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"We can resist the banalisation of rock'n'roll. We must resist it. We have a sacred duty to inject magic and danger in to the bloodstream. We cannot let capitalism erode our souls. Music is about spirit, not matter; it's about our emotional lives, not our material status."

- Barney Hoskyns, Fmr. Ed. Mojo Magazine, US

Live Review: Bass Lions and The Monster Show @ Garfield North

Music is about revelation and I find myself unceasingly enamoured. Songs have a preternatural ability to give me belief that what I have bouncing around in my cerebral matter can be found bouncing around in another. It can be intensely intimate and compels me to return for more as I find kindred thought through lyrics, kindred emotion through chords. Music feeds my comforts. I feel swaddled and assured; the opial urge to close my eyes and breath deep.

This weekend, Ontario bands Bass Lions and The Monster Show performed in our living room. My excitement grew in anticipation of the night; the anticipation of once again feeding my habit. A house show is particular though. It amplifies music’s psychic effect as myriad connections collaborate in a more intimate atmosphere; people who may be strange to one another experiencing something intensely personal in a very personal space. It’s like sharing headphones with someone you’re madly in love with but has no idea. Faces close together, expectant, as you’re bathed in the simultaneous sound, unable to turn away as you look for signs of connection. It’s intimate and stripping but strengthens and emboldens our desire.

Photos: Bass Lions @ Garfield North

Comfortably quirky, Bass Lions brought their driven meanderings to our living room... here's what the lens saw. For the full set visit: http://bit.ly/bBCWW5

Photos: The Monster Show @ Garfield North

The mellifluous Monster Show opened the Bass Lions CD release at our house in Hamilton this weekend. Here are some of their best moments captured in light and binary code. For the full set and more photos from the night visit: http://bit.ly/bg1p6Z

Bass Lions / Monster Show Photo Preview

A rainy morning after a beguiling night. Here's a taste of the nearly 1400 shots being edited down from the concert in our living room Saturday...

Library Voices @ The Casbah

Show #65 - September 29, 2010: w. Paper Lions, Bend Sinister, The Social Workers

The Social Workers
I last saw The Social Workers in the winter. When opening for Woodpigeon, I ran down a list of diverse yet connected homages that this once referential Hamilton band drew from; a more refined Social Workers opened this night. Though still showing signs of a desire to be a Nick Cave or National cover band, their set started with creative arrangements that mixed genre, tempos and times with lyrics of loss, and isolation ("I know I fucked up somehow"). The set continued with a brand new track followed by their 'go-to' "End Beauty." "If we were hitting on a girl, we'd play this... but we're not hitting on a girl." It seems that the Social Workers might still be trying to fit too many ideas into each song. Vacillating between  sparse early 2000's rock and sweeping and swelling builds in the instrumentals, the baritone vocals often stay too even keeled to bring the entire audience with them. I like this band though, and as they continue to grow, opening shows for some of the best bands in Canada, they will no doubt continue the refinement.

Bend Sinister
For a lot of people my age, diving into their parents' vinyl collection usually yields some similar finds; Supertramp's Crime of the Century, Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell and Springsteen's Born To Run. With the audacity to go full tilt at the source material, Bend Sinister has cranked up the nostalgia-rock and concocted a unique and singly communicable desire to dance from their influences. With Wurlitzer-sounding keys, a shredding SG, and shuffling drums, Sinister's pop anthems ride a Delorian fuelled razor line between the present and the past. We danced along to the retro-styled "Things Will Get Better," "Jimmy Brown" and "Nice Shot,"a song written just a few nights previous. "We premiered this one in St. Catharines last night - tonight we're going to play it a lot better." This is a 'wow' band.

Paper Lions
Paper Lions recently released their EP, Trophies and have positioned themselves as the next great working class Canadian pop-rock band. The hooks are instantly catchy, the choruses are sing-along choruses, and the young girls love to dance to it.  Their live show fuels the hype by grabbing hold with an unrelenting grasp and shaking you awake. Showmanship layered on musicianship as they played "Hands" with David McDonald at first using only the titular tools to lend the song it's rhythmic spine. "Stranger In My Place" brought a chorus of voices lent gladly by the audience in a happy clap along trance. Covers of "Bohemian Rhapsody" "Salisbury Hill" and "Apache" slyly edged in on the PEI band's material, and drew knowing looks between eager members of the crowd. But for all the gimmickry and stage tricks, Paper Lions still showcase their talent and desire. Listeners close their eyes as reverb-drowned guitars come up for air - they scream and clip above the swelling surf of vocal harmonies and clean Telecaster chords. The songs tell the stories of thousands of kilometres travelled together, finding their way with their hearts, showered in the heat of stage lights, the appreciation of onlookers, and smiling all the while.


Library Voices
After relentlessly touring for the past year, Library Voices have finally taken a much-deserved rest. At the Casbah on this September night though, they were sure to leave everything on the stage before they did so. There's an electric vibration that fills the room at a Library Voices show. Some inexplicable energy conjured by 8 musicians through smiles, sweat, and song that pushes the crowd close to the stage, moves their feet and hands, and urges them to sing along. The short, shotgun-paced set drew mostly from Denim on Denim, their April 2010 release, and having transported the tracks out of the studio, the arrangements have evolved - vocals, keys and horns now trading their lines to each other in moves that only strengthen the impecable pop structures. After the show, I chatted with vocalist/guitarist Carl Johnson about the past year of touring. He beamed about the good vibes from audiences, the thrill of playing the opening slot of Calgary Folk Fest, his moment of intimidation sharing the stage with the likes of Timber Timbre and St. Vincent and the anticipation of writing new material over the winter. With the vinyl release of Denim only recently available after months of artwork issues, fans will have something to tide them over  to the spring. If the new track (perhaps called) "Local Art" played in Hamilton is the direction, Library Voices new music will continue to travel far into fans hearts, riding the resonant waves of adjulation garnered over countless nights in small venues playing their music. "You gotta be who you are each time you play," said Carl. It's the approach you see the band take on stage at every show. No hesitation, no posturing - just smiles through sweat, blowing kisses to each other while dancing along, throwing their heads back and howling in unison about books, love and our ever-impending apocalyptic doom.

Set List
"Bookish"
"Write Me A Myth"
"Haunt This House"
"2012"
"Drinking Games"
"Insider Trading"
"Step Off The Map And Float"
"Bodies of Fiction"
"Hello Cruel World"
"Local Art(?)"
"Kundera On The Dancefloor"
"Crazy Love"

Live Audio: The Wooden Sky "You Ain't Going Nowhere"

Following a glorious night packed snuggly into the Casbah, a handful of fans headed out to the alley off Queen St. N in Hamilton to catch The Wooden Sky's acoustic encore. With onlookers clapping and members of Yukon Blonde, These United States and Fox Jaws singing backups and stopping their feet, the Toronto band belted out this rendition of Dylan's "You Ain't Going Nowhere"



A few photos and a full review of the show will eventually make it up here. But for now, enjoy.