Toronto – “This song is dedicated to you! It’s called The Outsider” jokes Antoine Hilaire halfway through the Jamaica show on Tuesday. The dedication was to an older, balder gentleman who in his enthusiasm for the show, decided to dance on the stage for a few songs, much to equal parts amusement and annoyance of the crowd. The dancing ended when someone in the crowd yelled “Get rid of the old man!” followed by Antoine’s dedication. It was a rather fun moment, which punctuates exactly what a Jamaica show is about: fun.
A two piece band from Paris, Jamaica took the stage shortly after midnight accompanied by a drummer and delivered an hour full of guitar driven indie pop with a dose of humor on the side. From what I have heard, the band had previously sold out the Wrongbar earlier this year but I guess the freezing April weather and midnight midweek start time had people second guessing their decisions to come out. Still, the band was in great spirits on stage as they alternated between hilarious stage banter and playing tracks off their debut record No Problem which came out stateside last week. Having briefly listened to No Problem, I had imagined their tracks to have some sort of electro element to them, maybe some synths here or there. Much to my surprise and delight, the band was purely a guitar driven outfit with the duo delivering a steady dose of hook filled tracks. Tracks such as Short and Entertaining and lead single I Think I Like U 2 are extremely catchy and will draw lazy comparisons to other French pop bands such as Phoenix and Tahiti 80. It all just sounds so effortlessly cool. It’s hard to explain.
Midnight starts on a midweek shows are usually hard to justified (maybe I’m old), but Jamaica more then made up for this with catchy music and some rather hilarious moments at the Drake on Tuesday. Go check them out if they are in your town.
April 21 Chicago, Ill. Schuba’s
April 22 Minneapolis, Minn. 7th Street Entry
April 23 Los Angeles. Calif. Echoplex
April 26 San Francisco, Calif. The Independent
April 28 Portland, Ore. Mississippi Studios
April 29 Seattle, Wash Neumo’s
April 30 Vancouver, BC Fortune.
Jamaica – Short and entertaining by Radio Francos