Recording: Cosmic Homeostasis XXIV

Artist: Cosmic Homeostasis XXIV

Songs: 100,000,000,000,000.1 Neutrinos [excerpt] + Elegy for Monstera [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), June 30, 2023.

Cosmic Homeostasis XXIV - 100,000,000,000,000.1 Neutrinos [excerpt]

Cosmic Homeostasis XXIV - Elegy for Monstera [excerpt]

Once again, the Cosmic Homeostasis crew gathered on a fifth Sunday of the month for some expansive space-drift. Playing on an unusual Canada Day long weekend, when the city felt a little emptied-out, saw a slightly smaller than usual crew in attendance — but with ten performers on hand, "small" is relative, and there was still plenty of sounds and plenty of spaces between sounds.

The performers this time around were:

• Phil Johnston - tape loop + 1-string guitar, namer-of-things
• Jonny Luke - cornet
• Michael Lynn - bass/clarinet
• Rob Cruickshank - electronics
• Sterling McPhedran - guitar
• Ian McPhedran - uke/banjo
• Eric Cinnesealach - clarinets/percussion
• Scott M2 - Animoog
• Jon Kereliuk - piano
• Heraclitus Akimbo - Medo + Bastl synths

As always, the full session is available as a name-your price album on Bandcamp:

Plus, you can also check out both sets (and some informative space facts) over on youtube:

Recording: Knots

Artist:

Songs: #1 [composer: Patrick Booth] + Sunrise [composer: Joe Sorbara]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Furniture Music presents), June 30, 2024.

Knots - #1

Knots - Sunrise

This set was presented under the auspices of the Furniture Music composition workshop, which turned out to be wholly appropriate as it was a space for the musicians to share their pieces and work out some approaches on the fly. The first of a three-show mini-tour, although all the members of this group had played with some of the others, this was their first time convening as a quartet — and, in fact, Michigan-based saxophonist Patrick Booth and drummer Joe Sorbara were meeting for the first time as they set up to play. Guitarist Patrick O'Reilly and double bassist Phil Albert rounded out the unit, and all four contributed pieces to be explored over two sets.

You can check out the full performance over on youtube:

Monday Roundup #184

Community notes:

• The call is out for The Tranzac's next round of performance residencies (October 2024 to March 2025). A great space to work on ideas/explore sounds! More info can be found here.

• "Long Winter is seeking new Board members to serve for two years (renewable) starting August/September 2024. The Long Winter Board is an engaged group of volunteers who support the programming and operating collective and shape the strategic directions of the project." More info here.

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Concert announcements:

Tania Gill presents (feat. Tania Gill Quartet [Tania Gill / Lina Allemano/Rob Clutton/Nico Dann]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-08-07 (Wednesday – early). $pwyc. [FB event]

Ichi-Bons [two sets, with special guest Andrew Moljgun on saxophone] / Monarch Tavern 2024-08-09 (Friday). $21, 19+. [FB event]

Labyrinth x Dastgah Concert ["a multi-disciplinary collaboration between musicians of the Labyrinth Ensemble and Mani and Sanaz Mazinani's larger-than-life stringed installation, Dastgah"] (feat. Araz Salek/Sadaf Amini/Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Yang Chen/Roa Lee/Sasan Salaseli) / North Pavilion, Evergreen Brick Works 2024-08-10 (Saturday). $free, family-friendly

Sloan / CNE Bandshell 2024-08-16 (Friday). $free with admission to The Ex, all-ages, family-friendly, outdoors. [more info]

The New Pornographers / CNE Bandshell 2024-08-24 (Saturday). $free with admission to The Ex, all-ages, family-friendly, outdoors. [more info]

Richard Laviolette's Band [performing the songs from his last album All Wild Things Are Shy, with guest vocalists Abigail Lapell, Jiaqing Wilson Yang, Tamara Lindeman, Terra Lightfoot, José Contreras, Peter Demakos, Cormac Culkeen, and Geordie Gordon] (Abigail Lapell) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2024-09-06 (Friday). $22.63. [FB event]

Is your show missing from this list? Submit it via this form!

