Please note: Incubus (August 28 @ Molson Canadian Amphitheatre) have many, many songs that are not “Drive.” Their fifteen-year career has spanned just about as many genres as music journalists have in their lexicon, and they’ve returned from a prolonged hiatus with this year’s If Not Now, When? — yet another musical departure. Unfortunately for fans of their louder, “Megalomaniac”-era fuzzed-out aggression, this departure has seen them set up residence inside the borders of plush, eardrum-friendly soft rock. Just ask Bob Dylan: you can’t be an angry young man forever. Check out singles “Promises, Promises” and “Adolescents” before throwing down your coin.
Not to be confused with the other “against” band that jumped from Fat Mike‘s Fat Wreck Chords label into mainstream success, Against Me (August 22 @ The Mod Club) will be bringing their own brand of shout-along radio-punk to Toronto tonight. The refinement of singles like “I Was a Teenage Anarchist” (which ate up the Edge airwaves last summer) is certainly a far cry from their rough-hewn gutter-folk roots, as is this cutesy-but-charming duet with Tegan, 50 per cent of the genetically-harmonious Tegan and Sara.
I’ve had Mississauga upstarts Morning Thieves (August 22 @ The Horseshoe Tavern) quietly growing my musical radar for a few months now. These fresh-faced guitar slingers have been rocking the suburbs, swirling Bryan Fligg‘s throaty-sincere vocal charm with tastefully arranged indie-pop. They’re working on building their empire: catch them at The Horseshoe tonight before they begin their hostile takeover of the industry.
And now for something completely different: The London Symphony Orchestra will set up shop for three gigs at the Black Creek Music Festival (August 27, 29 & 30 @ York University) this week. Maybe the world’s best-known classical troupe, the LSO has (in previous incarnations) been responsible for a slew of movie scores, many of which resonate today as the finest soundtracks of all time: the iconic melodies of John Williams’ Star Wars and Indiana Jones scores came straight from their horsehair bows. How awesome is that? Conducted by crack maestro Lorin Maazel, they’ll be laying down some serious sturm und drang with Beethoven‘s Ninth Symphony.
And, finally, in non-concert news: ascendant Torontonian purveyor of tripped-out R&B delirium, The Weeknd, dropped his newest mix tape, Thursday last, um, Thursday. The follow up to the widely acclaimed and hugely viral House of Balloons promises more moody beats and glassy-eyed ruminations on sex, and drugs, and sex, and sex, along with guest vocals from follow Torontonian Drake.
