The Arch-Android was in town last Saturday night headlining the Indies Music Awards, "the Grammy's of the indie scene" that is part of the Canadian Music Week, a music convention in Toronto. I thought the award celebrated independent music talent in Canada, so getting a Kansas City girl to headline it seems like an odd choice, but I'm not complaining.
It’s like she came straight from the land of Oz, by the way of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. With a sound that transcends and mixes funk, punk, pop, rock, rap, r&b and even country (!) Janelle has the imagination and the flair for drama that makes her music translate perfectly to the stage and the live act.
This and the fact that she’s cute as a button, reminiscent of a young Lena Horne (“big mouth, big voice”) and with a boundless energy and consummate showwomanship.
Her antics included having dancers dressed as nuns, painting on stage, and reenacting Eyes Wide Shut. She sang while collapsed on the floor and, in the end, threw on a cape à la James Brown.
At the end, after a triumphal concert in the Royal York Hotel and with her pompadour a little out of whack, Janelle didn’t hesitate and went crowd surfing, while looking totally terrified/elated. This one’s got the goods.
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