Vancouver Folk Music Festival: Day Two -- 07/16/11

July 18, 2011 by Christine McAvoy

It was a little rainy for day two of the Vancouver Folk Music Fest, (see day one here) but it was just a little wet, it was still good, and the day started early with an 11am workshop. The workshops consisted of three or four bands on stage at once, playing each one of their songs, with the chance for others to join in and jam with them. Sometimes they did that, though sometimes it just ended up being each band playing a song individually.
And again, I will attempt to keep things as brief as I can, but this was probably the most packed day, so no promises.

First workshop was the "Sounds Of Home" with Joel Plaskett, Jim Bryson, The Burning Hell and The Dardanelles, moderated by Joel, who started things off with "Love This Town". They went down the line and each played three songs, with others occasionally joining in. Though the joining in didn't happen too often, but the best at it was members of The Burning Hell, especially their baritone sax. I hadn't seen Jim Bryson live before, but he was pretty good, especially "Metal Girls" (but more on him in day three) and The Dardanelles were definitely a maritime band, with a couple sea shanties. It was a pretty fun workshop, but it would be overshadowed by the two the next day (ooh, foreshadowing!).

The next show for me was one I was looking forward to the most, Imaginary Cities playing a full set. They went on a little late due to some technical problems; which seemed to be persistent on Stage 3, where I spent most of my time at the festival, but with the sheer amount of things on stage for the weekend and the required quick turnarounds, it was forgivable.
They started off with "Say You" and played most of the songs off their amazing debut Temporary Resident. Marti's vocals were amazing live, and Rusty was as great as you would expect.
Highlights were "Ride This Out", one of my favourite songs this year, which starts mellow and then explodes, and the climactic "That's Where It's At, Sam" which ended the set. "Hummingbird" was also fantastic live. It was an incredibly fun set, and I was so glad to have seen them play a full set during the festival.

setlist
Say You, Marry The Sea, Ride This Out, Cherry Blossom Tree, Calm By Storm, Temporary Resident, Where'd All The Living Go, Hummingbird, That’s Where It's At Sam.

Soon after, the evening shows started with Danny Michel at Stage 3. I wasn't overly familiar with his stuff, but he won me over in his first song with some cool looping, which I am a sucker for.
He was really fun to watch live, and even if he hadn't told a story about finding one of Paul Simon's apples and trying to plant a Paul Simon Apple Tree from it, I would have been able to tell his influence on Michel.

There were a few songs I recognized through the set, "Maybe You Can In Your Heart", "Feathers Fur and Fin" and "Who's Gonna Miss You", and he brought the show to an end with some more looping -- after having a couple problems with the pedals, but his persistence paid off -- and then some awesome use of sound effects off his iPod, which is hard to describe but awesome to hear.

After him was The Burning Hell again, but this time for a full set of their own. They are a pretty hilarious band, but not in the "novelty song" kind of way, more like clever lyrics and storytelling. Two great examples of that would be "Flux Capacitor", the title track from their new album, as well as "Dance Dance Dance" which had its very own disco break. They also have an incredibly upbeat, folk rock sound, and the combination of both those factors make for an undeniably fun set.
They wrapped up with "It Happens In Florida", an interesting spin on a love song with lyrics like "Love, it’s like a newborn child: seems interesting when it’s young, gets pedestrian after a while", and at the end, lead singer Mathias (and his big bushy beard) was getting the whole crowd to sing along.

Next up was [the legendary] Buck 65, who I had never seen before, so was really interested to see. He had a laptop and turntable and nothing much else on stage, aside from a music stand which he read lyrics to a couple songs off of, and was joined by Marnie Herald for backup vocals, especially for a lot of the songs from 20 Odd Years. The songs were not quite the same without the likes of Jenn Grant and Nick Thorburn, but she did a really good job regardless.
Buck was really energetic and fun to watch, dancing around and hamming it up for the children in the crowd, especially during "BBC", and he was also a great storyteller -- which makes sense with his CBC Radio 2 show Drive -- as he told a tale of going to not just the wrong venue, but the wrong city to play a show in Sweden.
Some other highlights from the set were "Indestructible Sam", which had Emily Wells join him on violin, the incredibly fun "Zombie Delight", which is about exactly what the title implies, and a bit of an experiment... He mentioned he played a festival recently at the same time as John Fogerty, so as a kind of "thanks" to the people watching him, he used "Run Through The Jungle" as the musical bed for "Wicked & Weird", which was pretty amazing. He put on an incredibly fun set, and I would definitely see him live again, given the chance. (Unfortunately, I had to miss his workshops the next day)

Finally, closing out the night was Elliott BROOD. It had been a long time since I had last seen them live, and I was definitely excited to hear their new stuff. And the "death country" trio did not disappoint. Even though there was a couple times that Mark looked frustrated, the band sounded absolutely great.
The awesome instrumental "Chuchwagon" and the new single, "Northern Air", just one of the few new songs they threw into the set, were both a few of the highlights, as well as the bands intense energy. Mark and Casey, who share guitar and vocals, and Stephen on drums all had an incredible energy to them and are amazing to watch live.
After everyone sang along to "Oh Alberta", they handed out the trademark tin pans and wooden spoons -- and after seeing them live thrice before, I finally got one of my own -- to bang along to "This Valley Town", and then for the big finale of "Write It All Down For You" with the whole crowd banging and shouting along to the HEYHEYHEY!'s.
But of course, that wasn't the end, as they were back out for one more, the soft -- or as soft as the Brood can be -- and beautiful "Miss You Now". An amazing set, and definitely one of the highlights of the whole festival.

