WSG:
Ponyshow
Braided Veins
Fri., Sep. 12
Magic Stick Lounge, Detroit, MI
$10/door
Toronto punk that you can dance to and scream along with.
We like it.
Showing posts with label Majestic Detroit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Majestic Detroit. Show all posts
Show Alert: PUP
PUP
WSG:
Ponyshow
Braided Veins
Fri., Sep. 12
Magic Stick Lounge, Detroit, MI
$10/door
Toronto punk that you can dance to and scream along with.
We like it.
WSG:
Ponyshow
Braided Veins
Fri., Sep. 12
Magic Stick Lounge, Detroit, MI
$10/door
Toronto punk that you can dance to and scream along with.
We like it.
Show Review: Planet Smashers ska the heck out of Detroit
News: Montreal's Planet Smashers are sending Mixed Messages: their eighth studio album just released this spring.
2 things that surprised us: (1) We've seen a lot of shows at the Magic Stick, but we've never seen a band blow a circuit breaker not once, but twice. (2) For third-wave ska show, the audience skewed a lot younger than we expected.
2 things we liked: (1) This show was fun, fun, fun. (2) Planet Smashers celebrate 20 years in 2014.
What we didn't like: We had planned on a nice dinner at the Majestic Cafe before the show only to find it closed for a private event. So we went across Woodward to Union Street and enjoyed some great fish tacos and French dip sliders.
Photos: Russ Gordon/N2D Images
Show Alert: The Walkervilles stroll into Detroit
Fri., Apr. 11
Magic Stick Lounge ~ Detroit
With Jeremy Porter and the Tucos and Moon Walks
$14
Don't believe The Walkervilles' Facebook profile: "The Walkervilles are a Motown/rock influenced group from the Detroit area." Okay, believe the Motown/rock influenced part, the key word being "influenced." They're not just emulating the sound. Despite the retro white waiter shirts and bowties in their press photos and a name that summons images of a barbershop quartet, they're using Motown R&B, rock and soul as a springboard into contemporary interpretation. We're looking forward to seeing just how far they've come since this 2012 show review. We know how far they're coming for their show at the Stick. Across the river, because this trio is from Windsor. Listen: "Bag It Up" by The Walkervilles.
Magic Stick Lounge ~ Detroit
With Jeremy Porter and the Tucos and Moon Walks
$14
Don't believe The Walkervilles' Facebook profile: "The Walkervilles are a Motown/rock influenced group from the Detroit area." Okay, believe the Motown/rock influenced part, the key word being "influenced." They're not just emulating the sound. Despite the retro white waiter shirts and bowties in their press photos and a name that summons images of a barbershop quartet, they're using Motown R&B, rock and soul as a springboard into contemporary interpretation. We're looking forward to seeing just how far they've come since this 2012 show review. We know how far they're coming for their show at the Stick. Across the river, because this trio is from Windsor. Listen: "Bag It Up" by The Walkervilles.
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| Photo: Kevin Kavanaugh, http://kevkavphoto.com |
Photos: Said The Whale @ Majestic Theatre 3/22/2013
Said The Whale return to Detroit.
Photos: Russ Gordon/N2D Images
Show Alert: Chains Of Love (opening for BRONCHO) and Beach Day @ Magic Stick Lounge
Chains Of Love return to Detroit.
New video for "FOLLOW ME"
Directed by Owen Ellis
Directed by Owen Ellis
Show Alerts: March goes out with a shout
When March comes in like a lamb and rains, it goes out like a lion and pours. And roars when it comes to Canadian indie shows in Windsor and Detroit this month. Two left and counting
Tues., Mar. 26
Shout Out Out Out Out
Magic Stick Lounge, Detroit
With Heloise & The Savoir Faire
THE show we've most looked forward to in March. We'd love this Edmonton band for the titles of their songs alone: "Chicken Soup For The F*^k You," "Now That I've Given Up Hope I Feel Much Better," "Your Shitty Record Won't Mix Itself." But accompanying the words filtered through a vocoder is some of the best dance/house/electronic music we know. These are real songs with a beginning, middle and end, not just stretches of repetitive mindless beats for the feets.
