Recording: Meggie Remy

Artist: Meggie Remy

Song: Old Man Trim Tab [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge ("Ayal Senior & Friends"), July 12, 2026.

Meggie Remy - Old Man Trim Tab [excerpt]

In an inneresting coincidence, this July 12th gig fell on the birthday of two unique Americans — Buckminster Fuller and Oscar Hammerstein II — both of whom were born on July 12, 1895. Meggie Remy used that as a jumping-off point to look at what these men had in common: a sort of optimism, and a belief that small gestures could create large changes in complex systems. A reminder, in these troubled times of grifters and profiteers, that decency and inventiveness were once considered key parts of the American character. This tape collage piece juxtaposes some interviews from the pair along with appearances of several versions of Hammerstein's "Old Man River".

You can check out the full set over on youtube:

[Ayal Senior & Friends will be back at The Tranzac on Sunday, September 13th.]

Recording: U.S. Girls

Artist: U.S. Girls

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Tranzac Fundraiser II), June 14, 2024.

U.S. Girls - unknown

It had been a hot minute since I had seen Meg Remy in performance, and I was pleased to see that this fundraiser-closing set was with a full band (although the evidence is also that she has been slaying it in duo mode with Geordie Gordon). This turned out to be a shorter but intensely-focused set, with this discofied jam sprawling out for about half of its length. Remy went from having her own private dance party on stage to taking it out among the crowd — I didn't have a great angle to see all the shenanigans, but I am told things got up close and personal. And then, job done, Remy sashayed off the stage, leaving 'em wanting more.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Meg Remy's Last Tape

Artist: Meg Remy's Last Tape

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #47), February 5, 2019.

Meg Remy's Last Tape - [excerpt]

Though now often playing much bigger stages, Meg Remy is very much a member of Toronto's weird rock community. Back before her U.S. Girls project incorporated an amazing (and sometimes sprawling) band, she could be found in various tiny venues manipulating cassettes to create the backing textures to her songs. This recent side-project takes her back to her roots in tape collage, and there are no special effects, pedals or other trickery here — just the savvy application of contrasting sounds on two tape decks to build up layers of music and metacommentary.

[U.S. Girls will be playing The Opera House on Saturday, June 8th. Track Could Bend is back at Wenona Lodge on Tuesday, May 7th.]

Recording: Matthew "Doc" Dunn & Friends

Artist: Matthew "Doc" Dunn & Friends

Songs: Only Love Can Guide Us Now + Crying Shame [Jennifer Castle cover]

Recorded at The Baby G, December 20, 2018.

Matthew "Doc" Dunn & Friends - Only Love Can Guide Us Now

Matthew "Doc" Dunn & Friends - Crying Shame

A slightly-belated night to celebrate the release of Doc Dunn's Lightbourn album turned out to be a twofer, with the additional appearance of its follow-up Some Horses Run on the merch table. These "solo" albums (as distinguished from the collective grooves he heads with the Cosmic Range) found their songs fleshed out with an all-star band that included Simone T-B on drums, Grasshopper on percussion, James Matthew VII (formerly Blind Matty) on guitar, Andrew Scott on bass, Jonathan Adjemian on keybs as well as special guest backing vocalists Isla Craig and Meg Remy on a few numbers.

That exploded the sometimes-introspective vibe of the recorded versions into a cranked-up push-it-to-the-back-of-the-stadium wall of wailing guitars and pulsing funk, making these versions feel like they'd belong up on the merch table in a gatefold cover double-live album — the kind with just a couple stretched-out songs per side. There's even a tip of the hat here to peer and inspiration Jennifer Castle on a version of "Crying Shame" that tears with such momentum Dunn was pushing hard to keep up with the flow of the lyrical river.

[Doc Dunn and a smaller group of friends will be bringing some joy to the Mechanical Forest Sound 10th Anniversary celebration at The Baby G on Saturday, March 2nd.]

Recording: U.S. Girls

Artist: U.S. Girls

Songs: 28 Days + Mad As Hell

Recorded at The Tranzac (Main Hall), October 27, 2017.

