Cults at Lee's Palace - Concert Pictures

I'm a big fan of Cults' beautiful melodies, well-crafted songs and unique yet retro sound. On October 20, I got to experience Cults' live performance for the second time. This particular show, at Toronto's venerable Lee's Palace, was a special night for me since Cults was the first band I ever photographed at Lee’s as a member of the local media and the second club show that I ever got proper media accreditation for back in 2013. My photos from that show are here.

And I love the band. The band's music along with singer Madeline Follin's delivery are magic to my soul and my ears. They've just released a new album called Offering and they sprinkled their set with new songs and classics from 2013's Static and their self-titled debut. I loved every moment of the show and will take every opportunity I have to see Cults perform.

Just one thing. No, you should not, under any circumstances refer to Toronto as "The TO" (pronounced "the toe"). Just, no. Don't even think about it again. Please.

Openers Cullen Omori and Hideout did a great job of warming up the crowd for Cults.

Check out my favourite tunes from Cults' set:

"Abducted"

"I Took Your Picture"

"I Can Hardly Make You Mine"

"High Road"

"You Know What I Mean"

Encore tune "Go Outside"

Five years ago: Cults' Cults

Five years ago today, Cults released their eponymous début album. The vintage and classic sounding production, along with the beautiful melodies and song structures on this album dug deep into my psyche and I love listening to the album. It's notable for me in that it's such a different sounding album than I usually like, but like it I do.

The band is also special to me since they are the first band that I was approved to shoot with a DSLR, starting me off on a passion that's driven me for coming up on three years.

"Go Outside"

"Oh My God"

"Abducted"

"You Know What I Mean"

The Top 20: The best albums of 2013, according to me. The year's most awesome and cool pop, indie, and alternative albums.

As has become my habit, I'm not ranking my albums list. These are the 20 albums that made the biggest impression on me in 2013, alphabetically.

1984 Influenza

Biffy Clyro Opposites

Chvrches The Bones Of What You Believe

Cults Static

Frank Turner Tape Deck Heart

Frightened Rabbit Pedestrian Verse

Haim Days Are Gone

Lorde Pure Heroine

Metz Metz

MS MR Secondhand Rapture

Neko Case The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You

Sleigh Bells Bitter Rivals

Small Black Limits of Desire

Superchunk I Hate Music

Telekinesis Dormarion

The Darcys Warring

The Joy Formidable Wolf's Law

The Naked And Famous In Rolling Waves

The National Trouble Will Find Me

Young Galaxy Ultramarine

The Top 50: The best songs of 2013, according to me. The year's most awesome and cool pop, indie, and alternative songs.

As the year progresses, I'm usually not aware of whether it's a great year for music or not. By about mid-year, I'm thinking that I have no idea what I'd put on a "best of" list. iTunes certainly helps by letting me see my top rated songs released in any given year.

Overall, it felt like more of a year of pop than anything else. We got tons of great pop melodies, and I love it. There's lots of other stuff in here too, including lots of loud guitars, which I also love.

Check out the list of my 50 favourite tunes of 2013.

50. "California" Mazzy Star
49. "Silent Treatment" The Joy Formidable
48. "Tendons" The Joy Formidable
47. "Fantasy" MS MR
46. "Out of My League" Fitz & the Tantrums
45. "Me & You & Jackie Mittoo" Superchunk

44. "Empathetic People" Telekinesis

43. "Maze" 1984

42. "All The Days" Haerts
41. "Tennis Court" Lorde
40. "I Kill Giants" The Naked And Famous

39. "Middle Sea" Yuck

38. "New Summer" Young Galaxy
37. "Hurricane" MS MR
36. "Lies" Chvrches
35. "Spider X" California X
34. "Power Lines" Telekinesis
33. "All The Time" The Strokes
32. "Black Chandelier" Biffy Clyro
31. "Let The Day Begin" Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
30. "Little Blimp" The Joy Formidable
29. "Ways To Go" Grouplove
28. "Mind Your Manners" Pearl Jam
27. "Change" Mikal Cronin
26. "San Francisco" The Mowgli's
25. "Pretty Boy" Young Galaxy
24. "Gun" Chvrches

