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Let’s just say for a minute, perhaps crazily, perhaps even impossibly, that maaaybe you won’t be camping out on Queen Street next weekend, waiting impatiently for the MMVAs. Maybe you have loftier musical goals in mind. Maybe you’re gonna try and see all 500+ bands at the upcoming NXNE Festival, taking place in fair Torontonia from June 17th-21st. Well, then you are crazy. That’s frigging impossible!

Luckily for you, your new best friend Jessica has the whole situation under control. After having tirelessly combed through the ranks of show-offy musicians who’ll be in town next week, I’m pleased to bring you Part the First of my top musical picks for next week’s music fest, conveniently from the first half of the alphabet. (Part the Second will appear, as if by magic, next Wednesday).

For a good time, call on the following:

Amos the Transparent

From the nation’s capital comes Amos The Transparent, the former Jonathan Chandler-Christopher Wilson duo that transformed into a six-piece collaborative effort. Amos combines elements from folk, rock, and country into their music to fill their too-brief My, What Big Teeth You Have with songs that have been compared to Elliot Smith and Wilco. I also hear that despite these mellow comparisons, they are incredibly capable of rocking their way out of that box of labels.

Listen to it! “Lemons”

Apostle of Hustle

Andrew Whiteman, Apostle of Hustle frontman, and aka Broken Social Scene guitarist, wants you to know that he Eats Darkness (probably for breakfast, too), and has titled AoH’s new album the same. The work, apparently, is a concept album that tries to impress upon listeners that eating darkness is the only way to defeat darkness, or something equally profound. AoH’s work is pretty much what you’d expect from a BSS offshoot, which can be both a blessing and a curse, depending on the colour of your socks.

Listen to this track: “Soul Unwind”

Black Hat Brigade

Conveniently on the same bill as Amos, the fellas from the Black Hat Brigade are Brampton-by-way-of-Toronto natives who have been out on the town sounding like a dreamier Wolf Parade with poppier chords progressions played about six times faster. Their sound is nicely layered, but not complex enough to lose a casual listener. They can also tread some darker territory: “Signal Fire” sounds like a Scottish Sailor’s Funeral Dirge. That they site “overexposure to video game soundtracks” as an influence should also be seen as a positive preview of what you should expect from their live antics.

Listen to it! “Zombie City Shake”

Elephant Stone

Elephant Stone, based out of Montreal, are calling themselves “Hindie Rock”, which is kind of a cute move on their parts, and sounds pretty accurate to the unbiased ear. They’re the idea-baby of Rishi Dhir, former sitar player of the High Dials, and, well, new Elephant Stone sitar player and singer. They just released their first album, The Seven Seas, last week. Sounding like one part ethereal Can-indie, one part The-Beatles’-George-Harrison-written songs, and one part mystical cosmic dust, their music alone pretty much guarantees a trippy-yet-totally-laid-back-dude experience.

Listen to it! “I Am Blind”

Hooded Fang

In the exuberant spirit of such predecessors (uh, except they aren’t dead) as The Ghost is Dancing and the Born Ruffians, Hooded Fang is here to show you the happy silver lining in your day. Also they want to fit as many people on stage as possible. They fill their songs with quick, light bass beats, phrases like “I don’t wanna be a grumpy gus” and handclaps galore, in an attempt to demonstrate that only sad bitter people DON’T listen to their music.

Listen to it! “Land of Giants”

Who are you excited about for NXNE? Who am I forgetting? Who are you hoping makes the cut in Part Two? Leave me a note, we shall debate it out.

Tags: amos the transparent, apostle of hustle, black hat brigade, elephant stone, hooded fang, nxne

Posted on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 at 2:52 pm by Jessica M and is filed under Blog, Concerts & Events.

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