Happy Birthday Zygiella (#42)

Episode #42 marks the one year anniversary of the Zygiella podcast. On this one Jen and Tyler talk about the Over the Top Festival, the Pitter Patter Festival and upcoming shows in the perpetual music festival that is Toronto.



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Pick A Piper, Hut and the Fishwives : Tonight @ Rancho

As a part of the Pitter Pater Festival tonight Zygiella is hosting a show at the Rancho Relaxo (300 College Street in Toronto) featuring three bands you might not have heard much about yet, but you will soon.

First up are the Fishwives who I told you you should know earlier this week and who were one of the bands in this week's podcast.

Following them is Hut - another side project of Hooded Fang who have been described as "A swirling stew of droning eclectic pop, hovering in a starkly-sweet visceral power. Hut continues the crusade of the synthesis of old and new."

Then, at midnight, it's Pick a Piper - a name I hadn't heard just a few weeks ago. Since then though I've heard enough about them from enough people to say that they fall squarely within the boundaries of buzz band.

"Like a micro-chipped poncho, Pick A Piper play tribal psychedelic rock with a deliciously biting electronic component and a serious dose of percussion. Ecstatically charged yet almost trance-inducing, PAP are a vodka-redbull with none of the edge, all of the euphoria and zero unpleasant aftertaste. The quartet keep the pulse racing with their 2 drummer set up (they play a Siamese kit, or 2 kits connected by a cymbal), but it’s the understated vocals and melodic flourishes draw you away from the frenetic and towards the sublime. The bells and glockenschpiel featured in their song ‘Rooms’ shimmer and shine over acoustic guitar, barely audible group vocals and hand drums, and make this track a slowly ascendant joy-ride. The arrangement of flute, trumpet, layered vocals and never-ending percussion see their self-titled EP diverse enough to forgive the hippy-dippyness; it’s just SO GOOD that it gets rescued from the cheese pile and move directly to kick ass.

My pick for EP of the summer.
-Lauren Schreiber, No Shame

Doors are at 9 and the Facebook Event Page is here.

Zygiella #41 and the Pitter Patter Festival

Everyone should definitely listen to Episode 41 of the Zygiella podcast as Jen and Tyler talk to Keith Hamilton of the Hamilton Trading Co, the Diableros and most importantly for this week, the driving force behind the Pitter Patter Music Festival which runs May 28-31 all over southern Ontario. They talk about the festival and play some music from bands in this year's festival including Sandman Viper Command, Parlovr, Pick A Piper, Two Year Touqe, Golden Isles, and The Champion Heartache.




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On Edit: You can check out another interview with Kieth Hamilton by Radio 3's Lauren Burrows here.

Pitter Patter Festival lineup announced.

If you're in Belleville, Brantford, Guelph, Lindsay, London, Mississauga, Oshawa, Peterborough, or Toronto, this post's for you.

This is a short note to say that the lineup for the Pitter Patter Music Festival (28-31 May) is up on this website. There are shows in 9 Ontario cities, from Belleville and Brantford to Lindsay and London. Most of the venues hosting the festival are in Toronto, including all the regular live music spaces in Kensington Market. Some stellar bands are playing, as well as a whole lot of bands that have yet to make it onto my radar. And this is exactly the point of the festival: a pay-what-you-can affair that prides itself on helping young bands get exposure in the big city and elsewhere. The whole thing is carefully curated---and the bands chosen based musical merit---so that shows makes sense as whole experiences.

Here are some of the bands confirmed (in alphabetical order): Brent Randall & his Pinecones, The Darcys, The Diableros, Dog Day, Flotilla, Great Bloomers, Jordaan Mason & the Horse Museum, The Kettle Black, Llions, The Miles, OPOPO, The Owle Bird, Parlovr, Pick A Piper, The Racoon Wedding, The Speaking Tongues, Spiral Beach, The Vulcan Dub Squad, and Whale Tooth. Plus so many more! Great stuff.

I'm excited to see how the Toronto shows shape up!