Artist: Times Neue Roman
Song: unknown*
Recorded at Cultura Festival, Mel Lastman Square, July 30, 2010.
Times Neue Roman - unknownMy notes for this set can be found here. The sound on this one is a bit outdoors-rough.
* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!
Cultura Festival (feat. Times Neue Roman / Maylee Todd)
Mel Lastman Square. Friday, July 30, 2010.
Apparently, this was going on all summer, a weekly festival in Mel Lastman Square, with live entertainment, art for sale, a variety of food booths and a free movie on the big screen. Like so much that doesn't happen downtown, this was totally off my radar, until I heard that the music on this week was being curated by the Daps Duo (a.k.a. Daniel Lee and April Aliermo from Hooded Fang). And, it just so happened that "downtown" North York was conveniently located on my way home from work, so I stopped by for a couple hours.
When you stand in the middle of the square and look around it seems weird to consider that this is supposed to be the middle of nowhere, especially with all the people wandering around and tall buildings looming above and condo towers on the horizon in all directions. And it's gratifying to think that culture, broadly speaking, is happening here — well off the map of where it usually takes place. Even if the name sounds slightly defensive, like it's offering aspartame instead of sugar ("Can't come downtown for culture? Come to Willowdale for cultura!") this was a decent operation.
On the Friday night before the long weekend, it was quieter at first than it would later be as I found Times Neue Roman soundchecking on what was described online as the Yonge Stage. They weren't kidding — the temporary stage was at the edge of the sidewalk just feet away from the street's southbound lanes, giving a constant traffic woosh as part of the sound — so I guess you could label this "urban" music. All the better, I guess, to announce to passers-by that something was going on here.
It would turn out to be an unusual TNR gig, as well. With multi-instrumentalist/beat provider/singer Alexander The unable to make it, we instead had a unique fill-in lineup, with the Daps Duo on bass and drums backing MC Arowbe (a.k.a. Robert Bolton). Lee's beats were sprightly, and Aliermo's fuzzy bass lent the sound a rough punk-ish undercurrent. Working alone on the microphone, Bolton didn't attempt some material like "Best est. 2019" or others reliant on Alexander The's vocals, going instead for a steady torrent of words, flowing like the traffic rushing past. The ad hoc arrangements were a bit sloppy here and there, but this was great fun, especially when Maylee Todd, before heading off for her own performance, hopped on stage to help out. It was a lightning-fast six song set, done in under twenty minutes.
And then, after that, there was a b-boy crew putting on a breakdancing demonstration. Staying behind the kit, Lee provided some beats as the breakdancers showed off their moves, drawing a small crowd of people pausing to check them out.
And then there was a second set from Times Neue Roman, making another run at mostly the same songs. Although there were a few friends scattered in the crowd who had come out of their way to show support, the music was clearly more designed to pull in passers-by than "destination" music types. There was a bigger crowd hanging around this time, as things were generally building up throughout the Square.
Listen to a track from this set here.
The end of that second set overlapped with the start of Maylee Todd, who was playing on a little stage set up on the plateau overlooking the big amphitheatre. As TNR wrapped up, I hustled over and grabbed some pavement to lean back and watch Todd working in her harp-wielding songstress mode, where she comes at her songs a bit more gently than the raging funkstress attack she engages with in her band shows. I settled in just in time to catch the delicate, lovely "Pegwee Power", which was competing a bit with the drumming lessons from across the square audible in the background. After some more harp action, there was a final offering with the Tenori-on — which, it turns out, was not made for easy use on daytime outdoor stages.
And then the stage was cleared for free Latin dance lessons — this event was nothing if not diverse in its offerings. I went for a wander around, cruised the food booths and reflected by the reflecting pool, mentally re-staging the Kids in the Hall sketch that is always at the front of my mind when I think of these environs. Wandered past the big stage, where another band was going through a soundcheck as a pretty big crowd of folks were staking out spots, both on the benches and on lawnchairs above, for the film later on. And then back up as Maylee Todd was getting ready to start on her second set.
Not a long one, just four songs, from the opening strains of "Protection Plan 101" to the Tenori-on finale. A nice crowd, and one that was pretty respectfully attentive. Stuff like this is definitely reaching people that wouldn't ever go to a show, and afterwards, Todd had a steady stream coming up to buy a CD from her.
Listen to a track from this set here.
