Monday, May 30, 2022

Monday Roundup #72

Someday this space might be mostly concert listings again, but for now Monday roundups might include a romp through the MFS archives, 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!).


Concert announcements:

Adversarial Networks [feat. Chris Pruden/Luan Phung/Caleb Klager] / Tibet Street Records 2022-06-11 (Saturday). $20. [FB event]

Ayal Senior presents (fear. Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman / Ilyse Krivel / Jonathan Adjemian / Nick Flanagan) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-06-12 (Sunday – afternoon show @ 2:30 p.m.!) [FB event]

You In Mind V: Parallel Playfields (feat. seasonaldepressionlastsforever / bUDi / Vixu) / The Music Gallery 2022-06-15 (Wednesday). $11.35 advance + name-your-price livestream option. [FB event]

Not Dead Yet presents (feat. CS & Kreme / Mas Aya / Slow Attack Ensemble) / Monarch Tavern 2022-06-17 (Friday). $18.70 advance, 19+. [FB event]

Apollo Ghosts (No Frills / Dorothea Paas) / Monarch Tavern 2022-07-15 (Friday). $14.50 advance, 19+. [FB event]


Shows this week:

Holy Oak Family Singers / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-06-01 (Wednesday – early!)

Ghostlight / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-06-01 (Wednesday)

Mas Aya (Korea Town Acid) / The Garrison 2022-06-02 (Thursday). $19.85 advance, 19+. [FB event]

Dan Fortin Quartet [Madeleine Ertel/David Hodgson/Dan Fortin/Nick Fraser] / The Emmet Ray 2021-06-02 (Thursday). $10. [FB event]

This Tale of Ours / Aga Khan Museum 2022-06-03 (Friday). $40 regular/$30 students and seniors. [FB event]

Madeleine Ertel Quintet [Madeleine Ertel/Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Steven Noronha/Evan Gratham/Aidan McConnell] / The Rex 2022-06-03 (Friday) [FB event]

Do West Fest/Transmit Fest (feat. K0M0D0 / Badge Epoch Duo / Hot Garbage) / Transmit Stage [across the street from The Garrison] 2022-06-03 (Friday). $free! outdoors, family-friendly. [FB event]

Elrichman [Demolition Derby release!] (Eliza Niemi / Heaven for Real) / The Baby G 2022-06-04 (Saturday). $12.83. [FB event]

Madeleine Ertel Quintet [Madeleine Ertel/David Hodgson/Steven Noronha/Evan Gratham/Aidan McConnell] / The Rex 2022-06-04 (Saturday) [FB event]

Do West Fest/Transmit Fest (feat. METZ / Breeze / Luge / Only God Forgives / Burner / Animatist / Black Turn Emergency) / Transmit Stage [across the street from The Garrison] 2022-06-04 (Saturday). $free! outdoors, family-friendly. [FB event]

Holger Schoorl [album release!] (Ancient Egypt [Holger Schoorl/Scott Thomson/Pete Johnston]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-06-04 (Saturday) [FB event]

Do West Fest/Transmit Fest (feat. Sloan / Zoon / AusFunkt! / Keegan Powell) / Transmit Stage [across the street from The Garrison] 2022-06-05 (Sunday). $free! outdoors, family-friendly. [FB event]

Happy Sundays (feat. Evan Cartwright / Luka Kuplowsky / Anh Phung) / The Baby G 2022-06-05 (Sunday). $free, 19+. [FB event]


It happened this week...

  • ...on May 30, 2014 at Mercer Union (PLATFORM: Music at Mercer).

Swiss Dice - unknown

Absolutely Free - Vision's

[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, May 23, 2022

Monday Roundup #71

Someday this space might be mostly concert listings again, but for now Monday roundups might include a romp through the MFS archives, 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!).


Community notes:

  • Very happy to see a couple fab show announcements from the Music Gallery (you'll see 'em in the listings below) but equally intriguing is a special event called "These Instruments of Ours", co-presented with Labyrinth Ontario, that's happening on Sunday (May 29th). Billed as "an afternoon of musical discovery," this family-friendly music event brings together short musical performances and a chance to play, test and learn about different musical instruments: "touch and explore instruments that are familiar or new to you... Explore string instruments, frame drums, rubab, saz, baglama, greek lyra, tar, setar, tombak and more." In a time where music has become less tactile and immediate, this serves as a wonderful opportunity to engage with the physical origins of some lovely sounds.

