Recording: Danger Bay

Artist: Danger Bay

Song: Pirates of Somalia

Recorded at Wavelength 500 (night 4), SPK Polish Combatants Hall, February 13, 2010.

Danger Bay - Pirates of Somalia

My notes for this set can be found here.

Gig: Wavelength 500 (night 4)

Gig: Wavelength 500 (night 4) (feat. Constantines, Rockets Red Glare, Donné Roberts, Picastro, Danger Bay)

SPK Polish Combatants Hall. Saturday, February 13, 2010.

Night four, inside the friendly bunker of the Polish Combatants Association hall, turned out to be less, um, adventurous than the previous couple nights. Which isn't a comment about the music on offer so much as the crowd and vibe which left the focus squarely on the bands. There was also a bit more of a sense that this show was celebrating the past more squarely than the first nights — but also of not being chained to it. Perhaps best expressed in a line I found scrawled in my notepad after the show, cribbed from the last band of the night: "time can be overcome."

leading off the night was Danger Bay. Not, prima facie a retro-minded selection — the band has just put out their first EP¹ — but still a historically resonating one, as the band is the current musical project of Wavelength co-founder Jonny Dovercourt. Compared to the last time I saw 'em, I wouldn't say that the band has tightened up so much as become more deliberate in what kind of noise they want to create. To wit, Dovercourt's guitar was not so much sloppy as spatter-y, and similarly, the rhythm section is generating a sort of elegant but slovenly aggressiveness. Following that lead was vocalist Deirdre O'Sullivan, who, with a beer bottle in hand and wearing a homemade t-shirt reading "I ♥ SULTS" occupied the stage with a certain rock'n'roll menefreghismo, sauntering up to join the band as the set started and giving the impression that she could be doing this, or not. Some songs came in shorter bursts, which worked well, but equally enjoyable were the more extended instrumental passages, such as on "Pirates of Somalia". A half-dozen songs in twenty-minutes was short and sweet, but left a pleasant aftertaste.

Listen to a track from this set here.

Another usually forward-looking veteran taking the opportunity to look back a bit, Liz Hysen and her comrades in Picastro played a set that was largely focused on '07's Whore Luck. Perhaps that was down to the fact that current regulars Nick Storring (cello) and Brandon Valdivia (drums) were joined by Evan Clarke (guitar — and doing double-duty on the night), all of whom played on that album. Hysen's oft-grim and slowly creeping compositions aren't everyone's bag, and, indeed, the night's quietest set faced the loudest chatter from the floor. Unconcerned, the group turned in a very good set. The slow roil of "Hortur" sounded quite excellent, and set the table for some of the relatively more animated material such as "All Erase".

Like the cold from a prairie wind in winter, Hysen's songs get in your bones and linger, leaving you with a certain unsettled effect. Singular and uncompromising but not in-your-face, when in the mood for it I find Picastro's music to be particularly affecting and on this night it struck me just right. Good stuff.

An esteemed member of a different segment of Toronto's independent music scene than the one often found at Wavelength, Donné Roberts has helped bridge that gap just as he has done all his life. Madagascar-born and growing up in Russia, Roberts quickly became a notable figure in Canada's world music scene on his arrival here, eventually gaining notice for his work with the African Guitar Summit project. With a constantly evolving sound, his genre on this night might be summed up by the first title on his set list, "Afro Pow Wow", a product of his ongoing collaboration with First Nations musician Marc Nadjiwan, whose chants added a new dimension to Roberts' songs. The effect that this has had on his music can be heard in the difference in older, familiar material like "Wenge Yongo", which now has a dual lead vocal line with Nadjiwan adding an undertow to Roberts' brighter melody. The band was professionally tight although occasionally too smooth for my taste — with a trilling soprano sax, "Voromailala" didn't quite have the edge I was looking for, but moments like that were mostly outweighed by funkier fare. It's indisputable that Roberts is working on a pretty unique fusion of styles here, drawing out something that lies at the common heart of two different cultures. That, plus his virtuoso guitar skills (shown off here during the closer, an extended version of "Sadebake") show that Roberts is a talent to be reckoned with. And although this set was danceable and entertaining, it wasn't quite the flavour I was seeking on this night.

