North By North East 2012

     Every year NXNE invades Toronto's bars and clubs with all types of live music. This year the music festival took place from June 11-17 and featured over 700 bands. I was lucky enough to get a pair of all-week wristbands from a friend so I attended several of the festival shows.

     On the Thursday night I started with CALiPH at Crawford on College St. for some rap. The show was supposed to start at 9:00 but the sound system was still being set up so it wound up beginning about 20 minutes late. The music was good but I felt like I was the only audience member who wasn't related to or personal friends with the performer so that was a bit awkward. I give CALiPH a 6/10.

     The next show was at The El Mocambo on Spadina for The Army Girls. Army Girls are a two piece (guitar and drums) punk/soul band from Toronto. I can't say I was feeling the music so I used the time to catch up with a friend I hadn't seen in a couple of years. Army Girls get a 4/10.

     After the El Mocambo I headed over to The Garrison on Dundas for Grass Widow and The Black Belles. I had been told Grass Widow was an edgy band but what I heard was standard pop/punk/garage rock from an all female band. They played competently and sang in harmonies but once again this band was not my cup of tea. I suppose I should have done more research into the bands that were playing but with over 700 to choose from the options can be daunting. I give them a 5.75/10

     The Black Belles completely filled The Garrison up. The place was packed and hot. This goth girl garage band was signed to Jack White's record label (Third Man Records) and they actually sound a lot like a female white stripes. The band dressed in black dresses, black sun hats and with black lipstick and eyeliner. They looked to be boiling under the lights but they put on a good show and people seemed to be enjoying it. I give them a 7.5/10

     Afterwards I made my way towards the Wrong Bar on Queen to see Purity Ring but when I passed by there was a massive line-up outside so I decided to call it a night and head home for some sleep instead.

     On Friday I spent the entire night at Wrong Bar. The band list for the night was DZ Deathrays, Bass Drum Of Death, METZ, The Men, and The Deathset. I got to the venue at 9:00 and ran into the same friend I met on Thursday night.

     DZ Deathrays was the first and my personal favorite band of the night. They are a Drum/guitar duo who play some heavy rock similar to Death From Above. The vocals were good, the music was good, the energy was good and the audience was having fun. I give DZ Deathrays a 8.5/10. I'd go see them again.

     Bass Drum Of Death came on next at 10:00. This band was similar to DZ Deathrays but with an extra member and a bit more punk. They were also good with their fuzzed out vocals and guitar and I'd give them a 8/10.

     METZ played at 11:00. They are an experimental/noise/post-punk band from Toronto. This band was also ok. The bar was full and hot but I had a good spot near the side. Lots of energy but guitars that sound out of tune don't excite me (guess I don't get the experiment) so they get a 7/10.

     The Men went on stage for Midnight. The Men actually played the previous night at The Garrison right after The Black Belles but I missed it because I wanted to try and check out Purity Ring. To me they sounded like more of METZ so they also get a 7/10 however, the audience started crowd surfing so the band's rating goes all the way up to 7.5/10!

     At 1:00 The Deathset began to play but I was tired so I went home after the first song. Guess I'm getting old. Like the Pursuit Of Happiness said:

"Speaking of hearing, I can't take too much loud music
I mean I like to play it, but I sure don't like the racket
Noise, but I can't hear anything
Just guitars screaming, screaming, screaming
Some guy screaming in a leather jacket
Wooah!"

     On Saturday night I decided to take it easy and spend the night with some punk music at The Great Hall. The lineup for the night was Take Drugs, The Mahones, Teenage Head and The Nils. 

     Take Drugs are a new punk band from Toronto but they were tight and played some straight forward punk. I enjoyed their set and the singer was entertaining. I give them a 7.5/10

     At 11:00 The Mahones took to The Great Hall's stage. The Kingston band has been playing Irish punk music since they formed for St.Patty's day in 1990. They have released 10 albums and were one of the first Irish punk bands around. They were great live. The songs were good and fun, the audience was having a blast and the band looked to be having one too. I would definitely check these guys out again and I give them a 9/10.

     At Midnight I got to see Teenage Head! Teenage Head formed in 1975 in Hamilton , Ontario and were one of Canada's most famous punk bands during the early 80's. Many people consider Teenage Head to be the Canadian equivalent to The Ramones and after seeing them live I would not disagree. The band played many songs off of their breakthrough 1980 album Frantic City including Infected, Disgusteen and Let's Shake. This show was my favorite from this year's NXNE and I give them a 10/10.

