Carbon Dating Service

WHO: Carbon Dating Service
WHERE: Amigo’s
WHEN: June 8/07

One of my friends said “they should have called this band Band Practice.” Ouch. I think she was referring to the huge numbers of musicians in the band rather than the need for polishing. I think.

This band seems to be an incestuous combination of a couple Saskatoon groups. I’m too new to know who everyone is, but that’s the vibe I got, especially after most of the band just stayed on stage to play with Maybe Smith.

A mash up of eight different players, the list of instruments included a horn section, harp, the standard guitars, keyboards, a zylophone, a fiddle, many singers who then played instruments who then switched with other people and played different instruments. I’m not sure if so much versatility is a good thing.

Bottom line is, they had the sort of Broken Social Scene sound that made that group and other groups with similar sounding names really popular during the rise of boy/girl lead singer combo indie bands. I’m not sure how much longer the public’s musical palate will be attuned to such collaborations before they will demand something fresh and mind-blowing. It was a fun show, and if Carbon Dating Service had done it first, I’d be singing their praises. But, I’m tempering my opinion because, well, it's been done before.