Basia Bulat - The Shore (Live in Ottawa)

Here is a video I taped of Basia Bulat playing The Shore.
It was at Ottawa's First Baptist Church on February 13, 2010.
Review of the show

Live Blogging Olympic Music : Hey Ocean! & First Canadian Medal!

February 13 marks the first Canadian medal - a silver - in the 2010 Olympic Games. Jennifer Heil won it for women's moguls skiing. Congratulations! When the medal was announced, a loud sustained roar rang throughout the O Zone, briefly confusing Hey Ocean! on stage.

Onto the music; Vancouver's own Hey Ocean! braved the pelting rain and wind, playing to a massive crowd at the Richmond O Zone. They were opening for Bedouin Soundclash. As the Dutch filtered out from the Holland Heineken House (ridiculously full), HO! saw their crowd size swell throughout the set. Not to say that they didn't draw a sizable crowd of their own; it was clear from the adolescent crowd that many had ventured from Richmond and nearby Vancouver and its suburbs to see this young and energetic band put on their famed live shows. And although they weren't able to bring out the sunshine in actuality, they sure kept the crowd warm with spirited pop songs guaranteed to move feet and shuffle bodies.

Hey Ocean! played a long set which featured a large amount of new songs, including the delightful "Bicycle Song" and "Uh Oh" which they had previously played live, as well as other ones that were brand new to me. And of course, they played mainstay favourites such as "Beatboxer (Who Broke My Heart)," "Alleyway" -- which inspired the obligatory lighter-waving -- and "A Song About California."

They even busted out a very enjoyable cover of The Cardigans' "Love Fool," which was very apt for the eve of Valentine's Day. If the crowd around me is any indication, many boys were smitten by Ashleigh Ball, who oozed her characteristic unassuming sex appeal, which was especially evident during this cover.

They also took the time to introduce Adam Cormier, their new drummer. Adam won over the crowd with an extended drum solo which ended with him doing a somersault. I assure you, with his afro-like mass of hair, it was very endearing.

Hey Ocean!, as one may have guessed by the sheer amount of new material, are in the process of releasing a new album, likely sometime in later in 2010. Until then, you can hear them in one of the two other Olympic shows they're playing-- February 19th at Robson Square, or Feb. 20th at Surrey 2010 Celebration Stage.

As for those of you wondering about Bedouin Soundclash, sorry to disappoint. I had to leave the crowd after HO!'s set because when you mix teenagers with alcohol, you get another different beast altogether-- a really annoying one.

Live Blogging Olympic Music : Malajube & Opening Ceremonies

I kicked off my Olympics celebrations at the cozy, kitschy corner of Vancouver known as Granville Island, where la Place de la Francophonie was located. After dinner, we caught the beginning of the Canadian anthem and bolted out the doors (after paying, of course) and ended up at the outdoor PdlF just in time to catch the last sustained note. What followed was 3 hours of standing in the pouring rain with about 150 other people, mostly francophone, in the outdoor plaza as we watched the visually stunning pageantry known as the opening ceremonies. Music-wise, it was a bit disappointing to note that all the performers were lip-syncing, although some were very, very good at it. The most touching moment was definitely when the entire stadium stood to honour Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, who had passed away earlier in the day due to an accident during practice. A minute of silence was observed, which resulted in a silent BC Place, as well as silence throughout our plaza.


All in all, the highlights of the Opening Ceremony can be summarized thus-- killer whales, Koyczan and k.d. lang. The visual effects simulating our wildlife drew gasps throughout the audience; BC slam poet Shane Koyczan delivered an impassioned poem highlighting the place of Canada in the world, and k.d. lang performed a spotless and thoroughly worthy rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." (was that really lip-synced? don't believe it) A tweet I read post performance summed it up quite nicely; "That's Canada for you. A vegan lesbian from Alberta singing a song written by a Quebec Jew."

Thankfully, the set by Montreal's Polaris-nominated Malajube was indoors at Performance Works theatre. The theatre was standing room only by the time we arrived, half an hour before their set was slated to begin. And by the time they took to the stage, the wide wooden floors of the theatre were covered with the bums of an eager audience. And they did not disappoint. Mixing sparse English and French banter in the beginning of the set, Malajube quickly got down to business, interspersing their trippy, nudging hardcore and prog-rock with only a few "merci, merci"s. 

Guitarist and lead singer Julien Mineau's vocals were in top-notch form, and in the few songs where he and keyboardist Thomas Augustin screamed the lyrics, the crowd went absolutely ape-shit and it was amazing. Augustin also reminded me of Foo Fighter's Dave Grohl with his demeanor and mustache. Instrumentally, the set was near flawless, with a few technical difficulties in the beginning soothed out a couple of songs in. The two songs that I knew well, "Porte Disparu" and "Luna" from their latest Labyrinthes were played back to back in the beginning of the set. The band was not afraid to take the audience on a ride, often stretching out the songs into long, instrumental freak-outs. The audience more than happily returned the favour by slam dancing and crowd surfing. All in all, it was a fucking concert.

