Monday Roundup #278

Community notes:

• So, in the realm of cool shit coming up, Don Pyle is celebrating the launch of his "memoirish new book" Rough Description: Love Letters and Ghost Stories from a Life in Music, with an event at Standard Time on Thursday, May 28th. Expect a slideshow/reading by Pyle, followed by a conversation moderated by Damian Rogers. Plus fabulous guest readers Chris Colohan, Kirby, Jason McBride, and Tabatha Southey — and, quite astoundingly, special guest DJ's Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan from Yo La Tengo.

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Concert announcements:

May Tuesdays Residency (feat. Velour Underground) / The Baby G 2026-05-19 (Tuesday). $free, 19+. [FB event]

Labyrinth Ontario presents Makam Nights (feat. Atom Wang) / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2026-05-21 (Thursday). $pwyc ($10 suggested). [FB event]

Isla Craig (Colin Fisher / Wenderly Park) / Le Monde 2026-05-22 (Friday). $15/PWYC (cash/card). [FB event]

Ministry of Phonic Services presents (feat. Ben Rempel & Justin Gunter / Not the Wind, Not the Flag / Doug Tielli & Mike Gennaro) / Bickford Park 2026-05-24 (Sunday). $pwyc, all ages, outdoors. [more info]

May Tuesdays Residency (feat. Velour Underground) / The Baby G 2026-05-26 (Tuesday). $free, 19+. [FB event]

INSTITUT 004 (feat. Luka Kuplowsky & Band [The Grass Grows, Antonych Grows album release celebration!] / Evan J. Cartwright / Noriko Yamamoto) / St. Volodymyr Institute 2026-05-28 (Thursday). $27.96. [more info]

Venus Fest + More Noise Please present: Drone Day (feat. Auto Feeder / Esssena / fossa séu / Grief Debt / Mira Martin-Gray / Shemona / three6marilyn / Xodkaar) / It's Ok* Studios 2025-05-30 (Saturday – 2 p.m.). #11.64/$16.97/$22.29, all ages. [tickets + more info]

Track Could Bend #117 (feat. saucering [Tilman Lewis/Nilan Perera/Laura Swankey] / Colin Fisher/William Hunt/Jack Johnson/Cal Adam) / Wenona Lodge 2025-06-02 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Humbucker Music Residency (feat. Humbucker Music [Nick Storring/Jason Doell/Colin Cudmore/Mira Martin-Gray] / Rob Clutton) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-06-05 (Friday). $pwyc

Project Nowhere presents (feat. Sook-Yin Lee [72RHR album release!] / bridge of sand / Kali Horse / Salon Perfomance [Karen Ng/Lee Suksi/Stevie Manning/Bee Solomon]) / The Baby G 2026-06-26 (Friday). $30.55, 19+. [FB event]

Humbucker Music Residency (feat. Humbucker Music [Nick Storring/Jason Doell/Colin Cudmore/Mira Martin-Gray] / Allison Cameron & Scott Thomson [Platanus album release show!]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-07-03 (Friday). $pwyc

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

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Shows this week:

Jazz Rat Monday (feat. Patrick Smith/Nancy Walker/Eric West/Mark Godfrey) / Dina's Tavern 2026-05-11 (Monday). $pwyc. [more info]

Toronto Electronic Music Open Mic (feat. Gruve Collective / Alex! / mylesofdude / Steve Lucas / Greg Judelman / Smoking That Live Sound / Ben Green / driftnote /Caspar Project / Broken Pink Umbrella / Tyrek / A/K/C) / Handlebar 2025-05-11 (Monday) [more info]

New Works for Improvising Musicians (feat. Nick Fraser's Special Topics [Nick Fraser/Josh Cole/Max Stover/Kae Murphy]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-05-11 (Monday)

May Tuesdays Residency (feat. Velour Underground) / The Baby G 2026-05-12 (Tuesday). $free, 19+. [FB event]

Brodie West presents (feat. Drumheller [Nick Fraser/Rob Clutton/Brodie West/Eric Chenaux/Doug Tielli]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-05-13 (Wednesday – early)

