Twisting and winding

I hit the road to Hintonburg last week for a show at General Assembly; the garage turned art space was hosting a show on the experimental side, with Bill Nace and Chris Corsano, a.k.a. Vampire Belt, and Horseman, Pass By. HPB is the work of local avant-gardists Mark Molnar and Bennett Bedoukian. Here's Mark on cello!



Bennett adjusts!



More Mark!



Extra Bennett!



On to Vampire Belt; last time I saw Chris Corsano, he was accompanying Bill Orcutt at Raw Sugar (Mark Molnar was on that bill, too). This time his accomplice is Bill Nace, who like Corsano has worked with a slew of other artists in the improv-experimental-avant-garde sphere. Hes probably best known for his recent work with Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth in Body/Heat. Here's Chris!



And here's Bill.



The whole lot!



More Chris!



Extra Bill!



Guitar shaking action!



A really extraordinary show from both acts.

After noise

Over the last few years Bill Orcutt, once of infamous noise rockers Harry Pussy, has recast himself an acoustic instrumentalist in the vein of Bill Fahey, Robbie Basho and others of the Takoma ilk. He played a solo set at Raw Sugar a while back that work forced to to miss, much to my regret. When I heard he was coming through town with famed improv drummer Chris Corsano I knew I had to be there. In fact, I headed off to Raw Sugar well (and unnecessarily) in advance to make sure I got in.

First up, some electronic sounds from show organizer Adam Saikaley and Gary Franks of Roberta Bondar.


Adam Saikaley and Gary Franks at Raw Sugar, June 13, 2013

Knob-twisting action!


Adam Saikaley and Gary Franks at Raw Sugar, June 13, 2013

Mark Molnar of Kingdom Shore played some frenetic solo pieces on cello.


Mark Molnar at Raw Sugar, June 13, 2013

Fisheye action!


Mark Molnar at Raw Sugar, June 13, 2013
 
Orcutt's stuff with Corsano is a bit different from his acoustic solo work. Not nearly as squalling as his stuff in Harry Pussy, though.


Bill Orcutt and Chris Corsano at Raw Sugar, June 13, 2013

Their album together features repeated images of Colonel Sanders and an egg, so they aren't taking themselves too seriously.


Bill Orcutt and Chris Corsano at Raw Sugar, June 13, 2013

It was a tad dark for photography.


Bill Orcutt and Chris Corsano at Raw Sugar, June 13, 2013

Definitely interesting.

Initial impressions

All good things must come to an end, they say. Bacon Fat, Sylvain Lajoie's monthly night at hostel jail bar Mugshots certainly qualifies as a good thing, but alas Sylvain has left for Montreal so this October offering was its last hurrah in this burg. The beginning of the end started off with H. De Heutz (named, no doubt, for Hubert Aquin's mysterious counterspy), an experimental duo featuring Olivier Fairfield of J'envoie and Fet. Nat. and Nathan Medema of Kingdom Shore, also a J'envoie vet.

Nathan handles the bass.



Closeup action!



Olivier sings and tweaks.



Fisheye action!



Extra Olivier!



The end!



Their next show is at Raw Sugar with Hello Babies and Adam Saikaley, May 4.

Other shores

Experimental Music Wednesdays are coming to an end (last night's was the second to last), but they seem to draw a big crowd - I had a hard time finding a table to eat my curried lamb sandwich at. For this evening the admittedly less experimental-than-usual find the others came up from Toronto to share the stage with Kingdom Shore.

Find The Others started things off with some video-abetted pop music that put me in mind of Shearwater and The Books. Here's guitarist Alan Sheppard.


Find The Others at Pressed, November 7, 2012

And not the best photo of drummer Mark.


Find The Others at Pressed, November 7, 2012

I haven't had a chance to see Kingdom Shore before now, though I have seen part of their lineup (Ryan Hough of Golden Famile and Nathan Medema of If Then Do and j'envoie) in other projects, and many years ago I think I saw mainman Mark Molnar play a solo set at Bumpers (perhaps I just imagined it). Anyway, I enjoyed their album, which I bought back in 2007 at Sounds Unlikely. For those unfamiliar, they're a string quartet with a couple of electronics men along for the ride. Not so many photo opportunities during their frenzy and drone, but everyone stayed pretty still (at least in this shot).


Kingdom Shore at Pressed, November 7, 2012

A most intriguing night.