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CEPHALIC CARNAGE + Dead to Fall + more @ El Salon
By DCU - No Sleep Til Bedtime - 04/27/2005
I am always incredibly excited to see one of my favorite and challenging grind bands Cephalic Carnage, and even though I had just seen them days before, it was my pleasure to trek out to El Salon to see them again. El Salon is certainly not the best locale for a metal show, not only is it way up on St-Laurent, where us metal kids do not like to travel, but the whole atmosphere of the venue just isn’t conducive to that kind of show. But like always you make the best of a bad situation on an ugly rainy night, and you get ready thrash out to frenzied blistering music.
Opening up the show for me were locals Beneath the Massacre, a band recently signed to Galy Records. This is a band that shows so much promise, mixing extreme death metal brutality with technical riffs and hardcore breakdowns. The band seemed disappointed with the activity of the crowd, which was in no way their fault, as their set was intense and gripping. My one problem with the band is the echo effect used on the vocals. The singer already has such a brutal and heavy voice, perfect for this style of metal, that the echo just seems like overkill.
Next up was Dead to Fall, with their American metal-core style similar to that of Darkest Hour. There set was extremely high energy (except for some technical difficulties) and the hardcore crowd reacted rather well to songs off the most recent Villainy & Virtue as well as older material. They even threw in an At The Gates cover song which was flawlessly performed. Although Dead to Fall don’t push the envelope with their music, they put on a great live show and never cease to impress. (Disclaimer: I may or may not have been part of a hardcore pile-up on the front of the stage during "Bastard Set of Dreams".)
Sadly when Cephalic Carnage took the stage the venue was more than half empty, with not more than 40 people in attendance. You could tell the band was disappointed with the turnout, but they still grinded the night away with enthusiasm. The majority of their set came from their new album Anomalies with tracks "Counting the Days", "Kill For Weed", "Dying Will be the Death of Me", and others. From Lucid Interval only the title track was played, with the concert wrapping up with their patented "King of the Hill/Observer to the Obliteration of Planet Earth" medley. An amazing set, the band has never sounded this good, it was only disappointing that not as many people were there to check them out, but it was there loss.
THE MOUNTAIN GOATS + Shearwater + Jeff Hanson @ La Sala Rossa
By Alex - Losing My Edge - 05/10/2005
Exactly one week after the release of The Sunset Tree, John Darnielle (better known as The Mountain Goats) made his first appearance in Montreal despite releasing records – and cassettes – since 1995. The touring unit consisted of Darnielle and longtime collaborator/bassist Peter Hughes and was somewhat of a return to the lo-fi minimalism that characterized the Mountain Goats for so long before the advent of a lusher sound with their 4AD debut album Tallahassee almost three years ago. This was the perfect set-up, because after years of building his reputation as an accomplished lyricist thanks to his ability to craft greatly detailed fictional tales, The Sunset Tree is heavily rooted in his own life, growing up with an abusive stepfather (who he “thanks” in the liner notes). Therefore, this stripped-down version of the Mountain Goats – though some would argue that this is the Mountain Goats – made each song resonate more than it would have if the entire personnel behind The Sunset Tree had been along for the ride.
The Mountain Goats started off with four tracks (“Love Love Love”, “Dance Music”, “Dilaudid”, “You Or Your Memory”) from their latest release in the first half of the show and given the powerful nature of these songs, coupled with an astonishingly crisp delivery vocally and musically, the audience was held captive by Darnielle and Hughes. The songs performed were short and to-the-point, but without ever robbing them of their potency. The next two tracks were on the longer and quieter side, a sequence which always threatens to derail any concert if they aren’t quite majestic (they weren’t). Luckily, Darnielle won us back with the excellent “This Year”, a song perfect on a teenage summer night past. A mix of anger, hope and defiance (“I’m gonna make it through this year if it kills me”), this track cuts right through anybody who has ever been young, but without resorting to self-pitying clichés.
Opener Shearwater, who were pleasant but unspectacular, joined the Mountain Goats for the next song, “Letter From Belgium”, and until the end of the set. They added a nice layer to Darnielle’s performance, but truthfully, they neither added nor detracted from the show. The audience had already been won over by Darnielle, who was affable as could be. The interaction went around the usual “stage banter-heckler-witty retort” that feigns crowd connection, and instead feeling like a genuine back-and-forth between friends. He even gamely launched into the first few lines of “It’s Raining Men” when it was requested amidst the concert-long cries for “No Children” and “Cubs In Five”.
