CMW may have come and gone, but that doesn’t mean the action has stopped — no, siree. This weekend is JUNOfest in Ottawa, which means terrific acts from Ottawa and everywhere else in this fine country will be packing the city’s venues tonight and tomorrow night, in advance of the actual JUNO awards on Sunday night. We weren’t able to set up our own show rundown, HOWEVER if you head over here, you’ll see info for every show, complete with times, venues and lineups — and you’ll likely recognize many artists from right here on Now Playing Radio. We encourage you to head out and soak up as much incredible music action as you can!
We’ll post the rundown from this week’s LIVE show a little later on, but for now, feel free to check out more info about our funding drive right over here. We’re just about at our halfway mark and still have PLENTY of terrific prizes left! Get in touch if you’d like to get your hands on some goodies — we’d love your support!
So back to the March 21st show! Here’s what we spun:
Rich Aucoin – P:U:S:H
Doldrums – Parrot Talk
Wildlife – Matches
Dream Jefferson – Vampyroteuthis
The Darcys – Peg
Brett Caswell & The Marquee Rose – L.O.V.E.
Papermaps – Reunion
The Elwins – Larry Pastorus
Adam & the Amethysts – Prophecy
Of course, we also got to talk to the wonderful Dean Marino of Toronto band Papermaps, who are actually playing in Ottawa TONIGHT at Zaphod’s with Fire + Neon and Aardwulf — tickets are $6 and doors are at 8pm! Check out our chat below (right-click to download):
And funny that Dean had mentioned working with Tokyo Police Club and The Elwins previously, as a rad new little project between some of their members + pals cropped up earlier this week, a song from which just had to be our SONG OF THE WEEK this last week of March. GSJF effectively stands for Graham (Wright, of TPC and solo endeavours), Spencer (MacEachern, of The Fabulous Yawn), Joe (Manzione, who, among other projects, has played in Wright’s Good Times Band), and Feurd (of The Elwins) and the group quietly released a free, six-song digital EP that they recorded themselves over the course of a day — just this past Monday, in fact.
I spun a track on the show this week and haven’t been able to stop listening to the jangly, acoustic goodness ever since. “Messages” in particular, a tune by MacEachern, is infectious with its honesty, lyrical simplicity, and adorable vocal-backed and jingle-bell laden percussion. I can’t help but think it could be featured on the indie-fanatic soundtrack of a Diablo Cody lovelorn-romantic-comedy flick.
GSJF – “Messages”
Listen if you like: stripped-down, simple and honest indie tuneage; percussion punctuated by jingle bells and “ba-ba-ba”s; any of those acts mentioned above, seeing at folks from them are part of this.
Be sure to download the entire EP — it’s free and absolutely worth it. Until next week — enjoy JUNOfest if you’re in Ottawa!
Alrighty, CMW show-goers.We’ve hit the halfway point. Two nights down, three to go. We’re keeping the rundowns short again as day three is yet another whirlwind of activity – though if you want to check out daytime sessions, we strongly encourage you to check out Sonic Boom’s in-store lineup and the Young Lions Music Club/Live Near Bellwoods Living Room Sessions. We checked out Kalle Mattson, Samantha Savage Smith and Louise Burns there at the Toronto Institute for the Enjoyment of Music yesterday, and it was a wonderfully intimate setup. Best part about both of these? No wristbands needed, both events are absolutely free.
Tonight’s shows near College and Spadina:
MEGAN BONNELL, 8pm, El Mocambo upstairs (464 Spadina, at College). Sounds like: a softer, piano-driven Jenn Grant. Listen to “Lowell, MA.”
GREAT BLOOMERS, 8:30pm, El Mocambo downstairs (464 Spadina, at College). Sounds like: folk-tinged indie-rock that Gordon Lightfoot himself has thumbsed-up. Listen to “Young Ones Slept.”
GREY KINGDOM, 9pm, El Mocambo upstairs (464 Spadina, at College). Sounds like: the lovechild of Iron and Wine and John Denver. Listen to “Haunted.” (Saw him last night with full backing band; huge Now Playing Radio stamp of approval.)
