The Bug

Hearn Generating Station, Toronto, Canada

It’s getting pretty cold outside but things are guaranteed to heat up at The Bug gig tonight. Shivering my way through the doorway at the Belgrave Music Hall, I check my pockets for my trusty earplugs (something of a necessity) and prepare myself for the glorious cacophony of noise and riddim to come.

Kevin Martin's night, Pressure, is one of few places in the city to hear best-in-class grime, jungle and dancehall.

You won.t hear a more blistering, immaculately constructed and wonderfully vicious racket than this for a long time to come.

Yet even though I’ve seen Carlson perform with Earth on a number of occasions, own a small selection of Martins work and the fantastic new collaborative album Concrete Desert- nothing could have prepared me for tonight’s show.

It.s amusing to observe the different way the audience processes such previously unheard sounds.

I’ve been to plenty of sold-out shows (or close enough to sold-out) where the audience has had all the energy of a funeral.