Showing posts with label jordan howard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jordan howard. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Recording: Richard Laviolette

Artist: Richard Laviolette

Songs: Florence and Delilah + Saved By Rock'n'Roll

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), September 11, 2022.

Richard Laviolette - Florence and Delilah

Richard Laviolette - Saved By Rock'n'Roll

Showing off a full set of new songs, Richard Laviolette surrounded himself (as is his wont) with the happy chaos of a sprawling band — "a little destruction will make you whole," as he'd comment in "Saved By Rock'n'Roll". It was most pleasing to see the group (including old fave Jordan Howard on guitar) bringing some real rock power — wearing a Sappy Fest hat, "Sappy Fest hat" might be the most accurate genre tag for this music. But if you wanted something a bit more concrete to hang on it, you could do worse than to pick up on the hints of Uncle Neil's ragged glory — though not so much Crazy Horse as Stray Gators was the vibe here as Laviolette rocked back and forth and let the sounds flow around his elegantly dark visions.

Friday, September 15, 2017

Recording: L CON

Artist: L CON

Song: Try

Recorded at Sherbourne Common (Camp Wavelength – Day 2), August 20, 2017.

L CON - Try

Since 2009, the summer Wavelength festival has been a highlight of the season, slowing down the hectic "festival experience" to an Island pace and making the whole thing as much about the vibe and the location as the (always well-curated) music. When this spring's floods shut the Island down, there was a ripple of apprehension from many quarters at the loss of favourite summer hangs, culminating in the festival decamping to the mainland.

There's been a number of WL events that have taken place at spots that've been overtaken by the city's voracious development, so it was a pleasant change to be in a new space — one's that's still not fully integrated into the city and that is going to be around for a while. With a wall of almost-completed condos along the park's east side, Sherbourne Common isn't going to be hosting too many festivals in summers to come, so hopefully some of Camp Wavelength's energy will remain imprinted on the space. Meanwhile, with the water glistening in the background and a sense of isolation from the city proper, this did a really superb job of capturing the feel of a show on the Islands. (Plus there was the bonus of the awesome slapback echo bouncing back from the new buildings surrounding the park.)

On a day with a stacked bill of mellow/ambient pop, having L CON play first felt a bit like leading with the headliner, but it was an excellent mood-setter for the day. The aqueous drift of the Moon Milk songs were a perfect lakeside fit — I was well-pleased to look over during "My Aquatic Uncle" and see that the festival's resident fortune-telling mermaid had heard the music's siren call and had made her way closer to the stage, tail twitching lazily in the breeze as she reclined and Lisa Conway sang "our lives will be poetry / our lives will be bliss / in the water with your arms around me / these days on land you'll never miss". Meanwhile, there was also this new number, an indirect product of a weather-aborted WL gig earlier this year.

Friday, March 3, 2017

Recording: L CON

Artist: L CON

Song: How Much Shall We Bet

Recorded at The Theatre Centre (Long Winter 5.3), February 4, 2017.

L CON - How Much Shall We Bet

The season's third Long Winter found a spot just a few doors from its old Queen and Dovercourt home at The Theatre Centre. Using both the upstairs main space and the main floor Incubator, there was music up and down all night long. Presenting the songs from last fall's tasty Moon Milk, Lisa Conway has lost a vocal foil, but gained some additional musical support in the form of Jordan Howard on guitar and Nick Bulligan on trumpet. Along with Andrew Collins' bass and her own keyb work, there was room to move the songs beyond the ballds into the adventurous disco territory heard here.

[Brandon Caswell Douglas got some sweet footage of the night which you can check out here. Long Winter ends the season with a return to the Gladstone Hotel on Friday, March 24th with music by Deliluh, Leanne Simpson, Protruders, Doom Tickler, Bonnie Trash, Bunny, HEX, Midge, Clamaglamza, Joel Eel and Sistem.]