Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Xiu Xiu, This Song Is a Mess But So Am I @ Poor Alex Theatre

I hadn't even considered the Gay Pride Weekend factor until about two days before this gig. I'm referring to both the composition of the audience as well as the likely non-coincidental scheduling of the gig on this particular weekend. Sure enough, the crowd was a smorgasbord of various sexual orientations and freek folk, the kind of people who think nothing of moving their bodies to the distorted, fucked up dance beats of a band like Xiu Xiu. Ditch the bulk of Toronto's "oh, we couldn't possibly dance at a gig and appear as though we're enjoying ourselves" indie scenesters and give me a cross-section of Xiu Xiu's Toronto fanbase any day of the week.

This Song Is a Mess But So Am I played a set filled with various take-offs of Xiu Xiu's "Brian the Vampire" -- chaotic, blustery noise with stage presence to match. The one-man band's name is as true to the music as any name you'll ever find. I don't consider the name to be reflexively critical, but it is an endearing statement of truth.

Many tracks from "Life and Live" are gorgeous and inspired, but over the course of a 15-track live record, the overly sparse instrumentation and song choices becomes snooze-worthy. Oh look, it's another plaintive guitar ballad filled with long gaps of silence and punctuated by whispers and screams. The three person live incarnation of Xiu Xiu is far more intruiging. Their laboratory of percussion and effects offer plenty of sonic distractions for the brain, particularly on rapturously received tracks such as "Crank Heart" and "I Luv the Valley". The quieter "La Foret" songs also make more sense when performed live amongst one hundred entranced strangers watching a man sing with a scrunched up face on a dimly lit stage.

Xiu Xiu tread a line between stark seriousness and indie-rock ironic detatchment. In short, sometimes you're not sure if they're joking or not (generally, they're not). They're the melodramatic friend who wails about how their life sucks and they want to die. You want to listen to them and make a few cracks and get them to lighten up, but you're afraid to do that just in case they are really serious about offing themselves. Thus, when Jamie Stewart screams the "vacation" rant during a ferocious version of "I Broke Up", he rolls his eyes into the back of his head in such a ghoulish manner that there's no way I'm making any cracks about it.

Monday, June 20, 2005

MMVA's 2005

I'm stoked because this year's lineup of guests is the best in the history of the MMVA's. Ciara! Yum! For those who aren't familiar with the wild chaotic masquerade street party that is the Much Music Video Awards, read the first paragraph of last year's post for an introduction.

I caught a couple of minutes of the red carpet arrival, which appeared crazed and disorganized while the VJ's tripped over their words trying to kill time amongst the screaming and chaos. Ah, Much Music. Good times. And here we go ...

9:00 PM. ... with Billy Talent. Let's review. I hated their performance last year. I make a concerted effort to flip their channel when their videos come on the air. And now, they're screaming a bunch of bullocks and stinking up the main MMVA stage, therefore continuing the established pattern. At least the stage looks great. I walked by it last night and it looked absolutely majestic -- sleek, metallic, and very, very, shiny.

9:05. Matte uses the word "ever" over and over and over and over and over again in his opening spiel. I hate this guy, I really do. I can't recall ever hearing him say anything intelligent on air. To be more precise, I can't recall ever hearing him not say anything unintelligent. This show is off to a terrible start.

Where are the gaudy Halloween outfits? Sarah looks normal. Does the spirit of Sook-Yin Lee no longer reside at Much Music?

9:11. As expected, four billion things are happening and I can't keep up. Sarah makes dumb Canada vs USA small talk with the Killers, K-os wins an award, and Ciara jacks up the crowd with a "Oh"/"1-2 Step" medley featuring some astoundingly dodgy lip-synching.

9:21. Black Eyed Peas get a Sandman-esque entrance, which leads to them announcing Billy Talent as the winners of the Much Loud Best Rock award. The highlight of this show so far is the constant, excessive screaming.