Not Dead Yet presents (feat. One Leg One Eye / Efrim Menuck) / St. Stephen-In-The-Fields 2025-05-13 (Wednesday). $26.67, all-ages. [FB event]

Never Was [Brandon Davis/Bea Labikova/Patrick O’Reilly/Joe Sorbara] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-05-13 (Wednesday)

TONE Presents (feat. Eric Chenaux & Ryan Driver / Rafael Toral / Masahiro Takahashi & Brodie West) / Standard Time 2025-05-14 (Thursday). $33.64 advance/$35 door, all-ages. [FB event]

Night Owls (feat. Bob Wiseman / Lily Frost) / Hugh's Room 2026-05-14 (Thursday). $42.85 (General Admission), $27.27 (Student / Arts Worker / Underemployed). [FB event]

AMRITA [debut album release!] [Anita Katakkar & Kayla Milmine with special guests: Jonathan Kay & Zaynab Wilson] (Zaynab Wilson) / Array Space 2025-05-14 (Thursday). $30 [includes a copy of the new CD and a drink]. [FB event]

Pedro Oliveira (Ariel Orah / Earth Punks) / Terrarium 2025-05-14 (Thursday). $15/pwyc. [more info]

Mifune Moods presents [live improvised scoring of The Hobbit (1977)] / Bampot House 2026-05-14 (Thursday). $donation. [more info]

Today Versions presents (feat. Ghost Variables [Gary Barwin/Chris Palmer/David Lee/Mike Hansen/Connor Bennett] / Del Stephen's Furtherances [Owen Kurtz/Paul Newman/Jeff Sinibaldi/Jamie Eriksen/Del Stephen] / Woolworm, Ontario) / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2026-05-15 (Friday). $10-$15 sliding scale

Masahiro Takahashi presents Chanoyu (feat. Masahiro Takahashi / Matthew Bailey/Karen Ng/Ted Crosby) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-05-15 (Friday) [more info]

Diane Roblin’s Life Force [Diane Roblin/George Koller/Kevin Turcotte/John Johnson/Colleen Allen/TIm Shia] / The Rex 2025-05-16 (Saturday – 2 p.m.). [more info]

Animatist [Shapeshifter Album Release Party] (Miserable Weekend / Paper Hats) / The Baby G 2025-05-16 (Saturday). $20.01, 19+. [FB event]

Garden of Forking Paths VIII (feat. Triio) / Allan Gardens 2026-05-16 (Saturday). $30. [more info]

Re:Stacks (feat. Stacks) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-05-16 (Saturday). $pwyc. [more info]

Cosmic Homeostasis XXXII / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2026-05-17 (Sunday – noon). $pwyc. [FB event]

The Dan Pitt Trio [Dan Pitt/Alex Fournier/Nick Fraser] / Sellers & Newel 2026-05-17 (Sunday). $20 minimum donation. [more info]

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In the mix:

• A new ambient mix, drone and drone-adjacent music, based around two versions of a James Tenney piece, plus plus sounds from Open Union (playing Paolo Griffin), Ondelunghe, and Nick Dourado, James Goddard, Mustafa Rafiq, Jairus Sharif.

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It happened this week...

• ...on May 12, 2012 at Mercer Union.

Fiver - Dayton

• ...on May 14, 2012 at The Tranzac (Main Hall).

Sandro Perri - Futureactive Kid (Parts 1 + 2)

[Do remember that you can click on the tags below to go back and find the original posts (and often, more stuff) from these artists.]

Monday Roundup #191

Community notes:

• Nilan Perera's second (and final!) record sale pop-up is happening in The Tranzac's Living Room this Sunday (September 15th) from noon 'til 4:40. Come dig for some sounds, hang out, have a beer, maybe hear a story or two.

• The Music Gallery has reminded us all to block off October 15th to the 19th on our calendars for X Avant XIX: TeXture. Lineup accouncement coming soon!

