FINAL FANTASY – SPECTRUM, 14th CENTURY

This is the album Final Fantasy was destined to make. Has A Good Home (2005) served more of a functional purpose rather than simply being a great album. It has some gems, but it also has a lot of filler for the Vinyl Café crowd and a rushed feeling, because it was produced in about two weeks I think, just in time for Owen to have merch on a big winter tour. In Toronto, we were fortunate to have been watching Final Fantasy live for almost a year and were a little disheartened to find some of our favourite songs, already classics, gone truant. There was also a sort of tired quality to a lot of the songs, a lack of the obsession and zeal that defined every Final Fantasy live performance.

Whereas Has A Good Home was a record Owen needed to make at that time, He Poos Clouds (2006) seemed more like the record he wanted to make. It’s replete with fervent exploration, musically and lyrically. You can Google for a wealth of old interviews with Owen talking in-depth about D&D and the Schools of Magic. Even if you don’t get the references, He Poos Clouds is a fantastical listen.

But this "band" is called Final Fantasy. Named after a series of epic, melodramatic and innovative videogames, these descriptors could clearly be applied to Final Fantasy the "band." Years ago, Owen was working on a project called "Dammit!" (I think there was more to the title, don’t really remember): an epic song over an hour long about (again, vaguely remembering details) an alien civilization in space or the future and the people/creatures that inhabit it. The project almost saw a performance at a small art gallery but it was aborted and Dammit! was scraped, most likely forever.

A few years and incessant touring later, Final Fantasy has created the world of Spectrum, giving us the genesis of an epic tale set in this world’s 14th century. The five songs on this EP act more as a prologue/montage rather than a self-contained story, with each song introducing us to the pieces of Spectrum: the townsfolk and royalty, the farmers and prostitutes, the prophecies of doom and adventures yet to be had. It’s a word where royalty has failed the land and people, where townsmen and farmers toil away lovelessly, where prophets have resigned to written fate and phone-in their auguries while growing steadily angrier at the pleas of bishops and commoners, where a young boy begs not to fall victim to a life everlasting, and No-Face, lambasting the upper echelons of Spectrum, though he himself may come from high society; perhaps the true harbinger of doom.

I could be completely wrong in everything I just said; every time I listen to it I get a different picture of what’s going on. It’s like piecing together the story arc of a Final Fantasy videogame as you adventure through its many hours of gameplay. There might just be two prophets, one of whom is Owen himself, the other possibly the one destined to restore Spectrum back to glory of previous centuries. I have a few versions in my head of what Spectrum’s story really is and where it could go, and that’s so much a part of what makes it such a great record. At only 17 minutes, it is still unendingly re-listenable. The music finds Final Fantasy taking new directions over exciting landscapes, adding layers of instruments and field recordings so that Owen’s violin becomes just another sonic tool, no longer the dominant or fundamental building block of each song. What is in the spotlight is Owen as a composer and musician, as a writer, truly, as a creator.

The next Final Fantasy LP, Heartland, is due out sometime this year. I don’t know if it will continue the story of Spectrum or be something entirely new but I hope it is or that Owen at least returns to this world and really delves into exploring its many musical and lyrical dimensions. If he doesn’t, it’ll be like Aeris being murdered all over again.

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JON-RAE FLETCHER @ THE IMPERIAL LIBRARY PUB – Jun. 24^th

Those who saw Jon-Rae & The River perform in Toronto between late 2003 and early 2007 saw one of the best bands give some unbelievably powerful performances. I was pretty lucky and saw them many times in various incarnations as the band line-up shifted and grew, with each new member adding a new dynamic to their expanding sound, all the while reigned over by Jon-Rae’s manic preacher stage presence. But things happen, such is life, and the band vanished, almost mysteriously to many, in 2007. Months later, Jon-Rae was living out west again and writing new solo material. The Toronto incarnation of the River was gone for good but out of its ashes came one of our city’s newer and best bands, $100, complete with the passion and sincerity of the best River performances. Unexpectedly, Jon-Rae stopped by on a small Canadian tour for a barely announced show at a venue that almost no one had ever considered: The Imperial Library Pub, on Dundas east of Yonge. The venue is really just a local bar but has a tiny back room with small riser for a stage and a sketchy front room clientele, but those of us who made it out crammed in that back room sitting on the floor, pressed up against the walls, on the tables, under the tables, anywhere a body could squeeze. The love and comraderie of the River years simply drenched the atmosphere, mixed with the not-so-subtle hint of overwhelming curiosity.

