Osheaga 2013: Day 1

A few thoughts... 

DIIV: Chill dudes as always. Oshin is still a great album. 
Wild Belle: Make me want to wear more patterns. 
Lianne La Havas: Stunning. Just stunning.
Palma Violets: I want to have too many beers with them and break things.
Rudimental: I CAN FEEL THE LOVE CAN YOU FEEL IT TOO?
Diamond Rings: Toronto man I've loved from the start. As polished as ever.
The Cure: Legends. 

For more words check out my full post at Sidewalk Hustle.
Check out my photos and vines of Osheaga: Day 1 below. 

DIIV

DIIV

DIIV

DIIV

DIIV

Wild Belle

Wild Belle

Wild Belle

Wild Belle

Lianne La Havas

Lianne La Havas

Palma Violets

Palma Violets

Palma Violets

Palma Violets

Rudimental

Rudimental

Rudimental

Rudimental

Diamond Rings

Diamond Rings

Diamond Rings

The Cure

The Cure

contest watch: Get to Edgefest with Jägermeister

Wanna go to Edgefest this Wednesday? Jägermeister is giving away 56 tickets.
Waaaaaaaaaa? Yeah. As if that wasn't insane enough, one luck winner will get a schmancy VIP package with 4 passes, rides to and from the fest + a meet & greet with Mother Mother. All you gotta do is click this link and fill in your info. 

I'm totally going and I hope to see you there. I'm super stoked to catch July Talk, Dinosaur Bones and Great Bloomers. Oh and The Lumineers. Oh hey etc. 

Tonight In Toronto: Blonde Redhead at Adelaide Hall

Tonight at Adelaide Hall Young Lions Music Club have brought the indie psychedelic dream poppy NYC trio known as Blonde Redhead for your enjoyment. Check out a live performance of their track "23" above. Local boys The Darcys are opening. 

Music to float away to.

 
Doors are at 8pm. The Darcys are on at 9pm. Blonde Redhead at 10pm. 
$25 to get in. 250 Adelaide St. W

Live: Camera Obscura at TURF

Thursday just before dusk hit we soaked up the last few hour of sun with Camera Obscura at TURF. It hadn’t been since 2009 that the Glasgow indie pop act have graced us with their lovely songs of heartbreak and sailors. Playing both old favourites such as “Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken” and “French Navy” as well as spending some time with their 5th studio album Desire Lines (which just dropped this past June) it was the perfect way for us to celebrate the first night of this new festival.

Broken Social Scene at Field Trip Music Festival 2013

After a two year hiatus Broken Social Scene reunited to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of their label Arts&Crafts. Headlining Field Trip, the musical friendship collective played their 2002 album and fan favourite You Forgot It In People from front to back live for the first time. With anywhere from 11 to 18 people on stage at a time, the immense amounts of love and energy were palpable. This was only tripled by the fireball of fun that is Leslie Feist joining in on "Almost Crimes" and Torquil Campbell's purple trumpet playing.  While the entire album play through was emotional, it was the soft heart beat of a track "Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl" that had us in tears. While Emily Haines was not in attendance, Amy Millan of Stars, Lisa Lobsinger, and AroarA’s Ariel Engle sang it stunningly. To say it gave us chills would be an understatement. 

Once they wrapped up You Forgot It In People the night continued with the well loved hits "Superconnected", "7/4 (Shoreline)" and "Fire Eye'd Boy". All good tunes and good times that kept getting better and better. Just as Kevin Drew was introducing an unreleased song they were about to play next, titled "Jimmy and the Photocall", the song's subject AKA Metric's James Shaw showed up having flown in from Phoenix Arizona just in time in join in. Catch a fan video of this perfectly timed moment below...

