Recording: The Highest Order

Artist: The Highest Order

Song: Somewhere Out Of The Way

Recorded at Galleria Shopping Centre (Long Winter: Galleria), January 30, 2016.

The Highest Order - Somewhere Out Of The Way

An ambitious "takeover" project from the Long Winter crew saw their usual mix of music + art transferred to the near-derelict/doomed-by-gentrification Galleria Mall. It was a sonically awkward environment to hold a show (there's a lot of muddy "mall reverb" in these recordings) that attracted a rather different crowd than the regular LW events — skewing older, and perhaps towards those feeling a sense of pre-nostalgia for kitschy but less-corporate spaces like this. (Ironically, having a larger 19+ component in the crowd made for long lines for anyone wanting to get into the event's licenced areas, but that notwithstanding everything on the night seemed to run pretty smoothly.) Highly-attuned to the inequities carved into our social system, one could readily imagine the characters in one of Simone Schmidt's songs shopping at the Dollarama beside this show's stage. Chatting about the city's unfancy malls (and the pre-set deal she scored over at the event's Bunz Trading Zone pop-up) The Highest Order looked right at home in the Galleria, even while pausing to muse on what will be lost when the mall is replaced by condos. Musically, they stretched out for some sweet cosmic-psych grooves, including this one with Paul Mortimer taking the vocals.

Recording: S.H.I.T.

Artist: S.H.I.T.

Songs: Fuck All + Eraser II

Recorded at Galleria Shopping Centre (Long Winter: Galleria), January 30, 2016.

S.H.I.T. - Fuck All + Eraser II

An ambitious "takeover" project from the Long Winter crew saw their usual mix of music + art transferred to the near-derelict/doomed-by-gentrification Galleria Mall. It was a sonically awkward environment to hold a show (there's a lot of muddy "mall reverb" in these recordings) that attracted a rather different crowd than the regular LW events — skewing older, and perhaps towards those feeling a sense of pre-nostalgia for kitschy but less-corporate spaces like this. (Ironically, having a larger 19+ component in the crowd made for long lines for anyone wanting to get into the event's licenced areas, but that notwithstanding everything on the night seemed to run pretty smoothly.) S.H.I.T. hosted scores of shows at their now-defunct S.H.I.B.G.B.'s space which was just a block over from the Galleria. The bare-bones concrete bunker feel of that venue somehow didn't seem worlds removed from the cavernous box-like space at this show once the hardcore quintet (with three guitarists) filled the space with a mighty whitenoise roar, jet engine feedback squalls punctuated by short, shouted songbursts.

Recording: VCR

Artist: VCR

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Galleria Shopping Centre (Long Winter: Galleria), January 30, 2016.

VCR - unknown

An ambitious "takeover" project from the Long Winter crew saw their usual mix of music + art transferred to the near-derelict/doomed-by-gentrification Galleria Mall. It was a sonically awkward environment to hold a show (there's a lot of muddy "mall reverb" in these recordings) that attracted a rather different crowd than the regular LW events — skewing older, and perhaps towards those feeling a sense of pre-nostalgia for kitschy but less-corporate spaces like this. (Ironically, having a larger 19+ component in the crowd made for long lines for anyone wanting to get into the event's licenced areas, but that notwithstanding everything on the night seemed to run pretty smoothly.) VCR seems to be settling down and extending their songs a bit, but that's certainly relative as by any reasonable measure their music is still pretty frenetic. Bringing a waft of punk insouciance to the stage, they gleefully made fun of the stand-in-place crowd, the show's organizers and the event's pronounced security presence. In the end, they confessed they were only in it for the money, a moshpit broke out in front of them, and they closed their set with a guest saxophone spot. Call it mall-punk, I guess.

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

Recording: New Fries

Artist: New Fries

Song: 90 Yr Old Girl

Recorded at Galleria Shopping Centre (Long Winter: Galleria), January 30, 2016.

