4 shows to see in Ottawa area this week
Merchandise plays @ House of Targ Thursday at 9 p.m.
Merchandise is passing through Ottawa at a pivotal point in its trajectory. The band spent the last several years living and recording out of a shared house in Tampa, Florida, but the release of the 2012 album Children of Desire changed everything.
It was a powerful musical statement; a mix of Morrissey-inspired vocals, moody guitar and booming drum machine — and it put them in the spotlight. Suddenly, the band was getting paid to wear name-brand jeans on stage and play shows in shopping malls, and they ended up faced with a dilemma they hadn't ever expected: how to stay true to their values as a band in the face of success.
Merchandise's frontman, Carson Cox, has said the solution has been to think of themselves as almost a new group entirely since signing a record deal with 4AD, as if the band's prior chapter has ended. Their new album, not coincidentally called After the End, is an experiment in writing poppier, at times R&B-influenced songs — but still recorded at home.
Merchandise will bring those songs, complete with live drummer, to House of TARG on Thursday night alongside Ottawa's Boyhood and Copenhagen's Lower. It's part of the weekend-long Ottawa Implosion — the first ever cold-weather counterpart to the annual Ottawa Explosion Weekend. Over the coming days you can see international acts like Femminielli and Iceage, along with hometown staples like Holy Cobras and Roberta Bondar.
Festival passes are $25. Thursday's show at House of TARG costs $12, with doors at 9 p.m.
WTCHS plays @ Le Temporaire Thursday at 8:30 p.m.
On the subject of getting bang for your buck: three bands, seven dollars. That's what you're in for if you head to Le Temporaire in Hull that same night. They'll be bringing the Halloween vibe a little early with a headliner from Hamilton called WTCHS (pronounced "witches").
The band's music is dark and intense, but it has a tendency to captivate audiences that wouldn't necessarily seek out heavier post-punk as their go-to soundtrack. That accessibility might stem from WTCHS' marrying of gritty vocals and mathy instrumentation with classic pop-writing sensibilities; you end up hearing ominous, bewitching chord progressions hand-in-hand with catchy, repeating "oohs."
The band's singer/guitarist, Jag, didn't actually pick up a guitar until he was 27. Prior to that, he'd been too busy competing as an 800 and 1500 metre runner, training at national high performance centres in Canada and the U.S. One day, he decided to switch gears and buy a guitar — and from there, he began playing in bands and even started a record label, Perdu, to put out music and zines and set up shows around Hamilton.
Jag and the rest of WTCHS will be joined at Le Temporaire by Guelph's WHOOP-Szo and Ottawa art-punkers Bonnie Doon. 8:30 p.m., $7.
Jom Comyn plays @ Pressed Friday at 8 p.m.
Friday night is a busy one around town. Little Suns return from Montreal to their home turf for a night of gypsy-folk meets rockabilly at Irene's with their pals Sick Sick Sicks.
Meanwhile, it's a guaranteed party at Mavericks, where Toronto's Cardboard Crowns perform their brand of celebratory ska-punk.
Then there's the Merrickville Jazz Fest, in full swing all weekend at various locations around the town.
Let's focus on a guy named Jom Comyn, though. He's a soft-spoken, unassuming character from Edmonton, who put out an album earlier this year called In the Dark on 99. At first blush, the unadorned quality of Jom Comyn's voice makes it easy to draw comparisons to songwriters like Bill Callahan or Hayden, but that doesn't do justice to Comyn's latest effort as a textured and masterful record in its own right.
Written over the course of a long, cold Edmonton winter, it's no coincidence that Weird Canada has called this "snowglobe music." Listening to songs like "In the Dark," "Cold Room," O Frozen Sidewalks" and "Wish Upon a Storm," you get the sense of being inside the calm of Jom's living room while everything outside is blanketed and frozen.
It's a sound that's perfectly suited to cosy nooks like Pressed, where he'll be playing Friday night along with Winchester Warm and Gianna Lauren. 8 p.m., $8.
Future States plays @ Cafe Nostalgica Saturday at 8:30 p.m.
Future States might be based in Montreal, but we can still lay claim to them as an Ottawa band because lead-guitarist Brodie Conley lives here, and keyboardist Nicolas Hyatt commutes here to teach music.
