DILLY DALLY and WEAVES at 888 Dupont, Thursday, October 8. Rating: NNNN
Montreal has had a famed loft scene all these years, so why can’t we?
Fifty or so people squeezed into someone’s warehouse apartment last night for the first instalment of local label Buzz Records‘ new concert series, which sees secret bands playing in one-time-use DIY spaces. Buzz waited till the day of to announce the lineup: the joyously weird Weaves, and recent NOW cover stars Dilly Dally. The show would act as their record release party for Sore, the capacity would be extremely limited, and there would be a strict 11 pm curfew.
It all built plenty of pre-show excitement, though the show itself had a strangely mellow vibe. The lucky and youthful attendees were far from going apeshit – maybe there wasn’t enough elbow room for that – instead contentedly watching and politely cheering after each song. The bands played on a raised platform that made visibility better than at most clubs, and the sound was surprisingly decent.
Weaves got their weird on at 9 pm. Each of the four members has a completely unique playing style – fretboards are for twisting and bending and warping strings, drums are for scattershot Deerhoofian syncopation and unpredictable rhythmic blasts, vocals are for deforming with flange pedals and heartily delivering lyrics about motorcycles and buttercups and being cuckoo.
It all came together best on Hulahoop from their 2014 EP, a hugely entertaining song unlike anything you’ve ever heard before: juttering tempos and elastic, bizarro guitar lines in sync with Jasmyn Burke’s loopy melodies, which she enhanced with alien-like arm movements. The soundtrack to going gleefully bonkers.
At almost exactly 10 pm, Dilly Dally kicked up a commotion without saying a word, diving head-first into a batch of loud grunge-pop songs from new album Sore that came across even heavier and more tormented live.
If you haven’t seen the local mainstays since the addition of drummer Benjamin Reinhartz and bassist Jimmy Tony last year, you’re in for a surprise. The four-piece has become a powerhouse, with Katie Monks’s centrepiece vocals moving expertly along a spectrum with throat-shredding at one end and disaffected slurring at the other.
Liz Ball’s guitar is the shimmering beacon of light cutting through the distortion, all zippy riffs and lush reverb. Singles Purple Haze and Desire stood out for their potency, and the tri-coloured laser lights and intermittent fog of dry ice gave the sense that we were at an epic party, which we essentially were – even if it did end long before midnight.
carlag@nowtoronto.com | @carlagillis
