Monday Roundup #295

Community notes:

• In addition to the shows listed below, as part of their "Makam Music Forum" Labyrinth Ontario is hosting a pair of Conversation Circles hosted by Jonathan Adjemian and Yang Chen. "These circles will create a space for all those who seek to question common ethnographical frameworks surrounding musical categories." Free to attend at East End United before the shows on September 17th and 18th , more info here.

---

Concert announcements:

Josh Cole: new works for improvising musicians ["solo and duo double bass"] (feat. Evan Palmer & Josh Cole) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-14 (Monday). $10 or pwyc. [more info]

Body Help with Hugh Marsh / Pamenar (patio) 2026-09-15 (Tuesday). [more info]

Music Hosted by Karen Ng (feat. Matthew Cardinal / Vicki Venti / Pantayo) / Wenona Lodge 2026-09-15 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [more info]

Josh Sparks’ Digital Bath / Dina’s Tavern 2026-09-16 (Wednesday). $no cover. [more info]

Altered States Artist Showcase (feat. Scott Thomson/Brent Tanemura/Max Stover/William Hunt/Mateos Labbé-Phelan) / Water to Wine 2026-09-16 (Wednesday). $pwyc. [more info]

Toronto Makam Music Forum (feat.Mehdi Rostami + Folios of Turkish Makam [Julian Anderson-Bowes/Saghi Farsijani/Canan Sezgin Geylan/Yahya Geylan/Roa Lee]) / East End United 2026-09-17 (Thursday). $30 general admission, $20 student/arts worker. [more info]

ESP Free Jazz Thursdays (feat. Brent Tanemura/Lauchlin Wood/Jake Bikay/Mason Wallington/Colin Fisher) / Water to Wine 2026-09-17 (Thursday). $pwyc. [more info]

Whitetails (Chapel of Ease / The Cross Sea / LeBarons) / The Garrison 2026-09-18 (Friday). $25, 19+. [FB event]

Glenn Jones (Liam Grant / Colin Fisher) / Le Monde 2026-09-18 (Friday) [more info]

Chanoyu (feat. New Tendencies [Matt Nish-Lapidus] / Germaine Liu & Masahiro Takahashi) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-18 (Friday). [more info]

Toronto Makam Music Forum (feat.Sami Abu Shumays’ Umm Kulthum Music Group) / East End United 2026-09-19 (Saturday). $30 general admission, $20 student/arts worker. [more info]

Roger C. Miller (Storey Littleton) / BSMT 254 2026-09-20 (Sunday). $27.36, 19+. [FB event]

Mike DeiCont Trio feat. Eric West & Leland Whitty / Sellers & Newel 2026-09-24 (Thursday). $20 minimum donation. [FB event]

Liquid Architecture: Guitar Night (feat. Lex Feathers / Aranya Khurana / Colin James Gibson / Ryan Kinney) / St. Matthew's Clubhouse 2026-10-03 (Saturday). $10 (cash or e-transfer). [FB event]

FemBots (Jenny Omnichord) / Burdock Music Hall 2026-10-10 (Saturday). $22.60. [tickets + more info]

Is your show missing from this list? Submit it via this form!

---

Shows this week:

Ministry of Phonic Services presents: Back to School Field Trip ["a festival of outdoor experimental sounds and actions"] (feat. Vampire John Coltrane / Bee Solomon / Cows in Rain) / "Porch" 2026-09-07 (Monday). $pwyc. [more info]

More Noise Please! presents Manic Monday (feat. The Nausea / SEHKTOR8 / Crude Flame / Mountain of Woe / Pursuit Grooves / Writhing Deceiver) / BSMT254 2026-09-07 (Monday). $17.31 or pwyc. [tickets + more info]

Not Dead Yet presents (feat. Otto Benson / Potions) / Monarch Tavern 2026-09-08 (Tuesday). $27.82, 19+. [FB event]

Rondo Projects #4 ["the final part of Ehsan Sadigh’s Septet IV/IX"] (feat. Bea Labikova/Chris Pruden/Dhaivat Jani/Ehsan Sadigh) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-08 (Tuesday) [more info]

Brodie West presents (feat. Brodie West's Double Basses Quintet [Brodie West/Patrick O'Reilly/Josh Cole/Rob Clutton/Nick Fraser]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-09 (Wednesday – early). [more info]

Ministry of Phonic Services presents: Back to School Field Trip ["a festival of outdoor experimental sounds and actions"] (feat. J.Vulgare / Colby Richardson / Fan Wu / Mariana Medellin) / "Mall" 2026-09-09 (Wednesday). $pwyc. [more info]

Alex Lukashevsky ["solostrumsinging + a guest or two"] / Water to Wine 2026-09-09 (Wednesday). $pwyw

Never Was [Brandon Davis/Bea Labikova/Racha Moukalled/Patrick O'Reilly/Adrian Russouw/Joe Sorbara] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-09 (Wednesday). [more info]

ESP Free Jazz Thursdays (feat. Brent Tanemura/Allison Cameron/Gloria Ksimuniv/Blake Howard) / Water to Wine 2026-09-10 (Thursday). $pwyc. [more info]

Kurt Newman presents (feat. Isla & The Sorry Brothers) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-10 (Thursday). $pwyc