U.S. Girls - 28 Days

U.S. Girls - Mad As Hell

This astounding set teasing new material from the newly-expanded U.S. Girls featured a band composed mostly of Doc Dunn's Cosmic Range (as well as The Sulks' Chris Bezant on guit and backing vocalists Kassie Richardson and Basia Bulat) who offered an astoundingly full "studio" sound. Besides opening and closing with some of the tracks they played on from the forthcoming In a Poem Unlimited album they also reinterpreted a series of older songs. Meg Remy balanced the lushness of the ten-piece backing band with sample montages that hearkened back to the project's origins as well as hinting at the seething anger underneath the songs. But it's too easy to just label this as feminist rage (a word that's right there in the title of the Fiver song covered on the new album) — there's a consideration of things that justly evoke anger, but there's also joy in the music as well, from the reggae-ish lilt the band accorded to "28 Days" as well as the ebullient disco of "Mad As Hell".

Remy was in full command throughout — no banter or asides were on offer in the tightly-constructed set, and instead of an encore, all she gave the crowd was a hand-on-hip "didn't I just do that?" glare before leaving the stage. With the release of the album now confirmed for February, this was a tantalizing glimpse of an artist operating at a high level — and expanding their ambitions to ever-higher plateaus.

Recording: Darlene Shrugg

Artist: Darlene Shrugg

Songs: Some Weird Sin [Iggy Pop cover] + National Security^*

Recorded at Mercury Social Club, July 17, 2015.

Darlene Shrugg - Some Weird Sin

Darlene Shrugg - National Security

Mercury Social Club, a new venture from the former proprietors of Saving Gigi has the potential to be another asset in the emerging cultural district on Geary Av. if it can be rescued from what sounds like an ongoing bureaucratic quagmire. In the meantime, it's being used as an occasional special event space, and in its current semi-refinished state, it feels something like hanging around in a reclaimed rec hall. A fairly wide space, there's a likeable amount of elbow room with a rough-hewn make-do charm. The sound's a little rough still at this point, and the room got hot like a sauna as the crowd built up, but I'm hoping there'll be a chance for this to become a regularly-functioning space.

Fresh out of the recording studio cutting some tracks with Ben Cook, Darlene Shrugg were already preparing for their appearance at next year's Polaris gala. Rocking a set of heavy glam gems (single "Freedom Comes In A Plastic Card" was even aired twice to start and end the set) with swaggering confidence, this many-headed beast was working with focused determination. Besides the Iggy Pop title essayed here by Max "Slim Twig" Turnbull and Meg "U.S. Girls" Remy, the latter song comes with lead vox from Ice Cream's Amanda Crist. The sound on this recording's a little ragged, given the venue's limitations, and Carlyn Bezic breaks a guitar string during the Iggy tune, but driven on by Simone T-B's drums, these feel pretty satisfactory.

^* This title is an educated guess and subject to confirmation.

Recording: Slim Twig

Artist: Slim Twig

Songs: J.C. Walked On Water (I'm Walking On Air)^* + Widow, Were You Younger + Black Country Rock [David Bowie cover]/Fog Of Sex (N.S.I.S.)^*

Recorded at The Silver Dollar Room, January 23, 2015.

Slim Twig - J.C. Walked On Water (I'm Walking On Air)

Slim Twig - Widow, Were You Younger

Slim Twig - Black Country Rock/Fog Of Sex (N.S.I.S.)

A big homecoming for Max Turnbull, ending a tour with his first "name" hometown show in a year to a nice, full house at the Silver Dollar. And with some validation in his back pocket, to boot, with NYC's DFA Records re-issuing 2012's A Hound at the Hem to a wider audience than it had previously enjoyed. Turnbull could have been embittered by the whole experience and local indifference but instead stayed positive, praising local indie Pleasence (who had helped get the album out originally) and reminding the crowd how much great music there is to be had in these parts.

