Shadowy men

At the tale end of November I went to Gabba Hey to check out some kosmik sounds. Flecton Bigsky was cementing his return to the stage, The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol were celebrating of their newly released (and now almost entirely sold out) album Pathfinder, and Montreal's Pachyderm showed up with some krautrockin' tuneage as well.

Flecton kicked things off.



Shadowy action!



Flecton sings!



Pachyderm was formed by Tom Jarvis and Nico Braesch after the two met in Montreal (Jarvis hails from Liverpool, Braesch is French). Like TBWNIAS, they've served as sound carriers for Damo Suzuki, and like those German kosmik sounds.



Nico hits!



Percussive action!



Tim frets!



Elephantine action!



Pedal-examining action!



More Nico!



Tim sings!



They brought in a bassman for the last bit.



Keyboard action!



Bonus Braesch!



Rhythm section action!



Then it was on to TBWNIAS for some more shadowy action.



Jan Lis wasn't around for this set, but Flecton was there to "hang out."



John hits!



Nate handles the low end.



Dave adjusts.



Bill frets.



Extra Dave!



More guitar!



This is the best pivture you'll get of Jason, since he was tucked away in a corner away from the light.



Flecton bends!



A grand time was had by all.

Sky symbols

Having weathered a blogging dry spell, I jumped back into the showgoing Saturday night with a double-header. Part I was at Pressed, where I consumed a bracing cup of cappucino and parked myself by the side of the stage for ambient guitarwork, dirty hooks and krautrock worship.

Shane Whitbread from Loviatar began the evening; the gentle snow made an ideal backdrop for his ambient guitar excursions.



It was a night of well-stocked pedal boards.



There was a big crowd out, which would have been surprising considering the snow warnings if not for the return of Flecton Big Sky, a.k.a. Miche Jette, to the stage. Last time I saw Flecton was in 2010, celebrating a Kelp Records anniversary at the Carleton Tavern.



Flecton rocks the winter boots!



And so on!



On to The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol, who were sounding very hot - and quite Circle-like - this evening.



Guitar action, plus dancin' Jason!



John hits!



Nate rocks the low end.



Plastic guitar action!



Feedback action with Dave!



More guitar!



I snuck around to the side during the encore.



Then it was off to Babylon for some Nervosas and Crusades.

Singing by the sea shore

Having had my fill of Iron Maiden I returned to the Subway Stage to see what the Kelp gang was up to. As it turns out, The empiricals and The Flaps were engaging in one of their semi-regular musicl battles to the death.

Flaps bassist Martin Newman makes a face.



Pat Lawlor works the frets.



John Higney, ditto.



Flappy strategizing while The Empiricals play.



The Empiricals' Paul Hogan and Mike Dubue work it out.



Hand-drumming action!



After that it was time for some of the Kelp roster to come out and sing some of their favourite tunes while being backed by The Flaps and Empiricals. First up Chris Page.



Next up, Flecton Big Sky, with an assist from Mike and Rolf Klausener of The Acorn.



He hung around to give some backing help to Andrew Vincent ....



... of whom I did not get a good photo.



Rolf takes his turn at centre-stage.



He got a little carried away.



Guest action from The Acorn's Pat Johnson.



Jim Bryson also gets a round in.



Bonus Jim!



Microphone-swinging action!



Clapping action from Mike!



Label supremo Jon Bartlett kicks in.



Singalong action!



Mike sings!



And that's it! It was a super-fun show.

• Show reminder: Mehdi Cayenne Club and Sarah Loucks are at The Rainbow; Ray Harris, Orit Shimoni of Little Birdie, Kelly Prescott and Adam Puddington take part in the Elmdale's regular songwriter's circle. River City Junction plays the Avant-Garde Bar.