Opening the show was the $100 duo of Ian and Simone, who enveloped the room like it was a basement house show with friends and family. Even as a duo, $100 are a tough act to follow with such a bare-bones stage presence and honesty in their music. Lucky for Jon-Rae, he was among friends and must’ve been born with his soul ablaze (in a good gospel-passion-fueled way, not hellfire). With just an acoustic guitar and a glass of water, Jon-Rae set our souls in rapture with new songs off his soon-to-be released record Oh Maria, and it was just as spirited and consuming as any of the River shows past. With the opening notes of his first song and the quiver of breath as he began to sing there was a communal sigh of relief from the audience. When such a passionate band breaks up and there’s a break and then members start new projects, it can be nerve-wracking for the audience because of how much they meant: the songs, the music, the players. You want them to mean just as much or at the very least to not let you down, and you hope and hope that life hasn’t snuffed that spark. I don’t think Jon-Rae’s spark could ever be smothered. It may flicker at times but it just burns too goddamn bright.

TOM WAITS @ OHIO THEATRE – Jun. 28th

I’ve wanted to see Tom Waits for about ten years, so when I heard he was touring again there was no question: I was going. The nearest show was in Columbus, Ohio, which was pretty close to my girlfriend's parents' home, leaving no excuse not to see the concert. Yes, the tickets were expensive, almost $100 each, but the show was worth every cent. It’s Tom Waits!

I had never been to Columbus and we arrived in a rainstorm on Pride Day. The sidewalks were full of drunken and soaked revelers crowding around bar patios, splashing in puddles or just hanging around. Once the rain let up, we wandered a bit and got dinner at this cool kitschy Italian diner with pictures of famous crooners decorating the walls, Sinatra and Co...

The concert was in the Ohio Theatre, which is a beautiful old former movie house, full of fancy trims on the architecture, curved walls and arched ceilings. Our seats were on the floor level and closer to the back but every seat looked to be pretty great and equal in this venue. We could clearly see the stage and weren’t too far away. I’m not sure if the sound was good everywhere, but it was great in our section. There was no opener, just Waits all night long. Waits and his band played for about two and half hours, covering songs from almost his entire catalogue, his voice never faltering in its growls, howls, whispers and gruff compassion. There was little stage banter, a touch more when Waits performed a few songs solo, but none was needed: you weren’t taking your eyes and ears off him for a second. Right from the first moment, Tom Waits commanded the stage and his musicians as an enraptured conductor and the entire theatre as his congregation and cohorts. The presence he demands on stage is incredible; he’s a carny showman, used car salesman, Las Vegas magician, street hustler, the wise grandfather, possessed preacher, a studied debutant — most of all, he’s a storyteller. In every song, he fully inhabits the characters he sings about, he lives their lives on stage every time he performs and that’s really what makes him unique and timeless.

THE BLACK RIDER @ TARRAGON THEATRE

The Black Rider is an All-Star show: text by William S. Burroughs, lyrics and music by Tom Waits, and visual direction by acclaimed avant-theatre director Robert Wilson. Tarragon’s presentation of Vancouver’s November Theatre’s production was the last time this company will be performing The Black Rider and it was lucky us that Toronto gave it one more roof to play under. It’s very rare in our city to see a sort of German-expressionist cabaret rock opera. Our homegrown theatre tends to be quite text-heavy. We like telling stories and we like telling them with words, lots of them (as a writer I’m just as guilty of this). But theatre itself is a living, breathing creature set on stage; it’s a spectacle and obviously Wilson, Burroughs and Waits understand the nature of a spectacle.

