Tag Archive: NXNE


NXNE Day 3 – Makeout Videotape – Rooftop Shindig

Filed Under: Live Shows, New Music
Jun.21, 2011

I'm glad I caught Little Girls' set at The Great Hall on Thursday night.  Josh McIntyre of Little Girls clued me in on a secret show, hosted above a hardware store on Queen Street the following day.  A pretty hefty lineup was all set to play for 10 bucks a pop above the store, including Dirty Beaches, Red Mass, Crocodiles, and Makeout Videotape.  Free beers from a keg and a whole slew of hipsters.  It was like I was in college all over again.  Nonetheless, I rolled into the party a touch late, crawled through the apartment window and onto the roof.  Makeout Videotape had just begun playing, and I'm glad I didn't miss much of their drunken set.  Irreverent in all of the best ways, the band put on one of the most entertaining five-song sets I've seen in a long while.  Intro-ing each of their tracks with made up song titles was a winning strategy.  Titles like, "The Underside of a Sweaty Foreskin" and "Taking a Hot Shit on a Huge Pussy" were winners, for certain.  Of course, these aren't the titles on their debut album, Ying Yang, and the music is the most important, but guitarist/singer Mac DeMarco's delivery and shtick in between songs was hilarious. Musically, this is about as lo-fi and catchy as it can get, enveloped in major reverb and distortion; the fun-loving trio knows how to create dirty and rough-hewn hooks you'll be humming for hours.  The band rather reminds me of Harlem's beginnings.  Unprofessional, home-spun ethos.  It was exactly what a rooftop party needed on Friday in Toronto.  Check out the band's bandcamp site and stream/download the entire record. They've also toured recently with Japandroids, which I would have loved to catch.  Two listens through this and it'll be one you purchase.  I've also included two other drunken pictures I took just before my phone died.  Included are two of the nice fellas of our new pals Tympanogram (I won't tell you which ones they are), and Dirty Beaches sitting at a lunch table enjoying some rooftop party grub.  I'm creepy like that….Either way, none of these pics are worth a damn thing.  It's just proof that bloggers are not always visually inclined.

Makeout Videotape – Baba Vanga

Makeout Videotape – Only You

 

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NXNE Day 4 – Guards – Lee’s Palace – 6/18

Filed Under: Concert Venues, Live Shows
Jun.20, 2011

June 18th was my birthday, and after a day of booze-cruisin' and backyard BBQ drinking, I was moving slowly out of the gate during the evening shows of NXNE.  Luckily, Lee's Palace had a staunch bill, and I decided to spend most of my night there with the rest of the bloggers that were in town.  Unlike most of the people that attended this show, my fixation was on Richie Follin's Guards.  Richie Follin (and his music) remind me an awful lot of people I went to high school with in the mid-90's.  Straight long hair, hippie tendencies, no doubt a collection of Grateful Dead, Pantera and White Zombie ticket stubs stowed away in some back closet.  His father was actually involved in the creation of White Zombie.  In retrospect, after seeing the Lee's Palace show, it all makes perfect, and albeit exciting and delicious, sense.  I want to drink beers with Richie Follin and I'll also be buying his records as long as he'll put them out.  On my facebook page, I described Guards as gorgeous 90's power pop as performed by Black-Sabbath lovin' hippies.  While this is a complex description, it is not far from the truth – The top to bottom 7-song run of Guards EP, paired with the more juiced up live performance, is well worth the listen.  As far as I'm concerned, Guards stole the show at Lee's from the more highly polished performances of Twin Shadow and Wild Nothing.  Follin is that good.

