Relief Maps review

By Ben Jensen

RELIEF MAPS REVIEW
There are two things influencing this review of Relief Maps, the local “indie rock” act that’re playing at 59 Argyle on Friday the 8th. Or, there WAS gonna be two things influencing this review; now there’s basically just one.



Until five minutes ago, I’d never even heard Relief Maps. I’d heard their name a lot, but until Toby contacted me to check out their MySpace (myspace.com/reliefmaps) and write a review to try to entice all the neighbourhood kids out of THEIR basements and into his to see this show, I’d never given them a listen.

And from the two things I knew about Relief Maps (that they were billed as “indie rock”, and that I’d been hearing their name a LOT), I assumed I’d hate them. Cuz that’s what you do when you’re an asshole (I’m an asshole). So you can bet that that preconceived notion was gonna be one of the things that influenced this review (I save that “fair and balanced” bullshit for the bleeding heart liberals over at CNN).

But I love 59 Argyle. Some of the best shows I’ve ever seen have been at Argyle: DD/MM/YYYY, Think About Life, Quebexico, Fucked Corpse, Cobra Noir, Sleeping Pilot, Crystal Clyffs.... The residents at 59 Argyle put a lot of time and effort into providing a fun, cheap, rewarding time for anyone in this city who’s interested, and it’s definitely paid off; in just--what? Two years? It’s become an institution within the independent music scene here in Ottawa.

And I won’t write such a typical, boring, pretentious sentence as “it’s become an institution within the independent music scene here in Ottawa”, unless I really really mean it and absolutely can’t think of another way of saying it; I HATE people who write shit like that. So you know I’m pretty impressed with 59 Argyle. So you can bet that THAT was gonna be the other thing that influenced this review.

Before even listening to Relief Maps, I was trying to come up with ambiguous ways to write this review, to neither condone nor condemn Relief Maps, cuz I didn’t wanna hurt Argyle, but I also didn’t wanna lend support to some “indie” band that I really couldn’t get into.

But then I checked out Relief Maps’ MySpace and listened to the four tracks they’ve got up there (and then listened to them over again a few times as I wrote this). And guess what? I totally didn’t hate them. They were actually alright. This isn’t really the type of music I’m into, so I’m not equipped with too many reference points, but I’ll try to describe their sound to you as best I can.

Relief Maps have crystal clear, but kind of sleepy female vocals. Their music is mellow, but it’s got some drive to it (the drum beats are usually relentlessly surging everything forward which is always good) and it’s also got a little bit of a kick to it (there are handclaps in there, and I know how much you kids like handclaps; hell, I do too). These guys (and girl) seem to be big on weaving their rhythm and lead guitar bits together throughout a song, and they play both of them more or less clean. I’d describe Relief Maps’ overall sound as “sunny”, and could see myself listening to this stuff on my way to work, if I ever had a job that I liked.

If you’re into “indie rock”, I’d say you’re gonna wanna check this show out. And if you’re already into Relief Maps, and you’ve already seen ‘em a bunch of times at other venues, and figure “whatever, I’ll skip this one”: maybe you shouldn’t skip this one. I don’t know what Relief Maps’ live show is like, but in my experience ANY band always seems to put on their best show when they’re playing 59 Argyle. Read more!

RELIEF MAPS

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