Video hits:

  • Nifty new video from Psychic Weapons, locking in to some of the postpunk insecurities of our times:

Concert announcements:

Happy Sundays (feat. Evan Cartwright / Luka Kuplowsky / Anh Phung) / The Baby G 2022-06-05 (Sunday). $free, 19+. [FB event]

Luminato Live (feat. Queer Songbook Orchestra featuring Beverly Glenn-Copeland / Molinari Quartet) / Yonge-Dundas Square 2022-06-10 (Friday). $free. [more info]

Strange Relief: Prince Nifty [Interplanetary Machines record release!] (Julian Yi-Zhong Hou / Stefana Fratila) / The Music Gallery 2022-06-10 (Friday). $17.03 advance. [FB event]

You in MInd (feat. M. Joakim) / The Music Gallery 2022-06-11 (Saturday). $17.03 advance. [FB event]

Luminato: Woodbine Weekend (feat. Witch Prophet / Sudan Archives / Horace Andy) / Woodbine Park 2022-06-18 (Saturday). $free. [more info]

Gillian Stone (Lake Versions) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-06-18 (Saturday) [FB event]


Shows this week:

Veda Hille (Holy Oak Family Singers) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-24 (Tuesday – early!). $PWYW [more info]

Harry Vetro/Madeleine Ertel/Max Stover (-ish [Brian Abbot/Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Andrew Furlong]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-25 (Wednesday). $10/PWYC. [FB event]

Karen Ng/Ryan Driver/Philippe Melanson/Blake Howard / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-26 (Thursday)

Shabason, Krgovich & Harris (Bernice / Jaunt) / Longboat Hall 2021-05-27 (Friday) [rescheduled, new venue]. $18.35. [FB event]

Aurochs / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-27 (Friday – early!)

The Ryan Driver Sextet / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-27 (Friday)

Ladyfinger / The Emmet Ray 2022-05-28 (Saturday) [FB event]

Parade [Stefan Hegerat/Chris Pruden/Laura Swankey] (Daniel Sarah Karasik / Karla) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2022-05-28 (Saturday) [FB event]

You in Mind: Chants D'amour (feat. An Lawrence) / The Music Gallery 2022-05-28 (Saturday). $22.20 advance, will also be livestreamed. [FB event]

Musica Universalis (feat. Karen Ng/Ted Crosby/Ben Dwyer/Alan Mackie / Colin Fisher/Andrew Furlong/Mike Gennaro) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-28 (Saturday). $10 suggested donation. [FB event]

Cosmic Homeostasis XV / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-29 (Sunday – afternoon show @ 2:30 p.m.!) [FB event]

Eucalyptus [Sundays in May residency!] / Hirut 2022-05-29 (Sunday)

bBomit (He77ion / Greydini / Banananananana) / The Cat on Q 2022-05-29 (Sunday). $12 advance or suggested $15/PWYC at the door. [FB event]


It happened this week...

  • ...on May 24, 2013 at Steam Whistle Brewery (Steam Whistle UNSIGNED).

Hussy [a/k/a HSY] - Dr. Deth

  • ...on May 27, 2013 at Gallery 345.

junctQín keyboard collective - Bullbats + Writing on Stone

[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.]

Saturday, May 21, 2022

Recording: Luge

Artist: Luge

Song: unknown*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (TONE Presents), May 13, 2022.

Luge - unknown

A fairly joyous evening in the Southern Cross, with lots of friendly faces re-encountering each other at this one-off, pre-festival show being presented by TONE. (Sidenote: the TONE festival is returning, with shows mostly clustered next month, and it looks fabulous!) Closing out the night, Luge showed as much technical dexterity as the evening's other performers, but in the service of locked-in arrangements rather than free exploration. If anything, this crew sounded even more precise than I recalled, so some of the pandemic downtime must have been spent in the rehearsal space. That said, they found some room to unclench a bit on some of the new material, like this one that leads off with an uncharacteristically-relaxed groove before tighening up and heading into a gallop.

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

Recording: CLJ

Artist: CLJ

Songs: [two pieces]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (TONE Presents), May 13, 2022.

CLJ - [first piece]

CLJ - [last piece]

A fairly joyous evening in the Southern Cross, with lots of friendly faces re-encountering each other at this one-off, pre-festival show being presented by TONE. (Sidenote: the TONE festival is returning, with shows mostly clustered next month, and it looks fabulous!) TONE shows are ususally centred around giving adventurous visitors a good local gig, with this one greeting Chris Pitsiokos (saxophone), Luke Stewart (bass), and Jason Nazary (percussion, synth). The group had originally been conceived as a quartet with trumpeter Chris Pitsiokos, but with the extra space these three found lots of sounds to explore, generating lurch-y square waves and then wiggling sideways away from them.

[Jason Nazary will return to TONE as half of Anteloper (alongside trumpeter Jaimie Branch) at The Baby G on Wednesday, July 6th.]

Recording: Colin Fisher Trio

Artist: Colin Fisher Trio

Song: unknown, part 1*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (TONE Presents), May 13, 2022.

Colin Fisher Trio - unknown, part 1

A fairly joyous evening in the Southern Cross, with lots of friendly faces re-encountering each other at this one-off, pre-festival show being presented by TONE. (Sidenote: the TONE festival is returning, with shows mostly clustered next month, and it looks fabulous!) This combo, with Colin Fisher (sax, guit) alongside Nick Fraser (drums) and Andrew Furlong (double bass), lead things off. Nominally a new unit, the biggest chunk of newness among these frequent collaborators was the material written by Fisher, leading all three into some intense, shred-y zones. (This may have been the closest I've ever seen Fraser come to playing full on blastbeats!) Rousing stuff, and a reminder of why you want to be there in the room to hear stuff like this happen.