Listen: "Never The Same Way Twice" from their 2012 release, Spanish Moss and Total Loss
Sat., Mar. 30: Elliott BROOD, The Locusts Have No King and 24 Sussex, Capitol Theatre, Windsor. We never miss a BROOD show if we can help it, and with all of them parents now, who knows how long they'll keep touring? Locusts are a Windsor favourite, too.
Tues., Mar. 26
Shout Out Out Out Out
Magic Stick Lounge, Detroit
With Heloise & The Savoir Faire
THE show we've most looked forward to in March. We'd love this Edmonton band for the titles of their songs alone: "Chicken Soup For The F*^k You," "Now That I've Given Up Hope I Feel Much Better," "Your Shitty Record Won't Mix Itself." But accompanying the words filtered through a vocoder is some of the best dance/house/electronic music we know. These are real songs with a beginning, middle and end, not just stretches of repetitive mindless beats for the feets.
Listen: "Never The Same Way Twice" from their 2012 release, Spanish Moss and Total Loss
Sat., Mar. 30: Elliott BROOD, The Locusts Have No King and 24 Sussex, Capitol Theatre, Windsor. We never miss a BROOD show if we can help it, and with all of them parents now, who knows how long they'll keep touring? Locusts are a Windsor favourite, too.
Show Alert: Imaginary Cities
Fri., Jul. 27
Magic Stick, Detroit ~ tickets $10
w/ Fancy Street
Say you... yeah, you. Whatever else you had planned for this Friday night, we have a better idea: spend it at the Magic Stick with the perfect fusion of alt pop, R&B and soul of Winnipeg's Imaginary Cities. After playing Detroit's Fox Theatre last year opening for the Pixies, then Windsor last fall at the Phog Lounge, they're getting to be temporary residents of the area. They've scored a lot of other great opening gigs-- Rural Alberta Advantage, Ra Ra Riot, the Weakerthans and the Besnard Lakes-- so it's nice to see them getting the headline.
Magic Stick, Detroit ~ tickets $10
w/ Fancy Street
Say you... yeah, you. Whatever else you had planned for this Friday night, we have a better idea: spend it at the Magic Stick with the perfect fusion of alt pop, R&B and soul of Winnipeg's Imaginary Cities. After playing Detroit's Fox Theatre last year opening for the Pixies, then Windsor last fall at the Phog Lounge, they're getting to be temporary residents of the area. They've scored a lot of other great opening gigs-- Rural Alberta Advantage, Ra Ra Riot, the Weakerthans and the Besnard Lakes-- so it's nice to see them getting the headline.
Photos - Russ Gordon/N2D Images
Show alerts: Canadian indie invades Detroit, Windsor, Sarnia and Toledo
Lovers of Canadian indie artists have a lot of opportunities this weekend to get their fix. Good luck choosing; we'd be at them all if we could.
Fri., Jun. 1
FM Lounge, Windsor
Sunparlour Players (Toronto) w/ The Unquiet Dead (Windsor)
Two bands we love.
Fri., Jun. 1
Garden Bowl (The Majestic Detroit) FREE SHOW
Rah Rah (Regina)
Our show review from Dec. 2010.
Fri., Jun. 1
Mickey Finn's Pub, Toledo
Buck 65
Only one of the greatest hip hop artists in Canada.
Sat., Jun. 2 and Sun., Jun. 3
Sarnia Artwalk
If you couldn't be at Rah Rah's show on Friday, you can catch them in Sarnia opening for the great Hawksley Workman (review of Hawksley at London's Home County Folk Festival last July) at a ticketed show Saturday night. And if you couldn't catch Sunparlour Players in Windsor, they play Artwalk on Sunday. The Canadian indie talent at Artwalk also includes The Lake Effect, Evening Hymns and more.
Sun., Jun. 3
Small's, Hamtramck
The Real McKenzies
Celtic punk comes to Poletown.
Fri., Jun. 1
FM Lounge, Windsor
Sunparlour Players (Toronto) w/ The Unquiet Dead (Windsor)
Two bands we love.
