3am Mixtapes: Episode Sixty Nine: Siblings

Each week on the 3am Mixtapes podcast, I will share with you the Top Six Songs of a certain subject. The topics can be as general as best drummers, but some might be a little more... specific. Top Six Songs Written About Fictional Characters from a SciFi Television Show. 

From The Jackson 5 to the Rankins, family bands have been a long tradition, but this week I'm gonna focus even further and take a look at the Top Six Sibling Bands!

Put these in your earholes:

"I Go Hungry" by Mother Mother
"Firefly" by Hollerado
"Congo" by Bear Mountain
"Toughest Man in Prison Camp" by The Sumner Brothers
"My Silver Lining" by First Aid Kit
"No Cars Go" by Arcade Fire

Any questions or comments or waffles or criticisms or suggestions for future themes are welcome!

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String Fling III @ Biltmore -- 01/28/15

For the third year running, members of Vancouver's Four on the Floor String Quartet have stepped into the spolight for a show called String Fling. The event sees the quartet -- who have backed up about 87% of all Vancouver bands -- front & centre for the night, to be joined by various local musicians to fuse indie rock with classical strings. Previous years have been at the Rio Theatre, but this year they took over the Biltmore Cabaret for two nights of stringy goodness.

The members of the quartet for the night were Michelle Faehrmann on cello, Elliott Vaughan on viola, and violinists Stephanie Chatman & Emily Bach, and they were occasionally joined by Sean Bayntun on piano. Each musician joining them had a quick set of a couple songs, with the quartet playing their own pieces between each set, usually of songs written by members.


After the quartet started the show, the first performer to join them was frequent collaborator, Dominique Fricot. He took stage with his acoustic guitar and a few heartfelt songs, the strings giving them added emotional weight, especially on "Strange Lady". He also got the crowd participating in a stomp-stomp-clap along to "Those Eyes", before proceeding to act as emcee the entire night, wine glass in hand.

Hannah Epperson was also no stranger to the quartet, being a rotating member herself. Normally a looper, she eschewed her pedal for the first show in a long while, as she had actual humans backing her this time. Her soft and beautiful voice lilted over the strings, and I really liked her second song, a brand new, heavy hitting song, which included Daniel Ruiz on drums (the first of his frequent appearances throughout the night).

The tone shifted a little as Dustin Bentall got up with a bit more of a rockin' sound. As much as the softer songs fit with the string quartet, I always like how seeing things a bit rougher sound. Which was pretty darn good in this case. His first song, "I Have Not Been Sleeping" was just him with the strings, but they were joined by Ruiz on drums again and Ryan Guldemond out on backing vocals for the title track to his latest album You Are An Island.

Wrapping up the first half of the evening was legendary bluesman Jim Byrnes, just putting on a clinic. He dazzled the crowd from his stool with one of his own songs, which he joked was one of the oldest of the night, and then a cover of what was definitely the oldest of the night, "Saint Louis Blues", originally recorded in 1914 by WC Handy. It would have been hard for anyone to directly follow that, so they took a brief intermission at that point.


After the intermission the quartet was accompanied by an interpretive dancer for their song, before it was time for Mother Mother Member Ryan Guldemond. In true Ryan fashion, he challenged the audience with a song about death and attending your own funeral (or not) in his first song "End of Me" and seemed genuinely humbled and honoured to be playing with the quartet, asking them questions and even engaging Elliott in a slight guitar/viola duel at the end of a song.

There was a few repeat acts from previous years, and the next performer Tonye Aganaba was one of them. With her guitar in hand, she jokingly assured the crowd that it was in fact working, after a bit of a technical glitch from last year. Her incredible, soulful voice filling the room for one of her own songs, as well as a powerful cover of Thom Yorke's "Black Swan".

And finally, Bend Sinister's Dan Moxon was the last to play. Taking a seat behind the piano, he played a couple of the band's slower ballady songs, ending with "Careless", but first playing an absolutely gorgeous rendition of "Don't Let Us Bring You Down" -- which may have ruined the song for me, since now I only ever want to hear it with strings.

But that wasn't quite the end, as the quartet was drawn back on stage for one last song, as they were once more joined by Dom Fricot, for a fun cover of INXS' "Never Tear Us Apart".


The only downside this year was the venue. I feel The Rio was a much better place for this kind of show, as while the Biltmore was seated, it was still more of a "club" venue than a "soft seater", and from where I was sitting I could hear incessant talking and chatter all throughout the night. It detracted a little from the show, especially when the quartet was playing beautiful instrumentals.
But that is hardly the musicians' fault, and aside from that it was a great night. String Fling has continually been one of the most unique events in Vancouver, giving these amazingly talented string players, who are usually backing up other bands or off in the wings, the chance to take centre stage and shine.

3am Mixtapes: Episode Forty Seven: Entrance Music

Each week on the 3am Mixtapes podcast, I will share with you the Top Six Songs of a certain subject. The topics can be as general like best Scottish bands. Some might be a little more... specific. Top Six Songs To Chill Out To While Around A Campfire.

I used to be a huge wrestling fan, and one thing that I was always jealous of was their supernatural ability to have a certain piece of music play any time any wrestler entered the ring. Which is why I imagine what I'd want to play when I came in any room with the Top Six Entrance Songs!

Get it going with:

"Stormy High" by Black Mountain
"How Do You Like Me Now?" by The Heavy
"Trainwreck 1979" by Death From Above 1979
"Get Out The Way" by Mother Mother
"The War on East Coast" by The New Pornographers
"Chances" by Athlete

Any questions or comments or waffles or criticisms or suggestions for future themes are welcome!

