Bygone Shows

Montreal's CLUES is a new pop phenomenon!!!  ELFIN SADDLE returns to Burlington for another round of mysterious song journeys.

A word on the venue: its a neat art studio space.  It's in a white, garage type building at 143 North Ave, just across from the Fire Station.  If you don't know where North Ave is, it begins at the top of Battery Park, at the police station.  Take it north, past the bright blue Burlington College building, and you'll be there extremely quickly!  Email julia@ticktick.org for even more detailed directions.

While countless new bands have imitated the pop sounds made famous by Montreal's music export, CLUES counts among its members originators of that sound. In CLUES,  Alden Penner (Unicorns) and Brendan Reed (Arcade Fire) continue pioneering music, expanding Montreal's pop music lexicon with reference to the post-punk and experimental music traditions. The band's shows are frenetic and theatrical: multiple drummers, unique instrumentation, and a bent Commodore 64. In 2008, Ben Borden, Lisa Gamble, and Nick Scribner of Montreal's music / art scene joined CLUES. During shows and on recordings, the band share and trade off on their collection of instruments, creating grand versions of experimental pop songs. 

CLUES began in 2007 and has kept a low profile, playing a series of un-advertised shows in Montreal’s lofts & small venues. Despite a near media black-out (no Facebook / MySpace / Website), their first above-ground performances have elicited passionate response and following from audiences & have caught the attention of numerous music media.  CLUES has remained close to home. The band has been dedicated to collaboration and the support of fellow independent artists. While Alden’s Take This Hammer label closed in 2007, CLUES has spent much of 2008 building and launching VillaVillaNola.com, an online music store with records for download, by artists from Montreal & beyond who have flourished under cover but rarely receive outside attention. Strong ties to the underground music community have found CLUES a comfortable partnership with Montreal’s Constellation Records, who are releasing their debut album in 2009.

Elfin Saddle is the unusual union of a Japanese woman, a Canadian man, and a ramshackle pile of objects and acoustic instruments. With influences as diverse as outsider art, archival folk recordings, dark forests, and anime, Emi Honda and Jordan McKenzie create a world of their own, inhabited by spirits, extreme weather, and other creatures of their respective imaginations.

As a live act, Elfin Saddle involves a variety of carefully assembled instruments and found objects, including accordion, musical saw, ukulele, a home-made drum kit, all working together to create a sound more powerful than you might expect. Their honest originality and emotive intensity has been earning them an ever-growing fan-base in Montreal. Their otherworldly melodies and marching-style rhythms will take to you to a land that, once visited, is rarely forgotten.

joe agresta was born 8/12/1981 in new jersey. then, twenty four years later, under the guise of mr. island met Dracula at a garage sale. the two spent the night drinking wine, listening to soul records and conspiring against systems of capatalism. the next day they built a robot, moved to pittsburg P.A., and started recording "silly sad cicuit's dead baby in a jar," their first album together. both Dracula and mr. island thought it was a failure. at the completion of the album dracula left the band to become an alchemist. after Dracula's departure mr. island and robot set to work on writing and recording songs documenting the formation of the band. during this time mr. island started looking for other (non-robotic) friends to join the band, finally inducting Miss Marbles and 11 year old Zbear. one night while the gang was finishing up the second album, "MORE TALES from the Blood island" Dracula showed up with lots of beer everyone got drunk (except Zbear cause he's only 11). During a video shoot robot was hit by a car; destroying his cardboard body. Three days later mr. island found a real robot in the trash. a brain transplant was performed. three months later mr.island, who had recently changed his name to joey pizza slice after marrying a slice of pizza in a dream, was also run over, this time by a pickup truck with no driver. the band is currently recording their next LP "opposite Hitler Mustache" to be released a limited run of 50 plastic records.