Recording: Marker Starling

Artist: Marker Starling

Song: Diamond Violence

Recorded at Dina's Tavern, February 21, 2026.

Marker Starling - Diamond Violence

Some (such as myself) might have been attracted to this evening as a chance to see Chris Cummings perform some "melancholy party jams" backed by his full band, though as the night's opener, he was happy enough to act (in his words) as entertainment for the filling-in crowd while they perused the headliner's merch table. There was definitely an affinity with Rapallo's headlining yacht rock set, and the group presumably made some new converts. The only thing to be sad about for longtime Mantler-heards is that the catalogue is so deep now that there's no time to reach back and dust off the "classics" — with a couple new ones in the setlist, tracks like this from the group's next-to-most-recent album are already being given a retrospective cast.

Recording: Matthew "Doc" Dunn & Friends

Artist: Matthew "Doc" Dunn & Friends

Songs: Call Me The Drift + Pearly Gates [U.S. Girls cover]

Recorded at The Baby G, January 16, 2020.

Matthew "Doc" Dunn & Friends - Call Me The Drift

Matthew Doc Dunn & Friends - Pearly Gates

Holding a belated release celebration for Upper Canada Blues, the third salvo in Dunn's recent spate of "song" albums, a reshuffled group of musical comrades took the stage like to provide the rollicking rootsy swagger to complement Dunn's slide guitar playing. Like a boozy post-concert jam between George Harrison and The Grateful Dead, this music sometimes lurched drunkenly, but felt all the more sanctified for it.

Recording: Marker Starling

Artist: Marker Starling

Songs: Move it On + Strong Suit

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), September 29, 2019.

Marker Starling - Move it On

Marker Starling - Strong Suit

This Sunday afternoon special managed to tick off several agenda items all at once. It was an opportunity to draw out a crowd you wouldn't see at night, and the room was filled with happy parents and kids of all ages. But the show served primarily as an opportunity for Chris Cummings and band to get in a dress rehearsal before a primo opening slot for the reunited Stereolab in Montreal — a pairing that makes additional sense when you know that Cummings and the groop's Lætitia Sadier have appeared on each other's albums. That meant the band's set was a tight and punchy affair, focused on the hits that might win over unfamiliar ears. (Before that, the afternoon started off with a solo set from Cummings, and some new material did manage to slip into both.)

Recording: Marker Starling

Artist: Marker Starling

Songs: Fly Away/Silver Morn + Conundrum

Recorded at Burdock Music Hall, February 16, 2019.

Marker Starling - Fly Away/Silver Morn

Marker Starling - Conundrum

That long wait for Rosy Maze seems a distant memory now, with the new Trust An Amateur marking Chris Cummings' fourth album in a four-year span. Although after the "asides" of I'm Willing's covers and Anchors & Ampersands' re-evaluation of older songs, the new one is the first "proper" album in a while. A real songwriters' showcase, the focus is really on Cummings' words here, with the music stripped back to an old-school Wurlitzer and drum machine approach.

This album release celebration had a stripped back "classic lineup" vibe as well, with Cummings backed by longtime collaborators Jay Anderson, Matt McLaren and Andrew Scott giving a bit of a different feel to the new album's material. One interesting wrinkle in Trust An Amateur is the increased use of suites linking shorter songs together (for an avid film buff like Cummings this is surely akin to the use of montage to comment on characters and situations) and the live show gave a two-fer that's not on the album with "Fly Away" and opener "Silver Morn" joined together. The mid-set dip back through the hits included this take on "Conundrum", reduxed on last year's Anchors & Ampersands but with its origins all the way back on Cummings' first album Doin' It All back from when he was also a Wurlitzer-and-drum-machine-only guy.

Recording: Matthew "Doc" Dunn & Friends

Artist: Matthew "Doc" Dunn & Friends

Songs: Only Love Can Guide Us Now + Crying Shame [Jennifer Castle cover]

Recorded at The Baby G, December 20, 2018.

