Monday Roundup #204

Concert announcements:

Makam Nights (feat. Yahya Geylan & Canan Sezgin Geylan) / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2024-12-19 (Thursday). $PWYC. [FB event]

Greydini [Bad Boglin Clutches release party!] (Bile Sister / Bag) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-12-28 (Saturday). $10 / pwyc

CLUE NOTE: trivia and creative music (vol 3) (feat. Erin Corbett/Niamh Girling/Mira Martin-Gray/Kurt Newman/Marilyn Yogarajah) / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2024-12-29 (Sunday – noon). $PWYC ($10 suggested) [FB event]

Tranzac New Year's Eve (feat. Joseph Shabason & The Welcome To Hell Tentet / Sandro Perri & Friends / Jane Inc) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2024-12-31 (Tuesday). $30 Adv. / $32 door. [tickets + more info]

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

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Shows this week:

Brodie West Quintet / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-12-11 (Wednesday – early)

Slipstreams (feat. Grace Scheele & Arie Verhuel v.d. Ven / Dylann Miller / Carolina Lopez) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-12-11 (Wednesday). $pwyc. [more info]

fuzZfest 2.0 (feat. Ben Bennett/Raphaël Foisy/Karen Ng / Eric Laska / Battle Milk) ["home-cooked vegetarian meal included"] / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2024-12-12 (Thursday). $15 (cash/card) or pwyc. [FB event]

Not a Band [Secrets EP Release Party!] (feat. Wilderness Adventure Ride / Triage Eclair) / Collective Arts 2024-12-12 (Thursday). $15/PWYC. [FB event]

Audiopollination (feat. Jake/Tomasz Krakowiak/Julie Lassonde / David Sait/James Bailey/Daniel Ramjattan / Adriana Monti/Gabe Girard/Nilan Perera / Brie Clarke/Jenna Geen/Adrian Russouw/Abby Silvera) / Array Space 2024-12-13 (Friday). $10 (cash or card). [FB event]

Second Fridays (feat. Chiquitamagic / Brodie West / Stones, Breeze, and Tinder) / Canadian Music Centre 2024-12-13 (Friday). $15; $10 for students. [morfe info]

Musica Universalis (feat. C'est la fête / Cetacea) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-12-13 (Friday)

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It happened this week...

• ...on December 12, 2015 at The Great Hall's basement (Long Winter 4.2).

LAL - Rules Were Meant to be Broken

• ...on December 9, 2015 at Array Space.

Hoover Party feat. Doc Dunn - [excerpt]

[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.]

Monday Roundup #131

Concert announcements:

Synth Syntax (feat. Messica Arson / Michael Palumbo / Pirarán / Rainbow Trash / The Endemics Collective) / Tail of the Junction 2023-07-25 (Tuesday). $17.31 advance, $20 or PWYC at door. [tickets/info]

Karen Ng presents (feat. Joe Moffett [solo trumpet] / Sandy Ewen [solo prepared guitar] / Karen Ng/Philippe Melanson/Joe Moffett) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2023-07-27 (Thursday) [more info]

Liquid Architecture - an evening of solo acoustic music (feat. Kayla Milmine / Mira Riselli / Mike Lynn / Ryan Kinney) / Mischief Makers 2023-07-29 (Saturday). $10 in advance/$12 at the door. [FB event]

Cosmic Homeostasis XX / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2023-07-30 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.) [FB event]

Holger Schoorl Music (feat. Holger Schoorl/Kayla Milmine/Lori Freedman/Scott Thomson/Tania Gill/Mark Zurawinski) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2023-07-30 (Sunday) [FB event]

Bloodshot Bill (Bad Fortunes) / Monarch Tavern 2023-07-30 (Sunday). $16.50, 19+. [FB event]

Track Could Bend #82 (feat. Other Planes: Music for Ted Phillips [Glen Hall/Nilan Perera/Brian Abbott/Kieran Maraj] / Heather Saumer) / Wenona Lodge 2023-08-01 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Motorists (Cartwheel / So Perfect) / Monarch Tavern 2023-08-02 (Wednesday). $15, 19+. [FB event]

