NXNE at Sonic Boom

Similar to Canadian Music Week and Record Store Day, Sonic Boom had in-store performances from a variety of bands all day. The first band to perform was Oberhofer, a talented group from Brooklyn. They put on a really good show and were my favourites of the entire NXNE festival.
Their sound is a very upbeat and catchy alternative/indie rock, with almost everybody in attendance at the in-store bobbing their head's along. The band was energetic and engaged with the audience. The lead singer jumped off the stage towards the end of their second song, and decided to run through the record aisles away from the audience to finish the song. Also for the last song, he decided that he was feeling claustrophobic on the small stage and moved his mic into the audience.
Oberhofer's performance was really unique and their album, Time Capsules II is really good. If you haven't already heard of these guys you need to check them out and invest in their album. I hope to see them again in the future, they are one of my new favourite bands!

Topanga are a local alternative rock band. They have a sound similar to bands such as Hollerado and The Reason. Their music is straight up alternative rock with upbeat tempos and some punk undertones though.
The band's performance at Sonic Boom was solid, though compared to the other two acts I saw at the record store, performance wise they could be considered plain though I still really enjoyed Topanga due to their music, and their set was filled to the brim with energy. They were able to draw crowd of devoted fans for their 2pm slot, and had a larger audience than Oberhofer! I enjoy Topanga's music and I really like their newest single Oceans. They are a local band that you should definitely give a listen to.

Yamantaka//Sonic Titan are as put by the band's facebook page: "Asian Diasporic psychedelic noh-wave opera group fusing noise, metal, pop and folk music into a multidisciplinary hyper-orientalist cesspool of 'eastern' culture in giant monochrome paper sets." There is no other way to describe their music.
This band are probably the most unique show I have ever seen, due to both their music and their performance. Even so they were still able to draw the biggest crowd of the three shows I saw at Sonic Boom, before their secret concert later that night. All of the members of the band had on facepaint and their own lighting set up as well. Across the front of the stage was cardboard clouds, giving the effect that they were either on a mountain top or floating in the sky. Their indescribable music added to the unique atmosphere created on stage and this made for a memorable performance. If you ever get the chance to see Yamantaka//Sonic Titan, they are most definitely a show to see.

Yamantaka//Sonic Titan performing live