Vancouver Folk Music Festival 2010 - July 16-18

The 33rd Annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival is taking place at picturesque Jericho Beach in the heart of Vancouver next weekend. This festival, the largest one that takes place in the city, incorporates 3 days worth of folk (and folk-related) artists from all over the world with a laid-back west coast mentality, with stages overlooking tree overhangs and ocean. There will be concerts throughout the day, as well as collaborations and workshops provided by the artists. You'll find musical lovers of all ages and ilk, dressed in everything from costumes to minimally under the sun. So grab your sunscreen and your blanket and get ready for a wonderful weekend of music!

I will be covering the 2010 Vancouver Folk Music Festival for North by East West throughout the weekend. Follow me on Twitter for live updates, check out my Flickr for photos and keep your eyes peeled here for interviews and highlights of the weekend!

Weekend passes and nightly passes are available at different rates for seniors, youth and students. Gates are open at 4pm on Friday evening and 9am Saturday and Sunday. If you haven't gotten your tickets yet, you can purchase them online here or at Highlife Records, Neptoon Records, Zulu Records, Little Sisters Bookstore or Banyen Books. They're also available at the gates for a higher price.

I'm glad to see that although provincial arts funding had been slashed dramatically, affecting the bottom lines of cultural groups including the Folk Fest, we can still expect Canadian talent across the country to grace their presence on the VFMF stages. Some of these performers include Bahamas, Jim Byrnes, Alex Cuba, The Deep Dark Woods, Sarah Harmer, Jon & Roy, Shane Koyczan and the Short Story Long, Catherine MacLellan, The Malahat Revue (consisting of Hannah Georgas, Said The Whale, Jeremy Fisher and Aidan Knight), Timber Timbre, and the United Steel Workers of Montreal.

You'll also find international talents such as The Avett Brothers, Calexico and Bettye LaVette. Click here for the full line-up of the 2010 VFMF.

For a sense of the joyous musical weekend about to take place July 16-18, you can check out my coverage of the Vancouver Folk Fest from last year. I had an incredible time, and the little touches-- including considerations for sustainability and public transit-- indicate excellent planning on the part of the VFMF committee last year. I'm looking forward to seeing how they have improved in a year's time.

(Photo from Great Lake Swimmers' performance at last year's VFMF. Brenda Lee.)

OPINION : Music and Politics

I recently received an email from someone who was looking for my opinion regarding the questions below:

Do you think music today is more or less political than it was in the past?
How do you think musicians approach politics?
What musicians in the Canadian [indie] scene are the most political?
Do you find yourself addressing political issues in your blog?
Do you find that politics and music tend to go in hand in hand, or can there be music without politics?
Modern-day music is very youth-centric; do you find that this generation seems to be more nihilistic?

She asked a lot of questions, so she'll get a long answer! What do you think about the relationship between music and politics? How would you answer the questions above?

Here's what I replied:

I think it depends on what you define as political. In terms of opinions regarding who's in government, many musicians express their displeasure with current governments. For example, many artists, both BC-based and not, spoke up against the recent drastic cuts to arts funding by the BC Liberals. Many artists are vocally against the federal Conservative government because of Stephen Harper and several of his ministers' views on everything from their stances on same-sex marriages, to military presence abroad, to the seal hunt. It's not limited to Canadian politics either; Arcade Fire were open supporters of Obama during his presidential run, playing shows for his volunteers during the elections. So many artists were outspoken during the various American issues, such as California's Prop 8, the health care reform debate, and so on. Vancouver's Geoff Berner recorded a song, released free on his website, that was his Olympic anthem, which protested having the games due to mainly the homeless population and poverty in the downtown east side.

However, if you define political beyond the traditional sense of government, you'll find that almost every musician has a pet cause or platform that they're passionate about. For example, Tegan and Sara are big proponents for gender and queer issues, Broken Social Scene are fundraising for street youth, and Metric for prevention of trafficking of women. Arcade Fire were among the first to broach the devastation of the Haitian earthquakes, and Jason Collett is married to a social worker. It goes on and on and on, from the environment to poverty to preservation of arts and culture in a specific city. With such an emotional impact, many of these themes necessarily come across in their art.

As for how they approach and support their respective causes/platforms, many play shows with a certain percentage going toward specific charities/causes. For example, War Child Canada, a charity which specifically aims to protect children in war zones, has done a fantastic job in collaborating with artists in their Busking For Change series in major Canadian cities. The Vancouver edition happened back in January I believe, and artists such as Said the Whale, Elias, We Are the City and many more busked downtown to fundraise for War Child. Artists such as Jeremy Fisher have openly spoken about War Child and had volunteers soliciting donations at shows. Many artists also play fundraisers for local venues, organizations and causes, and many would note the importance of preserving a local culture.

Artists also speak out for/against things during interviews and shows. The media love controversy, and many of their opinions are often magnified when spoken to media sources. Many also keep personal blogs and websites to express their opinions about current issues. For example, a member of hardcore band Fucked Up recently wrote a thoughtful piece on the commercialization of popular music festival South by South West (SxSW) [ed. note: I still think the piece is legit even with the April Fools prank]. You'll find that when a band is successful, especially if their success is partially based off of insight in their music, people will seek out their opinion on issues.

Music has always been a form of protest and questioning. That's a core part of its power, and why bands such as Rage Against the Machine speak to people way beyond their prime years. The power of art is to move... whether to action or to contemplation. In that sense, I think music, being a form of communication with immense emotional power, is political. Even if it's not overtly so. For example, successful Quebec bands such as Malajube choose to sing in French rather than English although it would probably help them expand their audience. So music the art form, combined with music's culture (the identities music lovers adopt, the general ideological tendencies, being counter culture to some sort of norm) as well as musicians' personal choices all have political implications.

