Moving Pictures

L Con

On Saturday night, I went to 204 Spadina to see the 537th show of the Wavelength music series. This underground space has been converted temporarily into a venue for the Images Festival running in April. 3 bands with audio-visual effects took the stage.

L Con was first up. They play laid-back, slow pop backed by an old analog drum machine. The lead vocal (Lisa Conway of Del Bel) also played violin, so with the cello and stringed bass, the string section was rich and full. This small, improvised space was a much better fit than the Horseshoe. Combined with projections of psychedelic colours and swirls, L Con a dreamy start to the evening and had the best performance of the night.

Shvrs followed at 10:45 pm. Some bands have been accused of too much knob fiddling with their effects and samples. But for this duo, this was literally all that they did. Although they had 4 synths set up, they rarely played. Minute adjustments of the various knobs and dials on the keyboards, fed through even more electronics, gave undulating sinusoidal music that was more generated than played. Even the projector was hooked up to a box that gave them control of the video signal coming through, so that colours and effects can be used. This worked better as ambient music, as a live act it palled rather quickly.

Fresh Snow inside Pod

Meeting up somewhere in between was Fresh Snow. A self-described kraut rock band, the drum and bass kept the songs moving forward, while the guitar and keyboard meandered away from chords and melodies into noise and feedback. For this show, they've completely encased themselves in a mostly opaque "pod", so they are only visible as back-lit shadows against a kaleidoscope of projected fractals and computer-generated patterns. For the last few songs, they were joined inside the pod by violin, tenor sax, trumpet and trombone.

Spirited Away

The TIFF Bell Lightbox has been showing a retrospective on Studio Ghibli: the Japanese studio responsible for My Neighbour Totoro, Princess Monomoke and other anime classics. The evening shows are subtitled while the daytime shows are dubbed (for "family-friendly viewing"). Though I used to be a subtitled-purist, I have been going to the daytime shows.

The movies are wonderful though the dubbing is average, compared to other language dubs (for example, the typically superior French). The North American dub (and the general animated movie genre) tend to fail in 2 areas. Instead of using professional voice actors, celebrity voices are employed. These stars may be good performers (for the most part), but that doesn't necessarily translate to voice work. Sometimes their recognizable voices are also distracting. Second, with Japanese anime, North American dubs try to inject more one-liners, punchlines, and snarky comments. Presumably because these are considered "kids movies" and we need to add something to keep the parents' interest. This type of comedy doesn't typically work with the tone of the movie and furthermore, it makes you aware that you are not hearing a faithful translation.

These morning viewings have also given me the chance to eat lunch at various spots in the neighbourhood. Of particular interest is that I've finally asked for "Thai spicy" (a secret level not included by the waitstaff to customers) for my pad thai from Khao San Road. Previously, I found even spicy was a bit mild. I was taken back at the visible specks of chili in the noodles, something you never see in any Westernized restaurants. "What have I gotten myself into?" But no worries, it was still a couple of levels below my limit so it provided a delicious, but not overwhelming, kick to the dish. Note that there is also "Extreme Thai spicy".

Artist Select Series

With Saturday night being cold and drizzly, I stayed closer to home for Canadian Music Fest instead of venue-hopping. It's been awhile since I've been to the Garrison. Instead of walking through the sit-down front bar to get to the stage in the second bar through a curtained entrance, they've closed off that front door. There was now a single entry on the side that led to either venue.

Brendan Canning (Broken Social Scene) was the night's curator and DJ. First up at 9 pm was Husky, a 4-member Australian band that had just arrived that morning. It was their 11th city in 9 days. They played introspective indie-pop with intricate piano and guitar. It might have been a better fit in a different venue, but with only a handful in the bar, there wasn't much energy given or received by either side.

People started filling up for The Balconies at 10 and they got a rocking 40 minutes set. There were less Balconies' fans than at the last concert (evidenced by the lack of singing and clapping to "Serious Bedtime") but they made lots of new believers. From free whiskey shots to people crowding the stage afterward, Jacquie won them over. And why not? With her huge guitar riffs, hair flying, and head banging, she was tough and sexy in a skin-tight black leather tights. She has added yet another move to her rock-pose repertoire: deep runner's lunge while banging out guitar chords.

