June 18, 2010
If you’re like most of us chances are good you’re having trouble sorting through the list of 650 bands at this year’s festival. However, don’t stress as we’ve got a shortlist of shows for you to make the most of your night.
Montreal dream pop rockers Young Galaxy (and recent Polaris long list nominees) played to enthusiatic fans, friends and evidently, a swarm of bubbles. Half way into their set, a burst of bubbles appeared in the air, surprising the audience and band whose ominous fog show onstage was the exact opposite from the light bubbly celebration in the air. But the contrast in atmosphere reflects perfectly upon the band’s mixed set of light poppy hits and darker dance rock moments.
He was talented, charismatic and doomed. Inspired by Elvis and The Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Toronto’s Handsome Ned brought country music to Queen Street West and helped put the Cameron House on the map. Back in the late-70s, Queen West was starting to blossom into a boho enclave, with the Cameron being one of the city’s few live music clubs.
AUX checks out Day 2 of NXNE 2010 from the Royal Theatre to the El Mocambo, The Dakota Tavern to Dundas Square. Ft. The Icarus Line, Zeus, Foxfire, Pop Winds, Glass Candy, The X, director Bruce McDonald and more.
Anybody familiar with HEALTH most definitely went into their only Toronto stop at Sneaky Dee’s last night prepared for the intensity that comes with seeing the Los Angeles four-piece live. (And if it was your first-time catching them up close and personal, your expectations for the rest of NXNE will undoubtedly be ridiculously high.)
Some have callously lumped Los Angeles-based band Best Coast into the category of surf rock and while they do possess some very hooky pop melodies, anyone witnessing their performance last night at the Great Hall in Toronto might have a change of the aforementioned opinion.
June 17, 2010
AUX brings you NXNE 2010 day-by-day! Recap parties at The Courthouse and Phoenix Nightclub, conferences at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and much more. Ft. Arkells, Eagles of Death Metal, Still Life Still, and The Blue Van.
Playing Thursday, June 17 at NXNE This long-anticipated docu-drama centering around Broken Social Scene’s 2009 Toronto concert is a disappointment.
Amsterdam’s Guitar/drum sample duo The Moi Non Plus got their name from Serge Gainsbourg’s song “Je T’amie…Mon Non Plus” and released their self-titled debut album last year. Members Bas Morsch and Leon Caren are also the creators of Subbacultcha!, an alternative music platform based in Amsterdam.
If there was one show (on ground level, at least – i.e. if you weren’t at the CN Tower for the Audioblood showcase) at NXNE everyone should’ve been at last night, it would’ve be Eagles of Death Metal at the Phoenix. As one of the handful of kickoff parties on the first night of music festivities, the California rockers started the week off with a bang.