Zola Jesus, Cult of Youth @ Garrison, Toronto (April 20, 2011)

  Zola Jesus @ Garrison: photo by Michael Ligon

Update [May 2, 12:01 am]: Review now up.

Goth was a music subgenre that I could really never peg. The 80's had bands like The Cure, Bauhaus, and Siouxsie and The Banshees, bands all musically divergent from each other, that I associated with that youth subculture of black-clad wearing Goths, that scary-looking group of kids that hung out at the back of the cafeteria. But even back then I in fact had a certain affinity to these bands even though I didn't dress the part. And now fast forward to the present, my interest in listening to The Cure and Siouxsie and The Banshees has been rekindled, I've rediscovered bands like This Mortal Coil who I never listened to much to begin with, and I've found my musical tastes leaning towards artists like UK's new-goth described Esben and The Witch and even Toronto's own Austra whose stark operartic vocals provide a certain goth aura over her supple electro beats. It was a double shot of goth-inspired fun that took over the Garrison for a midweek show on April 20.

Brooklyn four-piece, Cult of Youth, opened to a relatively thinner crowd earlier in the evening. With a heavy hand on bass, strummed acoustic guitar, primal drumming, baritoned vocals and the addition of violin for just a little bit of etherealness, the band's music did present itself with a dark tone reminding me a bit of Nick Cave. On their song, the southern-gothic sounding "New West", the band were particularly appealing. It was a short set overall, but gave enough reason to pick up one of the band's releases at the well-stocked merch table, if one so choosed.

Zola Jesus, the stage name of Russian American singer/songwriter Roza Danilova, has played Toronto several times and she seems to have a particularly affinity for the comfy surroundings of the Garrison. However, after this most recent sent, she may have to reconsider larger venues. It was difficult for me to gage how popular she is in Toronto but by the time she hit the stage, the back room of the Garrison seemed to be at just about capacity. With little stage lighting, and flanked by two keyboardists, a member responsible for electronics and programming, and one drummer, the petite vocalist sauntered gently onto the stage barefooted, wearing white leggings and cloaked in a orange Gregorian-monk inspired hooded garment. It was an austere entrance and for much of the set she remained like that. It was particularly frustrating at times that there was never a proper spotlight on her, the only lighting being the video projector that seemed to only illuminate the bottom half of her body but never her face, except when she crouched down a few times. Otherwise, the lack of lighting did add to the vibe of her dark, scintillating synth pop.

Zola Jesus' tunes straddled between atmospheric, synth soundscapes, and danceable, beat-laden electro pop, all tunes carried along Nika's stark, dramatic vocals. As I'd sampled on some of Zola Jesus' live clips on YouTube, Nika's vocals can sometimes be lost in the reverb-laden mix, as was the case at times during this set, but as the night went on, the sound mix seemed to clear up a bit. While Nika's presence on stage was usually austere and cloacked in darkness and light, on tunes such as "Night", amped up for this live set with more beats, Nika was in dance mode. The lack of banter during the show and interaction with the crowd [except for that one time that Nika jumped onto the floor to sing amongst the crowd before climbing back onto the stage] didn't seem to matter much with the crowd who were enjoying every bit of the set. The crowd cheered for an encore which we got for one song and then we clamored for a second encore, the outcome which ended up with Nika coming back onto the stage just to tell the crowd thank you very much(without playing another song), an odd move that left a few befuddled. But other than that somewhat awkward conclusion, it was a satisfying night overall. And not one vampire amongst the crowd - at least that I know of.

Photos: Zola Jesus, Cult of Youth @ Garrison, Toronto (April 20, 2011)
MySpace: Cult of Youth
MySpace: Zola Jesus

Brian Borcherdt, Austra, Butterfly Explosion @ Canadian Musicfest, Toronto (March 10, 2011)

  Austra @ Wrongbar: photo by Michael Ligon

It's no wonder that I only saw two bands for my second night(on March 11) of Canadian Musicfest as my first night consisted of 6 bands in total, the first three which I reviewed a few days ago. Let's waste no time and continue onward.

