Recording: Stargoon

Artist: Stargoon

Song: Live at Bradstock [edited excerpt]

Recorded at Terry's Farm (Bradstock XXV – Night 1), Bradford, June 16, 2017.

Stargoon - Live at Bradstock [edited excerpt]

For the past twenty-five years, some genuine and proper hippies have been assembling out past Bradford at Terry's farm to rekindle some "peace and love and music" vibes, offering a weekend of free sounds and free camping. Terry had decided to cap off a good run at a nice, round number, creating a bittersweet vibe to this year's event. Among the saddened crowd reacting to that news was Luca Capone (drummer for Moonwood/host of CJRU's "The Night Shift"), one of Terry's former students who had played the festival several times previously. With none of his usual projects available, he turned to the next best thing and asked if I wanted to team up for the gig. And thus the origin story of Stargoon, an improvising krautrock band named after a paint colour created by a neural network. (We were joined here by James Gill on bass, who had played with Capone several times in the past at Bradstock.)

The festival turned out to be an interesting experience. A meadow hillside created a natural amphitheatre, and the stage was a gazebo behind a moat-like water feature. There was a succession of acts, offering folk songs, Grateful Dead-ish jams, and even a little garage rock. Back by the house, there was a pen with some goats and a mule. Through mysterious hippie decision-making processes, we ended up playing last on the festival's opening night, fighting off the swarms of mosquitoes attracted to the stage lights, as we cranked out a half-hour of sounds. Seemed to go over well enough with the folks on hand.

[I have been documenting Stargoon "live in the studio" with a pair of EP's over on bandcamp. Stargoon will be making their Toronto debut at Nite Comfort on Sunday, August 6th.]

[second photo by Luca Capone.]

Recording: DKV Trio

Artist: DKV Trio

Songs: "Toronto 2" + "Toronto 6"^*

Recorded at Burdock Music Hall (TONE Festival – Show #2/Music Gallery Departures Series), June 15, 2017.

DKV Trio - Toronto 2

DKV Trio - Toronto 6

Although the local "jazz" festival is anticipated in some quarters, it seemed that too often there was no home there for adventurous and experimental creators. Thus, out of necessity, the TONE Festival was born to give these touring musicians a chance to connect with local audiences and artists. A collaboration between Burn Down the Capital's Tad Michalak, Ron Gaskin (a.k.a. Rough Idea) and Karen Ng and Daniel Pencer, the goal was to create shows that were rewarding for players and listeners alike. Multitasking Tad Michalak managed to use his position as curator for the Music Gallery's offsite Departures series to bring some big names under the TONE banner, closing out the night (and the Music Gallery's season) with some shredding from one of saxophonist Ken Vandermark's more "free" projects. This trio, with Vandermark joined by Hamid Drake (drums) and Kent Kessler (bass), has been playing together for more than two decades, so it was no surprise that they could hit the stage and launch into some intense blowing. There was lots of drive here (often propelled by Drake's beautifully musical percussion work) but the momentum was maintained even when things shifted down for more introspective moments and solo spotlights.

^* I'm not sure if these are composed pieces or improvisations from the group — they do plenty of both — so I have adapted a naming convention they have used themselves. Please leave a comment if you can tie titles to these!

Recording: Icepick

Artist: Icepick - [excerpt]

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Burdock Music Hall (TONE Festival – Show #2/Music Gallery Departures Series), June 15, 2017.

Icepick - [excerpt]

Although the local "jazz" festival is anticipated in some quarters, it seemed that too often there was no home there for adventurous and experimental creators. Thus, out of necessity, the TONE Festival was born to give these touring musicians a chance to connect with local audiences and artists. A collaboration between Burn Down the Capital's Tad Michalak, Ron Gaskin (a.k.a. Rough Idea) and Karen Ng and Daniel Pencer, the goal was to create shows that were rewarding for players and listeners alike. Multitasking Tad Michalak managed to use his position as curator for the Music Gallery's offsite Departures series to bring some big names under the TONE banner, meaning the night's middle act could easily have been the headliner in their own right. A new trio bringing together Nate Wooley (trumpet), Chris Corsano (percussion), and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (double bass), this was action-jazz from the get-go with plenty kineticism on stage. Equally willing to pull together and to pull apart, there was room here for each of the players to bring their own ideas, personalities and sheets of metal.

Recording: Invisible Out

Artist: Invisible Out

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Burdock Music Hall (TONE Festival – Show #2/Music Gallery Departures Series), June 15, 2017.

