Chinese Food

Going on a whim for this band was definitely one of the best decisions of the fest. Walking into the set blind, they sound a lot like Wolf Parade on a basic level (vocally, melodically), except that I immediately like Chinese Food. Pulling off a vaguely recognisable cover of “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” doesn’t hurt either, and their chilled out peaks coupled with a keyboardist who invokes the gawkiest of awesome chromatic blues, and alternately rocks the sugar pop synths can definitely please a crowd. Not hard stuff to let slip into the background though. - Exclaim!

This album is somewhat of a peculiarity. It fits nowhere, as far as quaint and utilitarian description goes. There is no band that it can be likened to. Chinese Food has the sound of one of those bands where several people with varying music taste somehow managed to come to some sort of compromise and meet in the middle, yet it still has a complete sound of its own, lacking the fragmented feel of many other pick and choose, genre hopping bands.

The band features very strong piano playing, especially on the second track, Pirate of the Palm Trees, and, once again has a sound that cannot be pinned down, except to say that it has a somewhat theatrical and vaudevillian sound, with dark undertones. All of their music is deliciously layered with piano, bass, guitar and drums, all the parts fitting together very well, despite their eccentricity and lack of conventional tendencies. Their vocalist has that strange sort of quality that separates him from the rest, he lacks the polish of regular radio stars, but that somehow makes him more endearing. Think of that strange thing that made people flock to Bob Dylan, Neil Young or David Byrne, despite the fact that their voices were all nasal, pitchy and just out of the norm in general. Well this guy has that weird quality, and his lyrics are unusual as well, but tasteful.

There are a few songs that lack any really gripping qualities, such as The Ghost of Bill Haley, which is sort of a slow rock ballad, that lacks anything truly out of the ordinary, except for some fairly good lyrics. The rest of the songs on this album are fantastic though. The production value on this album, is gritty and has the feel of a home studio, but this adds even more to the grainy unusual tonality of the album, and brings a fantastic genuine sweat to this work. There are even a few completely out of place guitar licks and whistling for no reason. This album is great because of its unusual grit, and because of the fact that it is still easily accessible, despite the fact that some different things are attempted. It seems as though the musicians involved are all very mature, well into their thirties, it’s the lack of trying to fit into a specific clique that marks them as all grown up.

Great album, buy it.



9 out of 10

Santosh Lalonde

- Punk Tv

Lately I've been listening to a ton of music, on my computer, in the clubs, and even at outdoor festivals. Summertime seems to bring a multitude of music in an array of styles. Most of the music was for self entertainment I must admit, but doing this job also keeps my one ear open for something worthy to talk about here. Luckily for me I keep managing to hear fabulous unsigned musical talent which gives me plenty to rant about. In a quick meet with a drummer I know, Andres Restrepo, I chanced to ask him what he was playing these days and what I was what I was doing with Unhcarted Sounds. He let me know he was loading up his gear for a gig at the El Mocambo in Toronto that night and that the band was called "Chinese Food". After a wee smile by both of us, he offered me a C.D. of tracks and their website address. Without the usual long explanations of what it sounded like or the pre-excuses for recording issues, he simply smiled and said to check it out.

Unfortunately for me, I didn't listed to that C.D. until much later that evening. The music was great. It was an origional sound with smart catchy lyrics. Five tracks in and was cursing myself for not listening right away. Otherwise I'd have whipped into T.O. for a chance to see and hear these guys live. Other that the rare release from a "charted" band, had I heard so many good songs on one CD. The hard part is classifying what genre of music it truly is. Rock music for sure, at times with a 50's edge, blended nicely with an 80's Cars or Talking Heads ala David Byrne. I hate to use something lame like "Millennium New Wave", so I won't bother. I'll leave that one alone until I can talk to the band for their insight into the subject (Look for full interview with Uncharted Sounds in Nov 07's issue)