And then for what might have been the most hotly-anticipated set of the night, a reunion of Rockets Red Glare, a bright light of the local scene at the time of Wavelength's inception and defunct since '03. Before my time for paying attention to such things, I mostly vaguely knew the name as a "here's what happened on the last episode" kind of note in some articles about Feuermusik. Certainly a different sound than what one usually hears these days from Jeremy Strachan, here playing bass. Evan Clarke, back up on the stage after his turn with Picastro, was more aggressive here in his musical approach. Musically, call it what you will — post-hardcore, say — though in a dirge-y way. Songs generally featured a melodic bassline carried by Strachan, with Clarke's guitar — abrasive but not noisy — chopping against it, not needing squalls of feedback or distortion to make its point. Gus Weinkauf's drums were un-fussy, but had a bit of a shuffle when needed.

With Clarke's anguished, flattened sing-speak vocals, the music mostly connoted a sort of dread, or a sense of a cold, stark landscape. Fairly bleak stuff — "bury yourself" was a a typical lyrical sentiment in one song. Austere and dark, yet not necessarily grim to listen to, in that paradoxical emotional spell that music can cast — catharsis, I guess, to pull one over-used trope out of the bag. With expansive songs that you could wander around in, so to speak, it was bracing and exciting to hear, and though I have no point of comparison, the band was amazingly tight.

As to the benefits of having a reunion, there are always those boxes of CD's in the basement to get rid of: "we have some merchandise for sale," Strachan (who handled most of the banter) said, sounding somewhat bemused by that. Otherwise, for a band that lasted til '03, ending before the age of blogs and other contemporary memory enhancers, RRG mostly existed like a myth or urban legend, so a nice chance for them to, if nothing else, stake out their place in local music history a bit more firmly.

Listen to a track from this set here.

And finally, a different sort of retrospective set from the Constantines. With keyb player Will Kidman under the weather, the band took the opportunity to "play some old songs" as a four-piece. Given that, and the special occasion of the Wavelength show, the band decided to try a bit of a "Classic Albums Live" experiment and tackle their first album (2001's self-titled effort) in its entirety. Even with having dug through their back pages at their recent string of 10th Anniversary shows, this one had the feeling of being something a little different, and special. So although they'd tackled some of the mainstays of that album recently, it was cool to hear the tunes tumble over each other in sequence, played with a fair amount of fire (though Bry Webb's claims of "the songs used to be faster ten years ago" were to the contrary). Playing the whole album also means including tracks that you wouldn't imagine hearing much live, such as instrumental "The McKnight Life" or "To the Lullabies", which was treated like a bit of a skeleton in the closet although it was pulled off pretty well.²

Playing the album made for a tasty fifty minute set, and then the band came for an encore. Launching into a fiery "Young Lions" and then "Hotline Operator" had a big semi-moshy crowd worked up — I'm glad I wasn't on the side of the room where someone was spraying their beer around. Maybe just because it had been another lengthy night, but I was starting to feel worn down and definitely experiencing diminishing returns as the encore stretched out to an unexpected length, though this may have been my tiredness talking, as the band were playing the newer songs with the same intensity they'd exhibited through the main set, and seemed in a mood to play as much as they could, Webb telling the crowd, "I think we're just gonna keep playing 'til we get cut off". Frankly, I could have done with a couple songs less, as we were over the half-hour mark of the encore by the sixth or seventh song, but the final blast of "Nighttime/Anytime" gave me a nice feeling to go out on. The past is with us still — sometimes it's right there in front of you. Turn it up!

Listen to a track from this set here.

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¹ The band's recent Non-Canonical EP is a cassette-only release, of all things. Certain to raise an eyebrow in some quarters with its obsolescent-format-love, I must admit I have less of a problem with this than vinyl fetishism. Maybe perhaps because I came of age, musically, listening to cassettes, it brings a bit of a gleam to my eye, even if I don't particularly miss 'em all that much. I did pick a copy up at the merch table after the set and, truth be told, even if it came with a code to download the MP3's, I'm far more likely to listen to the cassette — I still have a Walkman in good shape that I pull out every once in a while to listen to something that I haven't been able to upgrade.

² "This is a deep cut," Steve Lambke said before that one, to which Bryan Webb replied, "some might say too deep."

"I don't think we've played this in eight years — it's a whole lot of jibber jabber," Lambke noted.

