If you missed last week's Joan Didion Q&A at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre and desperately need to hear a muffled, lo-fi recording full of maddening audio interference and generally poor sound quality, you are in luck. Discussing Blue Nights -- a companion piece to 2006's The Year of Magical Thinking -- Didion exhibited the fragility and fatigue that she writes about so eloquently in this unsettling new memoir. Where a lesser writer might pander to readers with false levity, Didion confronts the perils of aging (she turns 77 on December 5th) and death (her daughter Quintana died shortly before the publication of Magical Thinking) with unflinching honesty.
Interesting fact: the "j" in Wooden Shjips is not silent, it's pronounced like a "y" (ie. Wooden Shyips). Enigmatic name notwithstanding, the San Francisco psych rockers don't offer the most nuanced or varied live experience, in spite of the musical evolution they exhibit on their new album, West. If their repetitive droning, affectless vocals and abrasive jams don't win you over from the outset, you may as well head home because there's a lot more where that came from. Of course, if you're going in with an informed enthusiasm, you won't be disappointed. Volume alone made the band impossible to ignore during their November 7th show at The Horseshoe, even if their detached demeanour suggested a certain indifference (or obliviousness) to the audience. No words were exchanged and the band elected not to return for an encore, but in terms of stellar musicianship, they got the job done. Eleven days later, I'm still a little deaf. -- JD
Neon Indian at Lee's Palace
As a recording project, Neon Indian is almost exclusively the work of Alan Palomo. On the road, however, Palomo travels with a whole gang of musicians, leaving him free to focus on vocals... and dancing (he also finds time to occasionally fiddle with synthesizers and other electronic gadgets). Rather than simply recreate the tracks from his two terrific albums, Palomo and his band reinvent these tracks live. Below you'll see this practice in action in a pair of videos from the band's October 18th show at Lee's Palace. The first is set opener "Terminally Chill" (from 2009's Psychic Chasms) and the second is "Future Sick" (from this year's Era Extraña). -- JD
In the eyes of some, Pavement were to the nineties what R.E.M. were to the eighties: the decade's most consistent, influential and ultimately defining indie rock band. In the Pavement biography, Perfect Sound Forever, a diagram of the bands and albums that influenced Pavement was included -- and all six R.E.M. albums from the eighties made the cut. It's appropriate, then, that Stephen Malmus would offer some kind of formal response to the band's break-up on the evening that it was announced (September 21st, 2011). Band break-ups (and reunions) are old news to Malkmus, but on the night of R.E.M.'s big announcement, classic R.E.M. songs played before SM and the Jicks took the stage. The band also opened their encore with a cover of R.E.M.'s "Radio Free Europe". Other than that, most of the show was devoted to tracks from Malkmus' excellent 2011 album, Mirror Traffic, including "All Over Gently" and "Forever 28," which you can watch below (along with a video of opener Holy Sons). -- JD
While TIFF made it impossible for me to be as thorough about WIlco's Massey Hall shows as I was in 2009, I did manage to catch most of night one. As always, Wilco's affably raucous live show elevated the material from sixteen-plus years of (remarkably consistent) albums. Even the band's now familiar tropes (Nels Cline's guitar freak-out on "Impossible Germany," the tentative fan singalong on "Jesus, Etc.") felt fresh and the new material proved worthy of the old. Below you'll see a video of "Born Alone," one of the stand-out tracks from Wilco's terrific new album, The Whole Love. -- JD
Mudhoney at The Horseshoe
In the midst of the chaos at TIFF 2011, Mudhoney rolled-through town to play a pair of shows with Pearl Jam. During a night off from that giant arena tour (while their tour mates were enjoying the attention surrounding Pearl Jam Twenty), Mudhoney played a much smaller gig at The Horseshoe, site of another unforgettable Mudhoney show just three years ago. Once again, crowd surfers were in evidence -- though there was no ceiling fan for them to tear down this time -- and Mudhoney treated the crowd to several classics from the grunge era. See/hear two of their most memorably deranged tracks ("Touch Me I'm Sick," "Suck You Dry") below. -- JD
