Gig: Fergus & Geronimo

Fergus & Geronimo (Surf City / Bruised Knees)

The Garrison. Saturday, April 16, 2011.

After a full day of rock'n'roll, I entered a quiet-ish room at The Garrison, with maybe about 30-odd people on hand, mostly hugging the walls as locals Bruised Knees took the stage. I was most certainly glad to see the band again — they'd impressed every other time I'd seen 'em and now they were a little less rangy, the songs a little more lived-in. "Caesar", say, now really played up the tension between the druggy psychedelic loll in the guitar and the rolling drums.

And with more familiarity, "Badwater" with its warm Sonic Youth-y interplay of Chuck Skullz' guit and Graham Hancock's bass sounded like an old hit that you hadn't heard for a while. Natalie Logan (who was dropping humblebrag references about meeting Werner Herzog) was again an effective foil, with her contrastingly bright vocals and percussion adding the frisson that makes the band stand out. That was in display throughout but really hit home in the overlapping vocals in "Drums", which closed out the efficient seven song set. A plusgood table-setter for the next band up.

Listen to a track from this set here.

From the moment I heard of them, it seemed like Surf City were quite possibly a band designed to appeal directly to me, combining their stolen-from-the-JAMC name — originally "Kill Surf City" — with a sound that pays tribute to the NZ/Flying Nun guitar-pop tradition. You can safely say that this was the band I was here to see.

Originally slated for Parts & Labour, this could have fit comfortably there crowd-wise, but for the sonics, I was glad to be at The Garrison. That'd apply even in the case of a band whose preferred sound was rather mushy, with super-echo-y vocals low in the mix, and plenty sustain/delay guitar effects.

"We're Surf City — let's staht," said Davin Stoddard with his New Zealand twang. Not much for banter otherwise, the band launched into "In Times of Approach..." from their excellent 2010 debut full-length Kudos, that song stretching out live in a way that the album version does not. Given some of the zworping layers of texture, based on the sound alone one might have guessed that there was a distorted keyboard in the mix, but the band employed a straightahead two guit/bass/drums lineup, with lots of effects.

For a band playing Volume Rock, it was mildly amusing to see the teeny amps they were wrenching their sounds from — Stoddard just had a little Fender sitting on a chair that he would occasionally lean into to generate some shards of noise. Material from the album was mixed with a few songs from their initial self-titled EP. Most of that stuff, like "Headin' Inside" (with its "good night, good night" hook) had a more more succinct pop structure.

Not that the newer stuff (like the Clean-tastic "See How The Sun") was lacking for hooks, but it was more refracted through some sort of smoky lens. And live, there was room to explore inside the songs a little, as with the album's title track (which begins with the declaration, "west coast dreams are kept alive / by the hidden sunsets in your eyes") stretching out a bit to close things out. All told, a fantastic set. It's a long way over from the other side of the world, but I do hope the band makes it back here.

I'd originally posted a live track taken from their album here, and now you can also check out an older one here.

It didn't look like I was along in coming out to this primarily to check out Surf City, as there was a notably-thinner crowd on hand as headliners Fergus & Geronimo took the stage. I was a bit leery coming into this, having checked the Unlearn album out and finding it indulging in far more Zappa-esque whimsy than I prefer, mixing sloppy rock moves with doo-wop signifiers, all wrapped up with a smirk of vague contempt.¹ "Taking the piss" seems to be one of the band's goals, so perhaps it's no surprise that they led off their set with a noodly blues jam.

That had me feeling increasingly dubious about the proceedings, but things did improve with "Girls with English Accents". As it would turn out, songs from the album were a little thin on the ground — perhaps a tacit admission that the slower, psychedelicized doo-wop material might not go over live. Instead, there was a bunch of more rockin' stuff, including several tracks from their pre-album singles.

Nominally a duo of Jason Kelly and Andrew Savage, they were rounded out to a four-piece for touring purposes, and it helped a lot that the band incarnation came off as louder & scrappier than what I was expecting, with rough edges that helped make them sound more like a garage band and less like musical pranksters. That said, their penchant for goofiness did rise to the surface from time to time, notably on a song about roman numerals that was, in fact, a list of things that employed them ("superbowl sweatshirts / Star Wars prequels / textbook diagrams / Rambo sequels").

Other ways of being smart-assed included "Powerful Lovin'", a totally straight-faced soul number that didn't wink at its over-the-topness, as well as the very Zappa-esque "Wanna Know What I Would Do If I Was You?", tweaking its nose at correct usage of the subjunctive mood.

