Mantis, and his buddy Justice, put on an entertaining enough set for a couple of wanna-be MCs. They each spit a few rhymes that were interesting enough and tried to exude showmanship but I didn't see too much substance underneath it all. Nonetheless it was a good backdrop to a couple of warm-up beers.
Hey Ocean! came on next - a bit of an awkward sandwich of a full indie-rock band between a couple of hip hoppers. However they played a solid set that I thoroughly enjoyed. The lead female vocalist was something to look at and when "the beatboxer who broke her heart" actually started beatboxing I was impressed further. That was a standout song from my view - though the track featuring Shad, that likely prompted this tour, was well done also.
The main event (at least when playing so close to his home of London, and in the town where he went to school) finished the night off with a loose and fun set. Playing a bunch of tunes from The Old Prince he pleased the sold-out crowd at the Starlight who all seemed to be there for him. With his silly looking hat on, he busted out "quest for glory" and "compromise" among others. On "the old prince still lives at home" we got to clap out the end of the beat that the old prince was too cheap to purchase - it went over well (if you don't know what I'm talking about listen to the album cut). Next he had his amazing DJ TLO break out some old skool 80's beats before getting him to wind it back, cuz as Shad said, sometimes "I don't really like to."
The only disappointment of the night led to probably the most entertaining part. Attempting to slow it down and bust out the acoustic guitar Shad found that there was nothing coming out of the speakers. Rather than fiddle with it he handed over the guitar to the tech and started rhyming a cappella into the mic. He started slow but quickly picked up his flow and in moments had the crowd in stitches. Every other line was incredibly constructed and totally hilarious - and with the guitar troubles continuing so did Shad K. He didn't run outta material for the full 5 minutes that he waited before trying the guitar again without luck and deciding to move on with the set. As I told Shad when I bumped into him after the show- it was probably my favourite part of the evening. The rest of which was solid, and included a rather short and impromptu encore before he turned it over to DJ Teelo for a lesson in scratch that concluded the night. It was good enough for me to plan to return and see him again in Guelph on Tuesday at the Vinyl- this time hopefully the acoustic guitar will be ready to go!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Hey! Shad K
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Will Currie and the Ruby Country French Coast
Ruby Coast have been likened to Tokyo Police Club and I can only further that comparison. They are young, from near my home (Aurora as opposed to Newmarket) and play upbeat guitar based indie rock. I'm not sure they are quite as catchy as TPC but they put on an entertaining show nonetheless and I do look forward to when they record and make some of their music available for home consumption.
Will Currie is a younger man than I had expected - either a current student or recent grad of the local Laurier University (though he mentioned he's taking time off to tour with Sloan - understandable Will). He leads the band on the keys, and leads the girls in the crowd with his charm and blond hair. In fact most of the crowd around me were young girls who I like to think Will had befriended while at school in order to build a legion of adoring female fans. It worked. Oh and the music was great too. Besides his own piano, there were more keys, a sax (Will's sister?), bass and drums and an actually pretty great guitarist. Only being familiar with one song the entire set was solid, though Surprising Me (introduced as Purple Rain - hardy har) was a standout imho. The crowd response was so great that they "will"ed themselves through an additional tune as an encore (though they never left the stage) that they apparently hadn't practiced for ages. It hardly showed and much like the rest of the set they looked at ease with what could be the beginnings of a successful endeavour into the Canadian music scene. If Sloan has you coming along for the ride that can only mean good things for the future.
Alexis the Second
Johnny Truant crashed through what sounded to me like a very similar set to the show at Guelph the week previous. Even with some familiarity to their material I'm still not totally won over, but that is probably just because I'm no longer into the metal-scream scene much at all these days. Instead of getting the guys to turn to their female friends this time and tell them what relations would inevitably be happening between them sometime over the next four years of university he reversed the gender roles at this show. Otherwise it was another solid set that probably won over a number of fans.
Alexis came out to a raucous crowd - especially considering the small size of the venue, or perhaps that added to it by reverberating the energy off of the low ceiling and close walls back at the crowd and the band. George said that it was the best show they'd played all tour (and it was the final night of the tour!) and he probably wasn't just playing to the crowd. The bodysurfing left a bunch of people on stage since there was practically no gap and this allowed George to not only take a guy's bandanna before tossing him onto the sea of hands, but also to pick a girl right up and chuck her at the low over hanging ceiling. It was a scary sight and you could see the shock on Dallas' face when it happened. After the song Dallas joked that she was dead until her friends and her made it clear that she'd survived the crash. George promised her anything from the merch table if she decided not to sue them. It was a funny scene.
We'd heard beforehand that soundcheck had been cut short since Dallas' voice had been paining him and it was apparent in a few of the songs as he refused to hit the higher notes, and sometimes trailed off to allow the crowd to fill in the words. It was a valiant effort though and during the closer, again Happiness by the Kilowatt, he carried on (and also dropped the Constantines lyrics - mustn't have just been a Guelph shout out).
