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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.

By R. Brian Hastie - Countdown To Armageddon - 01/15/2009

Theory Of A Deadman is no one's favourite band. I'm glad I got that statement out of the way at the onset of this review, as I feel like it accurately describes the concert experience I recently flung myself into.

However, if Theory Of A Deadman is no one's favourite band and TOAD's a shitty copy of a shitty idea (Nickelback) about what rock and roll should be, then where does that leave its fans? What kind of people flock to Le National to witness such Canadian lite rock staples like “Gasoline” and “Santa Monica”?

The idea behind the excursion was to gauge what, exactly, made TOAD (which, incidentally, is an apt acronym, fitting for the music I was subjected to) fans tick. Were they entranced by the run-of-the-mill musicianship and songwriting, did the shatteringly hollow lyrics ring true for people? Was it their (non) explosive stage show that made people fall in love? All of these questions were left very unanswered, even after mingling with several attendees.

In true scientific fashion, I quizzed people about their reasons for attending the show before the proceedings got underway. The most common one I got was that the music was "enjoyable" and "somewhat catchy", that the vocalist seemed to have a "good voice" and that they had nothing better to do on a Thursday night in January, and that the price for tickets was just about right. The room was still largely empty as I continued to make my way around it.

I switched gears. "Would you say that Theory Of A Deadman is your favourite band?" I advanced the theory, hoping to give the people I informally interviewed an out. Not one of the ten people I talked to answered in the affirmative. They were people's third or fourth choice, generally, after heavyweights like Nickelback (oh the irony), U2, Metallica and Pearl Jam. No surprises there, unfortunately. Just as I was about to probe more, the lights dimmed and the evening's musical entertainment got underway.

The Rev Theory (who were last heard of as no-shows at last June's Heavy MTL metalfest) put up an uninspiring opening slot. Lead single "Hell Yeah" inspired a few scattered cheers and generally the crowd was very receptive to a band that seemed like a tepid mix in-between latter-day Papa Roach and Buckcherry, only blander, with neither band's penchant for irking out an enjoyable song once in a while.

The sauntering and fake sense of danger that most bands try to create (using the f-word repeatedly, snarling menacingly and trying to come off hard as nails) continued to crumble as at one point during their set they launched into a half-heated cover of Nine Inch Nails' “Head Like A Hole”.  The band generally tried to stir up a true sense of high energy (the singer, at one point, wandered into the crowd) but it felt trite and soon déjà vu set in.

The headliners hit the stage a half-hour after Rev Theory cleared out and started with “Crutch” and it was all boring stage banter and same-sounding songs for the rest of the evening. As boring as Rev Theory came off as, TOAD were even better at sapping up the crowd's energy. Singer Tyler Connoly seemed jovial enough, but lacked the presence of a true frontman as he juggled in-between singing and playing rhythm throughout the night's set, unsure which role suited him better. In the end, neither did, as he fulfilled both roles marginally well.

Being forced to listen to FM radio at work, I came to recognize some of the band's singles – they were better in a live setting, but still leagues below being able to redeem the songs as listenable in a non-forced (read: non-radio) way. The best thing I can say about their show was the fact that they had a competent light show. The band played songs from all three releases, favouring none and trying to make fans of their discography happy. “Better Off” got a surprisingly loud response as the mostly mute audience refrained from doing much of anything. The tossed-off encore of “Santa Monica”, “Bad Girlfriend” and “Hating Hollywood” put a merciful end to a night that would be best chronicled as forgettable.

Tune into Countdown to Armageddon with Brian every Thursday from 4PM – 6PM

By Lady Oracle - The Limelight - 09/15/2008

Everything is Borrowed is the fourth album from Mike Skinner aka The Streets. I actually heard about The Streets last year through a guy I worked with. He gave me a copy of “The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living”, The Street's third album released in 2006. I immediately became a fan of this UK rapper and producer. I was excited to get my hands on his new album. It is definitely different from the last one. “The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living” had a Hip Hop sound. This album has more of a pop sound, mixed with rock and old school jazzy sound, it's a lot of different elements which initially threw me off guard but suits his rap & singing style.

Once I got used to the sound I can honestly say I enjoyed his latest effort. I really like what he raps about. He talks about issues of love, spirituality, the earth & its environment. His song “The Way Of The Dodo” coins the issue of the global warming and points out in the hook “It not earth that's in trouble, it's the people that live on it.” 

Another song I like is “Everything is Borrowed” and it’s chorus of “I came to this world with nothing and I will leave with nothing but love...everything else is just borrowed.” I like that he can be deep and entertaining at that same time, which is something that I can relate to. It's definitely a good way to make the listener pay attention to your message.

Overall a good album, if this was a Limelight review it would get 3 out of 4 limes.

Tune into The Limelight with Lady Oracle every Saturday from 4PM - 6PM