Our Top Shows of 2013

If we'd listened to other people-- and yes, if we'd listened to ourselves-- we wouldn't have seen some of this year's top shows. That's because we heard things like "They were terrible when I saw them."
But one person's yuck is another person's "Fuck, that was great." And they were-- to us. So here they are, in chronological order: our top shows of 2013.

Little Foot Long Foot with The Blue Stones (Phog Lounge): Two bands doing no-holds-barred blues rock right.

Joan Smith of Little Foot Long Foot

The Blue Stones: Justin Tessier and Tariq Jafar

By Divine Right and Shotgun Jimmie (Phog Lounge): From By Divine Right's transcendent alt rock to Shotgun Jimmie's homegrown bites of punk-inflected pop, this show was a wonderful combination of heaven and earth. (Click the link for the full show review.)

Jose Contreras of By Divine Right

Shotgun Jimmie

Boats with Imaginary Cities and Foam Lake (Phog Lounge): The tags on their Bandcamp page say "pop awful crap noise songs Winnipeg," but Boats' A Fairway Full of Miners was one of our top albums for 2013. (Click the link for the full show review.)

Rusty Matayas and Marti Sarbit of Imaginary Cities

Foam Lake

Ashley Roch and Mat Klachefsky of Boats

Rory Ellis and Ashley Roch of Boats

Boats

Rory Ellis of Boats

Shout Out Out Out Out (Magic Stick Lounge): One of those shows we can't believe we were lucky enough to see and hear. Not only did this amazing dual-drummer band from Edmonton play like we were an audience of 200-- instead of 20 or so-- they closed with "In The End It's Your Friends." Guys, you should think of coming back to Detroit for a little thing called Movement.

  

   

   

Suuns with The Darcys (Phog Lounge): We wondered how Suuns' dark and dreamy electronic explorations would translate live. The answer: superbly (especially in a nearly pitch-black Capitol Theatre a few months later at Phog Phest 5). We knew and already liked The Darcys, but didn't know how much we loved them until this show.

The Darcys

The Darcys

The Darcys

Suuns

Suuns

Suuns

Suuns

Colin Stetson (The Blind Pig): You haven't experienced the possibilities of music if you haven't seen Colin Stetson. Life-altering.

   

 

 

Shooting Guns (Phog Lounge): These super nice guys from Saskatoon won't win any fashion awards, but they deserve an award for their unabashedly vintage psych rock.

     

     

We Are Wolves, The Danks, Hot Panda (NXNE): Our mini top show list from NXNE 2013. "We couldn't take our ears off (We Are Wolves') pop-punk... We couldn't take our eyes off them either." The Danks' flawless set proved our don't judge a band by one show theory. And Hot Panda left our jaws on the floor (not from moshing, fortunately). (Click on the links for the full show reviews.)

Mac DeMarco (The Blind Pig): He's had a reputation for freaking out the neighbourhood with some racy and bizarre on- (and off) stage antics, but we didn't see any and he doesn't need any. His slightly off-kilter take on alt pop with lots of personality plus Peter Sagar's great guitar work are more than enough. Watch for a new album from Mac soon.

  

Mac DeMarco

 

Peter Sagar

Aidan Knight (The Garden Bowl): You know how some bands don't translate very well live? For us, Aidan Knight was just the opposite. We find their albums a little too introverted. Hearing them live literally brought the songs to life, and we were absolutely sold by their musicianship.

Aidan Knight

Julia Wakal

David Barry of Aidan Knight

The Highest Order with Zula (PJ's Lager House): What made this show so great was (1) Zula was the best opening band we heard all year and (2) watching everyone at PJ's discover what we already know: Simone Schmidt and the Highest Order are, well, talent of the highest order.

Zula

Zula

Zula

Simone Schmidt of The Highest Order

Paul Mortimer of The Highest Order

Simone Schmidt and Simone TB of The Highest Order

Simone Schmidt and Kyle Porter of The Highest Order

Photos: Russ Gordon/N2D Images

NXNE 2013: Day 2

There's nothing like a good breakfast at Aunties & Uncles to begin a long day at NXNE. You know you're eating at the right place when your dining companions are folks who work there, order the same thing as you, and entertain you with an amusing debate about why people wear toques in the summer.

There's also nothing like a musically diverse schedule to keep you coming back to NXNE. We didn't plan it that way, but by the end of the night, we'd experienced an impressive cross-section of Canadian indie. This is what it looked and sounded like:

Dusted @ Urban Outfitters' 2nd Annual Free Day Show: We enjoyed their show at Phog Lounge last fall so much we came back for more of Brian Borcherdt's ethereal voice and Leon Taheny's splendid multi-instrumental talent. Their set started off-key, but for a reason fans won't mind: "We've been doing some recording," said Taheny, "instead of practicing our set." But it was all good after that. Listen: "Cut Them Free"

The Darcys @ the Glenn Gould Studio atrium: We had to part a red sea of Taylor Swift fans to get to the CBC Beetle Roadtrip Sessions finish line party, but it was well worth the effort. The Darcys' lead singer Jason Couse' falsetto rivals Borcherdt's, but there the resemblance ends between the two bands. Although we weren't able to give their experimental alt-rock the attention it deserved due to the party, their performance in April at the Phog will be on our top show list for sure. Listen: "House Built Around Your Voice"

Wildlife @ Mod Club Theatre: "Sea Dreamer" hooked us originally on Wildlife. It's something of an anomaly compared to the rest of their more mainstream anthemic rock. But there was no doubt they had the audience hooked with their energetic set. Listen: "Born To Ruin." 

The Crackling @ Supermarket: Forget about the ties to Dan Mangan and Mother Mother. The Crackling's pedigree is more than the sum of its connections. Backed by experienced, career musicians like himself, Kenton Loewen makes deeply personal, intense folk rock. Listen: "Ashen"

Pat LePoidevin @ Free Times Cafe: A song about astronauts' wives in the 1960s and 70s? The moon, wolves  and fire as a recurring themes? A new album of songs featuring stories about fictional towns in the United States? An agile voice with wonderful timbre? Not your average singer songwriter. Listen: "Winter Park, CO"

Pick a Piper @ Comfort Zone: Our favourite show of the night. One trombone, one drummer, two guys on keyboards who also switched to drums at times, making electronic organic space pop. And yes, that's an accurate description. We loved the tribal drumming to the elephantine free-form trumpeting of the trombone.

The Danks @ The Hideout: You told us to give them a second chance, and we're glad we did. Now's that the smart, catchy alt pop-rock we love. With the exception of the trudging "Experimental Fiction," the songs off their long-awaited new album GANK prove worth the wait. A great way to close out our night of "Genre Tourism."

Photos: Russ Gordon/N2D Images