Broken Social Scene Announce Spring U.S.I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: In the new millennium, nothing is better for rock ‘n’ roll than large numbers of Canadians.Watch Broken Social Scene Perform Two New Songs on The Strombo Show By Adam Weddle Janu| 4:21pm.Broken Social Scene Celebrate Valentine's Day with "Boyfriends" By Montana Martin Febru| 2:23pm.The 20 Best EPs of 2019 By Lizzie Manno & Paste Staff Decem| 1:00pm.Record Time: New & Notable Vinyl Releases (March 2020) By Robert Ham Ma| 3:57pm.Broken Social Scene Announce Rarities Compilation, Shares New Single By Ana Cubas Decem| 1:25pm.There's certainly plenty for the music press to report breathlessly on, from guest musicians (Metric's Haines and Jimmy Shaw) to gossip (guitarist/producer Dave Newfeld getting busted for weed and roughed up by Manhattan's finest last time he was in town) to a sprawling family tree of bands (including Do Make Say Think, Feist and Apostle of Hustle).
Having played with several of indie rock's gimmicks in recent years-size (see The Polyphonic Spree), abstractness (see Animal Collective), Canadian maximalism (see The Arcade Fire), and all-for-one-and-one-for-allness (see the Elephant 6 Recording Company), Broken Social Scene manages to capture its audience’s imagination nearly every time.
Frontman Kevin Drew's stage presence was magnificently unmagnetic. Like the band’s albums, there were few unsubmerged choruses, and even fewer focused throughlines. Even when the band broke down to a quintet (plus backline percussionists) for "Time = Cause," the music was hard to pin down. The guitarists employed a variety of techniques to build their wall: upper-register arpeggios, assured palm-muted counterrhythms, squalling butterfly sweeps, lone melodies, harmonized chording and any number of other texture-building devices. With as many as six guitars at times (when did the guitar army become hip again?), and often as many percussionists, the band conjured African bandleader King Sunny Ade in spirit, if not sound. And there were other frenzies later-like the arrival of slinkily-attired Metric vocalist Emily Haines for "Anthems For A Seventeen-Year Old Girl"-but the band rapidly settled into deep drift.Īnd what a lovely, sloppy drift it was. Accidental," which was ecstasy-inducing by dint of sheer volume (bassist Brendan Caming's leaping splits didn't detract, either).
The second frenzy came with the propulsive near-jungle groove of "K.C. The band capitalized early on, the first frenzy coming with the introduction of an eight-piece horn section for "7/4 (Shoreline)," off 2005's Broken Social Scene. On closing night, Broken Social Scene took the gaudy ballroom stage to AC/DC's "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)," urging the Manhattan crowd into a tizzy. Since shot the Toronto collective into the indie mainstream with an almost-perfect review of 2002's You Forgot It In People, the band's roll has swelled, resulting in the outfit that performed three sold-out shows at Manhattan's spacious Webster Hall before jetting off to Europe. How else could one explain the fact that, somehow, Canada's Broken Social Scene sees nothing wrong with paying an 18-member band? Of course, it could also be the success.