mindful of the impending yearly catastrophe that canadians call winter, i did a large amount of grocery shopping on hallowe'en (which wasn't so bad weather wise, at least at first.) with the intent to allow for minimal foraging until the end of the month, while hoping for the opportunity to take advantage of a nice day or two, mid to late month. i knew i was going to have to get out to toronto at some point but i had no intention of getting to any concerts in the region until closer to the end of the month.
but, my laptop crashed on the night of the third (corrupt boot sector. lengthy but easy fix.), which gave me several days to sort through the listings for the month, and i pulled out a night i couldn't miss out on. would you skip this night?
detroit component:
early evening show: tchaikovsky's first piano concerto at the orchestra hall
evening show: black midi, which are a noise rock band from the uk that has worked with damo suzuki
windsor component:
late show: lushh, which are an electronic jazz band from kalamazoo
potential late late show: heart attack kids, which are a punk band from london, on
that's a stacked night. i couldn't miss it.
but, i missed it. this is what happened...
i was running a little late as it was, but when i got to the bus station in windsor, the attendant informed me that the tunnel was closing for the night. what that would mean is that i'd have to find a way to get back over the bridge after black midi and, even if i could figure it out, i'd blow the late shows. it just wasn't worth it. alas...
so, i just stayed in windsor, which meant i caught the early show at phog, and then the late show at phog and then the late late show at meteor (and then went back to phog for a beer).
lushh were passively enjoyable, but i actually didn't find them to be mind-bending in any particular way. i didn't want to just go home after coming face to face with the bus situation, so i stayed. but, i wouldn't actually go out of my way for this. it tended to drag a little with superfluous space-filling solos that actually weren't that great, creating a large amount of empty space that was often not taken advantage of as well as it could have been. i tend to pay more attention to guitarists, but it was the drummer that tended to carry them. he didn't seem that interested in the idea of aphex twin remixing queen, though; he treated the proposition like i was proposing some kind of infidelity. or, maybe that was masking a physical attraction that he didn't know how to grapple with. hey, that happens. i'll back off, but offer's open...
it's not like it was a bad show; if you get the chance, you should take the time to give it a few minutes. you'll note that the particular link i'm posting is a bit more guitar-focused (and also very recent), so it actually kind of demonstrates the point: it just didn't quite get off the ground, for me. i need a bit more than that to really get into it.
but, i would choose not to skip them a second time, just in case.
i ran across the street after the set to catch what was left and was kind of baffled by the energy, which i was not expecting. i'm actually not 100% certain what i even saw at all. what i was expecting was a kind of rootsy mid-period whites stripes kind of thing, but they showed up with a bassist and a female drummer (i think she was the drummer for wine lips, as she was using the wine lips kit) and just tore the place down. they introduced themselves as the heart attack kids, but this was not the same band. so, was it also the bassist for wine lips? is there some merging going on here?
it's been a while since i heard something quite like this, which actually had some nirvana-ish undertones in all of the right ways. like i say, it just ripped.
but, this is an emergent phenomenon, so i have no link to share - just the observation that the heart attack kids have evolved, and a recommendation that you check them out.
so, i ended up back at phog for a last beer, listened to some kids talk about philosophy and stuff and stumbled out late into the cold...
...and it was, indeed, cold - cold enough that i stopped a few times to warm up. i was reminded why i don't do this at this time of year. according to the thermostat, it wasn't that bad, but the wind was brutal. it was a difficult walk, at points.
but, i got me some nachos, took me a shower and then slept all day.
so, there's the review. it could be a while before the next one.
