Paper Bag Records Preboarding Showcase

I stuffed some fresh and fiery Canadian song clusters into my ear, along with a packed house of scenesters, at the El Mocambo on the first night of the month, thanks to the chronically adventurous T.O. indy label Paper Bag Records.

Sunnsetter presented some edgy loud balladry before building to a crescendo of urgent noise that had the frontline of musicians on their knees holding down pedals and strenuously cranking knobs clockwise.

Fronted by the ecstatic Yolande and the dramatic Pascal, Montréal's Pony Girl brought an intricately structured set of songs to the mix, including one about golf, with deep pre Cambrian bass and drums, lotsa shredded guitar and some articulate and seductive - um - lead clarinet.

POSTDATA pulled off a well built set of equal parts punk energy and emo tenderness, with powerfully aching vocal harmony and head-shatteringly seismic drum dynamics.

ZOON took all the time in the world to hit a high decibel level of drone that just kept hovering and hovering until it sputtered out at midnight and we all had to disembark.