23. "Sex" The 1975

22. "Man" Neko Case
21. "You're Not The One" Sky Ferreira
20. "Loud Like Love" Placebo
19. "Backyard Skulls" Frightened Rabbit
18. "Forever" Haim
17. "Climbers" Mansions
16. "Bitter Rivals" Sleigh Bells
15. "Too Many Friends" Placebo
14. "I Love It (feat. Charli XCX)" Icona Pop
13. "Royals" Lorde
12. "High Road" Cults
11. "Hearts Like Ours" The Naked and Famous

10. "Sea of Love" The National

9. "I Can Hardly Make You Mine" Cults

8. "Headphones" Mounties

7. "Holy" Frightened Rabbit

6. "Cholla" The Joy Formidable

5. "Dead Now" Frightened Rabbit

4. "Plain Sailing Weather" Frank Turner

3. "The Mother We Share" Chvrches

2. "The Woodpile" Frightened Rabbit

1. "This Ladder is Ours" The Joy Formidable

This year, I've linked out to YouTube for checking out most of the tunes. I've even made a playlist of this year's list. Previous years' lists took too long to load and often caused flash to crash.

Cults at Lee's Palace

I usually like my bands loud and proud, with lots of distorted guitars. On the surface, Cults doesn't fit into my mould. They're mellow and easy going with slower songs, classic melodies and sometimes, lead xylophone. But I love the melodies and the song writing. I love Madeline Follin's voice. I love the arrangements. Over the course of two albums, they have become a favourite and a band I've looked forward to seeing live for a long time.

Lee's Palace is a great venue. It's big enough to bring in big up-and-coming bands. It's small enough to feel intimate and it's easy to get pretty close to the band, if that's your thing. It also has a good sound system that shows off the best the bands have to offer. I also remember it as being a great place to play, with a big, good-sounding stage.

They played a great set including all my favourite tunes. They launched right in to "High Road" from their latest album Static and then "Abducted" from their eponymous début came next. Great opening! Their "wall of TVs" set looked great. Definitely one of the best light shows I've seen at Lee's.

They continued through "Always Forever", "You Know What I Mean" and "I Can Hardly Make You Mine" with a cover of The Motels "Total Control" mixed in for good measure. They closed out their set with a rousing rendition of "Rave On" before returning to the stage to encore with three tunes including "Go Outside".

Hopefully, Brian Oblivion had a great birthday in Toronto.

Check out the full setlist here.

Here are some tunes:

"Abducted"

"Go Outside"

"You Know What I Mean"

"High Road"

"I Can Hardly Make You Mine"

Overall, it was a great night. I got better photographic results this time out, and learned a few more things since the show that should make my next photos that much better. Here's hopin'!

I'm going to break up my coverage of the Cults show with separate posts on opening acts Mood Rings and Sacco. They'll follow in the next few days.

Official video for Cults' High Road

Cults' new album Static comes out next Tuesday. They've just released this video for the beautiful "High Road".

Looking forward to seeing them live!

Another new Cults tune from Static: High Road

A few weeks ago, I posted a new tune called "I Can Hardly Make You Mine" from Cults' forthcoming album Static. Here's another new tune, this one called "High Road". They're playing in Toronto on November 25 at Lee's. I'm hoping to see them there.

New Cults: I Can Hardly Make You Mine

I really enjoy the smooth indie pop sounds of Cults. Tunes like "Abducted", "Go Outside" and "You Know What I Mean" from their eponymous 2011 album are awesome. Their new album Static comes out October 15. This is "I Can Hardly Make You Mine" and it sounds great.

More Cults

I really like Cults. The band. Not the gangs of delusional religious nutters.

The melodies they write are so nice and addictive. Familiar and retro, but unique and beautiful. I think they're a good antidote for a Monday.

"You Know What I Mean"

"Go Outside"

I previously posted "Abducted".

Cults

Here's a new song that I like the sounds of. The band is called Cults and the tune's called "Abducted".