Recording: Parlovr

Artist: Parlovr

Song: Pen To the Paper

Recorded at The Horseshoe Tavern (NXNE 2011), June 15, 2011.

Parlovr - Pen To the Paper

My full notes for this set can be found here.

NXNE 2011: Wednesday

NXNE — North by Northeast Festival, Toronto, 2011.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011. Featuring: Loom, Megan Bonnell, O Voids, Red Mass, Parlovr

N.B.: I had written some contemporaneous notes about the festival here. These are mostly a by-product of a few additional observations as I have now had time to properly go through my recordings.

8:00 p.m.: Loom @ Rivoli

Brooke Manning's folk/drone project took on a different cast than when I had seen last her playing in February. On that occasion, she had a couple musicians sharing the stage with her, including Maya Postepski's icy, ambient keyboard work. Now playing on her own, the music was even more spare, the songs something closer to folk (albeit of a somewhat nonlinear, drone-y style) than to the vaguely Broadcast-y feel of the previous versions.

That said, this was still very good stuff. It helps that there's some crackerjack songs here. Plus, Manning took the stage with far more confidence than on that previous occasion, even daring to smile and look confidently relaxed. At one point, she took a picture of the audience with a disposable camera, instructing everyone to close their eyes and think of something they loved. Manning seemed to be following her own advice while playing, eyes closed and fingers spinning out her slow, fragile dreams.

Leading off with the Arthur Russell-quoting "Grown", there were a few spots where she stumbled a bit without a net to catch her, but even a couple lyrical stumbles couldn't derail the gorgeousness of "It Is Love". Whether by design or not, Manning got a little louder as the set went on, perhaps to act as a bulwark against the room's background noise building up as things went along. She ended with the more full-blooded "Around Again" and a game run through Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner". "I am thinking of your voice" is the sort of line that could be from one of her own songs, and she managed to get a good way through before losing the lyrical thread, quickly tossing it to the crowd to sing along on the do-do-doo-doo refrain before seguing down into a minor key to close with one of her own songs.

Listen to a track from this set here.

9 p.m.: Megan Bonnell @ Rivoli

Choosing to stick around for this was more of a "well, I'm here" sort of decision. And while I can sometimes be swayed by purveyors of piano pop, it's more often the case that I find it hard for anything to really stand out from a crowded field. For this set, Bonnell — on a full-sized electric piano — was joined by a drummer, as well as a cellist on several songs. The latter certainly enriched the sound, but sadly there were some persistent sound problems with unwanted buzzings and harsh overtones from the strings. Even Bonnell's vocals were sometimes creaking in the mix. That'd certainly be no fault of her own, as she gave every indication of being a good singer, gifted with a powerful voice that she used with admirable restraint.

Singing the geographically-inclined songs from the then-new Maps EP (alongside some, like "Moonshiner" from her earlier release) her smoky timber occasionally recalled Chan Marshall, although she employed her voice is a different manner. Unfortunately, though she was capable of exploring the range between the jaunty "The Wind" and the more dirgeful "Lake Superior", the songs didn't do much for me, so I spent more time thinking about how she might fit into her genre than I was being pulled into the music.

And meanwhile, the crowd was getting increasing inattentive, making this a poor setting to try and absorb something like title track "Maps" (which sounds nice in its recorded incarnation). In fact, after that song, one guy up front (not me!) would turn around to chastise the rest of the crowd, shouting at them to show some respect for the musicians. Ultimately, it was a nice enough set, but I wasn't made into a fan.

10 p.m.: O Voids @ The Horseshoe

From there, it was just the shortest of walks, past the front bar of The Riv (packed with people eyeballing the Stanley Cup final) over to the 'Shoe (where the front bar was similarly jammed). It was quieter in the back as The O Voids got ready to play. This showcase was presented by M for Montréal, and I dropped by in time for some aggressive volume that was in sharp contrast to what I had seen so far in the night. A different crowd, too: it didn't take long after I entered the venue for a guy to sidle up beside me to ask if there was any good weed in town.

There's not a lot of info on this triothough I've seen it noted that they share some members with Les Georges Leningrad. And though their online presence is pretty minimal, it seems like they're still a going concern. At any rate, they had a convincing blurb and a likeable track on offer in their festival listing, so I gave it a go. And as could be expected, loud guitars and bellowed vocals weren't a bad way to get my attention.