One could be forgiven for labelling John Darnielle as another painfully indie singer-songwriter, given the misuse of verbose lyrics, peculiar voices and lo-fi production in the last few years. However, that skips over the essence of the Mountain Goats. His distinctive voice is one that evokes the past almost effortlessly, celebratory rather than weary about the survival of life. That is what makes him, unlike other similarly prolific artists who only seem interested in credibility through genre exercises, an alternately fascinating and devastating storyteller.
[Tune in to Losing My Edge Tuesdays 8:00pm -10:00pm and Sundays 12:00pm – 2:00pm]
RYAN ADAMS & THE CARDINALS @ Spectrum
By David Marriott - Rocks In Your Head - 05/01/2005
Ryan Adams’ new double album, Cold Roses, much in keeping with the rest of his recent studio output, is uneven with brief flirtations with brilliance. This record only furthers my belief that Adams is incapable of controlling the double-edged sword that is his bottomless repository of material. In addition to this double album, there are two more LPs slated for release this year. It seems no one has told Adams that the reason it worked so well for early Dylan is because all of his songs were worth recording. During his live show, however, this complex manifested itself with Adams sharing and performing as much material as possible before Spectrum would have to close for the evening.
The three-hour-plus show -- two sets with a ten-minute intermission -- opened with Adams, hidden under his patented mop of unwashed hair, and his new backing band The Cardinals taking the stage with no greeting. They quickly jumped into five country-tinged songs from the new record. The Cardinals played an accomplished brand of alt-country, which wasn’t surprising as they share members with Austin’s Asleep At The Wheel. Adams himself was sloppy but his energy, as expected, was contagious. Having kept mostly silent outside of the customary thank you here and there, Adams’ first audience address was in the form of a threat to a spectator who, apparently having escaped an elementary school outing to St-Catherine East earlier that day, decided that it would be funny to cap off his heckling of the performers with a Bryan Adams joke. The mood was now decidedly uneasy. Things lightened up later with a spirited performance of “To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)” off 2001’s Heartbreaker. It showcased an artist who has clearly been playing a song live so long that he’s decided to have some fun with it. The set ended with some of the live audience banter for which Adams’ shows are famous (favorite example: while discussing an old bandmate’s break-up, he proclaimed it to be “so much drama, man. Matlock times twenty. Fuckin’ Rocklock”).
The second set began with Adams alone on stage, performing several numbers with only piano and half a pack of smokes for company. It perfectly captured a sense of intimacy that the previous set only hinted at. New songs were mixed with old stand-bys (“Sylvia Plath”), ending with an audience-requested piano version of the Rolling Stones’ staple “Brown Sugar”, which was oddly engaging once he found the right keys (this took about four minutes of trial and error). The solo portion of the show was extended to an acoustic guitar stretch in which favorites ranging from “Winding Wheel” to the famed cover of Oasis’ “Wonderwall” were performed with, as was the custom of the evening, a subtle grace hidden beneath a seemingly aloof exterior. The show closed with the Cardinals returning to the stage to assist Adams’ in a fifteen-minute jammy version of “Magnolia Mountain”, the first track off Cold Roses. Following this, they immediately exited the stage with a simple goodnight and no encore. Nobody really needed one after three hours of Ryan Adams, after years of media hysterics and a string of varyingly successful LPs that remind an audience why he is still a distinct and interesting musician.
[Tune in to Rocks In Your Head Mondays 6pm – 8pm]
OF MONTREAL + Poorfolk @ La Sala Rossa
By Dan - Rocks In Your Head - 04/24/2005
It's not often we get to experience an Athens, GA band in concert, in Montreal, in the spring time. But when it happens, rest assured that yours truly will be there, without a doubt
Kevin Barnes and his troupe of multi-instrumentalists had a ball Sunday night, swapping guitars for keys and drums for bells, all night long. The sound was tightly knit across a swarm of beats and pulses, an indication of the increasingly 'programmed' element to their new approach. It's not as if the old ways have long since departed. Rather, Barnes has appropriated his older, somewhat outdated 60's-influenced pop constructions and rearticulated them for a new public; a public which has one foot on the dance floor and the other on the couch, kicking back and eager to trip out into some weird psychedelic Garden of Eden. I'll meet you there, man
Seriously though, these guys can rock. Admittedly, the crowd seemed a little lacklustre, perhaps a result of attending the Arcade Fire show the night before (I did see a bunch of cross-over fans). Regardless, Of Montreal delighted the audience with a bunch of classics from their last album (2004's Satanic Panic in the Attic) and threw in a few from the latest psych-rock offering (2005's Sunlandic Twins). Unfortunately nothing from the classic Gay Parade era, but then again, excerpts from that album might have thrown the night off-kilter.
