THURSDAY, June 5
Jill Barber – Cameron House, 10 p.m.
Spotted local lights Leslie Feist and Damhnait Doyle leaving the Cameron just as Jill Barber was about to take the stage-too bad, because they missed something special. Sister of current It Boy Matthew Barber (she sings backing vocals on his wonderful Means and Ends album), who was watching from the sidelines, Barber charmed the full room with her low-key acoustic strumming and jazzy, countrified folk-pop tunes. Barber’s rootsy, keening voice is shockingly like that of a young Sarah Harmer, if Harmer had continued in the vein of her Songs for Clem standards album, that is. In her polka-dot dress and Mary Jane shoes, Barber looked and sounded sweet and simple. She could use some more stage presence, sure, but that will come with more gigs. In the meantime, it’s obvious that the other member of the Barber clan is also on her way to good things.
Starling – Rivoli, 12 a.m.
Pity poor Starling – the Ottawa indie rockers should have been superstars, but it didn’t work out that way for them. Dropped from their record label, parted ways with member Danny Michel, their recent sophomore album all but ignored… And yet they solider on, and damn if all the other bands out there can’t take a lesson from these three. Playing the packed UmbrellaMusic showcase on the heels of hot up-and-comers Pilate, they showed the youngsters how it’s done, with shiny hooks, killer playing, and best of all, great, great songs. Frontman Ian LeFeuvre is one of the best guitarists in the country, bar none, and sang and played with so much enthusiasm that it was infectious. As a friend said afterwards in awe, “Man, they still got it.” In spades, baby.
FRIDAY, June 6
Marlowe – C’est What, 10 p.m.
Montreal band Marlowe are favourites back in La Belle Province, but largely unknown in Toronto outside of their infrequent opening slots for their pals in Stars and Broken Social Scene. Crowding the small C’est What stage with drums, keys (a little stuffed-toy penguin perched on the side), synth, guitar, and bass, the quintet filled the room with their expansive sound, playing to a half-empty but enthusiastic room. Marlowe’s sound is triphop-style atmospheric pop with light, pretty female vocals, very much akin to Toronto’s late, lamented Zoebliss, but with more of an indie-rock edge as opposed to the latter’s heavy folk bent.
Some numbers were surprisingly heavy, thanks to some accomplished drumming and bass so thick that it made the walls of the narrow club shake, but none of the separate elements ever got lost in the mix, a testament to C’est What’s rep as one of the best-sounding rooms in town (thanks to soundman Crispin Giles, who managed to make four completely different acts all sound terrific that night).
What sets Marlowe apart from most other similar bands is their unique back-to-back keyboards setup, with singer Alexandra Olsen turning away from the mic every so often to play keys. Where their pals in Stars go for a more retro take on synth-driven pop, Marlowe veered off more into space-rock territory, the rockier bits registering more than some of the more languid numbers that started blurring together after a while.
Tamara Williamson- C’est What, 11 p.m.
Local singer-songwriter Tamara Williamson was a last-minute replacement for another band that failed to show, and while the C’est What regular’s set had its shaky moments, her ephemeral voice and unique guitar playing more than compensated. Williamson’s music is certainly not for everyone – she’s a bit loopy (she introduced one song as “another happy distaster song” about a mountain-climbing expedition gone wrong, while another song was about a real-life tale of a house demolished by a tree), and coaxes strange, interesting sounds out of her vintage brown electric guitar with an arsenal of effects pedals – but there’s a very specific artistic vision underlying it regardless.
Williamson silenced the room with her powerful pipes, with her ghostly layered vocals ranging from whisper-thin textures to heavier, darker tones. When she blanked on the lyrics to one song, she just grinned sheepishly and took a moment before simply carrying on as if nothing had happened. Ironically, that same song featured the line, “You’ve gotta laugh it off/You’ve gotta shrug it off/Carry on.”