Ministry of Phonic Services presents: Back to School Field Trip ["a festival of outdoor experimental sounds and actions"] (feat. Brian Abbott's Tone Cathedral / Mani Mazinani & Marilyn Yogarajah / Bea Labikova) / "Creek" 2026-09-11 (Friday). $pwyc. [more info]

Liam Cole (Westelaken / Wishbone Zoë) / The Rat's Nest 2026-09-11 (Friday). $15/pwyc

Audiopollination (feat. Andrew Kobus to go/Xukasia/Janel Jones / flower club/Rohee Uberoi / Noah Campbell/Neal Armstrong/Aisha Sasha John / The Not Michael Lynns) / Array Space 2026-09-11 (Friday). $pwyc/$10 (notaflof). [more info]

Musica Universalis (feat. Colin Fisher / William Hunt / Jack Johnston / Cal Adam) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-11 (Friday) [more info]

William Hunt [solo piano live recording] / Sellers and Newel 2026-09-12 (Saturday). $15 minimum donation. [more info]

Marker Starling (Tean Dream) / BSMT 254 2026-09-12 (Saturday). $22.84, 19+. [FB event]

Lucid Lounge Saturdays (feat. Ryan Driver/Andrew Downing/Blake Howard) / Water to Wine 2026-09-12 (Saturday). $pwyc. [more info]

Toronto Improvisers Orchestra / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-13 (Sunday – noon). $pwyc. [more info]

Marilyn & Friends (In the style of Ayal) (feat. Sporesong [Adwoa & Marilyn] / Will Hunt / Nick Flanagan / A Hectic Space [Nilan/Roya/Vic/Marilyn]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-13 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.). [FB event]

Elastic Recordings Presents: Inhabiting & Releasing Spontaneous Structures – A Concert & Workshop (feat. The Plastic Waste Band / Michael Davidson & Bjorn Kriel / Aline Homzy) / Annette Studios 2026-09-13 (Sunday – workshop @ 3:00 p.m., concert @ 8:00 p.m.). $20-$25 concert only (advance), $25-$40 concert + workshop (advance), $free (kids 12 + under). [FB event]

Ministry of Phonic Services presents Back to School Field Trip: Installation Garden ["a festival of outdoor experimental sounds and actions"] (feat. various artists) / "Ravine" 2026-09-13 (Sunday). $pwyc. [more info]

Mayme Joach [Alex Lukashevsky/Jack Johnson/Nick Fraser] (Jacko Packo) / Dina's Tavern 2026-09-13 (Sunday). $13

---

It happened this week...

• ...on September 11, 2009 at Rolly's Garage (Optical Sounds' Back to Cool Party).

The Disraelis - The Bitter Ash

• ...on September 12, 2009 at SPK Polish Combatants Hall.

Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex & Guests - Eoleyo

[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: The Disraelis

Artist: The Disraelis

Song: The Struggler

Recorded at The Baby G, May 20, 2017.

The Disraelis - The Struggler

Celebrating the vinyl release of their Life's a Beach EP, this formally added five more songs to the slow-simmering band's discography. A long time coming, this now-rarer-than-they-used-to-be Optical Sounds party felt a bit out of place, not being at The Silver Dollar, but we all adapt and struggle on, such as we can.

Recording: The Disraelis

Artist: The Disraelis

Song: Cherry Red

Recorded at The Great Hall ("Psych Pop Volume 2 Release Party"), March 15, 2014.

The Disraelis - Cherry Red

Full review to follow. The final track (and a highlight) of Optical Sounds' second survey of the label's acts and allies, there's as much gorgeous craft in this song's composition as there is shaggy grandeur in its execution.

Recording: Joy

Artist: Joy

Song: Transmission [Joy Division cover]

Recorded at The Great Hall ("A Night of Covers: A Celebration of Chris Levoir"), July 4, 2013.

Joy - Transmission

Full review to follow. A celebration and a wake. After the untimely passing of singer/guitarist Chris Levoir, his bandmates in The Mark Inside rightly decided that the proper way to launch their new album Dark Hearts Can Radiate White Light was with a big party, with covers played by friends and collaborators, and a lot of these songs came with stories of how they linked back to Chris. Reminiscent of rehearsal space jams, these were loose and occasionally imperfect, but infused with the spirit of friends playing together. In the end, the night was sad, fun and cathartic.

This aptly-named ad hoc group saw Cameron Jingles (The Disraelis) on guitar backed by drummer Nick Kervin (Easy Targets, B-17, Mimico) and bassist Clint Rodgerson (B-17, Action Makes, BB Guns).

Recording: The Disraelis

Artist: The Disraelis

Song: Strange Request

Recorded at The Silver Dollar Room (Psych-Pop Toronto Release Party – Night 1), November 8, 2012.

The Disraelis - Strange Request

Full review to follow. The Disraelis 2.0 are rounding into a sonic force to be reckoned with, closing out the night with Cameron Jingles' aggressively-slurred lyrics given force by Richie Gibson's guitar heroics.

Sunday Grab-This!

Sunday Grab-This!

In lieu of a Sunday Playlist this week, here's something even better that you can stream/download for gratis!