There was still more going on, but I was feeling cultura-ed out, so I headed back into the subway and made my way home.
Artist: Times Neue Roman
Song: Fuck Art
Recorded at The Shop Under Parts and Labour, June 30, 2010.
Times Neue Roman - Fuck ArtMy notes for this set can be found here.
Art Metronome 001 (feat. Guggenham and Harwood / Life of a Craphead / Times Neue Roman / Kids on TV)
The Shop under Parts and Labour. Wednesday, June 30, 2010.
The art scene and the music scene are rather often their own little self-absorbed worlds. Despite the fact that creative people are often unconstrained by limits of genre or media and move freely back and forth, in terms of audience, there's arguably less intermingling. So an interesting opportunity to mash up some scenes at this party, which I guess you could describe as the overlap between the art-fetish types and the 7" collector crowd — and, I suppose, also no few people from the "fuck art, let's dance" contingent. Originally slated for Cinecycle, the show was hastily reconvened at Parts & Labour.1 The celebration was to honour the release of a single under the banner of "Art Metronome" — the name a play on publisher Art Metropole, the longstanding artist-run centre.2 And so, a mix of crowds in the room, with a slightly-older art crowd rubbing shoulders with those who had come to see the bands.
Both contingents were well-served by the evening's co-hosts Lex Vaughn and Keith Cole, in character for the evening as Guggenham and Harwood, vintage performance artists from the 80's recreating some of their most important "hits", such as 1986's Meat Toss, involving the semi-clad Cole3 bent over to present a target for the tossing of cold cuts.4 Raising some money for Art Metropole, the pair sold off a few souvenirs of their work while doing a fun job with their loving satire.
The first act of the night was Life of a Craphead, the "conceptual comedy duo" of Jon McCurley and Amy Lam. They had an ultra-dry style with comedy sketch dynamics squeezed into knock-knock-joke-sized bursts, usually punctuated by anti-punchlines. You could tell that a bit was over when they said "thank you!". An interesting idea, perhaps, but it didn't really work for me at all.
And then, back to the hosts, who were doing a good job staying in character and having to come up with a lot of stuff on the spot. Somewhat more prepared was a song, where Vaughn threw down some keyboard beats while Cole did a sort of spoken word piece ("Your Bike is Crappy"). And then, with speeches from the folks at Art Metropole (Ann Dean, Stephen Andrews, Andrew Zealley) there was an unusual art show element to the night — including a curatorial statement.
And then, both of the bands on the single took turns on stage, with Times Neue Roman going first. Having seen them a couple times before, I knew that the duo — Alexander Punzalan (aka Alexander The) on guitar, beats and singing plus the rapping and incitement of Robert Bolton (aka Arowbe) — were reliably entertaining. They started with a number backed only by Alexander The's guitar that didn't immediately get all the talkers in the back to pay attention. But when the beats for "Roq Roq" kicked in, they commanded the room. Playing several songs from their now-released "Talking Sporty" EP, the band hit just right — booming, danceable beats, pop smarts, and Bolton's rapid-fire lyrics.
As I've seen them do before, the band showed off their nimbleness with some improvisation, the call of "We're down here! Fuck y'all Upstairs", aimed at the patrons of the restaurant above, with Bolton pounding the low ceiling with the flat of his hand. Plus several old favourites, including the audience participation fave "Hands No Hands". Good fun, and the band was called back for one last song, playing one most appropriate to the occasion, Bolton introducing it with, "okay you art fucks, this is called 'Fuck Art'."
Listen to a track from this set here.
And then another reliable favourite to follow that up, with a full set from Kids on TV. Certainly an inspired choice for the first of the Art Metronome singles, KoTV have mixed art and music from their inception, always aware of the forerunners that they're honouring, but never letting "mere art" get in the way of their body-moving mission.
On this night, they were playing in a three-man alignment, with Roxy absent but Wolf on stage, joining John Caffery and Minus Smile, all three wearing "BRING BACK GAY" shirts. Things got good pretty quickly in the early going with an extended version of Whodini cover "Haunted House of Rock" featuring a live sax breakdown courtesy of Shane MacKinnon. More of this is hopefully in store for the future.