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Toque Sessions: Hannah Georgas & Ryan Guldemond @ CBC Vancouver -- 02/28/14

For a fifth year, the CBC Toque Sessions return to CBC Vancouver. The sessions are a series of free shows featuring some great local talent, running through the end of February, and are recorded for later broadcast of CBC Radio 2, and streaming on CBC Music.

The final toque session of this year was hosted by Radio 3's Grant Lawrence, and featured the musical union of Hannah Georgas and Ryan Guldemond. The two friends are frequent collaborators, and recently recorded a handful of songs for CBC Music titled the Love Motel Sessions, appropriately titled for a collection of songs about love recorded in a... "charming" motel.

They were joined onstage by Ryan's Mother Mother bandmate Ali Siadat on drums, for an intimate and spontaneous hour of music; partially due to the small and attentive crowd, partly due to Hannah returning from European tour the previous day, as Ryan admitted they hadn't rehearsed much but wanted to capture the moment live. He was also taking the opportunity of the intimate show to pontificating on life between songs; on doing what you want as opposed to what you should, why not to retell stories, and needing to point out the elephant in the room (and "make a piano out of its tusks"). Every time I've seen Ryan perform -- especially solo shows -- he is very weird enigmatic with seemingly stream-of-consciousness stage banter, but always interesting nonetheless.

They started off with Hannah's "Robotic" and "Fantasize" and traded off throughout the set. Ryan's songs were about various stages of love, from his own lovelorn "Academe", to Mother Mother's deceptively charming "Love It Dissipates". He also dazzled with his amazing guitar chops, effortlessly throwing in jazz or blues riffs to songs.
Hannah's amazing voice lent power to the simplified songs, hers going from the gorgeous and heartbreaking "Ode to Mom" to the vitriolic "Millions", that didn't lose an ounce of attitude when stripped down.
A cover of The Everly Brothers' "Bye Bye Love" wrapped up the set, but the pair was coaxed back on stage by Grant for one last song, a beautiful version of "I Melt With You" by Modern English.

One of my favourite things about the Toque Sessions is when they do more unique shows, more than just "here's a band, watch them play". Things like putting together two musicians that play off each other, and this was a perfect example of that. It was a captivating show and all three musicians on stage had great chemistry together, especially Hannah & Ryan.

setlist
Robotic, Fantasize, Academe. Love It Dissipates, Enemy, Happy, Ode to Mom, Millions, Alone And Sublime, I Go Hungry, Bye Bye Love [Everly Brothers cover]
(encore) I Melt With You [Modern English cover]

String Fling II w/ Four on the Floor String Quartet @ Rio Theatre -- 02/06/14

A little over a year ago, the Four on the Floor String Quartet -- who have provided strings for virtually every band in Vancouver -- had the chance shine on their own with the first String Fling at the Rio Theatre. It was a great show melding local indie rock with gorgeous, classical strings. Now they are back for a second year, for the second annual String Fling.

The members of the quartet for the night were Michelle Faehrmann on cello, Elliott Vaughan on viola, and violinists Stephanie Chatman and Emily Bach -- with Hannah Epperson on violin and Megan Bradfield on stand up bass also rotating in for a few songs.

They opened with a strings instrumental, and live visuals projected on the screen from an old school overhead projector that ran throughout the show, done by Mind of a Snail Puppet Co. Each artist got three songs, with the Quartet playing segues between each, and the first artist up was Brandon Scott from Yukon Blonde. His own songs were more laid back with a folky singer/songwriter vibe, compared to Yukon Blonde's high energy rock, with the strings punctuating the introspective feeling.

After an amazing and frantically dissonant viola piece by Elliott Vaughn called Nine Fingers, Tonye Aganaba took the stage. There were some technical problems with her guitar for the first song, but the focus of her set was definitely her powerful and soulful voice, which shone through her own songs, as well as a cover of Rihanna's "Diamond".

Another piece from the Quartet called "I Spell Your Name With Other Letters" (or, "Other Letters" for short, or "O.L." for shorter) segued into Jay Malinowski. Admittedly, I have never really liked Bedouin Soundclash, or his solo material, which he was featuring. His new project, called Jay Malinowski & The Deadcoast, also includes Elliott Vaughan, and he brought out the piano for one of the songs from the new album. Aside from his own songs, he also included a cover of Krief's "Forever Goodnight", before wrapping up the first half of the evening.

There was a brief intermission, before the show started back up with Michelle on cello, backed by Ali Sidat of Mother Mother on drums, for a really cool number -- starting off with kind of a dark, almost post-rock sound before spinning into a more dancey piece; it was one of my favourite pieces of the night.

Continuing the second half was one of the two leads of Rococode, Laura Smith. Rococode's songs have always had a bit of an eerie or haunting quality to them, and the addition of the strings drove that feeling home. She played a couple new songs, one with Ali and Ryan joining her, before finishing off with a haunting version of "Empire", which may have been my favourite interpretation of the night.

The Quartet went a little more contemporary and covered some Daft Punk before the next act, Ryan Guldemond. He said he wanted to juxtapose the beautiful strings with blasphemous songs, one of which spun into a spoken word monologue about a failed breakup with an ex. The songs were as catchy and sharp as you would expect from the Mother Mother frontman, but a lot less grounded; more surreal, but definitely interesting.

And finally, the night wrapped up with Fur Trade. The Quartet did a version of one of their songs instrumentally before Steve Bays and Parker Bosley were out for the band's very first live show. The two were members of Hot Hot Heat together, and while I was never much of a fan of that band, I have liked Fur Trade's singles, and their live performance was definitely impressive. Their pair of songs, "Kids These Days" and "Same Temptation", got the theatre crowd up to the stage and dancing, for a perfect ending to the main set.

But of course, the members of Four on the Floor were back out for an encore, for one last song, joined by Tonye and Laura on vocals to perform an awesome cover of R. Kelly's ridiculous song "Genius".