9:31. Well, that's all changed thanks to a mindblowing effort from the Arcade Fire. They slam into a noisy sprawl, dressed in (appropriate) funereal black, surrounded by the fallen bodies of a marching band that has apparently drank too much of their funny-tasting kool-aid. They tear through "Rebellion (Lies)", thereby hopefully selling another 20 000 copies of their album in Canada by the end of the month. That song has been slowly climbing the Much countdown, so it's possible that The Kids really do like this song and don't think of it as a Flaming Lips/Polyphonic Spree-type wacky joke (I'm sure that's what the Billy Talent fans are thinking, but to hell with them). Finally, they hit the final minute of the song and the marching band wakes up, joins in the song, continues to play as the song ends, and marches out the front door of the Much studio with the band following them in a weird reversal of the Pied Piper motif from the video. Meanwhile, I'm sitting in front of the TV nearly lost for words. If there's any reason for you to beg, borrow, or steal a copy of this show, this is it, as I can't recall a better musical performance on any awards show in recent memory.

9:38. It's all downhill from there, although Sarah shamelessly hitting on the Backstreet Boys like a drunken sorority girl is certainly quite entertaining. The crowd is going bezerk, nobody can hear anything, and A.J. looks really fucking old. Whose dad just wandered on stage? Did Oasis get another new guitarist and forget to take him with them after their concert on Friday? Eventually, the Killers win for Best International Video by a Group ("Mr. Brightside"), which I can certainly live with as that's a better song than the other nominations put together and multiplied by ten.

9:42. Matte kept his streak alive while talking to Tie Domi. Way to go, dude.

9:44. Best Independent Video goes to Alexisonfire. It's a good night for rock in the T.O. tonight. Later, Rob and Amber dodge a bullet with Ed the Sock. That is, Ed didn't completely humiliate them and reduce them to rubble -- it must be an off-night for Ed.

9:54. Black Eyed Peas certainly know how to rock an awards show, and this time is no exception. Fergie has the MILF shtick down pat, while Will.I.Am and the other two do their usual shinier happier impressions of Andre 3000. K-os' "Man I Used To Be" wins for Best Rap Video, and the recipient simply thanks his parents despite Matte's protestations that he say something wacky and stoopid. It's appropriate that this followed the BEP's performance, because the aforementioned Andre 3000 would empathise with that sort of humility and general disdain for awards show silliness.

10:04. What a difference a year makes. After a rough debut last year, Devon is now completely comfortable in this environment and is the only VJ tonight that hasn't been spewing complete drivel from his mouth.

10:07. Alexisonfire deliver a frantic, treble-drenched performance. Impressive through sheer willpower, if nothing else.

10:09. It's definitely an off-night for Ed, as he admits that he's got no dirt on Billy Talent. The band has obviously spent years watching Ed's antics and just laugh along with everything he says anyhow. Ed, where is your muse?

10:13. Best International Video ... the usual suspects ... Snoop, Usher, Kanye, 50 Cent, and ERIC PRYDZ'S "CALL ON ME"? Huh? Did they throw that in there to check if we were paying attention? Spoof or not, the song is pure cornball junk. Does a Steve Winwood sample pass for irony these days? Man, what can I get for a Genesis or Supertramp sample? There's a reason we laugh at Olivia Newton-John videos these days, so what gives? It's no "Praise You", that's for sure.

Usher's "Caught Up" is the winner, despite being the worst song of the bunch. Yeah, Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" was also the 19th single from a mega-selling album, and it was also a fun video despite being a bleh song, but what do you expect when you're milking an album for bonus singles? Also, he couldn't even be bothered to come up with a half-assed excuse as to why he wasn't there. The tried and true "I'm in the studio" line always works, it's the "I have an early meeting tomorrow" of awards show excuses, but no, he's going to just chill down in Atlanta and enjoy the award. Jeez.

10:23. In the Best Video category, Billy Talent are nominated twice, as is K-os. Simple Plan are also nominated for their ripoff of the Good Charlotte suicide video. When you pattern your career after Good Charlotte, I think it's safe to say that you've hit the bottom of the barrel. Yeah, these three acts were huge in Canada this year, but three artists in a five-noms category is embarrassing. Predictably, Billy Talent win for "River Below".

10:29. K-os' understated, progrock-tinged perfomance appears to deflate a crowd that is only in it for the screaming by this point.

10:35. The mad-for-it anonymous half of Sum 41 drink with cheerleaders and introduce Ashlee Simpson. In order to cover up for her non-talent and atonal singing "style", it seems as though the band has taken to playing out of tune as well. Seriously, did anyone bother to tune the bass guitar during soundcheck? Truth is stranger than fiction. How long can Ashlee continue to get away with this nonsense?