Front Yard Fest (feat. Rae Spoon / Hiroki Tanaka) / Kingston Rd 2023-08-06 (Sunday – 4 p.m.). $pwyc, outdoors, family friendly. [FB event]

Batuki Music Society presents Habari Africa Festival (feat. Adama Daou / Kizaba / Chimurenga Revival featuring Mary Anibal) / Harbourfront Centre 2023-08-11 (Friday). $free, outdoors, family friendly. [more info]

Batuki Music Society presents Habari Africa Festival (feat. Njacko Backo & Kalimbas at Work / Haiba / Kady Diaby / Cheikh Ibra Fam / Rumba: Soul of Congo) / Harbourfront Centre 2023-08-12 (Saturday). $free, outdoors, family friendly. [more info]

Batuki Music Society presents Habari Africa Festival (feat. La Kora du Griot avec Sadio Sissokho / Alpha Rhythm Roots / DzePasi with Mary Anibal & Tich Maredza / Lorraine Klaasen / Sadaka) / Harbourfront Centre 2023-08-13 (Sunday). $free, outdoors, family friendly. [more info]

Wire Circus (Laura Swankey / Lazar Miric) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2023-08-15 (Tuesday)

Not Dead Yet presents (feat. Thee Retail Simps / Puppet Wipes / Only God Forgives / Greydini) / See-Scape 2023-09-08 (Friday). $15/notaflof.

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

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Shows this week:

Mourning [A] BLKstar (Jane Inc) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2023-07-18 (Tuesday). $20. [more info]

Sarah Greene Presents (feat. Justin Orok with Sarah Lounsbury / Sarah Greene with Paul Kolinski & Ally Corbett) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2023-07-19 (Wednesday – early!) [FB event]

Bo Ningen (Biblical) / Monarch Tavern 2023-07-19 (Wednesday). $19, 19+. [FB event]

Shoe Box Composer's Concert [featuring pieces by: Aidan McConnell, Alyssa Giammaria, Benjamin Gabbay, Lucas Schlotfeld, Madeleine Ertel, Mateos Labbe-Phelan, Max Donaldson, Rashaan Allwood, Sean Parker, Yu-Pin Lai] (feat. Jared Berger/Jahred Warkentin/Bien Carandang/Danielle Sum) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2023-07-19 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Picastro (Someone is Flying / Funeral Lakes) / The Dakota Tavern 2023-07-20 (Thursday – early show, 7 to 9 p.m.). $13.54, 19+. [FB event]

Not Dead Yet presents (feat. Cumgirl8 / Nyssa / Kingdom Of Birds) / Nineteen Seventy Eight 2023-07-20 (Thursday). $22.30, 19+. [more info]

Ben Gunning Group (Animata) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2023-07-20 (Thursday). $15. [more info]

Life Force [Diane Roblin/Bruce Cassidy/Tim Shia/George Koller/Alexander Brown] / Hirut 2023-07-20&21 (Thursday & Friday). $15, reservations suggested.

The Listening Biennial (feat. Germaine Liu) / MOCA 2023-07-21 (Friday). $free. [more info]

Martian Crisis Unit (Communism) / Drom Taberna 2023-07-21 (Friday). $16.27. [FB event]

EyeDuh Kho presents: Live experimental electronic music (Michael Palumbo / Eyeduh Kho & Kieran Meraj / Pirarán) / Tibet Street Records 2023-07-22 (Saturday). $22.63. [tickets/more info]

De Pamela (Hank the Kid / Pizza Bush) / Toronto Style Bar & Grill 2023-07-22 (Saturday). $10/PWYC. [FB event]

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In the mix:

• New drone mix! Scientifically proven to be suitable for summer listening while cicada sounds drift in through your window. Featuring sounds from Charlatan, Macrogramma, Hiroshi Yoshimura, Phillip Wilkerson, Off World, Lorenzo Montanà, PJS, Robert Rich, Christopher H. M. Jacques, plus people from your neighbourhood like Kurt Newman and Del Stephen.