That said, there was also a pleasingly abrasive lurch through "Girl U Want" ("a folk song from our homeland") — I would expect that the band might have appreciated Devo's conceptual side more than their mutant new wave sensibilities, but as parts of the drumkit started coming loose, it came off rather well. As as they finished off with the rockin romp of non-album single "Never Satisfied" and garage-y nugget "Baby Don't You Cry", it helped cement the impression they're not just the band they present on Unlearn. I wouldn't go so far as to say I was converted to the cause, but I left liking them more than when I came in.

Listen to a track from this set here.

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¹ For example: "You still buy CDs?" is printed across the face of the CD.

Gig: Best Coast

Best Coast (Male Bonding)

Lee's Palace. Saturday, September 25, 2010.

Saturday night at Lee's, and what would later be a packed, sold-out house was semi-full with curiosity-seekers checking out openers Male Bonding. Though hailing from London, the band has a very "American" sound — more specifically, their debut full-length Nothing Hurts reminded me a lot of some of the bands that Sub Pop signed in the post-grunge goldrush. I'm thinking specifically of Seaweed here, but there were a lot of other bands mining the same seam back then. It works out sort of tidily, in a things coming full circle sort of way, that Male Bonding are now signed to Sub Pop, keeping the label's discordant rock rep alive amongst a sea of gentle guitar-strummers that are also calling the label home these days.

Live, the trio stepped on to a rather spartan stage and it felt right that the band looked the part — Arthur Webb (guitar) and Kevin Hendrick (bass) coming across, variously, as lanky, shaggy and be-toqued. It was as if, save for the accents, they could have stepped out from the pages of Buddy Does Seattle. They launched into "Crooked Scene", followed by "Weird Feelings", which on the album feels like a hit. Live, the sound was far mushier and less compelling than the album, the songs a bit harder to tell apart. The band looked a bit off their game a couple times, too, having to stop and confer occasionally as to how the songs went, and abandoning one rather quickly that wouldn't get off the ground. They channelled that into a sort of half-hearted alienation affectation — "stop fraternizing with us... that's why we're fucking up," commented Webb at one point to the enthusiasts up front.

The set's last song broke the mould a little with Ali Koehler coming out to add some backing vox. There were some songs here that worked but on the whole, the band didn't live up to the promise shown on their album.

Listen to a track from this set here.

When I had come into the venue I'd noticed Best Coast guitarist Bobb Bruno was manning the merch table. And now, getting set up between sets, he was up on stage, not only tuning his own guitars, but doing the same for frontwoman Bethany Cosentino's coral green Mustang. I was wondering to myself if this was a bit of a diva move for a singer whose buzz prestige had shot up even more since the last time I'd last seen 'em, with their full-length Crazy for You getting a lot of attention.

But rather than rockstar hubris, Cosentino's waiting until the set's beginning to make an appearance had a less glamourous explanation. "I'm sure you all read my twitter," she explained as she emerged, (and, um, no) "I'm very sick.... I'm going to try the best that I can to bring all that I have for you Toronto." Indeed, she looked not at all well, but from the outset she had the crowd onside, whether they were handing her cat-related novelties or celebrating her stoner-friendly lyrics by lighting up their joints.

"This song goes out to the homies smoking weed in the front," she said, introducing "Sun Was High (So Was I)". In retrospect, given her outspoken pro-ganja lyrics and sentiments, I guess I shouldn't be surprised by all the potsmoking, but still, it's pretty annoying to have to breathe in other people's stinking fumes. During "Goodbye", the guy in front of me blazed up just in time to celebrate the stonerrific sentiment "I wish my cat could talk", and I just shrugged and went with the flow — or was getting relaxed from second-hand smoke as the haze overhead was making the room look more like a Cypress Hill gig.

Given Cosentino's condition, it was a little hard to get a full grip on how the band was progressing overall. Recently-added drummer Ali Koehler (ex-Vivian Girls) definitely looked the part to be playing with the band and her playing fit nicely, though the added potential for her to add in some more backing vox wasn't tapped. And although she wasn't feeling well, Cosentino was probably in a better voice than during NXNE, when she was fighting a sore throat. Bruno, meanwhile, stoically kept cranking out the leads on song after song.

