The Tranzac's Annual General Meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday, October 8th). It's hard to get much information about it because the Tranzac website is still in disarray. You should probably remember to renew your membership anyway.
Concert announcements:
TEMOM: Toronto Electronic Music Open Mic / Handlebar 2024-10-14 (Monday)
Not Dead Yet presents (feat. Xiu Xiu / Picastro) / The Velvet Underground 2024-10-19 (Saturday). $35.78, 19+. [more info]
Behaviours: Into (feat. Zerone Duo / Kristina Guison) / Array Space 2024-10-24 (Thursday). $20.00 (or Pay What You Wish) / Livestream: $10.00 (or Pay What You Wish). [more info]
Batuki Music Society presents: Acoustic Africa (feat. Mis Blandine / IZimba Arts / Kofi Ackah / Fethi Nadjem / Maryem Tollar / Melat Mengesha / Donné Roberts / Tichaona Maredza / Abu Gebre / Nii Osabu / Ruth Mathiang / David John / Fasika / Tofik) / It’s OK* Studios 2024-10-25 (Friday). $pwyc. [more info]
The Atom Chasers [Michael Kaler/Loren Davie/Chris Cawthray] / The Emmet Ray 2024-11-03 (Sunday – 4:30 p.m.). $10 with reservation/$15 without. [FB event]
Burn Down The Capital presents (feat. Ava Mendoza / Fresh Snow) / Collective Arts 2024-11-03 (Sunday). $17.52, 19+. [FB event]
Burn Down The Capital presents (feat. Extra Life / Oil Giant / Output 1:1:1) / The Baby G 2024-11-09 (Saturday). $19.78, 19+. [FB event]
Tkaronto Music Festival (feat. Tanya Tagaq / Evan Redsky / Kristi Lane Sinclair) / [corporate bank] Music Hall 2024-11-09 (Saturday). $30. [more info]
Perhaps Bells: New Piano Music by Bruce A. Russell (feat. junctQín keyboard collective) / Array Space 2024-11-16 (Saturday). $20.00 (or Pay What You Wish) / Livestream: $10.00 (or Pay What You Wish). [more info]
Playscape Emporium: Of dances and dreams (feat. Angela Blumberg Dance / Teething / Adrian Berry) / Array Space 2024-12-19 (Thursday). $20.00 (or Pay What You Wish) / Livestream: $10.00 (or Pay What You Wish). [more info]
New Encounters ["new works and arrangements by Maria-Eduarda Mendez Martins, Pouya Hamidi, Morgan-Paige Melbourne, and Eldritch Priest"] (feat. Array Ensemble) / Array Space 2025-02-01 (Saturday). $20.00 (or Pay What You Wish) / Livestream: $10.00 (or Pay What You Wish). [more info]
Behaviours: Data (feat. Anando Gabo / Marelena Pellegrino / Technology of Creative Consciousness) / Array Space 2025-03-13 (Thursday). $20.00 (or Pay What You Wish) / Livestream: $10.00 (or Pay What You Wish). [more info]
Playscape Emporium: Arcade-palooza (feat. Render File / Jason Leaver PuzzSoft) / Array Space 2024-05-15 (Saturday). $20.00 (or Pay What You Wish) / Livestream: $10.00 (or Pay What You Wish). [more info]
Is your show missing from this list? Submit it via this form!
Shows this week:
Duo Cichorium's People Soup: Witch's Brew (feat. Andrew Noseworthy / Trevor Flemings / Duo Cichorium) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-10-08 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [more info]
Mdou Moctar (The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis) / The Concert Hall 2024-10-09 (Wednesday). $42.24, 19+. [FB event]
Used to creating lushly-arranged soundscapes in Kite Hill, Ryan Carley managed to create some elegant soundswells with only Mika Posen's violin and synth in support. This set, in a room filled with friends and bandmates, included songs new and old — and very old, as the presence of "One By One" attests. Declared from the stage to date back to 2003, I'm guessing that would place its origins in Carley's Guelph-based band Watercolour (though the digital rot of the internet seems to hold scant details on that youthful excursion).
*Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!
Full review to follow. Against the sound of waves in the background, Ryan Carley and his seven (and sometimes eight) bandmates completed the long journey to the release of Rest & Run. Overhead artist Sean Frey used the bat/bird motifs on album's cover as the framing device for his beautiful projections, which made Kite Hill's music feel even more cinematic.
ELEVEN! Festival (Wavelength 515 – night 2) (feat. Not The Wind, Not The Flag / Gordon Grdina's East Van Strings / Eiyn Sof / Kite Hill)
The Music Gallery. Wednesday, February 17, 2011.
Feeling a bit like the quiet hangover recovery after the rockin' opening salvo, the second night of Wavelength's Eleventh Anniversary festival shifted to the more relaxed and meditative confines of The Music Gallery. Unlike the previous year's MG show, the sanctuary's pews were left in place — this would be a sit-down show, well-befitting the least rock'n'roll night of the festival. It was also the quietest, both in terms of sonics and the crowd on hand. Perhaps because of the lack of a relatively big-name headliner, there were only a couple dozen folks in the pews as things got going for what would turn out to be one of the best sets of the festival.
It was wonderful to see Not The Wind, Not The Flag, who are playing with such inspired purposefulness right now, in the confines of the Music Gallery. The improvising duo of Colin Fisher and Brandon Valdivia can scale their gear and set to fit in almost any environment, but it was a treat to see them more fully laid out than their "road" configuration, with a whole second set of instruments on hand, consisting of a set of bells, bowls and gongs off to one side of the stage, ready for a two-man gamelan ensemble. The only downside of having the large gong sitting there was the anticipation — I was nearly twitching as the set started, thinking how much I wanted see someone to hit the blasted thing.
