TFC and Destroyer

Friday night last weekend I went to see The Coast, a local Toronto band who were described to me as Britpoppy, at the Horseshoe. They were alright, but a few songs into their set I turned to a friend and said "these guys are pretty good, nice melodies, but I have a feeling I won't remember a thing about them tomorrow." And I was right.

The following morning I met up with a friend from Buffalo and took him to his first Toronto FC game, a 1-0 win over Salt Lake that pushed the club to .500 for the first time in its history (and marked only the second two-game winning streak the club has ever had, after last week's 3-2 win over the LA Beckhams.)

After the game, my friend and I did some damage at Rotate This! and Soundscapes on the way home, before heading to Lee's Palace to see Destroyer, the main creative outlet of Dan Bejar, who is a sometimes member of the New Pornographers. They were good, and Bejar uncharacteristically addressed the crowd a few times, even mocking himself for his clumsiness with stage banter, but overall it wasn't as good a show as the one I saw about two years ago at the Phoenix when Destroyer opened for the NPs.

Key purchases this week: the Girl Group Sounds box set, the Magnolia Electric Co. "Sojourner" special edition package, and finally the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss record, plus some British Sea Power, Okkervil River, Emily Haines & Soft Skeleton, and the Mystery Girls on vinyl.