Just in time for the music festival season, designer Jeremy Laing has teamed up with Toronto record label Arts and Crafts and a handful of visual artists to produce a collection of t-shirts inspired by Canadian acts like Feist, Broken Social Scene and Dan Mangan. For our favourite of the bunch, Niall McClelland—who previously produced dreamy prints for Laing’s spring 2012 collection—created a moody graphic reminiscent of Timber Timbre’s haunting vocals. Meanwhile, Feist handpicked artist Sojourner Truth Parsons to riff off her music, and the resulting shirt, covered in otherworldly-looking figures, has all the cool cred of a well-worn concert tee. The tees go on sale today, with all the profits going to MusiCounts, a charity that supports musical education in schools across the country. $75.
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Best of Fall 2012: the season’s top five concerts, from Dan Deacon to Leonard Cohen
DAN DEACONBaltimore’s Dan Deacon turns electronic music hipsterdom into an epic, all-inclusive rave. Live, he sets up his rig in the middle of the room and orchestrates dance floor antics that split the difference between summer camp singalongs and outright mass hysteria.
Nov. 9. Lee’s Palace
Best of Fall 2012: opera-star-in-waiting Ambur Braid keeps audiences on their toes in Die Fledermaus
Ambur Braid’s warm sheen of a voice, not to mention her sheer gorgeousness, have landed the young soprano a big, juicy part in the COC’s production of Die Fledermaus. Fuelled by champagne and waltzes, Johann Strauss’s comedy of mistaken identities follows the nocturnal adventures of a philandering party boy and his equally mischievous wife. Braid sings the part of the wife’s scheming chambermaid, Adele. The character is most often played as a giddy social climber, but the 29-year-old Braid has other ideas.
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Reaction roundup: Feist takes home the 2012 Polaris Music Prize
(Image: Dustin Rabin)
Yesterday at the Masonic Temple on Yonge Street, Broken Social Scene alum Feist walked home with this year’s Polaris Music Prize for Metals, her fourth studio album. She overcame the competition from a buzzy shortlist that included Japandroids, Handsome Furs, Fucked Up, Cold Specks, Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, Drake, Kathleen Edwards, Cadence Weapon and Grimes, the Montreal phenom behind Visions and many people’s favourite to win. The prize is awarded to the best Canadian album of the year, based solely on “artistic merit,” and a carries a purse of $30,000. Below, a roundup of who said what before, during and after the big night:
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Luminato 2012 guide: 20 must-see events at this year’s arts festival
Einstein on the Beach (Image: courtesy of Luminato)
Luminato begins this Friday, and it can be a bit of a whirlwind. Everything from a Philip Glass opera about Einstein’s life to a gigantic food festival are on the card from June 8 to June 17, so both mind and body will be nourished. There’s even a huge cast of international guests coming through Toronto, like New York artist Terence Koh and New Yorker editor Deborah Treisman. But there’s so much to do, and we couldn’t possibly see everything, so we’ve created an easy-to-use guide that lists all of Luminato’s best bets.
Eight and a Half play a private show for hipsters and real estate developers at a soon-to-be Ossington condo
Last night, a strange brew of Queen West hipsters and condo developers packed into the transitional space at 109 Ossington for an invitation-only concert from Eight and Half, a Can-con indie music super collaboration featuring Broken Social Scene drummer Justin Peroff and Dave Hamelin and Liam O’Neil of The Stills. While the concert, which was promoted as a “pop-up” (aren’t they all?), was ostensibly pretty much the most cartoonishly hipster event ever—exclusive affair (check), warehouse environs (check), on Ossington Avenue (check), cool new indie band (check)—the show was actually clever bait for a preview of a new condominium development from Reserve properties. The party on the ground floor, with drinks and canapes, served as a de facto showroom for the funky and surprisingly spacious suites (some of the fourth- and fifth-floor units even sport sizable terraces looking west and east), while the unfinished second floor held an intimate experience with Eight and a Half. True to form, no one was dancing (of course, no one was purchasing a pre-build condo either).