The looming 11pm sound curfew approached but not before some Kevin Drew stage antics, of which we adore him for. We yelled at the top of our lungs as per his request. "I'M SORRY!" "I LOVE YOU!" "I'LL CALL YOU LATER!" He reminded us that Toronto is our city. "It's okay to have a support system," he encouraged as the crowed yelled "Kevin Drew for mayor!" The evening closed up with "Texico Bitches" and "Meet Me In The Basement" both off their last album 2010's Forgiveness Rock Record. 

While there was no encore, we were left with two statements ringing in our head  "We will always be your band"  and the general Broken Social Scene / Arts&Crafts ethos to be kind. We'll miss you BSS but you will always be our band and Toronto will always be our city. All we can do is be kind. Be kind. Be kind. 

 

NXNE 2013 ROUND UP

NXNE is upon us and seeing as I'm live tweeting it up for the @NXNE account, I do know a thing or two about this year's lineup. As requested and promised, here's a list of my festival picks for this year. If you end up discovering something you like and/or end up checking one of these acts out give me a shout in the comments. Enjoy!

AKUA – Friday 8pm @ Hard Luck
Mini Bio: Montreal solo synth soul. Pronounced “A-koo-ah”. Inspired by Little Dragon and CocoRosie. Has opened for Katy B.
Tunes: “Told You So” and “Gravity”

ALVVAYS – Friday 10pm @ Silver Dollar
Mini Bio: Toronto lo fi. Camera Obsura-ish with a pinch of 90s vibes.
Tunes: “Archie Marry Me” and “The Agency Group”

After The Smoke -  Wednesday 11:05pm @ Wrongbar
Mini Bio: Tallahasse hip-hop duo. Smooth stuff. Finalist in the Billboard Battle of the Bands. Over 50,000 followers on Tumblr and Twitter.
Tunes: “Come & Leave” and “OIAM”

Ania Soul – Saturday 9pm @ MOD Club
Mini Bio: Toronto soul signer. Inspired by Solange, Lauryn Hill, and Feist. Latest single “Over You” produced by King Luck. Here’s a link to her YouTube EPK.
Tunes: “Over You” and “All In My Head”

Blank Cinema – Thursday 10pm @ (587 College St)
Mini Bio: Vancouver indie synth rock act. Five piece who’ve been creating music since 2008. Launched an Indiegogo campaign to help fund their new record Eras.
Tunes: “Destroy Together” and “What You Have”

The BB Guns – Saturday 9pm @ Lee’s Palace
Mini Bio: Hazy surf-pop fun from some Toronto ladies who are both a little punk and a little girly. Recently released their EP, Baby I Hate You. 
Tunes: “Pennie Lane” and “Soho”

BRIADS – Thursday 11pm @ Comfort Zone
Blue Hawaii – Thursday 1am @ Comfort Zone
Mini Bio: Partner projects with Calgarian Raphaelle Standell-Preston as the connecting dot. BRAIDS are more indie rock based & tad softer while Blue Hawaii are more electronic and beat based. Both are putting out releases with Arbutus Records, and both are killing it.
Tunes: “The Other Day” by Blue Hawaii and “In Kind” by BRAIDS

Decades – Friday 11pm @ Silver Dollar
Mini Bio: Toronto new wave revival. Just released their self-titled debut with White Girl Records.
Tunes: “Tonight Again” and “In Sequins”

Joey Bada$$ - Saturday 1am @ Wrongbar & Sunday 8pm @ YDS
Mini Bio: 18 year-old Brooklyn kid with mad talent. His fifth mixtape is new out June 12th. Currently with Cinematic Music Group.
Tunes: “Word Is Bond” and “World Domination”

Majical Cloudz – Saturday 12am @ BLK BOX
Mini Bio: Down tempo duo from Grimes’ & Doldrums’ Montreal scene. Haunting live. Debut record just dropped with Matador and Arbuturs.
Tunes: “Turns Turns Turns” and “Bugs Don’t Buzz”