I occasionally write opinion pieces outside of reviews, but not often. I was critical of the funding cuts to arts and culture by the provincial government last year and blogged about it, but mainly that kind of stuff I save for Twitter or Facebook. I contribute also to a crowd-sourced Canadian music blog named North by East West (NxEW.ca) and there are definitely opinionated people on there. A discussion can spring up about everything from equal representation of music from all parts of Canada (one of the reason for the blog's genesis) to whether you have to be hot to rock. CBC Radio 3's Lisa Christiansen does an incredible blog series called Extended Play which explores a lot of issues surrounding music which include politics.

I don't see as much youth-centrism in independent music as I do in mainstream music. Usually, bands have to really build up a base over time in order to have a solid presence in the indie scene. The most successful examples, such as Sam Roberts, Feist, Metric, Joel Plaskett, Broken Social Scene, Arcade Fire... generally are in their 30-40s. Most of them had played in bands since their early 20s (if not earlier), in many different bands, and moved numerous times before they had a solid fan base/got greater exposure like from an iPod commercial. That's not to say that there's not a lot of young indie bands that are successful, but an overnight teen sensation is unlikely to happen in the indie scene because there's not a dominant force pushing a specific band to be "hot" and get radio play and advertisement deals the way that happens in mainstream music.

I don't think it's the youth-centrism which contributes to our culture's nihilism. I think our pervasive doubt of authority, which is related to the postmodern rejection of a dominant world view, is something that we've been taught for a long time. How often have we been told to question every source in school by doing more research and doubt everything? So no, I don't think this current music culture is any more nihilistic. Our central authorities have been teaching us nihilism in the form of scientific skepticism for a while... isn't that ironic?

Aidan Knight – a stabbing, Versicolour, cereal, and starting a label

(For North by East West.)

What just happened? I was in 7-11 across the street from Sugar [night club] where Said the Whale just played to a sold out, packed out house. And I was buying a 500ml carton of chocolate milk. While we were in line, one of the 7-11 employees ran beside us, literally ran beside us, and took off his belt and made a make shift tourniquet out of his belt and probably really helped out a guy who got stabbed. And then there was blood…

Aidan Knight, a singer-songwriter (in air quotes) from Victoria, BC joined me for an interview after opening for a sold-out set by Vancouver favourites Said the Whale and Hannah Georgas on a cold January night at a bus bench, with both of us reeling from a violent attack in downtown Victoria. The affable, tall Knight describes his music as indie rock mixed with pop, classical and country, “like a big gumbo of music.”

B: You’ve been described before as a sad Jack Johnson. Is that right? [laughs]

A: I guess I should clarify that it’s only because I play an acoustic guitar sometimes. And I put that jokingly, sarcastically in a bio, that people describe me as “sad” and “like Jack Johnson,” because someone who was really drunk once told me, “your music is like… it’s so sad!” And honestly, there’s this one guy at this other show who was like, “hey man, did you open Tegan & Sara’s show at Rifflandia?” And I said yeah. He was like “so great man, so great. You totally remind me of John Mayer.”

B: That’s a different one…

A: … And I get that people think that because I happen to have an acoustic guitar, and that I sing with it… I think it’s cool that people want to come and talk to me and tell me how much they enjoyed the set, and if that’s what their musical comparison is, then that’s what they like and they also like me, then I think that’s okay. At the same time, I have taken that off my bio officially, because that’s all I ever get quoted. Literally, the back of the Rifflandia program was one paragraph: ‘Aidan Knight: he’s from Victoria BC and his music is described as “sad” and “like Jack Johnson.”’ Period. So … if you’re asking what my music sounds in 5 words, I would not say—

B: “Sad and like Jack Johnson.”

Knight has played in several bands since he was a teenager, including Black Tie Social when he was 17, Counting Heartbeats, Toco & Jorge, Maurice, Lotus Child and Vegan Holocaust. He’s supported such mainstay Canadian acts as Julie Doiron, Patrick Watson, Tegan and Sara, Dan Mangan and Said the Whale.

On his latest album, Versicolour, he collaborates with Julia Wakal of Victoria’s gypsy band Bučan Bučan, Toronto’s The O’Darling and teams up with producer Jon Anderson. The name “Versicolour” is inspired by the name of a freckle-like skin condition that he had as a youth (tinea versicolor), which captured the sense of embarrassment and shyness which he can feel in sharing his music.

B: On Versicolour, was there a sound you were trying to achieve?

A: When I went in and first recorded, I wanted it to be very ‘70s-meets-Broken Social Scene. The O’Darling came and we were pretty much 10 people. In the beginning, I had an idea in mind of what I wanted certain tones and sounds to sound like. I just had no idea what the songs were going to be like when it was all finished. And then by the end of it, it just came together in the most unaffected kind of way. All the choices that I made in the beginning, and the choices I made later all compounded on top of those things and were what I would do, or what the O’Darling would do, or what Jon Anderson, the producer—he also played on it—so, there was just a great collaboration.

B: Would you say that other than Broken Social Scene, that the sound was influenced by anybody?

A: Yeah; Julie Doiron—I really like Désormais, it’s one of my favourite albums. My music has a lot more parts to it, like that album is very stripped down and basic, but the kind of spirit of what the guitars sound like, some of the time I was trying to cop her style. Also, I got to see Chet a lot… who are a Victoria institution. I remember going to see them a lot and really like the way that Ryan plays guitar, and the way he sang. I listen to a lot of specifically of Canadian music, and it’d be hard for me to go through and name everything. But yes, definitely Julie Doiron and Chet and Broken Social Scene. And Wilco is a huge influence for me but I think they’d just be in everything that I do, so I won’t even mention that.

One of the stand out tracks in Versicolour is the soulful, spiritual-esque closer “Jasper.” Upon hearing it for the first time, I thought it was a cover because it just sounds classic.  
You can grab a free mp3 of "Jasper" here.

B: Is “Jasper” about the place?