New Fries - 90 Yr Old Girl

An ambitious "takeover" project from the Long Winter crew saw their usual mix of music + art transferred to the near-derelict/doomed-by-gentrification Galleria Mall. It was a sonically awkward environment to hold a show (there's a lot of muddy "mall reverb" in these recordings) that attracted a rather different crowd than the regular LW events — skewing older, and perhaps towards those feeling a sense of pre-nostalgia for kitschy but less-corporate spaces like this. (Ironically, having a larger 19+ component in the crowd made for long lines for anyone wanting to get into the event's licenced areas, but that notwithstanding everything on the night seemed to run pretty smoothly.) I'm not sure whether or not the dancer (dressed as a giant M+M candy) was crashing the stage or not during this set, but the band seemed to take it in stride. The band otherwise delivered a fairly straightahead set, with fewer groove-sabotaging moments than they used to generate.

Recording: Teenanger

Artist: Teenanger

Song: Pay It Forward^*

Recorded at Galleria Shopping Centre (Long Winter: Galleria), January 30, 2016.

Teenanger - Pay It Forward

An ambitious "takeover" project from the Long Winter crew saw their usual mix of music + art transferred to the near-derelict/doomed-by-gentrification Galleria Mall. It was a sonically awkward environment to hold a show (there's a lot of muddy "mall reverb" in these recordings) that attracted a rather different crowd than the regular LW events — skewing older, and perhaps towards those feeling a sense of pre-nostalgia for kitschy but less-corporate spaces like this. (Ironically, having a larger 19+ component in the crowd made for long lines for anyone wanting to get into the event's licenced areas, but that notwithstanding everything on the night seemed to run pretty smoothly.) The cover art of Teenanger's EPLP was taken at the Galleria — on the cover, the band sits at the El Amigo food stand, which would end up being adjacent to this show's stage. The prophecy fulfilled indeed.

^* This one's title was called out at the start of the song.

Recording: BOBAN GrieviNg

Artist: BOBAN GrieviNg + the BOBAN GrieviNg Supergroup

Songs: [excerpt from first piece] + Boban is Just a Word

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), January 27, 2016.

BOBAN GrieviNg - [excerpt from first piece]

BOBAN GrieviNg Supergroup - Boban is Just a Word

Some things look quite straightforward on paper. This Wednesday evening show from Somewhere There was billed as a night with two duos — Logan Mills (piano) with Montréal's Raphael Foisy-Couture (bass) as BOBAN and Karen Ng (sax) with Robert Grieve (guitar) as GrieviNg — but things ended up being much less straightforward. Indeed, the night began with all four playing together in a sort of scuffling/banging skritchscratch clangcrunch before adding Paige Stewart for some recited wordtextures.

But then, after a break, all hell broke loose. Mills' skill-set includes an ability to draft collaborators as conspirators in anarchic free-form play and that might explain how suddenly there were nine performers on stage, including Laura Swankey (vox) and Emily Denison (trumpet) plus duelling percussionists Robert Diack and Andrew Miller facing off against each other. In the end a t-shirt was destroyed, dice were rolled, hats were exchanged, and an impromptu fire drill was narrowly avoided as a gleeful frenzy erupted — all while various members of the ensemble shouted inquiries about the true nature of Boban.

Recording: Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot

Artist: Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot

Songs: [two selections]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), January 26, 2016.

Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot - [excerpt from third piece]

Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot - [second piece]

Trumpeter Lina Allemano's two quartets give her an opportunity to stay busy with one when the sidemen with the other are occupied with their other projects. It's rather unprecedented for everyone to be available all at once so this was, in fact, the first-ever double-bill of the Lina Allemano Four and Titanium Riot. Contrasting with the LA4's composed throughlines and "jazz" sensibility, Titanium Riot explores textures and goes on abstract journeys, powered by Ryan Driver's analogue synth work and Allemano's collection of DIY trumpet mutes. A plastic cup provides the buzzing sounds heard at the start of the second selection here — a portal into a sci-fi soundscape trip, while the first short selection shows what this band can do when it settles into a groove.

Recording: Lina Allemano Four

Artist: Lina Allemano Four

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), January 26, 2016.

Lina Allemano Four - unknown

Trumpeter Lina Allemano's two quartets give her an opportunity to stay busy with one when the sidemen with the other are occupied with their other projects. It's rather unprecedented for everyone to be available all at once so this was, in fact, the first-ever double-bill of the Lina Allemano Four and Titanium Riot. On a typically random Tranzac evening with Australian-themed karaoke in the Tiki Room and a rehearsal for a pantomime version of Alice in Wonderland in the Main Hall (it took me a moment to sort out where the guy in the giant bunny suit belonged), Allemano lead the LA4 through a quartet of extended workouts.

