Sled Island - Portico, Young & Sexy, Octoberman, and Chad VanGaalen

Our Sled Island experience began as we drove into Calgary Thursday afternoon with just enough time to move our legs and grab a quick bite before heading over to the Calgary Science Center (oh, so sorry, The Telus World of Science; I've been gone too long) for an early evening show. With the sheer number of scheduled acts and Calgary's limited selection of live stages, gigs were being held wherever sound and seating would suffice, with the Science Center possibly being the most unique of all the venues.

I'll be honest, I was almost as excited to see an indie rock show at my iconic home of elementary field trips and highschool summer jobs as I was to see three critically acclaimed Vancouver-based bands for the first time. The show definitely took me down memory lane, but how was the music?

After establishing that yes, the show was indeed inside the building, we shuffled up to the 'Discovery Dome,' the Science Center's IMAX theater (full disclosure: last thing I saw there was Beavers.) There were a lot of other performances to compete with, but there were quite a few in attendance as Vancity's little-known Portico took the stage.

Portico got their start in Toronto before quickly relocating to Vancouver in 2004. Led by singer and guitarist Lyn Heinemann, the current lineup played a number of songs from their latest album Progeny Blues. I hadn't heard the melodic pop-rock outfit before, but I was excited after checking out reviews like these: "Had Kurt Cobain been born a woman, he would've stuck around to record this killer rock album."

Heinemann's voice is unique; deep, almost husky... but still rather tender. With often unconventional song structures and some assured lyrics, I'll definitely be keeping an eye on the band from now on. While comparisons to Cobain are fun, I think the group's own evocations of Cat Power and Pinback are more apt. Their set was wonderful, and there was some major confidence on display that would be lacking from a lot of the artists we caught at the festival.

There was a bit of early stage banter between Heinemann and bassist Mimi Mahovlich about real-life jobs and a missing Octoberman that had the Calgary audience ready to embrace the 50 minute set. Before one track, Portico sealed it on the charm factor, stating quietly that "this song is so you think about us before you go to bed tonight." Though with their matching grey skirts and pink tops, they should probably be grateful that most of VanGaalen's buddies didn't show up until the start of his set...

In what seems to be an all-too-regular indie rock affair, Octoberman was still having trouble locating either the venue or the city of Calgary itself. Either way, we were told the next band wouldn't be on for another hour, so we took a trip around the Science Center to educate ourselves a bit during the break...

We should be grateful that the "Science" Center is no longer about learning... just a place to distract our children with cheap plastic nothings and exhibits from the 70s that weren't working when I was behind the snack bar eight years ago. So we scuttled back to the Dome after twenty minutes, just in time to catch Young and Sexy starting a set instead of the scheduled Octoberman. I'd heard a lot about Y&S, but had never taken the plunge and properly listened.

Ex-couple Paul Pittman and Lucy Brain (whose relationship ended before the band ever came together) have, since Young & Sexy's inception in '98, been two of the most consistent rockers in the Vancouver underground, staples of venues like the now-defunct Sugar Refinery. Their 2002 Stand Up For Your Mother found universal acclaim from the Canadian music press. With words like 'pop', 'twee', 'sweet' being thrown around almost as much as the praise of their "candid real life" lyrics, it's surprising that this incredibly accessible band were unable to project themselves onto the Canadian (let alone North American) forefront like their peers the New Pornographers.

Maybe they could have, if they'd exploited the 'Stoner Canadian Belle and Sebastien' tag they were pitted with by initial reviews. Instead, they've decided to cloak the simple melodies and charming rhymes behind some serious experimentation, both instrumentally and lyrically. At the heart they're a blissfully conventional pop band, but one with enough maturity and self-assurance to realize those melodies can be all the more powerful when layered amidst complex structures and more abstruse lyrics. There's some prog-inspired experimentation that was hinted at in the older stuff, but reaches an apex with the new album, The Arc.