A: It’s about the Athabasca River. I was touring with Maurice at the time and it was the hottest day. And we stopped at this lake and we got out and all these people… hundreds and hundreds of feet out. And it was just up to their knees, and you could go all the way out. And the lyric “oh and I was frightened/when you put your face in/the mouth of the canyon” was about JP just like, diving into the water backwards and laying under the water and the water wasn’t even tall enough to fully cover him. It was inspired by that day; it was so crazy and coincidental that we ended up there that I thought to honour it with a song. And I was feeling a little bit twangy that day, and that’s the song that came out!

B: It’s definitely almost a spiritual.

A: Yeah. I also feel like I hear that sometimes. The lyrics are a little bit baptismal, and I know that the whole bathed in the water and stuff like that, that it’s a very classic religious allegory.

Knight definitely has been inspired by Christian allegory and experience in the church as a kid and youth. In his track “Alter Boys,” he drew from his experiences as one and credits years in the church choir with the hymnal quality to his music and his appreciation for harmony and choral classics such as “Once in Royal David’s City.”

A: Talking about influences, I listen to a lot of David Bazan because I love him as a lyrics writer. He’s the lead singer of Pedro the Lion. He’s very influential to me as a lyricist because he has very sardonic wit about how disenfranchised with God he is. I feel like it’s very edgy and raw and personal. And although I don’t want to write in that style, the things that he says have really captured my lyrical imagination. I love the way that he pieces together songs. I don’t want to steal all of his things, but in terms of adding those religious allusions in my lyrics, I just find that there are things that hint toward that.

You can grab a copy of Versicolour in stores by March 9, which will be under the label Adventure Boys Club. A digitally copy is available as of March 2. If you’re a vinyl person, you can pre-order it at aidanknight.bandcamp.com.

B: Tell us about your plans of starting a new label with a mysterious co-conspirator.

A: Tyler, from Said The Whale, and I are the adventure boys of The Adventure Boys Club. Which is our high-fidelity recording society. [laughs] It’s very elite. Right now we’re just setting the whole thing up. Releasing Versicolour is the only thing we’re doing right now. So hopefully it turns into more things with more bands we want to support. It’ll probably be a great British Columbian label.

B: Kind of like, what Arts & Crafts is like for Toronto?

A: I’m going to go on record and say that if it ever did become the Arts & Crafts of Vancouver or wherever, if it turned out to be the Arts & Crafts of the Georgia Strait, I’m sure that Tyler and I will be very happy about it. Things are looking good.

B: Who would you love to sign?

A: We Are The City. For sure. Even before they won the Peak Performance Project and got the money, they’re just fantastic and great friends. They’re young and have so much music and career and touring ahead of them. And my friends The O’Darling, I would love to give them a label home where we can just pay them money to live and create great music. Right now it’s pretty low key, a little independent label. Incredible friends and incredible musicians.

Aidan Knight had just concluded a tour with Vancouver’s Dan Mangan through BC and Alberta. He is currently on tour with We Are the City, going all the way to Montreal, Canadian Music Week in Toronto, and then heading home. Below are some upcoming tour dates:


Mar 6 - Montreal, QC @ The Green Room w/ We Are The City
Mar 8 - Sherbrooke, QC @ L’Antiquarius w/ We Are The City
Mar 9 - Ottawa, ON @ The Observatory w/ We Are The City
Mar 10 - Toronto, ON @ Global Village
Mar 13 - Toronto, ON @ Criminal Records (Free Instore Show) w/ Dan Mangan & Hollerado
Mar 24 - Calgary, AB @ The Gateway (SAIT) w/ We Are The City
Mar 25 - Lethbridge, AB @ Henotic w/ We Are The City
Mar 27 - Edmonton, AB @ Haven Social Club w/ We Are The City

B: And our last question, which is completely non-music related, and since you’re holding chocolate milk, what’s with the obsession with cereal?

A: I think my cereal thing is just out of nerves of not knowing what to talk about. I’m not really an expert on anything, but if I had to be an expert on something, it would probably be cereal since I’ve eaten so many varieties, looked at so many different nutritional information panels on the boxes. Right now my thing is trying to eat more local food. So I’ve been really supporting Nature’s Path cereal, which is all over. Their main office is in Richmond BC, and their production facilities are all over there. The amount of distance for shipping is much less than Kelloggs, or Post, or General Mills.

B: It’s totally within the 100 mile diet.

A: Exactly! I’m trying to support them, and I’m trying to support local dairies. So companies like Avalon, Island Farms, stuff from the Comox Valley. If I can make just one simple change like that, if everyone could make a simple change to just eat one variety of food locally, it would be supporting our local industry and the idea of food security if there’s ever a problem.

How fitting that Said the Whale also had one of their songs featured in an ad for orange juice. Watching the two of them play is like having a complete nutritious breakfast! If you’re interested in checking Aidan Knight out further, his various websites/social networking things are below:

myspace.com/aidanknightmusic

twitter.com/aidanknight

facebook.com/aidanknightmusic

aidanknight.bandcamp.com (vinyl and stream full album)

** Note, if you buy the vinyl, you’ll instantly get a digital version of the album.

Olympic concert iCal (.ics) files for your calendar organizer

All of these are courtesy of Alex Cameron, who made the iCal files and so graciously shared them with me. If you encounter any problems with them, or even better, are absolutely astounded by them, give him a tweet.

Thanks also to North by East West for hosting these files. Check out NxEW for the most comprehensive coverage of independent music all across Canada.

