Recording: Ava Mendoza

Artist: Ava Mendoza

Song: The Shadow Song

Recorded at Collective Arts (Burn Down The Capital presents), November 3, 2024.

Ava Mendoza - The Shadow Song

The autumn has brought a welcome cluster of shows from Tad Michalak's Burn Down The Capital promotional arm, mixing touring artists (many with a long relationship with BDtC) with local legends and emerging artists, many of them taking place in the cozy basement space at Collective Arts' taproom. (Important note: there's one last show in this burst coming up this Saturday.)

Guitarist Ava Mendoza was in town for a Tad Show earlier this year, backing trumpeter Nate Wooley in his Columbia Icefield project. This return saw her in a stripped-down solo performance, pulling out a mic stand and her pedalboards (including an expertly-deployed Red Panda Particle) out in front of the stage to engage directly with the crowd. Focusing on the brand-new The Circular Train album, this showed off both her songwriting depths as well as her guitar skills, bringing avant slice-and-dicing to bluesy forms, and stretching out the instrumentals without ever feeling uninterestingly chopsy.

Recording: Nate Wooley's Columbia Icefield

Artist: Nate Wooley's Columbia Icefield

Songs: [two excerpts from a suite]^*

Recorded at Standard Time (TONE presents), May 17, 2024.

Nate Wooley's Columbia Icefield - [excerpt 1]

Nate Wooley's Columbia Icefield - [excerpt 2]

My understanding is that this tour from trumpeter Nate Wooley’s quartet was partially to roadtest a new suite of compositions before recording. A tribute to Wooley's mentors and collaborators Ron Miles and Fred Hess, the pieces (incorporating some of Miles' phrases) were introduced as a way of "mourning loudly and softly". With Susan Alcorn (pedal steel guitar), Ava Mendoza (guitar), and Ryan Sawyer (drums) on board, there was room for a wide sonic range, with solo spots for everyone segueing into quiet reflections, jaunty tunes, and driving rockers.

^* Not sure if the individual segments have separate titles, but this will be updated in the future when at least the full piece's name is known.

Recording: Unnatural Ways

Artist: Unnatural Ways

Song: The Runaway Song

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

Unnatural Ways - The Runaway Song

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. This was perhaps the day's most strightahead rockin' set, but Ava Mendoza's trio definitely skewed towards art rock rather than power pop. Post-punk inasmuch as their extended jams echoed Television more than the Dead, there were some really interesting touches here, including Mendoza's sci-fi lyrics and bassist Tim Dahl's synth pedal shenanigans.