Metz with Wasted

Get ready for some loud, noisy music. The band is Metz, they're from Toronto and they sound exactly like this.

Their eponymous début album is out now.

High energy tunes from Fitz and the Tantrums

Here's a great pop song, with a gigantic chorus, by Fitz and the Tantrums. It's called "Out of My League".

And this one's called "The Walker".

Their album More than Just a Dream is out now.

Classic tunes from Phoenix

You've probably heard of Phoenix. You've probably heard their music from recent, wildly popular albums like Bankrupt! and Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. They're a great pop band.

What you may not have heard is their older stuff. Like this great disco romp, "If I Ever Feel Better", from their début album, 2000's Untitled.

Or the amazingly catchy "Everything is Everything" from their 2004 album Alphabetical.

Telekinesis and Deep Sea Diver rock The Horseshoe

What are Telekinesis? I would say they're a power pop band. But they probably need an "indie" in there somewhere. Indie power pop? Power indie pop? Indie rock? Whatever you want to categorize it as, it's good.

Maybe it was the Leafs play-off game 6 that took the crowd away from The Horseshoe on this unseasonably cold Sunday night, but those in attendance got a great and intimate show.

As one might expect, the drum kit was front and centre for the Telekinesis show. Michael Lerner is the creative force of Telekinesis and as the live drummer/singer, he should be up front. Although at first it's strange to see a drum kit at the front edge of the stage, it felt perfectly natural once things got going.

Telekinesis were a power trio when they played Fallon. Indeed it was a different band, since I recognize Jason Narducy who plays bass for Bob Mould playing with Telekinesis on Fallon. 

The addition of the keyboard player helped flesh out the sound with added texture, backing vocals and Charlie Brown dance moves. Their bassist tried some comedy on us too, which strikes me as bold, for a bassist.

Question and answer period preceded an acoustic portion of the show including "Symphony" from their most recent release Dormarion.

They were open to requests, even asking us to "put our YouTubes away" to do a tune they hadn't rehearsed much. They needn't have worried as they did a great rendition of "50 Ways".

Check out some tunes from the amazing Telekinesis, all of which were highlights of the Toronto show. I would recommend cheking out all their releases: 2009's Telekinesis!, 2010's Parallel Seismic Conspiracies, 2011's 12 Desperate Straight Lines and their most recent, Dormarion.

"Power Lines" from Dormarion

I was surprised that they were hitting up "Please Ask For Help" from 12 Desperate Straight Lines early as the second song of the set.

"Empathetic People", their latest single from Dormarion, rocked hard

"Lean on Me" from Dormarion

"Dirty Thing" from 12 Desperate Straight Lines and Parallel Seismic Conspiracies

"Country Lane" from 12 Desperate Straight Lines

They did an amazing cover of one of my favourite songs ever: "Don't Change" by INXS.

Then they closed with "Tokyo" from their début. Just so you know for next time, they don't do encores.

Deep Sea Diver from Seattle, Washington opened the show to a small but enthusiastic crowd. It was Jessica Dobson's birthday and I hope that as an audience we were a good enough present. We didn't get cake.

Jessica has had a successful career, playing in the bands of  Beck, Conor Oberst, Spoon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and most recently The Shins. With Deep Sea Diver, she's stepping out front and putting her own music first. I  hope that she and the band will be enormously successful. There are some amazing tunes here.

Set closer "You Go Running" and other tunes from History Speaks got us all bobbing our heads and soaking up their dynamic delivery.

Sigur Rós on Leno

I've just realized quite an oversight. Even though I've been moved by their music since I first heard 2002's ( ) and the brilliant and disturbing videos for songs like "Glósóli" and "Hoppipolla" from 2005's Takk, and I've reached all the way back in their discography, I've never posted about Sigur Rós.

Their new album Kveikur comes out June 17-18 and here they are performing the title track on Leno.