Articles Tagged ‘zaphods’

SOUND SEEKERS: Elephant Stone is set to rock Zaphod’s — plus your weekend best bets for music lovers

Sound Seekers by Fateema Sayani is published weekly at OttawaMagazine.com. Read Fateema Sayani’s culture column in Ottawa Magazine and follow her on Twitter @fateemasayani

Elephant Stone, with frontman Rishi Dhir (left) play Zaphod's on Nov. 28. Photo by Bowen Stead

Rishi Dhir can do a wild number on the sitar. He’s the main man behind the Montreal band Elephant Stone, which spins out tunes both dirgey and Desi and brings to mind Brit bands such as Kula Shaker and The Stone Roses.

Elephant Stone dispatches hippie wisdom in tunes with names like “Heavy Moon” and “Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin,” while showing a raucous appreciation for their mod-rock roots. Dhir’s previous bands included The High Dials and The Datsons and he’s recorded with Soundtrack of Our Lives. Elephant Stone recently signed to Hidden Pony Records (Danko Jones, Rah Rah, Said the Whale), who will release their forthcoming second full-length album. The band’s debut, Seven Seas, was nominated for the Polaris Music Prize.

Elephant Stone plays Zaphod Beeblebrox, 27 York St., Wednesday, November 28, 8 p.m., $8.

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  |  November 22, 2012 at 12:20 pm

SOUND SEEKERS: How Brad Sucks used the complexities of relationships on social media as inspiration for his new album

Sound Seekers by Fateema Sayani is published weekly at OttawaMagazine.com. Read Fateema Sayani’s culture column in Ottawa Magazine and follow her on Twitter @fateemasayani

Brad Turcotte, who goes by the stage name Brad Sucks, is all about laying it out on the line. Photo ©Jessica Deeks.

Brad Turcotte’s new album is called Guess Who’s A Mess. His two previous albums were called Out of It and I Don’t Know What I’m Doing — see a pattern here?

Turcotte, 35, who goes by the stage name Brad Sucks, is all about laying it out on the line. Personal anxieties, pre-occupations, and inner dialogue have long been fodder for the Kemptville, Ont., computer geek.

He dresses up his downer tunes with disco vibes and clubby beats and that incongruity makes for some tasty tunes.

For example, a song called “Making Me Nervous” from Turcotte’s first album was a dance track about anxiety. The throbbing beats of the song “Dropping Out of School,” from his second album, give a neon-light varnish to a career choice that royally messes up your future.

Turcotte refines his brand of candy-coated anxiety on Guess Who’s A Mess, adding auto-tuned, shiny vocal lines to songs about the vagaries and complexities of relationships in the social media sphere.

The song “Thanks for the Add” sums up the album’s theme nicely. It’s about surface impressions that arise when people who don’t really know each other connect over the web.

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  |  November 1, 2012 at 1:00 pm

WEEKENDER: Pumpkins and road trips, plus 6 more events to get you out of the kitchen this Thanksgiving weekend

KINGSTON: THE LIBRARY CHRONICLES
Planning an autumn road trip? Head down to Kingston for The Library Chronicles, an innovative production featuring four new Canadian scripts devised to interact with one another. Performed by five theatre companies, audiences will follow elaborately crafted storylines that move throughout the library. Featuring work by playwrights Ned Dickens, Jill Connell, Michael Payne, Alex Dault, and Governor General Award recipient Judith Thompson, each writer has a unique connection to the city of Kingston. Wednesday, October 3, to Saturday, October 6. $23.73, tickets include two shows per evening. Central Branch of the Kingston Frontenac Public Library, 130 Johnson Street, www.kingstongrand.ca.

This evolution scene, handcrafted from pumpkins, is just one of the displays on view at Pumpkinferno.

PUMPKINFERNO
Halloween is just around the corner, so get inspired with this magical outdoor exhibit of thousands of hand-carved pumpkins, all set against the nighttime backdrop of Upper Canada Village. Kicking off this weekend, the all-ages event will feature an assortment of scenes that range from exotic places to historic ages. You’ll encounter forest animals, sea creatures, storybook heroes, mythical characters, cultural icons, and more, all carved from pumpkins! Friday, October 5, to Monday, October 8, 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., plus other dates throughout October. $10, seniors and youth $7, five and under free. Upper Canada Village, Country Road 2 (Off Highway 31), www.uppercanadavillage.com.

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  |  October 3, 2012 at 10:47 am

SOUND SEEKERS: Two bands named after films play Zaphod’s and Lee Fields shows his soul

Sound Seekers by Fateema Sayani is published weekly at OttawaMagazine.com. Read Fateema Sayani’s culture column in Ottawa Magazine and follow her on Twitter @fateemasayani

Eight and a Half

How’s this for a double bill? Ottawa duo Eraserheads—the band named for the David Lynch film—open for Toronto trio Eight and a Half—the band named after the Fellini film, 8 -1/2. If ever there was a moment to geek out, this is it. Capital G.

