Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Birthday boys

I missed them at Ottawa Explosion, but fortunately Pregnancy Scares played a couple of weeks later at the end of July, a couple days in advance of the birthdays of Year Zero man Brad McOuat and Bruised Tongue chap Craig. The venue: Brad's apartment - his kitchen, to be exact.

Amps on? Stove off? Then proceed!

Pregnancy Scares at Brad's apartment

Davey in a festiv mood, Craig on top of Dave Forcier's drum kit.

Pregnancy Scares at Brad's apartment

Pierre snaps as Craig sings.

Pregnancy Scares at Brad's apartment

Bending action!

Pregnancy Scares at Brad's apartment

Dave hits!

Pregnancy Scares at Brad's apartment

The shouty Bit! Well, I guess they're all shouty bits ...

Pregnancy Scares at Brad's apartment

Bonus yelling!

Pregnancy Scares at Brad's apartment

Emmanuel rocks the low end.

Pregnancy Scares at Brad's apartment

Fisheye action!

Pregnancy Scares at Brad's apartment

More Dave!

Pregnancy Scares at Brad's apartment

Headbanging action!

Pregnancy Scares at Brad's apartment

Guitar-stepping action!

Pregnancy Scares at Brad's apartment

Craig works the floor!

Pregnancy Scares at Brad's apartment

By crazy coincidence, Weird Canada just said nice things about their demo..
  • Show reminder: San Francisco's Royal Baths and Adam Saikaley perform at Zaphod's; Jason Kirkness and Nomadic Sound Division are at The Rainbow; The Elmdale hosts John Mann. HotShotCasino and Still Native play the Avant-Garde Bar.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

It's the little things

The Details capped things off with some roots-rock inflected pop sounds. Not to be confused with local combo usually seen in conjunction with J.D., this is a quartet of Winnipeggers. They're quite engaging both live and on record.

Faceoff action already, from Jon Plett and bassist Keli Martin!

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

More Keli, plus the colourful blur of drummer Shaun Gibson.

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Rocking about! That's Sean Vidal at left.

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

I quite admire Gibson's versatile percussion.

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

More Sean!

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

More John!

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Closeup action!

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Fretful action!

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Bonus faceoff action!

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Shaun brushes up.

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

More running about!

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

And so on!

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Extra Kelly!

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Guitar-lifting action!

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Multi-instrumental action!

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

The whole lot!

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Melodica action!

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Drumming on the bass amp? Alrighty then ...

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Gripping action!

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

The shouty end!

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

(Not counting the drinking.)

The Details at Zaphod Beeblebrox

And that's that, for now ...

Monday, August 29, 2011

The Swan and Smith show

Off to Raw sugar a double bill of folky rock courtesy of Andy Swan and Greg Smith & The Bad Dreamers. The Bad Dreamers - J.J. Ipsen on bass, Justin Nace on guitar and Aaron Curtis on drums - backed Swan for his set (as did Smith, subbing for J.J. on bass for a few songs). It was a pleasant, intimate affair, without about a dozen people in attendance.

Andy Swan at Raw Sugar
Andy Swan at Raw Sugar, August 28, 2011

One of those Bad Dreamers and Greg.

Andy Swan at Raw Sugar
Andy Swan at Raw Sugar, August 28, 2011

While in the same vein as Swan's work, Greg Smith's set was a little louder and rockier.

Greg Smith & The Bad Dreamers at Raw Sugar
Greg Smith & The Bad Dreamers at Raw Sugar, August 28, 2011

The whole lot!

Greg Smith & The Bad Dreamers at Raw Sugar
Greg Smith & The Bad Dreamers at Raw Sugar, August 28, 2011

Time well spent.
  • Show reminder: B.A. Johnston and Remi Royale do battle at The Manx; James Farr is at The Rainbow.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

All by themselves

Saturday night offered an intriguing variety of acts around town, but in the end I decided to indulge my taste for the more avant-garde side of music (something which is fairly scarce in this city) and go off to Zaphod Beeblebrox and see Colin Stetson and Emily Wells.

