Recording: Laura Swankey & Heraclitus Akimbo

Artist: Laura Swankey & Heraclitus Akimbo

Song: [edited excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior Presents), October 13, 2019.

Laura Swankey & Heraclitus Akimbo - [edited excerpt]

Once more, I guest-curated Ayal Senior's Sunday afternoon Southern Cross timeslot and was thrilled to set up a co-operative set of sounds with vocalist Laura Swankey. It always requires a bit of trust to let someone else manipulate one's voice, but hopefully it was done here in a sympathetic spirit, smearing out long tones (and adding the voice of Miku as a duet partner) and otherwise abstracting the sound-bursts.

[Laura Swankey will be back in the Southern Cross to improvise with Bea Labikova, Kathryn Merriam and Germaine Liu in an extra-early early set on Saturday (November 30th). Heraclitus Akimbo will be performing alongside Rory Hoy and Lapis Lion at Audiopollination on Sunday, December 14th. Ayal Senior will be back presenting some music in the Southern Cross on the afternoon of Sunday, December 8th.]

Recording: Coin Operated Duo

Artist: Coin Operated Duo

Songs: [two pieces]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior Presents), October 13, 2019.

Coin Operated Duo - [third piece]

Coin Operated Duo - [fourth piece]

Once more, I guest-curated Ayal Senior's Sunday afternoon Southern Cross timeslot and was well-pleased to invite out this pairing of Mike Lynn (double bass) and Ryan Kinney (guitar). This duo has been occasionally playing together for awhile now, but a recent uptick has corresponded with Music for Farmers vol. I, the pair's first recording together. That recording does a nice job of leaning in and capturing the small gestures that the duo often make — my recording, by contrast, is much more "environmental", adding snippets of back-of-room conversations and even a few musical snatches from over in the Tiki Room. Fortunately, they also build up to a percussive clatter from time to time as well, and that sounds a bit more present here.

[The Coin Operated Duo will be performing at Audiopollination on Sunday, December 14th. Ayal Senior will be back presenting some music in the Southern Cross on the afternoon of Sunday, December 8th.]

Photo by Liz Lima.

Recording: Pernice Brothers

Artist: Pernice Brothers

Songs: Bum Leg [Joe Pernice solo] + Monkey Suit + Skinny Jeanne + I Came Back + The Weakest Shade of Blue

Recorded at The Dakota Tavern, October 10, 2019.

Joe Pernice - Bum Leg

Pernice Brothers - Monkey Suit

Pernice Brothers - Skinny Jeanne

Pernice Brothers - I Came Back

Pernice Brothers - The Weakest Shade of Blue

Supporting the first Pernice Brothers' album in nine years, Joe Pernice brought together brother Bob and the whole band for a short tour. No surprise that it started with a couple nights at The Dakota, seemingly his fave local venue with the dual virtues of being close to his home and encouraging an early-curfew show so everyone can get home and to bed. (This was a particular benefit to Pernice's audience, who could be largely stereotyped as "high school English teachers who aspire to maintain their younger days' hipness".)

Pernice lead off with a short solo set, and his songs of tribute and remembrance (including a run through Silver Jews' "Trains Across the Sea") were given accidental poignancy when one audience member crumpled to the floor, necessitating an unscheduled break while the paramedics were summoned. (Fortunately, it turned out to be nothing too serious and the affected patron was able to leave under his own power.) Quickly switching over to the full band, the new album was given pride of place, but there was time enough to range through the discography all the way back to the group's first single.

Recording: Ertel/Harrett/McCarroll-Butler/Sorbara

Artist: Madeleine Ertel/Reknee Harrett/Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Joe Sorbara

Songs: Untitled [composer: Reknee Harrett] + Pink Eye [composer: Lina Allemano]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), October 9, 2019.

Madeleine Ertel/Reknee Harrett/Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Joe Sorbara - Untitled

Madeleine Ertel/Reknee Harrett/Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Joe Sorbara - Pink Eye

Returning to town after a couple cycles on the West Coast, Joe Sorbara oversaw the conclusion of the "Music By and For Ken Aldcroft" series before transforming the timeslot to celebrate both presentness and local legacies in a new way. After working on their own book a bit, the plan for this as-yet unnamed new quartet (spotlighting three emerging talents on the local creative music scene) is "to have a guest each month who will add a few original compositions to our book and join us in playing their music to open the night." In a preview of that, the group tried on this Lina Allemano piece in addition to a variety of their own works.

[You can see this group at The Tranzac on the second Wednesday of the month, so next one up will be December 11th.]

Recording: Khôra

Artist: Khôra

Song: [last section]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Jazz and Otherwise Improvised Musics), October 8, 2019.

Khôra - [last section]

More focused on the present than the past, it took curator Andrew Furlong somewhat by surprise to realize that his music series in Wenona's basement was celebrating its anniversary — but he had booked a show that was quite worthy of carrying the birthday banner. Unlike when I saw him in this same space a few months previously, Matthew Ramolo was back to something like his "classic" setup, but still pushing off in unexplored directions and seeing if he can keep his modular rig's sounds from falling into chaos. The result in this closing section of the set was, indeed, rather beautiful.

