Temporal fixations

Festival season has begun, and that means bands from all over are criss-crossing the nation. That means Ottawa gets to be on the receiving end of the occasional oddity, such as French prog-rockers Jack Dupon. They played the avant-garde Victoriaville festival on Saturday, and Sunday they made their way to Pressed. Coming from the opposite direction, on the tail end of their own tour was post-punkers Notta Comet. Stuck in the middle and going nowhere (geographically, that is) was Ottawa's The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol. Notta Comet kicked things off with their "science punk," which apparently means they have songs called Somebody Oughta Burn Down Ray Kurzweil's House. Here's Crawford Smith on bass and Alex Williams on guitar.



Crawford sings!



Percussive action with Eli Kaufman.



Alex sings!



Singalong action!



Rhythm section action!



And of course the traditional shot through the entryway window.



Tapping action!



The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol tore through their set.



Bill frets, John hits!



Bonus Bill!



Extra Nathaniel!



More guitar!



John hits!



Miche is under there somewhere.



Jason manipulates some electronics.



The whole blurry lot!



More Jason!



Sliding action!



Guitar-hanging action!



Jack Dupon are keeping the traditions of French prog alive, with themed albums and polyrhythms. They've been compared with King Crimson, Frank Zappa and Gong, all of which I defiitely hear as well.



Arnaud M'Doihoma sings!



Thomas Larsen hits!



Philip Prebet frets!



Gregory Pozzoli rounds out the group on guitar.



Extra Gregory!



Progressive action!



Philip sings!



Rhythm section action!