by Andrew Sacher

Greys (photo by Jesse Crowe)

Toronto noise punks Greys formed about two years ago when singer/guitarist Shehzaad Jiwani teamed up with high school pal Cam Graham (guitar) and began playing the type of abrasive guitar-based rock they grew up on. They eventually brought in drummer Braeden Craig and bassist Colin Gillespie, and turned Greys into the four-piece touring force that they are. They surfaced with the Ultra Sorta EP in 2011, followed by the Easy Listening EP in 2012, and they're about to drop their heaviest release yet, the Drift EP, on February 12 via their new home, Kind of Like Records. It was recorded by Josh Korody (of Beliefs) at Toronto studio Candle Recording (Owen Pallett, Austra, Doldrums, and more). That EP is making its premiere in this post, and you can stream it in its entirety below.

An easy comparison to make for Greys is their Toronto neighbors METZ (who're touring), but like that band, Greys have reached back to the noise rock-meets-post hardcore of early '90s bands like Drive Like Jehu, The Jesus Lizard, Unsane... the list goes on. You'll also hear elements of My War-era Black Flag sludge, Seattle scene grunge, and straight-ahead fast punk. Plus, the band are working on a full length right now and according to Shehzaad, one of the songs they're working on "sounds like early Sloan, or Guided by Voices, or Pavement."

Greys might look to the past for influence, but not without a wink in their eye. "Hey, we're late to the party," they shout on "Drag," with the sort of post-modern notion that nothing's really original anyway. And they do this while playing with the kind of urgency where nothing in the world matters for two and a half minutes except playing the hell out of their songs. The guitars are thick, the drums pound away in fury, and Shehzaad shouts with a burning passion as he delivers lines like, "We have no marching song to overthrow our leadership/We have no teenage anthem to make ourselves feel like shit," on "Drag," which itself could end up making a pretty good case for being either of those things. "Drag" is the EP's second track, and it's sandwiched between the fast-paced opener "Carjack" and the notably longer closing track, "Pill," a song about medical issues which opens with a discordant swagger and ends with the band literally sounding like they're drowning and screaming out for help.

Greys don't have a tour booked at the moment, but they're expected to head to the US and stop in Manhattan and Brooklyn this March, so stay tuned for that. Meanwhile, I just spoke to Shehzaad about the making of the EP, the Toronto scene that they come from, and a pretty crazy experience the band had the last time they played NYC. You can head below to read that interview and listen to a stream of the Drift EP.

Continue reading "check out Toronto punks Greys (stream their new EP)"

photos by David Andrako

Bleached on the Bruise Cruise - 6/16/12

With the backdrop of a beautiful day on Lake Ontario, the M for Montreal Bruise Cruise set sail on the afternoon of June 16th, the third day of the NXNE festival in Toronto. Featuring appearances from headliners Bleached, Mac DeMarco (who also played on Thursday), Teenanger, Hooded Fang, and back-in-action NYC DJ Jonathan Toubin. Pictures from the cruise are below.

If you missed it, check out pictures from Thursday's shows HERE as well as a set from Friday HERE.

Continue reading "Bleached, Mac DeMarco, Teenanger, Hooded Fang and Jonathan Toubin played the Bruise Cruise at NXNE (pics)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Metz - Negative Space (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Teenager - Cops (But Not) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Daughter - Love (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Black Marble - Pretender (MP3)

Django Django

There is so much going on between now and Tuesday (2/13), I'm breaking This Week in Indie into two parts. Today you get Thursday, Friday and some of Saturday, then tomorrow will be Pt 2 with more Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. For those of you who aren't going to Austin next week (and I know most people aren't even if it seems otherwise sometimes reading the internet) you get a chance to sample some of the international action with bands from all over the world in town before (and after) the fest. I should warn you there are a lot of bands who spell their names with all-caps in the post. I am not shouting at you.

First thing, we're giving away a pair of tickets to Django Django's sold-out U.S. debut at Glasslands Saturday night which BrooklynVegan is presenting with Popgun Booking. For your chance to win, just send an email with your name and the subject DJANGO DJANGO to BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM and we'll pick a winner at random tomorrow. Remember, it's a late show (doors at 11:30PM) and you must be 21+.

