Mechanical Forest Sound

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Recording: ZOË

Artist: ZOË

Song: difficulty amended with fan^*

Recorded at Dundas Video (Track Could Bend #17), August 2, 2016.

"Experimental music" is a process, not a genre, and it means that the outcome of a set is in question until it happens. Zoë Alexis-Abrams (who plays as half of Manticore, as well as sundry other musical projects) brought a few new solo ideas to this set, including this incredible haunting piece for vocals and piece-of-paper-stuck-in-fanblades. A subsequent piece didn't quite come together, shortening the set — but a return to the stage for a redux version at the end of the night brought things to a satisfactory conclusion.

[Track Could Bend will be back at Dundas Video on September 6th, with Isla Craig, Mark Hundevad & Mike Gennaro and Jesse James Laderoute's Catholic Wilt. Meanwhile, Manticore will be playing The Tranzac (and releasing a tape!) on August 31st, one of two nights with incredible lineups curated by Zoë Alexis-Abrams, and billed as "Abundant Habitat".]

^* Thanks to Zoë for passing along the title to this one!

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Recording: LUKA

Artist: LUKA

Songs: Why Don't You Go to Her + You Must Be Open

Recorded at Burdock Music Hall, July 27, 2016 (late show).

LUKA - Why Don't You Go to Her

LUKA - You Must Be Open

Luke Kuplowsky celebrated the release of Summon Up a Monkey King with a double-bill of a release show, playing to early and later houses at Burdock and traipsing through the album's meditations on love's manifold variations with a sympathetic gaze. His backing band might be one of the quietest going, but their colouring in of his sketches (especially Ada Dahli and Julie Arsenault's backing vox) added the right amount of subtle lushness to Kuplowsky's ongoing dialogues with his heart.

Recording: Stephen Prickett

Artist: Stephen Prickett

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Burdock Music Hall, July 27, 2016 (late show).

Stephen Prickett - unknown

Known more for his production work lately — including on LUKA's Summon Up a Monkey King, whose release was being celebrated on this night — Stephen Prickett not only featured in Luke Kuplowsky's backing band but also debuted a set of new synth-pop tunes. Although the presentation was, as yet, a little karaoke-ish, the songs were well-constructed things, sounding something like Dan Boeckner tackling the Pretty in Pink soundtrack.

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

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Recording: Sound of the Mountain

Artist: Sound of the Mountain

Songs: [two excerpts]

Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination 44.2), July 24, 2016.

Sound of the Mountain - [excerpt 1]

Sound of the Mountain - [excerpt 2]

This duo project from Elizabeth Millar (clarinet) and Craig Pedersen (trumpet) takes its name from a Yasunari Kawabata novel but also hints at the geological scale (almost like a timelapse recording of tectonic shifting) of the pair's playing. Eschewing electronic processing, they instead used close-miking techniques to amplify their instruments, pushing their extended techniques (breath noise, finger taps) into electroacoustic space, creating a field of whirs, wooshes and clacks. The result was both graceful and mildly dislocating, filled with sonic elements that sounded like they'd been stretched out and backmasked.

[As always, you can check out the documentation of the whole night over at Audiopollination's bandcamp. Audiopollination is back with some awesome musicians (including a kick-ass combo of SlowPitchSound, Germaine Liu and Nilan Perera) on Saturday night.]

Recording: Heidi Chan + Matt Miller

Artist: Heidi Chan + Matt Miller

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination 44.2), July 24, 2016.

Heidi Chan + Matt Miller - [excerpt]

Launching a night of electroacoustic explorations with visiting guests Elizabeth Millar and Craig Pederson, this pairing matched laptopist Matt Miller with sound sculptor Heidi Chan, here playing Chinese flute and a bit of thumb piano through her effects chain. Excellent work, with some nice textures throughout and occasional stereophonic yawing and other sonic interventions.

Monday, August 8, 2016

Concert Listings Roundup #161

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.