With a lean guit/bass/drums lineup, the band could be considered a power trio — at least in the sense that, say, Mission of Burma are a power trio. There were also some occasional hints of the more pummelling sort of post-punk as well, like Keith Levine-era Public Image Limited, which they list as an influence.

Given that subtlety doesn't seem to be their bag, it probably mattered a bit less that they had a bit of trouble getting everything balanced in the mix — in the end, the band settled for the solution of just turning the guitar up. That actually did clear up some initially-murky sound, but also made it ear-splittingly loud in the room. Musically, I mostly enjoyed what was on offer here, even with the vox buried way down somewhere. (Though one might guess that the lyrics were perhaps not the most fussed over anyways — "Far Out" seemed to mostly involve that phrase getting shouted over and over.)

The music occasionally veered toward something catchy in the manner of, say, early Superchunk, but lots of little post hardcore ruffles around the edges kept this off the easy track. Meanwhile, after the set, the weed guy (clearly not remembering me from a half-hour previous) re-accosted me, this time to ask if I knew where to get any "joints".

Listen to a track from this set here.

11 p.m.: Red Mass @ The Horseshoe

I'd been aware of Roy Vucino's rock-onslaught machine for quite awhile, just having missed seeing them at a couple previous festivals. Vucino (aka Choyce, formerly of CPC Gangbangs) started the band as an open-ended concept, sort of the evil version of all those feel-good indie-pop "collectives" that had flourished a few years ago. Previous gigs came with reports of double-digit figures on stage — their promo pic still sports an even dozen — but for this road excursion, they were playing as a comparatively-manageable five piece. But that's still enough people to raise a helluva racket.

The set started with some bait-and-switch, with some live violin being played against a manipulated tape-recorded one, but that was soon set aside as the group settled into the aggressive hard rock groove of "Killer on the Loose", sort of like a bad-trip version of the MC5. And then, about halfway through the set, "Weird Mess" hit like a sonic reducer, and suddenly the band was rather excellent.

Sadly, it was just at that moment that the band was really nailing it when Vucino broke a guitar string. The rest of the band played on while he hurriedly changed it, creating an unplanned lengthy instrumental excursion. But that triggered something, and starting with a snarling "Saturn", the rest of the set was similarly intense, including a guest turn from Siânteuse (of The Sphinxs) on backing vox. A half-hour in, it felt like the band was just getting warmed up, so we only got about three songs of the really good stuff before their time was done. Definitely noted as something warranting further investigation.

Listen to a track from this set here.

Midnight: Parlovr @ The Horseshoe

The night's "special guest" headliner was an open secret, it seemed, and I decided to stick around to see how things had progressed for this trio. It was actually back at NXNE two years before that we'd last crossed paths. Things certainly seem to have gone well for the band, who are now garnering a pretty large and enthusiastic following. And they've definitely managed to thicken their two-guitars-no-bass sound a bit. Vocally, it appears there hasn't been much of a change from when I first saw 'em and was a bit weary of "slightly howl-y adenoidal vox".

Banging out a series of quick songs, the set featured tracks from the Hell/Heaven/Big/Love EP, and the band was working out several of the songs that would emerge a year later on their Kook Soul album. The trio played with manic energy and their wired-up deportment is definitely their strongest suit. Clearly having fun on stage, Alex Cooper was passing a beer along to the audience and sing-speaking "I'm making frie-nnnn-ds!" — and perhaps milking the moment a bit too much on closer "General Hell (True Love Fades)".

But the songs just didn't do much for me. That put me firmly in the minority, as there were a lot of people who were really into it. During "Pen To The Paper" — perhaps their most meticulously-crafted song — I noticed the couple in front of me singing it to each other in a manner suggesting it was "their song". Clearly this hits in just the right spot for a lot of people, and if I don't get that, I can at least admit it's energetic as hell and fun to bounce along to.

Listen to a track from this set here.

Currente calamo: NXNE 2011 (Wednesday)

NXNE 2011 (Wednesday, June 15, 2011)

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 that'll include all the details on the burritos and existential worrying.

8 p.m.: Loom @ Rivoli

Brooke Manning's folk/drone project took on a different cast than when I had seen last her playing in February. On that occasion, she had a couple musicians sharing the stage with her, including Maya Postepski's icy, ambient keyboard work. Now playing on her own, the music was even more spare. And also something closer to folk than to the vaguely Broadcast-y feel of the previous versions.

