Can You Speak Up?

Friday night at Longboat Hall, a trio of quiet singers played bedroom pop with varying successful. First up was local talent Ellis from Hamilton. It was an angst-filled set with songs like Frostbite and All This Time. Next up was mumble-pop Long Beard from New Brunswick. This set didn't translate well into a live show with too much looping. Finally, Soccer Mommy was the head-liner tonight. She was the best songwriter of the evening and had some interesting arrangements on her guitar. Her band filled out the sound but didn't really added much to the songs.

Update: Soccer Mommy has made several best-of list at the end of 2018.

Gently Flying

Geary Ave, an industrial area with primarily Portuguese businesses, has seen an influx of hipper businesses in recent years including cafés, pizzerias, and several micro-breweries. On Thursday, I went to see the one owned by The Burdock, a bustling restaurant/music venue on Bloor.

It turns out they also hosts music shows here, and often enough that they had just put in a raised stage in the space. This was an "authentically hipster" venue, if I can say that with good-nature amusement. I mean, we're talking about attractive young people having a good party, surrounded by casks of aged beer, listening to indie musicians.

The first was Amalia Mamalia, a duo who combined lo-fi improvised synth, looping, and spoken word. Definitely not a mainstream act. The head-liner tonight was Ivy Mairi, who was giving a sneak peek into her upcoming EP. Her set was book-ended by 2 mesmerizing folk songs. But the bulk of Mairi's show was a foray into upbeat synth-pop that should play on mainstream radio, as they were better than most currently in rotation.

Truth To Power

U.S. Girls, a project of Meg Remy, has been getting buzz for their last album In a Poem Unlimited. Using a band during recording instead of splicing samples, amping up the funk, but keeping the biting feminist lyrics, it might be her breakout work. Ironically, it may also be her last album since she has been recording for a decade under this moniker. A version of the band was also touring and I got a taste of it at The Tranzac. Even at that inadequate location, it was clear this was next-level stuff.

With breathless accounts of sold-out shows for their US tour, I was excited to see them return home to play at venerable Horseshoe Tavern. James Baley was a good opener. With a full band including 3 backup singers, he strutted the stage and gave us smooth R'n'B with some lovely harmonies. The only negative was the overly long verses.

U.S. Girls set exceeded my expectations. Part live music, part performance theatre, Remy didn't really chat up the crowd or talked about the music. Instead she played song snippets and speeches between numbers to set them up. The large band kept the room dancing furiously the entire time with fat bass, tight percussion, and blistering guitar and sax solos. Pearly Gates with all 4 singers (Baley was a guest on a few numbers) harmonizing, dancing, and stomping feet is likely to be the best live song I'll hear this year.

Dance My Pretties

On Friday, I was at Luanda House to check out 2 new bands. This basement location at Dovercourt and Bloor has been re-purposed as a dance/fitness studio and a late-night music club. I have never felt older at a show. Only PBR was available and everyone looked to be about 20.

The opener was an intriguing "dual set" with Blunt Chunks (Caitlin Woelfle-O'Brien) and Luna Li (Hannah Bussiere). Alternating between themselves, each musician played soft, ethereal music. Both also used loop pedals to layer their sounds. Blunt Chunks tended toward multiple vocals while Luna Li combined both guitar and violin. Bussiere also showed flashes of rock guitar chops on a few tunes.

In contrast, Jaunt played groovy, danceable music for their set. This was a good thing since Luanda House, being long and narrow, had terrible sight-lines. So you might as well dance because you won't see the band. The under-powered sound system wasn't ideal for them, but even with the anemic output you can tell Jaunt had some bangers.

Smooth Operator

On Friday, I attended the first of 2 sold-out shows at The Danforth Music Hall for Charlotte Day Wilson. First up was opener James Tillman. He played a set of R'n'B songs full of falsetto, minor chord progressions, and ululations. Tillman had some pitch problems and maybe too much lyrical changes in his songs.

It's a bit of a mystery how some artists blow up. Last year at CMW, on the strength of a 5-song EP, she sold out the 600-capacity The Mod Club. A respectable venue for an artist, many local bands never gain this big an audience. This year, with another EP and no full album yet, Wilson is playing 2 nights at the 1500-capacity Music Hall. So it wasn't just hype that brought out the curious last winter.

With a larger discog, Wilson was able to carry a longer show although she did throw in a few as-yet-unreleased tracks and an Erykah Badu cover (Out my mind, just in time). That cover is a good contrast to Wilson's songs which tend to skew more toward simple lyrics. A typical song barely span 2 verses, including chorus. But what they had in common were a groove and a build up based on repetition of musical elements. Along with a seductive voice, Wilson also showed us her skills on the guitar, sax, and piano. She possessed some magical quality that made you just feel cooler and more with it listening to her.