I'm pretty psyched for this show. Their debut album is out now digitally (and on Spotify) in the U.S. and is one of my favorites of 2012: danceable, melodic, trippy and organic, owing more than a little to fellow Scots The Beta Band. (Go figure: main Django Dave Maclean's older brother John was in the Betas and The Aliens.) Says The Guardian:

Those worried that British guitar music has lost its ability to refresh old forms should pay heed to Django Django, whose debut album posits an updated psychedelia that beguiles and delights. Their foundations are a rickety, minimal take on the music of the immediate pre-psychedelic era - Hail Bop employs heavily tremeloed surf guitar; Default takes Bo Diddley's shave-and-a-haircut-two-bits beat and bolts on a jerky R&B guitar line - over which are laid skittering electronics and bleached, vibratoless harmonies, as if Django Django's four members were supplicants worshipping the desert sunrise. Yet it's also an exercise in clever restraint: drummer and band mastermind David Maclean often eschews everything bar his kick drum, floor tom, cymbals and tambourines, creating an amniotic throb.

Also playing the Glasslands show will be D. Gookin, a last-minute sub for Kwes who had some visa issues. (I'll be DJing between bands.) If you can't make it Saturday night, Django Django play again on Monday at Santos (we're also presenting this show too with Neon Gold and Popgun) with the very au courant Charli XCX and Clock Opera (who play a now-sold out show at Knitting Factory too). Or go to both! More Charli XCX tomorrow.

Daughter

Playing Glasslands earlier in the night on Saturday (a separate show) is another UK act, Daughter, who also play an early show the night before (3/9) at Mercury Lounge and our Friday day party at Hotel Vegas at SXSW. Originally a solo project for UK singer-songwriter Elena Tonra, Daughter is now a proper band with electric guitarist (and Tonra's boyfriend) Igor Haefeli and drummer Remi Aguilella. The band just signed to Glassnote who released Daughter's new EP, His Young Heart, which is streamable at the bottom of this post. (You can also download the EP's closing track at the top of this post.) Fans of Sharon Van Etten, Mountain Man and other spooky folk acts should not miss them.

METZ at M for Montreal 2010

Backing up a bit to tonight (3/8) and shifting gears entirely, Toronto trio METZ make their NYC debut at Cake Shop. These guys make blazing, spazzy noise rock, reminiscent of Brainiac, the roster of Amphetamine Reptile, or McLusky. They're pretty excellent in their din, with enough form and hooks to grab hold of too. The band only have a few singles under their belt (all of which you can stream/download for free at their Bandcamp) but their debut album is in the can waiting for some lucky label to release it.

METZ are down visiting our city with their neighbors Teenanger whose debut album, Frights, is a 9-song, 20-minute kick in the head that may remind some of The Hives or The Intelligence. There's a lot of snarl and sneer, and the production is great -- clear but not slick. The whole of Frights is streaming over at Canadian website Exclaim!. You can also download a track above and watch a couple videos (both are pretty cool) at the bottom of this post.

Tonight's Cake Shop show, METZ and Teenanger are the first two bands on the bill so you might get out of there by 11 if you've got somewhere else to go. Tomorrow night (3/9), they both play Death By Audio with Pop. 1280 making for a very appealing, angsty bill.

TRUST

More Canadians in town, this time on the electronic tip: TRUST and Doldrums who play a late show tonight (3/8) at Mercury Lounge and an early show at Glasslands tomorrow (3/9). After that it's off to Austin (where TRUST is also on the bill of our Friday day party at Hotel Vegas), and then some West Coast dates, a few of which are with Blood Orange. All dates, including many SXSW-week appearances, are at the bottom of this post.

TRUST, a duo consisting of is Austra drummer Maya Postepski and vocalist Robert Alfons, make vaguely gothy/sleazy synth pop that you could imagine being danced to in warehouses in 1987. The sleaze is apparent with song titles like "Candy Walls," "Gloryhole" and "This Willing Flesh." Musically, I dig TRUST but Alfons sounds more than a little like Bill Hader's Vincent Price impression which makes the whole thing borderline novelty. Their debut, TRST, is out now on Arts & Crafts and you can stream it on Spotify. I bet it sounds great in a club, though, and will say the vocals are less egregious live, and will say I thought TRUST was good last year when I saw them open for Austra.

