Edmonton’s For Tonight entertained an intimate audience at the Slice, July 28. I was looking forward to seeing a southern rock/ punk band, as they described themselves, but the reality was a little different.

They played a solid set of upbeat, piano powered  pop music with falsetto voices and perky vibes which sounded like a blend of Maroon 5, Ed Sheeran and a touch of Simple Plan as well as Kaleo, who they covered.

They covered a variety of music including  Johnny Cash’s “ Folsom Prison  Blues” and psyched the audience out with a few bars of “Cocaine Blues,” before segueing into Blink -182’s “ All The Small things.”

 They added a few of their original power pop/ pop punk originals  and showed their more R and B side on a beautiful cover of “Stand by Me.”

The Owl Acoustic Lounge hosted a fairly well attended FLIPfest fundraiser, Saturday, July 28.

 While I missed local band object_ option, I was in time for Calgary duo Polly Dactic to set up a couple of keyboards and bass.
 The quirky Calgary duo consisting of members of Blü Shorts and Hag Face.

 They played up tempo, droning techno style must featuring lots of synth and a synth sounding bass coupled with reverb soaked vocals.

 Local indie rock band Birch Barks released a new tape to end the night. They played a strong set of ambient indie rock along the lines of Radiohead and a touch of U2.

Get ready to let your “freak flag fly,” at LEMF, Aug. 18 in Galt Gardens.
If you enjoy electronica music, the seventh annual LEMF  (Lethbridge Electronic Music Festival) is the place to be.

“There’s people in colourful costumes. It’s a place to make a total ass of yourself in a non judgemental atmosphere. It‘s a place to let your freak flag fly,” said organizer David Fritz aka Marty Funkhauser when he is on stage. He noted the event attracted 4,500 people attending throughout the day and he is hoping for more this year with five headlining acts.
“We have five headliners this year, two from New Zealand (Cheshire and Sammy Senior), one from Australia (Slynk), one from the U.S (Joe Nice) and one from Canada (Wood N Soo),” he continued.

“Having five headliners is unusual for us, but everything just seemed to work out this year, he said, adding their performances will be staggered throughout the day, so people will be able to catch all of their sets.

“This will be Cheshire’s first tour of Canada. He‘s beginning it here,” he said.

“He plays glitch funk music, but he also plays live saxophone over top of it and he does some scratching as well,” he said.

“Wood N Soo play multi-genre soul dub and  electronica. There are two of them they play a two by four set which is four turntables and two mixers,” he continued.
“Joe Nice is a dub step guy. He’s one of the godfathers of dub step,” he said adding He is one of the few DJs still using vinyl.

“Sammy Senior plays ghetto funk and glitch hop. Slynk plays glitch hop and most kinds of funk,” he continued.

Fritz will be one of 30 DJs performing on three stages throughout the day from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

It is a short week due to the long weekend, yet there still a lot going on.
It is an excellent week for loud, local rock and roll.

 Chief Mountain plays for Paint and sip at the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Aug.  8.
it will be a super night for music,” because after that, local ’90s rock trio the Supervoid will be joined by Seattle musician Mark Palm’s pop-rock project  Supercrush. He used to play in a variety of punk and hard core bands including  shoegaze band Modern Charms.

This month’s edition of the Windy City Opry at the Slice features an all local line Up on Wednesday, Aug. 8 with local roots band Rancho Deluxe and a songwriting circle including Megan Brown and Victoria Officinalis. The music begins at 8 p.m. There is a $10 cover.

The Slice features a super special guest to host the Thursday night jam— Kansas City blues musician Amanda Fish and her drummer Glen James. She has Fish, the sister of fellow blues musician Samantha Fish, just released her sophomore CD “Free.”

It will be a fantastic weekend as well.
The Slice slow things down on Friday, Aug. 10 with Toronto folk duo Piper and Carson performing featuring Piper Hayes and her partner Carson Ritcey-Thorpe
 The Slice turns things up with a big metal show, Saturday Aug. 11 with Calgary’s King Mammoth and local metal band Extrados. There is a $10 cover for that show.
The Owl Acoustic lounge slows things down on the weekend with a couple of excellent folk shows.