Results tagged “hiddencameras”

It's hard not to feel a bit of affection towards Spiral Beach; they've always unabashedly embraced their youth and the restlessness (and awkward fashion) that goes with it, and in their element they've carved a genuine place into both the brains of moody music critics and the headphones of young Canadian music fans. The Only Really Thing, the band's second full-length (out today on Sparks Music), has a few hints of an experimental maturation, but mostly stays a little too close to the retro-beat pop that defined them.

PETA's picked up another Canadian to speak out for furry friends. And thankfully, this Canuck hasn't risen to fame by way of an overinflated pair of tits.

Kincardine-born, Mississauga-bred, Toronto-based, and Berlin-bound, Joel Gibb is the musical and managerial head of The Hidden Cameras, the fantastic and always well-populated music collective whose members have included Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy), Reg Vermue (Gentlemen Reg), Laura Barrett, Maggie MacDonald (Republic of Safety), Dave Meslin (founder of the Toronto Public Space Committee), Bob Wiseman, Steve Kado (founder of Blocks Recording Club, member of Barcelona Pavilion and Ninja High School), Ohad Benchetrit (Do Make Say Think), Don Kerr (The Rheostatics), and many, many others.

The Hidden Cameras are back home, and we are all better off for it.

The Ontario Coalition For Social Justice and Make Poverty History believe there need not always be dissonance when electioneering and rock n' roll meet. This Monday's Vote Out Poverty gala at Massey Hall promises to be a "coming together of people from all walks of life and political allegiances gathering for an evening of entertainment united by a desire to reduce poverty in Ontario, Canada and the world," and will feature a multi-partisan mashup of songsters and speakers. Mary Walsh is hosting, Stephen Lewis is keynoting, George Stromboloupoulos is Stromboloupoulizing, and Susan Aglukark, The Nylons, The Hidden Cameras, and Blackie And The Rodeo Kings are folking and/or rocking.

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.

Joel Gibb of the Hidden Cameras (top) and Torquil Campbell of Stars (bottom). Photos by David Topping.

If you're not already exhausted on September 7 after trying to check out M.I.A., Stars, The Hidden Cameras, k-os, and You Say Party! We Say Die! playing for free for U of T and Ryerson's frosh, why not throw in a little free Yeah Yeah Yeahs for good measure?

The bands for both the University of Toronto and Ryerson's frosh week concerts are all confirmed and good to go, and they're all extraordinarily excellent.

While Hilary Clinton was content to let her supporters choose her theme song, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party has asked Dalton McGuinty's detractors to pick one for him. "What tune best represents Dalton McGuinty's campaign?" asks their website, accompanied by a Say Anything–inspired pic of the premier (pictured at right). "Which lyrics do you think of when you see Liberal red? Their election campaign needs a theme song and here's your chance to play political DJ."

For a band with an entire album named for Mississauga, The Hidden Cameras and Toronto sure haven't seen much of each other of late. Friday night at the Phoenix was the band's first full-length show within the GTA's walls in almost a year, the too-long hiatus forced by (pictured) lead man Joel Gibb's Berlin exile; as he goeth, so goeth the band.

On occasion, Daniel Johnston has shed his cult status and entered the public spotlight: it happened when Kurt Cobain promoted him and again with the release of The Devil and Daniel Johnston. And as a recent compilation confirmed, his influence can be felt throughout modern music, including Tom Waits, Beck, and The Flaming Lips.

L’Oréal Fashion Week kicked off this morning with an 11 a.m. press conference at Queen's Park. Seems the Ontario government excludes fashion from its definition of culture. So members of the Fashion Design Council of Canada want fashion visionaries to get the same recognition as their colleagues in art, dance, theatre and music. Clearly Toronto Fashion Week isn't the same kind of high-octane glamathon as Paris or Milan. In fact, most shows will be held in one venue—The Liberty Grand—so instead of rushing from venue to venue, most buyers and editors have to cool their heels in the hallway between collections.

It’s fitting that Maggie MacDonald is one of four self-appointed prime ministers of the Republic of Safety. She’s a political and creative force, using art as her weapon of choice. Her current bands, The Hidden Cameras and the aforementioned Republic of Safety, are musical meeting points for sex and politics. She’s exhibited her visual art and had her comics published in The Globe and Mail and Lola magazine. When she was just 20, MacDonald ran a dynamic campaign as a provincial NDP candidate. Her writing, which has received accolades from none other than quintessential riot grrl Kathleen Hanna, includes a self-published magazine, the illustrated novel Kill The Robot and critically-acclaimed plays.

We realize that we probably talk about Owen Pallett, aka Final Fantasy, way too much. So we're not going to talk about his free show on Saturday night at North York Central Library, also featuring The Creeping Nobodies, Hank, Ninja High School, and Bob Wiseman. Nope, not a word.

i (heart) music has just released their list of the 33 hottest bands in Canada for 2006, as selected by a more than forty Canadian music bloggers (including yours truly, current Torontoist contributor Carrie Musgrave, Said the Gramophone, former Torontoist contributor Frank Yang from Chromewaves, and lots of others). We don't mean to gloat, but it looks like we're still the best city for music in the country.

There are fewer and fewer places in the city that go unrecorded. Security cameras have become a regular feature of our landscape. So common, in fact, that most of the time we don't even notice them. And our level of awareness (or lack of awareness) of security cameras is usually an intentional design decision.

This weekend, the Harbourfront Centre plays host to Indie Unlimited. The festival's lineup features Amy Millan, The Hidden Cameras, Bell Orchestre - and Great Lake Swimmers, who are coming off the end of their touring in support of their acclaimed 2005 album, Bodies and Minds. Frontman Tony Dekker took some time to talk with Torontoist about touring and what's next after this weekend's show.

Tsk, tsk. Late two weeks in a row. Someone needs a good spanking. Next week we'll get our act together and put Torontoist before busy schedules and get this puppy out on time. Pinky swear.

Just about one year after the last major Toronto (areaish) concert, Richard Branson announced that the Toronto Islands will host the Virgin Festival over a weekend in early September. This is the first time the Virgin Festival crosses the pond outside the UK. Note that this is the first time that Centre Island will be closed to the public.

Photo of the Hidden Cameras' frontman, Joel Gibb, from The Music Gallery, April 2, 2006.

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.

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.

Starting next Tuesday and running for five nights, The Hidden Cameras will be putting on a special series of shows in conjunction with the Toronto Dance Theatre at Harbourfront, entitled "In The Boneyard". Head Camera Joel Gibb gave Pitchfork a sneak preview of what to expect from the performances, which will begin with the Cameras providing musical accompaniment for the dancers but trading places as the show progresses.

Maggie MacDonald is a busy woman. As one of the most visible members of the Hidden Cameras, MacDonald is often seen on Toronto's stages bopping along to Joel Gibb's catchy anthems to enemas, fear of commitment and golden showers. MacDonald also plays in a number of other bands in the city including the Dating Service and Republic of Safety. So it's not like she needs another project on her plate.

and this promises to be a helluva to-do. Victoria's Immaculate Machine are also on the bill, which has an early start time of 6:30PM.

Rumours of the demise of the Ear to the Ground Festival are greatly exaggerated. The fest won't be held on the grounds of the Ex and instead will take its slate of programming to a number of venues on Queen St. E. Most importantly the fest's chock-a-block full Sunday music offerings (Hidden Cameras, Sleater Kinney, The Organ) will be at the Opera House.