Interpol - the Sound Academy - February 15

The Sound Academy’s bleak location on the edge of the harbour close to absolutely NOTHING seemed almost fitting for a band like Interpol. If I wanted to emphasise the theme of isolation even more, I went by myself.

I went early to catch what I was assured would be a hell of an opening act. Unfortunately the van carrying School of Seven Bells broke down. So we got stuck with a last minute entry called Low Level Flight. I started to feel sorry for these guys since they were filling in, but whoever thought they would mesh with a crowd of Interpol fans was clearly out of touch. It made me laugh when a disgruntled fan standing next to me said that their lead singer was none other than former Canadian Idol Ryan Malcolm. Very strange times indeed. I bided my time by watching Interpol’s roadie tune and polish all the guitars for the next set.

When Interpol finally took to the stage, they didn’t mess around. Success is the first song on their latest record and it was a good starting point for the band’s performance.  Just as they established that their new material was good live, they reminded everyone why we fell in love with them in the first place and went back to Turn on the Bright Lights. 

As they made their way through the set-list, I found myself thinking that I’ve never really paid close attention to the pacing of Interpol’s music. For some reason I haven’t clued in to how fast Evil is, but the lyrics are paced more than a few beats quicker than the instruments. I noticed this again with PDA. Yes the song is fast-paced on the album, but live it almost comes off as something you could dance to. On the other side, notably upbeat songs like Summer Well were actually slower in person. It’s easy to imagine how some of these songs could fall apart, but you can thank drummer Sam Fogarino for his inner metronome for making them all work.

While they were sure to play crowd pleasers like Untitled, Slow Hands, and Narc, I found it more interesting to look at what they left out. They only touched on Our Love to Admire a couple of times, really sticking with the safe picks like the Heinrich Manoeuvre. Also absent was the complete b-side to their latest record. I have to say I was disappointed to see it neglected when Try it and All of the Ways would have been a perfect songs to slow things down with. I’m sure they had their reasons to ignore them, but it was odd. 

What they did play off the new album sounds great live. I loved the way they would tinker with interludes before launching into songs like Memory Serves and Barricade. As always, Paul Banks’ vocals had a chance to shine of the drawn on songs like Lights and one of my favourites, Leif Erricson. 

The band was tight as ever. Gone was some of the quirky flair that Daniel Kessler showed off while playing on the last tour. But with the toned down the theatrics, there seems to be more of a focus on committing to the songs. Kessler, Banks, and Fogarino were as tight as can be and the new additions to the band thankfully work out in their favour.  

Carlos D’s absence stuck out like a sore thumb. I’ll admit that I spent a lot of time focussed on new bassist David Pajo to see how he stacked up. After seeing so many wacky bass players over the years, it’s almost jarring to see one like Pejo so content with blending in with the shadows. As far as his skills on the bass go, he fits in well. Maybe he’ll add a little more in the way of stage presence as time goes on. Just worry for him if you see him rocking a pair of red suspenders. 

I don’t think they could have ended the gig with a better song. After building the crowd up, they launched into the New. The way the song grows from a slow march into a frantic pitch full of emotion is one of the most cathartic ways to end a set.   

I don’t hide my love of this band very well and it’s really no wonder. I can literally trace back every stage of my life for the past decade through each Interpol album.  When I was figuring out what to do after high school, I was listening to Turn on the Bright Lights. One of my favourite moments while in university was sitting on a swing set at 3am listening to Public Pervert off of Antics. While living in England, I saw an ad for Our Love to Admire while in the London underground. Their latest self-titled album came out while I was in Toronto again sorting my life out. Each album has always managed to find its brooding way into my heart.

The Tenth Coming of Bonnaroo

I've often said that the most valuable people in the world are the ones who know something you don't. While I pay extreme attention to music, I know that there will always be others who know something more. Rather than get in a huff about it, I just become closer friends with these people.

I met one of these invaluable friends while taking a road trip to Halifax to see Broken Social Scene in 2007. A lover of music like anyone else, Sandy Conway seemed to have some mysterious source of band knowledge. Like Woodward and Bernstein, it was like someone was feeding him information about bands who were always on the verge of blowing up. He would reveal that source to me a year later. It was called Bonnaroo.