[Colin Fisher will be playing with a slighly different trio (joined by Furlong and Mike Gennaro on drums) at his monthly Musica Universalis series at The Tranzac next Saturday (May 28th).]

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

Monday, May 16, 2022

Monday Roundup #70

Someday this space might be mostly concert listings again, but for now Monday roundups might include a romp through the MFS archives, 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!).


Concert announcements:

Ladyfinger / The Emmet Ray 2022-05-28 (Saturday) [FB event]

Parade [Stefan Hegerat/Chris Pruden/Laura Swankey] (Daniel Sarah Karasik / Karla) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2022-05-28 (Saturday) [FB event]

You in Mind: Chants D'amour (feat. An Lawrence) / 918 Bathurst 2022-05-28 (Saturday). $22.20 advance, will also be livestreamed. [FB event]

Ramneek Singh & Pankaj Mishra / Aga Khan Museum 2022-06-11 (Saturday). $40 orchestra/$30 balcony in advance. [FB event]

TONE Festival (feat. Amirtha Kidambi/Matt Evans / Mira Martin-Gray/Kieran Maraj / Plastic Babies) / Array Space 2022-06-23 (Thursday). $22.89 advance, all ages/licensed. [FB event]

TONE Festival (feat. Gord Grdina's Nomad Trio w/ Matt Mitchell & Jim Black / Brodie West Quintet / BLOOP) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2022-06-24 (Friday). $17.52 advance, 19+. [FB event]

TONE Festival (feat. FIRE! [Mats Gustafsson/Johan Berthling/Andreas Werlin) / Völur / Brian Ruryk) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2022-07-03 (Sunday). $17.52 advance, 19+. [FB event]

TONE Festival (feat. Anteloper [Jaimie Branch/Jason Nazary] + SurrealSurreal [Jeremy Dennis/Cyril Penney]) / The Baby G 2022-07-06 (Wednesday). $15.79 advance, 19+. [FB event]


Shows this week:

Ornate Presents: Brandon Davis 4tet [Rob Grieve/Patrick O'Reilly/Mark Ballyk/Brandon Davis] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-17 (Tuesday)

Allison Cameron with Stephen Parkinson / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-18 (Wednesday – early!)

Kind Mind / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-18 (Wednesday)

ALIVE (feat. Dorothea Paas / No Frills / Poolblood) / The Garrison 2022-05-18 (Wednesday). $5.00 Advance, 19+. [FB event]

Motorists (UV-TV / SAP) / The Baby G 2022-05-18 (Wednesday). $19.85 advance. [FB event]

Venus Fest presents (feat. Charlotte Cornfield / Poolblood) / Longboat Hall 2022-05-19 (Thursday). $$22.72 advance, 19+. [FB event]

Joni Void (Karen Ng) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-20 (Friday) [FB event]

Weird Nightmare (Sham Family / Only God Forgives) / The Baby G 2022-05-21 (Saturday). $19.85, 19+. [FB event]

Eucalyptus [Sundays in May residency!] / Hirut 2022-05-22 (Sunday)


Video hits:

  • Cool to see some local folks working with des étoiles internationale. If you hear a certain cadence to the lyrics here, you might reconize the hand of Marker Starling's Chris Cummings as one of the songwriters:

Bandcamp corner:

  • This project, initiated by Christopher Shannon (of Bart and Possum) and Benjamin Pullia rounded into a full band, including guest appearances by local notables Robin Hatch and Joseph Shabason. Too brief by half, this two-fer starts off with a piece that could simply be genre-tagged as "Bitches Brew" and then heads into fusion/prog territory on the flip.

It happened this week...

  • ...on May 20, 2012 at Danny Green's (Feast in the East 14.1).

Keir Neuringer - Fear

[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.]

Sunday, May 15, 2022

Recording: Country Phasers

Artist: Country Phasers

Songs: Most of the Time [Bob Dylan cover] + Blank Lace [excerpt, in two parts]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Cosmic Country + Comedy for Communists), May 12, 2022.

Country Phasers feat. Thom Gill - Most of the Time

Country Phasers - Blank Lace [excerpt, part 1]

Country Phasers - Blank Lace [excerpt, part 2]

This version of Kurt Newman's Country Phasers included frequent phasers Andrew Furlong (double bass) and Patrick O'Reilly (guitar) alongside first-timer Madeleine Ertel (trumpet), as well as a special appearance from guitarist Thom Gill, who not only added his usual crafty, subtle tones but also stood up to close out the second set as the group's improvised abstraction coalesced into a spare version of Dylan's "Most of the Time". The first set, meanwhile, was given over to "Blank Lace", Newman's open score that here was rendered in a manner that can be best described as "country ambient". An album version of this, please!

You can check out the full rendition of "Blank Lace" over on youtube:

Friday, May 13, 2022

Recording: David Parker

Artist: David Parker

Song: unknown*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (SynCirSundays), May 8, 2022.

