North by Northeast 2008 Blog

Now in its 14th year, North by Northeast is one of Canada’s leading independent music festivals. Along with conference and film components, this year’s edition will bring over 500 musical acts (ranging from up-and-comers like Justin Rutledge and We Are Wolves to seasoned vets like Evan Dando and Teenage Head) to 40 venues in downtown Toronto. CBCNews.ca music columnist Sarah Liss will be hitting the clubs till the wee hours and documenting her rock ‘n’ roll adventures in blog format. Check here for Sarah’s daily updates from the festival.

Well, folks: it’s over. I made it through NXNE with nary an epidural, though I credit espresso shots and the occasional swig of whiskey for helping me along. And as I blearily try to take stock of the overall experience that was NXNE 2008, I have to say that I’m left with a lingering sense of dissatisfaction.

In general, this year’s lineup felt considerably weaker than NXNEs gone by. I’m not alone in my disappointment – wandering Queen West around 10ish last night, I ran into countless journo pals, all of whom seemed equally confused about how to kill the next couple of hours till a band they actually wanted to see was scheduled. While North by Northeast always has a few lulls, the festival’s final evening tends to be an embarrassment of riches, musically speaking; weekends are prime time for rock shows, so most bands covet Saturday spots.

But this year, it felt like the programmers just… ran out of bands. There were a handful of decent shows, to be sure: the hipster-friendly roster at the El Mocambo, which included emerging indie rock threats the I Spies and local post-punk faves the Two Koreas (a.k.a. a cabal of beloved T.O. arts critics, including CBC Arts contributor Jason Anderson), was a hot ticket. Disco-house revivalists Hercules and Love Affair were slotted way out in the western wilds of Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood, at new hotspot Wrongbar, but even that anticipated event wasn’t an “official” NXNE showcase; instead, it was organized as an NXNE bonus event, a sly potential cash-grab wherein only the first 100 or so wristband- and pass-holders were granted admission. Basically, if you trekked out to Parkdale and discovered they’d reached freebie capacity, you felt more or less obligated to cough up the cash as a means of justifying the journey.

The most impressive line I saw was at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern, where folks queued down Queen West and around the corner in the hopes of seeing the solid but not stellar roster of hearty Canrock; highlights included rootsy Crazy Horse acolytes Matt Mays and El Torpedo, West Coast cock rockers Ladyhawk and frenetic southern Ontario indie rockers the D’Urbervilles.

But bookings at other venues were somewhat underwhelming. I tried to avoid just watching the usual subjects and started my night up at Rancho Relaxo, a wee hole in the wall with stucco walls at which they serve good, cheap Mexican food. The night was billed as an all-Aussie showcase, and I figured any band that made the trip from Down Under was worth seeing based on the amount of effort they’d expended just getting to the fest. Openers The Tiger and Me, a cute romantic and musical couple, delivered a very charming set of spare, violin-laced cabaret-pop that was reminiscent of Sarah Slean. Their songs were sweet if unremarkable, but where the duo really clicked was in their stage presence: they were savvy enough to realize that their style of music required a healthy dose of storytelling, and struck the right balance between grounded and theatrical.

When Rancho started feeling too claustrophobic, I scooted down to Queen and Bathurst to catch local 80s-inspired pop quartet Dance Yourself to Death, whose amazingly energetic set of synth- and drum-heavy tunes received the best crowd response I saw all festival. Seriously, people went B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Their Roland keyboard was set on an organ tone well suited to DYTD’s hooky pop, and though frontwoman Jen Markowitz’s vocals were rather muffled, whoever miked their kit was a genius – the drums were perfectly crisp and clear. Because three-quarters of the band members are queer women, DYTD are often lumped in with a T.O. LGBT alt-rock triumvirate that includes the Cliks (now on the road as part of Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors tour) and pop spitfires Hunter Valentine. It’s unclear why they don’t have as much buzz as their so-called peers – they’re certainly a far better band (with substantially more interesting songs) than the Cliks.

When the timeslot that was supposed to go to curiously named New Delhi act Menwhopause turned out to be occupied by a generic alternative rock act from Cork, I hightailed it over to the Rivoli to check out Vancouver band Said the Whale. Bad move. Aside from some nifty chimey glockenspiel bits, the overall vibe was one of mid-’90s alt-rock radio filler bands – a lot of strained vocals and chunky guitars on overdrive.

At that point, taking into account my aching feet and pounding head – and the fact that, thanks to poor planning on the part of Toronto’s special events planners, two main thoroughfares (Queen West and College Street) were blocked off for street parties – I decided to minimize travel and wrap up my NXNE 14 with a one-stop shop at Lee’s Palace, where venerable L.A. punks Redd Kross were capping off the night. The venue was pretty dead during warm-up act Miss Derringer’s set, possibly due to the fact that her overly stylized act – a kind of burlesque vocal performance backed by lacklustre surfy guitar pop – felt artificial and weak.

The poor turnout had to be a bummer for NXNE, since the semi-stale Redd Kross were the biggest marquee name at the 2008 fest. (According to a promoter friend of mine, most of this year’s big-ticket shows stiffed.) After a much-delayed tune-up (perhaps because they were waiting to flesh out the crowd?), the reunited rockers finally took the stage a good half-hour after their scheduled start time. The leathery dudes in the crowd seemed to be digging Redd Kross’s thunderous riffs and filtered vocals, but they left me cold. That seemed as good a time as any to make my exit, so I did, saying farewell to aging L.A. rock bands and NXNE 14 alike.

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