Results tagged “arcadefire”

ART: Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven, not eight, but nine (phew!) visual art exhibitions open today at the Harbourfront Centre. Featuring pieces ranging from a diseased baby vulture to an upside-down Christmas tree, there's sure to be something for everyone in your twisted, post-modern family. Harbourfront Centre (235 Queens Quay West), opening tonight from 6–10 p.m., runs until January 4, 2009, FREE.

Oh, how this time of the year can be so unexciting. Holidays are done, the New Year has come, and there is not much to look forward to until, well, the new statutory holiday. Until then, Musicologist recommends indulging in the odd show that surfaces from the woodwork and makes trekking through 20-below weather worthwhile. This Friday, for example, is worth that trek: Metal Kites and Great Bloomers are playing the Rivoli for a mere 5 bucks.

An excuse to post Feist's "1234"? Yes, please.

This Monday, September 24, the winner of the second-annual Polaris Prize will be announced at a gala event at the Phoenix. There will be stars, musical performances, free food and drink, and, unfortunately, you are probably not invited. Given to the best Canadian album of the past year, and awarded solely on artistic merit, the $20,000 prize is getting handed to someone (probably Feist) at a media and invite-only event. (Torontoist was graciously invited, but we're not sure if we'll be there to cover it yet.) This year's shortlist––which we spent a midsummer day covering––is heavy on the rock and light on everything else, with The Arcade Fire, The Besnard Lakes, The Dears, Julie Doiron, Feist, Junior Boys, Miracle Fortress, Joel Plaskett Emergency, Chad VanGaalen, and Patrick Watson all getting nods.

Finally, another excuse to write about La Blogothèque's Take-Away Shows. The last time we covered the France-based music filmmakers, they were psyching us up for the Arcade Fire's May concert with the best concert footage we've ever seen of the band. Before that, they won us over with The Hidden Cameras parading along boardwalks. Now they've given us Owen Pallett plucking away at two songs––"Your Light Is Spent" (above) and "Horsetail Feathers"––in Paris. If you've always wanted to hear "Your Light Is Spent" sung by an out-of-breath Owen running down a Paris street to avoid the noise from traffic, consider your wish fulfilled.

On September 4, the The Misshapes released their style book, and the trio of trend-setting, New Wave rock-producing New Yorkers are hitting Toronto on Thursday, September 6 in celebration of its release.

Photo of Cadence Weapon by David Topping.

For the time, it seems, side-projects are here to stay. If you take a look at any of the large indie bands from Canada (Broken Social Scene, Stars, New Pornographers, The Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade, off the top of our head), they've got at least one offshoot, whether active or not. The surprising thing is that, for the most part, these side-projects have done a decent job of living up to the hype brought upon them from their larger, more successful bands. With the Handsome Furs' debut Plague Park (Sub Pop), Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner joins the long list of artists who have spawned another band while in the downtime from their main gig.

Photo by Chromewaves (Frank Yang) in the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

If you were one of the many Arcade Fire fans not lucky enough to grab tickets to one of the band's Massey Hall shows on May 15 and 16, we can but offer two paltry consolation prizes.

Lots going on around town over the next little while. One of the city's biggest music festivals, NXNE, held their press conference this week announcing the 2007 lineup (warning, the list is tough to read), hosted by Dave Foley. Many show dates and venues were announced, including the addition of the Dinosaur Jr., Voxtrot and The National shows as officially being part of the festival. Limited wristbands will be accepted at each show, so if you really want to go, you're better off buying tickets.

After rumours and speculation, Arcade Fire recently announced that they would perform at Massey Hall on May 15 & 16. Both shows sold-out in less than a minute.

Let's just get this over with right off the bat -- Arcade Fire have announced their Toronto show dates. Hurrah! They'll be at Massey Hall on May 15 & 16, and tickets go on sale on Feb. 23rd. Predicted time to sell out? 1 minute 49 seconds. If you have no luck with those, the next closest location is Montreal on May 12 & 13.

Part Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys, part Animal Collective, part something else completely, Grizzly Bear have a unique sound that's tricky to categorize. This is not music you will necessarily dance to, but you will be moved. The Brooklyn-based band hits Toronto on Tuesday at Lee's Palace with Dirty Projectors to promote their newest (and critically acclaimed) record Yellow House.

