Monday Roundup #292

Concert announcements:

Strings & Spirits presents [live score of indie game "A Short Hike", featuring composer Mark Sparling & developer Adam Robinson-Yu, along with special drinks & surprises!] (feat. Render File) / Canadian Music Centre 2026-08-24 (Monday). $PWYC, suggested minimum $10. [tickets + more info]

Jazz Rat Mondays (feat. Patrick Smith/Anthony D'Alessandro/Chris Banks/Ernesto Cervini) / Dina's Tavern 2026-08-24 (Monday). $pwyc. [more info]

Nick Fraser presents (feat. BLOOP-tanium Riot with Christine Duncan [Christine Duncan/Mike Smith/Rob Clutton/Nick Fraser/Ryan Driver]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-08-25 (Tuesday)

ESP Free Jazz Thursdays (feat. Brent Tanemura/Lauchlin Wood/Brodie West/Mateos Labbé-Phelan) / Water to Wine 2025-08-27 (Thursday). $pwyc. [more info]

Karen Ng presents (feat. Rob Clutton ‘Scrapples’ Quartet [Rob Clutton/Kevin Turcotte/Tania Gill/Mackenzie Longpré]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-08-27 (Thursday). [more info]

Army Girls (By Divine Right / Amelia Maxwell) / The Drake Underground 2025-08-28 (Friday). $22.63, 19+. [more info]

Exit Points #75 (feat. Julie Lassonde/Lisa Santoprete/Yvan Sheremetieff/Andrew Chiappetta/Woolworm, Ontario / Kavi/Roa Lee/Sahil Gopal/Michael Palumbo/Awstad Afraaz Adam Mulji) / Array Space 2025-08-28 (Friday). $15-20 advance, $20 door. [more info]

Amrita [Anita Katakkar & Kayla Milmine] / DROM Taberna 2026-08-30 (Sunday – 5:30 p.m.). $pwyc. [FB event]

Jazz Rat Mondays (feat. Patrick Smith/Jen Lo/Mark Godfrey/Jon Catanus) / Dina's Tavern 2026-08-31 (Monday). $pwyc. [more info]

Drones Over Dufferin (biG kNiFE) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-01 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [more info]

Equinox and Solstice Residency (feat. Ghostlight) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-02 (Wednesday). $pwyx, sugg. $15. [FB event]

Humbucker Music’s Residency (feat. Humbucker Music [Nick Storring/Mira Martin-Gray/Colin Cudmore/Jason Doell] / Brian Ruryk) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-04 (Friday). [FB event]

Adjacent Spheres (feat. Michael Davidson/Angelica Zavala/Michael Herring/Miles Cakebread-Kraus) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-09-06 (Sunday). [more info]

Liam Cole (Westelaken / Wishbone Zoë) / The Rat's Nest 2026-09-11 (Friday). $15/pwyc

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

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Shows this week:

Jazz Rat Mondays: Music of Chick Corea (feat. Patrick Smith/Kae Murphy/Evan Miles/Ben Dwyer/Lowell Whitty/Brandon Davis/Jon Catanus) / Dina's Tavern 2026-08-17 (Monday). $pwyc. [more info]

Doug Tielli & Owen Kurtz (fossa séu/Yoshi(A)/Colin Cudmore) / Wenona Lodge 2026-08-18 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [more info]

Allison Au Quartet with Alex Samaras [Alex Samaras/Allison Au/Todd Pentney/Jon Maharaj/Fabio Ragnelli] / The Rex 2026-08-19–22 (Wednesday–Saturday). $20-$30. [more info]

Summer Music in the Garden: Persian Psychedelia (feat. Neda Mohamadpour with Chris Pruden/Caleb Klager/Mack Longpre) / Toronto Music Garden 2025-08-20 (Thursday). $free, outdoors, all ages + family-friendly. [more info]

Free Improvisation Thursdays (feat. Brent Tanemura/Tania Gill/Lauchlin Wood/Aidan Miller) / Water to Wine 2026-08-20 (Thursday). $pwyc. [more info]

Makam Nights (feat. Didem Başar) / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2025-08-20 (Thursday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Ronley Teper's Lipliners / Drom Taberna – Patio 2026-08-21 (Friday)

4 Weeks for Sonny Rollins (feat. Mark Hundevad Quartet [Shawn Nykwist/Chris Pruden/James Thompson/Mark Hundevad]) / CONTXT by Trane 2026-08-22 (Saturday). $30.79 advance, $40 door. [FB event]

Partitions illimitées / Unlimited Scores (feat. Julie Lassonde/Sonia Leung/Sully Malaeb Proulx/Marilyn Yogarajah) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-08-23 (Sunday – 12:30 p.m.). $pwyc (sugg. $10-$20). [more info]

Mark Hundevad & Mike Gennaro / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-08-23 (Sunday – early). $pwyc

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Bandcamp corner:

• Sometimes it's a real joy when a band you hadn't heard from for years suddenly "goes live" and posts something to Bandcamp — just like this "new" track from beloved garage-pop duo Army Girls, who have announced their first show in a decade or so. (see listing above!)

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It happened this week...

• ...on August 22, 2015 at Handlebar.

Imaginary Flesh - Seven Haab Out of Xi Boötis [drone section]

• ...on August 23, 2015 at The Cavern Bar.

Mirapolis - The Striga

[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: Mirapolis

Artist: Mirapolis

Songs: Raga + Louange à l'éternité de Jésus [composer: Olivier Messiaen]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge ("416 Toronto Creative Improvisers Festival" – Night 3), November 4, 2016.

Mirapolis - Raga

Mirapolis - Louange à l'éternité de Jésus

The last time I saw this exploratory trio (Noah Sherman, drums; Luan Phung, guit; Chris Rennie, tenor sax) wasn't in a super-great listening context, so maybe it's not surprising that I heard increased musical depths in the more refined Southern Cross environs. And it's hard to say if it was my increased familiarity or the musicians' several months down the road, but they came across as more organic, and not so much just "playing the dots". They moved from polite and in sync to sudden outbursts — the originals were more rangy, but I'm glad they're still also including their meditative slice o' Messiaen in their set.

Recording: Mirapolis

Artist: Mirapolis

Song: The Striga^*

Recorded at The Cavern Bar, August 23, 2015.

Mirapolis - The Striga

I'd heard from friends who had been that The Cavern Bar had an unusual vibe for a gig, and this first visit confirmed that. Off the usual music venue grid on Church Street, the basement room is as much a watering hole for patrons of the hostel above as a destination for music seekers, leading to some random interactions and moments of bands playing to as many blissfully indifferent patrons as folks there for the show. As with openers Bears & Children, I was familiar with one-third of this young unit, having seen drummer Noah Sherman in action previously. Joined by Luan Phung (guit) and Chris Rennie (tenor sax) the group was pushing in a few different directions, sounding, at a couple points, like Tortoise attempting to tackle "A Love Supreme". That questing quality (which also lead to an intriguing cover of Olivier Messiaen's "Louange à l'éternité de Jésus") was the band's best asset, compensating for a few moments of lingering jazz-school precision fustiness.

^* Thanks to Noah for passing along the title to this one!