This must be the Place

Place grabbed the middle spot at last week's eclectic but ill-attended benefit. Their debut recording is out and for this show they incorporated real live drums (you can see the handles protruding from Sam's pocket in the photo below).

Sam.



Andrew.



Daniel takes a turn at the microphone.



More Daniel - yes, this is a band that likes to concentrate on their work.



They kicked things off with a cover of the theme song from Doctor Who.



Place prepares to strike!



More singing!



Place action!



I think they've got the makings of one of Ottawa's more interesting bands. The only weak spot is their vocals, which could use some polishing.

Ride theory

Let's face it, you put Henri Faberge and the Adorables, The Bicycles and Relief Maps together at the same time and you've got a great triple bill. Normally I'd be forced to skip out on such an event, but since I am in training from 9 to 5 - my first-ever brush with regular hours, unless you count my short stint in the ice cream retail business - I actually got to go to this show. Yay!

Relief Maps got on stage at 9 p.m., a little later than expected because of an unfortunate delay in The Bicycles' arrival. You may have missed the great Mocking Music bass controversy - but now it seems they actually do have a bass player (and when I post further pictures, he won't be obscured by a microphone).



I was wondering if they'd put the Bicycles on first to give drummer Dana Snell a break. Nope. Here's a few Bicyclists.



Henri and Co. rocked the joint, even at half (some might say third) strength.



Of course there was chaos on the dancefloor. It was all too, too swell.

• Show reminder: The Visitors play Mavericks with Die Mannequin and Toxicator.

Medical mystery

The audience for last Wednesday's benefit for the Canadian Mental Health Association was small. I suspect the rapidly cooling weather and a diverse lineup kept folks from showing; pity, because it was a mightily interesting lineup, including two performers I'd never heard of and one whose members I know but whose music I didn't. Glenn Nuotio was just wrapping up his set with a pair of songs, both about doctors behaving oddly, when I walked in at half past 9 p.m. or so.





Patrick DeDauw on cello.



Nuotio refers to himself as a "Newfoundland homo emo indie rubbish phenomenon" on his website. He made me think a bit of Howie Beck crossed with Paul Roland. The rubbish bit is certainly false modesty. Nuotio will be playing at Barrymore's with The American Devices and Hilotrons Nov. 19.
Next up: Smoke Judo, which consists of Christie Watson from the Fluouresent Friends collective and Shub Roy from Akisakila.

Shub Roy on some James Williamson and Chrome-esque riffs.



Christy on drums and crazily reverbed vocals.



Shub and Christy action! With some gear donated by Muffler Crunch.







If some crazed Japanese psyche band took bad Iggy Pop bootlegs as their starting point, they might end up sounding like Smoke Judo. But probably not. They're playing at 59 Argyle St. Oct. 27.

• Show reminder: Henri Faberge and the Adorables, The Bicycles and Relief Maps play at Zaphod Beeblebrox; Sparta and Sound Team perform at Babylon.

Whale of a time

There were some mysterious extra special guests to finish of Songbird Music's annual party: Tokyosexwhale. Granted there's not much mysterious about Yogi Granger or J.P. Sadek, since they've been making loud music around the city for a few years now in such outfits as The Long Timers, Double Pumpers, Yogi and the Lunatic, etc. This time around they're in a power trio with a lady I don't know.











This was a very brief set, just a taster for their real local coming-out appearance at the Dominion Tavern a couple of days ago.

It's dark in here

Jolie Holland gave a pleasant, understated performance of No Depression-style country and folk music last night at Barrymore's. Her opening act was David Dondero; she's touring with him until the end of October.



If everyone looks bundled up it's because it was damn cold.



I shall say and show more in a week or so.

• Show reminder: Maximum RnR, The Spades (Tony Slug of The Nitwitz and BGK used to be a member), Sack Lunch and RadioDazed perform at Mavericks.

For a song

Songbird Music threw another anniversary shindig at Babylon, and I missed a good half of it. It's a long bicycle ride from Antares Drive to MacLaren St., folks - particularly when you ride over a wee sliver of metal halfway down Colonel By. I was still regretting my flat when I walked into Babylon to see The Flaps. Or at least three-quarters of The Flaps. Bassist Martin Newman was elsewhere, so John Higney and Pat Lawlor were improvising.

John gets some Jag-time as Pat grabs the bass.



There was some instrument switching, but I was too slow to catch it.





Hmm, I may have left the lens open a little long on this one.





I missed the Golden Seals and Matt Ouimet, so that's all for the evening ... or is it?!?

