Mercury Lounge

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Please note: All events are 21+ unless otherwise noted.

The Rifles 11:30
Noah And The Whale 10:30

Lindi Ortega 10:20

Fri 9/19

$12

The Rifles

http://www.myspace.com/therifles
http://therifles.co.uk
Joel Stoker (vocals), Lucas Crowther (guitar), Rob Pyne (bass), and Grant Marsh (drums) create the jaunty garage rock sound of the Rifles. With their Jam-like swagger and matched playfulness to the Kooks, the Rifles came together in London in 2003. They made their performance debut a year later and praise from NME and BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe quickly championed the Rifles' boyish rock & roll fun. Their debut "When I'm Alone" arrived in May 2005 and did moderately well among their growing fan base, however "Local Boy" gave the Rifles their first U.K. Top 40 hit that fall. Other chart hits such as the Strokes-like "Repeat Offender" and "She's Got Standards" added to the band's heightened popularity in 2006. Produced by Ian Broudie (the Coral, the Subways, I Am Kloot), No Love Lost marked the Rifles' debut full-length in July. Additional U.K. club shows and appearances at the annual V Festival in Chelmsford and Staffordshire followed in August. MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide
-starpulse.com

Noah and the Whale

http://www.myspace.com/noahandthewhale
London, England based pop group Noah and the Whale (Charlie Fink (vocals, guitar, harmonica, ukulele), Tom Hobden (fiddle), Urby (harmonium, bass), Laura Marling (backing vocals), and Doug Fink (drums)) released their first single, "Five Years' Time," on the Young and Lost Club label in September of 2007. With their momentum strong from the release and a positive response to their live show, the band released single number two, "2 Bodies, 1 Heart," in January of 2008. ~ Chris True, All Music Guide

Lindi Ortega

http://www.myspace.com/lindimusic
http://http://www.lindiortega.ca/
Bio

“Before you go, just one last taste, one for the road and our mistakes…”

Lindi Ortega tells it like it is: her songs are filled with all the excruciating details of troubled love, things that are not often spoken but are instantly recognised by those who have passed the same way. And it’s this heart-stopping realism, combined with an effortless flair for melody - and the voice of an angel - that’s currently turning heads in Toronto’s independent music scene.

Singer/songwriter Lindi was born in Canada to a Mexican father and a Northern Irish mother, a rich heritage reflected in her own exotic beauty and in her songwriting. She grew up listening to the greats of country music (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton) and the legends of folk and fusion (Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen). Lindi’s music draws from these influences, mixes in a healthy appreciation of classic old-school pop and rock, and arrives vividly in the present via the dusty back-roads of alternative country, complete with surprising twists and turns. The result is a collection of timeless songs that range from “So Far Gone”, with its brassy, effervescent tunefulness and irresistible up-tempo, to the paranoid, late-night loneliness of “All My Friends”.

One of the most magical qualities in these recordings is Ortega’s striking and distinctive voice, one that can soar with beautiful clarity above driving drum beats and blaring horns or assume an intimate vulnerability within the stripped-down acoustic guitar setting of, say, “Dying Of Another Broken Heart”. Whatever kind of song she’s singing, Lindi’s extraordinary vibrato is immediately identifiable. And so is that bottle of Jack, over there in the corner.

Lindi’s lyrics are never simplistic. When they are dark, they are never quite despairing, and they are offset with a tongue-in-cheek humour. When they are light-hearted, hopeful and optimistic, there is usually always a warning that things can turn dark again, in the blink of an eye! This is real life - and Ortega’s words come straight from the heart and soul, singing like poetry.

2008 is shaping up to be an exciting year for Lindi Ortega, Toronto’s best-kept secret. Now, just watch her shine.