I've made no secret 'round these parts for my love of local label Optical Sounds. The bands affiliated with the label put on great live shows and have put out some essential records over the past few years. Now, you can get a sense of all that goodness squeezed into one package, with a new label compilation featuring a tracklist selected by Will Carruthers (Spacemen 3, Spiritualized, Brian Jonestown Massacre). Those very same bands tend to be a shared love of everyone in the OS family, so even if there's a terrific variety here, there is something holding it all together.

You can download or stream the album over at Optical Sounds' bandcamp, or also via the label website, where you can read a bit more about each of the bands involved. This is essential T.O.!

Plus, to celebrate the compilation, OS is throwing a two-night celebration at The Silver Dollar, with many of these bands playing. Be there on Thursday, November 8th (live sets from Ostrich Tuning, The Disraelis, Flowers of Hell, The Auras, Planet Creature) and Friday, November 9th (live sets from B-17, Revolvers, Volcano Playground, The BB Guns, Persian Rugs). Both nights are $8 at the door. Facebook event here.

Recording: The Disraelis

Artist: The Disraelis

Song: Sick in Your Dreams^*

Recorded at The Silver Dollar Room (NXNE 2012), June 15, 2012.

The Disraelis - Sick in Your Dreams

My notes for this set can be found here.

^* Thanks to Richie for passing along the title of this one.

Currente calamo: NXNE 2012 (Friday)

NXNE 2012 (Friday, June 15, 2012)

While these shows are fresh in my mind I want to get some quick notes down. I'm a nerd for not wanting to throw my full reviews out of sequence, so there'll be a fuller accounting of the night by and by that'll include even more details and recordings.

Midnite: Andre Williams & The Sadies @ The Horseshoe Tavern

After spending all afternoon at the most-excellent 159 Manning BBQ, it seemed mildly strange to consider that I was starting my proper "day" at NXNE at midnite. By that point of the day, there's a certain temptation to just go home and sleep, but this was one of the sets that I had definitely been planning to go out of my way to catch during the festival.

Unsurprisingly, the 'Shoe was rammed as I made my way in, but I did manage to find a tiny bit of room along the wall at about the back of the dancefloor.

In proper soul revue fashion, The Sadies emerged first and began to lay down a groove, grabbing the audience's attention before Andre Williams — Mr. Rhythm himself — took the stage in his dashing red satin suit. At 75, the genial Williams seemed to be out to establish that he was still, as one of his songs puts it, "Agile, Mobile and Hostile".

It was definitely a treat to see him — and, in a festival filled to overflowing with the new and young, to see a senior citizen command a room like this. Williams was spirited, and the Sadies were as whip-snap sharp as always. That said, at a more objective level, I was struck by how much this show reminded me of the the last time Williams was in town. Except for that increased vitality on Williams' part, this was pretty much an abbreviated version of the same show. It was a little surprising, given how Williams and The Sadies had just dropped the new Night and Day collaboration, that none of that material made its way into the setlist.

Part of that was surely down to having to work within the confines of the festival grid. As it turned out, it took a few songs for things to really feel like they were cooking, and by then, the band were a good way through their allotted time. There was enough that Williams still managed to squeeze a costume change in, but as he departed the stage after a rollicking run through "Car With the Star", it really felt like this could have kept going.

One assumes that there's a fairly significant non-festival-going crowd that would be into this, so we might hope to see a full show from this pairing yet to come.

Listen to a track from this set here.

1 a.m.: Reigning Sound @ The Horseshoe Tavern

Being just warmed up by the point the timeslot was over would be a problem for Reigning Sound as well, although they dealt with it by just chugging onward. That would be a popular choice with the crowd — after Andre Williams' set ended, the Horseshoe emptied out a bit — just enough that it had gone from being "crammed" to "full". And though I couldn't say that I was familiar with Greg Cartwright's Memphis soul-garage project, there was clearly a strong and vocal contingent on hand to whom this was a big deal. That's probably be because although the band has been an on-and-off-concern for over a decade, it had been in quiet mode lately, and obviously too-long away for the enthusiasts to bear.

The five-piece quickly established a rock-solid groove, nimble and capable of lashing out. On top of that came Cartwright's gravelly vocals, which had a slight taste of Faces-era Rod Stewart. I knew that he had also produced The Deadly Snakes, and played alongside them for awhile to boot (leading to some lingering fondness that he expressed for Toronto) and that was also evident in the band's lean toughness.

It's always an interesting experience to be a neophyte in the midst of a crowd of devoted fans, with joyful roars of recognition coming for song after song. I was able to dig all of them in greater or smaller proportion, although admittedly, after about a half-hour, I was starting to get antsy, feeling worn-down from the long day. The band had started at about quarter after, and was still going strong at the top of the hour — creating some unhappiness, I'm sure, for anyone who had shown up for the next band. I thought about ducking into somewhere or other nearby to catch a 2 a.m. set, but I really needed some fresh air and ended up just hiking up to the Silver Dollar.

Listen to a track from this set here.

3 a.m.: the Disraelis @ The Silver Dollar Room

My timing being thrown off, I arrived to catch the last couple songs by UN (whether that's meant as an abbreviation à la the United Nations or an emphatic, all-caps french definite article I don't know). The slightly-goofy synthpop was a bit perpendicular to what I'd been seeing on the night but wasn't unwelcome — as something random to encounter during the festival I feel like I coulda done far worse.

