#festivalseason - The Phillips Backyard Weekender delivered all I expected...And then some.

There was a ridiculous amount of great music at Phillips Brewery for the annual Backyard Weekender in Victoria this year and I could go on and on about it. I could tell you how The Revolution was better than anyone could have thought, laying down a set comprised entirely of some of Prince's best tracks – and even a couple surprises... “America,” anyone? Or how Victoria OG s, Murge and Verse – The Champion Sound, held it down between sets all damned weekend. Or I could tell you about the fiery and relentless disco assault of !!! (Chk Chk Chk) lit up a mostly unsuspecting crowd. In a weekend packed with highlights, here are the four acts that inspired my own lazy ass to get back to important work, like creating things and loving live music even of a fraction of how I used to.

Reggie Watts is so good at what he does that people now believe non-facts about Victoria.

Ask anyone who was there - apart from the two dudes I saw walk out early declaring, “This guy's a fucking weirdo.” - and they'll tell you that Reggie Watts' Saturday night performance at The Phillips Backyard Weekender was a incendiary force of creativity. It was funny, fresh and relentless. It demanded attention to mine its deep rewards. During his set, which my words will never do justice to, Watts told the potted “history” of spare ribs. We all had a good chuckle. Early the next day, whilst in the smoke-pit, I overheard a discussion about the improvised glory that Watts laid down the previous night. “He must have done a lot of serious research about Victoria. Like, he talked about the history of the spare rib and how it came from Victoria. I didn't know that!” “I'm from Victoria and I didn't know that!” These are actual things I overheard. Are there hundreds or possibly thousands of people out in Victoria now spreading the wholly false idea that Victoria is the legit home of the spare rib? God, I hope so.

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Moontricks & BOUSADA @ Capital Ballroom (14.04.18)

Sometimes you go to a show expecting to chill hard. You go see an artist because it's going to be a cool night out and an opportunity to go dance and have a good time, but not necessarily rage. And sometimes you get to that show and it's just as chill as you expected but then, you get some a few unexpected tastes of the bass that makes you rage and it's extra-awesome because you didn't expect it. This past Saturday (April 14) at Capital Ballroom in Victoria, Moontricks delivered exactly that – an expectedly sultry, smooth and sexy set of bass and banjo (And guitar and harmonica) punctuated by forays into deep funk and beyond. Moontricks laid down a tremendous set of new and old tracks, to a packed house of seriously delighted people moving together, smiles plastered across every face in the room. This was (and is) serious bass without aggression – perfect for keeping the pulsing sea of humanity moving and in a good, chilled out mood. For such a large crowd in the Ballroom, this was a legit well-behaved crowd and it's a testament to the performers that everyone was bouncing so respectfully.

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The old stuff (Like the sublime “Home,” which garnered the biggest pop of the night) was as warm and comforting as ever but it was the unexpected twists of new tracks that seemed to get the most bounce out of the sea of people. Most surprisingly, we were even treated to a little drum n' bass. Drum n' bass consistently challenges me and a Moontricks show was one of the last places I would expect to hear it, but oh man, that was some good, fun drum n' bass. Maybe it's old-hand to them, but I haven't seen it from these cats in the many, many times I've seen them play. Go see them live and experience this goodness. Please, for your ears' sake.

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Things got going early with some luscious house-y beats from the homie Xavier, one of the pillars of Victoria's electronic community and BOUSADA, who is establishing himself as one of the city's musical pillars, able to move between genres and crowds with ease. Flanked by a guitar player, BOUSADA was as animated as ever, in all his shirtless glory, punctuating his beat-making and singing with loud cries of joy. A musical facilitator of the highest order, the last portion of his set saw BOUSADA giving the spotlight to a stream of some of Victoria's finest vocalists (Including Doc Zoo and Danimal House of Illvis Freshly, Kady and Stevie from Leg-Up Program and the mighty Orilla) taking turns rapping and singing over his tunes. It feels like BOUSADA has been building something special in Victoria and Saturday night was a reminder of why this guy is such a Force of Musical Community. A spectacular night of groove and bass. Well-done everyone.

