Monday Roundup #240

Concert announcements:

Solitary Shrew (feat. AMIE! / Grace Scheele) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-08-26 (Tuesday – early). $pwyc ($10 suggested). [more info]

The Pieces of the Self: Musical Meditations on Human Experience (feat. Shannon Hoff with Aidan McConnell/Chris Banks/Don Scott/Tania Gill) / Burdock Music Hall 2025-08-27 (Wednesday). $16.95. [FB event]

Intersection 2025: Day 1 (feat. Alex Raja Ven / Bilal Nasser) / Sonic Boom Records 2025-08-29 (Friday). $free, all-ages. [FB event]

Exit Points #63 (feat. Michael Askill/Stone He/Diane Roblin/Greta Kelly/Michael Palumbo / Elaine Lau/Scott McGregor-Moore/WHAIA Sonic Weaver/Corinna Bonshek/Sonia Leung) / Array Space 2024-08-29 (Friday). $23.08/$28.08. [tickets/more info]

Intersection 2025: Day 2: All Day Music Marathon (feat. Arkose / Anthéne / Khôra / Bilal Nasser / Alex Raja Ven & Heart Map Ambient Ensemble / Temporal Waves / David and Sydney Dacks / Lavender Town) / Sankofa Square 2025-08-30 (Saturday – 2 p.m.). $free, outside, all-ages. [FB event]

Sonomadic Improv presents (feat. Ladyfinger [Diane Roblin & Kayla Milmine] / Hidemi Akaiwa/Rob Clutton/Bob Vespaziani / The Wrinkles Experiment) / Annette Studios 2025-08-30 (Saturday)

Cosmic Homeostasis XXIX / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-08-31 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.). $pwyc. [FB event]

Track Could Bend #108 (feat. Brian Abbott / Allison Cameron) / Wenona Lodge 2025-09-02 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [FB event]

The Harry Vetro Quartet [Harrison Argatoff/Jay Yoo/Andrew Furlong/Harry Vetro] / The Emmet Ray 2025-09-13 (Saturday – 6 p.m.). $12. [more info]

More Noise Please Presents: An Evening of Ear Shattering & Heart-wrenchiing Sounds (feat. Knifedoutofexistence / Primitive Isolation Tactics / Jute / Daylight Inferno / Pequephone) / BSMT 254 2025-09-18 (Thursday). $15/pwyc. [FB event]

Dun-Dun Band [Pita Parka, Pt. II: Nim Egduf record release show] (Thom Gill) / Collective Arts 2025-09-27 (Saturday). $25. [FB event]

Is your show missing from this list? Submit it via this form!

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Shows this week:

Eli Wallace/Kyle Motl/Nick Neuberg (Karen Ng/Chris Banks/Kevin Romain) / The Emmet Ray 2025-08-18 (Monday). $15. [FB event]

The New Symphony Orchestra and Render File Present: A Short Hike and Mosa Lina (feat. Zack Goldstein/Josh Sparks/ Patrick O’Reilly/Arie Verheul Van de Ven/Connor Crone/Louis Pino) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-08-18 (Monday). $pwyc ($15 recommended). [more info]

Music Hosted by Karen Ng (feat Mustafa Rafiq / Sara Constant/Marilyn Yogayrajah/bUdi) / Wenona Lodge 2025-08-19 (Tuesday)

Ministry of Phonic Services presents (feat. Dust [Colin Cudmore/Curran McConnell/Fan Wu/Maebh Clark/Marilyn Yogarajah/Maxwell Stover/Mehrnaz Rohbakhsh/Mira Riselli/Owen Kurtz/Paul Newman/Rod Campbell/Ryan Kinney/Sierra Weston/Sonia Leung/Zack Goldstein/Zoë Alexis-Abrams]) / H.E.A.D. 2025-08-20 (Wednesday). $PWYC, notaflof. [more info]

Jay Douglas / CNE Bandshell 2025-08-21 (Thursday). $free with admission to The Ex, outdoors, all ages. [more info]

Mike DeiCont & Dan Fortin / Sellers and Newel 2025-08-21 (Thursday). $20 minimum donation. [more info]

Makam Nights (feat. Kareem El-Tyeb & Majd Sukar) / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2025-08-21 (Thursday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Personal Records Freak Tour (feat. Corpusse / Persons / Drainolith / Man Made Hill) / The NoNo Room @ The Dock Ellis 2025-08-22 (Friday) [FB event]

