N2DS2W Year in Review 2015

The shows, music and moments we'll remember most from 2015, plus some of our favourite albums.

January: Elliott BROOD (The Ark) surprises our unsuspecting daughter with birthday wishes at her first Canadian indie show. Album pick released this month: Viet Cong, Viet Cong (shortlisted for the Polaris Prize).

Stephen Pitkin

Mark Sasso and the birthday girl

Casey Laforet, N2D and the birthday girl

March: CBC Radio 3 takes all live hosts off the air. We take the day off work to mourn with a devastated R3 blog community and say goodbye to Grant, Lana and R3 as we knew it. Album pick release this month: Hayden, Hey Love.

Image and design: Mr. FussyFont

METZ

April: We finally see METZ (The Loving Touch). Some hardcore screaming vocal noise rock bands make us flip the dial, but the musical craftsmanship and visceral intensity of METZ just make us flip. Album picks released this month: LeE HARVeY OsMOND, Beautiful Scars; Rodney DeCroo, Campfires on the Moon.

Design: Kali Malinka   Photography: Angela Fama

May: Rodney DeCroo (Phog Lounge), backed by the amazing Ida Nilsen (Great Aunt Ida), and Mark Haney on double bass, wows us with his poignant and personal music. Album pick released this month: METZ, II.











June: The day before leaving for NXNE, Hayden and Bahamas (The Ark) deliver one of our top shows of 2015, just as we predicted in our show alert.

Hayden

Bahamas

July: N2DS2W celebrates five years. Happy birthday to us.


August: Thanks to our good friend John Struman, we meet a Detroit band we love: Nigel & The Dropout (Phog Lounge). And once again, the Festival of Good Things (Sarnia), this year headlined by Shred Kelly and Sunparlour Players, proves to be the perfect way to end the summer.

Nigel & The Dropout

Andrew Penner, Sunparlour Players

Michael "Rosie" Rosenthal, Sunparlour Players

Ty West, Shred Kelly

Ian Page Shiner and Tim Newton, Shred Kelly

Jordan Vlasshaert and Sage McBride, Shred Kelly

September: Seven is a lucky number as Phog Phest 7 proves the perfect way to start the fall. Grand Analog makes the world go round, The Sadies deliver a blistering set and Wintersleep are glorious.

Grand Analog (Odario Williams)

Sean Dean, The Sadies

Mike Belitsky, The Sadies

Dallas Good, The Sadies

Travis Good, The Sadies

Loel Campbell, Wintersleep

Paul Murphy, Wintersleep

Wintersleep

October: We see our first matinee show at Phog Lounge featuring Megan Hamilton and a flock of kids attacking plates of fries like sparrows. Hamilton's new album, Forty Warm Streams to Lead Your Wings is a thing of beauty, with songs that make you feel like you've known them all your life.

November: Our hip kid has to explain a Ghettosocks (Phog Lounge, with Swamp Thing) Adventure Time reference that still has us singing Bacon Pancakes. Album pick released this month: Library Voices, Lovish.

December: We see Born Ruffians sans costumes for the first time (they really like playing Detroit on Devil's Night) and Young Rival in shiny costumes. They don't need the gimmick; their new album Interior Light shines bright enough.

Noah Fralick, Young Rival

Aron D'alesio, Young Rival

John Smith, Young Rival

Photos: Russ Gordon/N2D Images

Show Alert: A double dose of dreamy

Tue., Jun. 16
Bahamas with Hayden (opening)
The Ark ~ Ann Arbor

When we saw that Bahamas-- aka Afie Jurvanen-- was in the lineup for The 38th Ann Arbor Folk Festival this past January, we weren't at all surprised he turned up on the calendar with a show of his own. We knew they'd fall in love with him just like the CBC Radio 3 community has for years: he's the "Hey Girl" Ryan Gosling meme to R3 bloggers.

What did surprise us was Hayden showing up as an opener. There are some artists we thought would never come to Michigan, and Hayden is one of them. Plus, he can fill a room in Canada all on his own. We've been listening to Hayden even longer than Bahamas; we can remember when "Bad As They Seem" was getting airplay on 89X in Detroit.

We fully expect these two supremely talented musicians will deliver one of our top shows of the year.

Show Alert: Writing It All Down For You

Fri., Jan. 16
Elliott BROOD
The Ark, Ann Arbor

The Sadies w/Duende
The Loving Touch, Ferndale

It's not often, especially lately, we get two can't-miss Canadian indie shows on the same night. Happy New Year.

We've seen both these bands multiple times in a variety of venues and can say you're guaranteed a great show. We consider Elliott BROOD's Mountain Meadows (2008) one of the best Canadian indie albums ever made. It's perfect from start to finish. They've come a long way since we first saw them at the Majestic Cafe in 2009; so has their once literally brooding, edgy "death" country sound. They're all Work and Love (2014) now-- and Juno award-winning (Roots and Traditional Album of the Year, 2013). Listen: "Jigsaw Heart," from Work and Love.