From the opening moments, the audience knew they were in for a different kind of show, drastically different than has graced the stage of the Tarragon in years. The play was funny, heartstring-pulling, and at many times frightening. The music and songs aren’t just stop-gaps in the storytelling, they actually move the plot along and reveal character moments not revealed in the text. I’m sure Waits is also a big fan of Sondheim (he did sing a version of West Side Story’s Sondheim-penned “Somewhere” on Blue Valentine), because he’s taken many musical cues right from the musical theatre master. You can buy Waits’ CD of this score, though it’s missing a few songs from the production. I’ve had the CD for years, so it was very strange at first to hear different voices singing all the songs instead of Wait’s signature gruff as on the record.

This production was also interesting in that they also chose to have the score performed by live musicians set on stage. The musicians were dressed in full costume and make-up and became an integral part of the cast, almost the devil's own orchestra, at one point surprisingly stepping out of the role of musicians to become actual actors within the play.

The story is about a young man and his experience with drug-like magic bullets as he attempts to prove himself to win the hand of the woman he loves. The characters come in and out of the story as scenes themselves shift between reality and a much more sinister world. The short snaps of dialogue, lyrics and visual cues are all equal keys to comprehending the story. I can see how it might be overwhelming for an audience used to mostly listening to spoken words, but if you give something like The Black Rider a chance, immerse yourself in its world, it might just be one of the most exciting and moving theatre moments you’ll ever have.

KING KABOOM BAND PRODUCTION WEEKS

Yes, I am the music producer on King Kaboom (and a writer/producer), but why can’t something I was a part of be one of my favourite things of the year? Seems reasonable. Jonny mentioned King Kaboom in his Top 8 but he meant the actual show. I’m talking about the weeks of production in which we filmed the bands. Season 1 has long since aired, but half of the bands that were on that first season were filmed in January. This past fall we filmed two more weeks of bands for the upcoming second season. The days of filming bands tend to be long, usually 10-12 hours in the studio for the crew, barely leaving the room and downing bottle after bottle of water due to heat generated by all the lights and sweaty musicians. We film two or three bands each day, which can be a strange creative workout for our director and camera operators as they switch gears from a solo act like Timber Timbre, to a huge ensemble such as Bruce Peninsula and then finishing off a day with something loud and heavy like Lullabye Arkestra.

It’s really fun to see how each band reacts to the physical studio space and then to the cameras and lights being right there close up to them and the lack of an audience. It’s always funny and awkward when the band finishes playing through their song the first time and then stop and look up and everyone in the room is basically ignoring them, all jumping back to their respective production jobs and getting ready for the next take. It tends to throw almost every band off at first until they get used to it, and by the time they’ve played through the song 6 or 7 times they’re much more comfortable because it’s really a pretty relaxed atmosphere with little pressure to get it completely right the first time. Some bands tend to think more on their visual presentation, some don’t bother with it all. Some want take after take, some are happy with one or two, which is sometimes all we need when everything is really on the same page.

I get to jump from being in the studio where the band is playing and the crew are working and then going back to the control room where the director and executive producer sit looking at the monitors and calling the shots, and the sound engineer is recording and mixing on the fly. There’s a lot going on and a lot of elements that need to sync with each other and it’s tough to get it sometimes. You need the director to be happy with the shots and the lighting, the sound engineer to be happy with the recording, the band to happy with their performance. But once you get there it’s pretty terrific. Then you have to edit the two cameras together without losing that magic and mix the audio months later in the post-production studio and figure out what episode each band works best in. It’s a long process.

We also film a few bands outside of the studio and those are complete adventures in their own way. From having Laura Barrett up a tree to putting Sari and Romi of Ghost Bees in a small boat in a swamp, the show sometimes takes the crew and the musicians into wonderfully bizarre situations.

In the end it’s an awesome feeling to be able to put such diverse and great bands and friends on a rare show that respects them as artists, and I get to hang out and watch private performances of some of my favourite bands, until a few months later when you get to as well.

