Best Thing Ever

Thanks again to Ian (who also told me about this video) for sending me a link to iDaft. Less a sing-along song than a play-along. The Daft Punk Wii game can’t be far behind...

Stars @ Metropolis, Montreal, Nov. 28

It’s been a banner time for seeing Stars live — in the last 15 months, I’ve been to six of their concerts, with a seventh show to come in a couple weeks. And while faithful readers of this blog may be tiring of my post-concert reports, I have yet to wear of seeing them live. Torq Campbell (pictured) in particular, the ex-actor and blossoming crooner, is a joy to watch, at turns swearing, smiling, dancing and laying out his sensitive, seemingly tortured soul. I realized at this show, held in their adopted hometown of Montreal, that, yes, I want to be Torq, and I don’t care who knows. If that’s an adolescent thought, it’s in alignment with Stars’ own position, caught between the teenage power of pop music and the clearly adult themes of their songs. “I’m 14 forever, if I make you believe,” Torq sings on “14 Forever,” regrettably, the only song they did not play from their new EP Sad Robots. They’re back on tour promoting that EP, which consists of six subtler, more personal songs that, as could be expected, didn’t do so well live. I’m even disappointed that those songs helped squeeze out other, far better tracks from their usual concert playlist. No “In Our Bedroom” or “Reunion” or “Heart” or even “The Aspidistra Files,” a lovely, mostly forgotten track that they sometimes play. No worries — I’m sure I’ll hear them all again another time soon.

Lykke Li @ The Mod Club, Oct. 24

Five months ago, I wrote that Lykke Li was “poised for a breakthrough,” and if the packed house at last night’s show at The Mod Club was any indication, it’s at least one good SNL performance from happening (or maybe a well-placed song in a movie commercial). I have to say, however, she didn’t wow me the same way she did earlier this year. I’ll admit, maybe I’ve hardened to her, but I think it was more to do with her fairly apparent lack of enthusiasm (not to mention the pitch-black tent dress she was wearing – I expected her to throw it off at any point to show there was a dress under there!). She even chided the audience for going to the bar and getting drunk. Sheesh. That said, she’s still a budding star, and has some killer songs in her still-growing repertoire. The high moments, surprisingly, were covers: a spot-on rendition of Vampire Weekend’s “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,” and an Amy Poehler-inspired rap of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?” Yes, yes you can.
     The brighter spot may have been opening act Friendly Fires, a spunky UK four-piece that’s listened to a lot of new wave records and has a lead singer who must have drank 10 espressos before he hit the stage. “Jump in the Pool” (as can be heard on JeffMix2008.08.24) and “Paris” are two of the better, underplayed songs this year, but shows like this are going to put them into the breakthrough category shortly.

Take On Me, literally

Thanks Dan for tipping me to this:

Radiohead, Aug. 15 @ Molson Amphitheatre

I think it’s appropriate that my first blog post sent from my new
iPhone is a review of this month’s Radiohead concert. They're the
sound of right now, just as, for me at least, this – blogging, texting, living an iLife – is the feeling of it. So if seeing Springsteen is a religious experience, tapping into a greater musical force, going to Radiohead fells like plugging in. My friend Ian, a huge Radiohead fan, who was also at the show, claims Thom Yorke is one of the best songwriters of our times, and I’d have to disagree. Even after repeated runs through their back catalogue, I still have trouble differentiating between their songs, especially from their pop-free post-Bends period. No matter: songs like “Reckoner,” off the exquisite In Rainbows, or stunning set closer “Everything In Its Right Place,” don’t need hooks. They’re affecting in the way only Radiohead knows how to express “the malaise of modernity,” a sound that’s at the same time primal yet futuristic; both analog and digital. (This is the band, after all, with a song called “Packt Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin.”) I really think Radiohead should be required listening for anyone in our generation. Perhaps they already are. Great show.

