Music

NXNE 2011: Thursday Best Bets

by Nicole Villeneuve

AUX’s BEST BETS: THURSDAY, JUNE 16

DAY TWO. Ready? Okay. Here’s who we’ll be seeing tonight at NXNE and who we implore you to see as well, but no pressure. Well a little pressure.

METZ/RUSTY/FUCKED UP/OFF!/DESCENDENTS We promise not to say NO DUH about too many of the picks this week but this one is one big total No Duh. One of the weekend’s best line-ups is heavy on the hard and is a free, early evening show featuring the first of two Rusty reunion shows, some of Toronto’s very own and very, very best punk bands (METZ and Fucked Up), plus punk legends in the form of Keith Morris’ new hardcore outfit OFF! and a reformed (again!) Descendents (!!)? Just, well done, NXNE. Well done, Toronto. MOSH. Yonge Dundas Square, 6pm-10:40pm

JULIANA HATFIELD/EVAN DANDO 90s revelers rejoice—your angsty, lonely teenaged self is going to have a time at Lee’s tonight. Old school Boston indie buds Juliana Hatfield and Evan Dando deliver some romanticized nostalgia together and, hopefully, some separately. Everyone going to this, do you want to just all pretend we’re 14 and best friends? Because I wish I’d known you then, cool alt/indie music loving friends. Lee’s Palace, 529 Bloor Street West, 12AM

JENNIFER CASTLE It’s possible you’re not too familiar with Jennifer Castle by name but you might be familiar with her by work: she’s previously recorded under the moniker Castlemusic and has loaned her voice to albums by the Constantines and, recently, Fucked Up and their beloved David Comes to Life. But on her new album Castlemusic the voice and almost-eerie edgy folk sounds she crafts are unforgettable, as is her show. Wrongbar, 1279 Queen Street West, 9PM

TY SEGALL A 60s garage revivalist who’s better than what you think when you think that, Ty Segall has often been referred to as a wunderkind for his young age (24ish) and his prolific output (somewhere around 25 albums/singles/EPs since 2008, and that’s just his solo stuff). He’s playing a couple of shows throughout the festival, so if you can’t make it tonight, you get a chance at a do-over. The Garrison, 119 Dundas St. West, 12AM

DIRTY BEACHES Taiwan-born and now Vancouver-based Badlands (aka Alex Zhang Hungtai) could be called no-fi, but something with this much thoughtful melody, even among the dissonant screeching guitars, like 50s rock and roll went and got real spooky, is too conceptual. Loose but direct, minimal and surprisingly dense, Dirty Beaches’ sound is one you want to hate because it’s so widely loved right now, but in the end, the loopy, grimey guitar-pop’ll win you over. Silver Dollar Room, 486 Spadina Avenue, 1AM

Get the full festival schedule and artist details over at NXNE.com.