
It was back in July 2008 when I had my first opportunity to see Cut Copy at the O2 Wireless Festival in London, England. This wandering Canadian tourist knew nothing of the Australian electro-pop group at the time, but I saw their records in almost every record shop I visited; In Ghost Colours, their second studio album (and one of my all-time favourites), had just been released that spring. One might rightly ask me how they were then, but unfortunately I cannot say; I foolishly passed them up to settle into my jet lag. Now, having admitted to that, I can proudly say that I finally got to see Cut Copy on their recent tour for Zonoscope - their third and newest album – playing to a sold out Club Soda on April 5th, 2011.
As the crowd came in and out of the venue to cool off after the amazing opening set from Brooklyn’s Holy Ghost!, it was hard to remain calm while waiting for Cut Copy to take the stage. The packed venue erupted as they stepped on stage and began with "Visions" and "Nobody Lost, Nobody Found" from In Ghost Colours. Once they had settled in and their presence was well received, leading member Dan Whitford introduced the band, acknowledged their absence from Montreal for the past three years and carried on to perform "Alisa" from Zonoscope.
One remarkable thing to note about the entirety of Cut Copy’s set that night was the balance between playing material from their new album and their previous releases. The band played six songs from both In Ghost Colours and Zonoscope, while playing only one - "Saturdays" – from Bright Like Neon Love, their first album from 2004. Not that I do not enjoy when groups play mostly new material, but anyone familiar enough with Cut Copy’s newest and second album knows about the groups obsession with long ambient type transitions between their songs. Cut Copy made the most of these during their performance and it was fantastic how they kept the crowd in anticipation of what they would play next, as well as the variety of songs they would play, switching from album to album throughout the night.

As for songs that stood out, two particularly captured me and I believe the crowd would have to agree. Although it was performed early in the night, "Corner of the Sky’" moved the crowd with its heavy synth-bass lines and three-person percussion work. The other was "Sun God", the fifteen-minute finale song from Zonoscope; it was the last song played by Cut Copy before their encore. Lead vocalist Dan Whitford busied himself with his modular synthesizers on the side, while lead guitarist Tim Hoey played with a variety of voice effects and took out everything on his guitar; he played it with a drum stick, swung it in the air, and shoved it into the crowd.
Overall, this show was completely amazing and it sold out for good reason… given the possibility, why would anybody want to miss these guys? So the next time Cut Copy is anywhere near you, don’t pass up seeing them for strawberries and cream, jet lag, or any reason. Hopefully it won’t be another three years before they come back to Montreal.
-Mason W hosts Midnight Love Affair on Sunday's from 11pm-12am
Todays news was read and produced by Erica Bridgeman.
The stories were written by Alina Gotcherian, Michael Moore and Michael Lemieux.
In Concordia news, ASFA’s chief electorate officer Nick Cuillerier presented his general election report to the ASFA council Thursday evening. Cuillerier proposed changes to the electoral regulations to encourage voter participation and ensure fairer elections in the future.
Among the suggestions made was the return of parties, slates, and affiliations in ASFA elections. This recommendation was highly contested by the council who ultimately voted to table the motion. Many executives agreed that the slate system had been toxic, preferring candidates to continue running solo.
Other recommendations to the electorate process were unanimously agreed upon. Online digital campaigning via social media was discussed, with the consensus that the CEO must be aware and have access to all of these. In regards to third party online campaigning, Cuillerier said that the CEO is unfortunately not Big Brother. He said that if friends and third party affiliations act out-of-line when online, candidates themselves can get into trouble.
While Cana
diens fans are focusing on the team’s first round playoff matchup with the Boston Bruins, an ex-Habs is having a legal faceoff of his own.
Former captain Vincent Damphousse was charged yesterday with six counts of assaulting his wife, Allana Henderson. The assaults allegedly took place between 2008 and last month.
Damphousse did not accompany his lawyer to the Montreal courthouse to enter a not-guilty plea.
According to Montreal police, the former Hab is also pressing assault charges against Henderson, who is expected to be arraigned later this month.
Damphousse spent six seasons in Montreal, serving as captain from 1996 to 1999.
Since his retirement, Damphousse and Henderson have remained a highly visible couple. They are the official spokespeople of the ALS Society of Quebec, a charity that raises money for people suffering from the disease.
Sixteen Mexican police officers have been arrested in connection with mass graves. The officers have been arrested for allegedly protecting gang members responsible for the murder of 126 people.
San Fernando, the city the arrested officers were from, is in the Northeastern part of Mexico close to the United States border. The mass graves were unearthed in the same area. They have been blamed on drug cartels.
The victims are said to have been public bus passengers. Officials have pinned down the Los Zetas drug cartel as a likely perpetrator of the crime.
The police officers were arrested for protecting four members of the Los Zetas cartel. It is these four people authorities believe are directly responsible for the massacres. The Mexican government is offering a reward of $3.8 million for information leading to the arrest of them.
The Mexican government has deplored the acts as “lamentable and reprehensible homicides,” and notes that one of the major obstacles to solving these crimes is police corruption.
Currently there is no clear motive for the murders.

Heard of a cappella vocal music? All the vocal nerds that just chirruped kindly ignore this bit. To the rest, allow me to educate you. “A cappella” means vocal music without instruments. While originally a classical term, it's commonly found in styles like doo wop, barbershop and, more recently, pop covers ('Glee' and 'The Sing-Off' both feature a cappella music).
