The best of 2017’s Canadian Music Week Festival

This was my 27th Canadian Music Week Festival, and I thought the 2016 edition was the best in several years. While this year’s event didn’t quite measure up to that level, I still managed to see 31 acts over five nights. Here were my 10 favourites:

Ferraro
Saturday, 2 a.m. at The Cameron House
Ferraro’s Losing Sleep was my ninth favourite album of 2016 and I’ve seen this Toronto-based, brother-fronted band more than any other over the past year. Their ’50s and ’60s-influenced pop songs are full of ear worms and their whip-smart cover choices reflect their love and knowledge of vintage music that’s rare in young musicians. I have a great time at every Ferraro show I attend.

Ferraro

The Velveteins
Thursday, 1 a.m. at Cherry Cola’s Rock ’n’ Rolla Cabaret & Lounge
A Hot Second With The Velveteins was one of my favourite EPs of 2016, and the Edmonton trio lived up to my high expectations on stage. There are some throwbacks to ‘50s doo-wop and ‘60s pop, but the hook-filled songs carry a harder and more rock-oriented edge. A closing cover of Bad Company’s “I Feel Like Making Love” didn’t really fit with what came before it, but it still worked.

The Velveteins

KOLARS
Tuesday, 11 p.m. at The Rivoli
This husband and wife duo features Rob Kolar on guitar and lead vocals and Lauren Brown wearing tap shoes while standing on top of a bass drum and pounding on three other drums. It was danceable but still raw and minimalist as it mixed glam, indie and art rock ingredients that made for a very tasty meal. I had a good conversation with the Los Angeles musicians and artist manager/former Canadian Idol judge Jake Gold in The Rivoli’s front bar at the end of the night. Kolar and Brown were very nice and even bought me a beer, which I swear had no bearing on this high ranking.

KOLARS

KOLARS

Bueller
Friday, 11 p.m. at The Silver Dollar
This Toronto quartet has male and female lead singers and a sound that mixes bratty, nasally vocals with large dashes of power pop and garage, punk and indie rock. It’s eclectic, but the common denominator through most songs is the presence of immediate hooks. I would like to hear a longer set.

Bueller

Casper Skulls
Saturday, 11 p.m. at Lee’s Palace
If I hear elements of Wire, The Fall, Joy Division and The Streets in your set, I’m almost assured of liking you. That was the case with this Toronto band that has a lot of British post-punk influences in its music. It was loud, dynamic and in your face.

Casper Skulls

Punchline 13
Thursday, midnight at Bovine Sex Club
I first became aware of Punchline 13 when the pop-punk group entertained me at the Bovine for last year’s CMW. If Simple Plan was able to make it big (which I predicted very early in its career), I’m not sure why this Montreal quintet is languishing in relative obscurity.
Sly Rawk is a great frontman.

Punchline 13

Punchline 13

 
Early Hours
Wednesday, 1 a.m. at Nightowl and Friday, 1 a.m. at The Cameron House
This very young South African band has a knack for writing smart and catchy indie pop songs that are delivered in an upbeat and energetic manner. There’s an element of highlife in a few songs that helps set the group apart, since it’s something you don’t often hear in Canada. I liked the band enough that I saw it twice and spent time in engaging conversations with the four members and manager Sarah Jane Nicholson, a tireless promoter who was dancing, taking photos from the stage and making new friends at each show. Early Hours gets bonus points for covering David Bowie’s “Heroes” and Lou Reed’s “Walk On The Wild Side,” selections which belie the group’s youth.

Early Hours

Early Hours

Twist
Saturday, 9 p.m. at Lee’s Palace
I enjoyed an earlier incarnation of Twist during the North By Northeast Music Festival in 2015, and the Laura Hermiston-fronted Toronto quartet has improved since then. You can hear the pop heart beating within the dense body of guitars and a rumbling bass that I could feel in my stool near the stage. With Hermiston’s dreamy vocals floating over the top, it makes for an experience drenched in moody but not depressing atmospherics.

