Toronto Tipsheet: What we're doing this weekend - NOW Magazine (2024)

Friday:

Will Butler

Will Butler, multi-instrumentalist and founding member of Arcade Fire, will be at the Horseshoe on Friday night to make a name for himself on the tails of the release of his first solo album Policy. Claiming influence from John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band, the songs are what you’d expect if you isolated part of an Arcade Fire album – the soaring choruses and grandness are still there, but in a more compact form that better suits a one-man band. Catch him and opener Hearing Things, the side project of Arcade Fire touring musician Matt Bauder, at the Horseshoe tonight.

Shad

Tonight’s show at Massey Hall is a fitting apex to reach for Shadrach Kabango, better known under his mononym Shad. The historical venue, one most Canadian artists dream of playing, will be good practice in audience and exposure for the London-born rapper before he sits down as the newly-minted host of CBC’s Q on April 20th. For tonight’s show, he’s going to have good support: opening for him is Zaki Ibrahim, the Polaris Prize-nominated singer-songwriter who’s no rookie to Massey, having opened for Erykah Badu there seven years ago.

White Cowbell Oklahoma

The globetrotting, cowboy-hat rocking six-piece are celebrating the release of their new album Mixto Sixto with a pair of shows at the Silver Dollar Room before heading across the Atlantic to play the European circuit. The album includes covers of live staples and some originals, but the band’s ultra masculine exhaust-fume rock comes alive in their pyrotechnic- and power tool-laden live shows. If their particular brand of trash rock doesn’t roll with you, there’s plenty of other bands to hear at tonight’s show at the Silver Dollar, with openers Little Foot Long Foot, Meanwood, Ada Dahli & the Pallbearers, and Goodbye Honolulu.

For Esmé

Having just graced the pages of our T.O. Bands to Watch feature, For Esmé’s lush and cosmic cloud-pop is one step closer to the stratosphere. They’re playing Sneaky Dee’s tonight with Flint Eastwood, Bad Girls and Hotel Royal to celebrate the second anniversary of Anchor Shop, a Toronto music website and promotions company.

Saturday:

Earth Hour Lights Out concerts

Just because the lights are out doesn’t mean that there’s no energy. Across the city, bands are playing Lights Out concerts during Earth Hour on Saturday, giving you something to pay attention to while you try and figure out what to do with your hands and no cell phone. Bands are playing at the Drake, the Brazen Head Irish Pub, Pogue Mahone, and Against the Grain, with doors opening at 8.

Tycho at the Danforth

A mainstay of the esoteric side of IDM along with other Brian Eno spiritual successors like Borads of Canada and DJ Shadow, Tycho’s live shows are an exercise in analog ambience. Combining sparse synthesizers with snippets of everyday life such as clips of news broadcasts and nature sounds, he’s achieved a cult-like status amongst audiophiles with more interest in musical moods than messages. You can catch the atmosphere at the Danforth Music Hall on Saturday.

Sunday:

Prism Prize Awards Presentation

The Prism Prize Awards, now in their third year, celebrate achievements in Canadian music video making, and this year’s nominees range from veterans The New p*rnographers to Toronto scene stalwarts Odonis Odonis and Kevin Drew. The awards ceremony at the TIFF Bell Lightbox on Sunday will include a screening of the top 10 finalists and the awarding of the $5,000 grand prize to the winner. Whoever it is, they’ll be in good company – the previous winners have been for videos made for Arcade Fire and Rich Aucoin, both of whom you may have heard of.

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