Recording: Pick a Piper

Artist: Pick a Piper

Song: Dené Sled

Recorded at Christie Pits ("Bloor Ossington Folk Festival"), September 21, 2013.

Pick a Piper - Dené Sled

Full review to follow. Starting out in living rooms and basements in its first year and piggybacking on the local street festival in its second, The Bloor Ossington Folk Festival took a big step up in size and complexity this year, all while holding fast to its mantra of "free music in shared community space". Settling into the topography of Christie Pits, this year's festival included two stages, a beer garden, food vendors and more. Sadly, the weather didn't cooperate on the festival's first day, with a steady rain delaying the setup and keeping the crowds away from the park. Once things got started, it was good music to drive away the cold and damp, with the skies clearing up for the last few acts of the day. Kudos to Saving Gigi and the other locals who pitched in to make this a reality. And remember: "folk music" isn't a genre tag, but a description of music that lives in a community, shared between performer and audience. [Also: you can check out a few more pictures from the day at the MFS facebook page.]

Pick A Piper's rhythmically-intense grooves were just the pick-me-up required as the evening's chill descended on the park. In the past the band has expanded and contracted depending on how many extra drummers they could fit in the room, but here they were a quartet, with Brad Weber on synths and percussion joined by drummers Angus Fraser and Dan Roberts — as well as trombone player Steve Ward, who had also appeared earlier in the day with Minotaurs.