Almost exactly six years ago I wrote about Godspeed You! Black Emperor and how much I missed them. At that point they were three or fours into a hiatus that seemed like it was heading into Never Going To End territory. A few years later I had pretty much given up hope of ever seeing the band live. Or of ever hearing a new record.

In 2011 I finally got to see them live. And today I am holding a new Godspeed LP in my hands while the crushing music fills my ears. It’s kind of surreal.

In that post from 2006 I wrote:

Like many other Godspeed fans I’ve been hooked up to a verrrrrry slow I.V. drip of two unreleased Godspeed songs that they played live in 2003 before scrapping a planned tour of western North America, announcing an indefinite hiatus, and disappearing into side projects. ‘Albanian’ is a monster of a track that eclipses anything off Yanqui…even shitty recordings can’t hide the sheer ferocity of this song. Another new song, ‘Gamelan,’ while less immediate, does embody a lot of what Godspeed were/are about. In fact, if the band went into the studio, put just those two songs down and put it out I’d be thrilled.

And lo and behold they did exactly that. Albanian became Mladic. Gamelan became We Drift Like Worried Fire. And two songs I’d been listening to crappy recordings of for years are now a new album and sounding more vital than ever. ‘ALLELUJAH! DON’T BEND! ASCEND! is pretty much exactly the album I had been hoping for for much of the last decade. Truly impressive stuff. Check out the record below.

Buy the record here.

And be sure to read the entire transcript of their recent interview with the Guardian. Rock ‘n’ roll, kids.

It’s been a crazy summer. So crazy I no longer live in Vancouver. Amanda and I have returned to Sydney, Australia for the foreseeable future…more on that later I suppose as the show reviews roll in.

But before we left Vancouver we managed to see some shows this summer. First up, we saw Florence + The Machine and The Walkmen at Deer Lake Park back in July. Amanda is a pretty big fan of Florence so this was a show that was definitely her bag. I went along knowing I’d at least get to see The Walkmen in support (and I swear I’ve seen them open for about 50 bands over the years). They played quite a bit of stuff off their pretty decent new record, Heaven. But, as always, the set highlight was a blistering version of The Rat.

Setlist
We Can’t Be Beat
Heartbreaker
The Love You Love
Woe Is Me
Juveniles
Blue As Your Blood
138th Street
Love Is Luck
The Rat
All Hands And The Cook
Heaven

And in one of those No Expectations = Pleasant Surprises situations, Florence + The Machine actually put on a pretty solid show. The music isn’t really my thing but Florence Welch GIVES it on stage. I really wasn’t expecting to see her gallivanting all over the place while belting out those songs. But she did. And her voice was pretty spectacular. Extra bonus points for the rain holding out for the entire gig…really thought we were going to get soaked at this one.

On August 8 we headed down to Seattle to see Sigur Rós at the wonderful Paramount Theater. I had been there once before to see Oasis back in (I believe) 2000, so it was a long time between visits. But it really is a beautiful venue.

Sigur Rós were spectacular as always. Prior to the gig I was wondering just how they were going to tackle Valtari live since the album is quite ambient and meandering (even by Sigur Rós standards). Turns out they’re handling it by playing very little of it. I was probably one of the few disappointed by the band playing just three new songs; I really would have liked to have seen them tackle a couple more (especially Valtari‘s opening track Ég Anda).

However, any disappointment with that was largely quashed by an incredibly powerful show full of some of the band’s most potent live songs. The band (sadly minus keyboardist/genius Kjartan for their 2012 tour) were accompanied by an extra guitarist and keyboardist plus strings and horns which gave every song details and ferocity that might have been lacking a bit on their 2008 tour as a quartet. I had avoided all setlists prior to the show so my mind was pretty blown when they dropped Í Gær in the set. I’ve always loved this song which had been played regularly in 2001 (though not at the show I saw) but not much since.

I’ve seen Sigur Rós quite a few times over the past ten years but this show was memorable even by their extremely high standards.

Setlist
Ekki múkk
Varúð
Ný Batterí
Í Gær
Vaka
Sæglópur
Svefn-g-englar
Viðrar vel til Loftárása
Hoppípolla
Með Blóðnasir
Olsen Olsen
Festival
Hafsól
———
Dauðalogn
Popplagið

My Last Show In Vancouver was kind of a perfect Last Show In Vancouver. It was late August, it was a beautiful day, and the show took place in the parking lot of the Waldorf. It really was a fitting way to end summer. And the fact that the lineup offered some of Vancouver’s finest bands just made it all the better.