Doldrums

Doldrums is Toronto resident Alrick Woodhead who guests on Grimes' Visions and will soon be touring with Bear in Heaven. I've seen him perform a few times, like at M for Montreal where I wrote:

(Doldrums) was wonderfully ADD, twiddling knobs, hammering sample triggers and pacing around the stage. Too many ideas crammed into one 20-minute set? Maybe, but it was exciting seeing talent that is only just now beginning to show its potential.

I thought he was even better when I caught him at Glasslands back in December. You're going to be hearing a lot more about this one in 2012.

The Glasslands show on Friday is also with Black Marble, a new musical venture from a couple of the Team Robspierre dudes that definitely falls in the minimal wave pigeonhole. Their Weight Against the Door EP came out last month on Hardly Art last month

TEETH

Later that night at Glasslands its a separate show, with UK electro rockers TEETH. TEETH's debut album, Whatever, came out last year on Moshi Moshi and garnered favorable reviews and comparisons to Crystal Castles and Ponytail. It's loud. It's squelchy. It sounds like being off your face which is probably the optimal way to listen to them. You can stream Whatever on Spotify. The show (doors 11:30) also has Extreme Animals, Nike7Up, and a DJ set from True Womanhood so be ready to go all night.

Okay that's the big stuff for TWII Pt. 1. Tomorrow we'll talk Charli XCX, 2:54, Razika, New Build and more. Below are few more day-by-day show picks for things not covered above.

--
Computer Magic

THURSDAY, MARCH 8

It's a fun night of dancey electronic music when those Kitsune folks (they of the many Maison compilations) bring Gigamesh, Plastic Plates, Computer Magic, Perseus, and JDH to Santos.

Street Gnar, BITCHES, Radical Dads, and Newport Reds are at Shea Stadium

continued below...

Continue reading "Django Django, Daughter, METZ, Teenanger, TRUST, Doldrums, TEETH, Datarock & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Metz - Negative Space (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Teenager - Cops (But Not) (MP3)

METZ at the Metro in Chicago (more by Grant MacAllister)

Toronto's ferocious noiserockers METZ are making their New York debut this week, playing two shows: Thursday (3/8) at Cake Shop and Friday (3/9) at Death by Audio with Pop. 1280. Both shows are with fellow Torontonians Teenanger. Metz also play Philly on March 10 and in a rebellious move have resisted the urge to join every other band in existence at SXSW.

I saw METZ at M for Montreal back in 2010 where I said of them:

We then saw Metz, who kept getting compared to Fucked Up but that seemed more because they're also from Toronto and are making in-your-face noise punk. To my ears it's more the kind of noise you got from Amphetamine Reptile in the '90s. They are loud and spazzy and sludgy and pretty awesome.

METZ have released a few great singles so far which are streamable at the bottom of this post. (They're also pay-what-you-will from Bandcamp.) If you dig AmRep, Brainiac, and McLusky and songs that employ that metalic "SHRIIIIIINNG," you are not going to want to miss these guys.

Teenanger

Teenanger, meanwhile, just released their new album Frights last week. Says Toronto's branch of the AV Club:

Teenanger's not mounting some garage-rock revolution or something. After all, this is music that, for all its over-hyped "revivals" every half-decade, has more-or-less abided, unchanged for 60 years. And with Frights, Teenanger has put together one of those records you want to turn over again and again; one that seems as seminal and groundbreaking as it does pleasingly intangible--like all the songs are self-immolating as they play themselves out. It's probably the best Canadian rock record since CPC Gangbangs let Mutilation Nation loose in 2007.

You can download "Cops (But Not)" at the top of this post and watch videos for "Frights" and "Bank Account" below, all of which I recommend doing. Also below, those METZ streams.

Continue reading "Toronto's METZ & Teenanger play NY this week (dates, MP3)"