LiveCity Vancouver:

http://www.nxew.ca/files/Olympic_LivecityYaletown.ics

http://www.nxew.ca/files/Olympic_LivecityDowntown.ics

Whistler Live!:

http://www.nxew.ca/files/WhistlerLiveMedalsSkiers.ics

http://www.nxew.ca/files/WhistlerLiveVillage.ics

 

Surrey 2010 Celebration:

http://www.nxew.ca/files/SurreyCelebrationStage.ics

http://www.nxew.ca/files/SurreyHouseStage.ics

 

Robson Square GE Plaza:

http://www.nxew.ca/files/RobsonSquare.ics

 

Atlantic Canada House:

http://www.nxew.ca/files/AtlanticKitchenBackstage.ics

http://www.nxew.ca/files/AtlanticOnDeckGranvilleIsland.ics

 

Various Granville Island shows:

http://www.nxew.ca/files/AirCanadaStageGranville.ics

http://www.nxew.ca/files/PerformanceWorksGranville.ics

http://www.nxew.ca/files/ClubAdrenalineGranvilleIsland.ics

 

Ontario Pavilion:

http://www.nxew.ca/files/OntarioPavillion.ics

 

Free CBC Events:

http://www.nxew.ca/files/FreeCBCEvents.ics

 

Richmond O Zone:

http://www.nxew.ca/files/RichmondOZone.ics

NEW VIDEO : Matthew Barber - "Revolution of the Sun"

From North by East West:

Matthew Barber performs "Revolution of the Sun" from True Believer - his new album due out February 23 on Outside Music. The performance was taped at the Gibson Showroom in Toronto and directed by Jason Owens.

If you're a sap for romantic, heartfelt piano ballads, it doesn't get much better than the older of the Barber duo (the younger being Jill of Polaris-nominated fame).

If you like what you hear, you can pre-order his latest album from Maple Music. The first 80 orders are autographed.

Enjoy!

Hannah Georgas : New Album and BC Dates

Hannah Georgas, a Vancouver favourite and recent winner of CBC Radio 3's Bucky Award for Best New Artist, is releasing her first full-length album This Is Good on April 27, 2010. So mark your calendars and start save your nickels and dimes!

In anticipation of her new release, Hannah will be playing a few shows around BC in support of other Canadian indie favourites, including good friends Said The Whale from Vancouver, and with Joel Plaskett as part of the Coldsnap Festival.

January 23 - with Said The Whale @ Sugar - Victoria, BC

January 24 - with Joel Plaskett @ Prince George Playhouse - Prince George, BC [SOLD OUT]


Click here for some photos of Hannah Georgas with Said The Whale back in November 09 at St. James Hall in Vancouver.

Also, keep your eyes and ears peeled to NxEW for more upcoming news about Hannah's new release, including an interview and contest giveaways!

Photo Credit: Vanessa Heins

NxEW Canadian Album Hall of Fame Finalist : Arcade Fire's Funeral

[Note: Originally posted at NxEW, my lovely blog home, which is being nominated for 6 (!!) 2009 Canadian Blog Awards!]

Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004)

Merge Records

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Really, who didn't see this coming? From the bright piano tinkling of the opening seconds of "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)," to the triumphant swell and fade of strings in the final seconds of "In the Backseat," Funeral maintains its artistic tension and delights with orchestral beauty. Win Butler and Régine Chassagne's voices, at times urgent and discomforting, complement the ambitious instrumentalists in theatricality. Not a singles album by any stretch of the imagination-- although it did produce five (Neighborhood #1, #2, #3, Rebellion (Lies) and Haiti), Funeral grabs a hold of you for the duration of its 48 minutes and paints a musical landscape that lingers long after its last notes. And boy, does it grow on you over time.

There's little doubt as to why Funeral remains one of the most highly regarded, most critically acclaimed and best-selling indie (over half a million sold) records in not just Canada, but the world. It garnered near-perfect rankings and scores with international music critics, landing on more "best of" lists than could be counted with all your fingers and toes. It was nominated for the Grammy for Best Alternative Rock Album and Arcade Fire won Songwriters Of The Year at the Junos for three of Funeral's singles. Despite its name, the album injected a shudder of life in the Canadian independent music scene. This album also helped launch the formidable careers of successful Canadian independent artists Final Fantasy and Bell Orchestre. So although the album was inspired by deaths, many regard Funeral as a milestone in the coming of age of Canadian independent music.

Big name fans of Arcade Fire include David Bowie, U2, US President Barack Obama and director Spike Jonze, who reportedly said that he listened to Funeral while writing the screenplay for his adaptation of the popular children's book Where the Wild Things Are. 

Current Arcade Fire line-up: Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, Richard Reed Parry, William Butler, Tim Kingsbury, Sarah Neufeld, Jeremy Gara.


Track listing:
1. "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" – 4:48
2. "Neighborhood #2 (Laïka)" – 3:31
3. "Une année sans lumière" – 3:40
4. "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" – 5:12
5. "Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)" – 4:49
6. "Crown of Love" – 4:42
7. "Wake Up" – 5:35
8. "Haïti" – 4:07
9. "Rebellion (Lies)" – 5:10
10. "In the Backseat" – 6:20

Arcade Fire website, Twitter, Myspace.
More of Arcade Fire on NxEW.

---
Another note: Arcade Fire has stated that they have a new album in the works and due for release sometime in 2010. More info here!

Metric Acoustic EP : "Plug In Plug Out"

From NxEW:

Metric is releasing a digital EP next Tuesday (Oct. 27) which will feature acoustic versions of songs from Fantasies. The album will be available exclusively through Amazon.com for the first 30 days, after that it will also be on iTunes and directly from the band at ilovemetric.com.

Currently, I'm loving the harmonies that Jimmy provides. And Twilight Galaxy is somehow more cautiously hopeful than the original.

Concert Review : Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees & Dragonette

(First of all: wow. Electro-dance music live. So much better than the recorded stuff. The show last night was a great continuation after seeing Champion and His G-Strings at Rifflandia.)

Now I admit up front I knew neither Dragonette nor Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees well going in to the concert and had little to no expectations. Rebekah Higgs of Ruby Jean is mentioned quite frequently on NxEW, so I assumed good things. A friend had invited me to the concert last minute and he's quite familiar with Dragonette's music, showing an interesting contrast where I knew the opening act while he knew the headliner. This review focuses mostly on Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees.

