Post-mortem fun

It's not all late nights around here: Sometimes bands venture out into the light of day, even when there isn't a festival around to foot the bill. Here we have You Say Party! We Say Die! at  Sounds Unlikely on October 23. They were just passing through town; they came back later for a show at Babylon. 

Becky Ninkovic claps.



Krista Loewen usually has a keyboard, but sans electricity she just sang back up vocals. Devon Clifford was also relegated to hand percussion.


Becky throws some gang signage.



I decided to try out my new camera's video function. The lack of focus while shooting is a bit of a disadvantage.



The whole lot!



Derek Adam and Stephen O'Shea rock the acoustics.



Becky dance action!



Hand-puppet-mitten action!



More guitars!



Big finish!



I fear Sounds Unlikely is on its last legs, if not actually defunct (they were packing things up last time I walked in), but WSPWSD continue to parlay their electronic dance party sounds hither and yon. They're heading down into the U.S. to take advantage of the February 9 stateside release of XXXX in March.

• Show reminder:  Hearts & Mines, The Toxic Crayons and Fantastic Flow perform at the Zaphod's free showcase; Stoned Sober are at The Rainbow.
  

Death and girls

My music-watching got off to an early start yesterday: You Say Party! We Say Die! dropped into Sounds Unlikely for an in-store performance - their first ever, they said - and played an acoustic set (not even a microphone). They were en route to Joliette, Quebec, and have a bunch of Eastern, Quebec and Ontario dates before they swing through Ottawa for a show at Babylon with "real instruments" on November 14. "It's much easier being loud," bassist Derek Adams observed.


You Say Party! We Say Die! at Sounds Unlikely, October 22, 2009

Then I snuck off home through the rain and bided my time for the evening watching Thai martial arts films and South Korean crime dramas before setting off for Zaphod Beeblebrox. Sadie Hell started things off (no sign of the John Punch Band). Ben brought some knitted stuff to serve as a backdrop, and a lamp. He didn't bring any bandmates - they're either in Halifax or ensconced in other projects.


Sadie Hell at Zaphod Beeblebrox, October 22, 2009

Modernboys and Moderngirls don't seem to be having much luck attracting an Ottawa audience ... they'll do a lot better when they share a stage with The Balconies in November (at Irene's, if I remember things correctly) I imagine. Despite the small crowd things ended up very lively off stage with people dancing around by the last handful of tunes.


Modernboys Moderngirls at Zaphod Beeblebrox, October 22, 2009

In short, it was a fine day, provided you don't think about the weather.

• Show reminder: Marianas Trench, play a predictably sold-out show with The New Cities and Carly Rae Jepsen at the Bronson Centre; Cuff The Duke, The Soiree and The Stables perform at Babylon; Vic Chestnutt and Clare and the Reasons play Mavericks; Bloodshoteye, The Catalyst and Terrorhorse terrorize Cafe DeKcuf; the band whose name is a symbol, Castor, Matt Oxley and Black Feelings do it for CKCU at Irene's Pub; for those who like a visual element to their music, The Flaps will be providing the soundtrack to Faust at 7 p.m. while Mike Dubue and Co. do the same for Nosferatu at 9 p.m. the Mayfair. Ron Hawkins and Sarah Hallman play Zaphod's; Lonesome Paul brings his lonesome self to the Elmdale House. Remember Ashley Newall playing with Big Bend when they filled in for 40-watt Monkey at Zaphod's back on Oct. 14? No? Oh. Well anyway, his band, Semtazone and the Chris Cawthray Trio are at the Avant-Garde Bar.
  

Rotate this!

Allright, we have one little orphan photo from the Thames show at Sounds Unlikely. I would have posted it yesterday, but for some reason my image provider decided to install a function that automatically rotated all my photos "right side up" without telling me they were doing so. This photo of Alexander Moskos refused to unrotate until now, so here it is.



