Wednesday, June 11, 2008

North by Northeast Music Festival 2008

Every summer for the past 14 years,  the North by Northeast Music Festival (NXNE) has descended upon Toronto unleashing heaps of concerts, screenings, panel discussions for hipsters and music aficionados to devour.  The idea is to expose T.O. to original music from around the globe and to hear as much as you can in  three days.

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Despite this noble goal, I'm sticking with my tried and true favourites and will be seeing only 2 bands: The Stills and The Coast. I figure working the MMVAs on Sunday will fill the music quotient  for the weekend so I'm limiting my NXNE exposure to tonight and tomorrow.

First up is The Stills tonight at the Mod Club.

I went through a mad obsession phase in the summer of 2006 where I could not remove their second album Without Feathers from my car/stereo/laptop. Now that they've switched labels and are part of the Arts & Crafts family, I am extremely excited to see if their sound has evolved somewhat again. The new album will be out in August so I'm sure I'll hear plenty of new material tonight!

Check out the video for "Helicopters" below to see why I deemed them obsession-worthy (and why vocalist Dave Hamelin has the nicest mop of curls ever)

Tomorrow (Thurs., June 12), I plan on seeing  The Coast.

These Toronto locals have a gig at the Horseshoe Tavern and I try to make it to their shows whenever I can. I have been following their career for a few years and love seeing their fan base grow and grow and grow and grow. Check out a live performance of "Tightrope" from MTV Live (it may not work for US peeps)

Happy show going Toronto!!!

(The Stills photos via Quebec Scene, The Coast photo via Exclaim)

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