Sign of the Apocalypse

As reported on MacDailyNews, software developper Armin Heinrich has created a $999 iPhone app, simply called “I Am Rich.” The app, which Heinrich claims has “no hidden function,” displays a small red ruby to “always remind you (and others when you show it to them) that you were able to afford this.” You might want to turn off 1-click purchasing… (Update: This app has now been removed from the iTunes Store.)

Billy Bragg @ Harbourfront Centre, June 17

There’s not much I could say about seeing Billy Bragg live that I couldn’t say about the dozen or so shows I’ve seen of his in the past. His set list has remained, frustratingly, the same for years — heavy on his early, solo-guitar work; virtually skipping his best record, Workers Playtime (with the exception of “Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards,” with updated, post-Cold War lyrics); and closing with the singalong crowd-pleaser, “A New England.” Sprinkle in a few songs from his current CD – which happens this time to be the mediocre Mr. Love & Justice — and you’ve got the template for Billy gigs for time eternal.
     That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy myself. Billy’s a terrific entertainer, whose legendary between-song banter is part comedian, part rabble-rouser. And his guitar playing and singing, while never a thing of beauty, is perenially underrated. He’s the Jimmy Connors of folk singing, someone who has gotten the most out of so little.
     So there were few surprises on this night, other than the fact that Billy’s concerts are becoming family affairs. Several kids were in the crowd, and Bragg — a father himself — spent a lot of time (too much, if you ask me) addressing the children and filling their requests.
     The other surprise was opener C.R. Avery, who simply blew me away. I dare say he’s the best opening act I’ve ever seen (sorry Flash Lightnin), which is impressive considering how badly it could have all gone. I was told he was a folk singer-slash-poet who beatboxes, which has disaster written all over it. He even did a poem about Pierre Elliott Trudeau — and, amazingly, it worked. Needless to say, you need to see him to believe it.
(Thanks Polly for the photo.)

Sign of the Apocalypse

Larry King interviews – and performs with — Mötley Crüe on tonight’s Larry King Live.

Stars, Death Cab for Cutie, Rogue Wave, Young Galaxy @ Olympic Island, June 6

It’s been a couple months since Stars last performed — taking a break during a worldwide tour that launched in the fall — and I expected some rust. Sure enough, their set began poorly, with Amy nearly missing the start of first song, “The Night Starts Here,” and Torq over-singing his parts to combat the outdoor concert expansiveness.
     It took a while for them to hit their groove, but the latter half of the show – starting with blazing renditions of “What I’m Trying to Say,” “Elevator Love Letter,” and “Midnight Coward” — was as strong as any Stars concert I’ve seen. The tearjerker moment — and every Stars show has at least one of them — was the show’s heart-wrenching climax, “In Our Bedroom After the War,” setting the bar high for headliners Death Cab for Cutie.
     Too high, apparently. I was impressed with Death Cab when I saw them a few years back, mostly for delivering a surprisingly loud rock show when I expected a laid-back O.C.-ish night. But, despite the fact lead singer Ben Gibbard has written some terrific songs, Death Cab is mostly mundane live. File them with other bands whose records will do just fine.
     And that’s the main difference between Stars and Death Cab for Cutie, the two best indie-pop bands out there. Stars are true performers: a ragtag group of new romantics, lead by former actor Torq Campbell (whose between-song segues — often laced with the words “fuck” or “fucking” — could easily be extended into Billy Bragg-like soliloquies), who pour their heart into each show. I won’t get tired of seeing them anytime soon.
     The two other bands on the bill couldn’t have been more different. Rogue Wave were at their veteran best, showing off the fine yet underrated songs off last year’s Asleep at Heaven’s Gate; while Young Galaxy, despite their Arts-&-Crafts pedigree, were just happy to be invited. Slow and uninspiring, they are clearly not ready for the big time.
(Thanks again Zack for taking photos — click above for larger image. Set list here.)

