Noting that their earliest phase was as a trio, one could note that C'est la fête has been slowly expanding, up to its current five-piece formation with the incorporation of saxophonists Maxwell Stover and Colin Fisher; this show pushed further in that direction by bringing in a pair of guests (Karen Ng and Mark Hundevad) familiar to all involved. That left opportunities for plenty of honkin', but some of the maximalist tendencies were reined in by Fisher's compositional fragments, and a willingness by the players to let things drop down to occasional duos and trios. All of that's in play in the piece excerpted here, which drifts along at the start while the players look in real time for directions to move together — and then gets real inneresting.
You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:
[Musica Universalis will be back in the Southern Cross with more music from Colin Fisher & friends on June 19th.]
Money House [Patrick O’Reilly/Alex Fournier/Stefan Hegerat] / The Emmet Ray 2024-09-02 (Tuesday). $12. [more info]
Holy Oak Family Singers presents: The Music of Ryuichi Sakamoto (feat. Thom Gill/Robin Dann/Carlyn Bezic/Tiffany Wu/Justin Orok/Luka Kuplowsky/Mira Martin-Gray/Josh Cole/Stefana Fratila/Respectfulchild/Joseph Shabason) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-09-03 (Wednesday – early) [more info]
George Koller/Kayla Milmine/Diane Roblin / The Emmet Ray 2025-09-04 (Thursday – 6:30 p.m.). $15. [more info]
Ministry of Phonic Services presents Back to School Field Trip (feat. Wilderness Adventure Ride / Important Hair / Kahraba / Del Stephen Plays Cut Rock Canyon Poem and Other Works) / "ask for location" 2025-09-05 (Friday). $pwyc, outdoors. [more info]
Diane Roblin's Life Force [Diane Roblin/George Koller/Tim Shia/Colleen Allen/John Johnson/Kevin Turcotte] / The Pilot 2025-09-06 (Saturday – 2 p.m.) [FB event]
Ministry of Phonic Services presents Back to School Field Trip (feat. Scrape Collective) / "ask for location" 2025-09-06 (Saturday – 2:30 p.m.). $pwyc, outdoors. [more info]
Ministry of Phonic Services presents Back to School Field Trip (feat. Render File / Owen Kurtz & Callon Murphy) / "ask for location" 2025-09-07 (Sunday). $pwyc, outdoors. [more info]
Patrick Smith’s 30th Birthday Show! (feat. Patrick Smith/Mike Murley/Bob Brough/Chris Banks/Lowell Whitty) / The Emmet Ray 2025-09-08 (Monday). $10. [FB event]
Imaginary North presents: Ambient Afternoon (feat. anthéne / Gollden / Arie Verheul van de Ven / Siren) / Standard Time 2025-09-14 (Sunday – 4 p.m.). $10/PWYC. [more info]
Justin Karas (Geordie Gordon) / Burdock Music Hall 2025-09-18 (Thursday). $16.95 (advance)/$20 (door). [tickets + more info]
Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds (Harmony on Mars) / Monarch Tavern 2025-09-18 (Thursday). $27.96, 19+. [FB event]
Liquid Architecture (feat. Nathan Yell / Marlena Pellegrino / Del Stephen & the Picture Plane Preservation Group / Ryan Kinney) / St. Matthew’s Clubhouse 2025-09-20 (Saturday). $10 at the door (cash or e-transfer). [FB event]
Not Dead Yet presents (feat. One Leg One Eye) / BSMT254 2025-10-01 (Wednesday). $19.13, 19+. [tickets/more info]
Soundstreams presents: Arvo Pärt at 90 (feat. Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir) / Yorkminster Park Baptist Chuch 2026-02-14 (Saturday). $33.25 to $89.75. [more info]
Is your show missing from this list? Submit it via this form!
