Show Review: Russian Circles with KEN Mode and Inter Arma

Russian Circles at Cat's Cradle

KEN Mode left a good impression. Long, sweaty, stringy hair on the guitarists flew between screaming vocals and sludgy riffs. The drummer really impressed me, varying sticks and time signatures easily. Canadian hardcore isn't a genre I'm seasoned in, but it was obvious they knew what they were doing from stage presence to execution. The band has gained notable recognition, especially in the past few years with an exhaustive tour supporting Venerable and being a Juno award, in addition to a nomination at the Western Canadian Music Awards and being on the 40-album longlist for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize (ultimately won by Godspeed You! Black Emperor for Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!).

The lights blacked out. Shortly after, a feedback-laden loop played, entrancing the audience until it was impossible to know how much time had passed. That's one thing I love about these kinds of shows. Typically, bands have openers to prep the audience for the big act of the night, so the mood is already set for the headliner, the audience is awake and excited; it's go time for the main act. Russian Circles was able to re-calibrate and wield any energy in the room, bringing everyone back to the same focal point. If you've seen Godspeed You! Black Emperor, it was a similar intro and feeling. The band walked out onto the foggy stage and ripped it open. The backlighting highlighted the band's profiles instruments' blurred silhouettes, a fan was blowing on the drummer accentuating each hard hit to his kit. Playing through their thick catalog, the band went through various guitars and basses manipulated by a hefty (and highly custom-made) pedalboard. They made great use of sampling, looping and layering to create a truly impressive live performance, elaborating on their recorded songs.

Russian Circles' pedalboard

There was one moment in particular that felt like the audience had just plummeted out of a sensory deprivation tank -- an abrupt switch from melodic darkness to the stage's white lights hi-beaming everyone straight in the pupils, paired  simultaneously with chunky shredding. It was loud, as was expected, and my ears rang into the following day. During the show, the notes seemed to blast at you, swim to you, and linger around you mid-air. Again, this was actually quite possible consider how high everything was turned up, but the delay and reverb created an incredible atmosphere. Later on and a substantial set under their belt, they set down their instruments and walked off, immediately cueing the "one more song" chants while the guys finished their beers backstage. Momentarily they were back and played my absolute favorite Russian Circles song, "Youngblood," from their 2008 album Station. Filled with taps that make your spine tingle, the song was extremely powerful live. The audience fell into a rhythm and moved as one. Without any inkling of stage banter the entire night, the band humbly smiled and waved goodbye.

It was a Monday night but didn't feel like it. My only complaint of the night was the crowd. For being fairly scene-heavy, there was a lot of chatter during quiet parts which you just don't do at a post rock show. This genre provides an experience versus the cut and dry division of songs that calls for no interruptions or jumping the gun on clapping, despite good intentions of praise. In fact, I've seen people get shushed before and dirty looks cast at cell phones going off. Along with that, this wasn't a type of show you yell out requests at. The set was consciously well-crafted as is. Rocking out is cool, moshing can be appropriate, but taking it to torpedoing across the crowd Raiden style isn't. Luckily these complaints address a limited group, but it was distracting. All that aside, it was a phenomenal night and I hope to see Russian Circles again. 

Show Review: And So I Watch You From Afar, TTNG, Mylets

TTNG

LA record label Sargent House put together a solid bill that flaunted some great rock at Kings Barcade on Tuesday, November 5.

Mylets, putting out his first full-length Sargent House album next year, plays mostly instrumental music. Written and performed by himself, Henry Kohen utilized numerous pedals and samplers to play his songs. At times, he’d yell over the aggressive loop-based songs. He had a knack for making loops on the fly, a difficult task not many can do, especially impulsively to a high tier quality. His guitar riffs were layered, also taking time with the synth bass and percussion pads to build a full sound.

TTNG (This Town Needs Guns) was first of the two headliners, both of whom played full sets. The guys chatted between songs, commenting on the tour, sharing some stories and trying to pump up the audience. Given it was a Tuesday night, there was a decent crowd, but it took a while for the majority to really wake up. As you would expect from the music, a large amount of the songs were constructed with taps, pull offs and harmonics – always fun to watch this guitar style being created feet from your face. Henry Tremain, lead vocalist, guitarist and bassist, had a creative setup. He played a good bit with two guitars stacked on each other, hanging from different lengths. The top, tuned “normally,” the bottom Squire tuned an octave lower to emulate a bass guitar sound.

The band invited Mylets on stage to play a song with them, and he looked stoked, getting into the half-screaming vocals with one arm cemented behind his back as he danced around a bit. At the end of their set, they did something else pretty special. Introducing “26 Is Dancier Than 4,” the first track off of their self-titled 2008 album, they got a great response, pegging it as a crowd favorite. Tremain asked who knew the song, who knew the words, and then after a wave of cheers, who wanted to come up and sing it with him. A younger guy named Casey jumped up on stage and melted right in. Harmonizing wonderfully with Tremain throughout the set, he had no shyness getting behind the mic. At the end of the song, he respectfully and nervously thanked each of the members, shaking their hand, and accidentally interrupting a guitar riff to do so – but it’s cool, he rocked.

And So I Watch You From Afar

And So I Watch You From Afar came on a little after 10:15. They opened with songs off their newest album, All Hail Bright Futures, including “Ambulance,” a track that builds up upon a single riff with powerful beats, breaks, and shouts. Inevitably, a small pit soon formed a few people back from the front. After a few songs, I looked at the friend I was standing next to who hadn’t seen them before. When I could see her face between hair-flying head banging, she was grinning ear to ear. That pretty much reflected my experience. ASIWYFA plays very tight with palpitating energy that mirrors their music in a physical and visual way.

With instrumental shows, there are different approaches the performer-audience connection can take. From an audience perspective, it often feels like you’re sitting in on a practice and watching through a glass window, or at a theatre watching a hi-brow performance. Then, you have ones like this that play to the audience and bounce energies back and forth, transforming it to an emotive rock show. They, too, invited Mylets on stage for a song. Their tour manager also joined for a song and the group just looked like they were having a blast, and the crowd was responsive. I was incredibly happy with the set list’s flow, and they hit all my favorites, including “7 Billion People All At Once,” “Set Guitars to Kill,” and an extended version of “The Voiceless” as their final song.

The bands share the same label and are working closely doing the whole tour together. There is an undeniable level of support and camaraderie between them that made the experience interconnected, rather than seeing three individual bands at face value.