Best headline ever

Monkeys Control Robot Arm With Their Thoughts

Kanye West @ The Molson Amphitheatre, May 21

If you know me, you know I love Kanye West. (And Stars. And Billy Bragg.) Where others only see a pompous blowhard with questionable rap skills, I see him as a super-talented and surprisingly genuine crossover star with three stellar albums under his belt (including my No. 1 album of last year, Graduation).
     And while I’ve adored his records, Kanye and his highly anticipated Glow in the Dark concert didn’t impress. Much was made of his high-tech, high-concept show — in which Kanye plays a lost space traveller searching for home — but I found it to be a stretch and somewhat dull. By playing so close to a “script,” Kanye didn’t engage the crowd as much as I would have liked, nor did he add much musical variation — a shock considering how innovative he is on disc. “Good Life” was the night’s best song, in part because of what he did differently: he used a Roger-style vocoder for the Akon-sung chorus, and quieted a section down so the crowd could whisper a refrain.
     The rest of the show, however, was loud, aggressive, and unexpectedly monotonous — more what I would expect from a traditional hip-hop show. Which is ironic coming from Kanye, whose appeal comes from his crossover ambitions and envelope-pushing techniques. A shame.
     The surprise of the night came from Rihanna, one of three opening acts (the others being N.E.R.D. and Lupe Fiasco — in a stupendously short four-song set). I expected very little from her, as Rihanna’s hits (including the clunker “Umbrella”) haven’t done much for me. But she showed, with her better-than-average voice and in-control demeanour, that she’s the purest performer of the bunch.

Lykke Li @ The Mod Club, May 11

2008 is becoming the year of Lykke Li. The first I heard of her was late last year, with the seductive “Little Bit,” a track I included on JeffMix2007.11.18. I knew nothing about her at the time — in fact, due to the song’s sparse production and her odd name, I guessed she was Japanese.
     And, as sometimes happens with songs coming out of nowhere on the Internet, I thought that might be the last I heard of Lykke Li. But then there was another song floating around, the haunting “Tonight” (included on JeffMix2008.02.29), and finally a full-length album, the spell-binding Youth Novels — produced by the Bjorn of Peter, Bjorn and John — which includes a handful of best-of-year-worthy tracks.
     Needless to say I was excited to see her live. And even though the set was short — she was opening for El Perro Del Mar — it didn’t take long to realize this is someone poised for a breakthrough. Funkier and sexier than I expected — especially on “Breaking It Up,” a song she encouraged the crowd to “go wild over” — Lykke Li showed she’s no one-hit wonder. More please.

The American President Americans have been waiting for

Last week I was checking out the campaign websites of the American presidential campaigns and couldn’t believe the tagline being used by John McCain’s campaign:

The American President Americans have been waiting for.

WTF? As opposed to all the Canadians running for office? It’s brazen, it’s racist, and a sign of the nasty, fear-based campaign that I’m sure is to come from the Republicans. I was hoping McCain was above all of this...
     Here’s the accompanying campaign video, which includes the use of the pronoun “she” referring to the United States. So, add sexist to the list.

Star Wars vs Saul Bass

Thanks to Earle for sending me this. And if you don’t know who Saul Bass is, click here.

Metric @ Sound Academy, Feb. 7

I have mixed feelings after seeing Metric live last week, my third time catching the non-solo Emily Haines (pictured) at work. I can’t deny the band had great energy and we had a blast whooping it up in the packed-like-sardines crowd at what must be Toronto’s worst venue, Sound Academy (formally The Docks). But it sure helped that I drank a half dozen beers — and clearly most of the crowd had as well.
     And there’s the problem: Metric are now a beer-drinking band. Again, it’s a lot of fun to party while Emily shakes it out to their near-punk hits, but there’s surprisingly little nuance. They even close their set with a new song, tellingly titled, “Stadium Love.”
     So, I’m split. “Combat Baby” and “Dead Disco” are still such terrific songs, especially live. And a couple of songs they previewed from their upcoming fourth CD, like opener “Freddie” (a tribute to Freddie Mercury) and the aforementioned “Stadium Love” (and its “ooh-ah-ooh” chorus) really stood out. But forgive me if I expected more.
(Thanks again, Zack, for taking photos.)