Matthew "Doc" Dunn & Friends - Only Love Can Guide Us Now

Matthew "Doc" Dunn & Friends - Crying Shame

A slightly-belated night to celebrate the release of Doc Dunn's Lightbourn album turned out to be a twofer, with the additional appearance of its follow-up Some Horses Run on the merch table. These "solo" albums (as distinguished from the collective grooves he heads with the Cosmic Range) found their songs fleshed out with an all-star band that included Simone T-B on drums, Grasshopper on percussion, James Matthew VII (formerly Blind Matty) on guitar, Andrew Scott on bass, Jonathan Adjemian on keybs as well as special guest backing vocalists Isla Craig and Meg Remy on a few numbers.

That exploded the sometimes-introspective vibe of the recorded versions into a cranked-up push-it-to-the-back-of-the-stadium wall of wailing guitars and pulsing funk, making these versions feel like they'd belong up on the merch table in a gatefold cover double-live album — the kind with just a couple stretched-out songs per side. There's even a tip of the hat here to peer and inspiration Jennifer Castle on a version of "Crying Shame" that tears with such momentum Dunn was pushing hard to keep up with the flow of the lyrical river.

[Doc Dunn and a smaller group of friends will be bringing some joy to the Mechanical Forest Sound 10th Anniversary celebration at The Baby G on Saturday, March 2nd.]

Recording: Marker Starling

Artist: Marker Starling - I'll Be Around

Songs: I'll Be Around [The Spinners cover] + Shadows and Counterparts

Recorded at The Tranzac (Main Hall), January 13, 2018.

Marker Starling - I'll Be Around

Marker Starling - Shadows and Counterparts

Chris Cummings' artistic ascendance continues with the release of his new Anchors & Ampersands album. Like its predecessor, a lot of the achievement here is in the selection of materials and the arrangements, but whereas I'm Willing fits into the classic "covers album" mould, its new companion is something more akin to a self-reappraisal, with several reduxed versions of older songs, now presented in all their widescreen glory with lusher arrangements and more confident vocals.

As in the past, Cummings returned to The Tranzac's Main Hall to use the floor to accommodate an extra-large ensemble — there were no fewer than sixteen musicians throughout the night (if I was able to keep track correctly!) with up to fourteen of them on stage at once. That meant augmenting the core unit (of Jay Anderson, Matt McLaren and Andrew Scott) with lush backing vocals (from Robin Dann, Ben Gunning and Alex Samaras, as well as special guests Ryan Driver and album producer Zack G) and a horn section (Jay Hay, Jeremy Strachan, Lina Allemano). And then to complete the spectacle, the members of opening band Bunny joined in for the set's last songs. All told, a worthy celebration of one of the city's best songwriters — and now with his back pages thoroughly re-examined, it's exciting to anticipate what's going to come next.

Recording: Bunny

Artist: Bunny

Songs: One Less Heart + Fat City (feat. Marker Starling)

Recorded at The Tranzac (Main Hall), January 13, 2018.

Bunny - One Less Heart

Bunny feat. Marker Starling - Fat City

I'd missed the release party for Bunny's superb self-titled album, so I was glad to see them reprising their role as openers at another Marker Starling release. There was a slightly-reshuffled lineup behind Drew Smith and the anchoring rhythm section of Jay Anderson and Andrew Scott with Lane Halley (Hooded Fang, Bart) sitting in on guitar as well as a now-rare Dan Werb sighting behind the keybs (although he did, indeed, play a lot of the keybs on the album). There was a tasty selection of material from the new album, and to close things out, Chris Cummings (another of the album's guest performers) came out to sing this new one to which he'd provided lyrics inspired, I'm given to understand, by the John Huston film.

Recording: Steamboat

Artist: Steamboat

Songs: Chains + Sea of Whisky

Recorded at Sneaky Dee's, April 27, 2012.

Steamboat - Chains

Steamboat - Sea of Whisky

Full review to follow. A celebratory evening and a full stage at Sneaks to celebrate the release of Steamboat's fab new Rules album.

Recording: Steamboat

Artist: Steamboat

Song: Not an Omen, Just a Warning^*

Recorded at The Horseshoe, February 11, 2011.

Steamboat - Not an Omen, Just a Warning

My notes for this set can be found here.

^* Thanks to a commenter for providing the title to this one.