And now onto this evening's entertainment: Today I Caught The Plague, Children of Eve, Callahan and The Courtship rock Mavericks; St. Joe's Mission and Sojourn play Zaphod's; The Hammerheads get funky at The Rainbow; The County Boys and Huntley Slim perform at Irene's; Sandy release their new CD at the Elmdale along with Seedhill Road; Ladymilk and Uncle Sean play the Avant-Garde Bar.

By the water's edge

The final performer at Sounds Unlikely were veteran noiseniks Thames, featuring Alexander Moskos of Unireverse and Goa and Blake Hargreaves of Dreamcatcher and Cousins of Reggae. Here they are singing the hits ....



Alex turns.



Blake needs more power!



Alex twists and shouts.



Shadowy, slow shutter-speed action!



Big finish with freakout guitar!



A deafening experience for all!

• Show reminder: Ben And Me, Arms Of The Girl and Kristen Hilge play the New Bayou; Malajube, Young Galaxy and City of a Hundred Spires perform at Babylon; Brainhunter, Owl Farm and The Sonic Defense hit Cafe Dekcuf; Los Mondo Bongo bring the music of Joe Strummer to Zaphod Beeblebrox; The Brothers Chaffey perform at The Rainbow; Brent Randall and His Pinecones and Laura Peek perform at Irene's; The Scotty Doubt Band rock the Elmdale.

COMM one COMM all

The next bunch of racketeers at Sounds Unlikely was quintet HI_COMM. Their music made infrequent but recognizable contact with some of rock's heavier sounds ... as I said earlier they made me think a bit of Circle.

Some may recall Daniel and his Hagstrom from previous photos of Place. To the right is Tony Campbell ... and out the window you can make out a few folks grilling their dinner in the back of a truck.



Carolyn Yip and Tony again.



Sean Campbell on keyboards and mysterious wooden box. Rarely glimped bassist Matt Johnson was wedged just behind him.



Daniel moves over to drums while Tony kicks in some more percussion.



Big finish!



I'd definitely check out a record when one emerges.

• Show reminder: Handsome Furs, Black Hat Brigade and Giant Hand play Mavericks; Luke Doucet and the White Falcon and Amelia Curran perform at the Capital Music Hall; Lifestory:Monologue, With Fear Comes Tragedy and Hearts In Stereo rock Cafe Dekcuf; Amos the Transparent and Michou pop up at Zaphod's. Sun's Command and Jill Zmud perform at the Elmdale.
  

Now cut that out

Sounds Unlikely likes to do the occasional show, wedging various performers in-between the shelves of audio and visual goods they offer a discerning population of music-lovers. There was a trio of acts that fit loosely under the rubric of "noise" on offer, the first being locals Self Surgery, a one-man show that crafts a buzzing roar from assorted tape-recorders and a mixer.

Masked action!



Blurry action!



And so on.



Self Surgery's next show is at Zaphod's with Adam Saikaley and Leif Vollebekk March 26. Ian Cooke of SU tells the store plans another show in the near future ... he told me the date and I promptly forgot it.

• Show reminder: We Were Lovers and The Watters Brothers perform at Zaphod's; Same Old Story and Terror Wears a Sweater perform at the Rainbow. Once again, Jon Lajoie performs at Babylon.
  

Unlikely sounds

It was a pretty easy decision to head over to Sounds Unlikely last night to catch a triple bill of far-out sounds - mostly on the noise side of the spectrum - from three different acts. About 30 people showed up, so it was a tight fit among Sounds Unlikely's CD bins and record racks.

Self Surgery is the noise-music project of Fucked Corpse member, photographer, Bruised Tongue proprietor and master of disguise Pierre Richardson. You could say his performance was straight off the floor, using a bunch of tape decks and a microphone.


Self Surgery, Sounds Unlikely, February 22, 2009

HI-COMM were more melodic. Despite the photo below, there are in fact five people in the band, including Daniel from Place (at left). They got plenty noisy at times, but there was more discernible rhythm, and at times they sounded a bit like Circle, or the more industrial parts of F/i.


