Recording: The Acorn

Artist: The Acorn

Song: Misplaced

Recorded at The Tranzac Club (Friends in Bellwoods 2 release party), Saturday, August 29, 2009.

The Acorn - Misplaced

My notes for this gig can be found here.

Recording: Snowblink

Artist: Snowblink

Song: Rut and Nuzzle

Recorded at The Tranzac Club (Friends in Bellwoods 2 release party), Saturday, August 29, 2009.

Snowblink - Rut and Nuzzle

My notes for this gig can be found here.

Recording: Emma McKenna

Artist: Emma McKenna

Song: Unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac Club (Friends in Bellwoods 2 release party), Saturday, August 29, 2009.

Emma McKenna - unknown

My notes for this gig can be found here.

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

Gig: "Friends in Bellwoods 2" release party (Saturday - part II)

"Friends in Bellwoods 2" release party (Saturday) (Featuring: Bellewoods, Lisa Bozikovic, Kids On TV, Emma McKenna, Germans, Snowblink, The Acorn)

Tranzac. Saturday, August 29, 2009.

You can catch the first part of the day here.

Throughout the afternoon, the size of the crowd waxed and waned a bit, especially between acts, when many would head out for a smoke or duck out to the side to check out the action in the barbeque zone. There was a weirdly sedate late-late night vibe throughout the afternoon, a drowsy sense that it could be four in the morning and the end of a bender — until a bright shaft of light from outside from someone opening the side door suggested it was, indeed, actually four in the afternoon. Needing a bit of a jolt a couple times between acts I simply headed out the front door and went for brisk, short Annex-y walks to get some air in my lungs and clear the cobwebs.

As afternoon became evening, there was a quicker uptick in the size of the crowd, giving the impression of an actual Saturday night from about the time Germans were playing forward. But through it all, it should be noted, the busy organizers from the Ohbijou camp were always close at hand — James or Casey came up to introduce nearly every act as they took the stage, all day long.

Bellewoods: Chris White's foursome launched into their set with "Kneel On The Apron", just a sleepy acoustic guitar and voice for a couple minutes before the opening up from there. Impressed by the crowd's quiet attentiveness, he followed it up with an even quieter number. Hurtin' heart introverted mope-rock, I found it more likeable when the rhythm section tried to illustrate the sturm-und-drang a bit more proactively. Probably better suited for days with grey skies and mixed emotions about the world.

Lisa Bozikovic: Starting solo at the keyb, at first I thought I might be getting something similar to what I'd heard just the other day. But once James Bunton (drums) and Anissa Hart (cello) joined in, it turned out that even though I'd be hearing most of the same songs, this time they were more fleshed out, which certainly made a difference. Added background vox added even more pleasant texture. And a set-ending accordion cover of Ina unt Ina's "Teacher" — a techno song about a teenage crush on a teacher — was a fun wrap-up.

Kids On TV: With new stagewear and projector in tow, the KoTV crew took the stage. Absolutely the most visually interesting of the day's bands, they also managed to boost the energy in the room up a couple notches. Four songs from their current setlist, the aces were once again "Dazzler" and comp cut "Poison". This being the, what — fourth? — time I've seen them in not such a long stretch, I feel a bit like a scholar observing minute details within the songs. But for the less devoted, you merely have to show up and soak in the spectacle and the fun.¹ Also nice to note that the crew wasn't plagued by any technical gremlins outside their control this time, just for jams in bang-bang fashion.

Emma McKenna: This was a name I've been hearing a fair amount lately, mostly in that, "Oh, you haven't heard her?" kind of tone people reserve for when they think they're the first on the block on to something new and special. Playing solo with electric guitar,² McKenna played five quick songs that were definitely intriguing. Plainspoken yet declamatory, with a trilling voice that could occasionally twist a word into a little shiv of unexpectedly stretched syllables. The crowd, building up to its evening's fullness, was starting to get a bit chatter-y in the background, which was about the only blot on this set. Good stuff, and I'll definitely be on the lookout for more.

Listen to a track from this set here.