Imaginary North presents (feat. Drones Over Dufferin [Grievous Landscapes album release] / Kilometre Club / Rosy Glow) / Burdock Music Hall 2025-08-26 (Tuesday). $16.95 (advance)/$20 (door). [more info]
Maggie Keogh [Maggie Keogh/Dylan Burchell/Ryan Driver/Blake Howard] / The Emmet Ray 2025-08-26 (Tuesday). $15. [FB event]
Nick Fraser presents: Berlin Meets Toronto (feat. Anna Kaluza/Lina Allemano/Rob Clutton / Henrik Walsdorff/Nick Fraser) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-08-26 (Tuesday) [FB event]
The Pieces of the Self: Musical Meditations on Human Experience (feat. Shannon Hoff with Aidan McConnell/Chris Banks/Don Scott/Tania Gill) / Burdock Music Hall 2025-08-27 (Wednesday). $16.95. [FB event]
The Rural Alberta Advantage / CNE Bandshell 2025-08-28 (Thursday). $free with admission to The Ex, outdoors, all ages. [more info]
Kurt Newman & The New Them of Grass [Kurt Newman/Andrew Vainio/Nate Davis/Alex Wagstaff] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-08-28 (Thursday)
Intersection 2025: Day 1 (feat. Alex Raja Ven / Bilal Nasser) / Sonic Boom Records 2025-08-29 (Friday). $free, all-ages. [FB event]
The Ryan Driver Sextet [Ryan Driver/Martin Arnold/Rob Clutton/Michael Davidson/Blake Howard/Doug Tielli] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-08-29 (Friday) [FB event]
Intersection 2025: Day 2: All Day Music Marathon (feat. Arkose / Anthéne / Khôra / Bilal Nasser / Alex Raja Ven & Heart Map Ambient Ensemble / Temporal Waves / David and Sydney Dacks / Lavender Town) / Sankofa Square 2025-08-30 (Saturday – 2 p.m.). $free, outside, all-ages. [FB event]
New ambient mix! New age daydreams and melting synthscapes for late-summer feelings. Sounds by Lyle Mays, Alpha Wave Movement + EWI, d york, awakened souls, Ian Dicke, Ian Hawgood, David Cordero, Brad Rose, Master Wilburn Burchette, and Cukor Bila Smert'.
It happened this week...
...on August 26, 2016 at Array Space (Invocation Residency Series).
Some excellent programming here from guitarist/saxophonist Colin Fisher, bringing himself and frequent sparring partner Mark Hundevad (vibes) together for two sets with C'est la fête, a trio of younger players Adrian Russouw (double bass), William Hunt (piano), and Mateos Labbe-Phelan (drumkit). The trio-plus-guests format meant there were opportunities for some big crescendos, but also chances to find space in dropping down to solos and duos. The younger players here also very much held their own, and this was, to use a technical term, some "high-level shit", suitable for the stage of any jazz festival you could name.
You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:
[C'est La Fête are playing (alongside cnrkrtz/%%30%30 and Owen Kurtz) at Parkdale Provincial Park on Friday (September 1st). Keep an eye out for more music presented by Colin Fisher at the next Musical Universalis on Friday, September 8th.]
Originally pitched as a quieter, acoustic encounter between Andrew Furlong (double bass), Kurt Newman (acoustic guitar) and Karen Ng (reeds), this became somewhat less conceptually quiet with the late addition of Mark Hundevad (drumkit). The latter launched things with more of a gallop than this might've otherwise had, but the most inneresting interplay probably still came in the more sedate sections.
Bringing a set of new (and not yet named) compositions, Colin Fisher (on tenor sax and guitar) lead this imposing grouping through two sets of fiery unburdening. Mark Hundevad (percussion) and Andrew Furlong (double bass) drove things along, but the night's real hero was Naomi McCarroll-Butler (alto and clarinet) who was fully inspired throughout.
Some dynamic improvisations, thumping momentum and slow-burning intensity from this trio, with some instrument changes giving a lot of different sounds. Colin Fisher, as usual, brought saxophones and guitar, while percussionist Mark Hundevad made a couple excursions on the piano as things moved along, mixing melodic runs and clustered clomps. Dan Pencer stuck to the clarinet this time out, but that doesn't mean he was playing all parts of it all the time.
The jazz game can involve some long-term investments. Bassist Juini Booth has recorded and toured with a lot of legends in the past forty years, including stints with the likes of McCoy Tyner and Sun Ra. Amongst his journeys was a trip up to Toronto in the early 90's to sit in as a guest on a recording session with the Free Music Ensemble, a group that included percussionists Mark Hundevad and Mike Gennaro. Fast forward a couple decades and change and Booth made his return to T.O. for this show once again facilitated by Mark Hundevad, who put together a couple nights in this back-alley rehearsal/party space.
After a set from his Archives of Eternity group (where he plays vibes alongside Gennaro on drums) he moved behind the kit (obscured by his overhead angled cymbals) to support Booth, and the pair were joined by Patrick Smith on sax, one of the younger musicians that complete the Archives lineup. (The other is Andrew Furlong, who loaned his bass to and got a lesson from Booth, showing another of the long-term investments in the jazz game.)
The set tackled some speedy hard bop with plenty of freedom of lateral movement, especially from Booth. A driving rhythm section of this calibre pushed Smith to his limits, and though he was blowing with flushed exertion rather than the others' measured calm he kept pace admirably. And now Patrick Smith has played with Juini Booth, who played with McCoy Tyner, who played with Benny Golson, who played with Diz, who played with... well, you get the idea. Long-term-investments.
*Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!
