SBSW: Night Three, Part Two

Back at Black Squirrel Books, I checked out Panic Attack, a Quebec City  crew who promise "three guys, three chords." Here's Nick on drums!



Guitar action with Nick!



Bass action with Etienne!



More Etienne!



Nick sings!



More Nick!



Then it was back to Targ for some heavy post-rock action with Toronto's Respire. Here's violinist Eslin and guitarist Rohan!



Egin sings!



More Eslin and Rohan!



Even more Eslin!



Guitar action with Darren and percussive action with Travis!



Bass action with Ben!



Last time I saw BBQT (come to think of it, it was the first time, too) was at last year's Ottawa Explosion. Fun pop sounds then as now. They had also just released a new EP, Nice View. Here's Amery and Mikey!



Guitar-lifting action with Jack!



Smiley action!



A pause in the action with Mikey ....



Allison hits!



And a bit more Jack!



Bondar finished the night off. It's been about five years since I saw them last, at a Gabba Hey show put on by the Ottawa Explosion crowd (which might have been the last time anyone saw them; if not, close to it). There was a good crowd to catch their reunion, and the band sounded fantastic. Here's Gary working some feedback!



Shadowy action with Tyler!



More Gary and Lidija!



Alex frets!



Lidija sings!



Gary works the crowd!



A very welcome return to form.

Hit the highway

You know how things go with the Ottawa music scene - folks move away. On the plus side, sometimes they come back to play shows, like this one a couple of weeks ago by former Bytowners Adam Saikaley (Telecomo, and others) and Lidija Rozitis (Roberta Bondar, Blue Angel). First up, Lidija performed under her new Tempestas handle, backdropped by a a projection of La Haine.



Lidija sings!



And so on!



Drum machine action!



Well, you get the idea.



Then it was a barely illuminated Adam's turn; he played some highway-driving-inspired compositions (music books available at the merch table).



Fisheyed action!



Keyboard action!



Cool stuff all around.

Party for promotion

Last week I popped over to Ottawa South for an album release by Telecomo and a debut performance from Mushy Gushy. I haven't seen either band before, but there were plenty of familiar faces, starting with party rockers Mushy Gushy. Bassist Jonathan fronts Winchester Warm, singer David did time in The Gallop, drummer Kyle backed Kalle Mattson and guitarist Cory is also in Baberaham Lincoln. In fact about the only person on stage I hadn't heard before was DJ Lamb Rabbit, who seems to share my fondness for foreign language covers of popular 1960s tunes.



Guitar action with Cory and Daniel!



Bass action with Jonathan!



Hairy action with Kyle!



Extra Cory!



David sings!



The whole lot!



More David and Jonathan!



Extra Kyle!



Telecomo is another bevy of scene veterans, starting with frontman Adam Saikaley, who's most recently been spotted in Silkken Laumannand the Acorn.



Also in the trio, Bondar's Gary, who has also performed in an electronic duo with Adam and fellow Acorn Pat.



And so on!



Pat hits!



Adam sings!



Rhythm section action with Pat and Gary!



Feedback action!



Hot stuff all around.

Common people

Every once in a while I have to get out of my comfort zone and actually go out to a venue I haven't been to before. The House of Common has been hosting small shows for a little while now, but I never got around to making the short trip to Hintonburg to see what was going on. Since I enjoyed Baby Cages set at Mugshots last year so much I figured it was worth the trip to see her, along with Snooker Emprium, Special Costello and Elsa. Elsa started things off. I've seen her perform with Everett; things were in a singer-songwriter mode for this set.



A well-lit Alex from Bondar was on hand to play drums.



Elsa sings!



Extra Alex!



And so on!



Montreal's Snooker Emporium play some off-kilter psychedelica - they actually made me think quite a bit of new local combo Spell (and not just because I saw the latter a couple of days later). Here's Jono and Nick!



Feedback action!



Ellen is their latest drum recruit.



Vocal action!



Ellen hits!



Keyboard action!



And so on!



Singalong action!



As you probably guessed, the only lighting was behind the drum kit.



Halifax's Special Costello is the brainchild of the lusciously voiced Jeremy Costello - he sounds a bit like Edwyn Collins.



Jeremy sings!



Keyboard action!



And so on!



For her mugshots appearance, Halloway had a violinist accompanist; for her latest work she's collected a new band (including frequent collaborator Jeremy), and also has a new road band to show off.



Halloway sings!



Singalong action!



Even more singalong action!



A fine evening out.