Monday Roundup #50

In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.

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Community notes:

• A quiet little update herein to reflect quiet, respectfully-distanced times. Stay safe, reduce your contacts, get boosted and think about when we'll see each other again. Happy new year!

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In the mix:

• New drone mix posted in case you need an ambient escape hatch from current events:

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It happened this week...

• ...on December 31, 2010 at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge).

I Am Robot and Proud - Making a Case for Magic

[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.]

Monday Roundup #49

In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.

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Community notes:

• I don't think anyone was feeling nostalgia for March 2020, but that's what we got a taste of over the past week with that accelerating-towards-a-brick-wall/slam-on-the brakes feeling that has lead to a slate of properly-cautious event cancellations and reschedulings. For everyone who was feeling like the booster they needed was live music and community, just hang in there and stay safe.

• Meanwhile, the Tranzac announced a fundraiser last week to support its ongoing bar renovations — an essential element to keep the venue afloat, but something that falls outside the purview of the grants and other supports they have been getting. If you like hanging out in the Southern Cross (and if you have the means) your support would surely be appreciated.

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Livestream nation:

• I missed out on the youtube premiere, but I'd be remiss not to mention this latest episode of exquisite corpse collaborations from Understory. With sounds from Geordie Haley/Kayla Milmine/Peter Morin plus Gabi Charron-Merritt/Joel Leblanc/Naomi McCarroll-Butler:

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Bandcamp corner:

• Why didn't anyone tell me about Ayal Senior's bandcamp? Oh well, now I know, and so do you. I really enjoyed Alfredo Called Me, a new collection that's "...partly inspired by the Sam Peckinpah movie, 'Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia' &, also my humble attempt to make a Hanukah Album." There's plenty of crafty moves here, but also a spontaneous, homespun freshness — not unlike watching Ayal playing on a Sunday afternoon at The Tranzac.

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It happened this week...

• ...on December 25, 2009 at Lithuanian Hall.

Mahmoud Ahmed - 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.]

Monday Roundup #48

In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.

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Community notes:

• Kith & Kin are keeping their annual Holiday Wassail virtual this year, so keep an eye out on their facebook page for some videos of their beautiful harmonies, knitting together sounds from multiple traditions.

• The Music Gallery's Emergents Series returns in grand style this week with "Possible Worlds", a 4-part series "dedicated to musical world-building". Besides the "standard" (that is to say, utterly unpredictable) Emergents concert (from Skin Tone and Stephanie Castonguay, "diving into hacking, breaking and reinventing"), there's also "Community Sound", "a workshop led by saxophonist, clarinetist, instrument maker, and MG family member Naomi McCarroll-Butler, who will be leading us through a series of guided improvisations using graphic scores and conduction. Aimed at community members and early-career artists interested in exploring collective music-making, this will be a community space for people with different artistic interests and backgrounds to meet, speak and create together." [free sign-up at the door!] And on top of that, Unit 2 curates "Parallel Playfields", "a collection of experimental performances exploring noise, improvisation and different textures of sound. Featuring performances by Sa.resi, Deidre, and Vixu."

• Meanwhile, The Music Gallery, The Intersection Festival and a whole host of wonderful people are joining together with the TTC for A More Beautiful Journey, "a landmark XR (extended reality) audio installation that will transform Toronto public transit in 2022 – providing riders with generative, location-specific soundtracks for their commutes. Through the platform’s mobile, web-based interface, users will experience ambient songs, soundscapes, and scores for over 30 stretches of above-ground TTC line. Custom audio is contributed by artists from, and for, neighbourhoods spanning the breadth of Toronto’s public transit lines." Artists who are interested in contributing to these soundscapes should respond to the Open Call on the website by February 7, 2022.

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Concert listings:

• Tranzac NYE (feat. Lightman Jarvis Ecstatic Band / New Chance) / The Tranzac 2021-12-31 (Friday). $27.54. [FB event]

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Bandcamp corner:

• Julie Doiron returns with I Thought Of You (out now from the always-essential You've Changed label). Still full of her customary self-reflection and moments of hard-won determination, this might be her least rough-hewn (and most classic-rock leaning) album to date, thanks to ace musicians Daniel Romano, Ian Romano and Dany Placard.

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It happened this week...

Speaking of the Tranzac, I stuck my head into the Southern Cross last weekend, when I was there on my first trip back to see the Ryan Driver Sextet in the Main Hall. The new bar is still under construction, but I'm starting to hear rumours of things being scheduled there. So in anticipation, here's some sounds from Toronto's best music room...