ALX had more trouble than at their debut at the Drake last week. They were 10-minute late setting up their synths, effects, and Macs. People had already drifted away into loud conversations but Allie Hughes drew some of them back with her clear high voice. She had a bit of trouble navigating the stage with all the cables and wires strewn about. The stocking-and-garter set was still there, except now paired with a preppy private school look of black shorts and WASP-y brown vest. On their last song, I Will Love You More, the backing track died for most of the number, leaving only Kieran on drums. Ironically, that gave them the loudest cheers as the glitch high-lighted the quality of the singing from Allie and her singers Kelly McMichael and Maddy Wilde. It was a smaller crowd than The Balconies, and was comprised of mostly 20-something women who appreciated the chance to dance around to some electro-pop.

I looked over the rest of the listing: Uncle Bad Touch, The Yardlets, and Teenage Kicks. But I decided to head home relatively early.

Since the night was sponsored by Red Bull, there were cameras on hand to record a few songs.

Calisto

Friday night, I attended Francesco Cavalli's La Calisto being presented by the students of the Glenn Gould vocal program. Without great music, the opera revealed the flaws of the genre: ridiculous story-lines, wooden acting, and my pet peeve: ubiquitious vibrato and coloratura. On the other hand, the students possessed fine voices; the Baroque opera had interesting instruments including harpsichord, archlute, and theorbo; and Koerner Hall is a wonderful venue for acoustic music.

The main story was concerned with Giove's (Jupiter) attempt to seduce the chaste Calisto by disguising himself as her patron goddess: Diana. Meanwhile, the real Diana was pining over sheperd Endimione and shocked at her "impure" thoughts. Having no such compunction, randy satyr Satyrino chased after Lanfear, one of Diana's hand-maiden.

The show ended happily. After showing his steadfastness despite being tormented by the jealous goat-god Pan, Endiomione won Diana's heart (though only chaste kisses.) Lanfear turned the table on Satirino and pursued him instead, when she decided that she'd rather have a husband and "be enjoyed" rather than stay virginal. Giunone (Giove's wife) had turned Calisto into a bear in a fit of jealousy and set the Furies to hound her. But Giove drove them away, assigned Mercurio (Mercury) to watch over her for the rest of her ursine days, and promised to elevate Calisto into the heavens at the end.

The performance fared best in the comic moments and ribald humour. Justin Stolz (Natura/Pan) and Beth Hagerman (Giunone) had rich strong voices. Ruth D'Souza (Satirino) played the lustful satyr with relish. Of the main cast, Danielle MacMillan was good as Diana/Giove in Diana. Lucy Fitz Gibbon sang well but didn't make much of an impression as a rather formless Calisto.

Jam It

Sidney York

My first night at the Canadian Music Fest, I found myself at a sparse Supermarket in Kensington.  First up was Lori Nuic. She's an R&B singer who has been playing for the last couple of years. Backed by 2 singers, a funky drummer, her brother on guitar, and a jovial keyboardist, she sang standard R&B tunes. There wasn't anything exceptional about her music, and she also committed the typical sin of modern R&B: run-on lyrics.

Next was Sidney York, an outfit from the West Coast. I caught the tail-end of their Horseshoe show a while back and wanted more exposure. I was rewarded with a high-energy show. The 3 female singers jumped and bopped around for the entire set. They also played unusual instruments: french horn (though the lead singer mostly stuck with piano and ukelele), oboe, and bassoon. What you got from this mix was interesting and sunny pop music. They sounded like a more mature Hooded Fang, if the latter hadn't decided to veer off into lo-fi pop-punk. Unlike the cherubically innocent Fang, they had 2 songs that involved (tongue-in-cheek) orgasmic moaning.

The last band of the night (for me) was a revelation. In response to the sometimes whiny and anemic Indie rock aesthetic, a few bands have tried to go back to the more muscular jock rock sound. But they seem mostly derivative and dated to me: the best-before date of extended guitar solos has passed. However, the "southern funk" of The Bright Light Social Hour was exceptional: modern with a nod to the past, energetic, and ... well, funky. The bassist kept the groove tight, the guitarist played screaming licks, the keyboardist got that 60s organ sound going, and the drummer played almost Metal-like percussive runs in between toe-tapping rhythm. They were fast and crisp even through multiple melodic changes and their songs, though long, never flagged. One of the best live act I have seen in a while. Too bad they didn't have enough of an audience for it tonight, but hopefully their other two nights including a sold-out show with I Mother Earth will make up for it.

Lori Nuic

The Bright Light Social Hour

Blarney

Saturday night, the Horseshoe Tavern hosted the 33rd annual Martian Awareness Ball with Mary Margaret O'Hara. It was an excuse for local musicians to ham it up on stage for St. Patrick's Day, and for the grey-haired audience to get pissed drunk. And I here I thought it was some sort of a charity a la Andy Kim's Christmas Show, much to my regret.

