Nice to meet you and thanks for dancing!

You may have noticed I have a bit of a thing for Elliott Brood. Put quite simply: I love them. I love listening to their albums, I love flipping through their artwork, and I love seeing them perform live.

Last night's show at The Black Sheep Tavern marks my third time in as many months (I would honestly go see them every week if I could...) and it was a fantastic show, as always. The Black Sheep Tavern was sold out, packed despite the snow covered roads and impending freezing rain, and we were not to be disappointed.

Openers Harlan Pepper were amazing. You may recall a few months back I said that Lake of Stew (also performing at the Black Sheep) were the first opening act I had ever seen do an encore- well that count has now risen to two. And a well deserved encore it was.

Hailing from Hamilton Ontario, this very young (just barely nineteen) and very enthusiastic (adorably so) four-piece charmed the audience with a mix of rock, bluegrass, psychedelic, and folk.  Though their hand-made signs ('Harlan Pepper' written in sharpie on two cardboard cutouts of deer) and flowered cowboy shirts may have suggested something softer, they rocked out song after song, seemingly gaining energy instead of tiring out. At one point lead singer Dan Edmonds and guitarist Jimmy Hayes stood on two chairs in the audience and co-played their guitars- strumming their own and playing the chords on the others'. Though I'm sure they've practiced it a million times, they pulled it off with a sense of spontaneity that made the crowd go wild. After a few covers, a few more unerringly energetic tunes and a plea from drummer Marion Nicolle to think about purchasing their CD ("Y'know, if you like what you hear... If you want to..." Adorable.) they played the aforementioned encore. Brilliant, all round.

Elliott Brood then took the stage with a declaration of "Its been too long Wakefield!" from guitarist Casey Laforet. I've lost count of the number of times I have seen them perform live, but this was the first time I have ever been seated for an Elliot Brood show- and I'm not gonna lie, it felt weird. But the tables were right up front, and being right up front is kinda my bag, so seated I was.

 

Sasso 2.0 - Bearded

Despite half the audience being in chairs, the boys had everyone bopping their heads and clapping along in no time. With the exit sign above the door flickering with the bass, the snow swirling outside the window, and the candles lighting steins of beer, it was easy to feel immersed in the frontier aesthetic and death riddled stories of the band. The plowed through a few songs before pulling out some tunes from their oldest full length LP, Ambassadour. We were even treated to a lyric-less partial version of President 35 when lead singer Mark Sasso, stumbling during the first verse lost his place and couldn't get back on track. Talking to him after the show, he laughed and shook his head "I can't believe I forgot the words to my own song!" With other performers it might have been awkward, but the joking and teasing that followed made it decidedly entertaining (referencing their pre-song banter about the upcoming American Presidential race and the republican leadership scandals; "Newt Gingrich wanted to have an open marriage so he could be with Mark, can you blame him for getting all distracted?").

About half way through the set the boys were having no more of this sitting down nonsense (yay!) so with a "stand up if you're gonna vote in the next election!" from Sasso, and awkward 'you get up first' 'No YOU get up first' glances all around, we were suddenly on our feet and dancing to the thundering beat of Oh Alberta, Valley Town and Miss You. This is where EB are always at their best: Stephen Pitkin stompin' it out on the best kit in the land (drums covered in birch bark and wood grain, replacing his original suitcase bass drum), Casey Laforet shaking his shaggy mane over the steel guitar, and  Mark Sasso on the banjo with his boppy right-step left-step shuffle.

The dancing is always my favourite part of an Elliott Brood show... The looking sideways at the exuberantly jumping teenage boys, seeing the huge smiles on the faces of each band member, and feeling the floor bounce beneath your feet as every one shouts "HEY, HEY, HEY" in perfect unison! Add in a few encores and a rousing all-bands number with Harlan Pepper (during which we held down our table while Dan Edmonds danced on it...) and the performance sadly drew to a close. As everyone gathered their coats and the crowd started to disperse, Mark Sasso stepped down off the stage and shook my hand and that of my friend. "Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for dancing!" You gotta love a band that plays an amazing show, and then thanks you for enjoying it... Do me a favour (do yourself a favour!) next time you see that Elliott Brood is playing a gig near you- go. And bring everyone you know.

Rememberin the Love

The past few weeks I have had numerous nostalgia-inducing musical experiences. I know that sounds a little overly existential, but really all I mean is that I've been hearing songs (or snippets of songs) that make me think of entire albums, entire catalogs, entire sections of my life in very real, viceral, even startling ways. Ten seconds of a Rufus Wainwright song brought back the vividness of a mid-Cross-Canada trip through Northern Ontario, complete with smells (cold forest), sights (endless pine trees interrupted only by bedrock and sudden lakes), and feelings (overwhelming melencholea). This may have been heightened by the innate cinematic nature of the particular CD (Want One... or was it Want Two...?) but similar experiences (a snippet of Snow Patrol vividly recalling a giant tire dump in Cape Breton, and mid-90s Matt Good Band bringing back the first set I ever worked on) have forced me to acknowledge a trend: I am having flashbacks.