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It happened this week...

• ...on July 20, 2016 at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Wolf's Nacho Wednesdays)

Mas Aya + Khôra - [excerpt]

• ...on July 23, 2016 at BIG on Bloor Festival – St. Clarens Stage

LAL - Find Safety

[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: LAL

Artist: LAL

Song: Stand In My Way

Recorded at Prairie Drive Park (Feast in the East 63), July 8, 2017.

LAL - Stand In My Way

A return to Prairie Drive Park after last year's initial excursion had another excellent lineup and even better weather. Free food for all gave locals and musical tourists a chance to mingle together and it was a real treat to hear music echoing through the well-used park. Essential city-building work from Toronto Arts Foundation's Arts in the Parks initiative — hopefully this will continue every summer.

As night fell and the playground cleared out, LAL closed the night with a conscious party, celebrating art and resilience. Appreciating the vibes in a neighbourhood she'd known since her childhood, singer Rosina Kazi's hands darted out around her in the barely-illuminated stage area, feeling her way through Nicholas Murray's beats like a teenager tentatively pacing through a darkened park, searching for one excitingly-illicit thrill or another.

Recording: LAL

Artist: LAL

Song: Dead Happiness

Recorded at Artscape Gibraltar Point (Camp Wavelength), August 20, 2016.

LAL - Dead Happiness

Following and expanding on the template of last year's successful festival, Wavelength returned to the island with a meticulously-executed event that included an exciting range of music and a beach full of art beside festival headliner Lake Ontario. It also managed to be a stress-reducing rather than a stress-inducing time — rather like a weekend at the cottage, even if the city was just out of view.

One of Nick Murray's subtlest accomplishments is that the tracks he's bringing on stage give singer Rose Kazi a huge amount of space to approach the songs with whatever vibe she's feeling. Sometimes intense and laser-focused, the island instead brought out a meditative, "zoned out" feel from the Find Safety tunes.

Recording: LAL

Artist: LAL

Song: Find Safety

Recorded at BIG on Bloor Festival – St. Clarens Stage, July 23, 2016.

LAL - Find Safety

Shutting down Bloor from Dufferin to Lansdowne, BIG on Bloor landed in the midst of a heatwave that made an afternoon tour down the middle of the street feel like a field trip to the surface of the sun. Things were more tolerable under the leafy trees at St. Clarens, where one of the day's stages was quite excellently curated by Justin from Holy Oak. Hewing towards funky and r'n'b sounds, this felt like a mini-block party within the larger event. Local resident Rose Kazi looked right at home here, talking about the changes in the neighbourhood she's witnessed over the years and musing on how the city can change without allowing the turmoil of gentrification to push away long-established communities. Alongside laptopist Nick Murray, the set focused on tunes from their superb Find Safety, the album's textures rendered more as simmering bangers in a live setting — heatwave solidarity jams where the drawing-together dance vibes create a feeling of community.

Recording: LAL

Artist: LAL

Song: Rules Were Meant to be Broken

Recorded at The Great Hall's basement (Long Winter 4.2), December 12, 2015.

LAL - Rules Were Meant to be Broken

With an unusual Saturday night edition and winter nowhere yet to be found, it felt a little different heading down for this one. As with the first of this year's series, the best spot for music was down in the basement, while dance and art crept closer to the night's centre from all directions. Closing out the night's live music in the basement, LAL is in an amazing place right now, with singer Rosina Kazi and sound designer Nicholas Murray delivering their new material with intense joy and pain. No B.S., no game-playing, this is fully committed music — and both of the times I saw them in 2015 were among my favourite sets of the year. There's no word yet on when their forthcoming album is coming out, but it stands to be a noteworthy release for 2016 — this is what Toronto needs right now.

[The next Long Winter will be on January 16th, 2016 — note that's on a Saturday again — with sets from Vallens, LOOM, Mystic Triangle, Michelle McAdorey, JOOJ, STÜKA, Pantayo, Khôra, Strands, Overnight and more.]