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Concert announcements:

Ministry of Phonic Services presents: Back to School Field Trip 2024 – "the stadium" (feat. Brian Ruryk & %%30%30 / Louis Pino / Em Wright / Owen Kurtz) / "location details will be revealed day-of" 2024-09-19 (Thursday). $pwyc, outdoors. [more info]

Makam Nights (feat. Arjang Seyfizadeh) / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2024-09-19 (Thursday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Exit Points #53 (feat. Ray Sun/Rick Sacks/Anne Amores/James Pugliese/Daniel Ramjattan / Dave Clark/abby silvera/Cheryl Duvall/Patrick O'Reilly/Veda Hingert-McDonald/ Michael Palumbo / Switchemups!) / Array Space 2024-09-27 (Friday). $15 (early bird) / $20 (advance) / $25 (door). [FB event]

Ministry of Phonic Services presents: Back to School Field Trip 2024 – "the UFO" (feat. Ecotone Orchestra / Colin Fisher / Important Hair / xodkaar / Kurt Newman / Hit Play) / "location details will be revealed day-of" 2024-09-28 (Saturday). $pwyc, outdoors. [more info]

Cosmic Homeostasis XXV / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-09-29 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.). $pwyc. [FB event]

P?roject Nowhere presents (feat. Eliza Niemi / N Nao / Blue Light) / The Baby G 2024-10-05 (Saturday). $20.66, 19+. [FB event]

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

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Shows this week:

Cowbird Composer Collective Meta-Residency ["new chamber music composed by Brian Abbott"] (feat. Michael Palumbo [solo modular synth] / Ryan Kinney & Meghan Cheng / Manuel Morales / Naomi McCarroll-Butler) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-09-09 (Monday) [FB event]

No Octopus Dancing [Allison Cameron/Stephen Parkinson/Germaine Liu/Mark Zurawinski] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-09-10 (Tuesday – early)

Josh Cole presents (feat. Josh Cole/Rob Clutton/John Oswald/Brodie West) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-09-10 (Tuesday)

Brodie West Quintet / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-09-11 (Wednesday – early)

Dave Bidini / Sellers & Newel 2024-09-11 (Wednesday). $20 minimum donation. [more info]

Context, NA [solo] (No Frills [solo]) / 918 Bathurst – Sun Room 2024-09-11 (Wednesday). $10/pwyc. [FB event]

Never Was [Adrian Russouw/Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Racha Moukalled/Joe Sorbara] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-09-11 (Wednesday)

Nicolette & the Nobodies / Monarch Tavern 2024-09-12 (Thursday). $21.50, 19+. [FB event]

Ben Gunning (Marc Couroux / New Chance) / Burdock Music Hall 2024-09-12 (Thursday). $15. [more info]

Tania Gill Presents (feat. The Mighty Gill Show [Tania Gill/Mike Overton/Jake Oelrichs]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-09-13 (Friday – early) [FB event]

Audiopollination (feat. Dan Pitt/Brittany Pitt/Laura Swankey / Matt Collins/Andrew Finlay Stewart/Bri Clarke / Nano Valverde/Tomasz Krakowiak/Nilan Perera / A Hibernating Animal [Aisha Sasha John/Raph Roter/Bea Labikova/MKL32]) / Array Space 2024-09-13 (Friday). $10 [card or cash], livestream available. [FB event]

Second Fridays [new series curated by Josh Cole!] (feat. Phillipe Lauzier's Splendide Abysse / Nick Fraser/Tony Malaby/Josh Cole/Rob Clutton) / Canadian Music Centre 2024-09-13 (Friday). $25 ($20 students). [FB event]

Battle Milk (But Worse [Julie Reich/Brian Abbott/Marilyn Yogarajah] / Pat E) / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2024-09-13 (Friday). $10/pwyc/notaflof. [FB event]

Musica Universalis (feat. C'est la fête [William Hunt/Adrian Russouw/Mateos Labbe-Phelan/Maxwell Cecil Stover with Colin Fisher) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-09-13 (Friday). $pwyc/$10 suggested donation

Liquid Architecture (feat. David Sait / Jonny Luke / Yasmine / Ryan Kinney) / Mischief Makers 2024-09-14 (Saturday). $10 (adv. tickets or cash at door), $12 (card at door). [FB event]

Martin Bisi Collective [performance/documentary screening/Q&A] (Flake) / Collective Arts 2024-09-14 (Saturday). $20.01, 19+. [FB event]

