Olafur Arnalds show

Tuesday night, I got a panic email from my co-promoter Steve from Suoni Per Il Popolo / Sala Rossa pointing me to The Drake Hotel's website, where it said that Olafur Arnalds & co. canceled their show in Toronto because their touring broke down in the middle of nowhere, Michigan.

With the help of Caleb from ericrock.com I managed to track them down. They were getting a new van from Chicago the next morning, which arrived a lot later than expected. Add the canadian border delays and the usual traffic jam through Mississauga/Toronto (note to self, always use the paying highway 407), Oli & crew got to the venue close to 11pm, while I was performing - after a 13 hours drive, and I had plug & play almost immediately as it was getting late.

That was one hell of a stressful night, but everything ended well. The turnout was good for a Wednesday, all expenses were covered - everyone's set were very good, especially Olafur's which was quite beautiful & heartbreaking. Thanks to Saccidananda & Suoni Per Il Popolo. You can check out some pics of the evening here.

Also, yes. I performed with the addition of an analog moog synth for the first time, adding basslines and leads. I did an impulsive & improvised strictly-synth set at lab.synthese back in may, but that was pretty free & experimental. This time, it blended well with the regular TQA material.

Do not miss Ólafur Arnalds in Montreal (July 16th) with thisquietarmy & Saccidananda

Suoni Per Il Popolo & This Quiet Army Records présentent:

Ólafur Arnalds, thisquietarmy & Saccidananda

Mercredi 16 Juillet 2008
La Sala Rossa, Montréal QC
4848 St-Laurent

10$ à la porte / 8$ à l'avance (billets en vente):

* Casa Del Popolo, 4873 St-Laurent
* Atom Heart, 364B Sherbrooke e.
* Cheap Thrills, 2044 Metcalfe (2e étage)
* L'Oblique, 4333 Rivard
* Phonopolis, 5403A Parc

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Programmation / Portes à 20h30pm:

21h00pm: Saccidananda
21h45pm: thisquietarmy
22h30pm: Ólafur Arnalds

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Ólafur Arnalds (Islande, Erased Tapes)
En tournée avec un quatuor de corde - pour les amateurs de l'Islande et Sigur Ros, Bjork, Johan Johansson…
www.olafurarnalds.com

What Erased Tapes says:

Fragile, emotional, classical indie music would maybe be the best term to describe Ólafur Arnalds' music. Combining classical instrumentation with an indierock aesthetic there are obvious comparisons to Sigur Ros, but Arnalds is sculpting his own epic, string-laden compositions.

Only 21 years of age, Ólafur hails from the suburban Icelandic town, Mosfellsbær, just a few kilometres outside Reykjavík. He as immersed himself completely in the world of delicate symphonic compositions in a near weightless orchestral undertaking. Mixing strings and piano with loops, ambiance, electronics and beats. Debut album 'Eulogy for Evolution' (Now out in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, UK and Iceland!) takes the listener on a journey, representing different periods in life, from birth to death. The follow-up 5-track EP 'Variations of Static' so far has only been available as a limited tour edition. While keeping the classical foundations of his debut album, here Arnalds incorporates crackling electronics and the dead voice of a machine; like vague memories of tradition lost within the digital age we all live in.

Avec invités locaux:

* thisquietarmy (ambient/shoegaze)
www.myspace.com/thisquietarmy

Armé d'une guitare et d'une panoplie de pédales, Thisquietarmy esquisse ses fresques sonores en temps réel à l'aide d'échantilloneurs, qui sont soumises à différents processus de stratification, décomposition, reconstruction en mouvance perpétuelle pour aboutir à une musique instrumentale texturée qui s'avère rêveuse ou même cauchemardesque, dépendamment de l'ambience - le tout, accompagné de projections visuelles texturées pseudo-abstraites en noir & blanc. (pour les amateurs de Nadja/Aidan Baker, Tim Hecker, Destroyalldreamers, etc.)

* Saccidananda (post-jazz/math)
www.myspace.com/saccidananda

Découvrez le nouveau et jeune trio montréalais qui s'apprête à enregistrer avec Dave Bryant (Godspeed, Set Fire To Flames) aux studios Pines Recordings (Growing, Think About Life, The Hot Springs, Hrsta, etc.) à la fin du mois - - - pour les amateurs de Tortoise, Slint, Do Make Say Think, Mogwai, etc.)

Friendship Cove

Always fun to play in loft spaces, especially one with access to the roof where you can watch the fireworks, the skylights and the mills between bands change-ups. The crowd was relatively pretty young, but the kids seem to enjoy it. However, I seemed to be the only one drinking that night, which was weird. Place Hands played an amazingly loud set, we swapped CDs. Saccidananda showed a lot of promise, looking forward to hearing them through a decent venue sound system next month.

Tren Brothers

Yesterday, I stumbled upon the Tren Brothers gig at La Sala Rossa, for the Suoni Per Il Popolo. The Tren Brothers are Mick Turner & Jim White from Dirty Three - basically Dirty Three without Warren Ellis, the violinist. I saw Dirty Three in 2000-something, at the Cabaret. They were accompanied by Zak Sally, then - also bassist of Low, which was one of my favorite gigs of all-time.

The Tren Brothers played a tremendous set. I never knew that a drummer could make me fall asleep, as I was drifting in and out of consciousness. Of course the 6-7 beers I had at a corporate party prior the show also had something to do with that. Anyway, check them out if they're playing near you.

Speaking of Low, the Gospel Retribution Choir led by Alan Sparkhawk are playing tonight, which is very, very tempting...

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Tomorrow I'm playing at the Friendship Cove, a DIY artsy underground loft in the middle of the abandonned, ghostly streets of Griffintown. 215A Murray Street is the address. I'm opening for Place Hands, this math/indie pseudo-hardcore band from Toronto & newcomers to the scene, Saccidananda. 5$. Check it out.

Divan Orange

Gig at Divan Orange yesterday, it went okay I think. I had problems with my laptop's screensaver for the visuals… it was distracting. The sound was massive, the bass on the new stage was boomy, which is good for TQA stuff because it usually lacks the low-end. My sporadic basslines (aka octave guitar notes) were a lot more present, and I also triggered more drum-loops than usual on the spot, making it a more upbeat/rockier set than the usual washed out hazy ambient. I also played some really old stuff that I haven't touched since the very first TQA shows, and some new stuff I just made up a few hours before the gig... and made quite a random mix-mash.

Apillow played his first set in 3 years (and 2nd ever), with guest musicians Kit Malo & Mike Baker. Very good stuff.

Playing again at the Friendship Cove in Griffintown this Saturday, with Toronto's Place Hands and newcomers Saccidananda. Should be a fun loft show...