In The Flesh...NXNE - Friday Night Edition

Off to Toronto Island Festival in a bit, so this is written in haste.

9 p.m. Avi Buffalo (mostly solo)  @ The Great Hall

Fresh out of high school and recently signed to Sub Pop Records, Avi Buffalo played a stripped-down, drums-and-bass-guitar free set last night to a threadbare crowd at the stately Great hall. The shifty, quirky dynamics of their sound were lost without the additional band members/instruments making this an overall disappointing experience. Hoping to catch them tonight at Lee's Palace w/ entire band.

10 p.m. Timber Timbre @ Gladstone Hotel Ballroom

Insanely hot and crowded at Gladstone Hotel Ballroom. The only real uncomfortable show I experienced. Too many people. Not enough room. Regardless, Timber Timbre was pitch-perfect and his spooky narratives hypnotized the many, many souls at GHB. 

11 p.m. Wavves @ Lee's Palace

San Diego lo-fi punk-rockers, perhaps best known for mercurial frontman Nathan Williams' onstage meltdown last year at the Barcelona Primavera Sound festival, were all energy and loud, fast guitars. This set the tone for the rest of my evening. 

12 p.m. Japandroids @ Lee's Palace

Japandroids served up the best 40 minutes of music I saw on Friday night. Brian and Dave filled the room with their propulsive energy, guitar-driven melodies, and shouted, call-and-response vocals, vocal lines which were amplified by the many manic Japandroids fans in the joint. "The Boys are Leaving Town" nearly brought the roof down (I seriously looked up, just to make sure the ceiling wasn't quaking ominously). 

1 a.m. Turbogeist @ Comfort Zone

Feeling a desperate need for some non-North American music flavours led me (us, really) to the Comfort Zone for raw, hyperactive UK thrashers Turbogeist. The kinetically charged quartet blitzed through a showcase of power-pop-meets-trash-borrows-things-from-punk tunes propelled along by furious drumming and angular guitars. Great way to seal the night.