Recording: Suuns + Jerusalem In My Heart

Artist: Suuns + Jerusalem In My Heart

Songs: Koll Lil-Mali7ati Fi Al-Khimar Al-Aswadi + Metal

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

Suuns + Jerusalem In My Heart - Koll Lil-Mali7ati Fi Al-Khimar Al-Aswadi

Suuns + Jerusalem In My Heart - Metal

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.

It'd been a few years since I'd checked in on Montréal's Suuns, so I was a little surprised to see that they've managed to garner quite a room-packing following. But although they were quite clearly the draw (and it's their label that's released the collaboration at hand), in performance it definitely felt that this project was being driven by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, the cosmopolitan Beirut/Montréal sonic explorer behind the Jerusalem in My Heart project. As the set's one-two punch presented here attests, it's the rhythms and textures of the Arabic pop that he explores and deconstructs that drive this, with Suuns then adding some rock'n'roll crunch that aren't foregrounded in Moumneh's solo live performances. When those two things combined, such as in the driving "Metal", this was unbeatable stuff. A couple runs later on at what I assume were Suuns' own tracks didn't quite attain the same lift-off, but on the whole, this hour-long set felt full of an exciting energy.

Sunday Playlist #17

Sunday Playlist #17

Zeroes [now known as Suuns] - Mudslinger

Tropics - Pale Trash

Tropics will be playing at the Four Corners II show at the Steelworkers Hall on Friday, July 22, 2011.

Young Mother - The Well-Tempered Male

Rockets Red Glare - A Mutation

Disappears - Marigold

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Sunday Playlist is a semi-regular feature that brings back some of this blog's previously-posted original live recordings for an encore. You can always click the tags below to see what I originally wrote about the shows these songs came from.

Recording: Suuns

Artist: Suuns

Song: Sweet Nothing

Recorded at Lee's Palace, September 16, 2010.

Suuns - Sweet Nothing

My notes for this set can be sound here.

Gig: Land of Talk

Land of Talk (Suuns)

Lee's Palace. Thursday, September 16, 2010.

Another one of of those nights where I was out to see if a band whose records hadn't done much for me could win me over live. Though from general chatter it seemed like I was one of the few who wasn't on board with Land of Talk, I was still surprised this was a sold out gig — as usual, I had no idea how relatively popular the headliners were. There was even a fairly robust crowd on hand for opener Suuns, a Montréal quartet with some buzz.¹

The music lead off with a rumble of guitar and a couple analogue-y synth lines in an unrushed intro before the beat came in — and then another minute of build before the song got to the vocals. This wasn't a band in a rush to get to the chorus — actually, I'm not if the song even had one. The next tune eased back on the sonic velocity, and was filled with whispery vocals — more atmospheric than something you'd find yourself humming along to. My first impression was that this was a band aiming for a one chord, unsexy version of Franz Ferdinand.

Having gone in without doing any research, I felt there was something familiar about them, but it was only after the show that I realized had, in fact, seen them before — more than a year back when they were called Zeroes. I don't recall so much about that set, but my notes show that I managed to get basically the same impression twice — that this was a sound that I found interesting without being captivated by. When they brought out a guest sax player for a song, that added something interesting, and from there, music took a Clinic-al edge. But the band was bringing some different flavours, ranging from rattling bursts of freneticism to minimal slowburners. In the latter camp was one song whose only lyrics were the repeated digits "two-one-two". That and the final song brought to mind Snakedrill-era Wire, who I think we could count as a clear forerunner of what the band is working on. Despite all of that being kinda in my sweet spot, and although music like this can sometimes really hypnotize me, I found the set merely likeable. I will keep an eye on further developments, though.

Listen to a song from this set here.

Meanwhile, as the floor got to be pretty packed while things were getting set up for Land of Talk, it looked like they would be getting an assist from Suuns, who left their keybs and sundry other gear on stage while a small second drumkit was being set up in the back corner. In fact, Suuns — who amusingly re-emerged dressed up in shirts and ties that they'd not worn for their own set — would be fully integrated as a central element in the reproduction of the songs from the just-released Cloak and Cipher. As the set lead off with the title track, it was a larger-than-expected seven-member combo on stage.

I suppose that it shouldn't be too much of a surprise as the band has always featured a revolving cast around singer/guitarist Liz Powell — although she normally works with the more compact trio format. For the first half-hour here, players would come and go, meaning each song could be served with as much embellishment as required, whether extra backing vocals or percussion.

For a band that has some exceedingly dedicated fans, I've never been fully won over by Land of Talk's recorded material. It uniformly features some fully engaging moments, but never seems to cohere into songs that really grab me. And I was having more or less that same reaction at this show — some stuff, like "Some Are Lakes" (the title track to their 2008 full-length) registered, as did the downcast "Goaltime Exposure" from the new one. But overall I wasn't pulled into it.

I actually got a bit more of a charge when, mid-set, the band stripped down to their original trio format to look back to some older material like "Magnetic Hill" from debut Applause Cheer Boo Hiss. It was amusing to then see the rest of the extra hands re-materialize², sort of like the punchline to a joke about Canadian indie-rock "collectives" — they're a trio, but look away for a second and suddenly there's seven of 'em. The lashing "Yuppie Flu" that the trio had delivered was then contrasted with stuff like the textured "Color Me Badd".

Powell was effusively thankful to have a supportive and "really safe crowd" for the expanded group's first show. Around me, there was a pretty positive reaction from both "I know all the words" devotees and drunken "I heard they were cool" casuals that were rubbing shoulders in the crowd. They all joined in for a clapalong to the extended intro of "Sixteen Asterisk" and clearly wanted the band to keep playing past closer "The Hate I Won't Commit".

That extended a seventy minute main set as the band returned for what looked to be planned as a one-song-and-out encore with "It's Okay", which had a few people singing along in that way where you get the idea that this song really matters to them. That led to prolonged applause before the band came back on stage. If the previous song had been the rote, typical encore, the return felt like the real thing, with Powell acknowledging that crowd wasn't going to let it go at that.

Going back to the trio, the band had another chance to dig back to some of the older material that they couldn't squeeze in to the main set, like the winning "Summer Special". Playing songs out of the current rotation and not relying on recent rehearsal, the second encore was probably the the most vital part of the whole night, where even a few mistakes didn't subtract from the spontaneous energy of it all.

But still, I left feeling more or less like I did when I came in. I can tell this band is good, but whatever that spark is — that one that gives you that vivid sense of connection to a certain singer or their songs — I'm just not getting it here.

A couple selections from this set — you can compare a trio song to one with the expanded lineup here.

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¹ Those interested in the musical overlaps of the Montreal scene would be intrigued to know that keyboardist/bassist Max Henry used to split time with this band and Young Galaxy, though he has now departed from the YG fold to focus full time on Suuns. The band's forthcoming full-length was also produced with Montréal mainstay Jace Lacek of The Besnard Lakes, a sign that, if nothing else, it will be a well-recorded artifact.

² Actually, the start and end of the trio segment was accompanied by some extended tuning breaks. They echoed the rather anticlimactic way that the band took to the stage originally, leading off with a couple minutes of audience-ignoring tuning. I've heard that this is actually less of a problem now than it used to be for Powell, who jokingly solicited the audience for a volunteer guitar tech to join them on tour at one point.

Recording: Zeroes

Artist: Zeroes

Song: Mudslinger

Recorded at the Silver Dollar, NxNE Festival, June 19, 2009.

Zeroes - Mudslinger

My notes from this gig can be found here.

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

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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.