Though the setlist was mostly (if not entirely) the same, the order had been changed up except for the show closer, and the encore. Accidents this time was a family affair as all of Johnny Truant could be seen onstage, and offstage, on top of the crowd, as there was quite a bit of stagediving. In fact Kenny from Moneen again was invited onstage, this time for the encore, and ended up surfing while singing, and nearly pulling some raised scaffolding off of the roof and down onto the crowd. As an observer from the back it was a tense moment though I imagine Kenny, the band and the mosh pit were oblivious to the near destruction. It was a fitting ending to what appeared to be a rocking tour from the two shows I'd taken in.
Friday, September 05, 2008
Kid Koala and Kameel
John Kameel Farah is exceptional at the keys. He played an eclectic mix of music - mostly over a backbeat or "song" from his laptop, while layering overtop of that some incredible show with his fingers. Sticking primarily to his piano he added an intricate level to the music. Occassionally he would move over to one of his synths, and sometimes he would play a couple keyboards at once. It was rather cool, and I can't really explain much deeper because it was completely new to me and so I was intrigued but don't have the background to comment further. The first few songs I was really impressed, especially with the abrupt tempo changes and unexpected turns that the songs would take. The electo/techno backbeats were more to my liking, and his final couple of songs that stuck more to simple tracks with piano overtop did become a bit monotonous since I could barely see while standing at the back of a packed Mitchell Hall. Having come for Kid Koala I found that this was a pleasant bonus treat.
The general feeling in the room was that most people had come for the second half of the double bill - and some were impatient with the wait for him to get started (and with the plethora of chairs taking up most of the space in the cramped room). All of these minor annoyances were pushed away when the kid finally took the stage at nearly 1am. After a brief but informative introduction to his equipment, and an assurance that there was no tricky business going on in the background, he began his set. It was extremely interesting to watch on the overhead projector as he mixed, scratched, faded (those are the only DJ key words I know..) on his three turntables creating a great melange of sounds. Sticking to mostly obscure samples (at least to me) he still managed to build great songs of a great variety with his nimble hands that my eyes could barely keep up with at times. Like a seasoned vet he changed out record after record, only letting the music come to a stop at rare occassions to speak to the excited crowd that had immediately pushed the chairs outta the way and huddled around the stage. In the second half of the set he busted out a few recognizable samples (Paper Planes, Blue Orchid) much to the delight of the audience. There were elements of jazz, blues, reggae, dance, hip hop all mixed in there, and he finished off the set with his mother's favourite song - an oldie that he magnificiently mixed. I don't know what the term is but when he picked up and placed the needle repeatedly in different spots on the same record to make a rhythym I found very entertaining. Having waited so long and been impressed by the main set we wouldn't let him get away without an encore and he came back to scratch out a dub tune that took us right to the 2 o'clock hour. Now that I've witnessed him live I have a much greater appreciation for both Kid Koala and DJs on the whole.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Alexis O-week Fire
Johnny Truant were a brash metal band from the UK, that cursed and ripped through a decent set. They were pure screaming, though not screamo, tending towards classic metal stylings with a side of thrash. The shirtless frosh in the pit certainly enjoyed it, though the well-dressed timid girls in front of me didn't really know what to do with themselves. Dallas checked them out behind me until getting swarmed by girls, and Wade hopped on stage to rasp through a song with them as well.
After some disappointing showings from UoG frosh/crowds in recent years (such as the Moneen/Silverstein show with <100 people a few years back) I was impressed to see the gym rather full with rabid Alexis fans. The bands seemed to appreciate this and played off of it. Plus when I go to AoF again on Monday in Waterloo i shouldn't hear "you guys are so much better than those aggies down the road at Guelph."
Alexis opened with the Crisis opener, Drunks, Lovers, Sinners and Saints which I believe I remarked on after their last show since that opening line of "This is from our hearts - sincerity over simple chords. It's a long time coming when you're givin' it everything" is a great opening statement. They were as tight as ever - playing the vast majority of Crisis actually with Boiled Frogs and Mailbox Arson being some standouts. Naturally there was the crowd-pleasing .44 Calibre Love Letter (straight from my heart!) and a smattering of older tunes throughout. I'd noticed that the guitar tech setting up the stage looked really familiar and my suspicions were verified when they asked Kenny Bridges of Moneen to join them onstage for a song (and AoF tune). Exciting news is that they are working on a brand new album and they busted their way through a couple new tunes from that. The first was rather screamy, call and response chorus that featured mostly George screaming. The latter allowed Dallas to showcase his vocals at points while keeping the energy up. Seems that the follow up to Crisis has promise - and I can only hope that it is on par. During one of the songs Dallas dropped an ode to Guelph by including a verse from the local faves the Constantines - "years from now, they will make water". They closed the set with Happiness by the Kilowatt which didn't seem like a suitable ending to me. Luckily they came back for an 8-minute jazz encore. At least that was the joke before ripping into a satisfying rendition of Accidents.
