Funk Punk

I was at the Garrison Thursday night to see some fusion music. That may sound a big strange but an is a succint description of co-headliners Duchess Says and Yamatanka//Sonic Titan. Duchess Says came on first, despite having the larger fan-base, probably because Titan's stage set-up is quite involved.

Duchess Says combines punk with synth and even some pseudo-scatting. There was plenty of furious guitars, drums, and ragged singing but since they were laid over a foundation of synth chords and effects there was a fun danceability to their songs. This was emphasized by the singer Annie-Claude Deschênes who often went into the crowd, à la Rich Aucoin, to engage them with dancing, singing, and various props including inflatable musical instruments.

Yamatanka melds metal, Eastern concepts, and Indigenous singing and hand drumming. They exploded onto the scene and have been Polaris nominated twice. Tonight's set was similar to recent ones where the new material emphasized the more metal aspects. This shift occurred after one of the founders/singer left. Though their shows are still compelling, it's time for me to acknowledge that, similar to Hooded Fang, their sound has diverged from their origin. Which is to say, thanks for the great memories and I hope they continue to have success, but these are no longer "my bands".

Safe and Sound

On Sunday, I headed over to The Great Hall to see Maylee Todd's Virtual Womb show. Since there was quite the line-up at the last incarnation, I was there right at the "door opens" time. Unfortunately, we were still packed cheek to jowl in the stairwell as the organizers didn't open until 20 minutes later. The show's conceit is that the hall is a womb, which you enter through a giant fabric vulva (designed by Roxane Ignatius). Inside, you are encouraged to lie down on the floor with any blankets you have brought while the thump-thump of a heartbeat played in the background, and psychedelic projections cycled on the ceiling and walls.

You could stay that way for the entire show or you could sit up and experience Maylee Todd, a string section, backup singers, and dancers work their way through Todd's repertoire. The set was an equal mix of new songs from her album release and old songs drastically reworked. Somehow, the show straddled both soothing and funky.

It was, both the show and the new releases, a therapy session for Todd. It became clear through her stories that she has been doing some exploration of meditation and mindfulness and psychological self-analysis. She has chosen to share these discoveries, sometimes painful or embarrassing, with her fans/friends through music. It was a wonderful and elaborate show. I don't know if Todd even broke even on ticket sales, given how many people were obviously involved, but I'm glad she made it.

Beach Blonde Baby

Saturday I experienced a good yet bad concert at The Velvet Underground. The good: lots of high-energy pop songs and an enthusiastic crowd. The bad: well, there were several lows. But first, some background. There is an singer called Poppy who is internet-famous. Her early songs such as Lowlife may position her as just one more popstar wannabe. But there was enough self-aware irony in a tune like Money to qualify as a guilty pleasure.

Then she was dropped by her label (or not), and started posting a series of "weird" videos and songs which may be a meta-commentary on current pop culture, social media, etc. Her fans pretended that there are hidden messages within these videos, perhaps even cult-like instructions. This is her first tour, and along with the catchy tunes, there were also video projections, zany dancers, chants (and drinking mystery kool-aid), and a question of whether or not Poppy is a robot or a brain-washed puppet inducting her fans into a cult.

All of which was on full-display tonight for people in the front. For the people in the back, tiny glimpses were all we saw. I arrived 30 minutes after doors (I thought to avoid the early rush of teens) under a pouring rain. But I ended up waiting in a long line that took 40 minutes to clear. It turned out there was, for some reason, more security at this show than any other I've been to. There were 3 different checkpoints! No wonder we crawled along.

This was strange because this venue is a tiny dump, and just barely above a dive bar. In any case, this also meant that the small stage is maybe 2 feet higher than the floor. So with the crush of people, you couldn't see much unless you were within the first 5 feet. Should Poppy have played in a better venue? Or as one concert-goer declared: it was all a ruse by the booker to hype the show. Apparently, this sold-out concert had tickets on Stubhub for $5.

Her songs are fun enough to make the concert enjoyable. But as for the rest: shitty promoter, dumpy club venue, and humorless security; they've always been around but there's no way to enjoy them, even ironically.

Less Is More

Because of the show Triptyche at the Bluma Appel Theatre, I didn't arrive at Less Bar on Bloor until just past 10:30 on Thursday. So I missed Kashka doing songs from her new album. That's a shame because this synth-folk singer doesn't do full-band sets too often. Hopefully, in the new year, I can catch her new all-women set-up.

I did catch Lydia Johnson (Lizzie Lyon). This young singer was in the R&B mold. Her vocals have that urban pop cadence. I'm too old to find romantic dramas (cute-meet, meltdown, and so on) relevant but her fans/friends loved it.

As for the new venue, it has been in the local indie news. Partly because other live venues are closing, partly because of its stated goals of high-lighting female and gender-fluid artists. The name is apt because Less Bar is quite a small space. It's hard to see it having much impact for live shows, the legal capacity is probably 20 people. But there's a chance it could grow into a beloved space for intimate concerts and musician hang-out like the recently departed Holy Oak.