Well, that's two days down and one to go, with the last day consisting of two absolutely amazing workshops, and a couple other great concerts by Kathryn Calder and Jim Bryson & The Weakerthans Band.

Review-kus.

June 09, 2011 by Christine McAvoy

That's right, they're back, by popular demand!! My goal is to review every album I bought (or otherwise listened to) this year. However there are just so darn many albums, and sometimes I just don't feel like writing a full reviews. So to combat this, I have decided that I shall give a few really quick reviews all at once... in haiku form. Here we go!

Honeymoon Punch by Jenn Grant

At times beautiful
Not afraid to kick some ass
As strong as her voice

Download Parliament of Owls

Waitin' and Seein' by Carmen Townsend

Thunderous blues rock
Outdone by intense vocals
Passionate lyrics

Download Without My Love

20 Odd Years by Buck 65

Career summation
As eclectic as ever
With guest stars galore

Download Stop (f. Hannah Georgas)
I also highly enjoy "Zombie Delight", especially the video, which you ~~can~~ should watch here.

More Heart Than Brains by Bike For Three!

November 22, 2009 by Christine McAvoy

I consider myself to have a pretty broad taste when it comes to music. Sure, I like the indie rock the most, but I also like a selection of genres across the spectrum, and in just about any one, there'll be at least one artist I like. Or, at the very least, one I can stand. I fully admit, though, that two of my not-so-favourite genres are hip hop and electronica. However, one of the hip hop artists I do like is Canadian Buck 65. So when I heard about his new project, Bike For Three! which has him teaming up with Belgian electronica artist and producer Greetings From Tuskan, I was a little hesitant. Sceptical, even. As much as I like Buck 65, Hip hop plus electronica? That rarely comes together well. But I gave it a shot anyway, partially because I like Buck, and partially out of curiosity.

The album starts off, after the intriguing introduction track, Beginning, with three amazing songs, All There Is To Say About Love, Lazarus Phenomenon and Nightdriving. All of which hooked me instantly with insanely catchy music and excellent lyrics. They combine to what amounts to a slap in the face for me doubting them. Not to say less of the rest of the album, but these three are perfect examples of why their collaboration works so well. There Is Only One Of Us is another stellar example, with its almost surreal quality and spacey synths which start slow but ramp up to a wash of synth and electronics in the climax. No Idea How feels like a natural follow up to that, with the pounding chorus and haunting backgrounds. The haunting vibe continues on into Always I Will Miss You. Always You. which starts off with a whispering voice before Buck comes in and sings almost sweetly of a heartbreaking loss. The next track, The Departure follows that up giving us almost a sense of urgency and frantic-ness.
Can Feel Love (Anymore) is, for my money, the best song on the album of greats. The song can be best summed up in the line "will she think the falling rain is sad, beautiful or both?", and is sung from the perspective of an expectant father wondering about his unborn daughter. While lyrics full of hope and optimism, if you are not hearing the lyrics, it almost sounds gloomy or heartbreaking. But even after comprehending the lyrics and message, the music does nothing but to strengthen that sense of hope.
The futuristic MC Space is perhaps the poppiest moment on the album. It doesn't fall flat, but does somewhat stick out from the rest. Let's Never Meet is the most poignant, with lyrics like "Let's never meet and regret a past endeavour/ What we have is rare indeed and guaranteed to last forever." The title track closes the album out with one of the more electronic songs and by the time the album ends with the bookend Ending, you realize you've just listened to something special.

Especially considering the two did this whole project as a "cross-continent collaboration"; they never actually met. But despite that, they still seemed to challenge each other, to push each other into something fantastic. Even the mediocre songs, on the context of the album, are still great songs by themselves. Greetings From Tuskan's music shines and Buck's lyrics are as brilliant as ever. And maybe I am looking too far into them, but More Heart Than Brains -- a title that supports my line of thought here -- seems to be an album about love. Finding love, losing love, keeping love and fearing love. About the good times and the bad, its uncertainties and devotion, it looks at everything.

Sometimes, when listening to artists of genres I'm not usually a fan of, I need to give the album time for it to breath and grow on me. That was not the case this time. I liked it instantly and repeated listenings have done nothing but affirm that. Perhaps I should have had a more open mind going in to the album. Perhaps I should have known not to doubt Buck 65. Whatever the case may be, both parties have said that this will not be a one off side project, but something they hope to continue. I'm with them on that sentiment.