The "doom" portion of the band's description on their bandcamp site is the part I identify the most with.  Ultimately, Guards is a rock band, and this is all fleshed out in a live setting.  Even during the sound check, Follin was meticulous in setting things up, struggling with the sound guy to get the vocals adjusted properly.  Smoke machines and a nearly pitch black stage added to the darker vibe.  If you've been listening to the EP for the last year, then you know full well that the songs are more power-pop, but driven by huge arcing hooks and 60's throwback arrangements.  These are just great songs.  However, at Lee's Saturday, the live show brought these tunes to life and allowed the band to jam and turn up the volume of those more rock-based undertones.  "Resolution of One" and "Don't Wake the Dead" were even better live than on the recorded work; Follin's guitar-soloing had more room to breath up on a stage.  The keys, dreamy synths, and crunching axe-work had me up and dancing around.  The band rolled through each of the 7 tracks on the EP with velocity and passion.  No gimmicks, no pretension.  Just a damn good rock show – one of the three or four best shows I saw during my whole stint in Toronto this weekend.

Follin's sister has a good thing going with Cults, mainly because she can weave two different genres together into an encompassing mixture.  Richie Follin does the same thing, but in a vein that a guy like me can understand.  I "get" rock n' roll music.  I understand showmanship, and so does Richie Follin.  I'm excited to see the next phase in Guards' growth.  Ultimately, this is a throwback rock band searching for the right formula – my opinion is that if they continue to hit that live show aspect, there will be a lot of elder music statesmen lining up around the block to catch them.

Guards – Resolution of One

Guards – Don't Wake the Dead

 

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NXNE Night Two – Little Girls – The Great Hall

Filed Under: Live Shows, Music Videos
Jun.17, 2011

Toronto's own, Little Girls, rattled The Great Hall in the 11 PM time slot last night, and catching this set was a high priority.  Concepts is a multi-layered gem of an album and I was excited to see these wall-o-sound tracks in a live setting.  The Great Hall is absolutely gorgeous – by far the best venue I've been in all weekend.  An ample stage sits at the end of perfectly lit floor, complete with a second tier of seating wrapping around the entire venue.  Vintage charm and stellar acoustics in this place, which added up to equal a nice respite from the bar scene I've been jumping around in.

And this is all very good, because the acoustics and size of the venue allowed Little Girls some room to expand a bit with sound, hitting the audience with a big dose of Concepts and their forthcoming EP, Cults.  The cavernous building allowed the fuzz-driven tracks to swirl around the audience.  The band wasted no time, jamming out to tracks like  "Youth Tunes" and "Growing" with professional earnest. Josh McIntyre has chops musically and vocally; for the last two years I've held Concepts in high regard – there have been quite a few youth-nostalgia based lo-fi outfits arrive on the scene since 2009, but of that graduating class, Little Girls, at least to me, seems to be the one that is growing.  The solo DIY ethos is now being blossomed into a full-band ensemble, and this has me stoked for Cults and an impending LP on the horizon.  "Surf Rock" is probably an attachment the foursome is eager to leave behind – because really, what the fuck is surf rock if it's not The Beach Boys? – and The Great Hall show made this point abundantly clear.   The live setting brings these songs to life.  They are well-arranged, aggressive, and melodic to the core.   More post-punk than surfy, the tandem guitar attack of McIntyre and Andrew Wilson were equal parts dreary stack amp sludge and intelligent arrangement.  Asses were shaking and speakers were tested.  To boot, the dudes in the band are great people – had a chat with them after the show and the convo solidified, once again, why I do this in my spare time.  Young bands with energy and passion – that is always awesome to see.

Little Girls – Youth Tunes

Little Girls – Growing

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NXNE Night One – Pat Jordache/Lower Dens/The Postelles/Suuns – The Garrison

Filed Under: Concert Venues, Live Shows
Jun.16, 2011

A word to the wise:  At The Garrison, they infuse mythic ambrosia into the PBR bottles, leaving customers happy and hangover-free in the morning.  Just kidding.  I feel like shit.  However, The Garrison was a packed house last night for the first "unofficial" night of the NXNE festival in Toronto.  Full disclosure:  I'm going to sacrifice photo quality in lieu of efficiency and timeliness with my posts this weekend.  I am not Ansel Adams, and it's difficult to snap all-star quality photographs when I'm double-fisting ambrosia.  Ya dig?