That said, this was still very good stuff. It helps that there's some crackerjack songs here. Plus, Manning took the stage with far more confidence tonight, even daring to smile and look confidently relaxed. At one point, she took a picture of the audience with a disposable camera, instructing everyone to close their eyes and think of something they loved. Manning seemed to be following her own advice while playing, eyes closed and fingers spinning out her slow, fragile dreams.

9 p.m.: Megan Bonnell @ Rivoli

This was more of a "well, I'm here" sort of set than anything I was particularly eager to see. And while I can sometimes be swayed by purveyors of piano pop, it's more often the case that I find it hard for anything to really stand out for me in a crowded field. For this set, Bonnell was joined by a drummer, as well as a cellist on several songs. The latter certainly enriched the sound, but sadly there were some persistent problems that added some unwanted buzzings and harsh overtones to the strings. Even Bonnell's vocals were sometimes creaking in the mix. That'd certainly be no fault of her own, as she gave every indication of being a good singer, gifted with a powerful voice that she used with admirable restraint.

Her smoky timber occasionally recalls Chan Marshall, but the way she employes her voice is different. Regina Spektor is an easy point of comparison. Unfortunately, the songs didn't do much for me, so I spent more time thinking about how she fits into the field of her genre than I was being pulled into the music.

10 p.m.: O Voids @ The Horseshoe

From there, it was just the shortest of walks, past the front bar of The Riv (packed with people eyeballing the Stanley Cup final) over to the 'Shoe (where the front bar was similarly jammed). It was quieter in the back as O Voids got ready to play. This showcase was presented by M for Montréal, and I dropped by in time for some aggressive volume that was in sharp contrast to what I had seen so far in the night.

I didn't know much about the band, but they had a convincing blurb and a likeable track on on offer in their festival listing, so I gave it a go. As could be expected, loud guitars and bellowed vocals aren't a bad way to get my attention. The guit/bass/drums trio tend to fish around in the long history of louder postpunk music, and could be considered a power trio in the sense that Mission of Burma are a power trio.

Having a bit of trouble getting everything balanced in the mix, the band settled for the solution of turning the guitar up louder. That actually did clear up some initially-murky sound, but also made it ear-splittingly loud in the room. Musically, I mostly enjoyed what was on offer here, with pummelling instruments and vox buried down somewhere. The music occasionally veered toward something catchy in the manner of, say, early Superchunk, but lots of little post hardcore ruffles around the edges kept this off the easy track.

11 p.m.: Red Mass @ The Horseshoe

I'd been aware of Roy Vucino's rock onslaught machine for quite awhile, just having missed seeing them at a couple previous festivals. Now, it appears that they've slimmed down from their previously outsized formats to a comparatively-managable five piece. But that's still enough people to raise a helluva racket. The set started with some bait-and-switch, with some live violin being played against a manipulated tape-recorded violin, but that was soon set aside as the group settled into an aggressive hard rock groove, sort of like a bad-trip version of the MC5. And then, about halfway through the set, "Weird Mess" hit like a sonic reducer, and suddenly the band was rather excellent.

Sadly, it was just at that moment that the band was really nailing it when Vucino broke a guitar string. The rest of the band played on while he hurredly changed it, creating an unplanned lengthy instrumental excursion. But that punkish snarl triggered something, and the rest of the set was similarly intense, indicating that the band was just getting warmed up. Sadly, this was a half-hour set, so we got about three songs of the really good stuff before their time was done.

Listen to a track from this set here.

12 a.m.: Parlovr @ The Horseshoe

The night's "special guest" headliner was an open secret, it seemed, and I decided to stick around to see how things have progressed for this trio. It was actually back at NXNE two years ago that we'd last crossed paths. Things certainly seem to have gone well for the band, who are now garnering a pretty large and enthusiastic crowd. And they've definitely managed to thicken their two-guitars-no-bass sound a bit. Vocally, at first I though there was a bit more yowling going on than previously, but I note that when I first saw 'em I was a bit weary of "slightly howl-y adenoidal vox".

All three still play with manic energy, though, and their wired-up deportment is definitely their strongest suit. The songs, however, still don't do much for me. That put me firmly in the minority, as there were a lot of people really into it. During "Pen To The Paper" I noticed the couple in front of me singing it to each other in a manner suggesting it was "their song". Clearly this hits in just the right spot for a lot of people, and if I don't get that, I can at least admit it's energetic as hell and fun to bounce along to.

NxNE: Friday

NxNE — North by Northeast Festival, Toronto 2009.