The night ran fairly smooth, with near seamless transitioning from one band to the next. I've always enjoyed strings in music, and the best moments from both this year -- and last -- were with acts that you might not consider adding strings to. There seemed to be a lot more synergy between the bands and the quartet this year, and I can only hope the tradition continues, as it is bound to become one of the most anticipated annual events.

Mother Mother with Hannah Georgas @ Orpheum -- 12/19/12

Vancouver's Mother Mother had a pretty triumphant return home, ending their current tour with a sold out show at the beautiful Orpheum Theatre. I wasn't as enamoured with their new album, The Sticks, as I was with last year's Eureka, but they've always put on one hell of a live show -- as evidenced with their recent win at the CBC Radio 3 Bucky Awards for "Best Reason to Buy a Concert Ticket" (Best Live Act) -- and after I had somehow missed every other Vancouver show this year, there was no chance I was going to pass this up. Especially since another favourite, and another hometown hero, the gorgeous Hannah Georgas was their opening act. 

Hannah Georgas -- also a recent Bucky Award winner, for "Hottest Pipes" (best vocals) -- was joined by a backing band of some familiar faces; Luke Renshaw (Jets Overhead), Rob Tornroos (Elias & In Medias Res), and Andrew Rasmussen (Hey Ocean). She focused mostly on her new, self-titled album, starting off the set with the lead track, "Elephant", the offering a little more electro-pop than her debut. Her fantastic voice still drove the songs, though, as witnessed on "Robotic" and her sharp (and sometimes acerbic) songwriting is still intact, with "Somebody", a unrequited love song.
My favourite of the set was also my favourite from the new album, "Millions" an upbeat and rocking song, and after the beautiful "Ode to Mom", she wrapped up her set with "Waiting Game" 
It's always great seeing Hannah -- even for a short opening spot -- but it seems like forever since I've seen her do a proper show of her own, so hopefully she'll be back sometime soon for a full show. 

setlist
Elephant, Enemies, Robotic, Chit Chat, Lovers Breakdown, Fantasize, Millions, Somebody, Ode to Mom, Waiting Game. 


The stage filled with smoke as Mother Mother took the stage, back lit to show only silhouettes against the smoke. Most of the set, actually, was deep in the fog with lights blazing through from the back of the stage, making the band occasionally hard to see (from my seats, anyway), but that didn't slow them down any. 
The five-piece is so incredibly tight and full of energy, with their off-beat indie-pop-rock full of quirky, occasionally tongue-in-cheek and usually dark songs, relying on the great harmonies between Jasmin Parkins and Ryan & Molly Guldemond, each with their own unique voice, somehow managing to blend together so well. Started off the set with the title track from the new album The Sticks, the band bounced from songs like the soft and haunting "Ghosting" to the almost hip-hop-sounding "Verbatim" from their debut album, to more bouncy songs like "My Baby Don't Dance", to their chaotic single "The Stand" that had everyone singing along, yelling "Everybody's fucked and they don't even know". 
Other highlights included my favourite song of theirs, the frantic and infectious "Hayloft", and "Little Pistol", where Ryan got serious for a moment, dedicating the song to the Amanda Todds of the world; everyone whose flame had been snuffed out too soon, a genuinely touching moment.
After a little over an hour, they brought the set to an end with "Let's Fall In Love" before coming back for the encore with Hannah to help on vocals for "Love It Dissipates", and finally ending the night with Ryan strapping on the banjo for the destructive "Wrecking Ball".

As you would expect from a venue like the Orpheum, the sound was excellent the whole night, and the sold out crowd was more than excited for the show. It was quite the homecoming for the band, wrapping up their tour with a bang, and proved why they are worthy for being the "Best Reason to Buy a Concert Ticket".

setlist
The Sticks, Body of Years, The Stand, Business Man, Verbatim, The Cry Forum, Infinitesimal, Ghosting, Hayloft, Simply Simple, Bit by Bit, Little Pistol, Dread in My Heart, My Baby Don't Dance, O My Heart, Let's Fall in Love. 
[encore] Love It Dissipates, Wrecking Ball. 

One Night Stand IV @ Media Club -- 12/31/11

For the fourth year in a row (and my third in attendance), some of Vancouver's finest musicians came together to ring in the new year with nearly three hours of great covers. The night saw many familiar faces from the last couple years, as well as some new additions to the one-off band, which rotated members throughout the night, seeing people on and off stage and everyone getting at least one song of their own -- even those who are not usually front and centre.

This year, the One Night Stand band consisted of Johnny Andrews (Rococode) Andrew Braun (Rococode, Hannah Georgas) Peter Carruthers (Siskiyou) Robbie Driscoll (Hannah Georgas) Hannah Georgas herself, Brian Healy (Elias) Tariq Hussain (Brasstronaut) Ali Milner, Jasmin Parkin (Mother Mother) Laura Smith (Rococode) Rob Tornroos (Elias), "plus surprise guests"

Starting at 10, they played three sets of covers, at the top of each hour, with the obligatory midnight countdown and free champagne.



Set One
Ready To Start (Arcade Fire) - Andrew Braun
Take On Me (A Ha) - Ali Milner
Rolling in the Deep (Adele) - Laura Smith
Suffragette City (David Bowie) - Brian Healy
Dreams (Fleetwood Mac) - Ali Milner
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (The Band) - Brasstronaut
Be My Baby (The Ronettes) - Jasmin Parkin
Born To Run (Bruce Springsteen) - Peter Carruthers
Common People (Pulp) - Tariq Hussain

They kicked off the night, appropriately enough, with Arcade Fire's "Ready To Start" and Braun on vocals (perhaps Rococode covering "Rococo" would have been too obvious) and from there Ali Milner did a great "Take On Me" and Laura Smith crushed the vocals for "Rolling in the Deep". Tariq brought out Brasstronaut band-mates Edo and Sam for a sing along toThe Band and in a rare vocal appearance, Carruthers took centre stage for "Born To Run". The first set wrapped up with a pretty cool cover of "Common People" (almost as good as Shatner's) from Tariq.

