Something new happening at the Supermarket is Wednesdays Go Pop!, a showcase of local independent artists and bands. This week, we checked out Alysha Brillinger and Chris Caddell.

(see all 5 photos of Alysha Brillinger)

(see all 3 photos of Chris Caddell)

(see all 6 photos of Sadie May Crash)

With a spot at the coveted Virgin Festival stage up for grabs, Sadie May Crash was one of five finalist bands, which means that they got the nod from chairman Sir Richard Branson himself. Sir Richard’s known to have pretty good musical tastes, so it’s no surprise that within a few weeks were booked into the Mod Club for their first performance at that venue.

The pop-rock band features the vocal talents of Paige Boy over some nice guitar and keys instrumentals, with a saxophone thrown in for good measure, giving them a nice, thick, brassy sound. Their bluesy rhythms combined with Paige’s vocal styles reminds me a lot of the earlier works of No Doubt. An fun and upbeat set, but a bit short: only seven songs in their repertoire right now, but plenty more to come in the future for sure.

The Steamwhistle Unsigned concert series featured a collection of concerts, held at Steamwhistle’s beautiful and historic Front street brewery. Each concert in the series served up several up-and-coming indie artists, alongside delightfully cheap and tasty Steamwhistle beer.

Right across the street from the brewery is the Rogers Center, where this night the Boston Red Sox were busy trouncing the Toronto Blue Jays. So getting to the brewery that night was a bit of a zoo — but if you could get past the legions of red or blue fans and their vehicular traffic, you were in for a treat at the brewery.

(see all 8 photos of The Framework)

The Framework played an hour-long set of their infectious rock-pop at the Steamwhistle, significantly longer than their usual club set. This gave the band more time to play some long-lost favorites, including Evolution and Into the Sun, proudly featured on their EP (and sadly omitted from most of their set lists). These songs seem to strike a nostalgic chord with the band, performed alongside with a few covers of some of their favourite songs. Definitely a treat and something different from a usual club set!

(see all 6 photos of Lioness)

Lioness is a trio from Toronto featuring the vocal talents Vanessa Fischer over an electronica sound with influences from house or drum and bass genres. Not exactly my cup of tea but their presence on stage, and the light show, was entertaining to watch.

(see all 6 photos of Magneta Lane)

I’ve been meaning to check out Magneta Lane live for a while, but our schedules never seem to meet. Thus on the even of Virgin Fest I jumped at the chance to see them at the Horseshoe Tavern. I really enjoy the recorded work of this edgy rock trio, and their listening to their cover of “Girl from Mars”, prominently used in a Microsoft advertisement, I was hooked. Hooked!

Packed to the rafters on a Friday night, the trio of Lexi, French, and Nadia brought a crush of people to the edge of the stage, opening with “Constant Lover” and playing a nine song set including crowd-pleasing “Lady Bones” and an energetic “Daggers Out!”. A fun time for all, and I’m hooked, hooked again!

Sunday called for some pretty heavy thunderstorms, and the weather didn’t disappoint. Early in the afternoon, at the Toronto Virgin Festival, the crowds were poncho-equipped and umbrella-bearing.

One of the impressive things about the Toronto Virgin Festival is their focus towards not harming the environment. Throughout the island, “Green Angels” were on hand to help festival-goers recycle. Solar-powered laptops and bicycle-powered cellphone chargers not only were handy, but likely instrumental to educating the masses about the availability of renewable energy. And it was good to know that carbon offsets were purchased on my behalf to offset what they couldn’t reduce!

Today, I’ll cover: Spiral Beach, Danko Jones, OPOPO, The Weakerthans, Arkells, Silversun Pickups, and Stereophonics.

(see all 6 photos of Spiral Beach)

Spiral Beach’s sunny pop was just what the doctor ordered for this drizzly and damp day. The Toronto band, featuring songwriting from brothers Daniel and Alrick Woodhead, kicked off the festival’s second day, performing for about 200 brave souls willing to stand in the pour rain. Some pretty interesting antics from the band that are fun to watch, with guitarist Alrick Woodhead standing out in enthusiasm and energy.

