate them all. Matt Berninger's lyrics aren't fantasy, this isn't the type of music you use as an escape. The National is about affirmation, connection and honesty. People are boring, they lie, and are miserable, they have 9 to 5 jobs, spouses and cars, they're real. Take Berninger's words on Alligator stand-out Secret Meeting, "I'm sorry I missed you, I had a secret meeting in the basement of my brain, it went the dull and wicked ordinary way", or on High Violet's Conversation 16 when he proclaims "you'll never believe the shitty thoughts I think." Despite the relative cynicism The National are refreshing, throughout their lengthy career they have avoided the common "we're trying something completely new" mantra and simply perfected what they know. With 2007's Boxer they made the initial shift to more flushed out material and with High Violet they let elegance and grandeur reign supreme. The Massey Hall show was a bit of a surprise, the band played quite a few National classics, more than one relatively obscure gem and of course the majority of High Violet. 10 days after the show in Toronto, I was lucky enough to catch The National again, this time at a yearly one day music event held at the local art gallery, The Albright-Knox. The event was held out doors, on two stages, one right next to the other. I arrived just in time to see a very intimate solo acoustic set by Atlas Sound (Deerhunter's Bradford Cox.) Cox played mostly stripped down material off of 2009's Logos and used Andrew Bird esque looping to add some of the effects from the album. Cox is a great performer and very vocal, he played along with the crowd well and stuck around after to talk to some fans. After Atlas Sound's set I took about ten steps to the left and positioned myself left of center to the main stage. Based on the two times I've seen them, I'll say that it seems to take Berninger a little bit longer to warm up than the rest of the band, not vocally, but crowd interaction wise. At first guitarist Aaron Dessner did most of the talking, but after a couple of his quintessential trips off stage, Berninger joined him in vocalizing the band's excitement as well as providing a few bits of comedy. As far as the set list goes, the classics were there (Start a War, Mistaken for Strangers, Squalor Victoria) as well as a bunch of High Violet (Afraid of Everyone, Bloodbuzz Ohio, Sorrow) and of course the bands climactic hell raiser Mr. November. As is tradition, Berninger leapt into the crowd to scream the "I won't fuck us over, I'm Mr. November-s", it was a shock to the system of the mostly middle aged art gallery frequenter attendees, but the crowd was receptive. It was a surprise to me that The National weren't the headliners for this event (that honor went to Rufus Wainright), but the band proved how worthy they were when they knowingly surpassed their allotted time in order to provide fans with their fully intended set. It wasn't rude or over-stepping, but befitting of such a powerful band to end on a powerful note. Forgive the lack of pictures, camera weren't allowed (technically.)

Broken Bells with The Morning Benders, June 2nd, The Queen Elizabeth Theater, Toronto, ON.

2010 has been a year of what seems like continual releases. The National, LCD Soundsystem, Blitzen Trapper, Tallest Man on Earth, and Beach House have all released albums that were expectedly incredible. Perhaps the biggest surprise of 2010 came in the form of The Morning Benders' Big Echo. The band's debut was less than noteworthy, but a series of sonic shifts and changes in production have given birth to one of the best albums of the year. Part of the band's sound change can be attributed to influence from Chris Bear (of Grizzly Bear [!] ), who shared producer duties with The Morning Benders' singer/guitarist Christopher Chu. Big Echo's Grizzly Bear-esque moments are obvious, but Taylor isn't solely to blame for Big Echo's charm. A band that is able to make such a decisive shift in technique and not sound at all fragmented is one to be lauded. The album is spacious and full at the same time. Orchestral moments abound as do layered background vocals and even the occasional glockenspiel. Seeing Big Echo preformed live was one of my goals this year, and thankfully the opportunity arose through a tour with Broken Bells, in which The Morning Benders provided the opening act. It's always a special treat to be equally as excited to see the show opener as you are the headliner, one that doesn't happen often enough. The Queen Elizabeth Theater is a relatively new performance space in Toronto, one that is seated, which I wasn't entirely sure what to make of at first. Tickets were still general admission so the seats were first come first serve, which was fine since we were early and managed to grab some in the front. Seeing a band live for the first time is kind of an odd experience. There comes a moment when you have to reconcile the vision you have of them with their actual performance. I have a habit of taking songs and albums at face value and having expectations in that regard. For example, when I saw Wilco for the first time last year, I (stupidly) assumed that I would be seeing a relatively tame show. What followed was the complete opposite of course, every song had about 5 minutes of insanity added to it and I never sat down once. Seeing The Morning Benders provided a similar experience in which the band's energy and musicianship blew me away. The majority of Big Echo was played, barring only the slower numbers, which was understandable due to time constraints. The final song of the set was the ample Excuses, during which Christopher Chu instructed the audience to provide the song's signature "la da da das." It seems like surprises might me The Morning Bender's calling card, and I for one hope they keep them coming. It makes sense for a band like Broken Bells to juxtapose their collective industry baggage with a band as new and relatively unaffected as The Morning Benders. The core members of Broken Bells need little in the way of introduction, the band is a collaboration between former Shins front-man James Mercer and producer/drummer Danger Mouse. Both have well established relationships and influence in the music world, and their collaboration created an album that is not exactly monumental, but instantly catchy and enjoyable. The lyrics themselves are more dark than is noticeable, given Danger Mouse's bouncy production touches, but that really doesn't affect the material any. Broken Bells live show, unlike The Morning Benders', was exactly what I expected. That was not a bad thing of course since I had expected that this would be a band of little misstep. Mercer's voice was crisp and perfectly addictive, the rest of the band played flawlessly and the songs sounded exactly as they were recorded. I expected nothing less from such established musicians. Since Broken Bells has little of their own material (as Mercer quipped several times), the band ended up playing two covers one of which was Tommy James and the Shondells' classic Crimson and Clover, which was ultimately the highlight of the show. The biggest thing about Broken Bells is that this isn't really a band of showmen, which isn't exactly a problem in my opinion but some may have found the lack of nuance a bit boring. From my perspective, their set wasn't exactly one of the best I've seen, but the songs stand up well, and provide more than a few opportunities get excited, that's enough for me.