Asobi Seksu with Dengue Fever live in Montreal

Caught Asobi Seksu and Dengue Fever recently in Montreal with a great local band called Diamond Sea. Here's the scoop.

Went out to see Asobi Seksu and Dengue Fever. Openers were Diamond Sea, a Montreal shoegaze band with female keyboards and vocals that did a great job of setting the stage for Asobi Seksu, who also have a sound strongly reminiscent of early 90's shoegazer bands like Swirlies, Velocity Girl, My Bloody Valentine, and all those other bands whose sound has been undergoing a renaissance recently.

Asobi was pretty great on record, but their live show really blew me away and gave me a newfound appreciation for the band. James Hanna delivered beautiful squalls of guitar noise and also some nice slide work. Yuki's vocals had crystal clarity and she dive into choruses on keyboards and tambourine with passionate intensity - so much so apparently that her legs are so bruised that she looks like a "used-up whore". I'm sure that comment gave all the guys in the audience pause – as if she wasn't fetching enough in dressy black dress and high heals. All the hits on record came to life and I highly recommend checking this band out live and checking out their latest album, Citrus.

I was unfamiliar with Dengue Fever and they were an incredible surprise. Inspired by a trip to Cambodia and the great Cambodian rock music from the sixties now available on the Cambodian Rocks compilations, the band are now stars in Cambodia themselves. Cambodian sixties surf + spy + psyche + soul came to life thanks to dazzling Cambodian via LA vocalist Chhom Nimol – what a diva! So fun, sexy, warm, welcoming, gracious and entertaining. And what a voice! Everybody fell in love with her that night.

The brothers Holtzman put the real sixties in the sound with wah wah guitars and Farfisa organ – incredible players, clearly loving what they're doing. Drums and bass often go overlooked - but not with this band: Paul Smith and Senon Williams kicked some serious ass with funky drums and extremely active and mind-bogglingly awesome bass lines. What a band! What a party! Don't miss them when they come to your town, and be sure to bring your dancing shoes.

http://www.asobiseksu.com/

Gordon B. Isnor