What made the night special, on top of Malajube in their top form, was seeing the most eclectic group of fans rock out gleefully in Performance Works. Myself, my Mexican friend, his francophone boyfriend, the nearby group of teen Chinese girls were all singing along at the tops of our lungs. Middle aged couples were front and centre, in the middle of the most enthusiastic and non-hostile mosh pit I've seen. When someone pushed, they pushed back with big grins. Some up front (like me) had their wet shoes off from being outside and were dancing without worry. When an older lady side stage was flinging her arms about and sending voodoo arms toward the stage (so looking generally awkward), two high school girls jumped from in front of the stage to join her in her strange Macarena-like dance. The crowd was bloody brilliant, and very Canadian.

As my friend Cody at @cdnmusic would say, Malajube pour le gagner (PLG)!

Here's the set list for the night:

For more photos from the Malajube set, visit my Flickr!

Concert Review : Rose Cousins & Royal Wood at the Media Club

Rose Cousins and headliner Royal Wood put on a fantastic show on November 17, 2009 at the Media Club in Vancouver-- one full of switching roles, great laughs and even greater appreciation of your loved ones.

Halifax-based Rose Cousins, touring her new album The Send Off, began her opening set by the strumming of her guitar and the clear, warm tone of her voice. Well, not completely accurate. She opened her set by commenting on the amount of people surrounded the stage and how it made her feel "popular." And indeed there was a unusually large crowd for an opening set, which consisted of a dedicated base of "Rosebuds," which included Vancouver artists such as Jill Barber, Nat Jay and T Nile. She also thanked Grant Lawrence of CBC Radio 3, who was in the audience, for interviewing her earlier on during the day and heaped praise on the CBCs across Canada.

It wasn't long into her set that the rest of the people in the room were equally captivated by her honest lyrics, perfect (can I say that?) voice and gut-busting banter, which ranged from touchingly personal to hilariously inappropriate. She also accompanied herself for the entire set on keyboards, guitar and mandolin, save the beautiful "All the Time It Takes to Wait" which was accompanied by the "talented and handsome" Royal Wood.

Rose had the attention of the entire crowd in the usually chatty Media Club. Mid-set, she put the audience on the spot by asking for things in a den-- with the crowd yelling things like "chesterfield!" and "Jenga!" and her constructing a vivid image of that idyllic childhood den with her descriptive imagination. She then transitioned into her song "The Dancers" which imagined an elderly ballroom aficionado couple waltzing around this constructed den.

This was not the only time she called out for audience participation, of course. In another great switching of roles, she called out for an audience member "who's good at keeping rhythm" before playing the last song in her set, "Sadie in the Kitchen." I volunteered hesitantly, and soon found myself sharing the stage with Rose accompanying her on the shaker egg. She gladly regaled myself, an audience member, with the spotlight (and microphone!) while she led the rest of the audience in a sing-along, complete with "random vocal projections." The adorable refrain "before bed, before bed, B for bed, B for bed..." was written with her friends' young daughter in mind, and meant to be an "adult children's song" that she composed for said friends' wedding. Her willingness to share the stage and completely engage the crowd in participation recalls the show by her good friend, Joel Plaskett, whom she supported in a Vancouver show in May.

So yes, I'm going to include that in my resume and CV from now on.

Royal Wood took to the stage with guitarist Dean Drouillard inconspicuously, launching into their first of many songs. Playing many songs from his latest The Lost and Found EP as well as his 2005 A Good Enough Day, Royal filled the Media Club with his romantic, melancholy ballads without his usual backing band. And was the show romantic! Couples lined the perimeter of the stage, as well as filling the rest of the venue, while Royal told of the songs inspired by his brother's wedding, his parents' love, his own love and that of his friend's grandparents. In one of the more poignant moments, he told the audience to never settle for less than the reverberating, lifelong love that they deserve, and for which he sings. These touching anecdotes were nicely interspersed in the song-heavy, banter-light set, which included hits "Juliet" and "Don't Fall Apart."

Royal invited Rose back on stage for 2 songs near the end of his set, and wrapped up with an extended, passionate "Acting Crazy (It's a Breakdown)." Before returning on stage for the encore, he seemed confounded by the presence of washrooms where backstage is supposed to be. The Media Club's backstage is actually at the back of the room, and he commented that he wasn't sure whether to enter the men or the women's washroom in order to get there. Matching Rose's incredible sense of humour, he poked fun at the men in the room by encouraging a final sing-along by saying "this is to show your sexual confidence," which of course, got a burst of laughter and the desired louder audience participation.