• ... on December 13, 2019 at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge).

Colin Fisher/Ted Crosby/Evan Cartwright - [set 2, first piece]

• ...on December 18, 2019 at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge).

Lina Allemano/Rob Clutton/Blake Howard/Brodie West - [set 1 excerpt]

[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.]

Monday Roundup #47

In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.

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Livestream nation:

• Apologies as this veers well into the self-promotional this week. First off, Track Could Bend returns this week — for the next while, expect pre-recorded sets to appear on youtube on the series' traditional first Tuesday of the month. There's a certain amount of figuring shit out that needed to be done, so I figured I'd make like a B-movie scientist and experiment on myself, convening the trio Our Way to Fall (where I'm joined by Liz Lima and Del Stephen) to play a "soundcheck" of sorts as I work out the kinks on how I want to record and present audio and video. The good news is this sounds pretty fab. The visuals are a work in progress — I know I want something a little lo-fi and rough around the edges but still visually interesting. You can check out how close I got to the mark as the set premieres on youtube tomorrow night (December 7th) at 7 p.m.:

• Meanwhile, I recommend the Audiopollination series in this space as a matter of course, so I can say without reservation that you wouldn't want to miss a duo set from Glen Hall and Elizabeth Lima... and you might also enjoy some things that Patrick O'Reilly and myself are cooking up. (livestreams here on Friday night. Free. Facebook event.)

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Concert listings:

• Ladyfinger [Diane Roblin (piano & keyboards) + Kayla Milmine (soprano saxophone)] / The Emmet Ray 2021-12-12 (Sunday). $10. [FB event]

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Video hits:

• Very exciting to see Vicky Mettler's Kee Avil project make the move up to Constellation Records, announced by this visually-arresting video:

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It happened this week...

• ...on December 8, 2017 at Lee's Palace (Dan Burke: 60 plus 20).

The Highest Order feat. Michelle McAdorey - Carry On Warm

• ...on December 12, 2017 at Smiling Buddha.

Bitchin' Bajas - Circles on Circles

[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.]

Monday Roundup #46

In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.

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Community notes:

• Reminder to knob-twisters and soundscapists that Musicworks' 2021 Electronic Music Composition Contest is open and awaiting your entry. It's a pretty wide-open field ("any electronic-music genre — acousmatic, electroacoustic, glitch, soundscape, intelligent dance music (IDM), turntable art, or video music etc.") and your entries will be considered by the jury on the basis of your sounds only, as all identifying information is stripped away before they are given the tracks. (Full disclosure, I am a past jurist for this competition.) There's a fee of $25 to enter, but that also gives you a one-year subscription to the magazine, so it works out as a pretty good deal. You can get all the information you need here.

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Video hits:

• Clara Engel's "Microgods of all the Subatomic Worlds" (from their 2017 EP Songs for Leonora Carrington) has been given a second go-round with a striking new video from dance troupe Odeón Círculo Escénico, filmed on-site in the Museo Leonora Carrington in San Luis Potosí, Mexico:

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Bandcamp corner:

• No surprise that the new album from the Nick Fraser Quartet (Nick Fraser/Tony Malaby/Andrew Downing/Rob Clutton) rips in all the right ways. It's also pretty sweet to see these musicians amongst some pretty heavy hitters (like, say, Don Cherry/John Coltrane/Albert Ayler/Matthew Shipp) on Ezz-Thetics' bandcamp page.

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It happened this week...

• ...on November 30, 2016, at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge).

Cameron/Cole/Perri/Rampersaud - [first set, excerpt 2]

• ...on December 1, 2016 at The Garrison.

New Fries - Gertrude Stein Greeting Card from Pape/Danforth

[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.]

Monday Roundup #45

In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.

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Livestream nation:

• Thin Edge New Music Collective presents Premieres X, a night of new chamber pieces, on Wednesday (November 24th) with commissioned works by Kimia Koochakzadeh-Yazdi, Paolo Griffin, Homa Samiei and Matthew Ariaratnam. Free to watch, though PWYC donations are welcomed.