Gigs of the week:

Eric Chenaux (Ryan Driver) / Burdock Music Hall 2016-08-13 (Saturday) [FB event]

The Draperies / Quixotic Sounds 2016-08-14 (Sunday) [FB event]

Absence making the heart grow fonder and all of that, Eric Chenaux's annual-ish returnings to T.O. always feel like special events. This weekend sees him playing in a couple different contexts, playing solo on Saturday night at Burdock and exploring Draperies' curious drift-world alongside Ryan Driver and Doug Tielli in a live-recording session at Quixotic Sounds on Sunday. Miss these and you'll be waiting for awhile.

This week's noteworthy shows:

Lead Bubbles / The Emmet Ray 2016-08-08 (Monday – PWYC! early set @ 7 p.m.!) [FB event]

Burn Down The Capital presents (feat. Psalm Zero / Ayahuasca / Gates / Manticore) / Array Space 2016-08-08 (Monday) [FB event]

Dott (PONY / Bueller / Inactivist) / Smiling Buddha's basement 2016-08-08 (Monday) [FB event]

SummerWorks (feat. D'Bi. & The 333) / Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement 2016-08-09 (Tuesday) [more info]

Somewhere There presents (feat. Powerdove / Blessings / Charles Spearin / Allison Cameron) / Ratio ~~2016-08-08~~ 2016-08-09 (~~Monday~~ Tuesday – note change of date!) [FB event]

Bloodshot Bill (catl) / The Silver Dollar Room ~~2016-08-12~~ 2016-08-10 (~~Friday~~ Wednesday – note date change!) [FB event]

Nico Dann 4tet [Nico Dann/Andrew Downing/Rebecca Hennessey/Karen Ng] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2016-08-10 (Wednesday) [FB event]

SummerWorks: Goggles Must Be Worn at All Times/Glitter Jesus (feat. Zoo Owl / Kurt Marble) / Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement 2016-08-11 (Thursday) [FB event]

Pins & Needles (girlongirl / Dorothea Paas [solo set]) / Smiling Buddha 2016-08-11 (Thursday) [FB event]

The $5 Rap Show (feat. Alex Dimez / Jesse Dangerously / Primordial / Stina Bomb) / Handlebar 2016-08-11 (Thursday) [FB event]

Tequila House Band (The Number 5 Forever And Ever And Ever And Ever [Robert Grieve, solo guitar]) / Holy Oak Café 2016-08-11 (Thursday) [FB event]

SummerWorks: Sound Circuitz (feat. Baby Cages / Special Costello) / Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement 2016-08-12 (Friday) [FB event]

Counterstasis (feat. Bill Gilliam/Glen Hall/Joe Sorbara) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2016-08-12 (Friday – early!) [FB event]

Habari Africa Festival (feat. Hommage à Tabu Ley Rochereau et Papa Wemba featuring Cour des Grands with Blandine Mbiya / Djely Tapa) / Harbourfront Centre – Concert Stage 2016-08-12 (Friday – free!) [more info]

La Luna (Foxmoulder / Eyeballs) / D-Beatstro 2016-08-12 (Friday) [FB event]

New Chance (Isla Craig) / Holy Oak 2016-08-12 (Friday) [more info]

KASHKA / McGill Granby Parkette 2016-08-13 (Saturday – free! outside! all-ages + family-friendly! early show @ 5 p.m.!) [more info]

SummerWorks: High Blood (feat. DATU & HATAW) / Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement 2016-08-13 (Saturday – early + late shows!) [FB event]

Audiopollination #45.2 (feat. Holger Schoorl & Tomasz Krakowiak / Brian Abbott/Lorne Shapiro/Sarah Peebles / SlowPitchSound/Germaine Liu/Nilan Perera) / Array Space 2016-08-13 (Saturday) [FB event]

Burn Down The Capital presents (feat. Creep Highway / La Fete / Zwarun) / Handlebar 2016-08-13 (Saturday) [FB event]

Habari Africa Festival (feat. Carine Band / Mamy Kanouté) / Harbourfront Centre – Concert Stage 2016-08-13 (Saturday – free!) [more info]

Bit Reduction (Hexzuul / Cares / Corrodesion) / Belljar Café 2016-08-13 (Saturday) [FB event]