It feels good to know that the Athens scene is playing itself out with such style and flair, given that most of the bands from that scene have since disbanded (Masters of the Hemisphere, Neutral Milk Hotel and Olivia Tremor Control to name but a few). Make no mistake though; as long as key members/songwriters the likes of Kevin Barnes and William Cullen Hart (from OTC) continue in a tradition of innovation and musical progress deeply rooted in the sixties era -- when the rules were more often being broken than not -- then we can at least hope that some of the wacky material both live and on tape will rub off on the next generation of innovators. Just don't leave that job up to the Killers or any of the trendy bands in our midst.
Of Athens sounds pretty cool to the ears. Any takers?
[Tune in to Rocks In Your Head every Monday 6pm – 8pm]
MWARD + Norfolk & Western @ MWARD + Norfolk & Western
By Dan - Rocks In Your Head - 04/16/2005
Having had the opportunity to see Devendra Banhart in concert recently, I was looking forward to Mward's upcoming show at La Sala Rossa. You see, these types of shows are tricky. People don't seem genuinely ready for the influx of folk artists in 'the scene'. There's almost too much going on these days. All you have to do is check out the gig-list at Esoteric or somewhere online; Montreal is a haven for live venues and shows these days, thanks in part to the lovely promoters at Blue Skies Turn Black.
For those who were anticipating MWard's return to Montreal, he did not disappoint. The kid's got charisma and talent to boot. His guitar playing is rough and often times deliberately sloppy, but in the way that sounds great if the rest of the band is tight and doing their jobs well. And thankfully, his tone is pretty solid as well. The show was a tad short, but Ward managed to pull out all of the stops, switching from psych-folky rhythms to blues-tinged rock at the drop of a dime. Although I missed the Norfolk & Western opener, I suppose the set was but a warm-up before hitting the stage supporting Mr. Ward and his folk-inflected tunes.
The last half-year has brought us Devendra, Sufjan Stevens and a throng of talented mucisians who are challenging preconceptions of the folk genre and giving rise to a welcomed scene, at least for those of us who share a nostalgia for the days when troubadors walked the earth in search of spirited youth like ourselves. Or am I reading too much into the whole scene? Regardless, MWard is a part of the scene and with only three (available) albums under his belt, this kid has got a promising future. If you haven't already picked up last year's Transistor Radio, do yourself a favor.
[Tune in to Rocks In Your Head every Monday 6pm – 8pm]
STRAYLIGHT RUN + Honorary Title + Gratitude + more @ Cabaret La Tulipe
By Mikey B - The Lonesome Strangers - 05/04/2005
In the last week, I’ve been privileged to see some amazing bands. Motörhead robbed me of my aural virginity, Goldfinger rocked my pants off and Straylight Run put me to sleep.
Due to some guestlist mix-up that was fortunately settled after 40 minutes, I missed the punk/emo stylings of Chicago’s Spitalfield (pronounced Spittle-Field) who were touring in support of their new album Stop Doing Bad Things. Their debut album Remember Right Now came out less than two years ago on Victory Records, and I managed to get a promo copy of it. Since I happen to like a lot of bands that get tagged as “emo”, people assume I will like any wussy emo shit that comes along. The Weakerthans, Jets To Brazil, Jimmy Eat World... they’re great bands on all levels. But Spitalfield? Their songs are alright, until vocalist Mark Rose’s bland standard teary-eyed lyrics spill out. They’re predictable, and sound like an ultra watered-down version of Thursday. If I really want to see them, I guess I can wait a few weeks until they come back with Silverstein, who aren’t half bad.
