That's No Lady

The Aves

Wednesday was the first night for NXNE 2012. I decided to make my base The Painted Lady, a bar at the corner of Dundas and Ossington. It may be a great place to hang out with friends but it was a terrible venue for live music. The long and narrow bar was even narrower at the back where the tiny stage was located. It didn't help that the tables near the stage were not removed, leaving an aisle only 1-2 people wide, and stranding most attendees behind the tables several metres from the band. Add an underpowered sound system, and no wonder the out-of-town bands seem dismayed at the set-up. (The burlesque dancer shaking her tassels at the front bar probably didn't help.)

Avery Island came from nearby Whitby. They started their set with some technical difficulties. Namely, the drummer and bassist were lost on their way to the venue. Nothing to do but for to start with just the 2 guitarists. The full band finally arrived halfway through their set. Their indie-rock didn't make much impression on me, except that the drumming was hesitant and the transitions were a bit rough around the edges.

Next up was The Aves, a young band from Australia who was doing a mini-North American tour (mostly the East Coast.) They were cohesive and tight. Though they played a number of styles, most of their songs sounded like an updated take on 50s/60s pop. The same territory being mined by such acts as Dum Dum Girls, but more polished. These were also their strongest and catchiest tunes. A minor negative was the lack of good stage banter from the band to connect with the audience. "We're from Australia" and "This song is about ... well, it's a song" were rather enigmatic.

Animal Talk traveled from Boston to bring their brand of "post-dance rock". From the groovy bass to the short, staccato chords to the falsetto singing, it was about danceable music. Though the songs had catchy moments, they often descend into long jammy sections that killed the momentum. In fact, their cover of Easy Lover was the funkiest song of their set, showing that it's not easy to do feel-good dance tunes.

Sidney York, based in Vancouver, has been going across Canada by train with Tracks on Tracks, an initiative to have live bands travel across the country playing shows. The last stop was Toronto just in time for NXNE. It was a miracle that they were able to stuff all their instruments and themselves on that tiny stage. They even found room to jump and dance while playing their brand of twee pop. But for every ukelele, there was a bassoon and oboe to keep things grounded. It's lazy (and privileging) to describe female-fronted bands as sexy but when you have a coquettish singer and songs such as Doctor, Doctor and Mile-High Love, sexy-fun (though not sexy-va-va-voom) was the mood of the set.