Set Two
Under Pressure (Queen) - 
You Make My Dreams (Hall & Oates) - Ali Milner
She Drives Me Crazy (Fine Young Cannibals) - Hannah Georgas
Gold Guns Girls (Metric) - Jasmin Parkin
I Might Be Wrong (Radiohead) - Laura Smith
Solsbury Hill (Peter Gabriel) - Brian Healy
Single Ladies (Beyoncé) - Smith/Milner/Parkin/Georgas

The second set [apparently] started with "Under Pressure", which I was a little crushed to learn I had missed, due to the photobooth being in the back room this year as opposed to next to the stage. The rest of the set was focused on the lovely ladies of One Night Stand, which was by no means a bad thing. Hannah took over for a great cover of one of my favourite songs from when I was a youngin', Fine Young Cannibals' "She Drives Me Crazy" and Jasmin Parkin's "Gold Guns Girls" was one of the more interesting covers to hear, by virtue of the fact that Mother Mother and Metric are fairly similar bands.
They capped off the set -- and the year -- with all four ladies; Smith, Milner, Parkin and Georgas, informing everyone that if you liked it, you should have put a ring on it.

Set Three
With Or Without You (U2) - Rob Tornroos
Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney & Wings) - Andrew Braun
Lust For Life (Iggy Pop) - Brian Healy
Dancing On My Own (Robyn) - Smith/Georgas
Use Me (Bill Withers) - Tariq Hussain
Once in a Lifetime (Talking Heads) - Robbie Driscoll
In My Place (Coldplay) - Rob Tornroos
Gz and Hustlas (Snoop Dogg) - Hannah Georgas
Say It Ain't So (Weezer) - Andrew Braun
Like A Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan) - Everyone

The first song of the year, the traditional slow dance song, saw Elias' Robbie T belting out "With or Without You", before a great sing along to "Live and Let Die" lead by Braun. Two big highlight of the night came close together, the first being Robbie Dee -- normally in the background of various bands -- channelling Taking Heads and proving he is a pretty damn energetic frontman in his own right, and the second was Gorgeous Gangsta' Hannah Georgas throwning down some Snoop Dog, which had to be seen to be believed.
And as with previous years, they ended the night with everyone coming back on stage for a giant sing along, with most of the room joining in for "Like a Rolling Stone".

I think one of the best things about this event is always how much fun is had in the room. Starting on stage, it's blatantly obvious how much the people love doing this; love playing some of their favourite songs with some of their favourite people, and that enthusiasm definitely bleeds into the crowd. Hopefully they'll keep it going for years to come -- and seeing as they always sell out well in advance, hopefully next year they can get an even bigger venue!

Mother Mother w/ Brasstronaut @ Vogue -- 05/04/11

Surprisingly, I had never seen Mother Mother headlining a show of their own. Of the handful of times I had seen them, it was always opening for someone or at a festival or something. So I was eager to catch their first of two sold out shows. The second is at the Commodore tonight (with the excellent Rococode opening), but last night was an all ages at the Vogue, with another band who is great live, and I haven't seen a while.

The first time I ever saw Brasstronaut, I knew I wanted to see them in a soft-seat theatre venue. I don't know why, it just seemed really appropriate. So I was definitely excited to see them opening. They played a decent length set, with (I think) a couple new songs; one I didn't get the name of and one possibly called "Prozak". Both were great, keeping with the bands rich and lush sound -- a sound that I am always impressed by, especially live. Among the older songs, "Six Toes" and "Requiem For a Scene" both sounded as great as usual, and they ended with one of my favourite songs of last year, "Hearts Trompet". It built until a grandiose climax, and as it ended, the members of the band left one by one until all that was left was Edo on keys and Brennan exploding on drums.

setlist
[new song?], Six Toes, Hands Behind, Requiem for a Scene, Prozak[?], Slow Knots, Hearts Trompet.

Shortly after (love those curfewed shows) Mother Mother hit the stage to piercing screams, kicking off with a couple older songs before getting into the new album, which made up the bulk of the set. The band had a fantastic energy and presence on stage, somehow managing to engage every single person in the sold out Vogue. And they seemed genuinely blown away from the support of the fans, with Ryan mentioned a couple of times how overwhelming it was to see everyone there.
The songs from the new album sounded great live, with highlights including the raucous "Problems", the almost eerie "Born in a Flash" and of course, "The Stand", which was one of the many songs to get recognition applause and have everyone singing along; a sold out crowd yelling "everybody's fucked and they don't even know". That led seamlessly into "Body of Years", which included a bit of Pixies slipped in, with "Gauge Away" -- appropriate, as Ryan and Jasmine covered the Pixies at One Night Stand, and since they were playing a show of their own across the street -- and the set ended with "Calm Me Down", a perfect song to go out on.
Though they were back for the customary encore, the whole crowd singing along to "Arms Tonight" and ending with an older one, "Verbatim", once more thanking everyone profusely for coming.

It was definitely the best show I have seen Mother Mother put on -- and probably the best for Brasstronaut as well -- for a great all around package of a show.

setlist
Ball Cap, Oh My Heart, Original Spin, Problems, Simply Simple, Oleander, Born in a Flash, Ghosting, Getaway, Baby Don't Dance, Polynesia, Chasing It Down, Angry Sea, The Stand, Body of Years (w/ Gauge Away Pixies cover), Hayloft, Wrecking Ball, Calm Me Down.
(encore) Arms Tonight, Verbatim.