Friday, June 19, 2009. Featuring: Spiral Beach, Matt and Kim, Parlovr, Zeroes, Golden Triangle, Mika Miko, The Homosexuals, Experimental Dental School

7 P.M.: Spiral Beach @ Whippersnapper Gallery

Making my way through a College Street under siege, booths busily being set up for Taste of Little Italy, found a bit of a queue in front of the Whippersnapper Gallery as ID's were busily being checked. Still managed to get in a few minutes before seven and found a patch of floor not too far back from the stage. For the "big time" of NxNE there were a couple lighting rigs flanking the stage, adding a bit of visual flair to the venue.

I'd only seen Spiral Beach once before, December '06, when they opened for Tokyo Police Club at the Horseshoe. Though I'd sampled and enjoyed their first alb, the live show left me feeling unimpressed — I recall thinking this was a young band with more spirit than songs. After that, they'd sort of been put on my mental backburner while they continued to garner a lot of positive vibes. But let it be said I'm willing to give second chances, so I came to the show with an open mind to see what'd changed in a couple years. As it turns out, although the band still looks shockingly young, there's been a whole lot of development. Although still usually pitched as a good-times-party kind of band, Spiral Beach's music had a darker, psychedelic edge than anticipated. Even on the faster numbers — including a new one that sounded like Piper at the Gates of Dawn hooked up to a primitive drum machine — there was something that suggested, "even if I'm dancing, I'm still in the middle of a bad trip". Interesting stuff, and it brought me around enough that it occurred to me I'd see 'em again.¹

Listen to a track from this set here.

8 P.M.: Matt and Kim @ Whippersnapper Gallery

Stayed on — hell, I'd gotten here early for — Matt and Kim, a band I was curious to see live. Despite the fact that the album didn't quite sit right with me, I'd gotten a notion that there was something to this Brooklyn duo. They took the stage with an instrumental fanfare and Matt was soon oozing positivity ("it's a beautiful goddamn day in Toronto") to the enthusiastic crowd in the stupidly hot room. Kim, meanwhile, was fighting the aftereffects of some bad Thai but still put in a spirited performance. It wasn't a visually satisfying experience, what with both musicians playing while seated on a low stage, I only caught a glimpse of either when they stood up. But musically, it was a worthy effort. Though there might have been one too many instrumentals in the short set (including a quick run through "The Final Countdown") the band's irrepressible gusto was impossible to deny, so I can say I left liking them more than I did when I came in.

Listen to a track from this set here.

9 P.M.: Parlovr @ Supermarket

After that, walked over to see Parlovr ("one of Montreal's most talked-about unsigned acts") at Supermarket², part of a showcase for Nevado Records. The three piece featured a dual-guitars-no-bass setup, though Louis Jackson's guit had a split output into the guitar and bass amps to prop up the bottom end. On a stage decorated with traffic signals, the band played a reasonable set of post-Strokes indie rock with a Montréal twist, guitars cleanly intertwining around slightly howl-y adenoidal vox. They were entertaining and brought some pleasantly goofy banter (including an onstage argument over Heath ledger versus Val Kilmer) but the songs weren't so memorable. There's a good base here, and I wouldn't write this band off, but I wasn't totally convinced by what I heard.

10 P.M.: Zeroes @ Silver Dollar Room

Wandered over to the Silver Dollar to see Zeroes, another Montréal band. Which made for an interesting compare and contrast, I guess. Zeroes had a bit more of a colder, post-punk edge — the guitars more menacing and the keybs icy — hints of, maybe, Magazine and bands of that ilk. I liked the band's textures, but found their stage presence to be a bit lacking in charisma: even when, say, grinding a guit against an amp, it seemed a little rote. That's petty, sure, but given the onslaught of bands I was in the middle of, the marginal things tend to stand out a little more. Interestingly, on listening to the playback of my recording of this set, I found myself liking it more than I remember, which might indicate that I was hitting a bit of a wall at the time. Possibly a good soundtrack for wandering the city while the drugs aren't quite doing enough to squelch the voices in your head — which may or may not be your idea of a good time on a Friday night.

Listen to a track from this set here.

