Trevor, Garrett, and the Cream Machine

I went to the Piston on Thursday for some live music. This venue is already small, but the fact that it was not even full was a shame. The 3 bands that played were excellent, and the show was one of the most enjoyable I've seen. Not to the mention that the sound mix was better than other, bigger venues.

First up was Stonetrotter, a 5-piece from Barrie. Their site described their sound as rock & soul. Well, to be fair, there wasn't much rock in their set. As they wryly pointed out, they have 1 up-tempo song in their repertoire. But they certainly do have soul. Their songs were sweet pop tunes and a little bit retro with all those harmonized doo-wops. But the lyrics to Ghost In My Own Skin and Hostage were smart and observant. Singer Dave Allen was great, but they should consider giving more lead to Courtney Dubois. Their duet (entitled Duets) was a highlight.

If Stonetrotter was laid back, Stella Ella Ola was bright and energetic. Playing songs from their debut album pretty much in the same order, as they helpfully pointed out, it was wall-to-wall jangly pop, excitable lyrics, and shouty refrains. When I first saw them, I considered them to be "my Alvvays". They share the same "summery sound" vibe, but more upbeat. Their small contingent of fans who bopped and sang along probably agree.

Language Arts are currently on a cross-Canada tour. They've stopped back in Toronto for a breather before continuing out East. Their set was also energetic but in a different way. Classically trained, Kristen Cudmore included a lot of flourishes and layers in their music. But Daniel McIntosh's muscular drumming kept the urgency in their songs. Almost half the set was new material including a song about Cudmore's dog Sprout and being dumped over the phone. These numbers were definitely pop-ier: more catchy riffs and less elliptical. But even so, Language Arts couldn't help but still indulged in multiple disparate segments, not quite prog rock but still a bit unusual. This tendency to scuttle radio-friendliness could prevent them from achieving mainstream success. Of course, no Language Arts show is complete without Cudmore's banter: off-the-cuff, hilarious, and prone to over-sharing.