Bob Mould Highlights the New and the Old at The Mod Club in Toronto

Monday, October 5 marked the third time that I’ve seen Bob Mould live. I saw Sugar at the Concert Hall in the early 90’s and I saw the Bob Mould Band on their last stop at The Mod Club in 2008 supporting the excellent District Line album. After blasting through Hüsker Dü's "Something I Learned Today" from Zen Arcade and the always incredible Sugar tune "A Good Idea", Bob mentioned that this year has kept him busy with things other than touring. He mentioned that they had played Coachella, then arrived in Toronto the day before The Mod Club show, had a rehearsal, and now they were playing for us.

Not that they sounded unrehearsed. The trio (this year they weren’t touring with Bob’s Blowoff partner and keyboard player Richard Morel) were tight and energetic, playing through the now fairly standard mix of Hüsker Dü, Sugar and Bob Mould solo material. This show was different than last year in that Bob pulled out the acoustic guitar for a few songs.

Highlights were Sugar classics "Your Favorite Thing" and "Hoover Dam", Hüsker Dü classics like "I Apologize" and "Celebrated Summer" (Bob, how come you never play my personal favourite "Could You Be the One?"?) and some highlights from his new one Life and Times, including "Life and Times", "I’m Sorry Baby, but You Can’t Stand in My Light Anymore" and "Argos". In my humble opinion, "Spiraling Down" is an awesome new song and would have been an excellent addition to the set.

Overall, another great performance from Bob Mould and his rhythm section. Next up for Bob will be the release of his autobiography. I will certainly be picking it up to get a greater insight into this great songwriter who has influenced so many artists, myself included.

Here's a bootleg video from Bob's show at Irving Plaza on October 8. It's of the last two songs of the proper set "Celebrated Summer" and "In a Free Land" originally from Hüsker Dü.



I took the photos with my Blackberry. Maybe part of the appeal this blog can be the horrible live shots that I take.

Big Concert Week - Bob Mould, Built to Spill, The Twilight Sad, brakesbrakesbrakes, and We Were Promised Jetpacks

As they say, when it rains, it pours.

This week I have three, count 'em, three concert nights out that should give my earplugs a good workout.

The first comes tomorrow with one of my greatest influences musically - from his solo work, to Sugar and back to Husker Du - Bob Mould at The Mod Club.

Then, on Wednesday night, I'm off to see Built To Spill's second Toronto show at Lee's Palace.

Finally, on Saturday night, I'm off to a show that I've debated whether I could attend or not - a great triple bill of The Twilight Sad, brakesbrakesbrakes, and We Were Promised Jetpacks at the Elmo.

What a week it will be, and sooner or later I'll write about each one.

Stay tuned!

Late to the Party

I'm often late to the party, so to speak, when it comes to new music. Like many people, it can take me some time to get into new music. It can take some time for new music to grow on me. When I first heard Oasis, I frankly didn't think much of them. I was, admittedly, a recovering metal-head and BritPop was not exactly the music that sounded too familiar at first blush. When it did, it sounded a bit too much like The Beatles for my taste.

Do you remember that scene in Pulp Fiction when Uma Thurman's character and John Travolta's character are sitting outside of Jack Rabbit Slims? Uma describes how everyone is either a Beatles man or an Elvis man? I disagree with this. I think that everyone is either Beatles or Rolling Stones. I think that those two bands are much more comparable and are much more contemporaries than the Beatles and Elvis. I've always ended up on the Rolling Stones side of the equation, which explains my reaction to the Beatles-tinged rock of Oasis.

But that was then. A couple of years after What's the Story Morning Glory and Definitely Maybe were released, I found my appreciation for Oasis. About 5 years ago, I had one of my most enjoyable moments on stage playing lead guitar on the track "Morning Glory".

This scenario repeats itself for many other bands. Either I manage to miss their emergence completely or I take a listen, am not really grabbed by what I hear, only to discover months or years later that I really like the band.

Although I'm late to several parties, I'm not usually last to the party. Mention of many of the bands that I've been listing to for quite a while now still elicits blank stares from many friends and acquaintances, even from those who try to keep their ear to the ground for new music.

What does this mean for this blog? Well, it means that there will be many times when I cover an artist that is new to me that may not be new to others. I don't profess to be first to the party, but I hope I'm not last too many times.

Boy Kill Boy - Great Band that's No More

Boy Kill Boy seemed to have got a lot going for them, in my books, which is why I’m baffled that they didn’t make a greater impact. They are a straight-ahead guitar rock band with tons of energy and great catchy songwriting. Their first album, Civilian, is pretty much back-to-back awesome songs. "Suzie" tops the list. As far as I can tell, their latest release, The Sun and the Sea, was never released on this side of the pond, as they say.

Sadly, the band broke up in October of last year. At least we got a couple of great albums out of them.

Here's the video for "Suzie":


And the video for "Shoot Me Down"


Video for "Back Again"


And the video for "No Conversation" from the second album


Enjoy!

New Built to Spill Songs, Indie-Rock Nuptuals and New Releases

As I posted previously, Built to Spill has a new album coming out and is coming through Toronto on their tour. The release date is October 6, which doesn't give me a whole lot of time to familiarize myself with it before their date at Lee's Palace that I'm attending on the 7th. Stereogum is featuring two tracks from the new album There is No Enemy. The songs are called "Things Fall Apart" and "Hindsight". I have a feeling that this is going to be one of those bands that absolutely shines in a live setting.

Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie and Zooey Deschanel (pictured) of movies and She and Him got married this past weekend. Good for them. And any excuse to look at Zooey Deschanel pictures is good with me.

Spiral Beach's new album The Only Really Thing is out. The album is streaming on their site. Listening to it now and it sounds goooooood. ExploreMusic has got some free songs, too. I've got to see these guys live.

Here's the video for "Made of Stone" from Ball.


And the video for "Domino" from The Only Real Thing.


As I posted previously, The Twilight Sad is on tour and has a new album called Forget the Night Ahead. It's due out today in North America and on October 5 everywhere else. You can listen to the album courtesy of Fat Cat Records. Another band that I suspect would have to be seen to be fully appreciated. I'm still toying with attending their October 10 show at the Elmo.

Here's a new track called "I Became A Prostitute" from the new album.