The Young and the Louder

Last week I popped over to Black Squirrel Books for another edition of Not Normal, curated by Low Noise Productions. The first performer was Young Truck, shown here using one of those ubiquitous red toolboxes as a percussive instrument.



VJ Cinetek was also on hand to provide some black and white visuals.



More percussion!



On to Leon Louder and his "junkyard spaceship" - a cobbled together contraption made from effects and keyboards.



Makeshift action!



More Louder!



Brockville's Clint House wrapped things up.



House action!



Cool stuff all around.

Better luck Sunday

It's a good thing there's such a thing as Sunday shows; on Saturday I planned to check out the Heavy Bell show at Pressed, but it sold out. Then the puck show at Targ was cancelled due to burst pipes. Then the power in my building went out. Well, along comes Sunday and a show featuring some East Coast electronica acts along with a couple of local acts. First up was Low Noise Productions' Young Truck with some guitar-augmented synth sounds (which you can check out on Bandcamp if you're so inclined).



Guitar action!



Highly distorted vocal action!



Young action!



Fredericton's Wangled Teb - the nom de electronica of Indigo Poirier - was up next; you can take a listen here to their latest release.



And so on!



Next up, Transmit vs Intangerines; here's Jason (also of Final Fall0!



Electronic action!



Vocal action!



Adjusting action!



Light fixture action!



Property// is the project of New Brunswick-to-Montreal transplant Charles Harding. He's touring with a guitarist, Luke, and a cellist EMily. And here they are!



Guitar action with Luke!



Cello action with Emily!



And so on!



Adjusting action with Charles!



More adjusting with Luke!



Charles sings!



Fun stuff all around.

Into the smoke

I went to a couple of shows last week at the House of Targ; unfortunately I neglected to pack a camera battery to the second one (their annual Lemmy tribute), so all you're getting is the Dark Gathering from Friday, featuring some industrial and goth-styled sounds from nTTx, The Marquis and local Low Noise Productions crew Final Fall. Here's Nick and Jason, working the electronics!



A very smokey Josh!



Less smokey josh!



More Nick and Jason!



Josh adjusts!



The end!



You might recall The Marquis playing guitar with Automelodi at Switched On Synths in August 2016. Here he is doing his solo thing!



It was a might smokey; his set was backed by a documentary on butoh, which was interesting in itself.



More Dillon!



nTTx finished the night off. It's the new solo project from Gord of Atomzero, backed here by a drummer and guitarist (there's also a synthesizer player, but they couldn't make it this night). Here's some guitar action with Norm!



Here's the drummer, Mike, awash in the glow from nTTx's own lighting rig.



More Norm!



Gripping action with Gord!



The whole lot!



More Gord!



Singalong action!



Mike hits!



Industrial action!



A fun night!

Stranger things

There's been a Not Normal night in Ottawa dedicated to experimental and avant-garde music for a few years now. It's been something I always planned to get around to checking out but never quite did - until last week, when the Low Noise crowd convened at Black Squirrel Books for some electronic sounds. I didn't take many pictures (since were basically talking about three guys manipulating gear on a tabletop), but definitely enjoyed the cool sounds. First up, Jared Epp.



Flashy action!



Long open time action!



White Noises had the lion's share of his gear in a tiny plywood case. Here he is with soem more long-open time action!



More noise!



Handy action!



Arturo B has been making electronic sounds and light shows around town; I caught him at a Targ Switched On Synths night back in 2016, and later on providing some projected visuals ... here he is doing both!



More Arturo!



Audio-visual action!



A fine lineup.