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Ryerson University; Toronto, ON

The naïve energy of youth must be valorized at all costs. As our bodies begin to deteriorate and memories of post-show sunrises fade, we can take comfort in the fact that a new vanguard of torchbearers will emerge to put on innovative concerts that we can watch with a click of our increasingly-arthritic fingers.

Walking into the Ryerson University’s School of Radio and Television Arts, I met with an intrepid group of fourth-year students who were undertaking – for their final project – a cross-platform series of live music broadcasts. Milking the vast resources at their disposal, their spiritlive.net Third Floor Sessions were capturing performances on professional studio gear and HD cameras, edited in real time and streamed live on the internet. It was DIY on the university dime.

For the second broadcast of their online concert series they recruited Toronto locals DD/MM/YYYY. Blasting into spazzy Beefheart-y chaos they showcased a set built upon simple but jarring guitar lines and a militant rhythm section. Repetitious chants flowed like meta-structures over the songs while severed vocal bursts chipped away at the arrangements from within.

Mosh Rozenberg’s relentless drumming led the assault with a fury that catapulted him off his seat. Jagged phrasing of yelpy calls and echoey responses cut through crunchy and meandering synthesizers. Waves of distortion bled seamlessly into the constitution of each song, playing an integral roll in moving the sounds forward and sharply cutting them off at unexpected moments. “Imagine!” showed concise and restrained pop deconstruction; “Bronzage” saw the band lavishing in brooding psychedelic turmoil. Their were at once epic and handcuffed, their songs aggrandizing and ephemeral.

The set was a reassuring reminder that challenging math rock need not be solely about virtuosic masturbation. It can confront our assumptions and present a disorienting force through clever manipulation of tone, simple rhythmic changes, and contrasting violent and reassuring textures.

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