Strictly business

Back at the start of Spetember I headed over to the House of Targ for a dose of heaviosity. Los Angeles duo Big Business were on tour behind their new-ish album, The Beast You Are, with opening sets from Montrealers Atsuko Chiba  and local solo performer Jung Shadow (a.k.a. Kevin from Destroy Clocks).



Closeup action!



Custom guitar action!



And so on!



Atsuko Chiba took things in a proggier direction. I didn't get a good picture of everyone, but here's some illuminated action with drummer Anthony!



Karim multitasks!



Bass action with David!



Extra Anthony!



Synthetic action!



And so on!



On to Big Business, who made a mighty noise (and also gave Ottawa combo Shotmaker a shoutout)! Here's Jared!



Coady hits! I believe he also played with the Murder City Devils when they played the Hi-Fi a million years ago (or thereabouts).



And so on!



Closeup action!



More bass!



Extra Coady!



Bonus Jared!



Coady sings!



A fine night out!

Crimes against photography

With Ottawa Explosion, done, I headed off to Pressed for some heavy sounds. Ryan of Coliseum has a new band, called Fotocrime, and since previous shows by his other outfit were such killers I had to go and see what he's been up to lately. Ultra Love had already begun their set when I walked in. Here's Pascale on guitar!



Bass action with Ted!



Eric hits! If memory serves, he was also in Embassies of Denmark way back when.



More Ted!



Pascale sings!



And so on!



More Ted!



Ultra action!



Singalong action!



The whole lot!



Destroy Clocks played next - here's keyboardist and singer Nicole!



Kevin sings!



More Nicole!



Tyler hits!



Extra Kevin!



Destructive action!



Fotocrime played a fantastic set - a real treat for fans of groups like Killing Joke, Tau Cross and Sisters of Mercy. They also had an interesting DIY lighting setup and tons of smoke. It did make photography a little tricky. For example, here's a picture of Ryan.



Okay, now a somewhat better picture.



You get the idea ... it looked really cool in person!



Guitar action with Nick!



Nick sings!



Ryan adjusts!



Bass action with Shelley!



Shelley sings!



Here's the view from the back of the room.



A great set.

Seasonal synthesis

The weather is horrible, that must mean it's time for the annual late-winter mood-lifter that is Doldrums. Granted, the music calendar is a bit busier nowadays in March than it was when the fest was first conceived five years ago, but the more the merrier. This year's edition was held at Club SAW, and the first evening had some heavy synthetic leanings starting with vowel-and-capital dodger sbsst. Here he is!



More Eric!



Kate Schroder (also of Those Gulls) played next; she was joined by cellist Shawn and violinist Neil.



Stringed action with Neil!



Shawn bows!



Gesticulating action!



Extra Neil!



More Kate!



And so on!



Church of Trees broke out the projection for some top-notch 1980s styles synth-pop. Here's Bernard and Felicity (who's also on Sparklesaurus).



There was also some dancing from Surraya!



Felicity sings!



Bernard adjusts that dial!



More Felicity!



Sacred action!



Even more Felicity!



Bernard sings!



The always versatile Destroy Clocks finished the night off; here's Nicole!



Kevin works the pedals.



They played a short set since drummer Tyler was under the weather.



Nicole sings!



Kevin sings!



More Nicole!



Extra Kevin!



Bonus Tyler!



The whole lot!



And finally a shouty bit!



A great way to beat the winter blues.