New Music Now: Eureka by Mother Mother

Regular readers (all sixteen of you) may know I am currently schooling at BCIT, in the Radio Broadcast program. In our second, and final, year we take over the station Evolution1079 and are given various jobs. For the next little while, I am doing New Music Now; a three minute feature about... well, I think it's pretty self explanatory. I will be doing six of then in the next few weeks and I figured I would share them with you here because why not.

Here is the Eureka by Mother Mother

Download


All right. So. The thing is, I originally did six over a three week span, and this is the last of them. But I really liked doing them; it combined my love of production with my love of rambling about music and telling you what you should like. So the question is... should I continue to do these?
They would be on my own time and specifically for the blog, so I'd probably also need a new name, as New Music Now is from Evolution. Plus I'm sure I could think of something better. So far, the leading suggestion is "3 Minute Revelations Colon Subtitle Kirk Takes 3 Minutes Of Your Time and Awesomes It Up"
Thoughts?

One Night Stand III @ Media Club -- 12/31/10

Last year, I said: "the best way to describe what happened last night would be that it was like watching a huge group party of Rock Band. Except instead of your tone deaf, rhythm-less friends, it was actual, talented musicians. And instead of plastic instruments, it was the real thing". And while it's pretty lazy to just copy and paste that, I can't think of a better description of One Night Stand III. All year I've been talking about the magic of Vancouver's local scene, and the third instalment of this New Years Eve party was the culmination of that, with a dozen musicians from various bands coming together for a night of cover songs. 
The band consisted of Adaline, Andrew Braun, Johnny Andrews & Laura Smith (Rococode), Brian Healy & Rob Tornroos (Elias), Dominique Fricot, Hannah Georgas, Jasmin Parkin (Mother Mother), Josh McNorton, Peter Carrutthers (Said The Whale), Robbie Driscoll (Hannah Georgas) as well as a surprise guest for a couple songs. They rotated on and off stage all night, except for Johnny Andrews, who was on the drums for every single song (but one), and played nearly three hours of music, across three sets.

The first started at 10 and consisted of:
Call Me (Blondie)
Signed, Sealed, Delivered (Stevie Wonder)
Just Like Heaven (The Cure)
Someday (The Strokes)
My Moon My Man (Feist)
Love Fool (The Cardigans)
Where The Streets Have No Name (U2)
Glory Days (Bruce Springsteen)
All These Things That I've Done (The Killers)

One of my favourite covers of the night came early with "Just Like Heaven", a song I adore. At first I though Hannah was an odd choice to take vocals, but as soon as she opened her mouth, I was proven wrong (really, I should have known better). The set saw Hannah, Smith and Adaline taking a lot of the vocals, with both "My Moon, My Man" (Smith) and "Love Fool" (Adaline) also being great covers. After that Dominique Fricot -- who was actually too tall for the decorations -- came out for a pretty spot on Bono, and the set ended with the crowd chanting along to the chorus of "All These Things That I've Done". Though I have to admit, I was a little sad that The Killers got a much bigger reaction than The Cure.

Second Set:
Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel)
Enjoy The Silence (Depeche Mode)
Pump It Up (Elvis Costello)
Breakdown (Tom Petty)
This Charming Man (The Smiths)
Rehab (Amy Winehouse)
Creep (Radiohead)
Where Is My Mind (The Pixies)

This set was a little slower in tone, but "Sledgehammer" was another great cover, and Robbie Driscoll stepped out from behind the bass to channel some Costello for his only song on vocals.
The set ended with a bit of Mother Mother, as not only Jasmine came out to sing, but there was a surprise appearance by Ryan Guldemond joining the group on stage. He brought the final set of 2010 to a close with one of his favourite songs, "Where Is My Mind". It was definitely another highlight of the night, and judging by the amount of singing (and ooo-ooooh-ing) along, I wasn't the only one of that opinion.

Third Set:
Never Tear Us Apart (INXS)
(I've Had) The Time of My Life (Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes)
If It Makes You Happy (Sheryl Crow)
1901 (Phoenix)
Dog Days are Over (Florence & The Machine)
The Good Life (Weezer)
Bullet Proof (La Roux)
Loser (Beck)
Instant Karma (John Lennon)

And the first set of 2011 started with the customary slow dance, before continuing the dancing theme with a duet from Fricot and Adaline. Who, as far as I'm concerned, both stole the show throughout the night; especially after Adaline crushed "Dog Days Are Over" in another of the best renditions of the night.
Finally, after Hannah nailed "Loser", with the crowd joining in on the chorus, all the performers came back out on stage to cap off the night with "Instant Karma" -- I was expecting a Beatles song, I was close -- for another sing-a-long, and a fantastic way to both end the night and start the new year.

In all, it was an amazing night. While I think I liked last years setlists a bit better overall, the experience of the night, the friends and the atmosphere and everything, far outmatched it.
And since I started by shameless copy & pasting, I may as well paraphrase the end of last years post, too: "There is a saying or superstition, I guess, that says that whatever you're doing at midnight is what you'll be doing for the rest of the year. If that's the case, I can't wait for whatever this next year has in store."

Live at Squamish. Day two, part one. -- 09/05/10

After a first day that would be hard to top, I was looking forward to see where the second day would take me. And not to mention the night, where Leigh, acting Vancouver is Awesome Indie Music editor for this month, got us invited over to The Peak's Tamara Stanners' house, where there was a bonfire (something our campsite was sorely lacking), where we shared s'mores with members of We Are The City, Said The Whale, The Dudes, The Zolas, Adaline, other Peak people and more. I can't even begin to describe how much fun was had there. But enough shameless name-dropping.
While the first day had some stage-hopping, the second would be spent plunked down at the main stage for the day -- there were a couple I was interested in on the second stage, but they conflicted with acts I wanted to see more. Delayed slightly by a trip to Grilled Fromage, a Squamish restaurant that makes only grilled cheese sandwiches (seriously, it is way, way better than you'd think) we arrived at the overcast site just in time to catch...