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Concert listings:

• Long Winter 10th anniversary kick-off: Together Apart International DIY Festival (feat. Orphx / Odonis Odonis / Bernice / Shn Shn / Lightman Jarvis Ecstatic Band / Tange / Del Stephen / Asuquomo / Karim Olen Ash / Savannah Taylor / Merival / New Chance / Besé / Ziibiwan / Sisi Superstar / Ceréna / Tica Holiday / Blackwinterwells) / St. Anne's Church 2021-11-26–2021-11-27 (Friday + Saturday). $12/$15 [ticket info]. [FB event] ("an IRL/URL cross-stream virtual party")

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Track Could Bend — redivivus:

• Track Could Bend (the cozy monthly music series curated by yours truly) is coming back! To try and ensure the safety and comfort of everyone involved, things will be in a hybrid form for the next few months. We'll be congregating at our home in the basement at Wenona Lodge with a very limited in-person crowd. I'll document the sets with audio and video and they'll make their way onto youtube on the first Tuesday of the month — which means you should make a note to keep your eye out on December 7th. To work the kinks out I did something I usually avoid and booked a group I'm part of for the "dress rehearsal". Here's a hint of what's coming up:

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It happened this week...

• ...on November 27, 2015 at The Horseshoe Tavern.

Dilly Dally - Candy Mountain

• ...on November 28, 2015 at Toronto Public Library – Yorkville Branch (Make Some Noise).

Jennifer Castle - I Don't Care About Money

[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: Labyrinth Ensemble with Lamia Yared

Artist: Labyrinth Ensemble with Lamia Yared

Song: Layali el wasl

Recorded at the Aga Kham Museum, November 13, 2021.

Labyrinth Ensemble with Lamia Yared - Layali el wasl

An auspicious beginning to this new phase from Labyrinth Ontario, debuting their full ensemble for the first time. This concert (and the ones slated to follow) expand on Labyrinth's mandate to foster cultural exchanges and musical education, bringing in an esteemed artist-in-residence — in this case vocalist/oudist Lamia Yared — for a period of extended rehearsals to give the musicians a chance to really dig into the material. The results were excellent across the board as the group stretched out in a series of traditional Turkish and Arabic musical styles, finding space to give each of the members a chance for their own instrument to stand out.

The full ensemble for this show was: Sadaf Amini (santur), Yang Chen (percussion/hand drums), Burak Ekmekci (baglama), Michael K. Harrist (yayli tanbur), Pedram Khavarzamini (tombak), Roa Lee (gayageum), Naomi McCarroll-Butler (saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, sallow flute/konvovka), John McKinnon (bass), Scott Peterson (bass), Araz Salek (tar), Marta Solek (cello, Greek lyra, plock fiddle), Tev Stevig (tanbur, oud), Aysel Taghi-Zada (violin), and Amely Zhou (erhu).

If you have access to facebook you can (at this writing) still watch the excellent-sounding archived webstream.

screenshot from Aga Khan webstream.

Monday Roundup #44

In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.

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Community notes:

• As COVID numbers start climbing again, it's difficult to get a sense of how to behave, what the dangers are, what to change, and what to keep doing. Some capacity limits are being held in place, though this doesn't seem to immediately impact concerts — but should they? Meanwhile, in Europe, where more restrictions had been relaxed (amid a "growing complacency about masks and distancing," which we should take as a cautionary warning), there's a big upswing, even in places with robust vaccination figures. It feels especially dicey for those of us who have just been making some relatively cautious steps into more social situations.

• Meanwhile, in local venue news, could The Phoenix be the next space to be replaced by a condo tower?

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Livestream nation:

• Understory's season of cross-Canada "exquisite corpse"-style remote collaborations continues on Thursday (November 18th) with two fantastic trios, consisting of chik white, Debashis Sinha and Laura Swankey plus Aisha Sasha John, Gurpreet Chana and Stephanie Chua. Check it out over on their youtube channel.

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Video replay:

• If you missed this set from Brazilian groover Bruno Capinan captured live at Lula Lounge that premiered this week, it may be just the thing to warm up your spirits as it gets colder outside:

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Concert listings:

• Okavango African Orchestra / Alliance Française de Toronto 2021-12-04 (Saturday). $20, advance ticket required. [FB event]

• AWAKE (feat. Joseph Shabason / Emissive + screening of Lucy Cameron Doc) / The Music Gallery 2021-12-04 (Friday). $15 [or Pay What You Want livestream available]. [FB event]

• Jennifer Castle: Winter Solstice / Longboat Hall 2021-12-21 (Tuesday). $20. [FB event]

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It happened this week...

• ...on November 15, 2014 at Double Double Land (DDL 5th Anniversary, Night 5).

The Space Lady - Major Tom

• ...on November 18, 2014 at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge).

Luxury Transcombobulation - Bongowater

[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.]

Monday Roundup #43

In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.

