Kicking off this new week is Sunflower Bean. If the name rings a bell, it could be that you remember their song “I Was a Fool” was included on my Best of 2018 playlist. It could also be the fact that just last week they were announced as the artist in the very tiny print on a large tour this summer that sees Beck and Cage the Elephant co-headlining. The tour stops at Budwieser Stage on August 11th, but If you’d like to catch a bit more than what’s likely to be a short 15-20 minute set, the good news is that you’ll have the chance to do that in May. They’ll be playing a proper set at Lee’s Palace for Canadian Music Fest. Tickets run $22.00 + fees, and can be purchased HERE. As for the Budweiser Stage show, I’ll get back to that later.
Palindromic Seattle band Tacocat has announced that they’ve signed a record deal with Sub Pop Records. Their fourth album This Mess is a Place will be released on May 3rd, and along with the announcement of the album, they’ve released first single “Grains of Salt”. The band will be doing a U.S. tour in May/June, though there are no stops north of the border at the moment. Guess we’ll just have to wait for the next leg of tour dates to be announced, but in the meantime the album can be pre-ordered HERE.
A couple of weeks ago, I included “Dylan Thomas” on my weekly playlist, off of Phoebe Bridgers‘ joint album with Conor Oberst as Better Oblivion Community Center. Early last week, Phoebe was cited in a NY Times article exposing Ryan Adams for sexual misconduct, “dangling success” in front of numerous young women, and being abusive/manipulative in his relationships (including his marriage with Mandy Moore). By now, you have likely heard the story, but if not here you go.
I wanted to include Phoebe’s song “Motion Sickness” this week because she has specifically stated the song is about Adams. I put it on the list for anyone who hasn’t heard it that might stumble on this blog, so that you might have a chance to listen to what she is saying. I have been a fan of Adams for almost 20 years, but as a person, I have no trouble putting any type of fandom aside here. What Adams did was wrong, plain and simple, and I can’t really see myself listening to any of his music anymore in light of the information that has surfaced.
As a man it’s important to listen, and to believe women because even though it feels like there has been some progress in the past few years, we are still living in a patriarchal society. It takes a lot of courage for these women to come forth and face the inevitable backlash from those that, bluntly put, hate women and want to uphold the patriarchy. That’s why I also wanted to include this statement from Phoebe’s twitter feed.
I couldn’t agree more with her statement, and as a person it is important to remember that if someone you know is saying or doing something unacceptable, it’s up to us to call them out on it. As a male, I just want to say this stuff is deeply rooted through generations of reinforcement, so just remember not to be offended if someone calls you out for something. You may not be aware you’ve said something wrong, but that doesn’t make it right, and the only way to improve is to listen, and understand, when someone calls you out for something.
Moving back to newer music, last week Rain Phoenix released a double A side called Time Gone. The Double A side features her solo debut “Time is a Killer” (featuring Michael Stipe, of R.E.M.), as well as two previously unreleased tracks from her band (with brother River): Aleka’s Attic. This year marks the 25th anniversary of River’s death, and Rain wanted to honour her brother’s joy of music by releasing the tracks.
From one child actor to another, Jenny Lewis announced recently that she’ll be opening for Death Cab for Cutie on their North American tour, including their stop at Echo Beach. Her new album On the Line will be released on March 22nd, via Warner Bros. Records, and last week she released the second single “Heads Gonna Roll”.
Bayonne‘s new album, Drastic Measures is coming out this Friday, via Mom+Pop Music. Along with the album, comes a tour which will include a stop at The Monarch Tavern. Tickets are $15 + fees, and can be purchased at Rotate/Soundscapes, or online at Ticketfly.
If you are reading this, it’s likely that you are not at The Sony Centre for tonight’s Beirut concert. The band released their new album Gallipoli a couple of weeks ago on February 1st, and are coming through town in support, so looks like I was pretty bad at getting this news to you in time. Sorry about that.
