Monthly Archives: May 2012

NXNE and Ages and Stages: The Story of The Meligrove Band

Posted on by Sasha
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In a couple of weeks North by Northeast aka NXNE will take over Toronto and bands like Purity Ring, Of Montreal, Flaming Lips, Matthew Good and plenty of other established and up and coming bands will be performing around the city. You can check out the musical acts, but NXNE also delivers a venue for dozens of films.

Showing at the festival this year is Ages & Stages: The Story of The Meligrove Band, a documentary about the persistent hurdles the Toronto based group seems to have gone through in an attempt to make a living playing music.  All I’ve been able to see is the trailer, and it’s a bit depressing. I have no doubt that the “band trying to get its big break” story is common in the music industry, but The Meligrove Band clearly has more credible cheerleaders on their team — for starters they have this movie made about them– but the Brendan McCarney directed film also features other noticeable (and Music Between Friends regulars) acts like Born Ruffians, Cuff the Duke, Joel Plaskett etc. showing their love and appreciation.

Hopefully watching the movie/trailer will get people interested enough to check out the band that NXNE calls “one of the best but most overlooked bands in Canada” —because that’s what I did…and it was worth it.  At first I thought, “maybe these guys are really nice and people like them but their music sucks?”.  False, after listening to their most recent album, I had Bones Attack stuck in my head for days.

The Meligrove Band doesn’t appear to be touring, and haven’t released anything since 2010, so here’s hoping that this film will garner enough buzz to keep the band going, and that their fans, not only their peers can continue to appreciate the music.  See the film Wednesday, June 13 @ 4:30 PM and click below for some more information on the band and to hear their music.

The Meligrove Band’s Bandcamp/Website/Twitter/Facebook

The Meligrove Band – Bones Attack

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros “That’s What’s Up”

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Image Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - That’s What’s Up

If you were hoping Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros would come out with a love song that made your heart as happy as Home did, then you may enjoy their new honky tonk BFF4EVER song That’s What’s Up.  You can stream the entire new album, Here, on NPR and bask in the hippie-love along with me.

Paris, Paris!

Posted on by Katie
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Today, I board a plane and fly to Paris for a week. It’s a red-eye, so I’m picking outfits that will really accentuate the broken blood vessels in my eyes.

My mom has given me a few parting gifts, namely: a flashlight (“Mom, it’s called the City of Light for a reason!”), a jumbo bag of pretzels, several packages of gum (“So your eardrums won’t blow out!”), caramel corn, and an assortment of medicines with the power to initiate and cease diarrhea at will.

I think I’m about as packed as a white tourist can be. Parker was supposed to take the train from Switzerland tomorrow morning so I could meet him at Gare De Lyon from Charles De Gaulle. But this morning, I got a sheepish email from Parker, describing how he waited for me at the clock tower for two hours thinking I was lost in Paris, when in reality my flight doesn’t even depart from Toronto until this afternoon.

Since I can’t bear to be parted from good music no matter what country I’m galavanting around, I’ve got a few things planned for this trip. First, I have like a trillion new folk songs to listen to. I also recently bought Laura Marling‘s I Speak Because I Can on vinyl + mp3, Christine Fellows‘s Femmes De Chez Nous, and Sibylle Baier‘s Colour Green, which I have been saving for the nine hour plane ride.

Here are two websites that I used to find indie/folk/alternative concerts happening while I’m in Paris.

Carrefour Spectacles (concerts, theatre, sports, festivals)

La Blogothèque (amazing intimate concerts, if you haven’t already checked it out).

I was thinking about seeing two of the following:

I also really want to check out Ground Zero, a sweet independent record store. I’m a little bummed out that Beach Fossils and GIRLS are playing right after I leave the country, and Justice is playing this week, but the tickets are sold out, quel domage!

Well, I definitely have some last minute iPod syncing to do.

Here’s my favourite Parisian song (the one that started me on the path to romanticizing an entire culture).

