In-store: CMW 2011/Sonic Boom (Friday)

(Bombay Bicycle Club / J Mascis / Bravestation)

Sonic Boom Records. Friday, March 11, 2011.

Started off a full day of CMW with some more in-store action downstairs at Sonic Boom. There was a decent smattering of folks on hand as I caught the end of a set by local alt-bro yalpers Pkew Pkew Pkew. Looking around, there was an unusual number of highschoolers on hand, many of them sitting down on the floor and lounging like it was a proper basement party.

I was sorta feeling warm-heated towards them for supporting local music when suddenly the casual sprawl turned into a mass of kids up against the stage, jockeying for position as the next band started to set up. That would turn out to be Bombay Bicycle Club, a British band with some buzz-appeal. Once stools and a banjo were brought out, it looked like this was going be an unplugged-style appearance. And as vocalist Jack Steadman casually sang the old bluegrass/gospel standard "I'll Fly Away" as his compadres soundchecked around him, I figured they were going to be one of that new wave of British roots-inspired bands that I'd heard vaguely about. The band's music was more "rock" than that, though, but how much this stripped-down set departed from their usual I can't say — "if this is too quiet for anyone, we're going to be playing at Lee's Palace tonight with some real instruments," was the rocknowledgement from the stage.

The set started with "Evening/Morning", that banjo playing against Steadman's quavery vocals. Otherwise, besides the pleasant-enough lope of "Rinse Me Down", none of the other handful of originals made much of an impression on me, but the young crowd in front of them was suitably impressed. "This is the first audience we've ever played to on this side of the Atlantic," Steadman informed them, whipping them up a little more.

I had the band pegged as earnest, clean-cut types, but perhaps they weren't not so blandly innocent after all: it might be kinda audaciously skeezy to cover Loudon Wainwright III's "Motel Blues", with its baldly-stated ambitions ("come up to my motel room and treat me right") to a crowd full of highschool-aged girls. Well, to the boys, too — I don't want to make groundless assumptions about what kind of groupies they were courting. And, somewhat confounding my notions of who this band might be getting marketed to, it was a dude-heavy crowd, full of enthusiastic lads. Just as I was jotting down "mostly harmless" as a concluding thought about the set in my notepad, I overheard two of them as they were putting on their coats:

Dude #1: That was very legit.

Dude #2: That one? That was the sickest song.

Listen to a track from this set here.

And then there was a weird sort of transference in the room as the large bulk of that young crowd booked it out of there and their spots up front were quickly filled in by members of the older cohort that had been been building up for the last half of Bombay Bicycle Club's set. The net outcome was a slightly smaller crowd, albeit a much taller one, patiently awaiting J Mascis. Mascis, who dared to be an alt-rock guitar hero in a time when such a thing was frowned upon, was playing songs from his newly-released Several Shades of Why. That album is, in some technical sense, his first proper "solo" album — so long as you don't count his albums backed by The Fog or the several of Dinosaur Jr.'s albums where he was essentially a one-man band.

But here, most decidedly playing on his own, Mascis treated the crowd to some hints of wry humour, like leading off set-starting "Listen to Me" with a "this is the first song on the new album" crack. That was pretty audience-engaging for the oft-laconic guitarist — it felt more directly within the bounds of his public persona when the next song (the new album's title track) screeched to a quick halt for an extended bout of tuning with the room holding an awkward silence. Interestingly, Mascis employed a loop pedal for that one to add a static part to hold things steady while he moved off on one of the nimble excursions that are recognized as his most articulate expressions.

Less expected was "Circle of Friends", a cover introduced with what seemed at first some especially random banter: "how many people remember Paul Simon's wife? Edie Brickell? Any fans out there?" Of course, all the randomness is tempered by the moments (like during "Ammaring") when he just plays, and suddenly you're all like, "oh yeah, guitar god. Right."

After that, he asked if there was anything anyone wanted to hear, and "Severed Lips" was the first thing shouted, so he graciously tore that one off and chased it with another (and less obvious) Dino Jr. cut, Green Mind's "Flying Cloud". A really enjoyable set — and it didn't leave my ears ringing afterward, like that time I saw Dinosaur Jr.

Listen to a track from this set here.

Although a lot of the crowd departed, I stuck around to check out local quartet Bravestation. With guitar, bass, drums and electronics/laptop, they presented a pop-forward electro-textured version of rock, the synth-y sounds and click-track percussion rendered vital with plenty of extra percussion.

Starting with "Clocks & Spears", they showcased the five songs from their 2010 EP. Though everything in the short set was well-performed — guitarist Derek Wilson especially showed a nimble touch — none of the tunes really stuck with me. But there were encouraging signs, like closer "White Wolves" which played that frisky rhythm/cold synths duality well. Not a band that I'd rush out to see again right away, but I won't regret having a chance for a progress report a little further down the road.

Listen to a track from this set here.

Recording: J Mascis

Artist: J Mascis

Song: Ammaring

Recorded at Sonic Boom (CMW), March 11, 2011.

J Mascis - Ammaring

Full review to follow. My quick notes for this set can be found here. My notes for this set can be found here.

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.