Habari Africa Festival (feat. Mafattet / Fojeba & the Sunshine Band) / Harbourfront Centre – Stage in the Round 2016-08-14 (Sunday – free! afternoon sets, 2:30 to 5:00 p.m.) [more info]

Habari Africa Festival (feat. Afrafranto) / Harbourfront Centre – Concert Stage 2016-08-14 (Sunday – free! early show @ 5 p.m.!) [more info]

Clamaglamza [debut show!] (BonerJamz93 / Jonny / Chalky Leeroy) / Holy Oak Café 2016-08-14 (Sunday) [FB event]

Lina Allemano Four / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2016-08-14 (Sunday) [FB event]

Somewhere There's Second Sunday Series (feat. Ali Berkok + Diane Roblin / Bryan Qu Large Ensemble) / Array Space 2016-08-14 (Sunday) [FB event]

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 wsg Andrew Zukerman / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2016-08-16 (Tuesday – early!) [FB event]

Wolf's Nacho Wednesdays (feat. No Octopus Dances) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2016-08-17 (Wednesday – early!)

Hooded Fang (Badlands / Bile Sister) / Double Double Land 2016-08-20 (Saturday) [FB event]

Somewhere There presents (feat. Tom Richards Quartet [Tom Richards/Karen Ng/Jim Sexton/Brandon Valdivia]) / The Emmet Ray 2016-08-21 (Sunday) [FB event]

Somewhere There Presents (feat. Titanium Riot / The Knot [CD release!] / Brenders + Zukerman) / The Silver Dollar Room 2016-08-23 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Wolf's Nacho Wednesdays presents Abundant Habitat (feat. Ylang Ylang / Isla Craig / Not The Wind, Not The Flag / Creature Feature) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2016-08-24 (Wednesday – early + late slots!) [FB event]

Deliluh [Hours release party!] (Nighttime / Ryanescence [new project from Ryan Carley]) / Nowhere Gallery 2016-08-26 (Friday) [FB event]

Queer Bengali Dance Fundraiser (feat. LAL) / Unit 2 2016-08-26 (Friday) [FB event]

D I Α N E T I C S . V ["two floors of video/drones/dance/noise/performance"] (feat. Jonas Bers / Philip Baljeu / David Jones & Carolyn Ellen / Cares / Unsay / Xuan Ye / Sapphogeist / Mandelbrut / Vanessa Bee Rieger) / Electric Perfume Gallery 2016-08-27 (Saturday) [FB event]

Wolf's Nacho Wednesdays presents Abundant Habitat (feat. Nick Storring Band / Slowpitchsound / Manticore [tape release!]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2016-08-31 (Wednesday – early + late slots!) [FB event]

Intersection Day 1 (feat. Elliott Sharp / Thin Edge New Music Collective / Soupcans) / Soybomb 2016-09-02 (Friday) [FB event]

Elsa (Vallens) / Smiling Buddha 2016-09-02 (Friday) [FB event]

Intersection Day 2 (feat. Absolutely Free with Contact / Imaginary Flesh / Kyle Brenders Ensemble / Gates / The Visit / Michael Snow & Mani Mazinani / Brian Ruryk / Elliott Fienberg's Sound Spaghetti) / Yonge-Dundas Square 2016-09-03 (Saturday – free! outside! all day long! all ages + family-friendly!) [FB event]

Asiko Afrobeat Ensemble / McGill Granby Parkette 2016-09-08 (Thursday – free! outside! all-ages + family-friendly! early show @ 5 p.m.!) [more info]

Frigs (Power-Buddies / Earring / Whimm) / Faith/Void 2016-09-08 (Thursday) [FB event]

Germaphobes (Ice Cream / Lee Paradise / Ducks Unlimited) / Smiling Buddha 2016-09-09 (Friday) [FB event]

Invocation Presents (feat. Psychic Ills / Arbouretum / Whimm) / Double Double Land 2016-09-25 (Sunday) [FB event]

Gap Dream (The Seams) / The Silver Dollar Room 2016-09-30 (Friday) [FB event]

Kikagaku Moyo (The Saffron Sect) / The Silver Dollar Room 2016-10-04 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Buzz Records Presents (feat. Duchess Says / Ice Cream / Bad Channels / Plasmalab) / The Garrison 2016-10-27 (Thursday) [FB event]

photo by Melissa Goldstein.