Next up for the midnight-and-onward festivities was Brian Borcherdt at The Garrison. Borcherdt is better known in most circles as the frontman of sound/beat manipulators Holy Fuck, but his work as a singer-songwriter was very much an unknown entity for me, although perhaps that unknown given the decent sized crowd that came out for his midnight set. With a forlorness in his vocals, Borcherdt performed an entertaining set of folk / alt-country tinged tunes, accompanying himself on electric guitar. Borcherdt began the set solo but then shortly into the set was joined by a burly gent on violin before he was replaced and joined by a bespectacled indie rock dude on drums. It was particularly disappointing that half the crowd seemed uninterested, chatting non-chalantly the whole time. In any case, it didn't seem to phase Borcherdt one bit and there was at least a few of us that enjoyed the set immensely. So what's next for Borcherdt? A combination of his beat-terrorism and his singer-songwriter mode perhaps? Now that'd be interesting.

From the Garrison, it was back down to Queen St for me and west towards Wrongbar where Toronto's Austra were set to perform. I'd picked up on the fact that Austra was Katie Stelmanis' new project. I'd previously been familiar with Stelmanis' music which combined her stark, dramatic vocals within a post-punk musical framework. There was a good-sized crowd in the venue and a tangible excitement in the air, and Stelmanis and company did not disappoint. Flanked by two dancers/back-up vocalist, a drummer, keyboardist, and a bassist, Stelmanis and company invigorated the crowd with a voluptuous set of electro-synth dance tunes. As a singer, Stelmanis retains her stark, dramatic vocals and against the supple drum beats and synth arrangements I was reminded a bit of Bat For Lashes although less devoted to Kate Bush influences and sounding more clubby. This is defintely music you can dance to, but it was the band's sultry combination of vocals and beats that was almost hypnotic, displayed in Stelmanis and her backup vocalists'/dancers' whose wavy body moments seemed to absorb and reflect every beat. For the crowd at the front of the stage at least, the urge to dance was undeniable, all flailing arms and booty-shaking. I cannot wait to see this band again. Undeniably the best set of this year's Canadian Musicfest, in my opinion. The band's debut album, Feel It Break, featuring drummer Maya Postepski and bassist Dorian Wolf is set to be released this coming May through Paper Bag Records.

Ending off the night for me with a 2 am set start time(and thankfully I had the day off work the next day) was Irish shoegaze act Butterfly Explosion. This wasn't the first time the Dublin band had crossed through town, having come to Toronto for some show or two back in April 2007 has documented by Chromewaves. My interest had been piqued back then but for a reason that escapes me, I didn't end up seeing them live. So with this 2 am set there one and only appearance at this year's Canadian Musicfest, I decided to check 'em out, and defer my comfy bed for another few hours. As shoegaze bands go, they weren't as transcendent as say My Bloody Valentine but they were no mere slouches either. In addition to shoegaze, the band was also partially indebted to their post-rock and dream-pop influences. The five-piece featuring Gazz Carr (Guitar, Vocals), John Coman (Drums), Conor Garry (Bass), Jay Carty (Guitar), and Aine McGrath (Keys, Vocals) thanked the crowd for coming out at the late time, then proceeded with a set of varying shades of shoegaze-influenced rock n' roll. While I recall the start of the set being a bit mundane(mostly due to the vocals), the band seemed to get better with every tune, varying their tempo, rhythmic assault, guitar heaviness, and keys accompanient from tune to tune. If anything, the lead vocals seemed to be the weakest element, and perhaps recognizing that maybe that was why much of the set seemd to be instrumental. There was however a tune where Gazz and keyboardist Aine both sang a bit more equitably on which made a strong case for the band to have more songs like that. There wasn't a particularly large crowd on hand, which seemed to get thinner as the hour drew later, and for what few remained, they seemed less interested in the band than in grabbing a last drink, but hey it was close to 3 am and I was ready to call it a night.

Photos: Brian Borcherdt @ The Garrison, Toronto, Canadian Musicfest (March 10, 2011)
Photos: Austra @ Wrongbar, Toronto, Canadian Musicfest (March 10, 2011)
Photos: Butterfly Explosion @ The Hideout, Toronto, Canadian Musicfest (March 10, 2011)
MySpace: Brian Borcherdt
MySpace: Austra
MySpace: Butterfly Explosion