The show was held on October 17, 2009, and the venue, laconically named Venue (don't you love ironic un-creativity), was originally the Plaza night club. It was quite classy, in fact, which was a nice deviation from many of the Vancouver clubs. There was a high stage, much like the Commodore Ballroom, and similarly has a well laid out floor plan. High ceilings and a balcony enabled a back wall LED light display, as well as a hanging ceiling light displays. Both of those were put to good use during the two sets.

A few notes about Dragonette-- the lead singer Martina Sorbara oozes confidence. She knows how to grab attention and hold it. The crowd, which consisted of everything from screaming club girls to Gucci-sporting men to gamer-looking huge guys, ate up whatever she served during the hour set. It was amazing to be up so close to the front and see the amount of arms reaching and longing to touch her grey body suit or shake her slender hand. Sorbara was visibly pleased and thanked the full house crowd for their full attention and adoration.

Now onto Halifax's Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees. As an opening act, they complemented Dragonette very well, as both bands have strong frontwomen, backed by solid trios of supporting men. They both played electro-dance rock which moved you involuntarily.

Ruby Jean launched into You Don't Miss Me, the one song I was familiar with from CBC Radio 3, as the first song in their set. They then proceeded to blitz and grind through the remainder of songs from their eponymous album.

Although their time slot was quite early (7:30 on a weekend?), which Rebekah apologized for, the area in front of the stage soon filled up with bobbing heads and swinging hips. And with good reason. Rebekah Higgs is a hell of a show-woman, clutching two microphones, swinging her mess of blond hair around, kicking the air, craning her back down where previously thought humanly impossible, punching her suitcase of buttons and pedals... in short, it was amazing. She oozed confidence (and sex appeal!) in a fully sequined blue mini-dress, matched by guitarist Jason Vautour in a leather vest (no shirt) and leather short-shorts.

It was a pleasure watching the band rock out on stage, visibly having fun, with chemistry and what may be sexual tension building up to the (very high) roof. Rebekah thanked the audience frequently for their high energy, and reached out into the crowd quite a few times for audience participation.

I immediately bought their album and shirt after the set, which came to a very reasonable $20, and got to chat briefly with Rebekah, who's really sweet despite (?) her onstage persona.

On stage, Higgs mentioned that this is only the second time that they've played in Vancouver. Well, that has to be remedied. and fast.

For more pictures from last night, visit my Flickr!

Plotting & Planning for Rifflandia

Exciting times; new school year (with new research endeavors), new bachelorette pad (with the sister), new job, new breath of fresh air. And through all that, concert / festival season continues!

Next weekend (Sept. 24-26) I'll be in fair Victoria, BC to cover the Rifflandia Music Festival for NxEW. Likely lots of tweets, lots of pictures, and lots of setlists (I've gotten pretty good at grabbing those).

Next Wednesday night before I depart for the weekend, I'll be going to Basia Bulat's show at St. James Hall, hosted by the UBC Alta Mater Society. This saves me the grief of missing her set in Victoria.

I love her Facebook fan club page name the more I think about it -- Basia Bulat Fan Club: We Love These Woodland Nymph Songs! (It's pretty descriptive.)

So here's my tentative game plan, not taking into consideration how I'll get around ...

Thursday Sept. 24
Hannah Georgas @ 8:00 @ Metro Theatre (1411 Quadra Street)
Final Fantasy (picture, left) @ 9:30 @ Alix Goolden Hall (907 Pandora Avenue)
Shad @ 10:15 @ Market Square (560 Johnson Street)


Friday Sept. 25
I'll likely just stick around at either Sugar night club or Market Square. Most likely Sugar. (Choices, choices...)

Sugar (858 Yates Street)
Library Voices @ 9:30  
Zeus (picture, right) @ 10:15  
Cuff The Duke @ 11:15 
The Most Serene Republic @ 12:00am

Market Square

The Dudes @ 10:30
Mother Mother @ 11:30



Saturday Sept. 26
A toss up between Market Square or Metro Theatre. If it's possible logistically I'd catch Char2d2's set then get to Jets Overhead after.

Market Square
Jon and Roy @ 9:00
Jets Overhead @ 10:00
Hey Rosetta! @ 11:00
Buck 65 @ 11:45

Metro Theatre
Char2d2 @ 8:45
Jon-Rae Fletcher @ 9:45

And now I gotta run this schedule past my good friend Roger who is graciously housing me for a weekend, entertaining me while putting up with my relative absence. He'll be able to tell me if my schedule involves running across town in an impossibly short amount of time...

Musical Updates From Twitter - Sept 15

To make life a lot simpler and a lot more internet-addiction-free, I'll try to sum up some notable things to save you time and browsing energy. You're welcome!

K'naan and J.Period team up for another collaboration called The Messenger #3, which apparently features Bob Dylan? Download for free here.

Another free download: Chad VanGaalen offers up a free B-Sides EP to complement his Polaris-shortlisted Soft Airplanes.

Joel Plaskett records an iTunes Original Session which is available for purchase here (leads to iTunes Store) and is being broadcast tonight (Sept 15) at 5pm PT / 8pm ET on CBC Radio 3.

Vote for your favourite songwriter at for the ECHO Songwriting Prize. (I think it's pretty obvious whom I've already voted for.)

Nominees -
Joel Plaskett Through & Through & Through,
Sebastien Grainger Love Can Be So Mean,
Timber Timbre Lay Down In The Tall Grass,
Land of Talk Some Are Lakes, and
D-Sisive Nobody With A Notepad

A great piece on Herohill regarding how Metric has to fight both relative obscurity in the global music market and the shunning of the indie crowd.

After tweeting about seeing Immaculate Machine at the Biltmore, Grant Lawrence of CBC Radio 3 informed me via direct message that Kathryn Calder is no longer part of the Victoria band. Not to say that the show was any less enjoyable, but I was a bit disappointed to hear that...