MP3: Paris 2004 - Peter Bjorn and John

Music for your Victoria Day Long Weekend

Posted on by Sasha
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These tracks aren’t all particularly new, but who wants to listen to cutting edge indie when you can blare your pre-loved jams at the cottage and break out in a flash mob of karaoke with your friends and/or family.  Here is a break down of some of the music I will be bringing up North this weekend:

OMC  - How Bizarre
This is my face whenever this song comes on.
This is my face when I’m annoyed with WordPress because the quirky song I want to post can’t be uploaded straight from my iTunes and I have to use a youtube version…

Tanlines – Real Life
Tanlines is from Brooklyn, but this song sounds more “tropical island” than “New York City” to me

Santigold - This Isn’t Our Parade
I couldn’t find a better version of this song (sorry) hopefully it will motivate you to buy the album to get the full effect because it’s worth it.

tUnE-yArDs – Powa
Makes me want to sit back in a Muskoka chair. 

Arcade Fire - Month of May
Because it’s the May 2-4 long weekend — get it?
  

Animal Collective- What Would You Want? Sky
Preparing myself for the new album.

That’s about it. I’m going to save the rest for an actual downloadable playlist since it’s been a while since I made one of those.  Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Who’s Playing in Your Concert Bucket List?

Posted on by Katie
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Let’s just get one thing cleared up – I don’t have any immediate plans to remove myself, nor am I suffering from a debilitating disease.

I’ve always been one for making silly little lists – my notebooks are filled with vacation packing, outfit sketches, lists of worst boyfriends in asscending order (pun). One of my ongoing lists is my Concert Bucket List.

In case you haven’t seen Jack Nicolson & Morgan Freeman’s geriatric comedy, The Bucket List, let me outline the concept:

Two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die.

Except replace ‘terminally ill men’ with TOTALLY RAD BABE, ‘cancer ward’ with TORONTO, and ‘to-dos’ with CONCERTS, and that’s my Concert Bucket List in a nutshell.

“Hey Katie, which bands do you want to see and why?” So kind of you to ask!

1. Animal Collective

Two words: booopg gaaarhj. Because that’s what my brain turns to when I listen to Animal Collective. When I put on Peacebone from Strawberry Jam (2007), my bones start to vibrate like a tuning fork. My heart melts into a pool of tribal honey from My Girls from Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009). I actually spent a month adapting a cover of Bluish for a female voice and guitar (and let me tell you, the lesbian overtones become that much more evident).

Although I’m usually a fairly normal person (false), I’d be that girl at the concert wearing an animal mask and candy necklaces arranged over my girlie bits. So please, Animal Collective. Come to a venue near me. I have high hopes that you will, ever since you released these two teaser tracks, Honeycomb and Gotham on your website Sunday night!

2. Radiohead

Call me teenaged, but Radiohead totally gets me, you guys! I’ve wanted to see them translate my liquid feelings into harmonic dischord ever since my first obligatory freshman break-up, when I spent many wintry evenings paralysed on my dorm room floor, dripping wet and staring into the snow-purpled sky. Now I get to see them at Downsview Park on June 16th with Caribou! Dreams do come true, you guys. DREAMS COME TRUE.

3. Owen Pallett

Ever since I discovered Final Fantasy – or rather, Final Fantasy discovered me – I have made every effort to see this perfect human being in every iteration. I’ve seen him in Hamilton at the Lincoln Alexander Centre (perfection), for his Heartland release party, and with Basia Bulat & the girls of Obijou raising money for the Newman Boys fundraiser last month.

In fact, I once broke up with someone shortly after he failed to get showered & dressed in time for us to pick up our Guest List tickets for Owen Pallett’s performance on CBC Radio’s Q. Unforgivable. Plus, he smelled better than me.

4. Passion Pit

If I could be called dark, untilled humus as a music listener in my early twenties, Passion Pit planted the seed of musical excitement in me.

And they just happen to be on the lineup for Osheaga 2012, along with The Shins, Black Lips, Justice, MGMT, Yeasayer, Bombay Bicycle Club, and about a dozen other boner-worthy artists. You betcha I got a ticket, and it’s totally hanging out with my other concert tickets for Beirut and Tallest Man On Earth, and tUnE-yArDs. Making sweet ticket love.

