Showing posts with label tryal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tryal. Show all posts

Monday, May 3, 2021

Monday Roundup #16

In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — 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!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.


Video hits:

  • "In the pandemic year of 2020, saxophonist Colin Fisher and filmmaker Ilyse Krivel searched out enchanting and resonant spaces around Ontario. Colin Fisher plays the instrument in improvisational dialogue with the discovered spaces."

It happened this week...

  • ...on May 9, 2015 at Blocks Final Concert in The Tranzac's Main Hall.

The Phonemes - Pain Perdu

  • ... on May 7, 2016 at SHHHHH – Day 2, in the basement of the Toronto Public Library's Parkdale Branch.

Retired - Turncoat/Medical Jargon

[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.]


Bandcamp corner:

  • Oh, say — don't forget it's Bandcamp Friday this week, so get yourself ready! Here's a couple things on my list I'll be grabbing:

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Recording: TRYAL

Artist: TRYAL

Songs: He Needs Me [composer: Harry Nilsson] + Road Game

Recorded at Burdock Music Hall, November 13, 2018.

TRYAL - He Needs Me

TRYAL - Road Game

In the between-albums phase, Alex Samaras and his TRYAL crew are still mixing faves from the Companion album (celebrating its anniversary at this show!) with newer pieces (such as "Sister Talk" and "Alouette") and delightful novelties like the lovely little tune from the Popeye soundtrack heard here. Starting the set with half the band seated on the stage floor, this had the feeling of a pyjama party — and there was a bit more sonic tweaking as well, with Matthew Pencer pushing things further into electronic abstraction with some textured laptop bleepbloops.

[Alex Samaras will be the featured performer (alongside Lara Dodds-Eden and Bram Gielen) at the next Riparian Acoustics-curated CMC Presents show, Thursday, January 17th at Chalmers House.]

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Recording: TRYAL

Artist: TRYAL

Song: Companion

Recorded at the Jam Factory, April 15, 2018.

TRYAL - Companion

Continuing to hone the sophisticated, layered pop found on the project's album, from the opening strains of "He Needs Me" (from the Popeye soundtrack), there was whimsy and meta-commentary layered into vocalist Alex Samaras' lamentations. The band this time included Johnny Spence (keyb), Josh Cole (bass), Christine Bougie (guitar) and Phil Melanson (percussion/electronics) and the crew was now incorporating the background vocals of Robin Dann and Felicity Williams and turning over the setlist with some brand-new tracks.

[TRYAL will be part of TONE's Saturday night show (June 9th at Burdock) alongside Jessica Moss and the recently-reactivated Manticore.]

Thursday, December 21, 2017

Recording: TRYAL

Artist: TRYAL

Song: Come On

Recorded at Burdock Music Hall, November 12, 2017.

TRYAL - Come On

One of the city's best "pure" vocalists, Alex Samaras is known for his work in jazz interpretation and pop dabblings, but instead of being stuck in any boxes, his TRYAL project seems to be a way for him to approach songcraft without any preconceptions or genre limitations. Emerging first in album form, this semi-private show (packing the room full with friends and kindhearted well-wishers) was meant to extend that onto the stage. The ensemble was an all-star band that overlapped with the crew that had recorded the tracks and included Johnny Spence (keyb), Josh Cole (bass), Evan Cartwright (percussion) and Christine Bougie (guitar). Interestingly, it didn't include any of the amazing singers who shared the vocal space on the album with Samaras, but that leaves something to anticipate for the next time.