Wow. Elvis Monday is a classic Toronto institution. The night's open-door policy leads to some pretty execrable bands hitting the stage though. Its sheer randomness is part of its charm, but sometimes finding good music takes on lottery-odds proportions.
Our end-of-night slot gave us a fine vantage point for the surreally inclined. Lindi Ortega opened things up, and she was great! Country-inflected honey-suckle pop in a very spare performance. Good stuff. Next up was the very eclectic Allie Hughes. Interesting, jazz-inflected art-rock, kind of like if Tori Amos had studied opera and was given to moments of periodic punk Tourette's.
From there it was a war of attrition as the bands did their best to clear the room. In short order, we ran an indie-art-punk gauntlet from People of Canada to K Controllers to Gangrene and Blue. People of Canada is a one-man oddity featuring Alexander Jarvis Squire chirping tunes about garbage day and getting your prostate checked, while strumming an out-of-tune processed ukulele. Cute and quirky, especially if your desire is to see the closest thing to Tiny Tim we'll have in our lifetime. K Controllers were a raw indie duo in semi Jack and Meg mode, except for a laptop providing programmed beats. They were okay for the four songs they played. Then came Gangrene and Blue (the other pic here). Words cannot do them justice. Picture a half-dozen college boys in the common room of their dorm, banging on bongos, hooting on a recorder, jangling teeth-jarring tuneless guitar chords as their self-appointed Jim Morrison in a Bill Cosby sweater guru mumbled incoherently into a mic. Astonishing - really, check their Myspace for a taste. Adam, the beleaguered sound tech, let the nightmare unspool for three grinding ten-minute dirges before cutting them off at the knees. But the damage was done.
We hauled our gear onstage for the bravest souls who somehow endured that ungodly barrage. We barreled through a tight set, made some new friends, and consoled ourselves that well, I think we're still trying to console ourselves.
You win your fans one at a time, they say. This time it was literal.
1 comment:
Though I tend to refrain from harsh, and public judgment in the name of professionalism, here I shall mince no words and make no apology.
Gangrene and Blue = the musical equivalent of having my urethra used as a sock puppet. They need to quit music IMMEDIATELY, if they haven't already come to their senses and quit since last night.
If they do continue here are my STRONGLY ENDORSED words of advice:
Learn the frigging rules in the rulebook before you try to break them.
If you don't heed this you will forever look like slack jawed Neanderthals, laying waste to all progress made in music in the last 400 years.
Consider it, I implore you.
Post a Comment