NTW's sets aren't so much distinguished by songs — the commonality of each "method" that they employ can be found in the instruments they choose and a set of generative principles that make each performance a unique creation that still belongs to an identifiable genus. So, here the set started with Fisher on drums and Valdivia on mbira, a musical seam that they've been working for a little while now, finding interesting points of textual intersection as each gets further into their exploration of their instrument. Fisher, whose musical repertoire has only more recently included the drums, was doing well but has an occasional propensity to lose a drumstick, making for a different kind of improvisation as he hunted around for his spare — or in this case, covering until someone jumped up from the front row to pick it up for him.
After playing for almost fifteen minutes, the pair transitioned to the gongs, Fisher shaking a string of bells as he moved over to sit on the floor, Valdivia following him to a set of singing bowls. They gradually fell into a slow rhythm, with Valdivia playing a recurring figure on the small gongs and Fisher punctuating it with the low bonnnng of the large one. As the pair slowly built up a rhythmic interplay that kept coming back to that same repeating figure it was very zen and particularly gorgeous.1 General Chaos' lighting was particularly effective here, with big slow-moving blobs of colour on the brick walls behind the altar.
That transitioned into a closing phase, based around Fisher's wordless vocals, at first just backed by jingling bells, building a pleasing spaceout drift vibe with the lighting contributing to a Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite vibe as Fisher built loops of his voice while Valdivia took over the drumkit. The finale, a guitar/drum duo, couldn't match the serene heights of the gong segment, but closed out the journey with an adequate return-to-earth.
The first out-of-town guests in the festival were soon setting up on the floor in front of the stage. Gordon Grdina's East Van Strings brought violin, viola and cello along with Grdina's guitar and oud. His singular status, both in gear and above-the-title billing outlined that was would be a rather unusual string quartet. Grdina has many different projects on the go, including several "jazz" ones (his trio has recently toured with saxophonist with Mats Gustafsson) and, interestingly, sideman duties with singer-songwriter Dan Mangan. But here he was presenting an intriguing sort of chamber music.
"Origin" (from the fine The Breathing of Statues album) contained, after the sweepingly dramatic head, room for improvisation in a quieter vein, pizzicato plunks working off the guitar. Grdina then switched to the oud for the extended "The Breathing of Statues", which gave the music a slightly more exotic cast (I think taqsim is the word I'm looking for here, but I'm verily in danger of getting out of my depth) with a delicious drone-y undercurrent to the oud picking, slowly morphing into a slightly more melodic structure in an expansive soundscape that lasted nearly fifteen minutes. Final selection "Webern" sounded more like the product of a "traditional" string quartet, albeit in a modernist Bartók-like vein.
Though we tend to think of music like this as being imbued with more "formality" than yr typical rock'n'roll, the musicians weren't too fusty about it — I don't think I'd ever heard a string quartet begin with a count in, for example. And it was really beautiful stuff, not to mention a demonstration of the variety within the Wavelength experience. I grabbed myself a copy of The Breathing of Statues right after the set, and I'd have to say this was one of the highlights of the festival for me.
Heading into the night, I was most anticipating a too-rare appearance by Melissa Boraski, who releases music under the mystically-suggestive bandonym Eiyn Sof. Now based in Brantford, Boraski doesn't make it to town to play as much, but her restless creative spirit is kept busy with her recordings. The full-length Bloodstreams was one of my absolute favourite albums from last year2, creating a realm where rootsy shuffles and twitchy synthscapes effortlessly co-exist. It's a textured album that would take some effort to reproduce live, and indeed with just a duo on stage — Boraski on electric guit, backed by Katie Iarocci — things were stripped back to leave the focus on the well-written songs.
Iarocci's vibes still managed to add a nice touch of atmosphere to "Take By Storm" and "Found Myself Running". Although there were a couple new songs in the mix, most of the set was drawn from Bloodstreams, including a rearrangement of "Young Son", with Iarocci switching over to the sitar-like bulbul taraang. The set went only for a too-brief twenty-five minutes — I would have loved to hear the ethereal "Too Tall", but I'm willing to wait for the next opportunity.
I arguably don't have too much new to say about Kite Hill, who played a similar set to the lastcouple times I saw 'em. Caught in that moment between having an album's worth of material and being able to overcome the banalities involved in getting that released to the world, Ryan Carley's orch-pop project remains more in a consolidate-the-gains phase than a break-new-ground one. No matter, as the Music Gallery is a perfect environment for their sweeping, pastoral music, not in the least for having a stage where all eight members can stretch out a little. Plus, mainman Carley (also of Ohbijou) had a chance to settle in behind the grand piano, lending an ornate tone to his songs.
Kite Hill's music swells like a stately retelling of a rambling childhood adventure shot through with a sort of retrospective melancholy — there's heightened drama conveyed in the arrangements, but also some loneliness at the centre. And there were lots of little moments to pick up on here: Carley dedicating the resilient "Warm Winter" ("so – you won't give in / you won't give in / despite the way it's been") to host Doc Pickles; the martial drums of "Gathering"; and not-always-played initial salvo "Tom Thumbtack" (from the Friends in Bellwoods II collection).
It looks like there's progress towards the release the band's long-gestating Rest & Run, though now with Ohbijou starting a new album cycle, I'd imagine Kite Hill will have to work around that.3 But here it was a stirring conclusion to the night.
1 At the subsequent studio session, Fisher would describe this with the appropriately ambiguous "Javanese-ish".
2 I don't think this album has got its due yet, so let's just pause to say you should really check it out for yourself.
3 At least it looks like there's going to be the chance for a the band to piggyback on Ohbijou for some out-of-town live appearances, including an upcoming trip to Halifax's Long Live the Queen Festival.
Out of This Spark 4th Anniversary Celebration (feat. OOTS Family Band / Evening Hymns / Richard Laviolette and The Oil Spills / The Pale Mornings / Jenny Omnichord / The Phonemes / Kite Hill)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge). Friday, January 7, 2011.