Some upcoming Vancouver concerts on top of what's listed at my sidebar: Corb Lund @ Commodore Ballroom Nov 12/14, The Swell Season @ Vancouver Centre For Performing Arts Nov 5. Mother Mother is opening for Matthew Good for 2 shows at The Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts on November 10 and 11.  Tickets start at $32.50 and are on sale this Friday.

And to wrap up the entry, here's my concert and EP review for Vancouver's Char2d2 on NxEW. Below is their single Take & Send.

Tune of the Day: Rah Rah - Duet for Emmylou and the Grievous Angel

Rah Rah, a band from Regina, Saskatchewan, have this little gem in their latest Going Steady that I almost forgot about until a fellow blogger at NxEW brought it up... The lyrics are pure gold, and it's definitely the most refreshingly blunt "see-ya" song I've heard in a while.

Rah Rah - Duet for Emmylou and the Grievous Angel
To listen to the song, go to their MySpace.

I don’t miss you now but I will when you’re gone
And this is the reason I keep holding on
Because you are lovely and because you are old
And these are the most desirable traits to be found in a woman I am told

It is fashionable
To be single
In big cities
But not in small towns
In Regina
Saskatchewan
I fell in love
With her frown

I won’t miss you now but I will once we’re done
Sometimes I strain myself trying to recall the last time we had fun
‘Cause you’re soft as smoke and you got no fear
And these are the most desirable traits to be found in a man I hear

I won’t kiss you now but I will once you’re gone
I won’t miss you now I won’t miss you at all
I won’t kiss you now too afraid that you’ll cry
I won’t miss you now and I won’t give a shit if you die

Some upcoming tour dates:
Sept 17th – Vancouver, BC – Wise Hall
Sept 18th – Kelowna, BC – The Habitat
Sept 20th – Calgary, AB – Broken City
Sept 23rd – Regina, SK – The Club
Sept 24th – Winnipeg, MB – Lo Pub
Sept 25th – Thunder Bay, ON – Black Pirate’s Pub
Sept 26th – Sudbury, ON – Adenac Ski Lunge
Sept 28th – Toronto, ON – El Mocambo
Oct 2nd – Montreal, QC – Bar St. Laurent II
Oct 3rd – Montreal, QC – 3 Minots
Oct 10th – Fredricton, NB – The Capital
Oct 11th – Halifax, NS – Gus’
Oct 16th – St. John’s, Nl – The Rockhouse
Oct 17th – St. John’s, NL – The Ship
Oct 22nd – Toronto, ON – El Mocambo
Oct 23rd – Hamilton, ON – This Ain’t Hollywood
Oct 26th – London, ON – Black Shire Pub
Oct 27th – Windsor, ON – Phog Lounge

North By East West Shadow Polaris Short-list

It's now down to the final 10 from the semi-short list of 20! Go vote for your favourites here. The list also includes a single from each album should you wish to sample all the finalists before casting a vote.

Super pleased that Great Lake Swimmers and Joel Plaskett made the list. But of course.

Remember! Vote now, and vote often!

VFMF Weekend Review (plus photos)

Writer's note:
Posted at NxEW.ca.
As Alex (AlexOfAnders) has been so thorough with his Vancouver Folk Music Festival daily recaps, I'll try my best not to overlap.

This past weekend was probably the hottest and brightest on record so far this year in Vancouver. Being located on Jericho Beach, Vancouver Folk Fest had the advantage of drawing in not only music lovers, but curious sunbathers as well. That, along with its tradition of having hippie-ish arts bazaars by its premises, meant that there was an eclectic mix of attendees, from mothers changing babies on beach blankets, to the most hardcore of indie fans.

The festival was run very well this year. There were an abundance of Christmas light-lit porta-potties, which were clean (!). The water refilling stations with local filtered tap water was a nice touch. I didn't eat much, but there was a whole section for food with over 2 dozen vendors. Cute kitschy vendors selling everything from hammocks to hats lined the walkways. I took public transit to get to the festival site, which took about an hour total in commute time from a local municipality (Richmond). So in conclusion, you would not be roughing it in the wild.

Onto the music; there were 8 stages in total, with the main evening stage complemented by 7 numbered, smaller stages.

Friday night (July 17)

I arrived the main evening stage to overhear Joe Pug, a singer-songwriter from the States. I was not super impressed with him; seemed like typical guy-with-guitar fare. However, he had a surprisingly old-soul voice for a 23-year old.

After a short meeting with fellow NxEW-ers at the beer garden (good view of evening stage), I went off to snap some photos of the Weakerthans' set at the main stage. They opened with Night Windows (my favorite song from them) and put on a strong, hits-filled set, especially near the end when they blazed through Civil Twilight, Aside, and Sun in an Empty Room.

John Samson was more than willing to banter back and forth with the audience. Before launching into One Great City!, he threw his support behind those who oppose the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in 2010. This was no surprise, looking at the topic matter addressed in the song. After agreeing to disagree with a few audience members, he mentioned that he'll be at the beer garden after the show, to continue the debate then. Sadly, I cannot confirm whether or not that happened. Read Alex's interview with John Samson here.

After the Weakerthans, Iron & Wine took to the main stage. I'm not very familiar with his music, but he played a hits-filled show as well, according to fellow blogger Lauren from Backstage Vancouver.

Arrested Development, the headliners of the night, were definitely a highlight for me. They've been performing "uplifting hip hop" for over 17 years, and the infectious and joyous noises they make roused the 1000+ crowd to their feet to dance. Everyone from grandpas to hipsters were flinging their hair and swinging their hips. It was a sight to behold and truly a pleasure to witness. The festival's Lantern Committee wandered through the crowds and complemented the music by their light show, and sporadic fireworks went off in English Bay across the waters. It was a magical night. I unfortunately do not have any (good) photos, as I was (fortunately) dancing.

