el mocambo

Concert Review: Fyfe Dangerfield, May 23rd, El Mocambo

Posted on May 25, 2010 by Allison in Concerts, Music | 1 Comment

Dear Toronto Concert-goers,

I’ve had it with you. What’s more, I don’t understand you. As a city of music appreciators where pretty much everything sells well, you would think bothering to show up would mean bothering to pay attention (or at the very least, pretending to). But Sunday night you proved to me that no matter how earnest a performer may be and no matter how many instruments he may juggle, it isn’t enough to compete with an audience who thinks that they’re on the set of a talk show.

Alright, to be fair, Sunday night was the series finale of LOST, a show I have never followed but have never heard more rabble from my peer group. Bearing this in mind, I wasn’t expecting the turnout that showed. Unfortunate name aside, Fyfe Dangerfield (better known as the former front man from the Guillemots) put on a very decent show and filled the room more than a lot of acts could’ve.

Couple of oddities about this show: it was partially seated – something I have never seen before at any General Admission show (random tables and chairs were littered around the general stage perimeter); it contained more photo taking than any other show I have been to (mostly by a group of women in front of me, who seemed to think Mr. Dangerfield was Robert Pattinson at a teenage fanfest). To be honest with you, I can understand the appeal. He’s got a bumbling sort of non-threatening charm that the young Hugh Grant had prior to soliciting prostitutes, and seems like the harmless sort of guy who would carry a pocket watch in his vest.

Fly Yellow Moon is Fyfe’s solo album, and a decent one at that. He wasn’t shy about playing the best known Guillemots songs (Trains to Brazil, Made Up Lovesong #43), he wasn’t shy about playing multiple covers, he wasn’t shy about talking to the audience, and he certainly wasn’ t shy about playing about a million instruments simultaneously. And herein lies my main complaint: while there is no question that Fyfe is a talented pianist, guitarist, bassist, percussionist, and certainly vocalist, it’s just better to have the back-up instead of (as our friend Danny Taylor of Zaza says) “dancing around like a clown onstage“. There were a couple of people on strings who joined him onstage a couple of songs in, and the drummer of the opening act ran in to help him out spontaneously a couple of times (which brought a much needed energy to the show). Watching him play a sample, record a sample, and layer it into a song in front of us was impressive, but when I go to a show I’m not really going to see a spectacle. I’m going to appreciate the music.

Couple of takeaways about this show: Having the experience of hearing live instruments played live in front of you is integral to the non-electronic music experience; I will never, ever understand why anyone who wants to talk loudly would stand anywhere near the stage.

Fyfe Dangerfield – She Needs Me by Royalty Central

CMW Review: Handsome Furs, Mar 12, El Mocambo

Posted on March 14, 2010 by Mark in Canadian Music Week, Concerts | 4 Comments

Handsome_Furs_El_Mocambo_March_12_2010

Toronto – As we’ve mentioned before, at music festivals like CMW, it’s likely that you’ll only catch parts of certain sets. Especially if you are busy hopping from venue to venue. For the first time in 28 years, CMW was completely sold out this year. As the festival has grown, the fans have become more plentiful. Sold out shows have made venue-hopping increasingly difficult. Throughout the week I’ve ran into a number of frustrated fans who were unable to see the bands they wanted because of lineups and capacity crowds. Unfortunately it seems like CMW has become a victim of its own success, despite the cold and wet weather thrown our way.

But CMW is about discovering and enjoying Canadian talent, so let’s get to the music. It’s not entirely fair that I cover the Handsome Furs show last Friday at the El Mocambo because I only caught the last 20 minutes of it. Not surprisingly, it was a much hyped and very sold out show. However, it was such an amazing experience that it deserves mention. Montreal-based Handsome Furs consists of guitarist singer Dan Coeckner (from Wolf Parade) and his wife Alexei Perry. They play a supremely charged and intense electro indie rock that is insanely infectious.

Since it was the last night of the show, they got the opportunity to perform a festival rarity by playing an encore. It was the most intensely charged 20 minutes of music I heard at CMW this year; I will be jumping at the opportunity to see them live again.

CMW March 12: Sirius Satellite Showcase, El Mocambo

Posted on March 15, 2009 by guestwriter in Canadian Music Week, Concerts | 3 Comments

Toronto – Canadian Music week is in full swing in the heart of the city this weekend. Although sparse in the early part of the evening, the Elmo soon filled up on Thursday night for a French Canadian extravaganza hosted by Sirius Satellite Radio.

