Monday Roundup #264

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Concert announcements:

mdbm [Michael White/Maggie Keogh/Don Rooke/Blake Howard] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-11 (Wednesday) [more info]

Agnes [Rob Clutton/Bea Labikova/Mira Martin-Gray/Doug Tielli/Kevin Turcotte/Mark Zurawinski] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-02-17 (Tuesday)

Project Nowhere presents (feat. Hot Garbage / Yoo Doo Right / Bonnie Trash) / Lee's Palace 2026-02-20 (Friday). $27.65, 19+. [FB event]

Earlobe fundraiser (feat. Louis Pino/Colin Cudmore/Karen Ng/Fahmid Nibesh/Mark Zurawinski/Germaine Liu/Andrew Furlong/Bea Labikova/Mira Martin-Gray/Marilyn Yogarajah/fossa (Lenny)/Bibibi) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-26 (Thursday)

Is your show missing from this list? Submit it via this form!

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Shows this week:

University of Toronto New Music Festival: Vis a Vis [music of Vivian Fung and Morton Feldman] (feat. U of T Percussion Ensemble) / Walter Hall 2025-02-02 (Monday). $free. [more info]

Chris Banks presents (feat. Max Stover/Chris Banks/Mateos Labbé-Phelan) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-02 (Monday)

Harry Vetro and Friends [Kae Murphy/Harrison Argatoff/Ben Isenstein/Andrew Furlong/Harry Vetro] / The Emmet Ray 2026-02-02 (Monday). $15

Track Could Bend #113 (feat. OH GEE [Marilyn Yogarajah/Rob Campbell] / Ryan Kinney) / Wenona Lodge 2026-02-03 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Holy Oak Family Singers Present: Team Building (feat. Mira Martin-Gray/Joseph Shabason/Justin Orok/Fan Wu/Maggie Keogh/Johnny Spence/Alex Lukashevsky/Danika Vandersteen/Caitlin Woelfle-O'Brien/Robinson Kirby) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-04 (Wednesday – early) [more info]

Dan Pitt NEW Quartet [Dan Pitt/Jen Lo/Kae Murphy/Stefan Hegarat] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-04 (Wednesday) [more info]

More Noise Please! presents: An Evening of Deconstructed Sounds (feat. SlowPitchSound / Property Violator / o0yu x rOrU / System78 / The Eyes, The Mouth / dsouziate) / BSMT 254 2026-02-05 (Thursday). $17.31/pwyc. [teickets/more info]

The Eric West Quintet [Eric West/Kae Murphy/Leland Whitty/Julian Anderson-Bowes/Chris Pruden] / Sellers & Newel 2025-02-06 (Friday). $25 minimum donation. [FB event]

Doug Tielli and... (feat. Doug Tielli/Michael Davidson/Brandon Davis/Aline Homzy) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-06 (Friday)

Jo Passed [record release] (Heaven for Real / Wedding) / The Baby G 2025-02-07 (Saturday). $16.57, 19+. [tickets + more info]

Toronto Improvisers Orchestra / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-08 (Sunday – noon)

Ayal Senior & Friends (feat. Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman / Destroya / Nick Flanagan / OOP) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-08 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.) [FB event]

Bad Baby and Mayme Joach [Aidan McConnell/Jack Johnston/Evan Cartwright/Charliecello Lukashevsky/Alex Lukashevsky] (Fan Wu / Colleen Coco Collins) / Burdock Music Hall 2026-02-08 (Sunday). $22.13. [tickets + more info]

Musica Universalis (feat. Colin Fisher Quintet [Colin Fisher/William Hunt/Ben Dwyer/Spencer Cole/Maxwell Stover]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-08 (Sunday)

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Bandcamp corner:

• Hey, Bandcamp Friday is back this week! Here's some things on my list...

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In memoriam:

Sad to hear of the passing of the sui generis Jeff Burke, who elevated any ensemble he was a part of with his bassoon (and, occasionally, theremin). Glad I got to see/document him in some different contexts (I recall catching him several times when he was bucking on the TTC, but sadly don't have any recordings of that). Here's some sounds from the archive...

• ...on November 12, 2014 at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge).