(see all 3 photos of Danko Jones)

“You shouldn’t be happy the sun came up, you should be happy I’m here.” Danko Jones successfully scared the clouds away with his set. “Cheer for me like I’m Oasis,” Danko admonished the crowd between sets of his rock. This Toronto rocker and his band definitely have stage presence, with some tongue-wagging mixed in with the usual head-banging, while hammering on a sweet-looking black Gibson Explorer. The rock comes out hard and heavy, shouted lyrics on top of frenetic guitar and bass work.

(see all 3 photos of OPOPO)

I arrived at the Oh Henry! stage halfway through OPOPO’s set, just as they were playing “Computer Menace”, which was one of the songs that stood out from the Toronto house/punk band’s latest EP, Urbnet. Over the two festival days, everyone was talking OPOPO this, OPOPO that. Stories of equipment-smashing and head-gashing at previous shows reigned galore. That, and some pretty good recordings, made expectations high.

OPOPO didn’t disappoint. Their show featured some pretty frenetic action from guitarist and vocalist frontman Bryan Sutherland, as he bounces and crawls around the stage, kicking beers into the crowd, all the while layering some guitar over delicious synth beats. A war-painted drummer and a keyboard made for two round out this odd group.

(see all 4 photos of The Weakerthans)

Finally, a band not from Toronto. The Weakerthans hail from rather cold (even at this time of the year) Winnipeg, Manitoba. The band features the eclectic songwriting of frontman John K. Samson — who has the uncanny ability to write songs about just about anything. I do mean anything. In “Tournament of Hearts”, Samson masterfully weaves a deeper message into a song where every line relates to the great sport of Curling (including the catchy verse, “right off, no never ever”).

Opening the set with “a song about Bigfoot” (”Bigfoot!”), and “a song about Arctic exploration” (”Our Retired Explorer (Dines with Michel Foucault in Paris, 1961)”), I found the band a bit detached from the crowd, just doing their own thing, setting the same a tame pace to their set that’s not much unlike the easy going nature of their recordings. But by the time their recent hit “Civil Twilight” rolled around, I was more captivated — a bit surprising for a song about the time “between the sunset and certified darkness”.

(see all 4 photos of Arkells)

The Arkells were the surprise set for me of the day. I only heard the last few songs, but this Hamilton band impressed me — most of their tunes are catchy, some bring a little folk-ish flavor, and the energy seemed to draw in and infect the large crowd that had gathered to watch them. It’s great to watch a band that looks like they’re having fun!

(see all 6 photos of Silversun Pickups)

(see all 2 photos of Stereophonics)

Separating the main Virgin Mobile stage from the other stages at the Toronto Virgin Festival was a small footbridge, just wide enough for perhaps four people to walk abreast. Starting at about five o’clock this bridge was absolutely packed, with people streaming towards the main stage on Olympic Island, undoubtedly staking out good spots for the remainder of the concert. Headlined by the Foo Fighters, and with big names such as Bloc Party and Against Me!, I don’t blame them. Of course, there was lots of good music to be heard on the other stages too, including Wintersleep and Lights.

(see all 7 photos of Lights)

I crossed the bridge for the umpteenth time, to catch the last few songs of Lights, on the Oh Henry! stage. It’s amazing to see young Indie artists grow — I first saw Lights in the end of 2007, when she was a moderately unknown Toronto artist. When I saw her next in March for Canadian Music Week, her song, “February Air”, had recently been picked up by Old Navy for use in a set of commercials, and she was gaining a solid fan base. Now, hot off the heels of a Germany tour, and with her song regularly playing on mainstream radio stations, her music career and popularity is growing quickly. When will I see her next? I predict big things for Lights.

(see all 7 photos of Against Me!)

Earlier in the day, I noticed Saint Alvah Cartel were all sporting passes that read Against Me!. I couldn’t make the connection (aside from the fact that they’re both punk rock bands) until later: Saint Alvah has been opening for Against Me! as the Gainsborough, Florida band tours Canada during September, playing all major cities across the country, including shows in Calgary and Edmonton this week. It’s rare to find non-Canadian bands that will tour across Canada like that, given how big (and sparsely populated) our country is. Much respect for that!

