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By DJ Solespin - Eclectricity - 02/20/2009

I have been a big fan of Divine Brown since her debut CD was released a few years ago, when a copy of Love Chronicles arrived at CJLO.  Since then, I have played her music steadily on my show and waited patiently for her February 20th Cabaret Du Musee concert.

I arrived at the venue to see opening act Sean Jones in the lobby meeting, greeting, posing and signing copies of his This Is Love CD.  I did not wait long to get my copy signed.  I missed his performance, but was content to have met him and for the autograph.

Not too long afterwards, I walked through the doors to hear the sounds of Divine Brown and company.  She was backed by two singers, three dancers and a small band.  There were a lot of people on both floors of the venue.  I chose to stay on the ground floor near the bar for an easy exit at the end of the show.  It was also ideal to objectively view the concert.

The initial crowd reaction to “Old Skool Love” was textbook.  I was surprised that she performed it so early in the set.  It was possibly the third or fourth song.  I am not sure if this happens at all concerts now, but the majority of the crowd raised and pointed their cameras and phones to the stage and sang along.  It was a touching moment.  I was nostalgic, remembering playing the original and reggae versions to the song on my show weeks after returning to CJLO in 2006.  I did not expect to hear “Old Skool Love” so soon in the night and worried it was a mistake.  I wondered if she ever performed the reggae version for audiences as well.

Songs like “Meet Me at the Roxy”, “Bebe” and “Twist My Hair” were all performed and received.  Vocally, Divine Brown was in fine form.  Her voice was powerful or sensitive when need be and there were no bad notes.  I realized early enough that I was in the presence of one of Canada’s finest urban vocalists.

The choreographies were simple enough for her to join her dancers for a few tunes.  She introduced a guitarist that did a blistering solo.  I was amused by his antics while playing.  The young man in the black leather jacket had a nice mix of confidence, determination and subdued flamboyance while playing. 

The concert ran longer than I expected or was prepared for.  Clocking in at nearly over two hours, I felt that Divine Brown truly gave the audience their money’s worth.  The finale was another surprise, but the seeds were planted throughout the show.  The guitarist and rock music sound gave the impression that Divine Brown had either a rocker past or at least an interest.  Her performance of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” made me a believer.  Seeing and hearing one of my favourite female urban music singers covering one of the most iconic arena rock songs of all times will be marked as one of my best concert experiences for 2009.

By Kelly Kay - Cut Your Hair and Get a Job - 02/15/2009

The last time I saw The Von Bondies, I had my hair cut like a Hanson brother and Miley Cyrus was merely annoying, not an alleged racist. Ah yes, The Von Bondies show on January 17th at Café Campus really solidified my thinking that 2008 would kick some serious ass; the band had an incredible amount of energy and executed a flawless set that didn’t lack soul, inspiring this young lady to dance like a maniac all through the night. That being the case, my expectations were rather high for the band when heading out to see them at Les Saints on February 15 of 2009, just over a year after they blew my mind in the plateau. Wrongfully assuming that ‘doors at 8' meant ‘starts around 10', I arrived around 9 o’clock only to find out I had missed the opener, Nico Vega, by a couple of minutes. This was a total disappointment as I was seriously fiending for some new music. Did the rest of the evening make up for it? Read on to find out!

The Von Bondies kicked off their set with a lackluster version of “Been Swank” (being “hip to the jive” I suppose I should know what that means, but don’t), off their 2004 hit record Pawn Shoppe Heart. Taking the casual-cool, shoegaze vibe way too far for a band that doesn’t fit into that genre of music, the band was simply unable to engage the audience. After mechanically churning out that familiar tune, they decided to spring a song off their new album Love, Hate and Then There’s You on the audience, a move that could end disastrously for any band if said album doesn’t pack the punch of their earlier work.

This nameless new song wasn’t bad, but wasn’t all that great, nor did it really sound like the Von Bondies- it kind of sounded like the Killers circa Hot Fuss. Now I’m all for artistic evolution, but the Von Bondie’s leap in the dance-pop direction sounded nothing but diluted and a little washed-up. Jason Stollsteimer’s voice lacked the dirty, Dee-troit growl we rock and roll junkies fell in love with early in the millennium and the instrumentation lacked any passion. The one saving grace in this relatively bland tune was a great, loud and crazy instrumental breakdown towards the end that put some colour in the Von Bondies’ cheeks and made them come bursting to life, if only for a few minutes.

This energy was carried on into “Going Down” off their first album, Lack of Communication. I suddenly remembered why I dug the Von Bondies; this tune was packed with enough bluesy, nu-garage swagger to get the crowd feeling a whole lotta sexy, which was an appropriate atmosphere for the day after Valentines.

