Recording: Charter of the Forest

Artist: Charter of the Forest

Songs: Come All Ye [Fairport Convention cover] + Big White Cloud [John Cale cover]

Recorded in The Sun Room at 918 Bathurst, January 18, 2026.

Charter of the Forest - Come All Ye

Charter of the Forest - Big White Cloud

Opening up an afternoon of investigations into folk music, this was a real all-star group, bringing together Isla Craig (voice), Karsten Stryker (acoustic guitar), Kurt Newman (low-volume electric guitar), Pete Johnston (bass), and Blake Howard (percussion). The musical approach was a jammy take on folk-rock, though more Fairport Convention (whose Liege & Lief was a primary touchstone) than Grateful Dead — though also with some bluegrass flourishes. The material also hewed towards "traditional songs of the British Isles", though in some cases the traditions reached back to more recent rolling minstrels such as those heard here.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

Recording: The Ryan Driver Quintet

Artist: The Ryan Driver Quintet

Song: Feeling Good [composed by Anthony Newley & Leslie Bricusse]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), December 23, 2025.

The Ryan Driver Quintet - Feeling Good

It's a fascinating phenomenon: Ryan Driver's longstanding standards quartet/sextet is a wonderful thing to behold, and a lot of that is owing to the near-telepathic bond that the members share as they explore the standards with languid intensity. But being embedded in the music community that they are, when the call goes out for reinforcements, there are some very special guests that can step into this very particular mindset. This pre-xmas night of the residence saw Driver and bassist Rob Clutton on stage, but they were joined by frequent guest Blake Howard (covering for Nick Fraser on drums) as well as Karen Ng (filling in on sax) and Thom Gill (on synth, filling in the spaces that might usually be taken up by vibes or guitar). Gill was (as always!) a delight here, sometimes choosing the most counterintuitive sounds that somehow fit into the tunes quite perfectly. The setlist took the usual amble through Ryan Driver's collection of "standards", moving from Donovan to Noël Coward, along with this Nina Simone sizzler.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

[The next instalment of the residency (Friday, January 30th), is a special occasion, celebrating the release of Moon, an album recorded in live performance last year (and sure to be a vital document of of one of the city's great bands).]

Recording: mdbm

Artist: mdbm

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), December 10, 2025.

mdbm - unknown

Presenting the sort of experimental, drifting take on folk that you would have once heard at the Holy Oak, this quartet is working out their sounds in the course of a Tranzac residency. Featuring Michael White (trumpet), Maggie Keogh (vocals), Don Rooke (guitar, lap steel) and Blake Howard (percussion), the group moved from abstract, soundtrack-y pieces to more song-like forms (as heard here).

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

[mdbm will be back in the Southern Cross on Wednesday (January 14th).]

Recording: Clutton/Cole/O'Reilly/Howard

Artist: Rob Clutton/Josh Cole/Patrick O'Reilly/Blake Howard

Songs: [set 1 excerpt] + This is what happens inside a room [edited excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Brodie West presents), December 10, 2025.

Rob Clutton/Josh Cole/Patrick O'Reilly/Blake Howard - [set 1 excerpt]

Rob Clutton/Josh Cole/Patrick O'Reilly/Blake Howard - This is what happens inside a room [edited excerpt]

Slated as an evening with Brodie West's Double Basses Quintet, the last-minute absence of the host shifted the terrain somewhat. Without West's saxophone (and the compositions for the group he's been working up), this turned into a chance for the remaining musicians to expand their zones a bit and improvise. There were still two double basses, giving Rob Clutton and Josh Cole a chance to work off each other, and some extra space for Patrick O'Reilly to explore the textures generated by his guitar and pedals. There was also one other substitution, as Blake Howard was sitting in for Nick Fraser and adding his genial chaos to the proceedings. The longer excerpt here contains an impromptu monologue from Howard, giving a darkly-comedic franework for the musicians to work around. (Or it's possible that Howard has indeed been trapped in the Southern Cross for the past forty million years and needs our assistance.)

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: Eucalyptus

Artist: Eucalyptus

Song: UP Express

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Joe's 50th Birthday), April 25, 2024.

