by Bill Pearis

Montreal's Sheer Agony have been in America for a few weeks, touring on either side of SXSW with Philadelpia pals Lantern. The trek wraps up this week with two shows in NYC: March 29 at Barnard College with Tonstartsbandht, Rutabega, and Herzog Rizing; and March 30 at Silent Barn with Martin and Lawrence, and more TBA.

UPDATE: Sheer Agony wrote in to say they're not actually playing the post-SXSW shows with Lantern. Bummer!

Last here in December 2011, Sheer Agony make tightly-wound, jittery pop that is jam-packed with hooks. Power pop fans who hold Shoes, Sex Clark Five and those first two dB's albums sacred would do well to check out the band's three singles, like last year's great self-tiled EP. You can stream them all below. They're good live, too. All upcoming tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Montreal's Sheer Agony (not) on tour with Lantern (dates, streams)"

The 2012 edition of Calgary, Alberta festival Sled Island is set to take place from June 20-23 at venues throughout the city. This year includes over 200 bands performing at 30 venues plus a large comedy schedule, film screenings, and art shows.

Sled Island 2012 will once again use outdoor venue Olympic Plaza as its main stage, featuring performances by Feist, The Hold Steady, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, The Dudes, Shabazz Palaces, Parlovr, and others.

Acts including Russian Circles, Hot Snakes, The Antlers, Boris, Thurston Moore, Willis Earl Beal, Trust, Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, Terry Malts, Neil Hamburger, How To Dress Well, The Evaporators (aka Nardwuar's band), DJ Jonathan Toubin, Hannibal Buress, Andrew W.K., Tim Heidecker, Archers of Loaf, and many more will be performing at various bars and venues. Check out the full lineup at the bottom of this post.

Festival passes, individual tickets for some clubs shows, and tickets for the Olympic Plaza events only are all on sale. The full festival schedule iwill be announced in June.

Full lineup and 2012 festival trailer below...

Continue reading "Feist, Stephen Malkmus, The Hold Steady and lots more playing Calgary's Sled Island Festival (full line-up)"

by Bill Pearis

Sheer Agony at Halifax Pop Explosion 2011

We've had a lot of Montreal acts through town this week. Last night, Karkwa played Rockwood Music Hall, The Barr Brothers played Union Pool and Doldrums hit both Glasslands and Shea Stadium. For those looking to tic two more spots on your Montreal Indie Super Saver Card, head to Big Snow Buffalo Lodge tomorrow (12/10) to catch two newish bands: Sheer Agony and Each Other.

Sheer Agony only have two songs on their Bandcamp page, but both are pretty great and you can stream/download them below. It's nervy pop, big on melody and packing a lot into a short running time, much the way groups like the dB's, Soft Boys and the Sex Clark Five did in the early '80s. I want to hear more.

Each Other features member of Halifax band Long Long Long and are perhaps a little more on the psych (in a Syd Barret kind of way) with some skronky/noodly guitarwork, but there's still an emphasis on melody, with some really nice harmonies to boot. You can stream/download their Taking Trips mini-LP at the bottom of this post as well.

Calgary, Alberta (via Pittsburgh or the other way around) is represented as well with Feel Alright who are also out in the psych-pop field picking poppies, letting the tape hiss shine on their recordings, some of which are streamable below. In a similar vein are Street Gnar, the sole Brooklyn act on the Big Snow bill tomorrow.

Click through for the show flyer and more dates and streaming players for all four bands.

Continue reading "check out Montreal's Sheer Agony & Each Other (both play Big Snow Buffalo Lodge this weekend)"