Saturday afternoon (July 18)
My first session of the weekend ("Folkestra") was hosted by Rock Plaza Central, and included members of The Breakmen and Great Lake Swimmers. There really is nothing quite like the experience of lying in the hot sun and listening to some of the most talented musicians serenade an appreciative crowd.
The bands alternated between songs and occasionally contributed to each others' instrumentation. At times, a song sounded like it had the help of a 12 piece backing band, which was what happened for Great Lake Swimmers' Still, which is a beautiful song off their Polaris-shortlisted Lost Channels. Expect my Youtube video of it up on this blog soon...
(On a side note, while they were playing, a pair of dragonflies were courting right up front and centre of the stage. They had the best view.)


Rock Plaza Central played a handful of songs off each of their albums, especially from their latest ...At The Moment of Our Most Needing and the thematic Are We Not Horses from 2006. After the frontman Chris Eaton borrowed Tony Dekker (of Great Lake Swimmers)'s guitar, they rounded up their set with the catchy song My Children, Be Joyful (mp3) which had the entire tent, as well as the audience, singing along.

The Breakmen
, a Vancouver-based folk/roots band, played songs such as That's Where I Lay Down ("written on a day much like this one"), as well as an unnamed one which had the whole stage singing "oohs" for back-up. I don't know their music well but am looking forward to checking them out more.

After the session, we made it over to a nice shaded stage for Basia Bulat's set. I was very excited to see her live for the first time, after falling in love with her voice two years ago. Due to a mix-up with scheduling, or the artist before her overstaying his time, her set began half an hour later than scheduled. That didn't frazzle Bulat, who launched into a high energy foot-stomping set, including hits like In The Night. Erik from the Great Lake Swimmers played guitar and banjo in her backing band.
She wrapped up her 12-song set with Snakes and Ladders and an a capella song, which had her crooning to the audience complete with foot stomping and clapping for percussion. You can read an interview between Alex and Basia here.
After Bulat's set, I raced over to Joel Plaskett Emergency's free set in Surrey, BC for the Surrey Fusion Festival. That adventure will be outlined in a later post.


Sunday evening (July 19)

After bolting between Surrey and Jericho beach (again) after a friend's bridal shower, I made it back in time to catch Rock Plaza Central and Great Lake Swimmers again at a side stage. GLS were headlining that particular stage.

They each performed several songs that they played during the sessions, ramped up, as well as several other songs.

Chris Eaton, lead vocals and guitar for Rock Plaza Central, was clearly appreciative of the large attentive audience. He connected with the audience well, which definitely complemented his band's amazing songwriting and his captivating "scream-folk" voice (as dubbed by me). Once again, they wrapped up their set with the two extremely catchy songs (Don't You Believe The Words of) Handsome Men and Be Joyful. Handsome Men has been stuck in my head ever since their set.

Great Lake Swimmers, whose performance I'd been waiting for the whole weekend, surpassed my expectations with their set. By the time they got on stage, a sizeable crowd had stretched far back, waiting to hear this ethereal band led by Tony Dekker's singular voice. They were not disappointed. The Swimmers played a 12-song long set, strumming through hit after hit. Let's Trade Skins, Chorus in the Underground, Palmistry and Pulling On A Line started the set, while the captivating Various Stages had the entire crowd sighing to the words,

I've seen you in various stages of undress
I've seen you through various states of madness

Basia Bulat joined the Great Lake Swimmers for the ending part of the set, adding a jolt of energy to Your Rocky Spine (which, by the way, totally blows John Mayer's Your Body Is A Wonderland out of the water). The entire set was wrapped up with the beautiful and hopeful Still. I'm sure I speak for the appreciate audience when I say that no one wanted the dream-like set to end. As the sun was setting and music from Mavis Staples floated over from the main stage, Great Lake Swimmers got a standing ovation for being a sparkling highlight of the entire weekend.
Sunburnt and sleep-deprived, I could not have wished for a more soulful, musically-filling weekend.

See a set of photos from Vancouver Folk Fest on my Flickr here.
Here's another very thorough VFMF review by my good friends Mel and Lauren of Backstage Vancouver.

Vancouver Folk Fest Preview

Below is my official first full concert review to kick off the Vancouver Folk Music Festival weekend coverage. The original unchopped column, including some free mp3 downloads, can be found here...

This weekend, I will be tweeting, putting up photos on my Flickr, blogging on behalf of NxEW as well as here.

At the Railway Club on June 3, three artists took to the stage to fundraise for the Vancouver Folk Music Festival as part of the VFMF Revue -- Veda Hille, Dan Mangan and Geoff Berner. Each put on a phenomenal set, and if this is any indication of things to come, this year's festival will be a treat for those living in/near Metro Vancouver.


First to play a set is the quirky Veda Hille. She opened with Lucklucky, which was accompanied by the clacking noises of the toy train overhead at the Railway, to good effect. The song, which included a short ode to the Hockey Night in Canada theme, demonstrated Hille's playful theatrical voice well. She played a couple of covers, which included Neil Young's Transformer Man.


Second on the stage is Dan Mangan. Mangan played an eight song set, which included several songs from his upcoming album such as Tina's Glorious Comeback, The Indie Queens Are Coming (which brought Veda Hille back on stage), You Silly Git (a song inspired by his girlfriend), as well as Basket, which is written for his grandfather. Of course, Mangan wrapped up his set with the catchier-than-herpes Robots, which ended with him holding his guitar aloft while walking through the audience, encouraging a sing-a-long.


The final performer of the night was Geoff Berner. The best way to describe Berner and his set that night would be "perpetually intoxicated, irreverent drinking songs," demonstrated by such songs as The Way That Girl Drinks Beer. However, in more than a few occasions, his meandering voice sharpened their focus towards specific points that he wanted to make. The best example is his song The Dead Children Were Worth It, which criticizes the upcoming Vancouver Olympics in 2010. So while his voice (and mind) may wander and drawl, it does once in a while come back and sucker punch you into paying attention.