Conway has been trying to convince me to come to the massive musical fest in Manchester, Tennessee for years now. For reasons beyond my control (work, no money, living in England) I've never been able to make it. Finally this winter Conway reminded me that this year would be the tenth anniversary of Roo and should not be passed up. That constant dangling carrot in front of my nose finally became too much. I broke down and bought a earlybird ticket months ago. Problem solved, right? Wrong.

Like survivors of a plane crash in a desert desperately searching for water, the wait for a Bonnaroo lineup is agonizing. Every now and then the mirage of leaked artists would slip out, only to be shot down by online chatter. I actually fared quite well, but I'm afraid Mr. Conway may have gone a bit barmey in the final days of waiting.

This afternoon at 12 EST, the misery was to about to be over with the first lineup announcement. As one final and cruel act of depravity, the website crashed just after noon as thousands of people rushed to take a peek. In fact, I've been writing this post as a way to keep my mind off of it. Yes I could look on Twitter or even ask Conway who I'm sure is doing cartwheels around his living room at the moment. I would really rather see it straight from the horses mouth. By the way, did I mention that the horse was this man?

Watch the announcement by the great Conan O'Brien here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HQS0ZVsN9g

Reading through the list, this is literally what I just said out loud: "Yes....yes! YES! YES!!! AWESOME! Yes! Nice! Oh, HA HA HA! AMAZING!"

First off, it looks like my Arcade Fire curse will finally come to an end. That alone has me over the moon. Add to that Big Boi, Neil Young with Stephen Stills, Rick Rosas and Joe Vitale, My Morning Jacket, Buffalo Springfield, the Black Keys, and Primus and you have a very happy man. That's nothing though really! The Strokes will be there as will Beirut, Twin Shadow, the Decemberists, Deerhunter, Sleigh Bells, Greg Allman, Cold Ward Kids and more. I let out a loud yelp when I saw that Justin Townes Earle was on the list as well. He's not my favourite by any means, but the idea of seeing his country twang while in Tennessee just seems too perfect.

For a full peak at what's been added today, go take a look yourself. Like what you see? Well guess what? More tickets go on sale this weekend at noon EST. Better hurry though, the last batch was sold out in two hours.

Now comes a new time to discover. As Conway told me last night his Roo routine consists of looking at the lineup and then hitting the internet to start listening to the bands he doesn't know yet. And that my friends, is how he is always in the know.

Ignoring the Grammy's

While I was in my egg ignoring the Grammy's last night, they handed out awards to three bands I have loved for years. I'm not complaining at all about missing the program. After all, I can watch the performances I want to see online today without all the over-the-top pandering to the industry. Still though, I would like to say a few things today.

First on Muse winning the best rock album; it's about freakin' time! The three-piece from Devonshire has been knocking people's socks off for more than a decade now. What I like about them most is that they really know their own formula and use it well. It really was true love for me when my roommate introduced me to their album Absolution. That mix guitars and electronic synth hooks on a synth still remains one of their best tricks.

Also, Muse really play up the fact that they are meant to be seen live. I got the chance to watch them before they were billed as "the greatest stadium band in the world." That was a bit much for me to take in, but let them have their fun. They know how to put up an amazing set with the Who level volume to back it. Also, aside from being an amazing guitarist, lead singer Matt Bellamy has an ability to belt out vocals in a way that no other mainstream rock band can. Seriously, there's none of that growling Kroeger-esque style heard in far too many bands. I played a song for my dad one time and he instantly starting comparing them to Queen. Go back and listen to Absolution, it remains one of my favourite rock albums of the 00's.

The second band that got some much deserved recognition last night were the Black Keys. Not only did they win best alternative group but they also took home best rock performance for Tighten Up. I have expressed too much love for these cats on here already...but what's a little bit more? They really did accomplish something great with Brothers. You need to look no further than the other powerhouses they were up against in the alternative category to see how big of an accomplishment this really is. Americans simply go weak in the knees for Vampire Weekend (I still think Contra wasn't very good, but that's just me). Great work for the Keys and they deserve it. Although in my books, as good as the album was - I think their sense of humour won me over just as much. When you get a chance check out their appearance on the Colbert Report. It featured a five-way, gangland style brawl versus Auerback and Carney, Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig, Stephen Colbert, and a member of the  National Academy of Recording Sciences. Laughs were had.

