Recording: Cole/Cole/Rampersaud/Fisher

Artist: Spencer Cole/Josh Cole/Nicole Rampersaud/Colin Fisher

Songs: [three excerpts]

Recorded at Café Pamenar, August 28, 2018.

Spencer Cole/Josh Cole/Nicole Rampersaud/Colin Fisher - [set 1, 1st piece excerpt]

Spencer Cole/Josh Cole/Nicole Rampersaud/Colin Fisher - [set 1, 2nd piece excerpt]

Spencer Cole/Josh Cole/Nicole Rampersaud/Colin Fisher - [set 2, 1st piece excerpt]

Outside, it was like soup — a day that wasn't so extremely hot as overpoweringly humid. Late into evening it still felt super sticky-clammy outside, the barest hint of a breeze only making the night feel hotter. Out on the patio, this quartet conveyed all of that musically, with some sultry improvised fusion jams featuring bursts of excitement overtaken by dreamy languidity. Essentially an expended version of a trio that I'd seen the month before at The Tranzac, but adding a fourth corner and some damp, heavy atmosphere gave everything a rather different vibe.

Recording: Cole/Cole/Fisher

Artist: Spencer Cole/Josh Cole/Colin Fisher

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), July 18, 2018.

Spencer Cole/Josh Cole/Colin Fisher - [excerpt]

With Josh Cole and Colin Fisher sitting down for some cerebral funk problem-solving, there was a whiff of Body Help to this set, though indeed Spencer Cole's different approach behind the kit pushed things in some different directions. Drifty pitchshifted sideroads eventually find their way for a brief stopover in jazztown before leaving in the slow lane, laden with heavy atmospheric clouds looming overhead.

Recording: Weaves

Artist: Weaves

Songs: Walkaway + My Generation [The Who cover]

Recorded at Artscape Daniels Spectrum (Venus Fest), September 30, 2017.

Weaves - Walkaway

Weaves - My Generation

The idea of a "feminist music festival" might bring to mind an earnest folkie gathering, maybe off in a forest somewhere, but this first annual event was nothing like that, using inclusive and intersectional ideals as guideposts to programming a day of wide-ranging musics. The brainchild of local musician Aerin Fogel, Venus Fest was an ambitious undertaking, presenting a dozen performances in Daniels Spectrum's spacious multi-purpose Regent Park digs. And it all came together quite wonderfully, highlighting a diverse slate of mostly local musicians and incorporating flourishes like Vanessa Rieger's live-mixed visuals. With this first festival completed, there's a new "sessions" series starting up, and lots of energy to build on the positive vibes this day released.

It'd been more than a year since I last saw Weaves in action, then on the cusp of their first album's release just as this show served as a preview of their second. Those months in between not only saw them spending a lot of time touring the world, but somehow also gave them enough time to turn over their setlist. Besides all the new songs that the band unleashed, it was interesting to see a few incremental changes in their live approach, including an extended cameo by Fake Palms' Michael le Riche on second guitar as well as increased backing vocal duties for Zach Bines. In the blistering set-closing Who cover, he got to play Lenny Kaye to Jasmyn Burke's Patti Smith, providing the sturdy bones of the song as Burke took to the crowd with a monologue that re-positioned the song as an anthem for her generation.

[Weaves will be performing alongside the likes of Feist and Lido Pimienta at the New Constellations Tour's closing stop in town at The Opera House, Wednesday, December 20th.]

Recording: Weaves

Artist: Weaves

Song: One More

Recorded at Toronto Reference Library (Make Some Noise 10th Anniversary), April 9, 2016.

Weaves - One More

Collecting and showcasing music by local, independent musicians, Make Some Noise has celebrated the shared spaces of the city's libraries with free, all-ages concerts for nearly a decade now. (I have rather fond memories of seeing Shad, The Old Soul, Great Lake Swimmers, Elliott Brood and LAL at the Reference Library at one of the series' launch shows back in November '06.) For this birthday party, the Make Some Noise crew teamed up with Buzz Records to bring some music to the warmly rounded contours of the library's cavernous atrium.

The crowd took in Twist's opening set fanned out across the wide arc of the atrium's floor as if they were enjoying a casual day in the park, but it only took a word of suggestion from Jasmyn Burke to get them on their feel and pressing in as Weaves got going. Just back in town from some time on the road, the band were telepathically tight and it felt like a real treat to see 'em at just this moment, poised for something on the cusp of their first full-length's release. That's gonna take the band away from T.O. for a good stretch of time, so it felt nice to see 'em lurching on their home turf before the rest of the world claims them.

Recording: Margarita Night

Artist: Margarita Night

Song: Focus Group

Recorded at Array Space ("Somewhere There's Second Sunday Series"), September 14, 2014.

Margarita Night - Focus Group

Full review to follow. Margarita Night don't know any songs, but they do take requests. In fact, they insist on them. Cuddly noise explosions (noisy cuddle explosions?) courtesy of Thom Gill, Colin Fisher and Weaves' Spencer Cole. The songs tended to end when all three members surprised each other with a simultaneous sudden stop that would cause them to break out in laughter.

Recording: Weaves

Artist: Weaves

Song: Birds and Bees

Recorded at Artscape Gibraltar Point (WL 614: "Wavelength Island Show"), September 7, 2014.

