Styrofoam & Zita Swoon & Fleet Foxes

As Tinneke is off too Spain, I am sole master of the domain (for now) so I should have more time for bLoGginG. So let's talk about the concerts we've seen lately.

Let's start with the band from hometown A'pen (kinda, coz I was born in B'hout and spend the first year or so from my life there): ZITA SWOON. I was already into them in the heydays when they were still called Moondog Jr. and the lead singer was still "that bloke from dEUS". Didn't really digg the whole disco thing later on and they kinda got off my radar. But as they were giving a free concert at the Jazz Fest, it was too good of an oppurtunity to miss. Their new "sound" is more soul/funk/jazz mainly because of the voluptous gorgeous backings and their great rhodes/piano/organ player Joris (who turned out to be a very nice guy as well).

As we are on the subject: we've become quite the star fuckers when it comes to the few Belgian bands playing in MTL. The band is often surprised to hear Dutch (I refuse to say Flemish) and always up for some small talk. We usually end up talking to the roadie or something. Same for Styrofoam. The sound guy and drummer from Styrofoam were very easygoing as well. Styrofoam played in Casa del Popolo which is an indie vegetarian restaurant/pub. Weird thing is that Casa del Popolo doesn't have an alcohol license; meaning they can't serve alcohol if you don't "eat". But then again a portion of "olives" is considered food. Since Casa only serves veggie fare, samosas was the staple here. But they were being awfully difficult about how many portions of food you order and how many drinks you get. Friends that joined us after the concert couldn't get a drink without food (it was 1am for crying out loud), so when I ordered drinks for 5 there wasn't any problem because 4 hours before I had soggy cold samosas ... really stupid! And as I am going on my rant, one thing I hate about Montreal concerts is the whole 2 or 3 support acts thing. The support acts never start on time, are usually crap and the only reason why people are there is to reserve their spot for the main act. So the main act starts at midnight (if you're lucky), so going to a concert during the week usually messes you up for the rest of week. But we're getting of subject here ... back to Styrofoam. I was expecting a more lo-fi cuts'n bleeps sound but as their new album is very poppy, we got a great rock'n roll show. Catchy songs, good musicians, good mix between live instruments and lap tops: great entertainment.

And last but not least Fleet Foxes (thanks blitzkriegnoise for the tip). This close harmony group, country side hippies, Beach Boys meets Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young have taken over my iTunes. And live they really lived up to the expectation. I was really blown away. Listen for yourself.

Enjoy the weekend (I have a Miami Vice themed BBQ ... scares the shit out of me since the only good thing of the 80ies was that there were 90ies).