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

With tons of new releases set to explode onto the music scene this spring, it is hard to decipher what is listen-worthy and what is not. One way that artists are giving fans (and critics) a taste of what is to come is by sampling tracks off their future releases during their live shows. The Russian Futurists aka Matthew Adam Hart appear to be doing exactly that; showcasing a few songs off thier highly anticipated album The Weight’s On The Wheels during both CMW and SXSW. Matthew caught up with us right before he was set to take the stage during CMW.

iheartthemusic: So, you’re from just outside Toronto, and you’ve been doing shows all over Europe and the UK, does playing CMW feel like “coming home”?

Matthew: Well, we havent played now for a while. Our last real show was in Tokyo and that was a year and a half ago, so it feels great to be playing again and building up again. When you go away for a while, it’s not like you just jump right back to where you were in terms of popularity. We’re having to re-build our status in Toronto. It’s not like the old Toronto where we used to play every couple of weeks; it’s new, and it’s good and it’s humbling and you have to be good and work hard to succeed. We’re trying to do that.

iheartthemusic: Do have a venue or spot in Toronto where you like to play best?

Matthew: I really love the Mod Club in terms of sound. But we always seem to do really well in Victoria B.C for some reason. We always do really great shows there and the fans are so supportive. It’s the small shows that I think they’re really appreciative of.

iheartthemusic: I wanted to talk a little bit about your name. “Russian Futurism” was an artistic movement in early 20th-century Russia that dismissed the traditional, old, static forms of art in favour of those more representative of dynamic, forward-looking, urban, modern life. The parallels between this concept and your music cannot be a mere coincidence, can it?

Matt: Actually yeah! (laughs) My brother took a Russian History class in University, and we used to talk about shit he was learning, and I just really liked the sound of it. It’s funny cause now I get asked questions about the significance behind the name all the time, and I’ve had to do a little reverse engineering and be like, “Yeah, there are definitely parallels”. But originally it was just a name – it was like calling yourself “The Corvettes” – but I liked how it sounded phonetically.

iheartthemusic: How hard is it to pick a name?

Matt: Really hard

iheartthemusic: I mean, I spend at least ten minutes in the produce section of the grocery store trying to decide between red or yellow peppers! I can’t imagine trying to choose a name for my musical baby.

Matt: I say it’s at least as hard as being a doctor (laughs). No, but it’s hard to pick something you’ll like forever. You call yourself something really dated like when it was all “The Vines”, “The Shins”, “The Strokes”, “The this and that” – that seemed to be a real trend. Instead, I wanted to pick something that people would really remember. I’m glad I didn’t put any thought into it at all, it just kind of stuck.

iheartthemusic: In the beginning, The Russian Futurists was all you. It was your baby, a creation that you have developed from scratch. Recently that has changed, and you have added some band members – especially for the live shows. Other than in the literal sense, how has The Russian Futurists changed; how has it affected your sound?

Matt: I still write and record everything myself. It has changed in the sense that, for a lot of years I didn’t like playing live – at all. I was pretty reluctant and got really anxious, and didn’t want to be up there. I was just like, “let’s get this shit over with”. Now that I’ve got a live band that I’m really excited about, it’s cool being up there. It’s like in hockey: you play better in front of a goalie you trust, and it’s the same with the live band now. I really trust them and they’re really excited about it. It’s just a good bunch of new energy in the band, and it’s totally made me more into playing live, for sure.

iheartthemusic: First and foremost you’re a hip-hop fan, so who’s your favourite hip-hop producer? Premier?

Matt: Yeah! I mean I love Premier. Right now I love Alchemist, he’s like, my dude now. There’s so many. I really like early Rakim production, early Hieroglyphics stuff, Souls of Mischief…I mean I’m a really big east coast hip-hop fan, so lots of Premier, even early Mob Deep. I grew up doing that kinda music, makin’ beats like that. My first music gear was a sampler, and still, most of my songs are built around samples.

iheartthemusic: Do you have any plans to make an album more fully grounded in hip-hop?

Matt: You’re definitely not gonna get me to spit a verse (laughs)

iheartthemusic: That was my next question! How come you sing and don’t spit rhymes?

Matt: I do a little bit, but it’s with my little brother. He’s got a few different hip-hop crews, always centred around a theme. Like he’s got one about having the best gadgets, like cell phones and shit, and they’re called “The Mad Gadgets”. We just did a track together about fishing, and ONLY about fishing. So we do hip-hop, but it’s not about a big concept, but something really specific. It’s just-for-fun, but I do the beats for those guys.

iheartthemusic: Back to electro. A far as my knowledge goes, electro is a very studio-specific genre in terms of the heavy production involved, the layering techniques etc. It’s music meant for the album. Are there any aspects of your recordings that don’t carry over into the live performance?