UNDER MILK WOOD @ SOULPEPPER

This version of the Dylan Thomas one-man show starred veteran actor Kenneth Welsh, but the production wouldn’t have nearly been as fantastic if it wasn’t for the brilliant sound design. Featuring three musicians performing live sound design on stage added an incredible dynamic to Welsh’s already inspired performance. The musicians created a sonic palette from prepared instruments, kettles, shakers, garbage, even creating the sizzle of frying eggs and bacon by actually frying eggs and bacon on a hot plate on stage, adding an entirely new sensory dimension for the audience. Under Milk Wood is an interesting play in being a one-man show about an entire sleepy village and all the characters that inhabit it. Sound design is key to bringing the world of the village alive and in helping the actor drive the story. The physical presence of the musicians on stage can be tricky, but never once did they distract from the story and Welsh’s performance. Dressed in full costume and set in an area on stage also set dressed seamlessly blended them in as part of the set and the story. Welsh and the musicians played in sync at every step creating one of the most intimate and vibrant theatre productions of the year.

RECORD LISTENING PARTIES

Last year my friend Justin started having small parties, gatherings really, to listen to vinyl records at his place and every one of them has been fantastic. Anyone can do this; it doesn’t have to even be with vinyl records. Basically everyone brings a few albums and throughout the night each person takes turns picking songs from any of the records. It’s a great chance to hear music from different eras, different styles, stuff you might not search out on your own, or that you tend to avoid. Get a few bottles of wine or whatever your preferred drink, some snacks maybe, and hang out in the living room. One of the best moments was one of those random discoveries that totally blows your mind when it happens: Justin’s girlfriend Claire had this old record from the 50s by Ira Ironstrings called Ira Ironstrings Plays Music For People With $3.98 (Best title!). It was one of Warner’s first ever releases. The cover was of three old hobo types in suits tying a girl to train tracks and one has a giant wooden mallet. No one knew anything about the record but we listened to it and it was really fun Dixieland musical comedy. We Googled and found out that the true identity of Ira Ironstrings had remained a secret for almost 40 years! We also had just listened to the Arcade Fire 7” that has the b-side track recording of My Buddy by Win Butler’s grandfather Alvino Rey. A little more Googling of Ira Ironstrings turns up the fact that Alvino Rey was Ira Ironstrings! He was under contract with Capitol at the time and so made up the project under the pseudonym and just decided to keep it a secret.

Sure you can listen to Last.fm and Seeqpod or share your iTunes library but it’s a lot more fun to be in the a room together with people hanging out telling stories about the music, sharing songs, memories and drinks.

DR. HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG BLOG

This one has nothing to do with Toronto, but it is musical and definitely one of my favourite things of 2008 and shares closely with the DIY/Community vibe we thrive on at Wavelength. If you haven’t watched it yet, go do so right now or just think of a Sondheim-soundtracked comic book written by Joss Whedon with a strong DIY ethos. Its quirky lines and wonderful harmonies are acted pitch perfectly by the cast of three: Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother), Nathan Fillion (Firefly), Felicia Day (The Guild – awesome web series as well). It’s funny and heartbreaking, the perfect recipe for awesomeness.

I tend not to like musicals. Usually the characters talk a bit and then stop and break out into a song that just sort of re-describes their emotional state, just telling you what they’re feeling in lyrics instead of words. I find it takes you out of the world and story every time. Taking his cue from Sondheim, Whedon’s musical numbers are just as integral to the story. Characters live their emotions, they don’t just tell you about them, songs progress the story; their world is musical.

Dr. Horrible sprung out of the film and TV writers strike in the U.S. last year. Looking for a way to do something outside of the studio format and funding, Joss corralled friends and family and called in favours, funding the entire project from his own (albeit deeper than yours or mine) pockets. Everyone worked for free; working simply just to be a part of something new and fun, everyone pitched in as various production roles including some cameo acting when needed. The finished project has a polished lo-fi aesthetic, the kind where you don’t notice the budget limitations of the production because the people behind it are doing it for the love.

When it was released you could watch it for free online or download it from iTunes and now there’s a DVD for sale. The best part: everyone behind it is now getting paid. If it was just a job when they shot it and not a labour of love, I don’t think the charm of it all would shine. You can feel the energy radiating from the screen off the actors and sets, you can feel the presence of the entire crew behind the cameras, all in this together, saying, “Look! Look what we can make! We did it ourselves!”

- Kevin Parnell