Robotron 2011

Friday night at the Rivoli back-room, there was a comic-book fund-raiser. Attendees got a nifty poster showing some local indie bands in super-hero mode. The first act, Foxes In Fiction, opened to a sparse crowd. They were supposed to have been part of the Smashing Pumkins tribute but couldn't make it. A one-man band that was augmented to two for the night, they played slow-tempo tune with lots of effects.

Next up was Nightbox, a band from Ireland that relocated to Toronto about a year ago. It was quite a 180 turn-around. All their songs are fast with a driving beat, reminding me of U2 meets Tears For Fear. Following the current trend of melding rock with electronica, the member who was playing with the samples added that dance element. But the rest of the band kept it in the rock genre. They had a couple of local fans, or at least young women who were impressed by the combination of dance beats and alcohol. Their songs were catchy and danceable, though some of the lyrics were a little bit precious.

The main act is a drum-and-synth duo called Lovely Killbots. Their music was synth-heavy with lots of jazzy, syncopated drums. They also had a collection of psychedelic sci-fi clips projected over them, sometimes giving them funky patterns and images on their bodies. The sound mix failed them though. The male drummer often did the harmony part, but his voice was usually not discernable. That left the female singer with a thin melodic voice that sometimes clash with the chord arrangements. They were at the best singing together over more straight-forward electronica such as Hello My Dear.

There was a final band called Adverteyes scheduled to perform afterward. But I had a 6:45 am train to catch and had to head on home.