Constantines and Chad Vangaalen Free Show at Harbourfront Canada Day

Music lovers in Toronto have a great chance to celebrate Canada with two amazing Canadian Acts: Constantines and Chad Vangaalen.

Constantines are one of Canada's finest bands, featuring angular guitars, driving drums, and curious lyrics. Their latest, Kensington Heights, shows the band in great form, maturing for sure but maintaining that pure, high energy. Also one of Canada's hardest working bands, Constantines recently finished their second Rolling Tundra Review across Canada (with Winnipeg's legendary Weakerthans) but also have a handful of dates this summer (including a great gig in NYC tomorrow!).

Chad Vangaalen has also been a darling of Canada's indie scene, with his latest, Soft Airplane, demonstrating Vangaalen's quirky interest in dark and gloomy matters. Contrasted with his quivering voice, the CD makes for some fine, if unsettling listening. Read more about Vangaalen's recent U.S. tour at my earlier post. After this gig, Vangaalen heads out west for the Dawson City Music Festival on July 17th, the Regina Folk Festival on August 7th, and the Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival on August 14th.

So here's your chance to see two of Canada's finest, free. The show is from 7:00 - 11:00 at Harbourfront Centre, with Vangaalen likely to start at 8:00. Better get there early!

PHOTOS: Flemish Eye Ball w/ Chad Vangaalen, Julie Doiron, WOMEN, Pale Air Singers, etc.

As reported last week, Calgary’s premier indie label, Flemish Eye, put on a highly anticipated (and highly sold out) shindig at the Royal Canadian Legion #1 in the downtown core. It was a veritable who’s who of local musicians with a few very special guests from coast to coast added to the mix.

Two synched stages (upstairs and downstairs) offered back to back bands all night long. First off, I caught The Pale Air Singers. The supergroup Singers feature both members of Victoria's Run Chico Run and Calgary's The Cape May. To top it off, their self-titled debut album was released TODAY!

Next up was Ghostkeeper with special guests Jay Crocker and Scott Munro (Günther, etc.). The crowd was packed in very tightly, but I managed to get close enough to catch a few great shots.

Local road warriors WOMEN tore it up afterwards. Their sound crystallized by over 200 shows in the past year. Matt Flagel held it all down on bass, not the least bit tired from his earlier performance with the Pale Air Singers.

Trivia Moment: Mr. Matt Flagel, not to be confused with his brother Pat (WOMEN vocalist), is also in The Cape May AND plays with Chad Vangaalen from time to time.

(Yes, that is a small picture of Oprah on his pick guard)

Unfortunately, the crowd upstairs wasn’t as easily navigable this time around, so my shots of Azeda Booth were taken from a precarious perch atop a railing

The evening culminated with a fantastic double shot of Julie Doiron and Chad Vangaalen. First, we heard Julie doing a few solo songs. I was glad to hear “Spill Yer Lungs” among others from her great new album. Chad backed her up on drums.

Then, the musicians changed roles. Chad picked up his guitar and threw down lots of material from Soft Airplane. Here he is playing banjo while maintaining a steady Vrksasana (tree pose) throughout the song “Willow Tree”: 

Two big thumbs up to Ian Russell (AKA Mr. Flemish Eye, AKA The Hardest Working Man in Calgary Music) and everyone at/on Flemish Eye for regaling us with such a rare event!

Check out more photos here.

Cadence Weapon vs. Woodhands & VanGaalen

Remixes are a big thing lately, see for example yesterday's winners of the Vallery Gore remix contest the Gentleman Reg Remix Contest and the Green Go Remix Project now it's Cadence Weapon's Turn. If you head over to the Myspace Blog you'll find links to free downloads of new Cadence Weapon remixes of Woodhands, Chad Vangaalen, the Streets and other treats and prizes.

cadence weapon w. final fantasy "sharks" 11/11/07

Flemish Eye Ball (May 16, Calgary)

Calgary boutique label Flemish Eye hosts their first ever non-festival to commemorate, in their words, "5.5 years of mis-management."

Gussy up your own eye balls and head down to the city's No. 1. Legion Hall this Saturday, May 16 to catch label-mates Chad Vangaalen, Women, Pale Air Singers and Black Mold, with Azeda Booth, Ghostkeeper, No More Shapes and the always lovely Julie Doiron.

