Pat Lepoidevin does Tranzac again (Oct 23, 2011)

Twas a small but captive audience at the Tranzac Friday to take in the Pat Lepodevin set. He opened with Fire, and a few other slightly louder songs from Highway Houses in an attempt to compete with the sound bleed from the rock show in the next room. As endearingly modest as ever he bantered about things including his mother's pastimes (she did the album art for the latest LP), a fan story about mixing up Ringo the Rat for Moonwolf Departure at a wedding (then playing both) and repeatedly apologized for forgetting his capo. It was barely noticeable and not necessarily detrimental. 97 was great again, although the standout was You Know Your War. Possibly the most exciting thing about this show is the promise of what is to come. From a forthcoming project, where Pat writes songs inspired by a friend's stories, was a densely layered and really enjoyable new song. It seems that this change of approach is really going to benefit all of us. Highway Houses wasn't played like last time, but instead one of his personal favourites, Last Winter, closed the second and final set. Great to see him again before the moonwolf departs for Korea for a year - all the while the anticipation for that new project will build.

Paper Lions reside in the Supermarket (Sept 14/11)

My third run-in with the pack of Paper Lions this summer and a few notes on how this encounter differed from the others. For starters the first couple occurred outdoors whereas this was confined to a Supermarket in Kensington. This setting allowed them to show how well they hunt as a pack - their harmonies really standing out. Furthermore they are not scaredy-cats when surrounded, as evidenced by their fully acoustic song when they took one guitar and their vocal cords to the centre of the audience mid set to delight (once they got the sound guy to kill the house music he'd flipped on). They aren't one-trick kitties either, as they left their Peter Gabriel cover out in favour of a Fine Young Cannibals jam (in honour of the Dwayne Gretzky cover band they were sharing the stage with). Possibly the most exciting factor was the new material they debuted here. The tried and true keys of Trouble still sounded sweet but the new Sandcastles and especially new closer, Parent's Talk, were fine additions.

Said the Whale, Sarah Lowe (Mod Club, Sept 8 '11)

Said the Whale had a darn near full house for their Mod Club gig and looked pretty happy about it. The dual lead male vocals are a huge advantage for the 5 piece, and their female keyboardist rounds them out nicely. Hopefully not a smug reflection on Toronto from this Vancouver band, they opened with This City's a Mess before a non-album cut in Love is Art. Actually there would prove to be a great deal of unfamiliar songs played as they debuted a large number of new songs from an as-yet unreleased album. (From my perspective, having never seen them before, I would argue a few too many bumping my favourite Out on the Shield.) The new stuff sounded decent, with some clap-alongs and sing-alongs (if only for repetition). However there was a standout from the bearded and chapeau-ed singer, whom I prefer, in the very uniquely paced Hurricane Aida. Otherwise it was great to hear Camillo, and dance to The Light is You. They also did the quieter Holly, Ontario, Black Day in December, Emerald Lake, AB, and False Creek Change amongst others. In finale was the appropriate Goodnight Moon that starts slow and sweet but saw the backing crew from Hollerado crash the stage for the closing clashes.

For their encore they asked to play two new songs and who were we to say no? Following these we were asked to stay real quiet for a somewhat uncommon live version of Curse of the Currents. It is quite the song and even though the rumble from the downstairs club was impossible to fully ignore it still carried great weight and was a stirring ending to a complete show.

Rah Rah did a helluva job opening too.

Sarah Lowe opened with just herself and a piano (okay, keyboard tuned to piano). You have to cut her slack for not hauling a piano from Manchester, and the Toronto crowd, as we're apt to do, did do just that and welcomed her warmly. The show was somewhat lackluster as the majority of solo performances are, and it didn't help that she kept telling us to imagine the six musicians that normally fill it out. Despite this her voice is rather lovely and the songs nice enough.