11 P.M.: Golden Triangle @ Velvet Underground

By this point, I was definitely looking for something outside the broad category of "boys with guitars", so, looking over the listings, grabbed the streetcar down to Queen and walked over to Cameron House, thinking that The Hank and Lily Show would be a good change of pace. But inside, I found about a dozen people in line waiting to get in to the back room. That didn't seem entirely promising, so I ducked back outside and looked at the listings again and decided that the answer was just a bit further down the street at Velvet Underground. Got in with Brooklyn's Golden Triangle already on stage, a repeating riff echoing through a thick layer of reverb. When the drums, muffled like they were being played in a room a couple doors down the street, kicked in, I felt at home. This band's sound could probably be captured with a fairly reductionist blurb like "imagine if The Vivian Girls had convened as a surf band". Which might sound like pithy snideness save for the fact that, to me, that sounds like a bloody marvelous idea. With dual female vocalists up front, those snake-like guitar lines, and the primal drumming, I was totally into this — just the right mix of murk and sass. One of the best sets I saw at the festival.

Listen to a track from this set here.

12 A.M.: Mika Miko @ Sneaky Dee's

A bracing walk up Bathurst gave me a bit of a second wind. I'd been a bit eager to check out Mika Miko and was a little worried, given some buzz, that I might round the corner on College to find a line-up. Turned out to be no problem — possibly the demand had been spread out, given that this was the band's second set of the night. Veterans of the same Smell-based L.A. scene that has produced No Age, Mika Miko have a more straight-up punk feel — the rapid-fire songs came with shades of Liliput, Wire, Undertones and so on. But as with all first-class rock'n'roll bands, their energy made it all seem new and spontaneous. The duelling vocals of Jennifer Clavin and Jenna Thornhill were the most powerful weapons in the arsenal, but the whole band was on fire. I can't really say if this was objectively good, but in the moment it felt ferociously vital — which kinda means it seemed fantastic.

Listen to a track from this set here.

1 A.M.: The Homosexuals @ Sneaky Dee's

Oh my. I guess I could pull cred and say I was familiar with original-wave British punks The Homosexuals, but, quite honestly, I'd never heard of them. I had no idea what to expect from this set, but from the moment I saw the blazer-clad older British chap pulling his carry-on towards the stage, I was guessing this was not going to some rote re-hash of the glory days. Instead we got a tour through the mind of Bruno Wizard, who claimed to have fired his crack band after catching them listening to Bruce Springsteen and was now backed by "the future of fucking rock" in the form of Fiasco³ — or at least two-thirds thereof. After some introductory comments, Bruno moved behind the drum kit to give a history lesson about how all rock music is derived from African rhythms before picking up the guitar and playing a couple songs. He was then joined by Jonathan and Julian, who backed him sympathetically and ably, even if it was evident on occasion that they had as little idea as the rest of the audience what Bruno was going on about. Songs were interspersed with free-association digressions on cosmology and history (what was that about riding on a beam of light with Einstein again?) until Bruno deigned to start a song or Jonathan could sneak in a count-in. Fortunately, Bruno seemed to be canny like a fox and I think — I think — that to be entertained by his erratic tangents was more like the sort of sharing vibe he was encouraging, and not a case of "let's laugh at the nutter". The set ended with an extended version of "You're Not Moving the Way You're Supposed To", which was pretty fantastic — in fact, all of the tunes on which the Fiasco lads got a groove on were pretty hot. Bruno announced that when Fiasco's bassist was done school, they come back for another gig, which would be free for anyone in attendance "with love in their hearts". A baffling and unique experience.

Spend a few perplexing minutes with Bruno here.

2 A.M.: Experimental Dental School @ Rancho Relaxo

Well. One could imagine anything'd be a letdown after that but I felt like I had one more set in me, so walked over to Rancho to see Experimental Dental School, who, possibly fortunately, were really neither. That is, not so much experimental per se as a minimalist pop act using a double-decker rack of guitar effects to stretch out their sound some. Drummer Shoko Horikawa and guitarist Jesse Hall traded off vocals and took the songs out on little excursions, but didn't drag things so far away as to crumble the foundations. They also exuded a cool, positive vibe from the stage, seeking high-fives from anyone digging the sounds. I'm willing to concede by this point of the night I was more just surfing on the vibe rather than listening carefully, but this was enjoyable. A nice vibe to end the night and head home, a little exhausted.⁴

---

¹ Which, as it turns out, came to pass a bunch sooner than I'd expected.

² Slogan: "Kensington's least grungy venue".

³ Recently in town at the Over the Top festival.

⁴ It looks like the band is offering a free album for download on their website — which I'm now going to check out and recommend to you as well.