I may be hearing things, but I'm pretty sure Robert Englund said he was stoned at one point during last night's Q&A at Toronto Underground Cinema. In town as Guest of Honour at the Festival of Fear portion of FanExpo, Englund came out firing on all cylinders following a screening of A Nightmare on Elm St. 3: Dream Warriors. He managed to bend every question that was thrown at him into a detailed exploration of… something completely different. Whether he was actually stoned or not, this turned out to be an effective strategy, yielding some of the most lively and circuitous Hollywood anecdotes I've heard in months. Topics of discussion included Stay Hungry (my personal favorite Englund film and one of his too), Freddy vs. Jason (he's proud of its cinematic lineage and the role his fans played in its creation) and Michael Bay (he doesn't hate him, remake snub notwithstanding). Say what you want about Englund's questionable filmography, he is clearly one of the most charismatic (and friendly) raconteurs in the business. -- JD
The War on Drugs at The Drake
The last time we checked-in with The War on Drugs' Adam Granduciel, he was excited about a mysterious double album they were hoping to release this summer. The album (Slave Ambient) came out on schedule and the reaction has been almost uniformly favorable, with most agreeing that this is some kind of breakthrough for the hardworking Philadelphia band. At Wednesday's Drake Underground show, Granduciel playfully reinvented his vocal melodies in a manner that evoked Bob Dylan, one of his primary influences. He also brought Destroyer saxophonist Joseph Shabason (the two bands toured together earlier this year) onstage for powerful renditions of several WOD tracks, including Slave Ambient highlight, "Come to the City." It should also be noted that opener Caveman left a strong impression on just about everyone in the room (Granduciel: "I love their songs. I love their vibe."). Their debut album, Coco Beware, comes out September 13th. -- JD
When Paul McCartney came to Toronto last summer, it seemed like an irresistible opportunity, the kind of experience every Beatles fanatic needs to have at least once in his/her lifetime. Much to my surprise, I found myself having this experience a second time last month in Montreal, thanks to a series of strange, fortuitous occurrences. While this year's set list was relatively similar to last year's, a quick comparison of the 2010 videos to the 2011 videos below should give you a sense of the giant difference some really great seats can make. Unfortunately, the combination of McCartney's white shirt and powerful spotlights transforms him into an abstract sheet of light in most of these videos, but rest assured, he doesn't glow in real life. Okay, maybe just a little. -- JD
If life has a code that can be cracked, Louis C.K. appears to have cracked it. After many years of ups and downs, he seems to have finally hit his stride. Not only has his incredibly inventive, even audacious FX series (Louie) -- which he writes, directs, edits and stars in -- been renewed for a third season, but he was also recently nominated for two Emmys and awarded Comedy Person of the Year at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. While at the Festival, Louis sat down for an hour-long interview with Richard Crouse. During this conversation, he offered an enlightening overview of his creative philosophies, his intense work ethic and the spirit of autocrtitque that allows him to keep evolving. Since LCK retires his entire act every year, there's a period of a few months in the summer when his material is extremely new and rough. Still not road-tested, the material he performed in Montreal was a little shaky -- and far less amusing than the off-the-cuff humor that emerged in this conversation. -- JD
In Conversation with Gena Rowlands
Last month's John Cassavetes retrospective at TIFF Bell Lightbox was launched with a visit by his widow and favorite collaborator, Gena Rowlands. In spite of her age (she turned 81 in June), Rowlands managed to offer witty, detailed answers throughout. With the combination of admiring audience questions and even a special guest in the audience (Carole Kane), the event felt a bit like an episode of Inside the Actor's Studio, but with an emphasis on a particular collaboration, rather than an entire career. While Jesse Wente's questions followed Rowlands' collaboration with Cassavetes film-by-film, he somehow managed to bypass Love Streams, arguably the couple's greatest achievement. (For complicated legal reasons, Love Streams is still not available on DVD in North America.) Fortunately, Rowlands had plenty to say about the rest of their films -- and you can hear it all below.-- JD
Woods and Kurt Vile at Lee's Palace