JAMES AND BLACKBURN, 10pm, Rancho Relaxo (300 College, near Spadina). Sounds like: indie prog-rock, even a little reminiscent of ’90s rock. Listen to “We Have No Names For Anything.” (Ottawa hometown boys, highly recommended by Now Playing Radio.)
JOSHUA HYSLOP, 11pm, Free Times Cafe (320 College, near Spadina). Sounds like: soft singer-songwriter acoustic jams a la Joshua Radin. Listen to “Nowhere Left To Go.”
FIRE + NEON, 12am, Rancho Relaxo, (300 College, near Spadina). Sounds like: throwback-but-updated synth-driven disco-rock. Listen to “Everybody’s Going.”
DINOSAUR BONES, 1am, Sneaky Dee’s (431 College, at Bathurst). Sounds like: earnest indie-rock — the closest thing to the Strokes Toronto’s got right now. Listen to “Ice Hotels.”
ROUGE, 2am, Sneaky Dee’s (431 College, at Bathurst). Sounds like: dark dance/synth beats. Listen to “Modern Lovers I.”
SHEEZER, 3am, Sneaky Dee’s (431 College, at Bathurst). All you need to know about this band is that it’s some of Toronto’s raddest lady musicians covering the best tracks off Weezer’s Pinkerton and Blue albums. Rivers Cuomo-approved, and we approve ’em too. This is one show you won’t want to miss. Listen to their entire killer set from New Year’s Eve at the El Mo here.
Here it is! Part two (we hope you liked part one!) of our recommended-shows guide for Canadian Music Week 2012, all Now Playing Radio-approved. (We’ve had to cut back on the descriptions as we’re just so tight on time! But we’ve still provided the all-too-necessary YouTube links.)
Best bets for Thursday, March 22nd:
Daytime sessions
Some positively terrific ones happening today:
1pm: JF Robitaille at Sonic Boom (782 Bathurst, at Bloor). Acoustic singer-songwriter hymns from la belle province. Listen to “Modern Love Song Pt. 1.”
2pm: The Balconies at Sonic Boom (782 Bathurst, at Bloor). Family-fronted indie power-pop/rock. Listen to “Kill Count”.
2:30pm: Kalle Mattson at the Toronto Institute for the Enjoyment of Music (821 Queen Street West). Young-but-wise indie rock, sometimes softer and Wilco-influenced, other times swelling with horns. Listen to “Thick as Thieves.”
3pm: Samantha Savage Smith at the Toronto Institute for the Enjoyment of Music (821 Queen Street West). Electric guitar and arresting vocals from a solo singer-songwriter from Calgary. Listen to “You Always Come to Mind.”
4:30pm: Teenage Kicks at the Toronto Institute for the Enjoyment of Music (821 Queen Street West). Toronto-based honest, youthful rock that’ll make you want to know all the lyrics. Listen to “Middle of the Night.”
Route 1: The Bloor/Bathurst corner
GREAT BLOOMERS, 7pm, Sonic Boom in-store (782 Bathurst, at Bloor). Toronto-based, Gordon Lightfoot-approved folk-tinged indie-rock. Listen to “Young Ones Slept.”
CHAINS OF LOVE, 8pm, Sonic Boom in-store (782 Bathurst, at Bloor). West coast retro-sounding garage-soul, perfect for fans of Best Coast. Listen to “In Between.”
ZACHARY LUCKY, 9pm, The Central (603 Markham, near Bloor/Bathurst). Earnest acoustic stylings from Saskatoon. Listen to “Our New Home.”
WILDLIFE, 12am, Lee’s Palace (529 Bloor West, just east of Bathurst). Modest Mouse-esque indie pop-rock jams from Ontario. Listen to “Stand in the Water.”
Route 2: Sweet sounds ’round College and Queen
JF ROBITAILLE, 8pm, Sneaky Dee’s (431 College, at Bathurst). As mentioned earlier: Acoustic singer-songwriter from la belle province who we’ve seen perform at the Black Sheep Inn before — and we were blown away. Listen to “Modern Love Song Pt. 1.”
