Tiny Masters of Today / The Superstitions / Windom Earle / The Paint Movement
Over the Top Festival. Whippersnapper Gallery. May 23, 2009.
Decided to take in the early show at the Whippersnapper, and walked in just as The Paint Movement were preparing to unleash. A six-piece with most vox from five-stringed bassist Jason Haberman, there were also a couple vocals from guitarist Kevin Kralik, who looked meaner but sang softer. The whole thing was tied together by Jason Loftman's sax work. I had a vision of long tracking shot over the credits of a movie from 1983 — palm trees lining a highway under a pastel sunset, the camera moving along with the traffic, until suddenly lifting up and away. Which is to say there is a certain lush, cocaine elegance to this music. Perhaps a more literal point of comparison/departure would be to imagine outtakes from Chicago V as filtered through, say, BSS' "Pacific Theme" or through the sunnier pop side of The Sea and Cake and you're on the right track. Live, the half-dozen tunes had a nice widescreen feel and the band arguably deserved a bigger crowd than were out for the first act up at an early gig.
A track from this set is posted here.
The stage seemed roomier once Windom Earle (from Halifax) were set up as they took down the drum kit to give an unobstructed space to project their vidoes behind them. Dual synths, guit, bass and some sax. The band had obviously put a great deal of work into their visuals, which were well synced with their rhythm tracks — one song used footage of a dude air drumming in his living room tightly edited to match the song's beats. Musically, a little bit of Devo in their lineage, maybe some Six Finger Satellite, but also something of the "aerobics rock" of Go Team! — perhaps also recalling them in the way that many of these songs sounded like they could be the soundtracks to the car crashin' b-movies they were sampling images from. As I was mulling all of this over a couple songs in, and wondering if the band would be as interesting without their projector, a couple women arriving in the venue threw down their jackets, leapt in front of the stage, and started to shang-a-lang like they were at a sock hop. I thought to myself, "maybe I'm enjoying this on the wrong level." The (mostly instrumental) songs had enough going on to keep them interesting, and they did have a danceable vibe, so although this didn't totally win me over, I have no complaints. After all, you can never totally dismiss a band willing to take their pants off onstage.
After the previous night's festival of guitar pedals, it was a refreshing change to see a band with a more pared-down set up and less patch chords between guitar and amp. The Superstitions, looking like three lads who'd met up at the soda fountain, played an — um — leggy brand of garage pop, fronted by the magnetic Nyssa Rosaleen. Filled with youthful energy, the band tore through a set of short sharp rockers filled with clear tones and good songwriting. Bonus points to guitarist Matthew Aldred, who responded to all of Nyssa's banter with a slightly wearied "yeah", as if he were anguished for the talking to end and the song to start. An unexpected treat and very much worth seeing.
A track from this set is posted here.
Having thought that The Superstitions looked a little youthful, I was given a burst of perspective seeing Tiny Masters of Today. Fronted by brother and sister duo Ivan (guitar, vox; age 15) and Ada (vox, bass; age 13), the band are already vets, now on their second album and with plenty of press. While the idea of raucous teen siblings forming a band isn't unprecedented, their success so far is pretty substantial. A band like this comes with a bit of trouble separating the angle ("aren't they adorable?"1) from the music. Truth be told, if I were taking in the gig in a blindfold test, I would think I'd've found it generally agreeable. With Ada on the mic and Ivan's skilfully sloppy riffs, the first thing that would pop in my mind would be that sort of sub-sub-genre of mid-90's female-fronted bands that sounded like Kim Deal's wayward daughters — think that dog or Veruca Salt. Their sound had a decent level of wobbly uncertainty, which the songs delivered in short, chunky bursts — though things threatened to go off the rails a couple times. But there's no lack of talent here, and their set was enjoyable fun. Made me feel older than my Great Aunt Martha mind you, especially when, for their last song they blasted a cover of Sonic Youth's "Youth Against Fascism", a song that came out, like, subjectively last week or so to me, but is, in fact, older than those performing it on stage. I rolled up the bottom of my trousers and moved along to the next gig.
1 As pronounced by someone standing behind me while the band were setting up and Ivan was adjusting his amp. "Excuse me, Mr. Soundman?" asked Ada politely into her mic, "is the volume okay?"
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