Cutsleeve
I asked the lead singer, Emmanuelle from Cutsleeve, what does you name mean? As it turns out it is a queer reference about a King who did not want to wake up his same sex partner, so he cut his sleeve off so as not to disturb him.
Cutsleeve opened first and was a mixed bag of pop songs mixed with deeper and slower, more moody epic pieces.
When I go to a show, I notice two different kinds of voices. There are those who just sing, and those who find the character in their voice and can project them well. I found out that Cutsleeve has both voices. When Emmauelle is doing the pop songs she is just singing the words. When the band went into these darker and moodier songs, her voice became the character in the song. This band has something buried inside of them, I would like to see it come out over the next year or two.
This is Cutsleeve:
Jo Passed
Jo Passed came on and changed how we listen to music. From the beginning, you can’t help but notice how quirky they can sound. It came off as both serious and fun. It was as if the singer wanted to keep some kind of secret from us.
This is a band that can start a song with slow sad depressed feeling and eventually get you to smile. It is a strange kind of happiness. If you think of Frank Zappa, he is a serious musician that doesn’t take himself seriously. Well, Jo Passed try not to sound so serious and that is what makes them serious musicians.
It sort of reminds me of a good comedy duo, like Abbot and Costello. You have the straight guy out there pounding his message and the comedian balancing it all out with some well-played humour.
There was a lone ranger dancer on the floor exercising his rights to a good time, and that fed the crowd well. If you like your music to display confidence and quirkiness, you should check out a Jo Passed show.
This is Jo Passed:
Hiroki Tanaka
This band walks on stage with masks attached to the side of their heads, except the bass player. We never find out who he is. Horoki began an intensive rant at the beginning of his show with word I could not understand. It was like a samurai committing hari-kari. It was fun, shocking and had a ritualistic feeling of absurdity to it.
He didn’t stop and swung from song to song like some kind of cosmic monkey. It felt like a new version of classic rock but soaked it a vat of Black Absinthe.
In fact, every song was a new adventure into sound. Hiroki created a slow cabaret that seems to enjoy going down dark alleyways. But, before you get a little too afraid of his unique ways, he slides in a very tender song that seems to blossom into hope.
The audience seemed very tentative about getting close to the stage, but Hiroki changed that very quickly. He herded the crowd towards the stage to be inside a large pentagram on the floor. Is he going to conjure up some demons so he can feast in Hell?
No, he like any artist wants his audience close so we all can create our own bubble of trouble in the cauldron of fleeting moments.
Here is the one profound thing, I can say about this band: They are stretching their own boundaries looking for new sounds. With their cutting-edge approach to music, their hope is to grow a new branch on the tree of music and life.
This is Hiroki Tanaka:
If you would like to check out any of these artists, you can view their websites or Instagram page.
Cutsleeve- cutsleeve
Jo Passed- www.instagram.com/jopassedup/
Hiroki Tanaka- www.instagram.com/hirokitanakamusic/
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