W♥M (Archive)

Weekend Gamer: Baldur's Gate 3, GOG Galaxy 2, and Stadia

Baldur’s Gate 3 GOG Galaxy 2 Stadia Read More GOG At least there’s still GOG (Good Old Games)... which will likely be my #1 PC gaming solution now. This company doesn’t require you to be online to play games you own. . … Nvidia I wanted the best of the best Android TV, and eventually just bought the Nvidia Shield when they had a sale. I was holding out for a new model of this device (since the internal hardware had not been changed … Games Pathfinder: Kingmaker is not out yet, but I was so excited about this game coming out on GOG that I pre-ordered it. This game is based on the Pathfinder tabletop game, which was and offspring of Dungeon and Dragons…

As a Weekend Gamer, I’m very excited about some of the news that is coming out from the forthcoming E3 2019 (Electronic Entertainment Expo). Ahead of the expo (officially starting June 11 to June 13), there are a ton of news that leaked (intentional or otherwise).



BALDUR’S GATE 3
baldursgate3.game

First, I’m very happy to hear that Larian Studios will be making Baldur’s Gate 3. The last Baldur’s Gate game came out in 2000, so it’ll be a good 20 years since the last game (considering that BG3 probably won’t launch until 2020).

As you know, I’m a huge Black Isle Studios (the original Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale game developer) and would love a modern version of their games. I’m already familiar with Larian Studios via their excellent Divinity series (owning the semi-recent Divinity: Original Sin one and two).



GOG GALAXY 2.0
gogalaxy.com

I’m already a big GOG fan (it’s my launcher choice over Steam), so I was very happy to hear about GOG Galaxy 2.0. According to the developer, it’s the one launcher to unite them all. If it works, all my games on (Steam, Epic, Bethesda, Ubisoft, Blizzard) will be accessible with Galaxy 2. On top of that, any of your friends on various launchers will also make it out - you’ll just have to authorize them once for GOG.

It sounds too good to be true and I can’t wait for it. I’ve already signed up for the beta, so I’ll let you know if it’s any good.

This could potentially fail if the other launchers refuse to play ball (or even block GOG from access).



STADIA
stadia.google.com

I think the biggest loser in this gaming news is Google’s Stadia platform - set to launch in November 2019. I will be avoiding Stadia, and you should too.

I’ll break down the problem that I have with Stadia:

It’s a subscription service at $10 a month (at launch only 31 titles will be available). That price doesn’t include any modern games. Current games, you’ll still have to shell out another $60 (or retail price) per title. Compare that to Xbox’s Game Pass ($15 a month for more games and no additional cost for current games) or Sony’s PlayStation Now ($20 a month but no additional cost for current games) or NVIDIA’s GeForce Now (currently free), it’s a hard sell.

In order to use Stadia in 2019, you’ll also have to spend $130 for their “Founder’s Edition” (which includes 3 months free… after that, you’ll have to spend another $10 a month).

You need a very fast internet connection. WiFi gaming is really not an option. This is based on my own personal experience with game streaming using other services over WiFi.

I’m not exactly sure who Stadia is meant for. As someone who buys and plays games regularly, this Stadia service is not very appealing to me at all. Hardcore games cares about frames and buffer, so playing it on their high-end CPU is preferred. Casual games don’t care about Doom or other Triple-A titles. General gamers already own a game console like PS4 or Xbox One.

Stadia just sounds like a bad joke. I can’t see a future where they’ll be the dominate format. If that’s the future, I want no part of it.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

We♥Movies: Mr. Nelson On the Northside (Prince documentary advance screening)

Mr. Nelson On the Northside Producer: Dan D’Or, Michael J. Kirk Distributor: Kew Media Synopsis The journey to the top was a challenge for the shy kid from a broken home in North Minneapolis. This is the story never before told. In a mixedrace neighbourhood during the Civil Rights movement, Prince found security, musical opportunities and encouragement at a local community center called ‘The Way’. This influence, coupled with the culture and music of the era, gave Prince his passion for music and performance. In this film, Prince’s mentor Spike Moss explains the origin and influences that shaped Prince’s musical skills. Musical icons such as Chuck D, Macy Gray and Chaka Khan recount never before told stories of Prince and how his unique creative form inspired them. His fans share personal experiences of his social media connections and private performances at Paisley Park. Read More Prince The two big shows on this date will be the Prince Tribute Concert (featuring Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan) at Xcel Energy Center and Sia at Target Center. …

“This is how we funk on the Northside, got to be bold” - Prince, ‘Northside’

Since Prince Rogers Nelson unexpectedly passed away just over three years ago, the veritable floodgates have opened in terms of tributes, books, and documentaries about his fabled life, with even more coming soon.