Community corner:

Lots lots lots going on in the city this weekend, but on Saturday don't forget to stop by The Great Hall for Zine Dream 9 to stock up on some cool independently published books/comix/zines + sundry other DIY arts and crafts. Runs from 11 to 6, PWYC admission.

Friday, August 5, 2016

Recording: Mamalia

Artist: Mamalia

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at BIG on Bloor Festival – St. Clarens Stage, July 23, 2016.

Mamalia - unknown

A relatively-recent arrival to T.O, this Vancouver (via Chicago via Stockholm via London) funkateer managed to find her community at Holy Oak. Currently in the process of creative retooling, she has decade's worth of jams to pull from at a show like this, all ready to dazzle fresh ears. With the day's heat finally abating and evening strollers taking to the streets, there were more dancers old and young to feed their energy to a performer who wasted no time in jumping down from the stage to join them, joyfully vibing and going off-script when the mood called for it.

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

Recording: OG Melody

Artist: OG Melody

Song: Take You Home

Recorded at BIG on Bloor Festival – St. Clarens Stage, July 23, 2016.

OG Melody - Take You Home

Shutting down Bloor from Dufferin to Lansdowne, BIG on Bloor landed in the midst of a heatwave that made an afternoon tour down the middle of the street feel like a field trip to the surface of the sun. Things were more tolerable under the leafy trees at St. Clarens, where one of the day's stages was quite excellently curated by Justin from Holy Oak. Hewing towards funky and r'n'b sounds, this felt like a mini-block party within the larger event. This longstanding slo-jam duo from Isla Craig and Thom Gill seems to exist in a form of infrequently-interrupted hiatus, but like an Ontario apricot, OG Melody can suddenly appear in the midst of a hot, dry season to provide some sweet, juicy relief.

Recording: Prince Nifty

Artist: Prince Nifty

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at BIG on Bloor Festival – St. Clarens Stage, July 23, 2016.

Prince Nifty - unknown

Shutting down Bloor from Dufferin to Lansdowne, BIG on Bloor landed in the midst of a heatwave that made an afternoon tour down the middle of the street feel like a field trip to the surface of the sun. Things were more tolerable under the leafy trees at St. Clarens, where one of the day's stages was quite excellently curated by Justin from Holy Oak. Hewing towards funky and r'n'b sounds, this felt like a mini-block party within the larger event. Working in his "dancefloor" mode, Matt Smith reminded the crowd at the outset that they needn't feel obliged to watch him as he bent, crimped and spliced his beats. With the day's last stretch of harsh sunshine pressing down like a blanket, the dance crew on hand looked as if they decided it was time to sweat to keep from melting.

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

Recording: LAL

Artist: LAL

Song: Find Safety

Recorded at BIG on Bloor Festival – St. Clarens Stage, July 23, 2016.

LAL - Find Safety

Shutting down Bloor from Dufferin to Lansdowne, BIG on Bloor landed in the midst of a heatwave that made an afternoon tour down the middle of the street feel like a field trip to the surface of the sun. Things were more tolerable under the leafy trees at St. Clarens, where one of the day's stages was quite excellently curated by Justin from Holy Oak. Hewing towards funky and r'n'b sounds, this felt like a mini-block party within the larger event. Local resident Rose Kazi looked right at home here, talking about the changes in the neighbourhood she's witnessed over the years and musing on how the city can change without allowing the turmoil of gentrification to push away long-established communities. Alongside laptopist Nick Murray, the set focused on tunes from their superb Find Safety, the album's textures rendered more as simmering bangers in a live setting — heatwave solidarity jams where the drawing-together dance vibes create a feeling of community.

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Recording: Surinam

Artist: Surinam

Song: Hit the Reset

Recorded at Owl's Club, July 21, 2016.