As to what he was going to do to reproduce his most ornate album on stage, the answer turned out to be "not very much". Instead, fronting a new, heavy rock-action version of the Slim Twig band (including Simone T-B on drums, Meg Remy on keybs and Michael Rault on bass) he offered a set filled with mostly new material. The fact that two-thirds of that backing line-up overlap with his collaborative group Darlene Shrugg make it no surprise that they share some of the same impulses towards heavy-chugging psych-flavoured excursions. To get a taste of what was on offer, here's something new (and one, Turnbull declared, that wasn't even good enough to make the cut on the band's forthcoming album!), one of the two Hound cuts that were essayed, and something from the set-ending cover segment.

^* See the officially-sourced annotations in the comment below!

Recording: Darlene Shrugg

Artist: Darlene Shrugg

Song: Freedom Comes in a Plastic Card^*

Recorded at Comfort Zone ("All Toronto's Parties 2"), May 24, 2014.

Darlene Shrugg - Freedom Comes in a Plastic Card

Full review to follow. The first ATP show brought together bands selected by five different live music purveyors in a cool mix'n'match marathon. Upping the ante, the night-time portion follow-up brought a full line-up of recombinant bands (some of them special one-offs) to create a completely unique night. (It should also be noted that this also served as Wavelength's 600th show. Congratulations Wavelength!)

Although the night's headliner fit right into the mandate of combined forces, Darlene Shrugg is indeed an ongoing, working project. Formed from the ashes of Tropics, this sees that duo's Slim Twig and Simone T-B joined with U.S. Girls' Meg Remy as well as Ice Cream's Amanda Crist and Carlyn Bezic. The result didn't particularly sound like any of those groups, instead emerging a a fuzz-heavy proto-hardrock Detroit stomp — intense and chaotic but convincingly held together by its own internal logic. And then melting your face off.

You can also check out some more pictures from the day on the MFS facebook page.

^* Thanks to Jesse for passing the title to this one along.

Recording: U.S. Girls

Artist: U.S. Girls

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at SPK Polish Combatants Hall ("Wavelength FOURTEEN" – Night 3), February 15, 2014.

U.S. Girls - unknown

You can read my notes for this show here.

^* Admittedly, I couldn't track down the name of this cover. Please leave a comment if you know it!

Recording: Coca-Cola

Artist: Coca-Cola

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Double Double Land, December 28, 2013.

Coca-Cola - unknown

Full review to follow. Meg Remy and Max Turnbull put on the figurative labcoats that go with their experimental pop science project to help celebrate the release of an album that they put out in their guise of the impresarios of Calico Corp. Once again, I was struck at how their stacks of keyboards and other gear can shift from sound library experimental drift to catchy tunes with surprising quickness.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: U.S. Girls

Artist: U.S. Girls

Song: The Island Song

Recorded at Double Double Land, November 7, 2013.

U.S. Girls - The Island Song

Full review to follow. A fine night to celebrate a new 12" EP, produced by under-acclaimed hip-hop cratedig master Onakabazien (who himself was super-solid in a word-dense opening set). Dressed in white (and underneath an arch of white balloons) the music from Meg Remy's cassette/reel-to-reel/electronics puts a forward-thinking spin that meshes well with her classic pop vocals.

Recording: Slim Twig

Artist: Slim Twig

Song: Jack [Danava via U.S. Girls cover]

Recorded at Polyhaus ("Feast in the East 24"), April 13, 2013.

Slim Twig - Jack

Full review to follow. Remember back last year when Slim Twig was talking about embracing the pop process and cutting back on the noise? Well, on this night at least, he's zagged again. Backed by Meg Remy instead of his band, this set collapsed some of the partitions between Slim Twig, U.S. Girls and Cola Cola.

Recording: Coca Cola

Artist: Coca Cola

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Double Double Land, June 22, 2012.

Coca Cola - unknown

Full review to follow. I have seen this joint project between U.S. Girls and Slim Twig play together before, but I must confess it didn't previously make anything like this much impact. Amongst the sampled dialogue and ambient segues, the songs felt a bit more, like, well songs, and that made the thing more interesting.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!