JOSEPH ARTHUR, 9:30pm, Horseshoe Tavern (370 Queen West, at Spadina). Not Canadian, but hey — remember “Honey and the Moon” from season one of The O.C.? Of course you do. Yeah, that’s this guy. Listen to “This is Still My World.”
THE BALCONIES, 11pm, Cabin 5 (225 Richmond St. West, near Queen and John). If you haven’t seen these guys live before, you’re missing out. The aforementioned family-fronted indie power-pop-rockers know how to whip up a crowd. Listen to “Kill Count”.
THE DEARS, 1am, El Mocambo (464 Spadina, at College). These legendary Montreal rockers are guaranteed to be a treat. Listen to “Thrones.”
More highly recommended shows:
REVERSING FALLS, 8pm, Silver Dollar (486 Spadina, at College)
THE STRAIN, 9pm, The Piston (937 Bloor West, near Ossington)
ADALINE, 10pm, The Piston (937 Bloor West, near Ossington)
GREY KINGDOM, 11pm, Sneaky Dee’s (431 College, at Bathurst)
HONHEEHONHEE, 12am, Rancho Relaxo (300 College, near Spadina)
THE LOVE MACHINE, 1am, Sneaky Dee’s (431 College, at Bathurst)
Check back tomorrow morning for our part 3 of recommended CMW shows for Friday night (and day)!
The next two weekends are pretty big for live music fans in Ontario. Tomorrow marks the start of Canadian Music Week, five days full of live music in venues (both common and not-so-common) across downtown Toronto. And of course, next weekend is JUNOfest in Ottawa, where artists from across the country meet up with some of our favourite hometown heroes to put on some incredible shows on March 30th and 31st. But more on JUNOfest and its must-see acts next week — right now, it’s time to wrap your head around the sheer madness that is the CMW schedule.
If you’re like me, you’re probably wanting to pack in every possible show you can see from tomorrow (Wednesday the 21st) through to Sunday (the 25th). And if you’re like me, you want to get strategic about it. Try to predict in advance which shows will be closer to or further from capacity. Maybe support some of the smaller bands who rarely tour and catch some of the bigger acts another time, as you know they’ll be swinging through town again soon (or heck, maybe you’ve even seen ’em already in the last few months). Perhaps you’d even like to plan your nights (and days – so many daytime showcases!) around certain neighbourhoods, sticking to venues that are within blocks of each other. No matter how you hope to tackle these next few jam-packed nights, we’ve got your back.
So over the next few days, you’ll be treated to a day-by-day breakdown of some suggested “show routes,” grouped by location. Each of these artists are Now Playing Radio-approved, which means they’ve been featured on the show, and/or they’ve put on an excellent live show previously, and/or they’ve put out such great music recently that you just have to give ’em a shot. To see where each venue is precisely located, head over to the CMW website for a great map. They’ve also got their entire schedule posted online for your perusing/pleasure.
(A note: these listings were pulled together with fellow die-hard, TTC-pass-holding wristbanders in mind. Most of these “routes” feature venues that are within walking distance from each other, but if you’re hoping to jump between many shows throughout the week, you might want to pick up a TTC weekly pass, as I just did the other day. I think it’ll be worth it. Same thing with the wristband — I didn’t add individual ticket prices below, as they often vary — but it’s only $75 for access to just about every show for the entire festival. More details on the CMW site and more info on individual ticket prices can be found on the official schedule.)
To kick things off, we’ll start at the very beginning. Here are some Now Playing Radio-approved recommendations for WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21ST:
Route 1: Retro rock on the Ossington strip
Start out with PAINT, 8pm, Painted Lady (218 Ossington at Dundas). Honest, easy TO-based rock that’ll remind you of listening to the radio in the early naughts — and hey, they’ll be on the April 4th episode of Now Playing. Listen to “End of the Reel.”
