Best Shows of 2013: Pere Ubu at the Biltmore Cabaret, December 15

Seeing a decrepit David Thomas, his gigantic frame slouched on a chair, ratty in suspenders, boots, and a trench coat, eyes mostly closed and slit-thin behind equally thin spectacles (could he even see anything through them?), reading from a lyric book whenever he required a prompt, characteristically (caricaturistically) spouting essentially sexist in 2013 in 2003 in well any time comments and stories and half-truths and bold- read: scrunch-faced lies, flanked by percussion and a single guitar that bent around, stabbed through, knotted, seesawed, played sonic tug-of-war with each other within the radioactive sphere of charged Theremin sounds, each note an atom on a collision course, until it was show's over get the fuck out of here fuck the opening band whatever they were called I don't give a shit, Ford Pier Vengeance Trio happily eat it with smiles only because it's David Thomas, who struggles to stand, achingly limps, surprised there was an immediate encore, mere feet in front of my eyes, was one of the most powerful musical experiences of my life.

Best Shows of 2013: Martha Wainwright Tribute To Edith Piaf at the Fei & Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, November 2

Two Martha Wainwright sets for the price of one. During the first half of the night, Wainwright exclusively covered "rarer" songs by French national icon Edith Piaf. The second half featured Wainwright's own songs, mixed with some old family songs by her mother and aunt, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and a few more Piaf songs. Although Andrew Whiteman didn't join Martha this time, Thomas Bartlett, one of the best pianists I've seen, did.

Full review at Vancouver Weekly.

Best Shows of 2013: The Sonics with the Vicious Cycles at the Rickshaw Theatre, September 20

The greatest rock 'n' roll band of all time, one of my top bucket list shows, and, as I expected, one of the best shows I ever saw (#5, behind the White Stripes twice, Les Savy Fav, and Japanther). Nardwuar the Human Serviette introduced the godfathers of garage rock with as much trivia about their history with Vancouver as one would expect from the music guru, which indirectly explained why Tacoma, Washington's the Sonics chose nearby Vancouver as the site of a one-off show.

The Sonics played allllllllll of their hits, but they really couldn't have done otherwise, given that all of their songs are hits, at least to me. Besides having been able to sing every word and having rocked so hard that my glasses flew onto the floor in the front row (surprisingly no damage), the best part of the night was when the Sonics announced that they'd just finished recording a new album in Seattle and promised another show soon.

I also have to praise openers the Vicious Cycles. Their greasy punkabilly left the audience lying in oil slicks, coughing up dust. I couldn't believe I'd never heard of the Vicious Cycles before, besides one mention from a friend during Khatsalano Fest a couple of months earlier.

Best Shows of 2013: Julia Holter at the Biltmore Cabaret, September 16

Julia Holter was slated to have been my first interview. I read every interview with her I could find - made sure I didn't ask the same questions I came across. I built off of her past responses. I thought my questions were solid - at least solid enough to have gotten me through my general social anxiety under which I was extremely likely to have crumbled.

In researching Julia Holter, I came to love her more for her ideas about art and music than her music itself.

But my chance to speak with Holter fell through. The day after I was notified, I saw her interviewed in that week's issue of The Georgia Straight. Snaked. I was disappointingly stuck with a pile of potential.

My review of Julia Holter was 1) a bit of an exercise for me, my first attempt to write more concisely, and 2) my first in conjunction with a photographer I personally knew.

As for why the show was one of the best of the year, it just kicked ass. Well, Holter and her band did. Review at Vancouver Weekly.

Best Shows of the Year: The Courtneys at the Biltmore Cabaret, August 17

I love the Courtneys, but as much as it hurts admitting it, they sound shitty almost every time I see them. Not on August 17 though. They couldn't have been more bang-on. Moreover, the show contained some of my favourite concert moments of the year: Nü Sensae drummer Daniel Pitout guested on the skins for one song and pounded out the most intense version of "90210" I've heard; I didn't know the song could sound so good that fast. Even Courtneys drummer/singer Jenn Twynn Payne shouted, "Too fast!!" with a laugh. The giggles continued when, during the same song, Hockey Dad Records founder and B-Lines singer Ryan Dyck paraded Payne around the Biltmore on his high shoulders, nearly smashing her head into the ceiling several times. Yet Jenn sang on. Trooper.

Speaking of Pitout, I have to note that he claimed yet another one of my top concert moments this year when he marched onstage during B-Lines, mic in hand, and launched into a SCORCHING version of "Busy Man".

The Courtneys FEAT. Daniel Pitout - 90210 at the Biltmore from The Courtneys on Vimeo.

Best Shows of 2013: The Dandy Warhols at the Commodore Ballroom, June 22

13th anniversary of Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia, the Dandy Warhols’ best album by far. One of my favourites of all time. Played the album in its entirety. Front and centre. My birthday. Hardly gets bigger - hardly gets better - than that. Full review at Van Weekly.

Worst Shows of 2013: Torres with Lady Lamb the Beekeeper at The Media Club, June 19

I’m frequently obsessed with Torres’ performance of “Come To Terms” in this video; it's fucking beautiful. But I've never been impressed by anything else of hers. Regardless, I thought she’d have been worth seeing for "Come To Terms" alone. I couldn’t have been more incorrect. Torres with Lady Lamb the Beekeeper was my first unmitigated negative review. It was… just such a bad show. Man, I don't even want to talk about it! Read why in my review at, where else? Vancouver Weekly.

Best Shows of 2013: B-Lines, June 15

Photo credit: Sylvana d'Angelo

Ryan Dyck, boss at Hockey Dad Records and one of the best, most commanding frontmen I've seen. Definitely my favourite local band live, and the "competition" is stiff. Snappy, breakneck punk. Consult a chiropractor. And maybe a psychiatrist.

Snippet from my Vancouver Weekly review:

If there was ever a time for me to see B-Lines, this was it. The B-Lines as I knew them were to be no more, as Nominal Records' showcase marked bassist Adam Fothergill's final show with the band.

When your life revolves around music – whether you play it, write about it, read about it or anything else – it's easy to become difficult to impress. I've become a tougher sell over the years, but B-Lines reaffirmed everything I ever loved about music in general, specifically seeing live music. Just try to pin back the grin on my face as I watched the "everyday Joe" Ryan Dyck who took my money, stamped my wrist and chatted briefly with me at the door proceed to leave his body, and let a manic, possessed surrogate take over the stage. Ryan spun; he writhed; he squirmed; he kicked; he fell to the floor and pounded the stage so hard, you could hear the full *thud* over the band's high-speed thrash. I'd never witnessed such an instant, dramatic metamorphosis. His tall, lanky, tapeworm-like frame whipped and twirled with the mic cord so that I couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.

With a glassy look in his eyes that stared hollowly into nothing in particular, Dyck yelped anxiety-ridden lyrics about social disconnect ("Social Retard", "Houseplants") and impending world destruction ("World War Four"). "I just wanna feel normal again," the chorus went on "Normal Again". Unless Dyck and company conform to the mould and abandon everything that makes them so electrifying and unique, he may never feel normal again. Certainly, after having seen B-Lines, I will never feel normal again. But I can live with that.

A word of warning: If you're seeing B-Lines, be prepared to be rained on as Ryan Dyck aimlessly launches wads of spit into the air. Although, I hear you'll be lucky if that's all that happens to you.

Best Shows of 2013: METZ at the Biltmore Cabaret, May 3

Photo credit: Azimut Brutal

Some bands fail to capture their live energy on record. Some bands fail to translate their studio dynamics live. Some bands manage to sound exactly the same live as they do on record but come off boring, robotic. "If a band sounds the same live, why not just listen to their albums?"

METZ prove that the problem isn't remaining too faithful to records but being a boring, robotic band in the first place. METZ are every bit as explosive live as they are on their self-titled 2012 debut album, and that album, as I've discussed in last year's best-of list, contains a despairing energy I've never heard in music before and didn't think could have been captured in a studio. There is no divide between recorded and live experiences with METZ: What you hear while safe at home or when passing as a detuned ghost in transit is what you hear while being moshed unstuck from beer-soaked floors at the bar - or in my case, a "cabaret."

Read my full review of METZ at Vancouver Weekly. And before anyone "quickly" points out, yes, I repeated much imagery between both the album and live reviews. If musicians can re-work demos, I can re-work my personal writings.

"The Simpsons Graffiti in the Downtown Eastside"

Finally, some good graffiti in Vancouver. Vancity Buzz has the story plus a load more photos.

Math-Rock Vancouver (FULL STREAMS)

I'm discovering that Vancouver has a pretty good math-rock scene. My favourite was the string-laden Barcelona Chair (R.I.P.). Check 'em out posthumously at their Bandcamp page.

And this Friday at Simply Delicious - yeah, the sushi restaurant on Main Street - Man Your Horse play their debut release show, for their Marrel of Bonkeys cassette, along with the straight Nirvana-ripping War Baby, tinny, jolty garage-rockers Tri 5 and lo-fi, sing-their-hearts-out pop-punkerz Jelly Boyz. They're all great - check 'em all out at their Bandcamps too - but the point of this post is Man Your Horse. So buckle up, and stream Marrel of Bonkeys in full below:

"The Kids Are Alright?"

"What is the difference with someone going to The Vogue and pre-drinking. Or before their prom? Or drinking outside Rogers Arena before a hockey game… I've been to Canucks games and there are always abusive comments and I've seen scuffles, and so, do you just shut everything off? No alcohol sold at hockey games?" ...

If the city decided to make all hockey games 19+ or if they banned all alcohol from Rogers Arena the backlash from Vancouverites would be swift and intense. Why can a 16-year-old go to a hockey game where alcohol is served in public, but can't see a band at a venue where alcohol is in a sectioned off area, or not even in the venue at all?

...

"I've been involved with or been a patron of very unsafe, illegal venues, and it has made me realize that when that is the only option for underage kids to see live local music, its kind of setting them up for situations they might not be able to handle, such as drugs, drinking, and indoor smoking," says a concerned [Sarah] Cordingley. "Kids are going to find a way see bands, and if these illegal and unsafe venues are the only option, these shows will keep happening," she says.

Full article at BeatRoute.