David Parker - unknown

Coming down the 401 from Kingston, David Parker refused the siloing that musicians can sometimes fall into, presenting his singer/songwriter and sound-improviser sides on equal terms. Friend and frequent collaborator Del Stephen was called up to add some piano while Parker plucked a ukulele with gusto in one section — a bit of a step from his relaxed songcraft, yet everything fit togther quite satisfyingly.

You can also check out some footage from this set:

[SynCirSundays will be back on Sunday, June 12th, with sets from The Luan Phung Trio and Perera/Fournier/Sacks.]

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

Recording: LordAUK

Artist: LordAUK

Song: [first section]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (SynCirSundays), May 8, 2022.

LordAUK - [first section]

The political undercurrent in Jaclyn Blumas's past work often brushed against Emma Goldman's revolution-you-can-dance-to, but this solo set, with Bluman sitting on the floor behind her OB-6 and declaring that "the imagination is a political space" brought to mind Ursula K. Le Guin's invocation that resistance to seemingly intractable systems begins in art, and in our minds. Just my imagination, runnin' away with me.

You can also check out some footage from this set:

[SynCirSundays will be back on Sunday, June 12th, with sets from The Luan Phung Trio and Perera/Fournier/Sacks.]

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Recording: Ayal Senior & Del Stephen

Artist: Ayal Senior & Del Stephen

Song: unknown poem*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior's Monthly), May 8, 2022.

Ayal Senior & Del Stephen - unknown poem

The afternoon closed with this impromptu collaboration, a rectangular view of the sky, birds flap-flap-flapping on their journeys.

[Ayal's monthly will be back in the Southern Cross on the afternoon of Sunday, June 12!]

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

Recording: Aaron Knight

Artist: Aaron Knight

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior's Monthly), May 8, 2022.

Aaron Knight - [excerpt]

Aaron Knight brought some cosmic expansion and healing tones for this improvised percussion set — the sort of subtle vibrations that you can really feel in person, though these rumbling gong-waves translate nicely in recorded form.

[Ayal's monthly will be back in the Southern Cross on the afternoon of Sunday, June 12!]

Recording: Del Stephen

Artist: Del Stephen

Song: Julienne [composer: Kurt Newman]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior's Monthly), May 8, 2022.

Del Stephen - Julienne

Bringing out the big keybs for a solo set, Del Stephen essayed some new compositions, as well as this lovingly-rendered cover/reinterpretation from the recent Country Phasers album.

[Ayal's monthly will be back in the Southern Cross on the afternoon of Sunday, June 12!]

Recording: Ayal Senior

Artist: Ayal Senior

Song: unknown blues, Part 1*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior's Monthly), May 8, 2022.

Ayal Senior - unknown blues, Part 1

"A little bit like Lou Reed meets Klaus Schulze in a bar on a Sunday afternoon," the composer commented on this, now the second in a series of long "blues" pieces used to kick off his second Sunday afternoon monthly residency at The Tranzac. With luck, we might get an album of these some day — four (or six!) side-long journeys would go down just right.

[Ayal's monthly will be back in the Southern Cross on the afternoon of Sunday, June 12!]

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

Monday, May 9, 2022

Monday Roundup #69

Someday this space might be mostly concert listings again, but for now Monday roundups might include a romp through the MFS archives, 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!).


Community notes:

  • The big news this week is obviously the return of the TONE festival, bringin to town audacious and experimental artists that somehow keep getting overlooked by the city's bigger festivals and institutions. Have a look through the listings below and refresh your bookmark here to keep up to date on further announcements.

Concert announcements:

Kind Mind / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-18 (Wednesday)

bBomit (He77ion / Greydini / Banananananana) / The Cat on Q 2022-05-29 (Sunday). $12 advance or suggested $15/PWYC at the door. [FB event]

Mas Aya (Korea Town Acid) / The Garrison 2022-06-02 (Thursday). $19.85 advance, 19+. [FB event]

This Tale of Ours / Aga Khan Museum 2022-06-03 (Friday). $40 regular/$30 students and seniors. [FB event]

Elrichman [Demolition Derby release!] (Eliza Niemi / Heaven for Real) / The Baby G 2022-06-04 (Saturday). $12.83. [FB event]

TONE Festival (feat. Kee Avil / KARLA / Output 1:1:1) / Cinecycle 2022-06-10 (Friday) [more info]

TONE Festival (feat. JOYFULTALK / Charles Spearin / Nick Durado) / BSMT 254 2022-06-12 (Sunday) [more info]

TONE Festival (feat. Sick Boss with Peggy Lee, JP Carter and Josh Zubot / members of Sick Boss with Tania Gill/Cheldon Patterson/Samuel Hall) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-06-16 (Thursday) [more info]

TONE Festival (feat. Amirtha Kidambi/Matt Evans / Doom Tickler / Mira Martin-Gray/Kieran Maraj) / Array Space 2022-06-23 (Thursday) [more info]

TONE Festival (feat. Gordon Grdina's Nomad Trio / Bloop / The Brodie West Quintet) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2022-06-24 (Friday) [more info]

TONE Festival/The Music Gallery’s Departures Series (feat. Mary Halvorson’s Code Girl / Bernice) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2022-06-26 (Sunday) [more info]


Shows this week:

Destroyer (Rosali) / The Phoenix Concert Theatre 2022-05-10 (Tuesday). $37.08 advance, 19+. [FB event]

Brodie West Quintet / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-11 (Wednesday – early!)