After a one-year jaunt at The Garrison, local label Out of This Spark returned to The Tranzac for their annual anniversary celebration. This edition, however, was quite different from past ones. Though the celebration could have filled the larger main hall, label honcho Stuart Duncan instead opted for the more intimate Southern Cross Lounge, putting the audience closer to the bands, though it meant that a few latecomers were turned away. Like shows in the Southern Cross usually are, this was a pay-what-you-can event, and like several other shows preceding it, this was a fundraiser for the Tranzac itself. And further mixing things up, unlike the previous anniversary shows, instead of a series of sets by the bands on the label's roster, this was given over to a night of music by friends of the label.1
N.B. I was without camera on this night, so to break up the text, I'm going to slip in a few videos from the night by Colin Medley.
The room, normally set up with loosely scattered tables, was opened up to accommodate the crowd, with only a single row of tables in front of the "stage" area. I got there early enough to snag one of the precious few seats, so I had a sweet spot to witness what would turn out to be a pretty lengthy show. It got off to a solid, though mellow start with Kite Hill, which made me ponder whether the band with one of the more complicated setups played first just for the sake of quicker changeovers down the line.
Ryan Carley led off with a solo piano number that I didn't recognize from the previous times I'd seen the band, but the songs after that were familiar. His songs are theatrical, and they succeed most when the music is called upon to evoke the moods to go along with his words — hence the need for a mini-orchestra with clarinet/sax, cello, violin, stand-up bass and drums. Songs like the stately "Warm Winter" were powered by the interplay of the mini-string section of Anissa Hart (also a member of Ohbijou alongside Carley) and Lisa Conway (also of The Owle Bird). There was also a stirring rendition of "Gathering". It sounds as if the band's long-awaited album is "in the can" and awaiting release — in the interim, you can get a taste of what's coming on their soundcloud.
Given how jammed the room was getting, it was pleasing that it was rather quiet for The Phonemes, another band that play in mostly softer tones. Magali Meagher's voice is always at the centre, but her guitar work is accompanied by Stephanie Markowitz and John Tielli, each shifting between several instruments. Meagher's gentle strumming on "Paper Plane", for example, was backed by zorbing blurts from Tielli's theramin, and he'd later also contribute on bass and drums as well as his high, keening vocals.
The band is featuring a lot of new material — hopefully the follow-up to 2007's There's Something We've Been Meaning To Do is in the works — including "Queen's Counsel", which I don't think I'd heard before. The set ended, as is usually the case, with the sublime "Pain Perdu". This time, it was a little more ragged than usual, but it was brought home with the help of Kat Burns and Gentleman Reg who were brought up to sing along.
Jenny Mitchell presents her songs under the name Jenny Omnichord, a nom de guerre which gives away her main accompaniment. Even if its musical range is a little narrow, the omnichord has its own unique vibe, and makes for a fitting partner to Mitchell's always-ebullient stage presence. Even when pressing through the occasional scatterbrained or self-deprecating moment, her sunny warmth animates her sets. On this night she was testing, of all things, an omnichord strap, so she could play standing up — and not, say, use the ironing board she otherwise brought as a stand. That, and the new omnichord that went with it, weren't entirely show-ready, but the bumps didn't matter in the face of the instantly memorable "Pain of Maybes".
Showing how her songs are tied into her life and friends, each of them came with a dedication, including "All Our Little Bows", which was played for her fellow ex-Barmitzvah Brother Geordie Gordon, who'd be playing later on in the evening. Coming at the far end of the holidays, there were not one but two seasonal songs in the set, including The Flaming Lips' "Christmas at The Zoo" as well as the pleasing goofiness of "Snoopy's Christmas", which I hadn't thought about in decades but then had lodged in my head for days.
The last time I had seen The Pale Mornings, they were called Whippoorwill. But change of name aside, this was basically the same band — an assemblage fronted by Sylvie Smith dedicated to playing some good ol' country music in a manner guaranteed to break your honky-tonk heart.2 Leading off with the dreamy tones of Santo & Johnny's "Sleep Walk", the band proceeded to tackle a range of classics. So one could, I suppose, dismiss this as a mere "cover band", but that seems to miss the point when they're so damned good — to use the technical term from the Institute of Country Music, they're hot shit. All of the musicians really nail this, but Chris Stringer on guitar and John Dinsmore on bass should be singled out — and as mentioned in this space previously, Smith is a top-notch singer, animating the material pretty fully.
Only on the immortal "Walkin' After Midnight", which was new to the setlist, were Smith's vox a little unconvincing, but on stuff like Don Williams' "I'll Be There", she was pretty great. And, as before, her own composition "On Our Own" (which came out under her own name on the Friends in Bellwoods 2 compilation) had me aching for more original material — though, keeping busy as she does in a couple other bands probably means that's not at the top of her agenda. If you get a chance to see these folks play, don't hesitate.3
The namesake of Richard Laviolette and The Oil Spills was unfamiliar to me, but I did know that his album All Your Raw Materials, originally released independently, had been picked up by You've Changed Records, which was enough to make me take notice. As it turned out, this was a logical follow-up to The Pale Mornings, bringing another barn-storming hootenanny. The Oil Spills were a big ole country band, with eight on stage all told, including accordion (Meredith Grant), pedal steel (Mike Brooks), banjo (Greg Denton), fiddle (Geordie Gordon, also of The Magic) and piano (Lisa Bozikovic, also adding her wonderful voice). Plus with Jenny Mitchell making a return to the stage on bass, this would be essentially the crew who'd played on the album. A group this big required some set-up on the fly — more vocal mics were still being added after they started playing, and though the sound was a little ragged at times, it was ragged in the right way.
