Absolutely Free is the new project of 4 former members of spazzy Toronto indie/art rockers DD/MM/YYYY, a band who Panic Manual writer Mark once describedas “unmusical” and “like 5 drunk fratboys finding your little slice of heaven and puking in it, then on you.” Needless to say, they didn’t make a fan of him that night. I, on the other hand, liked the band when they were around and so when I found out that Absolutely Free were playing a show at Comfort Zone, I of course invited Mark to check it out as well. Kind of like one of those blind taste test things – “What? There’s no way this is instant coffee!!”
So what did the band sound like anyways? Well, they shared the same musical adventurousness and penchant for instrument switching with their former incarnation, but with a much stronger krautrock influence, a smidgen of funkiness, and a whole hell of a lot of echo effects on the vocals. I don’t think it would be out of line at all to describe this thing as a cosmic odyssey. I’ll definitely be checking these guys out again. And what did Mark think? Turns out he liked it.