Ministry of Phonic Services presents: Back to School Field Trip 2024 – "forest" (feat. Nevada-Jane Arlow & Adrian Russouw / Gladys / Dame Cook / Wilderness Adventure Ride) / "location details will be revealed day-of" 2024-09-14 (Saturday). $pwyc, outdoors. [more info]

Duff Thompson and Steph Green (Curtis Bowman) / Monarch Tavern 2024-09-14 (Saturday). $17.50, 19+. [FB event]

Michael Palumbo & Friends #7 (feat. Allison Cameron/Wei En/Stone He/Raphael Roter/Stefan Hegerat/Louis Pino/Michael Palumbo] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-09-14 (Saturday). $pwyc

Pete Johnston’s Stranger Still [Mim Adams/Randi Helmers/Rob Clutton/Pete Johnston] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-09-15 (Sunday)

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It happened this week...

• ...on September 13, 2016 at Array Space.

Cameron/Cole/Perri/Rampersaud - [second piece]

• ...on September 14, 2016 at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge).

Cosmic Homeostasis - [first movement]

• ...on September 15, 2016 at LP's LPs (4th Anniversary Party).

Castle If - Operating System

[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: Masahiro Takahashi with Karen Ng & Sandro Perri

Artist: Masahiro Takahashi with Karen Ng & Sandro Perri

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Cha-no-yu), July 19, 2024.

Masahiro Takahashi with Karen Ng & Sandro Perri - unknown

Cha-no-yu, Masahiro Takahashi's "bedroom producer" residency, is named after the Japanese tea ceremony, although the show is more of a friendly meeting than a formal ritual. The shows bring in fellow-travelling guest performers to open, but also give Takahashi an opportunity to expand the instrumental palette of his own material by inviting in local improvisers to add some different vibes. This night saw Karen Ng (saxophone) and Sendro Perri (guitar) on board, the former adding sympathetic warbles while the latter added subtle swells and chimes.

[Cha-no-yu will be back in the Southern Cross tonight (Friday, August 16th), with Masahiro Takahashi being joined by Ryan Driver and Grace Scheele as well as an opening set from Slow Attack Ensemble.]

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

Recording: Sandro Perri

Artist: Sandro Perri

Songs: Black Bush [Aaron Freeman cover] + [instrumental #4]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), July 19, 2024.

Sandro Perri - Black Bush

Sandro Perri - [instrumental #4]

Part of an ongoing series of quarterly shows at The Tranzac, this night saw Sandro Perri backed by a full coterie of longtime collaborators, packing in the Southern Cross "stage" area as much as the rest of the room. That gave a chance to workshop some new material (such as the previously-discovered "Elegant Solution", as well as one called "Morning Shake") but also a chance to stretch out in some different directions, such as the cover heard here and a series of instrumental pieces.

Recording: Blake Howard

Artist: Blake Howard

Song: Tranzac Raffle Draw

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Tranzac Fundraiser I), April 20, 2024.

Blake Howard - Tranzac Raffle Draw

As part of an effort to find and maintain a stable financial footing, The Tranzac has announced a series of quarterly fundraising concerts, drawing on the starpower of some its regular denizens to fill the Main Hall. A bit of a curiousity at hand here, but this presentation was so wonderfully "Blake" that it merits preservation. Well-known in certain circles for his off-the-cuff comments that can send the listener's perceptions on unsuspected perpendicular paths, Blake Howard is a wonderfully-witty wordsmith, and it was a canny choice to have him as MC of the evening's raffle draw while Sandro Perri and bandmates vamped behind him.

[The second Tranzac fundraiser will be taking place on Friday, June 14th with sets from U.S. Girls, Eucalyptus, and Cots.]

Recording: Sandro Perri

Artist: Sandro Perri

Song: Elegant Solution

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Tranzac Fundraiser I), April 20, 2024.

Sandro Perri - Elegant Solution

As part of an effort to find and maintain a stable financial footing, The Tranzac has announced a series of quarterly fundraising concerts, drawing on the starpower of some its regular denizens to fill the Main Hall. Previewing some songs from his next album, Sandro Perri showed off further expansions in his mellow, gently-funky zone, with mildly-expansive songs such as this one (is an "Elegant Solution" the antipode of Ryan Driver's "Fruitless Endeavour"? In any case, this one contains a vocal bridge from Driver) as well as a major new exercise in "infinite songwriting", which like "In Another Life", stretched out for well over twenty minutes and required a trio of additional musicians.