Corpusse (Myke Adaptiv) / Sellers & Newel 2022-05-12 (Thursday)

Audiopollination 97 (feat. Diane Roblin/Curtis Whittaker/Kayla Milmine / David Story/Dan Pitt/Brittany Pit / Bill Gilliam/Bill McBirnie/Laura Gillis / Robbie Ahmed/Teneshia Samuel / Apollo Architect) / Array Space 2022-05-13 (Friday). $10 or PWYC, will also be livestreamed. [FB event]

TONE Presents (feat. CLCJ [Chris Pitsiokos/Luke Stewart/Chris Williams/Jason Nazary] / LUGE / Colin Fisher Trio [Colin Fisher/Andrew Furlong/Nick Fraser]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-13 (Friday – 8:30 p.m.!). $10 Adv / $12 Door. [FB event]

Ustad Irshad Khan / Aga Khan Museum 2022-05-14 (Saturday). $40 orchestra, $30 balcony advance. [FB event]

Colin Fisher/Jeff Luciani/ Diane Roblin / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-15 (Sunday – early!). $PWYC.

Mystic Music of Pakistan (feat. Abdullah Muhammad Manzoor Niazi) / Aga Khan Museum 2022-05-15 (Sunday). advance tickets $50 ($37.50 seniors and students). [FB event]

Eucalyptus [Sundays in May residency!] / Hirut 2022-05-15 (Sunday)


It happened this week...

  • ...on May 13, 2011 at The Great Hall.

One Hundred Dollars - Waiting on Another

  • ...on May 14, 2011 at Sonic Boom.

Sloan - Unkind

[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.]

Sunday, May 8, 2022

Recording: Sook-Yin Lee

Artist: Sook-Yin Lee

Song: Narcolept, Falling

Recorded at 918 Bathurst (Women From Space Festival 2022 – Night 4), May 1, 2022.

Sook-Yin Lee - Narcolept, Falling

For the past three years, the Women From Space Festival has been an excellent encapsulation of its moment. Coming on the cusp of the First Big Lockdown, the 2020 Festival is remembered by many as the last event of the beforetimes, while last year's "hologram edition" was an elegant solution to the flatness of livestreams. And now, this year's Festival had to bear all the relief and angst of "returning to live" at this uncertain mid-point of the pandemic. Presented with joy and community spirit over four nights, the Festival was a chance to run into seldom-seen familiar faces and to hear a dizzying variety of sounds.

Closing out the festival, Sook-Yin Lee brought some of the songs from her final collaboration with Adam Litovitz, poems and wordbursts invoking the tonalties of stern folksongs and synthpunk rhythms, moving from dirge to dancefloor in the same uncertain path one moves from grief to something that is... not-grief.

Recording: PIQSIQ

Artist: PIQSIQ

Song: unknown*

Recorded at 918 Bathurst (Women From Space Festival 2022 – Night 4), May 1, 2022.

PIQSIQ - unknown

For the past three years, the Women From Space Festival has been an excellent encapsulation of its moment. Coming on the cusp of the First Big Lockdown, the 2020 Festival is remembered by many as the last event of the beforetimes, while last year's "hologram edition" was an elegant solution to the flatness of livestreams. And now, this year's Festival had to bear all the relief and angst of "returning to live" at this uncertain mid-point of the pandemic. Presented with joy and community spirit over four nights, the Festival was a chance to run into seldom-seen familiar faces and to hear a dizzying variety of sounds.

Hailing from Yellowknife, sisters Tiffany Kuliktana Ayalik and Kayley Inuksuk Mackay mix traditional throat-singing techniques with modern technology. On their recordings that includes electronic production and other flourishes, but for this live set, it was mostly represented by a loop station that turned their two voices into a whole landscape of sounds. Starting off with face-to-face back-and-forth hums and whispers, at times they were invoking harsh winds, bird calls, and lupine howls; and at others, moments of Enya-esque lush calm and giddy harmonies.

* I'm unsure if this was an improvisation or a pre-existing piece of material — please leave a comment if you know!

Recording: Marilyn Lerner

Artist: Marilyn Lerner

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at 918 Bathurst (Women From Space Festival 2022 – Night 4), May 1, 2022.