There were some sound problems with the bass before and during "Liberace's Lover" and for most of the rest of the set, it sounded like it was right at the edge of feeding back. They continued with "Goodbye Horses" — a remix of which was the band's contribution to the Art Metronome 7" — which also wasn't quite firing on all cylinders, despite the always-winning vocal assistance of Julie Faught, who also appeared on "Poison".
Rallying, there was also the debut of a brand new track, which was listed as "Bobby" on the setlist5, which I believe to be about artist Robert Rauschenberg. It had a similar New Wave vibe to "City of Night" which followed it. Appropriately, the namesake of "Still on About Keith Cole" joined the band for some interpretive dance moves, and the band rounded out the set with perhaps their two best groovers, "Dazzler" and "Breakdance Hunx".
Including a one-song encore, the band played an hour-long set. With those nagging technical problems, it wasn't the most knockdown performance I've seen from the band, but I've seen 'em enough times to be fussy. Which is to say, still a great time overall — in a venue where energy can trump technical limitations, they brought it off in style.
Listen to a track from this set here.
1 It was nice to note some improvements as The Shop becomes a bit more "lived in". The area behind the performers is now covered with floor-to-wall chalkboards, creating a chance for easy, ever-changing backdrops — a small change that enhances the space considerably.
2 Art Metropole, was, in fact, founded in 1974 by pioneering artgroup General Idea. A frequent source of inspiration to Kids of TV, fans of that band will instantly recognize a few homages they've paid to GI.
3 One sign that this was a high-class affair was the fact that Cole was at no point fully nude.
4 "It was before Fastwürms," sniffed Harwood in an aside. Other works alluded to included 1987's Manstrual Blood ("manstration comes from men," is probably as much as you need to know) and 1991's penny-throwing Self Defence.
5 The setlist was written in chalk on the wall beside the band, looking something like a bistro menu.
Artist: Times Neue Roman
Song: To Die
Recorded at Artscape Gibraltar Point (ALL CAPS! Island Show), October 17, 2009.
Times Neue Roman - To DieMy notes for this set can be found here.
The ALL CAPS! Island Show (feat. Brian Borcherdt, Great Bloomers, Times Neue Roman, Sun Ra Ra Ra)
Artscape Gibraltar Point. Saturday, October 17, 2009.
This is part two of this day's events. For introduction and the day's earlier bands, see here.
Back in from the lighthouse, Georgia Webber told the re-assembling crowd some of its ghost stories — some true, some more spurious. By now, it was fully dark outside, giving a different atmosphere to the room as Brian Borcherdt took the stage. The darkness suited his solo acoustic material, with songs about ghosts and drowning delivered in his high, clear voice. Although Borcherdt has probably gotten the most gravy for his work with the storming dance marauders Holy Fuck, he actually was an established folky singer-songwriter before that unit took off and he has since been pursing parallel music tracks. The material at hand here, mostly deriving from '08's Coyotes, I believe, was well-assembled and well-delivered, melodic but not hooky. His music would fit well on a mixtape with say, Sandro Perri, whose solo acoustic material works in similar ways. Truth be told, this stuff didn't register with me strongly. There were one or two songs that had something going for them, but nothing really stuck — not a strong argument against their author by any means, just an indication that this style doesn't do much for me. He closed his set with a cover of Kim Mitchell's "Easy to Tame", which we will forgive as a lack of judgment arising from over-exuberance.
"You might notice half of us are missing", noted vocalist Lowell Sostomi as Great Bloomers began their set. Pulling double duty with an opening slot for Cuff the Duke at the 'Shoe later in the evening, the band elected to play in a stripped-down format. Kudos to them for playing a benefit on the night they had a paying gig to go to. The band is certainly reaching ever-growing numbers of people — the days' crowd was at its thickest at this point, with maybe sixty bodies in the room, responding heartily to the band's rootsy pop-rock. Myself, despite a couple previous exposures, I haven't particularly cottoned to their stuff. There's certainly something there — "Dark Horse" has a nice gallop to it, for example, but their songs to date largely haven't convinced me. Trying on some different material with the trio alignment, Sostomi played one he introduced as "an old love song" that predated the band as well as a new one. It's not out of the question that this band might impress me at some point down the road, but for the time being, they'll remain merely pleasant in my book.
Listen to a track from this set here.
Presumably looking to catch a ferry back to the mainland to attend to various evening plans, the crowd suddenly shrunk by about half, but it left a looser vibe among those sticking it out. Times Neue Roman were the day's first band to command the mostly-sitting crowd to stand up and move closer, handing out chocolates as an incentive. 