From there, walk south or jump on the 63 Ossington bus to see MICHAEL RAULT, 9:30pm, Great Hall Basement (1087 Queen West, a little bit west of Ossington). Upbeat, retro jukebox jams from a young Edmontonian. Listen to “Lay Right Down and Die” below:
Next, pop back up to Dundas and Ossington to see THE BRITISH COLUMBIANS, 10:30pm, The Garrison (1197 Dundas West, just west of Ossington). Slightly gritter blues-rock from Vancouver, even reminiscent of the Black Keys at times. Listen to “Gasoline Handshake.”
And you can stick around at The Garrison to catch AMOS THE TRANSPARENT at 11:15pm. Folk-soaked alt-rock wrapped in layers of lap steep, violin and banjo. We love this Ottawa group so much, they’re our SONG OF THE WEEK this week. Listen to “Sure As The Weather.”
Route 2:Grooves on Bloor
Kick off your night with sweet beats from Ottawa’s ZOO LEGACY, 9pm, The Piston (937 Bloor St. West, just west of Ossington). A genre-bending mix of hip hop and R&B so enthralling that even those who normally wouldn’t give it a try will want to give them a listen. Listen to “How Much Love.”
Stick around at The Piston to catch smooth tunes from SOUND OF LIONS, 10pm. Killer lady-fronted trip-hop with full band and fierce beats from the nation’s capital. Great friends of the show who performed a terrific in-studio acoustic set for us back in December (which has yet to be uploaded — travesty, and totally my fault). Listen to”Enders.”
Zip down to Queen on that trusty 63 Ossington bus to see YOUNG EMPIRES, 11:30pm, Great Hall Basement (1087 Queen West, a little bit west of Ossington). Synth- and guitar-driven dance beats are what these Torontonians do best — they’ve even been selected to play the Indies on Saturday night, but why pass up a chance to see ’em in a more intimate space? Listen to “White Doves.”
Head back north to Bloor and return to The Piston for DREAM JEFFERSON, 1am. These Ottawa ex-pats — now based in Toronto — take the best parts of electro-pop and hip hop, smack it with rap, and come out with a unique indie creation that’s energetic and accessible. They’ve visited Now Playing at the CHUO studios previously, and have just about turned me into a rap fan, which I never thought possible. Listen to “Westminster Abbey” below:
Route 3: Indie off Spadina
Start things off with LOOM, 8pm, Cameron House Backroom (408 Queen West, just west of Spadina). The Toronto-based songstress crafts hypnotizing tracks that pull you in with delicate strums and keep you gripped with a wall of heavy guitar, all matched with an ethereal voice throughout. Listen to “Around Again.”
From there, take your time sauntering or streetcarring over to see MICHAEL BERNARD FITZGERALD, 10pm, Gladstone Hotel North Ballroom (1214 Queen West, at Gladstone). The guitar-toting Calgarian’s upbeat soul-folk sound will definitely keep your head bopping and toes tapping. Listen to “Brand New Spaces.”
Work your way back toward Spadina to see WILL CURRIE AND THE COUNTRY FRENCH, 11pm, The Rivoli (334 Queen West, just east of Spadina). These Waterloo folk-rockers make piano-driven music even your parents will love — but with their added brass section and Canadiana lyrics, you’ll be falling in love with them soon yourself. These guys appeared on the show a couple of months ago, before a terrific set at the Horseshoe. Listen to “Railroad.”
And hang back at the Rivoli for KALLEMATTSON, 12am. The Ottawa group has been enjoying an immense amount of buzz following their hookup with Winnipeg label Parliament of Trees and a music video that went viral, and now they’re just about to release a new EP and head out to tour the Maritimes. Their folk-rock sound has been likened to Wilco and definitely roped me in well over a year ago when they visited the CHUO studios for a live session at the end of 2010. They’re continuing to explore their sound as they’ve mixed in more horns and even sometimes taken a lo-fi approach in some of their new work — definitely a set not to be missed. Listen to Thick as Thieves (the music video that went viral!) below:
Other shows that we fully recommend:
JORDAN KLASSEN, 9pm, The Dakota Tavern (218 Ossington, at Dundas)
LOUISE BURNS, 10pm, Drake Underground (1150 Queen West, at Beaconsfield)
LAURENT BOURQUE, 11pm, The Central (603 Markham, near Bloor and Bathurst)
SAMANTHA SAVAGE SMITH, 11pm, Hard Luck (812 Dundas St. West, near Bathurst)
And don’t forget — many of the above artists are playing more shows later on, too, so don’t fret! You can also search artists individually here on the CMW site to see when they’ll play next. Check back tomorrow when we’ll have your guide to THURSDAY night shows (and daytime sessions!).