Williamson’s work is like the guitar counterpoint to piano-based West Coast art-rock heroine Veda Hille. Hille is hugely celebrated at home, so it’s tough to figure out why Williamson hasn’t had her moment outside of certain music circles (her collaboration with Guelph groove merchants King Cobb Steelie on their last album and her side project Microbunny have been far more successful than her solo work).
“There’s something to be said for a woman with an electric guitar,” noted Varsity photo editor Kara Dillon. Point taken-most of Toronto’s indie rock boys should take a lesson in playing and performing from the unassuming Williamson.
Space Elevator – C’est What, 12 a.m.
“We don’t know how we got on this bill,” declared charismatic Space Elevator frontman Scott Kaija, a.k.a Scotty Karate, and he wasn’t kidding. The power-pop trio were all about the rock’n’roll from note one, with Scotty especially well-schooled in the art of rockstar poses with his big orange guitar. Space Elevator is fun, fun, fun, and the room was wall-to-wall grins by the end of their set. The band’s retro-rock tunes are prime clap-your-hands music with sunny choruses (“C’mon Everybody”) and strong boy-girl vocals (“Ripping Apart Daisies”) courtesy of Kaija and bassist Maddog (Julia Madill).
Rounded out by drummer Jesse 2X (Jesse Myles), the three played like they were onstage at Lee’s Palace instead of the tiny C’est What. Instead of being intimidated by the fact that they were the only rock act on a bill of folkier acts, they swaggered through their set as if they had something to prove (which they sort of did after a Chart mag reviewer slagged their CMW set earlier in the year). While their Ramones-meets-Jesus and Mary Chain sound might have worked better in another venue (like Sneaky Dees or the ‘Shoe), they made the best of it, and that’s what North by Northeast showcases are all about.
SATURDAY, June 7
FLOW 93.5 showcase, Tequila Lounge
Nice to see hip-hop being represented in the rock-centric festival, but many questioned if NXNE wasn’t ghettoizing the genre by programming just one hip-hop showcase in one club. And don’t even get me started on the heavy-handed security-why is it that in three full nights of scrambling between numerous venues that NXNE revellers only got searched at the hip-hop show? Funny that. Nonetheless, it was a good night of local talent capped off by a visit from our Francophone neighbours.
Darp Malone – 10 p.m.
The deep, soulful live band backing local MC Darp Malone was a nice touch, because while Malone’s rapping was serviceable enough, he still needs some work. Malone noted that the full band with three backup singers only had two rehearsals before their NXNE spot, which was pretty impressive given that they pulled off the neo-soul tunes with style. Think the Roots when they were still practicing in the garage.
Jugular – 10:30 p.m.
This ‘human beatbox’ (think Rahzel from the Roots) impressed the mid-sized crowd with his ability to mimic almost any sort of instrument using only his mouth. Joined by some MC pals, he threw down some shout-outs to Canadian hip-hop (like a snippet of K-OS’ “Heaven Only Knows”) and all but replaced the need for a DJ by imitating the sound of a needle dropping onto a turntable, and then proceeded to spit out the beats on his own. Cool.
Les Architekts – 11 p.m.
It’s a long way from Stade Olympique to the garish confines of Tequila Lounge, but Montreal duo Les Architekts made the drive to play the T-dot for the first time anyway. These conscious rappers (who at home have opened for everyone from rapper Nelly to songbird Nelly Furtado) are all about conquering the two solitudes with their fresh sound, and they managed to connect with the crowd despite their all-French lyrics. Joined by Montreal graffiti artists Cast on beats and 2-Sai on backing vocals, Ray-Ray and Stratege looked like they were having a blast onstage and beamed that energy right into the crowd. They’re called Les Architekts because the two MCs have produced music for practically the entire Montreal hip-hop scene. With a recent collaboration with local hero K-OS on the French remix of his “Heaven Only Knows” single, it looks like the duo might be building a name for themselves in this town as well.
