Category Archives: February 2009

Mint Xmas

December 5 @ Cambrian Hall

Review By Gerald Deo

Mint Records decked out the Cambrian Hall with lights, tinsel and one delightful spread of appetizers to welcome us all to the second night of their Ridiculously Early Xmas Party. Combine the above with copious amounts of Giant Pocky (which lives up to its name) and the crowd was set for the best ridiculously early Xmas they’d ever seen, courtesy of the fine bands of this fine homegrown label.

Sadly, I missed Vancougar, so the first band I caught was Bella. They did a great job getting the crowd moving with exuberant synth pop and a couple of lineup switches. After one of several power outages, the Awkward Stage rocked the stage, and completely did not live up to their name. Their delightful indie rock and witty lyricism filled up the Cambrian, and a stunning rendition of “Heaven Is for Easy Girls” had the crowd clamouring for more. Young & Sexy was up next, with a far noisier sound than I remembered, with such tracks as “Turn on Your Weakness” moving from a delicate waltz to a feedback-laden rock song.

Edmonton’s Hot Panda took the stage after a short break, and stole the show. Combining deft lyricism and tight musicianship with starry-eyed charm, the out-of-towners took the crowd by surprise, and the news of an upcoming album only left us wanting more. The Ramblin’ Ambassadors’ first act once getting onstage was to get everyone in the audience to take one big step forward, all the better to hear their spaghetti western surf rock. Novillero launched into a cover of the Peanuts theme song and didn’t let up, closing out the night with a strong set.

As Novillero finished up their last song, the lights came up but the crowd kept wanting an encore that the venue’s curfew just couldn’t allow. The crowd exited into a rainy December night, ready to face weeks of stodgy fruitcakes and dull seasonal music, buoyed by the memories of an Xmas party worth revisiting.

Little Joy

December 12 @ The Plaza

Review By Gord McCullough

Before Little Joy hit the stage at the Plaza, I overheard a young lady swoon, “I can’t wait to see Fab [Moretti]! He is so hot—way hotter now without Drew [Barrymore].” I suspect that was one of the main reasons people were at the show—Stroke sighting. This claim was strengthened by the gaggle of dudes who turned up with their leather jackets and tight pants who were reliving their first foray into hipsterdom in 2001 when that too-cool-for-school five-piece saved rock ’n’ roll. I am one of those dudes so I should sound less sardonic (plus Fab is way hotter since he and Drew split).

But enough about the Strokes—the night was about Little Joy. I was compelled to attend this show primarily because I think their self-titled album is one of the strongest of 2008. With each song sounding like a cover of a touchstone classic song from the late ’50s/early ’60s, it was a record that I couldn’t stop playing over and over again. Indeed, a time-cramped early show at the Plaza was not an ideal setting for a band that I want to play my dream beach wedding, but in their 45 minute set, they managed to keep people’s feet tapping.

One of the finer moments of the show was the Binki Shapiro-led tune “Unattainable,” which brought focus to the relatively unknown singer’s coo (which sounds like Alma Cogan, if Alma Cogan was a cigarette smoked by Bridget Fonda’s character in Jackie Brown). “Brand New Start” and “Keep me in Mind” were strong numbers in the succinct set, the former being one of the finer songs of last year, and with the latter’s Rodrigo Amarante vocals sounding alarmingly Casablancas-like. But enough about the Strokes.

Hooliganship

December 15 @ Pacific Cinémathèque

Review By Dan Fumano

Pacific Cinémathèque, home of Vancouver’s most thoughtful program of art-house, foreign and experimental cinema, played host to a rare night of live musical performance this winter. Hooliganship, a Portland-based “multimedia dance duo,” performed in the theatre for the last night of the “Cartune Xprez 2008 AMRCAN Fall Tour,” a collection of short animated videos that, according to the website, celebrates “the wilderness of imagination through motion pictures.” After Hooliganship’s Peter Burr introduced himself and his partner Christopher Doulgeris, the duo performed in the front of the theatre and made use of a specially constructed stage set-up that included a stairway, allowing a bass-playing Burr to walk up in front of the screen while interacting with the fantastic animated scenes unfolding behind him. Doulgeris, meanwhile, mostly stayed put down on the floor in front of stage left, but he was no less animated, jumping and dancing around behind his keyboards, and busting out some high kicks as he belted out a few notes on the recorder.

As a strange narrative about a journey involving scary giants and tons of garbage carried out behind them, both Burr and Doulgeris brought an infectious enthusiasm to their performance, which combined video game synths with angular post-punk guitars.

After Hooliganship finished, they showed a program of 11 short animated features from different directors, which ranged from “Wow, how did they think of that?” to “Oh man, why am I watching this?” Highlights included Muto, a visually entrancing animation unfolding in graffiti on the walls of Buenos Aires and Baden, Germany, from the Italian artist known as Blu, and Adventure Land Fun Balloon from Vancouver’s Crystalbeard (who was in attendance that night), which combined the grotesquely cute with the cutely grotesque and featured music by Chad VanGaalen.

