nxne – Indie Music Filter

Budweiser Music House (NXNE)

Toronto music fans are probably making or updating their NXNE schedules right now, as its music festival time again. One place I’ll be dropping by this week will be at the Budweiser Music House at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern. Always a destination during our music festivals in Toronto, this years’s line-up is solid and no doubt this venue will be busy all week.

from nxne: Budweiser Music House is a national festival series that champions venues, musicians, and iconic live music moments. With can’t-miss sets from the likes of LOW, Perfect Pussy, Joel Plaskett Emergency, and The Felice Brothers, shared bills with Canadian favourites like Whitehorse with Jim Cuddy; Sam Cash with Whitney Rose, and Joe Nolan; and Lindi Ortega with Harlan Pepper, and Lee Harvey Osmond, plus surprises and more on the schedule, there’s lots on offer for everyone. Whether you’re an indie rock supporter, ardent punk fan, or a general live music lover, you’re going to want to be at Budweiser Music House all night/week long.

Also, Budweiser will be setting up camp at Yonge and Dundas Square, with a Budweiser beer garden. NXNE Platinum Badge & Music Wristband holders will have access to a VIP bar, featuring a patio with the best view of all the headlining action.

See you at the shows.

Wednesday, June 18th
8:00 pm – The OBGMS
9:00 pm – Tom The Lion
10:00 pm – Elsa
11:00 pm – Mutual Benefit
12:00 am – LOW
1:00 am – Dan Croll

Thursday, June 19th
9:00 pm – NQ Arbuckle
10:00 pm – Lindi Ortega with Harlan Pepper, Lee Harvey Osmond
11:00 pm – Whitehorse with Jim Cuddy
12:00 am – Alejandro Escovedo
1:00 am – Sam Cash with Whitney Rose, Joe Nolan

Friday, June 20th
12:30 pm – Royal Tusk
1:30 pm – The Danks
2:30 pm – Rah Rah
3:50 pm – Odds
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8:00 pm – Greys
9:00 pm – Benjamin Booker
10:00 pm – Viet Cong
11:00 pm – Speedy Ortiz
12:00 am – Swearin’
1:00 am – Perfect Pussy
2:00 am – secret show

Saturday, June 21st
8:30 pm – Mo Kenney
9:30 pm – The Wilderness of Manitoba
10:30 pm – Bidiniband
11:30 pm – Joel Plaskett Emergency
1:20 am – The Felice Brothers

Currently Listening To: Pepper Rabbit

pepper rabbit

Blog guilt, its got me. Been bad at posting, as normally I can get one off on the weekend but I didn’t even have a chance to even post one yesterday. So, this is me, trying to make up with a ton of posts this week.

NXNE is upon us (look for my picks later tonight) and one band that will just be missing it is Pepper Rabbit (their show is a week tonight at the Garrison). But, they’re back on my player via their new track “Rose Mary Stretch” the first single off the band’s upcoming sophomore album Red Velvet Snow Ball.

Its pretty awesome, grab it at Spinner.

On My Radar: Bon Iver, Stars, FXBA x NXNE

bon iver

Listening to the song “Perth” (via this vimeo video thats been everywhere today) off the upcoming s/t album from Bon Iver. From my first listens, 3 for 3 so far.

Bon Iver – Perth from merr watson on Vimeo.

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Aux.tv is running a contest for a secret Stars show in Toronto via QR Codes. Check it out.

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Nada at Friends With Both Arms curated a NXNE mixtape over at Off The Map.

NXNE 2011

nxne 2011

We are under a month away from this years NXNE Music Festival and they’ve just announced the third wave of bands for the 17th edition of the festival, taking place in Toronto from June 13th until the 19th.

from press release:

NXNE has just confirmed that hardcore heroes FUCKED UP and glam gallant DIAMOND RINGS will join the Yonge-Dundas Square (YDS) line-up that includes previously announced acts such as Devo, Stars, The Pharcyde, Land of Talk, Digable Planets, Descendents, OFF! and Men Without Hats.

Men Without Hats will also play an intimate club show on Thursday, June 16 at The Great Hall in addition to their YDS performance – and Fucked Up headlines the NOW Magazine showcase on the same night, at Wrongbar.

Newly announced as part of the NXNE Music Festival are HANDSOME FURS, previewing tracks from the new album Sound Kapital, GRIMES with her genre-bending pop, retro Manhattan garage-pop stars THE POSTELLES, Los Angeles four-piece SUPERHUMANOIDS, Portland folk outfit HORSE FEATHERS, Pixies tour mates IMAGINARY CITIES, action comic-punk band PEELANDER Z, Nashville garage punks HEAVY CREAM and critically acclaimed one-man band GUARDS.

Tickets are online, see the full list of artists here.

NXNE 2010 Recap

I could tell right away that this years NXNE was doing better than it ever has before. The festival which took place last week featured a solid band and film line-up, a new (and sold-out) Interactive conference component and what turned out to be the biggest free rock concert in Toronto in the last 40 years with Iggy Pop and the Stooges performing at Yonge and Dundas Square. The official stats is that during the 7-day festival, more than250,000 fans saw over 650 acts on 50 stages. Those are some big numbers for this festival that is become more of an international destination for bands and music industry alike.

Here’s what I remember:

NXNE Interactive: Enjoyable and something I’m going to look forward to in future years. I attended panels on UnMarketing, Community, Consumers Becoming Creators and one called The Death Of The Critic. While all panels were different in nature, I noticed they always came back to key fundamentals in being successful online; reaching and engaging your audience and giving the consumer control.

NXNE Music: Wednesday. Didn’t do too much other than attend a launch party for the festival. I was at the Courthouse to see Arkells and Kathleen Edwards perform. It was one of four launch parties that night actually (something new in this years festival), including an Audio Blood showcase up in the CN Tower.

NXNE Music: Thursday. This turned out to be a night of seeing bands I worked with but also catching performances by Free Energy and Young and Dundas,Imaginary Cities, Young Galaxy and The Besnards Lakes at the Mod and Bishop Morocco at The Drake. It was my second time seeingFree Energy and the outdoor stage at Y&D square combined with sunshine, is definitely the best was to see this band. Imaginary Cities were an excellent surprise, who you’ll probably see me blogging about in the coming weeks. Young Galaxy showcased some great new material andThe Besnards Lakes killed it live, like usual. Albatross might be one of my favorite songs to see live. Bishop Morocco‘s set was not nearly as engaging, until the end where they performed their poppier side in ‘Last Year’s Disco Guitars‘.

NXNE Music: Friday. Juggling office time and time spent at the festival, I had a little afternoon sun at the Kelp Records Bar-b-que watching Chris Page as well as Musebox‘s Live In Bellwoods series featuring a great performance by Make Your Exit. Evening showcases had me jumping between Dark Mean, Old Man Luedecke, Neutral Uke Hotel, By Divine Right and Rich Aucoin. All shows exceeded expectations. Really recommendNeutral Uke Hotel though. Seeing the audience sing every song with the band seemed like therapy for fans still going through NMH withdrawl.

NXNE Music: Saturday. I was happy to see that Volcano Playground are getting better and better, but the night was kind of a bust. Missed showcases, bad performances and Julianna Barwick cancelling on the festival (I only found out after biking across the city to her schedule set time). It happens. After that point, I called it a night.