Germans: Another band that I missed out on when people were calling them one of the city's best a couple years ago, Germans are back together after some hiatus time.³ The band played a new wave-inflected sort of 90's alt. rock — which is to say their dominant tempo was "chugging", and the sound relied as much as keybs as squally guitars. This was generically okay, but it didn't leave a strong impression on me. Maybe the band's current lineup needs some more time to gel, or possibly not entirely my thing, I'll reserve judgment for now and see what I see if I encounter them again.

Snowblink: For a band that had more or less completely failed to impress me the first time I saw 'em, I was slightly surprised by the sense of reverence in the room as Snowblink prepared to play. Perhaps it was vocalist Daniela Gesundheit walking around the room, handing out bells for everyone to play or Casey Mecija introducing the band with a stern warning for those at the back to hush up and listen before going right down in front of the stage to claim a space on the floor but there was a palpably expectant vibe. So as I listened to the songs — performed by Gesundheit on antler-enhanced guit plus Dan Goldman on guit/vox/keyb/effects — I quickly concluded I'd been wrong the first time around. Wrong. An elegant voice and folk-songs embracing the subtle technological tweaks of the musicians — maybe the vibe in the room was infectious, but I was pretty captivated. The sets were stretching out a bit by this point in the evening, and the five songs in twenty-five minutes were quite fabulous.

Listen to a track from this set here.

The Acorn: Closing things out was probably the biggest "name" of the night in The Acorn out of Ottawa. Playing on this night as a bass-less trio, the band started out with the gentle "Slippery When Wet" and maintained a mellow vibe with a some new material, "Misplaced" particularly making an impression. The set ended with a cover of Gowan's "Strange Animal", which I must confess made me wince initially, but the band imbued it with a new-wave energy.⁴

Listen to a track from this set here.

And then, about quarter to midnight, the whole thing was over. There were some other good shows going on around town, but I was feeling way too punchy to even think I could be up for more. Time to head home. Not something you'd want to do every Saturday, it felt like a bit of an endurance test a few times,⁵ but it was quite a day, and a nice way to mark a special occasion. And also, I'm guessing, the sort of thing one will look back on with a satisfied sense of, "I was there!".

---

¹ Excitingly, John mentioned that KoTV will be having an EP release party September 24th at the Gladstone, so that total might go up again.

² Although for the first song, she was also stomping a ring of bells 'round her ankle as well.

³ Although they didn't get back together in time to place a track on the compilation.

⁴ Was that Police-like reggae shuffle always there in the verses? I don't really want to go back to the source to check on it.

⁵ And by about the third time through the compilation being played as between-set music, I think I started to feel like I was in a sort of Friends in Bellwoods 2 indoctrination camp.

Recording: Kite Hill

Artist: Kite Hill

Song: Gathering

Recorded at The Tranzac Club (Friends in Bellwoods 2 release party), Saturday, August 29, 2009.

Kite Hill - Gathering

My notes for this gig can be found here.

Recording: The Cutting Edge

Artist: The Cutting Edge

Song: Song: Unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac Club (Friends in Bellwoods 2 release party), Saturday, August 29, 2009.

The Cutting Edge - unknown

My notes for this gig can be found here.

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

Recording: Canadian Wildlife

Artist: Canadian Wildlife

Song: Unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac Club (Friends in Bellwoods 2 release party), Saturday, August 29, 2009.

Canadian Wildlife - unknown

My notes for this gig can be found here.

N.B. There are a couple scuffing noises near the start, as I was still adjusting my microphones as the set started, but this is so pretty it's really worth hearing regardless.

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

Gig: "Friends in Bellwoods 2" release party (Saturday - part I)

"Friends in Bellwoods 2" release party (Saturday) (Featuring: Sebastien Grainger, Canadian Wildlife, The Phonemes, Samir Khan, The Low Notes, The Cutting Edge, Dinghies, Kite Hill)

Tranzac. Saturday, August 29, 2009.