[JAOIM will be back at Wenona on Tuesday, December 10th, sharing the night with Furniture Music and playing Cobra under the instruction of Joe Sorbara. Participants will include Mingjia Jessica Chen, Bea Labikova, Naomi McCarroll-Butler, Rob Grieve, Ashley Urquhart, Andrew Furlong, Raphael Roter, Joe Sorbara and Alex Fournier.]

Recording: Paul Newman

Artist: Paul Newman

Song: Expansion

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Jazz and Otherwise Improvised Musics), October 8, 2019.

Paul Newman - Expansion

More focused on the present than the past, it took curator Andrew Furlong somewhat by surprise to realize that his music series in Wenona's basement was celebrating its anniversary — but he had booked a show that was quite worthy of carrying the birthday banner. Recently-returned from a residency at the Banff Centre, saxophonist Paul Newman had worked some of the expansive spaciousness he found here — as well as the deer and skunks and magpies — into the brand-new first section of this piece filled with unrushed long tones and gorgeous harmonics.

[JAOIM will be back at Wenona on Tuesday, December 10th, sharing the night with Furniture Music and playing Cobra under the instruction of Joe Sorbara. Participants will include Mingjia Jessica Chen, Bea Labikova, Naomi McCarroll-Butler, Rob Grieve, Ashley Urquhart, Andrew Furlong, Raphael Roter, Joe Sorbara and Alex Fournier.]

Recording: Matt Nish-Lapidus & Karen Ng

Artist: Matt Nish-Lapidus & Karen Ng

Song: [excerpt from first piece]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #55), October 1, 2019.

Matt Nish-Lapidus & Karen Ng - [excerpt from first piece]

It's always exciting when past performers pitch something different for a return to the series — I never would have thought to combine Matt Nish-Lapidus' warped electronics with Karen Ng's saxophone. It turned out to be a canny juxtaposition, though, with each capable of excited squawk-bursts and stretched-out drones.

[Track Could Bend will be back at Wenona on Tuesday, December 3rd, with sets from Daniel Pencer, No Angels Dancing, and Patrick O'Reilly.]

Recording: Bill Gilliam & Kayla Milmine

Artist: Bill Gilliam & Kayla Milmine

Song: Creek Listening [excerpt]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #55), October 1, 2019.

Bill Gilliam & Kayla Milmine - Creek Listening [excerpt]

Originally slated as a trio alongside percussionist Ambrose Pottie, the latter's absence opened up some additional space in this already-open composition, revealing some beautiful textures for piano and soprano saxophone.

[Kayla Milmine will be back at Wenona tonight (Tuesday, November 26th), playing a solo set for soprano saxophone and celebrating her new solo album. Track Could Bend will be back at Wenona on Tuesday, December 3rd, with sets from Daniel Pencer, No Angels Dancing, and Patrick O'Reilly.]

Recording: Infinite Monotremes

Artist: Infinite Monotremes

Songs: [first piece, in two parts]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #55), October 1, 2019.

Infinite Monotremes - [first piece, part 1]

Infinite Monotremes - [first piece, part 2]

This shape-shifting improvising collective sometime does audio-visual work but limited themselves to sonic explorations this time out, bringing together Curtis Whittaker (percussion), Tyson Headon (bass), Kieran Maraj (electronics), Danielle Fernandes (saxophone) and Brent O'Toole (guitar) — sometimes drifting along, sometimes keenly watching each other in playful jousting.

[Track Could Bend will be back at Wenona on Tuesday, December 3rd, with sets from Daniel Pencer, No Angels Dancing, and Patrick O'Reilly.]

Concert Listings Roundup #329

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:

Nite Comfort 74 (feat. C.R. Gillespie / Colin Fisher) / Handlebar 2019-12-01 (Sunday – PWYC!) [FB event]

Always presenting genre-defying, electronic-abetted sounds, monthly series Nite Comfort closes out 2019 with an especially cool show, featuring sets from MFS fave Colin Fisher as well as C.R. Gillespie at Handlebar on Sunday. There's also an extra bonus in the form of live visuals from Ilyse Krivel.

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This week's noteworthy shows:

Caution Tape Sound Collective: Singles vol. 4 [compositions by Patrick Arteaga, Sophie Dupuis, Julia Mermelstein, August Murphy-King, Christina Volpini, Beat Furrer] (feat. Tristan Durie & Adam Scime) / Array Space 2019-11-25 (Monday) [FB event]

Brodie West Quintet [Tuesdays in November residency!] / The Rex 2019-11-26 (Tuesday – early!) [FB event]