Of those, none really focuses sharply on his formative early years and life as a mostly shy, sometimes mischievous, and extremely talented kid growing up in North Minneapolis, until now.

Mr. Nelson On the Northside is an in-progress documentary that plants a foot in Prince’s North Minneapolis neighborhood going into detail about the local community center called The Way, that helped nurture and encourage his fast-developing musical talent.

A workprint of the documentary was recently screened for the neighborhood community at a semi-private affair at Minneapolis North High School (FYI, Prince’s alma mater was not North, but the now-demolished Central High School).

It is unusual and somewhat brave for a director to screen a work that is still being finished, but director/producer Michael Kirk (credited as, and on IMDB as Kirk Fera) was both in town to do a few last interviews and very much wanted the neighborhood’s opinion of the as-is film, as one of his main objectives was to give the community a collective voice, regarding their own musical favorite son.

The film as we saw it, ran approximately ninety minutes, is told mostly chronologically with some nicely done supplemental animated bits, and is peppered with interview portions from known celebrities (some more apropo than others) such as Chaka Khan, Macy Gray, Orianthi, Dennis Quaid, Public Enemy MC Chuck D, Doors guitarist Robbie Krieger, and Living Colour ex-bassist Muzz Skillings.

Localy-based interviews were done with author and on-air personality Andrea Swensson, journalist Neal Karlen, local DJ Walter “Q Bear” Banks Jr, and activist and former director of The Way, Harry “Spike” Moss, with Karlen, Banks, and Moss in attendance for the screening.

As Prince’s star rose and he left Minneapolis to tour the world, so the film leaves the area as well, until near the end when it re-connects with the neighborhood and reveals tentative future plans to re-establish The Way, both here and elsewhere.

Khan (who is also their subject for an upcoming documentary herself) has a good amount of screen time, re-telling the story where she was tricked into going to the studio by Prince over the phone, he masquerading as someone else, and Swensson fills in many details of the developing scene locally, as her 2017 book Got to Be Something Here: The Rise of Minneapolis Sound (Univ of MN Press) begins in the year of Prince’s birth, 1958.

The film’s middle wanders a bit and it tries to wrap his arms around Prince’s global success with some of the interview content more germane to its subject than others, but becomes again compelling as things move full circle back into the neighborhood that spawned him with comments from people like Moss and Banks, that reinforce Prince’s overall value as inspiration to his home community.

“This film explores the man behind the hype – never has a film about Prince included the childhood influences in his life that helped create the genius that he was,” says Kirk in a statement, and it mostly achieves this, though would be unfair to fully review it while it is still in progress.

The documentary’s title itself might be a little confusing to the casual fan, as Mr. Nelson refers to the name Prince first wanted to be known as, before first producer Chris Moon explained to him there was already a more famous Mr. Nelson (Willie), and that his birth name was the natural choice to perform as.

The film will insert a few new interviews and undergo a final editing cut, before it is solicited to streaming, cable, and broadcast channels, with hope for wider and multi-country distribution soon.

Mr. Nelson On the Northside gives a much needed voice to the proud community that helped nurture the talent of a musical one-of-a-kind, a neighborhood that has much to say, but is still rarely asked to speak.

john ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Hozier at State Theatre, Minneapolis (02 June 2019)

State Theatre marquee Hozier Setlist Would That I Dinner & Diatribes Nina Cried Power Someone New Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene Nobody Talk From Eden Wasteland, Baby! Shrike No Plan To Be Alone Almost (Sweet Music) ackie and Wilson Moment's Silence (Common Tongue) Movement Take Me to Church -- Encore -- Cherry Wine To Noise Making (Sing) Work Song Balien Setlist Rose Leaves Something Tells Me Stray Dog I Was Wrong Going On A Feeling Not Gonna Take Me 25 For The Last Time Read More Hozier Irish singer-songwriter Hozier is enjoying a sold out American tour this Winter. He's touring in support of his eponymous debut self-titled studio album, which hit #1 on the Irish chart and #2 in the US charts. .... Bailen Bailen to open. We last saw her in Sep 2017 and said that they were twins David and Daniel and their sister Julia. ....

