AWmusic

Lioness was the first band of the night, born of two venerable Toronto indie acts: bass and drums derived from Controller Controller and the voice from soul-punk (and last I heard, nearly defunct) group No Dynamics. They are relatively new (Winter, 2007) but have gained almost unheard of hype in the past two seasons. Part of the reason, obviously, is the fact of its members, but there are others.

First, the band is so loud, and kicks so much ass live it’s difficult to keep the ear cells from fleeing one’s head during a show. Albeit I was close to the speakers, but at the beginning of one of their songs I literally found all the hair on my body, and my skin, resonating to the deep-bass keyboard sound the drummer was generating before plunging into a dance-punk rhythm.

Vanessa Fischer’s voice resembles Karen O’s (of Yeah Yeah Yeahs) on occasion but is more soulful than words can describe. The lady can sustain a note for extraordinary lengths of time. And the songs move with the ferocity of a locomotive that knows just when exactly to fall off the tracks. With three musicians, without a guitarist and two keyboards instead, the sound can perhaps be compared to The Gossip meets CSS, though there is something more organic in Lioness than either band.

The only downfall to the group’s sound lies in repetition, though one must be forgiving since the “dancy” nature of the songs warrant the fact. Nevertheless, the tracks all have a similar vibe, and while some, such as “You’re my Heart” stand out as exemplary, well-wrought, well-executed (and well recorded as the link below should demonstrate), others, however, fail to strike the heart and so the feet give up and walk on. Smokers took breaks during the set, for example, generally from about halfway onward. “I can stand them, but they get boring after a while,” was one comment, while another group of hipsters descended into discourse about everyday celebrity sightings. “I saw Rachel McAdams on the street,” and so forth, “she scanned me with her eyes, gave me the old up-down-up as they say.”

Nevertheless, the sum total of the band is a hell-yeah. Any chance you have to see this group, please do so. They haven’t yet released any material but you can check them out on the interweb here.

As for the main act, what can one say about Paul Banwatt (also from The Rural Alberta Advantage) and Dan Werb? To begin, the latter never fails to impress me with his total control over keytar, Korg, Moog, and about a half-dozen pedals to loop and manipulate the variegated sounds that emerge from those instruments. The Paper Bag release of their record this year, Heart Attack, has garnered great attention, and the pair deserve it.

Hedonists beware: Woodhands may be more sweat and sex than you can handle . . . At least that seems to be their advertisement. As the song “Dancer” demonstrates, lifting the old motif of silky-soft feminine vocals over a growly man voice can achieve extraordinary dancefloor results. Except on Saturday night it was Banwatt supplementing Maylee’s vocals, and for all those who know his side project We’re Scared, he can actually hit all the high notes without trouble. At one point, the drummer from RAA began to rap, descending into the audience like a hip-hop diva, entirely unexpected but crazy fun. Then he got right back on the kit and started playing the insanely fast beat to “Can’t see straight,” whose lyrics remind me of The Smiths in their “I’m at a club and I just want to go home” sort of styled. Another of my favourites is “I wasn’t made for fighting,” which they quite killed.

I Wasnt Made For Fighting – Woodhands

I always find something fragmenting about listening to Woodhands, like maybe all the sounds make my feet move so fast my body feels like it’s falling apart: strangely syncopated rhythms combined with electronic blips and bloops, a swooning Werb over vocoder, and when he can’t hit the notes, a loud yelp. Most important about the show: they had lasers. It took a few songs for the guy in question at the venue to understand the band wanted the house lights darkened for maximum effects, but eventually, a video-gamey 1980s lights show began to accompany the raunchy keyboard and drums.

In short, a fantastic show. Two days later and I’m still certain I’ve lost some hearing.

Tags: concert