Remember the first Friday the 13th movie? You know, the one where everyone at Camp Crystal Lake gets murdered by Jason Vorhees' mother? Niether do I, it sucked ass. Subsequent features were pretty awesome, though. For this week's edition of Theirspace, I once again found myself scoping out Beth's exhaustive monthly event listing, and stumbled upon a band whose name threw me back into my pre-teens when I felt all cool for renting R-rated horror movies with a friend.

This week, Theirspace presents the misfit stylings of the terrifically terrifying Terror Lake, who're playing a Pay What You Can night this Sunday.

- Terror Lake's MySpace page, with 4 tracks
- Band home page

There's going to be enough dancey-electro coverage this weekend, so I figured it's high time for some Mr. Bungle-esque stuff from Toronto's Terror Lake. The band is made up of singer/drummer Wendy Fowler, singer/guitarist Matt Wearn, and general fretted instrument playing Tim Okura. Citing souped-up jalopies and national geographic magazines (circa 1963-1971) as their major influences, it's plain as day that Terror Lake has a wicked stash in their pockets.

Terror Lake's Myspace page has 4 lo-fi tracks for you to peruse, so without further ado here's the burst-ish-like roundup of said tunes.

The Blooge is all about being as discordant as possible while maintaining a sense of direction. This is where the Mr. Bungle/Mike Patton sound first shows itself with Terror Lake. Fowler's vocals are too prominent in the mix and not defined enough, but I'd bet an old issue of National Geographic that it's on purpose. In many ways, it's the only way it could be done. Fowler wants to start a revolution, and what better way to accomplish that than by getting the kids to seizurely-gyrate Ashlee Simpson style on the dance floor.

Chief of Staff has Fowler adding some definite flutter to her voice, which I found instantly disarming. There's a sense of both gentleness urgency in both the lyrics and the instrumentation that contrasts greatly with The Blooge, while still keeping the chaotic lo-fi sounds that make Terror Lake who they are.

Emergency Poncho is free of vocals, for the most part, and makes for a nice diversion. I keep thinking of the Pulp Fiction soundtrack when Wearn and Okura start noodling around. A thumpy kick-drum reminds your chest to make sure the rest of your limbs haven't stopped moving.

Chitter Chatter, if re-recorded and remastered with more than 4 mics in total, would likely fill the role of the 'radio friendly song' in this batch of tracks. Well, radio friendly in that midnight college radio shift kind of way. Easily the lowest of the 'fi', Chitter Chatter lacks that element of fun that the other tracks have. In a set it'd be fine, but I won't be selectively picking it out of a playlist any time soon. With a new arrangement and a better recording, I could easily see me changing my mind, however, and it's more than likely fun to git down at a live show.

Terror Lake are like the mentally distracted version of Controller.Controller, without being dead serious about everything and hopefully without beating the shit out of each other back stage and then refusing to talk about it in future interviews. Specifically the lack of interviews part; beating the shit out of each other makes for great dinner conversation. Be sure to check out Terror Lake at Wavelength's party at Sneaky Dee's this Sunday.

WAVELENGTH 351
Terror Lake with Jewish Legend and Basement Arms
Sneaky Dee's, 431 College Street, 416 603 3090
Cost : PWYC

Check out Animal/Monster in the previous edition of Theirspace