Twist

Twist

Devin Cuddy Band
Friday, 2 a.m. at The Cameron House
The son of Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy has made a name for himself in recent years as a piano-playing country rock artist. There were large doses of both those styles on display at this late night set that included a mix of Cuddy originals and classic covers, including Bruce Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart.”

Devin Cuddy Band

Dentist
Wednesday, 10:45 p.m. at Monarch Tavern
This Asbury Park, N.J. quartet played several CMW sets and I’m quite happy I caught this one. Singer/guitarist Emily Bornemann’s ethereal vocals present an effective counterpoint to the band's melodic but fuzzed-out sounds of punk, surf and indie rock. I was reminded of The Pixies a couple of times during the set.

Dentist

Dentist

Great music from noon to 3 a.m. on CMW Saturday

It was bed at 6 a.m. and bands at noon for my Saturday at the Canadian Music Week festival. Luckily, the two acts I got up and out for at The Garrison's front bar were worth it.

Huttch

I bought a coffee at the bakery across the street and Windsor, Ont. power pop trio Huttch were preparing to go on when I brought it in and planted myself on a stool. The personable young band played its "Gimme Some More" single, "White Sheets," "Fake Conversation" and several other melodic and rocking guitar-driven songs that were interspersed by calls from the drummer out the club's open windows for passersby to come in and watch instead of shopping. I was given a download code for some songs and enjoyed them on my computer almost as much as I did in person.

The Spook School

By this time I was ready for a French Press Vanilla Stout, which I figured was a good breakfast beer, as Edinburgh, Scotland's The Spook School set up. The quartet shares the wealth on vocals and plays quirky, punky and sometimes jangly pop songs, many of them with thought-provoking LGBT themes. "I Want To Kiss You," "Burn Masculinity" and "Binary" were among the most infectiously catchy songs played to a too-small crowd. By the end of the set, the drummer had taken his shirt off to reveal a large tattoo and nipple tassels.

I returned home to work for three hours before venturing out again at 5:30 p.m. for the annual Music Nova Scotia Tiki party hosted by Mike Campbell at The Rivoli. Cam Carpenter had a couple of beer tickets waiting for me, and I filled myself on free seafood chowder, scallops, oysters and wraps.

Reeny Smith

Reeny Smith -- along with a bassist, keyboard player and two female backing singers -- delivered a soulful and funky three-song set.

Smith was followed by The Mike Bochoff Band, which reminded me somewhat of Frank Turner on one song and The Weakerthans on set-closer "Distractions."

I moved to The Rivoli's front bar to watch the second half of the Toronto Raptors-Miami Heat basketball game, and more and more people kept joining me to cheer the local team on to a hard-fought win.

Forever Distracted

It was time for more music as 8 p.m. rolled around, so I moved on to Cherry Cola's for a young Hamilton pop-punk quartet called Forever Distracted, which opened up promisingly with "Pay Day." A cover of The Police's "Message In A Bottle," with a different singer, wasn't nearly as successful. There were about 15 people in the audience, largely parents and girlfriends, when one of the guitarists picked up a trumpet to add a ska-punk element to a song. "Charlotte" had a reggae rhythm, the lead singer's girlfriend came on stage to sing a cover of Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You," and the band also covered Eiffel 65's "Blue (Da Ba De)." More and better original songs are needed, but there's potential here.

No Stories didn't show up for its 9 p.m. slot at Cherry Cola's so I went to  Velvet Underground for the first time since its recent renovations to see England's The Orielles, which I had really enjoyed on Thursday. A more ethereal Best Coast is one way I'd describe the group, but it's quite difficult to pigeonhole. Unlike two nights earlier, the band ended with a Sonic Youth-like instrumental extro that showed yet another side of a very promising young band. I had spoken with the trio's manager, Damian Morgan, outside The Rivoli and talked to him again at Velvet Underground. He's an interesting bloke who also manages The Specials' Terry Hall, whose shirt he was wearing.

