NXNE 2008: Day 1 featuring Cancel Winter, Amos The Transparent & Great Bloomers

I can't possibly imagine being more exhausted then I am right now. This has probably been my most successful NXNE yet, having been throughly impressed with at least one unfamiliar act each day, and catching some old reliables in the process too. Whenever I catch a moment or two over the next few days I'll work at posting pics and throwing up some comments on the acts that I saw. I'm still hoping to ease my way in to the My Morning Jacket and Besnard Lakes show tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, here's what happened on Thursday:

Basically I wasn't really available until about 10pm or so. Add to that the fact that I had been up since 4:30am, and you've got a guy who wasn't too interested in moving around all that much. So I just thought I'd head on out to The Supermarket at Kensington, and just plant it there.

I had spent the better part of the day listening to Cancel Winter's liestillnow CD in preparation for the show. The band's from around here, and is mainly the brainchild of Nate Kreiswirth. It's an admirable collection of folk-tinged indie rock songs that combine meaningful lyrics with non-threatening pop hooks. Some of the songs, like The Silence, border on the anthemic, while other cuts, like Change, are very personal and introspective. There are even some more intense numbers like The Stars and Modern Machine, which incorporate a touch of the new wave into the mix. I thought the show went pretty well, with Nate proving himself to be a genial performer that has a knack for keeping the audience interested.

Cancel Winter will be playing The Horseshoe on July 18th.

Photos: Cancel Winter @ The Supermarket on flickr
Myspace: Cancel Winter
Video: The Silence (from The Riverbank Acoustic Sessions) on youtube

One of my favorite performances of the whole NXNE festival was that of Amos The Transparent. This time around they were boasting an 8 piece lineup which looked doubly huge when huddled together on the tiny Supermarket stage. This included a horn player and two female singers which made the songs all the more ceremonious in sound and scope. From what I understand, at one time the band actually was quite huge, but these days they mostly travel as a four piece. So this was sort of like a reunion of sorts, and the enthusiasm that the cast members displayed about playing together again was surely felt by everyone in attendance. Leader Jonathan Chandler was still the most animated presence, playing the controlled spazz while using his guitar as a virtual weapon of mass destruction onstage. At one point, concert photographer Pete Nema mentioned to me that he had to get to another show, but he just couldn't tear himself away because the band was "killing it!" If this is true, than not a soul left the place without at least a battle scar or two. This will certainly be a show to remember, since I assume that this huge ensemble doesn't get together all that often.

Photos: Amos The Transparent @ The Supermarket on flickr

Myspace: Amos The Transparent

My surprise pick of the evening was our very own Great Bloomers. They were a surprise, simply because I didn't really know them all that well. They are also of the slightly folksy indie variety, but it's their blatantly melodic tunes that I found impossible to resist. The band boasts a very tight rhythm section that makes it impossible to just stand still while they're playing. I also appreciated Lowell Sostomi's effortless approach to vocals, keeping the straining to a minimum at times when other vocalists would push it beyond their personal boundaries. They didn't act like they were out to prove anything, just simply to have a good time. For an idea of what this band is all about, listen to the song Catching Up on their myspace page. A lot of their songs follow this similar pattern. They start out relatively mellow, fooling you into thinking that they're going to slow things down a little bit. Then the gun fires and they're off! Their simple songs explode into a groovy barrage of sunshine brilliance, just daring you not to smile. This is the type of music that I have to admit that I'm always in the mood for, which means that I'll probably always be in the mood for the Great Bloomers.

Photos: Great Bloomers @ The Supermarket on flickr
Myspace: Great Bloomers