Your standard a cappella group is a quartet (derived from the French word “quatre”). Singing ranges are broken down into a high tenor, a lead tenor, a baritone, and a bass (think Barry White). As the name suggests, Naturally 7 has three more members than that, adding a vocal instrumentalist, a vocal DJ, and a beat boxer. Naturally 7 treated a good sized crowd to 2½ hours of pure a cappella music of the finest quality.
If you've never been to the Corona Theatre before then I feel its important to tell you it is old - almost 100 years. It is not a huge venue, but it is very open and spacious. The setup is rectangular from back to front; the back half is the bar and some open floor space, and the front half is the stage and dance floor. There is also a balcony, but I couldn't locate the door leading to it and it was clearly off limits. After the mandatory coat-check (*sigh*), I noticed that the total number of chairs in the room was lacking. I quickly deduced that we weren't expected to sit, we were expected to stand and possibly... dance? No. You don't dance to a cappella music. It's weird. I found a spot where I could slouch against the banister.
Naturally 7 is so awesome that there was no opening act. Suddenly, out of the speakers came a deafening “AWW." It was the bass member; he held his rumbling drone as the other members manifested one by one into the song. The last member entered with a beatbox drumfill, and what was previously operatic transformed into tasty R&B. It didn't take long for me to realize that Naturally 7 was a group of highly advanced robots with superpowers. And then they started dancing.
I mentioned the bass before. People, I listen to a lot of a cappella music. I've heard all range of basses, from the over developed, lanky white nerd to Russian operatic Basso Profundo. Bass singer Armand “Hops” Hutton is a freak of nature. He doesn't talk; he vibrates. He's like the “Cave of Wonders" from Aladdin. On top of his awesome low range, he can reproduce slappin' and thumpin' bass sounds crazy well.
They went through group hits like “Wall of Sound” and “Feel It (In The Air Tonight),” and showcased individual members between tunes. Rod Eldridge was introduced and referred to as the “DJ” of the group. He promptly began throwing combinations of “wika” and “wiggity-wah” together in a stylistic fashion. His scratching sound effects were spot on and at one point he had four imaginary turntables in front of him and “juggled” the beat between them. The audience was like “WHAAAA”.
Most of Naturally 7's songs feature at least a verse or two of Rogers Thomas' lyrical licks. They were hard to make out and, honestly, Naturally 7 would do better without them. He sounds a bit like Biggie with a dark nasal quality, and maybe with more basic tracks it would be appropriate, but N7 have such a huge field of sound that his vocals drown in the voice-created mix. He also boasts the smallest singing range of all the members, an average two octaves. According to the Naturally 7 website, most other members have close to four. This might explain his role in the group somewhat, but it is interesting to note that Rogers also arranges Naturally 7's music. Arranging for 7 voices is a challenge in itself; let alone coming up with commercial-quality material to be sung by superstars.
The most noteworthy part of the show was when they were giving the audience a little history of the group and it's origins, and they performed the first song the group ever learned. It was off the mics; true a cappella. The song was “Bless This House”, and it was wonderful.
If people haven't realized it by now, Naturally 7 have heavy Christian roots. The group originated at the church and, based on the biographies on their website (which include members' favourite Bible passages and characters), it's safe to say they're of the faith (I have no qualms). While the members never brought this Christian factor to the forefront of the show, they're use of language did touch upon it a few times. However, it was never an issue that distracted one from enjoying the show.
Naturally 7 wrapped up the show with two encores. I checked my watch and was surprised to see how late it was. These guys had worked hard, and in a performance where so much can go wrong, they performed flawlessly. The mix was great throughout the entire night, and the show was devoid of any technical problems. As far as a cappella groups go, Naturally 7 is easily in today's top 5. The harmonies were tight, their blend is phenomenal and they have talent gushing from their pores. I'd see them again in a second.
Next time I'll just have to bring my own chair.
8.5 strapping young lads out of a possible 10.
-Drew Pascoe
Read by Gareth Sloan
Produced by Melissa Mulligan
Articles by Erica Fisher, Jessica MacDonald and AJ Cordeiro
After a day spent discussing it at length, the disqualification of both CSU slates was barely mentioned at Wednesday night’s council meeting. The issue was left off of the agenda, much to the disappointment of those watching from home, hoping for some answers.
Before issuing her presidential report, Heather Lucas issued a statement on behalf of the CSU. It condemned the decision, calling it shocking and unfortunate. Lucas also reinforced that the current executive will have no hand in the ruling.
Chief Electoral Officer Oliver Cohen was noticeably absent from the meeting. He has been unreachable since he emailed the candidates.
At this point, not much can be done until the slates file a grievance with the judicial board. They have four more days to do so. The current CSU will stay on until another is elected.
As for Oliver Cohen, an Annual General Meeting has been mandated for May ninth. He will be required to present his election report.
For more information on the disqualifications click here.
A total of eight people were arrested during an anti-nuclear protest on Wedenesday.
At the Montreal headquarters of Hydro-Quebec, six activists clad in Hazmat suits were detained. Two others were arrrested at Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission public hearings in Becancour.
Four chained themselves to the doors in protest of plans to keep Quebec’s only nuclear power plant open. Two climbed onto a roof to hang a banner in protest and were taken into custody.
The activists are a part of Greenpeace Quebec, and they argue that there is no need to keep the nuclear plant running, as there is already a surplus of power in the province. They also warned of the risk of an accident similar to the recent meltdown in Japan.
Quebec’s power utility wants to spend two billion dollars to keep the facility running for thirty more years.
Read by Sarah Deshaies
Produced by Nikita Smith
Stories by Erica Fisher, Marcin Wisniewski, Alina Gotcherian