Weaves - Birds and Bees

A fine day out on the island brought one last burst of that summer feelin' — and a reminder of times gone by. There was the formal announcement that Wavelength would be returning to the island for a full-fledged festival next summer, but the here-and-now was well-served by the bands on hand. Weaves was a definite highlight of the day, clicking on all cylinders performance-wise and sounding particularly on their game — and the newer tunes like this one are really integrated into the set by now. (A special nod should also be given to sound tech Dwayne Slack, who made AGP's backyard sound better than most clubs.)

Recording: Weaves

Artist: Weaves

Song: Closer

Recorded at SummerWorks – Lower Ossington Theatre Mainspace ("Weaves Through Time"), August 10, 2014.

Weaves - Closer

Full review to follow. Weaves' shows have been building up in spectacle and theatricality, so it was rather exciting to see things kicked up to the next level for this SummerWorks event, thanks to work by choreographer Allison Cummings and set designer Hanna Puley. With flower-creatures dangling from the ceiling, the environment suggested an earthy fecundity, while the strands extending from Jasmyn Burke's luminescent hoop-dress were like the hands of a giant timepiece — a biological clock, if you will, the stands getting just as entwined and wrapped up in each other as they do in our own lives. The accompanying dancers' motions suggested death and rebirth and by the end, the audience was called down from the stands to mix in freely with them.

Musically, the night was equally impressive, with the band mixing in even more new material than we've been hearing at recent shows. Guitarist Morgan Waters impressed as always, pulling out funky squawk-bursts that often doubled Burke's vocals. Perhaps appropriate to the environs, this felt like the birth — or the blooming — of something very vital. (And for those who like to track the growth of our local artists through time, this was a wonderful chance to compare how much things have changed since the previous time Burke played this very same room at SummerWorks, four years ago.)

[N.B.: Weaves will be playing Wavelength's free Island Show, this Sunday (Sept. 7th) at Artscape Gibraltar Point.]

Bonus! Here's some video footage to give you a sense of what was going on here beyond the musical element:

Recording: Weaves

Artist: Weaves

Song: Buttercup + Candy

Recorded at CineCycle, April 26, 2014.

Weaves - Buttercup

Weaves - Candy

Full review to follow. When you're in the middle of it all, you don't always notice a band's constant transformation as much, but when you step back — when they put out an album, say — it's sometimes really striking how much growth there has been. Kudos, then, to Jasmyn Burke who has raised her game in so many areas, matching songwriting innovations with a captivating emergence as a frontwoman. This packed-in night at a boiling hot CineCycle felt like a joyful culmination of the past months — and even hinted that there's more to come, debuting some new songs and thickening their sound with the addition of Bram Gielen on keybs for a few songs.

Recording: Weaves

Artist: Weaves

Song: Know About It

Recorded at Adelaide Hall ("Wavelength FOURTEEN" – Night 2), February 14, 2014.

Weaves - Know About It

You can read my notes for this show here.

Recording: Weaves

Artist: Weaves

Song: Take a Dip

Recorded at The Great Hall (Long Winter: Year 2, Volume 3), January 10, 2013.

Weaves - Take a Dip

Full review to follow. With jam-packed rooms and three stages going at once at a few points, there's just no way you can see everything at a Long Winter any more. You just have to sorta dive in and see where the current takes you.

Playing to a sardine-packed Conversation Room, Weaves blasted and rumbled the crowd with their wriggly popsongs, each received like an old hit. "It's, like, noise-soul!" shouted the dude behind me to his friend.

Recording: Our Founders

Artist: Our Founders

Song: White Beetle

Recorded at The Piston (Wavelength 576), October 3, 2013.

Our Founders - White Beetle

Full review to follow. Michael Olsen (who has played with The Hidden Cameras and many other notable local bands) celebrated the launch of The Nines, the debut album from his songwriting project Our Founders, playing guitar, keyb and even a bit of cello. Live, he was joined by a couple other flexible players with similarly busy collaborative backgrounds. Keyboard player Ghislain Aucoin is probably best known for his work in Triple Gangers, while drummer Spencer Cole can be found in Moves, Weaves, and several other projects. There were a couple spots where you could tell the trio were still finding their feet as a live unit but this was a fine introduction to the sophisticated pop that they've dubbed "outsider adult contemporary".

Recording: Weaves

Artist: Weaves

Song: Crumble^*

Recorded at Daniels Spectrum ("Wavelength 570: The Regent Park Courtyard Session"), July 26, 2013.

Weaves - Crumble

Full review to follow. Wavelength is at its best when it takes its shows to new places and broadens the audience's musical perceptions. Both of those were in play at this outdoor show in the beautiful new courtyard behind Regent Park's Daniels Spectrum. That made it a good night for the "Wavelength crowd" to head to a spot that's off the regular show-going grid and for the locals to wander through and find some music in their backyard. Hopefully there'll be more chances to return to this vital new cultural hub.

Jasmyn Burke and co. are settling into their artfully-bent grooves — like an elastic band, they can go from stretched out to wobbly right in before your eyes, rocking a groove at either extreme. The warbling noises at the start of this one come from Burke "playing" her microphone like an instrument, generating feedback warbles by fluttering it in front of the PA as she paced around the front of the crowd.

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