Green Go / Shellshag / Fiasco / The Guest Bedroom
Over the Top festival. Sneaky Dee's. Saturday May 23, 2009.
Celebrity encounter! Coming up the stairs to Sneaky Dee's, I was dying of thirst and made a beeline for the pitchers of water at the back of the bar. And by coincidence, the person that I almost pushed out of the way to get the water turned out to be local music blogger/ listings curator Historyjen. Instead of giving me a glare, she actually introduced herself and noted we'd been at several of the same Over the Top gigs. A class act!
Meanwhile, on stage, The Guest Bedroom were already playing, though I think I caught most of their set. After I composed myself, I moved to the back of the crowd to check them out. A nice sort of post-punk sound, a bit herky-jerky, and Sandi Falconer's vox brought to mind, say, Yeah Yeah Yeahs a bit. Some tunes were less hooky than others, but I found their set generally agreeable.
Brooklyn's Fiasco started their set with a hi-hat rocking selection that implied a dancey, post-punk sound, but that was a sly bit of misdirection — the band's true underpinnings turned out to be hardcore. They exhibited a kinetic physicality on stage, guitarist Jonathan Edelstein and bassist Lucian Buscemi lurching back and forth, doubled over their instruments. Edelstein's secret weapon was his rapid-fire fingertapping guitar style, which, to my admittedly limited knowledge, is a bit unique in the hardcore game. It brought a "technical" edge to their songs but never diminished their immediacy. Playing a number of instrumental songs from their new Native Canadians album, Jonathan commented, "we're playing everything really slow tonight for some reason," which makes one wonder what their pace would be like when they were really working at it. Those in the audience who were into this really seemed to dig it a lot.1 I was reasonably entertained, and had a lot of respect for these guys' proficiency and energy. Plus, their final song bore the nobly-titled sentiment of "I Figure It's Better We Do Something Ridiculous Than Nothing At All".
The stage set-up for Shellshag says a lot about the band: Guitar (Shell) stage right, a stand-up, three-piece drum kit (Shag) stage left, and a double microphone in the middle, looking like the frame for a Valentine's Day heart if you squeezed your eyes tight together in the right way. The duo stood facing each other while playing, a sort of he said/she said rock war, fueled by by primitivist riffs and Mo Tucker beats.2 The band careened from one tune to the next, nearly a dozen in a half-hour. A lovely DIY mess of domestic squabbles and everyday gestures, Shellshag looked a bit older and more world-worn then most bands at this festival, but exhibited an admirable amount of belly-fire. When the pace slowed for the lovely "Gary's Note" ("Everybody is a magnet some of the time") it seemed like a bit of well-earned, hard-won happiness. The set ended with the most "rock'n'roll" conclusion that I've seen in some time. After unclipping the mics from the drums, Shell passed them down onto the floor in front of the stage, while Shag stepped down to keep playing among the crowd. Soon, one drum was knocked over, and things went mildly chaotic as Shag mounted one of the drums and began stabbing the head with her stick, piercing it, while Shell was prying at his guitar strings, chanting "One! Two! Three!". Of course, the one time something like this happens immediately in front of me, my camera batteries were dead. My recording, however, ended satisfactorily with the sound of a drumstick clattering to the floor at my feet. This was sweet and rough in all the right ways.
Listen to a track from this set here.
And then Green Go.3 The night's headliners have been an act I've wanted to see, not only from general praise for their live show, but also for the fact that I've seen Jessica Tollefsen and Fez Stenton at the front of crowds at various gigs but not on stage at one of their own shows. Premised as dance music played all live, the five-piece delivered a satisfying experience. For music like this, a good live drummer makes such a huge difference, so give credit to Adam Scott for propelling the songs with the right mix of drum-machine constancy without going overboard. The songs were also constructed with a stripped-down, dance-floor chant sensibility, but again, mostly smart enough to not be too merely repetitive. Fully enjoyable. On the one hand, I'm still slightly worried about hearing this music on headphones as an album — speaking broadly, this kind of dance-y stuff doesn't always translate well.4 But I'm more than willing to go see 'em live again.
1 It was, overall, a kinda thin crowd for Sneaks on a Saturday night, but certainly a there-for-the-music-crowd, and not the unloved we're-here-to-be-seeen yappers.
2 Besides her kit, Shag also had bells on her belt, for some extra jangling as she shook.
3 No matter what I do, some wayward perceptual apparatus in my brain always catches this as "Green Goo".
4 Although who am I kidding? It's pretty certain I'll end up buying the album regardless. That's just, like, what I do.
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I've really enjoyed your reviews, thanks!
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