Recording: Mmm Mmm

Artist: Mmm Mmm

Song: unknown^*

Recorded in the dungeon of 8-Eleven ("Sonic Boom Record Store Day Afterparty"), April 18, 2015.

Mmm Mmm - unknown

If told that this occasional group was a pairing between Randy Gagne (Man Made Hill) and Sean Dunal (Sexy Merlin) you could probably guess what you might be in for. Indeed, at their best (as heard here on what sounds like some incredible lost 12" club side) this hits more-than-the sum-of-its-parts territory with Dunal's rhythmic inventions acting as a beacon for Gagne's groove gambles. Some of the other pieces came off a bit more like just jams, but even then they kept the dancefloor bumpin' to close this night out.

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

Recording: Soupcans

Artist: Soupcans

Songs: Soft Party/Postmordial + Murder Parade [feat. Leslie Predy]^*

Recorded in the dungeon of 8-Eleven ("Sonic Boom Record Store Day Afterparty"), April 18, 2015.

Soupcans - Soft Party/Postmordial

Soupcans - Murder Parade

The Soupcans sometimes work as performance art/standup comedy, such as at the start of this set where the members cast aspersions on each other for not being able to maintain the momentum from one quick song into the next ("We're a real band," the crowd was reassured) but once they did get firing on all cylinders, whoo-boy. I've heard some talk of new recordings getting closer to getting done, including rumours of a guest appearance by Induced Labour/Doom Tickler howler Leslie Predy. That probably explains this set-closing last track here, a full-on spasm that had the crowd surging back and forth in the low-ceilinged basement space. (I was mostly just trying to keep upright, so pardon a few weird sonic shifts in the recording.)

[Soupcans will be playing at Jam Factory on Saturday (May 2, 2015) as part of Feast in the East's big Four Year Anniversary celebration.]

Recording: Crosss

Artist: Crosss

Song: Witching Hour

Recorded in the dungeon of 8-Eleven ("Sonic Boom Record Store Day Afterparty"), April 18, 2015.

Crosss - Witching Hour

Following on an afternoon of live in-stores to help celebrate Record Store Day, Sonic Boom took things across the back alley to keep the vibe rolling with a late-night afterparty in the maze-like basement of the 8-Eleven gallery. The night's "secret guests" opening things up turned out to be sludgemetal/psych-folk unit Crosss — and since I last caught 'em, the bass chair has rotated once more, with Scarlett Rose (also of Schønsee) now holding down the bottom end. The band has been fairly active recently, and she already sounds well-integrated into the trio's sound. The group, meanwhile, is getting ready to launch their new album LO in June with Telephone Explosion, so keep an eye out for some festivities surrounding that.

Concert Listings Roundup #94

You can read more about why I'm doing listings here. Long story short: This curated and decidedly non-comprehensive list contains nothin' but shows that I am going to/would go to if I had more time.

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Gig of the week:

Zoobombs (MIMICO / Surinam / Vallens / Planet Creature / Bam Thwok / The Leslie Spits / The Disraelis) / The Silver Dollar Room 2015-05-02 (Saturday) [FB event]

The Zoobombs' visits from Japan are the stuff of (face-melting, wall-climbing) legends. They're playing Friday and Saturday at the Dollar, with a fine surrounding cast on both nights, but the Saturday line-up wins by a nose.

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This week's noteworthy shows:

Meandering Streams of Consciousness / Array Space 2015-04-27 (Monday) [FB event]

Turn To Crime (Deliluh / Marriage) / Smiling Buddha 2015-04-28 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Heavy Traffic (feat. Shrines / Bodies That Matter) / Handlebar 2015-04-28 (Tuesday) [FB event]

The Music Gallery's Departures Series (feat. Tim Berne's Snakeoil / Barnyard Drama / Brodie West & Fleshtone Aura) / Array Space 2015-04-29 (Wednesday) [FB event]

The Space Lady (Fresh Flesh / Eric Schneider) / Double Double Land 2015-04-29 (Wednesday)

PPOP Presents (feat. Organized Crimes / NASA Valley / The Sulks) / Johnny Jackson 2015-04-29 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Ingrid Laubrock/Rob Clutton/Nick Fraser (Aurochs) / Ratio 2015-04-30 (Thursday) [FB event]

PPOP Presents (feat. HRRR / M. Mucci / BABEL) / Johnny Jackson 2015-04-30 (Thursday) [FB event]

Juiceboxxx (Man Made Hill / Ceramic TL) / Double Double Land 2015-04-30 (Thursday) [FB event]

METZ (Protomartyr) / Lee's Palace 2015-05-01 & 2015-05-02 (Friday & Saturday) [FB event]

Somewhere There presents (feat. Interwaving Strecht / Khôra / No Seas) / Ratio 2015-05-02 (Saturday) [FB event]

Ben Gunning Group (Thom Gill & Love Thy Will Be Done) / Holy Oak Café 2015-05-02 (Saturday) [FB event]

Aurochs w/Laura Swankey / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-05-02 (Saturday) [FB event]

Zoobombs (The Dying Arts / Christian Punk Band / Convoys / Towers / Royals / Shipley Hollow / Bear Empire) / The Silver Dollar Room 2015-05-01 (Friday) [FB event]

Feast In The East: 4 Year Anniversary (feat. The Soupcans / Steve Kado / My Suitor / Eucalyptus) / Jam Factory 2015-05-02 (Saturday) [FB event]

Unaffiliated (feat. Bile Sister / New Chance / ¡FLIST! / Beds) / Double Double Land 2015-05-02 (Saturday) [FB event]

No Angels Dancing / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-03-03 (Sunday – matinee! 1 to 3 p.m.!)

junctQín keyboard collective: Firsts II / Canadian Music Centre 2015-05-03 (Sunday) [FB event]

The Blow (Anna Oxygen) / The Garrison 2015-05-03 (Sunday) [FB event]

Nite Comfort 21 (feat. James Knott / DXPA / Patrick Dubs) / Handlebar 2015-05-03 (Sunday) [FB event]

Mike Smith & Co.: Boogie Blobs IV: Original Recipe / Holy Oak Café 2015-05-03 (Sunday) [FB event]

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Add these to your calendar:

Reminder: This post only contains this week's updates — the full listings can always be found over on the right-hand sidebar!

