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.

---

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.]

Monday Roundup #39

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.

---

Community notes:

• Building on the theme and vibe of this year's X Avant shows (see below!), The Music Gallery has unveiled a new community-building initiative. "Following the theme for this year’s X Avant Festival, You In Mind, the Music Gallery is hosting a series of five events from November through March dedicated to artists whose projects or organizations are not supported by public funding or otherwise do not have the means to present in venues of our scale." Unleash your dreams for filling the space at 918 Bathurst with sounds and click here for more info.

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X Avant:

Taking tentative steps into appraising Where Things Stand, the first X Avant festival curated by Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar is about renewal and reconnection, "to listen, process, and artistically empower the diverse communities in Toronto." These four nights offer limited, safely-distanced in-person seating as well as a Name-Your-Price livestream option. There's a lot to experience over four nights:

• X Avant XVI: Listen (Thursday) Music and spoken word co-presented with RISE Edutainment. Spoken Word Artists: Eyeda Sophia, Nathan Baya, Nasim, and Moël. Musical & Visual Producers: Nathan Smith and Vanese Smith.

• X Avant XVI: Reasoning (Friday) A free screening of a new documentary from Bonjay's Alanna Stuart, launching a new solo project. (Also streaming free on Thursday on the MG's Twitch channel.)

• X Avant XVI: Process (Saturday) An eight-hour drone, suitable for sonic washing. Featuring: Labyrinth (Araz Salek, Amely Zhou, Yang Chen), Bachelard, Colin Fisher, Short Bloom, Kat Estacio, Debashis Sinha, LordAUK & Zones, and Labyrinth (Naomi McCarroll-Butler, Pedram Khavarzamini, Scott Peterson).

• X Avant XVI: Embody (Sunday) A co-presentation with Native Women in the Arts, in celebration of Indigenous communities and the lessons they have to share. Featuring Oneida Nation group The Ukwehuwe Connection.

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In the mix:

• Speaking of drones, there's a new Drone Brunch mix posted — drift along with some sounds from YlangYlang, Badge Epoch, Nurse With Wound, Stenorette, Witxes, pä, Jakob Rehlinger, and zakè & marine eyes.

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It happened this week...

While X Avant is at the front of our minds, here's a couple sonic samples from the festival's first years at 918 Bathurst:

• ...on October 11, 2017 at 918 Bathurst (The Music Gallery's X AVANT XII – Night 1)

Man Forever - Twin Torches

• ...on October 19, 2019 at The Music Gallery (X AVANT XIV: Forward – Night 3).

Willi Williams and New Chance - Home

[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 #38

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.

---

Livestream nation:

• Audiopollination returns on Friday (October 8th) with a pre-recorded duo set featuring Yvonne Ng (movement) and Diane Roblin (piano). It'll be streaming over on Array's channel.

---

Discover Women in Jazz:

• What a delight to hear thoughts and sounds from some familiar faces in this continuing series of videos — a very welcome grassroots initiative from JAZZFM91. I recommend digging through the whole playlist, which at this moment also includes Mingjia Chen, Yunjin Claire Lee and Erez Zobary.

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Bandcamp corner:

• Speaking of familiar faces, this compilation that I'd grabbed a couple months back finally made it onto my music player to go for a walk with me. "A 'DIY memory box' of sorts, it was assembled during early 2021, focusing on pieces submitted by Ontario-based solo artists... representing a wide spectrum of musical styles & sound dynamics - from minimalist, improvisation-based instrumental pieces & sound collages to majestic shoe-gaze & ambient/noise soundscapes."

• Meanwhile, keep an eye on Lina Allemano's bandcamp starting today and continuing for the following four Mondays for the unveiling of a "serial digital album" from Allemano & Nick Fraser, inviting a series of collaborators (Mira Martin-Gray, Bryan Qu, Karen Ng, and Nick Dunston) to remix, edit and process some of their trumpet + drums tracks, transforming them into intriguing new pieces of music.

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It happened this week...

• ...on October 7, 2016 at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Tribute to the Life of Ken Aldcroft).

Ken Aldcroft's Convergence Ensemble - From the Hart-Land

• ...on October 7, 2017 at The Dupe Shop.

Tough Age - Everyday Life

[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.]