What does a hippie look like in 2010? While the answer potentially lies in the tie-dyed audience of a Phish show, based on last night’s show, hippies in 2010 look an awful lot like Broken Social Scene. Sure, they wear jeans and blazers, but they do things like name their latest album Forgiveness Rock Record and ride bicycles around the stage before their encores.
Do you remember the cover for Broken Social Scene’s breakthrough album, You Forgot It In People? Basically it was a bunch of faceless musicians, silhouetted against a blank backdrop with guitars slung – the middle of a jam session. Welcome to the Broken Social Scene live show – a lot of dudes on stage playing slight variations on rhythm guitar with a heaping of atmosphere. When it works, it works: at last night’s State Theatre…
Toronto-based indie rockers Broken Social Scene have spawned some of today’s most popular artists, including Feist, frontman Kevin Drew, and Metric’s Emily Haines. One of these breakaway solo artists, Jason Collett, has been wooing fans on both sides of the border with his Dylan-esque vocals and folky, upbeat style. Cross-collaboration is practically the raison d’être being a Broken Social Scene bandmate, and Collett has had his fair share of guests on his early albums. But…
A recent review noted the tendency of today’s indie rock bands to combine large lineups with unusual instrumentation. Last night at the 9:30 Club, the Great White North’s Broken Social Scene didn’t skimp on bandmembers with seven people on stage, but gone were all the strings, kazoos, melodicas, and other assorted bells and whistles. This band was just a bunch of dudes who revel in the glory of the almighty power chord and understand that…
FRIDAY: >> Local comic book store Fantom Comics is celebrating the grand opening of their new Union Station store tonight with a party from 6 to 10:30 p.m. They’ll be serving up free pizza on the early side and the comedy stylings of the Geek Comedy Tour during the second half of the night. There will also be a trivia contest with $500 gift certificates up for grabs. The party is inside the Union…
The morning after seeing Toronto’s Metric, I had a brief water-cooler conversation with a co-worker who had caught the band the last time they rolled through town. “I’ve always been surprised how quickly that band blew up,” he said. “It seems like they got huge almost overnight.” I nodded in agreement, having seen them fill a 1,200-capacity club the night prior. After giving the matter some thought, however, I realized that Metric’s rise to the…
Photo and review by DCist contributor Valerie Paschall Providence, RI’s Get Him Eat Him has their fair share of influential friends. They’ve opened tours for behemoths such as Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire, and Beirut’s Zach Condon plays on their latest album, Arms Down, produced by former Plan axe-man Jason Caddell. Despite all of this, they have released pockets of blog-love, but have essentially flown under the radar. Last night’s show at The…
Maybe it’s always been this way, but it seems the latest trends in indie bands are to either go really big or pare everything down. Examples: The two-person, girl-boy pop duo has exploded, not to mention the two person blues combo. Power trios seem on the rise — run-of-the-mill rhythm guitarists need not apply. On the other side of the spectrum, The Arcade Fire gains a member every time they tour, collectives like Broken Social…
Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we’re all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn’t officially start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we’re up to… Over at Sampaist, spring has more than sprung: it’s sweltering! But, as everyone knows, museums are an ideal…
It’s a slow beginning to the week as every venue in our purview seems to be dark Monday and Tuesday, but it’ll give us all a good chance to refuel before the ’07 concert season kicks into high-gear later this week. If you’ve got any tips for musical destinations this week, particularly tonight and tomorrow, let us know in the comments. WEDNESDAY >> Emily Haines of Broken Social Scene and Metric comes to the 9:30…