That was tangential, however, to my late-night plans to catch a set from Optical Sounds O.G.'s The Disraelis. This was a band that I adored in their previous incarnation, their alchemy arising from the "delicious tension between Colin Bowers' crystalline guitar lines and Cameron Ingles' opaque murmurs, a collision between heightened rationality and bleary oblivion." Bowers has since taken his guitar sound to The Holiday Crowd, and after a fallow period, Ingles has reconvened a new trio with his bass backed by Calvin Brown and Richie Gibson (both formerly of The Hoa Hoa's and now with B-17). This gives the music a different cast and it's to their credit that instead of trying to replicate Bowers' sound, Gibson is playing to his own strengths, as paisley and psychedelic as the shirt he was wearing.

There were sparks — actual, literal ones — when I first saw this new lineup a couple months ago, but there was still a bit of a tentative feeling of transition. I was quite pleased to see that things felt a bit more settled in now, and the set — dominated by new songs — did a good job of showing where The Disraelis are headed. With a more muscular attack from drums and guitar, Ingles is pushing his vocals a little more, and there was a bit less space for his bass up front, but the heavier sound meant that the new material felt less like a hangover and more the the aftermath — or precipice of — a bad trip, a sentiment sealed with the set-ending blistering attack on the 13th Floor Elevators/Spacemen 3's "Rollercoaster". Well come on, and let it happen to you — you gotta open up your mind and let everything come through.

Listen to a track from this set here.

Recording: The Disraelis

Artist: The Disraelis

Song: Secret

Recorded at Double Double Land, March 10, 2012.

The Disraelis - Secret

Review to follow. Finally got a chance to see the reactivated Disraelis in action. Fighting through electrical shocks and broken strings, the old spark was still there.

1000 Songs: Robert Gibson

1000 Songs: Robert Gibson

I have now posted one thousand songs from my live recordings to this blog. My introductory thoughts on that landmark can be found here, but long story short: I asked some folks to pick some of their favourites to help me celebrate.

Today's list is from Robert Gibson of Toronto's Optical Sounds label (twitter: @OpticalSounds)

---

Action Makes - Buddies

B-17 - Bad Situation

The Disraelis - In Memory

Flowers of Hell - O [excerpt]

The Hoa Hoa's - Grew Up on The Seeds

Ostrich Tuning - Gender Trouble (Bodies That Matter)

Planet Creature - My Baby

Revolvers - Break it Loose

Your 33 Black Angels - Psycho On Your Side

I promise this started out differently. I love Mechanical Forest Sound's premise as a blog and fully intended to select some great tracks without it turning into an Optical Sounds festival. BUT, how could I include some bands from the label my brother and I founded and maintain and not all of them? So, OUT ya go J Mascis, Love Is All, The Radio Dept, Simply Saucer, etc and IN with our friends and their amazing bands. Joe, you've managed to record every band on our label except Magic Shoppe. This is understandable tho - they've never been to Canada. :)

We're throwing a party on Saturday Mar 10 at Double Double Land in Kensington Market. It's in celebration of Your 33 Black Angels' latest release, "Moon and Morning Star".

---

You can always click on the tags below to read more about the shows these songs came from. Have there been four or five songs posted here that made an impact on you? If you'd like to get in on the action and make a list, feel free to send me an email: mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com.

Gig: The Perfect Transcription (Part 2)

The Perfect Transcription (Live Spacemen 3 & Spiritualized tribute) (feat. Speedway / The Disraelis / Ostrich Tuning / The Mighty Oaks / Flowers of Hell / The Pow Wows / The Blooming Rosebuds / The Hoa Hoa's)

The Piston. Saturday, December 4, 2010.

You can read up on the first half on the night here, but to recap: this was a benefit show for Natty Brooker in the form of a live tribute to Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized, with a massive lineup of sixteen bands taking the stage. Commonalities between the bands included lots of lyric cheatsheets, plenty reverb, and quite a few of what we might term "older bands" (in terms of rock'n'roll, though, as opposed to, like, life.)

An appearance from Speedway — apparently reunited for the occasion — was considered to be a big deal in some quarters, though I admit I was unfamiliar with them.¹ Stripping the gear down to the minimum required for a howling squall, they brought three guitarists and drums. The band was perhaps a bit rusty — or maybe just a little too untethered — starting off with an instrumental, and moving into "May the Circle Be Unbroken".² I don't have anything to compare this to, but it didn't feel like the band was really tearing into the material.

Or perhaps they didn't get to leave such a strong impression after the searing appearance from The Disraelis. The start of what would be a definite Optical Sounds tinge to the rest of the night, this was the band's first time out with a new lineup, with vocalist Cameron Jingles switching over from bass to guitar, Dave Barnes on drums and Calvin Brown on bass.³ A bashed out "Losing Touch With My Mind" was quite bracing, but even better was the following "Rollercoaster" — a 13th Floor Elevators elevators song favoured by the Spacemen 3. That one featured Richie Gibson (also from The Hoa Hoa's) on second guitar. This was pretty fantastic — rough-hewn but holding itself together, and certainly enough to give hope that the band will be returning for more.⁴

Listen to a track from this set here.

