These weekly roundups just keep getting busier
Straight up — there’s an awesome amount of good music on the horizon. If the next few weeks are any indication this summer may in fact be the best. And if they’re not an indication well all the more reason to enjoy things now.
This column already featured a mini-rant on how weird it is that Big Sugar’s Gordie Johnson ended up signed to Jello Biafra’s Alternative Tentacles label so I won’t repeat myself but the point remains: Johnson is a more interesting songwriter than his CanCon origins might indicate. Catch him performing an acoustic set at the Engineered Air Theatre on Friday May 14.
Or if you prefer shun him for fellow Tentacles alumni SNFU the venerable Edmonton punks who have been tearing shit up for almost three decades at this point. Frontman Chi Pig may be the only original member left but as long as he’s around the band’s live show will be chaotic enough to demand your attention. Pig and co. will be at The Distillery also on Friday.
Or there’s also west coast roots revivalists Spoon River at the Marquee Room also on Friday alongside Calgary’s more progressive folk-rockers The Collapse . Fans of The Band and early electric Dylan will be right at home at this one.
Of course if you think of electric Dylan as Judas you might be more comfortable with The Tallest Man on Earth when he comes to Local 522 on Saturday May 15. The Swedish singer-songwriter’s name may just be a bit of cleverness but the music is utterly worthwhile channeling all the best parts of classic rambling folk with a one-of-a-kind nasal voice to boot. Opener Nurses is a bit more out there but in a good way — more shambling than rambling and ready to hypnotize with its offbeat melodies.
As for the week itself Tuesday sees Winnipeg’s exuberant Boats! join Calgary’s Tension Slips and Spastic Panthers at Dickens Pub while Toronto power-trio Danko Jones will bring its sexually charged strut to the Republik on Wednesday May 19 — bring your best leather pants and your worst attitude to that one. And on Thursday May 20 you’re pretty much on your own: one-time Calgarian and underground legend Eugene Chadbourne will be at the Ironwood up-and-coming indie-pop songwriter Hannah Georgas will be at the Marquee Broken City will celebrate the annual hard-rock cover night Moustache Rock house institution Fred Everything will be at Habitat and I’ll be paralyzed with indecision.