Surinam - Hit the Reset

Scouted out by some of the same crew that had put together the Four Corners gigs, this night took the action out of the typical bar setting and into the Legion Hall. As the crowd arrived, the room got close and humid, then sauna-like. One got the impression this was a different vibe than the weekly euchre tournament. (Though maybe those get intense, too.) There was a faint mustiness in the air that reminded me of the specific smell of an old canvas tent my family had when I was young — a hot, sticky summer smell. This was actually more or less a totally appropriate vibe for this show, and the closest thing we're gonna get to a Four Corners for the time being.

Celebrating the release of their second album Would We Still Be Laughing, Surinam brought their steely glare to bear on the crowd. Focused and intense, the bottled-up feelings in the hot, stuffy room felt ready to burst — but also expelled in a sort of ritualized release, at least until the next euchre tournament.

Recording: Frustrations

Artist: Frustrations

Song: Dreamt

Recorded at Owl's Club, July 21, 2016.

Frustrations - Dreamt

"Detroit-style rock'n'roll" gets you part of the way with nailing the sound of this Motor City trio, but their sound was also leavened with plenty Wipers-styled punk and a couple psych excursions.

Recording: Retired

Artist: Retired

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Owl's Club, July 21, 2016.

Retired - unknown

With blasts of dry ice evaporating immediately as the jets sprayed into the air, this local jazz-punk (punk-jazz?) quartet got the night started with some pleasing precision pummelling.

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

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Preview/Contest: SummerWorks 2016

SummerWorks Performance Festival

August 4-14, 2016

The SummerWorks Festival's Music Series is no more. In the interest of promoting the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of the the festival's offerings, the separate streams for music and dance have been folded into the greater whole. This proves a point and reflects an on-the-ground reality, but the conceptual elegance of this approach can make it feel like a bit of a slog to a music fan trying to dig through the undifferentiated mass of offerings in the festival schedule.

That said, the same team of Adam Bradley and Andrew Pulsifer (who did an excellent job with last year's music offerings) are back at the helm this year, so once again there's a lot of excellent music content in the festival. To make things a little easier, I'm going to break down the music offerings here — and then offer some suggestions for a few further avenues that curious ears might go exploring down.

[These shows all take place at the Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement, not far from Queen and Dufferin. The songs tagged with Listen! below are live recordings from the MFS archive.]

Inamorata sees the awesome musical force that is Maylee Todd celebrating the release of her third record by having La-Nai Gabriel rearrange its songs to be performed by an all female band. Todd turned the Great Hall into a Musical Planetarium at her previous SummerWorks appearance. That one encouraged her audience to bring their own blankets and lie back in quiet contemplation; this time out things will probably be more raucous.
Listen! Maylee Todd - I Can't Stand It

Summer Drift Speaking of lying on the floor, this afternoon-long drop-in/drop-out drift promises that "yoga mats and pillows will be provided so the audience and performers can lie down, relax and take in the immersive sounds." Read that again and note that this one is going to be so laid-back that even the performers have the option to lie down. The new age/ambient meditative sounds and drones will be distributed throughout the room, so those that do want to remain ambulatory can create their own "mix" simply by shifting their location. Conceptualized by Brandon Hocura, he'll be joined by an all-star team of local musicians, including Craig Dunsmuir, Jonathan Adjemian, Vic Cheong, Matt Shaw, Randy Gagne, Andrew Zuckerman, Sandro Perri, and the members of Doomsquad. Not to be missed!
D'BI. & THE 333 Live Concert The fiercely-multidisciplinary d'bi.young anitafrika (an internationally celebrated African-Jamaican dubpoet, playwright-monodramatist, arts-educator and more) focuses her energy in a musical direction here, fronting a band composed of some top-notch players from across several different scenes, mixing her conscious lyrics with dancefloor grooves.