See Through 5 w/ special guests Don Palmer + Dave Clark / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-05-05 (Tuesday – early!) [FB event]

Track Could Bend #2 (feat. Ah! la lettre! + Kayla Milmine / Brian Abbot + William Davison / Nidus [Matthew Ramolo + Jason Doell + Marc Couroux]) / Johnny Jackson 2015-05-05 (Tuesday) [FB event]

National Drone Day Toronto: Night Drones (feat. Isles Day / Lorde Awesome / Professor Swami William Alan / James Bailey) / SPK Polish Combatants' Hall 2015-05-09 (Saturday) [FB event]

Isla Craig (Charlotte Cornfield / Zaac Pick / LUKA) / June Records 2015-05-10 (Sunday – free! early!) [FB event]

Jealousy Mountain Duo (Petra Glynt / Not The Wind, Not The Flag / Zaum) / 8-Eleven 2015-05-12 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Tess Parks (The Auras / Pow Wows / Champion Ski) / The Silver Dollar Room 2015-05-14 (Thursday) [FB event]

Wavelength 659: May Long Weekend Blowout – Night 1 (feat. Big Dick / Kurt Marble / The Pucumber Sasssquash Family Band / Battlewülf) / Handlebar 2015-05-15 (Friday) [FB event]

Scapegoat (Imaginary Flesh / zhang) / Ratio 2015-05-16 (Saturday) [FB event]

Wavelength 659: May Long Weekend Blowout – Night 2 (feat. CTZNSHP / The SULKS / Home Alone / Alphabot!) / Handlebar 2015-05-16 (Saturday) [FB event]

Somewhere There presents (feat. Satoko Fujii and KAZE / Newman/Segger) / Array Space 2015-05-19 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Blonde Elvis [On Vanity release party!] (Twist, B-17 / Your 33 Black Angels) / Handlebar 2015-05-22 (Friday) [FB event]

Wavelength 660 (feat. Most People [Violet Spaces EP Release] / Petra Glynt / Hush Pup) / Clay & Paper Theatre 2015-05-23 (Saturday) [FB event]

The Dirty Nil (Mexican Slang / Not Of) / The Silver Dollar Room 2015-05-29 (Friday) [FB event]

Clara Engel (Nicolas Buligan) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-05-30 (Saturday) [FB event]

Crosswires *feat. Maybelleen / naw / Avant Kool / The Jim Storie Juniors) / Handlebar 2015-05-31 (Sunday) [FB event]

Doldrums / The Drake Underground 2015-06-11 (Thursday) [FB event]

Sound Séance I: Day 1 (feat. EXPO 70 with Dirty Inputs / Caro Diaro / Babel) / Geary Lane 2015-06-12 (Friday) [FB event]

Sound Séance I: Day 2 (feat. Suuns + Jerusalem In My Heart / Mimico / Technical Kidman / Jay Holy) / Geary Lane 2015-06-13 (Saturday) [FB event]

Sound Séance I: Day 3 (feat. Wrekmeister Harmonies / Off World / Carl Didur) / Geary Lane 2015-06-14 (Sunday) [FB event]

#PAPER100: "an evening of music from Paper Bag Records' extensive catalogue featuring special performances by bands from the label's past, present and future" (feat. members of Sam Roberts Band / Nils Edenloff (The Rural Alberta Advantage) / Woodhands / Rock Plaza Central / The Acorn / PS I Love You / Frog Eyes / Yamantaka//Sonic Titan / Laura Barrett / Cuff the Duke / Mozart's Sister / The Luyas / Grey Lands / Hey Mother Death / "plus many more surprises") / Lee's Palace 2015-06-18 (Thursday) [FB event]

Recording: Contact Contemporary Music

Artist: Contact Contemporary Music

Song: Professor Bad Trip (Lesson III) [composer: Fausto Romitelli]

Recorded at The Music Gallery, April 18, 2015.

Contact Contemporary Music - Professor Bad Trip (Lesson III)

It appears that Contact Contemporary Music has moved towards putting on fewer events, but making sure each of those has a larger impact. This performance of Romitelli's spectral/psychedelic triptych was in that camp with an immersively lysergic lightshow and dozen-deep ensemble. The piece featured woozy clouds of strings and winds, an artfully askew cello solo (performed with brio by Rebecca Morton) and increasing destabilization, especially in this final part, by some rock'n'roll energy. That element was provided by Rob McDonald's electric guitar and Joseph Phillips' electric bass — and the latter was perhaps the secret star of the piece, moving from e-bowed buzzes to angry plucks to the fuzzy heartbeat thumps at the end. Romitelli died young of cancer a decade ago, but it seems like there's further lessons to be drawn yet from his work.

Recording: Comet Control

Artist: Comet Control

Song: Fear The Haze

Recorded at Sonic Boom ("Record Store Day"), April 18, 2015.

Comet Control - Fear The Haze

Closing out an afternoon of in-store performances, Comet Control turned up the volume in Sonic Boom's basement. Tasty all around, even if guitarist Andrew Moszynski was having a bit of a bad luck day, breaking a couple strings as the set went on. Perhaps it's just having more time to live with the songs on their album, but the band's dynamic increasingly feels like its own thing, with less need to invoke comparisons to Quest For Fire — just put in your earplugs and rock along with it.

Recording: ANAMAI

Artist: ANAMAI

Song: Lucia

Recorded at Sonic Boom ("Record Store Day"), April 18, 2015.

