North By North East at Clinton’s; Friday June 8, 2007

North By North East at Clinton’s; Friday June 8, 2007.

Today the line up stuck out to me much more than the line up did overall yesterday. All the acts were super talented and sounded great in their live show.My favourite by far was the first band Foxfire Forest. This was quite possibly because I had the opportunity to see them play, which I didn’t get to do with any other groups because I was stuck behind cash. I listened to two songs as they did their sound check, so perhaps a small private show? I really dug them they had a crazy amount of energy in their live show. They had a balance of girls and guys in the band with what I believed was nine members or so. They used a variety of instruments ranging from synthesizer to trumpet as well as the usual drum, bass, rhythm guitars and lead. When they were up I unfortunately was confined to the front where I sold tickets but they all changed their outfits--the lead singer was dressed in a space suit-style jumper and when he got on stage with each song he stripped off a layer and revealed an entirely new outfit. His dress was also as a bear, a jester and finally what I saw was a green dress, perhaps the remainder of the jester costume. Musically the group is not especially talented, their music is not intricate by any means but they do it well. Their diversity and very different sound gets them points talent wise. Their sound is not unique, I think they just do it slightly differently than everyone else so it allows them to have a uniqueness that differs greatly from other groups such as the Most Serene Republic and Anathello. This group are young and had a energy and effort that most bands tend to lack.The second band up were called the Winks a band from Montreal. They seemed to work their theatre act as much as they did their musical act. The lead vocals was shared between a guy and a girl, the girl had very high pitched vocals that reflected Metric’s Emily Haines or Bjork’s. They too much like their precursor Foxfire Forests were costumed nicely, decked out in old eighties-style prom dresses. The actually brought a tree branch into the venue and placed it above them as they played, I suppose to simulate a natural tree setting, kind of the opposite if you think about it. They sprayed confetti and a lot of dancing went down. Their music had a cute quality to it, with light lyrics and sweet sounding vocals. They used a lot of harmonisations blending the female and male vocals. They ended a song with “wa wa wa wa” in harmony and repeated as well as “ba ba ba”. They also had a song that’s punch line was “I don’t mind sleeping on your floor”, very cute. The guy had vocals that mirrored the Arcade Fire’s male vocals and it worked for them.These two opening bands both had an incredible fan base and most of the tickets sold today were based on the friends of these bands. The exposure and enthusiasm of their friends is so essential, especially for a North By North East showcase. Foxfire Forest had a few people energetically dancing in the front, no doubt were they friends of the band’s.Tim’s Myth was the third band on., from Ottawa. From the short blurb written on them I was expecting so much more than what was presented. The description draws comparisons to the Police, the Tragically Hip and Dave Matthews Band in not way do they draw parallels to any of these bands. I think their sound was too basic, they didn’t strike me as anything original or innovative. They didn’t seem to adopt a sound of their own, which I think is important when it comes to selling your music.Clara Lofaro is a Toronto artist that actually won Indie Week Toronto in 2006. She was also compared to Amy Winehouse immediately adopting huge expectations towards her sound. She didn’t sound much like Amy Winehouse however she had a sound that was much different from most popular music out today. Apparently she was suppose to play with an entire band but something came up, so she was forced to play solo with a piano only. From the recorded material I previewed before the show I wasn’t too keen on seeing her live. The live material had a completely different sound form what I heard recorded, the recorded material had a more polished sound but it heavily relied on terribly mashed together material that sounded like it was made for radio play. Lofaro has a strong voice and musically sounded great. Her material sounds much better stripped down then it does jazzed up in the studio.Lastly was Love Kills which I only caught the first couple of songs of. Their sound was incredibly close to that of Jesus and Mary Chain, combining the girl and guy vocals and very weighed down music. I wish I could have caught more to draw more similarities and differences and better critique their performance. However from what I heard they sounded pretty good in all areas, aside from originality.Friday was definitely my favourite day so far--probably because of the first band, Foxfire Forest.

June 9, 2007