Friday night's show at Lee's wasn't the end of the story of Ohbijou's efforts to launch the Friends in Bellwoods 2 compilation with as much fanfare as possible. The final act came the next day with an all-day, noon-til-late, all-ages spectacular at the Tranzac with a whopping nineteen acts scheduled to play. The sort of gig that's as much of an experience as anything, and the sort of day where, once you had your wristband, you could leave for a nap or go for a haircut and come back and catch some more bands.

Besides the Bellwoods house itself, the Tranzac may well be the most perfect venue for this kind of thing, with its community-intense mythos. Something between a Legion and a rec centre — I swear, sometimes I head out of the main hall and expect I should be able to turn and walk over to a curling rink — the Tranzac is well-loved as a gathering place despite its slightly shabby appearance.

For me, the prospect of an all-day release party was at least as daunting as it was exciting, and I found myself wondering how much I would be able to take. One version of the plan for the day had me showing up later in the afternoon, but when I heard from a friend they wouldn't be able to make it, I was untethered from that. Could have hung around longer at home, but I knew I'd just end up sitting around, mentally checking off all the bands that I had missed. So I ended up arriving at about 2:30, missing the first four acts of the day. Found a centrally located table being held down by some members of the young team who were coming and going all day and joined them.

This is a bit more point-form than usual, but bear with me, there's a fair bit to get through. Just as a general note, these were very short sets, fifteen minutes or so, and usually three or four songs.

Sebastien Grainger: Playing solo and armed with his white acoustic guitar. "Now I'm gonna play one of my hits... maybe I took the wrong career path if I wanted hits," said Grainger before launching into "By Cover of Night", a song replete with intimate details, epic sweep and stadium-strained vox that implied it would, in fact, be a huge hit if it were done by Snow Patrol or some British band of that ilk pumping it out from the stage at Glasto. For me, a nice way to ease into the day as the caffeine was starting to kick in.

Canadian Wildlife: This turned out to be the first solo performance by Jennifer Mecija, singing and playing at the keyboard, sitting on a stool with one leg tucked beneath her. Sweetly nervous but singing in a lovely voice, these hushed but pretty songs were the highlight of the day for me. The set ended with a cover of Forest City Lovers' "Waiting by the Fence", quiet and with all of its sadness turned in on itself, a nifty contrast to the version played by Forest City Lovers at Lee's the night before.

Listen to a track from this set here.

The Phonemes: On this occasion a duo with Magali Meagher accompanied by John Tielli on theramin, guitar and quavering backing vox. Leading with "April, Let's Send His Colleagues An Email" from FiB2 and then a couple new songs of intelligent avant-pop before bringing on Kat Burns (vox) and Kyle Donnelly (bass) to finish with a stirring take of "Pain Perdu", a little pop masterpiece with one of my favourite-ever lyrical affirmations.¹

Samir Khan: With Tusks unable to make it, bassist Samir Khan — revealing a sly, self-depreciating wit in the Jon Stewart/Jon Benjamin range — stepped up solo to "play some songs about male feelings, which is different than the usual set which is... songs about male feelings".² Armed with just a bass and a looping pedal, he played four melodic numbers, managing to pull it off without sounding too spare, one new one (possibly called "Little Pirouettes"?) even having an Elvis Costello-ish ring to it. Tusks is pretty much an unknown to me, but based on this, sounds worth checking out.

The Low Notes: Expanding on the minimalism a bit was Paul Mathew's duo, with his electric guitar backed by drummer Kieran Adams. With a resonant voice, Mathew's songs had a slightly melancholy 70's FM undertow that was cut, on a couple tunes, with a latin vibe. The crew managed to squeeze in five songs in a longer-than-average set. "What They'll Find" threatened to get lost within the players' practising their virtuosity, but the more compact tunes were fairly tasty. The set ended with Tara Azzopardi joining for additional vox on comp cut "Glory Glory". Not viscerally electrifying, but some pretty decent stuff.

The Cutting Edge: One of only two bands without a song on the compilation to play all day, this crew's hands had, regardless, many fingers in its making. A side project of The Wooden Sky with that band's Gavin and Wyatt joined by Heather Kirby of Ohbijou on bass and Chris Stringer on lead guit. Feeling like the musical and emotional antipode to the in-store at the other end of the week, this unit exchanged The Wooden Sky's quiet introversion for a rockin' countrified outburst — well illustrated by the cover choice of Merle Haggard's "Reasons to Quit"³ Perhaps not as affecting as The Wooden Sky, but a nice burst of energy.

