Dentata (Anagram / Bruised Knees / Holy Mount)
The Silver Dollar. Friday, January 21, 2011.
After hanging out at an entirely different kind of show, I headed down Spadina and climbed up to the Dollar just as Oshawa's Holy Mount were taking the stage. Although their thick sludge (heavy in the way that "heavy metal" meant forty years ago) is a bit out my musical sweet spot, I had been favourably struck the first time I had seen 'em. Now streamlined down from a quartet to a three-piece, Brandon McKenzie has slid over from guit to bass, joined by Troy Legree on drums and Danijel Losic on guit and vox. The band led off with both sides of their new 7", "The Rain The Might" and "Breeze Blows West".1 When I'd seen 'em before, I'd noted that with their talent for heavy sludginess, they got better the slower they played, but "Breeze Blows West", with its pummelling hook is quite fabulous, and shows that they can nail it at a (relatively) higher tempo.
Losic's vox are flattened — sometimes a little too much so — but when he hits his sweet spot, like on closer "Meadowvale", it fits quite well. Stretching things out, they only played five songs in their half-hour set. "Heavy mellow" might be the most apt descriptor for the band, and they're doing it very well right now.
Listen to a track from this set here.
Bruised Knees had also impressed when I'd first come across 'em, so I was glad to have another chance to hear how things were coming along. With some time to gel under their belts — that last show I'd seen had been the first with a new lineup — and on the Silver Dollar's sound system, they sounded very good. From opener "Inside Eye", the band's main elements were on display — and occasionally interestingly juxtaposed. With his singleminded droning guitar lines and stoic glare, Chuck Skullz (ex-Creeping Nobodies), brings a Sonic Youthfulness to the table, which is contrasted with Natalie Logan's brighter demeanour and enthusiastic percussion. Their vocal styles are similarly contrasting, which brings a pleasing frisson, undermining and animating what could otherwise just be deadpan atonal art-punk.
With Chuck Skullz and bassist Graham Hancock creating treated sounds, Logan boosted the energy with some driving percussion, even on the quieter "Folk". That one brought with a singsong-y tunefulness that, indeed, could have been ripped from a folksong, as could its refrain of, "we are ghosts, we are ghosts". Closing with the tasty "Ethio", this was a fine-sounding set showing that the band has moved along well in their process of becoming-who-they-are.
Listen to a track from this set here.
I'm not sure that headliners Dentata are quite at that stage yet. Which is to say that despite being gifted with no shortage of distinctive signifiers, their musical identity seems to be an unfinished work. Put another way: they have a look and an attitude which says far more about who they are as a band than their music does.
Mind you, a look and an attitude can get you pretty far these days, and goes a good distance in describing how in a pretty short time the band was able to marshal a young-skewing crowd that filled up the Dollar.2 There's a bit of a grind and shout to their sound, more Sabbath than Riot Grrrl, and given the exacting care that founders Dana Wright and Tamsen Fields bring to the stage (before playing, they were busily tying undressed barbies to the drums and mic stands) the Joan Jett/Lita Ford sort of vibe they were rocking seems by no means accidental.3
A figure dressed as the Grim Reaper bowed a cage-like implement to create some atmosphere at the outset before the quartet launched into "Earwig", subject of the aforementioned video. That one, as well as some of the more-effective songs came in short bursts while some of the more extended ones churned away in a less-compelling matter. There were lyrics that lived up to the band's name ("I will crush you / in between my legs") and plenty of don't-give-a-fuck attitude on stage. All of which meant that this was a reasonably-entertaining show, though perhaps not yet quite worth the excitement the crowd showered on them. To what extent their musical attack can be sharpened — and to what extent that can be conveyed on their forthcoming debut album4 — will go quite a ways in revealing whether or not this band will grow the teeth that they're bragging about.5
Listen to a song from this set here.
A lot of the crowd melted away after that, but there were still quite a few on hand for Anagram, still carrying the momentum of a good year that had been capped by the release of the fantastic Majewski.Without too much fanfare, the band launched right into the slashing "Good Idea at the Time". Vocalist Matt Mason, unshaven and with a new moustache, looked a little manic as he tore into "Those Were the Days" with gruff gusto, the band's taut snarling chug in lockgroove behind him. With the glorious fuck-you energy of "Fish" (a song by Whitby's Cleavers that Anagram have made into a staple of their live sets), the front of the stage was was filled with bodies bouncing around, plus one or two guys drilled into their own place and doing their little crazy psychedelic dances.
The intense volume and energy papered over the cracks of the band getting mildly unwound during an extended run through "I've Been Wrong Before", and as they played their cover of Leonard Cohen's "The Butcher" towards the set's end they were a bit more detuned than usual, but that's not a big flaw in the middle of it all. Indeed, given how the end of an Anagram set feels a bit like coming out of a hypnotic trace (with furtive gazing around, wondering if you did anything that runs against your basic moral nature), the little details are less important than the state of mind they create.
Listen to a song from this set here.
1 Recorded by Anagram's Clayton Churcher, you can find it on their bandcamp, but you might also want to grab a copy on stylish white vinyl while they're still around.
2 That might be helped out with sexy perhaps-NSFW videos like this one, which was shot by "cinema of transgression" photographer/filmmaker Richard Kern.
3 They seem to be the dominant forces in the band, though the drum chair is notably filled out by local artist Alexandra Mackenzie, also of Romo Roto. In this company, guitarist Neil Cavalier is mostly shunted to "generic token male" status.
4 Word is that album is going to be coming out on local imprint Blue Fog.
5 Dentata play tonight (July 22, 2011) at the Four Corners III show at the Steelworkers Hall.
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