I made it into La Tulipe just as Gratitude was starting up their set. They opened up for Jimmy Eat World back in November, where they gave a jaw-droppingly unusual live performance -- in the bad sense. Here, the over-the-top, exaggerated stage antics of vocalist Jonah Mantranga stole the show. Combine the dancing cheesiness of Moulin Rouge with an Olympic ribbon twirling floor exercise, mix in a few emo fist clenches, and you get a Gratitude live performance. What’s unusual is that their record isn’t really terrible. It consists mostly of sappy ballads that’d probably make the next cut of the O.C. soundtrack. Unfortunately, I listened to their album after having seen them live, so while it was playing, I'd get flashbacks of a grown man onstage whirling and twirling like a ballerina. Listen to the CD and judge for yourself and if you think you can endure their live performance, be my guest.
During the break, I got to hook up with my neighbors Alex & Dave who were at the show. Thank God I found someone I knew. This show was boring as fuck, and Alex woke me up a bit. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this guy sober, which is awesome. I wish I was plastered for this show, I would’ve probably had a better time.
The last time I ventured to La Tulipe, it was to review the pop rock duo Tegan & Sara. That show was insane, and the venue was packed to the gills. For this particular spectacle, the place was half full. The floor was pretty empty for all the opening acts, which is pretty lousy, but not surprising. The best part of this kind of show, was the assembly of cute emo chicks. Wall-to-wall cuties everywhere. Too bad for me, I never really approached any of them. We wouldn’t get along anyways, these bands suck, and these girls have lousy taste in music. What a great pick up line!
The Honorary Title came on next, and they had been greatly overhyped by my sweet yet tipsy friend Anastasia. I was told that if I liked Bright Eyes, then I’d love this band. Well, I didn’t. The band is actually a duo, but performs as a quartet live. Vocalist Jarrod Gorbel kicked into his set with a few songs that made him sound as if he were singing love songs in a wedding hall. Harmless, bland, and a little cheesy, his vocals did have a diluted Iggy Pop feel to them. Just a little raspy and unfettered, with that slick emo sensation. Their musical ensemble was much more similar to Dashboard Confessional’s than to that of Bright Eyes. For those of your snickering right now, YES, there is a difference. If you like Dashboard, you’ll probably like these guys. Their onstage banter was pretty unusual, as the vocalist did yell out something along the lines of “blowjobs!”, and later on, their bassist mentioned that they love Ontario. Aside from that, their interaction with the audience was heartfelt, I’ll give 'em that. I think I’ll download some of their songs, because I’m thinking that their live performance didn’t do them justice.
Next up were the headliners, Straylight Run who were greeted enthusiastically by the entire audience. As most people know, the band was formed by John Nolan & Shaun Cooper, both former members of Taking Back Sunday. Along with Will Noon on drums, and Nolan’s hot sister Michelle on keyboards, Straylight Run was formed just a little over a year ago. Although I received a copy of the CD a long time ago, I had never given it a chance. Now that I was reviewing the show, I thought maybe this would be a good time to give it a whirl. I must say that I was intrigued with some of the titles on the album, like “Existentialism On Prom Night”, “Tool Sheds & Hot Tubs”, as well as having the album's opening track being a tearjerker called “The Perfect Ending”. The record is pretty tight, combining great pop melodies with sweet melancholic vocals. The guitar/piano dynamic works well, whereas it does grow annoying with several other bands. The problem with their live performance has nothing to do with them as a band. It has everything to do with the caliber of bands that preceded them. By the end of the night, I was so exhausted, I could barely keep my eyes open. When they were open, I would usually be focusing on their dreamy keyboardist Michelle.
“HEY JOHN, YOUR SISTER’S HOT!”…
I had imagined yelling that out all night. This would’ve been hypocritical of me, having two sisters of my own and I happen to go nuts whenever anyone makes a sick sister joke. I get a little stabby.
Michelle did sing backup vocals and sang an unreleased song that made me nearly fall out of my chair. The show ended off with the beautiful “For The Best”, an ode to confusion and uncertainty. The song became my favorite song of the night, next to Michelle’s song. They then played a quick encore, which they said was somewhat of a rare occurrence on this tour.