"It smells so good in here — it's making me feel better," Cosentino commented by mid-set. And after another song, she gave in to the urge to self-medicate, accepting a joint handed up from the front row. ("Hope you don't get sick!" she said, passing it back.) Declaring this "the first time in the history of Best Coast I ever smoked weed on stage," she got a bit of a second wind — as well as some mellow wisdom, declaring a couple songs later, "this is a house of weed. You should all be stoned."

But by "I Want To" she was barely holding it together, soliciting the crowd to sing along for that and "When I'm With You". When the set closed with "Something in the Way", I thought for sure that'd be it, but the band returned to play the subjunctively-dubious "Wish He Was You". Bruno, killing time while waiting for Cosentino to return to the stage, endeared himself to the crowd by talking about how much Best Coast like playing in Toronto, perplexing Cosentino, who commented, "you don't know what that means... that man has never spoken on stage before."

Under the conditions, a pretty good show, and a generally memorable one. In the end we got a full set, seventeen songs in fifty minutes. We can hope that Cosentino is at full strength when Best Coast makes their return, already upsizing themselves to the much more spacious Phoenix.

Listen to a track from this set here.

Gig: Jim Guthrie

Jim Guthrie (Minotaurs / Tusks / Steven McKay)

The Horseshoe. Friday, June 26, 2010.

It was back in a more innocent time. The night before the start of the ill-conceived G8 summit in Toronto, and downtown was a ghost town, which just felt strange. Walking down to the Horseshoe there were private security guards standing outside shuttered banks and stores and the restaurants along Queen were open but almost empty. So too inside the 'Shoe, where I stepped into a very quiet room not too long before showtime. For what should have been a slam-dunk billing, it felt strange.

With four bands on the bill, it was a night of overlapping membership, with lots of performers doing double duty. In case my descriptions below get confusing, I've done a sort of poor man's Mark Lombardi-esque diagram mapping this night out — hopefully I didn't miss anyone.

First up was Steven McKay, a native of Hamilton and perhaps best-known as the drummer for Bruce Peninsula. Playing guitar and singing his own songs, he gave the impression that being stuck behind the kit had left him with a lot to say all bottled up inside. He was rather genial, and all of his songs were all accompanied by bantering introductions with lots of amiably goofy touches — for example, he'd decided that all the songs should come with big Bruce Springsteen-style count-ins.

The music, too, had a bouncy whimsicality, like a romantic soul not quite ready to lay everything out directly and hiding behind a front of enforced gusto. He was backed by a three-piece band which included Allie Hughes¹ on keybs and backing vox and Bram Gielen on bass.² The slightly-ramshackle edge to the songs was the piece of grit that kept things from leaning too far towards goofy/whimsical, and the songs — mostly from a now-released full-length — were modestly pleasant. A light-hearted bit of fun to start the night.³

Listen to a track from this set here.

McKay would move behind the kit as Tusks took over. A vehicle for local songwriter Samir Khan, I'd never seen the band proper before, though I had heard some of these songs in Khan's one-man-and-a-bass sets. The band traffics in an agreeable sort of sophisticated pop — call it a grown-up sort of mellow new wave, powered by Khan's smooth vocal delivery. Some of the material, like the catchy "Mothers vs. Sons", has been around for a couple years (the band released an EP in '08), but there was also a healthy helping of newer stuff, powered by recent additions McKay and Jordan Howard (guit, also of The Magic and many other bands) joining Khan and Shaw-Han Liem (keybs, also of I Am Robot and Proud).

Khan was also engaging on stage, albeit in a more deadpan sort of manner — of the G20, he asked, "has anyone taken a side yet? I'm on the fence." Sadly, McKay missed his chance to punctuate that with a rimshot. One song that I remembered hearing in a solo set last summer — and that's one sign of a good song right there — was the Elvis Costello-ish "Little Pirouettes", quite enjoyable in its full band arrangement, with a nice keyboard part from Liem driving the slow-burning number. It's sometimes hard to complement restrained, melodic stuff like this without sounding like one is damning it with faint praise, but there's definite smarts to Khan's well-crafted songs, and the band is well-worth checking out.

Listen to a track from this set here.

And then the big surprise of the night. I thought I knew what to expect from Nathan Lawr, once the original drummer for the seminal Royal City, who on his own had crafted three albums of likable, well-written rootsy pop-rock. I'd enjoyed them (and knew that his work as a songwriter is appreciated by his peers) but none of that prepared me for something miles away from what I'd associated with him.

