Results tagged “koolhaus”

MUSIC: Ah, Girl Talk. Who doesn't enjoy spending a slumber party with friends and spinning the wheel to end up doing kooky dares and talking about sexy crushes? Oh yeah, and there's this guy by the same name who does somewhat controversial mixes of Sinéad O'Connor with T.I. and Lil Wayne, getting audiences so sweaty they're literally sliding off each other an their attempts to do something that ends up only barely resembling dancing. Mash-up maniac Girl Talk is celebrating his newest release, Feed the Animals, by offering the album for download for whatever price you'd like to pay (this includes a $0 option, which is exactly how much money he pays the artists he's sampling). If this show is anything like his last gig at the Phoenix, you do not want to miss it (our clothing was quite literally dripping). Koolhaus (132 Queen's Quay East), 8 p.m., $20.

BENEFIT: Today is Sunnybrook's Underwear Affair, which is a 5k walk and 10k run in support of colorectal, prostate, ovarian, cervical, testicular, uterine, and other below-the-waist cancers. It's the first race of its kind in Toronto; Underwear Affairs have happened before in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, and Los Angeles. The course starts in Woodbine Park and goes through Tommy Thompson Park. Participants are encouraged to hit the road in their undies or other silly costumes, because really, nothing is sexier than a horde of nearly-exposed dudes with super sweaty balls. Woodbine Park (at Coxwell Road and Lakeshore Boulevard), 6 p.m., FREE (to watch).

This Wednesday is the official launch of Canadian Music Week 2008, and as you read this more bands are flooding into Toronto than you can shake a drumstick at.

If you are saddened by your procrastination that cost you Richard Hawley and Jose Gonzalez tickets this week, you can direct your attention to the eclectic choice of shows as a mild substitute. It does, however, appear as if local label Arts and Crafts have successfully cornered the market on this week's moderately sized shows (read: tickets that cost no more than $35). Tuesday you can catch Jason Collett with a surprise guest at the...

This Friday's Steam Whistle Unsigned is already the fourth in a series of independent music showcases at the Roundhouse, but it's the first we're really excited about. Really excited. Check out this lineup: The Carps are the best thing to come out of Scarborough since... er... hmm. Right. Anyway, the punk-soul duo recently opened for MIA at the Kool Haus, and if they're good enough for Maya, they're good enough for you. Opopo sound like...

Spoon have made only one big misstep in their ten-plus years of recording albums: Gimme Fiction. The 2005 album, a follow-up to 2002's absolutely brilliant Kill the Moonlight, marked a step backward for the band's music and a step forward for its accessibility––an album of decent, friendly, straightforward, catchy, and ultimately forgettable rock songs, an album able to retain the band's old fans while hooking tons of new ones. Gimme Fiction––save for (pictured) lead singer Britt Daniel's fantastic voice––sounded like some band aping Spoon, and not doing all that great of a job at it.

This week Musicologist will be checking out Regina Spektor at the Kool Haus, thanks to the insistence of a friend who pretty much exclusively listens to hip hop. The fact the he loves Spektor means she's gotta be good. It's sold out, but Musicologist never shies away from listing sold out shows—we all know there's always an (expensive) last-ditch way to get in if you're desperate. (Why does that sound dirty? We mean scalpers, of course.)

A lot happens in and around Toronto, but we can only write about so much in a week. Here's the best of the rest, in a new weekly feature we're calling Superfluist. Superfluist will appear every Friday night.

A lot happens in and around Toronto, but we can only write about so much in a week. Here's the best of the rest, in a new weekly feature we're calling Superfluist. Superfluist will appear every Friday night.

Supporting their recently-released second album Yours Truly, Angry Mob, England’s Kaiser Chiefs played a storming, triumphant set at the Kool Haus on Wednesday night. Their story isn’t new: having sold millions of albums in the UK and Europe, British band attempts to crack North America. For every Coldplay, there’s countless Pulps. But as so-called difficult second albums go, Yours Truly, Angry Mob seems to fare much better than average. Writing short-but-catchy pop-punk songs is never an easy proposition, but Angry Mob surely delivers at least a potential half-dozen radio-friendly singles, including current staple “Ruby.” And it takes a certain amount of bravado to title a song “Everything Is Average Nowadays,” especially if said song isn’t any good (It is). And so playing to 2,000 people in a sweaty nightclub in Toronto might not be quite the rush compared with a European festival gig to legions of adoring fans, but it certainly didn’t show in any lack of enthusiasm from the band.

"Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby...Do ya, do ya, do ya do ya..."

Australian 70's-arena-rock-inspired Wolfmother created some buzz last week when they were in town for a soldout show at the Kool Haus, as well as a brief performance at the Indie Awards. We're a little late reporting on it (blame CMW), but last Tuesday's show was nothing short of a marathon set, if we've ever seen one.

Now that CMW is out of the way, it's time to move onto other pressing music matters -- such as, why the hell are all these really great bands coming to town and playing the Kool Haus?! Can we not get a better venue than that? We just spent three of the last seven days at that venue and had to stand near the soundboard just to get even remotely clear audio of the shows. The acoustics there are almost always terrible...but then again, it is pretty much a giant tin box. /rant

It's finally here - the week of festival hell insanity. Got your wristbands and earplugs ready? Canadian Music Week kicks off on Wednesday with the Indie Awards at The Docks, and Thursday to Saturday will have you running around town trying to catch as many acts as possible. Wristbands are $35, or you can purchase (limited) tickets at the door to most shows. Not your thing this year? There's also the Pitter Patter Festival running from Wednesday to Sunday. It features fewer acts than CMW but depending on your preference, it might give you more bang for your buck. Keep an eye on Torontoist for previews of both festivals in the coming days.

It seems pretty appropriate that we just had Groundhog Day, given that we're feeling a little bit like Bill Murray looking at the concert listings this week. Not only is there very little going on, but most of the bands who are playing seem to be here every week (Apostle of Hustle, The Tragically Hip, Hostage Life, Friendly Rich). Thus, we have nothing left to say about them! So if you've already seen these shows, it is advised that you take this time to rest up because the end of February and month of March are going to be insane for loads of high quality live music.

Concert announcements are coming fast and furious, now that everyone's back to their regularly scheduled programming. A number of festival dates are set all the way into September already, including the return of V-Fest to Olympic Island on Sept. 8-9. The festival is expanding out west this year, with Vancouver getting it's innaugural V-Fest -- although judging by the current lineup so far (headliners only), they're catering to a much younger crowd than Toronto did last year. Here's hoping that we get a slightly more mature and diverse bill, which will likely be announced in the coming few months. Here's also hoping that none of the bands get the shaft due to schedule issues (hello, Flaming Lips!).

The year is winding down and so is the music, which is kind of nice, actually, because there seem to be a lot of tours already gearing up for 2007. Hopefully Alexisonfire isn't one of them...we have no idea how they can manage to go onstage and scream for 7 solid days (they have a few more shows this week). Insanity.

Hometown favourite Sloan play the Kool Haus tonight in support of their newest album, Never Hear The End Of It. The show's being billed as their 10th Anniversary at the venue.