Marilyn Lerner - [excerpt]

For the past three years, the Women From Space Festival has been an excellent encapsulation of its moment. Coming on the cusp of the First Big Lockdown, the 2020 Festival is remembered by many as the last event of the beforetimes, while last year's "hologram edition" was an elegant solution to the flatness of livestreams. And now, this year's Festival had to bear all the relief and angst of "returning to live" at this uncertain mid-point of the pandemic. Presented with joy and community spirit over four nights, the Festival was a chance to run into seldom-seen familiar faces and to hear a dizzying variety of sounds.

Another festival standout, Marilyn Lerner sat down at the piano and let loose a steady torrent of ideas, with themes and timbres developing and shifting in a natural flow that never once felt forced or rushed.

Recording: Merriam/Clermont/Vorstenbosch

Artist: Kathryn Merriam/Isabelle Clermont/Elysha Vorstenbosch

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at 918 Bathurst (Women From Space Festival 2022 – Night 4), May 1, 2022.

Kathryn Merriam/Isabelle Clermont/Elysha Vorstenbosch - [excerpt]

For the past three years, the Women From Space Festival has been an excellent encapsulation of its moment. Coming on the cusp of the First Big Lockdown, the 2020 Festival is remembered by many as the last event of the beforetimes, while last year's "hologram edition" was an elegant solution to the flatness of livestreams. And now, this year's Festival had to bear all the relief and angst of "returning to live" at this uncertain mid-point of the pandemic. Presented with joy and community spirit over four nights, the Festival was a chance to run into seldom-seen familiar faces and to hear a dizzying variety of sounds.

Dazzled with a formidable array of harpists applying to play the festival, the organizers took a "yes, and" approach and invited them all, combined into a quartet to improvise together and explore their diverse approaches to their instruments. Sadly, Grace Scheele was unable to play, but the remaining trio found some really beautiful spaces to inhabit, with Isabelle Clermont's electronics stretching out spaceward on the lattices constructed by Kathryn Merriam and Elysha Vorstenbosch.

Saturday, May 7, 2022

Recording: Tush

Artist: Tush

Song: Chrysalis

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Women From Space Festival 2022 – Night 3), April 30, 2022.

Tush - Chrysalis

For the past three years, the Women From Space Festival has been an excellent encapsulation of its moment. Coming on the cusp of the First Big Lockdown, the 2020 Festival is remembered by many as the last event of the beforetimes, while last year's "hologram edition" was an elegant solution to the flatness of livestreams. And now, this year's Festival had to bear all the relief and angst of "returning to live" at this uncertain mid-point of the pandemic. Presented with joy and community spirit over four nights, the Festival was a chance to run into seldom-seen familiar faces and to hear a dizzying variety of sounds.

This local combo is unabashedly dedicated to disco liberation, presenting some Fantast-ic moments, propelled by Kamilah Apong's powerhouse vox, to close out the night.

Recording: Ronley Teper & The Lipliners

Artist: Ronley Teper & The Lipliners

Song: Women in Space

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Women From Space Festival 2022 – Night 3), April 30, 2022.

Ronley Teper & The Lipliners - Women in Space

For the past three years, the Women From Space Festival has been an excellent encapsulation of its moment. Coming on the cusp of the First Big Lockdown, the 2020 Festival is remembered by many as the last event of the beforetimes, while last year's "hologram edition" was an elegant solution to the flatness of livestreams. And now, this year's Festival had to bear all the relief and angst of "returning to live" at this uncertain mid-point of the pandemic. Presented with joy and community spirit over four nights, the Festival was a chance to run into seldom-seen familiar faces and to hear a dizzying variety of sounds.

Ronley Teper brought a fabulous lineup of Lipliners (Tania Gill, keys; Sarah Shugarman, violin; Carlie Howell, bass; Nicole Rampersaud, trumpet; and Tim Posgate, banjo/guitar) to tackle a couple old faves, some arguments from last year's Everyone Loves A Good Story, and this improvised science fair project in the spirit of the Festival hosting the set.

Recording: Milmine/Haley/Morin

Artist: Kayla Milmine/Geordie Haley/Peter Morin

Song: [last section]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Women From Space Festival 2022 – Night 3), April 30, 2022.

Kayla Milmine/Geordie Haley/Peter Morin - [last section]

For the past three years, the Women From Space Festival has been an excellent encapsulation of its moment. Coming on the cusp of the First Big Lockdown, the 2020 Festival is remembered by many as the last event of the beforetimes, while last year's "hologram edition" was an elegant solution to the flatness of livestreams. And now, this year's Festival had to bear all the relief and angst of "returning to live" at this uncertain mid-point of the pandemic. Presented with joy and community spirit over four nights, the Festival was a chance to run into seldom-seen familiar faces and to hear a dizzying variety of sounds.

Another refraction of the Understory series, this set brought togther three musicians who had first encountered eacher other virtually for some realtime/in the flesh explorations, mixing festival co-founder's Kayla Milmine soprano sax with guitarist Geordie Haley and vovalist/percussionist Peter Morin.

Friday, May 6, 2022

Recording: Lori Freedman & Scott Thomson

Artist: Lori Freedman & Scott Thomson

Song: [excerpt from first piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Women From Space Festival 2022 – Night 2), April 29, 2022.