No strangers to Velvets-influenced drone-rock, Ostrich Tuning were a natural fit for this show. Like several other bands on the night, they chose to contrast the quieter and louder tendrils of the S3 sound, starting with "Honey" before kicking up the noise and getting all cosmic with "How Does It Feel?". My notepad contains a scrawled note that I'm thinking reads "insta-raga!".

The Mighty Oaks brought a more straightforward classic rockin' sort of sound — these guys could probably fill in a slot at a Crazy Horse tribute night with equal facility. They followed up "Just To See You Smile" with a fabulous version of "Transparent Radiation" that owed just a little something to The Who and BTO.

Listen to a track from this set here.

Flowers of Hell are pretty malleable behind mainman Greg Jarvis, so I wasn't too surprised to see them as a lean rock attack unit on this night, with Jarvis backed by a second guitarist, bass (Calvin Brown again) and drums. They also reached into the S3 live catalogue for a rocket-powered version of MC5's "Starship" — a little sloppy, but more than adequately propulsive.

As the hour grew later, I was starting to feel a little tired and wobbly. I even thought I was suffering some sonic hallucinations, but it turned out that the phased sounds of the Bo Diddley album playing between sets was entirely deliberate, as if it was being run through a flanger. At this staggery point of the night, The Pow Wows came out like a shot of espresso, leading the crowd in a chant ("N-A-T-T-Y SAT-UR-DAY NIGHT!") before a garage-y "Mary-Anne", which sounded like the product of a band that had been spending some time playing "Gloria". After that, they played "2:35" — and whether by accident or design, the clock actually passed that point as the band played the song — building up into shouting and frenzied drumming. It was a real rave-up, ending with a small-scale stage invasion and bassist/singer Jazzy Jimenez climbing on the drums — Sat-ur-day night, indeed.⁵

Listen to a track from this set here.

By this point, it was late enough that the bar staff were coming around and physically taking everyone's drinks away as The Blooming Rosebuds were setting up. I don't know much about this band (and their online info is pretty slim) though I did recognize Katerina T from Planet Creature on stage. They did good work on "Take Me to the Other Side", followed by a rolling version of "Come Down Easy". But the treat of the set was a reverse-engineered "Let it Flow", doing the Spiritualized song in a scrappy Spacemen 3 style.

Listen to a track from this set here.

By this point I was feeling rather knackered, but I was hanging on for The Hoa Hoa's, the night's last band. It was so late that there wasn't even any music on the PA while they band set up, while Cameron from The Disraelis was laying down on stage. From last call on, the crowd had been getting thinner, and it was to a discombobulated cadre that the band played the entirely-appropriately-entitled "Don't Fall Down". That one would count as a bit of a crate dig — a 13th Floor Elevators song that Spacemen 3 once recorded a demo of. And then, a properly dirge-y vibe to close out the night with the two-chord vamping of "Amen". And the whole thing wound up right 'round 3:30, six hours after the first band had taken the stage.⁶

Kudos to all the bands that got involved for a good cause, and to Davy Love, who put the whole night together. To commemorate the whole night, I've thrown together a compilation with one song from each of the bands that played — you can grab it here.

---

¹ I dug around a bit, but I didn't come up with any more information about the band. If you have anything further to fill in on the bands here, do feel free to pass it along — along with any corrections to anything I might have gotten mixed up while trying to keep sixteen bands straight.

² Given how the music of Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized spend so much time in vacillation between profound sin and the search for redemption, there was more soi-disant evangelical material on offer this night than at most shows I go to. I wonder if anyone has done a cultural studies dissertation on "Spacemen 3 as 'Christian Rock'".

³ Most often seen behind the drumkit with The Hoa Hoa's, Brown might be a secret MVP of the Optical Sounds family, adding bass duties with The Disraelis to a such diverse talents as album cover artist and DJ — all while sporting a flashy fashion sense.

⁴ After a bit of a wait, it looks like there's tentative plans for a full-fledged show from the band in late May, so keep an eye out for 'em.

⁵ The Pow Wows will be playing what should be a rock'n'roll good time this Friday (April 29, 2011) at The Press Club along with The Bon and The Mark Inside.

⁶ In what should be a psych night extraordinaire, The Hoa Hoa's, along with Ostrich Tuning, will be playing with Asteroid #4 at The Boat on Friday night (April 29, 2011).

Sunday Playlist #1

Sunday Playlist #1: These are a few of my favourite things

[Note: Having passed five hundred recordings posted on this blog a little while back, I've been thinking about ways to exploit this nifty little archive I'm building up. I thought maybe a little grouping might be nice on a lazy Sunday — just press play on the first one and you have some background music while you work on that crossword puzzle or whatnot. Is this something you'd actually find useful? If you dig this concept, "like" it or leave a comment and encourage me to do more, or I might just let the idea die a quiet death.]

For this inaugural list I thought I'd throw together some of the ones that I've gone back and listened to the most.

The Disraelis - In Memory

$100 - Positive Hex

Gentleman Reg - New Song (a.k.a. "It's True")

Shellshag - Gary's Note

Wyrd Visions - unknown

---

You can always click the tags below to see what I originally wrote about the shows these songs came from.

Recording: The Disraelis

Artist: The Disraelis

Song: Rollercoaster [13th Floor Elevators via Spacemen 3 cover]

Recorded at The Piston — Spacemen 3/Spiritualized Live Tribute and Benefit for Natty Brooker, December 4, 2010.