Sam Cash and the Romantic Dogs

I'd seen Sam Cash and the Romantic Dogs a couple of times before and liked it, but the group's 10 p.m. set at the Horseshoe Tavern seemed to take things to a higher level than I remembered. There was a fine mix of roots rock and power pop at play, and I was impressed by songs from the new Tongue-In-Cheek Vows album, including lead single "Tossing & Turning," "That Was The Summer" and "You Can't Hurt Me."

Walrus

I returned to The Rivoli for another Nova Scotia band called Walrus. The quartet played some new songs that it had only performed for the first time the previous night. When the band was in '60s psychedelic/garage rock mode it was quite effective. When it wasn't, the songs suffered despite consistently good musicianship throughout the set.

Attica Riots

I returned to the Horseshoe at 11:30 p.m. to hear the last song from Modern Space and then stuck around for a few numbers from Attica Riots, which I enjoyed. But I had bigger fish to fry.

Fat White Family

Fat White Family was one of the buzz bands at the beginning of the week, and the British band didn't disappoint. The sextet struck me as a mix of The Black Lips, Jesus and Mary Chain and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, with brooding songs that often somehow managed to maintain an uplifting underbelly. A dark surf song stood out in an exceptional and loud extended set that I still loved even after singer Lias Saoudi dumped part of his beer on me. I wasn't alone in my adulation as the packed front of the house was also totally digging things.

Ferraro

Ferraro's Losing Sleep is one of my favourite albums of the year thus far and the group played a late-night set on its home turf at The Cameron House that filled the front bar -- and deservingly so. From opening with its own "Shake It Off" and following it with a cover of The White Stripes' "Hotel Yorba," it was evident that good times (and several bottles of Collective Arts' Rhyme and Reason) were in store for me as I alternated between taking notes and dancing at the foot of the stage.

The quintet continued to mix great original songs like "My Girl For You," "Losing Sleep" and "Coffee Smokes" with well-chosen covers of The Crew Cuts' "Sh-Boom," The Beatles' "When I Saw Her Standing There," Bruce Springsteen's "Hungry Heart" (with guest vocalist Sam Cash), Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)," Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti," Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Born On The Bayou," Dion's "Runaround Sue" and The Band's "Up On Cripple Creek."

The choice of covers is reflective of Ferraro's overall sound. Losing Sleep is a blissful listen full of pop hooks and a healthy reverence for music from the 1950s and '60s that's at least twice as old as the band members. And the group pulls it off live while creating a fun party atmosphere.

By this time it was after 3 a.m. and, while it may have been possible to catch one more act at a nearby club, I was happy to end things on a high note that capped off what was probably my favourite Canadian Music Week festival of the past several years.

NXNE Saturday: a day in the sun and a night at the Shoe

Michael Rault

My fourth and final day of the North by Northeast Music Festival took advantage of the sunshine and warm temperatures with several outdoor sets.

The first was by Toronto's Michael Rault, who I'd fallen hard for on his 2010 Ma-Me-O debut album and 2012 Whirlpool EP. His seven-song Living Daylight comes out this week and, while I like it, I don't find it as much fun as its predecessors. While he's still playing short love songs, the sound is a little more straight-forward rock than the '50s and '60s-influenced material that attracted me to him. I felt the same way about this performance at the St. James Park Gazebo, but will spend more time with the record and see Rault again the next time I get a chance.

Beach Day

Florida's Beach Day was my favourite discovery of last year's NXNE, so I was delighted when the quartet fronted by singer/guitarist Kimmy Drake took the stage after Rault. The set opened with an instrumental and the rest of it was filled with '60s-influenced girl group pop and garage rock that captured the park's summery vibe perfectly. The performance was nicely balanced between songs from the Trip Trap Attack debut ("Walking on the Streets," my favourite "Beach Day," "Boys") and those from the forthcoming Native Echoes ("The Lucky One," "I'm Just Messin' Around," "All My Friends Were Punks") before ending with a rousing cover of Bobby Freeman's "Do You Want To Dance."

I'm not really into the sand and surf lifestyle, but I'd be happy to make almost every day a Beach Day.

