Over the moon

One of the nice things about February in Ottawa is that it means the start of festival season (we like to start things early here in the Nation's Capital), what with Winterlude for the outdoors types and Megaphono for those who prefer their entertainment (and helpful music industry info) indoors. Unfortunately, I missed out on most of it - but I did catch the Moonfruits and Cedric Noel show at Black Squirrel Books. Here's Cedric!



Guitar action!



Moonfruits played a fine set based on their imaginary village, Ste-Quequepart. Here's Kaitlin and Alex!



Acoustic action with Alex!



Glockenspiel action with Kaitlin!



Alex sings!



Singalong action!



Kaitlin sings!



Kalimba action!



Fruity action!



A lovely night out.

Buffalo stance

There was some serious stoner-psychedelic rock action going on at the House of Targ in early February. Rochester, NY, combo King Buffalo kicked off a heap of 2019 touring with this set, and were joined by locals Black Galaxy and The Deadseers, who kicked things off. Unfortunately I missed a chunk of their set, so only had time to snap a handful of pics.Here's some guitar action with Al!



Mart is somewhere under there.



Shirtless action with Kevin!



Al sings!



This is my second time seeing Black Galaxy. They were pretty good back in April 20 and have definitely sharpened things up since. Here's Dave and Jimmy!



Bass action with Mark!



Gripping action with Jimmy!



Josh hits!



Rhythm section action!



More Mark!



Extra Josh!



Bonus Dave!



Even more Jimmy!



And finally a bit more Josh.



King Buffalo were in full head-nod mode for the set. Here's Dan, grooving on bass.



Vocal action with Sean!



Scott hits!



Guitar action!



More Scott!



Rhythm section action!



Extra Dan!



More Sean!



Extra, extra Dan!



Closeup action!



Good stuff all around.

Valley of the dolls

Montreal's Pale Lips have a new album out and are touring hither and yon to promote it (last I checked, they were in Belgium). Before their European jaunt they came to Ottawa to play a show at Black Squirrel Books along with U.S. labelmates Criminal Kids and Local quartet Holy Christopher. Here's Summer, Andy, Ben and Dave!



Andy sings!



Holy action!



Ben hits!



Rhythm section action!



Hair-tossing action!



Criminal Kids have had some lead guitar issues of late, so they performed as a trio. Here's Ryan, Anthony and Chris!



Ryan sings!



Rhythm section action!



Extra Ryan!



Anthony hits!



Fictional action!



Pale Lips played a hot set, featuring tunes from their latest, After Dark. Here's Ilona and Jackie!



Bass action with Jamie!



Singalong action!



Lynn sings!



Jamie hits!



The whole lot!



More Jamie!



More singalong action!



A fun night.