Thursday, June 18:

• The Love Machine (Ottawa, Canada – pop rock) (audio)
• The Balconies (Ottawa, Canada – pop rock) (audio)
• The Field (Sweden – electronic) (audio)

Friday, June 19:

• Boxer the Horse (Charlottetown, Canada – pop rock) (audio)
• Tyburn Saints (Brooklyn, USA – alternative)
• No Age (Los Angeles, USA – other) (audio)

Saturday, June 20:

• Eric Corne (Los Angeles, USA – roots) (audio)

Sunday, June 21:

• GZA (New York, USA – hip hop) (audio)
• The Cool Kids (Chicago, USA – hip hop) (audio)

This eclectic and lively band played Toronto’s El Mocambo on Monday night to a small audience, and marked my first lengthy exposure to their music; I first caught wind of Cloud Cult in 2003, listening to Ottawa’s CHUO while in my last year of high school – the song was “Breakfast With My Shadow” – and until this past week I had yet to hear a full album’s worth of material. 

To put it simply, a Cloud Cult performance is rewarding both sonically and visually. Strings and excellent male/female vocal harmonies are occasionally juxtaposed with electronic beats and loops, vocal modulation and megaphones. The band is accompanied by a visual artist, who attacks an initially blank canvas, creating a beautiful painting in response to the music. The painting is subsequently auctioned after the show, and I believe some of the proceeds from the painting go towards aiding environmental causes (aside from the singer holding an environmental science degree, the band tries to be as carbon-neutral as possible: an eco-friendly tour van, merchandise made from recycled materials, and a studio powered by geo-thermal and wind energy – but I digress). The painting, shown here, had a bid placed around 100$ just after the show ended (I’m not sure how much it finally went for).

I picked up their latest album, Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes), and sadly, it does not do their live show justice – however I am not disappointed. This concert was a great deal for 10$, and definitely raised the bar in terms of a full audiovisual experience.

For more information on Cloud Cult, see their last.fm page or myspace. Thanks to Ana for the photos from the show.

Listen: “The Ghost Inside Our House” by Cloud Cult from the album “Feel Good Ghosts”.

So I’ve listened to a lot of noteworthy artists in the past few weeks. I figured I may as well share what I liked. The problem here was condensing ~750 songs into 12 (after a critical rating scheme, I condensed to a list of 29-star tracks and 1 5-star track). Thus I compromised and created two muxtapes (side A and side B).

Keep in mind I’m no music journalist (and I wasn’t even at SXSW!), and these selections just reflect my own personal preferences. Give them a listen and let me know what you think!

SIDE A

1. Son Lux – Break
2. Brooke Waggoner – Hush If You Must
3. Cloud Cult – Chain Reaction
4. American Princes – Real Love
5. Lymbyc Systym – Fall Bicycle
6. The Most Serene Republic – Present of the Future End
7. Chikita Violenta – Laydown
8. Kid Dakota – 10,000 Lakes
9. Edison Glass – All Our Memories
10. The Weakerthans – Sun in an Empty Room
11. Chris Bathgate – Serpentine
12. Bodies of Water – I Guess I’ll Forget the Sound, I Guess, I Guess

1. Throw Me The Statue – About to Walk
2. Basia Bulat – In the Night
3. Wild Light – Red House
4. Jason Collett – Out of Time
5. The Virgins – Rich Girls
6. The Cansecos – Raised by Wolves
7. Duchess Says – Black Flag
8. Chiwoniso – Kurima
9. The LK – Stop Being Perfect
10. I Was a Cub Scout – Pink Squares
11. Bad Veins – Gold and Warm
12. Elephone – The Camera Behind the Camera Behind the Camera

Photo by mono.industries – from Last.fm event page on Flickr

A few days back French electronic duo Justice played Circa here in Toronto, and despite tickets disappearing pretty fast, I managed to see the show with some friends who drove into town from Kingston for the occasion. Between Justice’s set and an extraordinary venue, it was quite the night. I could set out to describe the venue, but the video and description on YouTube does it pretty good …ahem… justice:

After years of preparation and running into legal setbacks, the much anticipated CiRCA Nightclub will finally be opening its doors soon in the heart of the entertainment district in Toronto. Legendary nightclub owner Peter Gatien, who has made a name for himself in New York, has turned the 53,000 square foot, 4 story space into a marvelous club featuring multiple themed rooms.

Personally, I enjoyed the live model on the chopper, the oil rig wallpaper, and the bar in the converted bathroom. On a further note, ALL nightclubs should provide comfortable swivel chairs. These came quite in handy between the openers, Midnight Juggernauts, and Justice.

As for Justice’s set, they played a great show behind that giant illuminated cross, playing a lot of the jams I’m more familiar with (I need to get my hands on the entire album at some point soon), including a sing-along sans-beat intro to D.A.N.C.E. I was hoping for a surprise appearance or two from some of the other members on the Ed Banger roster, but as it stands I’ll just keep my fingers crossed until the next time they’re in town.

Listen: Justice – Waters of Nazereth (Erol Alkan’s Re-edit feat. Pase Rock)