Recording: Carl Didur

Artist: Carl Didur

Song: [1st piece, excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Idée Fixe & Ansible presents), April 20, 2023.

Carl Didur - [1st piece, excerpt]

This no-longer-new residency from the folks at Idée Fixe and Ansible Editions aims to present musics from and adjacent to the sibling labels, bridging the former's "rock" action and the latter's more experimental outlook. It's always a joy to hear Carl Didur in action, and something of a rarity to hear him playing piano, so this was a special treat. The other extended piece he played was more in the floridly "romantic" mode that I remember him tackling before, but this one has more of a Lubomyr Melnyk thing going on. (He'd also shift over to taishōgoto for the last pice, with guitarist Tobin Hopwood, the evening's other performer, joining in to dig deep into some Funkadelic.)

[The Idée Fixe/Ansible Editions residency will be back in the Southern Cross next week (June 15th), though at this writing I haven't seen an announcement of who's playing yet.]

Monday Roundup #42

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:

• Changes are coming quickly now in terms of restrictions on venues, especially with this week's news that Ontario venues can go back to holding shows at full standing capacity. This is obviously huge news for rock clubs, whose entire model is based on having full rooms. It will, however, feel like a shock for those of us still slowly feeling their way back into those old situations — for folks who were still leary about spread-out seated shows, this is a big leap back, even if things are generally looking safer in spaces with masked + vaxxed patrons. And while the rock clubs are feeling their way along trying to find sustainable and safe situations for artists and audiences, is there any chance of moving things back so shows start and end an hour or two earlier?

• Meanwhile, in venue-specific news, the Tranzac is starting to come back to life: "We... have more work to do in getting the Southern Cross bar ready, so for now we will be hosting small capacity, seated, ticketed events in the Main Hall where there is more room to spread out and enjoy the show." Keep an eye out for news of further developments as well as for info on shows coming up (like Concrete Cabaret's OBJECTO: Toronto's Festival of Experimental Puppetry, coming up November 26th and 27th).

• And on a more personal note, the elements are coming into place to get back to resuming Track Could Bend. Our hosts at Wenona are willing + eager to have us back. But: would you feel safe/comfortable at a TCB event in the next month or two? (Assuming requisite protocols in place incl vaxx check and being masked.) Would we want to put a hard cap on number of people in the space? Anything else that would make it feel more okay? Feel free to share your thoughts over on facebook or email me (mechanicalforestsound[at]gmail.com).

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Livestream nation:

• Drop in tonight (Monday, November 1st at 9 EDT) to hear Karen Ng in conversation with Chicago's Experimental Sound Studio’s Option Series. (and "a couple silly vids" have been promised as well!)

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Bandcamp corner:

• A T.O. classic is coming back into ready circulation with Idée Fixe's digital/vinyl reissue of Live at the Music Gallery, the debut album of Jennifer Castle (or Castlemusic, as she was known at the time).

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It happened this week...

• ...on November 1, 2011 at The Drake Underground.

A Winged Victory For The Sullen - Steep Hills of Vicodin Tears

• ...on November 6, 2011 at Halo Halo Village (Medusa Editions Turn 2 Stone Nite Vol. 1).

Carl Didur - unknown

[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.]

Monday Roundup #7

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:

• Special reminder that due to recording restrictions under the stay-at-home order, the Women From Space Festival has shifted forward to April 9-11. (Means you have more time to acquire your Holobox Theatre!)

• Carl Didur made a rare social media appearance to remind us that things are still regularly being added on his excellent youtube channel, including this just-posted Faust cover from Zacht Automaat:

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In the Mix:

• My latest Drone Brunch mixtape is up on Mixcloud, full of youtube finds and other overlapping sounds (played at various speeds), including some fast Steve Reich slowed way down. Sounds by Lonershy, Ruscadå & Joel Gilardini, Mahan Esfahani, Robert Rutman's U.S. Steel Cello Ensemble, Mooons, and Stars of the Lid:

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It happened this week...

• ...on March 1, 2014 at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge. Sending hugs and regards to all the musicians in this incredible band: Scott Peterson (double bass, voice), Eric Woolston (drums), Peter Lutek (clarinet), Jay Hay (sax, flute), Tom Richards (tuba), Colin Fisher (guit), Isla Craig (voice), Jay Anderson (percussion) and Brandon Valdivia.

Prince Enoki's Insect Orchestra - Dragonflies

[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.]

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Bandcamp corner:

• Is it Bandcamp Friday yet? Not quite, but it will be on Friday, so get your shopping lists in order. Bandcamp Fridays are a great opportunity to pre-order stuff from artists; it makes for a nice surprise when you get that notification on the album's release! On that score, Lina Allemano just put two albums up for pre-sale, and both come highly recommended:

• Plus, here's a couple more things I'll definitely be grabbing:

Recording: Fake Humans

Artist: Fake Humans

Song: [first piece, in two parts]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (SynapticCircusSundays), September 30, 2018.