Punk rock is not normally my thing, but Against Me! came and hammered out an exciting set — regardless of genre, it’s always fun to watch bands get wrapped up in their music, and do their thing with energy and gusto. Fronting this relatively old band, in its 12th year, is Tom Gabel (vocals, guitar) who adds a gritty character to the performance, playing with solid rock energy that’s fun to watch. Also entertaining is drummer Warren Oakes, with “Youth Gone Wild” written with a sharpie on his shoulder, pounding away. Some of their newer singles, like “Stop”, are quite catchy and pleasing even to my non-punk rock ears.

(see all 7 photos of Wintersleep)

After listening to about half of the Against Me! set, I rushed to the TD Music Stage to try to catch Wintersleep. I’d first heard Wintersleep in early 2006, while in their local town of Halifax, just on the up-tick of their careers. A year later, in 2007, they put out the album Weighty Ghost, which has garnered them some attention, including a Juno award for their troubles.

My rush to get to the stage was a bit unnecessary since they were running about forty minutes late, and the crowd was starting to get rather angsty, breaking out in to a somewhat sarcastic cheer when Loel, Paul, Mike, Tim, and Jon sorted out their tech issues and began their set. A bit slow and deliberate to start, I didn’t get to hang around for long before rushing back to the mainstage, missing hit singles “Weighty Ghost” and “Archaeologists”, both of which I had wanted to hear. But I heard they were performed well and well-received.

(see all 6 photos of Bloc Party)

“The best place to be is sunset in Toronto,” mused Kele Okereke, of London Indie-rock band Bloc Party, as they opened their set, with the challenge of warming up the crowd before the Foo Fighters. Experiencing technical issues, I felt that they were just spending their entire set warming up. First was issues with skeleton-shirt-sporting Okereke’s guitar, then the drum tech was busy fixing things for Matt Tong. Other than playing two songs from their latest album, Intimacy, scheduled for release in October, there was nothing else remotely interesting in their set. I don’t remember hearing their mega-hit “I Still Remember”, which is, ironically, was only Bloc Party song I could remember.

I didn’t get to photograph the Foo Fighters, so I just sat back (or rather, stood up) and enjoyed their show. A few things stood out for me. First, the Foo Fighters have been together for 14 years, a fact that Dave Grohl (guitar, vocals) admonished the crowd for, especially those who hadn’t seen the band live yet (”It’s about f—ing time!”). That would include me: I remember the days in the mid-to-late-90’s when they were a popular new band formed after the implosion of Nirvana, but never really followed the band except for a few hit songs here or there.

The second thing that stood out for me was, well, Dave Grohl. Grohl is the front and center entertainer that gives the Foo Fighters that reputation for having a bankable, consistent, solidly good act each and every night. The set opened with a handful of songs, featuring Grohl’s wild head-banging, long hair flying left and right, playing with an energy that’s very entertaining to watch. Notable in the first few songs was “Learn to Fly”, which is a song many (including myself!) know all-too-well from popular video game Rockband. The non-music entertainment all came from Grohl: as he climbs around the stage and plays guitar from a small ledge, or his wild cursing at the crowd, or chugging a beer to please a chanting crowd. (He failed, blaming the beer for being too cold. “My mountains are blue.”)

The middle of the set had Grohl egging on his band-members to play some wild solos: Taylor Hawkins on drums, Jessy Greene on violin, and a wild and crazy “best triangle solo of the festival” from Drew Hester. Some songs I’d heard before (”Best of You” stands out), some songs I haven’t, but each was performed amazingly well, with the band building up the crowd in a frenzy towards a performance of fan-favourite Everlong with the house lights turned down so low it was almost, well, intimate.

After five or so “this is the last song” songs — nothing pleases the crowd more than another song, more great entertaining from Grohl — the Foos finally capped with a two-song encore, their set finishing within a few minutes of the 11 o’clock island noise curfew, a full two hours of incredible entertainment.

