MARILYN MANSON at Sound Academy, Monday, February 2. Rating: NNN
Twenty years into his career, Marilyn Manson still draws a crowd – an enthusiastic one. He walked onstage at Sound Academy to fanfare befitting a dark dictator. Much of his appeal stems from his back catalogue, which has aged well, and his new album, The Pale Emperor, is his best in years.
Manson stood flanked by his past and present. To his left was bassist Twiggy Ramirez, a mainstay since the band’s early days. To his right was guitarist Tyler Bates, Manson’s current writing partner. The set was just as balanced, with newer, bluesier songs like Deep Six sitting neatly alongside classic industrial goth anthems like Disposable Teens.
Early on he struggled to keep up vocally, sounding out of breath during the pauses between songs. No two songs were played in immediate succession, impeding any sense of momentum the band had worked to build.
Those breaks from the chaos were likely for the audience’s benefit as much as for the musicians themselves, who make up Manson’s strongest live band in recent memory. Flaws and all, the set was visceral and engaging from start to finish.
Michael Rancic
BEAMS, LOON CHOIR and JOSE CONTRERAS at the Horseshoe, Thursday, January 29. Rating: NNN
So bands aren’t getting smaller after all. At the Horseshoe for Beams‘ 7-inch release party, the local act had seven members onstage, while Ottawa’s Loon Choir right before them had nine. In both cases, less would have been more. Jose Contreras‘s (By Divine Right) opening solo set – simple, charming, effective – was evidence of that.
Beams’ use of banjo, lap steel and singing saw helps them stand out from the indie folk pack, and co-frontwomen Anna Mernieks and Heather Mazhar‘s intertwined vocals gel so exceptionally well that they often sound as if they’re coming from one source rather than two. The mix of bluegrass instrumentation, noir folk stories, robust songwriting and indie pop was worth braving the snow for.
Sandwiched between, Loon Choir’s Derek Atkinson emoted, bellowed and orated. He talked into an invisible phone, pulled at his hair, frequently checked an imaginary watch and swung an imaginary baseball bat. Behind him, a coterie of band members offset his tortured persona with synth rock so upbeat and theatrical, it was like watching a high school play. Just when you’d decided that two violinists and two keyboardists were the ultimate in overkill, bagpipes appeared.
Carla Gillis
FRED P at Cabal, Friday, January 30. Rating: NNN
NYC DJ/producer Fred P (aka Black Jazz Consortium) is by no means a newcomer, but it’s only in the last five years that his sound has started to find a wider audience. Cabal was packed by the time he took over the decks, and while a badly skipping final record by openers Late Nite Sun DJ collective made for an awkward entrance, once Fred P started playing, all was butter-smooth for the rest of the night.
He specializes in very tasteful deep house, with occasional detours into melodic techno territory, expertly mixed and tweaked. Maybe it was the aromatic coffee being delivered to his DJ booth in a steady stream, but the overall feel seemed classier and more elegant than the average peak-time house music set.
Too bad the club’s sound system strained to keep up at times, affecting the energy level on the dance floor. Prior noise complaints mean the owners need to do some serious soundproofing before they can start piling up bass bins.
Benjamin Boles
OWEN PALLETT and JENNIFER CASTLE at Lee’s Palace, Saturday, January 31. Rating: NNNNN
In contrast to Jennifer Castle‘s bare-bones (yet powerful) opening set, Owen Pallett offered a flashy take on smoke and mirrors at his intimate Lee’s Palace 19-plus show. A mirrored backdrop glimmered like a crystal, and dry ice wafted across the room. Building up layers with looping pedals, Pallett barely needs a band to flesh out his richly textured songs. Still, his trio with Les Mouches collaborators Rob Gordon and Matt Smith brought a welcome muscularity to the live performance.
The three powered through material from Pallett’s four albums, locked into a heavy, rhythmic groove. Pallett jokingly took questions from the crowd and appeared to enjoy himself, in contrast to some previous hometown gigs where tech issues got in the way. From his soaring choirboy vocals to his mastery of the strings, there was rarely a misstep or wasted moment. A stark piano take on The Passions allowed his evocative storytelling to stand on its own. A dark, ferocious The Riverbed closed with a thundering, massive finish.
When two old favourites, The CN Tower Belongs To The Dead and This Is The Dream Of Win And Regine, showed up in the encore, the room exploded. For a second encore, Pallett did a playful spin on Mariah Carey’s Fantasy before concluding with a hushed, perfect turn on Better Than Worse. To watch Owen Pallett play is to remember that music is magic.
Tabassum Siddiqui