So to summarize; don’t waste your hard-earned money going to these less-than-stellar emo shows unless you really love the bands. In this case, I didn’t really like any of them until Straylight Run came on. I was sleepy before the headliners could even make it onstage. Next time these guys go on tour, I’ll be sure to bring a case of Red Bull. Either that, or skip out on the openers.
[Tune in to The Lonesome Strangers Tuesdays 12pm - 2pm]
NEW ENGLAND METAL & HARDCORE FESTIVAL: Day 1 @ Palladium
By DCU - No Sleep Til Bedtime - 04/22/2005
Wake up early in Montreal, head to the border expecting the worst… AND nothing; 20 seconds talking to the border guard and away we were to the most incredible metal concert North America has to offer (of course after stocking up on Labatt 50s, JD, and Jager’s at the Duty-Free).
The metal fest was setup with two stages with shows commencing concurrently on each. The upstairs (second stage) was a large room with a gallery, comparable to maybe slightly larger than Foufs. Downstairs featured the main stage, about the size of Metropolis, but designed much more effectively with multiple levels allowing you to check out the action no matter where you stand. So here are some quick reviews of the many performances which I saw, sorry if the details are minor as fetivals like such can be a sensory overload.
SECOND STAGE
ION DISSONANCE (15:30 - 15:50)
It was really cool to check out our locals down there, and it was even more amazing when people were going insane for them. A really intense pit broke out for their set as they blasted through several tracks, and even though I've seen them many times before, their stuff never gets old, as they gave one of the best performances of the fest. The amount of kicks and windmills during "The Death of One Man..." was just incredible. A great start to the day and a sign of things to come.
CATASTROPHIC (16:00 – 16:20)
Second time I've seen these guys in concert, the first was several years ago. I wasn't impressed then, and this time was much worse. There was barely even anybody around to watch their set. I have know idea why they decided to do this comeback/reunion or whatever, but it isn’t working.
THE MINOR TIMES (17:10 – 17:30)
I've been excited to see these guys live since I heard their recent album "Making Enemies". They play a style of technical hardcore which I guess is comparable to Ion Dissonance, but with a more quirky warmer edge to it. Their set was pretty cool, the sound was really thick and intense while still showing a lot of technical skills that translated really well to the live setting.
MAIN STAGE
THE ESOTERIC (15:50 – 16:10)
For a band with members of Coalesce, Today is the Day, and Reggie and the Full Effect they create a sound all their own. In the live setting the mix of hardcore, metal, and alt-rock came off admirably, as they showed much diversity in a festival full of straight up hardcore and metalcore bands. The crowd wasn’t so much into these guys, but lets just chalk that up to playing the big stage early in the day… gotta conserve energy!
PREMONITIONS OF WAR (18:00 – 18:20)
The album they released last year, Left in Kowloon, never really impressed me, so I didn't really know what to expect. I don't know if it was the live setting, or that I didn't spend enough time with that record, but they were really damn good live. With a rather piercing metal sound they rifled through a bunch of tracks, including new stuff. Excellent set that has made me go and dig out their album again.
(20:00 – 20:30)
Now this is a band which just keeps on surprising me. With the release of their previous album Frail Words Collapse they cultivated a huge following with their metalcore style, and constant touring schedule. They played an incredible high energy set barely stopping for a second; playing hit tracks like "94 Hours" as well as new music from the forthcoming Shadows are Security. This set really impressed me as one of the best performances of the festival, and I have no idea why Unearth was headlining over As I Lay Dying as these guys blew literally every other band of the day out of the water. They closed out their set with the crowd favorite "Forever" causing the floor action of windmills and slam dancing to intesify to the wildest I had seen all day. All of us who went for the fest persisted on singing it in the hotel room for the rest of the trip of course.
OBITUARY (21:00 – 22:00)
No matter who I seemed to mention to that I was going to this festival, everyone seemed to flip out when they found out Obituary was playing. I personally have never been a fan of the band, but I was still incredibly excited to see if their performance would initiate the coming apocalypse, as others had described it to me. They took the stage in due time and hammered away for an hour straight with classic death metal that everyone loved, save for the hardcore kids. My main issue with there set though was that I found myself bored at certain moments. Their playing was amazing, sounding like a band who had not missed a beat, but still the energy level was kind of low and I was left slightly disappointed. Maybe headlining their own gig, where I have not been standing on my feet all day, frantically going from stage to stage would make the difference, but I really was not that excited by the end of their performance.