It's one of those telling little things that the band is no longer "Nathan Lawr and the Minotaurs", but just Minotaurs. Not just a vehicle to present some well-hewn songs, Minotaurs are now suddenly a fearsome groove machine. From the first strains of "Caught in the Light", with Kevin Lynn's percolating bassline and the horn section punching through, I was confused — could this be... afrobeat?

That song cooked for five minutes, the last half of which mostly just sat in a groove and rolled along, a jaw-dropping start for the band. "Get Down" had a bit of a reggae vibe, with the dual-guitar attack of brothers Dan and Ryan Levecque and, again, those horns — courtesy of Jeremy Strachan, Nick Buligan and Steve Ward — which utterly made this. The band was rounded out with Don Kerr on drums and extra percussion by Michael Armstrong.⁴

After the surprising start with the first couple songs, it just got better with "Pink Floyd"⁵ which was toweringly good — catchy and full of energy throughout, and stretching out enough for Lawr to get a little extra rhythm in from the drum beside his keyboard. He even managed a quick revision to the song's lyrics, slipping in a topical "police state" reference.

But it's worth noting that Lawr isn't just undertaking some sort of stylish Fela copying so much as employing the tools of the genre to serve his songs. After that initial blast, we got some different takes on the equilibrium between groove and songcraft. "Runaway Lane" was the first song that felt like it could, with a different arrangement, fit in on one of Lawr's earlier albums, and that also applied to "Lazy Eye", which could, in different clothes, be a 70's singer/songwriter Dylan rip. With those songs stretching out the stylistic palette a bit, a punchy version of "Footsteps" (from 2007's A Sea of Tiny Lights) also fit in well.

A powerful set, not just because this was not what I was expecting, but more that it's just plain damn good stuff. Most of these songs are on his now-released album The Thing, which is definitely recommended — but if you get a chance to hear this band playing them live, do not hesitate.

Listen to a track from this set here.

After Minotaurs, I thought anything else might be an afterthought — and Jim Guthrie, who'd taken that set in from right in front of the stage, echoed those sentiments, commenting, "we're the encore to that." But this certainly held its own. I suppose there was less of a sense of where-you-been? occasion than the last time I saw Guthrie play, but this set featured a more confident band than that last time. I note that this agglomeration now carries a moniker, too: "Jim Guthrie and his Litter" — and again, there was a sense that the players were a little tighter and more simpatico with the material. From the carefully arranged slowly building start of "Broken Chair", the seven backing players — only violinist Randy Lee had not already been on the stage on the night — this was a full, lush sounding set.⁶

With the 'Shoe semi-full, there was a very nice vibe in the air, and it seemed like the people who showed up were actually here for the show and not to chatter away — definitely the right sort of environment for something like this. Early on, there was a particularly enjoyable run through "Trouble" (from '02's Morning Noon Night), and about a half-hour into the set things were really cooking with the new, as-yet-unreleased subjunctive rocker "I Wish I Were You", the older "Virtue", and "Evil Thoughts", which featured a fiery solo from Jordan Howard. And as the band moved along, they began to stretch the songs out more, "Time is a Force" and "Turn Musician" getting unrushed versions, including an extended introduce-the-band segment in the latter. Following one more new one ("Difference a Day Makes") the set eased back down to earth to end with the existential, lullaby-ish "You Are Far (Do You Exist?)".

A one song encore (the instrumental "Now, More Than Ever") brought the whole set just shy of seventy-five minutes. Top notch throughout, and a nice capper to a very solid night.⁷ Twenty-four hours later, the city would be in chaos — a police car would be burning nor far from the Horseshoe's front door and the authorities would be undertaking a notorious, civil-liberty-destroying over-reaction that stains us still — but on this last innocent evening, things felt about right.

Listen to a track from this set here.

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¹ "There's a lot of man-feelings up here," Jim Guthrie would later comment during his set, and, indeed, Hughes would be the only non-dude performing all evening.

² In another series of interlocking band relationships, Gielen plays in Hughes' live band, and both perform with Thomas Gill, absent this night, but also a collaborator with McKay.

³ McKay is listing a couple upcoming local dates on his myspace, both in friendly, cozy confines: November 4 at the Imperial Pub and November 23 at Soundscapes.

⁴ Armstrong and Lynn are known for their work in ahead-of-their-time polyrockers King Cobb Steelie, with whom Lawr has played with in the past. Consideration of their musical stew may be helpful in thinking out what led Lawr to this new sound.