Arnd Jurgensen and Friends - [set 2 excerpt]

• ...on March 10, 2015 at Array Space (Audiopollination 28.2).

Attariwala-Burke-Sokol - [edited excerpt from an improvisation]

• ...on February 9, 2020 at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (SynapticCircusSundays).

Kathryn Ladano/Jeff Burke/Alex Fournier/Germaine Liu/Nilan Perera - [excerpt from 2nd piece]

[Do remember that you can click on the tags below to go back and find the original posts (and often, more stuff) from these artists.]

Recording: Vividness Trio

Artist: Vividness Trio

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #112), January 6, 2026.

Vividness Trio - unknown

Laura Gillis has been crafting songs as Vividness for quite some time now, though this evolution is a slightly more recent development. Joined by Michelangelo Iaffaldano the mysterious Hildegard von Bingo on guitar and Lorne Shapiro on viola de gamba, the goal here was as much to explore textures and interactions as to deliver songs.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

[Track Could Bend is back at Wenona on Tuesday (February 2nd) with sets from OH GEE (Marilyn Yogarajah & Rod Campbell) and Ryan Kinney.]

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

Recording: Duo BEAK

Artist: Duo BEAK

Songs: [opening and closing sections of an improvisation]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #112), January 6, 2026.

Duo BEAK - [opening section]

Duo BEAK - [closing section]

A new moniker for a longstanding friend duo, this set from Kayla Milmine and Bea Labikova saw them testing out some new instruments. Milmine, a longtime one-sax specialist on soprano has branched out with a sopranino saxophone, while Labikova (who also had the usual "electronic" set up with pedals and throat mic, as well as her alto) showed off her beautiful handcrafted gajdy, the Slovakian version of the bagpipe. That lead to some buzzing and squealing in the higher registers, as can be heard in the first section here as the pair explored how these instruments can share space. After further experiments with plastic tubing and throat-rumbles, things moved a little lower for the closing zone.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

[Track Could Bend is back at Wenona on Tuesday (February 2nd) with sets from OH GEE (Marilyn Yogarajah & Rod Campbell) and Ryan Kinney.]

Recording: The Silt

Artist: The Silt

Songs: Waltzing Around + Mistakes

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), January 2, 2026.

The Silt - Waltzing Around

The Silt - Mistakes

Having theoretically wrapped things up for the avant-Philly Soul/alt-country unit The Silt back in 2010, Doug Tielli, Ryan Driver, and Marcus Quin have been allowing the band a stately and dignified postlife, with some occasional shows, and (as on this night) celebrating the return to circulation of One Last Thing, an odds-and-sods collection originally released on CRr at the band's "last" show. All of those retrospective leanings were given some qualifications, however, with the inclusion of some new songs in the mix (including the latter selection here from Ryan Driver). The silt, so to speak, may not have settled on the riverbed after all — keep an eye out to see if anything else gets shaken up.

Recording: Bateman/West/Dann

Artist: Victor Bateman/Brodie West/Nico Dann (and Doug Tielli)

Songs: Rhythm-A-Ning [composer: Thelonious Monk] + I'm Getting Sentimental Over You [composers: Ned Washington/George Bassman]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Tania Gill presents), January 2, 2026.

Victor Bateman/Brodie West/Nico Dann - Rhythm-A-Ning

Victor Bateman/Brodie West/Nico Dann/Doug Tielli - I'm Getting Sentimental Over You

An evening with the Tania Gill Quartet became something more ad hoc with the leader feeling under the weather and wisely staying at home. That left Victor Bateman (electric 5-string bass), Brodie West (alto sax) and Nico Dann (drumkit) to wing it — no charts, no fakebooks, just combing through their mental databases for some tunes that everyone would be prepared to have a go with. It also gave the trio, and especially the rhythm section, some extra time to stretch out and dig into the pieces. In the second set, the band called up Doug Tielli (who was on hand for the later show) to join in on trombone for a couple tunes.

Recording: Fraser/Cole/West

Artist: Nick Fraser/Josh Cole/Brodie West

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Nick Fraser presents), December 30, 2025.