Finally, the Arcade Fire, again a band I have already harped on about. What I will say about their win for best album last night is that it really did deserve it. The Suburbs is an album that continues to grow on me after every listen. Every now and then I still discover something deep in their lyrics that I hadn't noticed before. I'll let other people talk at length as to what this album does for independent record labels (they are on Merge). I think I'll also leave the gratuitous sentiments of Canadian patriotism to be spewed by countless individuals who had nothing to do with the album. To celebrate this win, I think I'll just do what everyone should really do: listen to it.

In the end, it's just another awards show. I would like to think that none of the people I've spoken of set out to win anything when they started their creative process. That may be a little naïve, but it should be right. For now, let's just enjoy what we have to listen to and discover more music which will no doubt make headlines as 2011 moves on.

Ear Candy at the Movies

Awards season usually bores me, but this year I find myself transfixed with some of the music nominated at the Oscars. I clearly don’t mean anything in the original song category. Let’s face it, once you’ve heard one Randy Newman song and you’ve heard them all. Don’t get me wrong, I find the man charming and I would take him over any of those bullshit Cher songs they nominated at the Golden Globes any day. I just don’t feel he needs my attention this year.

No, in this case I’m talking about the music up for best original score. There was one film a couple of years ago that really made me take note of this category; There Will Be Blood. Scored by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, it was one of the first times that I watched a film and felt my mouth drop at what could be accomplished by someone I thought only had one trick up their sleeve. It really should come as no surprise how much I focus on a few of the musicians in the post.

The first soundtrack I have to mention is the one that I feel was snubbed. Those who know me clearly understand that I’m speaking of the Daft Punk scored soundtrack to Tron Legacy. This soundtrack, like the movie, was hugely overlooked by every critic this year. The problem that I really have is that I don’t get why it got so many negative reviews. In my mind it did everything a soundtrack is supposed to do and enhanced the movie in every imaginable manner. In the scenes focusing on some sort of epic discovery, Daft Punk brought out a sense of wonder. When the action picked up, the music swelled and the tempo really came out to play. The only reason I can honestly come up with for the mass dislike, is that it wasn’t a traditional Daft Punk album (Derezzed was the closest the came). Then again, that wasn’t what the masked duo set out to do. They scored the sequel to a farfetched movie from the 80’s. I think they did a damn fine job at it too.

The only thing keeping me from going completely off the rails with the Tron snub, is the accolades the score for the Social Network has received. Sure Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross made a soundtrack that was a lot different from the direction Daft Punk went in, but you can hear similarities in the two scores. Like most good scores, this one touched on the subject matter. Extremely moody and isolating, Reznor and Ross clearly got Sorkin's script. Yes the movie was interesting, but I found myself paying a lot more attention to the music. A lot of this score was so Reznor-esque that it might as well have been on the tail end of an early Nine Inch Nails album. Hands down the most progressive nominee this year, I would be totally satisfied if this one picked up the gold paperweight. 

The next nominee I want to look at really falls back into the traditional vein of this category. In this case it comes from Hans Zimmer’s score for Inception. A friend teased me this summer saying that she could instantly tell I loved this movie from the music alone. There was one tell-tale sign that tipped her off: a huge blast of horns. For some reason, every movie that I see that contains a massive wall of sound really gets through to me. In this case, it was Zimmer’s inclusion of horns from the slowed Edith Piaf song ‘Non, Je Ne Regrette Rein’ that gave the effect an actual reason to be in the film. Easily the cleverest use of music in any film this year, Zimmer brilliantly scored this movie in a way that enhanced every scene. Each emotion, fight, and that ever present sense of urgency was established even more with the music. As a former band geek – and one in the brass section at that – I really did appreciate the use of horns in this film. 

The three other films nominated this year are ones where the music really didn’t make much of an impact on me. Instead of talking about what they lacked, I would much rather finish off by speaking about a film in another category.

Like No Country for Old Men, this year Winter’s Bone created an immense feeling of isolation with its lack of music. But while the former was completely barren of a soundtrack, Winter’s Bone had moments of an ever-so-subtle rise in ominous music. It was this sparing use of song that made it one of the most tense films to watch this year. Most of the time that swell often lead to nothing, but it emphasized a growing sense of uncertainty among its characters. 

Whatever wins this year doesn’t make much of a difference to me. Like many of you, there are far too many films I didn’t get a chance to see, many of which I’m sure feature some fantastic original music.  So until then, I’ll just perk up my ears and listen every time I head to the talkies.