The Diableros / Sports: The Band / Terror Lake / Archipelagos
Pitter Patter Festival. Sneaky Dee's. Saturday, May 30, 2009.
In an unusual confluence of gig-goin' events, this turned out to be my third Saturday night in a row at Sneaky Dee's.1 Paid-what-I-could for entry to a Pitter Patter powered night and was on hand with the early crowd to see the lead-off band, Montreal's Archipelagos, the quickest summary of whom might be "Sounds Like: The National". By which I kinda mean rather a lot. Which isn't the worst thing in the world, by any means. Vocalist Jesse LeGallais even had a version that grip-your-own-forearm-and-twitch thing that Matt Berninger is remembered for.2 This is not to sound snarky or dismissive, as the band were quite entertaining in their own right. With dramatic, carefully sculpted guitar parts and a smart sense for dynamics, the band's songs built up into some crafty little maelstroms. Suffering from the aftermath of van-related traumas which forced the band to stay overnight in Belleville while en route down the 401, the band played pretty intensely for a sparse crowd. Certainly worth keeping an eye on.
Terror Lake were a complete unknown to me, but left a very positive impression. A three piece, with two guitarists playing interlocking parts, drums and no bass. With that line-up and Wendy Fowler's vibrato, the words "Sleater" and "Kinney" might come to mind. But the band's approach is more akin to surf music, which gives them their own sound. Stripped-down and lean sounding, the band got great mileage from a rigourously lean aesthetic. Their half-hour set punched my buttons and are now on my list for another taste.
Listen to a song from this set here.
A bit of a change of pace after that as Sports: The Band took over. Smart pop, with boy-girl vox and a bit of a new wave sensibility. But also, as the set moved along and the band found their groove, increasingly dance friendly. Keyboardist/vocalist Robin Hatch, celebrating a birthday, came equipped with an elegant hat — we're talking hat-box-worthy — and took lead vox for some of the band's better material, including a peppy number presumably titled "Postcard". Sports had an eager crowd on hand which responded warmly for the whole forty-five minute set. Reasonably good stuff — a few of the songs didn't totally gel, but the band seems to be working towards a more interesting cohesion.3
The capper was the real treat of the night. The Diableros always put on a good show, and it'd been a decent stretch since seeing them last. With the prospect of new material in the offing, this was something I'd been looking forward to. The band lead off with a series of tracks from their soon-to-be-recorded EP that are a logical extension of their signature sound — like all of us, growing less fuzzed-out and sound-saturated with age.4 Of the new stuff, "Heavy Hands" had the best showing out-of-the gate.
The current lineup (containing only Pete Carmichael and guitarist Ian Jackson as long-time holdovers) seemed at ease with both new material and old. That Pitter Patter maven Keith Hamilton found time from what was presumably a busy weekend to play bass was pretty impressive. As the hour grew later, the crowd thinned out a bit, which left more room for the random intrusion of a gang of possibly drunk people intent on wrapping each other in police tape.5 It was a highly satisfying set, and I'm looking forward to hearing the new songs in their finished forms.
Listen to a track from this set here.
1 Although it might have a bit to do with the fact that, at the end of my kid-with-a-new-toy binge with my recording gear, I've found that my mics seem to work particularly well at Sneaks. Undoubtedly partially because I picked 'em to work well in small, loud spaces, but some credit is also due to Steve the Sound Guy, one of the city's best, who does a pretty amazing job, especially when you consider the sheer number of set-ups and changeovers on stage on a night like this.
2 But the panicked, thousand-yard stare, his eyes bugging out and looking like they were about to roll backwards into his skull as he fell into a seizure is his own thing.
3 Although I think I'm going to quietly align myself here with the side that's advocating against vocoder use.
4 In fact, one of the new songs, rolling out at a sedate pace for The Diableros, talks about that fear of getting old, but holds out for the hope that "we'll still have rock and roll".
5 One of whom shouted, between songs, to one of her friends, "What's the name of this band? Chart Attack?" Guessing from the banner on the stage, she proceeded to chant, "Chart Attack! Chart Attack!"
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