Invisible Out - [excerpt]

Although the local "jazz" festival is anticipated in some quarters, it seemed that too often there was no home there for adventurous and experimental creators. Thus, out of necessity, the TONE Festival was born to give these touring musicians a chance to connect with local audiences and artists. A collaboration between Burn Down the Capital's Tad Michalak, Ron Gaskin (a.k.a. Rough Idea) and Karen Ng and Daniel Pencer, the goal was to create shows that were rewarding for players and listeners alike. Multitasking Tad Michalak managed to use his position as curator for the Music Gallery's offsite Departures series to bring some big names under the TONE banner, but he also included some slight-of-hand counter-programming in deploying an entirely different sort of improvising project to start the night off. I've seen Xuan Ye and Jason Doell doing plenty of things in their own projects, but this collaborative set pushed some of their individual quirks and tricks into a different zone. Call it "ring pop pop", with all sorts of apps, found sounds and found objects being deconstructed and rewired into their sound-field.

[My recording of the whole set can be found over on IO's bandcamp. Xuan Ye will be celebrating her new double album You've Just Become Part of Me with an evening of performances at the Tranzac on Sunday, July 16th, with guests Heraclitus Akimbo & Jason Doell, Brigitte Bardon't and Zoë Alexis-Abrams & Johnny Spence joining in.]

Recording: Tatsuya Nakatani

Artist: Tatsuya Nakatani

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (TONE Festival – Show #1), June 14, 2017.

Tatsuya Nakatani - [excerpt]

Although the local "jazz" festival is anticipated in some quarters, it seemed that too often there was no home there for adventurous and experimental creators. Thus, out of necessity, the TONE Festival was born to give these touring musicians a chance to connect with local audiences and artists. A collaboration between Burn Down the Capital's Tad Michalak, Ron Gaskin (a.k.a. Rough Idea) and Karen Ng and Daniel Pencer, the goal was to create shows that were rewarding for players and listeners alike. Tatsuya Nakatani's solo set followed the same sort of arc as he demonstrated last year, starting and ending with the hypnotic drone of bowed orchestral gongs. In between those vibrations there was a ceaseless array of in-the-moment inventiveness, creating swelling mountains and valleys that would be rocked by occasional sudden thunderbursts.

Recording: Nakatani/Posen/Fernandes

Artist: Tatsuya Nakatani with Mika Posen & Danielle Fernandes

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (TONE Festival – Show #1), June 14, 2017.

Tatsuya Nakatani with Mika Posen & Danielle Fernandes - [excerpt]

Although the local "jazz" festival is anticipated in some quarters, it seemed that too often there was no home there for adventurous and experimental creators. Thus, out of necessity, the TONE Festival was born to give these touring musicians a chance to connect with local audiences and artists. A collaboration between Burn Down the Capital's Tad Michalak, Ron Gaskin (a.k.a. Rough Idea) and Karen Ng and Daniel Pencer, the goal was to create shows that were rewarding for players and listeners alike. Tatsuya Nakatani's third annual-ish Canadian excursion saw him bringing his Gong Orchestra north of the border for the first time for a performance in Peterborough. Word on the street is that T.O. might be getting an opportunity to hear it next time 'round, but for now, this trip found him in a similar solo + group combination to his previous visit to these parts. But unlike last year, when the ad hoc ensemble seemed to be a bit too busy for Nakatani's taste, this trio seemed designed to leave some open spaces, pitting his percussive forays against Mika Posen's violin and pedals and Danielle Fernandes' alto sax. The latter, up from Guelph, was new to many in the room, but made a favourable impression with her looping, curling licks, combining with Posen's drone skritches to give Nakatani plenty elbow room in which to work.

Recording: Joe Sorbara & Brodie West

Artist: Joe Sorbara & Brodie West

Song: [excerpt from first piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (TONE Festival – Show #1), June 14, 2017.

Joe Sorbara & Brodie West - [excerpt from first piece]

Although the local "jazz" festival is anticipated in some quarters, it seemed that too often there was no home there for adventurous and experimental creators. Thus, out of necessity, the TONE Festival was born to give these touring musicians a chance to connect with local audiences and artists. A collaboration between Burn Down the Capital's Tad Michalak, Ron Gaskin (a.k.a. Rough Idea) and Karen Ng and Daniel Pencer, the goal was to create shows that were rewarding for players and listeners alike. The festival also gave patrons eager to catch some big names from abroad a chance to be exposed to some of the local scene's top players, such as in this encounter between saxophonist Brodie West and percussionist Joe Sorbara. This even-handed duo effectively mixed Sorbara's clanging collection of bricabrac with West's groove-wiggles.

Concert Listings Roundup #207

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:

Feast In The East 63 (feat. The Cosmic Range / LAL / Saxsyndrum) / Prairie Drive Park 2017-07-08 (Saturday – free! all ages + family friendly! free meal! outside + wonderful!) [FB event]

Last year's inaugural Feast in the East park show was a real highlight of the summer. Nestled at the edge of Scarborough (but just a couple minutes' walk from the subway!), Prairie Drive Park is a rather lovely spot and it's an honour to share it for one day with the Crescent Town residents who use it as their backyard. (And to share a free meal together as well!) All of that is cool enough, but the FitE crew also have some rather excellent music on offer, plus some art projects that will animate the space in different ways. Not to be missed!

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This week's noteworthy shows:

Music Mondays (feat. Dialectica Saxophone Quartet) / Church of the Holy Trinity 2017-07-03 (Monday – lunchtime show! free! all-ages and family-friendly!) [FB event]

Kingston All Stars (feat. Sly Dunbar/Mikey Chung/Hux Brown/Robbie Lyn/Tony "Bassie" Hibberts/Ranford "Ronnie Bop" Williams/Bangarang Horns/Mossman/Stranger Cole/Noel Ellis/Carol Brown/Jah Cutta) / Nathan Phillips Square 2017-07-03 (Monday – free! All-ages and family-friendly! outside!) [FB event]

Track Could Bend #28 (feat. Sound of the Mountain / Blue Light / Body of Waste) / The Steady Café 2017-07-04 (Tuesday – PWYC!) [FB event]

Mauno (Ghostkeeper / Germaphobes) / The Baby G 2017-07-05 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Msea (Omhouse / Blunt Chunks / Leucrocuta) / The Piston 2017-07-05 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Josh Thorpe's Rock Songs / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2017-07-05 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Jonah Parzen-Johnson (Steven Foster) / Burdock Music Hall 2017-07-06 (Thursday) [FB event]

In Between Sounds #75 (feat. Lorde Awesome II) / The Only Café 2017-07-06 (Thursday – free!) [FB event]

Not The Wind, Not The Flag [two sets!] / Pamenar 2017-07-06 (Thursday) [FB event]

Planet Creature (Champion Ski / purrer / Lavender Bruisers / Catholic Wilt) / Smiling Buddha 2017-07-06 (Thursday) [FB event]

Woods (John Andrews and the Yawns) / The Garrison 2017-07-07 (Friday) [FB event]

Tone Deaf Culture presents Toronoise: Day 1 [Grindcore/Noisecore] (feat. G.O.D. / Uncle Ray / Augrah / Capsized / Holy Grinder / Malaria / Sh*t Liver / Slugbate / Post Natal Drip) / Stop, Drop and Roll 2017-07-07 (Friday) [FB event]

Peeling [7 Years of Blood EP release!] (Nyssa / Fruit & Flowers) / The Baby G 2017-07-07 (Friday) [FB event]

Nick Flanagan [Wiped Privilege comedy album release] (Wrong Hole / The Exploders / The Brain) / Double Double Land 2017-07-07 (Friday) [FB event]

Afrofest (feat. Richard Meseko / Jean Assamoa / Slim Flex / Christy Lova / Ammoye / Dicko Fils / X-Maleya) / Woodbine Park 2017-07-08 (Saturday – free! outdoors! all-ages + family-friendly!) [more info]

Play the Parks (feat. VERSA) / McGill Granby Parkette 2017-07-08 (Saturday – free! all ages! outdoors! early – two sets @ 5:00 p.m. and 6:40 p.m.!) [FB event]

Yonatan Gat (The Highest Order / The Sulks) / Smiling Buddha 2017-07-08 (Saturday) [FB event]

Tone Deaf Culture presents Toronoise: Day 2 (feat. Knurl / Limbs Bin / Crrotting / Disleksick / Doom Tickler / Flesh Trade / Xuan Ye / Goth Girl / Mother I Am Born / Moth Ash / Shelf) / The Baby G 2017-07-08 (Saturday) [FB event]

Absolutely Free (Castle If) / The Brandscape 2017-07-08 (Saturday) [FB event]

Lee Rose + The Ace of Wands [ex-Rival Boys, first show!] (Myra Maines / Dave Allen) / Handlebar 2017-07-08 (Saturday) [FB event]

Afrofest (feat. Ngoma Ensemble / Black Stars / Coco Di Catimbo feat. Xocolate & Flavia Nascimento / Gabacho Maroc Morocco / Mi Casa / Bracket) / Woodbine Park 2017-07-09 (Sunday – free! outdoors! all-ages + family-friendly!) [more info]

Sunday Residency (feat. Sacred Lamp) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2017-07-09 (Sunday – afternoon show @ 3 p.m.!) [FB event]

Diane Roblin/Glen Hall/Brandon Valdivia / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2017-07-09 (Sunday – early!) [FB event]

Lina Allemano Four ["new compositions"] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2017-07-09 (Sunday) [FB event]

Rooted, Somewhere There, and Mechanical Forest Sound present (feat. Harrison Argatoff / The Imaginary Percussion Ensemble / Kat Estacio) / Array Space 2017-07-09 (Sunday) [more info]

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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!

