The week ends early

Pressed continues its ace lineup of music Sunday night with sets from Swollen Eyes, Paradise and Crosss. The only problem was that each band had about a half-hour to strut its stuff - not nearly enough time!

Things kicked off with Swollen Eyes. Last time I saw them, it was just Ryan and Ryan doing some Og-style trash rock on standup drums and guitar. They've expanded since to a quartet, including notorious Fun Boy Club House crowd-surfer Shitty Mike on drums and Girlfriends guitarist Nigel on bass. They sounded a bit less frenetic to my ears, not that there's anything wrong with that ...


Swollen Eyes at Pressed, June 2, 2013

Michael hits! Need I mention they'll be performing at Ottawa Explosion this year?


Swollen Eyes at Pressed, June 2, 2013

Paradise is the new project from Grand Trine's Tobias Richman (what with Shub off doing the guitar thing with Dirty Beaches and the like). Stacey Ho is also on hand to provide some fuzzed out twang and bass.  Most of the new unit's distinctive sound is provided by some drum machines and a couple of synthesizers (a lady apparently named Laurence O. rounds out the trio).


Paradise at Pressed, June 2, 2013

Bass'n'guitar action! This was their second show, and they haven't released anything yet.


Paradise at Pressed, June 2, 2013

The mighty fuzz drone purveyed by Crosss is most appealing to me, so I snapped up their special lathe-cut 8-inch (a split with Un Blonde) and soon-to-be released LP on Teenage Explosion, Obsidian Spectre. While there wasn't nearly enough of it, their brief set was a head-nodder supreme.


Crosss at Pressed, June 2, 2013

Heavy-duty percussion courtesy once again of Nathan Doucet.


Crosss at Pressed, June 2, 2013

Great, but over all too soon.