Tokyo Police Club (Humblemania48, The Ossington, Aug 8/12)

Originally this Humblemania was billed as a Dave Monks set which could have been something to see in its own right and was what I was expecting right up until the introduction. At least it explained the massive amount of people who had turned out at The Ossington and were now cramming themselves in the bedroom-like back room. (Social media had apparently let the cat out of the bag a few hours previous.) Beaming, the boys - Dave, Josh, Greg and Graham Wright- launched into Cheer It On and the crowd yelled out the band's name for it was a real treat to see a festival headliner just up the street on a Wednesday. Despite the heat and tight space people swayed to Nature of the Experiment and clapped along to Citizens of Tomorrow. By this point the set list was feeling pretty familiar and it turned out that it carried on with the Lesson in Crime EP. It was a serious love-in with the band truly enjoying themselves and the Toronto crowd, peppered with recognizable local musicians, pouring it out for the trail blazers.

Following the live EP (clocked at a mere 17 recorded minutes) the band could hardly leave their position and made another offering instead. Dave quipped that it was now time for his solo set and that we should all sit down (where?) and listen quietly (yeah right) and then launched into a rumbling, rock tune that despite its unfamiliarity had people shaking it, coming across akin to Graham's faster solo tracks like Soviet Race. When it was all done people trickled out of that room happy, having witnessed a sweet, little Toronto treat.

Kids & Explosions (Humblemania45, Ossington June 27/12)

Curiously the previous DJs had been running a bunch of songs utilized on the Girl Talk discs and then without any introduction Josh took over. In fact I'm not 100% sure when it occurred but I did take notice when G'n'R's November Rain started to run into a recognizable Kids & Explosions beat ("girl, shit, money, shit"). Sure enough there was the unassuming artist himself behind his unmissable Shit Computer (it says "SHIT" right on the laptop lid boldly in black tape). In addition to the laptop the only other equipment he used was a keyboard. This must have been programmed to somehow be in sync with the set as the keys seemed to take on aspects of the current samples. Much of the set culled from his one and only disc, although there were deviations, both in the cuts of the samples and even in more obvious cases where new songs were utilized. In fact a couple of these were Kanye samples as "can we get much higher" ran over an Arcade Fire track, and later Nicki Minaj's dirty verse from Power was cut up too. He even tossed some Stairway to Heaven in for good measure. Unfortunately there wasn't much recognition for the set although I suppose working from a nearly empty dance floor early in the set to a packed one by the end is recognition enough!

Whaletooth @ Humblemania XLI (Ossington Apr. 25,'12)

"Humblemania XLI" yelled the announcer in his booming wrestling voice. Okay that didn't happen, at least not at this, the forty-first incarnation of Humblemania. What did happen is that a plentiful group of Torontonians packed into the warm, brick back room of The Ossington to watch a performance. Whaletooth were the night's entertainment, performing a selection of their own songs, mostly from their forthcoming release, in addition to a couple covers. These were a mid-set rendition of Chad VanGaalen's Willow Tree which was quite sweet with the female vocals, followed immediately by an intentional singalong to The Beatles' With a Little Help From My Friends. The leading lady had as much energy bopping up and down throughout these as she did for their originals. Flanked by three guys on guitar and bass the band was rounded out by a very bearded timekeeper on drums behind her. The final number was catchiest and left a lingering good feeling. (Though that may have been sleepiness too as I was too tired to stay for the music video premiere.)