Stylus heads west to Edmonton to check out Up+Downtown Music Festival next weekend, October 9-11! We’ll be keeping you in the loop with reviews, photos, and more! In the meantime, here are some of the gigs we’ve got on our radar.
Daniel Emberg: Having spent most of my life in Edmonton, one of the most exciting aspects of this festival for me will be simply knowing how many interesting shows will be happening around the city’s downtown. Much like Winnipeg, the city has been losing some of its cornerstone venues of late (and that’s nothing new) so it is satisfying to see a single festival making use of a dozen-plus rooms—some of which are not typically live music venues.
To cite just a few examples: the Freemasons’ Hall is an intriguing choice, that events room at Yellowhead Brewery feels like a dark cabin bar in the heart of the city, and I am definitely going to check whether those beer experts at Cask & Barrel have followed through on their promise to update the menus that show our beloved Half Pints as a (gasp!) Saskatchewan brewery.
Ultimately, though, gawking at decorative flourishes will take a back seat to quality music. In sketching out the weekend, here are the shows with the best odds of sucking me in.
Friday: Vibes, Adictox, Arrabio, and D.O.A. at Brixx – This one is presented with Solidarity Rock, an international cultural exchange that has helped facilitate multiple tours by Cuban hardcore bands Adictox and Arrabio (note: those bands also play Winnipeg at the Windsor on October 6). A local crew called Vibes opens the night, the two Cuban bands play next, and it all ends with D.O.A. playingHardcore ’81 in its entirety!
If they think we’re too soft for that: Nik 7 and Humans at Common – we’ll just go dance the night away with some of the most bangin’ electronic dance music to be found in western Canada.
Saturday: Cask & Barrel is hosting an afternoon show with Edmonton fixture Mike McDonald and Joey Shithead of D.O.A. That’s all I need to hear to know it will be a good way to get primed for the night…but where to go then?
My pick would be to see Borys, Jessica Moss, and Jerusalem In My Heart at Brixx, which seems likely to be the most leftfield event of the entire festival. That alone is almost good enough for me, even without having heard what Jason Borys does. Jessica Moss has been eating everyone’s collective lunch with Black Ox Orkestar and numerous iterations of the Silver Mt. Zion* crew, and JIMH is a multimedia project of Radwan Ghazi Moumneh that I have been wanting to check out for quite some time.
If they don’t let us in: White Lightning, The Fight, and Duotang at CKUA. Tough choice, as literally every other show that night has at least one band I would go out of my way to catch on their own if we were just having an average weekend in Winnipeg.
Sunday: Mancub, The Allovers, and Ought at Rocky Mountain Ice House – One of my first thoughts regarding this trip to Edmonton was that it would suck to miss the Ought show in Winnipeg…so this one is easy pickings from my end.
If they kick us out: Counterfeit Jeans, Meisha & The Spanks, The Pack A.D. at Denizen Hall…if only because it’s so hard to imagine what the old Richelieu Pub must look like now that the gentrifiers are trying to make it a hot spot before the Oilers start playing up the block next year.
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Robin Eriksson: Friday you’ll likely find me at The Brixx because punk rock – especially Arrabio – seems like a great way to shake off some of that 16-hour-road-trip and dive right in. Saturday afternoon I’m going to try and make the Cask & Barrel for Mike McDonald – back in the day I played Jr. Gone Wild to death. Saturday night you’ll definitely find me back at The Brixx for Borys – live electronic music; Jessica Moss – I love a gal and her fiddle; and Jerusalem in My Heart – multi-media meets Arabic music, gah! If I’m still alive on Sunday I wanna catch Conjure and Feverfew at the Yellowhead Brewery. Later on you’ll find me in The Common for Soley in honour of a friend who would have loved to be there, too.
Victoria King: Friday – Humans with Nik 7 @ Common – This is a super fun way to kick off the festival. Humans played a few months ago in WPG and put on a really dancey show. Their debut full-length Noontide follows in the same way – electronic, upbeat pop that’ll make ya shake. This one runs into the wee hours of the morning. Should be good.
Saturday – Alberta Presents: Iceland Calling/Borys, Jessica Moss, JIMH – This whole day looks crazy good. Alberta Presents: Iceland Calling brings together a whole bunch of Icelandic musicians, plus a short documentary. Over at Brixx, Edmonton-artist Borys makes slick electronic beats, while Jessica Moss (member of Thee Silver Mount Zion) is sure to amaze with new solo work. Jerusalem in My Heart closes the night. Hotdamn. Where’s a bodysplitter when you need one?!
Sunday – Exclaim! Presents: Ought w/ The Allovers and Mancub @ Rocky Mtn Ice House – A noisy night of punk! What fun! Ought amaze with their latest release Sun Coming Down and I’m stoked to hear some of these new songs played live. Plus The Allovers and Mancub look pretty sweet too.
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