AWmusic

I had heard so much about Ken Farrell and Gravity Wave, their seminal
EP recorded first on a Playstation, their outrageous shows featuring
dancers and performance artists, I knew inevitably that I would see
them someday. (They’re weird enough, I’m weird enough; it only stands
to reason.)

My first impression of this past Saturday night, however, was slight
disappointment; some boring trip-hop act preceded them, and the band I
had wanted to see featured only three on-stage members. “Every few
months, I like to change it up,” head honcho Ken Farrell admits,
meaning the current arrangement of the group, like all others, is
temporary.

I recalled the “stage band era” of Gravity Wave was
extremely popular some small circles in Toronto, which enjoyed the
lavish productions and semi-slick dance moves, on-stage dancers, the
whole Vaudeville nine-yards. To jump from from that image of the band
to the one before me was a let-down. But one out of the three members
happened to be an excellent scratch-artist who got the few individuals in
the establishment to bust a move. DJ Romantic Thief was his name,
while DJ Diamond Stud worked the computer with serious intent.

There’s something about the music, I realized, it’s not just in the
performance. “Two sets of footprints,” Farrell belted out the lyrics,
“two sets of footprints in the sand.” The others in the group danced too, but
he danced hardest, working up a sweat; he danced around the stage,
around the members of the band, danced until nearly gasping into the
mike. There’s something to the music, I realized, it’s a good
indicator of what musicians in this city are up to these days; it
follows recognizable symbols, has a good foothold in the melancholic
realities of 80s and 90s adolescents as they make late, ill-adjusted
transitions into adulthood. The songs usually operate with a groove,
tight drum-beats, simple basslines, and with usually one twist or more
in the structure just make heads turn, to make the audience work just
a little harder.

After the show Ken Farrell gave away free swag: watches that can’t
tell correct time, lime green t-shirts featuring walkmen mascots with
huge headphones and keytars, all the sizes way too large. The CDs too were free
for everybody. Why, I asked. “It’s just what I do,” he laughed. It wouldn’t be hard, I thought, to listen their record called Martyr’s Brigade a little harder.
Perhaps we could tease out the politics from a song like “Re:
capture the Flag” or “Emirates.” Who knows if they reflect the
shoulder-shrugging, casual anarchism of their frontman, but I’d like to
parse them just to see. What a unique band, I thought at the end of the night.
. .

Gravity Wave – Aftershocks
Gravity Wave – Emirates
Gravity Wave – Re:capture The Flag