The crowd was soon into their high-energy hip-hop, though not quite responding to the band with the same vigour they were putting out: "to those not participating, you'll have to excuse the awkwardness of the call-and-response — we all just met, so we're still getting the hang of it," Arowbe commented. All things considered, TNR put on the best show of the night, with a dancer trying to get the crowd moving, plus a giant illuminated skull overlooking proceedings. Plus, the band pulled off the night's deftest bit of impromptu songwriting, presenting a tune called "Winston, Where are You?", based on the the story told in their introduction about Winston — the probably-mythical student at this school who, as a punishment, had to sit in a chair in the hatch under the library floor, and was forgotten there. The duo mixed in a couple songs with Alexander The on acoustic guitar — a break from their usual driving beats. As with the previous time I'd seen 'em, I was rather impressed by TNR's showmanship as well as their tunes. A couple days after this show, I had a song relentlessly trapped in my head, and I struggled for a while to figure out it was before I realized it was a Times Neue Roman joint — so take that as a good sign.
Listen to a track from this set here.
"Is that loud enough? I know it's been a real quiet day," asked Sun Ra Ra Ra, ending the night with a cobweb-clearing set of blistering rock anthems. The rock'n'roll equivalent of an overdriven flamethrower, the rapid-fire songs flew by with incomprehensibly shout-y vox, shards of feedback and a sock-full-of-nickels beat. Oh, plus a strutting costumed samurai marching around the room. Apparently playing sans their organ player, their sound managed to be pretty saturated regardless. A lightning fast version of "Surfin' Bird" made The Ramones sound like The Melvins — until it hit that lurch, the "ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba" before the song launches back into the "ooh mau mau", where the song stopped dead, the vocalist (Daniel? Emmot? their myspace leaves the matter unclear who the singer is) sputtering for a full weird minute before the band jumped back into the song. A guitar amp blew out on the penultimate song, but a quick switch got things back for the finale. Perhaps, like Ghostlight earlier on, this might have sounded all the more vital for standing in stark contrast to most of the other acts, but in the moment this felt pretty damned fine. Rousing, sweaty fun.
Listen to a track from this set here.
After that, there was a chunk of time to kill, as the next ferry was about forty-five minutes away, and this time, I was going to rely on the shuttle to get me back. So there was some shuffling around, and time to chat with some of the fellow stragglers and poking around a few more corners of the facility. Dale Morningstar, whose famous Gas Station studio was nearby, had lent out some PA equipment for the event and dropped by to check on it, chatting with the shuttle driver and a few other Islanders, keeping their wary eyes on us auslanders. Outside, there was heavy quiet, and a weird sense of time-confusion — after the full afternoon's concert, it felt really late, and standing outside, it could have been three in the morning as easily as ten at night.
Eventually, everyone shuffled onto the minibus for the surreal ride back to Ward's. The interior lights were on as we zipped through the sward, meaning only occasional shadows were visible as we passed through all the hollows I'd knocked about on my way in. The driver was blasting Q107 as the dudes behind me were confessing to each other that as they grew older, they were increasingly able to appreciate metal unironically. A strange little trip.
And then to the dock as the ferry was pulling in. A quick, chattery trip back across the water and then walk up to Union. It was not, in reality, all that late, and a more-eager type could have still gotten somewhere for a musical nightcap. But the day felt complete to me. Well-organized, well-executed, this was a fine bit of work by all involved, and a most worthy event.
Artist: Times Neue Roman
Song: Roq Roq
Recorded at Rolly's Garage, June 20, 2009.
Times Neue Roman - Roq RoqMy notes from this gig are here.
Daps All-Ages & No Shame Afternoon Extravaganza (feat. Ruby Jean & The Thoughtful Bees, Lightmares, Spiral Beach, Times Neue Roman, Pick A Piper, Laura Barrett)
Rolly's Garage. Saturday, June 20, 2009.
Despite a late night before, managed to get up on Saturday and head down for this all-ages matinée. The fact that it was put on by the capable folks behind the No Shame and Daps All-Ages series made it feel like the quality control had been taken care of and some good bands guaranteed.1 Plus, I was interested in checking out the venue, a converted auto repair shop, on the happenin' Ossington strip. It was grey and drizzly out, but by showing up in time for the first act I managed to avoid the full-on rain that came a bit later.
