Recording: Retired

Artist: Retired

Song: [last section]

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square (Intersection Day 3), August 31, 2019.

Retired - [last section]

Once more, Tad Michalak's Burn Down the Capital brought a full day's worth of entertainment to the concrete canyon of Yonge-Dundas Square. Random passers-by would occasionally stop and regard the proceedings with curiosity, bemusement or disdain while in the background the thrum of the busker's amplification outside Eaton Centre seems to grow louder every year, sharing the sonic space with sirens and engine roars. Jazz-punks Retired took to the big stage to offer some noisy outbursts, a return to their reconsideration of Ornette's "Lonely Woman", plus some really interesting textured material.

Recording: Retired

Artist: Retired

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Jam Factory (TONE Festival/The Music Gallery's Departures Series), June 19, 2018.

Retired - unknown

This jazz-punk quartet lead off an excellent night of rampaging sonic explorations at the Jam Factory. Spread out in a line across the stage zone they pushed out a walloping wall of sound — Adam Hanrahan's bass drowned out Alex Howard's sax a bit, but when they leaned in to focus (such as on the slow-simmering piece heard here, building up from from a menacing Freeze drone and some looped step oscillations from Hanrahan's bass) it was powerful stuff.

[The Departures Series will be returning on August 31st with a film screening and live quadraphonic performance from Suzanne Ciani, which is itself the first event of the Burn Down The Capital-curated Intersection Festival.]

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

Recording: Retired

Artist: Retired

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Double Double Land, September 8, 2017.

Retired - unknown

Perhaps inspired by their drone version of Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman" (which closed out their set on this night), this piece (complete with plenty cool warbles) makes more of an effort to stretch out and hold its position than Retired have done in the past, when quieter bits like this were more often lacunae before the pummelling noise-bursts. Score one for the menacing power of atmospherics.

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

Recording: Members of Retired

Artist: Members of Retired

Song: [first two sections]

Recorded at Gerrard Art Space (Eclec~Tic~Toc Fest, Vol. 1 – Night 2), July 15, 2017.

Members of Retired - [first two sections]

Ever since washing up on our shores, Neal D. Retke (who performs as {AN} Eel) has been spreading joy and preaching the benefits of D.I.Y. co-operation. A busy member of the international home-taping circuit known for his many collaborative projects, this festival arose from a desire to bring together some of the different musicians he's encountered here so far, mixing together songs and noises over two days in the G.A.S.'s cozy east-end space.

With bassist Adam Hanrahan having played his own solo set the day before, the remaining members of the group assembled for a jam, giving a rare chance to see how the group's musical sensibility shifts with one element removed. Most notably, the sample-segues evident in band shows in between songs were now centre stage, with the instrumental breakdowns being more palate cleansers, giving the previously unrealized insight that underneath the weird jazz band there's a really weird hip-hop/noise collage band clawing its way to the surface.

Recording: Retired

Artist: Retired

Song: Lonely Woman [composer: Ornette Coleman]

Recorded at The Baby G, March 15, 2017.

Retired - Lonely Woman

Retired opened up this Burn Down the Capital show with their take on this Ornette Coleman standard, which was totally on point even if they have accused themselves of committing Crimes Against Jazz. With the rhythm section finding the means to harmolodically hover/drone without rushing the entrance of the melody, this showed off the group's ability to pull back from landfill landmine no wave skronk. (That latter style is evident on a newly-released live DVD catching an outdoor guerrilla performance by the band.)

Recording: Retired

Artist: Retired

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Baby G, October 27, 2016.

Retired - unknown

This night was a release celebration for this quartet's new Crimes Against Jazz album, a proper document of the project's current lineup. Recorded live off the floor, it captures their range fairly well, from stop-start hardcore outbursts to melting meditative drones. From their album title on down the band seems ambiguous about their relationship with jazz (song titles include "3 Day Jazz Bender" and "Fear Of Jazz") and their musical affiliations put them closer to noisy rock shows than anything in the city's "creative" music scenes, but there's really good work happening here. This was the fiercest and most wide-ranging of the live sets I've seen, with the band incorporating drummer Cyril Penney Jr.'s spoken word passages and saxophonist Alex Howard's harsh-noise EWI.

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

Recording: Retired

Artist: Retired

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Owl's Club, July 21, 2016.

Retired - unknown

Scouted out by some of the same crew that had put together the Four Corners gigs, this night took the action out of the typical bar setting and into the Legion Hall. As the crowd arrived, the room got close and humid, then sauna-like. One got the impression this was a different vibe than the weekly euchre tournament. (Though maybe those get intense, too.) There was a faint mustiness in the air that reminded me of the specific smell of an old canvas tent my family had when I was young — a hot, sticky summer smell. This was actually more or less a totally appropriate vibe for this show, and the closest thing we're gonna get to a Four Corners for the time being.

With blasts of dry ice evaporating immediately as the jets sprayed into the air, this local jazz-punk (punk-jazz?) quartet got the night started with some pleasing precision pummelling.

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

Recording: Retired

Artist: Retired

Song: Turncoat/Medical Jargon

Recorded at Toronto Public Library – Parkdale Branch (SHHHHH – Day 2), May 7, 2016.

Retired - Turncoat/Medical Jargon

So many things I like here, wrapped up in one package. Not only was this a celebration of an awesome new initiative from the Toronto Public Library where anyone with a library card can borrow a musical instrument, it was celebrated with a couple shows in the program's home branch. I didn't make it out on the Friday where the event's co-organizer Kyle Knapp played a quieter show with his Deliluh project, alongside solo efforts from Dorothea Paas and Dave from Soupcans (a new solo endeavour called Stucco). But Sunday afternoon (a free!, all ages!, afternoon! show — which for me is like seeing a row of cherries come up on the slot machine) moved things down to the Parkdale library's mysterious basement — home, it turns out, to an auditorium that awesomely looks like it was last redecorated c. 1985. This show got pretty loud, though apparently the bunker-like building is soundproofed enough that that didn't disturb the patrons above. I would love to see more shows like this — the mind reels at the possibilities of the communities that could be brought together in this space.

Really excellent work here from this jazzcore quartet. My understanding is that there's a couple new members in the fold (and a fresh album to boot), but this was a really together performance that saw heavy drone undertones being pushed along by Cyril Penny's out-jazz percussion.

[Retired will be playing as part of a tasty Burn Down The Capital bill at Double Double Land on Thursday, May 26, along with Fet.nat and Several Futures feat. Slime.)]