- 2010-05-28 -

Metal Kites & the Phonemes

We're celebrating Regalia Boutique's move into the alley with a concert in the studio upstairs. Our friends from Toronto are in town to bring the music. Awesome folks, food and drinks downstairs in the new store, Great music. Tickets are $10, available in advance as of Saturday May 22nd at Regalia Boutique's current location on Pandora. Super limited space, so reserving in advance is recommended.

The Phonemes
Myspace: www.myspace.com/thephonemes
Website: www.thephonemes.com
video: http://www.southernsouls.ca/thephonemes.html

The musical project of Magali Meagher, the Phonemes’ sinewy lyrical imagery finds purchase in simple, melody driven songs and layered rhythm. Sometimes with a band and sometimes with only her own two wings, Magali has sung her way across North America and Europe with Owen Pallett, Bob Wiseman, Basia Bulat, Laura Barrett, The Hidden Cameras, Forest City Lovers and others, backed up American indie icon Daniel Johnston on drums, starred in The Rat King rock opera at New York's international Fringe Festival, opened Kids in the Hall Scott Thompson's "Scottastrophe" tour as well as composed music for a handful animated films. Magali's song "April, let's send his colleagues an e-mail" appears on this year's Friends in Bellwoods compilation to benefit the Toronto Daily Bread Foodbank. Magali is also a member of the wildly popular, Weezer approved band Sheezer with Dana Snell (The Bicycles, Gentleman Reg), Laura Barrett, Robin Hatch (formerly of Sports, the band) and lead guitarist Alysha Haugen.

The Phonemes latest recording released on Blocks Recording Club "There's something we've been meaning to do" was recorded by Efrim Menuck (A Silver Mt. Zion, Godspeed you black emperor) at thee mighty hotel2tango (Arcade Fire, Vic Chesnutt) and features ubiquitous wunderkind Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy).

Magali is working on a second full length recording entitled “The Vanishing Point” to be released in 2010.

Metal Kites
www.myspace.com/metalkites

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVFXejU6NfQ

Despite the laws of physics, John Tielli's Metal Kites have taken flight. This unusual and beautiful feat was accomplished with the aid of male and female voices, guitars, synths, drums and an assortment of unconventional sounds including tapping, howling, clanking, thumping, swishing, and the melancholic cries of a theremin. These textures along with haunting melodies and dreamlike stories of spiritual and intellectual awakening bring to mind the subconscious explorations of influences such as The Pixies, the Talking Heads, Bob Dylan and film maker David Lynch. Each Metal Kites song seems to create a little world of it's own with unexpected twists that keep you hanging on to every last word and note.

If the listener hears similarities in the timbre and last name of the lead singer to Martin Tielli of Rheostatics that's because John Tielli is Martin's younger brother. If the listener hears some similarities to the Arcade Fire, that too would make sense, given that John's previous influential, Ottawa based indie rock outfit, Clark the band included two members of that band back in the early to mid 2000's (Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara). Incidentally, not long before becoming indie rock icons, the Arcade Fire actually opened for Clark the band on two occasions. Clark the band released 2 critically acclaimed CD's. Of Clark the band's 2005 release “The Woods”, Exclaim! Magazine announced: “truly special...a stunning achievement” and the Ottawa Sun declared: “it’s among the most sublime collection of brilliant, utterly unique pop music you are ever likely to hear.” In 2002 Clark the band was one of 3 finalists for CBC's “Big Break Contest” and subsequently appeared on ZED TV.

Since moving back to his hometown of Toronto in 2006, John Tielli who is the lead singer and primary songwriter of Metal Kites has taken up the theremin and seems to have made a special bond with the unusual instrument.

*I know the links don't work, I'm figuring it out! sorry!