‘It was the best of times, it was the BLURST of times.’ – Monkey on a typewriter
This year like years past, CFRE was blessed with multiple passes and wristbands allowing a plethora of Dj’s and staff to attend to the annual Toronto pilgrimage known as ‘North by Northeast’.
Although the festival began on Wednesday for us, myself and some of CFRE’s MVP’s decided to head down earlier to get a better grasp of the city we would become so accustomed to over the course of the week. Most of these things I can’t write about for professional and legal reasons. So. Right.
On Wednesday we went to the Regency to collect our passes. It was well organized and didn’t take 30 minutes to get our passes. We then proceeded to not get free drinks at the NXPO bar. That night we… I don’t remember. Really I don’t, there is something wrong with me.
On Thursday we went to Dundas Square and saw a clusterfuck of awesomeness that comprised of Fucked Up, OFF!, and Descendents. Fucked Up were obviously awesome and the crowd was really into it. Speaking of the crowd, it was like that episode of Step by Step where Cody goes to a punk show and everyone looked really cliche and stupid. Wait, that was Freaks and Geeks. Anyways, Fucked Up played alot of their best songs from ‘David Comes to Life’ (which you should check out) and some great songs from ‘Chemistry of Common Life’. OFF! sounded awesome, but man, that lead singer needs to talk less or take some more valium or whatever it is old people take to make things seem less cranky. This dude hated everything, even the people around me found his super-’I hate the government’ lectures more amusing than anything, which was a relief, cus I would punch that guy if he didn’t (I’ve never actually punched anyone). Next were Descendants, they were awesome, funny, loud and very very tight. They performed a song called ‘Everything Sucks’, so naturally I will need to get into their stuff. Later that night we met up with Christian and departed from Christopher before heading to Ty Segall at The Garisson. This particular show was one of the loudest shows I’ve ever been to, maybe as loud as Japandroids, and even more chaotic and brash. Intoxication collaborated well with this. Afterwards, we walked around for 45 minutes in the rain.
At some point in this report I should mention we had a lot of pizza and pad thai and sushi. Some was good, some was bad. Some had so much pesto on it I feel like I can still taste it. We also went to Insomnia, where I bit into a ROTTEN sweet potato fry whilst watching game 7 of the STANLEY CUP. I almost vomited. This reporter would recommend Sushi on Bloor, Thai Spring Roll, Massimo’s (the pesto place) and Thai Basil.
On Friday we all met up and visited one Tiana Simoglovetch at her work. She was not pleased. We then went to Queen’s Park where we met one Ryan Weir, his friend Matt and Lisa Murreh. We sat and talked about life and death, and saw one very ‘stimulated’ pigeon try to rape at least 3 birds while we were there. The one thing you won’t forget are the screams. From us. We were freaked out. We then headed over to Art Brut. One of the great things about Toronto is its empty side-streets and trustworthy strangers. Some friends of ours left their booze outside while they went to Art Brut at Mod Club and it was still there when they got out. They chilled and completed their booze on the curb of an alley behind Mod Club while Art Brut packed up. Cool kids amirite? Art Brut were amazing. They played a lot of their ‘Bang Bang Rock and Roll’ songs and their newer stuff also went over very very well. This is a group that really knows how to win over a crowd and have a good time. Easily one of the best shows I saw at NXNE.
Later that night we headed over to Wrongbar. First up was Julliana Barwick, who was lovely, glacial and ethereal and buzzwords. Yeah, it was a little repetitive at times, but considering the source material (which is fantastic and shares similar qualities to Panda Bear’s ‘Person Pitch’) I was pretty impressed by how well she was able to translate it into a live setting. In retrospect it was also a nice opener to the future insanity of Prince Rama and Ty Segall. Prince Rama put on an energetic and engaging live show. While I couldn’t really get into it, the crowd liked it. Next up was Ty Segall, who sounded a lot better here than when I saw them at the Garisson mostly because some of that fuzz and distortion was gone so you could get a better grasp of their seriously catchy hooks. People were insane, and this was one of the best shows I saw at NXNE. We got more pizza again. There was no pesto. Thank god.
By Saturday my brain volume had decreased by about 20% and everything inside just felt dead. But we went out again just for you so you could read this stupid writeup. Because we were both physically and mentally drained, I decided to check out a couple of films at the National Film Board. We saw a real Emmy Award there! And also two fantastic short films, ‘Sand Mountain‘, a strange, brilliantly filmed and somehow unsettling documentary about an aging country singer in a small town in the South, and ‘If I’m Not Home, Ron Cooper: A Jazz Life‘, a melancholy but lively, at times funny and well edited documentary about a Jazz artist who never quite made it big, but has undeniable talent. Both of these function as interesting portraits of aging musicians, and as social commentary in ways you probably wouldn’t expect. Two thumbs up. One for each film, obviously.
Later that night we headed over to the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern where we caught the Toronto band Teenage Kicks. They sounded great and it was somewhat refreshing to see a band have as much fun and joy playing as the people watching the show. This is straight up rock and roll (which the band proudly self proclaims) but is fun and catchy enough to win over even the stiffest post-dubstep-ambient-core-shitgaze fan. I mean. Whatever.
Later that night we finally headed over to Lee’s Palace to see my ‘must-see’ band of the festival, Wild Nothing. They were incredible. This is the second time I’ve seen them and they sounded much better than when I saw them at CMJ in NYC, NY, USA. But seriously, they sounded fucking FANTASTIC. And they played ‘Gemini’, ‘Chinatown’, and ‘Summer Holiday’, and a brand new song which sounded awesome. While they couldn’t make people go nuts like Fucked Up and Ty Segall, they made up for it by sounding incredible. This was my favorite show of the festival and was a nice way to end it.
So yeah. That was my recap of a rather small portion of my time at NXNE. I’ve been sitting in my room since then trying to recuperate and make sense of everything that happened and forcing myself back into ‘real life’. I can’t even think of Toronto without tasting pesto. You should have come. Where were you?
-ANONYMOUS
CFRE is proud to bring you a FREE screening of the brand new Pearl Jam documentary, Pearl Jam Twenty. Directed by Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous, Say Anything), the film documents Pearl Jam’s twenty years of existence. PJ20 is playing in only THREE Canadian cities; but CFRE is bringing it right here to UTM’s campus. Consider it a must-see for any fan of the band, or any fan of music in general.