Furniture Music: Solos Night (feat. Kayla Milmine / Tom Fleming / Alex Fournier / Ashley Urquhart) / Wenona Lodge 2019-11-26 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Nick Fraser's Jazz Education [Madeleine Ertel/Max Stover/Alex Argatoff/Nick Fraser] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-11-26 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Music by Harry and Furlong S2E3 (feat. Harry Vetro/Nick Donovan/Miles Fuller / Andrew Furlong/Kurt Newman/Bea Labikova) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-11-27 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Electric Duets* (feat. Penumbra -1+1 [Yunjin Claire Lee/Hayden Farrar with special guests Mingjia Jessica Chen + Bea Labikova] / Tara Kannangara & Chris Pruden) / Burdock Music Hall 2019-11-28 (Thursday) [FB event]

Cares [Control Isn't Real album release!] (Escote / Tendencyitis) / 245 Lansdowne 2019-11-28 (Thursday) [FB event]

Nomad [Mike Bjella/Ted Crosby/Jake Wiens/Ben Dwyer/Kai Basanta] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-11-28 (Thursday) [FB event]

Thollem McDonas/Michael Snow (Thollem McDonas/Raven Chacon) / Array Space 2019-11-28 (Thursday) [more info]

Christine Bougie/Dafydd Hughes/Julia Hambleton/Andrew Downing [playing Pet Sounds in its entirety, instrumentally] / The Gladstone Hotel 2019-11-29 (Friday – early show! no cover charge!) [FB event]

Aurochs / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-11-29 (Friday – early!)

The Ryan Driver Sextet / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-11-29 (Friday)

Ahmed Ag Kaedy / Aga Khan Museum 2019-11-29 (Friday) [FB event]

Venus Fest presents (feat. Ice Cream [Fed Up album release!] / Slash Need) / Cecil Community Centre 2019-11-29 (Friday) [FB event]

Holger Schoorl / house concert 2019-11-29 (Friday) [FB event]

Xuan Ye [Xi Xi 息息 album release] (Jason Doell) / Pari Nadimi Gallery 2019-11-29 (Friday) [FB event]

CCMC with special guest Tilman Lewis / Array Space 2019-11-29 (Friday – PWYC!)

Yamantaka//Sonic Titan [performing a live score to the classic anime "Akira"] no live score! screening only! / The Royal Cinema 2019-11-29 (Friday) [FB event]

Bea Labikova/Kathryn Merriam/Germaine Liu/Laura Swankey (Kathryn Merriam / Odradek [Andy Yue/Michelangelo Iaffaldano/James Bailey]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-11-30 (Saturday – extra-early start @ 6:30 p.m.!) [FB event]

FAWN Chamber Creative: Convergence Theory (feat. Doom Tickler / James O'Callaghan / Rose Bolton) / Victory Social Club 2019-11-30 (Saturday) [FB event]

Nick Fraser/Kris Davis/Tony Malaby [Zoning Astral Spirits album release!] / The Rex 2019-12-01 (Sunday) [FB event]

Laura Swankey/David Riddel/Devin Patten/Nick Donovan / The Emmet Ray 2019-12-01 (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!

Eugene Martynec/Paul Newman / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-12-03 (Tuesday – extra-early set @ 5:00 p.m.!)

Somewhere There presents Temporary Ensembles (feat. Reknee Harrett/Bea Labikova/Alex Fournier/Dan Friedman/Jonathan Luke/Paul Newman/Edwin Sheard/Patrick Smith/Ashley Urquhart) / Array Space 2019-12-08 (Sunday) [FB event]

Tania Gill Quartet [Tania Gill/Lina Allemano/Rob Clutton/Nico Dann] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-12-08 (Sunday) [FB event]

Ornate Presents (feat. Tyrannick Love [Edwin Sheard/Patrick O’Reilly/Phil Albert/Stefan Hegerat]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-12-10 (Tuesday – early!) [FB event]

Furniture Music + JAOIM: Cobra (feat. Mingjia Jessica Chen / Bea Labikova / Naomi McCarroll-Butler / Rob Grieve / Ashley Urquhart / Andrew Furlong / Raphael Roter / Joe Sorbara / Alex Fournier) / Wenona Lodge 2019-12-10 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Riparian Acoustics/CMC Presents (feat. David Schotzko) / Canadian Music Centre 2019-12-12 (Thursday) [more info]

Somewhere There presents (feat. Meghan Gilhespy/Ben Frost/Patrick O'Reilly) / The Emmet Ray 2019-12-15 (Sunday – PWYC!) [FB event]

Tranzac NYE (feat. Hot Garbage / Mother Tongues / Myst Milano / Rapport / Char Aragoza) / The Tranzac 2019-12-31 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Recording: Cosmic Homeostasis XII

Artist: Cosmic Homeostasis XII

Songs: If Trees Were Men [excerpt] + The Lonesome Albatross [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), September 29, 2019.

Cosmic Homeostasis XII - If Trees Were Men [excerpt]

Cosmic Homeostasis XII - The Lonesome Albatross [excerpt]

This gathering saw a slightly-smaller ensemble of ambient space drifters, but in the current Cosmic Homeostasis context that still meant there were eight soundmakers on hand. (The group here was Curtis Whittaker — also the namer-of-things, Ron Blake, Del Stephen, Patrick O'Reilly, Michael Lynn, Fahmid Nibesh, Mira Martin-Grey, and Joe Strutt.) The first set emerged around buzzing electronic sounds a bit more than usual, but interesting organic flourishes crept into the second.