All in all, day one was quite a success, with great music, good crowds, and memorable times. My feet hurt excessively, but day 2 and Oasis beckoned. Day 1 set a high bar, would day 2 live up to expectations?

Two days, four stages, and fifty-six performances. Center Island rocked on September 6th and September 7th as the Virgin Festival came to Toronto. Headlined by the Foo Fighters and Oasis, and backed by fifty-four other bands ranging from punk-rock ska to house dj sets, the festival offered music for a wide range of aural palettes. In between sets, festival-goers entertained themselves at a multitude of different tents: guitar hero, human scrabble, and an autograph tent, to name a few.

In this part one of four Virgin Festival reviews, I cover We Are The Take, The Airborne Toxic Event, Saint Alvia Cartel, The Constantines , and MGMT.

(see all 5 photos of We Are The Take)

My plan was to head over to the Oh Henry! stage to check out We Are The Take. The Oh Henry! stage, featuring up-and-coming Indie music bands, was set off to the side and a little bit smaller than the others, but had a nice, small-venue appeal. Having impressed me with their NXNE show, I was wondering if this four-piece Toronto band was up to it again?

The area around the Oh Henry! stage was surprisingly full for the opening set of the day — lots of fans, braving the rain, came to watch We Are The Take hammer out a high-energy set of their catchy indie pop-rock. The crowd enjoyed it; I enjoyed it, and my favourite song, “Tenterhooks”, became violently engraved in my head — what a way to start the day!

(see all 8 photos of The Airborne Toxic Event)

From the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Los Feliz came to the main stage The Airborne Toxic Event, a rather new band whose name, at 21 letters, comes in a close second for Longest Named Band to Play at Virgin Festival Toronto. Interesting name aside, the band was formed rather organically around guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Mikel Jollett. The story goes: Jollett, writing a novel, having a bad time at it with serious illnesses and a breakup, and turns to writing songs instead.

Jollett’s songs sing like poetry, with a real story-telling flair, set to some awfully catchy rock. A smart flow of bleeding-raw emotion floats over the music in “Does This Mean You’re Moving On?”. In “Sometime Around Midnight”, haunting viola (Anna Bulbrook) provide the backdrop for rich and painful despair. Some of their other songs, such as “Papillon” are more fun and make you feel groovy, but underneath it all there is deep and beautiful meaning to Jollett’s tales — worth sitting down with their self-named debut album and taking a real hard listen. Definitely the surprise of the afternoon for me.

(see all 7 photos of Saint Alvia Cartel)

At the exact same time, back on the Oh Henry! stage, was Saint Alvia Cartel. By the time I made back across the island, they were almost done, but I managed to catch a few songs of punk rocking. Lively and upbeat, the six-piece band made the stage look rather small, but managed to keep the crowd dancing, with a political message or two in between songs in their set.

(see all 6 photos of The Constantines)

I really don’t get the Constantines. Can someone please clue me in? I’ve heard lots of good things about them — in May they played to a packed Phoenix in Toronto, and immediately playing Virgin Fest they disembark on a monthly long European tour. They’ve also got a hit single, “Islands in The Stream”, with Canadian Indie-graduate Feist, which is a good listen, but not (at least to my ears) an instant classic. On stage, front-man Bryan Webb’s periodic foot-stomping was interesting, but not enough to keep me interested: I wandered off in search of food and beer. Although, I’ve heard their intensity and energy build up through their set, so perhaps I missed the best part. But the beer was good.

(see all 7 photos of MGMT)

MGMT, formerly known as The Management, brought their mix of psychedelic pop to the main stage. Andrew VanWyngarden, who recently denied rumours that he was dating Kirsten Dunst, made a fashion statement in his purple track pants, perhaps a throw-back to the University days during which he formed the band with keyboardist Ben Goldwasser. An eclectic mix of guitar and synth-y goodness, with VanWyngardens peculiarly nasal voice and stirred with a sample or two, you’ve got a pretty interesting and funky sound.