Nick Fraser/Josh Cole/Brodie West - unknown

A trio appearance from these three frequent collaborators saw them digging into Nick Fraser's sketchbook in the first set, and then lean into some standards in the second. (That saw a characteristically-extended jaunt through "Donna Lee" as well as "Body and Soul".)

You can check out some more from this night over on youtube:

[Nick Fraser will be presenting his Special Topics band (alongside Kae Murphy, Max Stover, and Josh Cole) at The Tranzac tonight (January 27th), with Murphy opening things up with a solo set for trumpet and electronics.]

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

Monday Roundup #263

Community notes:

• The is more of an eyebow-raising note than breaking news, but the Silver Dollar sign has apparently been (literally) covered up.

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Concert announcements:

Harry Vetro and Friends [Kae Murphy/Harrison Argatoff/Ben Isenstein/Andrew Furlong/Harry Vetro] / The Emmet Ray 2026-02-02 (Monday). $15

More Noise Please! presents: An Evening of Deconstructed Sounds (feat. SlowPitchSound / Property Violator / o0yu x rOrU / System78 / The Eyes, The Mouth / dsouziate) / BSMT 254 2026-02-05 (Thursday). $17.31/pwyc. [teickets/more info]

Toronto Improvisers Orchestra / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-08 (Sunday – noon)

Dan Pitt/Jen Lo/Kae Murphy/Stefan Hegarat / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-04 (Wednesday)

Ayal Senior & Friends (feat. Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman / Destroya / Nick Flanagan / OOP) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-08 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.) [FB event]

Bad Baby and Mayme Joach [Aidan McConnell/Jack Johnston/Evan Cartwright/Charliecello Lukashevsky/Alex Lukashevsky] (Fan Wu / Colleen Coco Collins) / Burdock Music Hall 2026-02-08 (Sunday). $22.13. [tickets + more info]

Mike DeiCont Trio [Mike DeiCont/Eric West/Leland Whitty] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-09 (Monday) [more info]

Music Hosted by Karen Ng (feat. Maz Stover/Mateos Labbé-Phelan/Andrew Furlong/Karen Ng) / Wenona Lodge 2026-02-17 (Tuesday). $pwyc

Ellwood Epps Quartet [Ellwood Epps/Jonny Luke/Rob Clutton/Blake Howard] / The Emmet Ray 2026-02-20 (Friday – 6:30 p.m.). $15. [more info]

Westelaken (Eliza Niemi / Shep Treasure) / Dina's Tavern 2026-03-01 (Sunday) [more info]

Drones Over Dufferin / The Emmet Ray 2026-03-05 (Thursday – 6:30 p.m). $15. [more info]

Is your show missing from this list? Submit it via this form!

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Shows this week:

Lipliners Residency (feat. Ronley Teper & The Lipliners) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-01-27 (Tuesday – early) [FB event]

Nick Fraser presents (feat. Nick Fraser's Special Topics [Nick Fraser/Kae Murphy/Max Stover/Josh Cole] / Kae Murphy [solo]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-01-27 (Tuesday) [more info]

Brandon Davis's Stations Quartet [Brandon Davis/Patrick O'Reilly/Luan Phung/Germaine Liu] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-01-28 (Wednesday) [more info]

Discoveries Vol.8 with Musical Host Batuki Music (feat. Nii Osabu / Dipo / Sintayehu “Mimi” Zenebe & Abebe Fikade / David J. / Ruth Mathiang / Ṣẹwà) / Hugh's Room 2026-01-29 (Thursday). $21.82. [FB event]

CCMC [Casey Sokol/Cheryl O/John Oswald/Christine Duncan/Mani Mazinani/Rick Sacks/Bruce Gremo] / Array Space 2025-01-29 (Thursday). $pwyc, livestream available

Karen Ng presents (feat. Double Teams [Ryan Driver/Karen Ng/Aidan McConnell/Philippe Melanson) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-01-29 (Thursday)

All-Set! Presents (feat. Molehill) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-01-30 (Friday – early) [more info]

Josh Cole + Strings [featuring the premiere of "Concerto for Bass Drum"] [Josh Cole/Aline Homzy/Nick Storring/John Oswald/Blake Howard] / Sellers & Newel 2025-01-30 (Friday). $20 minimum donation. [FB event]