Boycott the Grammys

I wonder how Kanye West is doing today after being upset by Herbie Hancock — yes, Herbie Hancock (pictured) — to lose the album of the year award at last night’s Grammys. The Grammys have a long list of snubs and slip-ups (thanks Polly for the link), but this one takes the cake. Especially on a night when Kanye stole the show with his back-to-back performance of “Stronger” (with his neon, sample-happy buddies Daft Punk) and an emotional reworking of “Hey Mama,” a tribute to his recently deceased mother. Unless Stars are invited to perform, I refuse to watch the Grammys again. I should have stopped watching a long time ago.

Stars @ The Rehearsal Hall, Dec. 2

A third Stars show in one week, and this one was a treat: an invite-only taping of Bravo! Canada’s Live at The Rehearsal Hall series. (Thanks Christina!) There couldn’t have been more than 60 people in the audience and it looked like many of them were friends and family (including several greyhairs, who must have been moms and dads).
     We got there late, so we didn’t snag seats. At first I was disappointed that they made us stand behind Pat McGee’s drumkit, but it gave us a surprisingly good perspective. At least a new one, behind the band rather than in front. So we could see them talking amongst themselves (and snarkily at each other on a couple of occasions).
     We heard beforehand that Torq was sick, and he didn’t look good at all, but he soldiered through. Frankly, they sounded great, just as a band coming off tour should. And Amy, as you can see from the photo above, was smoking. (Her “Bitches in Tokyo” was the show’s strongest number.) But they did screw up, or at least McGee did, losing the beat completely on the crashing outro of “One More Night.” So, because it’s actually live to tape, they performed it again, along with another rendition of “My Favourite Book.” Catch it all, including a smiling yours truly behind the drumkit, on Feb. 5 on Bravo! Canada.
     And now my Stars obssession can cool down. Whew.

Stars @ The Phoenix, Nov. 27

Amy Millan was quoted in last week’s Now magazine saying that Stars are “pretty much sticking” to the same set each night for their current tour. And last night’s set was almost identical to Monday’s show, with two differences: one that I’ll mention below, and Monday they included “Look Up” from Heart, a song I haven’t heard them do live, and a song that a friend told me was once described in a review as “the sound right before you start crying.”

The Beginning After the End
The instrumental synth track that begins Stars’ latest CD, In Our Bedroom After the War, is also first up here. Fresh flowers are everywhere, and will soon be thrown into the crowd all night long. Torq’s in the same grey suit both nights and Amy’s doing her biker grandmother look.

Take Me to the Riot
Possibly my favourite song from the new record, the rock-out number’s a great way to kick off the show.

Set Yourself on Fire
The title song from their third album, this always gets the crowd in the right mood. Torq does his robot dance before bringing it down for the “20 years asleep before we sleep” outro. Stunning.

Elevator Love Letter
For the old-timers, Amy says on night one. Only one of two songs from their second album, Heart, and there are none from their first CD.

The Ghost of Genova Heights
Their most love-it-or-hate-it song. I am in the latter camp, although Torq hams it up by wearing a suit made of white lights.

Bitches in Tokyo
The biggest problem with the Phoenix shows is that they’re all-ages gigs, which isn’t in itself a bad thing. However, the Phoenix barricades the drinkers into the rear of the club. So if you want to be close, which we did the first night, you have to stand amid a sea of screaming 15-year-old girls. I’m impressed, though, that the teenyboppers seem to know all the lyrics to the new album. I, on the other hand, can hardly remember the titles, including this one. Thanks again to Zack for remembering what we were listening to, and taking the photos (click on the thumbnail for a larger version).

One More Night
A gem from SYOF, dedicated to Torq’s high-school teacher and Dick Cheney becoming involved in “rough anal sex.” Realizing what he said in front of an all-ages crowd, Torq reminds us that Stars “are an evil band and [we’re] evil to be there.”

