A night of solo performances to celebrate a pair of solo releases on the Dark Matter label. Community organizer and genial collaborator Mike Lynn closed out the night, celebrating the release of a tape of solo explorations on double bass. The pieces (on tape and live) employ a whole range of extended techniques — including the human voice.
A night of solo performances to celebrate a pair of solo releases on the Dark Matter label. There's no tape for Kayla Milnine's Moods of Yellow, but there were postcards and paintings on sale to celebrate the release, which documents Milmine's continuing explorations on soprano saxophone. In performance, there were new depths being explored, including a multiphonic low roar that's definitely not what's commonly associated with the instrument.
*Does anyone know the title to this one (or any of its parts)? Please leave a comment!
Another of those ad hocindefinite article groupings from bassist Josh Cole, this time joined by Brodie West (saxophone/clarinet), Phil Melanson (percussion) and Andrew Zukerman (buchla easel). Although the latter has had a longstanding duo with Brodie West, it's rarer to see him in full-group improvisation like this, though he really left an imprint on the proceedings — acting as something of a texture-trickster whooshing around the edges in the first set, but really setting the table in the second where he provided a bowed-note-like dronewave that underpinned the whole thing.
You can check out some footage from the first set over on youtube:
A return to action for this duo of Fuzzy Nibesh and Joe Strutt, sitting in as guests in Allison Cameron's monthly Tranzac timeslot. After spending some time in the sonic laboratory, the pair have been subtracting notes and adding timbres to advance their invenstivations into electroacoustic vibrational possibilities.
[Wenderly Park will be back in action at The Tranzac on Tuesday, August 23rd, which will include a special gues set from Naomi McCarroll Butler.]
Lina Allemano Four / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-08-03 (Wednesday). $PWYC.
Batuki Music Society presents: Habari Africa Festival (feat. Gloria Nankunda & Emanzi Dance Troupe / Ethio Azmari / Okavango / Dobet Gnahoré) / Harbourfront Centre 2022-08-05 (Friday). $free, family-friendly, most events outdoors. [more info]
Batuki Music Society presents: Habari Africa Festival (feat. IZimba Arts / Adam Solomon / La Kora des Griots / Dicko Fils / Songs of My Mother [feat. Lorraine Klaasen/Djely Tapa/Mis Blandine/Ruth Mathiang]) / Harbourfront Centre 2022-08-06 (Saturday). $free, family-friendly, most events outdoors. [more info]
Birthday Bash! (feat. Greydini / Man Made Hill / Bbomit / Sourpussy / Banananananana) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2022-08-06 (Saturday). $12. [FB event]
Batuki Music Society presents: Habari Africa Festival (feat. Mambo Chivero / Sadaka / Butterfly Band) / Harbourfront Centre 2022-08-07 (Sunday). $free, family-friendly, most events outdoors. [more info]
Dan Pitt Trio [Dan Pitt/Alex Fournier/Nick Fraser] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-26 (Tuesday) [FB event]
Harry Vetro/Andrew Furlong/David Hodgson / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-27 (Wednesday). $PWYC. [FB event]
Karen Ng presents (feat. Nick Fraser/Blake Howard/Karen Ng/Brodie West) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-28 (Thursday) [FB event]
Tallies [Patina record release show!] (Twist / Matt MacNeil) / The Garrison 2022-07-29 (Friday). $20.05 advance, 19+. [FB event]
The Ryan Driver Sextet / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-29 (Friday). $pay-what-you-wish. [FB event]
Cosmic Homeostasis XVI / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-31 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.). $PWYC. [FB event]
Solo-ish Guitar Night (feat. Brian Abbott / Kurt Newman / Ryan Kinney / Patrick O'Reilly) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-31 (Sunday – late!) [FB event]
It happened this week...
...on July 26, 2014 at Geary Lane (Summer Sesh @ Geary Lane)
Originally this was to be a set from Ohrenschmaus, Lina Allemano's Berlin-based trio who have been on a rare Canadian jaunt, but with sickness sidelining drummer Michael Griener some last-minute improvisations were required. Phil Melanson more than ably sat in, and the group just improvised in the place of trying any of Allemano's Ohrenschmaus charts, but it was a worthy encounter regardless. Also a chance to witness the work of bassist Dan Peter Sundland, who was a joy to discover. A "full body" player, both in terms of using his full frame as well as seemingly every square inch of his long-scale Gretsch, exploring purcussive possibilities as well as plenty excellent bow work.