All in all, the show was a heartwarming experience, and concert goers exited the Media Club with muted smiles, holding their loved ones into the windy, rainy Vancouver night.

For more photos of the show, visit my Flickr set.

Fallan Soldier in Kamloops Saturday November 14

Fallan Soldier, live photo from October 14 2009 at the Backstage Lounge, Granville Island in Vancouver. Photo by Jade Sperry.

FALLAN SOLDIER LIVE AT POGUE MAHONE'S

Hip hop/rap artist FALLAN SOLDIER performs live at Pogue Mahone's in Kamloops on Saturday, November 14. His show features songs from his recently released album “Above the Call of Duty”. This great night of urban music also features Velvet Trench Vibes from Montreal, and Kamloops locals Basic Value and Swisslizz. Cover is $5 and showtime is 8 PM. Pogue Mahone's is located at 843 Desmond Street.

Fallan Soldier is singer/songwriter and actor Harris Allan whose credits include Hunter on Showtime's hit series Queer As Folk and guest appearances on Smallville, The 4400 and Cold Squad. His debut cd “Above The Call Of Duty” was added to the on-air play-list of more than 30 Canadian community and college stations this summer and charted at CFBX, The X, in Kamloops, among others. The music video for his single “Fights” is available online at www.youtube.com/fallansoldier and was recently a featured video on the Music BC website. The album is available in Kamloops at The Art We Are at 201-322 Victoria Street, and online at Western Canada's online site, www.kerfmusic.com.

Cultural Olympiad in Vancouver - Stars, K'Naan, Veda Hille, and more

No matter what your opinion is regarding the Olympics itself, its effect on its host cities and the inhabitants, its tendency to plunge cities into decades-long debt, or its direct and indirect victims in terms of budget re-allocations... all those heated opinions aside, the Cultural Olympiad of 2010 is bringing some of the best acts in Canada into Vancouver and the international spotlight.

Below are a few of the many ticketed and non-ticketed (i.e. free) events going on in Vancouver and Whistler BC in January to March, 2010.

Stars with Hey Rosetta!
K'naan with Tinariwen
Feist (misspelled Fiest on the website. C'mon; really?)
City and Colour
Malajube
Chromeo w/ Team Canada DJs
Corb Lund
Joel Plaskett (w/ Steve Earle)
Blue Rodeo
Veda Hille Trio

For a full list of music and other artistic events, visit the Cultural Olympiad website here.

Peter Elkas, Ana Egge Double Bill

From Facebook:

Two singer-songwriters in an intimate presentation of their stuff.

Ana Egge is a wonderful Canadian-born artist living in Brooklyn, NY. She is currently touring her latest album, 'The Road To My Love'.

Peter Elkas will be performing material from his upcoming album (currently being recorded) in addition to classic Elkas fare.

They will be playing the Rivoli in Toronto on November 14th. 
For more event info, check it out here!

Concert Review : Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees & Dragonette

(First of all: wow. Electro-dance music live. So much better than the recorded stuff. The show last night was a great continuation after seeing Champion and His G-Strings at Rifflandia.)

Now I admit up front I knew neither Dragonette nor Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees well going in to the concert and had little to no expectations. Rebekah Higgs of Ruby Jean is mentioned quite frequently on NxEW, so I assumed good things. A friend had invited me to the concert last minute and he's quite familiar with Dragonette's music, showing an interesting contrast where I knew the opening act while he knew the headliner. This review focuses mostly on Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees.

The show was held on October 17, 2009, and the venue, laconically named Venue (don't you love ironic un-creativity), was originally the Plaza night club. It was quite classy, in fact, which was a nice deviation from many of the Vancouver clubs. There was a high stage, much like the Commodore Ballroom, and similarly has a well laid out floor plan. High ceilings and a balcony enabled a back wall LED light display, as well as a hanging ceiling light displays. Both of those were put to good use during the two sets.

A few notes about Dragonette-- the lead singer Martina Sorbara oozes confidence. She knows how to grab attention and hold it. The crowd, which consisted of everything from screaming club girls to Gucci-sporting men to gamer-looking huge guys, ate up whatever she served during the hour set. It was amazing to be up so close to the front and see the amount of arms reaching and longing to touch her grey body suit or shake her slender hand. Sorbara was visibly pleased and thanked the full house crowd for their full attention and adoration.

Now onto Halifax's Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees. As an opening act, they complemented Dragonette very well, as both bands have strong frontwomen, backed by solid trios of supporting men. They both played electro-dance rock which moved you involuntarily.