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Livestream nation:

• Audiopollination's new season begins this week! As things (hopefully!) get safer, the series will be transitioning to livestreams and (hopefully!) live audiences, but this first outing is a prerecorded duo of Diane Roblin (keyboard) & Yvonne Ng (movement). You can catch it for free on Friday (November 12th) over at Array's youtube channel.

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Concert listings:

• Labyrinth Ensemble with Lamia Yared / Aga Khan Museum 2021-11-13 (Saturday). $40 regular ($36 Museum Friends, $30 students and seniors, $20 artists). [FB event]

• The Ryan Driver Sextet / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2021-12-04 (Saturday). $11.62. [Attendance cap is sixty! Buy your ticket in advance!] [FB event]

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Bandcamp corner:

• One point of comparison for Tigerbomb might be scrappy-era Guided By Voices, given a similar propensity for their frontmen to crank out piles of songs (ranging from fragments to epics). But while it seemed like Robert Pollard aspired to veer into writing his own version of, say, Quadrophenia, Duncan "Doc Pickles" MacDonell's sympathies are with The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, though any stabs at grandiosity compete with a love of playground chants and occasionally just hangin' out at the Centerpoint Mall. And while the tracks have a scrappy urgency, the thoughtful arrangements reveal this is no lo-fi toss-off. The upshot: poetic gestures in all sorts of directions, and you'll be humming the title track to yourself for days afterwards. [Bonus! keep scrolling down for some bonus Doc Pickles content!]

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It happened this week...

• ...on November 9, 2012 at The Silver Dollar Room (Psych-Pop Toronto Release Party – Night 2).

B-17 - Another Nocturnal Day

• ...on November 10, 2013 at Handlebar (Crosswires).

The Jim Storie Juniors - Don't Take My Shortwave Away

[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.]

Monday Roundup #42

In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.

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Community notes:

• Changes are coming quickly now in terms of restrictions on venues, especially with this week's news that Ontario venues can go back to holding shows at full standing capacity. This is obviously huge news for rock clubs, whose entire model is based on having full rooms. It will, however, feel like a shock for those of us still slowly feeling their way back into those old situations — for folks who were still leary about spread-out seated shows, this is a big leap back, even if things are generally looking safer in spaces with masked + vaxxed patrons. And while the rock clubs are feeling their way along trying to find sustainable and safe situations for artists and audiences, is there any chance of moving things back so shows start and end an hour or two earlier?

• Meanwhile, in venue-specific news, the Tranzac is starting to come back to life: "We... have more work to do in getting the Southern Cross bar ready, so for now we will be hosting small capacity, seated, ticketed events in the Main Hall where there is more room to spread out and enjoy the show." Keep an eye out for news of further developments as well as for info on shows coming up (like Concrete Cabaret's OBJECTO: Toronto's Festival of Experimental Puppetry, coming up November 26th and 27th).

• And on a more personal note, the elements are coming into place to get back to resuming Track Could Bend. Our hosts at Wenona are willing + eager to have us back. But: would you feel safe/comfortable at a TCB event in the next month or two? (Assuming requisite protocols in place incl vaxx check and being masked.) Would we want to put a hard cap on number of people in the space? Anything else that would make it feel more okay? Feel free to share your thoughts over on facebook or email me (mechanicalforestsound[at]gmail.com).

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Livestream nation:

• Drop in tonight (Monday, November 1st at 9 EDT) to hear Karen Ng in conversation with Chicago's Experimental Sound Studio’s Option Series. (and "a couple silly vids" have been promised as well!)

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Bandcamp corner:

• A T.O. classic is coming back into ready circulation with Idée Fixe's digital/vinyl reissue of Live at the Music Gallery, the debut album of Jennifer Castle (or Castlemusic, as she was known at the time).

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It happened this week...

• ...on November 1, 2011 at The Drake Underground.

A Winged Victory For The Sullen - Steep Hills of Vicodin Tears

• ...on November 6, 2011 at Halo Halo Village (Medusa Editions Turn 2 Stone Nite Vol. 1).

Carl Didur - 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: Anne Bourne

Artist: Anne Bourne

Song: Piano Improvisation for R.G.

Recorded at The Church of St. Andrew by-the-lake, Toronto Island ("Gathering of Rontumnal Happiness"), October 24, 2021.

Anne Bourne - Piano Improvisation for R.G.

On an unexpectedly bright and warm fall day, family and friends from many overlapping worlds gathered to celebrate the life of Ron Gaskin. Hot toddies and pumpkin pie in hand, it felt especially appropriate to gather at a place R.G. loved so well and worked to fill with music so frequently. Stories were told, poems were read, songs were sung. Word on the street is that there will be a larger celebration of the whole Rough Idea — Ron Gaskin's musical legacy — coming up in a season or two, so stay tuned.