Mark Critchley (Bob Wiseman) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2017-07-15 (Saturday – early!) [FB event]

Taktus [video release party!] / Burdock Music Hall 2017-07-15 (Saturday – early show! all ages!) [FB event]

Fade Awaay (Blank Bullets / Persian Rugs) / Smiling Buddha 2017-07-19 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Paul Linklater [Golden Boy Pageant album release!] (Sandro Perri / Dan Edmonds) / Burdock Music Hall 2017-07-25 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Alex Samaras & Friends / Island Café 2017-07-28 (Friday – PWYC! all ages + family-friendly!) [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]

Institution Vol. 1 (feat. Nailbiter / MNISOTA / Mike Rocha / C.R. Gillespie / Castle If) / The Baby G 2017-08-24 (Thursday) [FB event]

Toronto Outdoor Picture Show presents Slapstick By Starlight [live original score to the silent comedy classic "The Freshman"] (feat. The Holy Gasp) / Parkway Forest 2017-08-26 (Saturday – free! outside! all-ages + family-friendly!) [FB event]

EMA (The Blow) / The Garrison 2017-11-15 (Wednesday) [more info]

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Bandcamp corner:

• Alex Samaras has applied his beautiful voice to everything from standards to pop to advanced experimental folksongs. On this — his first proper "solo" album — there's hints of all of that, wrapped in popsong form like a series of delicate gifts.

Recording: Chik White

Artist: Chik White

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Ratio (Decreation – Night 4), June 10, 2017.

Chik White - unknown

Given the internal and external pressures that come to bear, it's no surprise that no DIY space lasts forever. It still made it a sad occasion to learn that Ratio was winding down its active presence, news leavened slightly with the corresponding announcement of a series of farewell shows, with many artists making a final return to the space. Known as the founder of Divorce Records and Halifax's Obey Convention, Darcy Spidle's arrival at Ratio felt like a state visit from an ambassador of Halifax's thriving DIY scene. Self-consciously warning the crowd, "it's a little ludicrous" before beginning, he presented a set of mouth-sounds, mixing vocal grunt/mutters with outside-the-box jaw-harp sproinging. Sometimes sounding like a man in a losing battle with asphyxia, there is indeed a certain amount of melodramatic goofiness involved — but Spidle never treated it as camp. No surprise that Paul Dutton was spotted in the crowd taking this in — Spidel is definitely following that horseman's path.

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

Recording: Slow Attack Ensemble

Artist: Slow Attack Ensemble

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Ratio (Decreation – Night 4), June 10, 2017.

Slow Attack Ensemble - [excerpt]

Given the internal and external pressures that come to bear, it's no surprise that no DIY space lasts forever. It still made it a sad occasion to learn that Ratio was winding down its active presence, news leavened slightly with the corresponding announcement of a series of farewell shows, with many artists making a final return to the space. I had seen Chuck Blazevic performing as half of dreamscape duo You'll Never Get to Heaven, but this solo project softened his sound even more. A careful mix of gliss-y guit and float-y keyb in hazy, layered loops and quicker-decaying echoed lines, this was delicate and beautiful stuff that formed itself into a true virtual ensemble from a single player's fingers.

Recording: APA

Artist: APA

Songs: APA - [two excerpts]

Recorded at Ratio (Decreation – Night 4), June 10, 2017.

APA - [excerpt 1]

APA - [edited excerpt #2]

Given the internal and external pressures that come to bear, it's no surprise that no DIY space lasts forever. It still made it a sad occasion to learn that Ratio was winding down its active presence, news leavened slightly with the corresponding announcement of a series of farewell shows, with many artists making a final return to the space. Never playing the same set twice, Xuan Ye deployed a couple different technologies in her set, unified by some underlying sonic disruptions. The first section saw her on laptop and phone, creating soundbursts trickling beneath wibble-wobble glitchnoise. After investigating the possible sounds to be derived from looping a microphone being shaken around in a backpack, the mic was given further percussive duties, thudding against the wood of the piano. Later on, a melodica would make an appearance, its reediness hinting at accordion-sounds and suggesting some kind of bizarro-world Parisian café tune.

