Author: jprobichaud

Categories
Live music galleries

Live music galleries: Amos The Transparent [2018]

(I got the idea for this series while sifting through the ‘piles’ of digital photos on my laptop. It occurred to me to share some of these great pics from some of my favourite concert sets from time to time. Until I get around to the next one, I invite you to peruse my ever-growing list of concerts page.)

Amos The Transparent at Ottawa Dragonboat festival 2018

Artist: Amos The Transparent
When: June 21st, 2018
Where: Ottawa Dragonboat Festival, Mooney Bay Park
Context: In just over a month, local Ottawa indie rockers Amos The Transparent are playing a show at the legendary Neat Cafe out in Burnstown to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their sophomore record, 2012’s “Goodnight My Dear…I’m Falling Apart”. It’s a show I really would have loved to have seen but it just so happens that the show sold out yesterday. Of course, thinking wistfully about missing this show got me reminiscing on the four other times that I did get to experience the six-piece orchestral indie rock outfit, the final of which was just over four years ago (for free) at Ottawa’s Dragonboat festival. They were slotted in at the opening spot for the evening but they played like headliners and had a great time doing so. Ever the crowdpleasers, they made sure to play a representative selection of fan favourites from all four of their records, not at all leaning heavily on the album they had just released. To show my appreciation, I made sure to take the opportunity to stop by the merch tent to pick up this latest album, as well as the aforementioned sophomore record, for my vinyl collection. It’s more than likely that you’ve never heard of this band so I recommend you remedy this wrong posthaste.
Point of reference song: “I’m going to make you cry”

Jonathan Chandler of Amos The Transparent
Olenka Reshitnyk of Amos The Transparent
James Nicol of Amos The Transparent
Christopher Wilson on the drums
Dan Hay, guitar hero
Mike Yates on the cello
Mike, Dan, and Olenka
Jonathan and Olenka rocking out
Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Spiritualized “Songs in A&E”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: Spiritualized
Album Title: Songs in A&E
Year released: 2008
Year reissued: 2012
Details: Limited edition, 2 x LP, white, gatefold sleeve

The skinny: Continuing the backwards trend through the Spiritualized records on my vinyl shelves, we come to their 6th studio album, 2008’s “Songs in A&E”, aka the album that got me excited about one of my favourite bands again. It had felt to me like Jason ‘Spaceman’ Pierce had lost a bit of momentum with his previous two albums but when this one arrived, a whole five years after its predecessor, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Named for the period of time that he had spent in the hospital after a brush with death, this album felt like a different approach to a similar destination but one that revelled in its journey. And whenever I think of this album, I remember seeing the band supporting its release in Toronto with an afternoon slot at the Virgin festival and being tickled pink by a toddler-aged fan singing along to all the tracks and dancing with his father. Like the rest of the records that will be featured in this series, my copy is a reissue (this one in white) and was plucked from the racks of one my favourite indie record stores*.

Standout track: “Sweet talk”

*I’m pretty sure this one was found on the racks at Rotate This in Toronto.

 

Categories
Tunes

Best tunes of 2003: #20 South “Loosen your hold”

<< #21    |    #19 >>

This will be a short but sweet post for this happy Friday because South’s “Loosen your hold” is a rare example of a song that I truly loved but never managed to discover much about its creators.

All I really know about South are facts that I’ve gleaned from Wikipedia. That Joel Cadbury, Brett Shaw, and Jamie McDonald formed the group in London back in 1998, each were multi-instrumentalists and that apart from Cadbury’s lead vocals, the group shared the work of creating the other sounds amongst themselves. They’ve released five studio albums in total, the most recent being last year’s “From here on out”, but the only one I’m really familiar with their sophomore record, 2003’s “With the tides”.

I’d heard about the song “Loosen your hold” and heard the group compared to Travis, Coldplay, Doves, and Elbow, all groups that were, at that time, filling the British musical void left by the mighty tumble from grace of 90s Britpop. The song certainly fit the mould for me and persuaded me to check out the rest of the album. Ghostly harmonies hover over a banjo and a harpsichord playing hopscotch, and it’s all glued together with thick and sinewy synths.

“So loosen your hold
Though you might be frightened
Release or be caught
If this be the right thing”

It might not save the world but it’ll likely bring a smile to your face.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2003 list, click here.