This meditation closed out the performance part of the afternoon, a gentle energy bridge reminding all those present to keep sharing the love and affection that flowed to R.G., in his final days and in the years before that. Memories live on, and communities stay stong in celebrating their essential binding forces.

photo by Joe Sorbara.

Recording: Steve Sladkowski & Joe Sorbara

Artist: Steve Sladkowski & Joe Sorbara

Song: A Rough Idea/So Long Ron

Recorded at The Church of St. Andrew by-the-lake, Toronto Island ("Gathering of Rontumnal Happiness"), October 24, 2021.

Steve Sladkowski & Joe Sorbara - A Rough Idea/So Long Ron

On an unexpectedly bright and warm fall day, family and friends from many overlapping worlds gathered to celebrate the life of Ron Gaskin. Hot toddies and pumpkin pie in hand, it felt especially appropriate to gather at a place R.G. loved so well and worked to fill with music so frequently. Stories were told, poems were read, songs were sung. Word on the street is that there will be a larger celebration of the whole Rough Idea — Ron Gaskin's musical legacy — coming up in a season or two, so stay tuned.

Friends, musical co-conspirators, and radioactivators to R.G., Steve Sladkowski & Joe Sorbara have been playing together for a hot minute now, including the recent recording of a duo record. Each brought a piece commemorating R.G. to those sessions, and they are presented here in welded-together form.

photo by Joe Sorbara.

Recording: Rebecca Campbell

Artist: Rebecca Campbell with Tim Posgate

Song: Brand New Day

Recorded at The Church of St. Andrew by-the-lake, Toronto Island ("Gathering of Rontumnal Happiness"), October 24, 2021.

Rebecca Campbell with Tim Posgate - Brand New Day

On an unexpectedly bright and warm fall day, family and friends from many overlapping worlds gathered to celebrate the life of Ron Gaskin. Hot toddies and pumpkin pie in hand, it felt especially appropriate to gather at a place R.G. loved so well and worked to fill with music so frequently. Stories were told, poems were read, songs were sung. Word on the street is that there will be a larger celebration of the whole Rough Idea — Ron Gaskin's musical legacy — coming up in a season or two, so stay tuned.

Local treasure Rebecca Campbell, who was a key conduit in keeping Friends of Ron updated and connected, performed her usual Heroic Feats of Stage Management on this afternoon, as well as getting things started with a couple songs.

photo by Joe Sorbara.

Monday Roundup #41

In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.

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Video Hits:

• "Sounds of Davenport", a huge undertaking co-ordinated by Aline Homzy, debuted online last week and remains on youtube where you should check it out. "Featuring 17 performances from 28 Toronto-based artists filmed at the Paradise Theatre, this concert is designed to highlight and support a diverse group of musicians contributing to the vitality of their community." Lots of familiar faces in that lineup, which includes (deep breath!) Kobéna Aquaa-Harrisson, Victor Bateman, Roslyn Black, Christine Bougie, Rich Brown, Chaveco, Spencer Cole, Michael Davidson, Rodney Diverlus, Peter Elkas, Nick Fraser, Tania Gill, Rebecca Hennessy, Michael Herring, Emma Hewson, Aline Homzy, Carlie Howell, Luanda Jones, Elena Kapeleris, Njo Kong Kie, Robert Alan Mackie, Aline Morales, Angelica Ne, Lydia Persaud, Andrea Ramolo, Beth Silver, Maryem Tollar, and Ernie Tollar. (Yow!)

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Livestream nation:

• Exit Points is back on Wednesday, and you can expect two sets of electronic/electroacoustic improvisation that will include some recombination of Kieran Maraj, Sally Lee, Gabrielle Couillard, Nicole Carroll aka N0izmkr, Scott Lepore, and Thispatcher (as well as community members patching in to jam after as usual.) The show will be streamed on Exit Points' Twitch channel — and you can always find all the information for the series here.

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Bandcamp corner:

• I don't know the members of Stenorette (although I bought some tapes from one of them at Sonic Boom's Cassette Store Day celebration back in 2013!) and they keep a pretty low profile, but the pair have just completed the release cycle of a trio of new releases in a series entitled [INV]. With a satisfyingly murky take on drone music, "[t]heir sounds are created using various tapes, vinyl, found sound, and heavily processed guitar. All work is 100% improvised and every session is recorded live to cassette."

