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North by Northeast 2008 Blog

Hidden gems

Friday, June 13, 2008 | 01:47 PM ET

Now in its 14th year, North by Northeast is one of Canada’s leading independent music festivals. Along with conference and film components, this year’s edition will bring over 500 musical acts (ranging from up-and-comers like Justin Rutledge and We Are Wolves to seasoned vets like Evan Dando and Teenage Head) to 40 venues in downtown Toronto. CBCNews.ca music columnist Sarah Liss will be hitting the clubs till the wee hours and documenting her rock ‘n’ roll adventures in blog format. Check here for Sarah’s daily updates from the festival.

Remember my comment yesterday about underattendance as the theme of this year’s NXNE? Well, it held true for my travels last night. I’ll allow that, instead of sticking to the standard Queen West club crawl, I veered slightly off the beaten path, opting for the ‘Mo Wave showcase way out on the eastern tip of North by Northeast territory at the Phoenix.

The event wasn’t technically a festival showcase; it was part of the NXNExtra series, where only the first 100 badge- and wristband-holders were admitted. Usually, they reserve the NXNExtra status for big-ticket shows with high-profile headliners – past acts have included Television and the New York Dolls – which means that the bonus concerts usually attract a healthy crowd of music-lovers, in addition to NXNEers hoping to make their passes work overtime. Unfortunately, though last night’s featured act, Rough Trade, may be pioneers in queer rock circles, and though their co-headliners the Hidden Cameras have sold out the Phoenix before, few people were willing to pay the exorbitant $25 admission price.

When opener Ember Swift went on, the joint was dead. A handful – by which I mean about ten band-related friends and acquaintances – of earnest onlookers bobbed along to Swift’s bebop-inflected folk-pop. I’ve never been much of a fan of the local singer-songwriter’s work; her percussive, multi-genre hybrid wears on my nerves much like overly ambitious “fusion” cooking: it often feels like too much of muchness. That said, I appreciate Swift’s professionalism and energy. And her stylized guitar attack, which used to come off as second-rate Ani DiFranco, has evolved into something quite unique and skillful. It’s raw, melodic and dynamic.

Legendary anti-diva Carole Pope and her Rough Trade crew offered a good lesson in how to please your audience from the perspective of retro icons. Here’s the thing: when you’re an old-school band with a few Big Hits, you know your fans just wanna hear the classics. Pope – who was in fine, raspy form – and co. kicked off their set with an explosive version of All Touch, then immediately launched into Shakedown (from the soundtrack of the 1980 film Cruising, in which Al Pacino goes undercover in the seedy S&M bars of NYC to catch a serial killer) before settling into their lesser-known material. My attention waned during the middle section, and their overwrought funk basslines had a campy wedding-band quality that made me cringe. But Pope picked up the momentum with a theatrical, muscular High School Confidential, then closed things on a high note with a surprisingly sweet run through Weapons, one of Rough Trade’s most melodically engaging tunes. The structure of their show felt satisfyingly organic.

I figured the club would fill up by the time the Hidden Cameras took the stage – the sprawling orchestral pop ensemble are hometown favourites, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen them play a venue that was less than three-quarters full. Sadly, there were at least five times as many people onstage as there were in the audience. (This is slightly less shocking when you consider that the Cameras came with a string quartet, brass players, a ten-member choir and various keyboardists, backing vocalists and guitarists.)

Despite the poor turnout, their performance was electrifying. I used to enjoy the Hidden Cameras for their gentle prettiness. Their songs swelled out of shimmery melodies and cascading arrangements that were like little lambs gamboling in a clover-strewn pasture. But over the years, songwriter and bandleader Joel Gibb has become more experimental in his writing, playing with stop-start dynamics, silences and more percussive elements. On stage, it makes for quite a thrilling display of control – Gibb has an army of 25 or more musicians ready to burst into jangly fits as soon as he gives the slightest signal.

After the Cameras wound down, I staggered over to the Silver Dollar to try and get my recommended daily dose of aggressive rock. Even at 2 am, the Dollar was hopping. I barely made it through the cacophonous opening strains of Toronto sleaze rockers Diemonds before realizing that it was time to call it quits for the night and rest up for Friday’s roster of talking heads and musical mayhem.

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