Mr. G's Song of the Week "Faerie Dance"

I tried to avoid choosing "Faerie Dance" by Montreal-based Plants and Animals for this installment of Song of the Week. I really did. I told myself that I should try to pick a song off an album that is more recent than the 2008 Polaris Prize-nominated "Parc Avenue," which came out over a year ago. Come on, Mr. G, there must be something more recent that warrants a shout-out in this blog column. You want your readers (I know you're out there) to think you're hip and with it. But try as I might, I simply could not escape the unadulterated epicness encapsulated in this grandiose track.

I found myself listening to it constantly. Found myself humming, as I walked down the street, the various melodies that make up the three distinct parts of the song: the sweet and soft beginning... the heavy, dark, and rhythmic meat of the song sandwich... and finally, the tasty "lalala" sing-along that sits in your brain for days and escapes from your lips with such regularity that your friends and loved ones have no choice but to ask you to kindly shut up.

Lastly, I found myself rocking out to "Faerie Dance" live at The Mod Club this past Thursday night as Plants and Animals performed to a packed house. As my head bobbed back and forth and my shoulders shimmied in distinct Mr. G fashion, it became clear to me that this song is as relevant and beautiful as ever. It's one of those musical masterpieces that you'll listen to 10, maybe 20 years down the road and find yourself dancing to with the same energy and enthusiasm that you did in your former youthful state. I'm thrilled to hear what this three-piece band has in store for us on their upcoming full-length release, but until that time comes, "Faerie Dance" should tide us all over just fine.

[mp3] Plants and Animals - Faerie Dance (live @ the Mod Club)

Plants and Animals w/ David MacLeod @ the Mod Club. May 7.2009.

("No pictures... ")

It was unclear whether the first act was called Dave and the Clouds, Davis LaCloud, or something else entirely... turns out it was (and presumably still is) David MacLeod. And he (and the band) were pretty solid I thought. Kind of a hybrid b/w Paul Simon and the more rock 'n' roll sensibilities of say... Plants and Animals.  Note to self: remember that name.  

But before P&A went on there was a "special guest": Joe. Half burlesque act, half magician, half man... all entertainment (see photos below).  Note to self: book Joe for my next back yard get together.

Plants and Animals definitely melted a few faces in the, so-packed-that-everyone-kept-stepping-on-my-toes Mod Club. The set consisted of a pretty decent mix of older stuff from the With/Avec EP, stuff off Parc Avenue which, predictably, received the best responses, and new stuff from their up coming album.

It was hard to tell whether it was my claustrophobia, the sound being off, the band being a little rusty, or the fact that I've never been an uber fan of P&A (but have come around on them, and certainly appreciate what they do), but I definitely wasn't blown away. They weren't bad, it was worth going, but certainly not a 'must see' the next time they come to town. This, I think, is pretty different than the general consensus on the band, so, it'll be interesting to track down any other reviews to see if I'm way off base here. I suppose if there's any really good news its that I got some audio from the show, so if you're interested you can hear for yourself...

[mp3] David MacLeod - Unknown (live @ the Mod Club)
[mp3] Plants and Animals - Unknown - new - (live @ the Mod Club)
[mp3] Plants and Animals - Mercy (live @ the Mod Club)
[mp3] Plants and Animals - Faerie Dance (live @ the Mod Club)
[mp3] Plants and Animals - Feedback in the Field (live @ the Mod Club)

Other notes:

• 250 cool points for the Mod Club! Despite being a bigger (this is all relative I suppose) venue, great atmosphere and increadible lighting... we'll work on the sound for next time...
• I, hilariously (well, not 'haha' funny) ran into Bob 'ItsnotthebandIhateitstheirfans' Battams on his was to see Arietta, while I was on my way home from the show. Kudos to Bob for making it out to a late one, hope you managed to stay awake... 
  
