Darkness and light

I headed off for another edition of House of Targ's Switched On Synths a week ago, and it was a great combination of analog beepery, gothic sounds, classic synth pop and dance rock, starting with a set from Infinity's Astrum. Here's Nick and his modular setup!



So ... many ... wires.



Modular action!



On to The Marquis; he's performed at Targ before, both solo and as one half of Automelodi. He was quite a bit more goth this time around.



Guitar election!



Vocal action!



Gripping action!



On to the moody synthpop of Glass Apple Bonzai - they've also come through Targ a couple of times. Here's Daniel!



Keyboard action with Steve!



A shouty bit!



More Steve!



Singalong action!



Steve sings!



Roof-raising action!



Toronto's Kontravoid ended the night; mainman Cameron was a founder of Parallels during their early days (well before I caught Holly and Co. at Targ), now hes heavy on a minimalist dancefloor kick. His setup includes some powerful floor lights, so a lot of my picture taking involved shooting a whole lot and hoping he was standing in the right place when the lights flashed on. Here's Cameron!



Cameron jumps about!



Synthetic action!



Gripping action!



And so on!



A very lively night out!

By the water

I went to Targ last week for a quadruple helping of rock and or roll. Inbstrumental heavyweights Monobrow were headlining their first show in a while, Hatchet Lake travelled from Nova Scotia, Montreal crunchers Tunguska Mammoth dropped in from Montreal, with Buttercotch Palace almost but not quite kicking things off. As it happened the band had a brush with the plague, so the half that weren't stricken (Ian and Todd) showed up with the rest of their other band, Boom Creek, to starts things off. Here's Neil with some microphone-eating action, and Adam!



Rhythm section action with Todd!



Guitar action with Ian!



Adam hits!



More Todd!



Singing and drinking action!



Singalong action!



Feedback action!



Tunguska Mammoth stomp out of Quebec with some heavy stoner sludge. From right to left, it's Mathieu, Maxime, Paolo and Pierre-Hugues.



Maxime sings!



And so on!



More guitar with Mathieu!



Paolo sings!



Pierre-Hugues hits!



Even more guitar!



Hatchet Lake had a more grungy sound - they immediately had me thinking of Slow, Tad and other Northwestern fuzzers; here's singer Craig!



Guitar action with Andy!



Bass action with Stephen!



Watery action with Craig and drummer Adam!



More Craig!



Extra Adam!



And so on!



More guitar!



The whole lot!



Monobrow have emerged from a bit of studio time (they have a new track up at their Bandcamp) and will be playing another show at Targ on Nov. 9 with Mountain Dust and Sierra. Here''s Paul laying down some riffage!



Percussive action with Brian!



Bass action with Sam!



And so on!



The whole lot!



More Brian!



Always a great set!

One Furr all

Country rock enthusiasts Blitzen Trapper are on tour right now, celebrating the 10th anniversayr of their landmark album Furr. I was keen to see them play again -even though another fave, Castle, was performing the same night at Targ - since my last sighing, back in 2012 during Bluesfest. It was fun to see them in a club setting, as an added bonus their was a fine opening set from Oregon trio Candace. Here's guitarist and vocalist Sarah!



Rhythm section action with Sarah and Mara!



Singalong action!



More Mara!



Closeup action!



More guitar!



Blitzen Trapper pulled a pretty big crowd; here's guitarist and keyboardist Erik!



Eric sings!



It was pretty busy at the front of the stage, so this is probably the best picture you'll get of drummer Brian.



Guitar action! That's bassist Michael at right.



More guitar with Erik!



More Eric!



And finally some harmonica action, with keyboardist Marty at right.



A very pleasant evening.