The event was presented as part of DIM, a monthly night of avant-garde cinema, intended in part to help fill the void in the local scene left by the closure of the Blinding Light Cinema. DIM takes place the third Monday of every month at Pacific Cinémathèque. Check out www.dimcinema.ca for upcoming shows and events.

Monotonix, Twin Crystals, Gang Violence

December 29 @ Biltmore Cabaret

Review By Colin Throness

The slippery conditions of the black-icy streets down to the Biltmore were appropriate: two very promising local bands were slotted to warm up the stage for what was hailed as a live act that never failed to turn a venue upside down—Tel Aviv rockers Monotonix.

With Twin Crystals’ live performance certainly living up to the hype and Gang Violence’s meeting all satisfaction, the stage was set and the Biltmore Cabaret was abuzz. But Monotonix never actually took the stage that night. Instead they set up in the middle of the dance floor and let the audience gravitate around. Though gravity had nothing on these three: the mayhem we’d all been anxious for was upon us—literally. Front-man Ami Shalev, clad in little more than a speedo, spent most of the show hanging from the ceiling or surfing the crowd. I’m certain everyone in the bar helped pass this little man along at one point or another. Even the drum kit was hoisted several times, with a seated Haggai Fershtman hovering nearby and doing his best not to crush the brave audience members underfoot. Bassist Yonaton Gat took a few turns too, but for the most part did well to stay put and keep the garage-y guitar chords pumping during the inevitable periods of unplugged mics and scattered drum equipment.

“We’re all about having fun,” Shalev told me as he crazy-glued a beat-up drum kit after the show—always a good sign of a great live rock show. You could say he achieved that, if ceiling climbing and crowd surfing in nothing more than a speedo while belting at the top of your lungs is somewhere in your definition of fun. I had to shake this man’s hand. Yes, that’s right, I too touched Ami Shalev that night, but not in the bathing suit area.

The VPD, Sex Negatives, White Owl, No Gold

January 10 @ Emergency Room

Review By Mark Richardson and Jordie Yow

On a night that would prove to mark the ER’s ultimate end, it was rather fitting that No Gold too played a set advertised as their last. Yet for Vancouver’s answer to Vampire Weekend, it turned out this wasn’t the case. Later on, the band announced on their website that their rumoured breakup had been a ruse to get people dancing — a move that worked in spades, as the news of No Gold’s demise got the crowd more than just a little moving to the group’s Fela Kuti beats within an already bustling ER. You could argue it was their energetic set that got the job done, but in the end you couldn’t argue with results.
White Owl may not be a staple in the ER scene, but they’ve practised in the space for most of its brief history and even played the odd show there. The four-piece, fresh off recording an album with Greg Ashley of Gris Gris infamy, played a loud and mesmerizing set. Their unique brand of Spacemen 3 funnelled through the melodic-yet-pummeling edge of early ‘90s post-hardcore eventually won over the crowd, many of whom had probably not seen or heard of them before—something that’s hopefully about to change.

Sex Negatives followed with one of the best sets they’ve ever played, which is saying a lot because the band seem to be playing more shows with each ensuing month. They eschewed their tendency for long, tense build-ups and instead played short messes of jagged skronk, which quickly erupted into furies of assaultive punk uppercuts, causing the crowd to bubble over in excitement. The trio instinctively knew that the jig was soon to be up and that this was their chance to help tear the ER down.

Well, they guessed correctly. Within minutes of Sex Negatives finishing their set, and with Nü Sensae about to hit the stage, the police finally showed up, demanding the place be shut down. The trusty ER DJs quickly responded with the Dicks punk anthem, “Hate the Police.” The cops finally shutting down an ER show in mid-swing was a sad but somewhat fitting end to the illegal venue. But if the police think that this is end of alternative venues in Vancouver, I have to say, “Not in my city.”

Falcao and Monashee, Fine Mist

January 15 @ Pat’s Pub

Review By Stacy Thomas

You know how you get a bunch of kids together these days, and it’s impossible to get them to move, or do anything? This show was not like that. Fine Mist were amazing. The members, Jay Arner and Megan McDonald appear to be a couple, and once were, but are no longer involved beyond their musical partnership. They emitted a ‘70s version of futuristic sound as they sang sweet melodies to each other. The spacey, dreamy, dancey synthesizer sounds got everybody moving. Fine Mist’s female half was entrancing. I could write an entire article about her teal vintage dress.

The next set was from Falcao and Monashee, a two person band from Nelson. A furry man played the drums while his girlfriend rocked out on a selection of folky instruments, creating an epic, gothy sound which brought to mind the Cure or Joy Division. A complete surprise. They told me their songs are meant to be uplifting messages of positivity in the world, but I found myself thinking about the end of man and the wars of the Romans as I listened to them play.

I should mention the first act, which I missed. But it elicited some real life gushing from a real live cute girl, who described Chris-A-Rific and Alison Therriault’s show as “a tidal wave of love.” She said that. She really did.

that magazine from CiTR 101.9fm

September 2010

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