Hope for laughs

Monday, April 19, the walls of Casa Del Popolo shook with the violent, noisy bashing of Sightings. By the time Sightings hit the stage, the decibels were considerably amped up after local support from Rape Faction and the Pink Noise, and their set left me utterly stunned by the end with one of the best live displays of noisecore I’ve ever had the chance of witnessing.

The throbs of sound that constantly lurched and crashed forward may have had as much to do with the dementia of Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica and the ballast of Coltrane’s cluster barrages as they did with the current blistering noiseniks, but at the end of the day, Sightings take up residence in a place of their own. The only thing that would’ve really sent this over the top would’ve been the inclusion of their demented cover of Scott Walker’s “The Electrician,” which was unfortunately absent from the set list. If you dig noise blasts played with traditional rock instrumentation, this was face-meltingly good.

A couple of other things I’d like to tug on yer sleeve about this week are releases from two of Montreal’s sexiest bands. First up is the debut slab of seven inches of wax from Dead Wife, co-released by jam band labels Psychic Handshake and No Vacation. The three blasters are short and to the point, with the lo-fi production squeal only adding to the fearsome hardcore wallop. Probably the true gem, “Gentleman Rapist,” hides on the b-side with a lean thrash attack wobbling underneath washed-out and warbling vocals that spit blood. With both sides combined, this is two minutes of pure punk rock bliss.

On a completely different note are the dark, ambient electronics and heavily effected guitar of Thisquietarmy’s new release, Aftermath, on French drone label Basses Frequences. TQA is the solo project of Eric Quach, with his sound only becoming more dense and dramatic over subsequent releases. Quach takes his time carving melodies out of unlikely places and crescendos creep slowly as he easily moves from desolation to claustrophobia. A truly impressive and ambitious piece of work.

If I could recommend just one show to see this week, it would have to be the razor-sharp barbs of stand-up comedian Doug Stanhope, who kills it at Katacombes on Saturday, May 1. Stand-up comedy is a tough nut to crack, with humps like Dane Cook ruling the roost while other wet blankets of his ilk are still stuck in their “What’s the deal with airplane peanuts?” shtick. Stanhope’s polarizing opinions, omnipresent cigarette, barstool-prophet wit, left-of-centre observations and sheer fearlessness are sure to bring to mind the late, great and, for my money, best comedian who ever lived, Bill Hicks, and should render dickwads like Dane Cook obsolete within moments. Stanhope’s wry and often alcohol-fuelled rants are sure to push some buttons and will likely offend some, but in this day and age when free speech is increasingly sanitized and kneejerk censorship is only too eager to drop its gavel, we need Doug Stanhope more than ever. Oh, and he’s funnier than fuck.

LAUGHTER? DOES ANYBODY REMEMBER LAUGHTER?JONATHAN.CUMMINS@GMAIL.COM