Temple of sound

Priestess: They like Ottawa and Ottawa likes them, as evidenced by the good turnout for this gig. Attending was a bit of a last-minute thing for me since I got home about midnight and they're a band I've seen a bunch of times; I could probably sing their songs backward by now if I didn't have a memory like a hunk of Swiss cheese. Anyway, I'm glad I decided to nip over to Babylon. They put on a great set (I'm guessing the wee bit at the beginning I missed was as good as the rest), and I'm not tired of them yet.

Mikey Heppner gets his sweat on. I've noticed at the last couple of Babylon shows I've been to that things are getting noticeably more humid when there's a big crowd. It's not quite as bad as when DFA 1979 played, but we're definitely heading into summer.



Vince Nudo goes grrrr!



Dan Watchorn sings.



Mike Dyball, right, back in black.



Monitors: Still mostly for standing on.



I'm not sure a band with this much difficulty seeing where it's going should move around as much as these guys.



And rock action!





They hit Britain in June for a tour with Megadeath ... then perhaps it's time to sit down and record album No. 2?

• Show reminder: The Rude Dudes, Tea For The Voyage, Fleeba, Ceremonial Snips, The Real Deal, The Possums, Bad News Bears, Finkelstein Shit Kids and The Dirty 30's bring the ska to Bronson Centre's Mac Hall. Boo Hoo, Relief Maps and Crush Buildings play Zaphod's. The Joel Plaskett Emergency and Peter Elkas release CDs at the Capital Music Hall; Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, P:anoman Nick Krgovich and Saint Bernard Of Love play Babylon. The Stance, The Bella Bombs and Four'n'Giv'r play 80 Spruce St. The Brothers Chaffey play Irene's.
  

People get ready

I saw People for Audio at Irene's about a year ago. They accompanied a slide projection in the darkened room, playing what I called "melancholy music for cinema." This time around, they were a lot more active, and a lot louder! It was a killer set that really tied together the sounds by the opening bands.

Bassist Alex Formosa and Curtis Stone spent a lot of time rocking out.



It seemed to me there was a lot more singing as well. Here's Adam Fiore, slide in hand.



Keiko Devaux on the keys.



Drummer Bill Hesselink in blue.



Alex and Curtis during a quieter moment near the start of the show (shot with my macro lens and without flash).



And during a less quiet moment!



Adam Fiore slides.



Alex Formosa (who I don't recall being on stage last time, but it was mighty dark so I may well be mistaken) and Curtis Stone rock out yet more.



Curtis mans the keys.



Singalong action with Adam and Keiko.





The whole blurry lot!



They ended the show with a cover of The Beatles' I Want You (She's So Heavy) dedicated to Rolf Klausener. "This proves that contrary to rumours that we have a sense of humour ... and that it isn't a very good one," said drummer Bill.

• Show reminder: Genghis Tron and Elephantoms play a sold out End Hits gig; Daniel Johnston, Sister Suvi and Dog Day play yet another sold out show at Zaphod Beeblebrox; The Soap Opera Coma, Red October, Riviera Heist and Around Tiffany play a show at Cafe Dekcuf (which as far as I know still has tickets available); Brock Zeman and Ball & Chain perform at Irene's.

They won't be on furlong

I've seen a lot of Acres of late, perhaps because their rhythm post-rock is a versatile sound: You can stick them on a bill with a wide range of acts (starting at, say, the roots rock of My Morning Jacket and ending at the atmospheric instro of Magnog) and they'd both sound good and fit in.



I promised myself I'd take a picture of Brian Ahopelto where he wasn't sticking his tongue out.



A slightly translucent Matthew Corbiere.



Michael Zorn is amused.



I have no darn idea what's going on here, except that it involves running around, and four different shutter and flash settings.









The band also has an album release scheduled for May 19, Autumn in December. They also have an opening slot for The Walkmen show at the Bronson Centre June 22.

Straight to the top

I saw City of 100 Spires a bunch of times back in 2006; I'm actually surprised this show was the first time I'd seen them in 2007. I thought they throttled things back a notch for this gig, for a slightly more atmospheric effect. There also wasn't as much running about this time. I suspect both changes may be caused by new member Benjamin Verdicchio, who plays keyboards, which are notoriously difficult to run around with.



Here's Benjamin on the keys.



Max Monast.



A half-decent drummer photo of Carl Cleroux ... what's the world coming too?



City action!





Non-faceoff action!



And some melodica.



I'm having some fun shooting at ever-slower speeds. Somehow the ghostly afterimages seem like a good match for C100S's music, even though there's not much spectral about it.



Well, that was a cool show. They've embarked on a brief tour of the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario with Tunturia, and will be back in Ottawa very shortly: They play at 80 Spruce May 12 (for those of you who'd like to wait a little longer, they'll also be at the Mercury Lounge June 6).

• Show reminder: The Jason Trachtenburg Slideshow Cenception, Bouncing Bobby Wiseman and The Phonemes perform at Zaphod Beeblebrox; Lower Class Brats and Krum Bums punk it up at Cafe Dekcuf.

All together now

In all the excitement yesterday, I plumb forgot to post the photo I took of the Harshey guys all together at the Cafe DeKcuf show. So here you go:



Onward!

All right now

Harshey's night of musical adultery ended with drummer Jon Kiely's other outfit, The Allr!ghts. (Or I should say, one of his other outfits, since he also drums in four-stroke.) The Allr!ghts feature rootsy, rowdy rock - they've already admitted they like The Replacements, and covered The Rezillos' Someone Going To Get Their Head Kicked In and Highway 101 and The Band's Lonesome Suzie.



His partners in crime: Two Daves, Banoub and Tough.



And Mel Sturk and Chris Cook (also of Run Stop Restore and Tallships).



Mel plays a little harp.



Singalong action!



Jon sings!



Dave's strap came loose - a fine opportunity to show off a few moves.





All right action!



Mel and Chris sing!



Dave and Mel sing!



Dave sings!



Big finish!



The whole lot!



The set list, for those of you who like such things.

• Show reminder: Japanther, Matt & Kim and DD/MM/YYYY perform at Zaphod Beeblebrox.

This is your mind, on

I own about three dozen albums by Acid Mothers Temple and its multitude of offshoots. You don't have to be Einstein to guess that last night I was at Babylon, watching three brain-blistering sets from local greats Castor (putting on the finest show that I've yet witnessed from them), fab California psych heavyweights Mammatus (you may recall me praising their debut a while back) and of course, the masters of acid rock destruction, Acid Mothers Temple.

Castor, or at least Will and Dave, plus a few youngsters.



Mammatus. Hair, lumberjack shirts, distortion, they have it all!



Acid Mothers Temple. Oh, so fine.



In case you're wondering, Kawabata has just spied a new way to torture his guitar. More pictures (I took far too many) shall appear in a while. I worked up quite a backlog, going to 14 shows in April.