A bit of a similar vibe to classic Jon-Rae and the River, but this was feeling more drilled into the music's honky-tonk roots like a raggedy back-porch band (or, on songs like "Snuck Right Up", like a back-porch Band). And from the start, this was all likeably fine. But then, as the band lurched into "Funeral Song", a tune good enough to fry biscuits in, it was suddenly pretty awesome. A shoutalong ode to facing the end with realism, the song is as enthusiastic about the notion of drunken wakes as it is against sombre funerals. The enthusiasm of that one caused, of all things, a broken accordion strap. For the next song, Lisa Bozikovic leaned over from the piano to help hold it in place while Grant played on. The rest of the set didn't quite reach the lift of that one moment, but the rambunctious fun that the band was playing with made it enjoyable throughout.
After, I looked back behind me and for the first time all night, there was some open space in the room. It was half-past midnight, so no surprise it was getting a little quieter. Which made it just right for Evening Hymns, who were, on this night, just Jonas Bonnetta (with a creaky acoustic guitar) and Sylvie Smith. The pair played mostly new songs, leading off "Family Tree" — which was not an upbeat one: "I'm going to chop down the family tree / break it into piles and burn all the leaves". On the night before heading up north to record their second album, it was quite amazing to hear the new songs in their most stripped-down, fragile state, and a powerful introduction to songs like the affecting "Arrows".
The only older song in the set was "Dead Deer", which was played to celebrate the release of the song's rather beautiful video. And there was also a cover of Michael Hurley's "Wild Geeses" — Smith's ethereal backing vox were especially strong here. Bonnetta, who had been in a friendly, chatty mood throughout, no matter how dark some of the new music was, finished off playing a solo version of "Spectral Dusk", which seems to be set to be the title track of the band's second album. There's no release date yet, but I'm guessing once fall rolls around we'll be hearing from the band.
An excellent set that held the audience totally quiet throughout, that wouldn't be required as the night wrapped up with another OOTS tradition, where players from different bands on the label's roster combined into The Family Band. As there had been throughout the night, there was a twist on the concept here, with a rotating series of vocalists doing covers, backed by a house band that was essentially Forest City Lovers.
First up, Jonas Bonnetta returned to the stage, and in a sort of inverse of the quiet set he had just played, belted out Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down", with backing vocals by Sylvie Smith and Gavin Gardiner from The Wooden Sky. Smith stayed on stage to take the lead on "Got My Mind Set on You". Given the loop of the verse and chorus, it looked like Smith would have been happy to keep the song going indefinitely.
Daneila Geshundheit (of Snowblink) made her first family band appearance, cementing her place in the OOTS-sphere in advance of the then-forthcoming reissue of the band's Long Live album. She delivered a totally smouldering version of "Take My Breath Away" that would leave any fighter pilot a heap of repressed homoerotic longing. The set ended with Kat Burns (Forest City Lovers) and John O'Regan (Matters, Diamond Rings) joining forces on Stevie Nicks' "Edge of Seventeen" that segued into "Bootylicious" by Destiny's Child — a canny combo as the latter sampled the former's guitar line. I was not ready for that jelly — or at least that wasn't what I was expecting, but it was a pleasingly fun way to end the long night.4
In retrospect, that was a helluva show. It's mind-boggling that there are things in our midst like this that you could go to on a pay-what-you-can basis, but hopefully everyone else at the show acknowledged that this was more than a usual amount of music and talent and filled the donation jar accordingly. Kudos to Stuart Duncan and all of the musicians, and here's hoping there will be many more birthdays to come.
1 For the analytically inclined, there was also a strong Guelph theme running through the night.
2 To be clear, in terms of country music, this is high praise indeed.
3 Pale Mornings will be playing on Saturday July 23, 2011 as part of the unique Wavelength "Band on the Run" event — a sort of musical treasure hunt spread across the city. The locations of the sets will only be revealed on the day, so keep an eye out here for further info.
4 It looks as if the next mutation of the Family Band is coming up at the SummerWorks Festival, on Wednesday August 10, 2011, where something called House League will be making their debut. Details are scarce right now, but they're listed as featuring members of "The Magic, Forest City Lovers, Matters and Evening Hymns".
Do I ever get tired of being wrong? Reflecting on New Year's Eve upon the last of a fruitful string of local dates for Gentleman Reg, I noted, "I imagine we might hear a bit less of him next year." I was proven a liar within a few weeks when it was announced that Reg was taking a page from his label-mate Jason Collett and hosting a weekly residency every Wednesday in February downstairs at the Drake Hotel. Appealing lineups and a reasonable ten dollar cover were enough to get me out on a dreaded Wednesday night and check out the first installment of the "Regidency".
Opening things up was a short set from Kite Hill, with Ohbijou's Ryan Carley stepping into the spotlight, leading the band with piano and vox. Perhaps most widely heard on last year's Friends in Bellwoods 2 comp1, the five piece — including Steve Lappano (drums), Mika Posen (from Forest City Lovers, violin), Anissa Hart (from Ohbijou, cello) and Tyler Belluz (double bass) — specialize in introverted orch-pop. Playing eight songs over twenty-five minutes2, the band sounded excellent in presenting some songs from their forthcoming album, with a hoped-for June release date. Top-notch performances all around, such as on "Terns", presented with elegant pizzicato precision from the string players. Of special note was Posen's violin work, essentially taking the space of a lead guitarist with some nice flowing lines on "Gathering" and "Clouds of Living Things". This music is good enough that Carley could afford to exude a bit more righteous ego on stage, although his slightly defensive, closed-in body language and self-depreciating manner do accord well with the softness he's expressing with his voice and in his songs.
A word-picture: imagine a broken-hearted boy looking out a window at a grey forest on a rainy evening, feeling a wordless sense of loss at the ghost of a waltz in his head. That boy is a Kite Hill song.
