TWM-Fest Day 2 featuring Coast Guard, Amos the Transparent, Fox Jaws and Beth In Battle Mode

I hope TWM Fest days 1 & 3 were as successful as day 2 was because it could only be described as rousing! This is the way to celebrate such a successful series of local indie talent and Friday night just confirmed that all of the best music is still to be found right here in the city of Toronto. Even though my two favorite acts of the night were technically exported from slightly outside of the city but still….

The openers of the night were Coast Guard, an indie pop gem consisting of Dennis Keough (drums), Justin Mahoney (bass), Jimmy Rose (guitar, synths), and Rhiannon Thomas (vocals, guitar). Their music has a slight east coast edge to it and reminds me a bit of Thrush Hermit, only with female vocals. It’s unassuming and pleasant enough but I can’t say that it really grabbed my attention as much as I would’ve liked it to. However, this criticism should be tempered with the fact that I actually ran into a whole whack of friends at this show and spent the better part of the Coast Guard’s set catching up with them. So the band didn’t really have my undivided attention.

Photos: My shots of Coast Guard @ Rancho Relaxo are on flickr.
Myspace: Coast Guard

Ottawa’s Amos the Transparent were up next and the last time I saw them was also here at Rancho and their slightly inebriated presentation was one of the most entertaining shows of the year. I was speaking with Jonathan Chandler before the show and he was mentioning that he was dealing with a little bit of a strange sinus thing and they were making the drive back to Ottawa that evening. That meant minimal drinky drinky. That gives the band an A for responsibility and an obviously more reserved performance than last time. But if a band can play a tight show while under the influence, than just imagine how tight they are when performing sober. And they were tight and sounding as great as usual. It was cool that the band was willing to play this small venue considering the significant amount of exposure that they’ve been receiving as of late. The fans were all there, and the interaction between the band and the crowd gave me that warm and cuddly feeling, like a giant indie rock hug. They mentioned that they'll be returning to the city for NXNE, and that they're performance is going to quite the extravaganza. Whether or not this means a show with their original significantly larger line up I don't know, but colour me intrigued.

Photos: My pics of Amos the Transparent @ Rancho Relaxo are on flickr.
Myspace: Amos The Transaprent

The stellar Amos performance left Fox Jaws’ Carleigh Aikins remarking “How am I supposed to follow that?!?” Well she needn’t have worried because I think Friday night’s show was they’re best performance to date. How does she do that thing with her voice? It was there in all of its raspy glory. My friend and local musician Haley Zalesky said it best when she exclaimed “That voice! I want it!” I noticed that they seem to be introducing more and more new material at each show, and this performance didn’t feature as many songs from Goodbye Doris as I would’ve liked. Still, unless you’re someone like Queens of the Stone Age (who incidentally were playing a surprise intimate show at the El Mocambo just up the street) a band only has a minimal allotment of time and Fox Jaws clearly wanted to feature as much new music as possible. And that’s all good because the songs sound awesome. I obviously don’t know the names of these new tunes but there was one about dancing or something (lol) and the last song of the night in particular made me all eager with anticipation for the new album. Another thing to look forward to is the fact that, I believe they’re going to be recording their next album with Nevado Records. That’s the label that recorded Bass Lions latest, which so far contains the best production I’ve heard all year. So there is no reason that the upcoming Fox Jaws CD should not be the greatest thing that I’ve ever heard. Ever. No pressure.

Photos: My pics of Fox Jaws @ Rancho Relaxo are on flickr. (Compared to the last two times that I saw them, these ones actually turned out pretty good.)
Myspace: Fox Jaws

I was so tired at this point that there should be a new word to describe how exhausted I was because words like ‘tired’, ‘exhausted’ and ‘fried’ just don’t cut it. However, I’ve been wanting to see Beth In Battle Mode since I reviewed Technical Know-How last year and darned if I was going to miss them again! So I figured, I’ll catch a couple of songs, take a few crappy pictures and call it a day. Well c’mon! That just can’t be done at a show as fun as the show that BIBM puts on. The self proclaimed world's premier garage-prog-disco power trio put on a show that was every bit as fun as one would expect from such a crazy tag, Andrew Ennals is the most entertaining synth player I’ve seen since watching Good Rockin’ Tonite in the 80’s and every band member was more than happy to mug for the various cameras of the night. David Gilgan was pounding the drums like a madman and Edward Mahen’s voice was here in all of its Loverboy-ish charm. (I hope he doesn’t mind that I keep comparing him to Loverboy but I’m sorry, the voice constantly conjures up images of a red spandex clad Mike Reno. But in a good way. If that’s even possible.) Finally, the ultimate proof that I was thoroughly enjoying this show was the fact that the band was even making my usually stoic booty shake and that rarely ever happens. Although, apparently it’s debatable as to whether or not what I do can actually be called dancing. Thanks for crushing my self esteem Jen. Just kidding. My ego is actually still as huge as ever.

Photos: My shots of Beth In Battle Mode @ Rancho Relaxo are on flickr.
Myspace: Beth In Battle Mode