Recording: LAL

Artist: LAL

Song: Tiny Mirrors

Recorded at Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement (SummerWorks Music Series: all you can hold), August 12, 2015.

LAL - Tiny Mirrors

The SummerWorks Music series, evolving since its inception in 2008, feels to have really and truly settled into its identity both as another way for SummerWorks to celebrate its growing foregrounding of interdisciplinary art and as a unique feature of the city's live music scene. After a couple years of just stuffing some bands down in the basement to provide an après-play gathering space, 2010's Hidden Cameras spectacular (featuring a "dramatic retelling" their Origin: Orphan album) pointed the way forward — but it wasn't really until 2012 that the festival started to ramp up the practice of pairing musicians with artists from other disciplines to create unique, one-off events.

It was finally in 2013 that the "mature" music series fully emerged, with stand-out events from Maylee Todd, Snowblink, and The Bicycles. Since then, collaboration has moved to the centre. Last year saw the series' first visit to the Pia Bouman School at the edge of Parkdale, which became their home this year, giving the Series its own space (and a cool pop-up venue). Adam Bradley and the returning Andrew Pulsifer have played to the series' strengths with their musical curation, and all of the works this year felt like good additions to a series whose legacy includes the future memories of these one-of-a-kind shows.

Like some of the other Music Series shows, longstanding electronic duo LAL incorporated hints of ritual and a sense of celebration into their spectacular presentation, creating a joyful conscious dance party. Working with director Ange Loft (who is also known in music circles for her work with Yamantaka//Sonic Titan), the group moved beyond traditional staging, instead putting a catwalk down the length of the floor and sound technician Nicholas Murray at a table in the audience. Vocalist Rosina Kazi moved freely between those as models danced and strutted on the catwalk, reflecting and amplifying the music's themes of self-discovery, resilience and political action. The duo performed a whole new set of songs which I understand basically corresponds to their new album due at the start of next year. Bands that have been around for a while sometimes get short shrift for lacking the tang of the new, but this show weighty with ideas, energy and upliftment — a reminder that this city needs to celebrate groups like this who are working to push things forward.

Preview: SummerWorks 2015

SummerWorks Performance Festival

August 7-17, 2014

The SummerWorks Festival is increasingly becoming a music destination because there's nothing else like it. Continuing its focus on constructing cross-disciplinary one-off events (rather than just plain ol' gigs), there's a chance here for local musicians to work with artists from other media to create the sort of immersive experience that is hard to assemble on the usual DIY shoestring.

Each of the seven shows in the Music Series would be worth going to just on musical merit alone; but with the special enhancements on offer, they're not to be missed. The thing that makes these compelling is that the tantalizingly vague descriptions are signposts beckoning the audience to one-time only events. Here's what's going down in the Music Series, with a few live recordings from my own archives as a hint of what you might hear:

• What Happens to JOOJ in 24 Hours: According to Bojana & Alex: Sook-Yin Lee and Adam Litovitz are undertaking a site-specific and time-specific challenge, sequestering themselves in the theatre for an entire day with the show acting as culmination. How directors Bojana Stancic and Alex Wolfson will interpret that day to the audience is a mystery, but do expect some of JOOJ's Suicide-meets-Dietrich cabaret tunes. [Friday August 7th, 10 p.m. @ S--------- Studio Theatre]
  Listen! Jooj - Crushed
• To Cast a Stone: this sees solo electronic musician Jill Krasnicki (a.k.a. Animalia) attempting "to create a sacred and otherworldly space to weave her songs through a spell casting ritual." Once again, that description is evocatively vague, but given that the show is being presented over five timeslots throughout the evening instead of one big show, you should expect the ritual to be a close-up and intimate experience. [Saturday August 8th, 6:00 PM/7:30 PM/9:00 PM/10:30 PM/midnight @ S--------- Studio Theatre]
• What Fate Awaits Them?: I didn't make Most People's EP release a couple months back, but its mix of music and large-scale puppetry was described as a knockout. Add alien robot emissaries/entertainment units MATROX and this sounds like fantastic fun. [Sunday, August 9th, 10:00 PM @ S--------- Studio Theatre]
  Listen! Most People - Release
  Listen! MATROX - Thank You
• Melancholiac: The Music of Scott Walker: Adam Paolozza and Greg Oh combine to try and give shape to an artist whose singular career arc is rather difficult to conceptualize, never mind encapsulate. From teen idol to menacing avant-crooner, this is being billed as "part concert, part spectacle, part existential variety show", mixing "unique sonic and visual interpretations of Walker's music" and including some special guests. [Tuesday August 11th, 6:30 PM/9:30 PM @ S--------- Studio Theatre]
• all you can hold: musicians like longstanding electro-experimentalists lal operate on the sort of terrain that gets swept under the rug a bit in the music scene's continual fetishization of the new. But they've been audaciously pushing boundaries and recombining various pop strains for long enough to deserve a helluva lot of respect. This show sees them performing a full set of new music embellished by "dance, costumes, digital painting and projections", representing their vision of a musical queer/straight alliance and mix of cultures. [Wednesday, August 12th, 10:00 PM @ S--------- Studio Theatre]
• Heat Shuts Off Overnight: As Germaphobes, Paul Erlichman and Neil Rankin have been honing the sophisticated pop sounds they were previously pursuing as members of the now-defunct Gay. This show sees them bring a whole batch of new songs to a show that uses shadow puppets, stop motion, and projections for an exploration of quotidian banality and the digital consciousness. Expect a performance by ANAMAI somewhere in there as well. [Thursday, August 13th, 9:00 PM @ S--------- Studio Theatre]
  Listen! Germaphobes - Everybody Else
  Listen! ANAMAI - Lucia
• 2016 Spring Collection: The unexplainable grinning manifestation that is (are?) Still Boys has been something of a whispered secret for the past while, being shared like a ritual that gladdens the hearts of even the most jaded music fan. Now, with Sasha Van Bon Bon and Jesi the Elder on board, there will be even more to be digested. Possibly even the audience. Don't try to explain, don't try to understand. Just see this. [Friday, August 14th, 10:00 PM @ S--------- Studio Theatre]
  Listen! Still Boys - [popsong]

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Meanwhile, outside the Music Series, there's a lot more for music fans to investigate. Counting Sheep, the festival's "production-in-residence" deploys Balkan party-rockers Lemon Bucket Orkestra into the Maidan for an investigation of Ukraine's social revolution. Also, local music sensation (and visual artist) Lido Pimienta moves to the stage in Ayelen, a magical-realist tale of resistance to the exploitation of international mining companies.

There's also lots going on in the festival's wide-ranging Live Art stream. A lot of it's out of my field, but I can recommend the Listening Choir's Listening Songs, put together by Adam Kinner and the always-intriguing Christopher Willes. The practice of these dérivé-based jaunts is to "propose listening as an endangered practice worth reconsidering". Best of all, this little experiment is free (as long as you book a ticket in advance).

I also don't know a lot about the dance world, but the festival has ramped up their offerings on that side of things this year. The good news is that the Dance Series is curated by Amelia Ehrhardt (who chatted with me about dance before her SummerWorks offering last year), whose DIY spirit and enthusiasm for joyful experimentation parallels what I look for in exploring unfamiliar music. In that regard, the curious could have a go at any of the offerings in the Dance Series, but I would especially point people to Aimée Dawn Robinson's Ramble, which blends improvised and choreographed dance to music and live-mixed video. Currently based in Whitehorse, Robinson was a frequent collaborator with the city's creative musicians in her time in Toronto, and this one comes hotly-tipped from friends who know about these things.

The fine print: single-performance tickets are $15, and there are various pass options available. You can find all the ticket information here. Remember (especially for those music events!) that the festival runs on theatre time, so do not be fashionably late!