LUCIDMEDIA

North by Northeast: Jam Packed Tavern

Written by Sebastian Frye Monday, 11 June 2007 13:18

United Steel Workers of Montreal

A truly hard-working band, this six piece folk/rock/country/blues outfit plays music with little flare and glitter, yet deliver soul that is lacking in most bands today. With only one truly electric instrument, the USWoM created a vibrancy and atmosphere that could be felt in every corner of the Tavern – like the smell of wood chips. With lead singer Gern F, “ex-Trucker, ex-factory worker, ex-field hand, ex-carpenter, ex-dish pig and eventually ex-bartender”, weaving tales of sorrow and happiness with his dark-as-oil growl, the group really nails the alt-country style with class and freshness. It's certainly not “new” music, per-se, but it's reaching farther and farther into the popular music consciousness that it's coming out on the other side seemingly revitalized and re-newed. Live, the USWoM were like a family runaway ghosts from another time; suprisingly original and diverse, the Steel Workers aren't one to miss.

Ohbijou

Indefinately my favourite group of the evening, Ohbijou fulfilled their mission, “...to swell your heart”, with a resounding success. The seven members of this Brandford, Ontario based group equip themselves with cellos, violins, organs, keyboards, glockenspiels, mandolins, and even trumpets to create an enveloping organic music about dark woods, wolves, and tenderness. Knot by knot the music builds and builds but never reaches a definate climax, like a long walk. There was a ritualistic and mystical aspect to Ohbijou that reminded me of a campfire spiritual or song exchange. And after not having played in Toronto for a while, Ohbijou returned triumphantly and made the night one to remember. If there is a group that Toronto can claim as it's Arcade Fire or Broken Social Scene, Ohbijou has the best chance to claim that title.

Sebastian Grainger et Les Montagnes

For a drastic change of pace and intensity, Sebastian Grainger took the stage. One half of the celebrated Death From Above 1979, Sebastian Grainger was more abrasive than he was enjoyable. Immediately the air changed, as if the softness of skin became the sweat, the heat irritating, and the intimacy confining. The group was just too loud in my opinion. Ohbijou broke through certain volumes and it was a little intoxicating, even if slightly painful, but Sebastian Grainger took it to a whole new level – which was un-welcome with this reviewer. It comes with the Indie grab-bag though, some bands find that method which, albeit unique, isn't very appealing. Their sound was a mix of 80's metal, punk, and classic rock. Although catchy and infectous, if the band you want to see ends up damaging your hearing then whats the draw to go and see them? Even if they might be considered Canada's forefront of Indie music, I'm not convinced.

You Say Party! We Say Die!

I've heard alot about this group so it was finally nice to see what the hype was all about. The Vancouver based dance-punk quintet fuses electronic spasms with hyper-speed guitars, gut-churning bass, and slightly niave leftist politics to create a slamming, crashing breed of rock music that is more about moving bodies than anything else. I have the same problem with this group as I did with Sebastian Grainger, they try to overdo the feeling of listening to music instead of try to motivate people to really listen. Live the band's intricate weave of synth and guitar laden music becomes diluted. Though Singer Becky Ninkovic's voice permeated through it all sharply, and with attitude, I found that the music was suffering because of it's intensity – a wide problem in modern popular music. Even if I think the band has it's shortcomings they do bring a really optimistic vibe, especially when they said the coverage by CBC Radio 3 “was the best use of Tax dollars we've got”; waving a banner for Indie music and it's incorporation into popular culture.

What some consider to be a glorious anthem to a new youth or to a new cultural idiom in music is only the next progressive step in musical exploration. That is to say, the emergence of such bands as the above, The White Stripes, The Strokes, The Stills, and Joel Plaskett, for example, are just the logical development within the class of popular music. Indie music will be sucked into the vacuum of cultural leveling and then another form of music equally subversive will emerage. The entire idea of a 'new music' is a rather dry regressive one; what it seems is that musicians can pick and choose from history and look to the future as a product of the past. Unexpected results occur but Indie music isn't the next 'big' thing, it's just the next thing.

What is Indie music mind you? Well, in the words of Louis Armstrong “If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know.”. In other words, find out for yourself.