The Flashing Lights, Absolute Losers @ Lee's Palace, Saturday

Matt Murphy and his Flashing Lights crew resurface for a show at Lee's Palace tonight at 7 pm. Get tickets right here. 

LINKS
Watch a Flashing Lights rehearsal right here

Lydia Lunch & Marc Hurtado perform the music of Suicide @ Lee's Palace, Feb 13

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Lydia & Marc present the songs of Suicide at Lee's Palace on February 13th. Get tickets right here.      Photo by Helène Cazes

Here's the scoop...

After the Big Sexy Noise tour Lydia will be reunited with Marc, to perform the Suicide and Alan Vega songs, for the first time in Canada. Watch some recent performance footage below. 

Feb 13: Toronto - Lee's Palace

Feb 14: Montreal - La Sala Rossa

Feb 15: Ottawa - Club SAW

JD McPherson's "Socks" Rock 'n' Roll Christmas tour hits Lee's Palace, tonight

'Tis the season for some yuletide rippin' from JD McPherson and crew with special guest Melissa Carper opening the show. 

TONIGHT! "Socks" A Rock & Roll Christmas Tour with guitar slinger deluxe JD McPherson and his band rolls into Lee's Palace with special guest Melissa Carper opening the show! Tickets are $48.56 (advance) available online right here and at the door. Watch JD perform "Run Rudolph Run," "Bad Kid" and more below. 

Pokey LaFarge, DJ Faby Baby @ Lee's Palace, Friday

Pokey LaFarge makes a rare Toronto appearance at Lee's Palace on Friday. Tickets are $42.38. Get 'em below. 

Pokey LaFarge – Rhumba Country

After crisscrossing the nation for the last half-decade looking for a home, Pokey LaFarge found himself in Mid-Coast Maine. Upon arriving, the Illinois-born singer/songwriter/actor pursued a major life change, working 12-hour days on a local farm—a turn of events that catalyzed an extraordinary burst of creativity and redefined his sense of purpose as an artist. Rhumba Country was initially shaped from material that emerged while LaFarge was deep in work on the farm. 

“I’d be pushing a plow or scattering seeds, and the songs would just come to me,” he recalls. “It was tremendously inspirational and made me realize that apart from singing, farming is perhaps the oldest human art form.” 

While farming, LaFarge began dreaming up a kaleidoscopic sound informed by his love of music from far-ranging eras and corners of the globe, including mambo, tropicália, rocksteady, and mid-century American rock-and-roll. “The songs that naturally come to me are upbeat and make you wanna dance or at least bop your head—they’re all very colourful,” says LaFarge. 

“I used to think of my music in dark blue, but now I see it in technicolor.” Co-produced along with Chris Seefried and Elliot Bergman and recorded in L.A., the resulting Rhumba Country is an invitation to come together to celebrate life and love.

Get a copy of Pokey's Rhumba Country album via Bandcamp right here. Get tickets for his show at Lee's Palace on Friday (October 17) right here. Watch a few performance clips, videos along with an interview and a discussion of so-called "Americana" music you may have missed. 
 

Kool Keith @ Lee's Palace, Wednesday

Kool Keith performs the songs off his latest album Mr. Controller and much more at Lee's Palace. Doors at 7 pm.

Guitar Wolf rocks Lee's Palace, Saturday

Guitar Wolf's long overdue return to Toronto on Saturday night promises to be a typically unhinged jet-rock 'n' roll blowout.  

Watch Nick Waterhouse live from Daryl Hall's House

R&B upstart Nick Waterhouse joined Daryl Hall for a session recently. Catch Nick Waterhouse in T.O. at Lee's Palace on April 28.

Tickets are now on sale for Nick Waterhouse's upcoming show at Lee's Palace on Sunday, April 28th – get 'em right here. 

Guitar Wolf announces Toronto show at Lee's Palace on May 18th!

Japan's mighty Guitar Wolf returns to Toronto for a show at Lee's Palace May 18th – get tickets while you can right here. 

90s Nostalgia: U.I.C. at Lee's Palace, 1992

Here's U.I.C. with the late Dan Preszcator on bass performing three songs introduced by Dave Bookman on April 11, 1992. 