You can listen to the full session over at bandcamp — money from digital sales will go towards the fund for recording our forthcoming studio album!

[Cosmic Homeostasis will be back at The Tranzac on Sunday, December 29th.]

Recording: Marker Starling

Artist: Marker Starling

Songs: Move it On + Strong Suit

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), September 29, 2019.

Marker Starling - Move it On

Marker Starling - Strong Suit

This Sunday afternoon special managed to tick off several agenda items all at once. It was an opportunity to draw out a crowd you wouldn't see at night, and the room was filled with happy parents and kids of all ages. But the show served primarily as an opportunity for Chris Cummings and band to get in a dress rehearsal before a primo opening slot for the reunited Stereolab in Montreal — a pairing that makes additional sense when you know that Cummings and the groop's Lætitia Sadier have appeared on each other's albums. That meant the band's set was a tight and punchy affair, focused on the hits that might win over unfamiliar ears. (Before that, the afternoon started off with a solo set from Cummings, and some new material did manage to slip into both.)

Recording: Jerusalem in My Heart

Artist: Jerusalem in My Heart

Song: Wa Ta'atalat Loughat Al Kalam

Recorded at The Music Gallery, September 28, 2019.

Jerusalem in My Heart - Wa Ta'atalat Loughat Al Kalam

Leading off a new season at The Music Gallery, Radwan Ghazi Moumneh deconstructed some sounds from Jerusalem in My Heart's third album Daqa'iq Tudaiq, taking the lush pop elements found in this track's album version into the borderlands between granularized micro-looping and harsh digital distortion, literally breaking speech down into discordantly-stuttering phonemes — all the more fascinating when one realizes that the song's title translates as "The Language Of Speech Has Broken Down". Meanwhile Charles-André Coderre's overlapping 8mm films evoked memory's disintegrating fragmentation, reinventing new meanings from the past's left-over collages.

Recording: Furlong/Ng/Pencer/Zurawinski

Artist: Andrew Furlong/Karen Ng/Daniel Pencer/Mark Zurawinski

Songs: O.C. [composer: Daniel Pencer] + unknown^* [composer: Andrew Furlong]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), September 26, 2019.

Andrew Furlong/Karen Ng/Daniel Pencer/Mark Zurawinski - O.C.

Andrew Furlong/Karen Ng/Daniel Pencer/Mark Zurawinski - unknown

Declaring this to "hopefully" be a new band, this evening at The Tranzac saw Karen Ng and Daniel Pencer on reeds joining rhythm section Andrew Furlong and Mark Zurawinski. The members brought some pieces to try out, giving space for dialogues between the players — Furlong's piece presented here, for example, starts with a duet between Pencer and Zurawinski and closes with the two saxes in conversation — and often ending with joyful laughter.

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

Concert Listings Roundup #328

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:

Riparian Acoustics/CMC Presents (feat. Chik White / Gayle Young) / Canadian Music Centre 2019-11-21 (Thursday) [FB event]

Last year's concert series at the Canadian Music Centre, curated by Nick Storring in his Riparian Acoustics promotional alter ego, was such a success that they brought him back for more, and this new season begins with this very fascinating concert. Mixing two outside-the-box sonic thinkers and social connectors, this night brings together East Coast experimental jaw-harp virtuoso Darcy Spidle and instrument inventor/nature sounds re-imaginer Gayle Young. Do note that Spidle will also be giving a free talk about his artistic practice at the CMC on Wednesday afternoon.

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This week's noteworthy shows:

LUKA (Tamara Lindeman) / The Tranzac (Tiki Room) 2019-11-18 (Monday)

The Lady and the Tramp [Jim Lewis/Christine Duncan/Tom Fleming/Alex Fournier] / The Emmet Ray 2019-11-18 (Monday) [FB event]

Brodie West Quintet [Tuesdays in November residency!] / The Rex 2019-11-19 (Tuesday – early!) [FB event]

PONY (Sad Baxter / Sundae / Laurie) / The Baby G 2019-11-19 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Novalima (Pisco / Mas Aya) / Lula Lounge 2019-11-19 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Music Hosted by Karen Ng (feat. Ryan Brouwer/Ben Dwyer/Karen Ng / Felicity Williams and Friends [Felicity Williams/Robin Dann/Dan Fortin/Yunjin Claire Lee/Daniel Pencer]) / / Wenona Lodge 2019-11-19 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Dr. Purgatory [David Riddel/Andrew Furlong/Colleen Allen/Cass Beau/Andrew Scott/Laura Swankey] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-11-19 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Octopus Presents (feat. Daniel Pencer/Patrick O'Reilly/Mark Zurawinski / Gabrielle Charron-Merritt/Cory Harper-Latkovich/Germaine Liu/Andrew Zukerman) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-11-20 (Wednesday – early!) [FB event]