ANAMAI - Lucia

Though this was originally billed as a solo set, Anna Mayberry was joined by David Psutka for a half-dozen songs that sounded quite excellent in Sonic Boom's basement. A small crowd even gathered to sit on the floor in front of the stage as Psutka's synth-like guitar textures swelled up into sheets of noise.

[Help celebrate the release of ANAMAI's debut album Sallows tonight (Friday, April 24th) at CineCycle alongside Twist and Blunt Chunks.]

Recording: Carl Didur

Artist: Carl Didur

Song: Carl Didur - Record Store Day [edited excerpt]^*

Recorded at Sonic Boom ("Record Store Day"), April 18, 2015.

Carl Didur - Record Store Day [edited excerpt]

Say what you will about the corporatization of Record Store Day, it still brings out healthy crowds to local independent businesses — and they end up digging deeper than the newest redundant Bruce Springsteen reissues. Sonic Boom used the day to formally launch their in-store space at their new Spadina Ave. location, with a day full of cool live music to soundtrack people's shopping experience. Carl Didur led the day off with a gentle set for electric piano, offering a more meditative tone than his usual tape loop-abetted constructions. Beautiful stuff that subtly played with the expectations of what both random shoppers and enthusiasts might have expected.

^* Does anyone know the name(s) to these song(s)? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Biblical

Artist: Biblical

Song: Second Sight

Recorded at The Horseshoe Tavern, April 17, 2015.

Biblical - Second Sight

When I last saw Biblical back on Hallowe'en, guitar wiz Jordan Howard was filling in for Matt McLaren, as he would on their subsequent tour. The chemistry must have clicked, as it looks like Howard is sticking around for now, creating a massive three-guitar attack to what was already a formidable hard rock unit. This is a band at their best when they're not rushing, and this gig spotlighted that, featuring three songs in the set's first half hour. This opener was perhaps the closest they got to being showboat-y, a statement of purpose with a cavalcade of guitar heroics to set the night's tone.

Recording: PANIC

Artist: PANIC

Song: Tear Off Your Flesh

Recorded at The Horseshoe Tavern, April 17, 2015.

PANIC - Tear Off Your Flesh

Perhaps befitting the experience the members have accrued in a host of other projects, PANIC hit the ground running, releasing their fabulous album last year before even playing a gig. There was a bit of a live hiatus after that, but now the band is out in action, tearing up the stage behind the moody glower of frontman Simon Oates (ex-No No Zero). There's a theremin, there's strobe lights, and there's a whole lotta bad hoodoo.

[PANIC will be playing at the not-to-be-missed release show for Surinam's new tape at Johnny Jackson on Friday, May 29th.]

Recording: Overnight

Artist: Overnight

Song: It Gets You Down

Recorded at The Horseshoe Tavern, April 17, 2015.

Overnight - It Gets You Down

Overnight is a continuation of the work that Carla and Lynette Gillis (ex-Plumtree) began a couple years back as Sister. The main shift in this reformulation is an increased skew towards heaviness, such that the band is now right at home in the opening slot of a Biblical gig. With a fill-in keyboardist on hand, the group tackled some cuts from their recent debut album for the early-arriving crowd.

[Overnight will be opening for Montréal's Heat at The Silver Dollar on Thursday, May 28th.]

Recording: Eldritch Priest

Artist: Eldritch Priest

Song: The Brown Study¹ [excerpt]

Recorded at Array Space, April 16, 2015.

Eldritch Priest - The Brown Study [excerpt]

Called upon to give a lecture on his Boring Formless Nonsense: Experimental Music and The Aesthetics of Failure, scholar/composer Eldritch Priest seemed to be eager to say as little as possible (given that the 2013 book is now "old material" and has since been supplanted by new lines of inquiry) and mostly commented on the book's form in relation to its content before moving things along to the evening's musical portion.

But given that "The Brown Study" has a duration of somewhere around two hours, that was probably a wise move. A cavalcade of melody, the piece (for open ensemble²) moves along without harmony or counterpoint, the musicians choosing for themselves when to drop in or out. And rather than trying to be a full-on, immersive experience, the piece is meant to function either as foreground or background music, with Priest making sure to reassure the crowd it would be fine to get up and wander, or chat a little during the performance. Given that the piece was written in the same period as Boring Formless Nonsense, one assumes it is meant as a sort of reflection of those themes, embodying them musically while attempting to perform a little bit of dialectical ju-jitsu to come out the other side having fought them to at least a draw.

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¹ I have no notion whether or not this piece's title is riffing on the urban myth of the "brown note", but given that immediately before the performance Priest chose to read a footnote from his book that referenced poopnames.com it does not seem outside the range of possibility.

² For this performance, the ensemble was: David Schotzko (vibes), Marc Couroux (synth), John Sherlock (keys), Anna Höstman (keys), Paul Newman (tenor sax), Bea Labikova (alto sax), Cory Latkovich (cello), Branko Džinovic (accordion), Nicole Rampersaud (trumpet), Heather Seeger (trombone), Eldritch Priest (guitar).

Recording: The Mike Smith Company

Artist: The Mike Smith Company

Song: De Luxe

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), April 15, 2015.

The Mike Smith Company - De Luxe

This particular fit of transcombobulation was performed under Mike Smith's name, but frequent synth co-conspirator Jonathan Adjemian was on hand to help noodle the tunes. Plus, this time out saw some increased allocations of rhythm with Jake Oelrichs (heard here on the left), D. Alex Meeks (centre) and Blake Howard (right) filling out the stereo spectrum, as well as Pete Johnston on bass. That created all sorts of opportunities for the handcrafted mellowness of Smith's compositions to be disrupted and pushed forward.

[Mike Smith, Jonathan Adjemian and various other accomplices will be serving up some original recipe boogie blobs at Holy Oak Café on Sunday, May 3rd.]

