Sat. June 7
or visit www.nxne.com, which offers daily updates.
Three-day festival wristbands are available for $22 at Soundscapes (572 College), Metropolis (162A Spadina), Edward’s Record World (2283 Yonge), Kop’s Records (229 Queen West), Steve’s Music (415 Queen West), the Edge street-level studios (228 Yonge) and CD Replay (523 Bloor West, 762 Yonge) as well as the offices of NOW Magazine (189 Church). You can also call 416-870-8000 or order online at www.ticketmaster.ca.
Rating: NNNNN
When you’re looking at the NXNE schedule’s nearly 400 bands – most of which have never played Toronto before – you need help. We’ve surveyed the slate and picked out some cool bands, organized them by genre and added a few details to the outfit’s name to guide you along.
Singer/songwriter
Kat Goldman – Sweet-voiced singer/songwriter with a confessional impulse.
Brent PalmerBrent Palmer
– Sensitive Austin-based café strummer with a wry wit and knack for catchy melodies.
Marynka Nicolai & Some Lovely Girls – Twisted cabaret and pop from this Dutch singer/songwriter.
Onli – Toronto songwriter described as “Stevie Nicks meets Patti Smith.”
Vaughn Passmore – Toronto singer/songwriter and folk vet.
Alun Piggins – Toronto balladeer/songwriter and former Morganfields frontman.
Jessie Stein – Montreal girl geek singer/songwriter.
Chris Tait – Dynamic, aggressive singer/songwriter.
Aaron Wilkinson – Van Morrison meets Johnny Cash, produced by Beck.
Pop
A Northern Chorus – Space and trance pop.
Blinker the Star – Jason Zadorozny went on a songwriting spree with Courtney Love – and lived!
The Caribbean – Soft-touch Washington, DC, crew should delight Elephant 6 fanatics.
Julie Crochetière – If you watched Popstars, you know that she’s the Sugar Jones member who can sing.
Detective Kalita – Warped and twisted indie tunes with a folkie bent. Urban front porch music.
Earlimart – L.A. scenesters and Lou Barlow buddies serve up prickly, peppy alterna-pop with smarts.
Peter Elkas – Local Rabbit with wicked Wayne Coyne warble goes solo with beautifully written indie rock.
Leviride – Anthemic indie guitar pop set apart by singer Paul Lahey’s quirky but melodic singing style.
Marlowe – Trippy, atmospheric post-pop with electronic embellishments and sweet female vocals.
Melvin – Intimate, warm, fuzz pop solo project of Toronto’s Michael Wickware, featuring other ex-members of Heater in the live band.
The Midways – Bouncey 60s garage rock complete with chunky organ riffs, hand claps and bratty white-boy blues snarling.
Nasty On – Vancouver new new wave squad with attitude could be the sleeper hit of the festival.
Nero – Toronto Dead-friendly jam band.
The Neutron Stars – Lo-fi indie pop from Guelph.
Nuginduck – Acoustic indie pop from Ottawa.
Jeen O’Brien – Toronto pop singer and former vocalist for Lilith.
Off the International Radar – Instrumental Toronto space rock.
Paper Moon – Strummy, wistful indie pop from Winnipeg.
Parkas – 60s-style mod pop.
Phaser – Psychedelic power pop from Washington, DC.
Pilate – Coldplay-influenced T.O. pop.
The Populars – Power pop from Prescott, Ontario.
Rainmen – Acoustic, melodramatic pop from the UK.
Recoilers – Dreamy indie pop from Ottawa.
Remake Remodel – Australian Sleater Kinney-style punk pop.
Revolv – Spacey, dramatic indie pop.
Rhume – Ottawa indie rockers who recorded their last record in French.
The Rude Mechanicals – Straight-ahead, 80s-ish power pop.
The Salteens – Folky pop from Winnipeg.
Sekiden – Trashy synth pop from Australia.