Personal
I would prefer to hear Barricade, the other hate-it-or-love-it track from In Our Bedroom (I love it). But this one is equally dark and really shows off the vocal chemistry of Torq and Amy.

Heart
The other song from Heart, of course. One of my all-time favourites and Torq delivers it better than ever. He has really come along as a singer since his whispery, slightly off-key days.

Midnight Coward
The new songs fare well live, helped out by the fuller band and especially Pat McGee’s give-’er drumming. Who knew this was a new-wave dance song?

Window Bird
Amy’s moment. This song doesn’t do a lot for me, but it’s great to just give in to her voice. She’s as sweet and sour as they come.

Soft Revolution
My favourite track on SYOF. So nice to hear. And there’s still a shout-out to Metric at the end.

Sleep Tonight
The only real misstep of the night. A technofied version of the touching mid-album SYOF track. Should have played “Look Up” instead.

Reunion
The one that started my love affair with Stars, a song about getting old, drinking hard, and needing a second chance. I would have enjoyed it more the first night except that when Torq sang, “17 and half alive,” the kids in the crowd shrieked with recognition. Can I still do this now that I’m more than twice their age?

Your Ex-Lover Is Dead
It’s so Stars that they’ve made “live through this and you won’t look back” a sing-along moment. Brilliant.

Ageless Beauty
The fifth SYOF song in a row and a crowd favourite. I heart Amy.

In Our Bedroom After the War
Let’s get serious for a moment. Here’s where Stars separate themselves from the pack. A triumphant set closer with Torq throwing himself into its final chorus. If anyone has video of this, YouTube please.

The Night Starts Here
Well, the encore starts here at least. Again, a lot of love from the crowd for their latest CD. Good to see.

My Favourite Book
Or when Amy Millan out-Feists Feist. And a bass change for Evan, preferring a large, cherry-red model (which sounded like shit the first night).

What I’m Trying to Say
They enjoy playing this one and I’m sure it’s going to be in the set list for a long time. The last rock-out number before the cool down.

Calendar Girl
And the crowd lets out an “I can’t believe they’re playing this!” gasp. Can melt stones with this one.

The Aspidistra Flies
On night one, they finished with a beautiful rendition of “What the Snowman Learned About Love” from Heart. Last night, it was this delicate track, hidden on the early Comeback EP. Torq, however, has problems remembering when to come in and claims he may have had a stroke. Once they get it right, they leave us in style. And wanting more. See you Sunday.

Stars: The Aspidistra Flies (mp3) (zip)

Stars @ The Phoenix, Nov. 26

This time of year is filled with so many dislikable pre-holiday traditions — like radio stations playing Paul McCartney’s “Last Christmas” over and over again, just to name one — that I’m thrilled to add “Seeing Stars in concert” to my own list of enjoyable rituals. This marks the third time in four years that I’ve had the pleasure of catching Torq, Amy, Evan and Chris perform their swoony favourites in the early winter. What a way to warm up.
     At this point, I know what to expect — Torq’s starry-eyed emoting, Amy’s shockingly sweet vocals, Evan’s bass kicks — and it was much of the same on this night. But I don’t see Stars to discover new things necessarily. They’re more like comfort food now, and, to paraphrase Bruce Springsteen, reasons to keep believing: in love, in loss, in pop songs and eccentricities, and finally, in this great city from which they came. “It’s us,” Torq sings on “In Our Bedroom After the War,” the concert’s best song. “Yes, we’re back again — here to see you through.” Thanks, man.
     Tomorrow I'll write more about the actual show after seeing tonight’s gig (their second show of four here in Toronto). Today is for basking.
     (Thanks to Zack for the photo. Yay Nyquil! And Joanna for the editing help.)

Harder, better, faster, sillier

Thanks to Ian for letting me know about this video. Word of advice: watch it to the end.