Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Wolfe Island Music Fest 2008: LET'S GET INTRODUCT'D

Friends, Canadians, countrymen, lend your ears – not to me – but to the Wolfe Island Music Festival… 2008 style.

Quite possibly the most marvellous and musical days that Kingston has to offer are going down August 8th and 9th this year. A.K.A. real soon. So if you don’t have your ticket yet, head over to Brian’s Record Option or Windmill’s or some other building where the kindly people inside will sell you as many vomit-green tickets as your heart desires, assuming you’re buying a Saturday ticket. You can buy tickets at the gate on the day of the fest, though, if you’re just too damn busy.

ANYway, I thought it’d be nice to do an overview of the line-up, post some mp3’s and get myself and others acquainted with this MOST EXCELLENT bevy of musicians that shall be gracing the elegant Marysville Baseball Diamond in a few day’s time.

I present to you, in order, the line-up for the Saturday portion of the 2008 Wolfe Island Music Festival. [NOTE: Left click for mp3 links. And I'm feeling kind of lazy, so for the bands that had downloadable songs either on their MySpace or their website, I just linked to that and didn't put any mp3's in here. So there.]


P.S. I LOVE YOU



Despite my most searchiest efforts, I came up with diddily crap. All I found were a bunch of MySpace profiles, Facebook pages and websites pertaining to the movie, P.S. I Love You. All very well and good. But not so good when I’m trying to find out what these cats sound like. I have a few predictions, though.

1] They'll be Canadian,
2] There will be instruments involved in their act,
3] They'll be human [?]
And who knows, maybe they’ll pull a Spiral Beach, come out of nowhere, and shoot everybody up with awesome bullets.

MUSIC MAUL


FROM: Kingston, ON
SOUNDS LIKE: Nasal-voiced, lo-fi, slightly electric pop ditties. As of right now I'm a little confused by Music Maul. I can't quite figure them out. It'll be interesting to see how their live show compares to the studio stuff.
MYSPACE: Bang
WEBSITE: Boom
MP3's: You can listen to and download both albums from the website.

RUBY COAST


FROM: Aurora, ON
SOUNDS LIKE: Sing-songy, boppy, happydancey songs with poppier tinges of Born Ruffians and Tokyo Police Club. [NOTE: The D'Urbervilles, who were set to perform in this time slot, had to pull out due to an illness in the band, just in case anyone's confused as to where these Ruby Coast kids came from. But for all I know, this is old news, and I'm just slow on the uptake.]
MYSPACE: Bang
MP3's: More Than Television and Neighbourhood

THE ACORN


FROM: Ottawa, ON
SOUNDS LIKE: Superbly melodic, wonderfully percussed slices of mellow, folk pie. The older tunes aren't as hand-clappy, multi-instrumental or as expansive as the newer ones, but honestly, you really cannot go wrong with these guys. I'm just surprised that they're on so early in the day. They're a pretty well-known band. But, I'll takes what I can gets.
MYSPACE: Bang
WEBSITE: Boom
MP3's: Crooked Legs and Blankets

TONY SCHERR


FROM: Brooklyn, NY [WHAT?! A non-Canadian perfomer at the Wolfie fest? Isn't that like... sacreligious?]
SOUNDS LIKE: Easygoing, summer bluesy-rocky-folksy fare, well-suited to an easygoing, outdoor summer music festival. He's got a Ryan Adams thing to him, too, which is very cool. Plus, he's got a song on the upcoming Hottest State soundtrack. And that is a killer soundtrack. I think we're in for an enjoyable set.
MYSPACE: Bang
WEBSITE: Boom
MP3's: Come Around

PLANTS AND ANIMALS


FROM: Montreal, QU
SOUNDS LIKE: Road trip-worthy, big, happy, sixties/seventies rockness that I am hoping and thinking will set the stage on fire. Everybody will just eat this up. Plants and Animals have a really inviting sound that'll bring out the inner [or not so inner] hippie in all of us. I'm expecting to grin throughout the whole set. I'm expecting to feel a little restless and childish, in a good way. I'm expecting to see people spinning out in the field with their arms outstretched. I'm expecting lots of platonic love to be flowing around. I'm expecting good things, good times, and excellent stage banter.
MYSPACE: Bang
WEBSITE: Boom
MP3's: Bye Bye Bye and Feedback in the Field

JASON COLLETT


FROM: Ontario
SOUNDS LIKE: Summer! Chill, laidback, very singable folk-pop-rock Americana [Canadiana?]. And he's part of that crazy Arts&Crafts label, so you know he's good. This will be awesome.
MYSPACE: Bang
WEBSITE: Boom
MP3's: Out of Time and Pavement Puddle Stars

LAND OF TALK


FROM: Montreal, QU
SOUNDS LIKE: Really cool, hip stuff. Assuming the sun is down by this point, kids'll be dancing in really cool, hip ways. I just hope that Land of Talk don't take themselves too seriously or think they're too hot. I like their music, but that kind of pretentious stuff gets in the way of a band being awesome live. So, here's to hoping they're just really nice people who make cool songs. [And yay! The singular female performer! Unless there are one or two kicking around in the very mysterious P.S. I Love You...]
MYSPACE: Bang
WEBSITE: Boom
MP3's: Young Bridge and Street Wheels

CADENCE WEAPON


FROM: Edmonton, AB
SOUNDS LIKE: Really fresh hip-hop that's weird and charismatic. I'm counting on a personality-packed performance. And while my friends and I are quite bummed that Holy Fuck doesn't have their seemingly annual slot in the line-up, I think Cadence Weapon is a pretty sweet replacement. We'll dance. There's some inventive electronic stuff going on here. So it's alllllll okay.
MYSPACE: Bang
WEBSITE: Boom
MP3's: In Search of the Youth Crew and Sharks

WINTERSLEEP


FROM: Halifax, NS
SOUNDS LIKE: A whole lot of dark-ish, macabre-ish, catchy, downtrodden, poetic, full-on rock powerhouses and softies. I haven't seen Wintersleep live for about two years now and I am stokeified to see how their Welcome to the Night Sky material has taken on new life since its release. What else... oh! Right. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
MYSPACE: Bang
WEBSITE: Boom
MP3's: Dead Letter & the Infinite Yes and Nerves Normal, Breath Normal


And there you have it, the 2008 line-up for the Wolfie fest. I'm super looking forward to hearing some awesome music, dancing around like a foo' with buddies, and hopefully seeing some new-to-the-festival-but-familiar faces. And that's from me until the epic review post.

Soooo... see you there?


Thanks for stopping by,
Alie

P.S. For more information, check out the official WIMF website.

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