Once-beloved Kevin Drew is now just really obnoxious (we get it, your band broke up)
Tonight is the last Broken Social Scene show ever (at least until they decide to have another reunion), and Kevin Drew does not want his fans to forget it. For the last 40 minutes or so (he is currently taking a break), instead of just saying thanks once, he has chosen to prove how much he loves people by retweeting every single tweet that mentions his user name (go ahead, try it, it’s @kevinselection). This isn’t the first time Broken Social Scene has parted ways, since most members have their own solo projects and kind of just come and go, but for some reason this seems very final—and if it isn’t, we’re privy to a very dramatic cry for attention. If this is the end, it has been a long road, and we’re sorry what’s broken can’t be repaired.
Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew talks hiatus, and the interweb goes wild
Kevin Drew (Image: Simon Schoeters)
Yesterday, independent music review site Pitchfork published a story online in which Kevin Drew, lead singer of Toronto’s Broken Social Scene, discusses the impending conclusion to the band’s relentless touring schedule. As is the nature of the Internet, Twitter and message boards erupted in a flurry of overreaction, with headlines focusing on the “indefinite” aspect of the hiatus (one columnist even took Drew’s statements so personally he blames himself for the band’s alleged breakup). Check out our—less reactionary—take on Drew’s statements, and what we can expect to see from Broken Social Scene members in the future, after the jump.
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On night three of Festival Music House, it was indie rock madness with The Arkells and Hey Rosetta!
Parlovr getting into it at Festival Music House (Image: J.J. Thompson)
Last night wrapped up the final eve of Festival Music House at TIFF, and much like the two nights before it, the booze was flowing and the bands gave it their all. Festival Music House curators Arts&Crafts (the label that brought us Broken Social Scene, The Stills, Timber Timbre and Jason Collett to name a few) did a great job creating unique lineups with different themes each night, with Monday’s performances appealing to a more mainstream crowd, Tuesday’s country and folk influence and last night’s indie rock thread with The Darcys, Parlovr, Hey Rosetta!, The Rural Alberta Advantage and headliners The Arkells. Check out who showed up and rocked out, after the jump.
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The Polaris Music Prize long list was announced yesterday at The Drake, and it contains 30 per cent Toronto bands
The crowd mingles in the Drake Sky Yard before the Polaris Prize long list is announced (Image: Caroline Aksich)
Yesterday at the Drake Hotel’s Sky Yard, the long list for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize was announced. The list, compiled by a 227-person jury composed of Canadian music media members, was a mash-up of new and familiar names, with more than a quarter of those nominated coming from Toronto. The prize, established in 2006 to recognize the best Canadian album of the year, is awarded purely on the basis of artistic merit. It now carries an impressive $30,000 purse, up from $20,000 (also new this year: all short-listed bands go home with $2,000 thanks to Slaight Music). We stopped by to watch the festivities unfold.
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Wednesday’s Luminato Picks: Ron Sexsmith, Joyce Carol Oates and the Kronos Quartet
Ron Sexsmith, Joyce Carol Oates and Wu Man
The fifth edition of Luminato, the city’s annual everything-culture fest, kicked off last Friday and goes all through the week. Here, three events to check out today.
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MMVA nominations offer something for everyone this year, still manage to make us feel old
The throng of young ’uns at Queen and John for the 2008 MMVAs (Image: Unfurled)
The MuchMusic Video Award nominations were released on Tuesday, featuring a who’s who of Canadian musicians. Beach-based band Down With Webster leads the pack with four nominations, including the fan pick categories of “Ur Fave Artist” and “Ur Fave Video” (this type of shameless teen pandering sure does make us feel old), while a parade of other usual Canadian suspects also scooped up nods, including Drake, Arcade Fire and Justin Bieber.
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Luminato adds Ron Sexsmith tribute to this year’s music-heavy lineup
Once more with feeling: the iconic moperocker Ron Sexsmith (Image: Masao Nakagami)
This year is shaping up to be a big one for Toronto singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith: he’s released a new album, Long Player Late Bloomer, and has embarked upon a relentless tour schedule that included a stop in Toronto at Lee’s Palace back on April 21. He’s also the subject of a film playing at Hot Docs this year, Love Shines, which documents the recording of Sexsmith’s latest album alongside Canadian producer Bob Rock. Now, Luminato is getting in on the fun, with this year’s edition of the Canadian Songbook series on at Massey Hall June 15.
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