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The Kazoo! Festival’s Friday night concert at eBar featured the talents of Adverteyes, Manatee, Petra Glynt and DIANA, providing a night of diverse entertainment with rich visual support by way of trippy .gifs projected behind the bands. As Kazoo! so consistently provided across the weekends events, patrons of eBar enjoyed another successful merging of very different musical styles and exhilarating visual feasts.
A fairly brief set by Guelph locals Adverteyes opened the night. Adverteyes is an electronic group with music characterized by slow, engrossing trip-hop/krautrock jams and a cool, unobtrusive video loop behind them. Unobtrusive is an apt word to describe their set as a whole: at a gentle volume level and with cool, lulling and spacy beats, the group set a vibrant atmosphere for chatting over a beer. That is not to say the group didn’t draw the attention deserved – as even in the show’s wee hours, a large crowd stayed up front to catch the action.
Manatee an 11-piece improvised afrobeat group from Guelph and Toronto, performed second. Featuring exciting, real time improvisational “commands” by the audience, this jazz combo certainly kicked the room’s energy up a notch with rock solid grooves, spectacular soloing and explosive brass soundscapes. The band’s set was certainly an odd fit in comparison to the other three acts but certainly not unwelcome – the large, diverse group of instruments and musicians demonstrates the engaging power of improvisation.
Petra Glynt, stage name and alter ego of Toronto multimedia artist Alexandra Mackenzie, offered a set of entrancing, heavy soundscapes featuring her looping, singing, and drumming on stage. With off-the-wall neon lights, flickers and digital art complimenting her primal drumming and soaring, distinctive vocals, Mackenzie’s music recalls that of Patti Smith, Peter Gabriel and Animal Collective all smashed together to the point that it was unrecognizable, and is a wholly unique and engrossing experience. As was also demonstrated by her art installation at Ed Video, titled “Promised Land,” Alexandra Mackenzie is a vibrant and exciting performer and artist to watch for.
The evening’s closer, 80s inspired pop group DIANA, finished the night’s events on a warm, fleetingly nostalgic note with their evocative, rich synth textures and gripping melodies. The band’s ties take them across Canada’s indie scene – fronted by vocalist Carmen Elle of Army Girls, with Destroyer’s Joseph Shabason on saxophone and keys, Kieran Adams of Warm Myth on drums, and Hidden Cameras’ Paul Mathew on bass. With such wide-ranging talents, it makes sense that the band’s music draws on these influences and preoccupations but ultimately produces something very different from them, and extremely enjoyable.