Next up, the redoubtable pop prowess of Hooded Fang, taking a few extra minutes to get started with some keyboard cable gremlins on the loose. Once ready to go, the band launched into "Sleep Song", and then "Promiseland", which sounded like it had been switched into a higher gear, moving quickly on a tasty bed of rhythm guit. In fact, over all, the band was in a sprightly mood, playing with an energizing jauntiness. The band has certainly smoothed over some of their rough edges that they had a year ago, with less pace-slowing instrument swaparounds, and so forth. The setlist continues to more forward, as well, with only one song ("Land of Giants") from their EP making the cut on this night. That left the bulk of the set comprising of familiar, though as-yet-unreleased songs ("Straight Up" and "Younger Days" for example, plus "Highway Steam" from Friends in Bellwoods 2) though there was some 'new-new' material, such as "Mutant Bear". The only downside to the band's increased focus is that it seems to mean less of an opportunity for Lorna Wright to step into the spotlight, with Daniel Lee now singing pretty much all the leads. But a really fine set overall.
Taking the stage on his own, Gentleman Reg greeted the crowd and began his set with a stripped-down cover of Sam Phillips' "I Need Love", delivered with yearning intensity to a nearly pin-drop quiet crowd.3 He was then joined by the band — Jon Hynes, Kelly McMichael and Dana Snell — who launched into "Coastline". Reg was in high spirits throughout the night, celebrating the anniversary of Jet Black's release: "it was a good year — sold millions and millions of copies... we're all loaded. We almost didn't have time to be here because we're so busy and rich! But we made the time."
Besides the standard setlist fare, there was a smattering of new material, including a pair of songs getting their public debut. One was an upbeat rocker (leading off with the scenario-setting lyric "There was this one time I went into a bar") that gave Reg a chance to rock out on the guitar. Plus the sublime "It's True" (which we'll use as an unofficial title pending any further news) that proves how much backing vocals can add to a song — in this case, inducing delicious shivers. The band was joined by Shaun Brodie (trumpet) and Jessica Tollefsen of Green Go (keyb and backing vox) on "How We Exit". It was nice to see Tollefsen — who has probably been at more Gentleman Reg shows in the past year than I've been to — get called up to the stage. She also added some nice sounds to a version of "We're in a Thunderstorm" that saw Reg take to the floor and dance among the crowd to close out the set.
"We never headline shows — we're always opening for people," Reg commented after being called back to the stage. "We never get encores." Playing solo again, Reg debuted one more song, this one a lovelorn paean to a boy from Winnipeg that Reg met on tour ("Not to get too specific," Reg commented while introducing it). Then the band returned for a final blast through "The Boyfriend Song" to close it out. A full hour of Reg, and a rather good time. All told, a well-put-together night. There's still a couple weeks left in the Regidency, so it'd be worth your getting down there, Thursday morning be damned.
1 The band played a fine set at the compilation's release party
2 It's worth noting that the songs clock in at very economical lengths, with several right around the two-minute mark. Yet there's no stinting on the arrangements, as all sound fully-fleshed out. It seems more that Carley is smart enough as a songwriter to use less lyrics and let the music carry the emotional message. It helps, too, that the songs don't work as much on the verse-chorus-repeat kind of mode, each coming as more of a single developed image.
3 Strangely enough, given the quality of talent on hand, the show wasn't sold out — Wednesday night, I guess — but the room was just full enough to nail that sweet spot where there's some but not too much elbow room.
"Friends in Bellwoods 2" release party (Saturday) (Featuring: Sebastien Grainger, Canadian Wildlife, The Phonemes, Samir Khan, The Low Notes, The Cutting Edge, Dinghies, Kite Hill)
Tranzac. Saturday, August 29, 2009.
Friday night's show at Lee's wasn't the end of the story of Ohbijou's efforts to launch the Friends in Bellwoods 2 compilation with as much fanfare as possible. The final act came the next day with an all-day, noon-til-late, all-ages spectacular at the Tranzac with a whopping nineteen acts scheduled to play. The sort of gig that's as much of an experience as anything, and the sort of day where, once you had your wristband, you could leave for a nap or go for a haircut and come back and catch some more bands.
Besides the Bellwoods house itself, the Tranzac may well be the most perfect venue for this kind of thing, with its community-intense mythos. Something between a Legion and a rec centre — I swear, sometimes I head out of the main hall and expect I should be able to turn and walk over to a curling rink — the Tranzac is well-loved as a gathering place despite its slightly shabby appearance.
For me, the prospect of an all-day release party was at least as daunting as it was exciting, and I found myself wondering how much I would be able to take. One version of the plan for the day had me showing up later in the afternoon, but when I heard from a friend they wouldn't be able to make it, I was untethered from that. Could have hung around longer at home, but I knew I'd just end up sitting around, mentally checking off all the bands that I had missed. So I ended up arriving at about 2:30, missing the first four acts of the day. Found a centrally located table being held down by some members of the young team who were coming and going all day and joined them.
This is a bit more point-form than usual, but bear with me, there's a fair bit to get through. Just as a general note, these were very short sets, fifteen minutes or so, and usually three or four songs.
Sebastien Grainger: Playing solo and armed with his white acoustic guitar. "Now I'm gonna play one of my hits... maybe I took the wrong career path if I wanted hits," said Grainger before launching into "By Cover of Night", a song replete with intimate details, epic sweep and stadium-strained vox that implied it would, in fact, be a huge hit if it were done by Snow Patrol or some British band of that ilk pumping it out from the stage at Glasto. For me, a nice way to ease into the day as the caffeine was starting to kick in.
Canadian Wildlife: This turned out to be the first solo performance by Jennifer Mecija, singing and playing at the keyboard, sitting on a stool with one leg tucked beneath her. Sweetly nervous but singing in a lovely voice, these hushed but pretty songs were the highlight of the day for me. The set ended with a cover of Forest City Lovers' "Waiting by the Fence", quiet and with all of its sadness turned in on itself, a nifty contrast to the version played by Forest City Lovers at Lee's the night before.