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

Recording: Fraser/Denison/Cole/Hogg

Artist: Fraser/Denison/Cole/Hogg

Song: Sketch #10

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), January 26, 2016.

Fraser/Denison/Cole/Hogg - Sketch #10

This unit, lead by percussionist Nick Fraser alongside Emily Denison (trumpet) and Josh Cole (double bass) has been referred to as the Nick Fraser New Quartet and the Nick Fraser Four. Originally with Danny Oore on sax, it was recently been featuring a rotating guest roster of saxophonists, which on this night included Fraser's Peripheral Vision bandmate Trevor Hogg as the quartet worked through some older pieces from Fraser's songbook.

Recording: Adam Rudolph & Go: Organic Toronto Orchestra

Artist: Adam Rudolph & Go: Organic Toronto Orchestra

Songs: [two excerpts]

Recorded at The Music Gallery, January 23, 2016.

Adam Rudolph & Go: Organic Toronto Orchestra - [set 1, 1st piece] [excerpt]

Adam Rudolph & Go: Organic Toronto Orchestra - [set 2, 3rd piece] [excerpt]

Adam Rudolph is a master percussionist who has worked with many luminaries, including Yusef Lateef. But this visit to the Music Gallery saw him working as teacher and conductor to a large-format ensemble¹ brought together to get an intensive grounding in his musical philosophy and methods. Speaking to Nilan Perera before the show, he described the project as "a 21st century idea of what an orchestra could be", designed to create room for "mi", a word of the Dogon people of Mali that expresses how the inner voice of a musician can be brought forth in the music they play — very much the contrary of the image of the ensemble player in European "classical" music whose function is to remove themselves to express the composer's ideas. (He also spoke of African-American call-and-response as one of his foundational musical experiences, which was a revealing lens on the night's music.)

Conducting solves what's often the biggest problem of large-group improvisation: finding a shape and knowing when to stop. The most visible aspect of several days' work with the crew of local musicians was his use of elaborate hand signals and vivid body language — he was the most animated conductor I've seen leading an ensemble since Gergiev. Obviously, there was a lot more going on under the surface in terms of how his compositions created a structure but left lots of room for indeterminacy. The upshot of all of this was a group whose textures ranged widely — from the more formally-arranged sounds of the short first extract here that wouldn't sound out of place at a typical "New Music" concert to the free-spirited blaxploitaion big-band improv of the second, which showed how this large group could nimbly stop-and-start on a dime. Really quite wonderful stuff. This played to a full house at the Music Gallery, where it looked like many people were attracted by Rudolph's involvement. Here's hoping some in the crowd will be inspired to seek out some more from the local participants who can be found joyfully improvising in the city's creative music scenes.

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¹ The ensemble was as follows:

• Vocals : Tova Kardonne, Zoe Alexis-Abrams
• Horns: Lina Allemano, Heather Segger, Jay Hay, Karen Ng
• Strings: Ilana Walniuk, Aline Homzy, Araz Salek, Rob Clutton
• Drumkit/percussion: Joe Sorbara
• Hand percussion Raphael Roter, Rakesh Tewari
• Keys: Simeon Abbott
• Turntables/Electronics: SlowPitchSound
• Guitar: Luan Phung

Reading: Nailbiter

Artist: Nailbiter

Song: [last section of an improvisation]

Recorded at The Silver Dollar Room (Wavelength 690 – Class of 2016 #5), January 22, 2016.

Nailbiter - [last section of an improvisation]

Presenting as part of Dan Burke's annual next-big-thing "Class of" series, this night saw Wavelength at its most Silent Shout-y, presenting projects whose sounds skewed towards various points on the electronic/dance continuum. Josh Korody closed the night out with another excursion from his experimental modular dancefloor attack, once again eschewing the stage to set up among the crowd on the floor. There were a few different textures at play here than the other times I saw this project in action, but as with the last time out, the section that I wanted to pull was the big finale.

Recording: Elliott Vincent Jones

Artist: Elliott Vincent Jones feat. Talvi Faustman

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Silver Dollar Room (Wavelength 690 – Class of 2016 #5), January 22, 2016.

