Everyone needs to listen to:

Andre Bluteau http://www.myspace.com/andremartinbluteau

Emma-Lee http://emma-lee.com/ and;

Peter Katz http://www.peterkatz.com/

They will make you happy. I guarantee it.

Ok, so maybe I’m still on a bit of a concert high, but still…

I went to their show at the Cube Gallery last night, as part of the Blackbox Concert Series, and it blew me away. First of all, the space was incredible. It’s a tiny gallery, and there were probably around 60 people there (although I could be quite wrong about this…I’m terrible at judging crowds) but that was a sold out crowd, so it gives you an idea of the space.

There were paintings and other artwork everywhere, so, as Peter Katz put it, there was “inspiration literally plastered on the walls.” It was so intimate, and the musicians were obviously used to performing in similar spaces, because they were just so at ease and having a great time doing their thing, and the crowd was so into it…it was perfect.

Ok, I’m going to attempt to stop gushing and actually talk about the performances. Some gushing may ensue, but I’ll try to keep it to a minimum.

Andre Bluteau:

I could listen to his voice for hours. It’s so raw and gravelly in the best way possible.

So unique.

You could tell that the whole crowd was captured from the first note he sang. He just got up on stage and did his thing and it was wonderful to watch. He also had a great moment of self-consciousness when it came time to plug his album, which was completely endearing in itself.

Emma-Lee:

Another surprising voice, but in a different way.

Emma-Lee took the stage, and she was confident but fairly soft spoken. But then she started singing. She has this beautiful, effortless voice that reminded me of Ingrid Michaelson in the way that she progressed through the songs and jumped octaves, and rolled between notes so easily. But also not (like Ingrid), at the same time. It’s hard to describe (and this is why I’m not a music writer…).

Suffice it to say that I was completely floored by her. Her song writing is brilliant and her performance gave me goose bumps. So amazing.

Peter Katz:

I love Peter Katz.

From the second I heard him perform during music week in Toronto I have been so in love with everything he does.

He says that he likes to have at least one song per show where he is really “in the space”. This means that he steps away from the microphone and steps off the stage and just fills the room with his voice and his guitar and his amazing music and I love it.

When the show was technically over, Peter and Emma-Lee decided to play one last song in the lobby of the gallery because they thought it had great acoustics. So the entire crowd piled out of the gallery and into the lobby and just milled around listening to them play unplugged.

Ok, ya, gushing. But I can’t help it. You had to have been there to understand the mood in the room after the show. Everyone was so happy, and just excited to have been there.

I don’t know what it is, but amazing music in a small venue is some sort of magical combination that puts me on a high for days.