Quick and to
the pointless

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Nobody loves Guided By Voices more than I, so when I heard that main GVB man Robert Pollard was releasing a DVD with footage taken from his own personal stash of VHS tapes, I was more excited than a crusty punk on welfare day, but The Devil Went Home and Puked: Robert Pollard’s Rock Show (MVD Visual) is all heartbreak with every fuzzy frame. Clocking in at just over an hour, what we get are live-show segments of sub-YouTube quality, snippets of his drunk friends and his favourite local bands in Dayton, Ohio, and looped footage of the bass player’s leg. In Pollard’s songwriting and collage art, he’s as economical as it gets when he slams his messages home, but in the editing room, it just doesn’t work. Even the most rabid fans better just stick to the records and Pollard’s prolific solo work, ’cause this won’t hold much water.

Before I hip ya to the upcoming shows this week, there were a couple of other local records that slipped through the cracks of my local release round-up a couple of weeks back, so buckle in. While perusing yer favourite indie-rock rekkid stores, keep yer peeps sharpened for Clean the Bloody Tape, the new one from local no-wavers Many Mental Mistakes. Five songs that recall early Sonic Youth, served up with the deconstructed and sinister edge of Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, but with an extra helping of psychedelic, delayed loops and a dollop of DIY distortion served up on the side. If you ever wondered what the stink was about this “Montreal weird punk” thing, this would be a good place to start, but hi-fi heads might want to stay away. Many Mental Mistakes play Petit Campus with Half Baked, the Sound of Sea Animals, Chicago Mint Club and DJ Doktor V on Sunday, Dec. 13.

Next up is a nice slice of wax from locals le Kid & les Marinellis on Telephone Explosion Records. A-sider “T’es pas ici” is a snotty garage stomper recorded in crap-o-phonic sound, as it should be. With the combined sides only lasting four minutes and change, this is over faster than it starts, but it’s the b-side, the reverb-drenched psych gem “Camille,” that will have you draggin’ the needle back to the beginning every two minutes.

A couple of hotsy-totsy shows this week, starting tonight with the ultimate weird pairing of El Chachi, paying tribute to ZZ Top, and openers the Central Shaft, saluting Brian Eno, at Green Room. A good night to trip balls if you’re holdin’. On Friday night, the only place to be is Verdun, for the opening night of new venue the Death Church (3067 Wellington) with doom and gloom set Ensorcelor, power violence punks Vile Intent, the Vanishing Act, Bone Black and Anoxia. This show has a strict curfew of 11 p.m., so consider yourself warned. On Saturday night, you can check out the mayhem of Iron Age with local bottle-tokers and recent Metal Blade signees Barn Burner with Omegas, Doldrum and Crude Genes at Friendship Cove. On Tuesday, don’t miss alterna-legend and ex-Hüsker Dude Grant Hart when he packs ’em in at Casa del Popolo with No Joy, and finally, on Wednesday, you can help celebrate Blind’s 11-year anniversary at the Barfly.

NEW DAY RISING…JONATHAN.CUMMINS@GMAIL.COM