Elliott Vincent Jones feat. Talvi Faustman - unknown

Presenting as part of Dan Burke's annual next-big-thing "Class of" series, this night saw Wavelength at its most Silent Shout-y, presenting projects whose sounds skewed towards various points on the electronic/dance continuum. Besides his "Acapulco" video, I hadn't heard anything from this electronic reinvention from the ex-Ell V Gore/Braids frontman, and was curious to see how his new work would cash out in a live setting. And though Jones' brooding countenance and tendency to punctuate songs with a yipping "hunh!" are the same, there's a sense here of someone that's sound a new voice. Someone coming to this without knowledge of his past work might place him closer to Dave Gahan than the Jim Morrison via Glenn Danzig baritone he used to evoke — but these could also be seen as different points on the same goth-y spectrum. Live, Jones was backed by drummer Rob Gordon (recent collaborator for a less "pop" spin on electronic rhythms) plus Doomsquad's Trevor Blumas (sitting in, I understand, for Ben Cook). He was also joined on this one by Prince Innocence's Talvi Faustman.

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

Recording: Germaphobes

Artist: Germaphobes

Song: Magic Eye

Recorded at The Silver Dollar Room (Wavelength 690 – Class of 2016 #5), January 22, 2016.

Germaphobes - Magic Eye

Presenting as part of Dan Burke's annual next-big-thing "Class of" series, this night saw Wavelength at its most Silent Shout-y, presenting projects whose sounds skewed towards various points on the electronic/dance continuum. Germaphobes (who'd dropped a tasty Pleasance EP a couple months back) were the night's most "rock band"-y outlier, but their new wave bop commotion had a reasonably body-moving effect on the crowd.

[Germaphobes will be playing Smiling Buddha on Saturday night (February 6th) with Montréal's Corridor.]

Recording: Scott Hardware

Artist: Scott Hardware

Song: New Money Walk

Recorded at The Silver Dollar Room (Wavelength 690 – Class of 2016 #5), January 22, 2016.

Scott Hardware - New Money Walk

Presenting as part of Dan Burke's annual next-big-thing "Class of" series, this night saw Wavelength at its most Silent Shout-y, presenting projects whose sounds skewed towards various points on the electronic/dance continuum. The mix at the Dollar tended to de-emphasize Chris Chami's piano sounds, but it did reinforce how dance-worthy Scott Harwood's post-Ken Park songs are, even if they are less-superficially drawing their sound from "dance music".

Concert Listings Roundup #134

You can read more about why I'm doing listings here. Long story short: This curated and decidedly non-comprehensive list contains nothin' but shows that I am going to/would go to if I had more time.

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Gig of the week:

Emergents II (feat. Lisa Conway / Linsey Wellman) / The Music Gallery 2016-02-05 (Friday) [FB event]

The always-intriguing Emergents series at The Music Gallery returns with a show that appeals on several levels. Curated by MFS fave Karen Ng, the night sees a special project from Lisa Conway (known to many as the voice of Del Bel as well as her own L CON project) presenting "a song cycle for three voices entitled The Stars Alight, based on myths derived from Ovid's Metamorphoses, incorporating both acoustic performance and live processing (via Max MSP and an XBox Kinect)." Also on the bill, Ottawa's Linsey Wellman shows off some extended techniques in a set for solo sax.

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This week's noteworthy shows:

Ali Berkok/Pete Johnston/Emily Denison/Robert Diack (Ali Berkok [solo piano]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2016-02-02 (Tuesday – early!) [FB event]

Track Could Bend #11 (feat. David Jones/Cares/Deenzi) / Dundas Video 2016-02-02 (Tuesday – PWYC!) [FB event]

troubleshooting~ v10 (feat. John Farah / Matt Miller) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2016-02-03 (Wednesday – early!) [FB event]

N/A/D/S (Lîla Ensemble) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2016-02-03 (Wednesday)

Chelsea Shanoff with Wesley Shen / Array Space 2016-02-03 (Thursday – PWYC!) [FB event]

Charm of Finches: Charmed, I'm sure [local flute quintet's first performance, feat. works by Debussy, Ravel, Charke, Hétu and more] / Victoria College Chapel 2016-02-04 (Thursday – PWYC!) [FB event]

Julie Doiron & Nancy Pants (Eamon McGrath) / The Cave 2016-02-04 (Thursday) [FB event]

