Justice Yeldham @ Casbah Lounge

Australian performer Lucas Abela might offend many before his music properly introduces itself. The sight of a human face contorted by a transparent sheet of glass is enough of a grade-school-shenanigan turn-off that a listener must be sufficiently disciplined to endure the performance. The noises which are produced by Abela's instrument of choice for his Justice Yeldham project are indeed varied and sufficiently detailed that repeated listens are quite engaging.

Simultaneously, however, one cannot deny the immediacy of the performance, as Justice Yeldham is a highly visceral and surprising display for the uninitiated. As demonstrated in the video above, quite a few members of the audience were caught off guard by the show. Indeed, an interesting audience dynamic was on display at the Casbah, as on the main stage next door Broken Social Scene member Jason Collette was entertaining a large crowd of university-themed indie music fans. Those who found themselves witness to the destruction of Abela's instrument were necessarily shocked out of their faux-vintage Sevens.

Steve Mazza - Future Tense, transit gallery

March 4 to March 30, 2008