Sunday, September 13, 2009

What is in our water?!

Tyler from Said The Whale put it best when he tweeted, "Vancouver is the new Montreal," then proceeded to list off a litany of amazing artists who have either called Vancouver home relatively recently (Jill Barber), as well as those who have grown up here (Dan Mangan).

After hopping cross-town last night to go to both the Immaculate Machine/Char2d2 show and the UBC students-only Hannah Georgas/Said The Whale/Mother Mother show, it struck me how lucky the inhabitants of our fair city are. I was able to hop from East Vancouver to UBC campus within half an hour and catch the beginning of Mother Mother's set, thanks to an early 11 pm curfew at the Biltmore.

The all-Vancouverites (except for I.M.) lineup did not disappoint; in fact, it was exhilarating to see Char2d2 fill up the Biltmore dance floor as an opening act, and its red-lit lounge with sounds much too filling to have been produced by two musicians alone. It was simply fun to see Brooke of Immaculate Machine swaying his massive head of reddish hair to their infectious pop-rock, like some kind of indie shampoo commercial. And it was mesmerizing to get completely absorbed by Mother Mother, who took a hold of an entire pub of college students, and make fanatics out of casual fans.

Immaculate Machine sings of their hometown Victoria,
Streetlights - darkness is unthinkable
It's dirty and the water isn't drinkable

Thankfully, we Vancouverites can rest assured that whatever is lurking in our water, its musical results are undeniable.