At 9, Pat Jordache took the stage and "woo-woo'ed" the crowd into ass-shaking mode pretty quickly.  I decided to skip Monogold for this band's set and I wasn't disappointed.  They do not suck, and hitting The Garrison early via a tip was a smart move.  Pat Jordache has been making quite a bit of waves in the noise-pop arena up here, with a unique blend of guitar crunch and irreverent vocal delivery.  They busted through a lot of Future Songs, donning a lazy hat but emittting quite a bit of talent behind the facade.

Lower Dens played in Cleveland at Happy Dog a few nights ago, and I was pissed I missed it.   Twin-Hand Movement was among my favorites last year, and I've been excited to see it translated live.  The lush instrumentation of the studio album came through beautifully in the tiny confines of The Garrison.  "Blue and Silver" and "Holy Water" were fabulous live. They opened with the former and jammed out for several minutes.  Ironic mustaches in tow, the band did a great job of filling the 10 PM time slot as the place began to fill up, even returning for a brief encore before wrapping things up.  The upshot if you missed them is that they play one more set at NXNE.  Check them out at Lee's Palace tonight at 1 AM.

My lady friend loves NYC's The Postelles.  She's had the debut album in her hip pocket for the last three weeks and already knows all of the lyrics.  Quite literally, The Postelles are already pop professionals, and can dish it out equally live.  Energetic, fun, sexually charged, and talented, they rip through tunes like butter.  Pariticular highlights were "Hey Little Sister," the obvious closer, "White Night," and a ridiculously good cover of Elvis' "Hound Dog," where guitarist David Dargahi nearly busted every string on his stratocaster. If you like to swim in pop hooks, there is not a better ocean than a Postelles gig.  Mark that down.  In even more important news, my lady friend got to chat with the Dargahi and even scored a pack of Postelles matches from the merch table.  Isn't that what it's all about, ultimately?

The Garrison was cozy for our first night in Toronto, and treated us well. We were already in the cab as Suuns (Special 12 AM Guest Show) was getting started.  They're playing a couple more sets, so I was able to let that one go so we could get to The Horseshoe to see We Are Wolves. Hopefully I can continue to get some brief posts throughout the week as I go.  The NXNE staff has been fabulous and this is a great festival.  If you're out and about tonight, don't forget to follow us on Twitter @citizendickorg.  As I mentioned, first beer's on me. If these bands are new to you, I've posted a few tracks below.

The Postelles – 123 Stop

Lower Dens – Blue & Silver

Suuns – Up Past the Nursery

Pat Jordache – Phantom Limb

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NXNE – Dick-Approved – Elephant Stone

Filed Under: Concert Venues, Live Shows
Jun.14, 2011

Elephant Stone is going to, hopefully, be a big chunk of my Friday night at NXNE, as they hit The Garrison at 10 PM. opening up for Braids.  This should be one of the more packed sets of the night.  Without question, the 60's pop feel is staunch and inviting in every Elephant Stone track.  The High Dials' Rishi Dhir is at the front of the outfit, and plays the freaking sitar.  I love that.  There's a fabulous infusion of traditional Indian music into gorgeous retro pop music.  There are hooks galore, and intelligent arrangements to boot.  The Glass Box, the band's sophomore effort, will be repeated a few times on the way into Canada.  As you're reading this, in fact, I am already on the road.  Head over to The Garrison Friday night to catch this one.  If you're new to the band, enjoy the track, "Strangers" below.