[The second Tranzac fundraiser will be taking place on Friday, June 14th with sets from U.S. Girls, Eucalyptus, and Cots.]

Monday Roundup #98

Concert announcements:

Lee Paradise (Moon King) / Monarch Tavern 2021-12-10 (Saturday). $15, 19+. [FB event]

Ayal Senior & Friends (feat. Ayal Senior/Kurt Newman/Andrew Furlong / Jessie Dara / Nick Flanagan / Tzevi Sherman) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-12-11 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.)[FB event]

Happy Sundays (feat. Beams / Joy Shape / Isla Craig) / The Baby G 2021-12-11 (Sunday). $free, 19+. [FB event]

Nidus (Wenderly Park) / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2022-12-20 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Only God Forgives (The Crime Family / Accelerant / Cootie Catcher) / Monarch Tavern 2023-01-19 (Thursday). $15, 19+. [FB event]

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Shows this week:

xen0hyena presents: Joyride S1E2 (feat. Think Fast! / Delilah Brae / Joe Sorbara / Oddity / The Liquid Kidney Quintet / Nevada-Jane Arlow / secret guest performer: Gabe) / Bar Orwell 2021-11-28 (Monday). $10/PWYC [FB event]

Dan Pitt/Brittany Pitt Quartet [Dan Pitt/Brittany Pitt/Caleb Klager/Ethan Ardelli] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-11-29 (Tuesday – early!) [FB event]

Nick Fraser Presents: Imaginary Brass Band [CD release show!] [Doug Tielli/Heather Saumer/Nick Fraser/Tania Gill/Charles Spearin/Emily Farrell/Colin Couch] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-11-29 (Tuesday)

Music Hosted by Karen Ng (feat. Allison Cameron [solo] / Mark Ballyk/Raphael Foisy-Couture/Andrew Furlong/Karen Ng) / Wenona Lodge 2021-11-29 (Tuesday). [FB event]

Brodie West Quintet / The Rex 2021-11-30 (Wednesday – 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.)

Bitchin Bajas / The Baby G 2022-12-01 (Thursday). $20.05 advance, 19+. [FB event]

Musicworks Live: Archive Activation ["local creative musicians join forces to 'activate' some of the innovative graphic scores that were published in the magazine's newsprint editions in the late '70s and early '80s"] (feat. Sara Constant/Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Matti Pulkki/Morgan-Paige/Racha Moukalled) / Array Space 2022-12-01 (Thursday). $pwyc, advance tickets available. [FB event]

Audiopollination 10th Anniversary Bash (feat. Jessica Houghton/Kathryn Merriam / Bob Vespaziani/Kayla Milmine/Tegan Dietsch / Diane Roblin/Ryan Kinney/Julian A M.P. / Sarah Peebles/David Story/Saba Saneinejad / Killer Quartet [Emjay Wright/Kai Grant/Erin Corbett/Mickle32] / Double Group Continuous Improvisation [Del Stephen/Patrick O’Reilly/James Bailey/Mira Martin-Gray/Andrew Finlay Stewart/David Parker/Tyson Headon] / Cosmic Homeostasis) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-12-04 (Sunday – noon to 4:30 p.m.) [FB event]

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Bandcamp corner:

• Bandcamp Friday coming up once more! Don't forget to support some musicians if you can! Here's some stuff on my shopping list:

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It happened this week...

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

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

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

New Fries - Gertrude Stein Greeting Card from Pape/Danforth

[Do remember that you can click on the tags below to go back and find the original posts (and often, more stuff) from these artists.]

Monday Roundup #46

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

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Community notes:

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

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Video hits:

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

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Bandcamp corner:

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

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It happened this week...

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

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

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

New Fries - Gertrude Stein Greeting Card from Pape/Danforth

[Do remember that you can click on the tags below to go back and find the original posts (and often, more stuff) from these artists.]