Details: May 16th, 2009,
Doors at 8:30pm,
First Performance at 9:30pm
@ Royal Canadian Legion No. 1, 116 7 Avenue SE, Calgary, AB

Tickets: $25 + applicable s/c, and will be available in advance at Sloth, Megatunes, or buy them online here.

More info at flemisheye.com This sexy poster by Raymond Biesinger.

Cadence Weapon Remixes Chad VanGaalen

About an hour ago, Edmonton rapper Cadence Weapon announced via his Twitter that he had remixed fellow Albertan Chad VanGaalen's "TMNT Mask" from the Soft Airplane release. It being free, I of course downloaded it, and it is good. Like really, really good. These guys need to form a group, and if they need a third member, let me suggest Mr. Owen Pallett aka Final Fantasy, based on the Fuse episode where Cadence Weapon and Final Fantasy covered VanGaalen's "Mini TV's." You can find that and the new remix below, and you can download Cadence Weapon's pay-want-you-want remix album (including the Mini TV's cover) from cadenceweaponmusic.com.

Listen to and Download "TMNT Mask: Cadence Weapon's Michelangelo Mix" on zshare

Cadence Weapon and Final Fantasy: "Mini TV's" (Chad VanGaalen cover) Live on Fuse

Chad Vangaalen Live in Victoria

I'd won some tickets from CFUV to see Chad Vangaalen Saturday night in Victoria. With Church of the Very Bright Lights and Women opening for him I can say I was looking forward to this concert. Women has received some hype on this blog recently and Chad is going to be playing at the Dawson City Music Fest this year, so I considered it a sort of preview for that.

I must say that at the start I was disappointed. Church of the Very Bright Lights started the show off with some rockin tunes. They played hard but I felt their vocals needed some work. Next up was Women. I was rubbing my hands in anticipation when I was deafened by an unintelligible wall of noise. Wincing at the loudness I regretted not asking my friend to grab me an extra pair of ear plugs. This was Women? The opening cords of Black Rice were strung out and I thought this should redeem them, but nay the wall of noise once again hit me and nary a lyric was intelligible.

Now let me just say I'm not hatin on Women, I've do enjoy their tunes, no I'mma blame this one on the wonderful venue that is Sugar Nightclub. I've been to many a show before where the sound was just garbage. Rampaging noise drowning out melodious lyrics. Half the dance floor is practically unusable unless you want to stand in front of an amp. There were songs where it was as if the singer's mic wasn't even on. The rest of the audience still seemed to enjoy it though, perhaps I'm just being to picky.

All this changed when Chad stepped on, it was as if the sound guy realized that it helped to face
the board while he worked it. When he played Willow Tree and my friend tapped me on the shoulder and told me he liked this, I felt vindicated. Mr. Vangaalen was wonderful, his voice ringing out clear and soulful over his music. Every song was ambrosia for my ears. The music business must be going well for him as he dropped 50 bucks for a fan's dreadlock (to add to the one he'd gotten at his last Victoria show; tied to the end of his homemade guitar). I managed to snap a picture of the event.

Iwas really disappointed the opening bands didn't live up to expectations but Chad definitely was everything and more I'd hoped for. I am thoroughly looking forward to seeing him play in Dawson this summer.

Indie Darlings Chad VanGaalen and Women Tour US and Europe

Canadian Indie artists continue to present strong showings in the U.S. and Europe. One of my favourite music blogs, Aquarium Drunkard, is promoting a show at Los Angeles landmark Silver Lake venue Spaceland, featuring quirky but mellow Westerner Chad VanGaalen and melodic noisemakers Women (also from the West). Aquarium Drunkard notes that their latest, Van Gaalen's Soft Airplane, and Women's self titled debut, were among the strongest recordings of 2008 (the right opinion, by the way). Yet here in Canada, they often can't even fill medium sized venues. Indeed, here in Ottawa, the two acts performed together at Ottawa's Zaphod's, a small intimate club which is a magnet for great indie acts. Both acts also recently did a show at Toronto institution the Horseshoe Tavern.

Van Gaalen and Women will continue to tour the American West Coast this Spring and then split on separate jaunts to Europe (Women noticeably supporting DeerHunter at gigs in Paris and Amsterdam).

Next time any great Canadian indie acts come to that intimate little club in your Canadian city, think about the folks in major American and European metropolises scrambling to get tix in areas where the population is so much larger. We are lucky to see these acts at home - check out those live sets when you can!

VanGaalen's Molten Light, with visuals and music created by VanGaalen:



Women w/ VanGaalen in hometown: