Recording: Body of Waste

Artist: Body of Waste

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Gerrard Art Space (Eclec~Tic~Toc Fest, Vol. 1 – Night 1), July 14, 2017.

Body of Waste - [excerpt]

Ever since washing up on our shores, Neal D. Retke (who performs as {AN} Eel) has been spreading joy and preaching the benefits of D.I.Y. co-operation. A busy member of the international home-taping circuit known for his many collaborative projects, this festival arose from a desire to bring together some of the different musicians he's encountered here so far, mixing together songs and noises over two days in the G.A.S.'s cozy east-end space.

Having seen Adam Hanrahan's noise project a couple weeks before, I knew what I was getting into here. And this did indeed explore similar sonic terrain in the day's first earplugs-required set, bracing feedback, sound-knife and all.

Recording: Lorne Shapiro & Brian Abbott

Artist: Lorne Shapiro & Brian Abbott

Song: Sparkling Liver Spots in the Moonlit Thunderdome (or, Three-legged Short Pants for a Severed Octopus) [excerpt]

Recorded at Gerrard Art Space (Eclec~Tic~Toc Fest, Vol. 1 – Night 1), July 14, 2017.

Lorne Shapiro & Brian Abbott - Sparkling Liver Spots in the Moonlit Thunderdome (or, Three-legged Short Pants for a Severed Octopus) [excerpt]

Ever since washing up on our shores, Neal D. Retke (who performs as {AN} Eel) has been spreading joy and preaching the benefits of D.I.Y. co-operation. A busy member of the international home-taping circuit known for his many collaborative projects, this festival arose from a desire to bring together some of the different musicians he's encountered here so far, mixing together songs and noises over two days in the G.A.S.'s cozy east-end space.

I'd seen this pair improvise together in this very same space, and was impressed with their mix of technique, pedal manipulations and a sense of not-taking-things-too seriously. This set had all of that again, with plenty of beautiful stretches that belied their casually-tossed-off titles.

Recording: Money House

Artist: Money House

Song: Die Tochter Meiner Schwester

Recorded at Gerrard Art Space (Eclec~Tic~Toc Fest, Vol. 1 – Night 1), July 14, 2017.

Money House - Die Tochter Meiner Schwester

Ever since washing up on our shores, Neal D. Retke (who performs as {AN} Eel) has been spreading joy and preaching the benefits of D.I.Y. co-operation. A busy member of the international home-taping circuit known for his many collaborative projects, this festival arose from a desire to bring together some of the different musicians he's encountered here so far, mixing together songs and noises over two days in the G.A.S.'s cozy east-end space.

The nights often saw opposing sounds in adjacent sets, with songs and noise mixing as freely as the electronic sounds that predominated early in this day with this trio's jazzy compositions. With Alex Fournier (bass, banter) and Stefan Hegerat (percussion) joined by Patrick O'Reilly (guitar), this one's tune (contributed by Hegerat) has some nifty long-delay diversions from O'Reilly.

Recording: James Bailey

Artist: James Bailey

Song: Repent, Harlequin [excerpt]

Recorded at Gerrard Art Space (Eclec~Tic~Toc Fest, Vol. 1 – Night 1), July 14, 2017.

James Bailey - Repent, Harlequin [excerpt]

Ever since washing up on our shores, Neal D. Retke (who performs as {AN} Eel) has been spreading joy and preaching the benefits of D.I.Y. co-operation. A busy member of the international home-taping circuit known for his many collaborative projects, this festival arose from a desire to bring together some of the different musicians he's encountered here so far, mixing together songs and noises over two days in the G.A.S.'s cozy east-end space.

James Bailey lead the whole thing off with some sounds manipulated through a Memory Man and a multi-effects pedal, sounding a bit like the further adventures of Pole Position at the outset before downshifting and exploring some other electronic abstractions.

Recording: Kat Estacio

Artist: Kat Estacio

Song: Untitled #1

Recorded at Array Space (Rooted, Somewhere There, and Mechanical Forest Sound present), July 9, 2017.

Kat Estacio - Untitled #1

Normally the night of its monthly Second Sunday series, Somewhere There instead decided to open things up, inviting a couple co-conspirators to each bring an act to this show. On behalf of Mechanical Forest Sound, I invited Kat Estacio to close out the night. It turned out that her solo work for gongs and electronics had some intriguing parallels with the Germaine Liu pieces explored in the previous set. And though this piece floated in similar dream-drifty terrain to what I had heard Estacio explore in the past, there were signs that she is also expanding her dynamics to explore some other moods as the opening piece had a layer of anger that was released in some more aggressive work with the mallets.

[Somewhere There's Second Sunday series continues this weekend (August 13th) with a set from Québec's Sonia Paço-Rocchia offering realtime electroacoustic manipulations for bassoon and visuals, plus a quartet encounter with the SWT organizing team.]

Recording: The Imaginary Percussion Ensemble

Artist: The Imaginary Percussion Ensemble

Songs: Study for Claps #2 & #3

Recorded at Array Space (Rooted, Somewhere There, and Mechanical Forest Sound present), July 9, 2017.

The Imaginary Percussion Ensemble - Study for Claps #2

The Imaginary Percussion Ensemble - Study for Claps #3

Normally the night of its monthly Second Sunday series, Somewhere There instead decided to open things up, inviting a couple co-conspirators to each bring an act to this show. This set, convened by Somewhere There's own Joe Sorbara brought together a crew of musicians to explore some sonic realms inspired by local master percussionist Germaine Liu.

Liu joined in for some of the pieces, while Sorbara was joined by percussionist Mark Zurawinski as well as non-percussionists Emily Denison (trumpet) and Anthony Argatoff (saxophone). For this crew, exploring Liu's pieces meant treating them playfully, as an opportunity to see what happens when the parameters are altered. So, for example, "Study for Claps" was approached in three different ways: first as a straight ahead pattern exercise for three pairs of clapping hands, then with horn improvisations triggered by the patterns, and finally with the horns joining in with percussive clap-blats. The idea of "imaginary percussion" was pushed even further in a pair of runthroughs of "The Sound I Want to Hear" (a piece by Sorbara), first as a drumkit duo with him and Zurawinski, then by giving the drum chart to the horn players to extrapolate a melody from the rhythmic elements.

[Somewhere There's Second Sunday series continues this weekend (August 13th) with a set from Québec's Sonia Paço-Rocchia offering realtime electroacoustic manipulations for bassoon and visuals, plus a quartet encounter with the SWT organizing team.]

Recording: Harrison Argatoff

Artist: Harrison Argatoff

Song: [first improvisation]

Recorded at Array Space (Rooted, Somewhere There, and Mechanical Forest Sound present), July 9, 2017.

Harrison Argatoff - [first improvisation]

Normally the night of its monthly Second Sunday series, Somewhere There instead decided to open things up, inviting a couple co-conspirators to each bring an act to this show. This first set was presented by Rooted, which seeks to grow community and explore new musical ideas by curating, recording, and releasing live concerts.

Saxophonist Anthony Argatoff, who has been making a name for himself in local creative music circles over the past couple years, has recently headed out of the city — so perhaps it's rather fitting to see his younger brother (also a product of the U of T music program) starting to step up as a more prominent player. This solo set saw him exploring some ideas for tenor saxophone, mixing improvisations with composed work and sax licks with some other vocalisations.

[Somewhere There's Second Sunday series continues this weekend (August 13th) with a set from Québec's Sonia Paço-Rocchia offering realtime electroacoustic manipulations for bassoon and visuals, plus a quartet encounter with the SWT organizing team.]

Recording: LAL

Artist: LAL

Song: Stand In My Way

Recorded at Prairie Drive Park (Feast in the East 63), July 8, 2017.

LAL - Stand In My Way

A return to Prairie Drive Park after last year's initial excursion had another excellent lineup and even better weather. Free food for all gave locals and musical tourists a chance to mingle together and it was a real treat to hear music echoing through the well-used park. Essential city-building work from Toronto Arts Foundation's Arts in the Parks initiative — hopefully this will continue every summer.

As night fell and the playground cleared out, LAL closed the night with a conscious party, celebrating art and resilience. Appreciating the vibes in a neighbourhood she'd known since her childhood, singer Rosina Kazi's hands darted out around her in the barely-illuminated stage area, feeling her way through Nicholas Murray's beats like a teenager tentatively pacing through a darkened park, searching for one excitingly-illicit thrill or another.

Recording: Saxsyndrum

Artist: Saxsyndrum

Song: Maceo^*

Recorded at Prairie Drive Park (Feast in the East 63), July 8, 2017.

Saxsyndrum - Maceo

A return to Prairie Drive Park after last year's initial excursion had another excellent lineup and even better weather. Free food for all gave locals and musical tourists a chance to mingle together and it was a real treat to hear music echoing through the well-used park. Essential city-building work from Toronto Arts Foundation's Arts in the Parks initiative — hopefully this will continue every summer.

This Montréal art-rock trio brought all the things their name suggests. When they began playing, a large hawk was circling overhead, the underside of its wings catching the fading golden evening sun — it's just possible it was looking for the source of the seagull squawks generated by Dave Switchenko's heavily-reverbed saxophone. Languishing hints of funk quite appropriate for the damp cool of the evening beginning to descend over the park.

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

Recording: The Cosmic Range

Artist: The Cosmic Range

Song: The Shark [excerpt]

Recorded at Prairie Drive Park (Feast in the East 63), July 8, 2017.

The Cosmic Range - The Shark [excerpt]

A return to Prairie Drive Park after last year's initial excursion had another excellent lineup and even better weather. Free food for all gave locals and musical tourists a chance to mingle together and it was a real treat to hear music echoing through the well-used park. Essential city-building work from Toronto Arts Foundation's Arts in the Parks initiative — hopefully this will continue every summer.

The full Cosmic Range complement were out in force, with Matt "Doc" Dunn joined by Isla Craig (vox, percussion), Andy Haas (sax, electronics), Max "Slim Twig" Turnbull (guit), Jonathan Adjemian (synth), Mike Smith (bass), Jay Anderson (drums), Brandon Valdivia (percussion) and Derek and Iggy Madison (percussion). The set was given over to a sprawling new piece called "The Shark", which moved hungrily between mellow groove-simmers and teeth-baring rockouts.

Concert Listings Roundup #212

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:

Native North America Gathering (feat. Duke Redbird / Willie Thrasher and Linda Saddleback / Willy Mitchell / Shingoose / Lawrence Martin with Vern Cheechoo / Lloyd Cheechoo / Eric Landry / Leland Bell / Brian Davey / John Angaiak / Alexis Utatnaq) / Trinity-St. Paul's 2017-08-08 (Tuesday) [FB event]

A monumental night at Trinity-St. Paul's brings together several of the musicians whose place in Canadian music history was reasserted with the release of 2014's Native North America compilation. Surely an opportunity that isn't going to come around again, this show is really not to be missed.

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This week's noteworthy shows:

Fast Music [debut show!] [Mark Ballyk/Julian Anderson-Bowes/Quincy Mayes/Andrew Marzotto/Matt Woroshyl/Bryan Qu] / The Rex 2017-08-07 (Monday) [FB event]

Foonyap (Twin Kai / Plazas / Ivory Towers) / Burdock Music Hall 2017-08-07 (Monday) [FB event]

NOVA [new work by Dan Tapper and new works by Bekah Ann Simms, Allison Cameron and Mehrnaz Rohbakhsh. Electroacoustic works, multimedia pieces and immersive installation.] / Canadian Music Centre 2017-08-08 (Tuesday – free with RSVP!) [FB event]

Ornate Ornette (feat. Mike DeiCont/Mark Ballyk/Andrew Miller/Brodie West/Bryan Qu) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2017-08-08 (Tuesday – early!) [FB event]

Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan presents Sundanese Music Workshop (feat. "leading visiting musicians & dancers from Indonesian Art and Culture Institute of Bandung (ISBI)") / Array Space 2017-08-08 (Tuesday – free!) [FB event]

Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires (Blonde Elvis / No Frills) / The Garrison 2017-08-08 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Baby Cages (Johnny de Courcy / Banana Split [members of Ice Cream]) / Burdock Music Hall 2017-08-08 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Brodie West/Reg Schwager/Marilyn Lerner/Evan Cartwright / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2017-08-09 (Wednesday – early!)

Music by & for Ken Aldcroft VIII (feat. Allison Cameron & Glen Hall / Andrew Furlong/Andrew Kay/Joe Sorbara) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2017-08-09 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Drone:Klub:09 [community drone immersion experience – listen or participate! / Roland Inspiration Centre 2017-08-09 (Wednesday – free!) [FB event]

Invocation Residency Series (feat. Wooden Wand / Snake Church [Ben Grossman/Michael Mucci]) / Array Space 2017-08-10 (Thursday – all ages!) [FB event]

Silent Shout presents (feat. P0st3rb0y [tape release party!] / Lee Paradise / The Marquis / Jonny) / Smiling Buddha 2017-08-10 (Thursday) [FB event]

Plasmalab (Slow Dawn / The Do Nothings) / Euro Sports Bar 2017-08-10 (Thursday) [FB event]

New Adventures in Sound Art: Sound Travels Concert – Object Response] ["artists that use saw blades and other carpentry tools as source material for sound exploration and automation"] (feat. Sonia Paço-Rocchia / Alan Bloor) / Ernest Balmer Studio 2017-08-11 (Friday – early!) [FB event]

Habari Africa Festival (feat. Rhythm Umurisho / Noumoucounda Cissoko) / Harbourfront Centre 2017-08-11 (Friday – free! outside! all ages + family friendly!) [more info]