This past summer, the band recorded a debut self-titled EP in Timmins, where a couple of its members grew up. That meant taking over the city's St. Matthew's Cathedral for six straight nights in the wee hours, between 2 and 4:30 a.m. in order to capture the peaceful, slightly eerie reverberance of the space.
The result? Lush, satisfying indie-rock with a whispery softness that feels like a secret in the middle of the night. The five songs contain a few easter eggs, too — for example, recording the acoustic bed track and vocals for the song "Takman" led them to also capture the sound of a motorcycle racing through downtown Timmins at 3 a.m. — it makes an appearance about a third of the way through the song.
The EP also ends with the clanging of the St. Matthew's church bell at dusk, as a subtle homage to the music's backdrop. Future States are celebrating the EP's release with a show at Cafe Nostalgica on Saturday.
They'll be joined by Galaxius Mons, a stellar Montreal synth-pop duo who recorded their self-titled album entirely on a Moog Rogue synthesizer. 8:30 p.m., $5.
Music listings
Thursday, Oct. 16
- Merchandise @ House of TARG, w/ Lower, Boyhood, Ottawa Implosion Weekend, 9 p.m., $12 ($25 festival pass - www.bruisedtongue.com)
- WTCHS @ Le Temporaire, w/ WHOOP-Szo, Bonnie Doon, 8:30 p.m., $7
- Merrickville Jazz Fest @ The Baldachin Inn Restaurant, ft. Swing Bridge, 7:30 p.m., $15 ($65 festival pass - www.merrickvillejazzfest.com)
- Kalle Mattson @ Raw Sugar, w/ Heavy Bedroom, 8 p.m., $12
- Secret Chiefs @ Black Sheep Inn, w/ Cleric, 8:30 p.m., $15
- All-Stars Thursdays @ Irene's, w/ Ed Hart, 9:30 p.m., free
- LIGHTS @ Algonquin Commons Theatre, w/ Rush Midnight, 8 p.m., $30
- Curtin @ Zaphod's, w/ Cody Allen, Sounds of Stories, 8 p.m., $7
- Linda Marie @ The Rainbow, 4 p.m., free
- Reggae Night w/ Roots Movement @ The Rainbow, 9 p.m., $7
- Fresh Makers @ Avant-Garde, w/ The Almighty Rhombus, Kate Schroder, 8 p.m., $7
- Matt Dorgan Project @ Pressed, w/ Snowday, 9 p.m., $10
- Rydell @ Mavericks, w/ Cold Front, Old Rules, Safekeeping, 8 p.m., $8
- Castle, Merdarahta, Elecric Ruin, Thought Project @ Cafe Dekcuf, 7 p.m., $10
Friday, Oct. 17
- Jom Comyn @ Pressed, w/ Winchester Warm, Gianna Lauren, 8 p.m., $8
- Little Suns @ Irene's, w/ Sick Sick Sicks, 9 p.m., $10
- The Cardboard Crowns @ Mavericks, w/ Finding Chuck, OL'CD, Les Conards a L'Orange, 9 p.m., $15
- Merrickville Jazz Fest @ Various Locations, ft. Tom McMahon Trio, The Lee Anne Frederickson Quartet, Doug Martin Duo, The Sun Crescent Barbecue Stompers, 3 p.m., $65 festival pass (www.merrickvillejazzfest.com)
- Bombay Bicycle Club @ Algonquin Commons Theatre, w/ Milo Greene, 8 p.m., $30
- Femminielli @ Gabba Hey, w/ Fire Coast Acid Club, Ottawa Implosion Weekend, 10 p.m., $5 ($25 festival pass - www.bruisedtongue.com)
- Firebelly @ Black Sheep Inn, w/ Harea Band, 8:30 p.m., $7
- Fevers @ Shenkman Arts Centre, w/ Andrea Simms-Karp, 8 p.m., $20
- Frank James Band @ The Rainbow, 4 p.m., free
- Pleasure Craft @ The Rainbow, 9 p.m., $10
- The Kingmakers @ Savoy Brasserie, 9 p.m., free
