Monday Roundup #66

Someday this space might be mostly concert listings again, but for now Monday roundups might include a romp through the MFS archives, some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!).

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Video hits:

• Amazing visuals + beautiful sounds from Brandon Valdivia in this new Mas Aya performance:

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Livestream nation:

• The AMBiENT PiNG streams a free concert with Mikrosleep + PHOLDE [Knurl's Alan Bloor] live on Twitch on Sunday (April 24th) at 9pm ET. (The show will be archived at that url for two weeks after the event, as well.)

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Concert announcements:

Joe's birthday show! (feat. Paul Newman & Heraclitus Akimbo / Wenderly Park [Fahmid Nibesh & Heraclitus Akimbo]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-04-25 (Monday – 6 to 8 p.m.!) [FB event]

Not Dead Yet presents (feat. ---__--___ [Seth Graham/More Eaze] / Man Made Hill / Wolfgang Gray) / The Baby G 2022-04-27 (Wednesday). $17.70 advance, 19+. [more info]

Music By Harry and Furlong (feat. The Search For Eternal Happiness Part 2.0 [Harry Vetro/Caleb Klager/Patrick O'Reilly] / Andrew Furlong/Robert Grieve) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-04-27 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Corpusse (Myke Adaptiv) / Sellers & Newel 2022-05-12 (Thursday)

Audiopollination 97 (feat. Diane Roblin/Curtis Whittaker/Kayla Milmine / David Story/Dan Pitt/Brittany Pit / Bill Gilliam/Bill McBirnie/Laura Gillis / Robbie Ahmed/Teneshia Samuel / Apollo Architect) / Array Space 2022-05-13 (Friday). $10 or PWYC, will also be livestreamed. [FB event]

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Shows this week:

Dan Pitt Quintet [Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Patrick Smith/Dan Pitt/Alex Fournier/Nick Fraser] / The Rex 2022-04-18 (Monday) [FB event]

CMC Presents (feat. Allison Cameron / Hauptmeier-Recker Duo) / Canadian Music Centre 2022-04-19 (Tuesday). $20, $15 arts workers/ seniors, $10 students.

Ornate Presents: We're Back! (feat. Madeleine Ertel/Patrick O'Reilly/PT Sandberg/Alison Kerfoot/Special Mystery Guest / Jon Kay/Andrew Kay/Alex Fournier/Nick Fraser) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-04-19 (Tuesday) [FB event]

A Josh Cole Quintet [Jim Lewis/Ryan Driver/Rob Clutton/Josh Cole/Blake Howard] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-04-20 (Wednesday)

ALIVE (feat. Vallens / Praises / Kali Horse) / The Garrison 2022-04-21 (Thursday). $5.00 Advance, 19+. [FB event]

Eldritch Priest/Ryan Driver/Rob Clutton [Omphaloskepsis Halocline Trance double LP launch!]/ The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-04-22 (Friday) [FB event]

You In Mind: Sanctuary ~concert~ ["Enter a world where live instrumentation and freestyle vocal improvisation share a stream of consciousness."] (feat. Anh Phung/Christina Smith/Empara/Maxh/Pothound/Quezal/Savannah Taylor/Vixu) / The Music Gallery 2022-04-23 (Saturday). In-person capacity for this event is extremely limited/livestream available. [FB event]

Class of 2022 (feat. Breeze / PONY / Bliss Fields / Only God Forgives) / The Horseshoe 2022-04-23 (Saturday). $13 advance, 19+. [FB event]

Batuki Music Society presents (feat. Lorraine Klaasen) / Alliance Française – Spadina Theatre 2022-04-23 (Saturday). $28. [FB event]

HAPPY SUNDAYS (feat. Omhouse / Robin Hatch / Lydia Persaud) / The Baby G 2022-04-24 (Sunday). $free, 19+. [FB event]

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Bandcamp corner:

• Oh, just Doc Dunn on Sub Pop, with a guest appearance by J Mascis. No biggie.

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It happened this week...

• ...on April 21, 2011 at Sonic Boom Records.

Ron Sexsmith - The Reason Why

• ...on April 23, 2011 at Cameron House (back room).

RatTail - Soon Enough

[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: The Pinecones

Artist: The Pinecones

Songs: Ooh! + Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) [Edison Lighthouse cover, feat. Ron Sexsmith]

Recorded at The Piston, February 6, 2014.

The Pinecones - Ooh!