     I had originally planned to see Nadja at The Garrison on Sunday night but I ate too much at a Father's Day lunch and was burnt out from 4 nights in a row of concerts (including the non NXNE Blood Ceremony show on Wednesday night) so I skipped the show and relaxed instead.

Dredd 3D Movie Trailer Released!

     As a big Judge Dredd fan I was happy to see that the trailer for the movie was released. As of right now the only version available is one that was aired on Attack Of The Show last night but I'll update this post when there is a good quality version. Edit: Good quality version is now available. The video link has been updated.

     And here is the official movie poster.



Blood Ceremony And Witch Mountain at the Hard Luck Bar

     This week in Toronto is North By North East (or NXNE) where over 700 bands play a giant music festival throughout the city. However, one of the best shows of the week was not part of NXNE. Castle, Blood Ceremony and Witch Mountain played on Wednesday night at the Hard Luck Bar. I was at the show to see Blood Ceremony specifically, but all 3 bands put on a good set.

     I arrived at the bar and met a friend outside around 9:30 so we only caught the last few songs from Castle but what we heard was solid. From the few songs that we heard I would give the band a 7/10 and would probably check them out again next time they play a show.

     The second band to go on was Blood Ceremony. I have been to many of their concerts and they never fail to bring the Sabbath style Stoner/Doom Metal. Last night was no exception and they played a mixed set from both of their studio albums as well as one song that has yet to be recorded. They finished the night with the song Oliver Haddo and didn't come back for an encore despite the crowd's chants. Because they didn't come back for an extra song they get a 9/10. This may have been their last hometown show for the year as they tend to tour in Europe and are recording their third studio album this summer.

     The final band of the night was Witch Mountain from Portland, Oregon. I was not previously too familiar with their music but they were a sweet Doom Metal band with a bluesy female vocalist. All of their songs were good and they finished off their regular set with an 11 minute epic. Witch Mountain listened to the audience and stayed to play and encore song. I would love to see this band again and give them an 8/10



     I have an all-show pass for NXNE so expect some more concert reviews soon!

Bud Light Lime Mojito

     Last weekend while walking downtown my girlfriend and I were stopped by some people offering samples of the new Bud Light Lime Mojito. Being a lover of beer, we each accepted the two 355ml cans that they were handing out. When I got home later that evening I put the cans in the fridge to cool. I opened a can of the beer that night to have with my home made pesto pizza and I must say that it is one of the worst drinks I've had in a long while! The taste is an unfortunate combination of watered down beer and teenage party cooler. I was never a fan of the regular Bud Light Lime (although my girlfriend and mother were), but the addition of a fake tasting mint hasn't helped the cause at all. In fact, we still have one can remaining in the fridge and it is RARE for a cold  beer to last for more than a day. We'll probably move out of our current apartment in a couple of years and find the can sitting in the back of the fridge like a failed experiment. -Gazillion/10

     Speaking of Budweiser... Almost exactly two years ago I was in St. Louis for a friend's wedding. While in St. Louis I attended a tour of the Anheuser-Busch brewery. If you love beer and happen to be in that area the tour is a must see. The sheer scope of their operation is monumental and it's amazing to watch a large brewery at work. Check it out!

Shimano Turns It Up to 11 With Dura-Ace 9000

     Shimano just announced that they will be releasing their first 11 speed groupset. The mechanical 9000 group will be available in September for a MSRP of $2,700, and the electronic 9070 Di2 group will follow in December and be a whopping $4,104. All the specific groupset details they can be found in this Velonews article. The key points are that there will be one extra cog (duh), it will not be backwards compatible with previous DA groupsets, it can not be mixed with SRAM components, at first it will only fit new Shimano wheelsets and some Mavic wheels (wider rims and new wider brakes), the shifters have better ergonomics, it's lighter, the crank spider only has four arms and is in my opinion quite ugly and it's pricey.

     This will be great for people who like to have the newest thing, or for weight weenies who want to shave 77 grams from their bike. I personally do not see the advantage of adding an 11th cog. Current 10 speed drive trains already have narrow spacing, tight gearing and a decent range and for someone like me who lives in a fairly flat region an 11th gear isn't going to do anything for me. One advantage is that with this new groupset all the obsolete 10 speed components will be going on sale!

Fail Compilation for May 2012

     Here's the most recent fail compilation. Thanks to TwisterNederland for putting it all together every month!