I'd been waiting a spell to catch a performance from this cross-generational quartet, mixing savvy vets Mark Hundevad (vibes) and Mark Gennaro (drums) with the younger Patrick Smith (baritone + soprano sax) and Andrew Furlong (double bass). Busy schedules all around have kept gigs a little thin on the ground, and a couple of the ones that've come around featured fill-in guests, so it was a treat to see the group at its full force, as this is really just a monster of a unit — the sort of thing that would be greeted with wide-eyed astonishment if they were a touring band on a bill and not merely a bunch of locals.
Watching Hundevad play in any capacity is a treat (I've seen him performing on drums, piano and synth) but especially so when he's behind the vibraphone, which he plays with literal blood-on-the-keys intensity. The set was performed mostly as a long suite, segueing between a series of pieces that rarely let up in intensity. Gennaro's bandcamp has a couple, er, archival recordings of the unit in a nascent duo form with himself and Hundevad, but hopefully a full-fledged band album will emerge soon, or at least in the more immediate part of eternity.
*Does anyone know the titles to these? Please leave a comment!
Fake Humans' musical space is vast and cosmologically ecumenical, so it was befitting to see some different types of sounds in the opening sets of their album release party. As an improviser who can surprise with his deft facility on severalinstruments, it was not surprising (but fully astonishing!) to see Mark Hundevad sit at the piano for this tribute to his friend and mentor Cecil Taylor. Rollin' and clompin', there were raucous variations on some of Taylor's themes here, as well as a few more introspective lacunae.
I had seen Mike Gennaro and Mark Hundevad playing together not too long before this in a trio with Colin Fisher, so this duo set gave an opportunity to see how different things could be. While power drummer Gennaro was the backbone both times out, Hundevad (a noted percussionist himself) pivoted from the marimba/piano work in the trio to some cool Moog-powered synth moves here. Suggesting funk squelch and Sun Ra soul-stabs, Hundevad shaped this set in some very cool ways while Gennaro provided pulse and drive to keep things moving along.
[The next Track Could Bend is coming up on Tuesday (October 4th) and will feature CHOBO with Strings, Goosey (The Holy Gasp's Benjamin Hackman and Karen Ng), and INCHOATE.]
Epic improvisations from this trio of heavy hitters, matching drummer Mike Gennaro with Mark Hundevad, another top-notch percussionist who came to this set ready to play the piano but ended up pulling out Array's vibes and marimba as well. Hundevad turned out to be no mean mallet player, leaning and twisting as his sticks became just as much of a blur as Gennaro's. Colin Fisher, meanwhile, brought a trio of saxophones to face off with the pair — from the get-go, one got the impression that they might blast away until someone had to stop due to exhaustion. Just as life is lived forwards and understood backwards, the quiet meditation from near the hour's end is perhaps the best entry here, before working back to a couple samples of the more frenzied interplay.
Following on the heels of Bob Wiseman's album release show (and talking about Mark Hundevad yesterday), a mysterious source has sent this footage below my way. It features Wiseman and Hundevad in the Tranzac's front room working out the arrangement of "Reform Party at Burning Man". It's a nifty performance in its own right, as well as a cool look at the working process between two savvy improvisers.
If you want to hear more from new album Giulietta Masina at the Oscars Crying, you can grab a download of "Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver Airport" at soundcloud. The album is available over at bandcamp — you should definitely check it out and get yourself a copy for a very reasonable sum.
Bonus! While you're over at bandcamp, you should also dig through Bob's back catalogue. Here's a few of my faves to get you started:
Spontaneous Combustion Anniversary Party (feat. Ulama / Ryan Driver / Colin Fisher + Mark Hundevad / Pterodactyl)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge). Saturday, July 16, 2011.
Spontaneous Combustion billed itself as a "Toronto underground music and culture magazine". I believe it's now defunct, publishing into May of 2012 — but here it was celebrating its first anniversary with a birthday party and show at The Tranzac.1 There was a cake, as well as some art on hand to celebrate the zine's movement into celebrating the visual as well as the auditory. Plus there were four diverse performances, reflecting the magazine's wide net.
Leading off the night was Tyson Kerr's Ulama, which should be pronounced with an 'ooh' at the start rather than a 'you'. The quartet had a slightly unusual lineup of accordion, violin, flugelhorn and double bass. Gabriella Ciurcovich was on the latter — she'd more recently be seen playing in Kite Hill. But this was generally a vehicle for Kerr's compositions — there's not much more info around on the band, so I'm assuming it was more of a short-term project. His musical background ranges from jazzy ensembles to choral work — he's also performed in Grex — and this material came out something more like lighthearted chamber-jazz.
