Grade: A
I showed up at the Halifax Pop Explosion’s Tuesday night Paragon show at 10 p.m. a little disappointed that I missed the first band, A History Of, but a little glad that I had eaten a late dinner of homemade Pho. Word to the Wise: It takes almost five hours to make a pot of Pho. No joke.
I arrived just as Toronto indie rockers Dinosaur Bones started their set. Looking like they had just rolled out of bed and into their tightest jeans, Dinosaur Bones’ sound is a knife that first spreads smooth, dreamy pop-butter on to your bread, and then proceeds to stab you repeatedly with gritty, confident rock and roll. They experienced a couple of technical difficulties, but lead singer Ben Fox charmed away any annoyance the crowd might have felt. After an amp went out, the mop-topped crooner broke into a finger pickin’ rendition of “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” a little ditty from the ‘20s that just happens to be one of my favourites and one of the most endearing songs you’ll ever hear. After recovering from this minor malfunction, the band broke into “N.Y.E.”, a dynamic track that was the highlight of their set. Its melody and sincere energy moved the crowd into a serious bout of toe pointing, echoed by the smiling band onstage. It also moved the unjustifiable Sauza Tequila girls into a bout of short-shorted pillar grinding. I’m not sure what a ninth grade boy’s fantasy gym-class was doing at an indie rock show, but it was amazing to see so many confused, be-mustached faces.
Those faces remained confused while Montreal’s Red Mass played. The hallucinogenic space-rock foursome hit the stage looking like Kiss as Wiccan Vampires with blood for make up. At least, three of them did. Someone apparently forgot to tell the bassist that everyone was wearing costumes. The band fused elements of punk, electro and surf, producing something that sounded like Dick Dale on a rockabilly murder rampage. The set had unquestionable energy, but the crowd barely responded. The result was a five-minute noise-fest at the end of the set that felt unnecessary, and sounded like the Transformers transforming inside of a vortex. I dug it.
The show closed with a set by California buzz band Crystal Antlers. I didn’t know they were a buzz band. After the show a friend leaned into me and said, “I wasn’t expecting much from such a buzz band, but they really delivered!” This led me to the depressing revelation that, by the time I know about something, it is no longer “cool.” But, my friend was right about how promptly and forcefully they delivered. Despite their insanely trendy band name, Crystal Antlers are not an insanely trendy band. When I sat down to write this review, I had a hard time thinking up genre words to use. Is ‘awesome bass’ a genre? No?Here’s an alternative: garage-fused-psychedelic-lo-fi-abstract-prog-rock. Yeah, I went there.
Driven by lead singer and bassist Johnny Bell, Crystal Antlers’ music is nothing like the “Cruisin’ the beach in my dune buggy” drivel you might expect from a band out of Long Beach, California. It is dynamic, engaging, and constantly mutating. A song that starts out as a mind-bending call back to a mushroom trip, ends as an all out thrash fest of beastly proportions. Obviously, I think the band was great. At any rate, they were far better than the crowd that came to see them. I’ve never seen such a lack of movement at a rock show. Crystal Antlers kicked out the jams for realsies, but still found themselves playing for a motionless mass of floor gazers. I felt so bad that I actually apologized to the guitarist after the show. I still can’t decide what that meant. Either the crowd was super into the show, but didn’t know how to show it, or I’m an idiot, because I thought the band was incredible. A call was made for an encore though, which the band obliged, and they broke into “Parting Song for the Torn Sky,” a bass driven, noise monster that roared for your very soul.
“I want to eat that soul!” the song screamed, and you almost obliged it. The band finished to an uproar of deranged, lunatic applause that was well earned. I think the crowd would have swallowed another heaping helping of that psychedelic sludge if it weren’t for the Pop Explosion’s strict scheduling policy.
Recent Comments