Clearly this means that I am either some sort of super hero or I am in an elaborate American soap opera (because stuff like that just doesn't happen in the British ones). Either way its a rather pleasant way to be reminded of the power of music to remind us of an otherwise unreachable experience.

I recently read an NPR articule writen by vinyl collector Ian Nagoski, in which he put forth the following idea:

"When you listen to a record what you're receiving is a kind of sonic sculpture of the air molecules that recreates that time and that place in that room where the air molecules were vibrating in the same way. You're living in a reproduction of the air molecules created by that person, in that moment of their life, and reliving not a memory, but almost experiencing it with them."

This comment so perfectly expresses by idea of music, I could not imagine even attempting to paraphrase it. Not does it describe the moment of the recording, but the collection of moments during which you have ever heard that song, album, or artist. Each time you listen to a song, it brings back each of those moments, temporarily folding time in such a way that they become temporarily accessible, something that is quite difficult to achieve under normal circumstances. It is one of the many reasons I love music- its ability to help you relive the past, to make you remember the love.

-E

PS Because I am a huge dork I have also spent the evening reliving a different kind of 'remembering the love,' that is the love of a very certain period of time in my life (third year university) via a rather odd annual tradition- the celebration of Robbie Burns Day as 'Billy Boyd Day' aka Hobbit Day aka I watch all three Lord of the Rings movies back to back while eating Hobbit food (usually an elaborately shire-like cheese, spinach and carrot soup,with some strikingly-similar-to-tea-biscuits style lambas bread) while drinking scotch and/or Guinness... Though this year the tradition has been undertaken all by my lonesome, it has not failed to bring about the usual sort of loverly nostalgia to which I have been accustomed... One might not think these warm fuzzy feelings would be the result of a scotch-laiden watching of epic battle scenes, but it doesn't stop it from being true any more than music bringing about such a state of mind.

Bobbie Gentry shows us the importance of leaving a little somethign to the imagination...

I heard Ode to Billy Joe on the radio the other day and have not been able to get it out of my head.

This song really hits home for me in a way I have never been able to fully understand or explain- a feeling strengthened by the video with its emphasis on the nuclear family and the detachment created by living the 'modern' family life (not to mention its references to the work of one of my favourite sculptors, George Segal). Its the same way In which I strongly identify with The Man in The Grey Flannel Suit or The Great Gatsby. Maybe its having grown up in the suburbs, the child of two parents who also grew up in the suburbs. But then again, I've never really felt that I had a suburban upbringing, there was no meat-veggies-and-two-types-of-potatoes, no long summers spent wasting away in the backyard or making small talk with the nosy neighbors (though I have owned a series of ramshackle cars since the moment I could drive, and have a certain affinity for bicycling down the middle of the road). I'm not quite sure why it feels like a life I connect with, but connect with it I do.

There's something about how the story is told, something about the mix of hope and despair, matter of fact straight talk and fuzzy suggestion. Its a thing I've talked about before- the storytelling style of country music- something I feel myself drawn to time and time again, both inside and outside of the traditional country paradigm. There is something about it that approximates real life in a way that pop music doesn't- a way that addresses the honesty of life. That it is not all ups or all downs, not all an endless party or endless trial, not all of any one thing really, not any one thing at all. Its something found in the music of Jack White, Elliott Brood, Cuff the Duke, and most bands that count old school country as one of their references. Even bands marginally influenced by Johnny Cash or Bob Dylan, bands like Sam Roberts or The Decemberists, bring that sort of rounded story telling to their songs.


Perhaps ironically then it is the habit of not-painting-the-full-picture that most closely ties together the styles of these artists. The ability to give the pertinent details while leaving the rest up to the imagination. I heard they tried to make a movie out of An Ode To Billy Joe and it failed miserably, unexpectedly because the song is so full of opportunity, such an intriguing story full of complex mystery. Problem is when you take away the questions, the part left up to the imagination, you take away the magic. Too often we forget the importance of what we ourselves bring to the experience of artwork, of songs and paintings and novels. We bring ourselves. And what could be more important?