See you at the show!

---

Editor's note: Belated photos from VFMF Revue up on my Flickr HERE.

Festivals Coverage in Vancouver This Weekend

This upcoming weekend is an exciting one in terms of music in Vancouver. Not only is there the annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival, the line-up of which features the lovely Basia Bulat, Great Lake Swimmers, The Weakerthans, Dan Mangan as well as international acts such as Iron & Wine, but Surrey has also shocked with their Fusion Festival line-up, which includes the Joel Plaskett Emergency, Said The Whale, Alex Cuba, among others. Did I mention it's free?

I'll be covering the both of them, to the best of my abilities (and cell phone bill limits) via Twitter, Flickr (for photos), on this blog, as well as on NxEW. Yes, this does mean racing from Jericho Beach, which is in downtown Vancouver, to the suburbs. Below is a tentative schedule of the acts and sessions I'm hoping to catch this upcoming weekend. Of course, if I get sidetracked or blown away by something I happen to pass by, I'll note those as well.

Friday July 17
VMFM
7 pm - The Weakerthans
8 pm - Iron and Wine
9 pm - Arrested Development

Saturday July 18
VMFM
10 am - Fresh Folkus (hosted by Basia Bulat; ft. Joe Pug, Kate Reid, Dan Mangan and Great Lake Swimmers)
1:30 pm - Folkestra (hosted by Rock Plaza Central; ft. Great Lake Swimmers and The Breakman)
3:10 pm - Basia Bulat
SFF
7 pm - Said The Whale
8 pm - Barney Bentall & The Grand Cariboo Opry
9 pm - Joel Plaskett & The Emergency

Sunday July 19
VFMF
5:30 - 9:30 pm - Rock Plaza Central Great Lake Swimmers

For the full schedule of the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, click here. (PDF)
For the full schedule of the Surrey Fusion Festival, click here.

To get you hyped up for the weekend, read my preview review of the Vancouver Folk Fest Revue (now say that ten times really quickly).

The comprehensive list of Canadian independent artists

Dear friends and silent readers,

A couple of you had asked me for a comprehensive list of the Canadian independent artists/bands worth listening to. Well, after over a month of compilation, I realized that the task is just too-
1. daunting
2. endless
3. questionably objective/subjective
4. time-consuming
5. in its nature, incomplete-able.

But I'm glad to say that I contribute to a blog that has done the task superbly. With links to band websites, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and CBC Radio 3 New Music Canada profiles, NxEW has the list that music pack rats will no doubt salivate over. Thanks team, or in Twitter-speak, #whewthanks!

(click the happy Canada goose to get to the list!)

Who Should Win Polaris?

RE: NxEW's poll!

I'm always tentative to answer these questions, especially since I feel like I have to listen to every single Canadian album released before I can put forward an opinion. And gosh, win? I'm still trying to establish a short list. But I'm just going to put myself out there and vouch for a couple of albums that I've loved this past year. If you've even scanned briefly through this blog, you'll notice that most of these choices have already been mentioned to death, so I'll keep my nominations short.

Metric "Fantasies"
I agree they don't need the recognition, but the album is astounding and deserves any that goes its way.

Joel Plaskett "Three"
IMO it doesn't take even his live performances to hear his skills in stringing concepts and themes throughout his ambitious, thoroughly enjoyable and consistent triple (!!!) record. But, his show definitely sealed the deal for me.

Mother Mother "O My Heart"
Vancouver love!

K'naan "Troubadour"
Generally not a huge fan of hip hop. This was an excellent album though.


Maybes
-----
Arkells "Jackson Square"
Although I love this album, it wasn't as consistently strong as the others I've mentioned...

Drowning in it

A brief update on what my musical life is like right now: a bit overwhelming.

1) I have not been able to fit all my music on my iPod (my poor little 2G first gen nano) since February 15, according to iTunes. This doesn't include the backlog of CBC Radio 3 sessions and various other podcasts. That's over 50 podcasts and 10 hours of music that I haven't even heard once. Especially since the beginning of concert season and writing for NxEW, I've been bombarded with new CDs and free promotional tracks. I'm dedicating days at a time listening to my playlist of solely new music when at home.

2) Speaking of concert season. Although bummed that I can't make it out to Lollapalooza, Ottawa Bluefest, or even Salmon Arm, I am anticipating seeing (and have seen) some of my favorite artists in smaller, more intimate venues which don't involve fear of trampling. A fellow CBCR3 blogger mentioned that the Joel Plaskett concert is well over 2 hours long (3 hours, hours, hours? Please?) and involves a great deal of comfortable, hilarious banter, so I'm just grasping my tickets and waiting breathlessly until Saturday!

3) Got new earphones today which don't rape my ears then leave me with a migrane. Unlike my last boyfriend. Jokinggggg. They're Sennheisers and cost me $50.

4) Got "The Old Prince" stickers from Shad the other day. Normal mail with delightful contents. Now to decide where to vandalize...

Weakercons

Rely a bit too heavily on alcohol and irony
Get clobbered on by courtesy
In love with love and lousy poetry
And I'm leaning on this broken fence between past and present tense
And I'm losing all those stupid games that I swore I'd never play

Seeing the Weakerthans and the Constantines tonight with fellow blogger Alex(ofAnders). Looking forward to discovering more of the W.'s back stock as I only own Reunion Tour and a couple of previous singles. And the Cons are pretty much new to me.

It seems that people have strong opinions for only one of the bands versus the other. Or perhaps this is just a fake dichotomy stirred up on NxEW to encourage banter :) Either way, having only heard one song by the Cons (and unreleased, FYI) I'm firmly planted in the Weakerthans' camp. I'm looking to be challenged however, and would happily sit upon this particular musical fence.

Who knows, maybe I'll eventually dub this tour the Constanthans. (which is not a typo on Blogger, FYI)

Edit: day after concert
Weakerthans' Aside is officially more awesome than it already was.