This Geneva-based group, a dozen strong on stage, was making their first appearance on this side of the Atlantic. A unique sort of "big band" (dual marimbas, dual percussionists, dual guitars, strings and horns) there were some familiar elements here (the postpunk tension/repeat/release of The Ex, the meticulous rhythmic drive of Stereolab, the joyful singalongs of The Raincoats, and maybe just a soupçon of LiLiPUT's musical DNA) but this was a fully unique (and groovin') experience. Luckily, the band was well-served by the space they were playing in, with amazing clarity for such a large group, with all the players clear in their own space, rather than the muddle it could be if not done with such great care.
*Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!
Before the groovestorm of the dozen-strong orchestre tout puissant marcel duchamp, Montréal-based oud maestro Sam Shalabi took to the crowded stage on his own, and unleashed something like a flowing river of music, filled with flourishes that never seemed so much like showy displays of technique as suggestive elaborations of a story he was delighted to be sharing.
*Thanks to Sam for passing along the title to this one.
Something a little different here with an ambitious duo effort from sound-sculptor Matt Smith and multi-instrumentalist Colin Fisher, who both brought some extra gear along. Smith had a full-sized monitor and a stack of sound interfaces to wrangle and manipulate sounds, while there was a rare appearance of Fisher's guzheng — and he played piano (!) and tenor sax as well. That meant there was some extra troubleshooting that lead to this encounter being one slightly-extended set instead of two in their timeslot, but that was enough space to explore bow-scrapes, reverb sizzles, hazy vox and spaces beyond.
The Ryan Driver Sextet / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-29 (Friday). $pay-what-you-wish. [FB event]
Cosmic Homeostasis XVI / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-31 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.). $PWYC. [FB event]
Solo-ish Guitar Night (feat. Brian Abbott / Kurt Newman / Ryan Kinney / Patrick O'Reilly) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-31 (Sunday – late!) [FB event]
Noting that sometimes it's hardest to find time to play with the musicians you live with, Brittany and Dan Pitt relished a chance to explore some tunes together in this set. Mixing a couple originals alongside a standard or two and a pop song to boot, Dan offered a range of guitars tones, from spacious reverb to melt-y loops while Brittany not only contributed sax but some vocals as well.
*Did I get this right? This is what I wrote down, but I don't immediately see it in the author's canon looking online. Please leave a comment if you can confirm!
It's always a delight to discover musicians you know playing in a totally different context. I've seen listings promoting Madeleine Ertel in song-singing mode, but hitherto had only seen her on trumpet, playing in Never Was and alongside various friends. This voice + piano set also brought along another discovery in the form of her sister Abbey, an excellent vocalist in her own right, and the pair offered up some sibling chemistry in a selection of originals and covers. Hints of The Roches singing from the Elliott Smith songbook, especially in the first (Madeleine-penned) selection here. There was also some pleasing variety in the set as well, such as the switcheroo for the second pick here (written by Abbey and with her on piano) as well as a guitar excursion from Madeleine and some special guest performances.
With musicians and audience gathering together in Wenona's basement for the first time since March 2020, this was not precisely like old times, mostly because as a safety precauution we kept the room from getting too crowded and not all the peeps that could have been there were sitting in the room. But it's a start, and a reminder that there's something magical about being in a cozy space and hearing people trying out new sounds.
The last time I'd invited Bea Labikova to TCB she leaped at the chance to use it to explore new techniques, bringing an electronic rig to expand the sounds of her sax and voice. Pushing further in that direction this time around, she also brought along guitarist Vennie Tu, who added both shimmery textures and Pocket Operator-generated beats to add structure, moving from etherial drift to some sort of free jazz disco explorations.
To try and make up for the limited realtime access, I'm going to keep documenting TCB's performances on video, so you can check out the vibe on youtube:
With musicians and audience gathering together in Wenona's basement for the first time since March 2020, this was not precisely like old times, mostly because as a safety precauution we kept the room from getting too crowded and not all the peeps that could have been there were sitting in the room. But it's a start, and a reminder that there's something magical about being in a cozy space and hearing people trying out new sounds.
So what do you do when you have a bunch a friends that you know, but who don't know each other? While passing through town, evelyn charlotte-joe (formerly of Hamilton, currently Montréal-based) decided to decompartmentalize by gathering folks from different musical silos into one improvising group. To get folks on the same page, crowdsourced decisions were solicited and games were played to provide structure (this one decided the starting players through a round of RPS, for example) and quickly the players found new connections with each other. The players here were evelyn charlotte-joe on piano and suggestive direction, Cliff Rutherford the 4th on drums, Shanika Maria and Patrice Rose on vocals, and Naomi McCaroll-Butler on woodwinds.
