Thirty Years of Owen Pallett (feat: Everybody Gets Sick, Dan Werb + RRReg, Permafrown, Nick Flanagan, Picastro, Samir Khan, Kids On TV, Alex Lukashevsky, Brides)
Lula Lounge. Sunday, September 6, 2009.
This is the second part of the day. For an introduction and an account of the first part of the day, click here.
6:45 Everybody Gets Sick — A special birthday reunion for Owen's birthday if I understand correctly — poking around, I can't seem to find more than tangential references to them online, so I can't say much more than what I saw first-hand. A four piece, with banjos and slide guitar, but don't let the instrumentation fool you — this group was more no wave than no depression, their songs filled with spasmodic, repetitive lurches, like Butthole Surfers covering "Ventilator Blues". Not particularly suited to my palate, but they had their advocates in the crowd.
7:04 Dan Werb + RRReg — Performing some new material together as a duo in public for the first time, the pairing of Dan Werb (Woodhands) and Gentleman Reg came off as an inspired combo with the peanut butter of Werb's rubbery electrofunk mixing well with the chocolate of Reg's vox.1 While getting the levels checked, Reg was the first performer of the day brave enough in the face of Owen's disinterest in such things to lead the crowd in a singalong of "Happy Birthday". The pair debuted a pair of songs, the second one in an extended dance mix that got stretched out a bit extra mid-tune when something came unplugged and everything went silent. After some brief confusion, everything was hooked back in and we got the song's outro, which got a little bit glitchy by the end, but the pair pulled through. Funky dance entertainment, and I'd say I'm looking forward to hearing more from this pair.
7:30 Permafrown — Another special birthday reunion, playing their first show in over two years, Permafrown continued the squelchy keyboard tip. I immediately recognized Amy Bowles of Pony Da Look and knew this'd be entertaining, but Robin Fry's Cheeze Whiz/royal court fanfare/funky keyb work certainly sealed the deal. Drummer Mike Leblanc rounded out the trio, who played grand guignol art rock, the songs pitched to dramatic heights by Bowles' operatic gestures and singular vox. If orcs left their damp caverns for a night at the disco, this is what they'd probably want to get down to.
Listen to a track from this set here.
7:51 Nick Flanagan — Nick of Brutal Knights did a ten-minute comedy set. It is widely said that comedy is a subjective thing.
8:03 Picastro — Liz Hysen's ever-mutable Picastro has had its share of notable local musicians — including Owen Pallett — pass through its ranks. On this night, the band played as a two piece, with Hysen seated and playing electric guitar accompanied by a drummer/keyb player. A couple covers (including "Sovereignty You Bitch" by Portland's Big Blood) in Hysen's spare red-wine-and-quaaludes style were heavy but a not unpleasing ride.
8:17 Samir Khan — Reprising his solo turn from the previous week's Friends in Bellwoods show, Khan again played his melodic "sensitive" songs. Feeling mildly apprehensive to be playing a looping pedal in Owen's presence, the songs were, regardless, nicely accented by his efforts.
8:44 Kids On TV — After a ten-minute break2 — pretty welcome by this point — Kids on TV took the stage in their skeleton wear for a slickly-executed four song set. This time through, an especially nice run through "Goodbye Horses" (a one-hit wonder from the Married to the Mob soundtrack) with frequent guest's Julie Faught's vox adding just the right touch.
9:05 Alex Lukashevsky — In a clever tribute to a tribute, Lukashevsky played five-sixths of the songs from Final Fantasy's Plays to Please EP, consisting of songs originally written by... Alex Lukashevsky. So, starting with "Horsetail Feather", we got a quick tour of the unique lyrical sense and fine guitar skills from the man Owen described as "the best songwriter in Toronto". A quiet set slightly threatened by general chatter in the background, but neat to see the songs coming full circle.
Listen to a track from this set here.
9:24 Brides — "This is the cleanest these guys have sounded in a long time," young T. commented after Brides' first song.3 Almost certainly true (though I'd only seen them once before to compare) although it's a relative claim regardless, given the complicated rock attack that Brides bring to the table. A half-dozen deep, with two guitars scrambling for space against driving bass, keyb and sax, it isn't by nature a "clean" sound. But there are degrees of chaos and Brides were a mite more reigned in than what I recalled, whcich essentially meant they were choosing their moments a bit more carefully for when to really spaz it up to eleven. Which I think worked out fairly well for them, as I found these four tracks worked on me all right. Fifteen minutes, though, was about the exact right amount of this, mind.4
Listen to a track from this set here.
The final part of the day should be posted tomorrow.
1 Or is that the other way around? On second thought, this metaphor probably doesn't work here at all.
2 "Why not go and get some gum?" Owen helpfully suggested.
3 There appears to be at least three bands claiming the name, so it might simplify things to mention that "our" Brides' myspace is here.
4 Noted: Minus Smile (of KoTV) was taking in the show at the edge of the stage with evident satisfaction, and when one of the guitarists strayed too far from his amp and managed to pull his cable loose, he had a volunteer guitar tech on hand to get plugged back in and then make sure for the rest of the song that the tautly-stretched cord didn't get pulled out again.
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