Damn it, Arcade Fire, why do you keep teasing us?

After being hotly anticipated for months- at least by stores- All Hallows' Eve is finally here.

Bell Orchestre, a 5 piece band from Montreal, recorded their first LP while some of its members were simultaneously working on Arcade Fire's "Funeral". With the latter's success and the release of "Recording A Tape The Colour Of The Light" delayed until 2005, touring and promotion has been sporadic. Following a brief tour through Europe, the band arrives at Indie Unlimited at the Harbourfront Centre. Frontman Richard Parry talks to us about a new album and the nature of hype.

Mystique Lounge are now entertaining to the sounds of Bloc Party, Arcade Fire and Franz Ferdinand. (Not all independent artists per se, but still falling under that catch-all phrase, "indie")

Shanghaiist probably knows a little more about China than the Chicago Sun-Times. Giving them the benefit of the doubt on that one. The city does to have a music scene. Don't even front like they don't. They also have Dorito bananas and white guys shopping for wives. What they don't have is any more tolerance for jaywalkers.

Toronto's condominium market isn't always a pretty one. Owen Pallett of Final Fantasy (also the strings arranger for The Arcade Fire and The Hidden Cameras, pictured above at left) decided to take an unorthodox approach to dealing with the problem: he wrote a song about it.

The Village Voice gives us their annual Pazz and Jop Critics' Poll today, with predictable, transparent and delightful results. So delightful, in fact, that we consider this to be the most definitive list of anywhere anyhow. (Yay, as they say, for the Gorillaz and Three Six Mafia on the singles list and for the best album actually being the best album.)

Torontoist enjoyed Stuart Berman's interview in this week's eye, pitting Max McCabe-Lokos (the Deadly Snakes) and Bry Webb (the Constantines).We're not taking sides in this little "tiff" but we'll gladly go and watch either band this weekend at the Horseshoe. But enough of the friendliness of Canada's indie scene, we think that underneath all this collegiality and 'pat-on-the back' we're all in this together joviality there's some real rage.

In the year that the popularity of the ringtone might have outweighed the popularity of the single, Toronto-I-S-T comes up with the top ten songs that mattered in 2005.

Do you see what happens? Do you see what happens when you give negative reviews to local bands? Good thing for Torontontontoist, there's no need for a negative review or much backlash in the case of Annex-favourites the Diableros.

There's no real analysis needed here, so here you have the basics: The Islands are two individuals from the Unicorns, who wrote the song to counter the absurdism of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" The track and its four versions feature impressive-slash-slightly unnoticable contributions by David Cross, Malcolm McLaren, Feist, Wolf Parade, Arcade Fire, Buck 65, Beck, Karen O, Sonic Youth, Postal Service, Rilo Kiley and almost everyone else. And now, a new video and ringtones for the song. Available at Soundscapes for $4.99. For UNICEF.

Ouch. How very silly.

- Adam Nayman slaughters Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown on the Eyeblog. It's a rough cut, but the trailers (and Kirsten Dunst in a beret) have been scary enough.

Toronto writer Sheila Heti waxes romantic about The Arcade Fire in the new issue of Walrus magazine. Her contribution to the summer "Love Letters" feature is addressed to Régine and makes reference to digging tunnels, naming babies and other activities held sacred by Montreal’s finest. The note, affectionately signed ‘W’, could or could not be inspired by the Fire’s spring show at the Danforth Music Hall. The magazine is on newsstands now and also features love notes from the likes of Douglas Coupland, Margaret Atwood and Leonard Cohen.

In perhaps the ultimate gesture of admiration, Torontoist has learned that the Arcade Fire will play back-up to Mssr. David Bowie on his next concert tour. This is not totally surprising - since Bowie has had an increasing presence in the Arcade (they wrote a song for him) while the Thin White Duke has been big upping their album to just about anyone. Whenever it is they play these alleged shows (probably to promote Bowie's new DVD release in the fall), Toronto will indubitably be a tour stop.

Rumour has it the Barenaked Ladies, Jann Arden, Our Lady Peace, and Billy Talent are on board, but what about these potential additions: