Are all the 2010 Top Ten lists done?

Good.  It's time for our Top Ten Shows of 2010 in (or near) Windsor/Detroit.
(What's a few hundred miles?)
With all the shows we attended in 2010 and all the artists we saw, it's extremely
difficult and almost not fair to pick just ten.
These are NOT in any order, just the best that we saw.

Brasstronaut
March 5  Phog Lounge
Windsor

The Wilderness Of Manitoba
Aug 12  Phog Lounge
Windsor

The Mountains And The Trees
Aug 12  Phog Lounge
Windsor

Besnard Lakes
June 12  Call The Office
London

The Pack A.D.
Sept 23  Phog Lounge
Windsor

Library Voices
June 27  Phog Lounge
Windsor

Bend Sinister
Sept 16  Phog Lounge
Windsor

Olenka & the Autumn Lovers
Oct 20  Phog Lounge
Windsor

Holy Fuck
Sept 26  Magic Stick
Detroit

Jody Glenham
Oct 31  Phog Lounge
Windsor

Hannah Georgas
Oct 31  Phog Lounge
Windsor

Born Ruffians
Oct 30  Majestic Cafe
Detroit

Raised By Swans
April 16  Phog Lounge
Windsor

Allie Hughes
Oct 31  Phog Lounge
Windsor

Gregory Pepper And His Problems
July 13  Magic Stick
Detroit

Hollerado
June 18  Hard Rock Cafe
Toronto

Photos: Russ Gordon

                                                            

Show alert: a Capitol idea-- Elliott BROOD Sat., Jan. 29

If you want a preview of tracks from Elliott BROOD's upcoming album (Six Shooter Records, estimated release in June), join us on Sat., Jan. 29 for their show at Windsor's Capitol Theatre ($18 at the door, or click here for tickets).

They unveiled a few at the New Year's Eve show we attended in Toronto. The BROOD has set high expectations following Mountain Meadows, a 2009 Polaris Prize short-lister, but the raucous crowd at Lee's Palace made it hard to give the new songs a fair listen. Although it's a homecoming show for Windsor natives Mark Sasso and Casey LaForet, the audience should be a little tamer on Saturday-- at least until it's time for BROOD standards "Valley Town" and "Write It All Down For You."

The Capitol is only a few stumbles down from the Phog Lounge. The beleaguered landmark has been in bankruptcy. Here's the latest on the theatre's future; more info and vintage photo of the interior here.

Photos: Russ Gordon

Introducing... our new logo

"Look up. Look waaaaay up." We have a personality now! Well, if you've met us, you know we're already quite the personalities, but now thanks to Windsor writer/director Sean McLeod, our logo reflects that. Canadian. American. Windsor. Detroit. And all Canadian indie music, all the time.

As they say in life, what goes around comes around. McLeod, director of the award-winning video of Yellow Wood's "Chinese Women Unite," contacted Russ to say thanks for his NxEW post about McLeod's efforts to raise money to shoot a video for Pat Robitaille. Russ had tweeted that we were looking for someone to create a logo for N2D, and one day... a logo appeared in our inbox. Thanks, Sean.

If you like our logo, let McLeod know by donating $2 to the Pat Robitaille video project. And if you don't, donate $5.

Calendar correction: Good Lovelies show is Feb. 18

Please note that the Good Lovelies' show at the Ark in Ann Arbor is NOT tonight (Jan. 18). The correct date is Fri., Feb. 18. N2D sincerely regrets the error. We are human, after all.

The Besnard Lakes Are Roaring Tonight

2010 Polaris short listers The Besnard Lakes return to Detroit tonight at the Magic Stick.  





 "...the power of the Besnards’ compositions is far too superior to even suggest that they would borrow a sound. The sheer reality is that the Besnards have created and written a new sound, one that their predecessors should and will honour."
NxEW.  3/13/2010

The Mountains & The Trees and the snow and the ice and the Phog

This Friday marks the return of CBC Radio 3's favourite NL son, The Mountains & The Trees to the Phog Lounge.  A few shows into their "Don't Forget Your Sweater" tour, TM&TT are joined by Toontown's Zachary Lucky and Windsor's (by way of Halifax) Crissi Cochrane.



Don't Forget Your Sweater! from The Mountains & The Trees on Vimeo.

Venue Spotlight: Phog Lounge-- seventh heaven and the next best thing

The exterior suggests a biker bar. Inside is like walking into an off-campus party house: black walls, funky art, show posters, printouts of random in-jokes and witticisms, a motley collection of cast-off chairs and tables, Jenga and Trivial Pursuit if so you desire (and patrons frequently do) with your beer, and if Jon Corbin's on hand, homemade granola, Chex mix or chocolate chip cookies. Your hosts: the staid, soul-patched Frank Incitti and the feisty, passionate, outspoken Tom Lucier.

Welcome to Windsor's Phog Lounge, capacity 60. Now entering their seventh year in business (Happy Birthday Phog!), it's been two years since the Phog won the CBC Radio 3 Searchlight contest for Canada's Best Live Music Venue.What's changed since then?

Well, you can now get the best poutine available in Windsor. Otherwise, not much. Lucier is still booking the Who's Who of Canadian indie (past artists to take the stage include Joel Plaskett, Hannah Georgas, Holy Fuck, Final Fantasy [Owen Pallett], Shad and Patrick Watson), and people are still turning out for them. And Lucier is still lamenting that more people don't turn out for how the Phog really excels: showcasing the next best thing.

It's a no-brainer to shell out the money to see a band or artist with a Polaris Prize short-listed album, proven track record and/or getting the latest buzz. But it takes a leap of faith to invest the time and budget to see a band based on one or two hit singles or one you don't know at all. At Phog, there's a guaranteed return on that investment (usually all of a $5 cover). "I don't book bad bands," says Lucier, and N2D can attest to that. Some of our most memorable and most enjoyable shows last year involved artists we knew little about, had never seen before or even heard of: Allie Hughes, the Locusts Have No King, Raised by Swans, We Were Lovers.

Of course not all these bands will go on to fame and fortune. Especially in Canadian indie band land, that's a relative term anyway. It's all about the thrill of discovery, or as we like to say, it's all about the music. Still, it's pretty cool to be able to say you saw the next Stars at Phog Lounge before anyone knew who they were.

Photos: Russ Gordon

Motoro 1: FunnelFest I FREE Sampler

Here's the first Windsor Scene FREE downloadable sampler. Get 14 FREE tracks from bands in Windsor's original local independent music scene, from experimental instrumental to folk, from alternative rock to heavy metal. Check out a nice cross-section of local music.  "FUNNELFEST I" is the local music scene's way of saying "THANK YOU" for helping out one of our own during December's FunnelFest events. PLEASE 'SHARE' THIS!  ‎"Liking" this does nothing to help the local scene. But "sharing" it means everyone you know will see this and get the opportunity to download a 14-song FREE sampler of local music. It's right there beside 'Like' and 'Comment' (not available on Smartphones yet).

Download HERE -----> http://motoro.bandcamp.com/

#NYEB: New Year's Eve with Elliott BROOD at Lee's Palace

Although 2010 isn't even over yet, 2011 is already shaping up to be a good year of music.  N2D will be attending this fabulous event along with a few fellow CBC Radio 3 listeners and bloggers.  

Six Shooter Roots Rock annual NYE w/
Elliott BROOD
Two Sets @ 11:15p & 1:00a w/ ‘Catl’ @ 10:00p, Bradley Boy @ 9:00p  
$20.00adv @ Tm-Hs-Rt-Ss $25.00 at the door
 

Wait, how is this considered a Windsor/Detroit event?  Casey Laforet was raised in Windsor; EB are hereby qualified as Windsor's Hometown Heroes.  They'll also be back to Windsor January 29 at the Capitol Theatre.  More to come on that show.     #heyheyhey


Photos: Russ Gordon

http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/bands/Elliott-Brood

http://www.leespalace.com/coming.php3

Show Review: Chillin' with Rah Rah

We've seen bands perform at a lot of different venues this past year: Toronto's Dundas Square and the historic Gladstone Hotel. Windsor's intimate Phog Lounge. London, Ontario's Victoria Park at LOLA. The Majestic Cafe and Magic Stick in Detroit. But Rah Rah in the Vernors Room of the Crofoot in Pontiac on Dec. 15 definitely ranks as one of the most surreal.

So how did a six-piece Canadian indie pop band from Regina, Saskatchewan end up as part of the Crofoot's Wednesday "b*lite" programming ("Funk, Soul, Disco and Boogie" with DJ Erno the Inferno-- and autotune karaoke)?

Touring the U.S. without their merch, held at the border due to a lack of proper paperwork? Performing in their coats, hats and boots (we understand keeping heating costs down, but you could see your breath when we first arrived)? Because in between Bloomington, Indiana and Chicago, "We'd rather play than take the night off," said lead singer Marshall Burns. "We love to play."

And we loved to hear them (for the second time) and the songs from their two albums, Going Steady and their latest, Breaking Hearts. All four us-- N2D and fellow Radio 3 bloggers Wapuche and jojodillon. That's right: for most of the show, we enjoyed our own free private concert (not counting the bartender, a few random folks passing through and Rah Rah's tour manager) with the band named "Best Alternative New Artist" and "Best New Canadiana Artist" in iTunes Best of 2009 list, until a colourful assortment of people began arriving for the karaoke. No irony there. Unless you count Wapuche's karaoke rendition of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch."

http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/bands/Rah-Rah

Photos: Russ Gordon

Year in review: the N2DS2W show list

Fifty-five.

That's the number of shows/bands we will have seen this year, after Rah Rah this Wednesday at the Crofoot's Vernors Room and our grand finale, Elliott BROOD at Lee's Palace in Toronto for New Year's Eve. With rare exception, each was a noteworthy (NOTEworthy, get it?) performance. Yes, we love our life. And Canadian indie music.

Here is our who, when and where for 2010:

February:
Yukon Blonde w/Two for the Cascade @ Windsor's Phog Lounge. Two for the Cascade gets our vote for Best Opening Band We'd Never Heard Before.

March:
Brasstronaut @ Phog Lounge. One of our top shows for the year.

You Say Party! We Say Die! (Now You Say Party!) @ the Crofoot's Pike Room. We still get choked up every time we think of this show; drummer Devon Clifford tragically passed away only two weeks later.

April:
Raised by Swans @ Phog Lounge. Didn't know much about them before the show, total fans afterwards.

English Words @ Phog Lounge. Due to some glitch, English Words went on stage first and played a too-short set, making them our runner-up for Band We Most Wanted to Hear More From.

May:
Yukon Blonde @ the Magic Stick.

June:
Megan Hamilton w/Ryan Bourne @ Phog Lounge.

The New Pornographers @ the Crofoot Ballroom.

NXNE (read it and weep): NxEW showcase @ the Gladstone Hotel—Volcanoless in Canada, the Mountains & the Trees, Olenka & the Autumn Lovers, Rock Plaza Central, the Coast, Horse & His Boy and Amos the Transparent; Sloan @ Dundas Square; Hollerado @ the Hard Rock Cafe.

Besnard Lakes w/Ghostkeeper and Young Galaxy @ Call the Office, London, Ont. Three Polaris short-listed bands in one night? Doesn't get any better than that. Oh wait, it does.

Library Voices@ Phog Lounge. (Let the gratuitous linking to our own posts commence.)

July:
Black Mountain @ the Magic Stick.