Glitter Jesus / GOGGLES MUST BE WORN AT ALL TIMES This double-feature brings together a couple different flavours from two faves in local indie rock circles. Kurt Marble's glam-grunge pop-shred sounds fall headlong into concept-album territory with the tale of the Glitter Jesus, while Zoo Owl, who has always given equal conceptual space to both his visual and musical output presents a high-concept cinematic tech demo.
Listen! Kurt Marble - Replacement

Sound Circuitz More than just a pair of performances from Baby Cages and Special Costello, this production from Basement Studio Project (Natalie Logan, Heather Rappard, and Baby Cages' Halloway Jones) deploys "sculpture, light, and mirrors to create an immersive environment inspired by early computer generated animations." Live a life of virtual reality well outside the uncanny valley.
Listen! Baby Cages - In Time

High Blood is a joint effort from electro/RnB crew DATU and dance collective HATAW. Members of the Filipino-Canadian community, both groups celebrate traditional elements of their culture while also responding to new technologies and their own diasporic context. In performance, these crews are dynamite; having a chance to present a "participatory theatre experience inside an immersive world of Filipino superstition, mythology, and ritual that clashes ancient Philippine customs with North-American swagger" should make this a memorable experience.
Listen! DATU - Halo Halo Man

CONTEST

Thanks to SummerWorks, I am giving away two tickets to any of these music shows — your pick! To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "summerworks" in the title and your name and choice of show in the body. I'll randomly draw a winner on Friday, August 5th at noon.

Meanwhile, outside the now-imaginary constraints of the music series, there are a few other things that caught my eye:

Bleeders Besides performing with her band, d’bi.young anitafrika brings this "Afro-futurist dub-opera" (set in a far-future post-apocalyptic Toronto) to the festival.
Duets for Beginners Clayton Lee's series of intimate pop-up performances will see him making his grandmother's wonton recipe, chatting with strangers online, and joining with his mother to attempt to animate her entire collection of wind-up toys.

Tomorrow's Child Billed as "a one-of-kind audio-only theatre experience", this presents an adaptation of a Ray Bradbury short science-fiction story to a blindfolded audience.

Empire of Night A sleepover party for grown-ups, this night-long event "enacts an eight-hour dreamscape structured around the biological rhythms that make up a good night’s sleep." Created by theatre artist Adam Paolozza, musician Matt Smith (aka Prince Nifty), sound/video artist Charles Ketchabaw, and dance artist Kari Pederson.
No Context Although this solo dance improvisation from Amelia Ehrhardt is developed out of the formal constraints of meta-commentary on past artistic practices (the original commission was to create new work inspired by archival documents from one of Canada's seminal experimental dance groups from active the 1970s) I wouldn't expect it to be academic or merely dry historicism. Indeed, it's more a launching point for some of Ehrhardt's personal concerns, with a text composed "while drunk for the past year and a half" and read by Catherine Ribeiro. ("The work touches on, but is not about, gender imbalance, frustration, city council, bureaucracy, The Creative Process, desire, and pop music.")

The fine print: single-performance tickets are $15, and there are various pass options available. You can find all the ticket information here. Remember (even for those music events!) that the festival runs on theatre time, so do not be fashionably late!

Monday, August 1, 2016

Concert Listings Roundup #160

Gig of the week:

SummerWorks: Summer Drift [long-form tapestry of meditative sounds and drones] (feat. Victoria Cheong/Craig Dunsmuir/Jonathan Adjemian/Matthew Shaw/Randy Gagne/Kevin Hainey/Andrew Zukerman/Jaclyn Blumas/Trevor Blumas/Brandon Hocura) / Pia Bouman School for Ballet 2016-08-06 (Saturday – 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.!) [FB event]

Arachnids at the Tiger Bar (feat. CHOBO / Heraclitus Akimbo / Beard Closet / BABEL) / Tiger Bar 2016-08-06 (Saturday – PWYC!) [FB event]

I'll have more to say abut SummerWorks tomorrow, but perhaps the event I'm most looking forward to is this low-key-by-definition immersive drone performance. Conceptualized by Brandon Hocura, this event features a cast of MFS faves including Craig Dunsmuir, Jonathan Adjemian, Vic Cheong, Matt Shaw, Randy Gagne, Andrew Zuckerman, Sandro Perri, and the members of Doomsquad offering "ten performers at ten musical stations work[ing] with the audience to create a long-form tapestry of meditative sounds and drones". Oh, also: "Yoga mats and pillows will be provided so the audience and performers can lie down, relax and take in the immersive sounds."