Listen to a track from this set here.

The Dinghies: Stringer and Kirby stayed on stage for the next set, joined by James Bunton for a couple songs of slapstick-y fun fronted by Casey Mecija and Germans' Tim Fagan. A bit of a lark for all involved, this was a case of the musicians not taking themselves very seriously and letting the audience share in the goofiness of it all. Crooning lounge vocal interchanges, hand drums and some laughs.

Kite Hill: The day's longest changeover came with a more-complicated-than-most setup, Ryan Carley's Kite Hill, featuring his piano and vox backed by Steve Lappano's drums and a three-piece string section: Mika Posen (violin), Anissa Hart (cello) and Tyler Belluz (double bass). Unsurprisingly, this lineup produced an orchestral brand of pop. After a pair of songs, the band was joined by Lisa Bozikovic on vox and some extra percussion for their FiB cut, the theatrical "Tom Thumbtack". The songs were compact but well-arranged and pretty choice stuff.

Listen to a track from this set here.

Read up on the rest of the day's acts here.

---

¹ As Magali commented, the lyric truly captures the spirit of the occasion:

Every day we discover a new day
every night we discover a new night
All I want, all I want, for my friends
is to sing about it.

² "I hate male feelings!" yelled back a woman in the audience.

³ On which Chris Stringer nailed that flanged country guitar sound.

Recording: Ohbijou

Artist: Ohbijou (feat. John O'Regan)

Song: The Otherside

Recorded at Lee's Palace (Friends in Bellwoods 2 release party), Friday, August 28, 2009.

Ohbijou (feat. John O'Regan) - The Otherside

My notes for this set can be found here.

Recording: Forest City Lovers

Artist: Forest City Lovers

Song: Waiting By the Fence

Recorded at Lee's Palace (Friends in Bellwoods 2 release party), Friday, August 28, 2009.

Forest City Lovers - Waiting By the Fence

My notes for this set can be found here.

Recording: Evening Hymns

Artist: Evening Hymns

Song: Broken Rifle

Recorded at Lee's Palace (Friends in Bellwoods 2 release party), Friday, August 28, 2009.

Evening Hymns - Broken Rifle

My notes for this set can be found here.

Gig: "Friends in Bellwoods 2" release party (Friday)

"Friends in Bellwoods 2" release party (Friday) (Featuring: Ohbijou / Forest City Lovers / Evening Hymns / Bocce)

Lee's Palace. Friday, August 28, 2009.

Out to Lee's on a Friday night for the second of three release parties for the Ohbijou-curated Friends in Bellwoods 2 compilation.¹ Given that this double-disc set, forty tracks deep, feels like a bit of a snapshot of one corner of the scene du jour, these events bringing many of these bands together lent a sense of occasion to the evening.

First up on the "big stage" show at Lee's was Jonas Bonnetta's Evening Hymns, who had left me with something of a middlin' feeling when I first encountered them at Ohbijou's CD release party back in June. A second dose served to improve my disposition somewhat.² Figuring there'd be some quieter moments that I didn't want ruined by the chattering types, snagged myself a position right up front, and perhaps the unadulterated access to the music made it go down easier. For those keeping track of the inter-band crossovers, Evening Hymns on this night still included Gavin and Wyatt from The Wooden Sky, Ohbijou's James Bunton on drums plus Sylvie Smith's secret-ingredient vox. After leading with comp cut "Cedars" and a rollicking version of "Lanterns", Smith took the mike to sing lead for her own FiB feature, the sweetly country-tinged "On Our Own". "Mountain Song" featured some extra percussion by Leon from Germans, and following the bouncy pop of "Broken Rifle" were some more special guests, the hoodie-clad D'Urbervilles taking the stage to join Jonas for a run through their FiB cut, a lean and menacing cover of Timber Timbre's "Magic Arrow". Very exciting.³

Listen to a track from this set here.