The Phonemes: On this occasion a duo with Magali Meagher accompanied by John Tielli on theramin, guitar and quavering backing vox. Leading with "April, Let's Send His Colleagues An Email" from FiB2 and then a couple new songs of intelligent avant-pop before bringing on Kat Burns (vox) and Kyle Donnelly (bass) to finish with a stirring take of "Pain Perdu", a little pop masterpiece with one of my favourite-ever lyrical affirmations.1
Samir Khan: With Tusks unable to make it, bassist Samir Khan — revealing a sly, self-depreciating wit in the Jon Stewart/Jon Benjamin range — stepped up solo to "play some songs about male feelings, which is different than the usual set which is... songs about male feelings".2 Armed with just a bass and a looping pedal, he played four melodic numbers, managing to pull it off without sounding too spare, one new one (possibly called "Little Pirouettes"?) even having an Elvis Costello-ish ring to it. Tusks is pretty much an unknown to me, but based on this, sounds worth checking out.
The Low Notes: Expanding on the minimalism a bit was Paul Mathew's duo, with his electric guitar backed by drummer Kieran Adams. With a resonant voice, Mathew's songs had a slightly melancholy 70's FM undertow that was cut, on a couple tunes, with a latin vibe. The crew managed to squeeze in five songs in a longer-than-average set. "What They'll Find" threatened to get lost within the players' practising their virtuosity, but the more compact tunes were fairly tasty. The set ended with Tara Azzopardi joining for additional vox on comp cut "Glory Glory". Not viscerally electrifying, but some pretty decent stuff.
The Cutting Edge: One of only two bands without a song on the compilation to play all day, this crew's hands had, regardless, many fingers in its making. A side project of The Wooden Sky with that band's Gavin and Wyatt joined by Heather Kirby of Ohbijou on bass and Chris Stringer on lead guit. Feeling like the musical and emotional antipode to the in-store at the other end of the week, this unit exchanged The Wooden Sky's quiet introversion for a rockin' countrified outburst — well illustrated by the cover choice of Merle Haggard's "Reasons to Quit"3 Perhaps not as affecting as The Wooden Sky, but a nice burst of energy.
The Dinghies: Stringer and Kirby stayed on stage for the next set, joined by James Bunton for a couple songs of slapstick-y fun fronted by Casey Mecija and Germans' Tim Fagan. A bit of a lark for all involved, this was a case of the musicians not taking themselves very seriously and letting the audience share in the goofiness of it all. Crooning lounge vocal interchanges, hand drums and some laughs.
Kite Hill: The day's longest changeover came with a more-complicated-than-most setup, Ryan Carley's Kite Hill, featuring his piano and vox backed by Steve Lappano's drums and a three-piece string section: Mika Posen (violin), Anissa Hart (cello) and Tyler Belluz (double bass). Unsurprisingly, this lineup produced an orchestral brand of pop. After a pair of songs, the band was joined by Lisa Bozikovic on vox and some extra percussion for their FiB cut, the theatrical "Tom Thumbtack". The songs were compact but well-arranged and pretty choice stuff.
Founded as a blog about one curmudgeon's love affair with the em dash, Mechanical Forest Sound has grown to become a community-based archive of local musical culture. Assuming that "independent music" isn't just boys with guitars and "culture" isn't just some sort of pageant, MFS is an investigation of a wide range of artists, reflecting on concerts as shared experiences, acts of citizenship and a chance to get down — fuzzy photographs and clear-sounding original live recordings a specialty.
Current manifestations of this project include Track Could Bend, a monthly concert series featuring "improvised music and weird rock offshoots", presented in a casual environment.
At one point I wrote full-on concert reviews, and for longer I thought I would catch up and write about shows in the past. But these days, because of, y'know, life, do not expect much in the way of full show reviews — but live recordings with blurbs will be posted as quickly after the fact as is feasible.
You can also check out full sets uploaded to the Live Music Archive. [not currently active]
N.B.: All recordings should be available & playable. If you come across any broken links, invisible or non-functioning players, etc, please leave a comment and I will tend to it ASAP.
ALSO N.B.: I'm perpetually on the lookout for a new place to stash my MP3's online. If you know of any place that allows a couple gigs of stuff to be openly linked to for streaming, drop me a line!
All MP3's on this blog are audience recordings shared as a reminder of the excitement of seeing live music. If you are an artist who doesn't want their music shared in this way, please contact me and I shall remove it forthwith.
Is your show missing from this list? Submit it via this form!
