A TWM Feast Of Indie

featuring After The Weather, Diamond Teeth and Idle Tigers.

I hadn't been to one of Dan Wolovick's Two Way Monologues showcases for awhile, so I was all pumped up for the one that was taking place on Friday night. As usual, it was a gi-normous funbag 'o fun, even if all of the acts didn't necessarily turn my crank.

I didn't stick around for the last act, even though they sounded quite good on their myspace, simply because it was getting late and I'm an old man. (They were Whale Tooth, if you're interested.) But the band right before them was the most impressive act of the night.

Montreal's After The Weather are an amazing band to see live, especially if you're into lightning fast musical licks. They're a three piece, consisting of three very impressive musicians creating a cool sort of prog-jazz-fusion type of sound. Matthew Hills is the lead singer and guitarist, and watching his fingers fly across that fretboard is nothing short of astonishing. Rob Helston's bass duties are very prog-like, reminding me a bit of Geddy Lee before Rush got all boring and stuff. And Trevor Zaavedra is the drummer with mystique, who had no problem keeping up with the advanced time signatures that makes After The Weather so unique. I'm looking forward to seeing them return to Toronto sometime in the near future.

Photos: After The Weather at Rancho Relaxo on flickr
Myspace: After The Weather

One thing I'll say about The Diamond Teeth, is that they do know how to have a good time, that's for sure. Their music, while still quite rough, definitely shows a lot of promise. The instrumental aspect is solid, creating a very enjoyable indie rock sound. It's the vocals that I thought could use a little work. The soft songs were too soft and the loud songs were way too loud. Why do people have to scream so much? Seriously, my ears can only take so much. Dang, there I go, sounding old again. The show got better as it went along and the last few songs were definitely the stronger ones. I would also be lying if I didn't say that the tongue in cheek performance of their song "Friends Forever" didn't make me laugh out loud more than a couple of times.

Photos: The Diamond Teeth at Rancho Relaxo on flickr
Download: Time mp3 / Friends Forever mp3
Myspace: The Diamond Teeth

The opening act of the night was a one man electronic band known as Idle Tigers. I'll probably just leave it at that. (I guess I will say that the music he has featured on his myspace page is actually sort of interesting.)

Photos: Idle Tigers at Rancho Relaxo on flickr.
Myspace: Idle Tigers