90s Nostalgia: Boss Hog at Lee's Palace, 1995

Here's Boss Hog's Jon Spencer and partner Cristina Martinez rockin' Lee's Palace on November 11, 1995. 

90s Nostalgia: Elliott Smith at Lee's Palace, 1998

Here's singer/songwriter Elliott Smith's show shot by Derek Emerson in Toronto on October 7, 1998. See set list below. 

Elliott Smith - Lee's Palace, Toronto, Canada October 7 1998

Division Day - 00:00

Sweet Adeline - 03:00

Bottle up and explode - 06:10

Waltz #2 - 08:34

Pictures of Me - 13:00

Stupidity Tries - 16:37

Bled White - 20:22

Alameda - 23:10

Happiness - 26:52

Baby Britain - 31:19

Speed Trials - 34:40

Ballad of Big Nothing - 37:45

Independence Day - 42:40

Say Yes - 46:50

Condor Ave. - 49:30

I Didn't Understand - 53:15

90s Nostalgia: New Kingdom live at Lee's Palace, 1994

Here's NYC psych-rap crew New Kingdom (Jason Furlow, Sebastian Laws) at Lee's Palace in Toronto shot by Rick Scullion.

Watch Otoboke Beaver's video for "Pardon?"

"Pardon?" is off Otoboke Beaver's new album, Super Champon, out May 6. They're playing Lee's Palace on September 30th.

Better get tickets quick for Otoboke Beaver's upcoming Toronto show right here – it's sure to be a sell out! 

Otoboke Beaver preview Super Champon album with "I Am Not Maternal" animated clip

Kyoto punk rippers Otoboke Beaver expand their sound palette with Super Champon. Check out "I Am Not Maternal" below. 

Here's the scoop...

CHAMPON is a Japanese noun meaning a mixture or jumble of things of different type. 

Our new album is a mixture of songs of love, food and life. Our music is genreless and has various elements. We hope that it will be our masterpiece of chaos music!

Pre-order Otoboke Beaver's new Super Champon album right here. Watch the video for "I Am Not Maternal" following the tracklisting. 

Grab a ticket for Otoboke Beaver's rescheduled Toronto show at Lee's Palace now slated for Friday, September 30 below. 

Otoboke Beaver - Super Champon

1. I am not maternal (アイドンビリーブマイ母性) 

2. YAKITORI (ヤキトリ)

3. I won't dish out salads (サラダ取り分けませんことよ)

4. PARDON? (パードゥン？)

5. Nabe party with pocket brothers (穴兄弟で鍋パーティー)

6. Leave me alone! No, stay with me! (リーブミーアローンやっぱさっきのなしでステイウィズミ)

7. I checked your cellphone (携帯みてしまいました)

8. I put my love to you in a song (あなたとの恋、歌にして)

9. Don't call me Mojo (呼ばんといて喪女)

10. Where did you buy such a nice watch you are wearing now (あらあんたえらいええ時計してそれどこで買いはったん)

11. George & Janice (ジョージ&ジャニス)

12. First-class side-guy (一級品の間男)

13. You’re no hero shut up f*ck you man-whore (ヤリチン武勇伝ちゃう口を慎め)

14. I don't want to die alone (孤独死こわい)

15. Dirty old fart is waiting for my reaction 

16. Do you want me to send a DM (DM送ってやろうか)

17. Do you want me to send a DM part 2 (DM送ってやろうか Part2)

18. Let's go shopping after show (レッツショッピングアフターショー)

Tickets for Otoboke Beaver's show at Lee's Palace on September 30 are available right here. 

90s Nostalgia: New Bomb Turks at Lee's Palace in Toronto

Here's Eric Davidson and crew doing The Stones' "Jivin' Sister Fanny" followed by a cover of "Shake" with Danko Jones at Lee's Palace in 1996.

Also, here's NBT's "Sucker Punch" promo clip from 1991

The Scientists, B-17 @ Lee's Palace, April 13

Tickets for this rare Toronto appearance of Kim Salmon and his Scientists crew go on sale January 24 right here. 

Guided By Voices to play Lee's Palace on October 25

Tickets will be on sale June 29th via Ticketfly for GBV's triumphant return to Toronto in October. Check the clip below.