Eucalyptus - UP Express

Sometimes, when a Big Event beckons, you just have to seize the initiative and throw the party that you want to be a part of. Hence this little shindig, with a pretty fabulous lineup of local luminaries and a room full of well-wishers — what more could you ask for?

With so many moving parts in this band, there's a bit of flexibility with who you might see surrounding Brodie West from show to show — but it was a real treat to see the band at full strength here, three drummers on stage and crowd favourite Nicole Rampersaud up front. There were some classics tackled that got the dancefloor bumpin' as well as some newer pieces, including this jammer from the group's next album (a future classic, whether you all it the "up" express or the "you-pee" express) as well as a scintillating preview of a new collaoration with Vic Cheong (a.k.a. New Chance) bringing a tune for West to arrange.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

[Eucalytus will be back on the Main Hall stage at the Tranzac's next big fundraising spectacular event, playing alongside U.S. Girls and Cots on Friday, June 14th.]

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.]

Recording: Dun-Dun Band

Artist: Dun-Dun Band

Song: Pandemo 3^*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Dun-Dun Land: Slight Return), April 9, 2024.

Dun-Dun Band - unknown

Essentially a warm-up show for the forthcoming full-on album release celebration (see details below), this night saw most of the Dun-Dun Band gathered together (but with "only" two sax players). Digging into tracks from Pita Parka, Pt. I (as well as its in-the-can sequel) the players were in sync through Craig Dunsmuir's fragment-suites, moving from rollicking lockgroove tumbles to some considered stately rumbles.

[That release celebration will be happening in The Tranzac's Main Hall next week (Thursday, May 16th), with an opening set from Allison Cameron, Mira Martin-Gray and Josh Cole.]

^* Thanks to Josh for passing along the title to this one!

Recording: A Josh Cole Trio + Strings feat. John Oswald

Artist: A Josh Cole Trio + Strings feat. John Oswald

Song: [set 2 excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), March 29, 2023.

A Josh Cole Trio + Strings feat. John Oswald - [set 2 excerpt]

Bassist Jash Cole has been experimenting lately with bringing in a miniature string section (here Nick Storring on cello and Aline Homzy on violin) to augment his ensembles. (The other components of the trio in this case were regular percussionist Blake Howard and special guest saxophonist John Oswald.) Moving from zones of quietude to shaking clatter, there were intruiging destabilizations all around here, held together as always with Cole in the calm centre.

Recording: Kurt Newman & Motel Time Again

Artist: Kurt Newman & Motel Time Again

Songs: Foolin' Around + Pick Me up on Your Way Down [Buck Owens covers]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Cosmic Country for Communists). March 9, 2023.

Kurt Newman & Motel Time Again - Foolin' Around

Kurt Newman & Motel Time Again - Pick Me up on Your Way Down

The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge ("Cosmic Country for Communists")

Kurt sings! Promising "sad ballads, shuffles and waltzes", this outing alongside frequent collaborators Andrew Furlong (bass) and Blake Howard (drums) saw Newman dipping into a deep well of country and folk classix to deliver plenty guitar solos (as expected) and vocal stylings (a surprise!). This pair of Buck Owens tunes that closed out the night helped to situate the whole thing somewhere on a highway between Austin and Bakersfield (and always, of course, in the Greater Psychic Nashville district).

[Cosmic Country for Communists will be back at The Tranzac tonight (April 6th), a week earlier than usual, with some comedy and bluegrass stylings.]

Recording: Doug Tielli + Friends

Artist: Doug Tielli + Friends

Songs: With Body and Soul [Bill Monroe cover] + Hello Stranger [Carter Family cover]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Cosmic Country for Communists), February 9, 2023.

Doug Tielli + Friends - With Body and Soul

Doug Tielli + Friends - Hello Stranger

It's not bluegrass, the experts remind us, if there's a drumkit on stage, so let's maybe call this Cosmic Country for Communists one-off grouping bluegrass-adjacent. Doug Tielli brought a list of favourite songs to sing, backed by an ace band put together by series host Kurt Newman (here on dobro) that included Harry Bartlett (guit), Chris Adriaanse (double bass), Blake Howard (drums), and some coaxed-from-the-audience contributions from Logan McNeil (mandolin). Tielli's list of tunes drew from the bluegrass/country axis, but also extended to include Townes Van Zandt and Mary Margaret O'Hara.

