Monday Roundup #260

Community notes:

• The Tranzac "is inviting artists, groups, curators, ensembles and organizations to apply to our performance residency for April - September 2026." Details are here and I note there's a Zoom info session later today. Deadline to apply is January 16th.

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Concert announcements:

Mike DeiCont Trio [Mike DeiCont/Eric West/Leland Whitty] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-01-12 (Monday) [more info]

mdbm [Michael White/Maggie Keogh/Don Rooke/Blake Howard] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-01-14 (Wednesday) [more info]

Mehdi Rostami / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-01-16 (Friday – early) [more info]

Long Winter 14.3 (feat. liz uninvited [album release] / Kai Samuels / bridge of sand. / 999ADJ) / It's OK* Studios 2026-01-16 (Friday). $PWYC ($20 advance tickets skip the line). [more info]

Ministry of Phonic Services presents BPM (Big Percussion Meeting) (feat. Aiyun Huang / David Schotzko / Germaine Liu / Joe Sorbara / Mark Zurawinski / Mira Martin-Gray) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-01-16 (Friday). $pwyc

University of Toronto New Music Festival: Simple Beginnings (feat. minMAX Electroacoustic Orchestra) / Walter Hall 2025-01-25 (Sunday). $free. [more info]

University of Toronto New Music Festival (feat. DOG Ensemble and Jazz Faculty) / Walter Hall 2025-02-01 (Sunday – 2:00 p.m.). $free. [more info]

University of Toronto New Music Festival: Vis a Vis [music of Vivian Fung and Morton Feldman] (feat. U of T Percussion Ensemble) / Walter Hall 2025-02-02 (Monday). $free. [more info]

Ellwood Epps/Nick Fraser/Rob Clutton/Jonny Luke / Sellers & Newel 2025-02-18 (Wednesday). $25 minimum donation. [more info]

Aline Homzy's Manouche Trio [Aline Homzy/Jonathan Meyer/Julien Bradley-Combs] / Sellers & Newel 2025-02-27 (Friday). $20 minimum donation. [more info]

Caylie Staples & Matt Brubeck / Sellers & Newel 2025-03-10 (Tuesday). $20 minimum donation. [more info]

Thursdays at Noon (feat. Eve Egoyan) / Walter Hall 2026-03-12 (Thursday – noon). $free. [more info]

Ladyfinger [Diane Roblin & Kayla Milmine] / Sellers & Newel 2025-03-14 (Saturday). $20 minimum donation. [more info]

Rob Clutton & Josh Cole / Sellers & Newel 2025-03-25 (Wednesday). $20 minimum donation. [more info]

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

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Shows this week:

The Cluttertones [Rob Clutton/Lina Allemano/Tim Posgate/Ryan Driver] / Sellers & Newel 2025-01-06 (Tuesday). $20 minimum donation. [FB event]

Track Could Bend #112 (feat. Duo BEAK [Bea Labikova & Kayla Milmine] / Vividness Trio / Wenona Lodge 2026-01-06 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Peripheral Vision (Patrick O'Reilly/Brodie West) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-01-06 (Tuesday) [more info]

The Next Set (feat. Ruby Roussain/Aidan McConnell/Michael Davidson/Dan Fortin) / The Emmet Ray 2026-01-07 (Wednesday – 6:30 p.m.). $12. [FB event]

Titanium Riot [Lina Allemano/Ryan Driver/Rob Clutton/Nick Fraser] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-01-07 (Wednesday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Southern Balkans co-labs on Saxophone Concert #4: Greek Music Trio (feat. Dimitra Kahrimanidis/Ariane Morin/Naghmeh Farahmand) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-01-08 (Thursday) [more info]

Marcus Celia & Band (Justin Orok) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-01-09 (Friday – early). $pwyc. [more info]

Audiopollination (feat. Matt Collins / Julie Lassonde / Blake Howard / the not michael lynns) / Array Space 2026-01-09 (Friday). $notaflof. [more info]

Musica Universalis (feat. C'est la fête) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-01-09 (Friday) [more info]

Fuses (Roy / Fortunato Durutti Marinetti) / Monarch Tavern 2026-01-10 (Saturday). $17.50, 19+. [tickets + more info]

Cool New Instruments Night! #7 (feat. Brian Su / Naomi Sky / Brian Abbott / Benjamin Lappalainen / Dann Toliver / Michael Palumbo) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-01-10 (Saturday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Ayal Senior & Friends (feat. Senior & Newman / Aaron Knight / Charter of the Forest / Nick Flanagan / OOP) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-01-11 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.) [FB event]

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It happened this week...

• ...on January 6, 2017 at The Gladstone Hotel's Ballroom (Long Winter 5.2).

HanHan - Tawa

• ...on January 7, 2017 at The Garrison.

