The entrance to The Imperial is unassuming but holds some tell-tale theatre markers like a double wide lot, arched windows recalling a time when it held true to original intent, and a permanent awning, “Imperial” spelled out in bold gold lettering, with smokers huddling in conversational packs underneath. It’s a site of shared experiences and has been in both iterations, as theatre and venue. Everyone who saw Com Truise and Clark take the stage below the terracotta figures lining the walls of The Imperial connected to something. Something called dope IDM which mind-controlled the audience for the better part of two hours and change.
Com Truise opened the show with his trademark soaring synths and pulsing drums. Relying on tradition to form the skeletons of his song, Com Truise builds a musculature unlike anything that’s come before. With a set of screens splashing colours in the darkness behind his mixers, pedals, and drum machines, the attendees was treated to a taste of the 80s updated and remade for a modern audience. Comfortable and solid beats created a layer on top of which the flourishes of a talented artist took full hold. The crowd swayed to the soaring synths, pausing at intervals when Truise intended a moment of reflection and anticipation. In those moments, most eyes were held intently on his bobbing head, some were closed, belonging to swaying skulls, and others were glancing around, taking in the shadows of terracotta soldiers, the couple kissing in the corner, the friends eagerly discussing what’d just happened and predicting what’d come next. It wasn’t unilaterally responded to, but in a way, this is how Com Truise’s music is structured. Warm textures and soft harmonies elicit a state of mind, but how that mind relates to the scene depends on one’s company. What was clear about the set is that everyone got into it in their own way, sharing the space in the middle of a riff.
Then, Clark. The veteran of heady electronica has consistently delivered a tailored product, suited to particularities of the artist’s life, and has dabbled in hip-hop, folk, dance, and heavily abstracted electronic stuff that seems to defy classification. All these elements have found themselves explored in album format, like the folky “Iradelphic,” or the hip-hop influenced “Body Riddle,” but what has unified them is Clark’s intense dedication to a product which involves the ears throughout. I have never been bored by a Clark track, and while I prefer the more abstract stuff, the album this show was promoting, “Death Peak,” was the perfect material for the crowd. After a mostly slow and swaying set from Com Truise, Clark brought the heat, making bodies sweat as feet thumped and spines waved, arms wobbling in strange patterns as the music infected our bodies like an audio-physical virus. Symptoms include dancing and grins. Often shrouded in a cloudy haze of smoke, Clark kept tweaking and re-tweaking his settings, concerned entirely with the shifting landscape of sound and how to get it just right for our ears. There were moments of pause, of recollection, but mostly, the dude just got us moving. At the end of the night, people gathered underneath the Imperial awning, idled by the vans, smoking cigarettes and chatting with roadies, and the artists hung by the doors, backs against the wall, talking with fans. Their approachability made the night more special because it seemed like talking with peers, not holy men come from on high to disperse the gospel. My girlfriend even talked with Clark about veganism for a solid ten minutes, and I wasn’t sure who I was more jealous of.
Basically, check their stuff out. As mentioned, Clark’s released a new album, “Death Peak,” and it’s a compelling listen well worth your time. Com Truise, for his part, is scheduled to release his new album, “Iteration,” next month, and if the show was any indication, your ears should thank him now.
Out here in the Lower Mainland we breed a ton of talented bands and musicians. There are way too many to give shouts to, but if we had a gun to our blog and were forced to pick a local fave, Gob would take the cake. Sounds like a joke, but it ain’t. Listen to “I Hear You Calling” and tell me I’m wrong.
Tied amongst a few others, for a very close second: The Zolas.
I first met Zach Gray (vocals/guitar/v good looks) at a house party back in 2009. When I say met, I mean I admired him from a distance (I usually leave that part out of the story). He had come straight from the studio with The Zolas’ first album, Tic Toc Tic, in hand. This was around the age where I saw these local bands as gods, so believe me when I tell you that the feeling I got when we all heard a sneak peak of their debut-album-to-come, was pure ecstasy. I’ve been addicted ever since and seek no help – the first step is admitting it.
The core of the band consists of Zach and Tom Dobrzanski (piano/v good looks also) but they have other musicians supporting them on the back line while performing live and recording.
I’ve seen The Zolas more times than I have fingers and yet I still find myself at all of their live sets. They performed at The Vogue Theatre, early April, to close their Canadian Spring tour and let me tell you…it was definitely in the top Zolas performances I’ve ever seen. This could be because I love each and every track off their newest album, Swooner. Or because they played some old faves that I haven’t heard live in years. Perhaps, more likely, because I had the perfect amount of alcohol as to not black out but still drunkenly sway to the beat of the ever-beating drum. We’ll call it a combo. We were fortunate enough to be able to photograph the set for the blog, so thanks Live Nation 🙂
Swooner, released just over a year ago, is well worth the listen from top to bottom. It may even inspire you to catch them open for Two Door Cinema Club on April 18th at The Orpheum. From the catchy upbeat synth pop tunes like Molotov Girls and the title track Swooner, all the way the stripped down Why Do I Wait (When I Know You’ve Got A Lover).
Mik and I caught Andra Day on the Granville Strip last night. Remarkable show; super glad I went, despite the fact that I hadn’t heard her name before, learned it off the sign above the Commodore Ballroom’s box office roughly 9.87 minutes before she took the stage. Was fully under the impression that Mik had said “Andrew” on the phone.