I watched people who should know better load up on the booze for a long while. Finally, the house band came on stage and started playing a smooth jazz Greensleeves. I admit to feeling a little put off by the drunken yahoos but I thought, "I'm too old to like staying up this late, but I'm not old enough to like this pap." Things got better with the next number, a rocking blues tune with O'Hara bounding up on stage to do back up. It went south again when another local singer sang a special version of Come Together. The new lyrics, an ode to all things Irish and alcoholic, were tolerable but not the muzak arrangement.

O'Hara finally introduced herself and the show and did an abbreviated version of When Irish Eyes Are Smiling. Despite her antics, which were funny, the power and artistry of her voice and phrasing shone through. Apparently, in some years it was mostly her. How I wished that was the case tonight. A trio of Martian babes butchered several songs including Petula Clark's Downtown. Things got better when a smooth performer did an amusing ode to all the celebrity Dannys sung to Danny Boy. His duet with O'Hara: an enthusiastic Old Devil Moon was also great, especially when he started singing about all the other songs with Moon in their title. His follow-up, local jazz singer Barbra Lica, sang a wonderful Green.

But things got shaggy again with several painful performances. I decided to cut my losses and headed for the door.

Re-invention

Thursday night at the Drake Underground, 3 acts were in the process of trying out new music. Maloo is the alter ego of Maylee Todd, playing chill-out psych instead of her usual huge soul sound. I have seen her a few times in this mode, tonight she continues to add to this sound with extra sampler and synth module. She's approaching Grimes level of knob fiddling and adjustments on her various accoutrements. But she injects real emotional depth to her singing and lyrics that elevate the songs above cold boops and beeps.

Rattail, on the other hand, was all about making strange noises. The DJ sampled insistent but discordant beats while the guitarist played noisy chords. In between howling out simple lyrics, the female singer added growls and yips. It was actually musically interesting. Unfortunately, in the first few songs, she sang deliberately off-key at times. Combined with the odd music, this drove most of the audience out of small venue, leaving only a handful of people standing around.

They came back for ALX. Two weeks ago, this band was testing out their material at the Horseshoe. But this was their official debut show. Fronted by Allie Hughes, with Kelly McMichael (Rouge) and Maddy Wilde (ex Spiral Beach) on keys and vocals, drummer Kieran Adams and synth programmer Damian Taylor, ALX re-invents Hughes' old material as more dance and pop. Nevertheless, she opened with a slow number, just her on the keyboard, reminiscent of her prior incarnations. The rest of the show was all dance, with synth bass, metronomic drums, and waa-waa chords.

Aesthetically, they were pulling out the sexy. The singers were all dressed in black with red eye make-up. Allie wore an over-sized satin shirt as a dress, short enough to reveal flashes of a stocking and garter combo. Kelly had on a tight velvet mid-knee number with some vaguely Asian ideograms inscribed. Maddy sported a decidedly school-marm-ish outfit, but her hair was done up in a sexy bed-head, similar to her Spiral Beach wild child (ya, bad pun) look.

Watching the show, I thought this sound might be good for Hughes. She has a big voice and writes  confessional lyrics. But there has always been something hermetic with her singing, masked by her theatricality. Dance-pop, with its impersonal electronica, could be a better fit.

Monkey Business

Saturday night saw the return of MonkeyToast, an improv talk show, to its new home at the Comedy Bar. Not knowing this was a well-liked show with such alum as Colin Mochrie, I arrived to the club and found out that all 100+ tickets were sold out. Luckily, it was a short wait-list and I was able to get in a few minutes before the show started.

Ron Tite has replaced David Shore, the original talk show host who left for the UK. From his questions posed to the celebrity guests, the MonkeyToast players would improvise various comedy sketches. First up was John Catucci, host of The Food Network's "You Gotta Eat Here!" Being a funnyman himself as well as the bus driver for the DoodleBops, he did a funny monologue about the glamorous life of a "Canadian celebrity" and was an amusing interviewee. Oddly enough, the sketches from his answers were the weakest of the night. Perhaps it was nerves. A group of Italian nonnas telling dirty jokes to Rob Ford didn't pan out, although it did result in a funny recurring gag: "Is this the worst Star Trek episode ever?" The second sketch about a rather disgusting English tea-house and an equally nauseatingly gross food critic also got tepid responses.