Irish singer Hozier is currently on a sold-out American tour, stopping by the State Theatre in Minneapolis on June 2nd.

Opening up the show was sibling band Bailen, featuring Julia, Daniel, and David Bailen. There’s a certain homemade charm about them, as we discovered the first time we encountered the trio with Joseph in Sep 2017.

The NYC group recently released their debut album Thrilled To Be Here (Fantasy Records), and they were literally thrilled to be playing some choice cuts from the record like “Something Tells Me”, “I Was Wrong”, and the rousing foot-stomper “Not Gonna Take Me”.

Before “Stray Dog”, Daniel said that it was nice to be back in the city (headlining the 7th Street Entry on 25 February 2019), but admitted that they didn’t miss the “negative 28 degrees”.

For their self-admitted most pop song, “Going On A Feeling”, the group joked that they needed to turn on the auto-tune machine in the back.

They closed out their 35-min set with the harmonizing “25 For The Last Time”.

Once again, Irish singer and songwriter Hozier is selling out his US tour. We first mentioned his popularity in February 2015, stating “Irish singer-songwriter Hozier is enjoying a sold out American tour this Winter. He's touring in support of his eponymous debut self-titled studio album, which hit #1 on the Irish chart and #2 in the US charts.”

What is even more impressive is that while the debut self-titled album only reached #2 on the US chart, Hozier’s sophomore album Wasteland, Baby! went straight to #1 - thanks to such strong singles as “Movement” and “Almost (Sweet Music)”.

Although his international breakout single “Take Me To Church” (which the band closed out the show with), I think the real secret to Hozier’s success is his very excellent band and backup singers. They were all giving their 150%, and you can just tell how much they love playing these songs.

Wasteland, Baby! is out now on Rubyworks/Island Records.

Remaining tour dates:

04/06/2019 Arvest Bank Theatre, Kansas City, MO
06/06/2019 Stifel Theatre, St Louis, MO
07/06/2019 Taft Theatre, Cincinnati, OH
08/06/2019 – 09/06/2019 LaureLive 2019
10/06/2019 Murat Theatre, Indianapolis, IN
11/06/2019 Clyde Theatre, Fort Wayne, IN
13/06/2019 Iroquois Amph, Louisville, KY
25/06/2019 Irish Independent Park, Cork
26/06/2019 – 30/06/2019 Glastonbury Festival 2019
27/06/2019 Ormeau Park, Belfast
26/07/2019 BB&T Pavilion, Camden, NJ
26/07/2019 – 28/07/2019 XPoNential Music Festival
01/08/2019 – 04/08/2019 Lollapalooza 2019
02/08/2019 – 04/08/2019 Osheaga Music & Arts 2019
06/08/2019 Colosseum, Caesar's Windsor
10/08/2019 – 11/08/2019 Railbird Festival 2019
21/08/2019 Sentrum Scene, Oslo, Norway
23/08/2019 – 25/08/2019 Today's Festival 2019
26/08/2019 Volkshaus, Zürich, Switzerland
30/08/2019 – 01/09/2019 Electric Picnic 2019
01/09/2019 AFAS Live, Amsterdam,
02/09/2019 Cirque Royal, Brussels, Belgium
04/09/2019 Große Freiheit 36, Hamburg, Ger
05/09/2019 Batschkapp, Frankfurt, Ger
07/09/2019 Palladium, Warsaw, Poland
07/09/2019 – 08/09/2019 Lollapalooza Berlin 2019
10/09/2019 Konzerthaus, Vienna, Austria
11/09/2019 Circus-krone-bau, Munich, Ger
13/09/2019 L'OLYMPIA, Paris, France
15/09/2019 Symphony Hall, Birmingham
16/09/2019 De Montfort Hall, Leicester
17/09/2019 St David's Hall, Cardiff, UK
19/09/2019 O2 Apollo Manchester, Manchester
20/09/2019 Sheffield City Hall, Sheffield
22/09/2019 O2 City Hall Newcastle, Newcastle Upon Tyne
24/09/2019 Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, UK
25/09/2019 Usher Hall, Edinburgh, UK