After, Webb was self-critical: "Nothing Fugazi about that song," he said, self-mockingly. "Nothing at all."

"That's off our album Steady Diet of Nothing," Lambke deadpanned back.

Recording: Danger Bay

Artist: Danger Bay

Song: Ambivalent Weather Controller

Recorded at Wavelength P.S. Kensington, July 26, 2009.

Danger Bay - Ambivalent Weather Controller

My notes for this gig are here.

Festival: Wavelength @ P.S. Kensington

Wavelength @ P.S. Kensington Feat. Lullabye Arkestra / Cloak'ed Claw (a.k.a. Hooded Fang) / Mindbender / The Guest Bedroom / Danger Bay / Isla Craig

P.S. Kensington. Sunday, July 26, 2009.

Walking over from the streetcar, I took my eyes off of the grey, threatening sky only when I had to wind my way past the phalanx of firetrucks. The smoke had cleared, but apparently Massimo's had gone up — though as I went by, I wasn't sure if they were in there or Rancho. Had a few minutes to wander, which, of course was the point of the day, Kensington being closed off to cars for Pedestrian Sunday. Despite the full morning of rain with the assurance of more to come, there were good crowds about taking it in, and the usual variety of small spectacles to behold. I was, however, down here with a purpose, to take in the activity under the Wavelength tents. So I found myself the least possibly befouled spot on the stairs in front of Neutral, somewhere between the cigarette butts and the discarded phone book on the sidewalk slowly being pulped into a mushy maché.¹ Settled down and took in the Faceless Knifefighters stage, hugging the side wall of the convenience store at the top of Augusta as the Wavelength folks finished setting up.²

Isla Craig's soundcheck ambiently rolling over the streetscape melded nicely into her short set. Accompanied by backing tracks and a beat-conductin' companion, Craig lists her genre as "Gospel / R&B / Trance" which is a start. I'm guessing that this particular set was a bit more spare than her usual (if the tracks on her Myspace are anything to go by) but they provided an elegant soundtrack to the streetscape. The first number, with a slightly-wheezy, accordion-like keyboard was the most intriguing, enfolding itself on random chord-stabs by the end. The following songs, one with Craig on guit and the final one with just her vox + beats were pretty fair too. It was a quick set, but certainly left me wanting to investigate further.

And then a super-quick changeover for Danger Bay, playing their second gig. This is a new project for Jonny Dovercourt — who, frankly, you probably owe a hug to for all of the good work he's done — and his cohorts.³ Choosing such a nostalgia-inducing name might be seen a signpost pointing to a backwards-looking aesthetic, and, indeed, you could take your pick of art-punk signifiers to describe their sound.⁴ This could just be my read, of course, but one gets the sense that unlike a bunch of strutting young kids trying to "make it", this looked like a group that were celebrating the music they love, making a racket and having a good time, which are surely rock'n'roll values worth celebrating.⁵ As part of this process, joy, pleasure, and attraction are giving way to strength and creativity. All four members were contributing here, Howlett's bass tugging nicely against the guit, and O'Sullivan's frontwoman hoodoo, if not yet overpowering, was not being overshadowed. Perhaps as much a product of having newer and fewer songs, the band came out swinging with a series of punkish run-and-gun force bursts, but there are signs — such as on "Prince of Gauntness" — of some more complex dynamics to come. After the five-song set was over, I was surprised to note that it had all zoomed by in a sprightly twelve minutes and change. A fun performance from a band just getting wired up — keep your eyes on this bunch, there's undoubtedly interesting things a-comin'.

Listen to a track from this set here.

After a leg-stretching jaunt round to see the sights, came back with The Guest Bedroom already on stage. After seeing them a couple months ago, my notes included the slightly underwhelming "generally agreeable" as a summing up, which might say as much about my mood at the time. Of course, it could say something about my mood on this afternoon that I was much more into their sounds. Some nifty keyboard moves behind Sandi Falconer's guit subvert things enough to keep them interesting. This band is starting to sink in with me — once more ought to do the trick.