It was also worth the early start to catch Ruby Jean & The Thoughtful Bees, a Halifax DOR outfit fronted by Rebekah Higgs. I'd seen Ms. Higgs in her solo incarnation at a CMW showcase in '08, and had vaguely enjoyed her tunes but wasn't particularly struck by them. So it was a surprise to see the magnetism that she unleashed in this context. Sampling and manipulating her own vocals, Higgs led the three-piece backing band (guit/drums/beats and effects) through an energizing set of 80's-flavoured dance rock.2 She even stepped in front of the monitors to challenge the slight crowd at hand to get into it and dance. Good songs, good energy, and a lot of fun.
The all-ages element felt in effect for Lightmares, a young trio out of Sudbury who played a quick, five-song set of energetic rock'n'roll. Bassist Nicholas Millard — a dead ringer for Dennis the Menace — sounds like he's absorbed a Four Seasons compilation3 and put it to good use with his falsetto backing vox behind guitarist Jamie Millard's leads. The band bashed out their tunes with gusto, and it sounds like they're starting to get a handle on the songwriting process. Worth keeping an eye on.
Listen to a track from this set here.
In the original announcement the next band up was Swirling Shores, listed as "An unforgettable showcase of fearless performance style and sophisticated songwriting skills". Given that there's a million bands out there I've never heard of, it didn't seem strange that that didn't strike a chord, although as it turned out, I was apparently the only one not in on the open secret that this was an undercover show for Spiral Beach, concealing themselves from the NxNE authorities. So, after having seen them the night before and being entertained beyond my expectations, it was a nice turn to have a chance to reinforce my new disposition. Opening up with an improvised goof to call bassist Dorian Wolf to the stage, the band played a half-hour set that semi-overlapped with the previous night, although the first part of this show had more of a gently swirling vibe until kicking things into dancing gear with "Made of Stone" and "Dominoes". All told, the sort of lucky chance that really turned me around on the band.
A pleasing change of direction after that, with hip-hop crew Times Neue Roman taking over. Consisting of Rob Bolton's raps backed by live keys and DJ augmenting their well-produced tracks, the band had a variety of musical flavours, ranging from electro to reggae.4 I'd broadly put Bolton's flow into the broad category of "post-Eminem" — though to say much more would put me seriously out of my depth and probably reveal my ignorance about contemporary rap music. The band did a good job of bringing it live, with the keys and turntables adding a spontaneous feel, and the crowd that had assembled by this point were fully appreciative. They even had a fair number of fans out, calling, at set's end for a track called "Hands" to cap things off. I had no expectations coming in, but was fairly impressed.
Listen to a track from this set here.
Next up were the rhythmically intense Pick A Piper, with two drummers at the centre of a frenzied squall, towering over the guitar and bass in front of them. The songs were built up from pre-recorded synth lines and juxtaposed the tribal pummeling against more gentle and rhythmic elements. I recognize the band's talents, especially in keeping two drummers going full-bore without them stepping on each other, and having strongly defined dynamics allowing the songs to build up and ease off. There were some undeniably good moments when everything simmered nicely in a groove, but sometimes I got the impression that, with the drums pounding away, there was no other gear to shift into. A powerful band, but not necessarily with a strong power over me.
The show was completed with the highlight of the afternoon, a set from the always-awesome Laura Barrett, playing solo but bearing a fancy new bass pedal.5 Playing a mix of old and newer material, she managed to charm those hearing the songs for the first time as much as the older hands. By the second song, most of the audience was sitting down and paying close attention. In a spontaneous moment, during "Robot Ponies" Rebekah Higgs started to throw in some harmonies and was quickly invited up front for a do-over duet version. The set closed with the lovely "Deception Island Optimists Club", ending a most pleasing afternoon's proceedings.
Listen to a track from this set here.
1 Not to mention the work that had gone into the funky art decorating the space. And the barbeque.
2 Revealing cover: Paula Abdul's "Cold Hearted".
3 Or possibly a whole lotta Weezer.
4 Though I wouldn't've picked them as a bunch to have a band name based on a font joke. I wonder if anyone has broached the issue of them starting a beef with noise-punks Times New Viking?
5 And also bearing biscotti, showing that entertainer's knowledge that the surest way to an audience's heart is through their stomach.
Posts
All Comments
