K-os @ Yonge & Dundas Square

8:30 pm on the sunny Friday evening found me hitting up one of the free NXNE shows at Y&D Square. Arriving just on time I valiantly dove into the beyond packed crowd of fans, random wanderers, and broke music lovers to get a better look at the Toronto emcee who strode onto the stage with a full sense of ownership. The crowd was diverse reflecting his appeal and his increasing mainstream status. K-os has a quick, rapid, and smooth delivery, that was backed by a full live band plus DJ/producer. Not bothering with intro stage banter, he launched right into his first song and then quickly blew through a couple of old hits like “Superstarr” and “Man I Used to Be” which prompted cheers. Like any good emcee K-os repeatedly engaged the crowd and by the time he launched into “Crabbuckit”, probably his most well known song, a significant number of the crowd were dancing as much as possible given the extremely tight confines.

DD/MM/YYYY @ The Gladstone Hotel Ballroom

It took until 11 pm for me to make it back into The Gladstone because Timber Timbre, a band that had topped multiple “best of” lists last year and which I definitely wanted to see, had previously played at 10 causing a massive overflow of people. Earlier the place had not only been over capacity, but was also endowed with a huge winding line of people outside that had stupidly arrived far too late.  After Timer Timbre’s set there was a sizable exodus, and only then was I able to make it in. Fortunately all was not lost as the next band was hometown heroes DD/MM/YYYY who play loud, jerky, fast, 80′s video game synthesizer drenched, rhythm and percussion driven math rock. (more…)

Glorious day 2 in the festival but day one for us took place in the hipster netherworld of West Queen West where we could hop between several NXNE venues quickly and repeatedly. It all began at 9 pm.

Mountains & The Trees @ Gladstone Hotel Ballroom

As I got there it was barely 9 pm and the Gladstone ballroom was practically empty despite the show and first band having started at 8 pm. The thin crowd was mostly media by the looks of the plentiful amount of expensive professional DSLR cameras in sight. The Mountains & The Trees, a friendly looking guy/girl duo was introduced refreshingly in an honestly enthusiastic way by a CBC Radio 2 personality. Fronted by Jon Janes, fittingly and perhaps purposely dressed in a classic logo CBC sweater, on acoustic guitar and Jillian Freeman on a rotating everything else, The Mountains are a likable folk band from the Maritimes that exude earnest rustic charm. Their music is light and sprightly, simple and sparing, consisting of personal story/narratives that have a small town nostalgia mixed with a yearning for bigger and greater things. They’re at their strongest with their more energetic songs and when they sing duet. Janes has an easy and welcoming style which he paired with humorous soft spoken but interesting banter. On another song named “Carry On” he prefaces it with the fact that everywhere they played it in Europe, people mentioned how Canadian it was…joking that it most likely was due to the fact that it fondly recalls snow mitts, trees, and the outdoors. Freeman is an able accompanist switching easily from xylophone to harmonium, bells, and various percussion instruments while also doing backup vocals. The band wrapped up their set with Janes doing a song, “Letters to a friend”, a classic folk parable, solo in an even more intimate form in front of the stage amongst the now slightly bigger crowd. With its steady beats and dreamy storytelling vibe, The Mountains & The Trees is a band I would imagine would be the perfect soundtrack to be listening on a sunny long distance car trip across the Canadian landscape. (more…)

On Wednesday the 17th, the music portion of this year’s North By Northeast Festival began, which for many years was the full extent of the festival, but since has come a long way. It has not only grown in size and quality but in scope as well. A few years ago the festival added a film component that has remainined very music focused in its programing. However, it has recently broadened its scope slowly to include more peripherally music-related fare like Sook-Yin Lee’s Year of the Carnivore, which is making its umpteenth Toronto film festival appearance.

This year also marks another expansion of the festival’s mandate with the premiere of its first interactive media conference, NXNEi. The conference kicked off the festival ahead of both the film and music schedules on Monday the 14th, though unlike the other two components which are far-reaching, it was restricted entirely to the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

NXNEi can safely be called a success and seemingly much-needed, considering it sold out, despite a limited mainstream media push, and included web luminaries such as the creative and audacious Ze Frank. With NXNEi, the festival in general took another step towards perhaps one day matching its venerable sister festival, South By Southwest, which has become unmissable both for indie music and new media followers.