Due to my limited space to complete the rest of this review, I’ll sum up some highlights and lowlights of the show, most likely concluding with a short summary you can reference if you don’t want to read this whole thing.

HIGHLIGHTS:

1) Not That Social: “I’m not that social, just a good drinker.” Words we can all relate to! I’ll admit, the female vocals were a little shaky, but overall one of the finest tunes of the evening.

2) Pawn Shoppe Heart: Apparently about J.S.’s first wife. A very captivating and gritty performance by the whole band. Thumbs up.

3) No Regrets: They turned up their amps to 11 and the crowd actually moved around a little without having to be prompted by the band to do so. I call that successful.

4) Lowlight: Another nameless new song about dancing to forget your troubles and blah blah blah. Ironically, the band had to tell people in advance to dance and continued to do so numerous times when the crowd refused.

5) Lowlight: The band plays C’mon C’mon as an encore. While it was played well and the crowd went crazy, my sad little heart tells me this will most likely be the Von Bondies’ last tour. If they plan on taking their music in the direction of Love, Hate... they should never play this song again.

To summarize, this show was somehow confusing. Half the time I was resisting the urge to rip up my notes and start dancing. The other half of the show made me want to go home because I felt so bad about the audiences’ poor reception of the V.B’s new material, as well as the bands exhausted and uninterested demeanour. Maybe the Von Bondies should take another 5 year hiatus to hang out and think about where this whole music thing is going. I give this show a 6/10.

Tune into Cut Your Hair and Get a Job with Kelly every Tuesday from 10AM to 11AM

By Jessica MacDonald - Marvelous Darkness - 01/28/2009

The Tom Fun Orchestra and Amanda Mabro at le Petit Campus was a wild and wonderful experience! The show started a tad late, after I hurriedly shuffled upwards through the blizzard at an incline of 45 degrees up the steep and slippery slope of St. Laurent, but the waiting period provided a chance for me to get the best seat in the house: a quaint little table with 2 chairs for me and my photographer right at the front! The atmosphere was cozy, with a small but nicely-lit stage occupying the back wall and ample dancing space separating the stage from the seating area.

Amanda Mabro took the stage in a modest but classy black dress along with her partners in crime known only as “The Cabaret Band.” They started the show off with a big and loud song that encapsulated the very essence of cabaret with a ragged edge of garage. With gusto and flair she belted out a series of darkly dramatic melodies with a powerful, low voice that suited the swing-style drums and old-timey silent-film-cabaret piano perfectly. I was happy to have found an excellent Canadian artist to feature on The Marvelous Darkness!

When at last The Tom Fun Orchestra appeared onstage, I was surprised they all fit. The eight-piece band squeezed onto the stage along with their drum set, bass, two guitars, trumpet, violin, banjo and accordion. With such a combination of instruments, one might have expected an overdose of audacious aural output. But the metaphor of too many cooks in the kitchen—or in this case, too many musicians on the stage—was only an issue in terms of physical space. There was plenty of room in the music for all of those lovely, lovely instruments, whose sounds melded together in a harmonious confluence of Cape-Breton-based musical magnificence.

The eight-piece ensemble stormed the sound waves with a rip-roarin’ opening number full of folkish but rockin’ energy. I was surprised that the whole crowd wasn’t up on their feet from the moment the first note was struck. Fronted by the deep, gravelly voice of lead singer-songwriter “Tom Fun” (or “Robot Orbison”, according to the band’s MySpace), the band’s eclectic sound was fueled by pure Cape Breton energy. The deep and rough lead vocals were paired nicely with the female backup vocalist, whose unique voice brought an edge of modern indie-band girl-vocals to the mix. Mingling elements of folk, rock, blues, roots and punk, the band’s stage presence was both visually and aurally powerful.

Clap-along songs were vigorously clapped along to, danceable songs were vigorously danced along to, and sing-able choruses were vigorously sung along to. It was a fully interactive and engaging concert. Not a moment of time in any of the songs allowed my mind enough space to wander. The band held my attention consistently, which is quite a feat considering I have the attention span of half a dead gnat. Not only did they hold my attention, but I was completely, thoroughly entertained for the entire set, and found myself dreading the end of the show—or better yet, hoping the show would never come to an end. Alas, as all things do, the show eventually drew to a close, nearly ending on what I thought would be a disappointing note: a song introduced as a lullaby—not that lullabies themselves are without merit—but for a closing piece? Fortunately, my distress was done away with when they broke into an energetic closing number that left the audience feeling fulfilled and utterly satisfied. Well, I can’t speak for everyone with utmost certainty, but I would judge by the deafening chorus of “huzzahs” that the rest of the crowd felt the same as I did: cheering enough to squeeze an encore out of the band, which was also sublime.