Shinen – Pulp-style Britpop from Vancouver.
Sick Puppies – Limp Bizket-style aggro rock from Australia.
The Singles – Beatlesesque power-pop from Detroit’s next big things.
Skarlet O’Hara – Local folk rock/pop.
Trapper John – Alternative power pop from Columbus, Ohio.
Young Ideas – Local trio who play melodic piano-based tunes not unlike Belle and Sebastian.
Alt-country
Asteroid 4 – An odd name for a group of Burrito Brothers-style twangers, but before Asteroid 4 bought the fringe jackets, they were a psych band… no, really. The Creaking Tree String Quartet – Celtic, classical, bluegrass and jazz… all at once.The D. Rangers – Not your typical old-time string slingers, these Winnepeggers blast away like punk rock heathens. The Donnellys – Raunchy, raucous rockabilly twang.
FemBots -Junk-shop plunderers make magnificent country murder ballads.
Great Lake Swimmers – Well-instrumented, rickety, retro-leaning folk-twang tidbits.Matt Mays & El Torpedo – Former Guthries frontman proves who was the real musical talent in the group.Dale Nikkel – Roots rock and strummed pop from Edmonton.
Precious Little – Roosty country and rock from Toronto.
The Silvertones – Rockabilly and western swing from Windsor.
Punk
All Systems Go! – Old-school punks John Kastner and Mark Arnold haven’t forgotten how to kick ass.
By Permit Only – Glass Tiger’s Alan Frew thinks they’re the next Sum 41 – which could explain why he’s managing them.
Moneen – Thrashy thrills straight outta Brampton.
Paperbacks – Punk/pop fromWinnipeg.
The Sadie Hawkins – Indie punk pop from Montreal.
The Salads – Rising punk pop crew with SoCal ska/punk sound.
The Sinisters – Glammy, goth-inspired power punk.
The Spitfires – The bad boys of the Vancouver punk scene.
Hiphop
Phatt Al – Scarborough MC who recently jammed with jazz big band NOJO.
Reem – Female hiphop/soul from Montreal.
Rikoshay – Rising underground Toronto MC.
7th Generation – On-point First Nations hiphop from Okanagan Valley b-boys MC Kasp and DJ Combz.
Warsawpack – They like their hiphop mixed with jazz, funk and rock.
Heavy Rock
Millions of Cats that Turned on Their Masters – Classic rock gets blown up while occasional random electronic effects bubble up from under the power chords.
Plastic Bag – The heaviest band in Toronto.
Rubberman – Aggressive metal-pop from Montreal.
Sludge – Swedish metal. The anti-Ace of Bass.
Snowblind – Post-grunge dude rock.
Soft Canyon – Former Tricky Woo members who’ve been described as “Badfinger on cough syrup.”
3 Inches of Blood – Vancouver heavy metal without the hair farming.
Soul/R&B
Darp Malone – Smoking conscious soul and hiphop. Best known for providing beats for Mr. Complex and others, he proves he’s got the voice as well.
Novelty
Porn Rock – Theatrical metal shtick from New York.
Temptress – Sex, drag and rock and roll from NYC.
Vampire Beach Babes – Campy goth beach party antics about Hawaii shirts from hell, bikinis that attack and such. Like a funny version of the Cramps.
White Cowbell Oklahoma – Show may include midgets, naked people or giant penises.
Electronic
Adam Marshall – He’s been a leading force in Toronto’s techno city. Expect him to rock the house.
Pan/tonePan/tone
– In his last live set before returning to Europe for the summer, he’s promising a “rockno” take on the laptop performance.
Polmo Polpo – Known for combining mournful lap steel guitar with dubby, atmospheric minimal techno, he plans a disco-rock homage to the late Arthur Russell for this performance.
Dick Richards – Toronto-based minimal techno dub producer does the clicks and echoes thing.
George Sarah – Electronic composer and pianist from Los Angeles.
