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Archive for the ‘Jennifer Castle’ Category

Destroyer / Jennifer Castle (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 12, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Dan Bejar, Destroyer, Jennifer Castle, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on October 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 12, 2025] Destroyer / Jennifer Castle

I had tickets to see Destroyer here in 2022, but other things got in the way.  After seeing Destroyer open for Father John Misty, I was curious to see how he would tour for this new album (a huge band or a small band?)

Well, we had tickets for My Morning Jacket the two nights before this show and even though I wanted to go to this one, there was just know way I could do it.  So I missed out on Dan and his band again,  But I’m sure he’ll be back again.

Incidentally, here’s a review of his show (well, actually, more of him than of the show) in San Francisco

He’s a notoriously shy performer—Early reviews of Destroyer all recall him coming on stage already drunk, if not drink-in-hand prepared for it.  English major dropout, lover of French New Wave films and 40s era jazz. The Vancouver-based artist stands aloof on stage, staring at seemingly nobody in particular, in what seems like an attempt to pretend the crowd isn’t there. He sips his beer in between songs and crouches down, closing his eyes while his bandmates do the rest. Something tells me that this is his most comfortable and preferred way of performing.

And it answered my question about his live band

Joined by the two guitarists, the bassist and drummer were feverish and impossible to take your eyes off of. The keys player and trumpeter (with his own pedal board, mind you!) took the edges of the stage, with Bejar in the center.

So I know what I missed.  And I’d like to see it again.

Jennifer Castle is a Toronto based singer songwriter.  She released two albums under the name Castlemusic.  She has played with everyone from U.S. Girls to Fucked Up.  Her 2014 album has chamber folk and psychedelic components an her previous album had psychedelic folk elements.

She sounds interesting, although the few songs I’ve listened to are far more folk than psychedelic.  And she’s a little too slow for my tastes.

 

 

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Zadie Smith–“Now More Than Ever” (New Yorker, July 23, 2018)

Posted in A Place in the Sun, Bry Webb, Canadian Music, Childish Gambino, Constantines, Elizabeth Taylor, Eric Chenaux, Fucked Up, Jennifer Castle, Live at Massey Hall, Montgomery Clift, New Yorker, Racism, Regrets, Sexism, Shelley Winters, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert, Universities, Zadie Smith on July 23, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: JENNIFER CASTLE-Live at Massey Hall (November 23, 2017).

I didn’t think I knew Jennifer Castle, but I see that she has appeared as a guest singer on a whole bunch of records by artists that I know: Eric Chenaux, Bry Webb, Constantines and Fucked Up.

She has an unusual voice–soaring, delicate and whispery with a slight warble and yet you know she could belt out if she wanted to.

She starts the show saying Toronto has incredible beautiful old buildings and its rare these days to go inside one.  Inside Massey Hall it’s lit up to be another member of the band and to be part of the show.

I found the music to be incredibly spare–too spare in fact.  It is primarily piano and her vocals (with backing singers), but the piano (Jonathan Adjemian) is not a primary instrument, it is simply playing chords for her to sing over.  The sparseness was a little disconcerting.  But the backing vocalists (Victoria Cheeong and Isla Craig) are stellar–they really add a lot to the music and their voices soar in their own right.

But I think that sparseness allows her lyrics to really come through.  “Like a Gun” has the lyric “he was lik e gun [hah, from lovely backing vocalists] he was always going off.”

“Nature” has even better lyrics

Despite all my feelings of life parallel
Nature is happening without my goodwill
I called my friend up and she said it still
Happens to you even when you are ill

and ends with this interesting conceit

I lift my skirt for the economy

“Texas” is played on guitar with a very catchy “hoo hoo hoo hoo” clap-along.

I go down to Texas
To kiss my grandmother goodbye
She forgets things
But when I look her in the eye
I see my father
And he’s been gone so very long
In the name of time travel
Help him to hear to my little song

Jennifer plays electric guitar on “Truth is the Freshest Fruit” which changes the whole dynamic of her songs.  She plays guitar with piano accompaniment on “Sailing Away.”

She is the first person to mention the renovations Massey Hall is currently undergoing:

I know that Massey is going to go through a great big change but it feels good to play while the history is still on the paint.

The final song is absolutely wonderful.  She says she wrote “Please Take Me (I’m Broken)” because she knew they were coming to Massey and it celebrates the school of Greek mythology

The backing vocalists sing a verse by themselves and they sound great.  I love the chorus

Please take me cause something don’t seem right; something don’t compute.  I don’t belong here.
Please take me I’m broken;  I’ve woken up and I should be dreaming.
Please take me back to those other realms they seem much kinder on a dreamer like me.
I’ve always looked up to those ancient Greek stories.
I love the thrill of the scale; I like the the roll of the chorus.

A thoughtful and unique performer.

[READ: July 17, 2018] “Now More Than Ever”

I  feel like Zadie Smith’s recent stories have been exploring a new style for her, a more “in the present” kind of vibe.  This story has meta-elements and is very much an of the moment piece.  It seems to address current hot button issues and her own inability to fully wrap her head around them.

It begins: “There is an urge to be good. To be seen to be good. To be seen.  Also to be.”

This is what she told Mary.  She also told Mary that no one is called Marty these days.  “Could you get the hell out of here?”  So Mary left.  Then Scout came by–a great improvement.

Scout is active and alert on all platforms. She;s usually no later than the 300th person to see something.  The narrator was “the ten million two hundred and sixth person to see that thing.” (more…)

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