Concert Listings Roundup #93

You can read more about why I'm doing listings here. Long story short: This curated and decidedly non-comprehensive list contains nothin' but shows that I am going to/would go to if I had more time.

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Gig of the week:

Hooded Fang (New Fries / Brazilian Money) / Johnny Jackson 2015-04-25 (Saturday) [FB event]

There's some great options on Saturday, but I'm looking forward to catching Hooded Fang for the first time since the other side of winter. All those brand-new tunes they played will have some mileage on 'em by now and this should be a first class party time. Also: New Fries!

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This week's noteworthy shows:

THE AMBiENT PiNG (feat. iderdown + NAW + JFM) / Ratio 2015-04-21 (Tuesday) [more info]

Somewhere There Presents (feat. Craig Pedersen Quartet / Ali Berkok) / Musideum 2015-04-21 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Loom (Isla Craig) / Holy Oak Café 2015-04-22 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Familiar Fiends (Creep Highway / The Flu / Battlewulf / Radio Mama) / Smiling Buddha 2015-04-22 (Wednesday) [FB event]

InterAccess: Orchestra of the Tactile / The Music Gallery 2015-04-23 (Thursday) [more info]

PPOP Presents (feat. I Smell Blood / Whoop-Szo / Pants and Tie / Pubefloral) / Johnny Jackson 2015-04-23 (Thursday) [FB event]

Great Lake Swimmers / Randolph Theatre 2015-04-23 & 2015-04-24 (Thursday & Friday) [more info]

Cities Aviv (Bizzarh / Petra Glynt / Clairmont The Second) / Double Double Land 2015-04-23 (Thursday) [FB event]

Norman Blake, Joe Pernice and Guests [April residency!] / Dakota Tavern 2015-04-24 (Friday – early!) [FB event]

Trevor Watts and Veryan Weston (Heather Segger/Germaine Liu) / The Music Gallery 2015-04-24 (Friday) [FB event]

ANAMAI [Sallows LP Release!] (Twist / Blunt Chunks) / CineCycle 2015-04-24 (Friday) [FB event]

The Ryan Driver Sextet / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-04-24 (Friday)

Wavelength #656 (feat. Peers / Daniel Isaiah / Mannerisms / Caylie Staples) / Monarch Tavern 2015-04-24 (Friday) [FB event]

DIΛNETICS IV (feat. Knurl / Ceramic TL / The Good Children / Broken Doll Factory) / 8-Eleven 2015-04-24 (Friday) [FB event]

Spacemen 3 / Spiritualized: Live Tribute (feat. The Two Koreas / The Auras / Flowers Of Hell / Hollowphonic / Schønsee / Sunnhouse [feat. members of Simply Saucer] / Spoofs / The Autumn Stones / Las Venus Skyway / Night Goose) / The Silver Dollar Room 2015-04-24 (Friday) [FB event]

Princess Century (A Dream, A Coast / Nyssa) / The Garrison 2015-04-24 (Friday) [FB event]

PPOP Presents (feat. Outtacontroller / Pink Wine / Make No Gains / Big Jrs.) / Johnny Jackson 2015-04-24 (Friday) [FB event]

Riverrun Marathon 2.0 ["12 continuous hours of music"] / Beit Zatoun 2015-04-25 (Saturday) [FB event]

Elsa [EP Release!] (Darlene Shrugg / Wish / Sahara) / The Horseshoe Tavern 2015-04-25 (Saturday) [FB event]

Ryan Driver Band (Molly Sweeney / Dorothea Paas) / Burdock Music Hall 2015-04-25 (Saturday) [FB event]

The Golden Dogs (Wax Atlantic / Television Rd.) / The Silver Dollar Room 2015-04-25 (Saturday) [FB event]

Crosswires (feat. Purple Hill / Baa / Snacks / Jim Storie Juniors) / Handlebar 2015-04-26 (Sunday) [FB event]

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Add these to your calendar:

Reminder: This post only contains this week's updates — the full listings can always be found over on the right-hand sidebar!

Heavy Traffic (feat. Shrines / Bodies That Matter) / Handlebar 2015-04-28 (Tuesday) [FB event]

The Space Lady (Fresh Flesh / Eric Schneider) / Double Double Land 2015-04-29 (Wednesday)

Ingrid Laubrock/Rob Clutton/Nick Fraser (Aurochs) / Ratio 2015-04-30 (Thursday) [FB event]

Juiceboxxx (Man Made Hill / Ceramic TL) / Double Double Land 2015-04-30 (Thursday) [FB event]

Unaffiliated (feat. Bile Sister / New Chance / ¡FLIST! /Beds) / Double Double Land 2015-05-02 (Saturday) [FB event]

Somewhere There presents (feat. Interwaving Strecht / Khôra / No Seas) / Ratio 2015-05-02 (Saturday) [FB event]

Nite Comfort 21 (feat. James Knott / DXPA / Patrick Dubs) / Handlebar 2015-05-03 (Sunday) [FB event]

Mike Smith & Co.: Boogie Blobs IV: Original Recipe / Holy Oak Café 2015-05-03 (Sunday) [FB event]

Ode to Impermanence: An evening of piano improvisation (feat. Marilyn Lerner / Casey Sokol / Avesta Nakhaei / Philip Fournier) / Gallery 345 2015-05-07 (Thursday) [more info]

Marie Davidson (Ice Cream / Mercury Girls) / Studio 223A 2015-05-08 (Friday) [FB event]

sLAB [National Drone Day event] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-05-09 (Saturday) [FB event]

Audiopollination #30.1 (feat. Bea Labikova/Phil Albert/Adele Armin/Cassie Norton / Germaine Liu/Nilan Perera / Karen Ng/Branko Dzinovic / KGB [Karen Ng/Germaine Liu/Bea Labikova] / Arrayspace 2015-05-12 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Yardlets (Beat Cops / Green Rays / Over / Wave Of Terror) / The Silver Dollar Room 2015-05-15 (Friday) [FB event]

