FEEL IT ALL AROUND from Northern Lights on Vimeo.
@CamTheJuice, and my new friend @iskanderbenamor, and I walked into Wrong Bar and instantly felt like we were far to pumped up and excited to be there. Why was everyone so standoffish and bored looking?.... Oh, we then realized we hadn't just entered a bar, we had entered a whole new Hipster Realm. I had never seen so many people wearing non-prescription glasses, leather jackets, fisherman hats, cool tights and moustaches!!! OOOh the moustaches!!!....We fit right in though...I mean, I wore a scarf!
After grabbing a "50" (No longer just for old men), we settled into catching the last song of the first band "Trust", from Brooklyn. Girl with keyboard, boy with mic, synth harmonies and ambiance... pretty boring, but I blame myself for only catching the ending.
Second opener was Small Black, again from Brooklyn. The band consisted of a lead singer, who was straight from the 90's in his plaid shirt and throwback Tupac neckerchief around his forehead. Lead singer also played keyboard alongside bassisst, guitarist and drummer.The first two songs were slower, but the third song got me to notice them because it was uptempo and laden with a heavy beat. The drummer was givin'er, and the whole band really played their shit hard at the end. Their sound is melodic and harmonius and allowed me to dance in my 3 by 3 space without having to move my feet.
After that, Washed Out came onstage, real name Ernest Greene. My first thought was that he was really excited, cute and happy to be on that stage in front of fans, it clearly brought him joy, which was nice to see. He makes laid back and joyful music, so the story was checking out so far. This was his third time in Toronto. His style was one of recording loops and meshing them all together during his set; synthpop, but more ambient then poppy. The first song was slow and chill, but the second song came out of nowhere. The beat dropped and it got the crowd moving. Unfortunately, there were some sound difficulties and the show was stopped to fix them.
When he came back he played another song and then invited the opener, Small Black, back on stage. This was a good thing. Washed Out has said in past interviews that he wouldn't tour because it's basically him and a laptop, and he wasn't much into the DJ thing. So now he is touring and that just might be due to teaming up with Small Black, which provides more musical depth, as well as something entertaining to look at while listening. The first song they played was "Belong" a medium tempo song, perfect for hanging out on the beach, much like all of Washed Out's repertoire.
The second last song of the set was "New Theory". I liked this song because you could make out the lyrics moreso then most of the other songs being played. It also had a catchy "Da da da da, da da da da da" part that the boys got the crowd singing and clapping along with. Again, perfect music for hanging out on the beach and watching the waves come in! The last song of the set was "Feel it All Around" which was definitely the best song, and was basically "Jump Around" to all the hipsters in the room, because that's what we did!...oh did I say we....oops lol.
For the encore Washed Out, admittedly, didn't have much else to play, so he and Small Black delighted the crowd with a bit of a jam session. But they were holding out, because for the second encore they did Despicable Dog's (Washed Out Remix) which was a crowd pleaser... I mean it got a hot to trot chick in tight tank and suspenders up on the stage dancing her heart out, looking like she was from Flash Dance. The 45 minute long set, just wasn't enough for this girl, she was ready to dance the night away! (Girl with hands up in pic below)
All in all I had a good time at the show and really was into the interesting and hip shake inspiring beats I heard. It's 80's synthpop, but it really reminded me of 70's disco but without the lyrics. Sometimes the lyrics and melody of the songs are far to soft and ambient for me, cause we all know how much I like to make that booty pop. But I would catch another show in the future, and maybe next time I'll even rock a Moustache!
Check out Washed Out on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thebabeinthewoods
Love and Kisses!
T
Just and update!
ReplyDeleteHot to trot dancing girl was seen on saturday dancing in the window of Miss B'havin on Queen street, wearing a yellow spandex 70's disco sex costume...mama just likes to dance!