• Show reminder: Small Sails and Tall Ships perform at End Hits; Kepler man Samir Khan returns to town with his new outfit Tusks at Babylon with The Acorn; Neil Hamburger and Daiquiri do whatever the heck it is they do at Zaphod Beeblebrox; Jolie Holland and David Dondero perform at Barrymore's; Bionic, The Fucking Machines and Tokyo Sex Whale rock The Dominion; Sloan plays the Capital Music Hall.

We are family

I think the secret of Akron/Family's success is that they're some of the most affable guys around, which gives them an immediate emotional rapport with their audience, and are also capable of kicking out some amazing brain-twisting Americana. Basically they work their way into your confidence and then blow your mind.
They played a super show at Zaphod's earlier in the year, and I was glad to see them back at the First Baptist Church. As at their Zaphod's show, they also set up three chairs for those members not stationed behind a drum kit. Before taking their seats, they parked themselves on the steps that rise up to the "stage" and invited the audience to come up to the front and sit before them.

Perched on the steps, the band performed Love and Space from their latest album. It was as cozy as any campfire singalong. I half-expected them to follow it up with a rendition of Kumbaya.



"The colours make sounds!"



Roof-raising action!



Myles and Ryan kick out the jams.



Testify!



Some extra drums from Dana.



Rhythm section action!



His bandmates seem to think Ryan Vanderhoof's hair resembles Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme's; they goaded him into singing an overly melodramatic rendition of the pop metal act'’s hit ballad More Than Words. Yikes!



Members of the audience and the Born Ruffians kicking in on percussion and tin whistles.



Seth parades before the audience with potted plants held high.





Singalong action!



Beatbox breakdown action!



The band also rolled out some songs they plan to record in November. An exciting and occasionally hilarious set.

• Show reminder: Pennywise, Circle Jerks, Ignite and Brown Brigade play the Capital; For The Mathematics release their new CD at Barrymore's with, Embassies of Denmark, Bangkok; The Setbacks and The Creeps play Zaphod's.

Strange attractors

There was a pretty sparse audience at Babylon; perhaps the cruddy weather scared everyone off. Or maybe they were all next door at Barrymore's watching the Suicide Girls strut their stuff. I walked in the door some time past 9 p.m.; Glenn Nuotio was launching into his last two songs.

Nuotio's material is very high calibre singer-songwriter stuff. I would guess that's Patrick DeDauw on cello.



Smoke Judo followed with some experimental rhythm driven stuff with a lot of reverbed vocals. It's the latest project from Fluorescent Friend Christie and Akisakila's Shub Roy. I was quite impressed and bought one of their CDs.



Place was up next. They sounded a bit sharper than the last show I caught (some time ago).



Then it was the turn of a couple of Montreal groups. First, Danger Danger Mammoth Hunter; they do have some vocals - it's tempo-switching aggressive post rock; they did a good job.



City of 100 Spires finished things off with more stop-start instrumental rock and jumping about. This the third show I've caught by them and the most ferocious by far.



City of 100 Spires is also performing tonight at Mavericks as part of the Exclaim Aggression Tour.

• Show reminder: Apart from the Mavericks show - which also features Pelican, Daughters and Kennedy - you can see Jon-Rae and the River, Woolly Leaves and The Soiree at Zaphod's.

Born to be wild

Born Ruffians were the first band up on Friday. Whereas the last band I had seen at First Baptist Church, Bell Orchestre, had seem right at home in the venue, the Ruffians seemed a little out of place. They apparently had a long drive up from Toronto (Thanksgiving weekend traffic and all that). Perhaps that's why their performance didn't seem as sharp as their Zaphod's performance in July. That's a small caveat, though. Their wiry new wave rock would have been right at home in NYC circa 1979 and they still kicked it out with some energy.

Guitarist Luke Lalonde on bass and rose.



Bassist Mitch DesRosier on tambourine.



Drummer Steve Hamelin actually on drums.



Singalong action!





A flash-less photo of the inside of First Baptist (and the back of Rolf Klausener's head).



There was some serious hand-clapping going on all through the night.



Their debut EP is out soon on Warp; technically it's out Oct. 19, but I believe they did have a few for sale at the show.

• Show reminder: Suicide Girls Burlesque performs at Barrymore's, along with Pink Mochi; there's also a benefit for the Canadian Mental Health Association at Babylon - City of a Hundred Spires, Danger Danger Mammoth Hunter, Place, Smoke Judo and Glenn Nuotio perform.