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Hozier at State Theatre, Minneapolis (02 June 2019)

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

R.I.P. Tony Glover (Koerner, Ray & Glover)

Koerner, Ray & Glover: The Return of Koerner, Ray & Glover Read More Koerner, Ray & Glover “Spider” John Koerner to open. Spider is best known as a guitarist and vocalist in the blues trio Koerner, Ray & Glover (with Dave Ray and Tony Glover). .…

Blues harmonicist Tony Glover passed away on May 29th at the age of 79 to natural causes, according to local Twin Cities newspaper citypages.com.

Tony “Little Sun” Glover was important to the West Bank folk scene in the ’60s, and later created the blues trio Koerner, Ray & Glover with “Spider” John Koerner and Dave Ray.

For the full death list head over to Musicians who died in 2019.

June (2)

[02 Jun 2019] Paulo P. A. Pagni (Brazilian drummer for RPM), 61

[01 Jun 2019] John Myers (British radio executive for GMG Radio, Radio Academy), 60, cancer

May (46)

[31 May 2019] Roky Erickson (American singer-songwriter for The 13th Floor Elevators), 71

[31 May 2019] Paddy Fahey (Irish composer and fiddler), 102

[31 May 2019] Đelo Jusić (Croatian composer and guitarist), 80

[30 May 2019] Leon Redbone (Cypriot-American singer-songwriter and actor), 69, complications of dementia

[29 May 2019] Diego Jose Belmonte (Argentinian chess player and violinist), 71

[29 May 2019] Tony Glover (American blues harmonicist for Koerner, Ray & Glover), 79

[29 May 2019] Jeff Walls (American guitarist for Guadalcanal Diary), pulmonary venoocclusive disease

[28 May 2019] Willie Ford (American soul singer for The Dramatics), 68

[28 May 2019] Ralph Murphy (British-born Canadian country musician), 75, pneumonia

[28 May 2019] John Gary Williams (American R&B singer for The Mad Lads), 73

[27 May 2019] Gabriel Diniz (Brazilian singer and composer), 28, plane crash

[26 May 2019] Rémi Gazel (French video game composer for Rayman), 41, cancer

[24 May 2019] Jaroslav Erik Frič (Czech musician), 69, cancer

[22 May 2019] François-René Tranchefort (French musicologist), 86

[22 May 2019] Khalid Hossain (Bangladeshi Nazrul Geeti singer), 83

[21 May 2019] Jake Black (Scottish musician for Alabama 3), 59

[20 May 2019] Mira Zakai (Israeli opera singer), 76, complications from a stroke

[19 May 2019] Nilda Fernández (French chanson singer), 61, heart failure

[19 May 2019] Alfred Janson (Norwegian composer and pianist), 82

[18 May 2019] Melvin Edmonds (American R&B singer for After 7), 65

[17 May 2019] Eric Moore (Ohio singer for The Godz), 67, bladder cancer

[16 May 2019] Deane Cameron (Canadian music executive for EMI), 66

[16 May 2019] Mick Micheyl (French actress and singer), 97

[16 May 2019] Agustín Pereyra Lucena (Argentine guitarist and songwriter), 71

[16 May 2019] Sol Yaged (American jazz clarinetist), 96

[15 May 2019] Chuck Barksdale (American singer for The Dells), 84

[14 May 2019] Étienne Perruchon (French composer), 61

[14 May 2019] Leon Rausch (American singer), 91

[14 May 2019] Mike Wilhelm (American musician for The Charlatans (60s band)), 77, cancer

[14 May 2019] Grumpy Cat (aka Tardar Sauce) (Internet meme cat), 7, urinary tract infection

[13 May 2019] Doris Day (American actress and singer), 97, pneumonia

[13 May 2019] Behnam Safavi (Iranian pop music singer), 36, complications from brain surgery