Joshua Abrams' Natural Information Society / Array Space 2015-05-18 (Monday) [FB event]

Audiopollination #30.2 (feat. Natsuki Tamura/Peter Orins/Chris Adriaanse/Steve Ward / Christine Pruvost/Satoko Fujii/Cheryl O/Tiina Kiik / Christine Pruvost/Peter Orins/Andy Yue/Rob Piilonen / Satoko Fujii/Natsuki Tamura/Michael Lynn/Jay Hay) / Array Space 2015-05-20 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Katenen "Cheka" Dioubate [Bimogo album launch!] / Alliance Française de Toronto 2015-05-23 (Saturday) [FB event]

Michael Rault [record release!] (Marvelous Mark & Bad Zeppelin / Beds) / The Silver Dollar Room 2015-05-23 (Saturday) [FB event]

Audiopollination #30.3 (feat. John Doel/Glen Hall / Andrew Timar/Sarah Peebles / John Doel/Aki Takahashi / Sarah Peebles/Glen Hall) / Array Space 2015-05-24 (Sunday) [FB event]

Bernice (Familiar Wild / Ben Hermann) / Holy Oak Café 2015-05-24 (Sunday) [FB event]

Heat (Fill Spectre / Overnight) / The Silver Dollar Room 2015-05-28 (Thursday) [FB event]

Nick Ferrio [record release!] (Jose Contreras) / Burdock Music Hall 2015-06-05 (Friday) [FB event]

Unsound Toronto (feat. Stars of The Lid / Robert Henke) / Hearn Generating Station 2015-06-19 (Friday) [more info]

Recording: Moon King

Artist: Moon King

Songs: Impossible + Roswell

Recorded at Smiling Buddha, April 14, 2015.

Moon King - Impossible

Moon King - Roswell

With Dan Lee warming up the crowd with his Lee Paradise project (to say nothing of Alex Low rocking the room between sets from the DJ booth) this night was, in one sense, not so far removed from going to see HUT playing all-ages shows in dark basements. But looked at another way, we've all come a long way since then. Although the pair of Obsession EP's essentially added up to an album, the brand new Secret Life gets the nod as the first "official" Moon King full-length. It also shows the continuing development of Daniel Woodhead's musical craft, integrating textured lushness with spiky energy in increasingly natural ways. The shared vocals with Maddy Wilde accentuate the dreamy sensibility and this band continues to sound better at slower tempos. Getting ready to take the new album on tour and represent T.O. to the world, the crew was already in fine form.

Recording: Lee Paradise

Artist: Lee Paradise

Song: Langel^*

Recorded at Smiling Buddha, April 14, 2015.

Lee Paradise - Langel

Nearly a year on from the release of his fabulous album, this Daniel Lee side project shows signs of continued vitality, sneaking on stage under cover of near-total darkness. After some downtime while Lee was touring the world (and/or the West Coast) with Hooded Fang/Phèdre this highly-effective live unit is sounding rather focused in delivering the lean grooves these songs rely on. Hopefully this is a sign of more to come.

^* Thanks to a tipster for passing along the true meaning of this song's name.

Recording: Black Spirituals

Artist: Black Spirituals

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Double Double Land, April 12, 2015.

Black Spirituals - unknown

Following up a gig at Kazoo fest, this local set came with a last-minute sort of announcement, but despite not knowing any of the visiting principals I was intrigued enough to head down. It turned out that this Oakland duo of Marshall Trammell and Zachary James Watkins was just what I needed on a tough day. Trammell (percussion) and Watkins (guitar + electronics) joined in a dialogue of free-noise improvisations, but the project's very name invites the listener to situate their sound in a deeper aesthetic, where the crash of drums and shards of guit-drone can be seen dipping into the same oceans of hurt and redemption in church music (or in Pharaoh Sanders' gut-moans in Seattle). But most fundamentally, this was music in and of the moment.

^* I'm not sure if this was an improvisation or a recreation of a titled piece. Please leave a comment if you know the title.

Recording: Postcommodity

Artist: Postcommodity

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Double Double Land, April 12, 2015.

Postcommodity - unknown

Presenting an installation at the Images Festival, two members of this Albuquerque-based multidisciplinary collective also presented their musical side at this DDL gig. Their raw materials were flutes and voices processed into electroacoustic forms, re-presenting Indigenous roots as post-digital sound-spatter. (There's some more musical work on their bandcamp, in the most evocatively-titled album Your New Age Dream Contains More Blood Than You Imagine.)

^* I'm not sure if this was an improvisation or a recreation of a titled piece. Please leave a comment if you know the title.

Recording: Jale (almost)

Artist: Laura Stein, Jennifer Pierce, Mike Belitisky, Michael McKenzie (with Joe Pernice and Norman Blake)

Songs: All Ready + Sign of Life + Promise [Jale covers]

Recorded at The Dakota Tavern, April 10, 2015.

Laura Stein, Jennifer Pierce, Mike Belitisky, Michael McKenzie - All Ready

Laura Stein, Jennifer Pierce, Mike Belitisky, Michael McKenzie - Sign of Life

Laura Stein, Jennifer Pierce, Mike Belitisky, Michael McKenzie - Promise

Something quite awesome came up in the middle of this Joe Pernice/Norman Blake gig, when Pernice invited his wife Laura Stein along with Jennifer Pierce onto the stage. With Sadies/New Mendicants drummer Mike Belitsky already playing, suddenly three-quarters of great Can-indie band Jale were together on stage.¹ This might not be a big deal to everyone, but it was quite surely a Big Deal to a few folks of the right age. When they hit the first few notes of "All Ready", my heart melted, and for the next ten minutes it felt almost like I was back at the West End Cultural Centre in '95 (where I indeed saw the band play a pretty excellent set alongside The Inbreds and Superfriendz). Michael McKenzie is adding the lead-guitar power here, and Pernice and Blake were along for moral support, except for on "Promise", where they both stepped off the stage to head over to the bar.

[No guarantees that there will be more of this on offer, but the very excellent Joe Pernice/Norman Blake residency continues tonight (April 17th) at the Dakota as well as next week (April 24th). Pernice did mention that they were trying to put together another show "with this lineup" some time in September, so Jale fans should keep their eyes open.]

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¹ Didacticists would not be wrong to note that this was, more precisely, a reunion of The Vees.

Recording: Joe Pernice & Norman Blake

Artist: Joe Pernice & Norman Blake

Songs: Dark and Lonely Night + Sarasota [feat. Bob Pernice]

Recorded at The Dakota Tavern, April 10, 2015.

Joe Pernice & Norman Blake - Dark and Lonely Night

Joe Pernice & Norman Blake - Sarasota

When Joe Pernice and Norman Blake announced a weekly residency (every Friday this month), I presumed it would be something quite like their previous New Mendicants gigs at The Dakota — casual, acoustic sit-down affairs, with the pair trading off songs and stories, and with the whole thing wrapping up early enough that Pernice could still catch the last few innings of the Red Sox game. And, indeed, the first of two sets on this night did follow that template, before some increased rockin' out took over for the second. Backed by guitarist Michael McKenzie and Sadies drummer Mike Belitisky, Joe's brother Bob Pernice had also come up for the evening, and popped on and off stage to add guitar and vox (and in the case of "Sarasota", synth-string effects from an iPad app) as well as some brotherly give-and-take. That led to a fairly delightful mix of tunes, some nifty cover choices (Tom T. Hall!) as well as a mini-Jale reunion. (!!) It's pretty staggering to think one can just drop in and see such a wonderfully casual show as this, like hanging out in a friend's basement as they bash out song after song (but they just happen to be, like, Pernice Brothers and Teenage Fanclub songs).

[The Joe Pernice/Norman Blake residency continues tonight (April 17th) at the Dakota as well as next week (April 24th).]

Recording: The Lonely Parade

Artist: The Lonely Parade

Song: Stomach

Recorded at Junction City Music Hall, April 9, 2015.

The Lonely Parade - Stomach

This Peterborough trio has managed to elevate their performance a little every time I've seen 'em, and there are indications that they're becoming increasingly confident in exploring the unique jangle'n'crunch style they're carving out for themselves. Those songwriting and musical chops are also on display in their recent Splenda Thief EP. In town to back Nick Ferrio (and showing some additional musical flexibility), their own set after was a fully satisfying end to the night.

Recording: Nick Ferrio and The Lonely Parade

Artist: Nick Ferrio and The Lonely Parade

Song: My Friend the Soothsayer

Recorded at Junction City Music Hall, April 9, 2015.

Nick Ferrio and The Lonely Parade - My Friend the Soothsayer

I hadn't been out yet to the Junction City Music Hall, but the basement venue has a casual and intimate vibe that makes it worth revisiting. (But why did no one warn me to bring a pocket full of quarters for the Galaga machine down there amongst the vintage video games and pinball machines?)

I was on the scene to check out this team-up from two of Peterborough's most-notable musical exports, which saw The Lonely Parade acting as Nick Ferrio's backing band. Practising together for the past couple months, this pairing sounded pretty good on their first formal show together, and having a full-on rock unit behind him led to some beefed-up arrangements, as well as inspiring Ferrio to pen this brand-new tune to take advantage of the added crunch the band could offer. They also throttled back enough not to spoil the prettiness of Ferrio's more soulful tunes, many of which will be emerging on the forthcoming Amongst the Coyotes and Birdsongs, out on May 28th. (Keep an eye out for word of a return engagement to celebrate that release.)

Recording: L CON

Artist: L CON

Song: A Sign in Space^*

Recorded at Junction City Music Hall, April 9, 2015.

L CON - A Sign in Space

Ever the gracious host, Lisa Conway bumped herself down to the opening slot at this gig to give space to some Peterborough friends stopping in town before the whole crew would head on to Guelph the next night to play the Kazoo festival. That made this a chance to test out a new alignment for her long-simmering L CON project. Not only was there a whole set of new material, but the presentation has gotten a little bolder in a trio format that sees Conway playing alongside Andrew Collins (also of Skeletones Four) and Mary Wood, who all variously shared duties on keybs, guit, bass and drum machine.

Conway's ballads are now being re-imagined even more daringly than before, with tracks such as this one edging into minimalist postpunk/disco territory. Of course, Conway's song-world still operates in geological time — this tune asks "what's another two million years?" and the one that followed it upped the ante by musing about 500 million years — time enough to float in the black primordial seas and watch the fish swim by, eyeing you warily. (Slicing those eons into more manageable chunks, expect a new 7" to emerge this summer.)

^* Thanks to Andrew for passing the title to this one along!

Recording: Sir Richard Bishop

Artist: Sir Richard Bishop

Songs: Let It Come Down + unknown^*

Recorded at Ratio, April 8, 2015.

Sir Richard Bishop - Let It Come Down

Sir Richard Bishop - unknown

Invocation TO's Jay Pollard had brought Richard Bishop to Geary Lane a few months back, but this return visit was a little more scaled down in several dimensions. Playing a cozier space made sense as Bishop was playing a small-bodied nineteenth-century parlour guitar, and the bulk of the set was given over to the delicate beauty of the semi-improvised pieces that made in onto vinyl with his recent Tangier Sessions album. His masterful guitar technique is accentuated here by some wonderfully-subtle sonic extensions from his pedals. Along the way, there was even time to dip back for a couple ribald singalongs from the Sun City Girls catalogue.

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

Recording: Robert Millis

Artist: Robert Millis

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Ratio, April 8, 2015.

