Bringing up bruises

Ottawa Implosion shenanigans continues at Gabba Hey Friday night, with Toronto's Plasmalab making the trip north for their first show, alongside Ultrathin, throwing their album release show, Birds of Paradise (featuring Hannah and Choyce from Red Mass) and Ottawa's own Chloroform.

Plasmalab played a great first set, with a sound that I'd guess owes a debt to The Wipers, albeit with a harsher guitar tone.



Bass action!



Vocal action!



Rhythm section action!



Bloody action!



Perrcussive action!



Laboratory action!



Next up were Chloroform, sounding even more like Motorhead than usual as they tour through a great set.



Bass action!



I always break out the flash for these guys since they're too fast for my lowlight primes.



Scott hits!



Rick sings!



Rhythm section action!



The whole blurry lot!



Birds of Paradise are another musical outlet for Red Mass mainstays Hannah Lewis and Roy "Choyce" Vucino; it played its first shows in August of 2014. I think that they sound like what Royal Trux would have sounded like if they listened to a lot of the Paisley Sound bands like Dream Syndicate - and I mean that as a compliment. They were releasing a lathe-cut disc on Bruised Tongue.



Choyce action!



Hannah sings!



Guitar action!



Percussive action!



Tambourine action!



Roy sings some more!



Ultrathin are always fun, and this gig, celebrating their new Bruised Tongue LP (it's been out a month or so) was pretty hot. Here's Shaun and Matthew!



Mark sings!



Percussive action!



More guitar!



Double-vision action!



Bass face!



Psychedelic action!



The whole lot!



Mark runs around!



And so on!



Mighty fine sounds.

Hues and cry

Last week I toddled over to Pressed to see Crosss. The band is a frequent visitor, but I just can't get enough of the band's doomy Wipers-style psyche rock. They were joined by the gently post-punk sounds of Moss Lime and some avant-drone courtesy of Self Surgey.

Pierre begins the oscillations.



Now in four distinct colours!



Vocal action!



Pressed has my favourite lamp.



Moss Lime hail from Montreal and jokingly describe themselves as a combination of smooth and surf (a.k.a. "smurf"). There are some clear single note lines courtesy of guitarist Joel Young, but this crowd's sounds really come from the early 1980s.



Singalong action with Helene Barbier!



Extra Joel!



More Helene!



Caitlin Pinder sings!



Cross finished the evening off with a heavy set.



As usual I have no idea who these men of mystery are (apart from frontman Andy).



Percussive action!



It was a multicoloured evening.



Rhythm section action!



And that's it, since conditions were not ideal for photography. Dynamite show, though.

Bruising encounter

Bruised Tongue is five, and to celebrate a half-decade of  noisy shenanigans, they've been throwing shows this weekend (Friday at Cafe Alt and Mugshots, yesterday and today at Gabba Hey). I was otherwise occupied on Friday (at Gabba Hey for the Cousins show), but made it to their Saturday outing to catch some decibels.

Bonnie Doon womanned the wheels of steel between sets. There was a lot of Joan Jett.



Montreal's Paradise had to pull out, so Bruised Tongue co-supremo Pierre Richardson stepped in under his Self Surgery guise.



Shadowy Pierre!



Strobing action!



There's even video-drone action!



He was followed by Cousins of Reggae. CoR were one of those combos I was thinking I'd see sooner rather than later, but things never worked out, so this was the first time I'd seen Blake and Liam in action (together, that is - I've seen Blake with Caymans, solo, etc.). Here's the man himself!



Liam frets.



The whole lot!



Shadowy Tongue action!



Extra Liam!



Blake grabs some guitar time!



Liam jingles some bells.



Boyhood were next in line. Since I saw them last, they've apparently been seeking a drummer. For this show there was a new bloke on a drum machine and guitarist Alex had switched over to a Korg - thus the audience was treated to the electro-beat version of Boyhood. One-off? Bold new direction? I forgot to ask.



Beats-in-a-box action!



Touch that dial!



Caylie rocks the keys.



And a quick snap from the other side of the stage.



I confess, by the time Roberta Bondar I was feeling pretty tired. Between sleep deprivation, strobe lighting and cider I was feeling a serious need for beddy-byes, so I only took a few photos before decamping.



Tyler hits!



Gary so crazy.



Lidija frets!



Now with more Maltby.



Extra Gary!



More Lidija!



Then I scampered home to bed. There's more matinee action at Gabba Hey today.