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It happened this week...

• ...on October 28, 2010 at The Horseshoe Tavern.

Bruce Peninsula - Open Flame

[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: Labyrinth Ensemble

Artist: Labyrinth Ensemble (II) [Araz Salek, Amely Zhou, Yang Chen]

Song: [edited excerpt]

Recorded at The Music Gallery (X Avant XVI – Night 3), October 16, 2021.

Labyrinth Ensemble (II) - [edited excerpt]

The Music Gallery's annual X Avant Festival felt like a return and a renewal in all the right ways. Although these weren't the first events presented by new-ish Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar, they were the first ones in person, with performers and audience sharing space — a long-awaited return from all sides. Each of the nights played off the festival theme "You in Mind", looking for ways to amplify and support the overlapping communities being drawn together. Day Three ("Process") was "dedicated to the global thread of sustained tone as a healing modality" — by way of an eight-hour drone zone, letting the audience lay back on 918 Bathurst's sanctuary floor and watch projections planetarium-style on the high-arched ceiling.

The day was bookended by a pair of trios drawn from the larger Labyrinth Ensemble, joining musicians of different backgrounds together in deepening their understanding of modal traditions. This final grouping saw Labyrinth's Artistic Director Araz Salek (tar) joined by Amely Zhou (erhu) and Yang Chen (percussion). (The latter was a special delight, especially in the overlapping transition from the previous set that saw a two-note synth pattern matched by bowed vibraphone tones.) This was a quiet set to ease out the long day's droning (because of which my recording is accordingly a little lo-fi, by the way), and perhaps the most formally meticulous — exploring small incremental changes within a rigourous rhythmic framework. A reminder that "drone", so casually used as a catch-all musical category, has deep, deep roots in many musical traditions, based on centuries of joyful experimentation in how to keep humans entranced.

Recording: LordAUK & Zones

Artist: LordAUK & Zones

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Music Gallery (X Avant XVI – Night 3), October 16, 2021.

LordAUK & Zones - [excerpt]

The Music Gallery's annual X Avant Festival felt like a return and a renewal in all the right ways. Although these weren't the first events presented by new-ish Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar, they were the first ones in person, with performers and audience sharing space — a long-awaited return from all sides. Each of the nights played off the festival theme "You in Mind", looking for ways to amplify and support the overlapping communities being drawn together. Day Three ("Process") was "dedicated to the global thread of sustained tone as a healing modality" — by way of an eight-hour drone zone, letting the audience lay back on 918 Bathurst's sanctuary floor and watch projections planetarium-style on the high-arched ceiling.

This duo of ZONES' Derek McKeon and Doomsquad's Jaclyn Blumas brought out the serious synths and keybs to head straight for the heart of the planetarium – a move known in the drone game as "bringin' the Tange".

Recording: Debashis Sinha

Artist: Debashis Sinha

Song:[excerpt]

Recorded at The Music Gallery (X Avant XVI – Night 3), October 16, 2021.

Debashis Sinha - [excerpt]

The Music Gallery's annual X Avant Festival felt like a return and a renewal in all the right ways. Although these weren't the first events presented by new-ish Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar, they were the first ones in person, with performers and audience sharing space — a long-awaited return from all sides. Each of the nights played off the festival theme "You in Mind", looking for ways to amplify and support the overlapping communities being drawn together. Day Three ("Process") was "dedicated to the global thread of sustained tone as a healing modality" — by way of an eight-hour drone zone, letting the audience lay back on 918 Bathurst's sanctuary floor and watch projections planetarium-style on the high-arched ceiling.

With an automated voice in the background listing off data like the ghost of a reference librarian (perhaps some of Sinha's "machine learning generated audio"), this set found a woozy digital equilibrium, leavened by the analog breath of a harmonium. (You can hear Sinha's own recording of his set over at his soundcloud.)

Recording: Kat Estacio

Artist: Kat Estacio

Song: Kat Estacio - [excerpt]

Recorded at The Music Gallery (X Avant XVI – Night 3), October 16, 2021.

Kat Estacio - [excerpt]

The Music Gallery's annual X Avant Festival felt like a return and a renewal in all the right ways. Although these weren't the first events presented by new-ish Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar, they were the first ones in person, with performers and audience sharing space — a long-awaited return from all sides. Each of the nights played off the festival theme "You in Mind", looking for ways to amplify and support the overlapping communities being drawn together. Day Three ("Process") was "dedicated to the global thread of sustained tone as a healing modality" — by way of an eight-hour drone zone, letting the audience lay back on 918 Bathurst's sanctuary floor and watch projections planetarium-style on the high-arched ceiling.

