Still Life Still

Myspace // "Knives in Cartoons" [mp3]

Much like Pop Montreal last October, NXNE had me in a "kid in a candy store" mindset. I had three days and nights ahead of me that was all music, friends and beer, and what's not to like about that? While there were some big names playing, like These New Puritans, French Kicks, Swervedriver and We Are Wolves, I was more interested in the hidden gems as most of the bands I had on my schedule I only discovered a week or two prior.

East York, Ontario band Still Life Still was the weekend's anomaly because I only found out about them the night of their set at Cameron House, as they played to a rambunctious packed house on a stage that was way too small to fit the indie rock mess that they had going on. These guys are young, making noise similar to Annuals, but a whole hell of a lot more interesting. Outside of The Books Elusive, this group put on the best performance of the weekend.

NXNE 2k8 Preview: The Books Elusive

Myspace // "Conspiracy" [mp3]

Things in the office of Exitfare continue to buzz along at a rapid pace. The music is good and plentiful, but life is quite busy. It seems as though we are out of town every weekend -- I'll be in Toronto this weekend for NXNE, plus we'll be heaving our stacks of CDs and laptops to a new apartment soon, but more on that later. You only care about the music, right? I don't blame you.

When I first heard The Books Elusive (just last week, I might add), my first thought was "Oh, fierce indie rock two piece! Just like Blood Red Shoes!" Umm, not so fast. The Toronto-based TBE are less math rock and more garage rock, bringing to mind Patti Smith and the Arctic Monkeys. One thing that does connect these two bands are a fiercely DIY spirit, a need to do things on their own and to get their hands dirty all for the love of rock n' roll.

Perform is out now on the band's own Overdue Records. You can catch them at this year's NXNE on Thursday, June 12th at Holy Joe's -- they go on at 8 pm.