Robert Millis - unknown

Robert Millis is known for his work with Climax Golden Twins and AFCGT, as well as archivist work with Sublime Frequencies and Dust to Digital. On this tour, his job was to set the stage musically for Sir Richard Bishop (and well as serving as straight man/designated heckler during the headlining set). He did a number of atmospherically-folky numbers, but this one — one of a pair of more expansive instrumental pieces Millis performed — managed to feel almost as much like a travelogue as the tunes, or even the snapshots-from-Asia film that screened to open the night.

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

Recording: Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro

Artist: Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro

Song: [second piece]

Recorded at Ratio, April 8, 2015.

Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro - [second piece]

This night at Ratio was centred around Sir Richard Bishop's set on his nineteenth-century parlour guitar, but instead of taking the easy road to match that with someone in a similar musical vein, Invocation TO's Jay Pollard instead made a smart lateral move to bring in this duo who instead related in the intensity and craftiness of their improvising spirit. For those keeping track at home, Fisher is playing tenor on this track.

[This duo will be playing again on Friday night in the cozy Musideum space.]

Concert Listings Roundup #92

You can read more about why I'm doing listings here. Long story short: This curated and decidedly non-comprehensive list contains nothin' but shows that I am going to/would go to if I had more time.

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Gig of the week:

Biblical (PANIC / Overnight) / The Horseshoe Tavern 2015-04-17 (Friday) [FB event]

A simply monstrous rock juggernaut. The night's openers might not have name recognition, but they're full of veteran hands. Overnight extends the work that Carla and Lynette Gillis (ex-Plumtree) were pursuing a couple years ago in Sister, but pushes that band's heavy undertones up to the surface. Panic, fronted by Simon Oates (ex-No No Zero) haven't played much live yet, but this group of vets already has an excellent album under their belt and hit like The Cramps on bad acid. And Biblical are turning things up to eleven, metaphorically speaking, with recent tour fill-in Jordan Howard sticking with the band to form a three-headed guitar attack up front. Start practising your Devil Horns now.

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This week's noteworthy shows:

Aurochs / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-04-14 (Tuesday – early!)

Audiopollination #29.1 (feat. Heidi Chan/Jamie Thompson / Brian Abbot/James Bailey / Kayla Milmine/Conrad Gale / Tomasz Krakowiak/Holger Schoorl) / Array Space 2015-04-14 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Moon King [album release!] (Lee Paradise / Blunt Chunks) / Smiling Buddha 2015-04-14 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Bedroom / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-04-14 (Tuesday)

The Mike Smith Company: Live and Love Amongst the Transcombobulants / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-04-15 (Wednesday – early!) [FB event]

Paul-Julien Tanti (Jesse Levine) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-04-15 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Peach Kelli Pop (The Lord Almightys / Total Love) / Smiling Buddha 2015-04-15 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Jared Brown (TV Sets) / Handlebar 2015-04-15 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Boring, Formless Nonsense: Experimental Music and the Aesthetics of Failure (feat. lecture by eldritch Priest / performace of "The Brown Study") / Array Space 2015-04-16 (Thursday – PWYC!) [more info]

PPOP Presents (feat. Hector's Pets / Legato Vipers / Marvelous Mark / King Creep) / Johnny Jackson 2015-04-16 (Thursday) [FB event]

Norman Blake, Joe Pernice and Guests [April residency!] / Dakota Tavern 2015-04-17 (Friday – early!) [FB event]

Dust: The Quietest Big Band in the Known World / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-04-17 (Friday – early!)

Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro (The Brian Abbott Trio) / Musideum 2015-04-17 (Friday) [FB event]

Mermaids (John Mark Sherlock/ Martin Arnold) / Ratio 2015-04-17 (Friday) [FB event]

Sous le soleil (films by Man Ray, Georges Méliès, Marcel Duchamp with live soundtrack by Andrew Downing/Kevin Turcotte/William Carn/Peter Lutek/Joe Phillips/Aleksandar Gajic/David Occhipinti) / Théâtre de l'Alliance francaise Toronto 2015-04-17 (Friday) [more info]

Champion Lover (Several Futures / The Two Koreas / Kurt Marble) / Magpie Taproom 2015-04-17 (Friday) [FB event]

Steam Whistle Unsigned (feat. Dilly Dally / Teenanger / Most People) / Steam Whistle Brewing 2015-04-17 (Friday) [FB event]

Holy Oak's 6th Anniversary (feat. April Snow & The Musicologists [Thom Gill/Johnny Spence/Bram Gielen/Kieran Adams] / "secret guest performance") / Holy Oak Café 2015-04-17 (Friday) [FB event]

Ronley Teper and The Lipliners / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-04-17 (Friday) [FB event]

Dirty Frigs (Birds of Paradise / Sunshine & The Blue Moon / Katelyn Molgard) / The Silver Dollar Room 2015-04-17 (Friday) [FB event]

Record Store Day 2015 (feat. Comet Control / Mimico / Harrison / Anamai / Carl Didur) / Sonic Boom 2015-04-18 (Saturday – free all-day in-store performances! bands start at 2 p.m.!) [FB event]

Contact Contemporary Music: Professor Bad Trip (The Michael Eckert Large Earth Ensemble) / The Music Gallery 2015-04-18 (Saturday) [more info]

Record Store Day Afterparty (feat. Soupcans / Mmm Mmm [Sexy Merlin/Man Made Hill] / "Secret Special Guest") / 8-Eleven 2015-04-18 (Saturday) [FB event]

PPOP Presents (Not Of [record release!] / Nice Head) / Magpie Taproom 2015-04-18 (Saturday) [FB event]

Tsehaye Yohannes (Tewodros Tadesse / Daniel Nebiat) / The Opera House 2015-04-18 (Saturday) [more info]

NOISE: Toronto Noise Showcase (feat. Processor / Knurl / Cantenac Dagar / All Girl Knife Fight) / Double Double Land 2015-04-18 (Saturday) [FB event]

Alaniaris / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-04-19 (Sunday – afternoon set! 3 to 5 p.m.!)

