Toronto Fog

There is very little for me to add about the Toronto Nuit Blanche festivities – which have been well documented – except to say that it was a super-fun evening lit up with flashes of adventure and fellowship. True, many of the individual pieces were so-so, but my expectations were pretty low, and anyway no expert on visual or conceptual art am I. This, to me, was one of those rare cases where the line “It isn’t really about the quality of the work, it’s about the experience” actually rang true.

I only stayed out until 1 a.m. – not very hardcore, I know, but my feet were tired – and thus I do have some inevitable regrets. I missed all of Zone C, for instance, and also I wish I’d hung around this thing for an hour or two instead of just a few minutes, listening to the ambient noise that the musicians were generating, which I was really, really digging. More on that here.

My favourite thing was the “fog sculpture,” which was most people’s favourite thing. A simple idea, really – a few fog-generating machines hissing away in a park – but the actual sensory experience of it was unpredictable & dramatic. (As opposed to some pieces, like this one: I’d argue that there’s very little difference between actually seeing this & just having it described to you in 10 seconds.)

And so:

• Mercury Rev, “Nite and Fog”

Was thinking about Mercury Rev lately after reading this review. I love the first four Rev records dearly, especially Boces and Deserter’s Songs, and I’m curious to check out a couple rarities that I don’t have on this new comp. But I must say, after Deserter’s the band kind of lost the plot for me. The two albums since then just seem bombastic & so damn plodding, the string arrangements gloopy & boggy. There was some pretension on the earlier records, sure, but I swear the band used to sound fleeter of foot somehow.

Still, there are exceptions. I like “In a Funny Way” a lot. And “Nite and Fog” has a nice melody and is also, well, uncannily relevant to the Nuit Blanche theme.

If you must, you can buy All Is Dream, which has “Nite and Fog,” here. But really you’d be better off with Boces or Deserter’s Songs.

And here’s a lovely Rev rarity; I believe it’s an outtake from See You on the Other Side.

• Mercury Rev, “Cartwheel”