10:39. Kalan Porter receives a curious non-reaction. Why is this -- is the crowd all yelled out, or are they horrified by his gaudy green jacket? Gwen Stefani wins for Best International Artist, and at least she had the decency to pre-record a statement and give a half-decent excuse about flying back from Italy after filming a video and being too tired after eating all that pasta, har har, etc. (Usher, I'm looking at you).

10:43. Fefe Dobson announces the Best Canadian Artist -- "KALAN FUCKING PORTER!" -- hooray for live television. He beat out Avril and K-os. Well, anybody but Shawn Desman, who, judging by his conversation with Matte, is 4'6" tall. Discovering that bad musicians are really short = a guilty pleasure.

10:46. At least they're presenting "People's Choice Favourite Canadian Group" last, unlike last year (Int Group, presented minutes before, was Green Day). Simple Plan win for the third year in a row, and they're NOT THERE??? Would Green Day skip the MTV video awards? Would any artist nominated for multiple awards not bother to show up to their own country's awards show? But principally, Much Music broke artists like Avril and Simple Plan, so if they're nominated, they should stop everything and get their ungrateful asses to the show. Maybe the impressive roll-call of A-list musicians in attendance this year (hey, Much got all five Backstreet Boys to appear, which is a big improvement from their 2/5 batting average in past years) will convince our own artists to not shit on Canada next year.

10;48. Neutered-Ed shoots the breeze with the Backstreet Boys. Summary: "Thanks for giving me so many years of great material". "No problem, it's all good".

10:55. Rob and Amber get the Liz Taylor slot and make the final introduction of the evening. I'll be sorry when they stop the party-hopping and go back to their Florida retreat to birth babies full-time, because they handle themselves better than 99.9% of all presenters on all awards shows. In the end, it's left to the Killers to play the fantastic "All These Things That I've Done" (complete with gospel choir and Kelly Osborne look-alike) as the show comes to a close. I get a lump in my throat when I hear this song and the video is one of the best in years. This song deserves to be 1000 times bigger than the wildly overrated "Mr. Brightside".

Well, the VJ's looked dazed and confused, and the show seemed even more disorganized than in past years, but the show featured some amazing performances courtesy of almost everybody except for Billy Talent (but especially Arcade Fire and The Killers). The MMVA's may have now surpassed the Brits when it comes to jamming prodigiously large amounts of content into a two-hour show. Good night sweetheart.

Sunday, June 19, 2005

DJ Spooky spins, but nobody dances

Spooky spun at the Drake on Saturday night. True to form, he wasn't afraid to spin anything from Blondie to "Jump Around" to The Cure's "Lovecats" mashed up with Missy Elliott. But long after I've forgotten what specific songs he played, I'll remember everything else about this gig, from the layout to the clientele to the staff.

Even though the venue was nowhere near capacity, the security people didn't seem the least bit interested in getting people through the doors on time. Even after Spooky came on, there was a big, glacially-moving lineup outside. The DJ table was set up at the front of the lounge, right next to the only proper entrance and exit to the room. This meant that the front of the room was packed with spectators as well as people trying to get in and out. This left no room at the front for dancing, not like it would have mattered much because layout of the lounge contains little open space for dancing anyway. And finally, the clientele didn't look like a Spooky crowd as much as it was a Drake crowd, who (besides from teh people crammed near the front) paid little to no attention to the music or the DJ. It was like a Michael Mayer gig for the late-20's/early-30's yuppies-in-training, supper club scenester, $8 mixed drinks crowd. It was a puzzling, frustrating evening, but at least the music was good.

Saturday, June 18, 2005

METAL - Doom, drone, cabaret, and all that

Yes, metal has played a small but key role in the 2005 version of Being Me. The fires of BLACK HORRIBLE DEATH were stoked last year, as I finally (after far too many years and countless recommendations) heard Darkthrone's lo-fi masterpiece "Transilvanian Hunger". Mainly, I'm digging the grinding, ambient drone guitar crunch of bands like Sunn 0))) and bORIS. My craving for this type of music started in the mid-90's with bands like Brighter Death Now (as discussed in the Wolf Eyes live review) but it took me a few years to get around to figuring out where to find more stuff that sounded like that.

