Thursday, November 12, 2009

The Organ



I previously compared the Silly Kissers to Swedish duo Lo-Fi FNK, but in the absence of sequencing (and considering the Montreal group seems to be more prolific), I'll amend that to compare them to one of my favourite groups out of Vancouver in recent memory which is, sadly, no longer with us, The Organ. The initial lineup included financial journalist Sarah Efron, who now writes for The National Post. This song was on the L Word, it's from Grab That Gun, and supposedly Jenny and Katie now live in Toronto and run a resto-bar.

On the Silly Kissers front, sandwiched in between some serious mid-90s aesthetic mis-steps (that being the dominant mode of Quebecois culture, I have to say), here's a recent live performance from the group at Musique Plus.

8 comments:

maya glum said...

wait... could you make a tentative list of mid-90s aesthetic mistakes? as a Québécois, I am suddenly filled with an apprehension that I COMMIT those mistakes without knowing, blinded by the society that prescribes it without critique..
As an incoming outsider to this culture, could you help me, please?

Jay Watts III said...

Off the top of my head: jester caps, circus culture, DJ Champion, metalcore bands, soul patch facial hair, snowboarding.

Jay Watts III said...

Off of the most recent Quebec music charts: Celine Dion, Cowboys Fringants, Mes Aieux...

BUT...

I should also stipulate that just because I think Quebecois pop culture is pretty awful doesn't at all mean that I'm championing Canadian variations.

maya glum said...

oh ok, I agree with all that and am relieved to see that the only thing I do is snowboard, but that's not cultural, it's because I can't ski and my dad likes me to be outside in the winter, and I am NOT shoveling. I also saw a pretty surprisingly rad circus performace at TNM last year, from Cirque Eloïse, and it was, believe it or not, edgy, sensual, and impressively evocative.

Jay Watts III said...

Seriously, the list of crimes against good taste committed by the rest of Canada stretches far beyond that, which is about 85% of the reason I live here (and actually, I only threw in snowboarding because that's what I did in the mid-90s).

What was the Cirque Eloise show called?

maya glum said...

It was this : http://www.nebbia.com/
ok it looks awful and circus-y and now I remember that it got redundant after a while, but the lasting impression was that it was a compelling spectacle and made me feel dreamy and wanting to move to caravan-land and spend my days mastering balance of body and mind and being surrounded by likeminded dreamers and fairies and I guess this is the point about circus culture being lame, is that it does not exist in reallife and any attempt to mark your style with it is embarassing much like wearing a wiccan talisman as it ceases to be a symbole of childhood scenery and the beauty of imagination and becomes an ignorant immature refusal of what is real and what can't be.
But some of the acrobat girls were really pretty and the clowns were actually funny and the spinning plates were impressive and the whole show left you wide eyed with wonder. I like when shows represent impossible worlds.

maya glum said...

anyways i like your blog, keep it up you're a much recommendable read --
two thumbs up, i like and kudos.

Jay Watts III said...

hahaha, that's a pretty accurate summary of circus culture. Well, despite my phobia of it, I'll keep an open mind. Thanks for the kind words!