Recording: Sandro Perri

Artist: Sandro Perri

Song: [excerpt from new piece]

Recorded at Array Space (Invocation Presents), January 10, 2019.

Sandro Perri - [excerpt from new piece]

Having seen Sandro Perri present the material from his latest album both solo and with band, I was curious as to whether we'd be seeing another wrinkle on the infinite songwriting of "In Another Life". Instead, playing an opening set for Joseph Shabason's woozy ambient album release, Perri zagged and presented a large-ensemble drift-work of his own. Borrowing Nicole Rampersaud from Shabason's band, he was otherwise joined by regular collaborators Blake Howard, Thomas Hammerton and Josh Cole. It's the latter who helps tie this whole piece together, with a delicious little bass-riff that keeps bubbling up to the surface.

The presence of Cole and Rampersaud also links this to the more abstract work he'd been doing in an un-named quartet with that pair plus Alison Cameron. This was apparently the first time this piece was shared with an audience, so hopefully there will be more chances to delve into its mysterious drift.

Recording: Desert Island Re-Direct

Artist: Desert Island Re-Direct

Song: When Shall We Meet Again [excerpt, in two parts]

Recorded at at Array Space (Musicworks at 40), November 15, 2018.

Desert Island Re-Direct - When Shall We Meet Again [excerpt, part 1]

Desert Island Re-Direct - When Shall We Meet Again [excerpt, part 2]

Though celebrating its fortieth anniversary, Musicworks Magazine's resolute focus on the here-and-now means there's not much time for nostalgia. Given that, I was glad that I was able to cajole my way into a small part in making sure that the occasion didn't go unmarked. After co-hosting some talkin' history back in September, I also helped curate the music for this fundraising event alongside Nick Storring (whose Riparian Acoustics is currently presenting plenty imaginative sounds).

This closing duo of noteworthy listener/theoreticians John Oswald and Sandro Perri got together before their set and put a lot of thought into where they'd meet musically. Perri was inspired by Oswald's (admittedly egocentric) "desert island" list while Oswald bounced the idea of his anti-DJ "All-request re-direct" concept (where he'd play music he thought evocative of that requested by listeners) and the introduction and deconstruction of their chosen concept (someone get these two a podcast!) was almost as fun as the piece. That turned out to be an act of four-handed co-operative wind-up record-player operation with the pair never quite in total control of an old shellac side (possibly this one?) and some sundry contact microphones. Call it Plunderphonics at 78 R.P.M., perhaps — but hopefully someone will call these two to make some sounds together again.

[Sandro Perri will be back at Array Space, albeit in song mode, opening things up as Joseph Shabason — himself the subject of a recent Musicworks story — celebrates the release of his Anne album on Thursday, January 10th.]

Recording: Sandro Perri

Artist: Sandro Perri

Song: In Another Life

Recorded at The Tranzac (Main Hall), November 4, 2018.

Sandro Perri - In Another Life

In celebrating the release of In Another Life, Sandro Perri spent a fair amount of the set darting around the album, presenting some older songs (like "Wolfman" and "Double Suicide", with Ryan Driver as usual coming up to add his voice on the latter) as well as some of the as-yet unreleased songs (like the wonderfully subtle funk of "Wrong About the Rain") that didn't find a place on the new album — there was even a brand new song (possibly called "California Blue") debuted at the start of the set. And yet, the new album material is so expansive in scope that it exerted a certain gravitational pull over the rest of the set. Only the first third (sans guest vocalist/songwriters) of "Everybody's Paris" was essayed, but "In Another Life" was presented in all its glory — "an ongoing experiment", as Perri explained afterwards, where the musical choices could bounce off the song at slightly different angles every time. Mike Smith, making subtle adjustments via the sampler, was key to the presentation here, while Blake Howard's percussion kept it from being too tightly locked into that determinist groove. (Josh Cole, on fretless bass, and Thomas Hammerton on keyb completed the group.) I posted a recording of Perri's solo version of this song not so long ago, but this seems like a case where the alternate arrangement gives a beneficially-different approach to its study.