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Shows this week:

Holger Schoorl & Mark Zurawinski (Kayla Milmine/Isaiah Farahbakhsh/Anita Katakkar) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-07-24 (Wednesday – early) [FB event]

Burn Down The Capital presents (feat. Lucas Abela / Brian Ruryk / Deprivation Tactics / Mira Martin-Gray) / See-Scape 2024-07-24 (Wednesday). $17.52 advance/$20 door, 19+. [FB event]

Greg Freeman (Westelaken) / The Baby G 2024-07-24 (Wednesday). $28.40, 19+. [FB event]

Ronley Teper & the Lipliners / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-07-24 (Wednesday). $pwyc. [more info]

Tommy Tone (Flake / Little Window) / Linsmore Tavern 2024-07-25 (Thursday – 7:30 p.m.). $5, 19+. [more info]

Mountain Movers (Stonegrass [Jay Anderson/Matthew "Doc" Dunn] / Emily Robb) / Monarch Tavern 2024-07-25 (Thursday). $17.50, 19+. [FB event]

All-Set! presents (feat. Cloud Mushroom Music [Mike Smith/Isla Craig/Jay Hay/Rebecca Hennessy/Jake Oelrichs]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-07-26 (Friday – early)

Exit Points #51 (feat. Zoma/uh...no!/Raf Wilcot/Owen Kurtz/Chas Lawther / Talia Fuchs/Nilan Perera/Laura Barrett/Aline Homzy/Michael Palumbo) / Array Space 2024-07-26 (Friday). $20. [FB event]

The Ryan Driver Sextet [Ryan Driver/Martin Arnold/Rob Clutton/Nick Fraser/Michael Davidson with special guest Kevin Turcotte] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-07-26 (Friday). $pwyw. [FB event]

Cowbird Composers Collective Meta Residency: Growth and Decay (Array Workshop #1) ["open to any musicians that show up with instruments and want to play"] / Array Space 2024-07-27 (Saturday) [FB event]

Forró on Sundays (feat. Maria and The Band) / Drom Taberna 2024-07-28 (Sunday – 2 p.m.). $10. [FB event]

Modern Roots Jazz Americana Summer Series (feat. Bloom [Dan Rooke/Kevin Breit/Dave Piltch]) / Hirut Café 2024-07-28 (Sunday). $20, dining available. [more info]

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It happened this week...

• ...on July 23, 2011 at The Garrison.

EMA - Butterfly Knife

• ...on July 24, 2011 at David Pecault Square (Bana Y'Afrique Festival).

Recorded

Afrafranto - Agoro

[Do remember that you can click on the tags below to go back and find the original posts (and often, more stuff) from these artists.]

Recording: Ng/Crosby/Melanson/Meeks

Artist: Karen Ng/Ted Crosby/Phil Melanson with special guest D. Alex Meeks

Song: Untitled [composer: Karen Ng]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng presents), June 25, 2024.

Karen Ng/Ted Crosby/Phil Melanson with special guest D. Alex Meeks - Untitled

This trio set saw Karen Ng and Ted Crosby (both on sax and clarinet) and percussionist Phil Melanson tackling some compositions (from Ng and Crosby, as well as some Paul Motian) and also transformed into a mini-version of Ng's "double teams" concept with pairs of paired instruments when D. Alex Meeks was called up for the last couple pieces.

You can check out the full set over on youtube:

Recording: Swanherds

Artist: Swanherds

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng presents), June 25, 2024.

Swanherds - unknown

The last time rebecca bruton was in these parts was to record with her Swanherds band, which also resulted in a solo show. This visit brought with it a full group performance, pulling in vocalists Zoë Alexis-Abrams and Felicity Williams, pianist Ryan Driver, percussionist D. Alex Meeks, guitarist Kurt Newman, and double bassist Pete Johnston. There was, of course, whistling from several of those conspirators as they went on some dreamy journeys down dusty Albertan backroads and headed for stranger destinations.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Non-Twins

Artist: Non-Twins

Song: [1st piece, excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Nick Fraser presents), June 25, 2024.

Non-Twins - [1st piece, excerpt]

Originally devised by John Oswald as "Twins", a set for two saxophones and two double basses, the set lost some conceptual elegance with bassist Rob Clutton being unable to make the gig. Improvising, percussionist D. Alex Meeks (in town for a different show a couple days later) was pulled from the crowd to round out the ensemble, which, with Oswald and Karen Ng on horns alongside visiting double bassist Christopher A. Williams, hewed closer to a traditional ensemble format. That didn't lead to many traiditional sounds, however, with the group preferring more off kilter explorations. (Williams contributed to this with his idiosyncratic approach to his instrument, which he played more like a de gamba while using his bow has much as a preparation as for regular arco work.)

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube, including an extended guest appearance from clarinetist Zoe Pia:

Recording: Zoe Pia

Artist: Zoe Pia

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Nick Fraser presents), June 25, 2024.

Zoe Pia - [excerpt]

Visiting from Italy, Pia brought some improvisations for clarinet (as well as the launeddas), deftly deploying some loops and effects as well as sundry percussive elements.

Recording: BLOOP

Artist: BLOOP

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Nick Fraser presents), June 25, 2024.

