Monday Roundup #291

Concert announcements:

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

Masahiro Takahashi presents Chanoyu (feat. Masahiro Takahashi / Trustfall / Nick Storring) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-08-21 (Friday). [more info]

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]

The AMBiENT PiNG & Imaginary North present: 27 Years of Ambient Love! (feat. Cheryl O / Nanotopia / Jim Field) / Handlebar 2026-08-24 (Monday). $PWYC. [more info]

Joni Void ["two sets of improvised electronics and sample-based soundscapes, merging into an exclusive collaborative finale between both acts"] (Liz Hysen) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-08-30 (Sunday – noon). [more info]

Cosmic Homeostasis XXXIII / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-08-30 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.). $pwyc, all-ages + family-friendly. [FB event]

Track Could Bend #120 (feat. Dave Grenon's Indistinctive Gait w/ Ayesha Lye / Caution Wet Floor Signs) / Wenona Lodge 2026-09-01 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Not Dead Yet presents (feat. Otto Benson / Potions) / Monarch Tavern 2026-09-08 (Tuesday). $27.82, 19+. [tickets + 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]

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]

Thiante: Spiritual Senegal (feat. Ibrahima Diop / Seydina Ndiaye / Talla Kane) / Trinity-St. Paul's Centre 2026-10-17 (Saturday). $25 (advanced)/$30 (doors), all ages. [FB event]

Not Dead Yet presents (feat. Weird Nightmare [Hoopla record release shows]) / Osler Records 2025-11-18&19 (Wednesday & Thursday). $24.94, 19+. [tickets + more info]

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

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Shows this week:

Toronto Electronic Music Open Mic (feat. Ibrahim / Jades James / Ben Green / Chin Beats / gaussian_acid / Todd MacDonald / A/K/C / Inchoate / Jonah Gryfe / Phurniture / Broken Pink Umbrella / Big Steve / mylesofdude / Gruve Collective) / Handlebar 2026-08-10 (Monday) [more info]

Harry Vetro and Friends [Harrison Argatoff/Jay Yoo/Jack Johnston/Harry Vetro] / The Emmet Ray 2026-08-10 (Monday). $20. [more info]

new works for improvising musicians (feat. Josh Cole/Lina Allemano/Jaron Freeman-Fox/Nick Storring/Owen Kurtz) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-08-10 (Monday). $10/notaflof

Rondo Projects (feat. Ehsan Sadigh & Dhaivat Jani) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-08-11 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [more info]

Kiwi Jr. / Sonic Boom Records 2026-08-12 (Wednesday – 6 p.m.). $free, all-ages. [FB event]

Brodie West presents (feat. Brodie West Double Basses Quintet [Brodie West/Patrick O'Reiily/Nick Fraser/Josh Cole/Rob Clutton]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-08-12 (Wednesday – early). $pwyc

Joyshape (Mira Martin-Gray) / Houndstooth 2025-08-12 (Wednesday). $15/PWYC

Never Was [Brandon Davis/Bea Labikova/Racha Moukalled/Patrick O'Reilly/Adrian Russouw/Joe Sorbara] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-08-12 (Wednesday). [more info]

YEARN ["a powerful one-hour work for solo piano by Dutch composer Lieke van der Voort"] (feat. Cheryl Duvall) / Canadian Music Centre 2026-08-13 (Thursday). $20 General Admission, $15 Arts Workers

Free Improvisation Thursdays (feat. Brent Tanemura/Lauchlin Wood/Mason Wallington/Nick Fraser) / Water to Wine 2025-08-13 (Thursday). $pwyc. [more info]

Kurt Newman presents (feat. The Binoculars) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-08-13 (Thursday). $pwyc

Constellating (feat. Mas Aya & Khôra) / Capsules Artist Resources 2026-08-14 (Friday). $11.98. [tickets + more info]

Shaaane (Battle Milk / Sound Effects / Dame Cook) / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2025-08-14 (Friday). $10, 19+. [more info]

Diane Roblin’s Life Force [Diane Roblin/George Koller/Tim Shia/John Johnson/Alex Dean/John MacLeod] / The Rex 2026-08-15 (Saturday – 2 p.m.). $pwyc. [more info]

Re:Stacks (feat. Stacks) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-08-15 (Saturday). [FB event]

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Bandcamp corner:

• A mere twenty years (!) after the release of T.O. freak-folk masterpiece Half-Eaten Guitar, it was a bit of a surprise to see the sudden appearance of a new Wyrd Visions album. On my first quick investigation, I note that at least some of the material was stuff that was being played live a decade ago, but the timeless infinite depths of a Wyrd Visions jam are welcome in any year/for every ear.

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It happened this week...

• ...on August 12, 2016 at Pia Bouman School for Ballet (SummerWorks: Sound Circuitz).