[12 May 2019] Hiralal Yadav (Indian folk singer), 93

[10 May 2019] Malcolm Black (New Zealand musician for Netherworld Dancing Toys), 58, bowel cancer

[09 May 2019] Arif Malikov (Azerbaijani composer for People's Artist of the USSR), 85

[08 May 2019] Luther Jennings (American singer for Jackson Southernaires), 86

[08 May 2019] Yevgeny Krylatov (Russian film composer), 85, pneumonia

[08 May 2019] Segundo Bautista (Ecuadorian composer), 85

[07 May 2019] Georg Katzer (German composer), 84

[07 May 2019] Subir Nandi (Bangladeshi musician and playback singer for Shuvoda), 66, multiple organ failure

[06 May 2019] Pekka Airaksinen (Finnish composer and musician), 73

[04 May 2019] J. R. Cobb (American musician for Atlanta Rhythm Section), 75, heart attack

[03 May 2019] Mose Se Sengo (Congolese musician), 73

[02 May 2019] John Starling (American bluegrass musician for The Seldom Scene), 79, heart failure

[02 May 2019] Juan Vicente Torrealba (Venezuelan harpist and composer), 102

[01 May 2019] Vladimír Poštulka (Czech lyricist), 76, complications from a fall

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Double Exposure Tour, feat. Chromatics, Desire, and In Mirrors, at First Avenue, Minneapolis (30 May 2019)

Chromatics at First Avenue Chromatics Setlist     Intro: Tick of the Clock Lady Kill for Love Night Drive / Paradise Back from the Grave I Can Never Be Myself When You're Around Time Rider These Streets Will Never Look the Same Blue Girl I Want Your Love Cherry Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) (Neil Young & Crazy Horse cover) -- Encore -- I'm on Fire (Bruce Springsteen cover) Shadow Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) (Kate Bush cover) Desire Setlist Mirroir Mirroir Dans mes rêves Don't Call If I Can't Hold You Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order cover) Under Your Spell In Mirrors Setlist Gold Human Mirror Girl Take Your Movement Away Escape From Berlin Choose a Side Streets of Philadelphia (Bruce Springsteen cover) Tour Dates 06/04/2019 – The Palace - Calgary, AB 06/06/2019 – Vogue Theater - Vancouver, BC 06/07/2019 – Showbox - Seattle, WA 06/08/2019 – Wonder Ballroom - Portland, OR 06/09/2019 – Wonder Ballroom - Portland, OR 06/11/2019 – Mezzanine - San Francisco, CA 06/12/2019 – Mezzanine - San Francisco, CA 10/04/2019 - Copenhagen- The Grey Hall 10/05/2019 - Stockholm - Berns 10/07/2019 - Oslo - Rockefeller Music Hall 10/09/2019 - Berlin - Astra Kulturhaus 10/11/2019 - Vilnius - Art Factory Loft 10/12/2019 - Warsaw - Praga Centrum 10/14/2019 - Vienna - Arena 10/16/2019 - Prague - MeetFactory & 10/17/2019 - Munich - Muffathalle 10/19/2019 - Cologne - Carlswerk Victoria 10/22/2019 - Dublin - Vicar Street 10/23/2019 - Manchester - Albert Hall 10/24/2019 - Glasgow - SWG3 10/26/2019 - Bristol - Anson Rooms 10/27/2019 - London - The Roundhouse 10/29/2019 - Antwerp - Trix 10/30/2019 - Amsterdam - Paradiso Read More Chromatics David Lynch’s favorite band Chromatics will be headlining First Avenue’s mainroom on May 30th. If you love hypnotic singing and melodies and synthpop and Twin Peaks, you really need to check out Chromatics next .... Desire As for the soundtrack, I love it too! The songs are synthy, I guess for that 80s tone that I previously mention that the film is drenched in. The soundtrack is courtesy of Lakeshore Records ....

Portland’s Chromatics is back in town on a rare tour. The last time they were at First Avenue, it was with Hot Chip in July 2012… so it’s been a good seven years since they played here.

All three bands listed on this Double Exposure tour had Johnny Jewel in them… so the man was basically playing three hours a night. He had so much dedication, and I think is really the mastermind behind this whole tour.

