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NXNE Day II–Another Musical Bounty

Up early Friday after another night (and day) of great music and fun times with good friends at many different venues, from outdoors in a green Toronto park to crowded nightclubs. I'm meeting two journalist friends this morning, but I’ll get started on this recap now and work on it throughout the day.

Thursday afternoon, I walked to Trinity-Bellwoods Park to do one of my favorite things–listen to music outdoors. I heard sets by Olenka and the Autumn Lovers, a trio whose sound is tinged with Eastern-European tones; Maylee Todd, who with her 6-piece band wowed the happy crowd seated on the grass with her R&B sounds and the expressive dancers that accompanied her songs; and Kalle Mattson, a talented singer-songwriter who with his three bandmates played a song he co-wrote with Jeremy Fisher, another favorite Canadian musician of mine. Under threatening clouds, we were all really glad the rain stayed away long enough for these three sets.

In the early evening I walked down Bathurst in heavy rain to a party sponsored by the e-reader company, Kobo. I know them of course as a book industry presence, and was really glad to see them representing at NXNE. Held at a club called the Hoxton, I was excited when I bumped in to several friends from the CBC Radio 3 blog community, folks whom I would see at other venues later in the evening.

The rain let up as I walked to the Cameron House to hear Inlet Sound, who played last night as an acoustic trio, sans their usual drums&bass. Playing seated, they showed great voices which the big room could barely contain. Their own songs are terrific, but they really surprised and pleased with a cover of Wintersleep's rock classic, Weighty Ghost,' great to hear in this unplugged setting. After their set, I was excited to get a copy of their album, The Romantics.

Shred Kelly, a stoke folk outfit from ski haven, Fernie, British Columbia, played one of the most rousing sets of music I've ever had the good luck to hear. Foot-stompin' hardly does justice to the live show this 5-piece put on last night at the Supermarket club in Kensington Market. I love their style and am eager to hear them again tomorrow when they'll be playing an acoustic set at the annual CBC Radio 3 picnic, also held in Trinity-Bellwoods Park, coordinated by CBC host Grant Lawrence.

Next, I cabbed over to the Great Hall with two CBC Radio 3 friends for a mostly solo bluesy set by Michael Rault.

From the Great Hall I walked to the nearby Drake Hotel where in their Underground club Loon Choir was to play an 11PM set. There I met Katherine Cauley, who plays fiddle in this 7-piece outfit from Ottawa. Also in the house were Katherine's parents and her brother Brian, who until the other day had been on the CBC Beetle Road Trip that's brought Grant Lawrence all the way from Vancouver in a 6000KM road trip. Brian is a radio engineer, who's been producing radio segments that are then being shared on the CBC Radio 3 website and in social media. Brian and Grant were joined on the trip by videographer and filmmaker Brent Hodge, who was also there last night to hear Loon Choir. Other Radio 3 fans in the room were friends who I know mostly by their blog and twitter handles: @Shonica and @HedgeHogFriend. Loon Choir is a terrific live act with lots of dynamic energy, particularly from their lead singer, Derek. At one point, he unfurled a banner emblazoned with a message, Occupy Gezi Park, in support of the current uprising by progressives in Turkey. The music had lots of uplift and great power chords that made the tunes, many of which I hadn't heard before, instantly likable. I got their two CDs and look forward to hearing their studio sound.

At 11:45, I hailed a cab and asked the driver to take to the Mapgie, where rootsy band Union Duke would be playing at the top of the hour. I had been invited to this concert by a new friend I made this week, Toronto journalism student and TV company staffer, Harriet Luke. She has a few friends in this band, and I was delighted to have been alerted to them. Like Shred Kelly, they are another foot-stomping 5-piece featuring banjo, handmade percussion, and great vocals. The room was humid and warm, and soon people were shedding their jackets and hitting the dance floor.

I cooled down on the walk back to my hotel and soon hit what my late father Earl Turner used to call the featherball, i.e., the pillow, eager for Friday and another day of fun at NXNE.

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Day I of NXNE: A Musical Banquet

I heard some terrific music last night at some excellent Toronto venues. All the artists I heard were new to me. Here's a rundown:

Right on time at 8 PM at the club Central, I sat at a front table and listened to Marta Pacek, an Aussie-born, Toronto-dwelling singer songwriter who led a terrific 4-piece band. Her accent was evident in her between-song banter, but not in her strong singing voice. After their set, I enjoyed meeting Pacek and her friend, writer Neil Murchison, who game me a download card so I can later hear more of Pacek's music. Here's a pic I took during the show.

Next up was a lively outfit with a rather dolorous name, The Maladies of Adam Stokes. They played a 9 PM set at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern, the only club I know of that manages to squeeze an adjective like that in to its name! The venue has earned it, though, as they recently marked their 50th anniversary of presenting great live music. I'm sure I'll be back at the 'Shoe' several times this week. Here's a shot of their lead singer and keyboard player.

Next, I took a Toronto street car then walked to reach a club called The Boat, near Kensington Market, where young punk band The Mouthbreathers were playing a 9:45 set. This 4-piece–two women guitarists & a two-man rhythm section on bass and drums–had all the energy associated with 80s punk–playing brief songs fast, loud, and hard. It was the lead singer's 23rd birthday, pictured below on the right. I stood on a riser near the merch table to get this shot, raising myself a bit above the boisterous crowd who stuck with the band all the way.

