Women, Nü Sensae, Kidnapping, etc. @ W.I.S.E. Hall

Oh what a good show. Calgary's Women came back through town to play out in Strathcona, and they were rad. Bridging the gap between sunny psychedelia and fuzzy noise sounds the band played a rushed set only to be called back on stage for an encore after they tried to end on time so the venue could close. (awful nice of the organizers to let them play an extra song though it would have been better if they'd just had more time to play ie. less openers). Women put out a great album last year and their live performance does not disappoint. They balance their performance well with pleasant sounding guitar riffs and little hooks that throw you off balance but still manage to rattle around in your skull. If you missed them, you missed out.

Nü Sensae was a good opener. This duo smacks people in the face with their sound, but they do it so well it's a positive experience. Andrea Lukic's voice is well suited for the ominous screaming and barking she uses to punctuate their songs. Andrea's vocals blast out overtop of her fuzzy bass playing and Daniel Pitout's heavy frenetic drumming. They were wearing that stuff football players wear under their eyes to prevent glare, with the lights that always shine directly onto a stage I'm more surprised that more musicians haven't thought of doing this than that Nü Sensae decided to. (I'm going to insert a shameless plug now. Nü Sensae are playing May 6 for Discorder at the Astoria)

Kidnapping was... ok. The lead singer's voice ruined it for me. Why is it so often the vocals that makes or breaks something? [/rhetoricals] I'm told it was Sean Orr singing, which if that is the case I like it when he sings in front of Taxes, but not this. If they had a different singer or no singer I think I would have enjoyed this. If you click their myspace link above you can hear what they sound like sans vocals.

Some other bands played before this, but I did not see them.

Photo of Women courtesy of Steve Louie.

Nihilist Party, Fine Mist, London Drugs and gr8-2000 @ Little Mountain Studios

So this show at Little Mountain Studios last night was sparsely attended, probably because there were three other good shows going on last night. Still for those who made it the event was well received.

gr8-2000 (a.k.a. Tom Whalen) organized the event with Nihilist Party (a.k.a that guy named Scott with dreads whose at lots of shows). He plays high-energy electro music, heavy on synth noises with a solid beat, on his laptop while singing with his distorted vocals running through an FX pedal. The energy of his music doesn't just come from the noisy, while simultaneously dancey stuff, Tom composes, but also from his performance. Despite the fact that there were only about 15 people there early enough to see him Tom he gave it. Unfortunately his back was to the audience the whole time, which is always a bit annoying. On a side note I'm pleased to announce that gr8-2000 will be playing with Nü Sensae and Petroleum By-Products at the Astoria on May 6 for Discorder. Tell your friends!

London Drugs (who I can't find a link for) played second and I was very pleasantly surprised. They were described to me as "dueling Gameboys," which is an accurate description. When I was told this though I expected them to sound really gimmicky heavy on the retro Gameboy noises, but this was not the case. You couldn't even tell that this pair of young guys were making their music on a pair of Nintendo Gameboy DSs until someone brought out a table for them so they could play facing the audience. I had discussed the theory of the DS as an instrument between friends at length and seeing someone actually take a Gameboy and make fun dance music on it was really cool.

Fine Mist came on and despite Megan McDonald's complaint of suffering from a cold they were in fine form. Pretty '80s synth pop, it doesn't really sound very modern, but it does sound good. By this time the majority of people had showed up and the room felt full enough for people to start dancing. I've seen Megan and Jay Arner play on numerous occasions, and I'm glad to see they've got a bit of a following going. They played some new stuff, which sounded quite good and spiced up the list of now familiar songs like "I Can't Stand It," "In the Moonlight" and the one about meeting in the middle.

Closing the night out was Nihilist Party. I hadn't seen him play before, but he has a similiar style to gr8-2000. He plays beats off an iPod, while singing... really weird lyrics. He only played a couple songs so the event could end on time. I didn't really form a complete opinion of his stuff in that short time, but I'd see it again. Dude has a rad jacket decorated with googly eyes.

Afterwords I went to the upstairs of the Biltmore for karaoke and was surprised to find the place busy. I bring this up because some musicians from the other shows had all met up here and the guy from Vincat was an awesome karaoke performer. I will try to see them play not karaoke in the future.

None of my photographer friends came out last night so I'm using an old image. This is an old picture of Fine Mist playing at La Casa Del Artista. They were wearing the exact same clothing last night. Courtesy of Steve Louie.

Skinny Monday: No Gold, Azeda Booth and Search Parties at the Biltmore

I love No Gold. I have a problem when I'm seeing them, though. I always get drunk and forget to take notes even though I know I'm planning on writing about it.

Anyhow No Gold headlined at Skinny Mondays at the Biltmore. The three-piece is always rad live. I've never seen them and not enjoyed myself even though their sound is a little loose. I'm told one of their bigger influences is Fela Kuti and it shows in the polyrhythmic jammy stuff they put out on the bass, guitar and drums set-up they have. Their music is a sunny day. I'd love to see them outside on a warm night at some point which I think would be the perfect venue for them. I spoke to Liam Butler (bass/vocals) after the set and they apparently have a 7" and an album in the works for release before the end of the summer.

Azeda Booth from Calgary played second. I was disappointed and annoyed. They reminded me of Why? musically, but without the talented frontman Yoni Wolf. So bad Why?. They had an IDM/trip-pop sound with a vocalist whose high voice and stage presence grated on my nerves.

What I was very pleasantly surprised by was Search Parties who I've seen a couple times before, but this night they were playing entirely new material and it was all great. The group seems bigger (both in members and musically) every time I see them, I think they've reached six members not counting the young ladies they had painting in front of their stage as part of the performance. Harlan Shore, the young front man for the band, seems constantly busy (he organizes Dancing in our Debt and the band seems to play constant shows). He was displaying a punk vocal style that hadn't showcased as well in previous more acoustic appearances. The kid can sing, but he can also scream with the best of them. Their new music was well-written with a feeling of epic grandiosity that reminded me of the stars of post-rock or U2. That sounds pretentious, but I don't mean their music sounded pretentious, just that it sounded... important. (I sound pretentious writing phrases like that.)

Search Parties are keeping busy playing shows on April 11, 17, 24 and May 2. Check their Myspace for details. No Gold are playing on April 16 and May 2. (details)

Photo of Harlan Shore from Search Parties courtesy of and by Steve Louie.