You Say Party. It isn't their first live show since the passing of their drummer Devon Clifford, but I think many will mark this as their triumphant return. Honestly, I've never been that big of a fan of the band, but that's more just because they're just not for me; I don't dislike them and they certainly do what they do very well. There was a decent sized crowd amasses for being so early in the day -- crowd that lead singer Becky Ninkovic was noticeably moved by, thanking them for their support with a slight quiver in her voice. Aside from the old material, they played a trio of new songs, which showed that they won't be slowing down anytime soon.

Next up was South African band Civil Twilight. I've heard the band likened to folks like Radiohead and Muse, and I can see both similarities, but at the same time they have enough of their own sound to not seem derivative. It was also pretty incredible how intense a sound they made with just three members.
There are a few things in music that I have a soft spot for, and playing guitar with a bow is one of them (I blame Jónsi), so when they came out and used that in the first song, then at least once more, they definitely had my attention.
They also did a couple of covers, including "Teardrop" by Massive Attack and, what I thought may have won Cover of the Weekend, "The Immigrant Song". They put their own spin on it, without butchering it, and the lead singer was actually able to match Robert Plant's wail. A few of their songs were a little... similar, but I think I may have to check out more from them.

After them was yet another Vancouver band, Mother Mother. They are one of those bands that I always forget how much I like them until they pop up again, so it's always nice to be reminded of how great they are. Aside from the songs off O My Heart, including "Hayloft" which I still think is one of the catchiest songs, they also played a few new songs, "Simply Simple", "My Baby Doesn't Dance", and "The Stand", the latter of which was my favourite of the three. Rumour has it they're sitting on a new record, which will be out early next year, so there is that to look forward to! With their gorgeous harmonies and tight musicianship, I have no doubt that their power-pop goodness won over anyone in the crowd that may not have already known them.

Yet again, since there was so much to see and do, I have decided to split the weekend into four parts. Coming up: Day two, part two: Tokyo Police Club, Bad Religion and The Decemberists. And I have posted the weekends pics on my flickr, check them out!

Olympic Shenanigans Thus Far.

Oh, the Olympics. As much as I dislike them and their waste of money, I can not deny the massive amounts of free shows and other enjoyable events that have come because of them. Here are some highlights. I'll try to keep them brief, but we all know how that usually turns out.

Sunday, Feb 14
Despite going to see two shows, I didn't get to actually witness any live music, which was kind of disappointing. Because someone was running late, we didn't get to Livecity Yaletown for Mother Mother until the line was well passed the alleged half-hour mark. So we said nuts to this, and found a perch on a fence across the street where is sounded just fine, and a big screen was in view. Aside from some issues with levels -- which you would think would be slightly important for a band with harmonies like Mother Mother -- it sounded almost perfect. Every once in a while it would sound a little muffled, but
And even from across the street, Hayloft, which seems to be the favourite of a lot of people (me included) sounded killer.

After which we raced on down to Livecity Downtown for Elliott BROOD. The line moved quite quick and we were inside after only ten minutes, just as they were starting. However, the lineup was just to get into the pavilion or whatever. Inside there was ANOTHER line (Yo dawg, I heard you like waiting...) to get into this pretty small building where the band was actually playing. But outside there was a giant screen, so we ended up just watching them on that. It was still decent, and as great as it was to see Elliott BROOD "live" again, it just wasn't the same. Especially when they handed out the specially made, custom maple leaf'd baking sheets with the wooden spoons for everyone to play along to "This Valley Town" & "Write It All Down For You" to. They threw in a few covers, CCR and Neil Young before ending perfectly with "Miss You Now", which was dedicated to Dan Mangan.

Monday, Feb 15
After finding out the line for Sloan at Atlantic Canada House was insane, I went with plan b, which was to head down to the O Zone in Richmond for Jenn Grant & Kathleen Edwards. And boy, am I glad I did. Grant was on first, and I admit I hadn't heard much from her other than whatever is played on R3. But she was pretty good with her folk-y pop sounds and made a fan out of me. I should also mention before she went on, the trickle of rain turned into a full-on downpour and didn't stop until, of course, Kathleen Edwards was done.
And then Kathleen Edwards was up, Peruvian poncho and all. I hadn't seen her live before, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but damn was she good. Her band, which includes the great Jim Bryson, was firing on all cylinders, despite needing to warm up their hands between (and sometimes during) songs. There were more than a few songs that ended with the the whole band rocking out, but "The Cheapest Key" was definitely a highlight of the night.
Despite the soaking rain, I am really glad I ended up at that show, and now can't wait to see Edwards again.

Wednesday, Feb 17 - Morning (Non musical, but too awesome not to mention)
Stephen. Freaking. Colbert. That's right, The Colbert Report hit Vancouver for two days of taping, and even though I had to get up at 6:30 to get down to Science World, it was more than worth it. There was a huge line already at 7:45, but that kind of ended up as an epic failure as around 9 they let people in to the field and there was a mad dash toward the stage.
It wasn't a whole show; he taped the intro and a couple of good byes, did a "better know a riding" with the South Vancouver MP Ujjal Dosanjh (which he intro'd, then was played for our benefit on a couple tv screens no one could see). After he did three interviews: Michael Buble, The captain of the Miracle on Ice team and Bob Costas.
The crowd was awesome, and was chanting everything -- when Colbert said we were starting to seem like chanting whores... we chanted "chanting whores". At some point a chant of "Ride the Moose" started, and persisted a few times, to the point where Colbert worked it in to the Costas intro... and then had him actually ride the moose. It was all sorts of awesome. Hopefully most of it makes it on air for his shows next week, which is the Olympic spotlights.

