Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Transformers

Odonis Odonis are one of those bands unafraid to change their sound from album to album: They started off somewhere around the Jesus & Mary Chain and seem to be headed into Nine Inch Nails territory. It's been a radical enough change that their House of Targ set was drawn entirely from their latest release, Post Plague. I would have expected someone like Casa Lagarto to be opening for them in 2011; five years later Ruth Grader gets the nod instead. Here's some synthetic action!

Ruth Grader at House of Targ

And so on!

Ruth Grader at House of Targ

On to Odonis Odonis for a short but good set. Here's Dean and Jarod!

Odonis Odonis at House of Targ

Jarod sings!

Odonis Odonis at House of Targ

Bass action with Denholm!

Odonis Odonis at House of Targ

Denholm sings!

Odonis Odonis at House of Targ

Extra Jarod!

Odonis Odonis at House of Targ

More Dean!

Odonis Odonis at House of Targ

A cool show.

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Intense in tents

Saturday it was back to City Hall for a second day under the Arboretum tents. Unfortunately I was a little slow getting out of the house and missed openers H. de Heutz and Kini Nimiwag & Anishinabe Drum Group; Toronto's Doomsquad were just setting up as I arrived. The psychedelic dance combo features two sets of siblings: Josh and Jesse  Haskos,  (a.k.a. Brooklyn combo North America) handle rhythm duties for Jaclyn, Trevor and Allie Blumas. Here's Jesse!

Doomsquad at Arboretum

Sibling action with Allie, Trevor and Jaclyn!

Doomsquad at Arboretum

They like their stage makeup!

Doomsquad at Arboretum

Guitar action!

Doomsquad at Arboretum

Flowery action with Jaclyn!

Doomsquad at 
Arboretum

Singalong action!

Doomsquad at Arboretum

Bass action with Josh!

Doomsquad at Arboretum

Flautist action with Allie!

Doomsquad at Arboretum

Allie works the crowd!

Doomsquad at Arboretum

Gripping action with Trevor!

Doomsquad at Arboretum

Even more Jaclyn!

Doomsquad at Arboretum

Trevor hops about!

Doomsquad at Arboretum

Frigs played the Debaser stage and made a pretty good racket. The last time I saw them, at Mugshots during last year's Ottawa Explosion (when they were working under the name Dirty Frigs), their songs had a little more structure - they've turned up the squall since then. Here's Bri and Duncan working the feedback!

Frigs at Arboretum

Bass action with Cameron!

Frigs at Arboretum

Edan hits!

Frigs at Arboretum

More Bri!

Frigs at Arboretum

Duncan gets in the zone.

Frigs at Arboretum

Floppy-haired action!

Frigs at Arboretum

Friggin' action!

Frigs at Arboretum

Closeup action!

Frigs at Arboretum

Extra Edan!

Frigs at Arboretum

More feedback!

Frigs at Arboretum

The whole lot!

Frigs at Arboretum

Back to the main stage for a hot set from indie rapper Junglepussy; she put on a great set.

Junglepussy at Arboretum

DJ Joey provides the beats and all!

Junglepussy at Arboretum

Closeup action!

Junglepussy at Arboretum

Junglepussy shakes it!

Junglepussy at Arboretum

Audience action!

Junglepussy at Arboretum

Jef Barbara's show was a bit more low key ... for some reason Jef put me in my of Robert Wyatt and Plastic Bertrand, which isn't a combination that often occurs to me (or anyone). Barbara does seem to excel at a wide variety of musical genres, so it's no surprise that unusual combos come to mind.

Jef. E. Barbara at Arboretum

Bass action!

Jef. E. Barbara at Arboretum

Saxophonic action!

Jef. E. Barbara at Arboretum

Backup vocal action!

Jef. E. Barbara at Arboretum

Singalong action!

Jef. E. Barbara at Arboretum

More Jef!

Jef. E. Barbara at Arboretum

More saxophone!

Jef. E. Barbara at Arboretum

And so on!

Jef. E. Barbara at Arboretum

Mykki Blanco's Bluesfest appearance a couple of years back made quite an impression on the audience; I suspect the crowd was a bit less baffled this time, and they were certainly into it in a big way. First, his music-maker Larry B did some warming up and soundchecking.

 Mykki Blanco at Arboretum

Here's Mykki!

Mykki Blanco at Arboretum

And so on!

Mykki Blanco at Arboretum

Mykki runs about!

Mykki Blanco at Arboretum

Stand-employing action!

Mykki Blanco at Arboretum

Mykki works the crowd!

Mykki Blanco at Arboretum

Conversational action!

Mykki Blanco at Arboretum

Mykki talks to the hand!

Mykki Blanco at Arboretum

Disrobing action!

Mykki Blanco at Arboretum

Mykki visits the food truck!

Mykki Blanco at Arboretum

The end!

Mykki Blanco at Arboretum

Operators, the new group from Wolf Parade, Divine Fits and Handsome Furs' Dan Boekner, New Bomb Turks' Sam Brown, Hot Hot Heat's Dustin Hawthorne and Macedonian jill-of-all-trades Devojka. Mykki was a little late getting off, and Operators were even later getting on (they had a fair bit of electronic gear to wrangle), so their set was a brisk one. Here's Dan!

Operators at Arboretum

Bass action with Dustin!

Operators at Arboretum

Neither the first nor the last of the many bad pictures I took of Devojka that night.

Operators at Arboretum

A shouty bit!

Operators at Arboretum

Closeup action!

Operators at Arboretum

Sam hits!

Operators at Arboretum

Bonus Brown!

Operators at Arboretum

Extra Devojka!

Operators at Arboretum

A great end to the night.