Exit Points #67 (feat. cheryl o/Annie Elgie/Shaunt Raffi/Casey Sokol/Michael Palumbo / W L C/Sonia Leung/Danielle Sum/Alexia Monize/Angelica Zavala) / Array Space 2026-01-30 (Friday). $22.89 advance, $28.27 general admission. [tickets + more info]

The Ryan Driver Sextet [Moon CD release] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-01-30 (Friday) [FB event]

Exhibition & Sound Performance: S, M, L & other sizes (feat. Sarah Peebles & Mira Martin-Gray) / PIX FILM Gallery 2026-01-31 (Saturday). $free. [FB event]

University of Toronto New Music Festival (feat. DOG Ensemble and Jazz Faculty) / Walter Hall 2025-02-01 (Sunday – 2:00 p.m.). $free. [more info]

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Video hits:

• This new video from Luka + co. brought me lots of joy this week!

• Anyone whose spent serious time traversing the tunnel at Spadina Sation will know what's going on here. (And a few shots in the Reference Library as well!)

• And speaking of the Reference Library, here's some documentation of Labyrinth Ontario prsenting a night of Turkish Makam there back in November:

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It happened this week...

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

Lina Allemano Four - unknown

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

New Fries - 90 Yr Old Girl

• ...on at 1161 Dundas St W. (Endless City: Invoking The Spirit), January 31, 2016.

Cyclopean Wall - [excerpt]

[Do remember that you can click on the tags below to go back and find the original posts (and often, more stuff) from these artists.]

Recording: Ronley Teper & The Lipliners

Artist: Ronley Teper & The Lipliners

Song: Just Show Up

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), December 30, 2025.

Ronley Teper & The Lipliners - Just Show Up

It had been too long since I had seen The Lipliners in action, and a delight to see the band out in full force — nine deep behind the wonderful and ebullient Ronley Teper leading a night of her joyful chaos music. If one were going to make a movie or comic book about this crew, they might be portrayed as a band of easygoing cut-throat pirates, eager to see what fuss is going to happen next after signing up to sail with a Captain who's intent on leading them into unknown waters. Blasting through some classics and a few new ones, the tunes merged together, somewhere between a suite and an elegant mess, with moments of invention on the fly as everyone pedaled faster to keep the wobbling to a minimum.

Speaking of new tunes, the song in question here hit me right where I live. People conversing with me about my propensity of going to gigs might have heard me say that showing up is the most important thing anyone can do — and this one, still feeling like a newborn calf finding its wobbly stride — has harnessed the same feeling. Whether for our musical community, for friends, love, family or whatever you want to be present to, in a time where screens and streams and feeds give us a easy-but-alienating sense of pseudo-interaction, being out there, just showing up, makes so many things plausible. If I ever get hit by a comet or suffer some similar unfortunate demise, please get Ronley to come and sing this one at the party for me at The Tranzac.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

[Ronley Teper & The Lipliners are back at The Tranzac on Tuesday (January 27th).]

Recording: The Ryan Driver Quintet

Artist: The Ryan Driver Quintet

Song: Feeling Good [composed by Anthony Newley & Leslie Bricusse]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), December 23, 2025.

The Ryan Driver Quintet - Feeling Good

It's a fascinating phenomenon: Ryan Driver's longstanding standards quartet/sextet is a wonderful thing to behold, and a lot of that is owing to the near-telepathic bond that the members share as they explore the standards with languid intensity. But being embedded in the music community that they are, when the call goes out for reinforcements, there are some very special guests that can step into this very particular mindset. This pre-xmas night of the residence saw Driver and bassist Rob Clutton on stage, but they were joined by frequent guest Blake Howard (covering for Nick Fraser on drums) as well as Karen Ng (filling in on sax) and Thom Gill (on synth, filling in the spaces that might usually be taken up by vibes or guitar). Gill was (as always!) a delight here, sometimes choosing the most counterintuitive sounds that somehow fit into the tunes quite perfectly. The setlist took the usual amble through Ryan Driver's collection of "standards", moving from Donovan to Noël Coward, along with this Nina Simone sizzler.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

[The next instalment of the residency (Friday, January 30th), is a special occasion, celebrating the release of Moon, an album recorded in live performance last year (and sure to be a vital document of of one of the city's great bands).]