Lee 'Scratch' Perry & Subatomic Sound System, 04.11.17 - Capital Ballroom, Victoria, BC

For more than four decades Lee 'Scratch' Perry, the original Upsetter, has been pushing reggae into the cosmic depths, mining the mysteries in the veins of the heavy heart of dub. No amount of listening to the man's ridiculously vast catalogue can truly prepare the mind for witnessing the dark, colourful Upsetter dub live. Perry made his return to Victoria in top form, unbridled and confident as ever in the colourful, reckless weirdness that has has been the lifeblood of his career.

Touring in support of the recently released Super Age Returns to Conquer – a rerecording of the seminal Super Ape with his longtime touring band Subatomic Sound System – Perry led the audience on a spiralling journey of creative energy. I have a hard time with accents and often don't understand Perry on my headphones let alone in a live setting, but it doesn't really matter. His whole presence is so huge and mystical and immediate that you couldn't help but be sucked in, even if you only picked up one out of every two or three words he says. The sound of his voice, whatever it was doing, was almost hypnotic. When the more familiar refrains like “This is the Ape Man...” broke through out of the haze, the feeling was straight-up sublime.

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While Perry is the centre of everything, the colour, the driving engine of the whole thing is the deeply hypnotic bass of the powerful Subatomic Sound System. The bass of dub is heartbeat bass, seemingly moving at the pace of blood, and there aren't many people I've heard lately harnessing that dub like SSS. When the show started with dropping the bass to deep, air-shaking frequencies and had the crowd hold their hands in the air to confirm that those bass vibes were indeed now in the air, I got real excited and there was no disappointment. For nearly two hours I couldn't stop moving even if I tried. Subatomic had control of my motor functions.

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Helping the hypnotizing process along was the incredible saxophone work of Troy Shaka Simms. Weaving and supple, his sound floated around and above the heavy, earthy bass and complimented Perry perfectly. And within all of this relentless musical glory was the percussion of Jamaican legend Larry McDonald. Punctuating the wall of sound that Perry and Subatomic had built was McDonald's nimble and guttural riddims, splashing the space-out dub with the unmistakable rhythm of human life. Hands on drums is the most basic musical sound we know. It is embedded in our shared collective knowledge and way out there in the vast unknown of cosmos McDonald relayed that knowledge in a way that reminded me of a feeling I didn't I think I'd find all the way out there.

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That was a fucking great show. I love dub reggae. Few sounds sooth my soul the way Lee Perry & Subatomic Sound System did last night.

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Ben Caplan & The Casual Smokers - Mar. 15, 2017 @ Sugar, Victoria, BC

Passionate. Engaging. Dramatic. Interesting. I could sit here all day using adjectives to describe Ben Caplan & The Casual Smokers' performance at Sugar Nightclub the other night and they'd all be true, but no justice would be done. This was a musical masterclass from Caplan, Canada's philosopher troubadour and owner of one of music's finest beards. Caplan & Co's music is ridiculously theatrical and had me captivated more than folk music has got ahold of me in some time.

First off, and most ridiculously impressive, was the band's punctuality! This may seem like an insane thing to bring up in a review, but when a headliner at a club show is on the stage at 10, as advertised, it is a thing of goddamned beauty, especially on a weeknight. It's a small thing that shows a respect for the audience and starts things off on a nice little note. From the get-go, the sound mixing was on-point. Volume distortion is a constant battle at smaller club shows, especially with a powerful (and important) lead singer, but this was crystal clear – the Casual Smokers loud, but Caplan's voice front and centre, like it needed to be. The crispness of the mixing allowed to crowd to focus on and bond with the songs. These magnificent songs deserve to be heard as clearly possible. 

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