For those of you outside of Toronto, this weekend has been the Canadian Music Week festival. From Wednesday to Sunday 700 artists performed at various venues throughout the city. Due to my record store connections, I managed to score a free wristband and managed to check out a few shows. What a mixed bag it was.
First up was Ghostkeeper on Thursday night. These guys are awesome, blending psychedelic music with folk-pop in such a way that keeps you on your toes as a listener, and on your feet as a dancer. Shane Ghostkeeper (yes that's his real name) is the brains behind the outfit, and you can here a variety of influences in his voice, from Dylan and Neil Young, to First Nations chanting. These guys are currently on tour across Canada and I urge you to check them out.
I didn't catch the name of the band that played after Ghostkeeper at the Bread and Circus, but four words will suffice: one Nickelback is enough.
On Friday night I checked out Winter Gloves and the Russian Futurists at Lee's Palace. The former blew me away. A perfect synth-pop sound with enough guitar in the mix to give it some edge. They had 5 synths on stage, and that also helped win me over with all members trading duties between guitars/bass/synths and glockenspiel. They impressed me so much that even though I'd get a discount from my shop, I spent $20 right there to grab the record.
The Russian Futurists weren't quite as good. They still had the synth-pop sound, but the reliance on backing tracks and the lack of charisma on stage really killed it for me. As someone who uses a looper, it may seem hypocritical to criticize the use of backing tracks, but for me, playing a recording of something that was played at home (as opposed to live looping where the part is played in front of the audience) leaves me a bit cold. I mean why not just get another member to play those synth pad parts? It just seems lazy to me. The lead singer had about as much charisma as a squished grape, just standing there stoically. Maybe that's part of the schtick, some comment on Soviet-era emotion, but I just didn't get it. The music is enjoyable, but skip the live show if you have better options.
Tonight I'm going to check out Real Estate. I'll let you know how it goes.
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