Whether sharing the stage with Gord Downie-- and making our list of top shows last year-- or with family (Home County, 2013), The Sadies are Good. That would be Dallas and Travis Good, Sean Dean and Mike Belitsky. They should be: they celebrated 20 years in 2014 of superb Canadian indie. Listen: "What's Left Behind" from New Seasons (2007)

The Sadies. Yes, they're as bad-ass as they look.
(Photo credit: Don Pyle)

Show Alert: It's Banjo O'Clock!

Old Man Luedecke
The Ark ~ Ann Arbor
Tues., Sep. 10

Be careful what you wish for... and we wished for Old Man Luedecke (say loo-da-ka) to play the Ark, because it seemed like the perfect venue for his homey, endearing and smart songwriting accompanied and inspired by stellar banjo skills.

We got our wish. We drove all the way to London, Ontario to see him last year. Now he's come all the way from Nova Scotia, so you can bet we'll be there in Ann Arbor. We don't know what it is about the banjo. It's twangy, nasally and old-fashioned, and we love it. As Steve Martin, a banjo virtuoso himself, once said, "The banjo is such a happy instrument. You can't play a sad song on the banjo, it always comes out so cheerful."

Listen: "I'm Fine," from Old Man Luedecke's Polaris long list-nominated 2012 album, Tender Is The Night.

 If you happen to be Up North, Luedecke is also playing at Short's Brewing Co. in Bellaire on Thur., Sep. 12.

 

Photos: Russ Gordon/N2D Images

Show Alert: Cadence Weapon, Whitehorse, Yukon Blonde

Mon., Oct. 15

Cadence Weapon
Magic Stick Lounge, Detroit
w/ Deastro (Detroit)

Whitehorse (Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland
The Ark, Ann Arbor

Yukon Blonde (opening for The Jezabels)
The Blind Pig, Ann Arbor

If we could clone ourselves, we would, because we hate to miss any one of these shows. We were set to see Whitehorse (and Doucet's White Falcon) earlier this year The Ark, when they canceled to go to SXSW (hard to blame them). Listen: "Achilles' Desire" from The Fate of the World Depends on This Kiss

And we love Vancouver's Yukon Blonde so much we've seen them four times, and would have happily done so again, as they continue to tour in support of the great Tiger Talk. Listen: "Stairway," from Tiger Talk

But there's no way we were going to miss Cadence Weapon, a three-time Polaris nominee and former poet laureate of Edmonton. Rollie Pemberton is simply one of the best hip-hop artists in Canada. He's touring in support of Hope in Dirt City, which landed on the 2012 Polaris short list, and is described as "a unique hybrid of psychedelic soul, old school rap, IDM and mutant disco... a groundbreaking achievement in hip-hop."


Listen: "Conditioning " from Hope in Dirt City

Show Alert: Great Lake Swimmers at the Ark

Weds., Jun. 20
The Ark, Ann Arbor
Doors at 7:30, show starts at 8:00 p.m. ~ tickets $15

On the heels of yet another Polaris nomination for their new album, New Wild Everywhere, the Great Lake Swimmers return to Ann Arbor, Mich. Here's our show review from last August. If you're still not convinced there's no better way to spend your Wednesday evening in the company of beautiful folk music, check out their video below for one of our favourite GLS songs.

Show Review: Great Lake Swimmers Fill The Ark

Pop quiz: What Canadian indie bands have drawn the biggest crowds out of all the shows we've attended in the Detroit area?

There's no prize for the correct answer, so we'll make it easy: the New Pornographers and Sam Roberts Band (at the Crofoot Ballroom and St. Andrews Hall, respectively; they have approximately the same capacity-- around 1,000-- so we'll call it a tie). Now, think you can guess which one of the following was the next most well-attended show (all were near sell-outs): Hot Hot Heat, Destroyer (both in the Crofoot's Pike Room, capacity 250) or Great Lake Swimmers?
















We wouldn't have guessed Great Lake Swimmers (GLS) either. But nearly 375 people (venue capacity) paid to see them at The Ark in Ann Arbor on Thurs., Aug. 25. Why the great turnout? The Toronto-based GLS is a perfect fit for The Ark's folk-centric programming and they've played there before, so Ann Arbor's musically cultured community shared our appreciation-- objectivity be damned-- for a band making some of the most beautiful folk music on the planet.
















It's a complete package lead singer/songwriter Tony Dekker has been refining for almost 10 years. Poetic lyrics full of evocative imagery set to gorgeous melodies, Dekker's floating tenor and a supporting score tuned to the great key from GLS' current lineup-- Eric Arnesen, Bret Higgins, Miranda Mulholland and Greg Millson. Within the 17-song set in a rare soft-seat setting for N2D, we were treated to a sampler from GLS' four LPs plus a generous preview of the follow-up, due sometime in 2012, to the Polaris short-listed Lost Channels (2009). In general we like to see bands put a little different spin on their established sound/catalog. In the case of GLS, we didn't hear any need for improvement.



















