Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Godspeed You! Black Emperor (GY!BE) are one of those bands that has constantly been on my playlist for years. Their music going above and beyond my expectations, with 20 minute tracks being more or less the norm, with so many rises and falls in energy, each album, even each song is a journey in itself to listen to. So it comes as no surprise that when I found out that they would be getting back together for a tour after almost 10 years of being split up, I jumped at the chance of seeing them (the last 5 shows on the tour, all being in their hometown of Montreal, sold out very quickly, I was lucky enough to get a ticket). They played at Theatre St Catherine, a neat little venue who’s modern exterior and entrance contrast highly with the interior, which looks and feels like a very old playhouse, with the leveled floors and large stage area. The only downside was that there seems to be no air conditioning in this building, so when packed to capacity, it can get very, very hot, and the temptation to peel off the layers is almost impossible to resist, even if that means taking off everything (no one did, whether that’s lucky or unlucky I’ll let you decide).

The excitement was in the air waiting for GY!BE to come on and blow us away with their intense soundscapes. No one, especially not me, could have been prepared for what happened next.

Dreamcatcher

A local two piece noise-art-rock band. I would say no offense to my following statement, but I really honestly want to offend this duo in hopes that they will stop creating this nonsense. Don’t get me wrong, noise music, when done right, can be quite beautiful and interesting (i.e.: John Cage), but this was as directionless as a 14 year old trying weed for the first time. It was a horrible 30 minutes of random noises, horribly out of tune, heavily effects ridden guitar, directionless drum patterns that appeared and disappeared from thin air at random intervals, and what I strain to call vocals (as far as the word can be stretched) over top, like those stereotypical "avant-garde" poems you see in films. The fact that this group is from Montreal shames me. As one of my friend's aptly put it, it was an "alien abduction gone wrong."

But it was all made up for.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Despite the heat, the terrible opening act and the packed, crammed conditions on the floor, this group took me to another world. The entire show started with an underlying drone, with each member of the eight-piece band coming onto the stage, one by one, slowly picking up their instrument and adding to the drone, a message from one of the four projectors at the back placing a single word at the back, seemingly a symbol for all we seem to have to cling to these days; “Hope”. From then the song swelled and thinned with such perfect timing, really making the audience feel the emotions put forth in their songs which can only truly be described as epics, each and every one (not in that “oh man that was so epic!” meme kind of way but in the actual sense that each song is a full journey with a story behind it). They played a number of songs (what the names were I wouldn’t be able to tell you, but I recognized them all) and went through them almost seamlessly for two and a half hours, stopping to play only once or twice throughout the set, and even then only for maybe two minutes tops. While the band was playing, the projectionist was working his magic, posting various clips from slides of books, to films of factories, streets, trains, tunnels, cars etc and manually superimposing them with the four different projectors, adding his own effects using a bowl and his fingers to provide interesting effects, even going so far as melting the film on screen. The band, coupled with the projections, made the night a full experience, as it hit me full force, audibly, visually and physically. I let myself go for the set, really feeling the entire experience, so much so that it is almost indescribable without having been to the show yourself.

One thing that did grate on me a bit, though, was that the show did not entirely feel like a concert. It had this whole pretentious air set forth by the band itself, for not once did they acknowledge the audience, there was no interaction. The fact that the band came in one by one at random, as though this was either a random occurrence, or an audio-visual exhibit in an art gallery. This was only really a pet peeve brought forth by all the other shows I have seen in the past, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor was a show like I have never experienced before, despite how tired, sore and sweaty I was after, it still ranks as one of the best shows I have seen. If you ever get the chance to see them, please do, you’ll not regret it.

Lakes of Canada - Broken Mirrors EP release.

So on April 30^th Lakes of Canada had their EP release show at Grumpy’s. This was a late running show with two opening acts, but it was more than worth it. Grumpy’s is a small bar on Bishop Street here in Montreal that seems to be the favored spot for Lakes of Canada to play. The stage area is just a small raised corner next to the bar, just big enough to fit all four members of the band. Whenever I walk into Grumpy’s my first thought is never “this is a venue”, rather it is something more along the lines of “I feel like I should be a bitter old man here.” However the bar staffs are all very friendly, and any time I’ve been it is both Ram and this other guy, both seem to be in their late 20s/early 30s, which helps to diffuse the illusion that the bar is an old man bar. The prices are fair to average, though when you get a mixed drink you definitely get more than your money’s worth of hard liquor.