Starting the show was Vancouver’s In Mirrors (Jesse Taylor with Johnny Jewel). The duo played in near-darkness for their entire set, with some video images shown in the background. The darkness did help with the feeling of isolation, which was a real focus on their debut LP Escape from Berlin.

Closing out the set, Taylor asked the audience, “do you want a fast or slow one?” I’m not sure what the crowd said in response, but the answer was In Mirrors playing a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia” (assuming they said “slow”).

Next up was Montreal’s Desire, featuring frontwoman Megan Louise, with Johnny Jewel on synthesizers, and Aja (from Heaven) on additional synth (she took place for Nat Walker, who is normally in the band). The group is probably the most pop of the three bands, as evident by their stand-out pop-ish song “Mirroir Mirroir”, telephone-prop for “Don’t Call”, and their Italo Disco cover of New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle”. That was such a great cover, that it was hard to follow that up with their closing song, “Under Your Spell.” However, it’s still a good choice, because it’s probably their best-known song. The song was featured in the underrated and amazing Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive soundtrack (we mentioned the soundtrack in 2011).

Finally, Chromatics closed out the show. Before we talk about the show, I wanted to mention that I really love the overall theme and re-invention of the band. I’m talking about the eerie-movie visuals from Johnny Jewel (mixed by video artist Danny Perez from Antibirth and Panda Bear), the neon-lights at their merchandise table, and atmospheric lighting. It’s really cool, and I’ve never seen so many fans buying merchandise at a show. That’s because the prices are so affordable, it’s like they made those neon lights with the prices ten years ago.

The other thing I wanted to address is their long hiatus from the music scene. In 2014, the band announced Dear Tommy… but the record never came out because Johnny Jewel, a perfectionist, destroyed all copies of the album after a near-death experience. According to legends, Jewel re-recorded the entire album, but as of this writing, the record has yet to see the light of day. Some singles, like “Just Like You” and “I Can Never Be Myself When You’re Around” came out before the record was scrapped… so you got a glimpse of what the record sounded like.

Anyway, currently, at least for this tour, Chromatics features Ruth Radelet, Adam Miller, Matt Miller (replacing Nat Walker), and Johnny Jewel. The show is really special to brothers Adam & Matt, who told us that they grew up in Minneapolis. So when they were young, and going to concerts, “First Avenue was this place that was a doorway to a different reality.” They were very grateful to be on stage, closing their speech with “Thank you, thanks a lot.”

Since being absent from touring in so long (Chromatics’ last live show was five years ago), they did the right thing by playing some of the fans’ favorite songs… playing everything from “Kill for Love” to “Blue Girl” (with Adam Miller on lead vocals), and their cover of Neil Young’s “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)” (which closed out their set).

For the encore, Ruth came back solo to play a stripped down (and slowed) version of Springsteen’s “I'm on Fire”. The cover has been quite popular recently (with Lykke Li, Brown Shoe, Young Turks, AWOLNATION, Ten Fe, and Soccer Mommy from our previous coverages).

The rest of the band joined Ruth to close out the encore with their recent hit “Shadow” (which was used in Twin Peaks Season 3) and a cover of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)”.

If you are on the fence about seeing Chromatics, you should do it… especially if you enjoy the work of Johnny Jewel (who had his finger in every aspect of the show). Also, who knows when the band will get together for another tour, so take this opportunity to see the band, at what I considered, is their finest hour.

Desire

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Chromatics Setlist

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Chromatics at First Avenue, Minneapolis (30 May 2019)

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Operators and Doomsquad at Turf Club, St Paul (29 May 2019)

Operators at Turf Club Operators Setlist Days In Moderan I Feel Emotion Memories of the Future * Terminal Beach Despair Come & See I'm Confused * Faithless Low Life -- Encore -- Serve the People * True Cold Light * Handsome Furs song Read More Operators Operators is the project of Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Divine Fits). Their debut album Blue Wave will come out April 1st on Last Gang Records... but you can preview these new songs on this upcoming 7th Street Entry ...

Montreal’s Operators headlined the Turf Club on Wednesday, May 29th, in support of their new album Radiant Dawn (Last Gang Records).