The show, taking place at Zaphod’s Saturday, is the music nerd’s ball—it is where obscure film and musical references will be traded, reverb pedals will be depressed, and beards will be grown.

Eraserheads have done well to make metaphorical links between screen and stage. The duo—Jamie Kronick on drums and Omar David Rivero on guitar and laptop—play experimental tunes that are as non-linear as the movie plot.

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  |  May 3, 2012 at 3:04 pm

SOUND SEEKERS: John Allaire, Lucky Ron, Daughters of the Revolution, plus 20th anniversary celebrations at Zaphod’s

Sound Seekers by Fateema Sayani is published weekly at OttawaMagazine.com. Read Fateema Sayani’s culture column in Ottawa Magazine and follow her on Twitter @fateemasayani

John Allaire headlines the monthly songwriter circle Wednesday, March 7 at the Elmdale Tavern

BEST BETS
John Allaire headlines the monthly songwriter circle Wednesday, March 7 at the Elmdale Tavern, with guest Meredith Luce.

Is it in poor taste to say Allaire writes tunes from the heart? Probably, but if you’ve seen an Allaire show, you know he has a fierce wit. The banter is often worth the price of admission ($5). Ray Harris and Lefty McRighty host.

Trip-hop act Sound of Lions plays Friday, March 9 as part of a week-long celebration of Zaphod Beeblebrox’s 20th anniversary (27 York St.). You can hoist a pan galactic gargle blaster to club founder Eugene Haslam — he plays a DJ set Monday, March 5.

On the songwriter tip, Lucky Ron plays Irene’s Pub Friday, March 2 with his band The Rhode Island Reds and openers Steve Stacey and The Stump Splitters. 9:30 p.m., $10.

Daughters of the Revolution meld hype-man antics with electronic pop and rock for a mad live jam. They’ll fill the room when the play Café Nostalgica on Friday, March 2 with DJ Pruf Rock.

Finders Keepers is a pop-punk trio born out of the Centretown Recording Alliance, a group that challenges each other to throw together bands real quickly and put out new releases at the speed of a three-chord punk tune. The band celebrates its new release Friday, March 2, at Maverick’s with headliners The Penske File. 8 p.m., $7.

  |  March 1, 2012 at 1:38 pm

SOUND SEEKERS: Sound of Lions, O-Town Hoedown, and where else to be this weekend

Sound Seekers by Fateema Sayani is published weekly at OttawaMagazine.com. Read Fateema Sayani’s culture column in Ottawa Magazine.

Sound of Lions. Clockwise from back: Will Assad, Marco Campagna, Christian Awad, Joel Soucy, Whitney Delion. Photo by Rémi Thériault.

HEAR THEM ROAR
Get excited for 11:44 — it’s the debut album from Sound of Lions, an Ottawa trip-hop band led by Whitney Delion. Her honey tones and melancholic musings form the basis of the songs that are time-stamped with a surging urgency that’s pretty irresistible.

The band’s Centretown-soul tunes are hip-shaking good with a late-night mood, thanks to beatman Christian Awad’s cinematic samples. Capsule, It Was Good, and The Hunter are standout tunes amongst the ten tracks. Be at the CD release show and get lost in the sounds — a guaranteed good time.

Saturday, Sept. 24. 8 p.m. $10.  Zaphod’s, 27 York St. www.zaphodbeeblebrox.com

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  |  September 22, 2011 at 11:33 am

SOUND SEEKERS: The Reverb Syndicate vibrates with cinematic impressions

Sound Seekers by Fateema Sayani is published weekly at OttawaMagazine.com. Read Fateema Sayani’s culture column in Ottawa Magazine.

The Reverb Syndicate

Jeff Welch, Lauren Hart, Mike Bradford, Michael Sheridan, Katie Bonnar, James Rossiter. Photo by Lisa Marie Noseworthy

The Reverb Syndicate have cast a cinematic shadow on the Ottawa scene. Over three albums — including their newest release, Mondo Cacti — the band has crafted surf tunes that are all instrumental, but manage to say plenty.  The moods range from sinister-spy-movie to beach-blanket-bingo-boffo. Their songs are like soundtracks to non-existent movies; the fun is in making pictures in your head.

For the unimaginative, bass player Jeff Welch can fill in the details. He says the band’s new album is like Endless Summer meets Fistful of Dollars. (Hang ten, Stranger!) Their pop culture-referencing gives ‘em cred with music and cinema nerds.

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  |  September 16, 2011 at 10:05 am

SOUND SEEKERS: Acres, The Roboter, And What Army?

