End of BOFF

This week-end was the 6th and final year for the Bloor-Ossington Folk Festival due to some funding falling through. Since Saturday was blustery downpour for most of the day, I only ventured out in the evening to catch the last 2 acts of the 1st day: Hooded Fang and Julie Doiron and the Wrong Guys.

First, a clarification on the "folk festival" bit. The organizers used "folk" to mean "people", so bands were usually in the indie or even garage mold, not necessarily soothing ukuleles and acoustic guitars. So a few curious visitors who dropped in with a program guide were quickly driven away by the cacophony: a combination of the bad sound mix and the loud music.

Watching Hooded Fang complete transformation from plinking twee-pop ear-worms to propulsive lo-fi garage is like meeting a nephew who has graduated to piercings and tattoos from Elmos and teddy bears. The new stuff's good, but boy was it loud and repetitive. As for the thrashing Wrong Guys, fronted by the dulcet voice of Doiron, it was a glimpse into an alternate universe where Feist, having blown out her vocals and needing to change her singing style, still decided to keep playing punk rock instead of switching to pop. They announced that they would be heading to the Prairies to finally record their first album.