Mozart’s Sister – Wednesday 11pm @ Rivoli
Mini Bio: Solo project of Montreal's Caila Thompson-Hannant, who describes her sound as dirt pop. Past projects include Shapes and Sizes, Miracle Fortress and Think About Life. Grimes credits her as a huge influence. Merok Records put out her EP. Tons of internet hype and rumor has it an album is to be expected this summer.
Tunes: “Mozart’s Sister” which has been making the blog rounds

Prince Innocence – Saturday 11pm Comfort Zone
Mini Bio: Minimal synth duo from Toronto and Montreal. Babe-tastic. Part of the Pretty Pretty Records crew. 
Tunes:  The oh so hip “Golden Hour” and  “To My Right”

Rich Kidd – Saturday 11pm @ Wrongbag
Mini Bio: Mississauga producer and rapper who has worked with Raekwon, Drake and Talib Kweli. Recently released his latest mixtape In My Opinion earlier this year.
Tunes: “SYKE” and “Can I Get A (Bom Bom)”

Ryan Hemsworth – Saturday 1am BLK BOX
Mini Bio: The hippest thing to come out of Halifax since Ellen Page. Producer/DJ dude of the collective known as Wedidit. Recently released his sixth EP Still Awake.
Tunes: “Perfectly” and “Summertime Sadness” Lana Del Rey remix

White Lung – Saturday 11pm @ Horseshoe Tavern
Mini Bio: Vancouver punk act made up of three ladies and one lucky guy. Last year Deranged put out their second LP Sorry. 
Tunes: “Bag” and “Glue” 

Bloc Party at Field Trip Music Festival 2013

 As soon as Bloc Party opened their Field Trip set with the Silent Alarm subtle classic “So Here We Are” we knew we were in for a treat. The London based band who’s been in our hearts since 2003 brought out the debut album classics including “Helicopter” and “Banquet” with a couple of tunes each from 2007′s A Weekend In The City and last year’sFour sprinkled in.

Kele Okereke was a tad cocky, acting like an old pro as he chewed gum throughout the set whilst also belting out long notes like it’s nothing. “Started from the bottom…” he pondered between tracks, looking up at the Drake billboard which overlooked Fort York. “I didn’t think that was real… but I guess it is.” This was followed by Okereke  shouting out to all the ladies before kicking into a cover of Rihanna’s “We Found Love” which acted as an into for the dancey “Flux”. 

In the end though, it was the up tempo version of “This Modern Love” which had us melting into pieces as Bloc Party closed up the set. “If you remember it singalong” Kele suggested. Needless to say we remembered every word.

TRUST at Field Trip Music Festival 2013

While Saturday’s Field Trip was packed with indie rock acts, TRUST brought some sinister synth pop to the stage, a welcomed change of pace. Robert Alfonse (who was mysteriously cute as usual) hypnotized us with his haunting bellowing voice, playing songs off 2012′s TRST as well as some brand mew tracks. He was also joined on stage by a panda headed bootyshorts wearing backup dancer. Despite the early afternoon set time, the dark wave act still delivered a debaucherous grimy dance party. 

Mini Review: Kate Boy Live at Wrongbar

The night of Sunday June 9th I rushed over to Wrongbar after a weird day of work to catch my lastest Stockholm sound obsession, Kate Boy. With nothing but a couple of singles to her name, the venue was only half full but the energy and enthusiasm of the few in attendance filled the space.  "WHEN IS THE ALBUM OUT?" the crowd would shout. When Kate responded with the fact that they're still working on it the crowd quickly yelled back "WORK FASTER WE WANT IT NOW!" So yeah. People are pretty stoked on this new artist. I myself dropped my bag as soon as I got in and danced for the entire short yet oh so electro-pop synthy sweet 40 min set. Once it came to a close the audience cheered and cheered for more but alas I don't think they had any more songs. Guess we'll just have to wait. 