Matt: Well, there’s just some stuff you cannot reproduce. It’s a lot of samples and stuff like that, and even if you have a band to reproduce it all, I’m not crazy about seeing people reproduce everything. We still use backing tracks and samples cause you kind of need to, and I don’t want to totally abandon that. You just need to resign yourself to the fact that you’re not going to create something live exactly like it is on the record. Once you get over that, it’s fine.

iheartthemusic: Well, you have been doing this for a long time now! I mean, you’ve gone from producing in your bedroom to the studio; from just recording to being thrown into the whirlwind of the music industry – with all international touring, the notoriety etc. What’s that transition been like for you?

Matt: I’ve been doing this for 10 years now! And I got lucky that my first record was picked up in Europe, and was over there right away. So, we were really lucky and didn’t really have to ‘pay our dues’ by driving out to like, Saskatoon. We got to go over to Spain pretty early on and do a lot of tours in Europe. It’s kind of been gradual. I take it for granted now because back then, it’s just the way it was for us, and I thought every band did it like that. (Our success) wasn’t out of nowhere, I really like that it’s built slowly as opposed to being really popular for two years and then no-one gives a shit about you after that.

iheartthemusic: Can artists separate the desire to make art from the desire to make it big?

Matt: Yeah, I think so. I’m always 10 steps ahead of what’s happening. It’s never like “this year my goal is to play here”, but you do have loose goals. Basically you just gotta check your email everyday and you get some weird shit, some cool opportunities, and just hope that they keep coming.

interviewed by Brittany Smith

photography provided by Aaron Alleyne

CMF Friday night at Lee’s Palace began in the freezing cold rain where beefed up, power-tripping-on-overdrive bouncers and door staff didn’t understand the idea of a media pass, refusing entry and re-entry to the people there to cover the show. Some disorganization, and a lot displeasurable attitude from the security and ticket staff, media people were held hostage within Lee’s Palace, unable to go outside unless they, in the words of ‘Ms. Door Staff Bitch’, “wanted to stay there”. Once the show began we were glad to have opted for the hostage route considering the powerhouse lineup that night delivered immeasurably wicked performances.

Although they served to set the tone perfectly, there’s no doubt Winter Gloves could have killed it by playing a later set, with a larger, warmer, more loosened up crowd. A much more keys-centred, textured sounding rock set than was maybe expected, Winter Gloves know how to demand your attention. Having twice as many instruments than band members on stage (coupled with the ability to play with both hands and feet) it is always a sign of good times to come. Strong vocals and an amazingly enthusiastic frontman didn’t hurt this post-rock/electro mix either; think of the best performance this musical hybrid could produce, and you have Winter Gloves live.

For how up-beat, interesting and wacky their music is, The Russian Futurists didn’t have the stage presence you’d expect. Frontman/creative mastermind behind the group, Matt Hart, not only neglected to touch an instrument or synth board, but was a marble statue at the mic all night. Oddly enough, he had more presence cracking jokes and just being natural in between songs than he did during their set. A couple of really fun orchestral choruses, a wicked drummer capturing the spotlight, a surprise duet with Ruth Minnikin, and some impressive Spector-inspired sounds were the highlights of this otherwise blah performance. Although their music is forward-looking, different and undeniably creative, the crowd also seemed unsure of what to make of their live show.

The Acorn live is way less sad and boring than I thought they’d be, which is always a welcomed surprise, especially from a band whose album better suits a good Sunday morning listen over a Friday night. Three or four guitars, a very personable frontman with a buttery soft voice, and a crowd quite obviously there to see them, The Acorn dazzled. Subtract a couple yawners, and a guitarist that randomly disappeared in the middle of the set, and this band of brothers can really carry a performance – confirmed conclusively after receiving a massive(ly good) response from the boisterous and heartening crowd.

What’s always forgotten is that Plants and Animals is a 3-piece band. They are so heavy and have so much depth, it’s a wonder that this transfers onto the stage so flawlessly. An exponential increase in intensity making their sound fucking explode off the stage, these guys know. how. to. rock. out. Contrast this with Spicer’s fantastical, yet solid voice that could carry over an ocean, and you’ve got one of the toughest acts to follow. Lengthening the bridges and jamming around arrangements; putting some echo effect on the mic and pulling the drum kit forward, all added so favourably to this hub of greatness. Complete with perma-smiles and dropping jaws, it only took one glance around the room to reveal the general verdict of this performance. Oh yeah, and they mostly played stuff off their yet-to-be-released album. Jesus. These guys are good.

As reviewed by Brittany Smith

photography provided by Aaron Alleyne