BLESS THIS HOUSE AND ITS HEART SO SAVAGE
Joanna Newsom w Ohbijou
October 4, 2006
Mod Club Theatre
Joanna Newsom is one of those artists that polarize music listeners and critics alike. You either freakin' love her or hate her, there doesn't seem to be an in-between. The lovers of Ms. Newsom turned out last night for her sold-out debut Toronto performance at the Mod Club. Unusual choice for her, I think a venue such as The Music Gallery or St. Paul’s Trinity would have suited the show much better. Maybe they were too expensive or not available.
Brantford-raised, Toronto residents Ohbijou opened the show. Their take of twee, delicate pop music was a perfect compliment to Newsom. I can't imagine a better local opening band. The band played tunes from their just released debut, Swift Feet For Troubling Times that is reminiscent of Broadcast, minus the robotic coldness with a little of Ida's heart warmth and smiles mixed in. The strings and trumpet added excellent flare, and lead singer Casey Mecija's voice is much stronger than I thought. The girl can sing. And she's adorable. Needless to say, I think they totally won over the audience, except for the noisy bastards in the back.
Joanna hit the stage at 10:15pm to joyous applause. Immediately she launched into Bridges and Balloons from The Milk-Eyed Mender. During the song, it was evident that she wasn't miked correctly; her voice was carrying through the mikes set up to capture her harp. Her vocals sounded a bit distant and muddy. When she finished the song, a sound guy rushed on stage to correct the placement. She explained that since it was her first Toronto appearance, she decided to play a set of new and old material. Second song was the stunning opening of Ys, Emily. Ys is very slick sounding, almost overproduced. As mentioned in an earlier post, Van Dyke Parks arranged and recorded strings for the album. Live, the new material sounds raw and striped down, which is closer to how her older material sounds. She played a bunch of songs that I really wanted to hear live, Sadie, Peach, Plum, Pear etc. I found that the older material was somewhat rushed, she sped up the songs (Mark didn't like Sadie, said it was way to fast), which may be because she's bored of playing them live. Over at stillepost, it was mentioned that she dropped parts of songs while playing old tunes (I didn't notice). The new material was definitely the highlight of the night. Her set was just shy of an hour, which is understandable due to the fact that all she has to rely on his her hands and her voice. She mentioned that her hands were beginning to blister due to playing. It was surprising how fast her hands move across the harp and how intracite her music really is. An amazing show overall.
I took my camera, but didn't get close enough to get decent pics. I did take video of her performance of The Book Of Right-On, which I will post shortly. For really great pictures, check Frank's site. He must have been right up against the stage to get such amazing pictures.
Sucking A Lemon was also there and super close to the stage. Check her blog post here.
Read the Globe and Mail's article on Ms. Newsom here.
Pitchfork has...ummm...had an article about her performance yesterday at Pop Montreal, but it's gone. Will repost it when I find it again.
YouTube video of Joanna performing "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie" at the Mod Club.
YouTube video of Joanna performing "The Book Of Right-On" at the Mod Club.
YouTube video of Joanna performing "The Sprout and the Bean" on Jimmy Kimmel
Joanna Newsom w Ohbijou
October 4, 2006
Mod Club Theatre
Joanna Newsom is one of those artists that polarize music listeners and critics alike. You either freakin' love her or hate her, there doesn't seem to be an in-between. The lovers of Ms. Newsom turned out last night for her sold-out debut Toronto performance at the Mod Club. Unusual choice for her, I think a venue such as The Music Gallery or St. Paul’s Trinity would have suited the show much better. Maybe they were too expensive or not available.
Brantford-raised, Toronto residents Ohbijou opened the show. Their take of twee, delicate pop music was a perfect compliment to Newsom. I can't imagine a better local opening band. The band played tunes from their just released debut, Swift Feet For Troubling Times that is reminiscent of Broadcast, minus the robotic coldness with a little of Ida's heart warmth and smiles mixed in. The strings and trumpet added excellent flare, and lead singer Casey Mecija's voice is much stronger than I thought. The girl can sing. And she's adorable. Needless to say, I think they totally won over the audience, except for the noisy bastards in the back.
Joanna hit the stage at 10:15pm to joyous applause. Immediately she launched into Bridges and Balloons from The Milk-Eyed Mender. During the song, it was evident that she wasn't miked correctly; her voice was carrying through the mikes set up to capture her harp. Her vocals sounded a bit distant and muddy. When she finished the song, a sound guy rushed on stage to correct the placement. She explained that since it was her first Toronto appearance, she decided to play a set of new and old material. Second song was the stunning opening of Ys, Emily. Ys is very slick sounding, almost overproduced. As mentioned in an earlier post, Van Dyke Parks arranged and recorded strings for the album. Live, the new material sounds raw and striped down, which is closer to how her older material sounds. She played a bunch of songs that I really wanted to hear live, Sadie, Peach, Plum, Pear etc. I found that the older material was somewhat rushed, she sped up the songs (Mark didn't like Sadie, said it was way to fast), which may be because she's bored of playing them live. Over at stillepost, it was mentioned that she dropped parts of songs while playing old tunes (I didn't notice). The new material was definitely the highlight of the night. Her set was just shy of an hour, which is understandable due to the fact that all she has to rely on his her hands and her voice. She mentioned that her hands were beginning to blister due to playing. It was surprising how fast her hands move across the harp and how intracite her music really is. An amazing show overall.
I took my camera, but didn't get close enough to get decent pics. I did take video of her performance of The Book Of Right-On, which I will post shortly. For really great pictures, check Frank's site. He must have been right up against the stage to get such amazing pictures.
Sucking A Lemon was also there and super close to the stage. Check her blog post here.
Read the Globe and Mail's article on Ms. Newsom here.
Pitchfork has...ummm...had an article about her performance yesterday at Pop Montreal, but it's gone. Will repost it when I find it again.
YouTube video of Joanna performing "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie" at the Mod Club.
YouTube video of Joanna performing "The Book Of Right-On" at the Mod Club.
YouTube video of Joanna performing "The Sprout and the Bean" on Jimmy Kimmel
posted by Daniel Josef at
1:28 p.m.
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