The videos we’ve created here are short excerpts from a longer form work that will be showcased later in the year for the company.

Part 01: Chip WIlson

In that unholy scramble, we managed to capture some remarkably intimate moments, some rough-edged but spirited ones, and some altogether bad ones. All the good ones you’ll see collected in the two films below.

The bands? Well, here’s a summary:

The Soft Pack: Stellar lads, stood up to Lakeview Lunch heckles from clueless younglings extolling the virtues of Halifax Pop Explosion and the latest Bloc Party set they crushed beers at.

Stilje Nes: We had a dangerously minimal 17 minutes with her, she created that. She is one of those magic people of the north that can be effortlessly industrious without emitting a single bead of norse sweat (useful in potions).

Anamanaguchi: If you are curious about who will rule the world in 10 years, it’s probably kids like these. They are the enthusiastic, hyper-disciplined Neo-Romantics that will be blowing your pants off consistently until Bieber is the Prime Minister.

Neutral Uke Hotel: Definite points are to be rewarded for bringing these songs to the needy fans but, in a moment of unbearable tragedy, a man approached them after their TAS gushing with pride that he got to see them play live and that their music had changed his and many of his friends’ lives. THE LEAD SINGER DIDN’T TELL THEM THEY WEREN’T NMH!!! Indie-boy hearts can’t take that kind of chagrin at the hands of their cutthroat comrades… that guy walked away with a bomb strapped to his already fragile heart. Thanks NUH. (Update: That wasn’t really meant to come across as acerbically as it did… the NUHers are wonderful men, and I’m sure they didn’t mean to mislead the poor gent into disinformation…)

Inlets: Nicest man, distractingly pretty songs.

Library Voices: Many of my friends aren’t into the 90s pop feel and the Christian enthusiasm of the whole thing, but man… INDIEJACULATION!!

DM Stith: I put my camera on a roomba to film it and just went onto Alex’s porch and wept, stopping the sobs only to wipe away the pooled tears with a handkerchief of fine pony hairs and bear sighs.

Avi Buffalo: I’m attracted to everyone in this band, so are you. I’m making out with the Fantasy patch on that Yamaha Portasound in my mind’s eye right now.

Here are the films!

The former halls of education are now filled with faded prints of the haunted lighthouse and other area history. The art of the building’s resident creators mythologizes the scenes, enhances the mysteries of the corridors dimly lit by infrequent windows.

The twins lead me out to the edge of a nearby wood and, promptly, I fall in a fox hole. The sun finds its way out from behind voluminous clouds, and I stop to look out on an untouched expanse, rare for this city the three of us grew up in. Romy and Sari, on makeshift pillows of cat tail snow, settle into the tall grass and marry their song to the floating seeds surrounding us.

As we walk southward towards the south face of the island, Sari and I speak of Vashti Bunyan, Marina Abramovich and the coffin sounds of Diamanda Galas striking her piano for effect. Romy outpaces us and disappears down a narrow path where the sands begin. When we meet her again, she has transformed into a half-beast. A dried bouquet is laid, a sun parasol set, and we kneel amongst the red ants to begin.

With those too brief incantations left far behind, we venture north past the novelty ghost town and the bobbing and discoloured boat swans of the old amusement park towards the ferry. Sari’s bicycle and sunhat cut shadows into the pavement as Romy sheds jewels and pelts in preparation for the reluctant return to the urban landscape of the main land.

A Story Told Well has worked with them in the past, and will assuredly do so in the future, so get used to their hypnotizing visuals and bold, unconventional soundscapes, y’hear?

Here are some of the scenes from the night:

If you haven’t heard Sharon perform, let along her recordings, you are missing something truly sober and beautiful. She evokes Vashti Bunyan, Sibylle Baier and Diane Cluck with such ease, but welcomes you into her sound, never leaving you alone in its enjoyment. Please do yourself a favour and check out her material here:

www.sharonvanetten.com

Conveniently, Kate and Chris were in Toronto for the shoot, so we sought out an interior complimentary to the plot of the piece, and the two of them sat, in character, for a series of portraits capturing the relationship between their two characters.

The show runs in New York City during August, and if you’re in town for the run, make sure you check out Kate’s brilliant new play.

We spent an evening with Char as she prepared for her launch party (DJed by none other than A Tribe Called Quest’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad!!) and took promo shots for her website. Here are a few of the keepers:

Check out the Char’s new site here: lovehard.ca

Throughout the day, we followed Sari and Romy Lightman, twin sisters that make up the group Tasseomancy, to their eventual open-air venue on the tiny, neighbouring Snake Island.

Their set began with the final rays of dusk and ushered in a distant thunderstorm, blankets of sheet lightning backing up the flickering rays from a Gysin-styled Dream Machine, constructed by resident island installationist Yuula Benivolski.

Sari and Romy’s music has haunted us since our session with them for La Blogotheque and NxNE, and you should expect many more projects with them in the near future.

Here they sing “Soft Feet”, a track from their forthcoming “In A Glass Darkly” LP.

Find out more about Tasseomancy here:

myspace.com/ghostbees

We waited for them at Casa, but they didn’t come; they were stuck in a traffic jam. When I was in Paris, this rarely happened. Bands took the train, and even if they came by van the distances were much shorter. Canada is an enormous country, and often bands would have to get up at 6 am to be in time for a 5 pm sound check. So, we ordered nachos, hoping that we weren’t on time for nothing. They arrived without a hint of irritation, smiles from ear to ear, fairly cool for guys facing the impatient staff of Sala Rossa an hour late.

These United States | A Take Away Show | Conquest And Consequence from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

We headed to James’, where the small interior courtyard – built, the neighbour explained, on the former site of a Masonic temple – had unusual acoustics: everything said at ground level resonated all the way to the upper levels, but what was said up high couldn’t be heard below; so, on the way up to James’, I asked John if they had already been to France. Once, he told me, with Jesse, it was too expensive for more than two of them to come. They had played at Flèche d’Or, and John asked me if I knew of Vandaveer; they played together that night. And it came back to me: oh, right, they were the ones who had accompanied Vandaveer on the Take-Away Show that I had missed working on.

The band needed to get back to Sala for their sound check, but wanted to squeeze in “Water and Wheat”, a song off their new album, so they took their time, rehearsed, joked around, and found spots amongst the disco ball, the barbecue and the plastic Santa Claus mask. I’m ready when you are, guys.

These United States | A Take Away Show | Water & Wheat from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

words by nora bouazzouni

Their music filled the generous space of the hall with wide eyes and ears, and we present to you a few of the moments that were captured.