Young and Sexy presented a confident and unpretentious performance that nicely highlighted the new album while mixing in a few of the older, poppier hits. Both their tightness and progression as a unit was on full display. One particular highlight from the new one was "The Fog", an easily pleasing two minute pop track skewed and stretched to four and a half, becoming a great rock song in the process. Their latest record doesn't quite work from front to back, but with their firm grasp of pop and newfound experimental confidence, I can't wait for future releases. And I must concede The Arc is a major grower, it'll be playing a lot around here this summer.

Octoberman eventually made it to the gig, and the late arrival probably added to their audience, as the Calgarians began to fill the former planetarium in anticipation of Van Gaalen's headlining set. Another bunch of West Coasters I'd read about but hadn't heard (I know, I know), I was probably most excited to see them given all the media comparisons: Neil Young and Bob Dylan to Bright Eyes and even Jack Kerouac. After quickly explaining to the audience that after a day of driving (complete with a few ambiguous chuckle-inducing 'stops'), they were tired as hell but happy to finally get a chance to perform.

Frontman Marc Morissette's songwriting is firmly rooted in tried-and-true personal themes surrounding travel, place, and home. Despite the man's Canadian roots, his traditional, lyrical focus consistently gets labeled by the critics as 'Americana.' With his second album the approach to songwriting remains similar, but this time around he entered the studio with a stronger focus on full band arrangements. It's clear that he's really embraced the sound, as the Calgary show was a lot louder than I expected, and the six-piece band was quite compelling. Marc, formerly of Kids These Days, is a great songwriter, who reminded me often of John Vanderslice. In the end, I found the set quite pleasant... but Morissette, at least that evening, lacked the vocal conviction to really propel the songs beyond anything but 'nice'.

And I hate to say it, but I slightly agree with Pitchfork's (still positive) review of the latest album; "you've heard it all before." Marc Morissette has some major talent, but I think needs to either amp up his own confidence as a vocalist or dive even further into full-band experimentation if he really wants to differentiate Octoberman from the crop of folk-rock singer-songwriters he so often gets compared to. If he can manage both he could take over Canada.

Octoberman's performance was peppered with shout-outs to Mom and jokes about an audience who had clearly come in large to check out Calgary indie hero Chad VanGaalen, "the future mayor of Calgary". By midway through the set a long line of festival-pass holders had accumulated, trying to squeeze their way into the theater. Sorry guys, should've chosen Young & Sexy for your nine-o'clock-slot.

VanGaalen was his usual, idiosyncratic self. The sheer amount of talent and enthusiasm that's typically on display when the man performs will make any twenty-something feel artistically inept, and the Sled Island Show was more of the same. Chad made good use of the domed IMAX screen to project his own homemade videos, which played out like the insane scribblings of a loner high school child prodigy. Or, as VanGaalen himself put it, "a bad stoner film." The colorful animations ranged from morphing monster masks and fantastic creatures (with plenty of sexual subtext) to an audience favorite: a Christmas-morning Santa Clause with an endlessly looping toy train erupting from his genital area. Regardless of the themes, the meticulous animations were further proof of his boundless creativity and devotion to the art.

If anything, the hypnotic images drew attention away from the great musical performance that was being given. Chad has an amazing voice and a singular writing style that I don't need to go on about here. He's becoming a bit of an icon for a good reason. While his talent remains clear, and his set was full of new songs, I'm still waiting for him to take it 'to the next level,' as they say, at least in terms of live performance. Self-deprecating as always, Chad's always stopping songs early, adlibbing about the night, and talking down on the music as he hides behind his one-man setup. It's part of what makes him special, but I came out of the show kind of wishing he would finally harness that overflowing creative potential and focus it into some true artistic genius. I know he's capable of becoming a Canadian legend, but he's still got quite a way to go.

Whew, that was long. Friday's recap will be shorter as I only saw one hometown band.

Young and Sexy will play the Green Mountain Music Festival in Nanaimo on July 19.

Octoberman will play the Railway Club on July 30.

Portico played last night at the Biltmore, which I didn't realize until now.