She's got two super slick monochromatic videos that have both been past music videos of the day:  "In Your Eyes" and "The Way We Are". You should watch them both if you haven't already.

music video of the day: "Tonight Again" by Decades

Toronto based melodramatic indie pop gentlemen Decades release their debut record with White Girl Records tonight at the Garrison. ​Fellow Toronto locals Breeze (band members from BELIEFS, Great Bloomers, Hot Hot Heat and more) are opening. Also on the bill is the oh so chill dreamy Elsa (another Torontonian) and Montreal fuzz indie rock act CTZNSHP​. See you there? 

Live Music: Mykki Blanco at Wrongbar

​From last May’s debut Mykki Blanco & The Mutant Angels, to late fall’s Cosmic Angel: The Illuminati Prince/ss mixtape, one thing is for sure: The entity that is Mykki Blanco is not your average human. Industrial, galatic and spastic (all in the best way possible), Mykki B brought his tricks to Toronto’s Wrongbar Wednesday April 24th.

Hitting the stage around midnight just in time for the new moon, we were all mesmerized and mutantized by his powers. Just some of these powers included pulling up crowd members on stage for good vibes, cleansing himself by pouring water all over himself, oh and rapping like mad. Also of note? Miss Blanco’s opening act performance artist Boychild who best explains his act in this video. 

It’s fair to say the transgender rap game will never be the same. Heavy hazy wavy…

His upcoming EP ‘Betty Rubble: The Initiation’is due out May 21st and he’s currently closing up his North American tour. Catch him if you can.

For more photos check out my post at Sidewalk Hustle.

Live: White Lung at Hard Luck

What better way to start off the week than to head over to the Hard Luck for some PBRs and BC punk? On April 22nd, Vancouver act White Lung stopped by Toronto to tear our Monday night a new one. Made up of three babes and one lucky dude, White Lung shoved and shouted their songs into our faces and earholes. Agressive? Absolutely. Yes there was a mosh pit, and yes people were crowd surfing, and yes we’re still in recovery.

With tracks from both 2010′s It’s the Evil and last year’s Sorry the set clocked at a short half hour, leaving us wanting more. Drummer Anne-Marie Vassiliou is a machine and it’s no surprise that many make a Courtney Love comparison with front woman Mish Way (a rad writer in her own right as well). They’re currently touring all over North America so check em out if they’re stopping by a city near you. You don’t have to, we just recommend that you do.

For more photos check out my post at Sidewalk Hustle. ​

Live: Disclosure at The Hoxton

Thursday night we trucked through the wet April rain to catch siblings Guy and Howard Lawrence aka Disclosure show off their hype at the Hoxton. Armed with many mixers as well as a drum set and bass guitar the brothers played a set which featured more than just some button pushing – not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s was just a nice change. From “White Noise” to their remix of Jessie Ware’s “Running”, the UK duo had us dancing all night long like Lionel Richie.

Thank you Toronto! Absolute vibes :) x

— Disclosure (@disclosure_uk) April 12, 2013

Absolute vibes indeed boys. Come back again soon! 

For photos and more check out my post at Sidewalk Hustle.

Live Music: Lianne La Havas at Opera House

​Thursday night we made our way East to the Opera House to catch the darling Lianne La Havas. She had stopped by Toronto in the past opening for Bon Iver at Massey Hall, but Thursday’s show was her first headlining gig in our city.

Taking the stage in a sleek formfitting turtleneck dress adorned with a Mickey Mouse chain around her neck, La Havas looked as stunning as her voice sounds.

For those who’ve yet to hear her debut album Is Your Love Big Enough?, it’s a beauty of a soul record filled with soft lyrics of heartbreak mixed with belts of passion. The show itself had a similar mix from the crowd singing along at the top of their lugs to “Forget” to Lianne tearing up during “Empty”. There was even a cover of Radiohead’s “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” and a fan written poem read aloud.

Throughout the set La Havas was nothing but genuine and thankful. Her album poses the question “Is Your Love Big Enough?” and Thursday night’s answer was nothing but a warm “Yes”.

