Arkellin' it!

Arkells frontman Max Kerman and guitarist Mike DeAngelis swooped in to Zulu Records on West 4th this evening to play a half-hour set before heading off to their sold-out show at the Vogue.

The two-fifths of this year's Group of the Year Juno winners (not to mention 2010 Juno New Group of the Year honourees) held the modest gathering in thrall. Max charmed the audience with his witty, adept banter as the pair impressed with its tight yet flexible vocal harmonies and bright acoustic guitar interplay.

A few songs in, Mike and Max played their band's current CBC Radio 3 spin from last year's sophomore release, Michigan Left, entitled "Kiss Cam":

They wrapped the set with the last single from their 2008 debut full length, Jackson Square. While playing "John Lennon", Max broke in on numerous occasions to explain the song's various inspirations. The result is humorously epic:

It is rare that a short-rostered acoustic performance can translate a band's live show so well. So it demonstrates just how the Arkells' constant touring has honed a confidence that electrifies the room - despite the lack of electricity.

It's easy to see why the Junos saw fit to recognize Arkells. Twice.

Nicely done, boys. Nicely done.

And as if that wasn't enough, the Arkells' Daytrotter session was just posted yesterday. You're welcome.

Swimming in a Great Lake of harmonies...

In a stroke of serendipity, I happened to find myself wandering on West 4th on the very same drizzly afternoon that the pride of Wainfleet, Ontario, Great Lake Swimmers, were doing an intimate in-store performance at my favourite record shop, Zulu Records.

The session was in honour of the May release of their fifth full-length, New Wild Everywhere – the lead-off single, "Easy Come Easy Go", you're probably already familiar with if you listen to CBC or the Peak.

The main set consisted of songs from the new album, which I must say is darn tight. I managed to shoot this video on my phone of their two best songs which also made up their encore. First was my absolute fave GLS song, "Your Rocky Spine":

...then Tony Dekker and company finished off with their biggest hit, "Pulling on a Line":

Unfortunately, my vantage point being so close to the speaker, the more amped-up final number did a number on my poor camera phone mic, so the audio on "Pulling on a Line" is not as good as I would have liked. Nevertheless, it is good enough to give you a general idea of how great GLS are live.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. Be sure to catch Great Lake Swimmers when the play the Commodore May 11.