Basketball were the first band I caught and they were much better than when I last saw them opening for Japandroids back in 2009. They seemed a lot more focused and together and they really don’t sound like many other bands out there at the moment – and that is always appreciated. Next up were Ladyhawk and they did their thing pretty damn well (their thing = being a great, gritty bar band). Some of the new songs sounded pretty solid and I’m looking forward to the new album. Take a listen to You Read My Mind from the new album No Can Do out in just over a week’s time.

But the main reason that my last Vancouver gig (for now!) was so great was the mighty behemoth that is Black Mountain. Giant riffs, proggy keyboards, and epic beards/hair, Black Mountain really are best experienced live and last month’s show was a perfect example. With the exception of Japandroids, I’m not sure I’d want any other Vancouver band sending me on my way to Australia. So thanks for kicking ass, Black Mountain.

Setlist
Mary Lou
Tyrants
Phosphorescent Waves
Old Fangs
Wilderness Heart
Buried By The Blues
Druganaut
Angels
Queens Will Play
Stormy High
Don’t Run Our Hearts Around
——
In Sequence
Let Spirits Ride
Roller Coaster

Download
Black Mountain – Mary Lou

So now A Reminder is back in Sydney where this little blog got started. And in the coming months Radiohead, Spiritualized, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor are all coming this way…so lots to look forward to.

Lost in the Radiohead trip a few weeks ago was Gotye’s impressive show at the Vogue Theatre here in Vancouver. I first wrote about Gotye back in June 2006 when Wally was still pretty unknown, even in Australia. During the years I spent in Sydney I got to know Wally a little bit so what has happened over the last six months or so has been kind of surreal. I mean Glee? A Billboard #1 single? Saturday Night Live? Just madness.

I saw Gotye a number of times while living in Sydney and while I definitely enjoyed those shows I always felt that Wally hadn’t quite managed to completely nail a Gotye live show – although this show came damn close. Translating sample-based music made at home to stages was never going to be easy but here in 2012 Gotye has the live show DOWN. Playing with four musicians (including Tim ‘Faux Pas’ Shiel) Gotye is now a full-fledged band on stage and it appeared as though they’d been playing together for ages.

Obviously, this review is a few weeks late so trying to pick out details ain’t gonna happen but needless to say Wally’s voice was bang on all night. Eyes Wide Open was a fabulous opener and hearing The Only Way live again was a real treat. I seriously never thought I’d be seeing a Gotye show in Vancouver, never mind at a completely sold out Vogue, but here I was in a room full of Canadians belting out Somebody That I Used To Know (in place of an absent Kimbra). It was weird. It made me miss Australia and my life and friends back in Sydney.

The visuals were a treat all night but they never took away from what Gotye was doing on stage. A number of the songs were stretched out a little bit in comparison to their recorded counterparts which made them feel more alive (this was particularly true of the songs off Making Mirrors).

By the time the show ended with a few uptempo numbers (you gotta after the slow burn genius of Hearts A Mess, right?) I was left not only missing Sydney but also incredibly impressed with what Wally’s done with Gotye over the past six years. While I was instantly impressed with Gotye, I never could have imagined this. And I’m sure Wally couldn’t have either.

Setlist
Eyes Wide Open
The Only Way
Easy Way Out
Smoke And Mirrors
State Of The Art
Thanks For Your Time
Don’t Worry, We’ll Be Watching You
Somebody That I Used To Know
Save Me
Bronte
Hearts A Mess
In Your Light
I Feel Better
———
Learnalilgivinanlovin

It’s tough when a band plays an absolutely monumentally unforgettable show as Broken Social Scene did at the Metro in Sydney in 2006 – every time I see them now I compare them back to that special night nearly five years ago. I’m doing my best to not do that right now because, from a completely neutral point of view, last night’s Broken Social Scene gig in Vancouver (their first of a two-night stand) was truly excellent.

From 10:40 until 12:45, Broken Social Scene demonstrated why they are one of my very favourite bands and one of the most entertaining live acts around. You’re just never quite sure what’s going to come next once Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Andrew Whiteman, Charles Spearin, Justin Peroff and the rest of the gang get in full flight.