Fri., Jun. 1
Garden Bowl (The Majestic Detroit) FREE SHOW
Rah Rah (Regina)
Our show review from Dec. 2010.
Fri., Jun. 1
Mickey Finn's Pub, Toledo
Buck 65
Only one of the greatest hip hop artists in Canada.
Sat., Jun. 2 and Sun., Jun. 3
Sarnia Artwalk
If you couldn't be at Rah Rah's show on Friday, you can catch them in Sarnia opening for the great Hawksley Workman (review of Hawksley at London's Home County Folk Festival last July) at a ticketed show Saturday night. And if you couldn't catch Sunparlour Players in Windsor, they play Artwalk on Sunday. The Canadian indie talent at Artwalk also includes The Lake Effect, Evening Hymns and more.
Sun., Jun. 3
Small's, Hamtramck
The Real McKenzies
Celtic punk comes to Poletown.
Show Review: Up a Creek With Royal Canoe
The progression of popular music, or the lack of, has been a topic hotly debated on the CBC Radio 3 blog, and at N2D central as well. We're of the opinion that either through nature or nurture, our brains expect and desire certain conventions in music (the resolution, the major and minor modes, the 4/4 time signature, for example), and as long as music is held hostage by these structures (and the listeners that demand it), it leaves few places for composers of popular music to go.
That's why, as predicted, Winnipeg's Royal Canoe did indeed blow our minds at their show on May 12 at the Majestic's Garden Bowl in Detroit, for their ability to beautifully straddle (or paddle, as the case may be), the line between adventurous music and music that is eminently satisfying to both the ear and the brain. Founder Matt Peters (vocals, keyboards, acoustic guitar) and the rest of the band-- Matt Schellenberg (vocals, keyboards), Bucky Driedger (vocals, electric guitar, percussion), Brendan Berg (vocals, bass, keyboards) and drummers Derek Allard and Michael Jordon (on both conventional and electronic drums)-- all came from other groups, but Royal Canoe "is our baby," says Driedger.
If you guessed that vocals play a significant role, you'd be right, from Schellenberg's angelic Vienna Boys Choir falsetto to Peters' tenor, but they're used more as additional instruments instead of the usual simple harmony. Songs on their (oddly unimaginatively-named) EP, Extended Play come with five beats to a measure, and even 15; it's a tribute to their talent (and their collective skill at hitting all the complicated rhythms) that such time signatures feel completely natural and never forced. That's the best part about Royal Canoe: they're writing and performing progressive music that appeals to our Pavlovian brains, like putting zucchini in brownies, or applesauce in chocolate cake. And the captivated crowd at the Garden Bowl ate it up, demanding an encore: the lovely "Dear June" from the first Royal Canoe incarnation, Co-Op Mode.
Photos: Russ Gordon/N2D Images
Show Alert: Royal Canoe
Sat., May 12, 10:00 p.m.
The Garden Bowl (Majestic Theater Complex), Detroit
FREE SHOW!
"They will blow your mind."
That's been the universal response from everyone we've talked to at shows this week that's seen Royal Canoe, yet another of the great bands coming out of Winnipeg, MB. What more do you need to know?
Listen: "Hold On To The Metal" from their new EP, Extended Play.
The Garden Bowl (Majestic Theater Complex), Detroit
FREE SHOW!
That's been the universal response from everyone we've talked to at shows this week that's seen Royal Canoe, yet another of the great bands coming out of Winnipeg, MB. What more do you need to know?
Listen: "Hold On To The Metal" from their new EP, Extended Play.
Show Alert: Hurricanes, Plants and Animals, Royal Canoe, Country French
After a bit of a break following our Said the Whale/Chains of Love doubleheader last month, this week there are not one, not two, not three, but four great Canadian indie bands playing the Windsor/Detroit area, and we're hitting every one, beginning with...
Weds., May 9
My Son the Hurricane (w/ Theatre Crisp)
The Dugout, Windsor
If you see what looks like part of a marching band brassing their way through downtown Windsor, follow them. It's probably My Son the Hurricane (St. Catharines). We liked their unique fusion of brass band and hip hop so much when we saw them last year, they made our list of top shows for 2011.
