It's altogether too easy to pass off old hippies. They dress funny, like to get mushy and geek out on love. But don't ever pass them off! if you're one of those who would like to believe that the work of hippies, folkies and aged scenesters no longer has anything to contribute to society, think again.

There I was at Blue Skies, a semi-private Kingston area festival that's been around since the Trudeau era. Though the kids en masse outtnumbered their parents in attendence figures, much of the music and workshops throughout the festival were dominated by the ghosts of another time. The guy who likes to read poems aloud...the cool music teacher woman...the author of organic living...they were all there. It was an enjoyable time, but I was beginning to wonder, "Where are the youth leaders of this holistic party?" I would soon see, as minutes later, Spiral Beach from Toronto took to the stage and totally fucked up ALL of my shit. AMAZING! In all the months I've lived in Toronto, I have to go to the middle of nowhere to see one of the city's best young bands.

From the first moments to the last, this band played artistically enchanting songs that seemed well beyond the limits of a high schooler's musical vocabulary. It was a bouncy, almost derailing kind of rock and roll, with a heavy synth sound, superb vocal harmonies, and an overall tightness that stamp the mark of goodness on a band. And the best part? It wasn't just me, the jaded twenty-something dance-punk enthusiast who enjoyed the show. For the remainder of the festival, accolades came forth from musicians and casual onlookers, both young and old.

Who were these creatures? Were they bastard children of some lurid orgy affair between The Slits and The Talking Heads? No. They were children of die-hard Blue Skies veterans like David Woodhead and Nancy White.

Download their music here, and go see them at The Drake on August 8th.