Opening shot

A couple of days after catching Crabe and Big Moan I sauntered over to Zaphod's to see some local acts. Two of them were new to me (Dead Bees and Sick Sick Sicks), but opener The Glorious Moonrockets have already made a few appearances on the blog. Off we go!

Chris sings!



David DiMaria hits!



Closeup action!



The whole lot!



Faceoff action!



Rhythm section action!



Jumping about!



And so on!



The feedback-loving end!



Since this gig they've released a new EP, More Other Stuff.

In a pinch

Montreal duo like their No-Wave and their Melvins; they put on a clattering set for the assembled at Daily Grind that also reminded me of a more disjointed Gunslingers or Hella.

Mertin Hoek rocks the Jazzmaster.



David Dugas Dion hits!



The whole lot!



Mertin sings!



Crabby action!



Dancing action!



Trippy action!



More guitar!



Fisheye action!



If I read things right, they've just played their last show for a while since drummer David is off for a stint in Brazil.

Moaning before midnight

I've been out to see a lot of shows this year (a happy side effect of no longer working until midnight out in the suburbs), which is why we're still in mid-January. This was my first exposure to blues heavies Big Moan, a band that makes me thing of outfits like Kyuss, Valis, Roadsaw and Isaak (or basically every band on the Small Stone label).

And here they are! That's Calvin McCormick on guitar and Will Thorne-Morris on more guitar, and current guitarist Kane O'Shaughnessy on drums; I'm guessing that's then new recruit David Gonis on bass, but I could be wrong.



Percussive action!



Calvin sings!



Hoodie-wearing action!



Fisheye action!



More Will!



More guitar!



Big hit!



Since then they've released their debut EP, done a spot of touring, played the Fun Boy Club House's Canada Day shindig; most recently they were at the Brass Monkey. FLASH UPDATE: They've just jumped onto the bill at the Avant-Garde on Thursday with Montreal's Kurvi-Tasch.

Take it to the streets

Eternally touring Hamiltonian B.A. Johnston is always a fun show. Although it sometimes seem ike his set is carved in stone, there's always some tweak that allows him to insult the audience a little more or another heartbreaking ditty about being extremely pathetic.

Novelty sweatshirt action!



Kicking action!



Jumping action!



B.A. works the floor.



Then there was some hands- and shirt-free keyboarding.



Guitar action!



B.A. works the crowd!



He finished things off by playing in traffic.



Things are pretty quiet on the tour front right now, shockingly enough, but we can expect a "huge" fall tour following the Labour Day release of his latest album, Mission Accomplished, on Mammoth Cave.

House of guitars

There were a ton of tempting options for music Friday night, but in the end I decided to head over to the House of Targ, mostly to see what's up with Ian Blurton these days, but also to see Monobrow - always a good reason to go out - and to check out Electric Ruin, a band I've heard of but not heard.

They took the stage first. They used to be an instrumental outfit, much like Monobrow, but they've added a vocalist.



Guitar action!



 I dare say the big draw of the evening was Blurton's new combo. I was wondering what he'd get up to after the dissolution of C'mon and recent Change of Heart activity. Turns out he's teamed up with Ottawa's own Eric Larock, Lying Cheat Ryan Gassi on drums and organist Caitlin Dacey (ex-Bella Clava) in Public Animal. Dare I say it, this may be Ian's hottest combo yet!



The inimitable Mr. Blurton.



Monobrow finished the evening off with some of their usual high-grade instrumental heavy prog, along with a couple of new songs.



Bass action!



It was a whole lot of entertainment for $5.

City to city

It's back to Pressed and on to Toledo. The quintet - operating as a foursome on this occasion - draws its members from Hamilton and St. John's and likes The Replacements. They also made me think quite a bit of Joel Plaskett, fellow East- Coast-to-Toronto transplant David Picco and Ottawa's own Andrew Vincent.

And they're off! I believe that's Michael J. Boyd at left, Dan Empringham on drums and Cam Malcolm singing.



Extra Cam!



More Boyd!



The whole lot! With Lee Hanlon at right. I believe the fifth member, Dan Banoub (who has made an occasional appearance on the blog) was off studying in the U.K. while all this was going on.



And so on!



Flashy action!



Grimacing action!


The end!



They released their EP Years Without Focus a week or two before this show, and it's well worth checking out.

Basement ritual

It's been a while since I was at a house show - last time was Peach Kelli Pop's Fun Boy Club House gig - but last night's shindig at 614 Gladstone was something out of the ordinary. Tempe, Arizona's Marshsteppers are on tour, and they brought their occult power electronics to the spacious basement of the home occupied by a couple of Yips. Also on hand were Blue Angel, a mysterious masked (or at least bagged) trio of female Bruised Tongue allstars.

Lidija from Roberta Bondar had a wardrobe malfunction, that's Sami from Organ Eyes on bass at left. The band actually sounded what you'd think a combination of Organ Eyes and Roberta Bondar would ...


Blue Angel at Yips House, July 24, 2013

With a side order of Boyhood, since Caylie Runciman handles the drums in this outfit. They played a too-short four-song set; more or less all the material they have worked up right now. 


Blue Angel at Yips House, July 24, 2013

On to Marshstepper. Their noxious, threatening audio murk takes a back stage to the ritual performance that goes on in front of their electronic gear. It involves some (very blurry) male nudity, so I've put it after the jump for those of you with sensitive eyeballs.