Next up were Forest City Lovers. Perhaps inspired by the "Family Band" configuration, conjoined with The D'Urbervilles, that they played in at their Summerworks gig, this was the rockingest FCL set I've seen. Part of that extra energy undoubtedly came from Tim Bruton of the D'Urbs, who sat in playing second guit for the bulk of the set. The extra energy undoubtedly pushed Kat Burns' vox down into the mix a bit, which is unfortunate, but the extra drive really added some zest to the proceedings. FiB track "Minneapolis" was followed by a cameo by Ohbijou's Jenny Mecija and Anissa Hart adding some extra strings. And then an amazing hat-trick of songs, with "Orphans" and "Watching the Streetlights Grow" — two of Burns' finest compositions — followed by an smoldering take of "Waiting By The Fence". I've seen FCL live in a variety of circumstances, and this was the finest set I have seen them deliver.

Listen to a track from this set here.

The club had filled in decently by the start of the Forest City Lovers set, but it was looking pretty much like a sell-out by the time Ohbijou took the stage. Still wanting to be in front of the talkers, I ended up right against the stage, in front of Casey's monitor, meaning I got to hear the set with plenty of Andrew Kinoshita's rhythm guit in front of me, but at least it was never overpowered by the crowd. The band helped in that regard, playing, like FCL before them a pretty peppy and upbeat set — Ohbijou in party mode. Which meant that a lot of the songs' usual nuance was left for the wayside in favour of a different kind of emotional connection. After a couple songs establishing this mood, the cavalcade of guest stars began with John O'Regan of The D'Urbervilles joining in on "The Otherside", swapping the melancholy for a jaunty edge. The stage was then filled full of even more friends for a singalong of "Staten Island Waltz", a song written by Sarah Creskey who contributed vox along with a crowd including Basia Bulat, Sylvie Smith, Jonas Bonnetta and quite a few more, all joining in as Casey passed around lyric sheets. Nils Edenloff then came on to trade verses on "To Rest in Peace on Righteous Tides", another track from the first album not aired out for a little while. And, after a couple more songs, Ohbijou pushed it to their disco-dancing zenith as Gentleman Reg and Kelly McMichael joined them for a cover of Annie's "Heartbeat", complete with extended wokkachikka riffing. Certainly different than a usual night out with Ohbijou, but a helluva party.

Listen to a track from this set here.

All of which set the mood well for Bocce, a Waterloo-based crew I knew only by reputation. With a drummer plus three guys up front on synths, effects and vox they created a frenzied dance party. It might not be totally inaccurate to assert that when it comes to evaluating the relative merits of DOR bands I'm a bit more of an uninterested observer than a disinterested one and also fair to note that someone without a slip in their hip isn't the right person to say if what the band was doing was working. Fair enough. But still, I stuck around to see what I could get out of it and found it to be a generally fun experience, if not strongly affecting me. The band, at least, knew what their job was and went about their business of catering chaos with a fair amount of enthusiasm. Tony Salomone⁴ was the most kinetic, moving around the stage and beyond into the crowd. The band was on for forty-five minutes, the set concluding with a pass-the-mic freestyle with a heap of guests that included Kat Burns quite credibly rapping a few verses⁵ and ended up with members of the audience dancing on stage. So, yeah, fun stuff and a good end to the night.

---

¹ It's been a month or three since I've been to Lee's — when did they do that bit of interior design and straighten up the little jog at the entrance? Definitely a good idea.

² Afterthought: Something in this set must've worked, since I've had "Cedars" stuck in my head for the past two or three days now.

³ So, back-to-back times I've seen the D'Urbervilles essentially storming the stage while another band was playing and taking over the gig — now I'm going to start expecting them to burst out of the the wings at, like, every show I go to, some sort of righteous vengeance force swooping down like KRS-One on P.M. Dawn.

⁴ Wearing a totally boss Thrush Hermit Smart Bomb t-shirt.

⁵ Not the first time I've seen her busting rhymes on stage, if you include her gangsta turn at the Rock Lottery.