Recording: Ballyk/Davis/Elrod/Hunt/Ng

Artist: Mark Ballyk/Brandon Davis/Kayla Elrod/Will Hunt/Karen Ng

Song: [1st set excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng presents), December 23, 2025.

Mark Ballyk/Brandon Davis/Kayla Elrod/Will Hunt/Karen Ng - [1st set excerpt]

Some very cool improvisations with some Berlin-based guests, including Toronto expat percussionist Mark Ballyk. Brandon Davis (double bass), Will Hunt (keybs), and Karen Ng (sax) represented the local side, while it was Kayla Elrod who surprised the most. Her bespoke rig featured Freddy Krueger-esque "fingernails" each with a contact mic (and each with its own channel on the mixer from her spaghetti bundle of cables) that could be run over any surface, creating mostly-crinkly texture sounds. Carpet, walls, windows and Ballyk's drumkit were in in play for tapping and scratching. That didn't lead to indiscriminate noise, however, as there were some some excellent mellow passages over these two sets.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

Monday Roundup #262

Community notes:

• Thanks to last week's Snowy Good Times, the screening of Luka Kuplowsky's Cluttertones documentary/performance film Memory of Light has been rescheduled to Wednesday January 28th. (Innis Town Hall, free)

• The deadline for the next round of applications for the Tranzac’s performance residency program has been extended to this Friday (January 23rd).

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Concert announcements:

Nick Fraser presents (feat. Nick Fraser's Special Topics [Nick Fraser/Kae Murphy/Max Stover/Josh Cole] / Kae Murphy [solo]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-01-27 (Tuesday) [more info]

Brandon Davis's Stations Quartet [Brandon Davis/Patrick O'Reilly/Luan Phung/Germaine Liu] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-01-28 (Wednesday) [more info]

Karen Ng presents (feat. Double Teams [Ryan Driver/Karen Ng/Aidan McConnell/Philippe Melanson) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-01-29 (Thursday)

All-Set! Presents (feat. Molehill) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-01-30 (Friday – early) [more info]

Exit Points #67 (feat. cheryl o/Annie Elgie/Shaunt Raffi/Casey Sokol/Michael Palumbo / W L C/Sonia Leung/Danielle Sum/Alexia Monize/Angelica Zavala) / Array Space 2026-01-30 (Friday). $22.89 advance, $28.27 general admission. [tickets + more info]

Axiomatic Heresy [Jonathan Kay/Nick Fraser/Alex Fournier with special guests Kayla Milmine/Andrew Kay/Reagan Mitchell] / The Emmet Ray 2026-02-01 (Sunday – 5 p.m.). $15. [more info]

Track Could Bend #113 (feat. OH GEE [Marilyn Yogarajah/Rob Campbell] / Ryan Kinney) / Wenona Lodge 2026-02-03 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Not Dead Yet presents (feat. Milkweed) / BSMT254 2026-03-31 (Tuesday). $24.94, 19+. [tickets + more info]

Not Dead Yet presents (feat. The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis) / 918 Bathurst 2026-05-02 (Saturday). $37.10. [tickets + more info]

Is your show missing from this list? Submit it via this form!

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Shows this week:

Soundstreams Encounters: Transoceanic ["works from diasporic composers Corie Rose Soumah, Kotoka Suzuki, and Anthony Tan reimagine sound and light through science-fiction visions that decenter Eurocentric narratives of progress"] (feat. Soundstreams) / Hugh's Room 2026-01-19 (Monday). $free with reservation. [more info]

Partitions illimitées/Unlimited scores (feat. Heather Saumer/Michael Palumbo/Christopher Petersen) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-01-20 (Tuesday – early). $pwyc, suggested $10-$20. [more info]

Agnes [Bea Labikova/Mira Martin-Gray/Doug Tielli/Kevin Turcotte/Mark Zurawinski/Rob Clutton] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-01-20 (Tuesday) [more info]