• Also, I'm glad I went out tonight rather than staying home to watch the Cavs v. Hawks... I'm convinced that by virtue of having LBJ on the bench the Cavs could trot their 8 - 12 guys and beat the Hawks...
  

David MacLeod






Joe





Plants and Animals

A Final Thought on the Polaris Prize

There have been some luke warm reactions to Caribou winning the 2008 Polaris Prize (see: here, here, and here). And, really, I find its pretty tough to disagree with that pick particularly when the word 'artistic' as in "the albums of highest artistic integrity" is the criteria used to pick the prize. To me, what this 'artistic integrity' means is that the winning album should push some kind of boundaries... so with that in mind, albums by Basia Bulat, Two Hours Traffic, Stars, etc. should be struck from the group. Great albums? Yes (except for Stars). But, challenging, genre-stretching albums? Not exactly.

In my mind, given the criteria, there were three artists that are serious contenders: Plants and Animals, Holy F--k, and, well, Caribou. Plants and Animals gets bumped because Secret City Records can't win 3 prizes in a row, Holy F--k probably was a pick that was a little too political, and so Caribou wins by default, which, I think is kind of a shame. A shame if only because Caribou counts as artistic because he makes electronic music - which is outside the norm of mainstream radio - and not because he's made a real genre bending album.

I've said it before, and I realize I'm a huge homer, but it really would've been great to see Shad win. His album doesn't exactly blow everyone else away in the 'artistic' category... I mean, he's not the first guy to rap about social problems, but the more I listen to that album, the more I like it. And, the more I think I'm going to include it on my 2008 year end list despite the fact that it was released last year.

And one more reason to love Shad. The Fresh Prince themed video for:

Shad - The Old Prince Still Lives At Home

I'm back, Baby!

I'm back, I've moved, etc...

I'm hoping to get to see a few more shows, which, I suspect will be much easier considering Toronto is, well, not half dead; also, I'm not working 60 hours a week. So, if you live in London (Ontario) and were following the site for London show listings you probably stopped a while ago, but, I'll start posting some Toronto shows I'm thinking about seeing. Starting with:

Shad @ the Mod Club September 17

Plants and Animals @ the Horseshoe September 18

Two Hours Traffic @ Lee's Palace September 26

Land of Talk @ Lee's Palace September 27

Common/NERD @ Kool Haus September 28

Chad VanGaalen, Women @ the Mod Club October 4

Lykke Li @ Mod Club October 24

Hayden @ Massey Hall November 1

The Acorn/Ohbijou @ Lee's Palace November 27

The odds of me getting to all these shows, of course, is somewhere between slim and none, but we can all dream can't we...

Also, you can expect me to pick up the posting pace a little bit now that the weather is getting shittier, and I'm back at school meaning back near the ole femputer...

The Polaris Music Prize 2008 - My Top 5

From www.polarismusicprize.ca:

The Long List consists of the top 40 full-length Canadian records released from June 1, 2007 to May 31, 2008, selected by the 185 members of the Polaris Music Prize jury:

The Acorn - Glory Hope Mountain
Attack In Black - Marriage
Black Mountain - In The Future
Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow and Blue
Buck 65 - Situation
Basia Bulat - Oh, My Darling
Cadence Weapon - Afterparty Babies
Cancer Bats - Hail Destroyer
Caribou - Andorra
City And Colour - Bring Me Your Love
Constantines - Kensington Heights
Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
Destroyer - Trouble In Dreams
Fred Eaglesmith - Tinderbox
Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers
Christine Fellows - Nevertheless
Gatineau - Gatineau
Hayden - In Field And Town
Veda Hille - This Riot Life
HILOTRONS - Happymatic
Holy Fuck - LP
Islands - Arm's Way
Karkwa - Le volume du vent
Corb Lund - Horse Solider! Horse Soldier!
The New Pornographers - Challengers
Pas Chic Chic - Au Contraire
Sandro Perri - Tiny Mirrors
Plants And Animals - Parc Avenue
Ghislain Poirier - No Ground Under
Protest The Hero - Fortress
Justin Rutledge - Man Descending
Sadies - New Seasons
Shad - The Old Prince
Socalled - Ghetto Blaster
Stars - In Our Bedroom After The War
Tegan And Sara - The Con
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band – 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons
Two Hours Traffic - Little Jabs
The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour
Wintersleep - Welcome To The Night Sky