But it was the unexpected surprises last night that I think I’ll remember most: the perfect execution of their quieter, ballady material. Lover’s Spit, for instance, was remarkable…I’ve never heard it done better. It began with just Kevin alone on stage at the keyboard for a few verses; then Charlie Spearin began adding some fluttering trumpet, while Whiteman played a very restrained harmonica that Canning accentuated with a melodica. It was just beautiful and totally different from how I’ve seen it done in the past. I felt much the same about Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl. Charles Spearin even busted out the banjo! The song was gorgeous and Andrew Whiteman’s wife Ariel provided some great vocal support for Lisa Lobsinger.

The inclusion of the ambient Guilty Cubicles from Feel Good Lost was the first time (I think…maybe in 2003 I caught a song or two) I have ever seen anything played from the Broken debut. Sweetest Kill and All To All, both from this year’s Forgiveness Rock Record were other “quiet” spots in the gig, both providing a new type of sound in the Broken Social Scene set. All To All, one of Lisa’s best vocal outings of the night, was particularly effective live as its finale burst to life on stage.

BSS-regular Lisa wasn’t the only female vocalist last night, however. As previously mentioned, on numerous songs Andrew Whiteman’s wife Ariel joined proceedings. In fact, on Almost Crimes, she took the co-lead vocal with Kevin and absolutely belted out every line. I doubt I was the only one thinking that she would fit in just fine with Lisa as a regular member of the group as Almost Crimes was one of last night’s finest moments.

Over the course of the two-hour gig the band played most of Forgiveness Rock Record (only omissions: Chase Scene, Highway Slipper Jam, Sentimental X’s, Me And My Hand) and it’s easy to see why: the variety of sounds on the record are indicative of what a Broken Social Scene live gig is like. From Whiteman’s lead vocal take on Art House Director through Canning’s Pavement-esque Water In Hell to the powerful explosions and fantastic guitars of World Sick, the new stuff is best heard on stage. Romance To The Grave, another FRR track, was a bit of a surprise in the set…until you remember that lead Sam Prekop of The Sea And Cake was around (they are opening the BSS tour) to provide his vocals.

In fact, The Sea And Cake (I missed 99% of their set) helped out a lot. John McEntire (also of Tortoise fame) not only produced Forgiveness Rock Record but he was also up on stage for most of last night’s gig providing added percussion and Archer Prewitt helped out on guitar for a few songs. The band was rounded out by David and Julia French on horns meaning there were between 6 and 11 people on stage at any one time. While some may long for the days where the band could tour with Metric, Stars, or Feist at will, Broken Social Scene certainly have a huge group of talented friends ready to help keep the juggernaut running.

The power of that juggernaut was perhaps best exemplified in the insanely awesome back-to-back pairing of KC Accidental and Meet Me In The Basement. Meet Me In The Basement was extended to accommodate birthday wishes to Justin Peroff behind the drums but I think the song could have gone for half an hour and no one in the crowd would have minded. Just…YES.

As the final notes of Ibi Dreams Of Pavement faded out and Kevin Drew bid his farewell to Vancouver I immediately began regretting not having tickets to the second show tonight.

Broken Social Scene. Always. Yes.

Setlist
World Sick
Texico Bitches
7/4 (Shoreline)
Fire Eye’d Boy
Forced To Love
All To All
Stars And Sons
Cause = Time
Sweetest Kill
Art House Director
Romance To The Grave
Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl
Guilty Cubicles
Superconnected
Almost Crimes
Ungrateful Little Father
KC Accidental
Meet Me In The Basement
Lover’s Spit
Looks Just Like The Sun
Water In Hell
Ibi Dreams Of Pavement (A Better Day)

Photos here. As an added bonus I finally got to meet @gotsound last night. We’ve seemingly been following each other back and forth between Sydney and Vancouver the last few years.

Late last week, Exclaim (via CBC Radio 3) reported that Constantines are taking an indefinite hiatus – never something you want to hear about a band you really love. Cons lead singer Bry Webb’s exact words:

“We’re in our early 30s and we have some different priorities than we did ten years ago, personally any way. It’s time to focus on other things.”

Sad times for Cons fans. I was late to the band, only really getting into them when Tournament of Hearts came out. But from there I quickly jumped into the absolutely stellar back catalogue and haven’t looked back since.