Recording: Jah Youssouf and Abdoulaye Koné

Artist: Jah Youssouf and Abdoulaye Koné

Song: Unknown^*

Recorded at Musideum, Thursday, August 27, 2009.

Jah Youssouf and Abdoulaye Koné - unknown

My notes for this performance can be found here.

^* This is actually two songs, but they flow together very well and give the listener a chance to hear the musicians' different styles. If anyone know the titles here, please leave a comment!

In-store: Jah Youssouf and Abdoulaye Koné

Jah Youssouf and Abdoulaye Koné

Musideum. Thursday, August 27, 2009.

I don't recall when I'd put myself on the Musideum's e-mail list. In fact, when a message arrived in my inbox, I had to tilt my head and think for a second who they were and why they were sending me stuff. Turned out to be an invite to an evening of acoustic Malian music featuring Jah Youssouf and Abdoulaye Koné, and looking it up, this sounded like exactly the sort of thing I'd dig. Headed down to Richmond Street after work and found the perfectly lovely Musideum, vendors of exotic instruments of all kinds in a restored warehouse space that felt more like an art gallery than a store. A small crowd of fifteen-twenty people gathered as the musicians tuned up. As I was snatching a chair close to the action and settled in I felt a bit shabby and out of place amongst an older, professional-looking crowd, but what can you do?

Hosting the evening was Lewis Melville — musician, producer, and a true hero of Canadian independent music — who had met Jah and Abdoulaye in Mali, has recorded with them and worked to bring them to play in Canada. He introduced the artists and acted as translator.

More than just sitting and playing a few songs, it was a chance to hear the musicians talk about their music and background and to really get a feel for their personalities. Both spoke in French, and I usually managed to get a general impression, which would be filled in by Melville's summaries. Jah Youssouf, Malian star, is a player in the Wassoulou tradition, and was more of a talker, a naturally forthcoming storyteller while Koné, a young griot, was a bit more reserved, with a sly smile and a soft but magnetic manner of expression.¹ Both musicians were playing the ngoni, a stringed instrument often thought of as a forerunner to the modern banjo. Koné played a traditional griot version of the instrument, and used drones and circular rhythms to accentuate his dazzling flurries of notes. Youssouf played a larger kamale ngoni, a ten-stringed version that looked not unlike a kora and was capable of dazzling, harp-like runs.² When called for, Koné even improvised some percussion, using keys on the side of a metal water bottle to add some rhythm while Youssouf was playing. We got to hear each of them playing in their own distinct styles as well as together, utterly cooking with complementing cascades of notes. It boggles the mind a bit to consider the complicated music that can be wrung from a construction of gourd, cowhide and fishing line.

The pair played some traditional songs along with their own compositions — one even recounted their impressions of playing in Canada ("beaucoup de cowboys", declared the chorus). There were no few musicians in the crowd, evidenced by the fact that when the floor was opened for questions, the first one was about the tuning of the ngonis, and the answer (pentatonic scales, I believe, if I got the gist of it right) caused general murmuring and nodding. The musicians — Youssouf especially — gave the impression that they would keep playing for as long as there were people sitting and listening, and the performance ended up lasting over an hour-and-a-half, certainly much more than I was expecting.

Certainly an excellent night, and kudos to the Musideum people for sharing their space so graciously. I note that Youssouf and Koné have a local gig coming up at the Music Gallery, Saturday September 19th with the Woodchoppers Association, the long-running improvisational music collective that includes Lewis Melville. Probably worth checking out.

Listen to a couple songs from this performance here.

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¹ Koné also told a fine story about his grandfather, a blind griot of great renown, whose music was so powerful that on putting his ngoni down on the table, it would continue to play itself!

² Youssouf was playing not only his own ngoni, constructed out of a calabash, but also a Canadian-made version, designed with stage performance in mind.

Recording: The Wooden Sky

Artist: The Wooden Sky

Song: The Wooden Sky^*

Recorded at Sonic Boom Records, August 24, 2009.

The Wooden Sky - The Wooden Sky

My notes for this show can be found here.

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