Lori Freedman & Scott Thomson - [excerpt from first piece]

For the past three years, the Women From Space Festival has been an excellent encapsulation of its moment. Coming on the cusp of the First Big Lockdown, the 2020 Festival is remembered by many as the last event of the beforetimes, while last year's "hologram edition" was an elegant solution to the flatness of livestreams. And now, this year's Festival had to bear all the relief and angst of "returning to live" at this uncertain mid-point of the pandemic. Presented with joy and community spirit over four nights, the Festival was a chance to run into seldom-seen familiar faces and to hear a dizzying variety of sounds.

One of the signs of a spirited collaboration is when musicians can continue to surprise each other, even after many years of playing together. Lori Freedman & Scott Thomson have been playing together since 2007's recording of their Plumb album, but were spontaneous and playful in this set, kinetically reacting to their respective whoops and veers on clainet/bass clarinet and trombone.

Recording: Sara Constant

Artist: Sara Constant

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Women From Space Festival 2022 – Night 2), April 29, 2022.

Sara Constant - [excerpt]

For the past three years, the Women From Space Festival has been an excellent encapsulation of its moment. Coming on the cusp of the First Big Lockdown, the 2020 Festival is remembered by many as the last event of the beforetimes, while last year's "hologram edition" was an elegant solution to the flatness of livestreams. And now, this year's Festival had to bear all the relief and angst of "returning to live" at this uncertain mid-point of the pandemic. Presented with joy and community spirit over four nights, the Festival was a chance to run into seldom-seen familiar faces and to hear a dizzying variety of sounds.

One of the festival's highlights, this solo set featured the wonderful impracticality of dragging not one but two organs to a gig to use as drone generators, keys weighed down with stones. Constant embellished that with flute-souds (both wind and electroacoustic) before closing with some delicate speakercone feedback resonances.

Recording: Bickersteth/McMann/Starkey

Artist: Neema Bickersteth/Jessica McMann/Dot Starkey

Song: [first section]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Women From Space Festival 2022 – Night 2), April 29, 2022.

Neema Bickersteth/Jessica McMann/Dot Starkey - [first section]

For the past three years, the Women From Space Festival has been an excellent encapsulation of its moment. Coming on the cusp of the First Big Lockdown, the 2020 Festival is remembered by many as the last event of the beforetimes, while last year's "hologram edition" was an elegant solution to the flatness of livestreams. And now, this year's Festival had to bear all the relief and angst of "returning to live" at this uncertain mid-point of the pandemic. Presented with joy and community spirit over four nights, the Festival was a chance to run into seldom-seen familiar faces and to hear a dizzying variety of sounds.

This co-prsentation with Understory presented one response to the query of how to bring the online series' "exquisite corpse" collaborations into the offline world. The solution here was to have Toronto-based Neema Bickersteth (voice, movement) performing live, responding to prerecorded contributions from Jessica McMann (flute, voice) and Dot Starkey (electronics), which created a rich visual field with the other performers' contributions being projected behind Bickersteth's presence.

Recording: Lisa Conway & Emma Ongman

Artist: Lisa Conway & Emma Ongman

Song: [first section]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Women From Space Festival 2022 – Night 2), April 29, 2022.

Lisa Conway & Emma Ongman - [first section]

For the past three years, the Women From Space Festival has been an excellent encapsulation of its moment. Coming on the cusp of the First Big Lockdown, the 2020 Festival is remembered by many as the last event of the beforetimes, while last year's "hologram edition" was an elegant solution to the flatness of livestreams. And now, this year's Festival had to bear all the relief and angst of "returning to live" at this uncertain mid-point of the pandemic. Presented with joy and community spirit over four nights, the Festival was a chance to run into seldom-seen familiar faces and to hear a dizzying variety of sounds.

Lisa Conway and Emma Ongman (respectively on audio and visual synthesis) started the night by heading off, if not to space, then at least to the nearest planetarium in a new song-suite of sorts — albeit one that left plenty of room for improvisation and for the two performers to react to each other. This will probably get fleshed out and released in time, though Conway noted that she has two other albums in the pipeline to attend to first... so stay tuned.

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Recording: Paul Newman & Heraclitus Akimbo

Artist: Paul Newman & Heraclitus Akimbo

Song: [edited excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Joe's birthday concert), April 25, 2022.

Paul Newman & Heraclitus Akimbo - [edited excerpt]

Guest notes by Del Stephen:

Following a brief and rather beautifully awkward intermission of what could only be described as live "mystery-drone-troubleshooting", Paul Newman joined Heraclitus Akimbo for the 2nd and final duo set of the evening. By this point, the rain had mostly stopped.