UNEARTH (22:30 – 23:30)
Some people have attributed great things with Unearth, and last time I saw them (many a year ago) their drummer was not allowed pass the border into Canada (he was actually replaced by John from Cephalic Carnage, an interesting performance in and of itself), so I was interested to see the band which had come so far from opening for Shai Hulud to being one of the headliners for one of North America’s biggest festival. And I could not have been more disappointed. The fact of the matter is, I am not such a big Unearth fan, I think in the metalcore style which they play (and arguably helped pioneer) there are many other bands doing more creative and exciting things. That being said, I had no problem with this at the show, but my bigger issue was their onstage antics. Doing beer funnels between songs, playing guitar behind your head, I don’t know how everyone else feels about these kind of antics, but generally I like the music to speak for itself, and I really wasn’t impressed.
HATEBREED (24:00 – 1:00)
If you’ve seen Hatebreed before you know exactly what to expect. A high energy show complete with patented chugging breakdowns, tough guy hardcore talk, and lots of kids throwing kicks and punches... and it totally works! Although I’m never totally blown away by their performance, like usual, it was rock solid from beginning to end. Lots of old school material for the diehard fans, and of course new stuff off The Rise of Brutality. Not much more to elaborate here, can’t expect too much more from a festival headliner.
GARBAGE @ Metropolis
By Ash - Primetime! With Ash and Leeland - 04/24/2005
“Bow down to me!”. When I first heard Garbage, mainstream radio was still in an acceptable state. Their song “I’m Only Happy When It Rains” was, well, pretty much the best song on the radio at that time. On the air alongside Garbage were the Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis, the short-lived Kula Shaker, Bush and a variety of other radio-friendly bands that were just cool enough to make not-so-mischievous teens like myself feel somewhat rebellious. Those days have long since past and we’re now at the mercy of Coldplay, Keane and Interpol to save us from the tasteless disaster that is contemporary radio. While Garbage is not what they were at the time of their self-titled debut or even Version 2.0, they do remain significant. Although I never heard anyone say “Garbage is my favorite band”, they’re still a band that has managed to transcend both cultural and class barriers. Garbage is and has always been a band that falls into both the alternative and pop categories, depending on who one asks. Catchy enough to be mainstream, while very much at home with the marginalists. This was very evident at their April 24th concert at the Metropolis. Here, an enormous mix of people came together to sing along with and in many cases worship Shirley Manson, “supervixen” extraordinaire. While the boys at the concert admired Shirley in an almost masochistic dominatrix manner, the girls, dressed somewhat like her, seemed to be under her spell also, but for reasons I can’t truly comprehend.
Aside from being eye candy, Shirley also sang fantastically. She was right on song after song. I had my doubts prior to the concert, but was soon proved very wrong. Also, being Garbage (originally studio geek Butch Vig’s side project), the sound was great, almost too good. A flaw/quality to note -- depending on how you look at it -- was that each song was played perfectly. While I didn’t mind that each song sounded exactly as it would on CD, others may have desired some variation or creative changes on the part of the band. Still, we have to keep in mind that this is Garbage, not Iron Maiden. Another flaw/quality to note is that the show was for the most part made up of songs from the first two albums. Songs like “Paranoid”, “Push It”, and “I’m Only Happy When it Rains” really got the crowd going, as desired by the band, I suppose. Two songs I really didn’t want to hear were “Queer” and “Stupid Girl”. Still both were played and no one else seemed to mind. Overall, the concert had all the songs one associates with Garbage, a few of the new tracks and no fillers. I would have appreciated hearing “The World is not Enough” or “Milk” but you can’t have everything in life. A true downside to the concert was its length. It was definitely on the short side, especially for a band with enough catchy tunes to play twice as long -- make an effort! The stage itself was as good as it could be for the Metropolis. Cool lighting behind the band -- made up of many small bright dots on the wall -- perfectly complemented the band’s sound and look. There were also four television screens behind them flashing images at the crowd.
Overall, it was a very good concert with no extras. It brought me back to the days when Garbage reigned on the airwaves. Still, while it felt good while I was at the concert, I felt no urge to replay to their CDs once I got home or even to go out and purchase the new album. As a means of entertainment, the concert did not disappoint. However, as a means of promotion, the concert failed to rekindle the Garbage bug I had all those years ago.
