LOLA Festival: Day 2
September 20, 2008
Allowing for plenty of recovery time after Thursday opening night party, LOLA got underway again at 4:30 pm on Friday. With the sun barely peeking out from behind the Victoria Park bandshell, the day's first band, Olenka (as in bandleader Olenka Krakus) and the Autumn Lovers, took the stage.
I try to avoid describing an artist in relation and in comparison to another artist, since it not only seems like a sort of lazy way of describing their sound, but also diminishes the uniqueness of the artist (assuming, of course, that they are in fact unique). But for Olenka's entire set, I couldn't help being reminded of London native and 2007 LOLA performer, Basia Bulat. The blond frontwoman with the otherworldly vocal chords? The backing band of friends on an array of unusual instruments (the Autumn Lovers featured accordions, a cello and an upright bass, among others)? Check and check. And, of course, the fact that they don't sound entirely dissimilar, playing pop-influenced folk music, didn't hurt the comparison either.
Olenka and the Autumn Lovers were very charming in their own right, though, drawing an impressive crowd for the day's first act, a testament to their strong local following. In contrast to much of Bulat's catalogue, Olenka's lyrical subject matter is hardly light; this would have been easy to forget, considering the music itself sounds so pleasant and uplifting, if not for Olenka's dialogue between songs, dedicating one to a friend in a car accident, and touching on the political overtones in other songs. The set was an engaging one, and provided a strong start to the day, while showcasing some of London's upcoming local talent.
The crowd near the stage was considerably thinner for the next band of the day, Tin, and a brief survey of a few audience members revealed that little was known about this nondescriptly named Guelph band. Mixing occasional vocals and spoken-word samples with guitar-driven instrumental rock, Tin didn't excite LOLA-goers enough to make too many drift over to the stage, though their musicianship was evident throughout their set. Playing selections from their 2007 album, Activity, their songs, combined with their fairly stationary stage presence, had a sort of lulling effect on the late-afternoon crowd, providing comfortable background music that was only startling when it ended.
Bocce was up next at the bandshell. Their myspace describes their sound as: "Techno / crunk / ghettotech." This description actually isn't as far off as you'd expect. As the first and only Victoria Park act of the day that really attempted to get the crowd moving, Bocce was somewhat successful: it was still a little early in the evening, and the crowd was still a little too sparse for any full-fledged, uninhibited dancing, but there was definitely some movement happening. Playing a mix of new and old tracks, and armed with plenty of keyboards and percussion, the Waterloo band just looked extremely enthusiastic and excited about what they were doing, and that enthusiasm was infectious, even leading to some audience participation during a call-and-answer section of "Disco Juan." Watching a band that seems to be having fun is always a treat, and Bocce looked like they were having a blast, injecting some life into the Festival's Friday evening lineup.
Regrettably, a longer than expected dinner break prevented me from catching the next set, by ambient/jazz instrumental band The Drift, from San Francisco. As I mentioned yesterday, they're the only non-Canadian band on the LOLA lineup all weekend, so... at least I get some points for national pride, right? But no, I was disappointed to miss them, especially after hearing some word-of-mouth reviews that raved about their technical prowess and described them as one of the best acts of the day. Here's hoping this won't be their last visit to London.
As darkness descended on the park, Do Make Say Think, the evening's headliners, prepared to take the stage. The lineup had gotten a little ahead of schedule earlier in the day, but Do Make Say Think didn't take the stage until their designated time of 9:45, allowing for plenty of build-up. While an instrumental post-rock band is perhaps an unlikely choice to headline a festival lineup, the band definitely displayed a flair for the theatrical, musically. Loading the stage (which, as an aside, looked great, its walls decorated with cartoonish, colourful murals) with enough bodies to make the sizable stage look full, Do Make Say Think played a long, loud set. Each member seemed entirely immersed with each crescendo and decrescendo, moving around and rocking out as much or more as anyone in the now-packed audience. Traversing through their entire discography, the band even managed to get a quick encore in before the park's 11:00 curfew, for an appreciative audience.
The end of the Victoria Park lineup, however, didn't signal the end of the night. Mere minutes later, across downtown London at the city's best nightclub for live shows, Call the Office, Woodhands kicked off a set that exhibited why this show demanded a $10 cover, as opposed to the free sets at Victoria Park. Having never seen Woodhands live and not being blown away by their tracks that I'd heard, my expectations were only moderate, but the Toronto duo, with their keytar, keyboard, and drums, delivered my favourite set of the day. Layering their sound with pre-programmed beats and looped riffs, they sounded remarkably dense for just two guys, and the extra beats in the mix made for great dancing music. The crowd constantly grew throughout the next 45 minutes, as more and more people arrived from Victoria Park, and Woodhands engaged them admirably with entertaining between-song banter and even more entertaining electro pop songs. Picking only a couple highlights of the set is difficult, but it was hard to top drummer Paul Banwatt attempting to cover a Jay-Z song before stopping himself after mangling a few lyrics. Suggesting that maybe they try a cover he knows the words to, the band launched into a rendition of 2Pac's and Dr. Dre's 90s west-coast anthem "California Love" that made it impossible not to grin. Paul got a few more laughs during set closer "Dancer," when he confessed that he had to sing the female part of the song because he "sounds like a girl." Whether or not they were going for comedy, he did pull off the verses' vocals admirably, setting up Dan Werb's repeated screamed refrain that whipped the first few rows of the Call the Office crowd into a frenzy.
Charged with the unenviable task of following up Woodhands, Montreal's We Are Wolves proved up to the challenge. The trio tore through a set that combined the rock-out energy of a band like The Hives with a grittiness that resulted from their using only a bass guitar, keyboard, and drums on a good chunk of their songs. Playing primarily tracks from their latest album, the terrific Total Magique, We Are Wolves played the part of the night's second headliner to perfection, oozing rock and roll. Even the drummer standing up throughout the entire set seemed like the perfect rock and roll decision, even though the last time i saw a band do that, it was the kid that played snare drum in my eighth grade school band, which was definitely not rock and roll. Sounding particularly great during Magique cuts like "Walk Away Walk," "Fight and Kiss" and "I Wrote Your Name on My Kite," the band simultaneously launched their tour and brought the second night of LOLA to a close with a bang.
Coming up tomorrow: LOLA comes to an end with day 3, including Holy Fuck, Plants and Animals, and more.
(Photos by Lulu Wei)