Audiopollination #29.2 (feat. John Oswald/John Kamevaar/Germaine Liu / Michael Snow/Paul Dutton/Glen Hall/Mani Mazinani / CCMC) / Array Space 2015-04-19 (Sunday) [FB event]

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Add these to your calendar:

Reminder: This post only contains this week's updates — the full listings can always be found over on the right-hand sidebar!

Somewhere There Presents (feat. Craig Pedersen Quartet / Ali Berkok) / Musideum 2015-04-21 (Tuesday) [FB event]

THE AMBiENT PiNG (feat. iderdown + NAW + JFM) / Ratio 2015-04-21 (Tuesday) [more info]

Loom (Isla Craig) / Holy Oak Café 2015-04-22 (Wednesday) [FB event]

PPOP Presents (feat. Outtacontroller / Pink Wine / Make No Gains / Big Jrs.) / Johnny Jackson 2015-04-24 (Friday) [FB event]

HPR presents (feat. Spawn of Phil / Brian Schirk) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-04-29 (Wednesday) [FB event]

PPOP Presents (feat. HRRR / M. Mucci / BABEL) / Johnny Jackson 2015-04-30 (Thursday) [FB event]

TMT Trio (David Occhipinti [solo]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-05-01 (Friday) [FB event]

Feast In The East: 4 Year Anniversary (feat. The Soupcans / Steve Kado / My Suitor / Eucalyptus) / Jam Factory 2015-05-02 (Saturday) [FB event]

The Blow (Anna Oxygen) / The Garrison 2015-05-03 (Sunday) [FB event]

Wavelength 657 (feat. Memorex / Coarse Language / Schønsee) / 8-Eleven 2015-05-09 (Saturday) [FB event]

Final Blocks Concert (feat. Nifty / Austra / The Barcelona Pavilion [2002-2004 Lineup] / Bob Wiseman / The Phonemes [Full Band] / Hank / Matias / Ninja High School / Les Mouches) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2015-05-09 (Saturday) [FB event]

Army Girls (Crushed Out) / Burdock Music Hall 2015-05-13 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Pedram Khavarzamini (Shawn Mativetsky) / The Music Gallery 2015-05-16 (Saturday) [FB event]

Charlotte Cornfield (Matthew Bailey) / Burdock Music Hall 2015-05-28 (Thursday) [FB event]

N.213's Group Vision (Tough Age / Eyeballs) / 8-Eleven 2015-05-30 (Saturday) [FB event]

Public Animal (Eamon McGrath) / 3030 2015-05-30 (Saturday – free!) [FB event]

Recording: Russ Strutt

Artist: Russ Strutt

Songs: Sunshine of Your Love [Cream cover] + Silver Wings [Merle Haggard cover]

Recorded at Rising Star Studios, sometime in 2006.

Russ Strutt - Sunshine of Your Love

Russ Strutt - Silver Wings

My father died yesterday.

Perhaps one isn't supposed to admit it, but we weren't as close as a father and son are supposed to be. ("were supposed to be". Not used to that yet.) There was Family Stuff, and from the time I was in university there was about a decade I wasn't in touch. It was one of those turning-thirty things, maybe, that I decided to call him up one day. Or maybe just a sense if I didn't talk to him and missed my chance, I'd regret it. So although things weren't storybook perfect, we did have an adult relationship. And we mostly bonded over music.

Russ had a bit of a wandering spirit and wasn't the sort of person who wanted to live in one place for too long. After he retired, he spent his winters down in Terlingua, a dusty desert town in southwest Texas. He'd been a casual guitar player for most of his life, but he took it up more seriously down there, eventually holding down nights in local cantinas mostly playing old country songs, and finding a community of friends to play music with.

When we reconnected, he had an RV out by the Thousand Islands and we hung out for an afternoon together. I'd taken up playing the guitar by then (another one of those turning-thirty things) and we played songs back and forth for each other. I thought it filled in an otherwise awkward gap, but for him it seemed to bring a level of happiness I couldn't really understand, or that I couldn't imagine my presence should justify.

We kept in touch after that, and he'd pass through town every year or so, travelling from one place to another on long highway journeys. He liked for us to play together, so that was a part of many of our visits. Once, in ought-and-six, when I was probably most into playing, I booked us some time at a rehearsal place out in Etobicoke I'd been to a few times and brought my friend J along.

These recordings come from that day, and though we tackled a bunch of songs in ramshackle style, these two stick out in my mind. I always thought of "Sunshine of Your Love" as my father's song more than as a pop artifact because I first heard it over and over from the basement of my childhood home as he cranked it out on his red Hagstrom electric. (And now I can laugh to hear him throw himself into the vocal with slurred-howling gusto, and just maybe find a tiny bit of pride in listening to myself almost keeping up on bass.) "Silver Wings" wasn't one of the songs that we'd planned ahead for, but at the end of the session when J. and I began packing up, Russ just spontaneously launched into it. I didn't have a tab to play along (which probably improves the recording) but at least I could sing on the refrain.

Russ liked to sit back and have a beer and pick the guitar. He liked the companionship of old dogs. He loved living under the open sky, whether at his property in Manitoba or down in Texas. He wasn't the best father; I certainly wasn't the best son. We tried, in our own ways. We both had the music in us.

I'm not a spiritualist or metaphysicist, so I can't say with honest conviction that I hope Russ is enjoying himself on a new journey (or hum to myself "I know there's a lotta big preachers that know a lot more than I do / but it could be that the good Lord likes a little pickin' too" with more than a faint smile). I think that coincidences are just coincidences, but a week or so ago, I had the urge, for the first time in a while, to pick up my guitar. So at least I feel ready to face this event in a proper way. Sorry for imposing these half-coherent thoughts on you but this all just came out when I was thinking through things to myself. Now I have some songs to sing.