Kind Mind [Karen Ng/Michael Davidson/Josh Cole with Sandro Perri] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-11-20 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Corridor (Absolutely Free) / The Garrison 2019-11-20 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet (Nick Flanagan) / Monarch Tavern 2019-11-21 (Thursday – two sets!) [FB event]

Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet (The Layrite Boys) / Monarch Tavern 2019-11-22 (Friday) [FB event]

Long Winter 8.1 (feat. R. Flex / Pretty Matty / Raf Reza / ZOE / Leucrocuta / Roach / Scorpio Rising / Quezal / Annacetaminophen / Relly / Aaron Dolman / Mingjia) / The Tranzac 2019-11-22 (Friday – all ages! PWYC!) [FB event]

Bill Gilliam/Bill McBirnie/Eugene Martynec (Bill Gilliam/Kayla Milmine/Ambrose Pottie) / Gallery 345 2019-11-22 (Friday) [FB event]

Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet (TV Freaks) / Monarch Tavern 2019-11-23 (Saturday) [FB event]

Rapport (Bueller / Pax / Twist) / The Baby G 2019-11-23 (Saturday) [FB event]

Toronto Sound Festival (feat. Hainbach / Korea Town Acid / ORO Records showcase with MAKS/Nailbiter/Good + BUTR) / Beverley Halls [a.k.a. SPK Polish Combatants Hall] 2019-11-23 (Saturday) [FB event]

Silent Shout (feat. Chevalier Avant Garde / Scott Hardware / SlowPitchSound) / Handlebar 2019-11-23 (Saturday) [FB event]

Silent Revue [Varieté, 1925, dir. E.A. Dupont with live accompaniment] (feat. Tania Gill) / Revue Cinema 2019-11-24 (Sunday – afternoon screening @ 4 p.m.!) [FB event]

Team Building (feat. Nick Dourado / Abigail Lapell / David Nardi / Hiroki Tanaka / Britt Elise /Louie Short) / Burdock Music Hall 2019-11-24 (Sunday – early show @ 6 p.m.!) [FB event]

Emergents I (feat. Sarah Albu & Mári Mákó / Anoush Moazzeni) / The Music Gallery 2019-11-24 (Sunday) [FB event]

Toronto Improvisors Orchestra Celebrates Casey Sokol / Array Space 2019-11-24 (Sunday) [FB event]

Gladys Lazer [EP release!] (Deadbeat Beat / Motorists) / Handlebar 2019-11-24 (Sunday) [FB event]

Laura Swankey/David Riddel/Devin Patten/Nick Donovan / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-11-24 (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!

Furniture Music: Solos Night (feat. Kayla Milmine / Tom Fleming / Alex Fournier / Ashley Urquhart) / Wenona Lodge 2019-11-26 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Holger Schoorl / house concert 2019-11-29 (Friday) [FB event]

Nite Comfort 74 (feat. C.R. Gillespie / Colin Fisher) / Handlebar 2019-12-01 (Sunday – PWYC!) [FB event]

Track Could Bend #57 (feat. Daniel Pencer / No Angels Dancing / Patrick O'Reilly) / Wenona Lodge 2019-12-03 (Tuesday – PWYC!) [FB event]

SynapticCircusSundays (feat. Mira Martin-Gray and Kieran Maraj / Craig Dunsmuir's Dun-Dun Band) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-12-08 (Sunday – early!) [FB event]

Winter Dance Party (feat. Beams / Suitcase Sam / Tequila Jay & Los Diablos) / Monarch Tavern 2019-12-12 (Thursday) [FB event]

Audiopollination 78 (feat. Mira Martin-Gray/Brian Abbott/Alex Whyte / Heraclitus Akimbo/Rory Hoy/Lapis Lion / Neil Wiernik/Matt Nish-Lapidus/Heidi Chan / Coin Operated Duo) / Array Space 2019-12-14 (Saturday) [FB event]

The Art of the Piano: Dreams and Reveries (feat. Marilyn Lerner) / Gallery 345 2019-12-14 (Saturday) [FB event]

Solstice Show (feat. Clara Engel) / Hirut Café 2019-12-22 (Sunday) [FB event]

New Year's Eve Bash (feat. catl. / All Seeing Eyes) / The Dakota Tavern 2019-12-31 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Innermost Songs [new works by Emilie LeBel, Daniel Brandes, Kotoka Suzuki, Patrick Giguère, James O'Callaghan, Monica Pearce, Anna Hostman] (feat. Cheryl Duvall) / Canadian Music Centre 2019-01-16 (Thursday) [FB event]

Matthew "Doc" Dunn (Lavender Bruisers / Mr. Joy) / The Baby G 2020-01-16 (Thursday) [FB event]

Recording: The Search For Eternal Happiness Pt. 7

Artist: The Search For Eternal Happiness Pt. 7

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Music By Harry and Furlong Season 2 Spectacular!), September 25, 2019.

