A G33K’s Guide To NXNE: Friday
Having fun yet? It’s about now where I wish NXNE would never end, even if my head is starting to hurt just a tiny bit. Another caesar and I’ll be ready for tonight! Here’s where GEEKPR0N will be.
FRIDAY JUNE 15
Die Mannequin @ Mod Club Theatre (9pm)
Gritty and thrashy punk-rock goodness from Toronto that picks up where The Distillers left off.
The Vandelles @ The Great Hall (10pm)
It’s a simple formula – pairing the Ronnettes’ kick and snares with surf guitar and a Spectorish wall of sound production – but almost impossible to execute as perfectly as New York’s the Vandelles.
The Black Belles @ The Horseshoe (11pm)
Jack White’s label Third Man signed this Nashville group, he produced their debut and seemingly everything from the Cramps-style sound to the shrouded PR campaign and art-house wardrobe selection has the ex-White Stripe’s midas fingerprint laid firm. They don’t share much with the White Stripes beside a crunchingly antiquated guitar sound, but they’re definitely cut from the same dark cloth as the Dead Weather – White’s later project – as well as the Sonics and the Count Five.
TV Freaks @ Parts & Labour (12am)
Super-fun party-punk: “This is pure punk rock that looks better in blood on a guitar than spray painted on a leather jacket. It smashes your face on the sidewalk American History X-style, picks up a skateboard, and grinds all over what’s left.”
Reigning Sound @ The Horseshoe (1am)
A founding member of cult 90s acts Compulsive Gamblers and the Oblivians before them, he’s a dyed-in-the-wool rock and roller who cut his teeth on his father’s British Invasion records as a kid, cruised the 80s Memphis punk scene as a teen and toured the garage revival wave of the 90s to death.Reigning Sound, his current troupe, started as a swaggering R&B, gospel and soul group before honing their sound to a fuzzy pysch-pop. This rough and ready approach continued across subsequent records, countless tours and Rolling Stone acclaim before Cartwright shifted his focus to solo and production work at points during the last decade. He’s now back at the altar again to – as his label puts it – “hail, hail rock ‘n’ roll and fuck your prefab garage”.
OPOPO @ El Mocambo (upstairs) (1am)
Hyperactive dance band Opopo make uncompromising and intense club-inspired electro similar to the compression heavy beats of Justice or the 8-bit synthcore of fellow Torontonians Crystal Castles.
Wordburglar @ Crawford (1am)
Dubbed “a unique hybrid of Beastie Boys, Fresh Prince and Buck 65,” Wordburglar returns this year with more of his patented Maritime charm and absurdist sense of humour. Known for rocking the crowd and leaving them in stitches.
What bands are you seeing tonight?
