Monday Roundup #164

Community notes:

• There are more teachings from Nilan Perera forthcoming, with a four-week course entitled "Prepared Guitar: Theory, Practice, Improvisation" being offered at Array Space on Thursdays from March 21 to April 11. The course is free (donations accepted) and space is limited. "In this 4-week course, you’ll have a hands-on experience discovering how to prepare your guitar, and will explore various techniques of prepared guitar performance, method, and improvisation." All information is here.

---

Concert announcements:

Ladyfinger [Diane Roblin/Kayla Milmine with special guest Mark Zurawinski] / The Emmet Ray 2024-03-13 (Wednesday – 6:00 p.m.) [FB event]

Lina Allemano & Rob Clutton (Araz Salek [solo]) / Sellers & Newel 2024-03-14 (Thursday). $20. [FB event]

Mike DeiCont Trio + 1 [album release] [Mike DeiCont/Eric West/Leland Whitty/Allison Philips] / The Rex 2024-03-17–18 (Sunday–Monday). $20. [FB event]

Music hosted by Karen Ng (feat. Leap Year [Andrew Pacheco/Lowell Whitty/Karen Ng/Kae Murphy]) / Wenona Lodge 2024-03-19 (Tuesday)

Confluence Concerts presents Unsung: Music by some of Toronto's Finest Songwriters [curated by Andrew Downing] (feat. John Southworth/Justin Orok/Rebecca Campbell/Lydia Persaud/Patricia O’Callaghan/Teiya Kasahara/Maggie Keogh and more) / Heliconian Hall 2024-03-21–22 (Thursday–Friday). $25. [more info]

Karen Ng presents (feat. Karen Ng/Ted Crosby/Ben Dwyer) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-03-28 (Thursday)

Cosmic Homeostasis XXIII / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-03-31 (Sunday – 5 p.m.). $pwyc. [FB event]

The Nilan Perera Quartet [Nilan Perera/Adrian Russouw/Rick Sacks/Marilyn Yogarajah] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-03-31 (Sunday) [FB event]

Eclipse Drone 2024: A Cosmic Homeostasis Community Event [soundtracking the solar eclipse!] (feat. Cosmic Homeostasis) / Christie Pits 2022-04-08 (Monday – 2:05 p.m.) [FB event]

Marker Starling (Elrichman / Nutrients) / The Baby G 2024-04-19 (Friday). $25.03, 19+. [FB event]

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

---

Shows this week:

Track Could Bend #89 (feat. mutepack / Piers Oolvai) / Wenona Lodge 2022-03-05 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Peripheral Vision (Ertel/Davidson/Fortin/Fraser/Hodgson) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-03-05 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Equinox and Solstice Residency (feat. Ghostlight) / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2024-03-06 (Wednesday). $10 suggested. [FB event]

Michael Palumbo’s Friends #3: A Free-Improvisation Joint (feat. Zerone Duo [Deniz Tafaghodi/Farbod Maeen] / Doris Du/Isaiah Farabaksh/Jamie Thompson/Matthew Golem/Michael Palumbo) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-03-06 (Wednesday). $pwyc

Otterville [Andrew Downing/Michael Davidson/Nick Fraser/Tara Davidson/Paul Mathew/Christine Bougie] / The Rex 2024-03-06–09 (Wednesday–Saturday) [FB event]

Women From Space Festival: Night 1 (feat. Bloop / Morgan-Paige / BIG BANG! plays Björk) / 918 Bathurst 2024-03-08 (Friday). $15 advance, $20 at the door; early-bird passes $30, regular passes $38. [FB event]

Audiopollination (feat. Uuxe/Collette Andrea/Nirvana Sagar / Connor Crone/ Bicyclops/ Raymond Carruthers / Bill Gilliam/Andrew Finlay Stewart/Émilie Fortin / Jenna Geen/Abby Silvera/Mickle32) / Array Space 2024-03-08 (Friday). $10 or PWYC. [FB event]

Musica Universalis (feat. Conventional Weapons [Colin Fisher/Tristan Tims] /Cetacea) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-03-08 (Friday). $10 suggested donation

Women From Space Festival: Night 2 (feat. Grace Scheele / MOCH / Mali Obomsawin) / 918 Bathurst 2024-03-09 (Saturday). $15 advance, $20 at the door; early-bird passes $30, regular passes $38. [FB event]

Wildflower (Andre Ethier & Joseph Shabason) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-03-09 (Saturday). $pwyc. [more info]

Ayal Senior & Friends (feat. Ayal Senior/Kurt Newman/Blake Howard/Andrew Furlong / Eye-Duh Kho / Jonathan Adjemian / Nick Flanagan) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-03-10 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.) [FB event]

John Millard's Hope Street [John Millard/Rob Clutton/Chris Pruden] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-03-10 (Sunday – 5 p.m.) [FB event]

Women From Space Festival: Night 3 (feat. Anh Phung/chiquitamagic/Emjay Wright / Val Jeanty & Nickeshia Garrick / Matana Roberts/Germaine Liu/Nicole Rampersaud) / 918 Bathurst 2024-03-10 (Sunday). $15 advance, $20 at the door; early-bird passes $30, regular passes $38. [FB event]

Avalon Tassonyi & The Rock Stars [Thom Gill/Eliza Niemi/Jason Bhattacharya] [Sprigs & Brush release celebration] (Isla Craig) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-03-10 (Sunday) [more info]

Florian Hoefner Trio [Florian Hoefner/Andrew Downing/Nick Fraser] / The Rex 2024-03-10–11 (Sunday–Monday). $20. [FB event]

---

It happened this week...

• ...on March 5, 2016 at Array Space (All-Set! Triple Album Launch).

Mike Smith & Jonathan Adjemian - Fifth Transcombobulation

• ...on March 8, 2016 at Double Double Land.

Wyrd Visions - 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.]

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: 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: 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: 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: Fake Humans

Artist: Fake Humans

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Ratio, July 25, 2014.

Fake Humans - [excerpt]

Full review to follow. Leading off the first show at the wonderful new Ratio was this duo of Carl Didur and Colin Fisher. As usual, Didur sat on the floor over his keyboards, while Fisher played a synth that ran through the redoubtable effects chain normally used by his guitar. There were some points that didn't mesh so much as combine menacingly in a sawtooth attack pattern, but some stretches — like the one heard here — cohered in a sort of avant-horror soundtrack that had the feeling of something you'd hear when the evil scientist's lair (and unspeakable experiments) were revealed. Behold... the fake humans.... and beware!