I consider myself lucky to have seen the band once but I must say I am really regretting missing their two shows here during the Olympics earlier this year. They were an absolute force on stage and it’s a real shame that there isn’t some sort of official document of their live show for fans. Get on that Sub Pop and/or Arts & Crafts!

Download
Constantines – Arizona
Constantines – Nighttime/Anytime (It’s Alright)
Constantines – On To You
Constantines – Soon Enough
Constantines – Love In Fear
Constantines – Hard Feelings

Broken Social Scene recently recorded a live session for CBC Radio 3. What I love about this live session is that it has a bit of a John Peel feel to it (without that immensely missed personality, of course) as it typifies the Peel mentality: let the band play what it wants. Over the course of the 30+ minute set the band play two new, improvised songs (including one featuring vocals from Buck 65), one old song by their old band Do The 95 (called The Stuck) as well as a few tracks from Forgiveness Rock Record and a pretty great version of Cause = Time.

Download the whole set
Broken Social Scene – CBC Session June 2010

Or if you want to just check out a few of the songs…

Download
Broken Social Scene – Texico Bitches
Broken Social Scene – BSS and Buck 65
Broken Social Scene – The Stuck

The band are currently playing shows all over the place. They hit Vancouver for two shows at the Commodore on October 13 and 14. Already looking forward that.

Those boys in Japandroids are certainly keeping busy off the back of last year’s Post-Nothing. Vancouver’s favourite duo are out on the road in Europe most of the summer before returning to North America for some festival dates including Bumbershoot just down the road. But the band have also added a number of headline shows throughout western Canada that might mark the end of the epic Post-Nothing campaign including a final gig right here in Vancouver at the Rickshaw Theatre with Ladyhawk. Thanks to Culture Bully for the heads up.

September 28 Hume Hotel – Nelson
September 30 Wild Bill’s – Banff
October 1 Starlite Room – Edmonton
October 2 Disrikt – Regina
October 3 Pyramid Cabaret – Winnipeg
October 4 Louis’ Pub – Saskatoon
October 6 The Republik – Calgary
October 9 Rickshaw Theatre – Vancouver

The band are also continuing with their 7″ singles series as Polyvinyl are releasing the second single (of a planned four) on July 16. The single is called Younger Us and you can download the A-side below thanks to Pitchfork.

Download
Japandroids – Younger Us

Broken Social Scene’s new album, Forgiveness Rock Record, is probably my most anticipated record of the year. It’s not out until May 4 but the first official release from the album is available now: the double A-side single of Forced To Love and All To All. I’m still not sure what I think about Forced To Love but All To All, which is sung by Lisa Lobsinger, is certainly growing on me (and it’s a bit of a new sound for Broken as well).

Download
Broken Social Scene – Forced To Love
Broken Social Scene – All To All

Neither one of them is as great as World Sick, however. Every time I hear that song I dig it more and more. The band recorded Forgiveness Rock Record in Chicago with Tortoise’s John McEntire, the first time Broken has used an outside producer. In addition to that, the core band has now been pared down to Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Andrew Whiteman, Justin Peroff, Sam Goldberg, Charles Spearin and Lisa Lobsinger. However, the record still features contributions from regular Broken Social Satellites: Feist, Emily Haines, Jimmy Shaw, Amy Millan, Evan Cranley, Ohad Benchetrit, Jason Collett, Julie Penner, John Crossingham and more.

Enough to be excited about?

One of things I’m looking forward to now that I’ve relocated back to B.C. is seeing some of the Australian bands I got to know back in Sydney play here in Vancouver. I’m not sure how often it’s going to happen but my first opportunity is coming up quickly as Sydney’s Dead Letter Chorus are currently in Canada showcasing their new (to North American shores) record, The August Magnificent. The band played shows around the East Coast Music Awards and Canadian Music Week and are currently playing shows in Ontario and Quebec with Two Hours Traffic.

While nearly all the shows have been back east, Dead Letter Chorus do have a show lined up here in Vancouver on April 6 at the Railway Club. I know early April is a busy time in Vancouver concert-wise but it’d be great to send them off from Canada with a memorable show on the west coast. It’s been quite some time since I last saw the band live so I hope I can make this gig.

The August Magnificent is now out in Canada on Bumstead Records.