- Emmanuel Jal, Tanika Charles @ Zaphod's, 8 p.m., $8
- Blackbread @ House of TARG, w/ Bearshark, Monobrow, 9 p.m., $5
Saturday, Oct. 18
- Future States @ Cafe Nostalgica, w/ Galaxius Mons, 8:30 p.m., $5
- Saturnfly @ Gallery Recording Studio, w/ Shane Whitbread, 7 p.m., $20, RSVP required: saturnflymusic@gmail.com
- Rose Cousins @ Black Sheep Inn, w/ Fortunate Ones, 8:30 p.m., $20
- Silver Creek @ House of TARG, w/ The Bushpilots, 9 p.m., $10
- Beer, Barley & Food @ Rideau Pines Farm, ft. The Dusty Drifters, The Noisy Locomotive, 5 p.m., $75 (includes food & drink)
- Iceage @ Gabba Hey, w/ Father Murphy, Holy Cobras, Roberta Bondar, Ottawa Implosion Weekend, 9 p.m., $12 ($25 festival pass - www.bruisedtongue.com)
- Merrickville Jazz Fest @ Various Locations, ft. The Peter Liu Trio, Adam Daudrich Trio, Eastside Jazz Quartet, Quarteto Latino, Neil Sealy Quartet, Denielle Bassels Quintet, Caridad Cruz & Miguel De Armas, 12 p.m., $65 festival pass (www.merrickvillejazzfest.com)
- Slo' Tom & The Handsome Devils @ Irene's, w/ James Leclaire & The Cable 22s, 9:30 p.m., $8
- The Wilderness of Manitoba @ Mavericks, w/ Grey Lands, Yuma County, 8 p.m., $12
- The Souljazz Orchestra @ Babylon, w/ DJs Andy Williams & Scott C., 10 p.m., $15
- Thus Owls @ NAC Fourth Stage, w/ Michael Feuerstack, 7:30 p.m., $25
- Fortunate Soul @ The Rainbow, 4 p.m., free
- The Royal Streets @ The Rainbow, 9 p.m., $12
- Lucky Ron @ The Lafayette, 4 p.m., free
- Adam Saikaley Quartet @ Mugshots, 8 p.m., free
- Al Wood & The Woodsmen @ Atomic Rooster, 4 p.m., free
Sunday, Oct. 19
- Bass Lions @ Raw Sugar, 8 p.m., $10
- Rose Cousins @ Black Sheep Inn, w/ Fortunate Ones, 4:20 p.m., $20
- The Lake Effect @ Irene's, 9 p.m., free
- The Birdie Whyte Show @ The Lafayette, 6 p.m., free
- BD & The Blu-tones @ Atomic Rooster, 6 p.m., free
- Al Wood @ Atomic Rooster, 10 p.m., free
- Black Rhino Riot @ The Rainbow, 9 p.m., $5
- Dead Soft @ House of TARG, 9 p.m., $5
- David Jackson & Rolf Klausener @ The Manx, 9:30 p.m., free
- JPNSGRLS @ Cafe Dekcuf, w/ Tindervox, Tall Trees, 8 p.m., $10
- Merrickville Jazz Fest @ Various Locations, ft. Brian Browne, Peter Brown, Norman Marshall Villeneuve's Jazz Message, Peter Woods, Nicole Ratte & Tim Bedner, Grace Hrabi Duo, 10:30 a.m., $65 festival pass (www.merrickvillejazzfest.com)
Monday, Oct. 20
- In Fiasco, Archy & Mehitabel, Subject Sinclair, Fire Antlers @ Zaphod's, 8 p.m., free
Tuesday, Oct. 21
- Secret Colours, Organ Eyes @ Le Troquet, CHUO Live Broadcast, 7 p.m., free
- Black Milk @ Ritual, w/ Nat Turner, King Reign, Prehistoric, 9 p.m., $15
- The Name Droppers @ The Rainbow, 8:30 p.m., $6
- Run Coyote @ Pressed, w/ Claude Munson, Cody Allen, 8 p.m., $7
- UBI Quitous @ Avant-Garde, 8 p.m., $10
Wednesday, Oct. 22
- Less Than Jake @ Ritual, w/ Big D & The Kids Table, The Interrupters, 7:30 p.m., $22
- Dr. Dave @ The Rainbow, 4 p.m., free
- Slim & Popular, G. Rogers & The Capital Dominion Radiators, The Jerry Gross Organization @ House of TARG, CKCU Funding Drive Show, 8:30 p.m., $5-10
- The John Carroll Show @ The Lafayette, 8 p.m., free
