Sunday mass

I don't get out to shows on Sunday much nowadays. Well, there aren't too many Sunday shows, but more important, I now try to get up at 6 a.m. on weekdays for school. However, even without the need to rise early, I'd have been at Gabba Hey last night to check out Red Mass. They've always put on a killer show and even an eight-hour drive from Toronto couldn't dampen their spirits.

First on the floor were Throes, a jazzy, noisy outfit featuring Chris MacDonald (Mouthpiece/Four Frames, Boom Creek) on keys and Lee Galway on drums. They also had some saxophone for this outing, so I guess technically this was their Death Bop Project with Karla-Jo Trudgen.



Alto action!



Lee hits!



Chris mans the keys.



Shadowy action!



Backlit action!



On to Heavy Mental, a noise operation featuring Pierre Richardson of Bruised Tongue fame (he's also appeared on the blog solo as Self Surgery).



Knob-twisting action!



Pierre sings!



Bass action!



Well, you get the idea.



On to Red Mass. Once again, they were operating as a quartet, with Hannah L. Is Dead and Choyce on keys and guitar, and a killer rhythm section featuring folks I didn't recognize. Here's Choyce!



Hannah sings!



The whole lot!



Shoutalong action!



Percussive action!



More shouty action!



Space-rock guitar action!



More rhythm!



As always, a killer set.

Cold War kids

As some folks may know, I was born in 1970, which puts my formative music-appreciation years in the early-and-mid 1980s. Those were good (or bad, depending on your taste) years for synth music. Like many a young Ottawan I had Eight Second's Where's Bula drilled into my brain, along with possibly toxic levels of exposure to groups like a-ha, OMD and ABC. Although it didn't last (the influence of friends pulled me more in the direction of AC/DC, Joan Jett and Motorhead), I still have a fondness for those synthetic sounds - my most listened-to release of 2013 is undoubtedly the Cosmic Machine comp of French synth acts. Synth music seems to be enjoying a renaissance these days. On to the reason for this post, Montreal's Rational Youth. The Montreal combo were part of synth rock's first wave, and got a bit of chart time with songs like No More and No Less and Bang On. Keyboardist and Brand New Waver Kevin Komoda apparently found a heap of old tapes from his old outfit and talked Tracy Howe into hitting the road one more time, along with his Plunt-mate Brian Arsenault, Tracy's wife Gaenor and the oh-so solid rhythm section of Paul Grainville and Scott Cameron (of Normals fame). Apparently they're big in Scandinavia, so they hit a few dates there before returning to Canada for their first show in Montreal in 27 years earlier this month. Saturday night, they were at Zaphod's, performing for a few young 'uns and a bunch of folks in their 50s.

First up, Riishi Von Rex. The last (and only) time I saw Riishi was also at Zaphod's back in November 2009. Four and a half years later, she still reminds me of P.J. Harvey. This time around she also had a drummer, Michel, on hand. She's hosting a rock'n'rolll night the first Sunday of the month at the Rainbow, too.



Michel hits!



The whole lot!



Riishi sings!



Singing drummer action!



Tapping action!



The end!



On to Rational Youth ... well, they aren't quite youth nowadays, but they sounded very solid and were definitely into it. They started things off "unplugged." With just the keyboardists Brian, Tracy and Kevin. Here's Kevin!



The Youth of today! Brian, Gaenor, Paul, Tracy, Scott and Kevin.



Brutish action with Brian.



Darn it, forgot to take any decent photos of Scott Cameron!



Tracy claps.



Gaenor provided some extra percussion and backing vocals.



Kevin sings!



Gripping action!



More Paul!



The end!



Great night, and a treat to hear City At Night, the prescient Dancing On The Berlin Wall and Saturday in Silesia again (also Holiday in Thailand, Man In Grey, and others).

Fall and rise

I zipped over to Pressed Saturday night to check out some more metal. Among the most glaring omissions of local bands from the blog, I'd say grindcore devotees Fuck The Facts are near the top of the list. I still haven't seen them, but I figure it might count the same if I manage to catch the various members other projects ... no? Well, it was worth a shot. At any rate, FTF's Topon Das kicked things off in a decidedly non-grinding mode with some pedal manipulation, and Black Oak Decline and The Great Sabatini completed the ear-drum-pummelling evening.

Topon twists.



"Now go home and play with your delay pedals."



Up next, Black Oak Decline. The name automatically makes me think southern rock, but don't expect any washboards from this crew, which was first put together by frontman Mike Raymond; I also know drummer Tony from manning the door at Zaphod's. Here's Mike, starting things off with some serious feedback.



Bass action!



The whole loud lot!



More camouflage!



Tony hits!



Mike sings!



More bass!



Extra Tony!



Unfortunately their bass amp died after four songs or so ...on to The Great Sabatini after the jump!

Saints and sentries

It's been a busy week for me, what with school starting up, thus the short delay in posting stuff from Friday's show at Luneta Cafe. It was an eclectic evening, kicking off with shoegazers Destroy Clocks, continuing with rugged fuzz poppers Saint Clare and concluding with instrumental metallurgists The Night Watch. Unfortunately I missed Destroy Clocks due to a late-night school project, so let's go straight on to Saint Clare.

The band takes its name from former Shakey Aches frontman Matthew Saint Clare, and also includes Richard Jeffrey and Ryan Shannon from that band. They profess fandom for Arcade Fire and various Elephant 6 combos. I thought they sounded like some of Spencer P. Jones' stuff.



Saxophonic action with Morgan Grant!



Bumpy action!



That's Daniel Devries on the drums.



Richard Jeffrey of Golden Famile and others rocks the Telecaster.



Matthew sings!



Extra Richard!



On to The Night Watch after the jump ...