Tres mal

Well, I was going to see Boom Creek and Mighty Eagle Band tonight at Irene's. I did in fact go to Irene's (almost twice, since I returned home to get some earplugs), only to discover the show had been cancelled. They didn't even have their own chalkboard updated, so I'm guessing it was kind of short notice. Unfortunately I passed on Malajube and Julie Doiron to go see it. Oh well, here's a picture of Malajube at Bluesfest 2006.



Well, at least there's some rocking shows on tonight (that'll I'll miss due to work ... Grrrr!): Fucked Corpse and Heille Gros Tas! perform at 1848 (on the second floor of the University of Ottawa's University Centre; Capital Grass and the No Men are going to perform three sets at the Rainbow Bistro; and the mighty Pride Tiger are playing at Zaphod's with Garaga, These Electric Lives and Hemi-Loco.

Mo Malajube

Malajube put on a zesty show at Club SAW (albeit one somewhat overshadowed by The Hot Springs). For their Bluesfest appearance they've kicked things up a notch. Their high-energy, off-kilter garage pop was a big hit with the audience.

Julien Mineau chante.



Thomas "Thomas Tom Thompson" Augustin.



Renaud Bastien wasn't at their last gig - but here he is now, on melodica, no less.



Francis Mineau; a very energetic drummer.



Mathieu Cournoyer on bass.



Malajube action!













Hot stuff.

• Show reminder: There's much rock around town as Sleeping Pilot, Jesus Mullet and Death March Volunteers play Babylon; The Creeps, SexHead and The Lorrainas perform at Cafe Dekcuf and Four'n'Giv'r, The Nymphets and Skip Jensen and His Shakin' Feet play Irene's. My Dad vs Yours, Second Glance, The Soft Disaster also play Barrymore's.

Bluesfest: Day One

Once again Bluesfest has landed in the capital, and once again I've taken a couple of weeks off to catch the wide variety of music on offer. I walked down Lisgar to see the MBNA Stage first. I overheard part of Otis Taylor's set, and he sounded great, so I'll have to check him out when he plays again. My real destination was Anathallo's performance. I saw them at Zaphod's and they put on a wonderful performance.

They were down to seven members for this gig; here's less than half.



Here's a little more than half.



Next up was Malajube. I saw them perform at Club SAW with Hot Springs some time ago. I though the Springs were awesome; this time around I have to say Malajube put on a very fierce set.



Could be because of the extra member. I see Thomas Tom Thompson has changed his shirt - now Salem, Mass., gets the nod instead of Singapore.



I was planning to go and see Calexico, but after surveying the huge crowd by the Black Sheep Stage, I realized that anyone who wants to get close to the action is going to have to show up early. I made a quick about-face and still managed to land near the front of the crowd for when Broken Social Scene arrived on stage. There was some onstage grumbling - in musical form - from the band, who had the crowd yell "Calexico!" three times.



There's so many of these folks, one photo won't do ... that's Julie Penner of The Hylozoists and Fembots on trumpet.



Amy Millan of Stars was their female vocalist du jour.



And a big old wide angle group shot ... still missing a few folks, I think.



I'm not one of Broken Social Scene's many admirers, but I'll admit they put on a fine set this time, about 90 minutes long. The only downer was a bunch of meatheads who decided they had to wade up to the front of the close-packed crowd half way into the set. Then it was time to wander home past the Black Sheep Stage. Calexico was still playing, but I really had to get home to the loo.

Yummy fur

Malajube completed the Fringe Pop mini-festivities at Club SAW. They reminded me of The Animal Collective and various other weird-pop outfits. I liked their show, but not as much as The Hot Springs' set.

On keyboards, a furry woodland creature - actually, Thomas Tom Thompson. According to his bio on Malajube's website: " ...que l'on a rarement pu apercevoir sans son t-shirt sur lequel il est inscrit : 'Singapoure, The fine city.'" Sure enough, he's wearing it here. The guy must love Singapore. And Tintin.



Julien on guitar and "chante-chante."



Mathieu on bass - looks a bit worried.



Here's another picture of Julien - he frequently went down on his knees. Behind him you can see drummer Joseph Bruno Francis.



More woodland pop ...



The group plays to the assembled head-backs.



You can read my review of the band's CD here.

Malajubilation

Montreal's hottest pop quartet, Malajube and The Hot Springs are playing a gig tomorrow night (Tuesday, when it's at home) at Club SAW. As I mentioned earlier, I was tipped to these guys by Gourmet Delice of Le Nombre. He arranged to have their record company, Dare to Care, send me their new CD. It arrived too late for Album of the Week consideration, so with their show imminent, I'll sings its praises right now!

Malajube
Le Compte Complet



Clocking in at a half hour - including a few seconds of dead space before the hidden track kicks in - Malajube's debut is short but tasty. Chirping keyboard opener and tinkling scree comes from the Animal Collective school of twisted pop. I'm not sure I buy the comparisons to Franz Ferdinand and XTC that have been bandied about in its wake. Some juvenile whoops on Le Metronome and songs about Teeth and Lemon Juice (not at the same time), along with its generally bouncy and buoyant feel and fuzzy guitars make me thing of Australia's Sekiden. A sweet confection in any language.