Rah Rah smash The Mod Club (Sept. 8 '11)

Rah Rah have been a delight every time I've seen them so I was excited to discover they were warming up the Said the Whale crowd. Off the top the sextet got The Betrayal Pt. 1 out of the way with the most fun a betrayal ever has. The arrangement saw women on drums, keys and accordion/violin, while the guys were more traditionally posted on a couple electric guitars and a bass. This wasn't to last much beyond Henry and Tentacles though. Following the drumming-on-the-speaker slow-down of Beaches the rotation began; bass to drums to keys to bass. The drummer-turned-keyboardist with the large quaff of hair also picked up vocal duties on the tired/sleep lyrics of Salty Cities that approached proggy territory on the outro. Another song with a strong ending came next in Duet for Emmylou before the keyboardist returned to her original post and added vocals to My Guarantee, while the multi-talented drummer now slipped a bass over her shoulder. It didn't end there either, for those of you keeping score at home the female violin player then took the keys and lead vocals for What About Love while the the key lady grabbed keys of a different sort - synths. Next was a slightly odd interlude where the dude on drums led a call and response about all the bands playing that night (I say - you say) followed by Ghosts. More swapping saw the lineup close to the same as off the top but with the lead male vocalist doing a turn on bass. It worked for Arrows, which prominently featured the violin in a great way. All of this to say the band is dynamic.
To add to this they tossed massive R A H balloons into the crowd to be batted around under a blast of confetti (something to do with Hollerado in the crowd?). There was a joyful feeling as they carried on with an instrumental intro to Breaking Hearts then stormed through Cuba/Peru in finale. It was a smash just like the pinata they destroyed during it. The band is so upbeat, so multi-talented and so much fun! Every time I see them is a joyful experience.

Bruce Peninsula, Jennifer Castle - Lower Ossington Theatre - Summerworks (Aug 11, 2011)

Whereas the last show was a reemergence for Bruce Peninsula, this was a refresh, since for the majority of the show the band played new music from their forthcoming October release. Only bookending the set with classic BP standards. Amongst the couple off the top was Steamroller before the nine piece got into new material that they likened to baking all night (put the ingredients together and hope something tasty comes out). Well the ingredients remain the same, four guys on guitar/slide guitar, bass, drums plus a choir of ladies creating glorious harmonies and occasionally contributing shakers, tambo and even banjo. In Your Light was upbeat in Bruce's typical fashion. As Long As I Live was drum heavy and it worked. Pull Me Under has been showcased live before (likely at The Rivoli), as had the shouting chorus to Say Yeah. A change of pace was provided by Or So I Dreamed (not Unforgiven for Metallica reasons as they explained) that opened with slide guitar and had only female vocals. Open Flames was different too as it was a slightly quieter 'power ballad'. The final new track featured a fantastic five piece female vocal harmony but I missed the title (S something). To polish up the set the old reliable Crabapples rocked the somewhat reserved L.O.T crowd, and the lead singer tried to change that up by rocking right into the crowd. Even the encore mixed in the recently released Salesman before the solid one-two punch of Second-Fourth World War into Satisfied. Leaning heavily on new material, and being in a less-than-party space the crowd energy was slightly lacking for the show but the band was into it and the preview of the album creates even more anticipation.

Jennifer Castle sat in her shiny shirt and quietly picked her electric guitar for a captive audience. Her dynamic voice has that country tinge, akin to $100 vocals, and they really were the saving grace to a somewhat monotonous set. They were ever-so-prominently featured when she did an entire song a cappella in the otherwise silent space - confidence! She did pick up the pace slightly to strum Powers too. She definitely has the voice to pull it off.

Common Grackle - Hillside Sunday 2011

Gregory Pepper seems to be a hugely creative man and Common Grackle is his latest output source. Joined by fellow Guelph musicians all decked out in white (tops and bottoms) they put on a very enjoyable set for a small but warmly welcoming Sunday night Lake stage tent. Mike Brooks played guitar and slide guitar while also providing some seriously solid backing vocals. With only the one album (I know of) of released material they obviously covered a lot of Great Depression territory including All the Pawns, Down with the Ship and At the Grindcore Show. A really fast rendition was a playful way to perform Safe Word Play. Gregory and co. are deserving of Much greater notoriety than they have and I truly hope that their work pays off so we can all continue to enjoy the fruits of their imaginations for years to come.

Shad - Hillside Sunday 2011

Another Shad review? This guy must follow him around or something. Yes, and for good reason. From now classic, Compromise, through to The Old Prince Still Lives At Home, Shad had the Sunday afternoon crowd in his pocket (if his pocket were a tent with picnic benches suitable for cheering on). Fleshed out band obviously still had DJ TLo and Adam on bass but also expanded with a drummer and guitarist (in addition to when Shad grabbed his). Once again Lisa Lobsinger accompanied on Rose Garden which is always a delight, and I'm still not sick of Rock to It or Good Name. Glad to see the banger Me, Myself and I is now a part of the live show too cuz it brings the energy. Far as I'm concerned Shad can play every Hillside (but keep him on the Island stage where he acknowledged he belongs.)