I Heart the Music: Your Online Source for Live Music Reviews and Interviews in Toronto!

NXNE began with a great start on Wednesday night for those who attended the Arts&Crafts evening and packed The Courthouse. The indie uniformed were in attendance (plaid shirts: check, skinny jeans: check, thick framed glasses and mustaches galore: check check) along with the who’s who of Toronto’s indie scene. While many opening night parties are equal parts music and mingling, this one focused more on the former, as the sign posted on the doors explained:

“This is not a rock show. If you are here to talk about your job, your relationship or your current state of mind while the bands are playing, please leave now and give your spot to someone who cares about the music. Thank you and we hope you enjoy the evening.”

In addition to being the kick-off night for NXNE, the event was in honour of This is Broken: A Broken Social Scene Story by Stuart Berman, which was published by House of Anansi Press in May of this year.

Fans of Broken Social Scene and their spin-offs were certainly in for quite the treat. BSS guitarist Charles Spearin’s Happiness Project was an interesting amalgamation of interviews chopped up and looped in and around melodies. While sometimes sounding ambient and experimental, the brass added a big band feel at times.

Next up was BSS guitarist Andrew Whitmena’s Apostle of Hustle (Whiteman is the current cover boy of Exclaim! magazine, one of the sponsors of the evening). Can I just say, “wow, holy energy Batman.” These boys rocked out hard and displayed a range of both tempo and style (personally I loved the Spanish song!).

Closing out the night were Broken Social Scene. (Note that this meant Apostle of Hustle played back-to-back sets). And when I say Broken Social Scene, it was both past and present members of the ever-changing music collective. Leslie Feist popped in and out of numerous songs, as did Jason Collett (who apparently opened the show… unfortunately we missed his set). The band played a mixture of old favourites and new songs that they said they were playing live for the first time.

After doing a few “just one more” songs they were brought back for an encore. Then Two Koreas, whose lead singer Stuart Berman was hosting the evening (and in case you skipped the first bit of this article, he’s also the author of This is Broken), played a tune with Kevin Drew jumping in on guitar. But there was no way a night dedicated to BSS could end on any note other than BSS. So everyone was brought back to the stage yet again for a final song that had one of the longest and most fun extended endings I’d ever had the pleasure of hearing.

The exorbitant energy emitting from the stage throughout the entire evening was staggering. If you didn’t love these bands before, there’s no way you wouldn’t be converted after experiencing this show. In fact, I even overheard people referring to the evening as a “religious experience.”

review by Emer Schlosser

photography by Joyce Wong

Saturday nights at Lee’s Palace is often a sure bet for seeing great bands who heat up the Toronto music scene; Saturday, June 6^th was no exception. iheartthemusic went to catch Montreal-based band The Lovely Feathers who have been incognito for the past three years until the recent release of Fantasy of the Lot. This album (and this band) is awesome and so we anxiously awaited their performance.

First up on the bill was a Toronto group that goes by the name Boys Who Say No. These guys have been garnering a lot of press lately and so we were happy to be able to catch them before they play NXNE. Their sound is a mixture of alt-country, rock and pop that is really hard to clearly define. Although they played the earliest set of the night, and therefore had only a few people in attendance, those who did show up were clearly fans. Having recently formed (like, in the last year) we were surprised to see how tight their live performance truly was. Lead vocalist Luke was able to hit notes that most grown men wouldn’t dare attempt and made this band stand out for us even more.  

The Ghost Is Dancing, the next group to take the stage, is comprised of a bunch of friends from various musical backgrounds who are there to have fun and make music at the same time. Their sound is also tough to define, however it was nice to see a female sharing the stage with a bunch of dudes, and one who was clearly representing well! Although their style of music was not necessarily for us, they were definitely the crowd favourite as they had everyone jumping around and singing along as lead vocalist Jamie came out into the crowd and attempted a sing along with various fans. That is one thing I will give this band – they sure know how to connect with the crowd and each other!

Finally it was the moment that we were waiting for: The Lovely Feathers. The crowd was patiently waiting, the beers were freely flowing, and then they hit the stage. The Lovely Feathers garnered tons of press with their first release, Hind Hind Legs, back in 2006 after which they went on a bit of a break, however you wouldn’t know that with their performance on Saturday as they brought the house (and themselves) down! The combination of lead singer Mark Kupfert’s unique voice and Richard Yanotsky’s spastic onstage presence cannot be beat. They went straight into it opening their set with upbeat “Long Walks”, which clearly foreshadowed what was yet to come for the crowd present that evening. The energy was high and the band were clearly into it; at one point Kupfert fell over from rocking out so hard. He managed to still play while on the ground and afterwards made the comment that he, “ literally just fell over myself.”  It is not only their technical skills that was impressive but also their “sharing attitude” as they switched instruments throughout their set. The high-pitched tone of David Buzaglo voice was made ever more evident when they came on for an encore to play “Frantic” that saw the crowd “ooo-ing” along with the band. Overall best show of the week, they even convinced us to pick up all three of their albums for $20 – you can’t beat that!

Catch all of the artists during NXNE next week:

Thursday, June 18th: Boys Who Say No @ Clinton’s 9PM

Friday, June 19th: The Ghost is Dancing @ Velvet Underground 10PM

Saturday, June 20th: The Lovely Feathers @ Horseshoe Tavern 2AM

After talking to brothers Matthew and Nathan Leone of Madina Lake, iheartthemusic was pretty excited to see what this band had to offer via their live performance. Unfortunately, after the interview my excitement dissipated once I noticed a sea of unusually young “emo” kids waiting to get into the Phoenix. At this point I knew this show would be an interesting show. As I walked in and scoped out a space for myself at the bar I realized that it was an all ages show and I wouldn’t have to deal with annoying lines trying to get a drink! Things began to look up! Even though the little teenyboppers scared me, I was still excited to see the boys perform!

Madina Lake hit the stage and, as I anticipated from the moment I talked to them, they had great stage presence and a lot of charisma. It was obvious the band loves music and gets satisfaction playing for their many fans who adore them… I could tell by all the screaming girls trying to reach for lead singer Nathan’s hand.

Besides their stage presence and passion, they also pulled out all the stops that “WOWED” the crowd. I think they planned this tour reading that handbook entitled Rock and Roll Clichés 101! First off, they threw about five enormous balloons into the crowd and when they popped confetti sprinkled all over the crowd. They also conducted a lot of audience handclapping and singing. But my favorite part of the night was when Nathan crowd surfed! When was the last time you saw an artist crowd surf?? Pure genius! I predict it will be making a comeback.

The stage show was great fun and definitely nostalgic (hence the crowd surfing and oversized balloons), but I’m going to have be honest: I’m not much of a fan of their music. There is no denying that their music is heavy and fierce and I definitely gravitate towards that large scale dramatic melody, but they sounded like every other top 40 pop/punk/emo band out there. Don’t get me wrong, I respect Madina Lake as artists, they make music because they are passionate about it and not because they are getting a paycheck at the end. However, I need a band that pushes the boundaries both musically and lyrically.

All that matters in the end is whether or not the fans have a great time and they did! Madina Lake fed off of the crowd’s upbeat vibe and gave that energy back. All and all, they throw one hell of a stage show!

Review by Kristen Tignanelli

Photo by  Joyce Wong

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