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By Josh Mocle - The Kids are So-So - 02/16/2008

It’s kinda funny. A couple weeks ago, I was the young kid at the Sick of It All show, not fully getting it, and now I was the old fart at the Thrice show that possibly got it too much. While the band received a modicum of success between 2003 and 2006 as part of the second to last wave of emo and post-hardcore bands to receive the notice of major labels after cracking their teeth in the underground for most of the late ‘90s/early ‘00s, their mainstream popularity has been waning in the past two years. This caused a change in the audience of a standard Thrice show more than I could have imagined. This being the fifth time I’ve seen the band, I can (happily) declare that many from the trendy hair swoosh and tight pants society have found their way to other endeavors (although a few still remain) and the ones left behind are, well, largely people like me (and by that I mean the ones who listened to the band before they were on MTV and who actually stuck around when *gasp* they decided to stop playing the same screamo songs over and over again and actually began to make interesting music).

Toronto’s Attack In Black opened the show and while there were only a handful of people there to watch them, those who were there were treated to a set by arguably one of the most talented Canadian bands out there right now. Mark my words, these guys are gonna be BIG very soon. While I admit, I was only somewhat familiar with their folk-tinged indie rock (with a punk edge) beforehand, their set came off as reminiscent of MeWithoutYou at their very best (which is funny since their new record comes off as Sunny Day Real Estate at their very best). It’s a shame these guys only got to play for a half hour, especially given what came next…

Let me make something very clear: while I haven’t listened to them for a few years, I was willing to give Say Anything the benefit of the doubt since for a good span of time, they were arguably one of my absolute favourite bands (hey, we all make mistakes right?). Regardless, while I wasn’t looking forward to the performance by any means, I wasn’t condemning it beforehand either (especially given the fact that I had somehow never seen them live). Turns out I might as well have because from the moment the band took the stage, it was apparent that they didn’t give a shit. If The Ataris or New Found Glory never existed, Say Anything’s run-of-the-mill pop-punk might be considered original, and even I will admit that lack of originality can be surpassed by decent showmanship, but these guys had neither. Singer Max Bemis strutted around stage like a younger (but just as pompous) Steven Tyler while the other five band members (that’s right, three guitarists, two of which could probably have been cut out) pretty much stood there, barely moving three inches in any direction. To top it all off, they only played for around twenty-five minutes (roughly half the time they were allotted) before leaving the stage rather abruptly. I think an important case study can be made by watching the career of this band over the next few years: given that they just broke into the mainstream after being underground darlings for many years, they can afford to play shitty shows since, fuck, they’re getting paid anyway. Let’s see how things are in a few years when they get dropped from whatever major signed them and they actually have to rely on their talent to survive -- and don’t get me wrong, there is some talent there (mostly on the part of Bemis), but I’d say it isn’t coming close to being realized right now.

Which brings me to Thrice themselves. There really isn’t much I can say about this band that I haven’t already: they’re still tight as all hell, their musical output continues on its journey into the indefinable (which is a very, very good thing) and they still seem to be genuinely having fun creating music (which definitely translates well to their live performance). Most of their set was taken from their newest record, The Alchemy Index Volume’s 1&2: Fire and Water, which in and of itself marks a few firsts for the band. It is their first record while back on an independent label after their brief flirtation with Island/Def Jam (Vagrant picked them up shortly after they were dropped) and it’s also the first record they’ve released that was written, recorded and produced entirely by themselves. That having been said, there was a clear distinction between the songs they played off this record (as well the few songs from the next record, The Alchemy Index Volume 3&4 and their last record, Vheissu) and the ones they played off their older records: they enjoyed playing the new stuff much more. When a band truly enjoys what they are doing it shows, and the effort and dedication they showed to songs like “The Whaler,” “Burn the Fleet” and this reporter’s personal favourite, “For Miles,” just wasn’t there during older tunes like “The Artist in the Ambulance” and fan favourite, “Deadbolt.” Almost as if they were just playing them because they felt they had to in order to appease the traditionalists in the audience (and indeed, even after they played it there were those in the audience who kept chanting “play ‘Deadbolt’ again!”), not because they wanted to. Don’t get me wrong, I love “Deadbolt” as much as the next guy, but if they hadn’t played it I wouldn’t have been disappointed.

In my last review, I spoke a lot about longevity and the capacity for a person to relate to a band and the various factors that can influence that and -- if I may be so bold -- I dare say Thrice have the potential to be around for many years to come; however, people who are just getting into this music now will probably not be able to relate to them like I could (and, to be honest, if universally relatable music exists at all it is few and far between and certainly does not reside within the rock scene), but that may just be my cynical stripes showing.

Josh Mocle is a self-hating third gen. emo kid (but he’s had an emoectomy, so it’s cool). He thinks you should listen to whatever he’s calling his show at the time this is published on Tuesdays from 2 to 4 in the PM because it’s what JFK would have done.

By Jessica Hemmerich - On The Rocks - 02/28/2008

I have to admit that I was a bit concerned at the potential energy level, or lack thereof, that there could be at a Matt Costa concert. I mean, yeah, he makes great music, but it’s the kind of music you listen to when the night is winding down, not getting started. He is, after all, signed to Jack Johnson’s label, Brushfire. However, by his fourth song, “Yellow Taxi,” it was clear that this was going to be a great show by the support the crowd was giving him. He chose to play songs not only from his most recent album, Unfamiliar Faces, which was released in October, but also from his 2006 debut album, Songs We Sing.