Synth-drift shared space with bowls and gongs in this set — and those latter percussive elements were trance-ified into lurching mantras when loop-locked with a beat repeater. Mixed with swirling visuals overhead, this was arguably the day's trippiest set.

Recording: Short Bloom

Artist: Short Bloom

Song: Untitled

Recorded at The Music Gallery (X Avant XVI – Night 3), October 16, 2021.

Short Bloom - Untitled

The Music Gallery's annual X Avant Festival felt like a return and a renewal in all the right ways. Although these weren't the first events presented by new-ish Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar, they were the first ones in person, with performers and audience sharing space — a long-awaited return from all sides. Each of the nights played off the festival theme "You in Mind", looking for ways to amplify and support the overlapping communities being drawn together. Day Three ("Process") was "dedicated to the global thread of sustained tone as a healing modality" — by way of an eight-hour drone zone, letting the audience lay back on 918 Bathurst's sanctuary floor and watch projections planetarium-style on the high-arched ceiling.

This artist was one on the new discoveries for me at this show, and a perusal of his soundcloud indicates that his sonic zone extends into more beat-driven house and synth-pop territory. This set showed admirable restraint, however, stripping things back into meticulous ambient oases. There were some guitar-driven melodic sections, but this opening salvo just used a two-note riff to create some gliding Enoesque atmospherics.

Recording: Colin Fisher

Artist: Colin Fisher

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Music Gallery (X Avant XVI – Night 3), October 16, 2021.

Colin Fisher - [excerpt]

The Music Gallery's annual X Avant Festival felt like a return and a renewal in all the right ways. Although these weren't the first events presented by new-ish Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar, they were the first ones in person, with performers and audience sharing space — a long-awaited return from all sides. Each of the nights played off the festival theme "You in Mind", looking for ways to amplify and support the overlapping communities being drawn together. Day Three ("Process") was "dedicated to the global thread of sustained tone as a healing modality" — by way of an eight-hour drone zone, letting the audience lay back on 918 Bathurst's sanctuary floor and watch projections planetarium-style on the high-arched ceiling.

Colin Fisher might not, by his own admission, be a drone musician, but that doesn't mean he can't let his musical explorations settle into a shimmery haze — and then add a bit of sonic grit to create a clarifying contrast. This extended zone sees him creating a lush pad with guitar and effects from which to launch the saxophone section of his set.

Recording: Bachelard

Artist: Bachelard

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Music Gallery (X Avant XVI – Night 3), October 16, 2021.

Bachelard - [excerpt]

The Music Gallery's annual X Avant Festival felt like a return and a renewal in all the right ways. Although these weren't the first events presented by new-ish Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar, they were the first ones in person, with performers and audience sharing space — a long-awaited return from all sides. Each of the nights played off the festival theme "You in Mind", looking for ways to amplify and support the overlapping communities being drawn together. Day Three ("Process") was "dedicated to the global thread of sustained tone as a healing modality" — by way of an eight-hour drone zone, letting the audience lay back on 918 Bathurst's sanctuary floor and watch projections planetarium-style on the high-arched ceiling.

Heidi Chan's solo modular synth project can sometimes extend into a pricky bit-crushed haze (as excellently demonstrated on the recent Sprawls album), but this set saw her stretching with her flute. Sometimes that moved into purely atmospheric territory, such as when the flute was stretched out into creamy, cello-like tones — but this section saw a flute loop being chopped and resequenced and spread around the four corners of the room.

Recording: Labyrinth Ensemble

Artist: Labyrinth Ensemble (I) [Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Pedram Khavarzamini/Scott Peterson]

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Music Gallery (X Avant XVI – Night 3), October 16, 2021.

Labyrinth Ensemble (I) - [excerpt]

The Music Gallery's annual X Avant Festival felt like a return and a renewal in all the right ways. Although these weren't the first events presented by new-ish Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar, they were the first ones in person, with performers and audience sharing space — a long-awaited return from all sides. Each of the nights played off the festival theme "You in Mind", looking for ways to amplify and support the overlapping communities being drawn together. Day Three ("Process") was "dedicated to the global thread of sustained tone as a healing modality" — by way of an eight-hour drone zone, letting the audience lay back on 918 Bathurst's sanctuary floor and watch projections planetarium-style on the high-arched ceiling.