Dry River Caravan at Wakefield's river valley inn, The Black Sheep Tavern

If you've never had the opportunity to catch a show at the Black Sheep Inn, you should plan a trip to Wakefield, Quebec in the very near future. I know I've extolled its virtures before, but the small town surroundings, friendly people,  fantastic food, and local brews make the perfect backdrop for many a quietly rambunctious musical experience. The Black Sheep is known for hosting bands as varied in home towns as they are in musical styles, and they always knock it out of the park.

Last Friday the staged was graced by local Ottawa outfit Dry River Caravan supported by The Opposite of Everything out of Toronto. I should preface this review by saying that the last show I saw at The Black Sheep was an unqualified success with Montreal's Lake of Stew warming up the crowd for banjoman extraordinaire Old Man Luedecke, and reciving the only opening-band-encore I have ever experienced. Needless to say the bar was set rather high... Had I not had this in the back of my mind the Opposite of Everything may have impressed me more, but alas it was not the case.
All the pieces were certainly there- the eclectic mix of klesmer and bluegrass combined with Indian and African rhythms provided an interesting base, but the songs just didn't seem to come together.  The individual members of the band were fantastic musicians (Particularly John Williams on Clarinet and Harmonica)- and each looked as if they were having a great time up on stage- but again the pieces didn't really seem to come together.  Lead singer Jaron Freeman-Fox and accordion/keys player Johnny Spence even physically collided with each other on several occasions (and not in that we're-so-excited-we-bash-into-each-other-on-purpose kind of excellent way, more in a hey-I-didn't-see you-there-cuz-I'm-off-in-my-own-world kind of a way...).  The overall performance, while clearly showing immense amounts of promise, seemed in need of a healthy dose of practice and significantly more direction. From reading other reviews of their live show I am inclined to think they were just having a bit of an off night, so I would certainly give them another chance, but this was far from the best performance I've ever seen...

In striking contrast were headliners Dry River Caravan. I first came across this local group at one of Ottawa's gigantic neighborhood street sales and instantly fell in love with their music. An interesting mix of several folky-styles my enjoyment of the music was helped along by their engaging smiles and never ending enthusiasm- not many people can play an eight-hour garage sale and still be smiling by the end of it! This was my first opportunity to see them playing in a more traditional indoor-setting.

The very definition of a group, the members of Dry River Caravan fed off of each other in every aspect of their performance. Robin Meyer-MacLeod did not seem to be able to wipe the smile off of his face through singing, clarinet playing and happy-dancing, and bouzouki player Matt Smith is quite possibly one of the most entertainingly into-it performers I have ever seen, even looking like he was going to openly weep during several melodramatic moments. John Cockburn's beautifully charismatic voice and energetic acordioning provided the anchor lacking in the opener's performance, and Daniel Grewal on upright bass,  Liam Smith on drums , and the guest trumepteer beautifully rounded out the group.

After getting off to a slow start, they soon won the crowd over and had several members of the audience making up impromptu dance routines and cheers. Mixing klezmer, bluegrass, and folk with sweeping narratives and an energetic performance, there could not have been a more perfect compliment to the swirling snow outside, the cold beers, and the friendly crowd.

I will certainly be keeping an eye out for future shows by both bands- a sure-thing from Dry River Caravan, and a second look at The Opposite of Everything.

Top Five Performances of 2011 (#1)

Top five concerts of 2011- the wrap up!

Coming up with the top five concerts wasn't that difficult (though I could have very easily made a top eight...) but it was pretty difficult trying to rank them! there have been so many great shows this year, and I have only been to handful of those put on, and only ones in Ottawa, Guelph and Montreal! It makes me happy to think of all the other amazing shows other people got to go see (even the ones I missed out on because I found out about them too late- like Northcote and Library Voices back in April- man that concert would have been awesome!). If you didn't get out to many live shows, consider making it one of your resolutions for 2012, or even better, one of the resolutions you actually keep!

Twenty twelve is looking good so far as I've already got a good ten or eleven shows to look forward to in the next few months. I've also recently become a contributor to Canadian Indie Music website Grayowl Point so you can catch my Ottawa-Montreal area concert reviews there starting mid-January.

But for now...

1

Library Voices - Summer of Lust - Casa Del Popolo, Montreal, October 26, 2011

So my sister Krista will be absolutely thrilled to see these guys topping my list (her favourite band to the moon and back...) but beyond being introduced to them through her, their subsequent place in my heart was fully earned by their well-read lyrics, piano/drum led melodies and energetic live performance. Library Voices are one of those bands you see live and think to yourself "How are they not super famous!?!"

Hailing from Regina, Saskatchewan, this seven piece multi- keyboard, multi-guitar, multi-awesome outfit is virtually unstoppable on-stage. If you've ever heard the expression "they left it all out on the stage" this is who it was invented to describe. I have been to a lot of concerts in my time, but it only took me about ten seconds into my first Library Voices show to realise it would be one of my top five concerts of all time.

