Currente calamo: CMW 2011 (Friday)

CMW 2011 (Friday)^*

While these shows are fresh in my mind I want to get some quick notes down. I'm a nerd for not wanting to throw my full reviews out of sequence, so there'll be a fuller accounting of the night by and by.

5 p.m.: J Mascis @ Sonic Boom

Actually made it down early enough to catch a set by Brit Buzz Band du Fest Bombay Bicycle Club, which was mobbed with teenagers, collectively losing their shit. My reaction to the band could more be summed up for now as "mostly harmless". There was actually a smaller crowd — and with about twice the average age — for guitar hero J Mascis. Playing a short set on his acoustic prior to the evening's main draw at The Great Hall, Mascis still gave nearly a half-hour, leading off with some from his brand-new solo album Several Shades of Why. Along the way there was an Edie Brickell cover (!), looping pedal misadventures and the highlight was an extended romp through "Ammaring" (from 2000's More Light) which included a couple jagged solos. Even when he's in solo balladeer mode, he still brings a distortion pedal along for the ride.

Listen to a track from this set here.

9 p.m.: Tennis System @ Comfort Zone

Wanting to avoid the more over-run venues, found myself in the den of iniquity known as the Comfort Zone to check out this LA-via-Washington D.C. combo. I'd never heard of 'em, but their blurb promised something noisy and referenced some esteemed antecedents. Turned out to be the best discovery of the night. A hint of shoegaze and a hint of Sonic Youth, the band had a nice line in 90's style bleeding eardrum rock. There was only a handful of people around, and a good number of those were folks in other bands on the bill, leaving this less-heard than it should have been. I hope they make it back to find a bigger crowd — worth seeing again.

Listen to a track from this set here.

9:30 p.m.: Amanita Bloom @ El Mocambo

On a recommendation, I headed across the street to check out this Montréal four-piece. Another band facing a small crowd, Amanita Bloom played rock'n'roll with a noir-dark edge. That might come down to the baritone croon at the centre of the songs. There were some retro-ish flashes (such as keyboards that occasionally brushed up against The Doors when not rocking a classic Fender Rhodes groove) but this wasn't a slavish recreation of some old style. A good rave-up at the end, and a few fine songs. It didn't knock me over, but it filled in a blank spot in my schedule nicely.

11 p.m.: The Wilderness @ Comfort Zone

And then back down into Comfort Zone to check out a couple local bands that were vaguely familiar but with whom I'd never crossed paths. First, The Wilderness, a five-piece offering a upbeat/downbeat blend. Vocalist Lee Piazza provided the latter, crooning his lyrics in a manner vaguely suggesting The National's Matt Berninger. The room's sound system made him all but inaudible, bringing his surrounding musicians to the fore. The music had a dance-y edge, adorned around the edges with little electronic noises — but not in a death disco sort of way. Especially once they started tossing out balloons for the crowd to blow up and bat around, you could see they were more about the positive vibe, even if bringing that about in a sort of underhanded way.

midnight: Powers @ Comfort Zone

With nothing planned, I stayed where I was relatively comfortable. I admittedly had no compelling interest in Powers, but I was willing to give them a try. Rising out of the ashes of The Ghost is Dancing, an indie-collective big-uplift sort of band that had failed to impress me, this unit was at least admirably stripped-down and focused, providing a black light dance party. With two keyboard players, this was a rhythmically intensive crew, and they managed to get the crowd dancing. But aside from some scattered moments (some nice textures here, a New Order sort of vibe there) this didn't do too much for me.

1 a.m.: Elephant Stone @ Rancho Relaxo

Ducked around the corner where Elephant Stone were busily setting up, a process that took a while owing to the amount of gear they had on hand, including, notably, a sitar. That instrument was a touchstone for everything the band did — even when it wasn't being played, the music had some hints of its droney trippiness woven into the band's retro pop confections. Interesting and well done — even when there was a whiff of genre exercise to it, Rishi Dhir and his crew invested the songs with energy. Convincing stuff.

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^* A note on nomenclature: for years both the industry showcase and music festival components were known as Canadian Music Week. But as of a couple years ago, this was deemed to be too simple and straightforward, and the music portion was "rebranded" as Canadian Music Fest, under the aegis of the larger Canadian Music Week. I see no reason to put up with this and will simply refer to everything as CMW — although there was a part of me that also considered using the slightly cumbersome "Canadian Music Festival presented by Canadian Music Week" throughout.