i(heart)music festival 2009: an annotated guide

As I've mentioned one or two or a dozen times, this year's edition of i(heart)music festival kicks off tomorrow night (August 20th) at Café Dekcuf. As such, I figured I should give an overview of the bands who will be helping me celebrate this site's fourth anniversary...



You can't really tell from the one song up on Converters' Myspace, but they're one of the most promising new Ottawa bands I've seen in awhile. They're very loud and very reverby, and I couldn't be more excited to have them kick off the " target="_blank">festival's opening night. (Download "Young Country")



Parlovr took awhile to grow on me, but once I finally gave their self-titled debut a proper listen, I was won over. Seeing them at NxNE back in June only made me love them more, since they know how to translate their punk-tinged pop to a live setting. (Download "Sever My Ties")



Most of what I had to say about Still Life Still, I said in this week's feature. Still, it bears repeating: Girls Come Too is an excellent album, and Still Life Still aren't going to be playing venues the size of Cafe Dekcuf for very much longer. (Download "Neon Blue")



I've seen Sadie Hell a couple of times now, and I don't think they've ever performed the set twice. That said, over the past two or three years, the band has definitely evolved towards a sound that's uniquely theirs, and with an album apparently due out this Fall, I'm eager to see exactly where they end up. (Download "Onward, Hop!")



Friday night's show is probably the most high energy of the three nights, so it's fitting that a band like Oh No Forest Fires will be starting off the proceedings. It's a total cliché, but the band really is a force of nature on stage. Adam Nimmo is a whirlwind behind the kit, and frontman Rajiv Thavanathan is...a much hairier, much more frenzied whirlwind. (Download "Fighting Heidi")



I wouldn't want to be the band that has to follow ONFF, but Modernboys Moderngirls are one of the few that could. They're about to re-release a remastered version of last year's Might As Well Break It, and after just a few listens I have to say the remastering has definitely made an already strong album significantly better. (Download "Tell Them Everything")



From MBMG, the night only gets better with The Love Machine. Every show I've ever seen them do has been a whole lot of fun, and I've no doubt that this set should continue that trend. (Download "We Are Squirrels and This Is Nuts")



Lastly -- but by no stretch of the imagination least -- The Balconies are going to ensure that the evening goes out with a bang. Their self-titled debut is definitely one of the best albums I've heard so far this year, and it'll be doubly nice to play host to the band's first show back in Ottawa after relocating to Toronto. As I said a few weeks ago, I'll have a lot more to say about them once their album is actually out, but for now I'll just say that people will be kicking themselves if they miss this set. (Download "The Slo")



The fest's " target="_blank">final night will be started off by On Bodies and, like I wrote a few days ago, I'm eager to see the one band at the festival that I haven't seen live before. Their recorded output seems to indicate that they'll be worth seeing though, so I'd encourage people to come out in time to see them. (Download "Spectres And Ghosts")



As my Polaris Prize picks probably indicated, I think pretty highly of Giant Hand. He never fails to be anything less than riveting when he's on stage, and he's only getting better and better. (Download "No Son of Mine")


That goes double for the first band on my Polaris ballot, Black Hat Brigade. Great on record, great in concert...just a really great band all around. (Download "Lost Boys")


Finally, The Lovely Feathers. They don't really need any kind of introduction, apart from simply saying that they're awesome. Whether you're talking about Fantasy of the Lot or their frantic stage performances, there are all kinds of adjectives you could use to describe, all of them highly complimentary. (Download "The Lion Eats The Wildebeest")

You can still get tickets for each of the shows at Vertigo Records, or if you don't feel like leaving your computer at the moment (or if you want a three-day pass), just go buy them from this site. Either way, pick yours up today, because I'm pretty confident that all three shows are going to be jam-packed fun!