The creative layering of the guitar and the keyboards is prominent in most of the songs althought the Bass and Drums are always there, unobtrusive, driving the song nicely. Lyrically it's extremely melodic and catchy. I found myself singing alomng with the hooks (chorus) and trying to follow the verses. Being prominently a guitar player, I sometimes lose myself there and don't pay the lyrics much attention. It's a bad habit that didn't apply to this band it seemed. The songs are uplifting and light, even funny at times. The lyrics are very intelligent, using words like "ëxpedition", as my early favorite ""Red Head Heart" humorously does. "The Ghost of Bill Haley" is a huge sounding bluesy waltz that deserves to be played on everyone's stereo at least once. Once again the lyrics are as beatiful as the music. "So Old"and "Sleeping with the Hippies"are other fine examples of possible singels from this little collection. I highly recommend after reading this article you head to their websight, www.chinesefoodmusic.com or myspace.com/chinesefoodmusic for a listen and probable download session. Don't forget to read the paragraph there, "About Chinese Food", it quite profound.

Oddly, this band lives up to its catchy moniker. An hour after listening to them, you're ready for more. Oh well, I guess we'll all have to waite 'till their next posted show live in Toronto. Hope to see you there.

By: Steve Lake - Uncharted Sounds

Spadina Avenue is the home of Toronto's main Chinatown and a great place to enjoy oriental cooking. But if you're more into music than gastronomy, the Horseshoe Tavern at Spadina and Queen will present some Chinese Food of its own when a local band of that name release their When The Future Caught On Fire debut album there on Nov. 1.

Fans will be able to buy vinyl copies or digital download cards for the album, which won't be released on CD. When The Future Caught On Fire was mixed by Adam King (Cancel Winter, Sue Passmore) and mastered by Noah Mintz (Broken Social Scene, Stars). You can hear four songs from When The Future Caught On Fire on Chinese Food's MySpace page.

Singer/guitarist Tim Beresford, bassist/vocalist Miles Peart, keyboarist/vocalist Eric Schwindt and drummer Doug Wilson have been playing rhythmic rock together since 2006. Their When The Future Caught On Fire EP, which features four tracks from the LP, came out last year.
- CHART ATTACK

Chinese Food’s debut is a very interesting listen. Every song seems to channel a different facet of rock and roll, from upbeat pop rock, polished acoustic, and folk rock; these four gentleman have definitely made a good first impression. “Party at the Kennedy’s” has that upbeat pop feel which makes it very danceable. “Pirates on the Palm Trees” is one of the longer songs on the record and probably on the best for catchy lyrics. The album maintains consistency, giving a hearty mix of everything. This band is well on their way to wowing anyone and everyone and with a solid debut like this; it’s safe to say they’ve already got most of the work done.

-Max Mohenu - Spill Magazine

Chinese Food
When the Future Caught on Fire
(Indie)

SOUNDS LIKE: Classic guitar mixed with synth-pop and a ’90s vibe.

WHY/WHY NOT: Toronto's Chinese Food let us know what happens when the future catches fire – and apparently it's pretty fun.

With witty song titles like "Pirate of the Palm Trees" and "Starman at the Drive-In", they give us toe-tapping beats laced with playful lyrics. The most upbeat songs, "When the Future Caught On Fire" and "Red Head Heart" are definitely their strong, crowd-worthy ditties. The slower songs, however, fall short, trapped with a bad adult contemporary feel. The exception is the final song "Strange Hotel", which sets itself apart with a haunting guitar and piano intro, claiming, "honesty is overrated."

When The Future Caught on Fire – a great effort from a Toronto band.

- Kelly McElwain -

http://www.soundproofmagazine.com/Canada/Albums/index.html - Sound Proof Magazine