Now, I haven't heard everything on the list, but my top 5 is:

Shad The Old Prince
[mp3] I don't really like to

Plants and Animals Parc Avenue
[mp3] Good Friend

Hayden In Field & Town
[mp3] In Field & Town

The Acorn Hope Glory Mountain
[mp3] The Flood pt.1

Sunparlour Players Hymns for the Happy *not sure how come this isn't on the list.
[mp3] Point Pelee is the Place to Be

There really isn't an album on that list that really stands out as a heads and shoulders favourite to me, but, as I've said before, with Secret City's track record its hard to believe that Plants and Animals won't be sitting in the winners circle...

The Junos 2008: Gangy Returns...

Here's the reason people complain about CanCon:




The Junos (for non-Canadians, these are essentially the Canadian Grammys) are tonight and Celine Dion is nominated nominated twice for album of the year.

If anyone has any explanation as to why the albums that are up for best alternative album (the Arcade Fire, Neon Bible; Holy Fuck, Holy Fuck LP; Patrick Watson, Close to Paradise; Tegan and Sara, The Con; Wintersleep, Welcome to the Night Sky) are not up for album of the year is beyond me.

Anyone wondering why record sales are down, maybe its partly because of illegal downloading, but its also because record labels push this kind of crap. Now, you may find this hard to believe, I haven't heard either of Celine's nominated records, but I have a hard time believing that .... I'm not even sure why I'm writing this. This is a waste of time.

Some CanCon that is worth listening to:

[mp3] Shad K - Brother (Watching) from the Old Prince [2007]
[mp3] Born Ruffians - Knife (Grizzly Bear Cover)
[mp3] Plants and Animals - Good Friend from Parc Avenue [2008]

PS - Liz has just made wonder if there is any possible way Holy Fuck can win given that you can't say their name on the broadcast, or the ensuring news reports that will follow?

Plants and Animals 'Parc Avenue' ... I'm probably not going to have to call Cartman...

I've never been one for anything psychedelic, including, but not limited to, tie-dye t-shirts, acid, or hippie jam bands. In fact, I cheered for Cartman when he tried to rid South Park of its hippie epidemic. Isn't that a nice lead in...

so after hearing a few snippets of Plants and Animals With/Avec EP late last year, I was sufficiently unimpressed, or just convinced that they were some Canadian version of Phish after listening to a couple of songs. That said, I heard enough good things about the new full length Parc Avenue, and the fact that I came to learn that it was released on Secret City Records (Patrick Watson, Miracle Fortress, The Go! Team) made me realize that the album is bound to be a Polaris Prize nominee for 2008. Much like labelmate Patrick Watson's Close to Paradise, I didn't really 'get' this album at first, and while Parc Avenue wanders into hippie-jam-band territory, it stays far enough away to make it ... worth listening to if you're not on acid.

At this point I kind of feel like I've been tricked into liking a hippie-jam-band, and I'm going to wake up one morning in a tie-dyed t-shirt and have no idea where I've been for the past few days. On the other hand, every time I listen to Parc Avenue I like it a little bit more; I find the whammy bar on 'Feedback in the Field' more endearing, I find 'Guru' less aggravating, and I wouldn't be surprised if towards the end of the year if this was a top-5 album.

I'm still glad Cartman rid South Park of all the hippies.

[mp3] Good Friend
My favourite lyric of the year so far: 'It takes a good friend to say you've got your head up your ass'

[mp3] New Kind Of Love

You can pick up Plants and Animals Parc Avenue at Zunior for $8.88.

