Halifax Pop Explosion is finally here. We headed down to Reflections Cabaret Tuesday night to take in Pepper Rabbit and Ohbijou.

I’d like to pause for a moment, though, to discuss Reflections during Happy Hour: Like me, you may have only been to Reflections late, late at night, having missed the happy hour that ends at 1:00 am. You should be aware, then, that between 10:00 pm and 1:00 am the prices are straight up fantastic (we’re talking $3.25 for domestic bottles, and $2.75 for well shots).

We arrived in time for the beginning of Pepper Rabbit. After a hilariously long soundcheck, they started in, playing what seemed like a wonderful fusion of Wolf Parade and My Morning Jacket. It was my first time hearing them, so maybe my assessment is way off, but I quite liked what I heard. I’m really happy with this find so far, and I’ll definitely be checking out more of their stuff.

My only real negative about their set was that they were wearing jackets the whole time. It was roughly a million degrees in there, so it was surprisingly distracting to be imagining just how grotesquely hot they must have been.

After they wrapped up, we waited through another lengthy soundcheck (there seemed to be a series of miscommunications between the band and the guy on the board), and Ohbijou took the stage.

I was already a  little familiar with them, and they didn’t disappoint. They couple vocals with really, really great music (I love bands with violins or other stringed instruments).

Pop Explosion is off to a great start, so we’re pumped to check out more shows during the week. Stay tuned here, as we’re going to have posts up every day (we hope!).