St. Dirt Elementary School (Duo Edition) [Myk Freedman/Jake Oelrichs] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-08-22 (Friday) [more info]

Labyrinth Ontario presents Modal Music in the Parks (feat. Labyrinth Ensemble Trio [Roa Lee/Naoko Tsujita/Aysel Taghi-Zada]) / R.V. Burgess Park 2025-08-23 (Saturday – 12:30 p.m.). $free, outdoors, all-ages + family-friendly. [FB event]

Labyrinth Ontario presents Modal Music in the Parks (feat. Turkish Music Trio [Begum Boyanci/Ferhan Dogmusoz/Saghi Farsijani]) / R.V. Burgess Park 2025-08-23 (Saturday – 2:30 p.m.). $free, outdoors, all-ages + family-friendly. [FB event]

DEMONS XIII (feat. blue light / SUV / sarah boo / pressed flowers) / Handlebar 2025-08-23 (Saturday). $20 (no one turned away). [FB event]

Sympathetic String Band & Friends (feat. Sympathetic String Band [tape release!] / Eliza Niemi/Maryam Said/Kyla Marlena) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-08-24 (Sunday – early) [more info]

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It happened this week...

• ...on August 20, 2013 at Holy Oak Café.

The Weather Station - Seemed True

• ...on August 23, 2013 at Handlebar ("Dollarstore Spaceship" – Out Of The Box Music & Arts Festival).

Dany Laj & The Looks - 799 Queen St West

• ...on August 24, 2013 in the basement of The Red Cherry Bar & Grill (Pleasence Records double release show).

Taiwan - untitled

[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.]

Recording: Dany Laj And The Looks

Artist: Dany Laj And The Looks

Songs: Annie + Small Town Miner

Recorded at The Horseshoe Tavern, September 6, 2019.

Dany Laj And The Looks - Annie

Dany Laj And The Looks - Small Town Miner

Celebrating their ace new platter Everything New is New Again, Dany Laj and Jeanette Dowling enlisted some local friends to present a special expanded lineup of their group. With Mike Duffield filling the rotating drummer's seat for a couple legs of this tour, it made sense to pull in his Beams partner Anna Mernieks to add some extra guitar, as well as her Ace of Wands bandmate Lee Rose on violin and keybs. That served to beef up the Rockpile/Rumour vibes in this set, giving Laj a fuller, more soulful palette for his articulate working class anthems (Laj's Kirkland Lake upbringing is directly referenced in the set-closing "Small Town Miner"). Filled with amiable swagger, the band blasted through a series of older tunes before presenting the new tracks with power-pop precision. Joyful and self-affirming, the whole thing was delivered with the sly grin of a road-warrior crew revelling in their craft.

Recording: Dany Laj and the Looks

Artist: Dany Laj and the Looks

Songs: I Know You Want Out + Best Thing in Town

Recorded at The Silver Dollar Room, June 5, 2015.

Dany Laj and the Looks - I Know You Want Out

Dany Laj and the Looks - Best Thing in Town

Small-town dreams of escape and big-city laments. A poet wearing a leather jacket as a shield. Ontario expats Dany Laj and Jeanette Dowling (and the rest of the Looks) swept across the province to celebrate their brand-new Word on The Street album. Bursting with power-pop energy, there's no pretence and no bullshit, just rock'n'roll life as art as life.

Recording: Dany Laj & The Looks

Artist: Dany Laj & The Looks

Songs: 799 Queen St West + We Were a Gang

Recorded at Handlebar ("Dollarstore Spaceship" – Out Of The Box Music & Arts Festival), August 23, 2013.

Dany Laj & The Looks - 799 Queen St West^*

Dany Laj & The Looks - We Were a Gang

Full review to follow. I hadn't seen Montréal's Dany Laj play before, but his sideburns/leather jacket/thick-rimmed glasses gave an immediate sense of what he's all about — the frills-free spirit of rock'n'roll that was reawakened by punk rock. With Jeanette Dowling (previously of party/rockers Chang-a-Lang) on bass, I'd been meaning to catch this much-travelled band pretty much every time they've made their way down the 401. Completely convincing as a live force, my only regret now is that I waited so long.

[Danny Laj & The Looks will be returning to town on September 30 for a show at the Junction's 3030 bar.]

^* Once this was released on 2015's Word on The Street, the title was shortened to the slightly less-specific "Queen St. West".