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

The Horseshoe Taven hosted one of the most anticipated nights on the Saturday of NXNE boasting a slew of amazing talent crammed into the same legendary location. The line up was unreal, and I mean that in the best possible way. What I loved most about it is that there was such an array of diverse artists, no act at this NXNE event was even remotely similar to the one before, which was refreshing to watch.  From the melodic and ethereal Woodpigeon, to the unique and unusual DD/MM/YYYY, there was a genre for every music lover out there.

First out was folk rock band Woodpigeon hailing from Calgary, Alberta. Their sound is not pretentious, it’s disarming and soothing and a touch melancholy, which is savoury to the ear.  Their layering of instruments also added a unique dynamic when accompanied by their hauntingly beautiful lyrics. Their sound is modern yet timeless,  pure genius in my opinion.

Tokyo Police Club was unfortunately not performing at this year, but if you are a fan you must check out Ruby Coast.  They are poppy indie rock band that sound… well… exactly like Tokyo Police Club.  Nonetheless, they are a talented bunch who play fun, upbeat, cheerful tunes that you can shake your tail feather to.

If you love beachy, breezy, Bob Dylan-esque folksie tunes you’ll fall head over heels for Mr. Jason Collett. This dapper gentleman engages the crowd with his calming voice and takes his fans on a poetic journey through his lyrics. His music transcends time, as do Woodpigeon’s, in that their songs are effortlessly timeless and could be listened to 50 years ago, now and in the future.

If what you fancy is indie Brit pop you need to check out Hot Panda.  They are a band out of Edmonton, Alberta that seamlessly infuse instruments such as accordions, harmonicas, and keyboards into their musical mix to make a sound all of their own.  Their sound is quirky and energetic and if you don’t have the urge to groove out while watching them perform you’ve got issues!!!

The best performance at the Horseshoe by far was from band DD/MM/YYYY.  This band pushes musical and performance boundaries with their unique brand of indie rock and thier unconventional stage show.  Their music is experimental mixed with doses of pure rock and roll and a dollop of crazy, which I mean with the best of intentions.  Their stage show is similar to their musical stylings: hectic, confusing and brilliant.  They are a force to be reckoned with and are easily one of my favorite performers coming out of Toronto at the moment.

As I left The Horseshoe Tavern, I stumbled upon a great performance at The Velvet Underground: Triple Cobra! Straight out of San Francisco, Triple Cobra was the best performance of the night by far.  I’m not the biggest fan of their music, which can only be described as glamorized cock rock, but their stage show was brilliant.  The performance value was through the roof, from the light show to the scantily clad Vegas-style back-up dancers, this band is a must see!

All and all, Saturday night at The Horseshoe and Velvet Underground tickled my musical fancy.  Can’t wait until next year!

Written by Kristen Tignanelli

Photography by Joyce Wong

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

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