Tapping The Watch

By ben

Friday May 13, 2005

Maybe I’m Missing Something?

I kicked off last Friday night with an early show at Richard’s for Magnolia Electric Company, which is Jason Molina from Songs:Ohia’s latest rock band project. Local favorites Ladyhawk opened the show and did not disappoint with a solid performance. Molina even commented later during his set that Ladyhawk was by far the best band they’ve shared a stage with in a long time, while wearing his newly purchased black Ladyhawk T-shirt. I must admit that I’m not a particularly big fan of Songs:Ohia, and I was hoping that the supposedly radically different Magnolia Electric Company might impress me. That didn’t happen however. To be fair Molina is a great singer and the band consists of fabulous musicians (technically), but I didn’t find their music or their songs at all inspiring. To me it sounded like the same alt-country rock stuff I hear oh-so-often at places like the Railway Club, except this time I didn’t have a seat and the beer was more expensive (and tasted worse). By the fourth song I was tapping my watch and hoping that the show would end soon. And just my luck they played for almost an hour and a half. A lot of people in the crowd seemed to enjoy the show though, as evident by the loud chants for an encore; maybe I’m just missing something.

After that I headed over to the Lamplighter for a triple bill with Black Horse, Channels 3 and 4 and Mommy & Daddy. I wasn’t the only one coming from Richard’s – the entire cast of Magnolia Electric Company showed up very shortly after I arrived and got a table in the back. The show started with Black Horse, a two piece rock band backed by a drum machine from Seattle. They were apparently held up at the border for seven hours and barely made the show. Taking that into consideration they did a fairly good job; I liked their intensity and rawness, but I thought they could’ve used a bit more diversity and paced the music a little better. Next up was Channels 3 & 4, whom we’ve covered to death already, so I’ll say they were swell and leave it at that. The evening ended with New York City’s Mommy & Daddy, and they were wonderful. Tons of dancing and oodles of energy on stage, they were a blast to watch. Their music wasn’t too shabby either, a very nice mix of catchy 80’s new wave pop with some new punk. The duo will often switch singing and bass playing duties during the set, and it kept things fresh. So yes, here’s yet another boy/girl husband/wife indie duo but they offer enough of a twist to be satisfying and worthwhile.

The Asbalt’s looking pretty sweet with Ladyhawk, Book of Lists, Happy Kreter and Prints this Friday. Book of Lists features Chris Frey from Radio Berlin and Prints has Sarah Jane from The Doers. If you go down the street to Pat’s you’ll get to see Evol-Hearted, playing with Champion, Alberta – a melodic alt-rock three-piece band from Edmonton that was once called Tom Cruise Missile (I think that’s pretty funny, no?), I’m betting that it’ll be a worthy gig to attend. The next night you have The Smears and The Excessives at The Brickyard, The Spinoffs, Frequency Fall and The Parallels at The Pic, and Ridley Bent with Cameron Latimer of the Seams at the Butchershop. On Sunday you can rock out with Toronto’s C’Mon at the Media Club – some may remember their front man Ian Blurton from past acts such as Blurtonia and Change of Heart, and he also produced a couple of Weakerthans albums. S.T.R.E.E.T.S. will be at Pub 340 on Tuesday along with my favorite band in Vancouver with two drum kits, Zeus. For Way Out Wednesday at the Railway, Rumbletone brings in Bughouse Five.

The official start to Music Waste is on Thursday and some great shows are happening. The Immaculate Machine, Regional Hats, Parlour Steps and the Basement Sweets are at the Media Club. The Basement Sweets are coming out of a long baby-related hiatus. At the Adonai Pub (which used to be The Columbia/Mike’s Tavern), there’s Human Hi-Lite Reel and Ghettoblaster. And finally the Raking Bombs and Live Girls are over at the Pic. Got your Music Waste pass yet?