Issue date: 3/18/10 Section: Film & Music

From acoustic to electric and coast to coast, Canada rocks Art: Corrie Jackson

Will Currie and the Country French
With seriously upbeat, piano-driven pop riffs and familiar indie-rock vocals, Will Currie and the Country French have clearly got a good thing going. The band's clever combination of old-school piano pop with a solid indie-rock vibe suggests that a rise from obscurity is imminent. The Waterloo band signed to Sloan's Murderecords in 2008 and are currently preparing for the release of their second album. On lead vocals and keys, Will Currie churned out one catchy melody after another with an old-school sound reminiscent of The Bicycles and vocals that smack of a more sophisticated Ben Folds. The six-piece band looked right at home on a tiny stage at the Gladstone, injecting their pop-driven energy into a subdued Wednesday night crowd with ease and abandon. -Annie Bender


Male Bonding
Inspired by lo-fi shenanigans in the United States of America, a new scene of bands is beginning to emerge around London, England, including amusingly named groups like Pens, Graffiti Island, and Cold Pumas. Male Bonding are one of the first representatives of this clique to make an extended trip to North America. They showed promise on their Toronto debut, but things didn't quite click. Male Bonding's sound is curious mix of grunge and tropical punk and it seemed like the more interesting details got lost in the fuzz. Finally, on the last song, "Pumpkin," the trio hit their stride with a staccato guitar line, intricate percussion, and group vocals, but just as they got their momentum going, the set came to an end. -Simon Frank


Ten Kens
With their sophomore album coming out at some point in April and an upcoming tour in the U.K., Toronto locals Ten Kens are a busy band. The group shifts between indie rock melodies, noise breakdowns, and Ennio Morricone-style guitar licks with some definite metal influences. Ten Kens seamlessly blend genres together, spitting them back out with an aggressive energetic delivery that draws attention both in concert and in recording. Their darkly melodic experimental indie rock is like finding your grandfather's WWII service knife in a dusty attic: it's sharp and a little bit heavy, with a bit of grunge around the edges. -Tristan Johnston


Vivian Girls
"Why do they have so much reverb?" shouted a bespectacled audience member. He clearly didn't get it. The Vivian Girls play garage punk with a heavy dose of girl group charm. Of course, reverb-drenched vocal harmonies are a big part of that. Onstage the bands' energy and charisma shone, as they passed around a bottle of wine and played their songs with focus impressive for their progressing inebriation. They even took time to invite a drunken fan to jump on stage and sing along, latter declaring him the "party dog of the night." Antics aside, the music was excellent, with singer Cassie Ramone's voice referencing carefree 60's pop while backing vocals and menacing bass lines added an entrancing hint of darkness. -SF


The Stanfields
Following in the footsteps of better-known counterparts like the Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly, this powerful Nova Scotian band transforms traditional East Coast folk tunes into rousing rock anthems. Voted "the best band to get trashed to in 2008" by a Halifax weekly, the Stanfields' music is pure fun, the epitome of epic pub culture. The band's infectious combination of raunchy power chords, infectious Celtic melodies , and lusty sing-along choruses promised to make even the most conservative person in the place stand up and raise a pint to "The Dirtiest Drunk." Give these guys an electric fiddle or a pair of bagpipes to complement their guitars, and the Stanfields could really blow the roof off next time they swing through the city. -AB


Nightmare Air
Los Angeles/Seattle based indie space rockers Nightmare Air hit Toronto hard last week, playing four shows in three days and attracting considerable buzz. Mixing driving bass, pulsing drums and guitar sounds that swing between rock riffs and psychedelic noise gave a high energy backdrop to the wailing vocals of David Dupuis (guitar) and ethereal voice of Swan Miller (bass). Although the front of the stage was littered with effects and Dupuis' dual level peddle board was intimidating to say the least, the songs were thoughtful and well-balanced. Intricate layers of noise and feedback give this three-piece a thick, full sound that demands attention. -TJ


Fred Fortin and Olivier Langevin
Québec singer-songwriter Fred Fortin is not your average one-man band. Known for his impressive ability to play harmonica, guitar, and drums simultaneously, Fortin took the El Mocambo stage with Olivier Langevin, a friend and fellow member of Montréal rock outfit Galaxie 500. A heavily distorted set of raw garage-rock-inspired postmodern blues tunes ensued. The francophone pair was perfectly in sync, playing off each other with tight rhythmic symmetry and swapping impressive solos. Switching guitars between almost every song, the pair had ample time to joke about their English-speaking skills when they weren't rocking out. The crowd's ears were ringing by the time the set ended, but the loud sloppy rock tunes were just the remedy for a cold rainy night. -AB

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