Andra Day bantered a lot. One of the things that caught our attention was “This is a conversation: we’re not just up here singing for you.” With that sort of thinking she encourages audience engagement, reminding us about our role in making meaning of the music.
This kind of attitude to art is democratic. She introduced her cover of Simone’s “Mississippi Goddamn” by calling for a reopening of nonpartisan dialogue in the wake of Trump’s election.
The Commodore was nice enough to offer Hannah Robertson (Torben’s sister) a free ticket to the show. Was it because of our good looks or wry charm? Probably both; but Hannah was “too tired” to attend.
Day certainly brought it for the last stop of her tour. See our pics as evidence. Maybe the vocals were mixed a tad too loud, and the keyboard too quietly, but nonetheless her performance was emotionally impactful.
c u all (minus Hannah Robertson) on the dancefloor of emotions.
It was such a pleasure to see some friends I’ve known for over half my life up on stage, in the form of TANGLERS. I hadn’t heard much from these guys before the show, as they are fairly new to the scene, but these psychedelic local rockers had me grooving.
Their first EP is set to release in mid December, called “Light Slips In.” If it’s anything like their live set, I recommend keeping an eye out for it. (More info here).
Their smooth sounding, so-cal rock vibes are not one to miss. Catch them at the Wise Hall on December 16th as a part of BeatRoute’s Holiday Hustle.
The Rural Alberta Advantage have been on my radar since I first heard their hit, Frank, AB, in grade 12. I’d dabble with their music from time to time and jam out to some of their songs.
In 2014 they released their third full length album, Mended with Gold, which had a couple of heavy hitters imo. If I had to choose one favourite off the album it would be On the Rocks, for sure.
They just recently announced their return to Vancouver 😀 and they will be playing The Fox Cabaret on February 25th, 2017. (Tickets here)
Their fourth studio album is on its way, and they’ve given us a little teaser 🙂
I first saw July Talk at the 2013 Squamish Valley Music Festival and they’ve been busy since – touring the world, winning a Juno, releasing their second album (Touch) and just being dope af. These guys are the epitome of Canadian alt-rock at the moment. The stark contrast between the angelic vocals of Leah Fay and the deep growl of Peter Dreimanis creates a sound like none other. Together, they create a show that is both music and performance, as they dance with choreiform movements, flip each other off, and genuinely just seem to be having a great time up there. Their chemistry is undeniable and the result is a passionate, high-energy show. Guitarist Ian Docherty, bassist John Warburton and drummer Danny Miles killed it throughout the set, hitting all the right notes and keeping the two manic vocalists in check. This is a must-see show, but may be difficult as most of the shows on their Canadian tour are sold out – and for good reason!
Throwback to this epic show put on by Alaska’s Portugal. The Man. Radical lights. Awesome opener (called “Boone Howard”, seriously check them out). They didn’t play anything new- it was a show dedicated to their most loved classics, but it was magical. Here are a couple of the pics I grabbed at their concert at the Commodore last week.
Shoutout to my favourite of their tunes, paired with the antics of legendary BMXer Kriss Kyle.
Dragonette comprises Martina Sorbara, Dan Kurtz, and Joel Stouffer. Neither Kurtz nor Stouffer have their own Wikipedia pages, but they are nonetheless good musicians and helped contrive an immensely entertaining show last night at the Imperial. If one could score a show’s entertainment value on how much one drank and how much one danced, we’d all give last night’s Vancouver edition of the Royal Blues tour tens, yeah, tens all round. Our shirts were sweaty and our heads now ache.
But mistake them not: these electro-pop hits are inspired by complex feels. Like the feels probably associated with separating from your spouse yet remaining together in the band and producing another record. That’s Sorbara and Kurtz’s situation and that record is Royal Blues (now you get it, right?? “Royal” because it’s a grand, flashy LP, “Blues” because they were sad while recording).
Sorbara keeps it lit fam. When asked about deciding on a name for the tape she was like, “let’s get real. I’m the boss. If you’re the only girl in the band, you’re the boss.” Fuck the patriarchy tho!
Yesterday she wore a short jacket covered in reflective triangles that looked like shards from a broken mirror. Grooving concertgoers were allowed glimpses of themselves in the shards and so reminded that they are an integral part of the Dragonette experience, as with any live experience.
If you feel like listening to one song and one song only from the album, “Darth Vader” is my pick, yeah, cos of how dirty the synth is. If you took a synth sound and left it under the supervision of pigs in their pigpen, likely it wouldn’t get as dirty.
Also worth checking out livetronica band The New Deal, Kurtz and Stouffer’s other project.
It’s been around 6 years since I’ve seen Hannah Georgas…and oh my how things have changed. She’s evolved from the little indie-folk singer that I once knew and loved, into this deep, rocking superstar that I love even more! Not that I didn’t like her music before, but I found myself dancing a lot more this time around.
Don’t believe me? Have a listen for yourself! This one’s been on repeat for some time now.
Going in to Glass Animals, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I only knew 2, maybe 3 songs, which I liked enough to get me out the their show.
Needless to say, these guys blew me and everyone else in Queen Elizabeth Theatre away!
The singer was mental, in the best way possible. He was all over the stage, with his wacky dance moves and and the most soothing singing voice…ever. The stage set and light show definitely added a lot to this show too.