Thurs., May 10
Plants and Animals (w/ Wavvy Hands)
The Pike Room (The Crofoot), Pontiac
With songs like "The End of That"-- which features one of our favourite lyrics of the year so far, "With your bee sting lips and your pepper grinder hips"-- it's hard to believe Montreal's alt rock/progressive pop trio Plants and Animals started out as an instrumental group.
Sat., May 12
Royal Canoe
The Garden Bowl (Majestic Theater Complex), Detroit
A good reminder not to judge a band by one song, Winnipeg's Royal Canoe got a lot of love on CBC Radio 3 for their ode to Kasparov, but their progressive electronic pop is so much more than that. This is a FREE show, so you've got nothing to lose by coming down to check them out.
Sat., May 12
Will Currie and The Country French
w/ Dance Movie, Quiet Parade and Years of Ernest
Phog Lounge, Windsor
With four bands on the bill, we're hoping to have time to run over to Windsor after Royal Canoe to catch Will Currie and The Country French (Waterloo) and their unique brand of piano-driven, intelligent alt pop. Read our show review from the last time they were at Phog here.
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| My Son The Hurricane - Russ Gordon/N2D Images |
My Son the Hurricane (w/ Theatre Crisp)
The Dugout, Windsor
If you see what looks like part of a marching band brassing their way through downtown Windsor, follow them. It's probably My Son the Hurricane (St. Catharines). We liked their unique fusion of brass band and hip hop so much when we saw them last year, they made our list of top shows for 2011.
Plants and Animals (w/ Wavvy Hands)
The Pike Room (The Crofoot), Pontiac
With songs like "The End of That"-- which features one of our favourite lyrics of the year so far, "With your bee sting lips and your pepper grinder hips"-- it's hard to believe Montreal's alt rock/progressive pop trio Plants and Animals started out as an instrumental group.
Sat., May 12
Royal Canoe
The Garden Bowl (Majestic Theater Complex), Detroit
A good reminder not to judge a band by one song, Winnipeg's Royal Canoe got a lot of love on CBC Radio 3 for their ode to Kasparov, but their progressive electronic pop is so much more than that. This is a FREE show, so you've got nothing to lose by coming down to check them out.
Sat., May 12
Will Currie and The Country French
w/ Dance Movie, Quiet Parade and Years of Ernest
Phog Lounge, Windsor
With four bands on the bill, we're hoping to have time to run over to Windsor after Royal Canoe to catch Will Currie and The Country French (Waterloo) and their unique brand of piano-driven, intelligent alt pop. Read our show review from the last time they were at Phog here.
Show Alert: Elliott BROOD
Thurs., Feb. 23
Magic Stick Lounge, Detroit
With Patrick Davy and the Ghosts
Bringing a little Northern Air to the winter that wasn't in Michigan, death country trio Elliott BROOD (Hamilton/Toronto) return to Detroit for the first time since 2009. We saw them three times last year (New Year's Eve at Lee's Palace in Toronto, Windsor's Capitol Theatre and Phog Phest III), and already braved one of the season's only snowstorms last month to catch them in Sarnia; they never bring anything but their all to a show. Celebrating 10 years as a band in 2012, their latest album, Days Into Years, chips away at the gritty death country label with a mellower vibe, but you can be sure of a foot-stomping, pan-clanging close to the show.
Magic Stick Lounge, Detroit
With Patrick Davy and the Ghosts
Bringing a little Northern Air to the winter that wasn't in Michigan, death country trio Elliott BROOD (Hamilton/Toronto) return to Detroit for the first time since 2009. We saw them three times last year (New Year's Eve at Lee's Palace in Toronto, Windsor's Capitol Theatre and Phog Phest III), and already braved one of the season's only snowstorms last month to catch them in Sarnia; they never bring anything but their all to a show. Celebrating 10 years as a band in 2012, their latest album, Days Into Years, chips away at the gritty death country label with a mellower vibe, but you can be sure of a foot-stomping, pan-clanging close to the show.
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