On last week’s show, we were all too thrilled to share with you the JUNOfest lineup, which had just been announced the night before! In celebration, we spun (some very fresh) tracks from artists both local and from elsewhere who’ll be taking over the city the weekend after next:
Fevers – The Rapture
Camp Radio – Turn Up The Radio
Loon Choir – Spiral
Kalle Mattson – Water Falls
The Rural Alberta Advantage – North Star
Hollerado – Got To Lose
Amos the Transparent – Sure As The Weather
The Deep Dark Woods – All The Money I Had Is Gone
The Love Machine – Love Is On Your Side
The Balconies – Kill Count
The Glass Chain – La Ville
Phantom Shores – Walking in the Night
Some of these bands also happen to be playing CMW this week in Toronto — but more on that in an upcoming post and on tomorrow’s show!
I was thrilled to finally play that Amos the Transparent track, as I’ve personally been enjoying it for the last few weeks. Their adorable one-take music video for the track actually came out a while ago, but has been enjoying more recent buzz and I’ve been pleased to hear the song featured often on CBC Radio 3. So it’s about time that we featured these local heroes here.
Amos the Transparent – Sure As The Weather
Listen if you like: alt-rock with taste of folk; deep yet radio-friendly tunes smothered in layers of banjo, lap steel, violin and plenty of swelling guitars; supporting Ottawa acts; the way kids draw butterflies and rainbows in just that perfect way that makes you smile.
Check out the video for “Sure As The Weather” below, and you can snag the track for yourself on iTunes.
And in more great local news — it’s CHUO FUNDING DRIVE time again! We’re doing a DONATE-AND-DRAW, and here’s how it works: donate to the station’s funding drive through Now Playing Radio and you’ll be entered in a draw to win some terrific swag. But the best part about this draw? EVERYONE walks away with something. Some of our prizes so far include:
a copy of Kathryn Calder’s latest album, “Bright and Vivid”
a copy of “Awake, You Sleepers!” from Will Currie + The Country French
a copy of HONHEEHONHEE’s debut, “Shouts”
a signed copy of Graham Wright’s “Shirts vs Skins”
a copy of The Elwins’ “And I Thank You”
some sweet t-shirts from our friends at File Under: Music
and PLENTY more!
If you’d like to make a donation to support campus/community radio and enter your name to win one of these great prizes, please email emma@nowplayingradio.com with your name, mailing address, and your pledge. (And if you’re a band who’d like to donate to the draw, we’d love your support!)
Be sure to tune into tomorrow’s show at 1pm on CHUO.fm when we chat with Dean from terrific Toronto band Papermaps, who’ll be playing at Zaphod’s with Fire + Neon and Ornaments on Friday, March 30th, PLUS we’ll be talking more about the CHUO funding drive AND we’ll be previewing some of the hip-happenings planned here in Toronto for Canadian Music Week!
Our latest show was a rather simple one, folks, as I took the opportunity to spin some tracks I’ve personally been lovin’ for the last few weeks. These included:
Phedre – In Decay
Plants & Animals – Why & Why
Kalle Mattson – Covered It All
Sound of Lions – Enders (Fevers Evil Mix)
John K. Samson – When I Write My Master’s Thesis
Little City – Arms Around A Picture
Grimes – Be a Body
The Glass Chain – Still Lives
Erin Passmore – Downtown
Bravestation – Signs of the Civilized
The Abbreviations – The Waiting Game
The Wooden Sky – Child of the Valley
ALX – I Will Love You More
Moon King – Theme From Moon King
Folly and the Hunter – Leaving Town
The next couple of weeks are going to be jam-packed with awesomeness as the CHUO funding drive is coming up, there are a couple of terrific Toronto bands playing Ottawa soon, and of course Canadian Music Week and JunoFest are just around the corner. And all of this is happening before April 1st! Madness. Sheer madness.