The second guest, city councillor Mike Layton, fared better. His interview was rather dry but he was able to get in a couple of digs about the local politicians. Since his ward included the hot Ossington strip, the resulting sketch about over-zealous "patio cops" got some belly laughs. The final sketch about kids visiting the city council as well as neighbours fighting over the incessant problem of dogs vs. children (in this case, a man who lets his child run wild and poop all over his neighbour's lawns while he pushes his dog on the slide) ended the first half with some huge laughs.

After a short break, the show was interrupted by "aging diva" Evelyn Reese, who harangued the new host about his inadequacies compared to David Shore. The final guest was Olympic gold medallist and world champion rower, Marnie McBean. She might be retired from competition but she still had huge arms and elicited gasps from the crowd when they found out her old diet regiment consisted of 5000-7000 calories a day. Her interview gave us a "5-am Crazy Rowing Moms" skit. It also ended the night on a high note with the "Rowers' Anthem". Two rowers decided to enlist Bryan Adams to pen for them a song to get them up for a competition, being that the Dutch and Chinese already had their own songs. Even if the Dutch tune was actually sung in Dutch-accented English about that great culinary treat: the Dutch Strudel, and the Chinese was warbling in Mandarin about knock-off iPads. But Adams got everyone on board (even the Dutch and Chinese) to sing a rousing song a la "Raising Flag" with such powerful lyrics as "Every stroke you do, you do it for you".

It was a great evening of comedy. There are 3 more shows in April, May, and June. The host dropped a hint that one of the guest for the next show will be Erica Ehm.

Dancing Thing

The last Toronto performance of Wayne McGregor's Entity (2008) opened Saturday night at the Enwave Theatre to a full house. A video of a sprinting greyhound is projected onto a white moveable canvas. Dancers from his London's Random Dance company moved throughout the stage in singles or pairs, wearing tight black shorts and white t-shirts with black and white DNA print across the midsection. Over the next hour, they would undulate, turn, spin, leap, and extend impossibly straight leg splits.

The music (composed by Jon Hopkins (Cold Play, Massive Attack) and Joby Talbot (The Divine Comedy)) started off primarily as violin strokes, sometimes in harmony and sometimes discordant, with electronic boops, beeps, and feedback. Halfway through the piece, the white backdrop was lifted into the air, with scenes of natural groupings now playing across its surface: flocks of birds, rock formation, microscopic organisms tightly bunched, the dancers (now shirtless) twirl over projected geometric shapes on the stage floor: divided squares within inscribed circles, lines, fibonacci spirals.

For the final part of the show, the video shows sound waves as fuzzy noise from a digital signal display. The music became first, a bass heavy slow jam, and then, when the spotlights came up to shine blindingly onto the dancers, an insistent electronic anthem. It was hard not to view those last minutes as the world's most athletic and gifted dance club (of course, that's exactly how professional dancers would get down at John and Adelaide at 1 am).

It was a good show with some exciting choreography. Even at typical contemporary dance performances, you don't often hear "dance" music. It was also obvious that some of the dance vocabulary made it into Chroma. But in comparison to that excellent work, this earlier piece does not have the same revelatory and transcendent vision.

Silver Age

Rouge

The Silver Dollar Room is nestled between a transient hotel and a men's shelter at College and Spadina. Not to mention a nondescript club that is often the target of drug busts. So I've always thought this venue was on the seedy side. Much to my surprise, it was a clean and well-kept bar. There wasn't much space in front of the tiny stage, the rest being taken up by bar tables, but it had a good sound-system operated by an attentive sound engineer. This wasn't a problem Thursday night since the crowd was sadly sparse.

Fantasy Defender came up first. The trio combined straight rock with slightly funky bass and synth backing tracks. They had good stage presence, but with the muscular songs that they played, the lead singer Amanda needs to take a page from Jacquie of the Balconies and inject a little more rock swagger.

Bocce bounded up on stage dressed in silver jump-suits. As they loaded up their video projector with scenes from 40s and 50s sci-fi movies, it was clear that they came to give us a retro vision of the future. Fronted by a theremin-like Moog, old synthesizers, and lead vocals that are distorted through multiple amp effects, they gave a high-energy set of fun electronica. This was the most enjoyably danceable music I've heard in a while culminating in a great performance of Robot Servant. But they needed a larger crowd that would groove to their songs.

Rouge was last on stage at 12:45 am. They decorated the stage with negligees and bras to induce more sexy dancing. But only the band's friends have stuck around, and a few stragglers finishing up their beer. They ran through a short set including their two release singles Modern Lovers I and Destruction, tried out a new tune, did a Britney Spears cover. For an encore, they also covered Robyn's With Every Heartbeat.

Fantasy Defender

Bocce