2010年 Mar 25日 Thursday, 1:35

Sat 13 Mar – Woods, Real Estate, Valleys

Before Saturday night’s show at Club Lambi featuring Valleys, Real Estate, and Woods, I was curious about something. How many people would Real Estate and Woods pull in, in the former’s first trip to Montreal? As it said on Facebook, the tickets were selling fast and that proved to be true given the turn out last night, as the venue was packed.

The show began with Montreal’s own Valleys, supporting their 2009 album, Sometimes Water Kills People. The psychedelic trio played for a good forty-five minutes, and really showed us how experimental music should be played as they cranked out one strong effort after another, including album highlights such as “Santiago,” “Killer Legs,” finally ending with “The Heavy Dreamer,” which seemed a good fit to close the set, changing the pace a little bit from the slower songs before it. With the use of sweet and subtle vocal harmonies and by stressing the importance of distinction between each song, Valleys’ performance was almost flawless.

Coming off their critically acclaimed eponymous debut LP, as well as the recently released Reality EP, New Jersey’s Real Estate were no doubt the true reason for the huge crowd. Sure, each band on the bill for the evening’s show merited their share of fans in attendance, but Real Estate, coming off a hugely popular run in the past few months were the big boys playing the night. After a somewhat tiring wait for the band to hit the stage, they found their footing quickly and took the crowd by storm, running through crowd favorites like “Pool Swimmers,” and “Beach Comber” early on, while also giving a turn to lead guitarist Mathew Mondanile adding lead vocals to a couple of songs, all the while displaying awesome musicianship with some crafty playing. A highly entertaining band who all enjoy playing music, Real Estate wowed the crowd with each song, and left the stage with everyone happy and applauding.

Last up was Brooklyn, NY’s Woods. Unfortunately for the guys in Woods, the crowd had gotten smaller by the time they took the stage since it was already past midnight. That wasn’t a big problem however, because all those who stayed enjoyed a very interesting, and entertaining performance, that I can say, is completely unique to Woods — come on, who else but G. Lucas Crane stands on all fours turning knobs and howling into a pair of headphones like a werewolf? Their label, Woodsist Records, is no stranger to critical success, as Woods’ latest album captured fans and critics alike and the true depth of their tunes really shined through in last night’s show. Playing show stoppers such as “Rain On” and “The Clean,” Woods capped off a great affair that was worth it’s late finale.

- Jordan Ghetler