As you can imagine, last week was a busy one. Between checking out Sebastien Grainger at the Horseshoe on Tuesday night (which I’ll get to in the coming days) and NXNE on the weekend there was a lot to see and do in Toronto. Did I see everyone I wanted? Not even close. Did I catch some great sets by bands I’d never seen before? Definitely. In that regard I consider the event a resounding success—no matter how unorganized I was.

Case in point, Thursday saw me erroneously running around without a plan of action, like an indie fan with my head cut off overwhelmed by the myriad of excellent venue options. In the end I settled on The Supermarket, as a friend of mine was going to be there and it would give me an opportunity to see Amos the Transparent, a band that I’ve been far less enthusiastic about than others (i (heart) music and Chromewaves, for instance), but have wanted to give the benefit of the doubt—more on that later.

First though, Toronto’s own Cancel Winter took to the stage. Getting around to seeing these guys had been a long time coming for me, as I’ve met a few of them before and a concert-going friend of mine is a huge fan.

All told, the 5-piece proved to be purveyors of some very catchy hooks and just enough edge to keep them to the left of pop. It was also clear that Cancel Winter is an outfit that is comfortable on stage and would definitely merit seeing again during a more full-length set.

Once again, I was caught without my camera, but given my new gig taking video for Zunior.tv, here’s footage of Cancel Winter performing “The Starting Block” from Liestillnow: (the video has been taken down at the band’s request—see the comment below).

Of course, as enjoyable as Cancel Winter was, it was my curiosity surrounding Ottawa’s Amos the Transparent that really drew me to the Supermarket in the first place. That said, allow me to preface any further synopsis with the following admission of blindness: i (heart) music, this one’s for you—Matthew, I have finally seen the error of my apathetic ways.

Simply put, Amos the Transparent was awesome. Amicable, unpretentious and just plain fun, the Ottawa band was a flurry of hand-claps, smiles and harmonies that left me wanting to run home and spend the rest of NXNE listening to their recorded output.

On paper the band is just a handful of guys, but in this case the addition of sassy backup vocalists, horns and keys ballooned their lineup to a healthy 8 members. The result was a rambunctious and intricate performance that was nothing short of stirring.

Check out Amos the Transparent performing “It’s a Beautiful Life” from Everything I’ve Forgotten to Forget:

Amos the Transparent - Title Track

I left the Supermarket at midnight with every intention of hitting the Rivoli in time for Two-Hours Traffic. Unfortunately it seemed that a capacity crowd’s worth of people got there a little earlier—by the time I got in you could barely get through the door, let alone take some video. Of course, during NXNE you can’t walk five feet without hitting another band, so all was not lost. In my case the alternate act turned out to be The Micronite Filters performing at the Black Bull down the street.

I hadn’t had a chance to crack the Oshawa/Bowmanville band’s brand new sophomore release, Rocket from Infinity, just yet, but I figured the gig would be a fine situation for a night cap and some good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll.

As expected, The Micronite Filters seemed very capable of delivering some serious riffage. Unfortunately, the Black Bull itself proved to be a lackluster and awkward venue—in fact, the sound-guy himself went nuts after being accused of being a crackhead (by another crackhead, no less) and the police had to be called. In that regard, the band themselves get a pass on this one, as two cracked-out weirdoes in one night is more than enough of an ordeal, let alone when they happen to be arguing over which one exhibits more crackheadedness.

No footage from this show just yet (stay tuned to Zunior.tv in the coming days though, as it’ll be there soon).