The Pinecones and Ron Sexsmith - Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes

Full review to follow. If one thought that smaller labels operate from a notion of promoting brand identity or serving narrow demographics, then it might seem counter-intuitive to see that the new Pinecones album is out on the Reel Cod imprint, which put out ace albums last year from Fresh Snow and Mimico. But if you instead simply assume that they're releasing music that they think is good without concern for those things, this makes a whole lotta sense. The Pinecones, meanwhile, continue to generate power pop delights as if bellbottoms had never gone out of style. And to make the album release even more of a special occasion, they had a series of friends join them on stage, including this one from a singer who appeared under pseudonym "Rex Songsmith".

Recording: Ron Sexsmith

Artist: Ron Sexsmith

Song: The Reason Why

Recorded at Sonic Boom Records, April 21, 2011.

Ron Sexsmith - The Reason Why

My notes for this set can be found here.

In-store: Ron Sexsmith

Ron Sexsmith

Sonic Boom Records. Thursday, April 21, 2011.

I've listened to some Ron Sexsmith in my time. "My time", in this case, ending somewhere in the middle part of the last decade when I was increasingly finding it difficult to distinguish one album from the next. Being a plainspoken singer-songwriter type can be tricky in that way. From the outset Sexsmith has been widely praised as a songsmith, successful because pretty much every one of his songs is about something, and says what it's about — an earnest straightforwardness with a clear thesis statement, like an idealized undergraduate essay. But that's never translated into anything much more than niche success, which has frequently and publicly itched at Sexsmith.

Such are the depths of his struggles with his own success-level and relevance that for his new album Long Player Late Bloomer Sexsmith put himself in the hands of über-mersh producer Bob Rock. Listening to the album gives the impression that was a very bad move, as Rock's over-busy production kinda leaves a goopy layer of commercially-ambitious schlock over some nice songs. Ron Sexsmith should never be autotuned — his voice on the album sounds plasticky, like an aging thespian after too many facelifts.¹

Anyway, before heading across the street to play the album release show at Lee's Palace with the full band, Sexsmith dropped into Sonic Boom's basement for a classic in-store with a stripped-down solo acoustic set. This was about the right level of commitment for me at this stage of the game, and there was a nice crowd on hand that must have felt the same. "Wow, I didn't know anyone was coming. This is great," commented the frequently self-depreciating singer, dropping hints about past in-stores that weren't so successful.

The set lead off with "Get In Line" and "The Reason Why", the first couple songs from the new album. Those both came off well, and "No Help at All" was especially nice in its stripped-down setting. "I wanted to write something like Bill Withers would write," Sexsmith explained. Keeping that in mind might help to explain why Rock's schmaltzy arrangement actually serves the song fairly well on the album, coming off like a prime piece of AM gold. Thirty years back, songs like this would have made Sexsmith a CanCon prince, like another Terry Jacks.

The quick set finished with "Love Shines", which would also lend its title to a documentary about the recording of his album. One could get the sense that Sexsmith was drawing from his own frustrations here: "In every nowhere town / There are somewhere dreams / Patiently holding out / To grab the brass ring". As an artistic underdog story, it's really hard not to be on Sexsmith's side, and I can't begrudge him if the sort of gloss that alienates me gets him some security. But for me, the bare essence of the songs from just the man and his guitar was far more convincing than Rock's over-busy production.² In the end, I was wholly glad I came out, even if Sexsmith's trajectory might limit me to being more of a sympathizer than a fan.

Listen to a track from this set here.

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¹ This album would go on to make it to the Polaris Prize shortlist, but quite honestly it deserved no such honour. One was left with the impression that the jury was either celebrating mediocrity in a stereotypically Canadian way or giving Sexsmith a sort of lifetime achievement nod.

² In the final analysis, this album must have had some sort of positive impact for Sexsmith, as his just-announced local show (May 17, 2012) will be in the spacious digs at Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

Collaborations #1: Video Round-up

With the frightening immediacy of NXNE out of the way for now, I'll soon enough be returning to my more usual place in the gig/time continuum. (Coming next week — reviews from 2011). While I get caught up on sleep and put the finishing touches on the next couple posts, how about some filler?

Despite my natural inclination to want to retreat to my wilderness cabin, remote from humanity, and peck away at my manual typewriter to craft my manifestos, keeping this thing running tends to put me in contact with folks. And as it turns out, one of the most satisfying parts of the whole operation comes when I can pass a recording back to a band:

And sometimes they show up in interesting ways:

I have a lot of respect for the people who faithfully document the music scene on video — they have a lot more stuff to worry about when they're at a show than I do. I've considered it a badge of honour to be able to help out with a couple of the city's best, including published author Colin Medley:

And I've also pitched in with Graeme Phillips and his army of camera operators:

These guys work in the present tense — a lot of this stuff I haven't even caught up to yet. Hopefully there'll be more to come!