Ministry of Phonic Services presents: Back to School Field Trip ["a festival of outdoor experimental sounds and actions"] (feat. Vampire John Coltrane / Bee Solomon / Cows in Rain) / "Porch" 2026-09-07 (Monday). $pwyc. [more info]
More Noise Please! presents Manic Monday (feat. The Nausea / SEHKTOR8 / Crude Flame / Mountain of Woe / Pursuit Grooves / Writhing Deceiver) / BSMT254 2026-09-07 (Monday). $17.31 or pwyc. [tickets + more info]
Not Dead Yet presents (feat. Otto Benson / Potions) / Monarch Tavern 2026-09-08 (Tuesday). $27.82, 19+. [FB event]
Rondo Projects #4 ["the final part of Ehsan Sadigh’s Septet IV/IX"] (feat. Bea Labikova/Chris Pruden/Dhaivat Jani/Ehsan Sadigh) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-08 (Tuesday) [more info]
Ministry of Phonic Services presents: Back to School Field Trip ["a festival of outdoor experimental sounds and actions"] (feat. J.Vulgare / Colby Richardson / Fan Wu / Mariana Medellin) / "Mall" 2026-09-09 (Wednesday). $pwyc. [more info]
Alex Lukashevsky ["solostrumsinging + a guest or two"] / Water to Wine 2026-09-09 (Wednesday). $pwyw
Never Was [Brandon Davis/Bea Labikova/Racha Moukalled/Patrick O'Reilly/Adrian Russouw/Joe Sorbara] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-09 (Wednesday). [more info]
ESP Free Jazz Thursdays (feat. Brent Tanemura/Allison Cameron/Gloria Ksimuniv/Blake Howard) / Water to Wine 2026-09-10 (Thursday). $pwyc. [more info]
Kurt Newman presents (feat. Isla & The Sorry Brothers) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-10 (Thursday). $pwyc
Ministry of Phonic Services presents: Back to School Field Trip ["a festival of outdoor experimental sounds and actions"] (feat. Brian Abbott's Tone Cathedral / Mani Mazinani & Marilyn Yogarajah / Bea Labikova) / "Creek" 2026-09-11 (Friday). $pwyc. [more info]
Audiopollination (feat. Andrew Kobus to go/Xukasia/Janel Jones / flower club/Rohee Uberoi / Noah Campbell/Neal Armstrong/Aisha Sasha John / The Not Michael Lynns) / Array Space 2026-09-11 (Friday). $pwyc/$10 (notaflof). [more info]
Musica Universalis (feat. Colin Fisher / William Hunt / Jack Johnston / Cal Adam) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-11 (Friday) [more info]
William Hunt [solo piano live recording] / Sellers and Newel 2026-09-12 (Saturday). $15 minimum donation. [more info]
Lucid Lounge Saturdays (feat. Ryan Driver/Andrew Downing/Blake Howard) / Water to Wine 2026-09-12 (Saturday). $pwyc. [more info]
Toronto Improvisers Orchestra / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-13 (Sunday – noon). $pwyc. [more info]
Marilyn & Friends (In the style of Ayal) (feat. Sporesong [Adwoa & Marilyn] / Will Hunt / Nick Flanagan / A Hectic Space [Nilan/Roya/Vic/Marilyn]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-13 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.). [FB event]
Ministry of Phonic Services presents Back to School Field Trip: Installation Garden ["a festival of outdoor experimental sounds and actions"] (feat. various artists) / "Ravine" 2026-09-13 (Sunday). $pwyc. [more info]
Josh Cole: new works for improvising musicians ["solo and duo double bass"] (feat. Evan Palmer & Josh Cole) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-14 (Monday). $10 or pwyc. [more info]
Ministry of Phonic Services presents Back to School Field Trip: BPM (Big Percussion Meeting) ["a festival of outdoor experimental sounds and actions"] (feat. Amiel Ang / Brian Ruryk / Raf Wilcot / Victor O / Caleb Clawson) / "Playground" 2026-09-15 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [more info]
Body Help with Hugh Marsh / Pamenar (patio) 2026-09-15 (Tuesday). [more info]
Music Hosted by Karen Ng (feat. Matthew Cardinal / Vicki Venti / Pantayo) / Wenona Lodge 2026-09-15 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [more info]
Green-House (Masahiro Takahashi) / The Baby G 2026-09-16 (Wednesday). $25.03, 19+. [FB event]
Altered States Artist Showcase (feat. Scott Thomson/Brent Tanemura/Max Stover/William Hunt/Mateos Labbé-Phelan) / Water to Wine 2026-09-16 (Wednesday). $pwyc. [more info]
Ministry of Phonic Services presents: Back to School Field Trip ["a festival of outdoor experimental sounds and actions"] (feat. Brandon Auger / Ben Grossman / Fahmid Nibesh) / "Dome" 2026-09-17 (Thursday). $pwyc. [more info]
Andrew Downing & Dan Pitt / Sellers and Newel 2026-09-17 (Thursday). $20 minimum donation. [more info]
ESP Free Jazz Thursdays (feat. Brent Tanemura/Lauchlin Wood/Jake Bikay/Mason Wallington/Colin Fisher) / Water to Wine 2026-09-17 (Thursday). $pwyc. [more info]
Toronto Makam Music Forum (feat. Naomi McCarroll-Butler & Sam Shalabi / The Folios of Iranian Dastgāh [Sadaf Amini/Ava Rostamian/Soheil Sadeghi/Sasan Salaseli/Araz Salek]) / East End United 2026-09-18 (Friday). $30 general admission, $20 student/arts worker. [FB event]
Rob’s 60th Birthday (feat. Rob Clutton/Karen Ng/Chris Pruden/Germaine Liu) / Sellers and Newel 2026-09-18 (Friday). $20 minimum donation. [more info]
Whitetails (Chapel of Ease / The Cross Sea / LeBarons) / The Garrison 2026-09-18 (Friday). $25, 19+. [FB event]
Glenn Jones (Liam Grant / Colin Fisher) / Le Monde 2026-09-18 (Friday) [more info]
Chanoyu (feat. New Tendencies [Matt Nish-Lapidus] / Germaine Liu & Masahiro Takahashi) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-18 (Friday). [more info]
The Mike Milligan Trio [Mike Milligan/Nick Fraser/Brodie West] / Sellers and Newel 2026-09-19 (Saturday). $25 minimum donation. [more info]
Toronto Makam Music Forum (feat.Sami Abu Shumays’ Umm Kulthum Music Group) / East End United 2026-09-19 (Saturday). $30 general admission, $20 student/arts worker. [more info]