This year, NXNE’s music lineup features 650 bands over five days and 50 venues with an increasingly kick-ass and extensive free lineup at Yonge and Dundas Square which includes not only The Raveonettes (8 pm on Sat. 19th),  Iggy and the Stooges (9:30 pm on Sat. 19th), and De La Soul (9 pm on Sun. 20th) but also 21 other great bands over four days (Thurs. 18th – Sun. 20th). In addition, there will be free shows all over the city from Union Station to Bellevue Park in Kensington with less established (and unspecified on the website at least) bands throughout the day. Single showcase tickets are available at the door of the venues, and the other two ticket options are 5 day festival ($50) or 1 day festival ($25) wristbands.

Check out some media show recommendations for further intel.

• Now Magazine
• Eye Weekly
• Torontoist
• blogTO

Thursday, June 18th was day 2 of the venerable 15-year-old North by North East (NXNE) Music Festival.

Spiral Beach, Burning Brides, Black Lips

My compatriot and I were making our way to Yonge and Dundas Square for the first of 3 nights of free concerts thrown by the festival at the square.

Though the concert at YD Square had been going on since 6pm that night, we were making a fashionably late arrival at 9:30pm. Unfortunately, that meant we missed the powerhouse and up-and-coming Toronto band Spiral Beach, who had kicked off the show at 6pm. As we arrived, the band Burning Brides were just finishing up their act, and there was already a slow-growing trickle of people arriving in anticipation of the Black Lips’ show at 10pm. We left to grab a quick bite to eat (sorry Burning Brides, food more important) and by the time we had returned the Black Lips show was already underway.

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North by North East (NXNE), for those who don’t know, is the annual music festival in Toronto that has more than 500 international and Canadian bands playing 50 venues over 5 days, and in the past few years has also added a film festival of 30 music related films. This year was its 15th anniversary and it took place from June 17-21 (Wednesday-Sunday) and had a stellar lineup in comparison to some of the more lackluster past years, with notably The Cool Kids, The Black Lips, GZA of Wu-Tang Clan, and The Zoobombs among many, many others. For the uninitiated, prices are usually $10 to $15 a show but the best value is definitely in the $50, 5-day wristband that gets you into all the shows. However, there is no priority or even guaranteed entrance if the show is packed, so one should get there early. Of course there are various others in between and above and beyond ticket levels available ranging from $25-$250 as well. This year was my first year as music reviewer, so those who are looking for really erudite obscure band comparison references should jump ship to Pitchfork now. On the other hand, NXNE has yet to reach the level which would demand attention from Pitchfork, unlike Austin, Texas’ South by South West (SXSW) which NXNE owes name reference to. For those who are looking for descriptive reviews of general vibe, venue, music, and experience, read on!
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So, here it is. My final night of NXNE. The last instalment in a weekend that could only be characterized as a wet, beer-soaked, and often sweaty blur of power chords and awesomeness. I must admit, it was a little sad to see the festival end, but I was determined to fit in one more dose of excitement.

For the first time so far, I took a chance on a band I had heard nothing about. Essentially I picked a venue (The Silver Dollar Room) and let chance pick for me. Lady Luck decided that I would be watching Adam & the Amethysts, a psychedelic band from Montreal. Not a bad choice, fate. Essentially a glorified solo project for singer/guitarist Adam Waito, the Amethysts knew how to write a catchy if slightly-skewed melody. My only complaint is that they conformed a little too much to the “indie sound”. If indie is a genre, then this is indie. To tell you the truth, The Silver Dollar is better utilized by bands with slightly more energy.

As chance would have it, the next band I saw was also not on my list, but if I know NXNE (and, if I don’t, I’m at least learning) I know that the band with the most buzz will be the hardest show to get into. In this case that was Monotonix, so I decided to catch the band before them. That band was The Guest Bedroom, who, if not compared to the band that followed, were quite good. Lead singer Sandi Falconer held down both the guitar and the Alto Sax and sing-yelled in pure post punk fashion, while another band member (sorry, no name) held down a surprisingly funky combination of keyboards and synthesizers.

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Here we are, the final night of North by Northeast. Your final chance to go out and check out some music. If you haven’t been to any shows yet, it’s alright because tonight boasts some promising line-ups for a good night out. Get out there while you still can.

As always, blogUT can help you decide what to see. And, if you have any recommendations yourself, that’s what the comments section is for.

After the jump, my final recommendations.

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