The veteran saxophonist, walker, and notable rock climber initiated the 2nd duo set, stretching out the sound of his horn alongside the room's environmental happenings (i.e. a sudden rush at the bar and a crescendo of liquid a-pouring, coins a-shaking, single can opening, etc., each in their own time). Meanwhile, it wasn't long before it became apparent that Joe was stealthily mixing, sending effects to, and manipulating Paul's very moves, even collecting live samples throughout the set. As the saxophonist played on, and occasionally come up for air, a patient set of back and forth playing and processing took shape (or maybe it was more like back and forth, forth again and back, and then back back and forth). As can be said for the first set, the history between these two players is evident; neither ever needed to lead the other in a certain direction or towards a particular theme, instead allowing their close partnership to sail in the multiple directions it needed to sail on this occasion, and sail it did, all the way to its natural finale.

You know what they say- rain on your birthday, sunshine for the rest of the week.

You can also check out some video footage of this set over on youtube:

Recording: Wenderly Park

Artist: Wenderly Park

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Joe's birthday concert), April 25, 2022.

Wenderly Park - [excerpt]

Guest notes by Del Stephen:

A brief introduction by the eponymous hero, a chorus of (unsung) "happy birthday Joe"s, and we were off to the races with a set by Wenderly Park (Heraclitus Akimbo & Fahmid Nibesh), the first of two duos this evening.

Joe Strutt, aka Heraclitus Akimbo, started things off by plucking the electric tines of what appeared to be a baby porcupine, while Fahmid called in on the pedal, ringing in another drone around the sun. A wonderfully whirling and whooshing conversation was set into motion, with topics shifting seamlessly, as well as the languages these two were speaking; indeed, two sonic wizards and their tabletop spells. The set eventually came to a close (or so they thought) with a tired toy robo reading of a cryptic message, declared one letter at a time, sort of reminiscent of a low-battery Kraftwerk vocal line (I don't really listen to Kraftwerk). Perhaps more robo-literate listeners in the audience were able to decode the whole message - I understood the final letters to spell out "m-u-c-k", and the rainfall outside never held up.

You can also check out some video footage of this set over on youtube:

Monday, May 2, 2022

Monday Roundup #68

Someday this space might be mostly concert listings again, but for now Monday roundups might include a romp through the MFS archives, 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!).


Livestream nation:

  • Track Could Bend is back (online) tomorrow with some noise oscillations from Fuzzy Nibesh. Set goes live at 7, link will manifest in the description of this preview:

Concert announcements:

Brodie West Quintet / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-11 (Wednesday – early!)

Ustad Irshad Khan / Aga Khan Museum 2022-05-14 (Saturday). $40 orchestra, $30 balcony advance. [FB event]

Mystic Music of Pakistan (feat. Abdullah Muhammad Manzoor Niazi) / Aga Khan Museum 2022-05-15 (Sunday). advance tickets $50 ($37.50 seniors and students). [FB event]

Eucalyptus [Sundays in May residency!] / Hirut 2022-05-08 (Sunday)

Weird Nightmare (Sham Family / Only God Forgives) / The Baby G 2022-05-21 (Saturday). $19.85, 19+. [FB event]

Eucalyptus [Sundays in May residency!] / Hirut 2022-05-22 (Sunday)

Eucalyptus [Sundays in May residency!] / Hirut 2022-05-29 (Sunday)


Shows this week:

Peripheral Vision wsg Ernesto Cervini (Joe Sorbara Sextet [Joe Sorbara/Aline Homzy/Ted Crosby/Rebecca Hennessy/Tania Gill/Michael Herring]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-03 (Tuesday) [FB event]

The Ryōkan Band [Luka Kuplowsky/Josh Cole/Anh Phung/Alex Lukashevsky/Ryan Driver/Blake Howard] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-04 (Wednesday)

Tania Gill Presents (feat. PACKET trio [Susanna Hood/Tania Gill/Kayla Milmine]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-06 (Friday – early!)

Jane Inc. [Faster Than I Can Take record release show!] (Slash Need) / The Garrison 2022-05-06 (Friday). $16.79 advance, 19+. [FB event]

catl (The Barettas) / The Dakota Tavern 2022-05-07 (Saturday). $19.13 advance. [FB event]

Ayal Senior presents (feat. Ayal Senior / Del Stephen / Aaron Knight / Nick Flanagan) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-08 (Sunday – 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.) [FB event]

Mechanical Forest Sound@SynCirSundays (feat. David Parker / LordAUK) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-05-08 (Sunday – early!) [FB event]

Eucalyptus [Sundays in May residency!] / Hirut 2022-05-08 (Sunday)


Bandcamp corner:

  • Is it Bandcamp Friday this week? All signs point to yes, so pull out your lists and supports some srtists on Friday.
  • Meanwhile, while it's easy to get caught up in the torrent of the new, Bandcamp has been around long enough now that we can mark some milestones with it — including the (holy cow!) tenth anniversary of Planet Creature's still-charming You're On Planet Creature. Bubblegum punk with psychedelic whispers in the vein of, say, Look Blue Go Purple, rough-hewn and rambunctious in the right amounts.

It happened this week...

  • ... on May 6, 2017 at Jam Factory (Feast in the East's 6th Anniversary).

Fly or Die - Theme 002

Tenderness - 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.]