Recording: MIMICO

Artist: MIMICO

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Smiling Buddha, March 11, 2016.

MIMICO - unknown

This proggy night at Smiling Buddha was presented under the auspices of façadeMontage, the promoting arm of Romar L. Johnson, also known for his visual work with the Casual Drones series. Anyone who has been to those events knows that he gives lighting and visuals a precedence above and beyond the usual, so it was no surprise to see the intricate lighting rig and intense dosage of dry ice in action here. Closing out the night, MIMICO overcame some guitar troubles to slide into full-on "Welcome to The Machine" mode with some extended instrumental action powered by Ben Oginz's keyboards.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Mimico

Artist: Mimico

Song: Man From Japan

Recorded at Geary Lane ("Sound Séance I": Night 2), June 13, 2015.

Mimico - Man From Japan

The culmination of Geary Lane's year-long journey, the inaugural version of this event overcame some bureaucratic hurdles to present a weekend-long showcase of a non-corporate alternative to the city's increasingly-crowded festival calendar. Tucked away in its little pocket on the other side of the tracks, Geary Lane does feel a little off the grid but works well as an conceptual island getaway for sonic adventurers. Partnered with Suoni Per Il Popolo, the "name" draws skewed a bit toward une certaine esthétique de Montréal but each night did include cool local sounds as well. The festival's middle night was the Big Rock Show, with the room getting packed early on with a rambunctious crowd. The music was correspondingly more in-your-face than the nights around it, and though that substituted the cool clubhouse vibe for something more akin to a warehouse party, the well-organized night still went off without a hitch.

No longer pushing the superb Incantations as a brand-new release, Mimico's set spent a bit more time reworking material from their first album, closing things out with this tune plus a giant-sized "Astroblade" with a face-melting mid-song noise breakdown.

Recording: Mimico

Artist: Mimico

Song: Cloud City

Recorded at Smiling Buddha, February 26, 2015.

Mimico - Cloud City

Though there was an extended wait for Mimico's sophomore album to finally be properly released, at least the the delay was justified by the tasty physical object that resulted. The vinyl version of Incantations, with its hypnotizing artwork from Derek McKeon, looks like an bona fide ol' fashioned album. It sounds fantastic, too, with the band expanding their sound in all directions from their original template. Guitarist Jeremiah Knight has taken on a share of the lead vocals from keyboardist Ben Oginz and is increasingly the visual focus on stage, while drummer Nick Kervin's bass work has provided a different space to build songs upon. For this show, the band explored those avenues by having Dallas Wehrle (Constantines/Deloro) sit in on bass for the whole set, which gave an added dimension to all the songs — but what he brought really shows on this one.

Recording: Mystic Triangle

Artist: Mystic Triangle

Song: Snake Eyes Wins

Recorded at Holy Oak Café, October 28, 2014.

Mystic Triangle - Snake Eyes Wins

Although it was only back in February that Ben Oginz was celebrating the release of a Mystic Triangle tape, there's no drop-off in quality in the tasty new Pulses — in fact this one raises his game a bit. The insistent gungungungung gungungungung of the sequencer beat would have been worthy of packed-in, dance-y Friday night crowd — but even on a mellower Tuesday, it was sweet to see this music making its way out to the world.

Recording: Mimico

Artist: Mimico

Song: Fate Screen^*

Recorded at Comfort Zone ("Cod Bless Fest"), April 10, 2014.

Mimico - Fate Screen

Full review to follow. If I were the type to be overly concerned with what bands are gonna "break", I'd be whispering Mimico's name in a lot of ears. But seriously — their forthcoming album Incantations is gonna be frickin' big, so you should get on this train now. A menacing groove for our times.

^* Thanks to Chris for passing the title to this one along.

Recording: Mystic Triangle

Artist: Mystic Triangle

Song: Fragment

Recorded at Handlebar, February 22, 2014.

Mystic Triangle - Fragment

Full review to follow. In a case of parallel lines converging, a new tape from Ben Oginz's Mystic Triangle takes him a little closer to what you might hear from Mimico, rather than the "psychic new age music" that this side-project used to dabble in. Surrounded by synths and swathed in reverb, this set sounded like it was purpose-built as a soundtrack to some 80's direct-to-video exploitation flick ripping off the latest from John Carpenter. (Just listen to this and try not to imagine a guy with a shotgun in a foggy swamp being chased by an alien.)

Recording: Mimico

Artist: Mimico

Song: Big Sis

Recorded at Gerrard Art Space ("Feast in the East 33"), January 4, 2014.

Mimico - Big Sis

Full review to follow. Not resting on the laurels of the fabulous tape they released back in May, word is that Mimico already have a new album in the can with plans of a vinyl release on the way. It'll bring some new faucets to their psych/prog/kraut sound — just you wait 'til you get a chance to hear the sludgy majesty called "Incantation". And for another new wrinkle, guitarist Jeremiah Knight (also of Ostrich Tuning) takes the mic for this one.

Recording: Mystic Triangle

Artist: Mystic Triangle

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Holy Oak Café, July 24, 2013.

Mystic Triangle - unknown

Full review to follow. Mystic Triangle is the solo bandonym for Mimico's Ben Oginz, and while the psychetronic realms he's inhabiting here aren't worlds removed from his band's sound, these come with their own sense of austere grooviness.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Mimico

Artist: Mimico

Song: Making Love in the Ruins

Recorded at Izakaya Sushi House, May 11, 2013.

Mimico - Making Love in the Ruins

Full review to follow. In the dark back room at Izakaya, the trio celebrated the cassette release of their first album (also available on their bandcamp), by playing the whole thing in order. There's a nice range in the band's apocalyptic psych-fi, and in this room Nick Kervin's drumming sounded especially nice in tying everything together.

Recording: Mimico

Artist: Mimico

Song: Doses

Recorded at Holy Oak Café, June 26, 2012.

Mimico - Doses

Full review to follow. It wasn't too long ago that I first checked this trio out, but I was so impressed that I wanted to hear 'em again to see how their "psychedelic industrial goth prog" would sit the second time around — and I was left with no doubts. This is some really fine simmering stuff, droning and exploding in just the right ways.

Recording: Mimico

Artist: Mimico

Song: Astroblade pt. I

Recorded at 7 Dora, April 28, 2012.

Mimico - Astroblade pt. I

Full review to follow. I only made it out for a fraction of Planet Creature's all-day album release spectacular, but I was keen to get there in the early running to check out this group's kraut-y sounds. They did not disappoint, and I recommend that you check 'em out as soon as possible.