There was room for variation within that, though, and the set started with a violin-led folk number (whimsically entitled "Reel-ly Jiggy") before moving into the sort of pleasing lightness you could imagine hearing on starry summer night on a romantic Parisian café terrace. It would later even brush up against genteel spirituals on one song. This was pleasing light fare, though perhaps the chatty young crowd at hand took it as being more suitable for background ambiance than something they should pay close attention to.
Ryan Driver was introduced by Ron Gaskin as "one of the greatest treasures in the sonic wilderness of Toronto" but this set turned out to be a bit of a rough ride. Promising to play all covers, an opening Scottish folk song accompanied by guitar was beset by a strange ticking noise in the monitor and abandoned.
Driver moved to the piano to essay Andy Gibb's "I Just Want to Be Your Everything". That and a 'luded-out take on "Up Up and Away" were rather fascinating, but the crowd was becoming increasingly inattentive. That's a very un-Tranzac-y thing and it seemed to throw Driver off his game — during an instrumental passage, he started really pounding at the keys. This material was definitely deserving of a more attentive crowd — I hope to get another chance to hear him interpreting Nat King Cole without so much chatter in my ear. As it is, Driver took it into increasingly abstract instrumental territory before he wrapped it up and promptly headed out of the room.
Fortunately that chatty element of the crowd were gone by the time Colin Fisher + Mark Hundevad started. I was automatically interested in this set to hear anything from Colin Fisher (NTWNTF, Elfin Choirs, etc.). I did not know Hundevad, but he cut an impressive figure, looking, with his rakishly tilted hat, like a noir detective or a refugee from a Tom Waits song.2 But that was countered by the ebullience of his drumkit, which was covered with bright Norval Morriseau-esque paintings. And musically, he was certainly able to conjure up some brightness.
He also had an analog synth at his side, and as the set started, he employed that, generating vrooming zworps to match to Fisher's guitar knob-twiddling. Once Fisher attacked his strings — he was mostly in "shred" mode here — Hundevad took to his kit to build some structure underneath. The noise would occasionally ease off, such as while Fisher captured a chittering loop with his pedal, then played over that.
There was a roughly fifteen-minute crescendo, and then a second half that started again with a pattern of synth and pedal-texture again, now sounding spooky, like the soundtrack to a pulp novel's exploratory excursion on Venus — dry humming winds over a barren and mysterious landscape before Fisher's guitar started hopping with nimble steps to climb over a barbed wire fence, clambering into the murky terra incognita beyond. An excellent set — this is what I came out to this show to see.
Pterodactyl — sardonically self-identified as "a quintessential part of the music created in the fall of 2006" — rounded out the night with playing a reunion set, their first in five years.3 The trio of guit, sax and drums (Nate Renner, Chris Willes and Nico Dann, respectively) had a bit of a punk-jazz feel. Not to be mistaken for a sax-plus-rhythm-section combo, this was a fairly even-handed three-headed beast, and the guitar was as oft the quietest here as Dann's drums were the "lead" instrument. (He'd provide some unmic'd wordless vox as well.)
The set began with a couple clattering numbers, all three jockeying for prominence before the whole equation inverted itself in a quieter composition with the others filling in around Willes' sax work. Picking the energy back up after that, on the next piece Dann paced in a circle around the kit ringing a bell while Renner used a slide to strum his guitar, generating scratchy metallic noises to counter Willes's blats and squeals. Almost as if they were taking requests from each other, Dann called out for Beck's "Devil's Haircut", taking the others by surprise, but they launched into a beat-driven version, enlisting the crowd to song along on the chorus before a spazzy breakdown.
Just as the band seemed to represent one moment in T.O.'s improvised music landscape, Spontaneous Combustion will also now be a marker of a specific stretch of time where some folks banded together to make some noises to — and for — each other. And if "the moment" has passed, the ripples will still be expanding outwards, waiting for someone to hear.
1 Unless you're looking for something in German whose offerings include, um, "livestrip", their website appears to be gone now, but you can stiff out some traces at their facebook page, or see a few PDF'd issues via the wayback machine.
2 Hundevad actually has a thoroughly-impressive CV, playing behind a long list of noteworthy luminaries, as well as leading his own Controlled Demolition ensemble. I'll also be looking at another one of his collaborations here tomorrow.
3 The band also occasionally self-identifies as "Pterodactyl X" to distinguish themselves from an American flying-dinosaur-themed ensemble. Staying inactive since this reunion, you can hear some sounds from their heyday at their myspace.
Full review to follow —My notes for this set can now be found here. Happy birthday to Spontaneous Combustion Magazine, which serves as a guide to local improvised and experimental musics, and exists as a beautifully-crafted physical object as well as online, where their gig listings are a great boon to anyone looking to expand their musical horizons.
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)
Posts