5. Phoenix

I’m the kind of Phoenix fan whose love runs so deep, I actually own copies of Alphabetical (2004) and It’s Never Been Like That (2007). I love them so much that I could be in the middle of trying on skinny khakis that give me a camel toe more appropriate for the sand dunes of Rub’ al Khali, but if Phoenix came on over those little aluminum speakers, I’d be shaking my junk so hard the cellulite would fall out.
    Unlike the others, I don’t have any upcoming plans to see Phoenix, mostly because I missed them when they came around in 2009, and they haven’t put out anything new since Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. I would still trade my left nut to see them. And by that I mean cashews, because they are worth their weight in gold and tickets.
      So share your Concert Bucket Lists with me guys! I’d love to know what bands turn your crank!

        Body Work (featuring Tegan and Sara) – Morgan Page #musicvideomonday

        Posted on by Katie
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        Whenever I listen to a music collaboration, I like to play a little game. I try to measure the amount of time spent listening to the “main artist” (the one who’s putting out the track on their record/the one whose name appears first) versus how much we hear the featured artist.

        It’s a little bit different with electronic artists and producers, since technically, a lot of them don’t even sing. They just stick to crafting warpey surrealistic sounds and pouncing beats. Body Work follows the typical electronic DJ trope wherein a popular indie/pop artist sings overtop a pre-mixed track.

        In the video for Body Work by Morgan Page, Tegan and Sara, the music industry’s most cherished lesbian twins, are dressed like Rosie the Riveter, stacking sheets in a dimly lit basement. They don’t look quite disenfranchised enough for this kind of work.

        Then, some total hawties (male and female) take over the basement and start working out BIG TIME.  Too bad they’re lifting too fast to actually work their muscle groups. Idiots.

        Then come the special FX:

        WHO WANTS TO COME TO MY LIGHT SABER PARTY!!! YOU GUYS!!! IT’S GONNA BE OUT OF THIS WORLD

        As far as workout videos go, nothing will ever compare to Eric Prydz‘s salacious Call On Me. That video is one thong shy of an American Apparel billboard.

        I give this one a 7/10.

        Totally NSFW:

        (as one Youtuber aptly quipped, 99% porn, 1% music)

        If you would like Katie to review your favourite new music video, email us at musicbtwfriends@gmail.com

        Album Review: Young Liars’s Homesick Future EP

        Posted on by Katie
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        One day while searching for strummy, nouveau eighties alt-rock to shake my booty to, I came across Homesick Future EP.

        Complete with an array of synthetic sounds and a saucy high hat,  Vancouver’s Young Liars sound like a mix between early 00′s indie rock, and newer, bouncier electronic-rock like Two Door Cinema Club. I find that this genre of music is best suited for cardiovascular workouts at the gym. Nothing incredibly inspiring, but still efficient at motivating my body to move.

        Homesick Future, released in February 2012, features seven up-tempo tracks that blend seamlessly into one another. When done right, this kind of songwriting can leave an album feeling fully fleshed out and complete. When done poorly, it leaves the listener wondering what track they’re on, because all of the songs begin to sound the same.

        Although the band should be given props for crafting a sound that works for them, nonetheless, the album leaves something wanting. Perhaps they could benefit from a diversification of their instrument base, or a sharp and commanding new mastering technique.

        It’s hard for me to pick favourites on this album, because I use it as musical filler, but the second track Colours was the one that prompted me to listen to the album in its entirety. Colours begins with sharp electronic arpeggios that devolve into echoing synth chords and pulsing rhythms. It’s the kind of song that would do well as an RAC remix. Unfortunately, the rest of the album didn’t quite meet my expectations. At least I know what I’ll be playing at the gym tomorrow.

        Rating: 6/10

        RIYL: The Killers, Franz Ferdinand

        The album doesn’t seem to want to embed below, but you can stream it here.

        Promethean Eyes by The Breezes

        Posted on by Katie
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        Looking for a chill, slightly beachy lo-fi track for your listening pleasure?

        Well, my friend, look no further than Promethean Eyes by The Breezes, a four-piece hailing from dear Montreal. Not much is known about these gentlemen. They played last year’s NXNE at Rancho Relaxo, and recently hit up Wrongbar for CMW in March. Promethean Eyes is the band’s first single from their upcoming release sometime this spring (TBA). If the rest of the album keeps with the same nodding, string accompanied relaxed vibe, you can bet I’ll be pocketing it at their next show.

        RIYL: Jens Lekman (it’s violins that really do it for me), zoning out after a delicious home-cooked meal (yes, that’s what I happen to be doing right now)