Recording: FIN

Artist: FIN

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at CineCycle ("Blockspace II Presents: Pre-NYE Extravaganza"), December 30, 2014.

FIN - unknown

This night was a pre-NYE party assembled by the Blockspace collective (Laura Dobson, Julie Reich, Nick Leviathann) that transformed CineCycle into a DIY label bazaar and filled it with art installations plus a full slate of live music. It was also a release party for the Reich-compiled Offerings mixtape, the last gesture from the local showpaper before a soon-to-be-announced transformation.

Rebecca "Fin" Simonetti's musical works have included Wet Nurse, a collaboration with Alex Mackenzie. Her solo setup starts from a similar place technologically with the latter's Petra Glynt, though Simonetti employs her loops/samples/tracks in a manner that's a bit more straight-up "pop" on the surface. (EMA might be another point of worthy comparison.) But look below and there's the same interplay of sexuality and menace that Simonetti explores in her visual art. No wonder, then, that she faced the crowd wearing a football player's shoulder pads, hinting not only at the need for protection but a willingness to tackle any challenges.

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

Recording: Doom Tickler

Artist: Doom Tickler

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at CineCycle ("Blockspace II Presents: Pre-NYE Extravaganza"), December 30, 2014.

Doom Tickler - unknown

This night was a pre-NYE party assembled by the Blockspace collective (Laura Dobson, Julie Reich, Nick Leviathann) that transformed CineCycle into a DIY label bazaar and filled it with art installations plus a full slate of live music. It was also a release party for the Reich-compiled Offerings mixtape, the last gesture from the local showpaper before a soon-to-be-announced transformation.

Artist Leslie Predy's musical project has a sound that embodies both parts of its name. Using nothing but her voice and a loop pedal, Predy builds grunts, moans and screams into song-shapes, their inherent gruffness co-existing with a certain whimsical quality. In 2014, the recent prominence of Tanya Tagaq makes this seem like a reasonable path to pop, but it should be noted that Predy has been making music as Doom Tickler for several years now.

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

Recording: Matt Dunn / Colin Fisher / Brandon Valdivia

Artist: Matt Dunn / Colin Fisher / Brandon Valdivia

Song: [excerpt from an improvisation]

Recorded at Toronto Laser Services (Offerings 1 Year Anniversary Celebration), June 24, 2012.

Dunn-Fisher-Valdivia - [excerpt from an improvisation]

Full review to follow. Although billed as a solo performance from Matt Dunn's Earth House project, this set turned out to be a collaboration with Not the Wind, Not the Flag's Brandon Valdivia and Colin Fisher. It had been a while since I'd seen Fisher playing sax, so that was a bit of treat. This section features his sax work along with Dunn's "cosmic wah" guitar.

The occasion, meanwhile, was the first anniversary celebration of Offerings, the defiantly offline journal dedicated to "documenting Toronto's anomalous music scene". It was a chance to reflect on how things never "just happen" — there's a lot of love and hard work invested by the folks behind the mag (Deirdre O'Sullivan, Andrew Zukerman, Isla Craig, Mani Mazinani, Tad Michalak and many more) that build our community. Long may their offerings continue.