HI_COMM, Sounds Unlikely, February 22, 2009

Thames brought the noise back with some grinding tones and freakout guitar on the last movement. Alex Moskos, who's part of Unireverse and also played with Goa when they were at the Avant Garde many moons ago, is 50% of Thames; the other half is Blake Hargreaves of Dreamcatcher and Cousins of Reggae.


Thames, Sounds Unlikely, February 22, 2009

I'll just repeat what I said during one of the intermissions: "I'm glad I brought my earplugs."

• Show reminder: The Polytones, The Urban Aesthetics, That's The Spirit and Sunjet Records Band play Zaphod Beeblebrox.

Cat scratch fever

Japanther were on tour with Against Me! and decided to drop into Sounds Unlikely for an in-store. Matt Reilly and drummer Ian Vanek produce a fuzzy pop sound that was lots of fun. I would have stuck around to buy an album or something but had to speed off to work before they wrapped things up.



Ian hits!



Singalong - or is that phonealong? - action!



Sample karaoke action with Ian!



The really ground floor view of Reilly. Good thing no one tripped over me.



Catty action!



Matt looks over.



Ian goes from zero to sweaty as hell in about two songs.



And one last shot of Matt and DVDs.



They're still touring around through the States for the next months. We need to bring them back and put them on a bill with The Felines, Vancougar and Double Leopards.

• Show reminder: Apart from the big shows - like Feist and Hayden's sold out NAC gig or Hedley and One Second 2 Late at the Ottawa Civic Centre - The Diableros and My Dad Vs Yours play Zaphod Beeblebrox and The Rotten, The Suicide Pilots and Zero Hours do their bit for CKCU's funding drive at the Dominion Tavern. The BushPilots and Dan Gordon and The Sure Things play Irene's. Seedhill Road and Sandy play The Elmdale House Tavern.
  

Black cat bones

Brooklyn noise-poppers Japanther are on tour with Against Me! right now, but because they're cool guys they decided to drop in for an in-store appearance at Sounds Unlikely yesterday afternoon. They had to be in Toronto for a show at Sneaky Dee's that night, so they unloaded there gear around 2 p.m. and were rocking out a quarter-hour later for a fairly full house (granted, SU's not that big). Bassist Matt Reilly and drummer Ian Vanek keep it lo-fi with lots of fuzz and samples galore.



I really wish I could have stuck around to the end, but I had to be off to work by 3 p.m. I'll have to catch them next time they pass on through. As for the tour, they're in London tonight at Cowboys, then head west.

• Show reminder: Darrelle London plays sweet piano pop; she's at the Rainbow tonight with Zach Smith (I'm guessing he's not the new Senators centre).

Hmmm ...

This just landed in my Hotmail account:

On Thursday, Feb. 1, Sounds Unlikely opens its doors to fans of eclectic music and hard to find film. A new independent record store located at 5 Arlington Ave. on the corner of Bank St., Sounds Unlikely will have a wide range of new and used CDs, LPs, and DVDs to choose from. The store will specialize in the following genres: Indie-rock, global sounds, jazz/improv, electronic, experimental, out-sounds, funk/soul, reggae, roots, african, contemporary classical.
DVDs will include everything from music to foreign, independent and experimental film.
The staff will be made up of long-time members of the Ottawa music community: Tony Daye (Organised Sound, CKCU), Ian Cooke (Music Director CHUO ), Dave McMurran (Ottawa Fair Trade Network, Hi Life Records), Joni Sadler (CHUO/CKCU, Kelp), and Nathan Medema (Sul Pont, Pleasure Through Sound). Their combined passion and knowledge of various genres of music and film will make Sounds Unlikely an inviting space where customers can find a diverse and evolving collection of CDs, LPs and DVDs.
Sounds Unlikely will open on Thursday Feb. 1st at 10:30 a.m.
In addition, there will be a grand opening on Saturday Feb. 3rd. The general public is invited to come and celebrate the launch from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Make of it what you will.