After learning that the secret headliner for the second night of the Arts & Craft showcase was none other than The Stills, a band that…let’s just say I don’t particularly care for, I decided to forego The Courthouse this NXNE. Unfortunately, this meant passing on Timber Timbre and Still Life Still (sorry guys, hopefully another time), but there were just too many other great bands playing more conveniently-located venues. Ultimately though, this day boiled down to just one show - Black Lips’ first-ever appearance in Toronto.

No Age @ Whippersnapper Gallery
Apparently this was a 19+ show, but the doorman said I looked like I had an “honest face” so he let me in – and I definitely wasn’t going to raise a fuss about catching an early set by Los Angeles’ prodigal noise-punk sons No Age. If there was ever a more perfect venue for the band; who subscribe to a DIY ethic and formed the L.A., The New Yorker-covered, all-ages venue The Smell, it would be the Whippersnapper, which has seen its share of all-ages gigs and local art exhibits. Billed as a “special guest”, the duo definitely were playing to less-than-packed crowd at the Whippersnapper than perhaps their other NXNE appearances would have drawn (after all their set time was overlapping with the Black Lips). After briefly chatting with the duo who had just gotten into town to arrange an interview for the next day; drummer Dean Spunt and more talkative singer and guitarist Randy Randall, they promptly took to the stage at nine. I was only there for a brief half hour, but I think that in that time I managed to do some significant damage to my eardrums. These guys have been around less than five years, and have only two full-lengths to their name, but still have managed to influence a great number of bands. In fact, I was standing next to none other than singer Josh McIntyre of Pirate/Rockand Little Girls – two bands that certainly share No Age’s experimental tendencies. If you’ve never seen or listened to No Age, their formula is as follows: Spunt bashes away at the skins with unhinged ferocity, Randall wails and plays guitar like the bastard child of Black Flag and The Ramones, and together they make beautiful, fuzz-drenched music (check out “Eraser” if you don’t believe me). Its a simple formula, but devastatingly effective (again, just ask my ears).

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/nonoage
Website: http://noagela.blogspot.com/

Black Lips @ Yonge-Dundas Square
First off, a note to the Black Lips: I don’t fucking care if you are the goddamn Rolling Stones, promising an interview – even if it is to a little guy you evidently feel you don’t need anymore – and then canceling no less than four times, is a seriously douche move. I’ll let Mr. Viola say more about this (see above), but standing him up left a bad taste in my mouth to start this show. I think Fucked Up’s Pink Eyes, who introduced the show, summed it up best when he jokingly asked, “Does anybody else smell hipsters?” – and its true that there were plenty of checkered flannel shirts, ironic piercings and bad haircuts in the crowd. Despite all this, I couldn’t deny that these guys put on a hell of a show, even if it was a little tame for the reputation that precedes these guys (I guess the authorities might have had an issue with urination and onstage nudity in a place as public as Yonge-Dundas Square). Everyone that I talked to that afternoon and their mothers were planning on attending this show, and Toronto’s busiest square was tightly packed with everyone from diehard fans to those curious to see if the Pitchfork-fuelled hype about this band was justified. In no time at all, there was an inebriated, moshing mass in the front that I couldn’t help diving into, with plenty of drunk girls hoping onstage, dancing and making out. The Atlanta “flower punks” brought out all the hits, including “O…Katrina”, “Fairy Stories” and “Drugs”, but where the bloody heck was the “The Drop I Hold”? Have they gotten so tired of answering questions about the hip-hop-inspired song, that they are refusing to play it out of spite. Still, the band didn’t have to do much to have the crowd eating out of their hands and their good Montreal friend King Khan – who is a legitimate bad ass and chewed up a pink rose that was thrown at him – showed up for good measure. “Bad Kids” was predictably saved until last, and it was every bit as anthemic as I had expected and hoped for. To paraphrase the Lips’ Cole Alexander himself, they came, they saw, and they conquered. The only question remaining: where do these guys go from here?
Answer: anywhere they damn well want.

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/theblacklips
Website: http://www.black-lips.com/

You Say Party! We Say Die! @ El Mocambo
According to the NOW Toronto city guide that we media-types received in our complimentary NXNE swag bags, El Mocambo “used to be a sticky-floored dive bar where the likes of the Rolling Stones and Elvis Costello recorded live albums back in the day”. Scuzzy, but in a delightfully endearing sense, was the most common response when I asked friends to describe Toronto’s iconic tavern to me. Either way, both sources (coupled with local paper listings) seemed to agree that it was a pretty swell place to see pretty above-average bands. And I couldn’t have picked a better night to lose my “El Mo virginity” (giggle, giggle) than at a show featuring the pride of Abbotsford, British Columbia, dance-punk outfit You Say Party! We Say Die!. Watching the youthful exuberance of this band onstage, its not hard to see why they were courted by Canadian indie label Paper Bag Records in the first place. At first it seems like five different individuals coming together to form one band; you have the Kurt Cobain look-alike (guitarist Derek Adams, who snapped his strings within the opening songs, and got a laugh when a new one “mysteriously” appeared from behind the curtain), the sexy librarian (keyboardist Krista Loewen), the art student grad (bassist Stephen O’Shea), the guy whose always down for a good time (drummer Devon Clifford) and lead singer Becky Ninkovic, a firecracker in gymnast tights who clearly thrived off the audience participation (including getting one fan to hold her hand while she precariously balanced on the speakers). While it wasn’t unfortunate that they played mostly new songs off their upcoming album this fall, it was difficult for the crowd to get into the performance when the songs were largely unfamiliar. Notable exceptions of course were “Downtown Mayors Goodnight, Alley Kids Rule” and “Like I Give a Care”, the latter which had the crowd chanting “shut out the world, shut it out, shut it out” while Ninkovic covered her eyes with her hand and marched in place. I had mixed feelings overall about this show, but combined with meeting up with some old friends, it did give me a welcome second (or would it have been third?) wind to an increasingly late night. These guys are a talented band, so I have no doubt that they’ll be back once they, not to mention their fans, have these new batch of songs tightened down and familiarized.

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/yousaypartywesaydie
Website: http://www.yousaypartywesaydie.ca/

Green Go @ El Mocambo
By the time Green Go hit the stage it was almost two in the morning, and the crowd that had packed the downstairs of the El Mo for Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head and YSP! WSD! earlier in the evening was definitely starting to dwindle down. Their loss, as the five-piece from Guelph played a tight, if slightly short, set of their synth-heavy, electro-pop tunes that have made a lot of people recently sit up straight and take notice. We’ve praised Green Go on the Lamb ever since they played our launch party back in January, but it bears repeating: this band is going to be huge soon. Just look at their resume of late, if you need further proof. Getting the highly coveted opening slot for New York’s Fischerspooner at the Phoenix? Check. Playing with bands including Edmonton’s Shout Out Out Out Out and Halifax’s Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees? Yep. A tour across Canada and back? Been there, done that, got the postcards to prove it. This is the third time I’ve seen them live since I arrived in Toronto, and they just keep getting better. Vocalist and keyboardist Jessica Tollefsen is beginning to discover her inner frontwoman, and her boys (Ferenc Stenton, Kyle Squance, Mark Andrade and Adam Scott, respectively), are honing their musicianship while not sacrificing a drop of their showmanship. These guys dare you to photograph them – an almost impossible task, given that they are usually in a constant state of movement. Above all though, Green Go is about getting you off your ass and dancing. Even my weary feet starting tapping when the band kicked into their best known song “You Know You Want It”, and they succeeded in inspiring some incredibly awful (or amazing, depending on who you asked), mostly white boy, dancing.

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/greengomusic