BLOOP - [excerpt]

Though this Tuesday evening show was nominally taking place in Nick Fraser's timeslot, it looked like Lina Allemano was temporarily in charge, and she lead off a night hosting some international guests with a short set of bloopage alongside Mike Smith. With some bleed from a raucous fundraiser in the Main Hall, Allemano augmented her trumpet blasts with chimes and clonkin' cowbell, all whipped into impressionistic backgrounds by Smith's processing.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

Recording: Mira Martin-Gray

Artist: Mira Martin-Gray

Song: The First Time I Got an Endoscopy

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Solitary Shrew presents), June 25, 2024.

Mira Martin-Gray - The First Time I Got an Endoscopy

This set from Mira Martin-Gray juxtaposed some spoken poems with musical pieces. The latter were laptop compositions — generative pieces in Ableton with the software "improvising" on musical stems within directed parameters so that no two performances would be precisely alike, a new direction in Martin-Gray's sonic explorations was first hinted at in last fall's Different Parts of the Same Dream album. Echoing the poems they accompanied, the sounds ranged from the clanging musique concrète of the charivari march to the post-anesthesia glides heard here and beyond.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

[Each installment of Solitary Shrew features two performances led by women and gender non-conforming artists spanning an array of genres and artistic disciplines. Shows are on the last Tuesday of the month. The next show will be at The Tranzac on Tuesday, July 30th.]

Recording: Aline's étoile magique

Artist: Aline's étoile magique

Song: Blue Ghost Firefly

Recorded at Toronto Jazz Fest — Village Stage, June 24, 2024.

Aline's étoile magique - Blue Ghost Firefly

I'm not, admittedly, usually bowled over by the offerings at the local Corporate Jazz Fest, but generally speaking they do manage to spotlight some corners of cool local talent every year. (This set, in fact, was a re-booking of a cancelled set from last year, when forest fire smoke was choking the city, so kudos to the festival for making good with the artists.) In any case, it was absoloutely delightful to take in some sounds in Village of Yorkville Park, with shady trees overhead and the occasional rumble of the subway underfoot.

The generous set from violinist Aline Homzy's group mixed album tracks with newer material (including some pieces that have had their debuts at Homzy's Ghostgirl residency at The Tranzac) as well as reinterpreting works from composers like Carla Bley and Fats Waller. The sound on-site was unexpectedly excellently rendered, giving clarity to the group's sounds as well as solo spots from Michael Davidson (vibes), Marito Marques (drums), Dan Fortin (bass), and Thom Gill (guitar).

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

Monday Roundup #183

Concert announcements:

Holger Schoorl & Mark Zurawinski (Kayla Milmine/Isaiah Farahbakhsh/Anita Katakkar) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-07-24 (Wednesday – early) [FB event]

Tommy Tone (Flake / Little Window) / Linsmore Tavern 2024-07-25 (Thursday – 7:30 p.m.). $5, 19+. [more info]

All-Set! presents (feat. Cloud Mushroom Music [Mike Smith/Isla Craig/Jay Hay/Rebecca Hennessy/Jake Oelrichs]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-07-26 (Friday – early)

Forró on Sundays (feat. Maria and The Band) / Drom Taberna 2024-07-28 (Sunday – 2 p.m.). $10. [FB event]

Brittany Pitt presents (feat. Reverie [Brittany Pitt/Dan Pitt/Caleb Klager/Stefan Hegerat]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-07-31 (Wednesday) [more info]

ZONES / Monarch Tavern 2024-08-01 (Thursday). $18.92, 19+. [FB event]

Banananananana (Free Play Angel / jaL / Tommy Tone) / Ted's Collision 2024-08-01 (Thursday). $pwyc, 19+

Aniqa Dear (Joyshape / Snake of Rhyme) / Allan Gardens Children's Conservatory 2024-08-03 (Saturday – 1 p.m.). $12 advance/$15 door, all-ages sober event. [more info]

Forró on Sundays (feat. Maria and The Band) / Drom Taberna 2024-08-04 (Sunday – 2 p.m.). $10. [FB event]

Forró on Sundays (feat. Maria and The Band) / Drom Taberna 2024-08-11 (Sunday – 2 p.m.). $10. [FB event]

Forró on Sundays (feat. Maria and The Band) / Drom Taberna 2024-08-18 (Sunday – 2 p.m.). $10. [FB event]

Carolyn Mark / Sellers & Newel 2024-10-29 (Tuesday). $20 minimum donation. [more info]

The Max Donaldson Trio [Max Donaldson/Ian Afif/Mateos Labbe-Phelan] / Sellers & Newel 2024-11-15 (Friday). $15 minimum donation. [more info]

Is your show missing from this list? Submit it via this form!