The Disraelis - Rollercoaster

Review to follow My notes for this set can now be found here — but it was swell to see The Disraelis back in action at this tribute night. Hopefully we'll see a set of their own stuff soon.

2009 In Review: Best Concerts (Part I)

So, in 2009, I went to one hundred and thirty shows, give or take, as long you consider anything from a three-song acoustic in-store set to an all-day mini-festival to be one "show". And looking over my list of gigs for the year, I can say there's not much that I regret going to. Which means, of course, that everything falls on that big ol' sliding scale of liked it some/liked it some more. To come up with the best of the bunch, I went with that unscientific method of scrolling down the list and stopping at those things that elicited that little internal smile and nod. There were a lot of other shows that were really good, but these — presented mostly in chronological order — stood out. To, y'know, save effort, I'll shamelessly quote myself as much as possible here, but links are provided should you want my whole view from at the time.

CMW Saturday Night

Lee's Palace / The Horseshoe / The Silver Dollar. Saturday, March 14, 2009.

A busy night of venue hopping not only served to re-establish the bona fides of some old faves (Jon-Rae Fletcher, Young Galaxy), but ending the night hanging out at the Silver Dollar proved to be prophetic — not only would I end up spending a lot more time than previous here in 2009, but I'd be introduced to a couple of my fave live acts of the year, in The Disraelis and The Hoa Hoa's. Of the latter, I noted "they managed to press the exact buttons to excite me," though I don't think I realized then how devoted I was going to become. Like anything you fall for, I guess, it's not always the one you were expecting.

I don't have any audio from that show, but I ended up posting a lot of live Hoa Hoa's.

Julie Doiron

($100 / Rick White) The Horseshoe. 2009-03-26 (Thursday)

AND:

Julie Doiron (Herman Dune / Shotgun Jimmie)

Lee's Palace 2009-10-27 (Tuesday)

Through whatever combination of circumstances, I had never been to a Julie Doiron show, so this was quite an immersion. The Horseshoe gig floored me. Going to shows involves an unspoken kind of social contract, where we all agree to shut and listen to various degrees. But it's rare and precious when a whole room of people seem to really get that, and are held, rapt, by an artist's fragile sounds: "Leading off with an a capella number, there was almost unimaginable silence in the room — the only other sound to be heard was the dishwasher at the bar. This sort of became a mutually reinforcing spell, as the crowd realized that Julie (happy throughout, though visibly fighting a cold) was quite into the moment and kept working to prolong it, coming up on the spot with the idea for more songs to play solo before bringing the band out." The rocking part of the show was nearly as good, close to falling apart in the most delightful way.

And then, her October show was almost its equal, even in a bigger room with a totally different band and heaps of expectation on my part. Incredible work.

No audio from the February show, but I do have a couple tracks posted from October.

Ray Price

(opening for Willie Nelson)

Massey Hall. 2009-04-08 (Wednesday)

Setting aside the comic weirdness of the whole Billy Bob Thornton imbroglio — I missed the real escapades by a night — the most memorable part of this show was a wonderful set by an 83 year old titan: "cast your mind over that for a moment — I saw a guy on stage who was a roommate with Hank Williams, and who inherited his band after Hank's death. It staggers the mind to think that history and legend are still that close to us!" No longer the swingin' honky-tonker he was in the '50's, Price instead used his rich voice to unleash a torrent of hits in a more countrypolitan vein, and it was time-stoppingly sublime. That Willie Nelson, no spring chicken or slouch himself, was the icing on the cake only underlines how wonderful this was.

King Sunny Adé

(appearing with Femi Kuti)

Harbourfront Centre. 2009-07-04 (Saturday)

There was music and dancing and I was in just such a mood and the sun was coming down just so. But —— sometimes words can't do it, and sometimes recordings can't capture it. But whatever it was, I was lifted up and rocked by the jùjú master's set: "In retrospect, I'm mildly at a loss to explain as to why I was so into this — but that's one of the reasons to go to concerts, isn't it? For those rare moments where your self can get past itself and just feel the music in an unmediated way. Which, despite the intoxicating tools that can help it along, usually just has to come over you of itself. There was simply a presence to the show that transformed itself into one of those ineffably sublime moments."

My recording from the show is nice enough, but this was one of those times it didn't capture the whole vibrant spark of the show.

Kemer Yousuf

Afrofest, Queen's Park. 2009-07-12 (Sunday)

One of the most magnetic showmen I saw all year — how many local indie artists are beloved enough that people would scramble over one another to stick twenty dollar bills to their sweaty foreheads? "...danceable stuff, and fronted by a man who had a Mr. Please Please Please level of dedication to entertaining — moving around the stage, dropping to his knees, pumping up the crowd." The keystone of a rather fine day at Queen's Park, including Mauritian mystic Menwar and the conscious party grooves of superstar Oumou Sangaré.

Get in on Kemer Yousuf's rockin' party here.

catl / The Disraelis

Mitzi's Sister. 2009-07-31 (Friday)

On a night that I could have just gone home after seeing a movie, I figured I might as well check out a gig as well, and ended up in Parkdale in a decidedly-less-than-packed joint. And sometimes you're just in the right mood, and the bands nail it and it's all fantastic. Local blues-scuzzers catl worked their always-reliable drunk dancin' delirium, but on this night it was their guests' set that turned me into a disciple: "...enjoyable despite — because of? — the small group of mostly friends out to see them. At any rate, the space felt ideal for the band's sound, which connotes a slightly regretful dreamy lassitude."