Elephant Stone – Strangers

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NXNE Dick-Approved – Sandman Viper Command

Filed Under: Concert Venues, Live Shows
Jun.14, 2011

Burlington, Ontario natives Sandman Viper Command win the quirkiest band name award for this year's NXNE (apparently they took it from the movie Outbreak), but I've been spinning "Oh Yeah, It's Fusion" all morning.  Bluesy garage pop can't get much better than this track.  However, "Strawberry Quick" presents a band with quite a bit of range, and the young group is poised to make a bigger dent in the scene.  Locally, they've pretty much mopped things up, being nominated for local music awards, and also opening for bands like Japandroids and Wavves.  All this to say that I'm going to be checking out one of Sandman Viper Command's two sets at NXNE starting tomorrow.  I'm excited for this one.  They're relatively untouched here in the States and I have a sneaky feeling that will be rectified within a short amount of time.  Check them out at The Silver Dollar Room at 3AM on Thursday, or if that's way late for the kids to be out and about, try Friday at 8 PM at Sneaky Dee's.  Enjoy both of the tracks below and get your asses out there.

Sandman Viper Command – Strawberry Quick

Sandman Viper Command – Oh Yeah, It's Fusion

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NXNE Mixtape – Load Up the Honda and Press Play

Filed Under: General Interest
Jun.14, 2011

I'll be leaving in approximately three hours from Cleveland, weaving my way through the northern scenic regions of Pennsylvania until I finally hit the brakes in Buffalo.  After a bout with a basket of chicken wings, the lady and I are headed into the land of Ice Hockey and Rush.  We're having a layover in Niagara.  I hear them falls are romantic. In any event, by my calculations, this is at least a good 7-8 hours worth of road-trippin' over the next 24 hours.  I can't be the only one hitting the open road today/tomorrow with NXNE on the brain.  For those of us making the long drive in, I've put together a hefty mix to ease the decision-making with the stereo.  All in all, there are 25 songs in the zip file.  It's not all-inclusive, but it spans the genres well.  Let this be the soundtrack of your commute.

As I've mentioned all week, pick up tickets to the bigger shows by clicking HERE, and (I believe) there are still some full week tickets available by clicking HERE (standard pricing ends today at 5:00 PM, so hustle).  If you're in Toronto, look us up on twitter @citizendickorg and the first beer is on me.   Happy traveling.

Download Dick Picks:  2011 NXNE Road Trip Mixtape (157MB)

Tracklisting (Link Below):

 1.  The Driftwood Singers – Coco Ellis

 2.  Little Foot Long Foot – King Hipster

 3.  The Vandelles – Lovely Weather

 4.  Gauntlet Hair – Out, Don't..

 5.  Superhumanoids – Persona

 6.  Guards – Resolution of One

 7.  Ruby Coast – Whatever This Is

 8.  MAGNOLIUS – King for Hire

 9.  Passwords – Life After Summer

10. Pick A Piper – Dene Sled

11. Snowblink – The Tired Bees

12. Cults – You Know What I Mean

13. Secret Cities – Love Crime

14. Prince Rama – Lightening Fossil

15. Library Voices – Love in the Age of Absurdity

16. No Joy – Hawaii

17. Diamond Rings – Something Else

18. Suuns – Up Past the Nursery

19. Dinosaur Bones – Royalty

20. Wild Nothing – Chinatown

21. The Bouncing Souls – We All Sing Along

22. Cowboy and Indian – Ledbellies

23. Brothertiger – Like Water

24. Red Mass – Saturn

25. Memoryhouse – Sleep Paterns

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Canadian Rappers are Amazing – Magnolius – King for Hire

