Behind the music

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Before we thrust ahead to the shows happening this week, let me first focus my hindsight on a couple weeks back and just give a reacharound to a couple of things that had me gushin’ like a geyser. First up, I would like to extend a very, very belated congrats to Toronto’s hipster-approved punks Fucked Up for taking the $20,000 Polaris Prize way back on Sept. 22. Televised golf is usually more entertaining than what passes as Canadian underground music these days, so it’s nothing short of a revelation that something as dangerous, brave, unique and brash as Fucked Up’s The Chemistry of Common Life could actually pull the rug out from under easily digestible and predictable popsters like Metric and Joel Plaskett. Dyed-in-the-wool, myopic punk rockers have long shunned Fucked Up for moving ahead from the commercially doomed seven-inch format while ushering their sound away from tried-and-true hardcore into choppy, uncharted waters—which is sad, because they’re really missing out here, as Fucked Up remain punk but are able to actually let the tired genre evolve. Other than doom duo Nadja, I can’t think of a band more deserving of being crowned kings of Canada’s underground, so on behalf of everybody who has absolutely had it with safe indie pop, good on ya.

In the more immediate past, la Sala Rossa played host to the Montreal debut of doomy duo Om on Saturday, Oct. 10, with opener Lichens. Lichens, aka Robert Lowe, was simply mesmerizing as he slipped into a trance and produced loops of otherworldly voices in a dense sheet of sound. Watching his eyes roll back in his head as his entire body went into a convulsive state while he generated his haunting soprano vocals was just amazing. Om proved to be everything you would expect as bassist Al Cisneros laid down the raga roots, but it was recently recruited drummer Emil Amos (Grails, Holy Sons) who really gave the songs a sense of spiritual ascension. Live jams on “Meditation Is the Practice of Death” and “Flight of the Eagle” were just a head-nodding delight.

Now that we’ve got that flotsam outta the way, let’s have a peek at the shows coming up this week. Oddly enough, tonight seems to be the most packed, with Black Feelings launching their awesome heavy-psych debut at Friendship Cove with Tonstartssbandht, Sound Stories and DJs Chloe Scum and Raf. Original Toronto proto-punks the Scenics play tonight as well, at the Green Room, and this should prove to be a once-in-a-lifetime event. Largely unappreciated when they originally existed between 1976 and 1981, these underground icons merged Pere Ubu’s dementia, Television’s panoramic guitar work, Big Star’s pop prowess and the Ramones’ urgency. Adding further ballast for the night is the bratty punk of Denial Tone.

On Friday, don’t miss the chance to see outsider music legend Daniel Johnston at Ukrainian Federation with the Capitol Years. Gliding right over the weekend, don’t miss the CKUT benefit party at Casa on Wednesday with Panopticon Eyelids, Ultrathin, Alexandre St. Onge, Katherine Kline and DJs David Lafrance and the Zone.

BACKSIDE TO THE FUTURE…
JONATHAN.CUMMINS@GMAIL.COM