kMNR... October 27th, 2005

In This Issue:

Controller.Controller Delivers A Crazy Dance Party Filled Evening

It’s only been a few months since Controller.Controller’s first visit to Calgary, but it’s obvious that the fans in this city haven’t forgotten about this Toronto band. Last time around, they opened for fellow Torontonians Death From Above 1979. This time around they headlined their own show at Broken City, bringing another Toronto band (Magnetta Lane) along with Sylvie, a four piece act out of Regina.

Being the opening act, Sylvie just about stole the show with their fantastic set. The band consists of bassist Riva Farrell Racette, guitarists Chris Notenboom and Joel Passmore and drummer Jeff Romanyk. They performed an energetic blend of rock infused with impressive guitar work and driving drums. Passmore works with a pedal and effects box set-up that provided us with spacey sounds that fit perfectly with the music. Vocal duties lay primarily on Notenboom and Racette, but all four members sang providing a dynamic sound. Their new album, An Electric Trace was available at the show prior to it being officially released in stores on October 25th.

Magnetta Lane came up next and the all-female trio had a slow start. Bassist French appeared to be disinterested and for a short while the only member of the band displaying any excitement was drummer Nadia King. However, as the show progressed the band picked up steam and finished much better than they started. Singer/guitarist Lexi Valentine’s delivered an impressive vocal performance that was both smooth and flawless. As their set concluded, it left some loyal fans in attendance begging for more.

Controller.Controller hit the stage shortly afterwards and the small stage just barely contained this five-piece band. The lighting originated from the floor and drummer Jeff Scheven walked on sporting a bandage on his right arm (from a tendon injury) and a black-and-white striped balaclava. The band (fronted by vocalist Nirmala Basnayake with guitarists Scott Kaija, Colwyn Llewellyn-Thomas and bassist Ronnie Morris) also had a slow start, but by the time they broke into Silent Seven, the crowd was fully engaged. Basnayake was quick to comment that the night was turning into a “crazy dance-party.”

Although this tour is in support of their recently released full length x-amounts, the more memorable songs of the evening were from the History EP, including it’s namesake. As the set came to a close, the crowd begged for more and the band obliged, creeping into the encore’s first song. The rhythm of their music makes it extremely hard NOT to dance along, and this was most evident in the last song as people began joining the band on stage in an extended version of Watch.

Overall the evening’s performances, although not perfect, provided those in attendance an opportunity to see some great Canadian talent. At the very least, work off the alcohol consumed by dancing.

My 2005 CASBY Picks

Written By: Nick Gouveia

The Grammy's, the MTV awards, the Brits all suck. All those categories, voted on by industry lowlifes just pumping up the latest trends in music. It's all pointless. Most artists admit that they go to award shows for the after parties. Then came the CASBY's (Canadian Artists Selected By You). The award show that strips away the bullshit and presents the best and brightest in Canadian rock music.

All the awards are selected by fans. And to avoid the kind of confusion that gripped the O.J. jury, the CASBY's only have four categories. This year the show is hosted by the always fucked-up Tom Green. What about filler? What do the CASBY's do to fill in all that time during the actual award show? We'll Einstein; they throw a killer concert filled with some of the nominees. This years concert lineup will include Bedouin Soundclash, Metric, Sloan, Theory Of A Deadman, The Trews, The Waking Eyes, Boy and headlining the whole shin-dig is Hot Hot Heat. The only thing missing is an Octagon ring where the bands can literally battle for your love or hate or first born.

Since this is the only awards show I intend to endorse, how about I put my money where my mouth is and select the winners of this years crop of CASBY nominees:

Favourite New Album

  • The Arcade Fire - Funeral ~ My choice

  • Bedouin Soundclash - Sounding A Mosaic

  • Our Lady Peace - Healthy In Paranoid Times

  • Sum 41 - Chuck

  • The Trews - Den Of Thieves

This was actually not a hard category to call. Bedouin Soundclash's Sounding A Mosaic is a pretty good album, but doesn't really sound complete. The Trews released a very "Trews" sounding album: Not terrible, but not breaking any new ground.

Our Lady Peace shouldn't even be on the list. Healthy In Paranoid Times is yet another example that OLP needs to get back together with one time producer Arnold Lanni and start writing good music again. So it's down to the Sums and The Arcade Fire. Chuck is Sum 41's best album to date. It has all the ingredients of being album of the year, but there is just something about The Arcade Fire. Funeral is a masterpiece; an amazing album garnering kudos from artists like Beck and David Bowie. This isn't just the best Canadian Album this year; it could be the best album by any band. They are my choice.

Favourite New Single

  • Bedouin Soundclash - When The Night Feels My Song

  • Hot Hot Heat - Middle Of Nowhere

  • Our Lady Peace - Where Are You

  • Sum 41 - Pieces ~ My choice

  • Theory Of A Deadman - No Surprise

Here's another category that is a no-brainer. When The Night Feels My Song is a solid tune, but the fear that I will catch it on The O.C. one day troubles me. Middle Of Nowhere is a solid Hot Hot Heat song, but their latest album Elevator has far better tunes on it. Let's go ahead and throw out OLP's latest radio friendly stink-o-rama. Oh, and I must not forget about No Surprise by Theory. It was no surprise that Theory still sounds like Nickelback or Default (take your pick). So we are left with a song that would probably win no matter who their competition was. Sum 41's Pieces is a mega song with a sound that is far from the usual Sum's bounce around power punk. This song shows a band maturing and writing some killer music. For this and because the song just plain rocks, it's the best tune.

P.S. - How you leave The Arcade Fire's Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) super-song off this list is just lunacy.