That is all for now. Stay tuned for part two, where I will have tales of Karkwa, wherever I end up tonight, Arkells and my major decision between seeing Sam Roberts, Coeur de Pirate & Arkells Downtown... or Said The Whale, Mother Mother & Hey Ocean in Surrey.
There'll also be a full review of the Hey Rosetta! & Stars show.

Matthew Good w/ Mother Mother @ The Centre For Performing Arts -- 11/10/09

I won't talk too much at length about the second night, since a lot of what I covered the first night applies to the second. But I'll quickly go over the setlist and the differences between shows, and throw in a few pictures from both nights. As usual, the pictures are just taken with my phone, so they're not the best quality...

Before I start on tonights show, there were a couple things I missed from last night's show. First was Matt Good owning some dude in the crowd about the CBC. At one point he mentioned the show was being recorded for the CBC and got the usual response of "CBC sucks!". So he asked why and talked about how CBC is owned by us, the public, so it is accountable to us. Which is why the BBC is one of the best news organizations, since it, too, is publicly owned, while Fox News is owned by a bunch of jackasses. Capping it off with saying it's one of those things you have to actually give a shit about for it to work in your favour. Kind of like democracy.
The other thing was the lighting. Lighting is not really something you notice in most shows, unless it's really terrible, really distracting, or really good. This was definitely the latter. It's hard to describe, but suffice to say it really fit the moods of the songs and really enhanced the show, for both nights.

Mother Mother had pretty much the same set, just in a bit of a different order and one or two songs changed, so nothing too different from the first night.

As for Matthew Good, the show was actually pretty different than the night before.
He seemed to play a few more older songs, and hit most of the songs from Vancouver he didn't play last night. I was disappointed he didn't play Champions of Nothing and especially Vancouver National Anthem again, but Strange Days, Load Me Up (with a little bit of Love Will Tear Us Apart snuck in) and Everything is Automatic (with Good turning the chorus over to the crowd to sing), and especially Odette made up for it.
There was about half the songs in both sets that were the same, with the other half being different each night.
Everything seemed a bit looser the second night as well. There seemed to be a lot more joking and banter on stage, with a couple times him starting on one thing and going on a whole host of tangents, pretty much all hilarious. Matt's banter and humour have always been a huge part of why his live shows are so enjoyable, so it was great to see him a bit more talkative.
Some of the awesome stories, which will probably have no context here, included if Good was the leader in a One World Government, he would take all the arms from America and give them to a small country, like Jamaica or Mongolia. A decoy tourbus. And a tease of playing Suburbia by request (played the first verse, but couldn't go on due to wrong key) which somehow turned into a kids show theme, and Matt being creeped out by bassist Milos' creepy dance, which led to him doing his impeccable Borat accent. It got to the point where, near the end Good asked the crowd if it was weird to have so much wackiness going on between such serious songs.

All in all, I think the second night was the better of the two. Overall, a better setlist, what seemed like a much looser stage show and even a better crowd, it seemed at points.

setlist:
On Nights Like Tonight, Avalanche, The Boy Who Could Explode, Great Whales of the Sea, A Single Explosion, I'm A Window, Born Losers, Load Me Up, Last Parade, Odette, Apparitions, Empty's Theme Park
(encore) Metal Airplanes (acoustic), Strange Days (acoustic), Giant, Weapon, Everything is Automatic.

Matthew Good w/ Mother Mother @ The Centre For Performing Arts -- 11/09/09

It's probably no surprise that I have seen Matthew Good, who is my favourite musician, every year since '04. Either with a band or acoustic, venues large or small, I have never seen him live and been anything less than blown away. He's also had some great opening bands, and this tour is no less. I had known & seen Mother Mother before, and had been wanting to see them live again, so them being the opening band was an added bonus!

I fully admit, I wasn't a big fan of Mother Mother until I saw them opening for Sam Roberts, but since then they've grown on me and I'm more into them now than I was then. They definitely won me over that day with their infectious chords and near-perfectly harmonized melodies, and tonight was no different. It was a very solid set, which consisted mostly of their more well known songs, with a few others thrown in -- I think at least one new one as well. The entire set was energetic, but Hay Loft was probably the most so. They didn't talk much, but has a great stage presence nonetheless, letting the catchy indie-pop-rock speak for itself. And damn, are these folks talented. Singer & guitarist Ryan Guldemond pulled of a couple of incredible guitar solos while bassist Jeremy Page had a fantastic saxophone solo during one of the songs. That's not something you see enough in rock shows. My only complaint would have to be that it was too short.

After not too long (I've said before, but I have grown to love curfew shows) Matthew Good came out with his three member backing band. He kicked off the show with The Boy That Could Explode, followed by another few songs from the new album, Vancouver. He then delved into the catalogue a bit for some favourites, including Avalanche, which is always pretty amazing live, and Apparitions which had most of the crowd singing along. Just before he went into Vancouver National Anthem, he talked a bit about the bylaw making it illegal to protest the olympics and Burquitlam MLA Harry Bloy calling protestors "Terrorists" with "a limited intellect" (seriously). The main set ended with the combination of Weapon and Empty's Theme Park. I already knew Weapon was pretty epic live, but holy shit was Empty's a fantastic song live.
They came back out to the opening of Giant (still one of my favourite openers to any album ever) with everyone chanting and clapping along to the familiar: K-I-C-K-A-S-S. (claps) That's the way we spell success, before a couple more songs and ending with Champions of Nothing. The song seemed a bit reworked, with the opening being more acoustic then the rest of the band slowly coming in. It was another incredible song and fantastic way to end out the night.
There seemed to be a little less banter than usual, due to him getting over being sick just before the tour, but what little there was was definitely hilarious, in true Matt Good fashion. At one point he was joking about scalpers and them ripping people off, selling tickets for the wrong show: STP. "Man, Scott Weiland has put on weight.... and where's his fedora???"
Possibly the best moment of the night came out of riffing, going from Matt joking it wasn't quite "Bublé O'Clock", going to his bewilderment of how crooners like that work in an arena setting... which somehow led the band to start a jazz riff and Good improvising a lounge-y number of (an apparent true story) the time he looked out his window to find a ninja getting it on with a pirate. Pure gold.