Teenanger [Teenager album release show!] (New Fries / Hooded Fang) / The Horseshoe Tavern 2017-08-11 (Friday) [FB event]

Moon King (Scott Hardware) / The Baby G 2017-08-11 (Friday) [FB event]

Voddville V: The Talk Show (feat. SlowPitchSound / Lumi Krysztal) / Hub 14 2017-08-11 (Friday) [FB event]

Camp Wavelength: Camp Cruise (feat. Cadence Weapon / Greys / Tika the Creator / Vallens) / River Gambler 2017-08-11 (Friday – $3 with RSVP!) [FB event]

Habari Africa Festival (feat. Adam Solomon / Adama Daou [balafon workshop] / Master Djembefola Amadou Kienou [Na Folike workshop] / Nhapitapi Mbira / Blandine) / Harbourfront Centre 2017-08-12 (Saturday – free! outside! all ages + family friendly!) [more info]

Habari Africa Festival (feat. Diblo Dibala & Matchatcha) / Harbourfront Centre – Brigantine Room 2017-08-12 (Saturday) [FB event]

Ronley Teper's Lipliners / The Dakota Tavern 2017-08-12 (Saturday) [FB event]

Habari Africa Festival (feat. Ubuntu Drum and Dance / Adama Daou [balafon workshop] / Neema Children's Choir) / Harbourfront Centre 2017-08-13 (Sunday – free! outside! all ages + family friendly!) [more info]

Kultura Filipino Arts Festival (feat. HATAW / JC3 / Kyvita / HanHan / DATU / Gingee / RV Mendoza / Casey Garcia / Darling Cora / Sol.Dust) / Daniels Spectrum 2017-08-13 (Sunday – free! daytime event! all-ages + family-friendly!) [FB event]

Medieval Music with Dance (feat. Pneuma Ensemble) / Majlis Art Garden 2017-08-13 (Sunday) [FB event]

Heaven For Real [Japan Tour send-off with bands and comedy] (Dorothea Paas / Luge) / Burdock Music Hall 2017-08-13 (Sunday) [FB event]

Somewhere There's Second Sunday Series (feat. Now Here This [Paul Newman/Heather Saumer/Noah Sherman/Joe Sorbara] / Sonia Paço-Rocchia with Mark Gane/Eugene Martynec/Ambrose Pottie) / Array Space 2017-08-13 (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!

Cindy Wilson [of The B-52s] / Lee's Palace 2017-09-06 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Futuro Libre presents (feat. Pierre Kwenders [Toronto album release party!] / DATU / OBUXUM) / Rivoli 2017-09-15 (Friday) [FB event]

Weeping Icon (Sigil) / The Baby G 2017-09-24 (Sunday) [FB event]

Wavelength & Goethe-Institut present (feat. Hauschka / Debashis Sinha) / St. Anne's Anglican Church 2017-10-27 (Friday) [FB event]

The Clientele (Hoops) / The Great Hall 2017-10-31 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Andy Shauf (Jennifer Castle) / Massey Hall 2017-11-23 (Thursday) [more info]

Preview: SummerWorks 2017

SummerWorks Performance Festival

August 3-13, 2016

Pushing further with its initiatives around accessibility and cross-discipline pollination, the SummerWorks Festival is less than ever a place to go and just sit down to passively watch a performance. There are indeed, some shows where an audience just watches something on a stage, but much of the festival seems to be seeking to upend that model, to mix/remix/recombine concepts in new ways.

For music fans, that means digging deeper than one used to have to — gone are the days where the Music Series presented night after night of innovatively-staged spectacles by rising local musicians. Instead, musical content is more scattered and mixed among the other productions — so this preview's goal is to dig through some of the diverse landing points for the Festival's music offerings, and then offer some suggestions for a few further avenues that curious ears might go exploring down. [Listen! tags mean you can check out a live recording of that artist from the MFS archive.]

• Are We Not Horses – The Sci-Fi Summer Musical This re-visioning is a celebration of the tenth anniversary of Rock Plaza Central's breakthrough album — one of those epochal moments where the folkies and weirdo improvisers in the Tranzac's front room teamed up to craft an artifact that made not insignificant inroads into the broader culture. A concept album about mechanical horses in the midst of an epic battle between good and evil, there's plenty of narrative grist to exploit in a stage version — and there's also some pretty cool, memorable songs. It'll be interesting to see if all of that can be brought together into a coherent vision, but whether it's a disciplined gallop or rearing back as it spits the bit, this should be fascinating to behold.