I know, I know. Enough about the bar, I suppose I should get to the music now.

As mentioned, there were two opening acts, both of which being solo musicians, who sang a few songs together within both of their sets, which actually proved to be quite a nice surprise. The entire night had that acoustic-folksy air to it.

David Simard

David Simard played an interesting set. His music is a folksy/country style music that seems like it would be more suited to an acoustic guitar, however he played on an electric, and with a bit too much tremolo at times (though I apologize if that was just the PA at Grumpy’s). He’s got a really great, low voice (I’m not quite sure if he’s too high to be baritone or too low to be alto, so I’m just going to stick with low) and his songs really helped set the mood for the night. He’s got some really catchy tunes, however my one complaint would have to be his guitar work. I felt like his songs were a bit too repetitive, so much so that I started to predict exactly when he would do minor chord changes.

Most of his chord strumming was the same for almost every song as well, the generic pluck of the bass note followed by the rest of the chord. That being said he really is a good musician, I just feel as though he should throw in some more strumming patterns so that he can capture the audience’s attention even more so. In one song he started to use his mouth to emulate trumpet noises, this was an interesting effect, because on the one hand it made me laugh pretty hard at how random it was, however it worked very well within the song, so kudos David Simard for making me laugh as well as impressing me with your mouth-trumpeting skills.

Brie Nielson

Brie Nielson plays music that is very similar to Simard’s, only with an acoustic. I would say that between the two of them, Nielson has the better voice, while Simard is the better musician. Nielson’s guitar work left a lot to be desired, though that is understandable, seeing as how she was playing and singing by herself, mostly. At times she would call on Simard or Jake Smith from lakes of Canada to sing with her, and for one song even the bartender Ram came up and sang with her,

which made for a very interesting vibe that one would not normally get at a show. Nielson also did the mouth trumpet, afterwards saying “you can tell David Simard and I play music together.” This brought to mind the question of why they do not play together all the time.

Honestly I must say that between the two sets, my favorite songs were those where Simard and Nielson played together. They work very well together, their voices complement each other quite well, as dies their musicianship. If it were up to me, I would get them to drop their individual solo acts and just merge together to create a wonderful duet, writing all of their songs together, switching up who leads the singing between them.

Lakes of Canada

This band is always great to see live. There is never a dull moment in any parts of any of their songs. Every note, whether its sung, strummed or hit rings out with so much emotion that you feel them, the songs move you, whether it’s a feeling of love, loss, lust, nostalgia, happiness or sadness, each song makes you feel a whole range of emotions. Not only was this night a release night for their new EP “Broken Mirrors”, but it was also the first night that they played a show with their newest member: Tim Dobby.

Previously, whenever I’ve seen Lakes of Canada play they were always a trio of Jake, Conor and Chris. Before that night I would have never said that anything was missing, until now. Tim fills the band out perfectly, his very low voice fills out the four harmonies, which they pull off very precisely and works superbly, and his guitar playing is nothing short of magical. Watching his right hand move when playing is nothing short of mesmerizing. Now that I’ve heard what the band sounds like with him, remembering what they sounded like before makes me realize that they really were missing that extra little oomph. These guys don’t need anything more to their music now though, everything they do works perfectly in conjunction with their singing and their style, and I feel like these guys should go far, they’ve definitely worked hard to get these songs going, because four vocal harmonies coupled with a whole slew of instruments playing in sync with each other is no easy task.

It was also a nice touch for their last song to have Brie Nielson and David Simard come on to "help them out" with some backup singing. Their songs are catchy, they’ve got great stage presence (even though Grumpy’s stage is a tiny raised platform) and constant crowd interaction (Before playing the song "Mr. Kitty Fantastico" Jake mentioned that it was Ram's favorite song, I must say it is definitely one of my favorite songs of theirs, I would be disappointed if they hadn't played it as well) which really helps to keep them in mind. If you ever get a chance to see them, you definitely should.

They’re playing again on Friday, May 13^th at Divan Orange, and they should be going on a little tour this summer around Canada and the US, so check their website (just click on their name at the top of this paragraph) for future dates, some free sounds, so on and so forth.

Also, if you want a copy of their EP, message me in the comments with an email or number or whatever with some contact information so that I can mail you one, or bring one to you, or you could just get up off your asses and get to their shows to buy an EP from them (really, the best option). Or download and buy it HERE

All the pictures were taken by me, I went a little trigger-happy with the camera, even in very non-ideal lighting conditions with no flash, so sue me if the quality isn't so great.