The main stage area started to get really packed, filled with a thousand fans dancing along to tunes off their latest album Oracular Spectacular such as “Time To Pretend”, recently featured on TV shows like Gossip Girls and the new 90210, as well as the song Kids, featuring a rather lengthy guitar solo. Live, MGMT is a little less synth-y and more mainstream than I remember them to be, with the standard guitar/bass/drums dominating their sound a bit more. But in the end, a fantastically entertaining set; cheering fans in festival mode; more and more people flooding in — a sign of good things to come for the evening.

(see all 6 photos of John Tayles)

Performing over 150 live acoustic shows over three years has honed the musical talents of John Tayles, a young artist from Mississauga, Ontario. These shows — mostly in London, Ontario while attending university, and a few in Uganda while volunteering there — prepared the singer-songerwriter well for his first major Toronto gig at the historic Horseshoe Tavern on this Wednesday night.

Tayles’ debut album Thoughts Out Loud features vulnerable and deep lyrics that fill his songs, admittedly “written mostly about women”, with raw emotion. A clear stand-out is Get It Right, a catchy song about two friends’ on-again off-again relationship, with its fast-paced verses and musings reminding the listener of the often frenzied and confusing nature of love. Another favorite is the emphatic Who I Am, with a infections, declaratory chorus embedded within a ballad about — what else? — love.

Tayles took to the Horseshoe stage alone, playing half his set on piano and half on guitar. Sprinkled throughout his set of original material were a few covers — including Lennon’s Imagine, transitioning into a crowd-celebrated rendition of Oasis’ Don’t Look Back in Anger. The solo performance did well in showcasing Tayles’ voice, but I felt it was missing the edge and energy that a band would have provided. Luckily, a five-piece band is planned for the near future, and surely with that addition on top of his already strong song-writing foundation, Tayles will be an artist to keep an eye on.

Check him out on MySpace.

(see all 7 photos of Isle of Thieves)

Toronto band Isle of Thieves got their break in January 2008, with George Stroumboulopoulos (of The Strombo Show) playing on national radio a track off their brand new, two-day old CD. Their debut album, Mostly Human is well produced, featuring angst-filled songwriting from frontman-vocalist Japeth, as well as some pretty incredible cover art, which is amongst the best I’ve seen for independent productions.

Celebrating their one-year anniversary on stage by returning to the very same venue of their July 2007 debut, Isle of Thieves featured their mix of strong, rhythmic rock, with thick and heavy riffs that add a gritty texture to the music. Japeth, also on lefty guitar, is flanked by ultra-showy lead guitarist Mike Marsh, and Justin Kwan on sound-filling synths and complementary vocals. Rounding out the band are Charles Canovas on bass and Matt Coatsworth on drums.

Most of their songs are fast and non-stop. Most catchy was show-ending Hollywood, with some fancy guitarwork from Marsh. For me, though, the real highlight of their show was when they “took it slow” with title track Only Human, when you can really listen to and appreciate Japeth’s bitterly meaningful lyrics and vocalizations.

Check out their MySpace.

(see all 6 photos of WhosArmy)

Travis Wood fronts the band WhosArmy, an alternative-rock quartet from Toronto. They’re currently working on their first album. Check out the photos, and check out their MySpace.

(see all 9 photos of The Framework)

I go to more than my fair share of The Framework shows, but I can’t help it: they’re good, addictingly good. I’m not sure what it is about the band that I like the best. Is it the music, catchy hooks and power riffs, set amongst dazzling synths? Or perhaps the charged lyrics, delivered by two talented vocal artists? Or perhaps the way they take the stage, and deliver a dazzlingly energetic performance every night. Whatever it is, this New Wave rock band, heavy with UK rock/pop influences, has got me and a loyal following watching carefully.

Selected as a top five pick for NXNE, and currently in the running to win a place on the Virgin Fest Toronto stage (go vote for them), this band has lots going for them. Their self-titled first EP, released at the end of last year, is a solid display of their musical talents, and is popular material for remixes from several highly known names like Crookram of the R.A.C and Vitaminsforyou. Their second CD is due out this Fall and will likely feature a collection of every The Framework song in their repertoire. But don’t wait until then — check out The Framework today.