Wavelength 400 Eighth Anniversary Festival:
Nifty
Donne Roberts
Green Go
Opopo
Transsylvanien
Sunday February 17th, 2008
Sneaky Dee’s 431 College St
Transsylvanien
Sunday Feb 17 @ Sneaky Dee’s, 9pm
Did you know that Denmark has a government-funded Rock Council? No, seriously, it’s called ROSA (rosa.org) and it “supports the development and awareness of Danish rock music, both at home and abroad.” Proof that Scandinavians are the most enlightened people on the planet. Further proof comes via the fact that Transsylvanien came to us without the support of ROSA — rather, they’re coming to Toronto on holiday, and fate (in the form of Steve Kado) led them to Wavelength. We don’t yet know much about these two Copenhagen guys, other than that they love reverb-drenched guitar drones hugging plaintive melodica lines, but we have a feeling we’ll feel like old friends by Monday. — Jonny Dovercourt
Opopo
Sunday Feb 17 @ Sneaky Dee’s, 10pm
These three guys (guitar, bass, keyboard and laptop) get my vote for most endearing band of the year. They’ve only been doing this Opopo thing for about a year now, but in that time have landed themselves some how-the-hell-did-they-score-that gigs opening up for The Stooges and Klaxons. It’s difficult to not be influenced by just how happy they are on stage. Watching them is like watching your little brother — knowing he’s a good kid and hoping he’s going to turn out okay — find something he loves and feeling a little tinge of pride and reassurance that he’s going to be just fine. — Ryan McLaren
Green Go
Sunday Feb 17 @ Sneaky Dee’s, 11pm
If you’re not sweating from every pore of your body, you’re obviously not at a Green Go show. Maybe you’re at the grocery store instead, but down the street is where you should be, because in the back of your head you know you can hear the infectious electro disco pop and a voice singing something that only makes you think of zombies. Every house party needs Green Go in the living room. Every rock show needs Green Go on its floor. Every iPod needs Green Go on its playlist. There isn’t really a time when Green Go isn’t needed. You will, however, need a bigger shoe budget. The soles will wear out fast from all that dancing. — Kevin Parnell
Donne Roberts
Sunday Feb 17 @ Sneaky Dee’s, 12am
A lot of people missed Donne Roberts’ Wavelength debut last May, and that was too bad, since the guitarist and his band took us all to school. It’s easy to forget how much indie rock undervalues, well, musicianship until you hear a band that can really play. But it’s not just about technicality, Roberts’ “Malagasy soul” music fluidly fuses folk, funk, blues and rock into irresistibly danceable forms that reflect his roots in Madagascar, Russia and Canada. Also a member of the African Guitar Summit, Donné is very likely the only Wavelength alumnus to have performed at Live 8. And won a Juno. Okay, we get it, this guy is good. — Jonny Dovercourt
Nifty
Sunday Feb 17 @ Sneaky Dee’s, 1am
aka Prince Nifty, Nif-D, N!fty, N.I.F.T.Y., Matt Schmidt, Matt Schmidth, John Wayner, Matt Smith and one-third of your favourite disbanded band, Les Mouches. Nifty is a man of many faces, and his recent Blocks Recording Club release “A Sparrow! A Sparrow!” is a haunting portrait of all those faces staring at you and commanding you to dance or be thrown over the edge or to dance while being thrown over the edge. Never playing the same song twice and bent on creating beauty and instantly destroying it, each live Nifty performance invites your soul up for wine, shows you its record collection, fucks your brains out, and then shows you the door with a cigarette and a really good diary entry. — Kevin Parnell
