Lincoln Hall sits squarely in the center of a bustling college campus and feels like a refuge from those who frat hard in Lincoln Park. It’s a dimly-lit, reasonably intimate venue where the best seat in the house is at the foot of the stage. Monday night, just after 8 p.m., Brooklyn trio Young Magic unassumingly took the stage and went on to illuminate the space with moody, powerful vocals, vibrant, bounding percussion and a screen flush with elaborate, engaging images, including a particularly riveting sequence featuring whirling dervishes.

Lead vocalist Melati Malay possessed an enviable sophistication, with a look akin to a grown up Lydia from Beetlejuice, in the hippest way possible. Similar to the myriad textiles seen draped over set pieces, the multi-layering of samples from global influences and recordings, combined with a soaring, yet calm and controlled vocal style made for a hip, gorgeously curated concert experience. Their particular brand of simply styled, creative sophistication set the perfect stage for Yeasayer’s expedition into the wild and weird.

The tone for Yeasayer’s entrance was set by their stage decoration, an elaboration on the album art from their latest release, Amen & Goodbye. Images of various sizes, ranging from about three, six or seven feet tall stood scattered across the stage, perhaps most notably, a baby with a pineapple atop its darling little head, with a semi-hollow hole in the middle. Each of the images, including that of a 6-armed-woman with a speaker where her face should be and a mustachioed man with a menacing stare, all looked slightly vandalized, the purpose of which would become clear as the show progressed.

The Brooklyn art/psychadelic rockers, walked on to perform and looked as if they stepped out of a time machine from a 1950’s B-Movie. The whole performance assumed that aesthetic and vibe; equal parts wholesome (the melodious harmonizing of Chris Keating, Ira Wolf Tuton and Anand Wilder) and otherworldly, with an undercurrent of something slightly sinister at work. As the band churned out tunes old and new, including fan-favorites like “Madder Red” and “2080” and rousing new additions like “I Am Chemistry”, their fervent energy and flashing lights gave the performance a momentous, well-paced energy. It took a few songs until frontman Chris Keating turned his attention from the keyboards and out to the audience, an interesting shift from introversion to extroversion which shifted the mood in the room as well. It was as if to say, “Don’t you worry. It’s on.

The “vandalized” set pieces were part of a bizarre, entertaining light show, at times all lighting up at once, pulsing; at other times, moving from left to right in a flurry. With looks ranging from down-and-out mechanic, 70’s corduroy chic and acid washed Freddie Mercury, their impassioned, eyes-closed delivery kept the mood buoyant as the set continued. Chris Keating killed it center stage with his furtive gesturing and commitment, which was complemented by the laid-back presence of Anand Wilder and the slightly intense posturing of Ira Wolf Tuton. In fabulous fashion, the set concluded with a no-holds-barred dance party to “Ambling Alp” and, to the express joy of the entire crowd, “O.N.E”. Yeasayer brought its fans, old and new, close to their creative world with a stunningly strange, boldly impassioned performance.

The post A slightly psychadelic evening with Yeasayer and Young Magic appeared first on Quip Magazine.

On track to tour Europe this summer, the duo plan on heading back to their recently relocated home in upstate New York to begin work on their third album. We caught up with them, while they were in town, to discuss festivals and how they’re using both audio and visual elements to make music.

Laura Eley: Do you often come to Toronto?

Isaac Emmanuel: We have, yeah.

Melati Malay: We’ve always had a really good vibe here, we like coming back. It’s always been really lovely people and it’s always really responsive.

LE: How do you find playing single shows versus festivals different?

IE: I think the one night show you get more of a chance to set up the whole audio-visual component and we usually play with live visuals. You kind of get the lighting and the ambiance and everything.

MM: Yeah, you just have more time to figure everything out and make sure you’ve got all your things sorted and the show is as great as possible. At festivals you have like 20 minutes to get ready, so it’s a mad dash to get it all together. But to pull it off is a nice achievement.

IE: And it’s kind of strangely beautiful in its own way.

LE: I read that one of the earlier shows you played was the Iceland Airwaves. It seems like there’s a really interesting vibe that goes on in Iceland. Did you find that?

MM: It’s very, very special there.

IE: That was one of our favourite shows ever to play. It was at a venue called Nassau in Reykjavik.

MM: They showed us around to some amazing places, some incredible waterfalls. I’d just never seen a landscape like that before. It was kind of like we were on the moon.

IE: All this volcanic rock, purple flowers.

LE: Is mythology still very ingrained in the culture?

IE: The people are really spirited and the way they talk about their culture is not as an external, other thing, it’s real. There was this one moment in the hotel we were staying at where a girl was explaining this particular mountain head, which had been foreign…

MM: Well, there was this huge, monolithic rock and there was another one next to it, and the story was, if I remember correctly…

IE: It’s probably blasphemous to actually [tell it].

MM: …I don’t know if we should go there.

IE: The feeling was, when she was telling the story, there was a feeling in her eyes that it wasn’t a book quote thing, it was real. And that’s something you come across very rarely.

LE: How much do film and visual art play into your performance and presence as a group?