Wells hails from New York - "I'm here because I evacuated" she joked, since her home town is currently under meteorological siege. Live, she makes her music by looping melodica, violin, drums, (real and electronic), guitar and her own voice. You can't tell from the photo below, but she was sitting on a kick drum which she played by swinging a mallet between her legs.

Emily Wells at Zaphod Beeblebrox
Emily Wells at Zaphod Beeblebrox, August 27, 2011

Guitar action!

Emily Wells at Zaphod Beeblebrox
Emily Wells at Zaphod Beeblebrox, August 27, 2011

As for Colin Stetson, he's performed with a who's-who of hipster idols, including Laurie Anderson, Tom Waits, TV on The Radio and Arcade Fire. For 2011 he'll be touring with Bon Iver. His sophomore album New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges is on the shortlist for this year's Polaris Prize. He's also a member of Bell Orchestre, though I don't recall him being in the lineup when I saw them perform at the First Baptist Church. If you listened to Steetson blind, you might think he was running some kind of looping machine for his saxophones, but in fact it's the use of a throat microphone and circular breathing that allows him to blow a continuous stream of sound. Also, he must be in terrific shape since it obviously takes a herculean effort. Although he plays a wide variety of wind instruments, for this show he confined himself to bass and alto saxophone.

Bass.

Colin Stetson at Zaphod Beeblebrox
Colin Stetson at Zaphod Beeblebrox, August 27, 2011

Alto.

Colin Stetson at Zaphod Beeblebrox
Colin Stetson at Zaphod Beeblebrox, August 27, 2011

Very engaging sets from both performers.
  • Show reminder: Tightrope and Inside Riot play the Avant-Garde; Greg Smith & The Bad Dreamers and Andy Swan perform at Raw Sugar; David Russell and Yes Please & Thank You are at The Rainbow; The Elmdale hosts Selina Martin Triage, Jeff Meleras and F & M.


Saturday, August 27, 2011

Clock strikes 12

Black Dogs were followed by Right By Midnight, a definitely rocking combo with a jones for 1990s Britrock, fronted by Kris Ward.

Chris Terkuc, ex- Wise, Young & King handles, the low end.

Right by Midnight at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Kris sings! At left is long-serving guitarist Charles Downey, while James Brint handles the drums.

Right by Midnight at Zaphod Beeblebrox

James hits!

Right by Midnight at Zaphod Beeblebrox

More Kris!

Right by Midnight at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Charles frets!

Right by Midnight at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Faceoff action!

Right by Midnight at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Rhythm section action!

Right by Midnight at Zaphod Beeblebrox

The whole lot!

Right by Midnight at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Even more faceoff action!

Right by Midnight at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Gripping action!

Right by Midnight at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Guitar action!

Right by Midnight at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Bonus Brint!

Right by Midnight at Zaphod Beeblebrox

I've got to break out the fisheye at least once ...

Right by Midnight at Zaphod Beeblebrox

The end!

Right by Midnight at Zaphod Beeblebrox

They've putting in a lot of road time so as of mid-August they're settling down to do some writing.
  • Show reminder: Colin Stetson and Emily Wells perform at Zaphod Beeblebrox; Robots Everywhere!!!, Rat Tales, The Uncles, Wooka Tribe, The Mudplots, Bruce Boris, Arman's Frozen Peas and Stale Cum rock the The Rat's Nest at 279 Flora St. starting at 3-ish. Martha and Friends perform at Raw Sugar (this features a few Winchester Warm folks, Rolf Klausener and others); Laugh at the Fakes and Maria Hawkins play The Rainbow; Al Wood and The Woodsmen lumber into Irene's; The Elmdale hosts The Locusts Have No King, Last to Leave and Morgan Cameron Ross. StillNative and Metronome Jones play the Avant-Garde Bar.