From dusk to dawn

My ears were ringing after Thursday's show at Pressed. Not that I expect Spell or Slow Dawn to be quiet, but in combination with Montreal's Yoo Doo Right they offered up some crushing heavy psych sounds. Things started off with Spell, who were playing at half-strength since guitarist Marley, singer Allie and keyboardist Frazier weren't on hand. Things still worked out fine in the power trio format - here's Kai!



Bass action with Connor!



Rhythm section action with Connor and Tyrin!



Guitar action with Kai!



Extra Tyrin!



The whole lot!



Yoo Doo Right were playing their first show outside their hometown of Montreal. Going by the name I was expecting some Can-style sounds. They definitely have a heavy dose of krautrock in their DNA. They have an album release planned for later this month, which was the inspiration for a handful of Ontario dates - perhaps they'll be back when Nobody Panicked And Everybody Got On actually hits the streets. Here's the whole lot!



Percussive action with John!



Mitchell handles the low end!



Keyboard action with Charles!



Justin sings!



Extra-flashy action!



More guitar!



Charles sings!



More drumming!



Slow Dawn played a really killer set; since I last saw them play at Pressed, in August, they've undergone another lineup change, with Sean and Chris from the Heavy Medicine Band joining Dan and Jesse.



Guitar and bass action with Sean and Jesse!



More guitar with Dan!



Chris hits!



Dan sings!



Circular action!



And so on!



The whole lot!



A really solid night out.

Until dawn

Sunday at Pressed offered up a real variety of psyche: Headliners Slow Dawn were joined by Victorian kosmik synthesist Psychic Pollution and Bytown's own experimental synthologist Lovecraft (aka Tyrin from Weed Mom and Spell). Here he is, making some adjustments and/or auditioning for the role of Jason in the next Friday The 13th movie!



Trumpet action!



Tyrin sings!



More adjustment!



Psychic Pollution was a big draw for me; I've been enjoying his music (it's a one-man outfit, that man being Jzero Schuurman), much of which is available on Bandcamp at name-your-own-price.His latest material is very much inspired by early German electronic artists such as Kraftwerk, Cluster and Neu! Here's Jzero!



And here he is again.



On to Slow Dawn, who fired up the smoke machine for a bad trip (and by bad I mean good) into scuzzed-out, feedback heavy freakouts - sort of a Germs meet Bardo Pond experience. It's front by Dan from the Holy Cobras, backed on this occasion by fellow Cobra Jesse, Alex from Boyhood and Lidija of Blue Angel and Bondar on drums. Here's shirtless action with Dan!



Lidija hits!



Slow action!



Alex works the feedback!



Dan sings!



Guitar action!



The whole lot!



A fine night of head-games.

Lonely hearts club band

I headed over to Pressed on Thursday for a panoply of pop and punkish sounds from locals Lovecraft, Young Offenders and - offering new evidence that Peterborough is the new music capital of Canada - The Lonely Parade. Lovecraft is the solo project of Weed Mom and Spell's Tyrin, who crafts his synthetic ditties on various electronic doo-dads.



Tyrin sings!



Fisheyed action!



And so on!



On to The Lonely Parade, who pack some serious fuzz in their tunes. Here's guitarist Augusta, showing of her one-of-a-kind Puberty Hands cap!



Anwyn hits!



Bassist Charlotte sings!



Extra Anwyn!



Extra Charlotte!



Singalong action!



Last time I saw Young Offenders, at Black Squirrel Books, they were down a guitarist and up a trumpet. This time around they brought some poetry to add to their post-punk sounds.



Here's previously MIA axeman Jacob.



Simon sings!



And here's Kurt.



More Simon!



Josh hits!



More Jacob!



Singalong action!



The crowd got pretty wild!



A fun night out.