The Wooden Sky @ Horseshoe (Photo Credit: Jerry Vo)

Joel Plaskett @ Mod Club

As part of the Canadian Music Week festivities this year, Sirius Satellite Radio put on a showcase billed as “Sirius Songwriters Cafe” at the Mod Club, which was recorded in its entirety for a future broadcast. The lineup was certainly a diverse one, including The Tea Party’s former frontman Jeff Martin performing solo, and late-Nineties Canadian rock radio favourites Default and The Trews. For myself, and countless others I expect braving the miserable, miserable weather and lengthy lineup at the Mod Club, there was only one act that mattered – a performance from The Nova Scotian Bard himself, Joel Plaskett.

I’m not sure whose decision it was to put Plaskett on first, but if it bothered the congenial singer-songwriter, than he certainly wasn’t showing it. Dressed casually in a t-shirt, vest and jeans, and grinning from ear to ear, he greeted the audience with a cheerful, “Hey Mod Club, how are you all doing?”. Accompanied by Peter Elkas on guitar, Plaskett played an abridged five-song set that included the Polaris Prize-nominated Three sing-along ”Through & Through & Through”, and fan favourite ”Nowhere With You”.

The least enviable job of the night had to belong to the female host from Sirius, who came onstage afterwards to say that due to a tight schedule we weren’t getting anymore songs from Joel, which promptly resulted in some enthusiastic booing from the filled-to-capacity Mod Club crowd. Nonetheless, even with a short set, Plaskett managed to prove why he cleaned up at the East Coast Music Awards several weeks ago (six awards!) and why he’s considered one of the best singer-songwriters in Canada today. Yet despite all his success, Plaskett has managed to remain incredibly humble – must be an East Coast thing.

Oh, and for fans wanting more Plaskett? He’ll be in Toronto next weekend for two shows at Lee’s Palace with his old band Thrush Hermit. Tickets for the Saturday show are sold out, but if you look around, you should still be able to get tickets for Sunday’s performance.

MySpace (Joel Plaskett): http://www.myspace.com/joelplaskett1

- MM

The Rural Alberta Advantage @ The Royal York Hotel

The Independent Music Awards, or “Indies” for short, is quite possibly the most bizarre annual Canadian music awards night ever. What other “awards show” can you name where you can see drunk music industry-types, 14-year-old Marianas Trench fan girls, and performances from actual talented bands, all in the giant ballroom of a swanky hotel? That’s what I thought. Last year, I caught Crystal Castles at the Indies after rushing over from the Bloc Party show at Kool Haus, and this year I caught another massively underrated (though in a completely different way) band, The Rural Alberta Advantage.

Taking the stage behind a giant video screen to perhaps one of the strangest crowds they’ve ever performed in front of, the Toronto indie rock three-piece of Paul Banwatt, Amy Cole and Nils Edenloff played about three quarters of their 2008 debut album, Hometowns, which was re-released on Saddle Creek just last year. The band drew their namesake and lyrical inspiration from Edenloff’s experiences growing up in Alberta, and write songs about small town malaise, heartbreak, the Rockies, and working in the oil fields. Live, the band transitioned effortlessly between uproariously frenetic barn-burners (“The Deathbridge In Lethbridge”) and slower, plaintive songs (“In the Summertime”).

Banwatt’s (who appeared earlier to present an award with Woodhands bandmate Dan Werb) powerful drumming, Edenloff’s rough, almost folksy-sounding vocals, and Cole’s (whose black Brigitte Bardot-esque dress nicely balanced out her male bandmates’ t-shirts and jeans) sweet backing melodies – they all mesh together to create songs that might not always be pretty, but damn if they aren’t catchy as hell. The RAA, who were featured earlier this week in a pre-SXSW article in the Toronto Star, are just one of those bands that you wish nothing but the best for. I can’t wait to see what these three have in store for 2010.

MySpace (The Rural Alberta Advantage): http://www.myspace.com/theraa

- MM

Yukon Blonde @ Horseshoe

Bucketfuls of rain poured all across Toronto, and I’m not sure if it was because of this that the Horseshoe wreaked of smelly wet feet or what. Nevertheless, it was definitely the place to be for CMW. The bill couldn’t look any better. First on the line-up is Yukon Blonde from British Columbia. Aesthetically, they look like the rugged guys you see hanging around Queen and Bathurst – with greasy, unwashed hair, donned in clothes torn in the wrong places. But musically, man, do these guys know their stuff. They opened with a song called “Rather Be” followed by “Brides” from their self-titled album released early last month. But what really got everyone hooked is their song “Wind Blows”. Even today, it continues to play in my head like a welcomed music worm. The clever wordplay in the chorus, “Wind blows/ Can you hear the wind blow?/ Listen to the raindrop/ Outside of my window,” certainly sticks without fail. Yukon Blonde sure knows how to make a pleasant lasting impression.

MySpace (Yukon Blonde): http://www.myspace.com/yukonblondeband

- CG

The Balconies @ Horseshoe

I must say, The Balconies is one good-looking band. Singer-guitarist Jacquie Neville is the master of mesmerizing the crowd with her intense rock’n’roll stage presence. Performing songs from their self-titled album, released last September, and a couple of new tunes, The Balconies had the crowd spell-bound. They ended with “Serious Bedtime” which resulted in everyone mouthing along the song’s words of mystery, “If you do it in the dark, in the dark, no one sees it/ If you do it in the dark, in the dark, it comes easy“. Energy is one thing the band never ceases to lack and whether you’re a fan or not you can’t help but be impressed by this up-and-coming force of (pop-rock) nature.

MySpace (The Balconies): http://www.myspace.com/thebalconies

- CG

The Wooden Sky @ Horseshoe

Coming back from their tour around Canada and the United States, The Wooden Sky played a much louder, turbulently-active set than I’ve ever seen. Amidst the guitar-flailing and emotion-filled singing, they played songs mostly from their album If I Don’t Come You’ll Know I’m Gone released last summer.  Obviously glad to be back home again, The Wooden Sky performed incredibly in front of the people who love them best – their Toronto fans. Frontman Gavin Gardiner didn’t hold anything back that night, not even his shirt by the end of it. After seeing them four times in the past year alone, I think it’s suffice to say that The Wooden Sky never ever ever disappoints.

MySpace (The Wooden Sky): http://www.myspace.com/thewoodensky

- CG

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MM – Max Mertens, CG – Carmel Garvez