Recording: Sandro Perri

Artist: Sandro Perri

Songs: In Another Life + Everybody's Paris, Pt. 3 (feat. Dan Bejar)

Recorded at The Great Hall, October 21, 2018.

Sandro Perri - In Another Life

Sandro Perri feat. Dan Bejar - Everybody's Paris, Pt. 3

A few weeks before the official release party for his new album, Sandro Perri shared the whole thing in a stripped-down format with the audience at Dan Bejar's solo acoustic gig. One suspects that the show's lineup, with Perri and Andre Ethier opening, came about to give a chance for a full exploration of Perri's musical experiment in "Everybody's Paris", where the tune and refrain were handed over to Bejar and Ethier to sing their own versions — that triple-header was indeed replicated after the set's other song, the "infinite" bobble'n'drift of "In Another Life".¹ Unlike the subtly-shifting soundscapes in the album versions, Perri here relied mostly just on voice and guitar, though he did have a mixer at his feet to slowly adjust the background textures (and mutual shared thread Joseph Shabason also added some understated sax licks to the Bejar collaboration).

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¹ As an aside, I dunno if this has been examined elsewhere, but that style of an ambling tune, drifting and noodling along at extended length has plenty of companions and antecedents in the local "school" of composers such as Martin Arnold, Allison Cameron, John Mark Sherlock, and Eldritch Priest. I don't know if there's a direct line of influence here, but given Perri's proximity to some on that list it's tempting to find connections to these rubber wagons and mole meanders bouncing down bumpy sideroads.

Recording: Perri/Cameron/Cole

Artist: Sandro Perri/Allison Cameron/Josh Cole

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Steady Café (Track Could Bend #26), May 2, 2017.

Sandro Perri/Allison Cameron/Josh Cole - [excerpt]

Normally a quartet, this group had to make do without Nicole Ramersaud's trumpet for this performance. Rather than trying to make up for a missing member, the remaining trio accepted the wider spaces between their sounds, even if this time out it sounded more like surreal funk ghosts escaping from their catacombs more than nouvelle vague drift soundtracks.

[Track Could Bend is back at The Steady on Tuesday (June 6th), with sets from Processor, Steve Sladkowski & Joe Sorbara and Diane Roblin & Katie Jensen.]

Recording: Off World

Artist: Off World

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Great Hall, January 19, 2017.

Off World - unknown

A well-matched pick to open things up for The Cosmic Range, Off World filled up the refurbished Great Hall with their live-remix dubscapes. They actually performed at a fairly restrained volume, inviting the crowd to lean in (or sit on the floor) and listen as they filtered in. Sandro Perri and Lorenz Peter were joined for much of the set by Andrew Zukerman on additional synth and sounds, adding some new wobbles to the sonic stems.

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

Recording: Cameron/Cole/Perri/Rampersaud

Artist: Allison Cameron/Josh Cole/Sandro Perri/Nicole Rampersaud

Songs: [two excerpts]

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

Cameron/Cole/Perri/Rampersaud - [first set, excerpt 1]

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

A second outing from this electroacoustic driftscape quartet featured Sandro Perri rubbing his strings and sending the sounds through his reverb box; keyboard warbles and morse code dispatches from Allison Cameron; muted trumpet notes and rumbling resonance from Nicole Rampersaud; and bathysphere bass burbles from Josh Cole. At the outset, the group were playing even less than at their first gig together but it did build up into a quietly-floating sort of rumble. Looks like this unit is going to keep exploring together — now they just need a band name!

Recording: Off World

Artist: Off World

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Ratio (Off World LP 1 Release Weekend – Night 3), October 23, 2016.

Off World - unknown

Off World celebrated the release of their first album with three nights of sonic exploration at Ratio. As a recording project, Off World is quite open-ended, meant to serve as a clearinghouse of sorts for a backlog of Sandro Perri's collaborative recordings. Live, it's something of a different beast, existing as a duo with Processor's Lorenz Peter. Set up against Ratio's long side wall instead of in the "stage" zone, the m.o. here was for Perri to deploy some pre-recorded stems as grist for live remix/dub treatment, incorporating Peter's keyb interventions. Perhaps a bit more than the night before, this set felt rather true to the band's name, a trip to the planetarium to lean back and consider the cosmic symphonies of burbling basslines, space-slug slow-skank, sounds like the Sounds of the Sounds of Science and trace elements of Night Flight to Venus.