[Stay tuned for the forthcoming details of APA's CD launch event.]

Recording: Fleshtone Aura

Artist: Fleshtone Aura

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Ratio (Decreation – Night 4), June 10, 2017.

Fleshtone Aura - [excerpt]

Given the internal and external pressures that come to bear, it's no surprise that no DIY space lasts forever. It still made it a sad occasion to learn that Ratio was winding down its active presence, news leavened slightly with the corresponding announcement of a series of farewell shows, with many artists making a final return to the space. Over the past year or so, I've been noting that some of Andrew Zukerman's musical collaborations have pushed him into more musical and less provocateur-ish territory than Fleshtone Aura used to inhabit. That continued in this set, which came with a different sort of collaboration with dancer Julia Male. Instead of passive-aggressive stop-starts, this set found Zukerman offering slurpy rhythms with little mouth-bursts. Male still caught onto his musical sensibility, however, with her movements suggesting someone caught in a loop, repeating gesture-fragments until jarred out of stasis. The set ended with Zukerman's musical distortions pulling themselves back to reveal Madonna's "Live to Tell" playing underneath — at least briefly, as the blipscape took over again until the plug was pulled.

Recording: Steve Sladkowski & Joe Sorbara

Artist: Steve Sladkowski & Joe Sorbara

Songs: [two excerpts from first piece]

Recorded at The Steady Café (Track Could Bend #27), June 6, 2017.

Steve Sladkowski & Joe Sorbara - [first excerpt from first piece]

Steve Sladkowski & Joe Sorbara - [second excerpt from first piece]

I asked Joe Sorbara to come out and do something he wouldn't do at one of his usual sets — a tall order given the range of musicians he plays with on the regular. He thought about that for a second or so, and then asked if he could bring one of his old students out to perform with. That would have been cool in any case, but got even more intriguing when he mentioned that former student was Steve Sladkowski. I knew that Sladkowski had been involved with the improvised music scene in Guelph back in his student days, but he's been quite busy more recently being a rock star. Sitting face-to-face with Sorbara (and his assortment of percussive bricabrac), some old instincts kicked in, and soon he was clawing at his strings to Sharrock along. This might have some more pronounced dynamics than what he's been playing recently, but it was an evidently joyful musical encounter.

[Track Could Bend is back at The Steady on Tuesday (July 4th), with Montréal's Sound of the Mountain as well as Ami Spears' solo project Blue Light and Body of Waste (Adam from Retired).]

Recording: Processor

Artist: Processor

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Steady Café (Track Could Bend #27), June 6, 2017.

Processor - unknown

Though I've recently seen M. Joakim and Lorenz Peter in full-on rock mode and more restrained reflection, I was expecting something a bit different, having invited the pair to TCB with an offer to do something outside their "regular" sets. That turned out to mean leaving the bass at home for a dual synth lineup on this night, and the pair played a series of beautifully-glacial pieces, repeating minimalist riffs providing a framework for samples and mutating oscillations. A real treat.

[Track Could Bend is back at The Steady on Tuesday (July 4th), with Montréal's Sound of the Mountain as well as Ami Spears' solo project Blue Light and Body of Waste (Adam from Retired).]

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

Recording: Diane Roblin & Katie Jensen

Artist: Diane Roblin & Katie Jensen

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Steady Café (Track Could Bend #27), June 6, 2017.

Diane Roblin & Katie Jensen - [excerpt]

This one had been in the works for a while. The irrepressible Diane Roblin had asked me quite a ways back to play TCB and I agreed, but told her I was keeping an eye out for the right person to pair her with. When I saw Katie Jensen playing keyboards last spring at the Music Gallery's Drone Therapy event, the figurative lightbulb switched on. It took a while to get everything to come together, but this turned out to be a satisfying musical blind date. The pair don't have the same sort of background or musical practice, but I had an inkling there'd be a connection there personality-wise — a sort of optimistic tenaciousness. Musically, there was a meeting place in a sort of wobbly dreamworld soundtrack, with Roblin's more structured approach mixing nicely with Jensen's pedal-aided shimmers and textures. Cheers to both performers for taking a little excursion outside their usual comfort zones.

[The next instalment of Diane Roblin's monthly at The Tranzac (on Sunday, July 9th) sees her improvising with MFS faves Glen Hall and Brandon Valdivia. Track Could Bend is back at The Steady on Tuesday (July 4th), with Montréal's Sound of the Mountain as well as Ami Spears' solo project Blue Light and Body of Waste (Adam from Retired).]