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Shows this week:

Kurt Newman presents: an evening of cool solos (feat. Christine Bougie / Kayla Milmine / Dan Pitt / Patrick O'Reilly / Thom Gill / Kurt Newman) / Wenona Lodge 2024-07-16 (Tuesday)

People Soup presents: Stuffed Felt Soup [puppets + improvised music] (feat. Cheyenne McLean/Mark Terrett/Yang Chen/Connor Crone/Trevor Flemings/Duo Cichorium) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-07-16 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [more info]

Labyrinth Ontario presents: Makam Nights (feat. Anas Raslan / Majd Sukar) / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2024-07-18 (Thursday) [FB event]

Sandro Perri & Friends [Sandro Perri/Blake Howard/Josh Cole/Thomas Hammerton/Nick Zubeck/Ryan Driver/John Jowett/Ted Crosby] (Alex Lukashevsky) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-07-19 (Friday – early). $20/pwyc. [FB event]

Masahiro Takahashi presents Cha-no-yu (feat. Emissive / Masahiro Takahashi with Germaine Liu/Karen Ng/Sandro Perri) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-07-19 (Friday). $pwyc. [more info]

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It happened this week...

• ...on July 15, 2012 at Polyhaus (Feast in the East 15).

Zacht Automaat - unknown

Absolutely Free - unknown

[Do remember that you can click on the tags below to go back and find the original posts (and often, more stuff) from these artists.]

Recording: Luka Kuplowsky & The Ryōkan Band

Artist: Luka Kuplowsky & The Ryōkan Band

Songs: How Can I Possibly Sleep When There is Music + I Knew it Would Be You! [from a poem by Ryōkan Taigu]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Main Hall), June 18, 2024.

Luka Kuplowsky & The Ryōkan Band - How Can I Possibly Sleep When There is Music

Luka Kuplowsky & The Ryōkan Band - I Knew it Would Be You!

Luke Kuplowsky has been developing his book of songs from and inspired by poets for a few years now, so it was a delight to see it come to a culmination with the release of the double album How Can I Possibly Sleep When There is Music. For the release celebration, the full band presented the album in order, accompanied by some gorgeous visuals, including on-screen footage of a dancer (Noriko Yamamato) who then appeared in the flesh onstage — a perfect encapsulation of these songs breathing life into centuries-old poems and making them viscerally present in the here-and-now.

Recording: The Heart of Going La

Artist: The Heart of Going La

Song: Conniptions

Recorded at The Tranzac (Main Hall), June 18, 2024.

The Heart of Going La - Conniptions

This group is a union of three musicians exploring a mutual interest in the repetition of mantra. Fan Wu, Thom Gill & Christopher Willes (later also incorporating Felicity Williams, Evan Cartwright and Luke Kuplowsky from the evening's headliners) mixed spiritual abstractions with a few more earthly concerns (and even some hocketing bells) in a playfully epigrammic set.

Recording: Mas Aya

Artist: Mas Aya

Song: Tú y Yo

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (TONE Festival), June 16, 2024.

Mas Aya - Tú y Yo

This night out at the TONE Festival reached back for some strong Healing Power vibes: not only had that scene/label issued some essential music (together and individually) from the night's co-headliners, but it was also a treat to hear HP co-principal DJ SlightBreezy (aka Wolf Nessel) slingin' and manipulating tunes between sets.

And as with his co-headliner, Brandon Valdivia's "solo" spotlight was anything but, bringing in family and friends to celebrate the sounds of Coming And Going. Leaning less on popsong frameworks than vibe-heavy compositional savvy, Valdicia served as the director on stage, co-ordinating the sonic inputs from rhythm compadres Reimundo Sosa (percussion) and Josh Cole (double bass, electric bass, bass synth) plus rotating guests including Colin Fisher and Isla Craig. And most heartwarming was the family band angle that saw vocals from Lido Pimienta (highlighted on this track) as well as the pair's daughter Martina Valdivia, whose presence was a joyful highlight.

Recording: Colin Fisher

Artist: Colin Fisher

Song: Deus Absconditus

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (TONE Festival), June 16, 2024.

Colin Fisher - Deus Absconditus

This night out at the TONE Festival reached back for some strong Healing Power vibes: not only had that scene/label issued some essential music (together and individually) from the night's co-headliners, but it was also a treat to hear HP co-principal DJ SlightBreezy (aka Wolf Nessel) slingin' and manipulating tunes between sets.

A "solo album" is rarely a one-person endeavour, so it made sense to see Colin Fisher celebrating the release of Suns of the Heart alongside key collaborator David Psutka who helped use the recording process to elaborate upon Fisher's realtime propensity for building and manipulating layers of sound. That meant the first half of the set was in duo mode, nudging up against some of the album's textures before closing out with an extended solo improvisation for guitar and sax.