Woods and Kurt Vile have been regulars in Toronto over the last couple of years -- and all the touring appears to be paying off. While Woods continues to balance moody, evocative pop songs with harsh, psychedelic jams, Vile's sound tends to vary from show-to-show. When Vile and his band opened for J Mascis in March, their set emphasized the more accessible, folky sound of this year's Smoke Ring For My Halo. This time around, Adam Granduciel (of The War on Drugs) was back on guitar and the band reverted to the more abrasive noise rock of their show last July at The Great Hall. Below you'll see samples of Woods and Kurt Vile, as well as first opener Arc In Round. -- JD
You don't really know My Morning Jacket until you've seen them live. As good as their recorded music occasionally is, nothing can prepare you for the nearly three-hour-long bonanza of jamming that their live shows usually become. The jam band label has always been a strange fit for MMJ, as they wisely avoid the wimpy conventionality implied by that designation, instead offering a much more eccentric and varied brand of rock. During their sweaty July 11th show at Kool Haus, they alternated between inventive classic rock and much more unusual, experimental sounds. At most shows, I'm ready to check out after about ninety minutes, but My Morning Jacket can play for nearly twice that long without losing any of their appeal. Below you'll find videos of two songs from this year's Circuital ("Victory Dance," "Holdin' On to Black Metal"), as well as classic tracks from Z ("Gideon," "Wordless Chorus") and It Still Moves ("One Big Holiday"). -- JD
If you've heard Gang Gang Dance's terrific new album Eye Contact, the peculiarities of their July 10th show at The Horseshoe probably came as no surprise. The deafening sounds of opener Nguzunguzu -- who were actually positioned in front of the stage -- continued as Gang Gang Dance began their set, making for a seamless transition. GGD then jammed for a while, before performing several of the best tracks off their new album. Eventually, singer Alexis Taylor headed to the back of the room where she spent some time dancing with a bandmate, whose primary role appeared to be cheerleading (he waved a garbage-bag-on-a-stick flag for much of the show). Below you'll see video of Eye Contact track "Adult Goth," as well as some of the aforementioned dancing. -- JD
Nineties alt-rockers Urge Overkill enjoyed a brief window of glory that peaked in 1994 when Quentin Tarantino featured their Neil Diamond cover, "Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon," in Pulp Fiction's iconic drug overdose sequence. After a sixteen-year absence from recording, the band returned earlier this year with Rock & Roll Submarine. While this album isn't quite worthy of their 1993 classic, Saturation, it's a respectable new effort and the accompanying tour proved that their (relatively small) fanbase is still very devoted. On July 7th at The Horseshoe, even the band seemed taken aback when the cheering crowd stood their ground long after the show appeared to be over. Eventually, Urge returned to play "Girl" -- and their fans all went home happy. Below you'll find videos of that song, as well as Saturation semi-hit "Positive Bleeding" and Exit the Dragon's "Somebody Else's Body"
-- JD
Toronto's TIFF Bell Lightbox is currently hosting Fellini: Spectacular Obsessions, an exhibition devoted to the legendary director and his films. In conjunction with this, TIFF Cinematheque has organized Fellini Dream Double Bills, a series that pairs Fellini films with similar works by other filmmakers. While these double bills were selected by "nine luminaries from the film world," Guillermo del Toro was not one of them. However, the Mexican genre auteur/scholar happens to be in town prepping Pacific Rim and, prompted to select his own dream double bill, he came up with the same pair as writer/producer/studio exec James Schamus: Fellini's Toby Dammit (from Spirits of the Dead) and Dario Argento's Suspiria. Since Schamus wasn't available to discuss these films, del Toro took his place. Below you'll see and/or hear his introduction, as well as the lengthy discussion he had with TIFF's Noah Cowan following the screening. -- JD
On June 25th, Handsome Furs made-out on stage and generously hosted a Jersey Shore look-a-like contest to celebrate the launch of their third album, Sound Kapital. Not only was I surprised by the ease with which I attended this event (for less than eighteen dollars, just two blocks from my house), but I couldn't have been more impressed with the band's sweaty performance. My Handsome Furs fantasy consists of me marrying front man Dan Boeckner, forming rhythmical brainchildren beats and subsequently perpetuating a dangerously contagious energy with him onstage. It’s a pipe dream, I know. Thankfully, my girl crush, Alexei Perry, is a worthy surrogate. Sound Kapital is tops. Check it out. -- Christina Stimpson
