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Thursday – June 17 @ Rancho Relaxo

After some careful studying of the schedule, I committed myself to Rancho Relaxo for the Thursday of NXNE.  I would have to say that the predominant theme of the night, with the exception of The Cunninghams, was the delivery of solidly original tunes with prominent electronic elements.

The night began nice and early with Old World Vulture.  I made a special effort to arrive early in order to catch this all instrumental band from Toronto and St. Catherines, and after the conclusion of their set I was impressed enough to acquire their six track self-titled EP.

True to the theme of the night, the band features some prominent synth sound which is nevertheless housed within a sound traditional instrumental structure.  You can at times hear influences of synth-pop-era Depeche Mode, but most of all this band reminds me of a jacked-up version of Toronto instrumental band Beef Terminal in the talented layering and in their ability to work the listener into a rocked out groove.  In addition, the drum work as exemplified in “Too Much Eye Make-up” has an impressive ability of framing and then re-framing the pieces for the constantly changing levels of intensity within songs.

The live performance was in some ways even more impressive than the recorded tracks.  They really took the time to build highly complex musical structures by layering simple melodies.  It is always a little odd to listen to a live instrumental set, as the absence of vocals can sometimes result in a dull performance.  This was certainly not the case for Old World Vulture.

Old World Vulture @ Rancho Relaxo - June 17, 2010 

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Well, this surely must be one of the latest blog entries for this year’s NXNE.  In fairness, the delay is due in part to my effort to process more pictures than I usually do for festivals, and secondly to my concerted effort to acquire and digest as many albums as possible from the bands that impressed me.

In terms of my modus operandi this year, I noticed that in past festivals—notwithstanding my purchasing or otherwise acquiring a full pass—I have mostly stayed in one venue per night in order to secure a good shooting spot and to avoid the unpredictable line-ups.  This year I decided to forgo the pass and commit to that model.

Without further ado, I will begin.  As always, my full photo sets from the week can be found here.

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