The Search For Eternal Happiness Pt. 7 - [excerpt]

This self-declared spectacle — which came complete with celebratory cupcakes — was an anniversary party for Andrew Furlong and Harry Vetro's Tranzac residency. As usual, each of them put together an ensemble to play a set. Vetro's shifting ensembles are regularly dubbed a part of his "Search For Eternal Happiness", and this large group brought together most of the players who came together at the series' first outing. This part of the search was less "composed" than some, but there was still the strong shared sense of a game plan, with the crew managing to hold onto a reasonably-layered structure and not just pile sounds on top of other sounds, raising up to a swell worthy of a birthday party.

The full ensemble was:

• Harrison Argatoff (sax)
• Madeleine Ertel (trumpet)
• Ben Frost (flugelhorn)
• Kaelin Murphy (bass trumpet)
• Patrick Smith (sax)
• Meghan Gilhespy (vocals)
• Nick Donovan (drums)
• Patrick O'Reilly (guit)
• Harry Bartlett (guit)
• Caleb Klager (double bass)
• Harrison Vetro (drums)

[Music By Harry and Furlong will continue at The Tranzac on Wednesday, November 27th, with sets from Harry Vetro's Drum Trio (Harry Vetro, Nick Donovan, and Miles Fuller) as well as a duo of Andrew Furlong and Kurt Newman.]

Recording: Furlong/Milmine/Newman

Artist: Andrew Furlong/Kayla Milmine/Kurt Newman

Songs: [three excerpts from first piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Music By Harry and Furlong Season 2 Spectacular!), September 25, 2019.

Andrew Furlong/Kayla Milmine/Kurt Newman - [excerpt #1 from first piece]

Andrew Furlong/Kayla Milmine/Kurt Newman - [excerpt #2 from first piece]

Andrew Furlong/Kayla Milmine/Kurt Newman - [excerpt #3 from first piece]

This self-declared spectacle — which came complete with celebratory cupcakes — was an anniversary party for Andrew Furlong and Harry Vetro's Tranzac residency. As usual, each of them put together an ensemble to play a set. Leading off the evening, bassist Andrew Furlong was joined by Kayla Milmine on soprano sax and Kurt Newman on guitar. There were some quiet and considered zones here as well as some stranger sounds with sax-generated ducksquawks and guitar-generated syntax errors creeping in.

[Music By Harry and Furlong will continue at The Tranzac on Wednesday, November 27th, with sets from Harry Vetro's Drum Trio (Harry Vetro, Nick Donovan, and Miles Fuller) as well as a duo of Andrew Furlong and Kurt Newman.]

Concert Listings Roundup #327

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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This week's noteworthy shows:

Harrison Argatoff's Valley Voice [Harrison Argatoff/Michael Davidson/Dan Fortin/Ian Wright] / The Emmet Ray 2019-11-11 (Monday – early! PWYC!) [FB event]

David Occhipinti Quartet [David Occhipinti/Michael Davidson/Dan Fortin/Terry Clarke] / The Emmet Ray 2019-11-11 (Monday) [FB event]

Burn Down The Capital presents (feat. Ami Dang / Kat Estacio / Memory Pearl) / Burdock Music Hall 2019-11-11 (Monday) [FB event]

Brodie West Quintet [Tuesdays in November residency!] / The Rex 2019-11-12 (Tuesday – early!) [FB event]

Ornate Presents (feat. Danielle Fernandes/Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Joe Sorbara/Alex Fournier) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-11-12 (Tuesday – early!) [FB event]

Jazz and Otherwise Improvised Musics (feat. Coin Operated Duo [Ryan Kinney/Michael Lynn] [tape release!] / Future Proof [Bea Labikova/Raphael Roter/Yunjin Claire Lee]) / Wenona Lodge 2019-11-12 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Robert Forster / The Drake Hotel 2019-11-12 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Most Popular Mic Touching Sounds (formerly Cramzac) presents (feat. Rob & Job Scalsué [Simone Schmidt & Jeremy Costello] / Beet Tahini [Alex Lukashevsky/Evan Cartwright/Zach Bines/Edwin Sheard/Felicity Williams) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-11-12 (Tuesday)

Kasemets @100 (feat. New Music Concerts & Ensemble U) / Walter Hall 2019-11-12 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Ways + Ashley Urquhart with Evan Cartwright / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-11-13 (Wednesday – early)

THE AMBiENT PiNG (feat. Bonecreak Ulysses / The Body In Question + Stuart Clark) / Handlebar 2019-11-13 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Madeleine Ertel/Reknee Harrett/Naomi McCarroll-Butler / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-11-13 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Dan Pitt/Andrew Downing / The Emmet Ray 2019-11-15 (Friday – early!) [FB event]

Lake Affect [Ashley Urquhart/Alex Fournier/Stefan Hegerat] / The Emmet Ray 2019-11-16 (Saturday – early!) [FB event]

Tomasz Krakowiak & Brian Abbott / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-11-16 (Saturday) [FB event]

Jazz United Jam / The Tranzac (Tiki Room) 2019-11-17 (Sunday)

Diane Roblin/Colin Fisher/Jeff Luciani / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-11-17 (Sunday – early!) [FB event]

Shotgun Jimmie (José Contreras) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2019-11-17 (Sunday) [FB event]

Dan Pitt Trio [Dan Pitt/Alex Fournier/Stefan Hegerat] / The Rex 2019-11-17 (Sunday) [FB event]

Somewhere There presents (feat. François Houle/James Meger/Joe Sorbara) / The Emmet Ray 2019-11-17 (Sunday) [FB event]

History Series: Celebrating Casey Sokol ["part improvised soiree/part interview with nibbles and drinks to set the tone"] / The Music Gallery @ 918 Bathurst 2019-11-17 (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!