For photos and more check out my post at Sidewalk Hustle.

Live Music: Alt-J at Sound Academy in Toronto

Wednesday night we shuffled over to the Sound Academy to check out just how “alt” an Alt-J live show is. Here are our findings from the evening…

1. Mercury Prize winners of late have been rather chill. Last year it was The XX, and Alt-J prove to continue this new trend. Keeping the live show low key, more energy could be felt coming off the crowd. Perhaps it was the big box club setting getting in the way, but we could envision enjoying much more in an outside afternoon vibe.

2. They play a short set. Clocking in just under an hour Alt-J’s set wrapped up well before 11pm. While short and sweet, one could also hear many an audience member craving for more as the show let out. “I wouldn’t mind if they played the same song over again! I just wanted them to keep playing!”

3. They fill venues. The last time Alt-J journeyed over from the UK was September 2012 when they sold out Wrongbar. Wednesday’s show was originally set to be at the Phoenix but due to demand was bumped up to the Sound Academy. And yeah, they sold that out too. Their next Toronto show is this coming September at Echo Beach. Get your tickets now!

For photos and more check out my post at Sidewalk Hustle.

SXSW IS SO BUSY...

... ​and my AirBnB is so faaaarrr and my laptop is so heaavvyy so I apologize for the lack of updates here. Will be catching y'all up soon. In the meantime, check out the ish I've been writing for Sidewalk Hustle. Been taking a million pictures too. Hope you enjoy.

​Beach Fossils

• SXSW Day 1: Skaters, Delivery, Nicolas Jaar, Brenmar, deadmau5 & more!
• SXSW Day 2: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Disclosure, St. Lucia, Azari & III, & Calvin Love​
• ​SXSW Day 3: Amtrac, Beach Fossils, Ryan Hemsworth, Chance The Rapper, Joey Bada$$ & Pro Era

​​xo kate 

Live: Music in the Barns Chamber Ensemble at the Academy of Lions

Friday March 1st, the Canadian Music Centre’s New Music in New Places and Music in the Barns came together to celebrate the work of three Canadian contemporary composers. Nestled into the alt gym/health cafe/venue Academy of Lions, we popped over to class up our weekend and soak in some strings.  Both the opening piece (Rose Botlon’s The Coming of Sobs for String Quartet) and closing (Scott Godin’s “all that is solid melts into air” for String Quintet) were stunning in their own right, but it was Richard Reed Parry’s Quartet for Heart and Breath that had us melting.

Parry, who many may know as the dashing tall ginger from Arcade Fire, has written a piece in which the performers literally breathe new life into it each time. While all of the notes and cues are written in the score, the composition’s rhythms and tempos are based upon the quartet’s breath and heartbeat. With each musician wearing a stethoscope (like a DJ wears headphones), the quartet quite frankly listens to their heart. Gushy beautiful stuff right? Yeah. We totally agree.

For photos and more check out my post at Sidewalk Hustle.​

Live: Major Lazer “Free The Universe” at Toronto’s Sound Academy

Thursday February 28th, Major Lazer brought both the month to a close, and kicked off their Free The Universeworld tour in Toronto with one hell of a party. Diplo returned to our city (once again, clearly crushing on us hard) joined by Jillionaire, Walshy Fire and a duo of bad ass dancing babes. Starting off the show with a count down from 30, the energy of the sold out crowd was electric.

Once the curtain fell, the set moved a mile a minute with confetti cannons going off at every drop and vuvuzelas being thrown and blown. Diplo not only crowd surfed, but stepped up his Flaming Lips game by hopping into a hamster ball and rolling onto/with the audience. Midway through the show, the Major Lazer crew attempted to get the audience to meme it up Harlem Shake style, but no one could stay still.

