Caribou, Montag And Others Shine At Holland's Le Guess Who Festival

12/04/07 7:00pm

October's Pop Montreal Festival, and the success that such Canadian acts as Feist and Arcade Fire are enjoying in Europe, inspired Utrecht, Holland's Tivoli to launch the Le Guess Who Festival at the venue on the weekend.

They're hoping that this two-day event will become an annual showcase of Canadian music, and the positive reaction they got from its first edition indicates that it could be. Former Canadian exchange student Eelco "Moose" Den Boer provided ChartAttack with this report from the trenches:

I don't know if Moose and Caribou usually get along, but I for one love the electronic act led by Dan Snaith dearly (pun intended). Their intense show was by far the highlight of Le Guess Who. The vocals weren't really impressive, but everything else accumulated to build an incredible soundscape. There were high peaks, quiet parts and thunderous intermissions — very similar to Canadian scenery.I

wasn't surprised. It's almost a guarantee that a band from Canada will deliver high quality music. I've been telling people this for years, and now the bookers at the Tivoli have discovered it as well. They set up Le Guess Who and presented two nights of talented Canadian acts to the Dutch public.

"It's like being at home, abroad," Lightning Dust called it.

The first evening could loosely be described as the dance night, as it offered DJs and electro acts, including Thunderheist and MSTRKRFT. But it started with Young Galaxy, and they did well. Going by the looks of the six band members, it was amazing that they managed to create a uniform sound. They seemed to have totally different personalities — the shy girl singing, the eccentric guitarist, the goofy drummer, the mysterious keyboard player, et cetera.

Next up was Hot Hot Heat. They had a small hit with "Bandages" a few years ago, and they're still talented and creative — although a lot of their songs sound very much alike. Luckily, the band seemed to realizes that, too. They didn't play the full 90 minutes they were originally scheduled for, but quit after a very energetic hour.

The rest of the night featured dance acts and, as I prefer other kinds of music (and sleep), I skipped it. But I was back right at the start of the second day. Well, I would have been if I'd found the parking garage right away. Anyway, Julie Doiron was playing a very intimate set when I arrived. She sang and played guitar, while the drummer stood behind her, playing with little enthusiasm but lots of accuracy. There were nice songs, with lots of giggling in between them because she had a little trouble tuning her guitar and thinking of songs she could play next.The organizers did a good job decorating the place, with vintage televisions displaying stereotypical pictures of Canada (I'll forgive them for misspelling Ottawa) and huge lamp shades hanging from the ceiling. They also set up a smaller stage so the changeover times between bands were minimal. When Doiron was done on the small stage, Lightning Dust took over the main one.

As the songs from those acts had some audience members starting to think that Canada was a depressing country, Montag provided some gay songs to prove otherwise. He was happy like a kid, being in Holland for the first time, and brought lots of toys.

Canadians apparently like to experiment with various instruments, as Caribou also had an unconventional set-up. Snaith played guitar and drums and the other drummer was at the front of the stage as well, while the guitarist and bassist were pushed to the back.

Black Mountain were the closing act. They played well, but, somehow after the sonic assault of Caribou, they didn't capture my attention for very long.

The festival definitely proved once again that Canada is the home of many very gifted artists. So much so, in fact, that the best Canadian band I saw last week wasn't even present. The Weakerthans had played at Melkweg a couple of days earlier.