The Sadies - God Bless The Infidels

[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: Tatsuya Nakatani

Artist: Tatsuya Nakatani / Tatsuya Nakatani Gong Orchestra

Songs: [two excerpts] / [excerpt, in two parts]

Recorded at The Music Gallery @ 918 Bathurst, May 26, 2018.

Tatsuya Nakatani - [excerpt 1]

Tatsuya Nakatani - [excerpt 2]

Tatsuya Nakatani Gong Orchestra - [excerpt, part 1]

Tatsuya Nakatani Gong Orchestra - [excerpt, part 2]

The past couple years have seen a series of visits from master percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani, each of which has seen him welcomed by an increasing crowd of astonished admirers. It was therefore fitting for the Music Gallery to provide the resources to take things up to the next level and host a manifestation of Nakatani's Gong Orchestra. Providing the beautiful percussive hardware, Nakatani relies on local programmers to create an ensemble, which then spends the day together learning his vocabulary before performing for the public. The instructions specify that the musicians can be at different levels of experience (and, in fact, do not even need a background in percussion) so it's no surprise that the MG was able to use its many connections into many different scenes to come up with a diverse ensemble. Members included: Brenda Joy Lem, Katie Jensen, Debashis Sinha, Charlotte Cornfield, Rupert Ojiji Harvey, Kristyn Gelfand, HanHan, Alex Punzalan, W. A. Davison, Tréson Alman, Jenn Kitagawa, Bryan W. Bray, Laura C. Bates and Raphael Roter.

Before starting the concert with a captivating solo set, Nakatani reminded the crowd that this isn't so much a musical undertaking as a "vibration project" so that should be kept in mind in listening to these artifacts here — it's nowhere near as wonderful as feeling the vibrations live and in person, where the listener gets to lean in closer to hear the tiniest bowed overtones before being bowled over by mallet-clanging thunderstorms. That feeling of vibration-over-sound was even more intense with the ensemble playing together, while Nakatani conducted the group to create intense phasing and other effects across the length of the churchlike hall.

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: HanHan

Artist: HanHan

Song: Kailan Kaya

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

HanHan - Kailan Kaya

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. After seeing HanHan take over the dancefloor at Long Winter, I had a bit of an idea what was in store for this set — though that made me all the more excited to watch her win over a crowd (who mostly didn't know her stuff) cheer her like a seasoned headliner by set's end. Again sharing space with a trio from the HATAW dance crew, this was a high-energy, closely-choreographed set that was a joy to behold. And HanHan's tracks have choruses that you can sing along to, even if you might have to wait 'til you get home to read up on her empowering lyrics.

Recording: HanHan

Artist: HanHan

Song: Tawa

Recorded at The Gladstone Hotel's Ballroom (Long Winter 5.2), January 6, 2017.

HanHan - Tawa

Based on her show-stopping work in DATU's High Blood at last year's SummerWorks, I was definitely looking forward to HanHan's solo set at Long Winter — and indeed it was pretty much the highlight of the event. Bringing a posse of HATAW dancers, the group took up space in the best way, eschewing the stage to take over the floor, performing with the crowd forming a rough semicircle around them. Although the exact messages of Hanhan's empowerment raps might be lost in performance to an English-speaking audience, her point is entirely conveyed by her confidence. [The lyrics are also translated over on her bandcamp.]

[You can also see some video using my audio over on Brandon Caswell Douglas' playlist from the night.]

[HanHan will be playing the Wavelength Music Festival on Silent Shout's co-presented Sunday night groove extravaganza, February 19th at The Garrison. Long Winter continues this Saturday (February 4th) with the action moving to The Theatre Centre, featuring music by Devon Welsh, Off World, Saidah Conrad, Germaphobes, L CON, Ivy Mairi, FIN, Young Clancy, Roberto and Vibrant Matter.]

Recording: DATU x HATAW

Artist: DATU x HATAW

Song: World Gong Crazy

Recorded at Pia Bouman School for Ballet (SummerWorks: High Blood). August 13, 2016.

DATU x HATAW - World Gong Crazy

Capping off the music shows at this year's SummerWorks Festival was this joint entry from future-R&B crew DATU and dance group HATAW. Both groups share an artistic vision of examining diasporic Filipino culture through a Canadian lens — realized here by going to church and presenting the show as an examination of rituals, Catholic and otherwise.

A true multimedia spectacular with a cast of more than twenty, this involved elaborate choreography and eye-popping costumes besides the music. Those ingredients came together in different ways for each song, pausing to take confessions from audience-members mid-way through. This track was the show-stopping climax, featuring a rap from HanHan while the dancers performed a tinikling dance. Intense, wonderful stuff. This was the clear standout of this year's crop of music shows and it seems inconceivable that it wouldn't get remounted somewhere else.