[Tune in to Primetime! With Ash & Leeland Thursdays 8pm – 10pm]
HANDSOME BOY MODELING SCHOOL + Rondo Brothers @ Cabaret La Tulipe
By Döc Holidae - Phantastiq Cypha - 04/14/2005
Nathaniel Meriwether says it best: “It’s a handsome thing, you wouldn’t understand”. And it’s true; if you haven’t heard of The Handsome Boy Modeling School, you don’t understand. Chest Rockwell (Prince Paul of De La Soul fame) and Nathaniel Meriwether (Dan The Automator from the Gorillaz) came out in 1999 with So... How’s Your Girl and recently released the follow-up album White People. Both albums use stylish samples and Handsome Boy graduates on numerous tracks. The first single "The World’s Gone Mad" off of White People has Del Tha Funky Homosapien, Barrington Levy and Alex Kapranos (Franz Ferdinand) working together to make a smooth flowing track that’ll have you really thinking the world’s gone mad.
“Handsome is as Handsome does”, proclaimed Chest Rockwell. That’s just one of many lines used by the Chest and Nathaniel at their show on April 14th @ La Tulipe in the east end of Montreal. The opening, The Rondo Brothers, was good but not memorable. Not even the La Tulipe box office can remember them. Somewhat of an R&B meets rock. I listened to them only as I was walking around and meeting members of Handsome Boy Modeling School. I actually had the chance of talking with Prince Paul before the show started. I stood outside with him for 10 minutes before he had to go in and start his set. Handsome Boy weren’t just performers, they’re deejays who never forget that a good show only comes from getting a good vibe and that’s what they got. We gave them our respect and they crowned us 100% handsome. Make sure next time they’re in town, you get the chance to be crowned.
[Tune in to Phantastiq Cypha, winners of CJLO’s Best On-Air Duo or Group, every Friday 9am to 12pm]
ARSENIQ 33 + Floating Widget + Wolfunkind @ Cabaret
By Johnnybot - Turn Down the Suck - 04/29/2005
This show had a bit of an odd bill. While both Arseniq 33 and Floating Widget are very good bands, they are completely different from each other. The contrast was a little too strong and the show suffered from it despite individually good sets.
France’s Wolfunkind were up first. Their sound was a sort of hard-rocking, almost metal, type of funk. While the term funk-metal would lead one to assume that a band sucked, Wolfunkind were actually pretty darn good. They were in complete control of what they were playing and presented it in tight little package. Wolfunkind were exactly the type of band that you’d expect to find opening for Arseniq 33.
Floating Widget, however, isn’t the type of band that fits with Arseniq’s style. This caused a bit of a problem, as the audience, who were there almost entirely there for Arseniq 33, didn’t seem to get it. At one point, I even heard someone explaining to his friend what “this new trend called stoner rock” is. Don’t get me wrong, Floating Widget is an awesome band, but they just didn’t manage to connect with the crowd. Besides that, the only other issue was that the vocals were a bit overpowering in the mix, but otherwise, it was a very good, very rockin’ set. The band played a couple of songs that aren’t on Praises –- it’s always a good thing to hear new material live. The song “I Wanna Be A Robot” was definitely a highlight of the night, as was the intro of “Resurrection”, which was pure desert rock magic.
Unlike just about everyone else present, I was there to see Widget, so there was some temptation to leave early since I was already satisfied. However, Arseniq 33 had just enough appeal to get me to stick around. Oddly, during their set, I had the weird feeling that I didn’t really belong there. I’m only a casual listener of Arseniq 33 and just wasn’t able to feel the enthusiasm that was spewing from all of their fans. I was left thinking: “Yeah, they’re good, but come on guys, they aren’t that good”. I do have to admit though that Arseniq 33 does deliver live. They’re super-energetic, frantic even, and were simply blazing. For example, their cover of “Ace of Spades” put Motörhead to shame; and surprisingly enough, the crowd actually slowed down during that song! For fans, it was an excellent set.
Overall, it was a good show, even if the sum of the parts was greater than the whole, if you know what I mean.
[Tune in to Turn Down The Suck Mondays 1:30pm – 3:00pm]
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