And to help get you excited about all of this madness, our latest song of the week is a sleek track from Toronto’s Bravestation, who we actually had on Now Playing Radio for a live session around this time last year. The indie-rock/pop quartet explores a terrific new tribal-pop sound that even harkens back to the ’80s with “Signs of the Civilized,” which they recently released in advance of their upcoming debut LP, expected later this year. Highly recommended for those who like to listen to Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” every so often but won’t ever admit to it.
Bravestation – Signs of the Civilized
Listen if you like: smooth tribal pop; the idea of far-from-outdated, fresh ’80s soft rock; Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” but updated, generally more cool, and with more electric guitar.
If you’re in Toronto, you can catch them next during Canadian Music Week on March 24th at the Horseshoe Tavern with Two Hours Traffic, Wintersleep, and more. You can also help support their efforts to create a music video for Signs of the Civilized here (and damn does it sound like they have a rad idea for it).
We here at Now Playing Radio can’t get enough of the sweet synth/dance/electro-pop beats comin’ out of the capital over the last while. Silkken Laumann, who had a song of the week on here just recently. The Glass Chain, who we’ve had on the show previously. Fire and Neon, who’ll be playing CMW in Toronto at the end of the month. Loon Choir, who was one of our first guests on the show and will be releasing a brand-new full-length album in the coming months. And Fevers, who we only caught wind of a couple months ago, but have totally fallen in love with already.
Jim, Colin and Martin of Fevers just happened to be in Toronto a little while ago, so we took the opportunity to meet for some patriotic pints of Beau’s and to chat about how they’ve been successfully creating buzz in Ottawa. (They also chat about their upcoming music video — which they actually just shot yesterday! We can’t wait to see the final product, you guys.)
And of course, many sweet tracks were spun, hand-picked by the guys themselves:
Fevers – Passion Is Dead (Long Live Fashion)
The Stills – Killer Bees
Misteur Vallaire – Dan Dan
controller.controller – History
Wintersleep – Insomnia
Fevers – End Of Love Song
And just last week, the band remixed another terrific Ottawa act (and more great friends of the show), Sound of Lions — the Enders (Fevers Evil Mix) is our belated Song of the Week, which you can stream and download below.
Sound of Lions – Enders (Fevers Evil Mix)
Listen if you like: Sound of Lions and Fevers, naturally; rad Ottawa music love; strong, female-fronted slow jams; remixes that are a little more dark than dance-y.
And for Ottawa listeners, Fevers will be playing a couple of hometown shows this month — one with Minus the Tiger at Mercury Lounge, which is guaranteed to be awesome. More info about upcoming dates can be found over on our Ottawa Listings page.
Everyone needs a little more rock in their day. We’ve been following these guys for the past few months and were psyched to get our hands on some fresh new tracks of theirs, which have provided the perfect kind of upbeat accompaniment over the last week! Peter and Jeff of Toronto rockers Teenage Kicks joined us last week to chat about their brand-spanking-new EP released just this week and tonight’s release show at the Horseshoe in Toronto, and you can check out the conversation below:
And, of course, we spun some sweet tunes, too (some of ’em picked by the guys themselves, some selected by yours truly):
Teenage Kicks – Middle of the Night
Feist – Undiscovered First
Zeus – Anything You Want Dear
The Wooden Sky – Malibu Rum
Bry Webb – Undertaker
PS I Love You – Sentimental Dishes
Plants and Animals – Lightshow
The Dirty Nil – Fucking Up Young
Poor Young Things – Reckless Youth
Patrick Watson – Into Giants
Teenage Kicks – Shook Our Bones
Keep your eyes peeled: before the weekend’s up, we’ll finally have our interview with Ottawa electro-pop darlings Fevers, along with our SONG OF THE WEEK, which just might be a collaboration, of sorts, between them and another local favourite of ours… stay tuned!
NOW PLAYING RADIO 