Recording: Ayal Senior & Co.

Artist: Ayal Senior & Co.

Song: Spiderweb Castle

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), January 8, 2023.

Ayal Senior & Co. - Spiderweb Castle

Another airing of Ayal Senior's newest pieces, this time backed by Kurt Newman on guitar, Andrew Furlong on bass and Blake Howard on percussion. Ideas are still being fleshed out and endings are still being negotiated, but the structures are starting to show their strength.

[Ayal Senior will be back at The Tranzac on Sunday, February 12th, playing with Kurt Newman and Andrew Furlong, and presenting Greydini, Fuzzy Nibesh, and Nick Flanagan.]

Recording: A Josh Cole Quartet

Artist: A Josh Cole Quartet

Songs: [two excerpts]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Josh Cole presents), December 21, 2022.

A Josh Cole Quartet - [2nd set, 1st piece excerpt]

A Josh Cole Quartet - [2nd set, 2nd piece]

Another of those indefinite-article groupings that occasionally pop up at Josh Cole's residency shows, this combo offered both a chance to catch trumpeter Lina Allemano (back once more from Berlin) as well as Rob Clutton joining in for a rare double-double bass outing. Percussionist Blake Howard rounded things out in this celebration of the year's shortest day (in fact, Howard was doubly-celebrating, arriving from opening with Eucalyptus at Jennifer Castle's solstice celebration).

You can check out some footage from the first set here:

[Josh Cole will be holding the fort at Colin Fisher's regular Tranzac night on Friday (January 13th) with the return of another of his irregular quartets featuring Brodie West, Phil Melanson and Andrew Zukerman.]

Recording: Dun-Dun Band

Artist: Dun-Dun Band

Song: Triplet C

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Josh Cole presents), September 21, 2022

Dun-Dun Band - Triplet C

There are visible signs of forward progress with Craig Dunsmuir's beloved precision groove bigglyup band — rumours of intense rehearsal schedules, plus whispers of recording and mixing sessions — all of which has culminated in a three-month takeover of Josh Cole's Tranzac residency. This night saw a possibly-unprecedented turonout (on stage) with ten musicians on hand. (There's a certain flexibility in the lineup given that any of these busy musicians could be unavailable on any given day.) There's also a sense that the jams are being formalized into "songs" — where once they were identified by strings of numbered fragments, now titles are taking their place (even if some are perhaps still just placeholders, often taking a name from the venue where the piece was first performed).

The full lineup for this night was:

• Craig Dunsmuir
• Mike Smith
• Blake Howard
• Jay Anderson
• Josh Cole
• Kurt Newman
• Ted Crosby
• Karen Ng
• Colin Fisher
• Brodie West

[The Dun-Dun Band will be completing their three-month stay at The Tranzac next Wednesday (October 19th) in the late slot.]

Recording: Janet MacPherson & Co.

Artist: Janet MacPherson & Co.

Song: Jock O'Hazeldean [traditional]

Recorded atThe Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Cosmic Country for Communists), September 8, 2022.

Janet MacPherson & Co. - Jock O'Hazeldean

While logistics make it difficult for Kurt Newman to pull together a Mermaids gig, he could certainly create the conditions for some Mermaids-adjacent music by pulling in vocalist Janet MacPherson (a truly under-appreciated gem) and her book of traditional British Isles tunes. Channeling some nimble-fingered folk-rock guitarists, Newman was joined by Chris Adriaanse on bass and Blacke Howard on percussion, with the group using the form of the songs as raw material to gently ramble through ad hoc arrangements.

Recording: Double Double Teams

Artist: Double Double Teams

Song: [end of 1st piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng presents), August 25, 2022.

Double Double Teams - [end of 1st piece]

A busy night in Karen Ng's monthly Tranzac timeslot saw three sets, leading with this double-duo that saw percussionists Phil Melanson and Blake Howard backing Ryan Driver and Karen Ng on MG1 analog synthesizers. Plenty of clatter'n'whirr ensued.

Recording: Cots

Artist: Cots

Songs: Bitter Part of the Fruit + Salt or Sand

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), July 24, 2022.