I stopped at Banh Mi Boys for a braised beef sandwich and kimchi fries that I took in with me to the patio that had opened on the street beside The Cameron House for the day. The delicious food was washed down with a recently released and not as tasty Brickworks Batch: 1904 cider.

Ferraro

Ferraro's Cosmo, Gianni, Tally and Tom Ferraro provided my dinner soundtrack with a set that incorporated covers (Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti," Michael Rault's "Let Me Go Out," The White Stripes' "Hotel Yorba,"   Dion's "Runaround Sue," The Chords' "Sh-Boom") with originals that slid in easily among them. Cameron House sound man Frank joined the young band for an entertaining rendition of his namesake Frank Sinatra's hit "That's Life."

A drunk punk who danced himself out of his pants and exposed his butt outside the fenced-off area kept hopping the railing and was very forcibly removed a couple of times by being thrown back over those same railings to provide a bit of drama before the next set started. I got a taste of Sam Cash on Thursday night and got the full experience with his three-piece backing band The Romantic Dogs at his label's party outside the Cameron House. 

Sam Cash

The group performed tunes from its Stand Together, Fall Together debut and quite a few new numbers in a 15-song set full of catchy, upbeat, well-written roots rock. Cash reprised "Steal My Car" from Thursday, showed off his whistling skills in "Fall Together" and proved overall that he's more than capable of producing songs that should be commercially viable. Again, like on Thursday, Cash was joined on stage by Cameron House Records artist Whitney Rose for a run through Bruce Springsteen's "Hungry Heart" to close things off.

I'd planned to see a couple of acts at The Paddock, but a friend inside the club caught my attention and I ended up chatting with him while sitting at the bar over a few pints while listening to a surprisingly eclectic-sounding set by Toronto rock act Zeus outside as background music via a nearby open window.

I'm a longtime Rheostatics fan, but haven't been as enamoured by former singer/guitarist Dave Bidini's Bidiniband project, although I like the songs live more than on record. I was also quite happy to hear him perform his old group's "Horses" when I arrived at the Horseshoe Tavern near the end of the set.

Joel Plaskett

I think Joel Plaskett is a national treasure and I've written about him frequently over the years. A group of friends share my affection, so we got together to sing along to almost every song from the frontman and his backing band The Emergency. The club was packed as the extended set opened with "A Million Dollars," and the momentum never waned through: "You Let Me Down;" "Precious, Precious, Precious;" "Penny For Your Thoughts;" "Deny, Deny, Deny;" "You're Mine;" "Through and Through and Through;" "Natural Disaster;" "Park Avenue Sobriety Test;" a solo acoustic "Harbour Boys;" "Rollin', Rollin', Rollin';" "Work Out Fine" mashed up with Lorde's "Royals," Manfred Mann's "Doo Wah Diddy" and Sam Cooke's "Cupid;" "Love This Town;" "Nowhere With You;" "Extraordinary;" and an encore composed of a new song and "Wishful Thinking."

If you like clever lyrics and irresistible hooks, but you've never seen The Joel Plaskett Emergency, I'm telling you to remedy that situation as soon as you can.

The Felice Brothers

The crowd thinned out considerably for a 1:20 a.m. performance by The Felice Brothers, who were supporting their new Favorite Waitress album, but those who remained were quite enthusiastic. My friends bailed and my energy was flagging, but I stuck it out because I've enjoyed the New York City quintet's take on folk, roots, rock and Americana every time I've witnessed it before. Violin and accordion were sometimes added to guitars, bass, drums and keyboards, there were some audience sing-alongs, and a couple of slower numbers were offset by some more kick-ass tunes to keep spirits raised.

The Felice Brothers were called back for an encore that included my favourite song of theirs, "Frankie's Gun," and a favourite of countless bands who I've seen cover it: Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free World."

The bar was still serving, but I'd had my fill, so it was a walk home and then bedtime. While a handful of clubs were hosting bands on Sunday, my NXNE had come to an end.