The day was bookended by a pair of trios drawn from the larger Labyrinth Ensemble, joining musicians of different backgrounds together in deepening their understanding of modal traditions. This first grouping saw Naomi McCarroll-Butler (reeds), Pedram Khavarzamini (tombak) and Scott Peterson (double bass) ease the crowd into the dronespace, taking a steady pulse and slowing it down in smaller solo/duo explorations.

Recording: Nathan Baya with Eyeda Sophia

Artist: Nathan Baya with Eyeda Sophia

Song: Rise Above It

Recorded at The Music Gallery (X Avant XVI – Night 1), October 14, 2021.

Nathan Baya with Eyeda Sophia - Rise Above It

The Music Gallery's annual X Avant Festival felt like a return and a renewal in all the right ways. Although these weren't the first events presented by new-ish Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar, they were the first ones in person, with performers and audience sharing space — a long-awaited return from all sides. Each of the nights played off the festival theme "You in Mind", looking for ways to amplify and support the overlapping communities being drawn together. The first night was presented in collaboration with RISE, who also put on their own smashing community-oriented shows at 918 Bathurst.

The night's second set brought some hip-hop energy from Eyeda Sophia and Nathan Baya, both of whom seemed delighted to be spitting fire to a live audience. And while each brought their own material, the set was collaborative all the way with both hyping up the crowd and adding backing vocals to the other's raps. This thematically on-point number from Baya maybe best encapsulated the set's infectious energy.

Recording: Nasim Asgari & Moël

Artists: Nasim Asgari & Moël

Songs: two unknown songs^*

Recorded at The Music Gallery (X Avant XVI – Night 1), October 14, 2021.

Nasim Asgari with Moël - unknown

Moël - unknown

The Music Gallery's annual X Avant Festival felt like a return and a renewal in all the right ways. Although these weren't the first events presented by new-ish Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar, they were the first ones in person, with performers and audience sharing space — a long-awaited return from all sides. Each of the nights played off the festival theme "You in Mind", looking for ways to amplify and support the overlapping communities being drawn together. The first night was presented in collaboration with RISE, who also put on their own smashing community-oriented shows at 918 Bathurst.

Both of the night's live sets were hightly collaborative in nature, the first pairing spoken word poet Nasim Asgari with singer-guitarist Moël. The latter provided instrumental backdrops for all of Asgari's pieces, and in turn she added some vocal accents to some of the songs, each finding their own path to cathartic release.

^* Does anyone know the titles to these? Please leave a comment!

Monday Roundup #40

In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.

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Community notes:

• Went to my first indoor shows in seventeen months over the weekend. Felt weird, a bit stressful, but... okay? Nice to hear sounds/see people, in any case, so hopefully places that are running events safely and conscientiously can keep putting them on. Even with the latest (corporate-driven) easing of restrictions it's still difficult for venues to operate, and places that depend on primarily-standing crowds are still facing pretty drastic limitations.

• And thinking of much-missed venues, The Tranzac is holding its AGM tonight (Monday, October 18th), and members in good standing can join in via zoom. I've been hearing good things about the soundproofing and renovations that have been undertaken during the downtime, so hopefully the meeting will have an update on re-opening plans as well.

• The Women From Space Festival is planning to return (in person and via livestream) in March 2022 and have just put for a Call For Artists — check out their site for more details.

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Livestream nation:

• The fourth episode in Understory's "improvisation-driven, 'exquisite corpse'-style remote collaborations" is unveiled this week with two trios, consisting of Elysha Poirier/Tim Crofts/Lori Freedman and Ben Grossman/Emily Kennedy/Yunjin Claire Lee. Check it out on Thursday (October 21st) at their site.

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Video hits:

• There's some stylishly-repurposed silent movie footage in this new video from Clara Engel's Dressed in Borrowed Light:

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Bandcamp corner:

• if some of the funk-warble grooves on Del Stephen's recent O Awe Morning Record, are "jams", then they're cozy, homespun kitchen party jams. They sit well with the more atmospheric, field recording-based pieces — while I was out walking around with this album last week, I kept looking over my shoulder to look for the geese that I was hearing flying by.

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It happened this week...

Speaking of local venues figuring out to make shows work under the current restrictions, The Garrison has re-opened its doors, just in time to celebrate its 12th anniversary. That's striking, as it somehow still seems fairly new in my mind. I haven't been back yet, but here's some memories, including audio from my first-ever visit in 2009 (as well as from this week one year later):

• ...on October 23, 2009 at The Garrison.

Six Finger Satellite - Rome From Home

• ... on October 24, 2010 at The Garrison.

METZ - Dry Up

[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.]