Cots - Bitter Part of the Fruit

Cots - Salt or Sand

It was a real joy to finally get a chance to see Steph Yates performing the songs from her Cots project — her Disturbing Body album was a definite fave last year, when chances to see live shows were thin on the ground. For this set (as on the album) she was joined by Josh Cole (bass) and Blake Howard (percussion) to flesh out tunes that ranged from bossa nova lightness to a sort of jaunty slowcore — and pleasingly, there were a couple new ones in the mix as well, so hopefully this project will continue to develop.

Recording: A Josh Cole Quintet

Artist: A Josh Cole Quintet

Songs: [three excerpts]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), April 20, 2022.

A Josh Cole Quintet - [set 1, 2nd piece excerpt]

A Josh Cole Quintet - [set 2, 1st piece excerpt]

A Josh Cole Quintet - [set 2, 2nd piece excerpt]

I like it when musicians present a group with the indefinite article at the start of the name — an implication that the audience is witnessing just one of many possibilities that could have emerged on this occasion. This particular ad hoc quintet, convened for some improvisations while Kind Mind takes a month off in its usual slot in Josh Cole's Tranzac residency, took the rarely-seen step of inviting another bassist (Rob Clutton) along for the ride, and surrounded them with sounds from Jim Lewis (trumpet), Ryan Driver (analog synth) and Blake Howard (blanket filled with cymbals). Those ingredients combined for some fine squeak-clomp as sounds waxed and waned, those two basses working together underneath it all.

Monday Roundup #48

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:

• Kith & Kin are keeping their annual Holiday Wassail virtual this year, so keep an eye out on their facebook page for some videos of their beautiful harmonies, knitting together sounds from multiple traditions.

• The Music Gallery's Emergents Series returns in grand style this week with "Possible Worlds", a 4-part series "dedicated to musical world-building". Besides the "standard" (that is to say, utterly unpredictable) Emergents concert (from Skin Tone and Stephanie Castonguay, "diving into hacking, breaking and reinventing"), there's also "Community Sound", "a workshop led by saxophonist, clarinetist, instrument maker, and MG family member Naomi McCarroll-Butler, who will be leading us through a series of guided improvisations using graphic scores and conduction. Aimed at community members and early-career artists interested in exploring collective music-making, this will be a community space for people with different artistic interests and backgrounds to meet, speak and create together." [free sign-up at the door!] And on top of that, Unit 2 curates "Parallel Playfields", "a collection of experimental performances exploring noise, improvisation and different textures of sound. Featuring performances by Sa.resi, Deidre, and Vixu."

• Meanwhile, The Music Gallery, The Intersection Festival and a whole host of wonderful people are joining together with the TTC for A More Beautiful Journey, "a landmark XR (extended reality) audio installation that will transform Toronto public transit in 2022 – providing riders with generative, location-specific soundtracks for their commutes. Through the platform’s mobile, web-based interface, users will experience ambient songs, soundscapes, and scores for over 30 stretches of above-ground TTC line. Custom audio is contributed by artists from, and for, neighbourhoods spanning the breadth of Toronto’s public transit lines." Artists who are interested in contributing to these soundscapes should respond to the Open Call on the website by February 7, 2022.

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Concert listings:

• Tranzac NYE (feat. Lightman Jarvis Ecstatic Band / New Chance) / The Tranzac 2021-12-31 (Friday). $27.54. [FB event]

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Bandcamp corner:

• Julie Doiron returns with I Thought Of You (out now from the always-essential You've Changed label). Still full of her customary self-reflection and moments of hard-won determination, this might be her least rough-hewn (and most classic-rock leaning) album to date, thanks to ace musicians Daniel Romano, Ian Romano and Dany Placard.

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It happened this week...

Speaking of the Tranzac, I stuck my head into the Southern Cross last weekend, when I was there on my first trip back to see the Ryan Driver Sextet in the Main Hall. The new bar is still under construction, but I'm starting to hear rumours of things being scheduled there. So in anticipation, here's some sounds from Toronto's best music room...

• ... on December 13, 2019 at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge).

Colin Fisher/Ted Crosby/Evan Cartwright - [set 2, first piece]

• ...on December 18, 2019 at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge).

Lina Allemano/Rob Clutton/Blake Howard/Brodie West - [set 1 excerpt]

[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.]