Monday Bullets: Hooray for New Music!

I'll be honest, I've been slightly disappointed with 2008 up until this point - I've mentioned these a few times, Hayden's In Field and Town, Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago and The Do's A Mouthful have all been excellent, but I haven't really thought much of anything else. That said, there are a few albums that have just been released, or are going to be released in the next month or two, which I may not be jumping up and down excited about, but I'm interested to listen to them at least.

The albums and some tracks from them, in order of interest:

Lykke Li (Stockholm, Sweden) Youth Novels [Mar. 4/2008]
[mp3]Let it Fall
[mp3] I'm Good I'm Gone

Born Ruffians (Toronto, On) Red, Yellow & Blue [Mar. 4/2008]
[mp3] Kurt Vonnegut

Plants and Animals (Montreal, QC) Parc Avenue [Feb. 26/2008]
[mp3]Feedback in the Field

Tokyo Police Club (Toronto, On) Elephant Shell [Apr. 22/2008]
[mp3] In A Cave

Gnarls Barkley (NYC and Atlanta) The Odd Couple [Apr. 4/2008]
[mp3] Run

Cadence Weapon (Edmonton, AB) After Party Babies [Mar. 4/2008]
[mp3] In Search Of The Youth Crew

The Roots (illadephia) Rising Down [Apr. 28/04]
No mp3, but a link to the video for '75 Bars' via Pitchfork. It's the second one down.

Friday Bullets: You may be cool...

(Sorry, re: the photo, but it had to be done.)

• Plants and Animals (Montreal) have released what I believe is their first full length, Parc Avenue, via Secret City Records (Patrick Watson, Miracle Fortress). Both i(heart)music and Paul at Wolves, Hawks and Kites suggested that the album is good enough that it should be a lock for a Polaris Prize nomination. I tend to agree, for two reasons: 1/the first couple of tracks I've heard, I couldn't really get into (this was the case with Patrick Watson the last Polaris Prize winner); and 2/Secret City Records has yet to release a Canadian album that was not nominated for the prize. Links to both sites above will set you on your way with a few tracks from the album and I suppose you can decide for yourselves.... or can you?

• While we're talking about Secret City Records, Miracle Fortress has done a cover of a Daft Punk song. It's pretty kick-ass. Also, according to their myspace they're playing a couple of US dates with the Most Serene Republic - to which I ask: why not play SW Ontario with them as well... I would be significantly more excited about tonights tMSR show if we could replace the Diableros with MF.
  

[mp3] Miracle Fortress - Digital Love (Daft Punk cover)

• Jeff helped me track down Beirut's black session, since I am functionally retarded. For anyone who's interested you need to go here. Click on the link at the bottom of the page that takes you to some 'MegaUploader Site', and here's where I went wrong... I saw all these find a new adult friend ads and took off. You need to click on the ads... no wait don't do that... you need to enter in the code they give you, and voila you should have your hands on a zip file (in about an hour, its pretty slow, but worth the wait). While you're waiting:

[mp3] Beirut - Postcards From Italy [Black Session]

• Allan, of Allan's World Music, which is a blog that, coincidentally, is not all about world music, writes his thoughts on the label PR guy from MGMT. Suffice to say, he was not real impressed by their aggressive self promotion.
  

• An interesting article via TrueHoop, on whether chemistry was a good enough reason to make the Shaq trade. Henry Abbott interviews Ithaca College's Noah B. Gentner, Assistant Professor of Exercise and Sport Sciences, who makes the distinction between social cohesion, or chemistry, and task cohesion, where the guys on the team fill out defined roles within a system to accomplish a goal. He argues that task cohesion is more important than social cohesion, although, the two concepts are inextricably linked.
  

• If anyone has any new TV shows for me, I'm dying without new episodes of the Office, which I've been told will be back in April.