Islands w/Gregory Pepper and His Problems @ the Magic Stick.

Yukon Blonde @ Phog Lounge. Yes, for the third time.

August:
The Wilderness of Manitoba w/ The Mountains & The Trees @ Phog Lounge. What a great night, even though the Windsor bakery failed to deliver the cake ordered for Russ's birthday celebration and Russ's backpack with his phone and camera got loaded into Jon's car and ended up in Toronto...

Young Rival @ PhogPhest 2. Because it was race day at the Michigan International Speedway, we only made it in time to PhogPhest for Young Rival. It was well worth the effort.

Dan Mangan @ the Crofoot's Pike Room. Singalong to "Robots." Nuff said.

September:
Hot Hot Hot w/Hey Rosetta! @ the Crofoot's Pike Room. Hey Rosetta! gets our vote for Band We Most Wanted to Hear More From. Six songs was just waaaaay too short. Okay, we'll stop whining about it now.

LOLA @ Victoria Park, London, Ont.: Minotaurs, Fond of Tigers, Land of Talk and Caribou. All for FREE.

Bend Sinister w/ the Zolas and Will Currie & the Country French @  Phog Lounge.

The Pack a.d./Young Rival @ Phog Lounge. Man, those women can rock.

Holy Fuck @ the Magic Stick. Holy (fill in the blank), "Lovely Allen" was transcendental live.

October:
Olenka & the Autumn Lovers w/ The Locusts Have No King @ Phog Lounge.

Rah Rah w/ We Were Lovers @ Phog Lounge.

Born Ruffians w/ Forest City Lovers and Meligrove Band @ the Majestic Cafe.

Hannah Georgas w/ Jody Glenham and Allie Hughes @ Phog Lounge. A very special show.

November:
Two Hours Traffic @ PJ's Lager House.

December:
Rah Rah in the Vernors Room @ the Crofoot (this Wednesday).

Elliott BROOD @ Lee's Palace, Toronto (New Year's Eve).

CBC Radio 3 Bucky Awards 2010

Wednesday, Dec 8 

Grant Lawrence Live

11AM PT / 2PM ET

• Best Song
• Most Canadian Song
• Best Vocals
• Best Live Act
• Best Reason To Learn French
• Best New Artist
• Best New Band Name
• Fan Of The Year
• Best Lyrics
• Lifetime Achievement Award
• Sexiest Artist
• Best Video

Two Hours Traffic in Detroit

Normally, the words "Two Hours Traffic in Detroit" would evoke nightmarish memories of winters past, but this was not the case on a balmy Thursday night in November. 

After a last-minute venue change, Two Hours Traffic, the Charlottetown, PEI foursome comprised of Liam Corcoran, Alec O'Hanley, Andrew MacDonald and Derek Ellis rolled into PJ's Lager House, one of the bright spots located between the hugely popular Slow's BBQ and the hugely illuminated MGM Grand Casino.  

The Lager House is a new venue to us  (more on that in another article) and seemed like your average corner bar.  What we soon discovered was that the other half of the building was a second, secret room where amazing music would have its way with all of those in attendance. 

Opening with "Noisemaker," THT instantly captivated the crowd in the room. The chatter turned into hushed comments: "Who are these guys?" and "Whoooa..."  As the set continued, the majority of the bar side came into the music side to listen.  The expressions on the faces said it all.

By the time "Territory" was played, THT had convinced their new fans that good, honest, rocking Canadian music had come to Corktown and would be loudly welcomed back.  

Our experience has been that Canadian indie bands are some of the nicest people in the world and Two Hours Traffic were no exception. As we chatted with Liam, Alec, Andrew and Derek after the show about their tour and their eventual return to the Motor City, they commented on the surroundings. "There's lots of activity over there, and over this way," Liam observed.  Nothing happens around here?"

Yes, my friends, Two Hours Traffic just played here.

Photos: Russ Gordon