Let there be Mega

Megaphono descended on Ottawa last week, bringing with it scores of musical acts and music industry folks for a whole mess of networking and discussion grouping and performing. I went to House of Targ to see Michael Rault perform; the first act on the bill was Toronto's Queen of Swords, a new project from Aerin Fogel of The Bitters.



Keyboard action with Kritty!



Aerin sings!



Regal action!



And so on!



More Kritty!



Thunder Bay/Toronto/wherever groovers Sunshine & The Blue Moon played next; here's frontman Sunshine!



Percussive action!



Keyboard action!



Guitar action!



Sunshine sings!



Bass action!



And so on!



More percussion!



More vocals!



Singalong action!



Ottawa's own Expanda Fuzz followed them with some fuzzy stuff of their own. Here's Leila!



Bass action with Chris!



More Leila!



Chris sings!



Guitar action with Leila!



More Chris!



Singalong action!



Michael Rault brought things too a most satisfying conclusion with his classic rock and pop-loving sounds. Here's Michael!



I made a note of who the other musicians in his band were, but my iPhone ate it, so all I can say is there's a two-in-five chance that at least one of these guys is named Matthew.



Guitar action!



More Michael!



Pecussive action!



Michael sings!



More vocals!



Rhythm section action!



And so on!



More guitar!



Keyboard action!



A swell night out.

Early to bed

Last week I went over to Pressed for some bedroom pop and psych; in addition to Ottawa's own Pipahauntas, mysterious and intertwined combos Beds and Sunshine & The Blue Moon delivered some early-T. Rex meets Pavement action. S&BM were up first. Apart from their point of origin - Thunder Bay - I don't know much about them. The core of the band is vocalist Sunshine; Christopher Sandes plays bass (and also plays in Beds), while Andrew Simpson played both guitar and rums on their demos.



Guitar action!



Shadowy action, courtesy of Pressed's new stage lighting - by which I mean a table lamp on the floor in front of the stage.



Singalong action!



Percussive action!



More keyboards!



Microphone-sharing action!



Former bassist Bucky (also in Beds) helped out on the final tune.



On to Beds, and a couple of familiar faces.



The rest of Beds' heads.



Bucky sings!



Gripping action!



Singalong action!



More guitar!



Extra Bucky!



Percussive action!



Sleepy action!



And of course the traitional drummer photo taken through the entryway window.



There was some instrument-switching.



Even more singalong action!



I've seen Pipahauntas quite a bit in the last year; Sam's solo side is really good. However, it seems it was time for the next step - getting some honest-to-goodness musicians to back her up live. Adam Saikaley, Gary from Bondar, and Fucked Corpse member/Uncle Phil sideman/oddball karaoke champ Patric are the raw recruits.



Here's Adam. It was definitely getting too dark for flashless photography.



There you go then.



Candlelit action!



Keyboard action with Patric!



The end!



A fine sort-of debut.