Contest: Labyrinth Ensemble with Ross Daly and Kelly Thoma

Labyrinth Ensemble with Ross Daly and Kelly Thoma

Saturday, November 8th @ Aga Khan Museum

In the seventh incarnation of their series of intensive workshops as preparations for a concert spectacular, the Labyrinth Ensemble has come full circle in a way. It was back in 2018, as the Labyrinth organization was growing its ambitions and gathering a community of musicians (but before the Ensemble itself was founded) that they brought Ross Daly (the founder of the original Labyrinth in Crete) and his longtime collaborator Kelly Thoma to Toronto to collaborate. That concert at Eastminster United Church saw the pair joined by locals Pedram Khavarzamini and Araz Salek as the This Tale of Ours Quartet, for a night of mesmerizing music.

This Tale of Ours Quartet - Little Black Dog + Neveser 14

This Tale of Ours Quartet - Synkathistos

Later this month, the pair return to share more wisdom with the full ensemble, which will lead to a tour reaching across Ontario — and starting off with a night at the Aga Khan. (And as always, the group is packed full of musicians that MFS-inclined folks will know well and love to see in action!)

TICKETS + MORE INFO

Tickets are $50 ($45 for Friends of the museum), with a limited number of rush tickets available for in-person purchase 30 minutes before the doors open. As with the past several Labyrinth shows at the Aga Khan, this show will almost certainly sell out!

CONTEST

Thanks to Labyrinth, I have a pair of tickets to give away for this show! To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "contest" in the title and your full name in the body. I'll randomly draw a winner at noon on Tuesday, November 4th.

Contest: What Is: heart(break)

What Is: heart(break)

May 13-17, 2025

Continuing to decenter its programming from X Avant, "What Is" — the Music Gallery's "spring" festival — continues to explore new connections and resonances. This year's festival asks "What Is: heart(break)", unlayering the stages over five nights of programming.

Even if you decide not to get too caught up in the conceptual arc of the shows, the musical content is more than enough to make this worthy of attention, mixing visiting artists whith a whole bunch of local faves that should be familiar to folks who peruse these pages. (And that includes Germaine Liu's Imaginary Percussion Ensemble, Aidan McConnell, plus an extended Mas Aya band featuring Isla Craig, Rob Clutton, Reimundo Sosa and Nick Storring.)

TICKETS + MORE INFO

Tickets for individual shows are $10 for MG Members, and $15/$20/$25 on a pay-what-you-can-afford basis for non-members. Festival passes are $45 for members and $70 for non-members.

CONTEST

Thanks to the Music Gallery, I have a pair of tickets to give away to Rebound, the festival's penultimate night (Friday, May 16th), curated by Tad Michalak. In classic Tad style, the show is at a unique east-end venue, taking over East End United Church’s sunken basketball court and presenting a night of avant-percussion from Sarah Hennies, Tristan Kasten-Krause, and the Imaginary Percussion Ensemble.

To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "contest" in the title and your name in the body. I'll randomly draw a winner on Tuesday, May 12th.

Contest: Labyrinth Ensemble with Âriâ Mohâfez

Labyrinth Ensemble with Âriâ Mohâfez

Saturday, May 3, 2025 @ Aga Khan Museum

Busy times continue for Labyrinth Ontario (and the Labyrinth Ensemble), with their ongoing small-scale gigs (including their regular Tranzac residency nights) leading once more to a large scale spectacular at the Aga Khan.

This spring, Labyrinth is bringing Âriâ Mohâfez to Toronto for his Canadian debut. "Mohâfez is an internationally renowned santur player passionate about preserving and performing traditional and contemporary Iranian dastgāh music. An expert performer, composer, ensemble leader, and teacher, Mohâfez will lead the 13 member Labyrinth Ensemble through two weeks of intense training. This meeting of sonic traditions and cultural backgrounds will produce unlimited possibilities for creation and collaboration."

Here's some beautiful, stripped-down sounds from Mohâfez — it's exciting to imagine what this could sound like with the full group on stage. (And if you follow their social media, you'll catch some realtime updates over the next couple weeks as things take shape.)

TICKETS + MORE INFO

Tickets are $40 ($36 for Friends of the museum, $30 for students and seniors) and are available through the museum's website. As of this writing, they are already at "limited availability" — like last time, this show will almost certainly sell out!

CONTEST

Thanks to Labyrinth, I have a pair of tickets to give away for this show! To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "contest" in the title and your full name in the body. I'll randomly draw a winner at noon on Tuesday, April 29th.

Contest: Labyrinth Ensemble with Maliheh Moradi

Labyrinth Ensemble with Maliheh Moradi

Saturday, November 2, 2024 @ Aga Khan Museum

Regular readers here will know that I've been a fan of Labyrinth Ontario (and the Labyrinth Ensemble) since the group's launch back in 2017. Functioning simultaneously as a community hub, centre of learning and presenter of musical excellence, Labyrinth keeps busy weaving together the many varieties of maqam, the overlapping modal music traditions from across the world.

Combining their education and presentation strands, for the past few years Labyrinth has been bringing in top-level practitioners to join the ensemble in two-week intensives, at the end of which guest and group present their findings in concert form. This year, Labyrinth is hosting Maliheh Moradi, an Iranian vocalist and instrumentalist based in Los Angeles. "Trained by renowned Persian musicians Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, Fatemeh Vaezi (Parisa), and Ali Asghar Shahzeidi, she has garnered attention for her notable work with the Mowlavi Opera and participation with the Voices Unveiled project. Her new album, Our Sorrow, was released in April of this year and achieved 3rd place on the World Music European Chart."

Labyrinth Ensemble shows at the Aga Khan are also just a wonderful night out — taking place in one of the most beautiful venues in the city, the room itself is a treat, and the music is always filled with beautiful discoveries. (It's also a chance to see some of this blog's fave musicians in action, including ensemble co-founder Araz Salek as well as Naomi McCarroll-Butler and Yang Chen.)

TICKETS + MORE INFO

Tickets are $40 ($36 for Friends of the museum, $30 for students and seniors) and are available through the museum's website.

CONTEST

Thanks to Labyrinth, I have a pair of tickets to give away for this show, To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "contest" in the title and your full name in the body. I'll randomly draw a winner at noon on Tuesday, November 29th.

Contest: Rumba: Soul of Congo

Rumba: Soul of Congo

Saturday, May 20, 2023 @ Paradise Theatre

I've said it here often but seeing "Batuki Music Society" on a show poster is a real mark of quality — even if you don't know the particular artist, you can be assured you're getting a chance to see a talented performer. This all-star show coming up next weekend is no exception to that, and you can expect a groovy night of percolating music from a select crew of Montréal, Paris and Toronto-based musicians, including Olivier Tshimanga (guitar, singer), Blandine Mbiya (singer, dancer), Pecosse Animations (singer), Noel Mpiaza (drums), Dauphin Mbuyi (bass), Jean-Claude Kamina a.k.a. R9 (guitar), Samson Owandji (keyboards) and Walter Maclean (congas). "These artists share a deep connection through the language, stories and rumba songs that define their Congolese heritage. They have been inspired by rumba music and its evolving forms which is reflected in their own artistic work."

"This concert will present repertoire to celebrate the artistry of veterans and icons of Congolese music; Dr. Nico, Grand Kalle, Tabu Ley Rochereau, Franco Luambo, Papa Wemba, Abeti Masikini, M’bilia Bel and more. A presentation to celebrate the UNESCO designation of Congolese rumba music as an intangible heritage."

TICKETS + MORE INFO

Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.

CONTEST

Thanks to Batuki Music Society, I have a pair of tickets to give away for this show! To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "contest" in the title and your full name in the body. I'll randomly draw a winner at noon on Tuesday, May 16th.

Preview/Contest: X Avant XVII

X Avant XVII: LifeWorld

October 12-15, 2022

A sure sign of fall's full arrival, The Music Gallery's X Avant festival is back next week. Last year's edition was a cautious (but most welcome) return to live events, and this year's is a scaled-up party to release some of the pent-up desire for community and spectacles. Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar has used the concept of the remix as a central motif in assembling four nights exploring the tensions and affinities between global and local cultures and between traditional approaches — "dreams of a world where we can hold the past, present, and future at the same time."

Here's what to expect in the festival's four nights:

• Night 1 – Rebetika (Wednesday, October 12): Andy Moor (of The Ex, and someone you should never miss seeing when you have a chance) and Netherlands-based, Cyprus-born composer Yannis Kyriakides join together to add a post-punk edge to classic Rebetiko songs with explorative tendencies. Quatuor Bozzini join them for a collaborative piece, and neo-soul producer M.I.Blue opens things up.
• Night 2 – Namamahay (To Dwell) (Thursday, October 13): local hero kat estacio curates this "multi-room unpacking of diasporic Filipin* art-making through sound, visuals, performance and food that explores where, when and with whom do we consider home" with works by works by April Aliermo, Patrick Cruz, Kristina Guison, Victoria Fard-Young, Krēme Inakuchi, Megan Arnold, and Standpartners.
• Night 3 – Bijuriya (Friday, October 14): A much-anticipated Ontario premiere from Montréal’s Gabriel Dharmoo, Bijuriya (Dharmoo's drag alter ego) "explores her cultural roots by representing the diversity of South Asian female identities. Code-switching between drag performance, vocal improvisation, original songs, experimental sound design and the porosity between singing and lip-syncing".
• Night 4 – Big Family House Party (Saturday, October 15): Bringing everything together for one big blow-out, this closing night (co-presented with Lula Lounge and Labyrinth Ontario) is set "to transform the entire 918 Bathurst venue into a family house party with multiple levels and rooms, a kitchen full of free food, music at every corner, and art installations." The floor-to-ceiling action includes live sets from NPNP Trio [Jackson Darby, Evelyn Charlotte Joe, James Goddard], JER, Labyrinth Ensemble and Rick Sacks.

TICKETS + MORE INFO

You can fine all the information you need over at the MG's website, and ticket info is here. Nightly tickets are $10 to $20, and there's a Festival Pass available as well. All of the events are all ages.

CONTEST

Courtesy of the Music Gallery, I am giving away a pair of tickets to the Big Family House Party on Saturday, October 15th!

To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "contest" in the title and your name in the body. I'll randomly draw a winner on Tuesday, October 11th at noon.

Preview/Contest: FutureStops Festival

Thursday September 29 — Saturday, October 1, 2022

An unexpected blending of traditional instrumentation and contemporary composition, the FutureStops Festival is bringing some avant approaches to the pipe organ to town next week. With five concerts as well as several spin-off interviews and ancillary events, it's a chance to see some legends (like Amina Claudine Myers) plus musicians who have been covered in these pages (including Raven Chacon, Charlemagne Palestine, and Sarah Davachi) performing — quite literally! — on some bigger stages. It's also a chance to hear music in some impressive spaces, including at the Cathedral of St. James and Metropolitan United Church.

Here's what's gonna be happening at the festival:

• Kali Malone, Thomas Mellan, Kara-Lis Coverdale @ Cathedral of St James, Thursday September 29th, 7:30 p.m. Entitled "Dark Matter", thai night features works from three emerging and vital composers.
• Raven Chacon, Amina Claudine Myers, Sarah Svendsen, Rashaan Allwood @ Roy Thomson Hall, Friday, September 30th, 7:30 p.m. The centrepiece presentation of the festival, this ambitious and large-scale program features the Canadian premieres of Chacon's "Voiceless Mass" and Myers' "Improvisational Suite".
• FUJI||||||||||TA, Sandra Boss @ Roy Thomson Hall Lobby, Saturday, October 1st, 1:00 p.m. This Saturday matinée (concert and talk) has the intriguing title of "Hacking the Organ", with "two performers who built their own instruments to offer a unique sonic interpretation of the organ which can be activated in any space."
• Charlemagne Palestine, Matthew Larkin, Sarah Davachi @ Metropolitan United Church, Saturday, October 1st, 7:30 p.m. "Forces of Nature" is dedicated to exploring "new directions and possibilities for the organ" from a trio of eclectic and unique artists.

TICKETS + MORE INFO

You can find everything you'd want to know about the festival on their website, and ticket info is right here. (there's also a "virtual pass" for those who'd like to experience nearly all of the festival in the comfort of their own space.)

CONTEST

Thanks to the festival organizers, I have a pair of tickets to give away to the big Friday night show (that is, of course, the one with Raven Chacon, Amina Claudine Myers, Sarah Svendsen, Rashaan Allwood at Roy Thomson Hall).

To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "contest" in the title and your name in the body. (The winner will need to provide me with their first & last name, phone number and address.) I'll randomly draw a winner at noon on Tuesday, September 27th.

Contest/Preview: X Avant XIV

X AVANT NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL XIV: FORWARD

Thursday, October 17, 2019 – Sunday, October 20, 2019

Two signs that autumn is well and truly underway: Thanksgiving has come and gone, and the Music Gallery's X Avant Festival rolls around.

This year's festival celebrates advancements and transformations — first and foremost, it's giving artists a big canvas to try something new and bold, allowing them to define their own ways "Forward". It also serves as the final Festival that will be programmed by Artistic Director David Dacks — not at all a summing up, but rather one more example of the experiment-and-refine-and-experiment-again process that has marked his tenure.

Here's what's gonna be happening at the festival:

• Germaine Liu has long been one of the city's most fascinating musicians — serious about re-exploring the idea of percussion from the inside out, but always a joyful presence to watch. The festival's first night sees the debut of her "Still Life", "a 45-minute composition/sounding installation composed of a collection of objects found in Toronto" with an ensemble including Syreeta Hector, Susanna Hood, Tia Kushniruk, Heather MacPhail, Sahara Morimoto and Liu herself. The night also begins with a Liu-selected horn ensemble of Rebecca Hennessy, Bea Labikova, Karen Ng and Heather Saumer. This night is totally going to be like seeing a phone video from The Tranzac remade for Imax.

• Friday night sees Lido Pimienta presenting some of the songs from Miss Colombia, her forthcoming follow-up to the monumental La Papessa. Pimienta is using this opportunity to assemble a special large ensemble with horns, winds and a choir. This special performance has only two shows scheduled and may very well not be re-mounted, so it's obviously not to be missed. [Advanced tickets are already sold out, so keep an eye on the MG's social media feeds for day-of-show availability!]

• Saturday sees a unique intergenerational soundclash — the sort of bold lateral thinking that Music Gallery patrons have come to expect from David Dacks — pairing reggae legend Willi Williams (known to some via The Clash's cover of "Armagideon Time") with sound-shaper Vic Cheong, whose steadily-morphing New Chance project has been bestowing cloud-meditations and dancefloor burners for a while now. Support comes from Andrew Lee's Holy Hum.

• The Festival closes with a truly epic night of sounds — the scope of Sarah Hennies' "The Reinvention of Romance" (for percussion plus cello, here provided by Nick Storring) will blow plenty minds, but there's also a transcontinental opening encounter between Montreal's Sound of the Mountain (Craig Pedersen and Elizabeth Millar) and Japanese improvisers Toshimaru Nakamura (no-input mixing board) and Tetuzi Akiyama (guitar). Prepare to have your ears expanded — and bring some dough for the merch table for this one!

There are also two panels before Saturday and Sunday's shows, drilling further into the theme of "Forward" – Friday takes a more broad overview, examining "The Future of Creative Music in Toronto" with David Dacks moderating a discussion between Michael Rancic, Jessica Cho (aka Korea Town Acid), Amanda Smith and Rich Brown. Sunday looks more closely at "the joy and pain of keeping collectives and larger ensembles together in the long term" with "Forward Together", featuring insights from Cheryl Duvall, Ange Loft, Chelsea McBride and Keysha Fresh. Both panels are free to attend, though registration via the links above is encouraged.

TICKETS + MORE INFO

Tickets start at $10 for students and Music Gallery members (making this, the start of the season, an excellent time to take out or renew your membership!) and you can grab a festival pass for $60, giving you guaranteed entry to all the shows. Find out more at the MG's website or over on facebook.

CONTEST

Thanks to the Music Gallery, I couldn't be more excited to have a pair of tickets to give away to Sunday night's show. (That is, of course, October 20th featuring Sarah Hennies plus Sound Of The Mountain & guests Toshimaru Nakamura and Tetuzi Akiyama.)

To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "contest" in the title and your name in the body. I'll randomly draw a winner on Wednesday, October 16th at noon.

[Full disclosure: I am a member of the Music Gallery's Artistic Advisory Committee, though that has had no bearing on the content of this preview.]

Preview/contest: TONE Festival

TONE 2018

June 3rd–22nd, 2018

This Ain't No Jazz Festival.

For the second year, some of the city's most adventurous bookers are combining forces to find local shows for some equally adventurous musical acts. Eight shows spread out through June, all with some of the best local creative music forces complementing the visitors. All of these are worth checking out:

• Manas / Clarinet Panic Redux / Kurt Newman's Nashville Minimalism Unit Sunday, June 3rd @ Baby G [co-presented with Mechanical Forest Sound] N.B.: due to a scheduling conflict, Manas will not be able to perform in Toronto! The show is still happening with the remaining two acts.
• Waclaw Zimpel & Kuba Ziolek / Joseph Shabason / Nick Storring Tuesday, June 5th @ Baby G
• Anthony Coleman / c_RL Friday, June 8th @ Array Space
• Jessica Moss / Tryal / Manticore Saturday, June 9th @ Burdock
• Efrim Manuel Menuck / Fet.Nat / Fresh Snow / Scattered Clouds Friday, June 15th @ The Jam Factory [co-presented with Wavelength & Boiler Room Records]
• The Revival Ensemble / Sick Boss Löve Sunday, June 17th @ Tranzac
• Oren Ambarchi & Will Guthrie / Jazz Bras Dot Com / Retired Tuesday, June 19th @ The Jam Factory [co-presented with The Music Gallery's Departures Series]
• Charles Gayle / Ways Friday, June 22nd @ Array Space

Bonus! Karen Ng + I will be talkin' TONE (and playing some music from these artists) on The Night Shift, Wednesday night 9 to 11 p.m. on CJRU 1280AM. Tune in for the grooves, shout-outs and food jokes!

TICKETS + MORE INFO

Artist info and everything else you need is all on TONE's website. TONE shows are $10-$15 in advance, $12-$18 at the door. Advance tickets are available at Rotate This, Soundscapes, and Circus Books and Music. Four-show and full festival passes are available as well!

CONTEST

I'm proud to be co-presenting the festival opener with MANAS + more at The Baby G on Sunday so I'm going to share the joy by giving away a pair of tickets to the show!

To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "contest" in the title and your name in the body. I'll randomly draw a winner on Friday, June 1st at noon.

Contest: Labyrinth Musical Workshop

Labyrinth Musical Workshop Concert Contest

May 12–June 2, 2018

Inspired by the original Labyrinth Musical Workshop based in Crete, this new initiative from local music stalwarts Araz Salek and Jonathan Adjemian is devoted to exploring the traditions and finding new innovations in global modal musics. To that end, Labyrinth is hosting nearly a dozen workshops with master musicians from around the world. One spin-off from that is that many of them will also be performing in a series of concerts over the next four Saturday nights:

• This Tale of Ours (Saturday, May 12th), a quartet made up of two Toronto-based musicians (tar player Araz Salek and tombak player Pedram Khavarzamini), and two musicians based in Crete (multi-instrumentalists Ross Daly and Kelly Thoma), playing original and existing compositions drawing on the modal musics of Iran, the former Ottoman empire, and the Balkans.
• Kurdish tanbur legend Ali Akbar Moradi and Azeri Kemanche virtuoso Imamyar Hasanov each play a solo set on Saturday, May 19th.
• a rare Toronto presentation of Afghani classical music by Afghan rubab player Qureishi, plus a performance by Toronto/Istanbul master of Turkish folk styles Ahmet Ihvani, performing on baǧlama on Saturday, May 26th.
• world-renowned Bulgarian vocalist Tzvetanka Varimezova (in concert with local musicians) plus oud master Bassam Bishara on Saturday, June 2nd.

TICKETS + MORE INFO

Compared to a $5 DIY show, these tickets are a bit more of an investment, but these are rare opportunities to see musicians that don't often play here. All shows are at Eastminster United Church (310 Danforth Av.), close to Chester Station. You can get information and buy tickets directly from Labyrinth's website.

CONTEST

Thanks to our friends at Labyrinth, I have a pair of tickets to give away to your choice of one of these four concerts.

To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "contest" in the title and your name in the body, plus the name or date of which show you're interested in. I'll randomly draw a winner on Friday, May 11th at noon.

Contest: Andréa Tyniec and Jesse Zubot

Almost Unplugged with Andréa Tyniec and Jesse Zubot

February 1, 2018, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre

Soundstreams is one of the local heavyweights when it comes to presenting contemporary, composed music, and their main stage concerts are big events, often at Trinity-St. Paul's but occasionally expanding all the way to the likes of Massey Hall. But they also like to get their hands dirty and tear into the music's fibre in closer quarters, such as in last year's excellent Salon 21 series event featuring Germaine Liu's ceramic percussion. The Ear Candy series is dedicated to "musical exploration and discovery" in smaller venues and less formal environments, remixing and experimenting with new ways of being creative with sound (MFS fave SlowPitchSound is a frequent series collaborator).

The next show in the series mixes chamber music with improvised sounds by pairing violinists Andréa Tyniec and Jesse Zubot. The latter probably needs no introduction to readers of this blog, known as he is for his recent work with Tanya Tagaq on stage and album — and he's also worked with Destroyer, Fond of Tigers, Gordon Grdina and Peggy Lee, as well as the likes of Steve Reich, Francois Houle, Fred Firth, Mats Gustafsson and many others. Andréa Tyniec has an equally impressive background in the contemporary classical scene, and I'm looking forward to discovering her sounds at this show, including some icy cool electronic textures from Terri Hron. This show will see solo excursions from each of the performers exploring their own idiom, and then will culminate in a duet of an original piece created specifically for this performance.

TICKETS + MORE INFO

Single tickets are now available for purchase for $20 in advance (or $25 at the door).

CONTEST

Thanks to the cool folks at Soundstreams, I have a pair of tickets to the show to give away! Contest now closed, thanks for entering!

To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "contest" in the title and your name in the body. I'll randomly draw a winner on Tuesday, January 23, 2018 at noon.

Contest/Preview: X Avant XII

X AVANT NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL XII: RESISTANCE

Wednesday, October 11, 2017 – Sunday, October 15, 2017

Marking the unofficial start of autumn as well as the official start of the Music Gallery's season, the X Avant Festival is a good way to take the temperature (so to speak) of goings-on at the MG. Most notable, of course, is the continuing "departure" from their home base at St. George the Martyr, with the festival marking the start of a temporary stay at 918 Bathurst, a former church with a similar sort of vibe and woody roomfeel.

The loose theme of this year's festival is "Resistance", which includes considering the multiplicities of pathways for musicians and musical communities to inoculate themselves against the poisonous discourse in the public realm, trying to make a truthful reckoning of past malfeasances, and trying to build more resilient and inclusive communities. Mapping those threads through the five nights of programming might reveal more interesting patterns than trying to break things down by genre, a concept that the Music Gallery is increasingly shying away from.

Taking a capsulized look at what's going down at the festival:

• The opening night is a part of the MG's Departures Series, curated by Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak. The night is headlined by Man Forever (a.k.a. Oneida drummer Kid Millions), previously best known for his trance/percussion work, though word is that now includes "more prominent use of vocals, harp, violin, and piano." The local percussion response comes from Germaine Liu, creator of thoughtful exercises, this time consisting of "water-based music with fellow percussionists Mark Zurawinski and Joe Sorbara." The night opens with Luyos MC & Reila's "Kill-Sex-Abuse-Culture" kulintang/chant/synth mashup.

• Thursday sees the MG collaborate with Revolutions Per Minute for an evening of Indigenous futurism with Elisa Harkins, Laura Ortman, and Vancouver’s Mourning Coup — exploring interfaces of new technology and ancient wisdom.
• Friday combines Chino Amobi's diasporic bass culture grooves with Intérro's cross-disciplinary performance meditating on the meaning of borders in today's world. (The latter also features Constellation Records-affiliated saxophonist Jason Sharp.)

• Saturday shifts the action over to the Tranzac's Main Hall for a night curated by LAL and Babely Shades — which is really enough information on its own to make this worth seeing. The night includes sets from YT//ST side project Avrha as well as the harmony flow of bizZarh plus Drawing With Knives' decolonizing shadow puppet show.

• Sunday sees the festival conclude by asking what musical activism means and has meant, with an exploration of some of composer James Tenney's didactic works performed by a range of ensembles. Can politicized "classical music" save the world? Or does it get stale-dated rather too quickly to become any sort of classic at all?

Both the Tenney event and the LAL/Babely Shades showcase will be preceded by panels, giving additional chances to contextualize the music and consider what musical resistance means in 2017, while Saturday includes a remount of last year's Deep Listening Intensive, giving participants a chance to slow down, feel the presence of the world around them and consider their own heartbeats — essential preconditions to any world-changing activities.

TICKETS + MORE INFO

Tickets start at $10 for students and Music Gallery members (making this, the start of the season, an excellent time to take out or renew your membership!) and you can grab a festival pass for $50, giving you guaranteed entry to all the shows. Find out more at the MG's website or over on facebook.

CONTEST

Thanks to the Music Gallery, I have one Festival Pass to give away, giving the winner entry to all of the festival's ticketed events.

To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "contest" in the title and your name in the body. I'll randomly draw a winner on Monday, October 9th at 5 p.m.

[Full disclosure: I am now a member of the Music Gallery's Artistic Advisory Committee, though that has had no bearing on the content of this preview.]

Preview/contest: X Avant XI

X Avant XI Festival of New Music: Reverberations

October 13-16, 2018

Reverberations could arise from musical vibrations, but they can also be echoes through time. Whereas last year's tenth festival (and the Music Gallery's fortieth anniversary) skewed more to the retrospective side, this year's edition is looking forward — as well as investigating once again how musical reverberations vibrate through a community in the here and now. [audio links below are from my own live recording archives]

• The opening night is definitely future-focused, with Egyptrixx's abstract grooves backed by The Dun Dun Band's "awesome tapes from Toronto" sounds from master theoretician Craig Dunsmuir and Deenzi's "Ancient Asian to the future" soundtrack to a Wuxia movie set on a space station orbiting a collapsing star. (Having hosted Deenzi's first performance at Track Could Bend, I'm especially proud to be giving away a pair of tickets to this night — see 'contest' section below.)

Craig Dunsmuir and Dun-Dun Band - Untitled (12→13→14→15→16→12→21)

Deenzi - [excerpt from third segment]

• Friday offers a "a multichannel, improvisational performance" lead by Pauline Oliveros (digital accordion) and featuring Ione (text/sound art), Anne Bourne (cello) and Doug Van Nort (electronic diffusion). Mika Posen (ex-Forest City Lovers, ex-Timber Timbre) opens, showing new re-applications of violin and keyboards in her Merganzer project. [Bonus: Pauline Oliveros will also be giving an Artist Talk up at York earlier on Friday. Admission is free!]

Merganzer - Songs Without Words

• Saturday has a triple dose of extra-curricular activities, including a Deep Listening intensive workshop led by Anne Bourne, a talk from Noah Mintz ("Why is MP3 and streaming audio quality killing our love of music?") plus a late-night revival of the TRP internet radio station in an audio-visual spectacle. But the evening's main event is a visit from violinist Sarah Neufeld (known for her work with Arcade Fire, Bell Orchestre and Colin Stetson) presenting music from The Ridge, with Dialectica, a new saxophone quartet lead by Shannon Graham, opening things up.

• On Sunday, the festival closes with a true spectacle — Roscoe Mitchell (one of the founders of the Art Ensemble Of Chicago) leads an all-star big-band ensemble of Toronto and Montréal artists through what I've heard are some dense and tricky improvisation-inspired compositions. Expect to catch some MFS faves, including Lori Freedman, Kyle Brenders, Peter Lutek, Nicole Rampersaud, Craig Pedersen, Tom Richards, Scott Thomson, Rob Clutton and Nick Fraser on stage. [Bonus: Also on Sunday, the Music Gallery's History Series continues with a talk from spoken word/hip-hip artist Motion on "Music, Culture & Identity in Toronto’s Black Aural Spaces". This free event is happening just behind the MG at OCADU's Lambert Lounge.]

TICKETS + MORE INFO

You can check out the details of all the festival's events here, and the MG has a user-friendly/wallet-friendly online ticketing system that makes it easy to book shows in advance — and as always, Music Gallery members get a sweet discount. The talks and deep listening workshop are free, and you could see the whole festival with a pass on sale for $40.

CONTEST

But if that weren't enough, complements of the Music Gallery, I have a pair of tickets to give away to Thursday's Egyptrixx/Dun Dun Band/Deenzi show.

To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "contest" in the title and your name in the body. I'll randomly draw a winner on Thursday, October 13th at noon.

Preview/mixtape/contest: X Avant X

X Avant X

October 15-18, 2018

This year, the Music Gallery's marquee festival is celebrating its tenth go-round — but this just happens to be an anniversary within an anniversary as the MG itself is celebrating its fortieth year. That means that this fiercely forward-looking festival is putting on its Janus mask to simultaneously reflect and celebrate. Concentrated into four nights (and without and offsite field trips this year), the programming manages to play past/present/future off each other in some crafty ways.

• The opening concert (Thursday, October 15th) leads things off with CCMC, who invented the very notion of a "music gallery", and also pairing CCMC's Michael Snow with Casey Sokol, both founding members of the institution. And that's just a warm-up for Lori Freedman, playing a series of new works for clarinet — and pushing the instrument into new territory.
• Friday (October 16th) sees a different sort of dialogue between past and present in MG Encore, for which curator Chelsea Shanoff has combed the archives to re-mount a series of compositions that saw their debuts at the Music Gallery. Allison Cameron and Martin Arnold, also known for their efforts in the improvising scenes, show off their compositional chops, while Ann Southam and Nic Gotham are remembered and celebrated through their works. There's a noteworthy ensemble of some of the city's finest players performing these, including the likes of Wesley Shen, Wallace Halladay and Dan Morphy. Expect an evening of chamber music at its least fusty.
• New sounds move to the forefront with an avant-groove lineup on Saturday (October 17th), headlined by Tyondai Braxton (son of Anthony, and former Battles frontman) whose work should be well-complemented by the dancefloor/deep listening fusions of New Chance (a/k/a Vic Cheong of Healing Power Records). The electronics will be contrasted with a different sort of deep groove by Pantayo's kulintang (Philippine gong) set to start things off.
• Perhaps the boldest nudge for inclusion into the MG's realm of the new and experimental comes on Sunday (October 18th), with Mississauga-based Keita Juma bringing his electro/bounce tracks to the pews. Brooding but electrically simmering, KJ is also an MC that can bring it live. The festival will be closed out with local art-rock darlings Absolutely Free, whose electronic textures and rhythmic thrum should reverberate quite interestingly in the sanctuary — they're promising "lost material + new material + borrowed material" plus a collaboration with Sandro Perri.

Besides the concerts, two other events are at the heart of the festival. Thursday's Artistic Direction panel matches current A.D. David Dacks with his predecessors in a reflection on how the Music Gallery has embraced its mandate and evolved with the times. Again reflecting the past/future duality, that will be balanced by Saturday's Town Hall, which exists as a forum for the wider MG community to think about the challenges ahead and wonder how a beloved institution can remain nimble, viable and relevant.

MIXTAPE!

The Music Gallery has been getting ready for the festival by soliciting some mixtapes from some of the X Avant artists, and there's piles and piles of stuff to dig through already from Vic Cheong, Allison Cameron and Pantayo. They also asked me to contribute, and digging through my recordings from past festivals, I ended up gravitating towards some of the noisier moments, which I've compiled into this for your listening pleasure.

[If the mixtape has disappeared from soundcloud, it is also here.]

TICKETS + MORE INFO

You can check out the details of all the festival's events here, and the MG has a user-friendly/wallet-friendly online ticketing system that makes it easy to book shows in advance. Advance tickets are also available at Soundscapes, and as always, Music Gallery members get a sweet discount. The talk and panel are free, and you could see the whole festival with a pass on sale for $40.

CONTEST

But if that weren't enough, complements of the Music Gallery, I have a pair of tickets to give away to Friday's MG Encore show.

To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "contest" in the title and your name in the body. I'll randomly draw a winner on Friday, October 16th at noon.

Images 2015: Festival Preview + Contest

Images Festival

April 9-18, 2015

Billed as "the largest festival in North America for experimental and independent moving image culture", Images brings a full slate of screenings, installations, talks and more each time spring rolls around. Experimental film isn't always easy or fun — sometimes you walk out wondering what you saw, but then you'll find yourself still thinking about it a day or two further along. If the films and TV you've been watching have been leaving a bored seen-it aftertaste in your mouth, some non-narrative cinema might be just the palette cleanser you need.

The features include the opening night selection Tomorrow Is Always Too Long, a "remarkable love letter to Glasgow" and "a channel-surfing city symphony for the twenty-first century." (It's also noteworthy to readers of this blog for the fact that it was scored by Barry Burns (of Mogwai) and features a song cycle by the amazing Welsh singer-songwriter Cate Le Bon.) There's also a rare 35mm screening of Barbara Loden's Wanda (Sat., April 11th, 5:00 p.m. at Jackman Hall) a key piece of experimental and feminist cinema from 1970, and one of the first American features written and directed by a woman. (And if you're especially dedicated, you could also spend eight hours following a typical workday in a factory.)

The real meat (or, um, soy patty if you prefer) of the screenings are the shorts programmes, and for someone looking to dip a toe into these waters, this is definitely a great place to start. The Influence of Anxiety (Friday, April 10th, 9:00 p.m. at Jackman Hall), which features recent works by Toronto artists is one good entry point (more on this in tomorrow's review). But if instead of celebrating local film you want something from further away, you could check out The Kalampag Tracking Agency, a chance "to navigate the uncharted topographies of Filipino alternative and experimental moving image practice from the past 30 years." (It would pair well with the longer Storm Children: Book One.) There's also the Canadian Artist Spotlight on Iris Ng, cinematographer for films like Stories We Tell as well as creator of her own experimental works, plus a chance to get in on the next wave with a PWYC screening of international films from emerging student filmmakers.

Away from the screenings, the festival is presenting its first artist-in-mall residence at Chinatown Centre presenting mahjongg, all day karaoke and more. In the installations, I'm especially intrigued by the drones from drones soundscapes of Rehab Nazzal's Drones Over Gaza, and I'm an easy mark for anything whose name appears to be a Yo La Tengo homage.

TICKETS + MORE INFO

Tickets for most screenings is an affordable $6, and you can grab 'em online if you're planning ahead. Except for the opening and closing events, screenings take place in the lovely Jackman Hall at the AGO. You can make all your plans at the festival's calendar page.

CONTEST

Thanks to the festival, I have a pair of tickets to give away to the opening night screening of Tomorrow Is Always Too Long, playing Thursday night (April 9th) at The Royal.

To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "Images" in the title and your name in the body — or if it's easier, you can enter with a retweet on twitter or a "like" on facebook. I'll randomly draw a winner on Thursday, April 9th at noon.

N.B.: Hitting the "Like" button below is appreciated — and encouraged! — but does not constitute contest entry, given that I have no way of knowing who pressed it.

Contest: Somewhere There Music Festival

Somewhere There Music Festival

February 20-22, 2015

Now in its third year, the Somewhere There festival has become a bit of a summit for the local improvised/creative music community. There's five concerts, including two afternoon shows, and three of the sessions go beyond the music with talks from Weird Canada's Marie LeBlanc Flanagan and Allison Cameron (intriguingly entitled "Not Noise"), plus Nilan Perera's prepared guitar workshop. Music ranges from new-classical work from junctQín Keyboard Collective to the sci-fi squelch of Imaginary Flesh. With a varied cross-section of different musical practices at each of the shows, it's a great way for the curious to get their feet wet in a casual setting. Tickets are only $10 per show (available online or at the door) — or, thanks to the ST crew, you can also enter to win a pair of tickets to the show of your choice!

TICKETS + MORE INFO

Tickets for all shows are $10 at the door, or you can grab 'em online in advance. And here's what's happening at each of the shows:

• Friday evening (February 20th)
  Marie LeBlanc-Flanagan [talk] / Transcombobulation [Jonathan Adjemian/Mike Smith] / Riverrun / The Uplifters
• Saturday afternoon (February 21st)
  Allison Cameron [talk] / Denison/Ballyk/Davis / c_RL [Allison Cameron/Germaine Liu/Nicole Rampersaud]
• Saturday evening (February 21st)
  Brodie West / Rob Clutton & Randi Helmers / The Muted Note [Susanna Hood/Scott Thomson] / Brass Knuckle Sandwich [Marilyn Lerner & Nicole Rampersaud] / Friendly Rich & The Lollipop People
• Sunday afternoon (February 22nd)
  Nilan Perara [workshop: "Prepared Guitar: Theory, Practice & Improvisation"] / JunctQín Keyboard Collective / Borach Mivola/Mike Laughington/Tommasino Di Cracovia / William Davison/Nilan Perera/Rick Sacks
• Sunday evening (February 22nd)
  The Imperative [Jay Hay/Karen Ng/Joe Sorbara] / Imaginary Flesh / Peripheral Vision [Nick Fraser/Michael Herring/Trevor Hogg/Don Scott]

CONTEST

To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "contest" in the title and your name in the body as well as which show you want to see — or if it's easier, you can enter with a retweet on twitter or a "like" on facebook. I'll randomly draw a winner on Thursday, February 19th at noon.

N.B.: Hitting the "Like" button below is appreciated — and encouraged! — but does not constitute contest entry, given that I have no way of knowing who pressed it.

Contest: "Don't Think I’ve Forgotten" @ Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival

Don't Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll at Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival

Saturday November 8, 2014 @ 4:00 pm

The internet has expended the reach of crate diggers who have been unearthing musical gems from around the world. But when we get caught up in the exoticism of cool sounds from Somewhere Else we can easily forget the music was recorded by real people caught up in sweeping cultural changes. John Pirozzi's Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten takes one of these rock'n'roll offshoots — Cambodia's explosion into the psychedelic stratosphere in the late 60's/early 70's — and roots it in that country's turbulent history.

Under Westernizing régimes, Cambodia embraced modernism in many forms, but seemed to have a particular gusto for music that slipped in from colonizers France and the U.S.A. The twang of The Shadows was adapted to traditional melancholy songs, as was every new fad right up to blistering psychedelic rock. It all came crashing down during the brutal years of Khmer Rouge rule, when all vestiges of "impure" culture were swept away with genocidal zeal.

Combining new interviews with well-chosen period footage (and not stinting on the music), the film gives us the depth to push beyond experiencing these songs as mere novelties on a foreign-language compilation, and to consider the power of art — and the power of memory — in society.

It is, after all, rock'n'roll, so you should be able to enjoy Yol Aularong, Pen Rân or Liv Thek straight-up. But to know who these people were, what they were singing about and what happened to their country will deepen your appreciation — and honour their memory.

TICKETS + MORE INFO

The film is screening on Saturday November 8, 2014 @ 4:00 pm at The Royal with director John Pirozzi in attendance. Tickets and more info are here.

CONTEST

Courtesy of the festival, I have two pairs of tickets to give away.

To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "contest" in the title and your name in the body — or if it's easier, you can enter with a retweet on twitter or a "like" on facebook. I'll randomly draw a winner on Thursday, November 6th at noon.

N.B.: Hitting the "Like" button below is appreciated — and encouraged! — but does not constitute contest entry, given that I have no way of knowing who pressed it.