King Dice

What a fantastic electrifying evening to cover as both my first official concert review on Ride The Tempo, and my first concert that I captured photos for using an actual self-contained camera! No lo-fi cell phone imagery here. I just self-learnt how to properly use a DSLR camera literally a week before this gig, so I hope I shot some nice musical moments.

The evening was chilly with wind and snow, but from within Silence at 46 Essex Street in Guelph, vibrant and intense warmth radiated from a unique music line-up of artists that this venue rarely sees: pure electronica from headliner Kitzl and special guests CONDUCTOR and King Dice!

However, before the main line-up, and at the request of Kitzl herself, Guelph solo bass poet Dru Jacey started the show with a short set, including an impressive rendition of an extended looping instrumental piece of his called “Eyes To See.” His execution of manipulating his effect pedals and his technical navigation upon and across his 5-string bass guitar was perfectly in-sync, creating a magical groove-driven reverberant ambiance off his looped patterns and improvised sonic articulations.

Hamilton electropunk duo, King Dice, knocked the audience off kilter with their dangerously intense performance, being constantly surprised by their awesome chemistry and wacky actions. Drummer Zach Vernon was the time lord, keeping everything in perpetual motion with colourful rhythms across the drum set. The main attention was drawn to George Lacatus, singing and operating the ARP Odyssey synthesizer equipped with effects and bright lights. George was everywhere… literally tumbling and freaking-out on the floor, interacting with the audience, wrangling his mic around his neck and bashing it on Zach’s cymbals, and raving upon his synth (reminding me of the late Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake and Palmer). A solid set of electronic rock injected with raw punk authentic and rough sonic synth tones.

The place became a club when Guelph solo electronic project, CONDUCTOR (aka Matthew Davey), came on next. His electronic gear rig was nicely pre-arranged for easy application of his looped and sampled electronic beats and phrases, along with his various microphones of differing vocal manipulations. A distinguished feature for CONDUCTOR is his re-purposed rotary dial phone, which he used to attain an old-fashioned tinny sound in addition to its connection to a vocoder effect. With ever-changing colourful lights ablaze, CONDUCTOR performed dynamically with animated body language and facial expressions over his rig, masterfully conducting his equipment for us to enjoy his electropop songs.

Kitzl, a Guelph solo electronic artist just making her start in late 2018, presents us with her idiosyncratic style of electronic art with songs that was essentially the most impressionable and depth-defying of all the acts this evening. She starts off with a calm electric guitar solo rendition of her debut single “Armadilla,” an excellent transitional piece to allow us entry to her sound universe. Organic recorded samples of found objects and natural sounds are what Kitzl uses to create her surreal soundscape textures and beats, radiant and eerie in tandem with her lucid vocals. We were transported vividly into distinct yet constellatory worlds of audible wonder through Kitzl’s electronical new age aesthetic and deep lyrical beauty. - Ride the Tempo