Today, Whitehorse’s debut self-titled album is released for your listening pleasure. If you haven’t been paying attention, Whitehorse is the musical marriage of real life married couple Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet. The pair play an already sold out show at Glenn Gould Studio on September 21 but, lucky for you, you have another chance to catch the pair in their new incarnation on Friday, February 24, 2012 at the Winter Garden Theatre. In the meantime, Exclaim offers this interview and you can check out their first music video embedded above.
And be sure to also check out these videos of Doug Paisley’s in-store performance at Soundscapes last June. This was in advance of the Canadian release of his album Constant Companion which we presented at the Rivoli. This October you can catch Doug Paisley at the Glenn Gould Studio.
Folks are getting pretty stoked for Wilco’s latest album, The Whole Love (which Billboard is calling one of the top 25 most anticipated albums of the Fall), to land on brick-and-mortar and digital store shelves on September 27. Wilco, who hit Massey Hall’s stage September 16 & 17 , recently released a ‘behind-the-scenes video’ – you can check it out here and read the full article about the project on SPIN Magazine’s site. Fun fact: pre-ordering the album allows you the chance to win all sorts of good stuff like a 1955 single speed bicycle, a band-signed vinyl test pressing copy of the album, or perhaps most mysterious and therefore alluring, the “Surprise Grab Bag of Wilco Items.” Check out the weekly giveaway prize list here.
Chilly GonzalesPiano Talk Show (Tuesday): Any Chilly Gonzales show is bound to be something really quite special and tonight’s is no different. We’re particularly excited because today is the day Chilly’s new album Ivory Tower is released AND this particular event will also see singer-songwriter-producer extraordinaire Howie Beck join Gonzales on stage. Gonzales’ music is entirely likely to make you bop (“I AM EUROPE” or “Working together”) or chuckle (“Never Stop Rap,”) then in an instant have you thinking about what it is to be an artist (“overnight.”) Check out his myspace here and all the deets on the film he produced and stars in here. And if you didn’t see it the first time, here are just some of the reasons Why We Like Chilly Gonzales.
TIFF (Thursday to Next Saturday) – TIFF took over Toronto last week and that’s just fine with us! As you may recall from our coverage of “the festival of festivals” last fall, Roy Thomson Hall is a serious focal point of the fest. The opening of the Bell Lightbox is pretty exciting stuff but that doesn’t mean that the gala festivities here at Roy Thomson Hall get any less exciting. Starting with last week’s opening night screening of Score: A Hockey Musical (which we’ve been following since February when it was shooting here in Toronto) the Hall is filled with all sorts of ritz and glitz until the closing night at Roy Thomson Hall this Saturday, September 18. You can check out the schedule for all the films and all things TIFF over on the official website.
WEB WATCH
The LA Times recently featured an article about Jac Holzman (founder of Elektra Records). The article includes a video clip of Holzman discussing Bob Dylan going electric at the Newport Folk Festival and the importance of letting musicians evolve, on their own terms. Dylan, you may recall from our Decade Panels played Massey Hall later that year and similar to his experience at Newport, his electric set at the grand ol’ lady of Shuter Street was also not met with a warm welcome, instead receiving “jeers.”
About a decade ago I would sit in the window seat at a coffee shop called ‘Kalendar’ on College Street almost daily. Refill upon refill I’d down the spiced coffee while talking about life and music with other musician regulars. It became a sort of unspoken home away from home and a place of solitude and inspiration and represented the endless possibilities of our futures.
Much like the river in Bruce Springsteen’s accomplished work of the same name, it represents a centering point; and here, for his character (said to be originally written for his brother) a place that he could come back to throughout the many triumphs and challenges that come along in life. A place that symbolized hope and freedom and promise and passion even while staring in the face of personal and even economic hardships.
And though the character in his story realizes that “the river is dry” he is still lured to that place of his younger, optimistic self as a way of connecting with that hopeful spirit that keeps him going….
We all need that place. Even though I rarely find myself in that corner window seat any longer, I still use it as a landmark in my personal timeline, often remembering and learning from those conversations and individual moments so long ago now.
TIFF announced its full screenings and events schedule this past week which will include numerous Gala screenings at our very own Roy Thomson Hall. One of the most anticipated events (at least for this blogger) is the premiere of The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town, a documentary about the making of the legendary Bruce Springsteen album. It was also announced that the Boss will be in town to celebrate this event and while he’s here will be interviewed at the Bell Lightbox by actor Edward Norton to discuss the film as well as the relationship between his music and American filmmaking.
If the amount of Twitter-chatter the past few weeks is any indication, Toronto fans are no doubt excited about the Sufjan Stevens performance at Massey Hall on Oct 13. To add to the anticipation, he announced via his record label Asthmatic Kitty that he’ll release a new album called The Age of Adz (pronounced odds) on October 12, the day prior.
Sometimes, musical collaborations are obvious – while I’ll admit I didn’t think of it first (shocking I know,) the Ben Folds/Nick Hornby collab I mentioned last week is brilliant in its simplicity. This week, I report that former Secretary of State (and classically trained pianist) Condoleezza Rice and current (and everlasting) Queen of Soul recently performed together in Philadelphia in an effort to raise funds “for urban children and awareness for music and the arts.” You can check out some video here.
This week in Arcade Fire news, TODAY IS THE DAY!!! The Suburbs, Arcade Fire’s highly anticipated album, hits shelves in Canada and the US today for your listening pleasure. The word on the street (and by that, I mean, of course, the word on Twitter,) is that the album is pretty spectacular. Mind-blowing new album not enough? Stand by to check out Arcade Fire’s Madison Square Garden play live-streamed and directed by none other than Terry Gilliam (The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Brazil, 12 Monkeys) this Thursday, August 5 at 10p.m. ET.
Peter Frampton (Thursday): Frampton’s career properly took off in 1976 with his epic album Frampton Comes Alive! which features the songs we now know, love, and call classic – “Show Me the Way,” “Baby, I Love Your Way,” and “Do You Feel Like We Do” – and was the best selling album of all time (to that point). True Story: Peter Frampton began his musical journey with a Banjolele – a “banjo-shaped ukulele.” I wish I could say I made up this word but it’s totally legit – it’s pretty much the best word mash-up since liger. Also very cool: you can make your very own banjolele. While I would be surprised if Frampton cracks out ye olde banjolele on Thursday, I am certain that he will bring the awesome sounds that have made him the legend he is (legendary enough, in fact, to have appeared on both The Simpsons and Family Guy).
WEB WATCH
While it may seem like early days yet for the flurry of TIFF-related blog posts here on Soundboard, the delightful tidbits have started to drop from the TIFF office including this one: Score: A Hockey Musical will be the Opening Night Gala here at Roy Thomson Hall on September 9. You may recall us mentioning the film back in February when it was still in production. Cameos from musical artists include Hawksley Workman, John McDermott, and Nelly Furtado.
Soundboard is the official community of musicians, music fans, and friends of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Canada. It’s your behind-the-scenes source for related music news, recommendations, and rewards.