Sound Seekers by Fateema Sayani is published weekly at OttawaMagazine.com. Read Fateema Sayani’s culture column in Ottawa Magazine.

Photo: Acres by Jamie Kronick

ACRES ROCK FOR ACHERS

This weekend, Ottawa music fans get a chance to hear the new album from Acres in an intimate setting: the basement of Clock Tower Brew Pub. Released in March, A Gentle Reminder, is emblematic of an Ottawa sound: dreamy, ponderous, achy, with a bit of gut-level passion. With Cedars. Saturday, June 4. The Downstairs Club, 575 Bank St.

NEW ON THE SCENE
This new trio keeps it loud by layering on lots of effects on the bass and guitar. Kevin Earle, Ryan Hillier, and Johnny Nash are post-garage rockers that form the band And What Army? They collectively have a long history in the Ottawa scene. Nash was with ‘90s-era scene heroes King Kung and Bitchin’ Camaros previously; Ryan Hillier played in Crank and Chickpea; and Kevin Earle drummed for Design of Cities and Rockets Fall. With Departures and the Sound Technicians. Saturday, June 4. 8 p.m. $6. Zaphod’s, 27 York St. www.zaphodbeeblebrox.com

THROW BACK
On first listen, there seems to be something Depeche Mode-ian about The Roboter, aka, dark electronic musician Ron Carron, who names Brian Eno, David Bowie, Kraftwerk, and Gary Numan among his influences. He scrolls through decades of electronic music and it comes across both in the style of his music and in its production. A 1939 Novachord synthesizer is part of his gear. With UK’s Attrition, Montreal’s Dark Digital, Toronto’s Glenn Love, and Ottawa’s Shane Whitbread. Friday, June 3. TIME PRICE Café Dekcuf, 221 Rideau St. www.cafedekcuf.com

  |  June 3, 2011 at 2:58 pm

THE WEEKENDER: Soul, style, and plenty of pink on offer this New Year’s Eve

 

NO-STRESS NEW YEAR’S EVE AT ZAPHOD’S
For those sick of the drama and exhaustion that the New Years sometimes brings, Zaphods promises a night of stress-free run for the most reasonable rate in town.  The venue plans to ring in the new year by celebrating the way they do everyday: with good people, good music, and good cheer. Known for showcasing the best line-up of bands, this year’s musical talent includes performances by indie sextet Blazer, soulful rock group The Polymorphines, and others. Friday, Dec. 31. 7 p.m. $10. Zaphod Beeblebrox, 27 York St. www.zaphodbeeblebrox.com

 

 

 

 

 

Souljazz Orchestra ~ photo by Ludovic Zeller

 

SOULJAZZ ORCHESTRA
Ring in the New Year with Ottawa musical sensation Souljazz Orchestra (left).  Known for their ability to fuse jazz, soul and latin rhythms, the six-member band will have you tapping your feet and grooving your bod up until the break of midnight (and likely beyond). To welcome 2011 properly, free champagne will be served at midnight, so you can toast the new year in style. (Tip: get your tickets soon — these gigs sell out fast!) Friday, Dec. 31. 9 p.m. $20 in advance. Mavericks, 221 Rideau St. www.mavericksbar.com


NEW YEAR’S EVE AT THE CROWNE PLAZA
Don’t miss the party that WHERE Magazine declared one of the best places to kiss on New Year’s Eve.  Happening in the Penthouse of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, the night features a Carnival theme and two different party rooms, each with its own exclusive DJ, signature drinks, appetizers, prizes, and more!  Countdown to 2011 at this party and make sure the last night of the year is one to remember.  Friday, Dec. 31. 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. $65. Crowne Plaza Hotel, Penthouse, 101 Lyon St. www.eventsbystarfish.com

PAINT NEW YEAR’S EVE PINK!
This may be the best “girl’s night out” New Year’s Eve party in the city.  Start your evening with a gourmet dinner and a performance of the smash broadway hit Legally Blonde, The Musical. The fun doesn’t stop there — the post-show party includes live music, champagne, and a late-night sweet table so you can indulge with the girlfriends right into next year. Friday, Dec. 31. 7 p.m. Pre-performance dinner and show $67.49, post-show party $32.31. National Arts Centre, Panorama Room, 53 Elgin St. www.nac-cna.ca

ESQUIRE SHOW BAR: CASINO du LAC-LEAMY
Join 15 of Quebec’s most popular soul music artists as they collaborate in a captivating performance that recreates the unique atmosphere of Montreal’s legendary Esquire Show Bar. Various packages are available to make the night your own and the evening promises to provide great fun for friends and colleagues alike.  Dinner and show packages starting at $208.76. Casino du Lac-Leamy, 1 Casino Blvd., Gatineau. www.casinoduquebec.com

 

  |  December 29, 2010 at 9:15 am

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