A word to the wise: At The Garrison, they infuse mythic ambrosia into the PBR bottles, leaving customers happy and hangover-free in the morning. Just kidding. I feel like shit. However, The Garrison was a packed house last night for the first "unofficial" night of the NXNE festival in Toronto. Full disclosure: I'm going to sacrifice photo quality in lieu of efficiency and timeliness with my posts this weekend. I am not Ansel Adams, and it's difficult to snap all-star quality photographs when I'm double-fisting ambrosia. Ya dig?
At 9, Pat Jordache took the stage and "woo-woo'ed" the crowd into ass-shaking mode pretty quickly. I decided to skip Monogold for this band's set and I wasn't disappointed. They do not suck, and hitting The Garrison early via a tip was a smart move. Pat Jordache has been making quite a bit of waves in the noise-pop arena up here, with a unique blend of guitar crunch and irreverent vocal delivery. They busted through a lot of Future Songs, donning a lazy hat but emittting quite a bit of talent behind the facade.
Lower Dens played in Cleveland at Happy Dog a few nights ago, and I was pissed I missed it. Twin-Hand Movement was among my favorites last year, and I've been excited to see it translated live. The lush instrumentation of the studio album came through beautifully in the tiny confines of The Garrison. "Blue and Silver" and "Holy Water" were fabulous live. They opened with the former and jammed out for several minutes. Ironic mustaches in tow, the band did a great job of filling the 10 PM time slot as the place began to fill up, even returning for a brief encore before wrapping things up. The upshot if you missed them is that they play one more set at NXNE. Check them out at Lee's Palace tonight at 1 AM.
My lady friend loves NYC's The Postelles. She's had the debut album in her hip pocket for the last three weeks and already knows all of the lyrics. Quite literally, The Postelles are already pop professionals, and can dish it out equally live. Energetic, fun, sexually charged, and talented, they rip through tunes like butter. Pariticular highlights were "Hey Little Sister," the obvious closer, "White Night," and a ridiculously good cover of Elvis' "Hound Dog," where guitarist David Dargahi nearly busted every string on his stratocaster. If you like to swim in pop hooks, there is not a better ocean than a Postelles gig. Mark that down. In even more important news, my lady friend got to chat with the Dargahi and even scored a pack of Postelles matches from the merch table. Isn't that what it's all about, ultimately?
The Garrison was cozy for our first night in Toronto, and treated us well. We were already in the cab as Suuns (Special 12 AM Guest Show) was getting started. They're playing a couple more sets, so I was able to let that one go so we could get to The Horseshoe to see We Are Wolves. Hopefully I can continue to get some brief posts throughout the week as I go. The NXNE staff has been fabulous and this is a great festival. If you're out and about tonight, don't forget to follow us on Twitter @citizendickorg. As I mentioned, first beer's on me. If these bands are new to you, I've posted a few tracks below.
Douche Holes is a better band name than Sloppy Vancouver Crotch.