The Windsor Scene Playlist Oct. 30, 2013

This week was tons of fun on The Windsor Scene; the first time having a band in the studio in quite some time.

We Can Be Heroes is a local pop-punk outfit that recently recorded some new tracks with Brett Humber at Sound Foundry Studios in Kingsville. They came in to debut some of these tracks, as well as play a couple of them live on-air.

Coming up over the next few days are the CJAM Pledge Drive shows, where local bands will be playing live to help raise funds to keep the station running over the next year. Of particular note is the Measured in Angles show, where the band will be playing for the first time in nearly ten years. Joining them will be What Seas, What Shores and Learning. This all goes down on Saturday, November 2 at FM Lounge (156 Chatham St. W.) at 10 p.m., and admission is $5 at the door.

We Can Be Heroes – 3230 (Unreleased)

Rah Rah – Art and A Wife (The Poet’s Dead)

The Blue Stones – All I Ever (How’s That Sound?)

The Vaudevillianaires – Snake Righteous (Single)

Star Trek: The Band – Jovial Sarcastic Banter on the Bridge (What Are Little Girls Made Of?)

The Steady Swagger – Whiskey Bar (Single)

Southern Discomfort – Halo (Live At The DH)

We Can Be Heroes – 3230 (Live in Studio)

Your Best Bet – Only Time (Enya Cover) (Single)

Emerald Seas – Pulling Strings (Single)

The Fisher Kings – Get Behind Me (Single)

We Can Be Heroes – Goodnight Good Luck (Live in Studio)

Aurelia – Forget Me (Living Ghost)

Daniyal Malik – Tragedy Awakens (Single)

Astoria – Wake Up Sound (One Take)

Measured in Angles – Choose Your Weapon (Lo Standards for Hi-Fi)

What Seas What Shores – Old Reliable (Threnodies)

Learning – There Is A Limit (Kant)

We Can Be Heroes – Lost in Transit (Unreleased)

White Cloud – Curbside Sofa (Curbside Sofa)

 Listen Here!

Emerging Artist: Cellos explosive in debut

Last night, Cellos made its live debut on a Windsor stage. It was their first performance as a band and despite a few stage jitters, they pulled it off magnificently.

Despite it being their live debut, the members of Cellos are far from being novices. In fact, the trio may be three of the best representations of their respective instruments in the city. Guitarist (and vocalist) Kyle Marchand is better known as the driving chunk behind Orphan Choir as well as the experimental soundscape engineer in What Seas, What Shores (he also had a short stint in the melodically golden Yellow Wood). Bassist Joe Rabie’s thundering grooves have build the skeleton for many projects, including the prog rock dirge of Surdaster, the instrumental frantics of Red Rows and the experimental blind field trips of Star Trek: The Band. And the sheer muppetry genius of David Allan on drums has all been evident to anyone who has seen the octopus-on-cocaine tentacles fly in other projects like Explode When They Bloom, Poughboy and Which Witch. It only makes sense that these three play together – they’ve been in such diverse projects individually, that it would take a project of this nature for each of them to truly shine and show what they are ultimately capable of pulling off.

Their set last night – opening the highly anticipated return of KEN mode to Windsor – was brief but succinct. The second song, tentatively titled “Notes from Underground”, was a clincher – when the power riff groove locked in, the crowd was hooked. For a band playing their debut, they had a crowd in their hands, attentive and hungry, eyes agape and ears thirsting. Their set was like a rock opera conveying how an underwater minefield going off must sound to the fishes around it – as heart racingly exciting as it is terrifying.

Marchand’s voice is reminiscent of Gibby Haynes via early Butthole Surfers records (a la Locust Abortion Technician) with a tinge of Bleach-era Nirvana (the band actually closed their set with a Nirvana cover, “I Hate Myself and I Want To Die”). If I was to play Pitchfork and mash analogies, I’d say it was like Gibby Haynes singing in a band with Paul D’Amour (Tool) on bass, a pre-Badmotorfinger Kim Thayill (Soundgarden) on guitar and Keith Moon on drums, with a set arranged by Mr. Bungle or Mars Volta, but even that isn’t entirely accurate. In fact, if I was a psychologist, I’d say they sound like the soundtrack for the exact moment when the voices in someone’s head suddenly instructs them to kill for the first time. It’s a rush of anticipation, anxiety, excitement and lunacy all at once.

But perhaps the real majesty of witnessing Cellos’ debut performance last night was something another witness said to me: “It’s so exciting to see a band’s first performance. I mean, I’ve seen them play in other bands before, but them together, is something new. Seeing something brand new is just so exciting.” These guys have done this before. In different bands, a hundred if not a thousand times before. But seeing them play something new and something fresh for the first time, is something magical. The material is fresh in the audiences ears, not tainted by the memories of shows past by, not blurred by the fact that they’re there to “watch a friend’s band play”, they were there to experience something new by musicians they’d grown to trust.

And judging by the response, Cellos has a bright future ahead of them.

You can catch Cellos next performance opening the show at Phog Lounge (157 University Ave. West) when Calgary’s This City Defects comes to town on Monday April 11th (Red Rows is also opening).

Wed. March 16: Bulletproof Tiger return home for a show at The Coach with Lymbyc System in tow

Windsor’s music scene have always had a love affair with instrumental bands, be it the dynamic live shows of Bloemfontein to the organic beauty of What Seas, What Shores, from the complexity of electronic artists like Kero to the gorgeous simplicity of (WH)Y.M.E.(??), the inclusion of vocals has not always been a matter of fact for many local acts.

A couple years back, Bulletproof Tiger erupted on the local scene with a fresh new approach to the instrumental sound. Involving a multi-member use of finger tapping and a “physics rock” style (not to be confused with simply “math rock”), they quickly rose from novelty act to full on spectacle, as their fret board mastery captivated and hypnotized all those in attendance. They went from Open Mic performers to hotly sought after opening act to performing at last year’s Phog Phest in a remarkably short period of time. But like many of Windsor’s stronger talents, they felt the pull to relocate and look at some bigger developmental opportunities, moving to Toronto at the end of summer last year.

They return home this Wednesday to the legendary Coach & Horses (156 Chatham St. West, basement level) for a special homecoming show, where they’ll be teaming up with the aforementioned What Seas, What Shores as well as Tempe, Arizona’s Lymbyc System, yet another instrumental band who combine gorgeous almost Sigur Ros style soundscapes intertwined with latter year Radiohead electronica. They’ve toured with such bands as Broken Social Scene, Crystal Castles and The Album Leaf, so it’s a real treat to get to see them in Windsor in such an intimate setting.

Bulletproof Tiger with special guests Lymbyc System and What Seas, What Shores, The Coach & Horses (156 Chatham St. West, basement level), 9pm, 19+

What Seas, What Shores live at a House Party

Who says house parties and live shows can’t co-exist?

Here’s a clip of What Seas, What Shores playing live at a house party on Saturday night.