To make that up, here’s some extremely advance news. Mini Mansions have released the first single, “Gummy Bear” from their forthcoming album Guy Walks Into A Bar…, which is scheduled for release July 26th, via Fiction Records. No tour dates announced here yet, so keep an eye out for that sometime later this year.
Spellling will be releasing her new album Mazy Fly this Friday, Feb. 22nd via Sacred Bones. You can file that announcement under “Just enough notice”.
Also under “enough notice”, last week the trailer for Danny Boyle’s new movie Yesterday was released. The film stars newcomer Himish Patel and puts forth the question: What would happen if you woke up one day and suddenly you were the only person with any recollection of The Beatles? The film will be released June 28th, via Universal Pictures.
I wanted to mention this movie, so I could to tie it to the collateral damage of Ryan Adams’ actions, where young female musicians have ended up quitting because of men manipulating/abusing them, and dangling success. Just think of all of the talent that could have made it, that gave up because of men abusing their position of power. In thinking about this, I almost wonder how different this movie would look/be received if it was told from the point of view of a woman. Just something to think about, and why I have decided to choose Regina Spektor‘s cover of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” for this week’s playlist.
Lydia Ainsworth‘s new album Phantom Forest is scheduled for release May 10th. No tour at the moment, but keep an eye out for that in the near future.
Mike Krol released his album Power Chords on Merge Records last month, and his supporting tour started over the weekend. He’ll be making a stop in Toronto at The Garrison on March 2nd. Tickets can be purchased at Rotate/Soundscapes for $13.50 + fees.
Earlier in the post, I mentioned that Sunflower Bean would be opening for Cage the Elephant and Beck, but neglected to mention the fact that Spoon(!!!) will also be on that bill. I also forgot to mention that the tickets are on sale now, starting at $36.50 + fees for lawns, and can be purchased HERE. So there, now you have all of the details.
Delicate Steve has a new album on the way. It’s called Till I Burn Up, and is scheduled for release on March 1st. In support of that album, he’ll be making a stop at The Baby G on April 27th. Tickets are $15.50 + fees and can be purchased at the usual record establishments.
Finally, I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of publicist Darryl Weeks. When I was first starting Tunes in TO, Darryl was one of the first publicists that I connected with. I remember wanting to cover Junior Boys and Woodhands at Lee’s Palace, and he was extremely helpful considering I was still just figuring out what I was doing. In the years following, he was always very accommodating with any requests that I had with the site, and it’s sad to see him go so suddenly. I would just like to offer my deepest condolences to Darryl’s family, close friends and colleagues.
Notable concerts this week
Note: * indicates a show I may be taking photos at
02/18 – Adrianne Lenker @ Longboat Hall
02/18 – Joe Jackson @ The Danforth Music Hall
02/18 – Bob Mould @ The Phoenix
02/18 – Dropkick Murphys @ Rebel
02/19 – Beirut @ The Sony Centre
02/19 – YG @ Rebel
02/19 – Royal Trux @ Lee’s Palace
02/20 – Action Bronson @ The Danforth Music Hall
02/20 – Cherry Glazerr @ Velvet Underground
02/20 – Corrosion of Conformity @ The Opera House
02/20 – Meg Mac @ The Rivoli
02/21 – Neil Morse Band @ The Opera House
02/21 – Deerhunter @ The Danforth Music Hall
02/21 – Zaki Ibrahim @ The Great Hall
02/22 – Watsky @ The Danforth Music Hall
02/22 – Erin Costello @ The Dakota Tavern
02/22 – Le Butcherettes @ The Drake Hotel
02/23 – The Trews @ The Danforth Music Hall
02/23 – MNEK @ Velvet Underground
02/23 – Monster Truck @ The Opera House
02/23 – Wolf Eyes w/ Mark Morgan @ The Garrison
02/23 – Shallow North Dakota @ Hard Luck Bar
02/24 – Chrome Sparks @ Velvet Underground
02/24 – It Looks Sad @ Baby G
02/24 – Bhad Bhabie @ The Phoenix Concert Theatre
If you have an upcoming event that you would like included in the weekly list, please email me at ryan@tunesinto.ca.
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