To try and make up for the limited realtime access, I'm going to keep documenting TCB's performances on video, so you can check out the vibe on youtube:
Heavy reed-shredding grooves from saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, joined here by Johan Berthling (bass) and Andreas Werlin (drums), all trying to earn the exclamation point in the band's name. Berthling is the key ingredient here, offering lockgroove repetition in the tradition of "dumb" spatterpunks like Flipper as the key structural element allowing Gustafsson to spray notes (occasionally switching over to electronic noise for relief).
*Does anyone know the title to these? Please leave a comment!
If you think of Völur as folk band, instead of getting caught up in dissecting metal subgenres, their willingness to engage in a wide variety of musical practices falls right into place. Part of a recent-ish collaborative EP, this piece sees bassist Lucas Gadke show off his developing tanbur skills (and also sees John D. Williams joining in on clarinet).
Some things just have to be experienced live, and Brian Ruryk's full body/full commitment guitar noise/performance art is probably one of 'em. The junk-flinging spectacle remains a joy to behold, but so is the method behind the chaos — you might not notice right away, for example, that Ruryk is deftly skilled with his mixer, and as a sonic collagist he's doing something really unique. Just make sure you're out of the splash zone when considering these more subtle qualities.
The local jazz festival doesn't tend to get a tonne of favourable glances from this direction, but they should be praised when they do something cool and ambitious. Named as the inaugural "Jazz Festival Immersive Artist-in-Residence", Naomi McCarroll-Butler was given some resources to put together a programme of new work to present at the festival, which emerged as Chrysalis, "a project born out of my first years of transitioning: songs of hope for holding on, cries of joy and grief for the love of a suffering community, trance tapestries of woven sound accompanying the alignment of the physical body with the luminant body."
This live presentation (played in the pleasant Festival zone in the Victoria College quad) saw McCarroll-Butler backed by a dozen musicians, segueing from spiritual jazz blastoffs to modern compositional latticeworks — and including some sounds on DIY microtonal pipes along the way, as well as plenty individual spotlights for the members of the group. The band sounded lush and lively (despite playing with a fairly minimal soundcheck) and one can hope that this music gets a chance to live on beyond this performance.
Most Popular Mic Touching Sounds (feat. Prince Nifty with Colin Fisher) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-12 (Tuesday)
Ben Gunning Group (Chiquita Magic) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-13 (Wednesday – early!)
Never Was / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-13 (Wednesday)
CMC Presents (feat. BLOOP / Overleaf [Heidi Chan/Mira Martin-Gray/Kayla Milmine]) / Canadian Music Centre 2022-07-14 (Thursday). $15 Advance / $20 at the door (Arts Workers: $12 Advance / $15 at the door; Students. $10), livestream available [FB event]
Jennifer Castle / The Garrison 2022-07-14 (Thursday). $34.72 advance, 19+. [FB event]
Cosmic Country for Communists (feat. Harry Bartlett/Andrew Furlong/Kurt Newman / Janet Macpherson/Andrew Furlong/Kurt Newman) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-14 (Thursday). $PWYC.
Apollo Ghosts (No Frills / Dorothea Paas) / Monarch Tavern 2022-07-15 (Friday). $14.50 advance, 19+. [FB event]
Departures Series (feat. Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp / Sam Shalabi) / The Music Gallery 2022-07-15 (Friday). $17.03 advance, all ages. [FB event]
Sounding For Keepers (feat. Nidus) / The Tollkeeper's Park 2022-07-16 (Saturday – 6 to 9 p.m.).
Solo, duo, and trio improvisations (feat. Sara Constant/Brian Abbott/Michael Palumbo) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-16 (Saturday) [FB event]
A full house came out for this TONE Fest show that saw a smartly-combined lineup of two groups approaching the intersection of pop forms and sonic questing from different directions. This sextet, anchored by guitarist Mary Halvorson's compositions, hinted at sophisticated jazz-pop (especially in Amirtha Kidambi's vocal work) but wasn't beholden to the pop form, with the pieces stretching out and finding different spaces and combinations to explore within the band, giving Adam O’Farrill (trumpet), Brian Settles (tenor saxophone), Michael Formanek (double bass), and Tomas Fujiwara (drums) all room to shine. The very setup of the group on stage, an inverted V with Halvorson at the centre and furthest back (where the drummer would usually be) spoke to the anti-frontperson vibes — this is a deninitely meant to be considered as a group effort, and a chance for some Serious Listening.