The Lady and the Tramp [Jim Lewis/Christine Duncan/Tom Fleming/Alex Fournier] / The Emmet Ray 2019-11-18 (Monday) [FB event]

PONY (Sad Baxter / Sundae / Laurie) / The Baby G 2019-11-19 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Riparian Acoustics/CMC Presents (feat. Chik White / Gayle Young) / Canadian Music Centre 2019-11-21 (Thursday) [FB event]

Long Winter 8.1 (feat. R. Flex / Pretty Matty / Raf Reza / ZOE / Leucrocuta / Roach / Scorpio Rising / Quezal / Annacetaminophen / Relly / Aaron Dolman / Mingjia) / The Tranzac 2019-11-22 (Friday – all ages! PWYC!) [FB event]

Team Building (feat. Nick Dourado / Abigail Lapell / David Nardi / Hiroki Tanaka / Britt Elise /Louie Short) / Burdock Music Hall 2019-11-24 (Sunday – early show @ 6 p.m.!) [FB event]

Gladys Lazer [EP release!] (Deadbeat Beat / Motorists) / Handlebar 2019-11-24 (Sunday) [FB event]

Laura Swankey/David Riddel/Devin Patten/Nick Donovan / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-11-24 (Sunday) [FB event]

Cares [Control Isn't Real album release!] (Escote / Tendencyitis) / 245 Lansdowne 2019-11-28 (Thursday) [FB event]

Nomad [Mike Bjella/Ted Crosby/Jake Wiens/Ben Dwyer/Kai Basanta] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-11-28 (Thursday) [FB event]

Christine Bougie/Dafydd Hughes/Julia Hambleton/Andrew Downing [playing Pet Sounds in its entirety, instrumentally] / The Gladstone Hotel 2019-11-29 (Friday – early show! no cover charge!) [FB event]

FAWN Chamber Creative: Convergence Theory (feat. Doom Tickler / James O'Callaghan / Rose Bolton) / Victory Social Club 2019-11-30 (Saturday) [FB event]

Laura Swankey/David Riddel/Devin Patten/Nick Donovan / The Emmet Ray 2019-12-01 (Sunday) [FB event]

Memories of Time (feat. Ghostlight / Dark Bird) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-12-04 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Tang [release show!] (Steven Lambke / Holiday Pictures) / Handlebar 2019-12-05 (Thursday) [FB event]

Not the Wind, Not the Flag (Ryan A. Miller / Christine Duncan) / The Beguiling 2019-12-06 (Friday – PWYC!) [FB event]

Epic Holiday Party [Harbour solo album release featuring works of Anna Hostman] (feat. Cheryl Duvall) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2019-12-08 (Sunday) [FB event]

Paul Linklater and friends / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2019-12-15 (Sunday – afternoon show @ 5 p.m.!) [FB event]

Pop. 1280 (WHIMM) / Monarch Tavern 2019-12-15 (Sunday) [FB event]

Class Of 2020 (feat. Burner / WLMRT / Luge / Dish Pit / Piper Maru) / Monarch Tavern 2020-01-04 (Saturday) [FB event]

Recording: The Side Eye

Artist: The Side Eye

Songs: [two excerpts]

Recorded at Array Space, September 20, 2019.

The Side Eye - [excerpt 1]

The Side Eye - [excerpt 2]

Celebrating a CD on the esteemed (and recently-defunct) Arachnidiscs label, this trio shared some clattering improvisations. Featuring Kayla Milmine on soprano sax and Mike Lynn on double bass, the piece of grit in the oyster here is percussionist MJ Wright, equally at home behind the kit as seated on the floor surrounded by an array of contact-mic'd percussive bricabrac, providing tinfoil rustles and little curls of feedback to frame the other instruments.

Recording: Liz Lima

Artist: Liz Lima

Song: Lyrebird Motel [excerpt]

Recorded at Array Space, September 20, 2019.

Liz Lima - Lyrebird Motel [excerpt]

The superb Australian bird namechecked in this piece might not be as familiar to North Americans, but its noted skill in mimicry inspired Liz Lima to craft this electroacoustic composition with structured improvised elements for clarinet, voice, tapes and drones, here making its local debut.

Recording: Mira Martin-Gray

Artist: Mira Martin-Gray

Song: [last section]

Recorded at Array Space, September 20, 2019.