I also got a really nice capture of the sound that night that you can check out here.

Part II can be found here.

Recording: The Disraelis

Artist: The Disraelis

Song: January

Recorded at The Silver Dollar, December 4, 2009.

The Disraelis - January

My notes for this set can be found here.

Gig: The Hoa Hoa's

The Hoa Hoa's (The Disraelis / Your 33 Black Angels / Action Makes)

The Silver Dollar Room. Friday, December 4, 2009.

It had been a good week for The Hoa Hoa's — just like in some of their songs, a long slow burn had turned into an intense frenzy and a lot of solid legwork from the Optical Sounds crew had paid off with some nice media attention, including making the cover of eye weekly. After the earlier warm-up at Sonic Boom, the payoff was this official album release show in the classy confines of the Silver Dollar Room,¹ all in honour of their fab new Pop/Drone/Pedals disc.

Definitely worth showing up early on this night, as The Disraelis led things off. I've tried in the past to nail what it is that's so appealing about their sound, and I can't add much to what I've said before. There's just a sort of delicious tension between Colin Bowers' crystalline guitar lines and Cameron Ingles' opaque murmurs, a collision between heightened rationality and bleary oblivion — like drinking six shots of vodka and then trying to have a discussion about Kant. Or, more emotionally, like those moments where you suddenly gain a flash of sky blue clarity into your own failings, accompanied by a resounding desire to do whatever is necessary to obliterate it. The set included some new material (such as the tasty "January") that leaves me eager for the band to get a new release out. With recent uptick in recognition for The Hoa Hoa's, their stablemates are now overdue for some of that spotlight as well.

Listen to a track from this set here.

Bathed in blue light, Your 33 Black Angels hit the stage like they were playing a Byrds cover of a Dylan song cut with some "Summertime Blues" rock'n'roll energy. Six members deep, featuring three guitars and saturating garage-style organ, they mixed equal parts flower punk and paisley underground. But notwithstanding those touchstones, the band didn't limit themselves to any one narrow retro-stylistic patch of ground, generally mixing things up enough to make it interesting and always keeping a quick, steady beat (courtesy of John O'Callaghan) to drive things home. Most frequent singer — they mixed it up a bit — Josh Westfal's guitar featured glow-in-the-dark psychedelic flowers and designs, but the incipient hippietude of that and a are-you-ready-for-the-patchouli shirt was undercut, I noticed later, by the fact that he was wearing a New York Dolls tee underneath. And that's as apt a metaphor for this band as I could muster. A well-suited addition to this lineup, the NYC visitors put together a solid set and impressed the growing crowd.²

Listen to a track from this set here.

Hitting the stage just past 12:30, The Hoa Hoas's led off with "Waves". Starting low on the intensity scale, the band played a smartly constructed set that kept raising the stakes, building up in speed and energy, letting things plateau for a bit, and then amping things up again. Ironically, the longer set afforded them by headlining their album release show also gave them a chance to dig into the catalogue a bit, such as for Sonic Bloom's "The List", which I don't think has gotten an airing for awhile, as well as some of the cuts from the new album like short, punkish burst "Intensity" that are not usually in the live set. Also keeping with the celebration of the new album, the band were joined on "Grew Up on the Seeds" by Planet Creature's Kristina Koski, adding some of the rockin' flute grooves that aren't usually there in live performance.

The crowd was tightly packed in and dancing in surging waves. Maybe it was a fever dream, but it seemed like someone in the crowd (fortunately not near me) was playing a harmonica briefly. During the droning groove of "Looking For the Sun" it all really started to kick in. Not just the music, but the light show — machine gun bursts of strobes from one side of the stage, and swirling multicolored lights from the other.³

The band played "Postcards" a bit slower than they had earlier in the evening at their in-store appearance, simmering in the groove of it a little more. By the time they reached the set-closing tandem of "Vinyl Richie" and "Blue Acid Gumball", the experiential overload of sound and light and shouty thrum was nearly veering into dazed synaesthesia. Perhaps — perhaps — not the best sounding, best played set I've heard from The Hoa Hoa's, but certainly the most correct.

Listen to a track from this set here.

If the Black Angels complemented the Hoa Hoa's at the more flower-powered end of their range, then Action Makes overlapped with the headliners at the other end of their sound, over in the scuzzy garage-rock zone.⁴

Not so sloppy as some bands of this ilk play it — the had a tight underpinning throughout — the band nevertheless had a reasonable amount of leering attitude on stage. Thanks in no small part to vocalist Clint Rogerson, the band evoked a party vibe — not one of your hippy-dippy be-ins, though, more of an end-of-the-night vibe, where you get fucked up not to aim for some kind of transcendence so much as to regain functionality after the last binge. Even if there were still a healthy number of folks up around the stage dancing away, it gave the room, now emptier as last call came and went, a different kind of vibe. Dan Burke, for example, was right up front, boogieing away, pausing every few minutes to aim a kick or two at the nearest monitor. In fact, maybe that's an apt vision to hold in your mind when thinking of an Action Makes gig: imagine Dan Burke's boot kicking a stage monitor, forever and ever. The set, nine songs in thirty-five minutes, ended with things getting unglued a bit, a few uncontrolled squeals of feedback and concluding with drummer Ryan Rothwell tumbling over his drum kit.