IDALG (The Auras / TV Sets) / The Old Laurel 2016-02-04 (Thursday) [FB event]

Julie Doiron & Nancy Pants / Sonic Boom 2016-02-05 (Friday – free! all ages!) [FB event]

The Sound Before (Clara Engel / Animal Vegetable Mineral) / D-Beatstro 2016-02-05 (Friday) [FB event]

Hall Party: Carnival ["Brazilian, Colombian and Caribbean Carnival experiences"] (feat. Mar Aberto SoundSystem / Anita Graciano / Benny Esguerra a.k.a. A New Tradition / Mas Aya) / The Great Hall 2016-02-05 (Friday) [FB event]

Deep Wireless (feat. Gambletron) ["multi-tonal AM radio theremin"] / Trinity Square Video 2016-02-06 (Saturday) [FB event]

Never No More! [supersized version of Alaniaris!] / Burdock Music Hall 2016-02-06 (Saturday) [FB event]

Spectrum Music: Literary Landscapes / Alliance Française de Toronto 2016-02-06 (Saturday) [FB event]

Several Futures [Before You Forget album release!] (Kurt Marble / The SULKS / SPOILS) / CineCycle 2016-02-06 (Saturday) [FB event]

Marker Starling / Holy Oak Café 2016-02-06 (Saturday) [FB event]

Feast In The East 56 (feat. Bile Sister / Dorothea Paas / Eyeballs / Cupcake Ductape) / Anchored Social Club 2016-02-06 (Saturday) [FB event]

Scattered Clouds (The Shyness of Strangers / Meeko Cheech / Hilotrons) / Handlebar 2016-02-06 (Saturday) [FB event]

Michael Rault (Marvelous Mark / Beds / Robin Hatch [solo project debut!]) / The Silver Dollar Room 2016-02-06 (Saturday) [FB event]

Fake Humans (Confidence [Vic Cheong/Evan Cartwright/Caryln Bezic/Kieran Adams]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2016-02-06 (Saturday) [FB event]

The Disasterbaters (Pow Wows / The Retroaction / Lightmares) / The Old Laurel 2016-02-06 (Saturday) [FB event]

Corridor (Germaphobes / Praises) / Smiling Buddha 2016-02-06 (Saturday) [FB event]

c_RL / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2016-02-07 (Sunday – matinee! 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.!)

Nite Comfort 30 (feat. Pursuit Grooves / Bears & Children) / Handlebar 2016-02-07 (Sunday) [FB event]

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Add these to your calendar:

Reminder: This post only contains this week's updates — the full listings can always be found over on the right-hand sidebar!

Aurochs feat. Lina Allemano / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2016-02-09 (Tuesday – early!) [FB event]

Open Inputs (feat. Evan Cyber / Cares / Alissa Vox Raw / Hushy) / Holy Oak Café 2016-02-09 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Love Comes Back (Again): Arthur Russell Band [Luke Kuplowsky/Thom Gill/Robin Dann/Phil Melanson/Doug Tielli/Cory Laktovich/Josh Cole] / Holy Oak Café 2016-02-10 (Wednesday) [FB event]

John Kameel Farah: Music for Organ and Synthesizers / Grace Toronto 2016-02-12 (Friday) [FB event]

Audiopollination #39 (feat. HF/Yusuke Furutate /Brian Abbott / James Beardmore/Loupe/Sarah Peebles / Arnd Jurgensen/Conrad Gayle/Darlene Cuevas / Xuan Ye/David Jones) / Array Space 2016-02-13 (Saturday) [FB event]

In Store 1: Ordinary Joy (feat. Cluttertones [Ordinary Joy vinyl edition release party, feat. music + dance]) / Quixotic Sounds Toronto 2016-02-20–2016-02-21 (Saturday + Sunday) [FB event]

Fucked Up [West of Zanzibar live score and LP release!] (Absolutely Free) / Workman Arts 2016-03-04 (Friday – all ages!) [FB event]

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Community corner:

• Essential reading this week in Now's cover piece on racism in Toronto's music scenes. Some of us in our community need platforms to speak truth to power; some of us in our community need to shut up and listen; some of us in our community need to work to make shows representative of (and safe and comfortable for) the real diversity that exists in this city.