Left to Right: Cadence Weapon, Land of Talk, Kill The Lights, The Adam Brown

Canadian Music Week was in full form on Friday night. I don't want to drag this post on with a lousy intro, so let's get to the good stuff, shall we?

Cadence Weapon @ The Horseshoe, 11pm
Yes. Rollie Pemberton, aka. Cadence Weapon, hit the stage with the stage with his solid partner-in-crime, DJ WEEZ-EL, and sported a tight-looking headband with a face that said it was ready to annihilate your ass out the door if you didn't dance.

Cadence Weapon and WEEZ-EL did the right thing and started the set off with a hard tune. Getting the crowd into the set, he broke out the sweat and felt the effort from some of his onlookers. Those to his left were bouncin' enough to keep the night going. Sometimes industry/festival shows tend to bring out quiet audiences, but Cadence Weapon doesn't settle for that, and he sure didn't last night.. Near the end, he jumped into the audience and brought his stage show to the floor. It's always important to do that if you really want to get in-touch with your listener.

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Cadence Weapon

Land of Talk @ The Horseshoe, 12am
A recent signing to MapleMusic, Montreal's Land of Talk were quick on the draw to get their set going. Lead singer Elizabeth Powell's strong and out-there voice hovered over the crowd with a loud kick from the band in which they always shared a smile every few seconds.

Land of Talk's stage routine is simple: Elizabeth singing lips-up at the mic, and then taking time to rock out with her mates. It isn't really much to keep your attention, but the music usually suffices. At one point, some drunken sod approached the stage and began reaching out to Land of Talk's Elizabeth Powell. While he shouted derogatory remarks and whistled at her, whilst tuning she simply replied, "druuuuunk".

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Land of Talk

Kill The Lights @ The Horseshoe, 1am
As the night went on, another Montreal band took the stage. Yeah, I'm not sick of them, either.

Kill The Lights take pride in their speed and their sound. Still making a name for themselves, at least on end of the 401, the quintet who never took a beat down, shouted their unison "hey!" and "oh's" with a plentiful crowd who stayed to dance and catch a glimpse of this new and exciting speed indie-rock band. The idea I always get when I hear their music is me being involved in some violent race where I have Sylvester Stallone shouting at me to watch out for the old lady with the shopping cart. I'm not sure if that describes their music, but if you want non-stop shaking throttle, check them out.

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Kill The Lights

The Adam Brown @ The Horseshoe, 2am
Although not part of the Chart Showcase, The Adam Brown fully believed that with the love and support of the people around and in front of them, all they needed was for their amps to be plugged in.

The Adam Brown were slotted at 2am in which a fair number of people had left, but a fair number of people had stayed behind. Having seen them enough times, a few more wouldn't (my ears). This band chooses to disregard the sound limits and go for the gusto. They are stadium rockers - no doubt about it. Practically every song they sing is about lead singer Adam Brown's ex-girlfriends, but if you're going to find something to write about, there's nothing better than past experiences.

Creating a party for themselves on stage, guitarist Shawn Petsche brings out the body-twisting moves with his axe feeding him with juice. Raising their instruments to the heavens, The Adam Brown can not only zap the lighting into your skulls, but they can also get the heart beating with some of their tunes. 'A Subject of Affection' = a definitive fave.

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The Adam Brown