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

Recording: Off World

Artist: Off World feat. Nicole Rampersaud

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Ratio (Off World LP 1 Release Weekend – Night 2), October 22, 2016.

Off World feat. Nicole Rampersaud - unknown

Off World celebrated the release of their first album with three nights of sonic exploration at Ratio. As a recording project, Off World is quite open-ended, meant to serve as a clearinghouse of sorts for a backlog of Sandro Perri's collaborative recordings. Live, it's something of a different beast, existing as a duo with Processor's Lorenz Peter. Set up against Ratio's long side wall instead of in the "stage" zone, the m.o. here was for Perri to deploy some pre-recorded stems as grist for live remix/dub treatment, incorporating Peter's keyb interventions. Plus, in this abstract, Nicole Rampersaud is sitting in on trumpet, adding some extra atmospheric vibes as the rhythms slowly stretch themselves out.

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

Recording: Cameron/Cole/Perri/Rampersaud

Artist: Allison Cameron/Josh Cole/Sandro Perri/Nicole Rampersaud

Song: [second piece]

Recorded at Array Space, September 13, 2016.

Cameron/Cole/Perri/Rampersaud - [second piece]

This night at Array was hosted by Several Futures, celebrating the release of their visual-powered A New Place To Dwell. Stressing the improvisatory nature of that work, the opening slot was given over to this all-star team of local creative musicians. The quartet found a low-key space to work in with electroacoustic elements from Sandro Perri (electronics, guitar) and Allison Cameron (amplified objects, keyb) melding into the atmospherically-melodic contributions from Josh Cole (electric bass) and Nicole Rampersaud (trumpet). The first piece came with some 8mm science films from projection artist Jonathan Culp, but by the end it sounded like they were soundtracking their own unseen film — maybe a glitched-out take on Ascenseur pour l'échafaud.

Recording: Summer Drift Ensemble

Artist: Summer Drift Ensemble

Songs: Drift [four excerpts]

Recorded at Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement (SummerWorks: Summer Drift), August 6, 2015.

Summer Drift Ensemble - Drift [excerpt 1]

Summer Drift Ensemble - Drift [excerpt 2]

Summer Drift Ensemble - Drift [excerpt 3]

Summer Drift Ensemble - Drift [excerpt 4]

An inversion of the "spectacle" of most of SummerWorks music shows, this afternoon drone installation moved the performers to the edge of the room and let the audience wander (to create their own personal "mix") or relax on the lily pad-like astroturf "islands" in the centre of the room. Conceived by Brandon Hocura, the event's score consisted of more than a dozen short instructions, including "play when you feel like it"/"take a break when you feel like it", "take 10 minutes to play what you would normally play in 1 minute", "repeat slowly" and "fall asleep". That meant that out of the collective ensemble (Victoria Cheong, Craig Dunsmuir, Sandro Perri, Matthew Shaw, Randy Gagne, Kevin Hainey, Andrew Zukerman, Jaclyn Blumas, Trevor Blumas, Brandon Hocura) maybe half would be playing at any given time. I hung out for not quite three hours in the first half of the event, which is where these samples are drawn from.

Recording: Sandro Perri

Artist: Sandro Perri

Song: God Blessed The Fool

Recorded at Christie Pits Park – Garden Stage (Bloor Ossington Folk Festival V), September 19, 2015.

Sandro Perri - God Blessed The Fool

You can read my general notes on the festival here. Sandro Perri has a lot of musical friends ready to join him on stage, so it was no surprise to see that this festival appearance saw him with a five-piece backing band (Drew Smith, acoustic guit; Mike Smith, bass; Blake Howard, percussion; Ryan Driver, flute/melodica/backing vox; Lina Allemano, trumpet) capable of producing some slickly-luscious, laid-back tones. There was a whole lotta new material in the set including a couple instrumentals and the appropriate-for-the-day "Wrong About The Rain". The tunes were gorgeously languid and never in any hurry — contemporary soul to sooth the citydweller's worries.