Recording: Anne Waldman & AroarA

Artist: Anne Waldman & AroarA

Poem: Gossamurmur

Recorded at Adelaide Hall ("Jason Collett's Basement Revue"), December 19, 2013.

Anne Waldman & AroarA - Gossamurmur

Full review to follow. Once upon a time, the poetry segment at Jason Collett's Basement Revues seemed like he plucked a poet from the next bar over and picked some musicians out of the crowd and threw them together on stage to see what happened. Now, programming of the series' shows in a larger venue, there's a chance to expand that reach a little, and this show saw AroarA come up from Montréal to back American poet Anne Waldman in what turned out to be an expansive mini-set. We got a sneak preview of a new collaborative project in progress, with Ariel Engle and Andrew Whiteman providing musical settings for Waldman's visionary feminist Matriot Acts, but for obvious reasons, I was also compelled by this piece about the value of archives. "Gotta keep the tapes going," instructed Waldman.

Recording: AroarA

Artist: AroarA (feat. Snowblink)

Song: #4

Recorded at The Dakota Tavern, November 1, 2013.

AroarA - #4

Full review to follow. I as sad to have missed AroarA's album-launching gig at The Music Gallery back in September, and though I did manage to catch their subsequent in-store appearance I was glad that they passed through for one more trip In The Pines. Playing the early slot at The Dakota (and boy howdy, do I love me an early gig) they played pretty much the whole album, aided on a couple songs by Daniela and Dan from Snowblink. Besides the extra vocal harmonies, it turned this one into an extended rocker with a rousing finish.

Recording: AroarA

Artist: AroarA

Songs: #14 + Another World [Antony and the Johnsons cover]

Recorded at Soundscapes, September 6, 2013.

AroarA - #14

AroarA - Another World

Full review to follow. I've missed catching Ariel Engle and Andrew Whiteman the last bunch of times they've been in town, so it wasn't since their first stabs at "a fake Arabic-disco kinda thing" that I'd seen the full results of their transition to "faux-folk" that has flowered on their new In the Pines album. Just as on the night before at their full album-launching Music Gallery show, they were joined by friends Daniela Gesundheit (of Snowblink) and Leslie Feist.

Reading: Michael Ondaatje

Artist: Michael Ondaatje

Reading: excerpt from The Cat's Table

Recorded at The Great Hall ("Jason Collett's Basement Revue"), December 20, 2012.

Michael Ondaatje - Reading from The Cat's Table

Full review to follow. Bringing the revue out of the basement coziness of the Dakota Tavern and into the much larger confines of the Great Hall, Jason Collett still managed to convince the audience to act as if they were in a small, intimate space, keeping quiet to listen to poets and gentle songs. Scaling things up meant that this would be less of a night to shine a light on some emerging artists and more of an opportunity for old friends to get together.

Poets and authors are always an essential part of the Basement Revue experience, and this bigger show saw Collett upping the ante to bring out celebrated local author Michael Ondaatje. Ad hoc collaborations are also a highlight of these shows, so it was pretty cool to see him being accompanied by Leslie Feist's guitar, and the voices of Snowblink's Daniela Gesundheit and AroarA's Ariel Engle.

Recording: AroarA

Artist: AroarA

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Dakota Tavern (Jason Collett's Basement Revue), December 20, 2011.

AroarA - unknown

Full review to follow. AroarA is Andrew Whiteman (Broken Social Scene, Apostle of Hustle) joined by Ariel Engle to dabble in dabke, bhangra and a whole heap of other rhythms. Intriguing stuff, based on a short set as a part of a cavalcade of BSSers playing at tonight's Basement Revue.

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