Duchess Says

Duchess Says

We arrived in the midst of the cacophony of Duchess Says, where singer Annie-Claude was serenading the crowd with her unique brand of intense scream-singing metal and dance punk. Thankfully the set was a mix of anger metal and dance-punk, which was a much more head-boppably well received. Extra points for her stage presence, but this girl is one crazy version of Peaches. Instead of hurling obscenities, she spits a melange of beer and gum.

This girl is one crazy version of Peaches. Instead of hurling osbcenities, she spits a melange of beer and gum.

Extra points for her over-the-top stage presence. At one point we thought there was some crazy drunk in the midst of the crowd causing a ruckus by hurling beer with abandon. We were expecting the bouncers to come in and deal, but then realized it was little wrath-of-Annie herself; dancing and rolling on the floor, grabbing innocent bystanders and showering them with dance punk and beer. Well done. There were no chewing-gum-hair casualties during the making of this set.

Radio Radio

Radio Radio

Next up was Radio Radio—an electronic rapping foursome from New Brunswick, recently coming of a performance at the East Coast Music Awards. This Acadian troupe sang in Chiac, a uniquely Canadian dialect of English and French—a little something we’d like to call Franglais. Although full of energy, we found the whole enchilada to be frat-boyish. One of the pledglings, Timo, sported a handlebar moustache and regaled us with stories in French about birthday parties at strip clubs. This Little man was not unlike a small horny Chihuahua that’s humping your leg that you just can’t shake off. The thought occurred to us even before he fulfilled prophecy by humping the stage. Timo, small doses only please.

We Are Wolves

We Are Wolves

From hip-hop, we moved to the music of Montreal based We Are Wolves. This band appeared on the very same stage last summer for NXNE where they were plagued with technical difficulties that caused several false starts. Thankfully this time around the absence of sound issues allow them to bring their A-game.

It was minimalist electron-rock at its best. Judging from their albums, you’d never guess that this complete sound was emanating from a three-piece. They keep it real with a simple setup: a sparse drum-set with a nary a stool to sit on, a lone guitarist/bassist, and keys. The band’s happier mood definitely made for a better performance. However, not much else seemed to be different between this and their NXNE showcase. There hasn’t been much new material since then, but that didn’t detract from a solid set.

It was minimalist Electron-rock at its best.

Malajube

Malajube

Closing out the night was French Indie starlings Malajube. This band has garnered a lot of attention since their debut album, Trompe-L’oeil. There was a musical lyricism that was missing from the night until the opening of this set. Their sound was reminiscent of a blend of Quebecois Trucker meets 80’s progrock reborn into these little indie adorables.

Big thumbs up on the grandiose sound, however thumbs down on the epileptic light-show. It was out of place for this intimate venue. Their sound and musicianship was all that was needed to attract the attention of the media and music aficionados looking for the next up and coming Canadian darlings.

Overall the showcase was strong, diverse, and well-assembled.

Unapologetically French.

Duchess Says: 3.5/5

Radio Radio: 3/5

We Are Wolves: 4/5

Malajube: 4.25/5

(Covered by Patricia and Mark)

Concert Review: Asobi Seksu, El Mocambo, March 3, 2009

Posted on March 4, 2009 by Allison in Concerts | 15 Comments

10 bones can get you a pretty big boner in this city.

Case in point, ultimate babe Yuki Chikudate made her way through the El Mocambo last night for an all-out noise-fest with shoegaze darlings Asobi Seksu (you know, the band that was backing her–the three white guys). Asobi Seksu is one of New York’s most prominent indie rock acts right now it’s easy to see why…Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser and  MBV’s Kevin Shields could pass for their long lost music parents and Chikudate could pass for a Japanese spokesmodel.

But c’mon now, it’s not always about how pretty the lead singer is, is it? It was maybe Yuki that left us all slack-jawed, silent, and motionless throughout the show. At least that would explain why the applause had the viscosity of cold molasses–didn’t notice if it slowed down after she stripped down to her tanktop though. Anyone? Anyone?

More noisy than ethereal, I would say the ElMo (or any small venue for that matter) is sort of the last place you want this type of shoegaze to be played at because no matter how ambient your guitars sound you can envision even Grandpa Simpson’s eardrums exploding. More than a few people ran for the hills once the set started and even seasoned show-going veterans could kind of feel their ears’ cilia hairs dying. This is not to say that it wasn’t beautiful music–the gentler, dreamier stuff off 2006’s Citrus sounded lovely, particularly Thursday…it was just that much of the noisier stuff off Hush, which I have yet to listen through, seemed much too loud for a club show.

One last thing…I might be alone on this one but it felt like the pace at which they tore through their set was unprecedented. I think what they were going for was a seamless sound without audible transitions from song to song–a noble shoegazey intention that ended up sounding like it was just another day at the office, at least to me.

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