An absolutely incredible night of music, and I can't wait to see either band live again.
OH WAIT! I'm going to the second show tonight!

setlist:
The Boy Who Would Explode, Great Whales of the Sea, Fought To Fight It, Born Losers, Avalanche, [lounge song], Apparitions, Vancouver National Anthem, Last Parade, A Silent Army in the Trees, Blue Skies Over Badlands, Weapon, Empty's Theme Park
(encore) Giant, Us Remains Impossible, Champions of Nothing.

Squee!

Nov 9th - Nov 10th
Matthew Good in Vancouver, BC
The Centre for the Performing Arts
On sale: Friday Sept 18 @ 10am

There is no emoticon for the excitement I feel!!!

(Also, I have reason to believe the opening band will be Mother Mother!)

I have not yet listened, because I am waiting for the for reals copy, but you can stream the new album from his website, or by clicking here!

Sam Roberts Band @ Deer Lake Park -- 08/03/09

What better way to spend BC day than at the beautiful Deer Lake Park with some terrific music? I certainly can't think of anything better.

This was the third time seeing Hamilton Ontario's Arkells live, and they just keep getting better every time. Starting off with the albums lead track, Deadlines, their all-too-short set consisted mostly of songs from their debut album, Jackson Square. They did, however, throw in one song which I think was new, and probably called something like Strong Country Boy, if the chorus is to be believed. Songs like The Ballad of Hugo Chavez and No Champagne Socialist sounded awesome like, but one of the highlights of the set would have to be John Lennon, which is one of my favourite song of theirs. It was phenomenal, with a fantastic instrumental interlude, of sorts, mid-song, and the band going nuts. They closed the set with their first single, Oh, The Boss Is Coming which would have brought the roof down, had it not been an outdoor venue. Through their whole set they managed to keep up an incredibly high energy, with it only building in enthusiasm until the end.
I managed to keep track of the setlist, which was:
Deadlines, Pullin' Punches, The Ballad of Hugo Chavez, No Champagne Socialist, Strong Country Boy(?), John Lennon, Blueprints, Oh, the Boss is Coming!

Next up was Vancouver's own Mother Mother. I admit, while I like their singles (some more than others), I am don't know if I would consider myself a fan of the band. They're good, for sure, but they seem to be a little, I dunno... over hyped? That being said, I did enjoy their set. With infectious chords and near-perfectly harmonized melodies, a great stage presence and a knack for catchy indie-folk-pop, they put on a damn good show. Singles like Body of Years were pulled off flawlessly, but it was songs like Wrecking Ball and O My Heart, the ones that are a little more... harsh and raw, that I liked better. I don't think the set made me want to run out and get their new album, as it was pretty much what I expected it to be, but I am definitely interested in seeing how the band progresses and wouldn't mind seeing them again.

Then finally, straight out of Montreal, Sam Roberts Band. Compared to the show earlier this year, I think I liked the setlist for that one better, but overall this was a much better show. Possibly due to the setting, as Deer Lake park is a beautiful venue. He kicked off with Detroit '67, which got everyone into it, but it wasn't til a few songs in that everyone really got jumping with Sam leading everyone in a chorus sing-along of Where Have All The Good People Gone?, which had a really awesome extended intro and ending. Most of the set was focused on his more energetic material, with the majority being from the new album (which is to be expected) Though he did break out the odd mellower song, like Lions of the Kalahari & Uprising Down Under (a song that, I still maintain, will never be as good live as the album version, if only for the lack of Matt Mays) and -- aside from the obvious singles -- he did delve as far back as his first EP, The Inhuman Condition, for This is How I Live.
Brother Down was another massive sing-alone which had everyone yelling out the chorus before the set "ended" With A Bullet.
When they came back out, they kept up the same zeal as the rest of the set, playing the last two singles they hadn't played, Them Kids & Don't Walk Away Eileen. Those were followed by the last song of the night, the same one he closed the show earlier this year with. Mind Flood. The song, perhaps my favourite Sam Roberts song, runs about 8 minutes on the album, but was stretched into almost 16 minutes of insanity, swirling, psychedelic sounds, and, well, there is no better way to describe the song as a Mind Flood. It was quite the spectacular display and, again, heightened by the beauty of the venue.
I was also able to keep tabs on their setlist, and so:
Detroit '67, Love at the End of the World, The Resistance, Where Have All the Good People Gone, Lions of the Kalahari, Fixed to Ruin, This is How I Live, Hard Road, Up Sister, Bridge to Nowhere, Uprising Down Under, Brother Down, With a Bullet.
(encore) Them Kids, Don't Walk Away Eileen, Mind Flood.

I kind of wished they had swapped Arkells & Mother Mother, as I like the former better than the latter and would have liked them to have a longer set... but that minor complaint aside, it was a superb night of music. And what is it with Sam Roberts and his knack for choosing awesome tour mates. Of the three times I've seen him (not counting arts crappy fair), he has played with the following bands: Jets Overhead, The Stills and Broken Social Scene; The Stills again; and now Arkells & Mother Mother. I can't wait to see him again, if only to see who else he brings.