where've you been? check your compass.

So This past weekend I ran down to Toronto for the NXNE music and film fest. June 14-18 was chock-full of artists, films and conferences with people all over the music industry.

This was, I'll have to say my first adult trip to T.dot and it was everything I thought it could have been and then it blew my mind with everything else!!! I was working with the NXNE fest as volunteer leader, selling wristbands and working as a mini info-ifficianado. I worked days the entire time, so I was not able to do any or the concerts and usually missed the films.

I did, however, see a shitload of music!

There was lots of AMAZING artists, a good handful of god-awful ones too. There were hundreds upon hundreds of shows to see, and I could obviously only see a handful:

Brant Bjork and the Bros
Mud Honey
X
Terracotta Pidgeons
Warpaint
Elliot Brood
Kidstreet
Said the Whale
K-os
Japandroids
Burning Boys
Queen Kwong
De Staat
Mini Mansions
The Soft Pack
DD/MM/YYYY
The Raveonettes
Iggy Pop
Attack in Black
Ruby Coast
Spooky Ruben
Chin Injeti

...Yes, that's just a handful.

Obviously I won't review every show. Just a bit too much for me. However, I will mention my two highlights and the definite low of the festival for me.

Terracotta Pidgeons - Oh, this show. It reminded me of Alice in Chains meets Pearl Jam, however this bastard child came out after both bands had been through rehab and found Jesus again. This show was loud and harmonized with no depth or emotion, and was grasping for air, with bandmates struggling with the beginning of middle age, but pushing out the barley legal boy to the front of the stage, just to show they were still 'hip'. Nice effort, but no luck boys. Maybe Australia has a different taste, but it's certainly not mine.

Kidstreet - This was the show that cleaned my palate post-TCP and renewed my faith in the night. This brother-sister-other guy trio brought me to my feet with the synthy-dance rhythms and quick lyrics drawing me and my heart into the festival full on. The band itself is downright adorable, with the lady vocals styling a Lisa Loeb Geek-chic-meets-hipster-cutie and sweet adolescent-like banter. I also realized that this band feeds off their audience. Having seen this band before in a very different setting with very different crowds, the better the energy of the crowd, the better energy of the band. Awesome audience=awesome show!!

Queen Kwong - This is my underdog love. They were playing pretty early on the Saturday at Yonge-Dundas Square, and the audience was minimal, but I definitely fell in love with them instantly. The lead singer has a Katy-o sound to her voice, backed up with a grungy, dirty hip sound to them. They totally serenaded me during my shift and even asked them for a presskit to see if I could get them to perform in Ottawa. THAT AWESOME.


Now I'm back in Ottawa for the 2010 Fringe Festival. No rest for the wicked. Prepare for another year of Fringe reviews. I've already started tweeting about it, feel free to follow me. I know ALL of my followers on this blog (stifle your laughter please) would love to hear whats going on with shows, and of course the beer tent!!

until the next show,

-janeovision