I've never heard anything from Justin Broadrick that is as powerful, noisy, and suffocating as the latest Jesu record. Both Isis and Jesu's music has been described as shoegaze metal. Both bands crank out extended jams stuffed with dense guitar noise, but while Isis take their cues from Mogwai and other post-rock acts, Jesu are ... well, they're just more METAL. More than any other aspect of the music, it was the cavernous timbre that attracted me to bands like Gehenna back in the mid-90's. Ahead of the subject matter they were singing about, or how the songs were structured, I cared first and foremost about the whirlwind of sound that lept from my speakers -- these records sounded *gigantic*, moreso than anything I'd ever heard to that point. And that's the strongest trait of the Jesu album -- it's HUGE.

Are Ulver metal anymore? They've straddled boundaries before, but on their newest album "Blood Inside", they're treading into Bark Psychosis, cabaret, and a healthy helping of WTF. My head is spinning.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

US #1's

What a strange year it's been. I've missed the days of songs remaining in the top spot for only two weeks at a time, the days when four weeks at #1 was practically forever. In 1989, I got hooked on listening to Casey Casem's America's Top 40 nearly every week (this is not the same as the Billboard Hot 100, I know, but they were fairly similar in that year). That year, 33 different songs hit #1.

2005 is nearly half over, and there have been only four #1's. Sure, compared to the present day, the chart tabulation methods were completely different, but mainly, I miss the days when there was actually week-to-week excitement over what song would be #1. Now, once a song hits #1, you can be fairly sure that it'll be there for several weeks so it becomes fairly straightforward to predict which artists have the popularity and/or momentum to unseat it.

First, there was Mario's "Let Me Love You". A return to 90's slow jams. It was number one for two months but it's been forgotten already (does it have a lower profile in Canada than in the US? Its run at the top already feels so long ago). Then we had 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" -- a good record that would have been a great record with nearly any other rapper on it. Surely, any other rapper, when presented with such a strong backing track, would have rapped with a sliver of intensity, a modicum of prescence, something? This song is the quintessential example of a guy phoning it in because he knows his record is going to sell no matter what he sounds like. Then we had Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl". Little did I know that those camp cheers that we used to invent in ten minutes at the start of the summer could be worth something someday. I should have written them down, recorded them with a recording walkman at every camp-wide dinner, waited fifteen years, asked the Neptunes to produce one of them, and taken it to US #1. Finally, Mariah Carey's 16th #1 hit, the current chart-topper "We Belong Together", has me furiously flipping calendar pages looking for 1995 and the remnants of Boys II Men's career. I'm not feeling this one at all.

The #2 hits make a far more interesting package ... Green Day nearly had the first rock #1 in four years ... ditto Kelly Clarkson ... let me repeat that ... ditto Kelly Clarkson -- two years ago, who would have believed that the former AI winner would nearly top the charts with one of the best rock singles of the year? ... Ciara's "Oh" would have been the shortest-titled song to hit #1 but if it's any consolation to her, it might be my single of the year.

Speaking of American Idol, they're releasing Bo and Carrie's singles simultaneously, thereby decreasing the chance that either one of them will hit #1. "So what", you might say, "they did the same thing with Ruben and Clay", to which I will answer "yes, but Ruben and Clay didn't release the exact same song, thereby making the fans choose between different versions and lessening the need for anyone to buy both singles". Also, pre-sales orders have Bo outselling Carrie by a 3-1 margin. Why must the AI svengalis be so dumb? The guy needs to record a rock single (the B-side of his debut single is a rock song, but this doesn't count), and he needs to do it pronto.

Friday, June 10, 2005

International Harvester

Thanks to Jeff W and the 18 April entry of his brave/insane blogging odyssey, I've been introduced to a strange wonders of International Harvester. Like Faust, IH can do pull off a fierce, pounding kraut-drone song, follow it up with a quirky torch ballad and make the transition seem natural, even expected. The kitchen-sink instrumentation and jamming styles are also very Faustian, which makes it all the more amazing that this stuff predates not only Faust, but most of Krautrock.