Fake Humans - [first piece, part 1]

Fake Humans - [first piece, part 2]

It's always exciting to get a chance to hear Carl Didur playing piano, and even moreso when it's being deployed to shift expectations for what a Fake Humans set should sound like. Colin Fisher is on drums in this section (which moves from spiritual jazz territory towards an étude) and would duet with Didur on sax later in the set.

[Colin Fisher will be playing a duo set alongside tar master Araz Salek at Track Could Bend #44 on Tuesday, November 6th at Wenona Lodge. Synaptic Circus will return to the Southern Cross on Sunday, November 25th with sets from Bakan, Lutek, Murley and Underhill LLP plus Kayla Milmine, Wes Neal and Rick Sacks.]

Recording: Fake Humans

Artist: Fake Humans

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Main Hall), June 23, 2018.

Fake Humans - [excerpt]

Celebrating Exegesis (this project's debut recording, which has so far only partially emerged online) Carl Didur and Colin Fisher entered into the same zone for some deep sonic hermeneutics. Didur provided a seamless mix of taishogoto, synth, keyb and space echo while Fisher marked the set's transitions while shifting from guzheng to drumkit to sax, both enfolding and navigating the parallel dimensions of inner and other space.

Recording: Hexagon

Artist: Hexagon

Songs: two unknown songs^*

Recorded at The Tranzac (Main Hall), October 27, 2017.

Hexagon - unknown #1

Hexagon - unknown #2

This was my first time catching a full set from this joint effort by keyb wizard Carl Didur and Louis Percival on bass. Percival (who produced some of headliner U.S. Girls' earlier works in his Onakabazien guise) deepened Didur's Éthiopiques vibe with some tasty grooves, including what sounded like a proper Tezeta rhythm. The pair also had their first release — a cassette single that doesn't seem to have manifested anywhere online yet — on sale at the merch table, so hopefully there will be more to follow.

Recording: Zacht Automaat

Artist: Zacht Automaat

Songs: Into the Time Domain + unknown^* + Lay Lady Lay [Bob Dylan cover]

Recorded at Matt Durant Studio (Feast In The East 64), September 23, 2017.

Zacht Automaat - Into the Time Domain

Zacht Automaat - unknown

Zacht Automaat - Lay Lady Lay

The last blast of a summer reprise made for a sweaty night in the charming Matt Durant Studio — home recently to the always-roving Feast in the East series. This annual-ish appearance from Zacht Automaat had more space echo and less taishogoto than last time I saw 'em, but was otherwise classic ZA all down the line. Colin Fisher pitched in some sax as usual, but the selections this time are from the trio parts of the set — including a new one from their heap o' covers as the set closer.

[Feast in the East returns to Matt Durant Studio for a Harvest Stew of electronic sounds on Saturday, November 18th, with sets from Off World, Egyptrixx, New Chance and Brigitte Bardon't.]

^* One cleared up, but does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Carl Didur

Artist: Carl Didur

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square (Intersection – Day 3), September 2, 2017.

Carl Didur - unknown

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory. The day-long marathon in the concrete canyon of commerce remains at the festival's heart, though, exploring the frissons of experiencing strange and occasionally abrasive sounds competing with the city's mersh heartbeat.

This was billed as a solo set, and indeed for the first two-thirds, Didur supplied a zone-out phase-groove. Then, in the piece presented here, as the rhythm machine kicked in he was joined by Louis Percival on bass — a new, ongoing duo reformulation that is being billed as Hexagon. The tasty tune ended with another new recent Didur trademark: lifting up his spring echo box a few inches and letting it fall back to the table with a percussive sproing.

[Hexagon will be opening for U.S. Girls at Tranzac on Friday, October 27th.]

[You can see some footage from this set over at Brandon Caswell Douglas' Intersection playlist.]

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

Recording: Fake Humans

Artist: Fake Humans

Song: [opening section]

Recorded at Jam Factory (TONE Festival – Show #5), June 21, 2017.

Fake Humans - [opening section]

Although the local "jazz" festival is anticipated in some quarters, it seemed that too often there was no home there for adventurous and experimental creators. Thus, out of necessity, the TONE Festival was born to give these touring musicians a chance to connect with local audiences and artists. A collaboration between Burn Down the Capital's Tad Michalak, Ron Gaskin (a.k.a. Rough Idea) and Karen Ng and Daniel Pencer, the goal was to create shows that were rewarding for players and listeners alike.

Returning to the Jam Factory after their recent Feast in the East anniversary performance, Carl Didur and Colin Fisher brought basically the same tools, but whether it was simply having a more attentive, sit-down crowd in front of them or repetition giving more clarity to the game plan, this one was the more satisfactory experience. Deeper dynamics, a more satisfying arc to the set — and that seated crowd was much more attentive in this quiet guzheng and synth duet that started it all off.

Recording: Fake Humans

Artist: Fake Humans

Song: [second section]

Recorded at Jam Factory (Feast in the East's 6th Anniversary), May 6, 2017.

Fake Humans - [second section]

Another celebration for this east-end institution saw it returning to perhaps the most-loved of its many homes. In typical Feast fashion, besides food (and birthday cake!) there was a diverse range of music with no fewer than five acts helping to mark the occasion. Colin Fisher and Carl Didur lead off the night, and the former helped mix things up by opening the set on his guzheng before ramping things up behind the drum kit (as heard here). Didur, on his second gig of the day, was doubling up on taishogoto and synth.

[Fake Humans will be back at Jam factory on Wednesday, June 21st, opening up for the legendary Hailu Mergia as part of the TONE Festival. And in another welcome return, on July 8th Feast in the East heads back to Prairie Drive Park for its second annual Arts in the Parks event. This day out is free, all-ages, and family-friendly and offers a free meal for all as well as live sets by The Cosmic Range, LAL and Saxsyndrum. Not to be missed — last year's event was one of the summer's highlights!]

[Thanks to Brandon Caswell Douglas for sharing his audio from this night — you can check out some his footage over at his youtube playlist for this event.]

Recording: Carl Didur

Artist: Carl Didur

Song: [first piece, edit]

Recorded at the basement auditorium of Toronto Public Library – Parkdale Branch (SHHHH! – Year 2, Show 2), May 6, 2017.

Carl Didur - [first piece, edit]

Kudos to Kyle Knapp (of the band Deliluh and the Raw Materials label/collective) for keeping going the community initiative he started a year ago, bringing strange and wonderful sounds to the library's Parkdale branch. I missed the previous evening's show up in the stacks, but made it down for this Saturday matinée, mixing up a variety of artists to entice patrons and passers-by to join the crowd in the wonderfully-retro basement auditorium. On the front half of a day/night double-header, Carl Didur brought perhaps the lightest setup I've seen him perform with, letting a loop pedal take the place of his reel-to-reel loops and channelling Ethio-jazz meets minimalism meets Laurie Spiegel vibes.

[Speaking of Ethio-jazz, as half of Fake Humans Didur will be opening for the legendary Hailu Mergia at Jam Factory as part of the TONE Festival on Wednesday, June 21st.]

Recording: Fake Humans

Artist: Fake Humans

Song: [final section]

Recorded at The Baby G, October 27, 2016.

Fake Humans - [final section]

This duo between Carl Didur and Colin Fisher can sound like a full band, especially when the latter gets to multi-tasking and playing taishogoto and synthesizer simultaneously. This section, with Fisher moving from drums to sax, is a bit more spare in its execution but has some really lovely interplay.

Recording: Carl Didur

Artist: Carl Didur

Song: [first section]

Recorded at Array Space, August 30, 2016.

Carl Didur - [first section]

Carl Didur's solo set was split into two parts this time out, leading with the meditation for synth/clav/taishogoto reproduced here before taking the plunge on one of Array's grand pianos.

Recording: Fake Humans

Artist: Fake Humans

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Smiling Buddha, March 11, 2016.

Fake Humans - unknown

This proggy night at Smiling Buddha was presented under the auspices of façadeMontage, the promoting arm of Romar L. Johnson, also known for his visual work with the Casual Drones series. Anyone who has been to those events knows that he gives lighting and visuals a precedence above and beyond the usual, so it was no surprise to see the intricate lighting rig and intense dosage of dry ice in action here. Opening the night, it turns out that this duo of Carl Didur and Colin Fisher has evolved since I saw them a while back, moving from abstract synthscapes into a fully-realized "band" sound. Armed with a Suzuki Taishogoto, Didur provided both bassline and synth in this strikingly-realized section while Fisher played drums.

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

Recording: Fisher/Rampersaud/Didur

Artist: Colin Fisher/Nicole Rampersaud/Carl Didur

Song: [trio piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), October 23, 2015.

Colin Fisher/Nicole Rampersaud/Carl Didur - [trio piece]

This was the first night of what is to be a monthly residency hosted by Colin Fisher, who hinted at the format he's aiming for: a series of solo performances capped off by a group jam. Fisher played a piece for solo saxophone, and then some solo percussion, with the night's other musicians having been instructed to join in when the time felt right. This excerpt has the end of the percussion section, after which you can hear Carl Didur come in on piano to duet for a bit before Nicole Rampersaud joins in on trumpet for some ascension vibes.

Recording: Carl Didur

Artist: Carl Didur

Songs: [two pieces for solo piano]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), October 23, 2015.

Carl Didur - [excerpt from first solo piano piece]

Carl Didur - [second solo piano piece]

This was the first night of what is to be a monthly residency hosted by Colin Fisher, who hinted at the format he's aiming for: a series of solo performances capped off by a group jam. The night began with a rare opportunity to hear synth/tape-loop wizard Carl Didur playing piano. The longer piece he did had a rolling "continuous" Lubomyr Melnyk feel to it. He was cajoled to play another a bit later while Fisher got ready for his own solo set and reeled off the shorter piece here, with hints of Sun Ra.

Recording: Carl Didur

Artist: Carl Didur

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Smiling Buddha, September 9, 2015.

Carl Didur - unknown

Set up on the floor in front of the stage, Carl Didur's set began to general indifference from the crowd, but this was a case where things settled down fairly well as the tendrils of his music wove their way through the room. Working in real time, Didur wasn't just slipping his tape loops in and out of his reel-to-reels — at one point he actually pulled out a wrench to make an adjustment to one one of the machines on the fly.

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

Recording: Carl Didur

Artist: Carl Didur

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Geary Lane ("Sound Séance I": Night 3), June 14, 2015.

Carl Didur - unknown

The culmination of Geary Lane's year-long journey, the inaugural version of this event overcame some bureaucratic hurdles to present a weekend-long showcase of a non-corporate alternative to the city's increasingly-crowded festival calendar. Tucked away in its little pocket on the other side of the tracks, Geary Lane does feel a little off the grid but works well as an conceptual island getaway for sonic adventurers. Partnered with Suoni Per Il Popolo, the "name" draws skewed a bit toward une certaine esthétique de Montréal but each night did include cool local sounds as well. Vibe-wise, Sunday's final show of the festival came up the middle between Friday's chill drones and Saturday's Big Rock Show, with many in the crowd sitting on the floor of the stage area in front of the bands throughout. Throw in the fab afternoon events and this was a great weekend, showing off what can be done when the community has access to a space like Geary Lane. Hopefully this will indeed only be the first of a new annual local tradition.

Local treasure Carl Didur opened the last night of this festival with some beautiful pieces for analog synth. Seated on the floor and crouched over his gear, many in the early crowd sat down and soaked up the lovely echoes from his keyb, which were very meditative until the rhythm machine kicked in to add some clockwork sunshine to the proceedings.

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

Recording: Carl Didur

Artist: Carl Didur

Song: Carl Didur - Record Store Day [edited excerpt]^*

Recorded at Sonic Boom ("Record Store Day"), April 18, 2015.

Carl Didur - Record Store Day [edited excerpt]

Say what you will about the corporatization of Record Store Day, it still brings out healthy crowds to local independent businesses — and they end up digging deeper than the newest redundant Bruce Springsteen reissues. Sonic Boom used the day to formally launch their in-store space at their new Spadina Ave. location, with a day full of cool live music to soundtrack people's shopping experience. Carl Didur led the day off with a gentle set for electric piano, offering a more meditative tone than his usual tape loop-abetted constructions. Beautiful stuff that subtly played with the expectations of what both random shoppers and enthusiasts might have expected.

^* Does anyone know the name(s) to these song(s)? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Matt "Doc" Dunn's Galactic Jazz Band

Artist: Matt "Doc" Dunn's Galactic Jazz Band

Songs: [two excerpts]^*

Recorded at Grasshopper Records, December 16, 2014.

Matt "Doc" Dunn's Galactic Jazz Band - [first excerpt]

Matt "Doc" Dunn's Galactic Jazz Band - [second excerpt]

The group that Matt "Doc" Dunn brought to the Music Gallery in September was too damn good to exist as a one-off, so it was a real treat to see them play a casual and intimate set in the back of Grasshopper Records on Dundas. Clustered around the record bins, the four-keyboard (Dunn plus Carl Didur, Mike Smith and Jonathan Adjemian), dual-percussion (Brandon Valdivia and Keiran Adams) alignment was augmented this time with Colin Fisher on sax and percussion, pushing things to an even further cosmic plane. Besides those sax grooves, this is also a slightly better capture from my end, so it's worth posting this, even if the terrain overlaps a bit from what I put up last time. And once again, the first clip here is swingingly funky, the second sublimely spiritual.

[You can also check out Ayal Senior's video capture of the set in two chunks.]

^* Does anyone know the titles to these ones? Please leave a comment!