When your band name inspires instant hunger in an audience, half
the battle is won. All that has to happen next is to prove that
you’re more than just a pack of dudes capitalizing off of a meal
with millions, perhaps even billions of fans. In the case of
Toronto rock quartet Chinese Food – Tim Beresford (vocals,
guitar), Miles Peart (bass), Eric Schwindt (keyboard), and Doug
Wilson (drums) – they are attempting to fill the minds (not
stomachs) of local music connoisseurs through an approach that
they hope will separate them from the heard.
As one of hundreds of Toronto independent acts trying to
break through in the heavily saturated market, Chinese Food have
decided to do their best at sealing their own fate by doing
everything on their terms. Instead of super–glossy, same–old–
same–old promotional techniques, the quartet will instead
abandon the idea of a CD, and only employ the services of vinyl
and digital download cards for their upcoming album, When the
Future Caught on Fire.
“Why would you hire somebody else to do it for you? There
are still places for other people like publicists, managers and
record companies, but if you’re ambitious you can do all of that
stuff yourself,” feels Beresford when discussing his band’s
promotional methods. “It’s a lot of work, but it can also be a
good time; you have control over your career. We weren’t around
in the ‘80s or the early ‘90s where people were throwing record
contracts around with big money, but when that was happening,
the people who were getting them would complain. They would
have some kind of issue with having to work for the man. It’s
nice now, because you don’t have those options – there is no
more ‘man.’
“It’s maybe more of an idealistic pursuit – not that it’s not
entertaining or not fun – but we’re just going to do whatever we
want to do.”
As for the album itself, Beresford and company feel pretty
good about it. So much so, that ahead of June’s very important
North by Northeast Music Festival and Conference the band
rushed the mastering of four soon–to–be album tracks, and
passed hundreds around to just about anyone and everyone they
encountered.
Not due out until September–ish, When the Future Caught on
Fire will be Chinese Food’s second full–length album, and one
that came together in a very unique circumstance that involved
hiding from the real world, embracing the booze, and zoning in
on changing the band’s previous creative pace.
“It ended up being not as predictable for us. We’ve made
albums before so like anything there’s fun parts and boring parts,
but this one had a lot more surprises involved I think in how
things came about and how we had to make things happen; it
forced us to be more creative,” explains Beresford.
“We held up in a cottage for 10 solid days and the first four
days consisted of us drinking as much as we could drink for some
reason – maybe we were cooped up in the city for too long,” he
jokingly continues. “Then, being too sick, we had to stop and we
just work for the next six days – total isolation, no neighbours, 25
miles away from any store or gas station, working for 17 hours a
days, every day. The good thing is you can get a lot done in a
small amount of time because there isn’t anything else to do.”
In terms of what happens from here, Beresford doesn’t really
have any grand aspirations. Everyone has been in bands before,
and Chinese Food actually started off as one for recreational
purposes. So while there have been spots of critical support
directed toward the band, and more fans turning out to the gigs,
all this band really wants is an opportunity to further explore their
passion and see where that idea ultimately takes them.
“It’d be nice to just be able to drive from city to city, play
decent shows and sell the record ourselves,” adds Beresford.
“We’re not trying to go for world domination or anything silly like
that, it’s just that we love to play the songs and have fun, and
we’re always trying to get better at what we do. - Echo Weekly

It's Thursday night, my first night of North By Northeast (NXNE), I'm heading to The El Mocambo to see The New Odds. Walking along College Street by Rancho Relaxo, I catch an earful of a decent song and head upstairs.

Not far from Chinatown, it's apropos to see a band called CHINESE FOOD. The lead singer is givin' er and the crowd is eating it up like post club-night grub at New Ho King.

Down the stairs and round the corner to the ElMo, I get there just in time to see The Kids In the Hall's Dave Foley introduce what he calls "one of the best bands on the planet."

The New Odds take the stage with renewed vigor.

Having a string of early-to-mid-'90s hits with Truth Untold, Eat My Brain, Someone Who's Cool and Heterosexual Man (the video of which featured the band performing in drag with members of The Kids in the Hall), I wonder if they can still deliver.

Well, they're back with a vengeance and, judging by their energetic performance (check out The New Odds' mini photo-slideshow below) they're likely to be around for a while.

I stick around for a while after their set and I'm rewarded with a stellar show by Major Maker, perhaps best known for their Maynards Candy Song, Rollercoaster.

They are far from a one-hit wonder band. Fresh off being named CBC's 2008 Galaxie Rising Stars Award winner, they brought their head-bopping, foot-stomping, feel-good music to a packed crowd.

Icelandic vocalist Lindy Vopnfjord (pictured in the story's top photo) engages the audience and feeds off their energy for a lively 10-song set. Their sound captures the energy of The White Stripes with the vibe of The Stone Roses. Check out their song I'm In Love for some more infectious pop. And be sure to check them out when this local indie band next plays in Toronto. - blogto.com