Mira Martin-Gray - [last section]

After a hard day's work enslaving humanity, the foot soldiers in the robot army need to go out and dance, and this rhythmic outing from Martin-Gray sounded like just the thing. Featuring a disciplined wrangling from her no-input mixer feedback rig, there was a steady stomp to most of the segments in this set, blurring the boundaries of "noise" and "dance" musics.

You can check out a video of this full set, with ace live-processed visuals by Kelley Mitchell:

Recording: Stargoon

Artist: Stargoon

Song: Part 4

Recorded at Array Space, September 20, 2019.

Stargoon - Part 4

With The Side Eye celebrating a new Arachnidiscs album, they reached out to some labelmates in putting together a release show. Easy enough then to get Stargoon on board, seeing saxophonist Kayla Milmine is a member of both units. This Stargoon outing had a few less squawks with feedbackist Matthew Fava taking the night off, so your dogged documenter attempted to add some wrinkly textures in processing the sax sounds and deploying a drum synth pedal. As always, it's the rhythm section of Luca Capone and Jakob Rehlinger that really keep things simmering.

You can check out/download this full set over at Stargoon's bandcamp:

Images montaged from a video shot by Fahmid Nibesh.

Recording: NAIL

Artist: NAIL

Songs: [two selections]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Josh Cole Presents), September 18, 2019.

NAIL - [excerpt from first piece]

NAIL - [fourth piece]

This project is a cross-Atlantic union between a pair of pre-exisiting pairings, with Canada's Duo Mercury (Nicolas Caloia and Lori Freedman) joining the Dutch Duo Baars Henneman (Ab Baars and Ig Henneman). Winds from Baars (shakuhachi, clarinet) and Freedman (clarinet, bass clarinet) were grounded by Caloia's double bass and Henneman's viola in a shifting series of encounters, moving from squawk-squeal yelpbursts to low-end mutters.

Recording: Kind Mind

Artist: Kind Mind

Songs: [two selections]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Josh Cole Presents), September 18, 2019.

Kind Mind - [excerpt from first piece]

Kind Mind - [second piece]

This short set from Josh Cole (double bass), Karen Ng (alto sax), and Michael Davidson (vibes) saw them opening for visiting musicians NAIL, so it was a bit of a stripped-back affair. Not working from their book of compositions this time, their pieces still had a strong sense of cohesion, especially the latter selection here, which sounds like a ballad-y standard you can't quite remember the title of, the nostalgia gleefully undermined by Davidson jabbing the stick-ends of his mallets into his instrument's spinning fans.

[Kind Mind will be back at The Tranzac on Wednesday, November 20th.]

Recording: 3M

Artist: 3M

Songs: [duo and trio excerpts]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), September 18, 2019.

Mira Martin-Gray & Mark Zurawinski - [excerpt]

Mira Martin-Gray & Michael Lynn - [excerpt]

Mark Zurawinski & Michael Lynn - [excerpt]

3M - [excerpt from first piece]

3M - [excerpt from second piece]

Although the members of this group (consisting of Michael Lynn on double bass, Mira Martin-Gray on no-input mixer and Mark Zurawinski on percussion) have all performed together before in various capacities, they formally launched their trio with a recording session of duo encounters. Their tape features explorations between Martin-Gray and Zurawinski on one side and Martin-Gray and Lynn on the flip, so this release celebration began by replicating those scenarios. From there, it moved to include the third point of duo triangulation (between Zurawinski and Lynn) before featuring the whole trio together.

The overall effect, both in twos and threes, is a sort of quiet noise, more interested in the tactility of possibly-abrasive textures than in deploying them at aggressive volumes. The three instruments also work to slip into each other's zones, with the body of the bass providing percussion, the surfaces of the drums creating scratchy, bumping hums and the no-input mixer pivoting from reconstituted bow-drones to snare-splatters.

Recording: Liu/Martin-Gray/Ng

Artist: Germaine Liu/Mira Martin-Gray/Karen Ng

Songs: [first piece, in three parts]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Music Hosted by Karen Ng), September 17, 2019.

Germaine Liu/Mira Martin-Gray/Karen Ng - [first piece, part 1]

Germaine Liu/Mira Martin-Gray/Karen Ng - [first piece, part 2]

Germaine Liu/Mira Martin-Gray/Karen Ng - [first piece, part 3]

An enticing mix in this set, with Karen Ng (on alto) joined by Germaine Liu (percussion) and Mira Martin-Gray (no-input mixer). The latter fit into the soundfield in several interesting ways, adding a substratum of rumbles as well as punching through the high end with occasional squeals. After wrapping things up working behind the scenes at the Guelph Jazz Festival, Ng was clearly in the mood to play and things hit the ground running at the outset here, a punkrock gallop where Liu's occasional sing-shouting fit right in — but equally intriguing is the extended coda that shifts to quieter textures. A delightful surprise, this trio absolutely needs to be called back into existence for further explorations — there were enough cool sounds that this is worth excerpting for a longer-than-usual sample.

[Karen Ng will be at The Tranzac on Sunday night (November 10th) in a trio with Ted Crosby and Daniel Pencer. You can expect Karen Ng to be presenting more music at Wenona on Tuesday, November 19th.]