⁵ "It's not about Pink Floyd," Lawr helpfully explained afterward.

⁶ The lineup is the same as it was at the New Year's show:

Jordan Howard - guit

Samir Khan - bass

Shaw-Han Liem - keyb

Nathan Lawr - drums

Randy Lee - violin

Jeremy Strachan - reeds

Nick Buligan - brass

⁷ Following the logical progression of the evening, there should perhaps have been some subsequent act wherein Guthrie moved behind the drum kit, but I guess that would have led to some sort of infinite loop.

In-store: Sunparlour Players / Lullabye Arkestra

Sunparlour Players / Lullabye Arkestra

Sonic Boom. Saturday, April 18, 2009.

Out celebrating Record Store Day in the traditional manner — a trip to Soundscapes, "celebrating" with a discount on everything in the store. Picked up a couple catalog items that I'd had my eye on. Nice to see the store doing good business, and to see celebrities walking among us — I nodded at Casey from Ohbijou coming 'round one of the racks, and managed to say, "I wish I were at your show tonight"¹, to which she replied "me too," and suggested that the make-up date should be in June.

Headed up to Sonic Boom afterwards, who were going all out for the day, holding an afternoon-long series of performances in their basement space.² I'd originally been planning to get there earlier on, to check out Green Go, who I've heard good things about, and Gentleman Reg, who's always worth heading out for, but with the timing of the day, that didn't work out. Given the time I got there at, I was expecting to be in line to see Slim Twig, which left me felling somewhat ambiguous, his stuff having left me unconvinced after a couple exposures. In what was a good turn for me, they were running a bit behind their estimated schedule, and instead caught the two acts preceding him.

Came downstairs just as the Sunparlour Players were getting ready to play. I'd only seen them once before, in an outdoor performance at a Bloor Street festival a couple summers ago, and had found them pleasantly enjoyable. The summary that had stuck in my head was "a bit like Elliott Brood without the distortion pedals". Which is probably as right and as wrong as any other offhand reductionist analysis. They come from a similarly rootsy place as EB, but vocalist Andrew Penner brings a different, more soulful vibe to the proceedings, and it's no accident that their first album was entitled Hymns For The Happy, as there's a bit of that old-time gospel feel to it. At a couple times during their set, a half-dozen songs or so, I felt that their tunes were a little "safe" — suitable for CBC listeners deciding what wine to have with dinner. But when they amped it up a notch, it was fairly satisfactory. The set ended with Penner switching from guitar to bass and sleazing things up a bit for a tune with a greasy, punkish feel. So they have some edge to them. With a new album coming up, hopefully they will get their due attention.

That set done, I wandered upstairs a bit to flip through some CD's, and came back down once Lullabye Arkestra were ready to go. Also not a totally unknown quality to me, I'd seen them in December as performing at Jason Collett's basement review at the Dakota Tavern. On that night, their sound ran a little bit counter to the vibe I was expecting, so I don't think I was totally able to appreciate them.

The Lullabies are a duo that make a roar pretty much out of proportion to their numbers, their main weapon being the threatening bass and big voice of Katia Taylor. Making an unholy racket, LA have pretty much stripped hardcore down to its most essential elements. Bracing stuff, but bracing like sticking your head out the car window during a blizzard. Getting fully into the spirit of Record Store day, the pair proceeded to attack some tunes from their favourite records, starting with a tribute to Slayer, careening into Gershwin's "Summertime", and on into Motörhead's "Killed By Death", before switching over to a couple originals.

I can't say that I unabashedly love what they do but I was energized by their performance. They're an exciting live combo, and it's obvious that they've put in a lot of hard work to execute their aesthetic just so. I couldn't say I'd want to sit back in my easy chair and listen to their long-player, but I do wish them well, and I wouldn't flee if I were exposed to them again.

Their set complete, I probably could have stuck around for Slim Twig and still not have missed anything at my gig, but I was ready for a drink and just headed across the street to settle in at Lee's.

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¹ Although after the fact, I was mildly worried that I actually said, "I wish I was at your show tonight," and feared that my subjunctive tense had abandoned me in all the excitement, as I listened for all my English teachers rolling in their graves.

² Full respect is due to the people at Sonic Boom for the work they've done making their store into a destination. Refurbishing the basement as additional retail space and a spot for in-stores was a wonderful idea, and I always think of it as a fine place to go sample a band, like hanging out in a giant basement rec room.