Skip to main content

December extravaganza, part 1

As a precursor to a busy December and something of an impromptu idea, we attended U of O School of Music's Wind Ensemble concert on 25th November, featuring Victor Herbiet on saxophone. Wind ensembles are something of a rarity in our (classical) concert calendar, so it was interesting to find that most of the programme was 20th century. To suit the Friday evening mood, the first piece performed was Edward Gregson's Festivo, with it's jaunty edge - almost like the opening movement to a classic film. Much of the evening's performance was of exciting, engaging music. True to Steven Mazey's pre-review, Herbiet's solo in Claude T Smith's Fantasia for Alto Sax was superb, with a 'sax solo' interlude reminiscent of (or maybe inspiring) electric guitar solos. A high level of musicianship all round and on this basis, much of the 2011-12 season should be very good! A forthcoming concert that has caught my attention is the School of Music's Piano Duets and Duos evening on 7th December.

December 1st brought Polaris winners Karkwa to Ritual, along with support bands Parlovr and I Spell It Nature. I bought 'Les Chemins de Verre' last year on the strength of an Ottawa Xpress interview; many months of listening later and this show was a definite on my list! A full Ritual was first treated to local post-rock band I Spell It Nature. On a first listen, their sound is very interesting. Having listened to a fair amount of bands in the broad vein of Mogwai, Sigur Rós, Ólafur Arnalds, the concept was familiar; I Spell It Nature retained their own flavour as well as a hint of (to my ears) 'Canadian indie' sound. Their new album 'A Story Of...' is available now and can be heard on their bandcamp site. I Spell It Nature's excellent set was followed by the unoriginal sounds of Parlovr. Whilst their musicianship was pretty solid, the cumulative sound was a poor imitation of lots of different bands and styles with very little in the way of original content. Anyone who isn't familiar with classic punk and early grunge would probably find the combination exciting.

In contrast, Karkwa get an 11. A set full of sing-along tracks (not just from Les Chemins de Verre, either) and excellent live adaptation along with a good dose of stage banter made for a great evening. Like many bands, their sound seemed more raw, somehow deeper 'in the flesh'.  Full setlist (courtesy of setlist.fm):

Karkwa 011211
Le pyromane
Échapper au sort
Les chemins de verres
L'acouphène
Le compteur
L'épaule froide
Marie tu pleures
Le bon sens
Oublie pas
Encore:
Le coup d'état
La façade 

Definitely one of the standout gigs of my 2011 musical year - to date...

   

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Au quatrieme fois..

A jaunt en masse down to the Coal Exchange last night (23rd) to see The Subways excel again. For once we weren't massively early (in some ways to avoid the queues of teenagers) so arrived part way through the first support band. They are called Wry, from Brazil even! They were decent and will probably merit listening to further. Best option the ubiquitous myspace . Eagerly anticipated the main support, The Sunshine Underground, of whom I'd heard good words... They more than lived up to their expectations, with my only real niggle about their sound... whether it was the singer's style or sound mix I'm not sure but their show was at parts ear-splitting - explains my slight deafness today! Otherwise excellent, not an easy band to categorise, but my impressions were somewhere between Alabama 3 and the Killers' Hot Fuss album; dancing music too. Well worth going to see - just take earplugs! (or in my case, actually go out and buy some). I believe one can listen to the...

4 and 5

Busy weekend. Number 4 was the 2nd Innercity Pirates night at Clwb Ifor Bach, spread the word to another friend so a highly successful evening! Again, Red City were the (only) support, who were still underwhelming and may even have got worse! Luckily a short set. The main Pirates set was much more polished than the last one, they have been practicing!! Only mishap this time when an overenthusiastic fan accidentally stood on a connector! Quite a different set, this time almost totally from the 3 recent EPs with the only oldies Whisper The Fear, and 'that song' from last time - which is called The Little Pills We Love. For the set list, simply check out the track listings for the 3 EPs on their website ! Number 5 entailed a visit to Coal Exchange to see Mogwai . Luckily the buses were back to normal - well normal for a Sunday ie nothing late at night! Slightly more interesting support band, The Magnificents (sound: a mix between Mogwai, Syntax and The Killers ), although I did ...

From Black Rose to Buena Vista

Two very different but equally impressive live experiences this last weekend. First up, our long overdue homage to the late, great Phil Lynott as Limehouse Lizzy returned to the Point on Friday 2nd March. Certainly on form (and not just lead singer Wayne Ellis, mmmm!) After a late doors, the band came on for a 2 hour set. They started off with Jailbreak (with added pyro), the rest of the main set comprising known songs like Dancing In The Moonlight, Warrior, Emerald, Johnny the Fox, Are You Ready, Killer On The Loose, Cold Sweat, Do Anything You Want To, Out In The Fields, Cowboy Song, Rosalie, The Boys Are Back In Town plus at least 1 early track. The encore included 1 verse/1 chorus from Sarah, Black Rose, Whisky In The Jar and another track. Excellent atmosphere, the place was sold out. The boys are back at the Point in December. Next on to crowd pleasers of a very different sort. M and I managed to get tickets for the sold-out Buena Vista Social Club show at Wales Millennium Centr...