A full house came out for this TONE Fest show that saw a smartly-combined lineup of two groups approaching the intersection of pop forms and sonic questing from different directions. This local institution, playing thwir first full-on quintet gig since The Beforetimes, centres the "pop song" but engages in a lot of play in doing so. The stretch/squish of Time and Events means that there's a whole album of tunes that haven't been engaged with on stage so much by band or audience, and those songs are already being gently nudged aside by the next batch (including the first selection here).
VC2 / Toronto Music Garden 2022-08-11 (Thursday). $free, outdoors. [more info]
Taktus Marimba Duo / Toronto Music Garden 2022-08-25 (Thursday). $free, outdoors. [more info]
FutureStops Festival (feat. Kali Malone / Thomas Mellan / Kara-Lis Coverdale) / Cathedral of St James 2021-09-29 (Thursday). $32.84 – $145.29. [more info]
FutureStops Festival (feat. Raven Chacon / Sarah Svendsen / Rashaan Allwood / Amina Claudine Myers) / Roy Thomson Hall 2021-09-30 (Friday). $50.25. [more info]
FutureStops Festival (feat. Fuji|||||||||ta / Sandra Boss) / Roy Thomson Hall (lobby) 2021-10-01 (Saturday – 1 p.m.). $36.75. [more info]
FutureStops Festival (feat. Charlemagne Palestine / Matthew Larkin / Sarah Davachi) / Metropolitan United Church 2021-10-01 (Saturday). $32.84. [more info]
Shows this week:
Mad's Happy Music (feat. Madeleine Ertel / Aline Homzy / Michael Davidson / Dan Fortin / Aidan McConnell) / The Emmet Ray 2022-07-06 (Wednesday) [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]
Holy Oak Family Trio [Luke Kuplowsky/Thom Gill/Phil Melanson] (D. Alex Meeks) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-06 (Wednesday – early!)
The Titillators / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-06 (Wednesday). $pay-what-you-wish. [FB event]
The Spire Choir ["a sound performance involving a human performer and a bio-sensing voicing apparatus"] (feat. Xuan Ye) / Array Space 2022-07-08 (Friday – 6 + 8 p.m. performances!). $25 or pay what you want, livestream available. [more info]
Mixto Festival 2022 (feat. Ghetto Kumbé / Tush / Sofia Fly / Mosamba / New Chance) / Lynx Music 2022-07-08 (Friday). $25.12 advance. [FB event]
small, like the wren [world premiere performance, written by Anna Höstman] (feat. Cheryl Duvall) / Canadian Music Centre 2022-07-08 (Friday). $20 regular/$15 Arts Worker, Senior and Student, livestream available. [FB event]
Alex "Bad Baby" Lukashevsky / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-08 (Friday – early!)
Musica Universalis (feat. Bryan Bray/Colin Fisher / eternalrealworld) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-08 (Friday) [FB event]
D U S T (The Quietest Big Band in the Known World) / Oculus Pavilion 2022-07-09 (Saturday – 2 p.m.). outdoor event
Bob Vespaziani/Victor O/Eric Kinsella (Yvolga [Ilyse Krivel/Dora Daria] / Maeve Clark) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-09 (Saturday). $5 or PWYC. [FB event]
Ayal Senior's Monthly: Az Yashir LP Release Show (feat. Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman / David Sait / Saturn City / Nick Flanagan) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-10 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.) [FB event]
SynCirSundays (feat. Nilan Perera [solo] / Nilan Perera/Robin Buckley/TBC) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-07-10 (Sunday – early!). $10, or whatever you have in your pockets. [FB event]
It happened this week...
...on July 7, 2012 at Woodbine Park (Afrofest 2012).
Goodness gracious! How nice it is to get outside, and to be somewhere a little unfamiliar, and to see folks from your community doing cool things! This soundwalk was conceptualized by Germaine Liu to use percussion and voices to reflect and enhance the sounds in a stretch moving from Canoe Landing Park and running along The Bentway, under The Gardiner Expressway. Accompanied by the whirr of traffic and backbeat of underpass construction, the groups' sounds fit in like ghostly counterparts to the sonic landscape. Truly delightful. (And for the record, the participants in the piece were: Bea Labikova, Aki Takahashi, Bee Pallomina, Brenda Joy Lem, Fahmid Nibesh, Joe Sorbara, Lieke van der Voort, Michelangelo Iaffaldano, Mingjia, Stephanie Chua, Raphael Roter, Heather Saumer, and Christine Duncan.)
In addition to the audio clips above, here's a slightly more expansive visual record. (Do be warned, this was taken with a handheld camera, so there are some shaky spots here):