Noting everyone’s dance enthusiasm, Walshy Fire pulled a group of ladies on stage to show off their bubble butts and encouraged them to express themselves. Not wanting to play gender favs, Walshy then pulled one lucky man on stage who was promptly undressed and danced upon. Between blasting their own hits, they snuck in tunes ranging from Nirvana, House Of Pain and local favourite Drake, each track receiving mad love. From the looks of yesterday morning’s tweets, we weren’t the only ones having a good time…

TORONTO SHOOK UP THE UNIVERSE

— MAJOR LAZER (@majorlazer) March 1, 2013

Toronto was conplete madness! thank u it feels like our second home! instagr.am/p/WT6EFKKMpG/

— dıpןo (@diplo) March 1, 2013

For photos and more check out my post at Sidewalk Hustle.​

Live: Wild Belle + Toro Y Moi at Lee’s Palace

Sunday February 17th Lee’s Palace was over-packed like a vacation suitcase for the sold out Toro Y Moi show. Obviously we couldn’t miss out, especially with an opener as rad as Wild Belle.

The Chicago brother/sister act took on their first Toronto show like champs. Made-up of big brother/rad sax player/over all cool dude Elliot Bergman and his little sister/stunning songstress/huge babe Natalie, they wooed the crowd with their smooth reggae pop jams such as ”Keep You“. Wild Belle’s debut album Isles drops March 12th via Columbia Records. Until then, we recommend you enjoy their music video for “It’s Too Late“.

Once we were all warmed up, the groove machine that is Chaz Bundick, known as Toro Y Moi took the stage. With many a bright light, Bundick and his band quickly kicked the dance party into full gear. Focusing on his latest and more pop-centric album Anything in Return and sprinkling old gems such as “Talamak” and “New Beat” the set was a hip shaker from start to finish. Have you watched his video for “Say That” yet? You know how subtle yet fantastic it is? That about sums up the set.

​For photos and more check out my post at Sidewalk Hustle. 

Live: Wavelength 13

This past weekend the beautiful weirdness that is Wavelength was celebrated with their 13th anniversary festival. Running from February 14-17th and jam packed with eccentric Canadian indie talent, we trudged through the Toronto snow to check out two of the four nights.First up on Friday the 15th was Braids side project and Montreal tropic-synth-pop duo Blue Hawaii at Black Box. While the songs Blue Hawaii have released so far have had a quieter calm vibe (see sunrise stunner “Try To Be”), the 11pm set was much louder than expected. The airy light vocals of Raphaelle Standell-Preston combined with Agro’s quick mixing made for a dance inducing showcase of what may be to come off their debut LPUntogether, due out 3/5 via Arbutus.

Later that same evening Toronto born/Montreal based woodland wunderkin Airick Woodhead aka Doldrums lit-up the night with some electric experimental excellence. After a tech issue or two, the set got rolling around 1:30am which is a great time for a glitch pop dance party. The short but sweet set highlighted tracks off the upcoming Doldrums debut LP Lesser Evil. Also on Arbutus Records, Lesser Evil drops February 26th but you canstream/enjoy it right now in its entirety on Pitchfork. You can also catch ‘em touring all over North America this spring.

The next day, Saturday February 16th, we marched to the Great Hall for a much more chill night, both in tone and temperature. Arriving just in time for Evening Hymns both the up and downstairs of the venue were packed with people settled in for a cozy night of indie rock. With a mix of songs off both the debut album Spirit Guides and recent release Spectral Dusk, frontman/bearded boy Jonas Bonnetta lead his six-piece line-up in an emotion filled folk set.

Closing things up was long-time Toronto locals Do Make Say Think and thanks to some rock n’roll naps, the 1am time slot didn’t put a damper on their energy at all. With a discography that spans from 1998 to 2009, the (near 90 min long) set featured both old classics and newer favourites from instrumental post-rockers. A 2:30am encore brought our adventure to an end, and we scamped back home through the snow, our hearts now warm with Wavelength love.

​For photos and more check out my post at Sidewalk Hustle.