Tom’s delightful inter-song dialogue was peppered with just the right amount of good ol’ east-coast sailor cuss words, including one song’s introduction, which consisted of: “This song is called, ‘Fuck Wednesdays. Fuck Snowstorms on Wednesdays’.” and then proceeded to play a slower, soft tune. The heavy snowstorm that night was attributed to Mother Nature being so excited about the arrival of the band that she “took a dump all over the city”. The following song was dedicated to Mother Nature, who was allegedly in the house. A vague reference to Willy Wonka was made, and a brief conversation was had between Tom and a drunken spectator. He also claimed to have written a song for us, the audience, specifically. Thanks, Tom. And thanks for the best show I’ve been to in ages. If ever offered the opportunity to behold The Tom Fun Orchestra live in concert, grab it in a firm grip and be steadfast.

Tune into The Marvelous Darkness with Jess every Thursday from 1PM - 2PM

By Jake Wenzel - The Incinerator - 02/18/2009

Back in 1994 Cynic released their debut album, Focus, one of my favorite albums of all time, and one of the albums most important to the development of intelligent progressive metal. They are often credited as being the first band to successfully merge jazz fusion with death metal, and are without a doubt some of the most virtuosic musicians to ever grace the metal scene. But as is all too common for bands that make challenging and truly progressive music, the importance of what they had done was not understood until many years later. After Focus, Cynic disbanded for the better part of 13 years and the members of the band turned their energies towards various progressive rock projects. They decided to resurface for old time’s sake in 2007 to do a reunion tour, and the major outpouring of fan support and excitement led to a headlining spot on the Wacken: Open Air festival in Germany. Cynic went from being booed off the stages of tiny clubs to headlining the biggest metal festival in existence- and all without any self-promotion or activity on their part. The fans finally got it, and now that they have it they’re crazy about it.

This tour they’re supporting their latest album, Traced in Air, which was released in late 2008. Most people seem to agree that it’s not quite as good as Focus, but it’s possible that it’s just even more difficult to understand. The two albums differ in what they’re trying to accomplish: the tracks on Focus are composed around psychedelic, dynamic melodies, whereas Traced in Air makes use of frequent and abrupt changes in mood and tempo, juxtaposing harsh dissonance with cosmic ambience. Regardless of what you think of the album, the new songs are very well suited to Cynic’s live performance style and sounded amazing at the concert.

In contrast with most technical metal bands which attempt to make their live sound as identical as possible to their album, Cynic is solely concerned with capturing the vibe of their songs. As mentioned above, this approach worked well for the songs off Traced in Air. They sounded beautiful- that’s really all there is to say. That whole part of the set was a beautiful wall of psychedelic sound. The tracks they played off Focus were also awesome to behold, but the looser approach didn’t work quite as well and certain parts came across as being somewhat sloppy. Despite this, the crowd was very into the whole set, and even seemed to appreciate frontman Paul Masvidal’s hippy proclamations about how attachment to ego is a form of psychic violence, as well as various pieces of wisdom about the importance of cosmic love and being receptive to positive spiritual vibrations.

This is my second time reviewing a Meshuggah concert for CJLO, so instead of putting the band and their new album into context I’ll just cut to the chase: the show was perfect.

The entire show was filmed for a DVD, so the sound engineers really took their time to do a thorough sound check- it was at least 45 minutes long- but it made everything sound unbelievably good, and the mixing just kept getting better as the night went on. It was so good; in fact, that with this performance I would say Meshuggah is even better live than on CD.

All of the guitars but particularly the bass had an amazing tone- like primordial swamp sludge. It sounded similar to something you’d find on old Primus records, except instead of sturgeon fishing it conjures up images of the primordial cosmic sea and the emergence of consciousness from cosmic chaos- which is of course exactly what Meshuggah is lyrically concerned with and experientially trying to produce. They create the kind of soundscape that you can feel reverberating throughout yourself, offering to carry you to a higher plane of existence.

Meshuggah and Cynic are perfect bands to put together on a tour bill for exactly that reason. Both bands are into promoting philosophical and spiritual progression, and try to use their music to create the experience of transcendence. Cynic comes at it from a positive direction, whereas Meshuggah comes at it from a much darker place, and together they balance each other out extremely well.

In my last Meshuggah review I noted that the crowd was very aggressive and there were quite a few people clearly out to hurt others, but this show was completely different. Maybe it was all the hippy talk, but despite filming for a DVD (which usually makes crowds crazier) everyone was extremely relaxed. I even had a guy apologize to me for slightly bumping into me. I’d say it was one of the best crowds at any show I’ve been to...people were just there to enjoy the music.