Roger C. Miller (Storey Littleton) / BSMT 254 2026-09-20 (Sunday). $27.36, 19+. [FB event]
Ministry of Phonic Services presents: Back to School Field Trip ["a festival of outdoor experimental sounds and actions"] (feat. HAHAHAHAHAHA / shemona / quivering / Emergency Euphoria) / "Highway" 2026-09-23 (Wednesday). $pwyc. [more info]
Mike DeiCont Trio feat. Eric West & Leland Whitty / Sellers & Newel 2026-09-24 (Thursday). $20 minimum donation. [FB event]
Ministry of Phonic Services presents: Back to School Field Trip ["a festival of outdoor experimental sounds and actions"] (feat. SlowPitchSound / Fleshtone Aura & Sandro Perri / Gayle Young & Reinhard Reitzenstein / tête à tête [Philippe Melanson & Matthew Pencer]) / "UFO" 2026-09-25 (Friday). $pwyc. [more info]
Burn Down The Capital presents (feat. Picastro [Double on Time album release] / Bernice / Granny Smith) / Gloves Up Boxing Gym 2026-09-26 (Saturday). $28.27, all ages. [FB event]
Maggie Keogh/Ryan Driver/Max Donaldson/Blake Howard / Sellers and Newel 2026-09-27 (Sunday). $20 minimum donation. [more info]
Soundstreams Encounters: Nagoya Marimbas [featuring Steve Reich’s "Mallet Quartet" and "Nagoya Marimbas", plus works by Ann Southam and Juri Seo (feat. Kairos Percussion Quartet with Aerin Cho) / Hugh's Room 2026-09-29 (Tuesday). $free with reservation. [more info]
Jane Siberry / Sellers and Newel 2026-09-30 (Wednesday). $35 minimum donation. [more info]
Project Nowhere × Burn Down The Capital presents (feat. Horse Lords / Common Earth Mineral / Stefana Fratila) / The Garrison 2026-10-01 (Thursday). $32.31, 19+. [FB event]
Liquid Architecture: Guitar Night (feat. Lex Feathers / Aranya Khurana / Colin James Gibson / Ryan Kinney) / St. Matthew's Clubhouse 2026-10-03 (Saturday). $10 (cash or e-transfer). [FB event]
Steve Reich at 90! (feat. Soindstreams) / Koerner Hall 2026-10-06 (Tuesday). $35-$94.75. [more info]
Soundstreams Encounters: Violins Unbound [works by André Ristic, John Beckwith, Chris Paul Harman, Parisa Sabet, Ana Sokolović] (feat. Judith Fliedl & Roan Ma) / Hugh's Room 2026-11-02 (Monday). $free with reservation. [more info]
Not Dead Yet presents (feat. Weird Nightmare [Hoopla record release shows]) / Osler Records 2026-11-18&19 (Wednesday & Thursday). $24.94, 19+. [tickets + more info]
Mike DeiCont & Dan Fortin / Sellers and Newel 2026-11-25 (Wednesday). $20 minimum donation. [more info]
Marilyn Lerner & Matt Brubeck / Sellers and Newel 2026-11-26 (Thursday). $20 minimum donation. [more info]
Soundstreams Encounters: Orison [a new music theatre work-in-progress featuring the ondes Martenot] (feat. Daniel Áñez & James O’Callaghan) / Hugh's Room 2026-11-30 (Monday). $free with reservation. [more info]
Musica Universalis (feat. C'est la fête Large Ensemble) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-05-08 (Friday)
Ayal Senior & Friends (feat. Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman / JOYSHAPE / Ryan Dugre / Nick Flanagan) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-05-10 (Sunday)
Cosmic Homeostasis XXXII / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2026-05-17 (Sunday)]
Playscape Emporium: Paint, Play (feat. Duo Cichorium/Constant Yen/ Rowan Campbell/Charlee Wielgoz/Fahmid Nibesh/Joe Strutt/Mira Martin-Gray) / Array Space 2026-05-21 (Thursday)
Wenderly Park (Colin Fisher / Isla Craig) / Le Monde 2026-05-22 (Friday)
Ministry of Phonic Services presents (feat. Ben Rempel & Justin Gunter / Not the Wind, Not the Flag / Doug Tielli & Mike Gennaro) / Bickford Park 2026-05-24 (Sunday)
Life Drawing (feat. Cosmic Homeostasis) / Riverdale Park 2026-05-31 (Sunday)
Prepare the Ground Festival (feat. William Basinski) / Trinity-St. Paul's Centre 2026-05-31 (Sunday)
Track Could Bend #117 (feat. saucering / Colin Fisher/William Hunt/Jack Johnson/Cal Adam) / Wenona Lodge 2025-06-02 (Tuesday)
Ayal Senior & Friends (feat. Ayal Senior/Nathan Yell/Marilyn Yogarajah / David Sait / Nick Flanagan / Nathan Yell) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-06-14 (Sunday)
Andre Ethier (Cows in Rain / Eliza Niemi) / Dina's Tavern 2026-07-05 (Sunday)
Track Could Bend #118 (feat. Ubersuck / Mike Gennaro / Wilderness Adventure Ride) / Wenona Lodge 2026-07-07 (Tuesday)
Toronto Improvisers Orchestra / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-07-12 (Sunday)
Ayal Senior and Friends (feat. Country Phasers / Meggie Remy / Nick Flanagan / Heraclitus Akimbo) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-07-12 (Sunday)
Rebecca Hennessy's Singer-Songwriter Circle (feat. Rebecca Hennessy/Michael Herring/Felicity Williams/Patrick O'Reilly) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-07-19 (Sunday)
The Fiver Trois (Isla & The Sorry Brothers) / Dina's Tavern 2025-07-24 (Friday)
Jennifer Castle (Potions) / The Garrison 2025-07-25 (Saturday)
Heraclitus Akimbo (Hoover Party / Del Stephen / Hex-A-Decimal × Leucrocuta) / The Sun Room at 918 Bathurst 2025-07-26 (Sunday)
Kathryn Merriam with Bea Labikova/Raphael Roter/Heather Saumer / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-07-29 (Wednesday)
The Ryan Driver Sextet With Thom Gill As Ryan Driver / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-07-31 (Friday)
Track Could Bend #119: An Evening of Graphic Scores co-presented with Public Library (feat. Public Library with Roa Lee and Alison Melville) / Wenona Lodge 2026-08-04 (Tuesday)
Humbucker Music Residency (feat. Humbucker Music / Sandy Ewen) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-08-07 (Friday)
new works for improvising musicians (feat. Josh Cole/Lina Allemano/John Oswald/Nick Storring/Owen Kurtz) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-08-10 (Monday)
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