Photos: Russ Gordon/N2D Images

Our Detroit area venue guide for bands

We are NOT booking agents. But, because we've had the distinct pleasure of chatting with and getting to know so many bands, more and more we're being asked: "Where can I play in the Detroit area?" So we decided to get all official and post something we hope will be helpful. Just click on the link above for our new page listing venues and information about them around Metro Detroit that book Canadian indie bands. If we've missed anything-- venues, details we should know about-- just drop us a line at n2ds2w@gmail.com and we'll update our list.

Show Alert: Great Lake Swimmers @ The Ark

Thurs., Aug. 25
The Ark /  Ann Arbor / 8:00 p.m.
Opening: The Pines

This show easily ranks as one of our most anticipated of the year, because Great Lake Swimmers (Toronto) are easily one of our favourite bands performing some of the most beautiful folk in Canadian indie. To say anything else just seems extraneous; we'll let lead singer/songwriter Tony Dekker and the rest of the band do the talking. Listen here, or below.




I was lost in the lakes
And the shapes that your body makes
That your body makes, that your body makes
That your body makes

The mountains said I could find you here
They whispered the snow and the leaves in my ear
I traced my finger along your trails
Your body was the map, I was lost in it

Floating over your rocky spine
The glaciers made you, and now youýre mine
Floating over your rocky spine
The glaciers made you, and now youýre mine

I was moving across your frozen veneer
The sky was dark but you were clear
Could you feel my footsteps
And would you shatter, would you shatter, would you

And with your soft fingers between my claws
Like purity against resolve
I could tell, then and there, that we were formed from the clay
And came from the rocks for the earth to display

They told me to be careful up there
Where the wind blows a venomous rage through your hair
They told me to be careful up there
Where the wind rages through your hair

Show Review: East Meets West

You couldn't see the forest for The Mountains & The Trees and Treelines on Thurs., Mar.10, as East met West at Paddy Flaherty's in Narnia, uh, Sarnia.

Treelines, from Vancouver, BC, and Jon Janes, the man from Corner Brook, NL behind The Mountains & The Trees, recently completed their "Lessons in Geography" cross-Canada tour. Luckily for us, it included the stop in Sarnia, where the Detroit Radio 3 blogger contingent--N2D, Wapuche and jojodillon-- got to meet fellow bloggers cacophonously (of Petrolia, ON) and photographer extraordinaire Christine McAvoy of Vancouver. Word to the YVR3.

This was our first visit to Paddy's, but it definitely won't be our last. Although the stage is a little awkwardly placed (it's set deep enough that the view from the left is disadvantageous), the sound was excellent, the atmosphere authentic and warm (first venue where Yort took her coat off all winter), the food, although a little pricey was satisfying (Guinness poutine, anyone?) and the hard cider (Magner's) delicious. We're looking forward to catching a show there on the patio in the summer-- we were sorry to miss Elliott BROOD there last year.

This was not our first time seeing Jon Janes (here's our post from his show in Aug. 2010 at Windsor's Phog Lounge). We'll never count the times we've seen him because we could never get tired of his gentle, intimate songs and that floral suitcase kick drum. Fortunately, Janes is a songwriting machine: "I just wrote this song a half hour ago," he'll announce, and then play it as if it was an old friend. Expect a new album to complement I Made This For You in the near future.


Treelines-- brothers Matt and Steve Lockhart, Matt Kelly and Grant McKinnon at the kit-- have the look, assurance and sound of a mature band. We had to keep reminding ourselves that they've only been around for less than two years and released one full-length album (self-titled, 2009) and one EP (Young Man, July 2010)

Matt Lockhart, who began the evening with a solo set (and has a solo effort in the works), gets frequent comparisons to Bruce Springsteen. Even playing sans electricity by Paddy's decree ( "Acoustic shows are fun," says Steve, "because they allow us to showcase a different side of our band"), Lockhart and Treelines are less gritty and more green than blue-collar. Instead of a sensibility rooted in a microcosm, their folk-pop-rock speaks to a more national state of mind.                Photos: Russ Gordon

Matt Kelly at the pedal steel.

While Christine McAvoy films...

The Mountains & The Trees (left) and
Matt Lockhart create an on-the-spot
video for a song Janes wrote less than
24 hours before.

Lessons in Geography

When we started this blog last year, the Windsor/Detroit area's three main venues for Canadian indie bands were booking so many shows neither our schedules or budget could keep up with them all.

What a difference a year makes. Of those three venues, only Windsor's Phog Lounge is still consistently showcasing Canadian indie music. Because our passion for this music knows no boundaries, we're enlarging the blog's boundaries. We've already been listing shows at the Ark in Ann Arbor; we'll be adding Sarnia (just over an hour's drive from Detroit) and some significant festivals coming up this summer in London (ON) and Toronto, focusing on bands either from Windsor or who have come through the Windsor/Detroit area. Of course we'll continue to seek out new worlds and boldly go-- oh wait, that's been used. We'll continue to find Canadian indie in Windsor/Detroit and work to bring bands to the area.