Special Costello - Late Night

• ...on August 13, 2016 at Pia Bouman School for Ballet (SummerWorks: High Blood).

DATU x HATAW - World Gong Crazy

• ...on August 13, 2016 at Burdock Music Hall.

Eric Chenaux - Skullsplitter

• ...on August 14, 2016 at Array Space (Somewhere There's Second Sunday Series).

Ali Berkok + Diane Roblin - [third piece]

[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: ADO + BUDi + Special Costello

Artist: ADO + BUDi + Special Costello

Songs: Structured Improvisation + [excerpt from second piece]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge, February 18, 2020.

ADO + BUDi + Special Costello - Structured Improvisation

ADO + BUDi + Special Costello - [excerpt from second piece]

Covering Karen Ng's regular night in her absence, Jeremy Costello + co. put together this evening of improvised sounds, playing first separately and then as a trio. Together, they explored a lot of terrain, starting with the first piece here which was based around a backing track prepared by drummer Nathan Doucet and previously unheard by the others. Sounding like some debased M-Base (or maybe Prime Time going for a ride on Sun Ra's spaceship) this turned into some fiery outsider funk, with Nick Dourado spraying soprano sax notes around. He'd move up to his bigger horn for the second selection here, leaning into some Coltrane riffs.

Recording: Special Costello

Artist: Special Costello

Song: [excerpt]^*

Recorded at Wenona Lodge, February 18, 2020.

Special Costello - [excerpt]

Covering Karen Ng's regular night in her absence, Jeremy Costello + co. put together this evening of improvised sounds, playing first separately and then as a trio. Jeremy Costello lead off with this extended song-piece, layering beats and then vocals over ambient keyboard sounds.

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

Recording: Fiver

Artist: Fiver

Songs: Sick Gladiola + It Won't Be Long (And I'll Be Hating You) [Johnny Paycheck cover]

Recorded at Workman Arts, April 20, 2019.

Fiver - Sick Gladiola

Fiver - It Won't Be Long (And I'll Be Hating You)

Previewing the next phase of her Fiver project, Simone Schmidt unveiled both some new songs (although a few of the "new" tunes have been kickin' around for a little while) and a new set of collaborators, basically bringing in Special Costello's Jeremy Costello, Nick Dourado, and Bianca Palmer. This is a backing band where any of the members have the skills and charisma to grab the spotlight (and Costello, indeed, got a vocal spotlight of his own with the Johnny Paycheck song heard here) and slip seamlessly from smooth countrypolitan to wall-of-sound ballads to funky rolls. Although geographically separated, expect more to come from this new alignment.

[Meanwhile, Schmidt will be revisiting her Audible Songs from Rockwood material in a theatre-friendly format at the upcoming SummerWorks Festival. There will be five shows between August 10th and 18th, with tickets going on sale next week.]

Recording: Special Costello, Budi & Bonka

Artist: Special Costello, Budi & Bonka

Songs: unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), April 16, 2018.

Special Costello with Budi & Bonka - unknown

Bonka with Special Costello & Budi - unknown

Budi with Special Costello & Bonka - unknown

Hot on the heels of manifesting as the backbone of Beverly Glenn-Copeland's Indigo Rising, three of the group's east-cost core reconvened at the Tranzac for this late afternoon gathering. A sort of round-robin approach to collaborative soundscape pop, Jeremy Costello, Nick Dourado (a.k.a. Budi), and Bianca Palmer (a.k.a. Bonka) each took turns backing the others as they sketched out their complementary musical ideas, the mellow hang-out-in-the-den kinda vibe suiting the material most excellently.

^* Does anyone know the titles to these? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Special Costello

Artist: Special Costello

Song: Late Night

Recorded at Pia Bouman School for Ballet (SummerWorks: Sound Circuitz), August 12, 2016.

Special Costello - Late Night

Sometimes, a single moment of flotsam on the pop-culture sea can get lodged in the back of your head and become a personal beacon that endures for years. Like, say, the image of a bird and fish falling in love in an early computer-animation clip. That scene, and others from the Mind's Eye computer animation demos that were repackaged for a generation of Canadian teens as YTV's Short Circutz, was the inspiration for Basement Studio Project (Halloway Jones, Natalie Logan and Heather Rappard), who turned the theatre space into an analogue reconstruction of a computer animated landscape. Giving a huge amount of depth to the room, the audience were welcomed to wander (or dance) around the performers.

Although Jeremy Costello's project works on a different terrain than Baby Cages, the two sets were fine complements for each other. Costello's slo-mo r&b-influenced new romantic constructions were in no hurry to get where they were going, stretching out with a sort of languid satisfaction, though Nick Dourado, on drums and sax, helped nudge things along.