Before proceeding with volume II, I find it necessary to guilt my reader(s) a little with this disclaimer: The purpose of these Hogtown Harmonics posts is to highlight some of the finest (and some of the more mediocre) bands that are making waves in the Toronto scene. I am attempting to promote my fellow artists and introduce web-gazers to some fine bands, many of whom I know personally and consider to be honest, hard-working musicians. If you like what you hear, I urge you, come to a show, buy an album, a tshirt, a pin, something. As I know from my own musical experiences, every little bit goes a long way and there really is not much money in the music industry, especially for the bands I will be showcasing. The majority of these musicians also hold crumby dayjobs to supplement their income, live in shared housing, and can only afford price-brand beer.
Little Girls
When conducting a casual Google™ search for Toronto lo-fi bedroom project cum post-punk blog sensation Little Girls, I may have ended up on a Toronto Police Department "suspected pedophile" list. Thankfully, Google filters out child pornography and other smutty search results (though searches for porn staples like "black cocks" and "puffy nipples" bring up some excellent XXX sites). My point is that despite their blog buzz, it is hard to find very much info on Josh McIntyre's Blank Dogs-inspired project, at least through a simple Google search.I find the band's name to be somewhat problematic for a few reasons:
- It makes me feel a little strange to say it
- When telling friends of the band, they are always initially skeptical or feel I have given them an opening to make a joke about pedophilia
- There is not anything ironic about naming your band Little Girls—it does not make us rethink the naming process and/or the sociological implications of a name (I sincerely doubt that anyone, upon first hearing of Little Girls, expects the band to be comprised of little girls, nor will they find it very ironic that a band of grown men is called Little Girls)
- Did I mention it makes me feel a little strange to say it?
Anyway, moving beyond my own hang-ups, as far as lo-fi goes, I find Little Girls to be rather unique. No, not because they actually stand out too much amongst their peers with sonic originality—the vocals are still drenched in reverb, the instrumentation is rather elementary, the songs rarely elapse the 3-minute mark. What makes Little Girls stand out is their live show. Generally, lo-fi bands are disappointing live. Wavves is a drunken temper tantrum-filled disappointment, Vivian Girls bore the shit out of me, No Age is always vocally off key. I find more often than not that the recorded vocals of these types of bands are buried beneath so much reverb because the vocalists simply aren't that good.
Little Girls actually are better live than recorded, which is a pleasant surprise. To begin with, the majority of the percussion on the two EPs I've heard consist of drum machine loops. Using real drums live (despite how mediocre the drummer is) gives the songs a new intensity. Furthermore, considering that Little Girls is entirely McIntyre's project and he wrote and played all the parts on record, it is nice to see a full band playing the songs so well and not looking too bored while doing so. What really makes Little Girls a solid live band, though, is McIntyre's stage presence. He bops around and lets the music take hold of him, even almost dancing on occasion.
Like it? Buy it here.