Toronto’s electro-psych, dance-rock trio Doomsquad (stylized as DOOMSQUAD and previously spelled as Doom Squad) opened the show. As we previously mentioned, the group are siblings: Trevor, Jaclyn and Allie Blumas. Trevor Blumas is probably the best-known for co-starring in Ice Princess, a Disney film from 2005.

Their music, although described as dance-rock, hearing them live, it sounds like dance/darkwave and sometime like something you would hear from The Fall (rest in peace, Mark E Smith). All three traded vocals and takes over lead vocals for their respective songs.

You can also tell they are natural performers - based on their choice of clothing and clear plastic that covered their instruments (and body parts). It’s all part of their theme for their album Let Yourself Be Seen (out last month on Bella Union). The record was recently announced as landing #1 on the Canada National Electronic charts.

They started their set with one of their popular single, “Weather Patterns”, but personally speaking, my favorite song on their set was “General Hum” (mostly for using cleverly using Instagram in a lyric).

Operators (not to be confused with England's The Operators or Los Angeles' post-grunge band Operator or New York’s quartet Operator Music Band) is back in town in support of Radiant Dawn. We first mentioned the group in 2016, when Operators went out to promote their debut record Blue Wave (Last Gang Records).

To give you a little background, the Synth-pop trio (featuring Dan Boeckner, Devojka, and Sam Brown) is essentially a project from Dan Boeckner, who is/was a member of Wolf Parade, Atlas Strategic, Handsome Furs, and supergroup Divine Fits. If you look over their setlist (photo included), you’ll notice quite a few Handsome Furs’ songs (including “Memories of the Future” and “I’m Confused”). These Operators’ shows are probably the only way to hear these songs live, because Handsome Furs ended in 2012, when Boeckner and now ex-wife Alexei Perry announced their breakup. In many ways, Handsome Furs seemed like the original blueprint that Operators’ music is based upon.

With Radiant Dawn out now, it’s natural that those songs are the emphasis on this set. In fact, with the exception of the Handsome Furs’ songs, the entire set is from Radiant Dawn. It’s only during the encore do we get some older songs, including “True” from the original EP EP1 and “Cold Light” from the debut album Blue Wave.

Remaining tour dates:

6/1 - Saskatoon, SK - Capitol 6/3 - Edmonton, AB - Starlite 6/4 - Calgary, AB - Commonwealth 6/6 - Victoria, BC - Upstairs 6/7 - Vancouver, BC - Fortune 6/8 - Vancouver, BC - Fortune 6/9 - Seattle, WA - Neumos 6/10 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir 6/12 - San Francisco, CA - Independent 6/13 - Los Angeles CA - Teragram 6/14 - San Diego, CA - Casbah 6/15 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar 6/17 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court 6/18 - Denver, CO - Lost Lake 6/19 - Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad 6/20 - Dallas, TX - Three Links 6/21 - Austin, TX - 3TEN ACL Live 6/22 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall 6/24 - Atlanta, GA - Earl 6/25 - Nashville, TN - High Watt

6/26 - Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups 7/10 - Allston, MA - Great Scott 7/11 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom 7/12 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's 7/13 - Washington, DC - U Street Music Hall 8/29 – Tromsø, NO – DRIV Festival 8/31 – Skopje, MK – Zradvo Mladi Festival 9/01 – Belgrade, RS – Elektropionir 9/03 – Budapest, HU – Durer Kert 9/04 – Zagreb, HR – Vintage Industrial Bar 9/05 – Vienna, AT – Fluc 9/06 – Prague, CZ – Meet Factory 9/07 – Berlin, DE - Torstrassenfestival 9/11 – Rijeka, HR – Klub Zivot 9/12 – Ljubijana, SL - KINO ŠIŠKA 9/15 – Colmar, FR – Le Grillen 9/17 – Luxembourg, LX – De Gudde Wellen 9/18 – Rotterdam, NL – Rotown 9/19 – London, UK – Sebright Arms 9/20 – Bucharest, RO – Control Club 9/21 – Cluj Napoca, RO – Form Café

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Operators Setlist

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Operators at Turf Club, St Paul (29 May 2019)

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic