Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Sister and Suns

Recorded at The Baby G (MFS 10th Anniversary Celebration / A Night of Rock Music!), March 2, 2019.

Hooded Fang - Sister and Suns

Although I don't get out to as many rawk shows as I used to, the 10th anniversary of this blog felt like enough of an occasion to warrant a special Saturday night kind of celebration. With a limited preview run of a new best-of compilation tape on the merch table quickly selling out (side note: second batch coming soon!) and a mini-remount of my MFS listening station, it felt a bit like a party, but what really made it was seeing so many familiar faces out for the hang.

There was no band that I wanted at this show more than Hooded Fang, largely because my tenure as a fan overlaps pretty much exactly with this blog's life. The first time I ever saw the band was at the second show I ever wrote about here, before I was even recording gigs, so I've seen the group evolve through different lineups and sonic approaches. This show even gave me a chance to properly document another wrinkle – with bassist/lyricist April Aliermo out doing fieldwork on her sonic art projects, Charise Aragoza (of Mother Tongues as well as her own projects) stepped in on bass, holding down the grooves as the band rocked some Dynasty House music as well as some older faves.

[Hooded Fang will be playing the Monarch Tavern on Thursday, May 9th along with Luge, Body Lens, and Nikki Fierce.]

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Songs: Mama Pearl + You Don't Know How It Feels [Tom Petty cover, with Simone Schmidt + Scott Hardware]

Recorded at Lee's Palace (Dan Burke: 60 plus 20), December 8, 2017.

Hooded Fang - Mama Pearl

Hooded Fang with Simone Schmidt + Scott Hardware - You Don't Know How It Feels

Although things didn't feel exactly right, taking over Lee's Palace instead of packing The Silver Dollar, there were good vibes and all-star jams a-plenty at this night dedicated to Dan Burke, celebrating his 60th birthday as well as twenty years of promoting shows. Hooded Fang spent most of their set stretching out their grooves and highlighting the material from their Dynasty House EP, but in the spirit of the night, they brought out some special guests for a pass-the-mic tribute to Tom Petty.

Recording: Moscow Apartment

Artist: Moscow Apartment

Songs: Be You + She Talks To Rainbows [Ramones cover via Ronnie Spector, with Kritty Uranowski + Dan Burke]

Recorded at Lee's Palace (Dan Burke: 60 plus 20), December 8, 2017.

Moscow Apartment - Be You

Moscow Apartment with Kritty Uranowski + Dan Burke - She Talks To Rainbows

Although things didn't feel exactly right, taking over Lee's Palace instead of packing The Silver Dollar, there were good vibes and all-star jams a-plenty at this night dedicated to Dan Burke, celebrating his 60th birthday as well as twenty years of promoting shows. Another young group prospering under the mentorship of local hero Kritty Uranowski, this teenaged duo is already exhibiting strong songwriting and excellent vocal harmonies. On their own they're on the folky side, but with Uranowski on guitar (and Hooded Fang's Dan Lee on drums) they became an ace rockin' backing band for Dan Burke to take a girl-group-ish turn at his birthday celebration, covering Ronnie Spector's version of this late-era Ramones nugget.

[Moscow Apartment will be playing another Dan Burke show, performing as part of the "Class Of 2018" series at The 'Shoe on Friday, January 26th.]

Recording: Phèdre

Artist: Phèdre

Songs: WTF?! [feat. Above Top Secret] + unknown^* [feat. HanHan and Alanna Stuart]

Recorded at Artscape Daniels Spectrum (Venus Fest), September 30, 2017.

Phèdre feat. Above Top Secret - WTF?!

Phèdre feat. HanHan and Alanna Stuart - unknown

The idea of a "feminist music festival" might bring to mind an earnest folkie gathering, maybe off in a forest somewhere, but this first annual event was nothing like that, using inclusive and intersectional ideals as guideposts to programming a day of wide-ranging musics. The brainchild of local musician Aerin Fogel, Venus Fest was an ambitious undertaking, presenting a dozen performances in Daniels Spectrum's spacious multi-purpose Regent Park digs. And it all came together quite wonderfully, highlighting a diverse slate of mostly local musicians and incorporating flourishes like Vanessa Rieger's live-mixed visuals. With this first festival completed, there's a new "sessions" series starting up, and lots of energy to build on the positive vibes this day released.

With their DIY projection art, reflective foil backdrops and penchant for posse cuts, April Aliermo and Dan Lee have been pushing Phèdre in the direction of "spectacle" for a little while now, making them an ideal festival band. Perfectly placed at the day's fulcrum, they provided an energy boost for folks who had been there for a concert's worth of bands already and a jolt to those just walking in the door. They made this set a special occasion with a couple back-to-back all-star on-stage collaborations, first bringing up SunSun and Ayo Leilani (fresh from their own Witch Prophet set) to drop rhymes over a Lee Paradise (one of Lee's other noms du guerre) remix, and then upping the ante even more with HanHan and Bonjay's Alanna Stuart trading phrases back and forth.

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

Recording: HUT

Artist: HUT

Songs: Groans + Old Lady

Recorded at Home Baking Co., July 27, 2017.

HUT - Groans

HUT - Old Lady

An amusing l'il reunion to add some joyful chaos to this night — geez, has it really been five years or so since HUT were a fixture at shows like this? Given that a certain about of sloppy velocity is hardwired into the band's DNA, this had the same spirit as those hazily-remembered shows of days gone by. In fact, there were even some signs of professionalism for those looking — Jonathan Pappo (of Whimm and Hooded Fang) was the ringer behind the kit (subbing for classic-era percussionist Daniel Moon King) and seemed eager to hold things together while frontman Daniel Lee reeled off the songs for the first time (at least in my memory) without having his trusty notepad at hand. Gaining strength and momentum as the set went along, this set felt like a random happy encounter with an old friend.

Recording: Phèdre

Artist: Phèdre feat. Casey Garcia

Song: unknown^*

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

Phèdre feat. Casey Garcia - unknown

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. Phèdre are continuing to pivot to their next phase, supported by their hip-hop posse which includes Arowbe, Han Han, Lil Gae and Casey Garcia. That gives April Aliermo and Dan Lee more room to groove over their table of gear and hype up the crowd while the mic is passed around.

[Phèdre will be mixing it up with the fabulous HATAW as part of Pride's "Transformation" event at Yonge-Dundas Square on Thursday, June 22nd (free! outside!). 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.]

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

Recording: Phèdre

Artist: Phèdre

Song: Swipe

Recorded at The Garrison (Wavelength SEVENTEEN – Night 3), February 19, 2017.

Phèdre - Swipe

The festival's last blast saw the stage stripped of the previous night's drumkit and stacks of amps — no surprise, as this was co-presented with Silent Shout, putting the accent on electronic rhythms and just a few dance grooves. Adding their own shiny foil and projections to the mix, Phèdre closed things out as if they were hosting their own post-apocalyptic guerrilla street party. Hinting at their next evolution, the pair brought out a series of rappers (Han Han, Casey Garcia, Arowbe and Lil Gae) to throw down on some new tracks, including an all-in posse cut. They had plenty fun when they were on their own, too, as this ode to Tinder suggests.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Nene of The Light

Recorded at The Silver Dollar Room, January 27, 2017.

Hooded Fang - Nene of The Light

A question mark had been hanging over the Silver Dollar's future for months, but this was the night that officially marked the beginning of the end, with a firm closing date suddenly giving a sense of finality about things — and a jolt to a music community suddenly seeing an epidemic of venues closing. Marking the moment, Hooded Fang called up booker Dan Burke for a bouquet and a heartfelt thank-you. Outside of that bit of ceremony, going in I was basically expecting the same set as when I had seen the band back in December, so I was rather pleasantly surprised to hear more new songs and perhaps some hints of the band's next sonic pivot. There was talk from the stage of a new EP already being in the can, and for several tunes (including this one) Scarlett Rose (who'd recently been touring with Cindy Lee) joined the band on keyb textures. That brought a hint of early Public Image to the proceedings, but even if the new songs were slowed down a titch from the Venus On Edge material, this may also have been the moshiest Hooded Fang set I've witnessed.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Plastic Love

Recorded at The Baby G (Telephone Explosion presents: Xmas Food Drive), December 30, 2016.

Hooded Fang - Plastic Love

As is usually the case, the otherwise-quiet gap in between xmas and New Years Eve was filled in with a slew of worthy shows for good causes, including this two-night food drive at The Baby G. Playing to a crowd ready to dance along, Hooded Fang bounced through a set filled with Venus On Edge's non-didactic protest songs — plus one new one to boot.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Shallow

Recorded at Christie Pits Park (Bloor Ossington Folk Festival – Day 1), September 17, 2016.

Hooded Fang - Shallow

It was a bad news/good news sort of vibe down at Christie Pits. There was a sense of triumph that the festival — for the previous five years a well-curated, intimate event with an enjoyably-casual vibe — was happening at all, given that it was at the very precipice of the plug being pulled in the face of some expected grant money not coming through. The joy at the fact that the organizers found a way to go ahead with it was tempered by the sadness at the corresponding announcement that this would be the festival's final edition. On Saturday, the fact the event had been downsized — losing its main stage and moving everything under the beer garden tent — turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the day arrived with the (seemingly annual) dose of rain. The park was eerily quiet but it made everything feel extra dry and cozy as the bands played.

Through sheer bad luck, I hadn't seen Hooded Fang playing since their Venus On Edge album dropped. There's a slightly-altered pulse behind the band, with Jonathan Pappo (also of Whimm) towing the hypersurf beats without trying to slavishly imitate the inimitable D. Alex Meeks. The propulsion of the newer stuff had Dan Lee referring to some lyrics on a music stand, and it was a little sad to see he had the only mic on stage, limiting April Aliermo's essential banter. With only a couple glances back to older stuff, the band hummed and bopped along in fine style, essaying the knotty tensions of the newer stuff.

Recording: Phèdre

Artist: Phèdre

Song: Tivoli

Recorded at Smiling Buddha (Silent Shout Festival – Night 2), December 5, 2014.

Phèdre - Tivoli

Although they'd stepped away from presenting live music, Silent Shout returned for a two-night celebration to mark their fifth anniversary. Taking over the Smiling Buddha for two nights gave the site's designer Roxanne Ignatius a chance to re-imagine the space, with a deconstructed disco ball twirling above clouds and webby fabric tendrils. Plus, downstairs there was a gallery of her consistently-excellent show posters, going right back to the series' beginning when it had to spell out its mandate of "EVIL DISCO / GLOOMY ELECTRO / DEATHLY SYNTHPOP". And though there was a retrospective element to the whole affair, the music was decisively forward-looking, including a couple bands making their debuts. The second night even upped the ante by adding lasers!

April Aliermo and Dan Lee's Phèdre project mixes grimy dance beats with scuzzy punk exuberance. It employs different tools than the pair deploy as Tonkapuma (or as half of Hooded Fang) but the energy behind it is the same. The pair slipped a few new high-energy bangers into this set, including this one that sounds a wee bit like a hyper-caffeinated guess at what Alvin and The Chipmunks covering Omar Souleyman might sound like.¹

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¹ Having jotted that comparison down in my notepad, my brain naturally turned to the next stage of wondering what would happen if you took this and played it at 16 RPM, in the style of the recent Chipmunks redux. It turns out it would sound like this.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Miscast

Recorded at Mercury Social Club, July 17, 2015.

Hooded Fang - Miscast

Mercury Social Club, a new venture from the former proprietors of Saving Gigi has the potential to be another asset in the emerging cultural district on Geary Av. if it can be rescued from what sounds like an ongoing bureaucratic quagmire. In the meantime, it's being used as an occasional special event space, and in its current semi-refinished state, it feels something like hanging around in a reclaimed rec hall. A fairly wide space, there's a likeable amount of elbow room with a rough-hewn make-do charm. The sound's a little rough still at this point, and the room got hot like a sauna as the crowd built up, but I'm hoping there'll be a chance for this to become a regularly-functioning space.

Hooded Fang's latest batch of songs depend on an intricately speedy rhythmic attack while their live presentation tempers that with a certain indeterminacy. Which is to say that if in a sweaty-hot room the band was bit of a hot mess, it was the sort of hot mess that you'd want to take you home. Word on the street is that the band's new album is mostly done, so we'll see when it emerges — and who can fill the shoes of drummer D. Alex Meeks, heading off on educational leave.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Dead Battery

Recorded at Double Double Land ("C.R.E.A.M. All Ages" - Day 2), June 21, 2015.

Hooded Fang - Dead Battery

Created as an alternative to a concurrently-running large corporate music festival, this weekend of events at DDL included kid-friendly all-ages vibes (so much so that there was even a colouring book on offer) over two afternoons. Sunday's show felt low-key and casual and included sets from Ken Park, Lido Pimienta and Petra Glynt. The afternoon closed with Hooded Fang bashing out a series of their new songs — the core sound of which comes off like a break from a disco 12" cranked up to double speed and then rocked over with precise abandon.

[Anyone wanting to celebrate the current rhythmically-driven incarnation of Hooded Fang should hasten up to Mercury Social Club on July 17th, where the band will be playing on a spectac double bill with Darlene Shrugg.]

Recording: Tonkapuma

Artist: Tonkapuma

Songs: Two Note + Stupida + One Note

Recorded at Double Double Land ("C.R.E.A.M. All Ages" - Day 2), June 21, 2015.

Tonkapuma - Two Note

Tonkapuma - Stupida

Tonkapuma - One Note

Created as an alternative to a concurrently-running large corporate music festival, this weekend of events at DDL included kid-friendly all-ages vibes (so much so that there was even a colouring book on offer) over two afternoons. Sunday's show felt low-key and casual and included sets from Ken Park, Lido Pimienta and Petra Glynt. The day opened with a few noise-bursts from Tonkapuma, the long-running side project from Hooded Fang's April Aliermo (the driving force behind the event) and Dan Lee. Long-simmering on the backburner (and liable to be called up when a lo-fi fill-in is required) this set actually featured a couple new songs, here tagged with their temporary, musically descriptive titles.

Recording: Lee Paradise

Artist: Lee Paradise

Song: Langel^*

Recorded at Smiling Buddha, April 14, 2015.

Lee Paradise - Langel

Nearly a year on from the release of his fabulous album, this Daniel Lee side project shows signs of continued vitality, sneaking on stage under cover of near-total darkness. After some downtime while Lee was touring the world (and/or the West Coast) with Hooded Fang/Phèdre this highly-effective live unit is sounding rather focused in delivering the lean grooves these songs rely on. Hopefully this is a sign of more to come.

^* Thanks to a tipster for passing along the true meaning of this song's name.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Tunnel Vision

Recorded at The Silver Dollar Room, November 29, 2014.

Hooded Fang - Tunnel Vision

Some day, when we look back over Hooded Fang's body of work, it'll probably be easier to see them as a band that was constantly developing, rather than one that was jumping from style to style. Returning from a Euro-hiatus with a whole bunch of new material, someone who hadn't been paying attention might have been jarred with the precision-bursts of this set-opener. Far beyond the sloppy garage, there's a sense that this is the work of a band that's been listening to dance music, and instead of filtering out the slo-jam haze that had gone into Phèdre is channelling the body-movement imperative with post-punk fury. (That makes those ESG cover sets less anomalous and more like signposts.) How their new album balances the tension/release dynamics heard here will be quite interesting to observe.

Recording: Lee Paradise

Artist: Lee Paradise

Song: Paradise

Recorded at The Great Hall (Long Winter – Year Three, Volume One), November 14, 2014.

Lee Paradise - Paradise

Dan Lee (of Hooded Fang and Phèdre) dropped his solo album with just a single gig before decamping to Europe for several months. It was therefore nice to see the project (and its corresponding live band) resurrected for a few more gigs on the other side of the year, with some bass-led dark grooves surging out from an unlit stage.

Recording: Alex Low/Daniel Moon King/Dan Lee

Artist: Alex Low/Daniel Moon King/Dan Lee

Song: Sabotage [Beastie Boys cover]

Recorded at Comfort Zone ("DEATH TO T.O. IV: A Halloween Covers Show"), October 30, 2014.

Alex Low/Daniel Moon King/Dan Lee - Sabotage

Once again Dan Burke and Elliott Jones celebrated Hallowe'en by turning the Silver Dollar and Comfort Zone into a giant, non-stop musical frenzy, with nearly twenty bands doing mini cover sets. The bands — several of which were constructed just for the occasion — all took the task seriously, putting a lot of work not only into the music but also costumes and all the little things to enhance their tributes. The only downside of the night was that with so many bands on the bill, it was impossible to stage-manage a consistently efficient staggering between the stages, so that it didn't take long for bands upstairs and downstairs to be playing simultaneously, forcing the crowd to make hard decisions on who to see and who to miss. Otherwise, it was a fabulously fun rock'n'roll marathon of a night.

In a night filled with intense crowd reactions, this might have had the most joyful thrum to erupt in front of the stage, with the audience bouncing up and down, singing along and ultimately moshing as the trio tackled Beasties' straight-up hip-hop tracks before strapping on their instruments for this rockin' finale.

Recording: Lee Paradise

Artist: Lee Paradise

Songs: Breaker + Non Helper

Recorded at The Silver Dollar Room, April 25, 2014.

Lee Paradise - Breaker

Lee Paradise - Non Helper

Full review to follow. As if his work in Hooded Fang and Phèdre (to say nothing of side-project dabblings in Hut and Tonkapuma) wasn't enough, Dan Lee has snuck out a solo album under the nom de guerre Lee Paradise. With the songs mostly based around simple, repeating basslines, there's some similarities to Dirty Beaches here, but this also brings a bit more of a hi-hat disco groove.

Eager to launch this to the world before heading off to tour the world with Phèdre, this was billed as a début — and possibly final — gig. With Lee seizing a chance for full-on frontman duties, the music came from a purpose-built band with members borrowed from Blonde Elvis and featuring HF guitarist Lane Halley providing some monster bass grooves. They had just the right balance of raw and rehearsed to give the set a vital feel, so I'm really hoping that we get another chance to hear these tunes from the stage.

Recording: Phèdre

Artist: Phèdre

Songs: Sunday Someday + Ode To The Swinger

Recorded at The Silver Dollar Room (Wavelength FOURTEEN – Night 1), February 13, 2014.

Phèdre - Sunday Someday

Phèdre - Ode To The Swinger

You can read my notes for this show here.