From The Boat I walked with friend Amit Saha–known as @XCanuck on the CBC Radio 3 blog–to a club on Queen Street West called Czehoski. We wanted to check out The Almight Rhombus, from Sudbury, Ontario, who were playing at 11 PM. They turned out to be one of the highlights of my evening. This 5-piece, which includes 3 brothers, played hooky songs with great energy on the club's very narrow stage. The joy they took in playing their own material was infectious. I met one of the brothers after the show and introduced myself as the writer of this blog. He gave me a copy of their self-titled five song CD.

I left Amit at the Czehoski bar where he was watching the first overtime of Game 1 in the Stanley Cup finals, for what turned out to be a triple overtime game. I walked down Queen Street to one of my most favorite venues, the Cameron House. I barely bothered to check who was even playing, because they always have good bands. The Cameron's front room usually features country and acoustic-oriented acts, while the back room has fuller bands. In the back room, I discovered the excellent Julian Taylor Band, fronted by the extravagantly dreadlocked and handsomely suited Taylor, who played funk and soul-inflected pop with a reggae touch. His keyboard player, shown below on the left, was terrific, too. They ended their set with a crowd-pleasing cover of I Shot the Sheriff.

I moved on to the front room where a 5-piece country outfit called Dear Sister were showing post-midnight revelers a great time. Fronted by two talented women (not sisters, I learned), and featuring an excellent lead guitarist who didn't fit on the tiny stage, they played original material and got many in the crowd dancing and making graceful moves to their sweet harmonies.

With that, I walked back to my hotel room happy and satisfied with all the great music I heard on just my first day at NXNE. Below is a shot of my NXNE badge that's getting me in to so many great shows. Can't wait for what's to come today and tonight.

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Hey Rosetta! Plays Brooklyn–Newfoundland Comes to New York

During the often too-lengthy interlude between sets at a music venue, I will look for band members to say hello to, either the band that just finished a set, or the outfit coming up. I know the musicians may be busy, trying to tear down or set up, so I sometimes refrain, especially if they look crazed at all.

But Thursday night, when I went to see Hey Rosetta! at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, right after opening act Ivan & Alyosha

Ivan & Alyosha

had finished their exceptionally fine harmonizing, I recognized the cellist of Hey Rosetta! and introduced myself. His name is Romesh Thavanathan. We had a friendly, brief chat and I told him I’m a CBC Radio 3 member, pointing to a R3 sticker on my tote bag. He seemed glad I’d said hi. Later, during their set, we enjoyed making eye contact with one another as he bowed his cello and played guitar.

Thursday’s show was very well attended, with quite a few Canadians in the house, and lots of New Yorkers, everyone really into the music. I later learned from Hey Rosetta!’s twitter feed that they’d been on the road for “Over 2 months, 40-something shows, over 3 countries. Last one in Philly now. What a whirlwind it’s been.” I heard from a fan I met on the floor that before coming to Brooklyn, the penultimate show of their long tour, they’d been in Boston; now learning they were evidently still heading south to Philadelphia, before heading back home to the big rock in the North Atlantic–I see they were charting a typically back-assward itinerary for touring musicians.

Hey Rosetta! plays a kind of anthemic, almost orchestral rock, with many tempo changes and lots of dynamic shifts, from tranquil to more energized passages. They are a six-piece, or put another way, a standard 4-piece–two guitars + bass & drums–added to which is a string section, cello and violin. Lead singer and songwriter Tim Baker, who also plays rhythm guitar and piano, has an appealing, quite muscular voice full of longing and power. Lead guitarist Adam Hogan is a towering figure, bending off great screaming licks with huge hands on the neck of his red hollow-body electric, while the rhythm section of bassist Josh Ward and drummer Phil Maloney chunks away, racheting up the songs into increasingly dynamic territory. Cellist Romesh and fiddler Kinley Dowling soar above the thrashing concord down below. In a set that lasted about 75 minutes, the band played several songs I had enjoyed on their Radio 3 band page, including “Seeds,” “Yer Spring,” “I’ve Been Asleep for a Long, Long Time,” and “Yer Fall.” They played two rousing encores before the house lights came up.

As the happy crowd began filing out, I went to the merch table and bought a CD of their early release “Plan Your Escape” and “Red Songs,” a cool sort of single/EP pressed in red vinyl. (Baker’s evidently fascinated with songs using “red” in their titles, as there are many such spread across their three albums.) I bought the music from their tour manager Joey, who was pleased to hear I’d be blogging about the show and putting up photos on my website. I told him I’d send him a link when it’s all posted. He too was glad I’d chatted him up.

It was a great night of music, and I was so glad I got to hear these folks who’d been traveling for two months, but who gave a great show and displayed no signs of road weariness. Hey Rosetta! is a great band with intelligent songwriting, empathetic vocals, terrific instrumental playing, and are a very exciting live act. If you enjoy well-played and intelligent songwriting, I urge you to seek out their music online and go hear them when they come to your town.