If you're of the opinion that a bit of chaos and unpredictability can make a gig better (a notion to which I am not entirely unsympathetic), then a cloudburst at an outdoor show might be just the ticket. It certainly added a unique flavour to Mindbender's set. Completely unknown to me save for the spraypainted stencil reading "MINDBENDER LOVES YOU" I saw as I was walking to the show. Turned out to be the nom de geurre for M.C. Addi Stewart, who came solo, rhyming over pre-recorded tracks. Just as he started his set, a few drops came down from the sky. Which turned into a steady rain, and soon a downpour. Refusing to bow to the elements, Mindbender increased his flow to a torrent and kept plowing through, and when he said he'd sooner be electrocuted than stop, I believed him — even if he was playing onto to a thin line of listeners hugging the building across the street and a few foolhardy passers-by. He came across as someone putting his guts on the line, so dedicated to his craft that he was willing to challenge the storm. Fighting not only the rain but a slightly glitchy sound system, he managed to deftly toss out dense clumps of accomplished rhymes. Eventually someone thought to hand him an umbrella, which he used as much as a prop as protection. It can't have been an ideal show from the artist's perspective, but it was captivatingly memorable stuff. Kudos. Look up "weatherproof" in the rhyme dictionary and there'll be a picture of Mindbender.

Cue the storm. While Mindbender was persevering, the volunteers were busy behind him, lowering the tents and generally battening down the hatches in an attempt to keep the gear dry. When he was done, it looked like there was gonna be a pause to see if things'd clear up any, so I passed some time looking for dry ground to occupy. I ducked around here and there, and on coming back, it looked like things were gonna be a go. Looking at the musicians milling around, I realized I had once again been slow on the uptake and Cloaked Claw, the next-billed band, were none other than Hooded Fang. Geez, you'd think I'd never done a crossword puzzle in my life. Hooded Fang's deck seems to have been shuffled a bit, this show finding Daniel behind the kit. The band sounded a little thin with the street system P.A., but still managed to get their peppy songs across. A bouncy take on "Circles and Blocks" certainly hit the spot, and left me looking forward to seeing them indoors at this week's Rural Alberta Advantage gig.

It might seem jarring to follow Hooded Fang's cuddly pop with the metallic apocalypse of Lullabye Arkestra, but in the Wavelength spirit, it made perfect sense. Both are part of the same community, and though playing last, the band were hanging around all afternoon, taking it all in. In fact, despite their abrasive music, the duo ooze positivity, and outside a union hall, there are few people who can publicly start a sentence with "brothers and sisters" more sincerely than Justin Small. All of which is to say is I love Lullabye Arkestra's spirit, even if I'm not one hundred per cent behind their musical direction. I do find it bracing, though, and it's hard not to pick up on the energy that these two put across. Under a persistent rain for much of the set, after a white-noise selection of their own stuff, their take on "Summertime" was like a cool breeze. The set ended with some mild chaos. After passing a mic out to the crowd for some collective vocals, the tarp covering the seams between the tents overhead began to give, dripping onto Justin mid-tune as volunteers tried to prevent/cause further confusion. Justin and Kat ended the set in a clinch before being called back for one more, offering a cover by 90's Winnipeg sludge-thrash warriors Kittens. Recently signed to Vice, L. Ark. seem poised to make waves worldwide and will serve as fine ambassadors of Toronto.

Listen to a track from this set here.

Feeling pleasantly exhausted, made my way back to Spadina to catch the streetcar, pausing only to gawk inside the smoke-damaged windows of Massimo's a bit.

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¹ This was one place where you would most assuredly not want to let your fingers do the walking.

² In a nice touch, the wall of movie posters behind the bands had been painted over by artist Benjamin Oakley, who supplied a benign-looking cat to watch over the proceedings.

³ Because pedantic tracking of who was previously in what band never loses its appeal, the Danger Bay CV is useful to have on hand:

Jonny Dovercourt (guit, vox, butch moustache) — ex-Republic of Safety, The Magnetars, Currently In These United States, Christiana, Kid Sniper, Secret Agent, A Tuesday Weld

Paul Weadick (drums) — ex-Entire Cities, Forest City Lovers

Brendan Howlett (bass) — ex-Entire Cities, Henri Faberge & the Adorable

Deirdre O'Sullivan (vox, presence) — first band!!

Thanks to Jonny for providing me with this background info.

⁴ For what it's worth, I heard a certain amount of spiky Sonic Youth in there, but feel free to come up with your own.

⁵ This has hitherto been a niche in the local music ecosystem filled by The Two Koreas.