Download
Dead Letter Chorus – Down In Your Valley

On Friday night while I was at the Vancouver Olympic Centre watching Canada defeat Denmark in women’s curling (how random does life get during the Olympics?), Twitter informed me that Broken Social Scene would be performing a last minute, secret(ish) show at the Ontario Pavilion as part of the Winter Olympics. The band were in town for the Neil Young tribute so it made sense the band would want to play their own headlining show. Troops were gathered and the following day we made it down the False Creek to Ontario House to line up for the show.

With Stars, Feist, Emily Haines, and Jason Collett in town it seemed that it a perfect BSS storm was forming collaboration-wise…but it was not to be. However, Broken Social Scene still delivered a memorable show in front of 750 lucky fans. The band featured Bill Priddle, Metric’s Jimmy Shaw, and Reverie Sound Revue’s Lisa Lobsinger while Andrew Whiteman and the Do Make Say Think boys were MIA (DMST are currently in Japan).

I had hoped we’d get some new songs but we didn’t really. Kevin Drew informed us that they don’t really know the new ones yet so we instead we got a mix of older material, maybe a new song, aaaand Julie Doiron. But before that the band opened with a pair of songs off the last self-titled record (Superconnected and Shoreline) before a trio of songs off Kevin and Brendan Canning’s solo records. Love Is New, off Canning’s album, was even funkier and more fun live than it is on record. Sam Goldberg actually took over bass duties on this one (and a few others over the course of the night) and was stellar.

Since the band were in town for the Neil Young tribute show it made sense that a Neil Young cover would be trotted out and Out On The Weekend it was. This was the first song that featured Julie Doiron as Sam Goldberg sang lead with everyone else providing some wonderful, high pitched Neil-y backing vocals. Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl followed which was delivered beautifully by Lisa Lobsinger with some help from Julie Doiron.

One of the highlights of the gig was a song Kevin Drew introduced as “Sweetest Kill.” It was a slow, restrained song but Kevin’s vocal delivery was one of his best. I have an mp3 of the song dated from December 2007 (when it was called Untitled 2 which I have included below) so it remains to be seen if this song is a castoff from Kevin Drew’s solo record or if it will appear on the forthcoming Broken Social Scene album, Forgiveness Rock Record.

Julie Doiron then took centre stage to lead Broken Social Scene through a rocking version of her own Consolation Prize off last year’s I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day. I was pretty happy to see this as Consolation Prize was one of my favourite songs from 2009. The set then ended with a drawn out, ramshackle version of It’s All Gonna Break. After the horn-punctuated finale the band left the stage leaving only Kevin Drew behind. He then claimed he was going to make a song up and started playing a song which did not seem made up. Not sure if it’s a cover (it did sound sort of familiar to me) or a new song or if he was actually making it up (doubtful) but it was pretty great. It got even better as Justin Peroff joined him and then the duo were joined by Brendan Canning on bass. Seeing the band jam as a trio was really, really cool (and it would totally work for a tour). (I dubbed the song ‘Too Delicate’ and you can see a video below.)

Then the band really did leave the stage but the crowd wouldn’t let them go. After a couple minutes of screaming and applause Kevin Drew came out and explained they really couldn’t play anymore due to venue restrictions. But he did lead the crowd through an accapella, karaoke version of U2′s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. It was a pretty special end to a great Broken Social Scene gig.

Cannot wait for the record and the real tour to begin.

Setlist:
Superconnected
7/4 (Shoreline)
Backed Out On The…
Churches Under The Stairs
Love Is New
Stars And Sons
Out On The Weekend*
Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl
Frightening Lives
Sweetest Kill**
Consolation Prize***
It’s All Gonna Break
“Too Delicate For These Games of Mine” (Kevin, Brendan, Justin only)
———
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

* Neil Young cover
** Formerly known as Untitled 2
*** Julie Doiron with BSS

My photos from the gig are here. And apologies to anyone who got excited when I posted on Twitter that the band had soundchecked a bunch of new stuff. They might have rehearsed a couple new ones but I think it was Canning’s songs that I neglected to recognize through the walls of the venue.

Download
Broken Social Scene – Sweetest Kid (MTV Canada Live Dec. 2007)
Julie Doiron – Consolation Prize

Below I’ve embedded some video (sorry about the sound cutting out on “Too Delicate” and being nearly unlistenable for Julie Doiron’s song).

Out On The Weekend

Consolation Prize

“Too Delicate” (new/unknown? song)

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

Hope you’re enjoying the Winter Olympics wherever you are. Vancouver is nuts at the moment.