Filed Under: Live Shows, New Music
Jun.12, 2011

I've been slinging out NXNE posts like it's life or death lately, and our writer Brian and I always have the argument over which is more efficient – focusing on hearing every last album I can get my hands on, or instead focusing on a select few and avoiding the stress.  I always shoot for the former, while Brian opts for the latter.  He is cool as a cucumber while I'm trying to download every track on the internet.  Either way, in my pre-festival pre-gaming, I stumbled across Magnolius.  Things take a long time to make it to the states, I guess.  This Torontonian rap duo has been making noise up north for quite a while.  Their 2009 album, Mary Musth, garnered them the "Best Rap" award at the Toronto Independent Music Awards.  At first blush, I'd wonder how many Canadian rap groups they were competing against, but the music speaks for itself.  Sort of a cross-hybrid of jazz, hip-hop, speed rapping, and pop-funk come rattling out of the gate quickly in their work.  There's a sludgier side to the lyricism, which I'm getting behind, as well.  A little more dabbling finds Shan Vincent de Paul and Derek DaCosta involved with the local arts scene, and also with independent film.  Jacks of all trades.  I'm not a rap guy, but I'm marking this set down as a certainty for me.  Check them out at the Crawford on Friday, June 17 in the wee hours of the morning (2:00 AM slot).

Magnolius – King for Hire

Magnolius – Andrebuild

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NXNE – No Brainers – We Are Wolves + Snowblink

Filed Under: Concert Venues, Live Shows
Jun.12, 2011

I'm completely pumped to finally see the multilingual circus show of We Are Wolves.  They're playing in the 1 AM slot at The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern on Wednesday night.  By this time, I'm bound to be messy and in need of a cane.  Many will point to Total Magique as the band's sophomore upswing, but I absolutely think 2009's Invisible Violence is extremely underrated.  See our writer Justin's thoughts about the album in December of 2009 by clicking HERE. Few bands can maintain the infusion of so many different elements and still keep it centered around a certain sludge.  Maybe it's the grimy familiarity of the vocal delivery, or the pounding riffs of songs like "Paloma," that hit me so hard.  The track "Blue" is entirely indicative of the band's range.  I have to love a band that can rip from vaudevillian grandiosity to hipster dance club in the blink of an eye.  You'll see me at this one, folks, even if I'm being held up by some bouncer friends.

We Are Wolves – Blue

Snowblink will begin my NXNE Thursday evening when the talented duo hits The Music Gallery at 7.  It's a funny thing.  I found Snowblink on bandcamp a few months ago, then found some tracks over at a few select blogs. Within two weeks, the band had an entire media onslaught and everyone's heard of them.  Things move fast around these parts, so if you're planning on catching Snowblink, get there early.  I have a feeling this one is going to be heavily attended.  The quartet turned duo delivers beautifully simple arrangements with plenty to chew on.  Intelligent backing vocals, trebly folk arpeggios and the strikingly hushed crooning of Daniela Gesundheit create a reverie-inducing sound that's sure to start the evening off calmly.  "The Tired Bees" is an in-and-out (2 minutes) almost lullaby-like melody.  Should give you the idea.

Snowblink – The Tired Bees

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NXNE Dick-Approved – Passwords

Filed Under: Concert Venues, Live Shows
Jun.11, 2011

One thing is a certainty, and it is that I don't know a lot about Passwords.  Neither does a lot of the blogosphere.  Stumbling around the interwebs, I came across "Life After Summer" and let it rip in the background of my desktop.  I suppose it's a simple to label this as indie-pop with a folk tilt, but what is astonishing is what this song wanders into by its close.  A relatively sunny aura slow burns into this epic and spiraling, awe-inspiring second half.  In fact, you'll be absolutely stunned once the guitar soloing intensifies into an almost haunting similarity to the Cliff Burton/Kirk Hammet tandem noodling in "Orion."  Seriously. Listen to the first 30 seconds of this track and then figure out if you can imagine the song somehow going into old-school Metallica mode.  Then just sit back and listen.  I've also included "Idaho" to give you a feel of what concertgoers are in for.  I'm throwing out my ace in the hole.  I think this is a sleeper pick for NXNE, especially if you're into the style.  "Life After Summer" is well worth bypassing a lot of the acts playing during that hour.  You can catch Passwords at The Garrison on Friday at midnight.

Passwords – Life After Summer

Passwords – Idaho

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