Favourite New Artist

  • The Arcade Fire ~ My choice

  • Bedouin Soundclash

  • Boy

  • Death From Above 1979

  • Jakalope

Here's yet another easy one. The Arcade Fire released the year's best Canadian album on their first try. Good enough for me, although I do have to say one thing: Jakalope??? Dear god...why?! Can somebody tell me why?!

P.S. - Death From Above 1979 kicks some ace too.

North By Northeast Favourite New Indie Release

  • Boy - Every Page You Turn ~ My choice

  • Cuff The Duke - Cuff The Duke

  • Frontier Index - Frontier Index

  • Ladies & Gentleman - Small Sins

  • Protest The Hero - Kezia

After hunting the internet to adequately inform myself on all five of these bands I've discovered some hidden gems in the bunch. Boy by far takes the cake. Do yourselves a favor and pick up Every Page You Turn and request the hell out of them at your local radio station. This band kicks ass straight up and downsies. I also give an honorable mention to Ladies & Gentleman's Small Sins. It is pretty killer too.

So there you have it. You have until October 30th to vote for your favourites. You can get all the info at www.edge102.com. Now we wait until November 23rd at the Kool Haus in Toronto to find out what the people selected and if I can change my name to "The Swami".

311 Announce Fall Tour

The boys of 311 have announced their fall tour in support of Don't Tread On Me (which is in stores now) and it includes one Canadian date.

311 will be in Toronto on December 2nd at the Phoenix Concert Theatre. Alien Ant Farm will be opening up for them and tickets go on sale tomorrow (October 28th).

"I'm Just A Ship Lost At Sea"

Matt Good gets slagged a lot by music snobs. Being a bit of one myself (that's right, I said it), you may be surprised to find out that I'm actually a big fan of his. Sure he's an asshole (haven't you ever seen the t-shirt?) and he's fell from commercial grace since breaking up the Matthew Good Band and going solo, but that doesn't take away from his talent.

This is especially evident in the song While We Were Hunting Rabbits off of his first solo release, Avalanche. Although the song doesn't appear on his recent greatest hits CD, In A Coma, it does appear on the DVD of the special edition as a previously unreleased video. The animated video is visually fantastic which serves as a peculiar companion for such an excellent song. The song showcases his ability to write amazingly gentle songs with lyrical messages that are anything but. It's more importantly a great example of his vocal abilities which I find is far too often over-looked.

Matt Good will be performing in Calgary next week (November 1st) at MacEwan Hall.

In Stores Next Week

Next week we'll see a couple of new releases from a couple of old timers who haven't lost their skills; Santana and Ozzy Osbourne (I fear that Sharon Osbourne will seek me out and destroy me if I were to say that Ozzy was washed up and should just call it quits). Santana returns with All That I Am which features the now usual guest appearances. Who, you may ask? This time around, he's teaming up with Michelle Branch, Kirk Hammett of Metallica, Wes Scantlin and more. Meanwhile, Ozzy delivers Under Covers, an album of cover tunes. (How clever!) He includes renditions of such classics as Mississippi Queen, All The Young Dudes, Sunshine of Your Love, Fire, Sympathy for the Devil and more.

Tuesday is apparently greatest hits day, with such releases from the now seemingly defunct Blink 182, the posthumous Nirvana and the still going strong Tragically Hip. Blink's simply titled Greatest Hits will include all your juvenile pop-punks hits from the band and it's the only move left for a band that has announced their end this past year. Nirvana's Sliver: The Best Of The Box is not exactly a greatest hits package in the traditional sense of the term. It's more an offering of the best rarities and out-takes from last year's With The Lights Out boxed set. You know, for those of you who couldn't bring themselves to shell out the $60+ for it.

Leave it to The Hip to show us how it should be done. They actually have two releases next week. The first is called Yer Favourites; a double CD featuring 34 digitally remastered songs picked by the fans online. The CDs are flanked by two new offerings; No Threat and New Song. The second release is Hipeponymous (now THAT's clever!) which contains the aforementioned Yer Favourtes, plus two DVDs. The first is titled That Night In Toronto, a film by Pierre & Francois Lamoureux of the band's concert at the Air Canada Centre in November 2004. The second bonus DVD contains all 23 of their music videos, plus 11 never before seen video vignettes. The whole package is pulled together by a 48-page book. A must have for every Hip fan, and who in this country isn't?

This Week's Releases Reviewed

As always, here are Chart Magazine's reviews of this week's releases such as French-Canadian trio Below The Sea's Blame It On The Past, Float Away from The Fiery Furnaces, Regina's Sylvie and their new album An Electric Trace, Short Controlled Blasts from The Fullblast and more.

Upcoming Calgary Shows

October 28, 2005 Rolling Stones Saddledome
October 29, 2005 Tangiers, The Deadly Snakes HiFi Club
October 30, 2005 Heavy Trash, Sadies MacEwan Hall
November 01, 2005 Matt Good MacEwan Hall
November 03, 2005 Bad Religion, Anti-Flag MacEwan Hall
November 03, 2005 Cripple Creek Fairies CD Release Party with DC Heads, Night Church Broken City
November 05, 2005 Pocket Dwellers, Dragon Fli Empire Liberty Lounge
November 05, 2005 Knucklehead CD Release Party Hi Fi Club
November 06, 2005 Staind, Default MacEwan Hall
November 08, 2005 Blackhawk Outlaws Nightclub
November 09, 2005 Gwar MacEwan Hall

~~ kMNR v2005.090 ~~

If you would like to hear about or if you have any information on a particular band or artist, please email and I will do my best to cover them.