Listen to a track from this set here.

A late end to the night, but worth it for a rather fab show. And hopefully a successful bit of consciousness-raising for The Hoa Hoa's.

---

¹ Speaking of that extra touch of elegance: I noticed that in the men's room, there was no soap in the dispensers, but someone had thoughtfully left a plastic cup half-filled with liquid soap on one of the sinks. At least I hope it was liquid hand soap.

² And checking out Y33BA's website, it looks like the favour is being returned, with the Hoa Hoa's heading down to NYC to join 'em on New Year's eve, a trip which will hopefully gain some new converts for the local side.

³ This light was being held up and swung around by a guy standing right in front of the stage. Whether he was a friend of the band drafted for this job or just someone who took it unto himself to do this, it fit the vibe of the night particularly well.

⁴ An acquaintance that I ran into at the show was slightly confused, earlier on, when I explained that one of the "opening" acts was, in fact, playing after the headliner, but that's just how things roll at the late-night Silver Dollar shows.

Recording: The Disraelis

Artist: The Disraelis

Song: The Bitter Ash

Recorded at Rolly's Garage (Optical Sounds' Back to Cool Party), September 11, 2009.

The Disraelis - The Bitter Ash

My notes for this set can be found here.

Gig: "Optical Sounds' Back to Cool Party"

"Optical Sounds' Back to Cool Party" (feat. The Hoa Hoa's / The Disraelis / The Peelies / Planet Creature

Rolly's Garage. Friday, September 11, 2009.

Perhaps it's fitting for Optical Sounds to throw a party in a garage, given their bands' common musical ground. It also works out well for a crew — as much a state of mind and statement of solidarity as a record label in the old-fashioned sense — that's looking to find some interesting places to play outside of the usual bar atmosphere. As such, Optical Sounds is quickly becoming a trademark of quality in Toronto not just for psychedelic-minded garage pop, but also purveyors of good old-fashioned "happenings".¹

A welcome relatively early start time on a workday, I cruised down Ossington to Rolly's Garage just before nine. For that extra touch of authenticity, a battered car door was leaning against the stairwell just inside the entrance. There was a decently groovy light show set up and a generally sweet ambiance. The only real setback for this as a venue is the lone bathroom available.² Things were running somewhat late as the crowd filtered in. Optical Sounds honcho Robert Gibson was pacing about like the father of the bride on the wedding day — the planning all done, but still fretting a bit and looking for something to do. He busied himself with going around the room, lighting incense sticks — and leaving them burning, leaving Femke Berkhout of The Hoa Hoa's to follow behind and blow them out so they could smoulder away.

First up were Planet Creature, the most recent addition to the Optical Sounds family. A five piece (getting some extra vox from Femke Berkhout) that fit well in the same figurative garage as the label's other bands, but do bring their own thing to the table. At this point, the band is a slightly ramshackle unit whose pop sense connects to a few diverse elements: the first song had vague country echoes, but mostly there were new-wave suggesting snake-y guit lines and fuzzy chunks of organ-y keyb. Driven by the Clare Anderson's urgent drums, the band played an entertaining seven-song set, gaining strength as they moved along, plenty harmonies sealing the deal. A little rough around the edges, but not in an unpleasing way. Worth checking out.

Listen to a track from this set here.

Next up were The Peelies visiting from Montréal, an, urm, appealing combo who brought the exuberance of a shy smile to rockin' bilingual tunes. Working in the same broad musical terrain as Planet Creature, the quartet recalled, say, a less-noisy Vivian Girls. In fact, there were some places where the guits could have used more drive and the tempos some juicing up, but when it came together, it was solid. A good vibe.

Listen to a track from this set here.

I expended most of my cleverest adjectives the last time I saw The Disraelis, so perhaps now suffice it to say they are quickly becoming one of my fave local bands, effortlessly churning out sets that are fabulous sounding without ever veering into sterility. Credit the warm blanket of Colin Bowers' guitar insulating against Cameron Ingles' dark-hour-of-regret laments. The all-male trio played compact versions of "The Bitter Ash" and "Secret" before stretching out on the last couple numbers. A blissful half hour — that new EP can't get here fast enough!

Listen to a track from this set here.

And then, to wrap things up, a trip with The Hoa Hoa's who played a relaxed, floating set of lysergic pop. Perhaps sounding a bit less urgent than I've heard them in the past, this just meant more time to enjoy the ride. A half hour focusing on their forthcoming album, including cuts like "Grew Up on The Seeds", "Vinyl Richie" and "Blue Acid Gumball", wrapping up, as advertised, just after midnight.

Listen to a track from this set here.

After the bands, the Garage party was continuing, but I was getting sleepy and made my way out. A fun night and a good event. Word is that Optical Sounds is doing a Halloween party, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

---

¹ Or "events", as they are known to the less hip.

² Of course, there are several quiet alleyways in the nearby vicinity — hmmm... maybe that's why local residents are growing leery of the Ossington strip's recent explosive growth as an entertainment destination.