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.

Horsing around

Thursday I trudged through the bitter cold to House of Targ to warm my ears with some indie-rocking. The bill featured local Velvets fans Telecomo, West Enders The Stringers and Toronto's Pony. Things started off with Telecomo, who I thought were sounding even more like Japan's Les Rallizes Denudes. Here's Adam Saikaley!



And here's the other side of a blurry Adam, with Pat and Gary!



And so on!



Pat hits!



More Gary!



Faceoff action!



Gary works the crowd!



Rhythm section action!



Jumping about!



More rhythm!



On to The Stringers! Here's guitarist Kyle!



Vocal action with Marco!



Percussive action with Nick!



Clapping action!


Rhythm section action with bassist Jordan!



More guitar!



Extra Jordan!



Bonus Kyle!



Stringy action!



Singalong action!



Kyle sings!



And so on!



Extra Nick!



Pony finished things off with some bouncy guitar pop. Here's guitarist Stephen!



Sam sings! There was a lot of pre-show hair-braiding going on, apparently.



Matt hits!



Singalong action with Eva!



Extra Matt!



More Stephen!



More Sam!



Sam sings some more!



Rhythm section action!



Equine action!



The whole lot!



The shouty bit!



And finally a bit more Eva and Matt!



A good way to spend a chilly night.

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.