[P.S.: Head on over to Track Could Bend on Tuesday for a chance to win a pair of tickets to this event!]

It's also rather a conflict of interest, but I might humbly suggest that the proper follow up to an afternoon of soothing drones would be a night of slightly-abrasive drones at Arachnidiscs' Tiger Bar showcase. Celebrating new releases from Beard Closet and Babel, the night also features the improvised dancefloor sounds of Chobo plus, um, yours truly combining some mellow lo-fo keyb loops with static-y found-sound youtube noises.

This week's noteworthy shows:

Trios: August Residency (feat. Phil Dwyer/Andrew Downing/Nick Fraser) / The Emmet Ray 2016-08-01 (Monday) [FB event]

Urlapse [aka Wasted Nymph] (Fleshtone Aura and Brodie West / Jason Finkbeiner / APA) / Ratio 2016-08-01 (Monday) [FB event]

Ali Berkok/Peter Van Huffel/Matthew Miller/Nick Fraser / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2016-08-02 (Tuesday – early!) [FB event]

Track Could Bend #17 (feat. Kapali Carsi / ZOË / Professor Andy Dolgin and the Cereal Killers) / Dundas Video 2016-08-02 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Ryan Driver & Tamara Lindeman / Holy Oak Café 2016-08-02 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Night Owl Festival Presents (feat. Heaters / Disraelis) / The Silver Dollar Room 2016-08-02 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Troubleshooting~ v16: HVAC edition (feat. Nicolas Buligan [amplified trumpet and air ducts]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2016-08-03 (Wednesday – early!) [FB event]

Wolf's Nacho Wednesdays (feat. Ghostlight [world premiere release of Buse 1]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2016-08-03 (Wednesday) [FB event]

We Stand With Orlando - A Fundraiser (feat. Michele Nox / Scott Hardware / Dex Donoe) / Smiling Buddha 2016-08-03 (Wednesday – all proceeds will be donated directly to Equality Florida's Pulse Victims Fund) [FB event]

Peaches (The Hidden Cameras) / Massey Hall 2016-08-04 (Thursday) [FB event]

Julie Doiron (Adrian Teacher & The Subs / Construction & Destruction / Protruders) / Sneaky Dee's 2016-08-04 (Thursday) [FB event]

SummerWorks: Inamorata (feat. Maylee Todd and La-Nai Gabriel) / Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement 2016-08-05 (Friday – early and late shows!) [FB event]

Sinkane / Harbourfront Centre – Concert Stage 2016-08-05 (Friday – free!) [more info]

Freak Heat Waves (New Fries / Cindy Lee / Hellier Ulysses) / The Garrison 2016-08-05 (Friday) [FB event]

Fórn (Demonic Possessor / Yellow Eyes) / Double Double Land 2016-08-05 (Friday) [FB event]

Orchid Tapes showcase (feat. Foxes in Fiction / Emily Reo / RL Kelly / Yohuna / Home Alone) / Smiling Buddha 2016-08-05 (Friday) [FB event]

Jungle Brothers / Harbourfront Centre – Concert Stage 2016-08-06 (Saturday – free!) [more info]

Sandy Ewen (FASTER / Yusuke Fritt / {AN} EeL) / Gerrard Art Space 2016-08-06 (Saturday) [FB event]

Shopping (Gauche / Little Junior / The New Enchanters) / The Silver Dollar Room 2016-08-06 (Saturday) [FB event]

Nite Comfort 36 (feat. Hidden Dances / Mikrosleep) / Handlebar 2016-08-07 (Sunday) [FB event]

Audiopollination #45.1 (feat. Sandy Ewen/Andrew Furlong/Olya Glotka / Sandy Ewen/William Davidson/Alan Bloor/Michael Lynn / Sandy Ewen [solo guitar]) / Array Space 2016-08-07 (Sunday) [FB event]