The venue (Casa Del Popolo) is a small bar tucked secretly behind a restaurant, and its difficult to not feel like you're involved in some kind of back-door dealings as you snake through the tables and through a back door. The cider was cheap and tasty and the crowd was enthusiastic, if somewhat small, but you never would have known it once LV took to the stage. The next night I would go to my first stadium concert in years and be impressed with how Mumford and Sons made a huge crowd seem like an intimate gathering- but Library Voices did the exact opposite, making the small crowd feel like a packed house. And an amazing one at that. The sweat was flying, the band members teetering on the edge of the stage and often venturing out into the crowd.  Seriously, but seriously, you could not have felt more a part of things if you were up on the stage.

Fantastic show. Really really. And not that it bears much weight on their music, but this band is also incapable of taking an un-awesome photograph. Whether its a picture of the band, or one taken by them, every image is beautifully framed, coloured, composed and anything else you can think of.

So check them out at libraryvoices.ca and tell all your friends. The best band you've never heard of. For Serious Yo.

A Year of Song

Today is my Ottawaversary- the one year mark of packing up everything, moving back to Ontario, and re-focusing on the things that make me happy, namely music and art.

I am happy to say that I have seen more concerts in the past year than I have since high school. I have spent hours drawing, sketching and painting, started designing fabric (some of which even made its way into pillows on the office couch of one of the top producers at CBS!), sold artwork in support of one of my local galleries, and drawn inspiration from the oddest of places (as "He-man would say..."). I have discovered more new bands, recommended more music to friends, and spent more hours listening to stuff that makes me excited about life, than ever before. Its been fantastic.

A lot of the credit for this phenomenal year goes to the places I pass the time time (Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, and Gravenhurst, with a little bit o Guelph-Kitchener-Waterloo thrown in for good measure) and the bands I unabashedly love (Elliott Brood, Library Voices, Graveyard Train...), but I can't forget the people who have helped make this year unforgettable. Being geographically closer to family has been amazing, as has it been reconnecting with old friends, and making amazing new ones all the while getting lots of updates and visits from my loverly Hali-chums.  Thanks everyone for being you. Yous. Vous. Merci.

So what will I be working on for my second year in Ottawa?
Of course I will be continuing to see tons of live music, but in addition to writing about it here, I'll also be doing reviews for Grayowl Point and looking at Canadian music on The Road Less Traveled. On a more personal note, I'm making it my goal for the year to improve my music-recommendation skillz, honing it into a science. So if you know me in person, I apologize in advance for all the questions about your musical tastes, but hopefully it will all be worth it in the end! I'll also be working on getting better at various instruments including the ever-adorable ukulele. Luckily you won't have to endure all of that practicing, but if you see my roomie maybe throw her a quick smile for putting up with me ;o)

At any rate, tomorrow I'll post my top concert of 2011, then its back to the grind; starting a new year off in the best way I know how. With a show. Geez I sound like I'm in an old Muppet movie! Ah well, there are worse things...!

Top Five Performances of 2011 (#2)

2

Graveyard Train - The Drink, The Devil & The Dance - Hillside Festival, Guelph ON, July 22, 2011

I don't just love Graveyard Train, I am in love with Graveyard Train.

If you're someone who demands perfect pitch, heavenly voices and crisp clean sound, then this is not the band for you. If, however, the thought of a line of (albeit somewhat dirt-covered) grown-men choral-singing chain-gang-style ballads about werewolves, witches, and wagon trains gets your juices flowing... well then we've got something very important in common.

I had the pleasure of seeing Graveyard Train not once, but three times, three days in a row at this year's Hillside Festival in Guelph. As with many Hillside experiences we stumbled upon this band through a workshop session they were playing with another band (in this case Karkwa out of Montreal) and got to be part of a group-discovery that clearly had dozens of people simultaneously hooked.

I have a bit of a thing for odd instruments and in this category GT hits the jackpot. Playing everything from steel and slide guitar, to banjo, stand-up bass and chains (yes chains. played with a hammer) they run the gambit. Not only that but they dress and act the part, with dirty white tank tops, plaid shirts and suspenders their omnipresent uniform they look like they walked out of the Australian wild-west (complete with tipped hats and shoeless feet) and sound like they just emerged from a mine shaft.

Their epic choral singing stirs your soul in a way that makes you believe in ghosts, and drove us to see them not once, but three times over the course of the weekend. The only less-than-perfect thing about the experience was the knowledge that they were Australia-bound mere days later and that it will be a long time before I get to see them again!

If, however, you ever get the chance to see them live, take it. Then call and tell me where you are so I can go too!