Costa came on stage with his high-waisted brown slacks, his brown and orange plaid shirt and his acoustic guitar. and I thought that somehow I had been time-warped back to the ‘70s. When the background lights began swirling and whirling all retro-like, I was just waiting for him to whip out his hippies. Unfortunately, the hippies never came. For those of you who don’t know, Costa’s music brings together different decades of music by resembling at the same time Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Oasis and Beck.

As I mentioned, the show really got started when Costa sang “Yellow Taxi,” but when he positioned himself at his keyboard, you could feel the anticipation in the room. Something good was coming. Sure enough “Mr. Pitiful”, ironically one of his most upbeat songs, got the crowd clapping along. Not only is he very talented on vocals, guitar and keyboard, but he also strapped on his harmonica to sing “Cigarette Eyes” for his adoring fans, telling them that he “does not condone smoking cigarettes out of [their] eyes.” After a few low-key songs, Costa played “Sunshine” and didn’t even need to finish it off -- the crowd did it for him. They knew the lyrics as well as he did. When he played “Miss Magnolia” and his five-man band took out their tambourines, I once again expected the hippies to come a-frolicking, and once again, my expectations were not met.

Costa finished off his show with “Emergency Call” to the sound of an ecstatically satisfied crowd. He and his band left the stage but, when the cheers just didn’t die down, Costa came out alone to play a very intimate version of “Astair” for his audience. He then invited his band back and after thanking everyone, including the blinding orange light, they played one last song, “Sweet Thursday.” I must admit, it really was a pretty sweet Thursday night.

Tune in to On The Rocks with Jessica every Friday from 2pm - 4pm

By Omar Goodness - Hooked On Sonics - 03/01/2008

Mixing a variety of pop punk styles, local punk pop quartet, Winslow have put together a nice batch of catchy hook-driven tunes on their debut six song EP. The lead off track, and the best of the bunch, "Another Stiff in a Jacket," has some great jerky guitar work reminiscent of early ‘90s So-Cal skate punk; the Get Up Kids-esque "Next Time Around" skips along with a nice piano line and melody, and closer "Arthur Rightus" speeds through at a brisk pace, reminiscent of early Blink 182 and Face to Face.

While I may not be too into the songs in the middle of the EP, there's some nice potential in the fantastic songs mentioned. I also appreciate the fact that the keyboardist doesn't use any cheesy ‘80s style synth lines that seem to be peppering way too many punk pop bands nowadays, instead opting for full organ sounds, or even straight up piano.

Winslow may be doing something that’s not too groundbreaking, at times even self-deprecatingly referring to this fact ("this is a typical breakdown you'd hear in a lot of punk pop songs"), but they've got the chops to pull it off well.

Tune in to Hooked On Sonics with Omar every Tuesday from 6pm - 8pm

By Mike Bresciani - The Lonesome Strangers - 02/25/2008

Seems as though the indie music community is filled with confusing side projects, revolving-door musicians, and solo projects that may or may not be worth the price of admission. There’s usually a lot of excitement and intrigue that follows the new directions many of these artists seem to be taking. In this case, we have Victoria Bergsman pursuing her solo ambitions with Taken By Trees after having fronted the excellent Swedish pop group, The Concretes, for the last decade.

One could not have picked a better setting to preview the new songs, as the Cabaret audience was small and attentive. There may have only been thirty people or so in the venue, but still, it just added to the level of intimacy needed to enjoy such an offering.

Taken By Tree’s first and only album, Open Field, was released in June 2007, and is not overwhelmingly different from past recordings with Bergsman’s ex-bandmates. The main discrepancy here would be that The Concretes had a rather varied arsenal of hook-filled pop songs (as well as an eight-piece band of musicians). The new recordings rely solely on Bergsmans’ ethereal vocals, and her melancholy storytelling while the instrumentation is hidden somewhere beneath it all.

Sounds like a tough sell, right ? It ain’t so…

Throw away the comparisons, and you still have ten gorgeous songs of yearning and pure beauty, all of which were played in their hour-long set. The amount of onstage musicians may have been cut in half, still, most of the band performed double duty on guitars, piano, xylophone, and mandolin. In addition, the b-side, "Above You," featured the first ever double recorder performance (two flutes, one mouth) this man’s witnessed since the third grade.

"You’re not many, but you’re important" Bergsman told us in her shy, accented manner. The relatively small turnout gave the audience a chance to take in the show, seated two-by-two, by candlelight -- something that happens very rarely at the Cabaret. Picking a highlight from the show would prove to be difficult, since nearly every song had a painful heart-on-sleeve sentiment I found memorable. Speaking of which, would you believe one of the more upbeat songs, “Lost and Found,” contained the following lyrics:

Can’t you see I’m lovesick?
I need a cure so bring it real quick.
This time I’m fearing heartbreak…

The song, “Only Yesterday,” may have been the most captivating moment of the night, as it was a short ode to loneliness with what sounded like raindrops and acoustic guitar being plucked underneath Bergsman’s lush vocals. The show ended off with a serene, upbeat version of "Sweet Child O’Mine" which was well-suited as a "last dance" kind of song, as opposed to hearing it full-blast, with grizzled bar room regulars and intoxicated college girls singing along.

T.B.T was a wonderful, somewhat unexpected surprise, both live and on CD. For one, I’ve always kept my hopes up when my favorite artist releases music with a new band, or solo moniker, only to be utterly disappointed by terrible offerings from the likes of say, Jeremy Enigk, Jarvis Cocker, and just recently, Chris Walla. My level of awe for this album rivals that of Amy Millan’s first (any only) solo album. It does not surpass it, however, it’s up there.

50 something days into 2008, the most memorable show…so far.

Tune in to The Lonesome Strangers with Mikey B every Wednesday from 3pm – 5pm