MM: It’s really important to us. I think you can just augment this whole sonic element of our band to another level and they give queue points to some of the ideas that we’re coming across, but never really…

IE: We don’t so much speak in a musical language to each other. It’s very imagery based, it’s very colour based and mood based. We both have backgrounds in the visual arts, in college and that kind of thing, so making music was something that came later for both of us. It kind of comes from that place instead. It’s something that’s very beautiful to us.

MM: It just has to be integrated [in our work].

LE: I know you’re not from originally from Brooklyn, but that’s where you’re based?

MM: We lived there for about seven years, but we just moved to upstate New York, right near Woodstock.

IE: It’s in the Catskill Mountains.

LE: Why did you decide to move?

IE: We went up originally to finish the new album actually, and I guess there was a romantic idea after spending time in the city and doing the first [album] in so many different places just to be in this one spot and finish it. We collected all these sounds from everywhere and we really just wanted to be up in the mountains, away from it all finishing this one, so kind of zoning in. And then we kind of just ended up staying up there.

LE: You recently released your second album, which you travelled around to a ton of different places to record. Do you think what was recorded would have changed if you’d recorded in a stationary location?

IE: I think movement is something that we really enjoy; it’s also something that we can’t really switch off. If we’re on a train somewhere or a bus, when we have the feeling of movement, often when we get back and look through those ideas, they’re really interesting to us. Just the feeling of travelling brings out something in us. It’s also about something that can’t be replicated again. And, field recordings. We make a lot of field recordings also.

LE: How do you decide where to go when you’re recording?

IE: It changes. A lot of it has popped up really randomly, sometimes there’ll be a friend of a friend and something will pop up, like “Can you come and house sit this place for a couple weeks” in some random place. And I guess instead of gawking at it, we jump on those things often. But also with our schedule and touring for the last record we try to find moments in between where we could go to a place and just…

MM: Just to feel out of your comfort zone and childlike again. You have this state of wonder that I love and I want to hang on to that. And travelling really lets you do that, because you’re just gob-smacked.

LE: What’s up next for you guys? 

IE: We’re just finishing off this little run and then we’re going to Europe for a month for some shows and festivals, and then we’re going to record some more.

MM: Album number three.

IE: We finished this record off a while ago; we’re itching to record some new stuff. And then maybe some new touring.

The post Interview: Myth and movement with Young Magic appeared first on Quip Magazine.

From Broadview to Dufferin, the Island to Bloor West, bands were taking over the city full force. As NXNE continues to expand and gain momentum, it still feels wonderfully accessible and continues to be the city’s laid-back festival everyone looks forward to.

Hopping on a streetcar (or MiO’s Squirtcar if you were at the right place at the right time), stopping for some BBQ at 159 Manning or sitting on the grass in front of a random gazebo are just some of the activities built into the festival’s fabric and schedule. Pass-holders could easily leave one venue and stumble upon fresh talent next door or down the street; the spirit of choose-your-own-adventure was alive and well at NXNE.

Wednesday night kicked off with The Luke Austin Band at Dakota Tavern. Although these Toronto-based folk-rockers have been only jamming together for a year, they’re already showing a ton of promise. Headed by raspy-voiced frontman Luke Austin, the group brought an energy that was both inclusive and sincere. Despite having yet to release their debut EP, the band played a selection of catchy songs that kept the crowd moving.

From one tavern to another half of the Quip crew headed over to the Horseshoe to check out Mutual Benefit. Eventually transient and melodic sounds of Mutual Benefit swept through the venue after a lengthy setup but the show was worth the wait. Musical creations of Jordan Lee, accompanied onstage by an ensemble of musicians who (according to his website) are of no consistent line-up, Mutual Benefit was soft, rhythmic and enchanting. With critical acclaim for their 2013 LP Love’s Crushing Diamond, this band is well on course for future success.

Meanwhile at the MOD Club technicolor Parallels brought out their pop tunes to the nearly empty room. Something about those early shows at the MOD Club always makes us feel bad for the band. Dance tracks or not no one will be dancing – no matter what people say 15 bodies are not a party when there is a field of square footage around them. Despite the calm atmosphere, Parallels plaid a solid, retro inspired set filled with early Madonna undertones. Just as Parallels finished their last song an army of NXNE staff crowded the stage, tore it up to peaces and put it back together for the next band.

Foxtrott, a Montreal-based producer, accompanied by a French Horn player as cute as a button with her side ponytail, went straight into their set as soon as the NXNE t-shirts left the stage. The sad small crowd moved forward and for a moment it even looked like a party. Foxtrott’s beats are sharp, often paired with various drums, balanced by her punchy voice the music is catchy and memorable. The said mini crowd seemed to enjoy the show as the moved from side to side tapping their feet and hands.

Later that evening a few blocks South all of the hard-core indie music fans gathered at Tattoo for Red Bull Sound Select’s Young Magic set. This Brooklyn duo, Melati Malay and Isaac Emmanuel, knows how to bring moody, spiritual tracks to life with some looping electronic beats. They were also a couple of interesting people to chat with, stay tuned for that interview.

See more photos from NXNE here

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