Toronto – Memory Tapes have been classified by some as chillwave, but what the hell does that even mean? It’s not like I’m being wilfully ignorant here – I’ve listened to a few of the bands that have been categorized as such and I’m certainly able to look up the Wikipedia entry on chillwave if in need of further clarification. It’s just that it really seems like a somewhat meaningless and arbitrary genre classification. It’s a problem with a lot of more recently created genres. Another example is witch house. What kind of crappy name for a music genre is that? If it actually sounded like old hags with pointy noses and broomsticks making booming house music, maybe I could get behind it, but from what I’ve heard (which is admittedly very little) it really doesn’t, but I guess people need a name for stuff so it sticks. I guess it’s been going on ever since people started marketing music to an audience.
And another thing – Memory Tapes’ music isn’t all that “chill” to begin with. The New Jersey based band (and yes, it was a band – Dayve Hawks brought along a rhythm section for this show) is actually fairly upbeat at times. But what do I know? One thing is for sure at least – regardless of genre classification, Memory Tapes make some pretty damn catchy music. They’re not the most exciting live, but they did get they crowd moving a bit, albeit mildy. I will admit that at about the halfway point in their set, I had kind of had enough, but that may be as much my fault as theirs as I had been out the previous four nights and was feeling kind of tired. Maybe I should get more sleep. Or maybe if they hadn’t been so “chillwave,” I’d have been more into it. Regardless, it was a pretty good night of music, no matter what you call it.