Ruby Jean launched into You Don't Miss Me, the one song I was familiar with from CBC Radio 3, as the first song in their set. They then proceeded to blitz and grind through the remainder of songs from their eponymous album.

Although their time slot was quite early (7:30 on a weekend?), which Rebekah apologized for, the area in front of the stage soon filled up with bobbing heads and swinging hips. And with good reason. Rebekah Higgs is a hell of a show-woman, clutching two microphones, swinging her mess of blond hair around, kicking the air, craning her back down where previously thought humanly impossible, punching her suitcase of buttons and pedals... in short, it was amazing. She oozed confidence (and sex appeal!) in a fully sequined blue mini-dress, matched by guitarist Jason Vautour in a leather vest (no shirt) and leather short-shorts.

It was a pleasure watching the band rock out on stage, visibly having fun, with chemistry and what may be sexual tension building up to the (very high) roof. Rebekah thanked the audience frequently for their high energy, and reached out into the crowd quite a few times for audience participation.

I immediately bought their album and shirt after the set, which came to a very reasonable $20, and got to chat briefly with Rebekah, who's really sweet despite (?) her onstage persona.

On stage, Higgs mentioned that this is only the second time that they've played in Vancouver. Well, that has to be remedied. and fast.

For more pictures from last night, visit my Flickr!

Rifflandia Recap in Pictures : Friday Night

Aidan Knight

Tegan and Sara

Zeus

The Most Serene Republic

Click here for the complete set of photos, as well as Thursday night's set on my Flickr.

Summary: Article One at Coastal Church

(Please excuse the poor quality cellphone photos)

The 2009 Juno-nominated band Article One, from London, Ontario, played a free concert in Vancouver August 12 as part of the Coastal Church REGeneration series of bands and speakers. They brought a high energy set to a beautiful venue, getting a whole crowd of 300+ people dancing and bobbing in between them uncomfortable pews.

My highlight of the show was definitely seeing Matt Piche's energetic (/frantic) fiddling. The bow looked just about snapped in half and strings were flying off in every direction as it seesawed to their brand of up-tempo pop rock. Now that's what I paid (well, $0) to see!

Below is a set list of that show.

Without You
Say
Searchlights
500
Blessed
I Am Free
If The World
No Time
Above All
Never
Mighty
All Because
Everlasting

Article One is composed of brothers Nathan (vox, guitar, keys) and Matt Piche (violin, vox), Dave DeSmit (drums, vox), and Nolan Verner (bass). Their name was inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was prominently displayed when they attended the U2 Vertigo tour in 2005/6.

Speaking of U2, here's hoping that with their three-part harmony and strong violin presence, that Article One can break out of the mold that so many contemporary Christian rock bands tend to fall into -- the whole shimmery guitar build-up sound.

With two albums out (Self Titled & Colors and Sounds) and one on the way, these guys have toured Canada and the US extensively to promote their music, and had been on the road for more than 200 days in 2008. They've toured with Christian mega-band the Newsboys, and are going on tour through Canada from end of October through November to support another fellow 2009 Juno-nominated Canadian band Starfield.

Their latest album, Colors and Sounds, is available on iTunes, and from MapleMusic as well.

Find them on Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace.

Photos: Joel Plaskett Emergency at Surrey Fusion Fest

Saturday, July 18th. It's 8:00 pm. You've just missed Said The Whale's 7:00 pm set, racing from the Vancouver Folk Festival from one side of Metro Vancouver, to Surrey, in the 'burbs.

But you know, even after you've had a rough day-- your friend's car's been towed, you're severely sunburnt, hungry and exhausted,

You end up at this concert, see Mr. Plaskett and his amazing band the Emergency play (for free nontheless),

And you know...


Everything will Work Out Fine.

More photos from the Joel Plaskett Emergency concert on my Flickr.


And here's the set list from that amazing show.
(minus Come On Teacher, as the emcee jumped the gun in returning to the stage. Boo.)

(Maybe I should start calling my blog earbuds and set lists or something.)

Bluesfest: Day 2

July 9th was my favorite night of Ottawa Bluesfest.
It was better than Day 1 mostly because I knew the bands/musicians that were playing on Day 2.
I had a great time running over from stage to stage.

The acts that I got to see:
Kyrie Kristmanson
Kyrie was totally amazing live. She wore her famous white fuzzy hat during Song X but took it off after it.
Nice to see her back from France for the summer.


Holy Fuck
Loved hearing Milkshakes and some new tracks.
They were absolutely amazing live and I was happy to catch Lovely Allen at the end.


Metric
Seen them alot of times now. Glad that they sang "Help! I'm Alive" live.


Iron & Wine
I wish I got to stay longer for his set.
Sad that I missed out on Such Great Heights


Ben Harper and Relentless7
All I have to say that he was totally loud.