• Erased: Billy & Bayard The Queer Songbook Orchestra has been workshopping its tribute to Billy Strayhon (Duke Ellington's long-time writing partner) for a little while now, and those efforts are emerging in this show that not only attempts to re-insert him into his rightful place in the musical firmament, but to connect his cultural "erasure" as a gay black man with Bayard Rustin, the pioneering civil rights activist whose efforts were similarly marginalized. Known for its mixture of storytelling/reclaiming narratives and lush musical excellence, the QSO's shows are always emotionally stirring, and this promises to extend that even further.
  Listen! The Queer Songbook Orchestra Geordie Gordon - Don't You Pay Them No Mind

• Crush On Humans Closest in spirit to the sort of shows that used to be the Music Series' calling card (and including some guest turns by former performers in it), this multi-episode extravaganza promises to reveal the origin story of Toronto's Alphabot — oh, and an "attempt to save humanity from its tyrannical robot oppressors". Should be a fun romp and don't get too hung up on narrative continuity — individual performances during the run should stand on their own just fine.
  Listen! Alphabot! - Rabbit Ears

• BODIES OF WATER Just another evening of Iranian afrofunk folk-rock from the Zuze ensemble... except with live synchronized swimming and video streams. [n.b.: Please note this event has been cancelled.]

• Who Runs the World?/Out a Road/Body Brake 8.5 One innovation this year's festival is offering is free late-night programming at the SummerWorks Back Patio at Pia Bouman Studio, just over from Queen and Dufferin. There are some nights with cool DJ's (including John Caffery, Regina Gently, and New Chance) plus some "themed" nights with some excellent live entertainment. Who Runs the World? is programmed by Girls Rock Camp Toronto and will include performances by some of the always-awesome camper bands, Out a Road offers a chance to catch a preview of some of Bonjay's long-awaited new material, and Body Brake 8.5 mixes live dance performance with a set from Witch Prophet.
  Listen! Denim Roses - We Hate Cake
  Listen! Bonjay - Creepin
  Listen! Witch Prophet - Funeral For a Killer

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Meanwhile, the festival's workshop series contains a couple entries that may be of interest to folks organizing in the music community, on Anti-Oppression and Anti-Racism organizational strategies and integrating indigeneity and decolonizing performance practice. And there's a lot more interesting stuff in the festival, as well: I'm interested in Pearle Harbour's Chautauqua, DIVINE, August, Augusta, and Explosions for the 21st Century. SummerWorks is always a well-curated festival, so if you've got time and a curious mind, it doesn't hurt just to dive into something that fits into your schedule.

The fine print: single-performance tickets are from $15, and there are various pass options available. You can find all the ticket information here.

Recording: Body of Waste

Artist: Body of Waste

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Handlebar (Track Could Bend #28), July 4, 2017.

Body of Waste - [excerpt]

When not playing bass in groups like Retired and Deliluh, Adam Hanrahan has also been exploring noise/drone sounds as Body of Waste, creating sonic tension so thick it could literally be cut with a knife.

[Track Could Bend returns to The Steady tonight (August 1st) with Invisible Out's social media complications, Tom Richards' shoreline synth drones and BABEL's last ever (!?) performance.]

Recording: Sound of the Mountain

Artist: Sound of the Mountain

Song: [edited excerpt]

Recorded at Handlebar (Track Could Bend #28), July 4, 2017.

Sound of the Mountain - [edited excerpt]

Elizabeth Millar (clarinet) and Craig Pedersen (trumpet) have been working on this electroacoustic project for awhile now, so it was no surprise to see them in full control of their extended technique, carefully mic-ing the breath-sounds and buttons of their instruments to create a living soundscape seeping into all corners of the room and creating all sorts of "effects" without the use of pedals or laptops. The pair were celebrating an excellently-crafted album (recorded by Thierry Amar at Hotel2Tango) with a westward journey across the country — an adventure as big as their sounds suggest.

[Track Could Bend returns to The Steady tonight (August 1st) with Invisible Out's social media complications, Tom Richards' shoreline synth drones and BABEL's last ever (!?) performance.]

Recording: Blue Light

Artist: Blue Light

Song: [excerpt from first piece]

Recorded at Handlebar (Track Could Bend #28), July 4, 2017.

Blue Light - [excerpt from first piece]

A too-rare appearance from Ami Spears in solo mode, this set of beautiful music featured slightly-gritty keyboard ambience with little hints of deftly-controlled feedback from gentle brushes of her violin strings. Superb stuff, and we should hope for more frequent solo outings from someone emerging as a strong electroacoustic artist.

[Track Could Bend returns to The Steady tonight (August 1st) with Invisible Out's social media complications, Tom Richards' shoreline synth drones and BABEL's last ever (!?) performance.]