CMC Presents: Imagined Spaces (feat. Dame Cook / Sergei Kofman) / Canadian Music Centre 2026-01-22 (Thursday). $15 Advance / $20 at the door (General Admission), $12 Advance / $15 at the door (CMC Members and Arts Workers), $10 (students). [more info]

Handcrafted Music (feat. David Benitez/Arie Verheul van de Ven/Yoshi Maclear Wall/Martin van de Ven) / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2026-01-22 (Thursday) [more info]

Kurt Newman presents: Country Music for Cold Weather People (feat. Kurt Newman & Motel Time Again) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-01-22 (Thursday) [more info]

Tim Posgate Trio [Tim Posgate/Aline Homzy/Aidan McConnell] / The Rex 2026-01-23 (Friday – 5 p.m.). $pwyc. [FB event]

Experimental Link (feat. Sard / Raf Reza / Dastgâmachine) / BSMT 254 2026-01-23 (Friday). $22.60 (early bird)/$28.25 (1st release)/$33.90 (general admission), 19+. [FB event]

Diane Roblin's Life Force [Diane Roblin/George Koller/Tim Shia/Colleen Allen/John Johnson/Kevin Turcotte] / The Rex 2026-01-24 (Saturday – 5 p.m). $pwyc. [more info]

Winter's Delight: Musical Merriment with Good Company (feat. The Musicians of the Egg) / St. Thomas's Anglican Church 2026-01-24 (Saturday). $30 (General Admission), $20 (Students, Arts Worker), $10 Children. [FB event]

The Action Committee Orchestra [Maggie Keogh/Sara May/Maxwell Stover/Ben Rositsan/Keon Narinesingh/Max Donaldson/Regan Mowery] / Sellers & Newel 2025-01-24 (Saturday). $20 minimum donation. [FB event]

Liquid Architecture presents Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [live silent movie score] (feat. ARRC [Ambrose Pottie/Rod Campbell/Ryan Kinney/Colin James Gibson]) / St. Matthew’s Clubhouse 2026-01-24 (Saturday). $10 (cash or e-transfer). [FB event]

40 years on (feat. Queen Mab [Lori Freedman & Marilyn Lerner]) / Canadian Music Centre 2026-01-24 (Saturday). $22.63 advance/$20 door. [tickets + more info]

people | places | records Residency (feat. Cristina Lord / Nick Norton) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-01-24 (Saturday) [FB event]

Imaginary North and The AMBiENT PiNG present Ambient Afternoon (feat. Kilometre Club / Heart Map Ambient Ensemble / Daena Delam) / Society Clubhouse 2026-01-25 (Sunday – 2 p.m.). $10 at the door, NOTAFLOF. fully accessible and family friendly. [FB event]

Global Sunday (feat. Donné Roberts) / The Rex 2026-01-25 (Sunday – 2 p.m.). $pwyc. [more info]

University of Toronto New Music Festival: Simple Beginnings (feat. minMAX Electroacoustic Orchestra) / Walter Hall 2025-01-25 (Sunday). $free. [more info]

Sympathetic String Band & Friends (feat. Sympathetic String Band / Potions performing as The Sympathetic Wind Band) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-01-25 (Sunday – early) [more info]

Cacophony (feat. ro × cellsync / erin corbett × transient) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-01-25 (Sunday) [more info]

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It happened this week...

• ...on January 22, 2010 at The Garrison (Out of This Spark 3rd Anniversary Party).

OOTS Family Band (feat. Jenny Omnichord) - unknown

• ...on January 23, 2010 at The Music Gallery.

The Necks - excerpt from an improvisation (second set)

[Do remember that you can click on the tags below to go back and find the original posts (and often, more stuff) from these artists.]

Recording: Agnes

Artist: Agnes

Songs: Sjawm [excerpt] [composer: Rob Clutton] + [set 2 improvisation excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), December 16, 2025.

Agnes - Sjawm [excerpt]

Agnes - [set 2 improvisation excerpt]

I last saw this group in their proof-of-concept phase, before they had a name or a Tranzac residency. The formalized unit brings together Mark Zurawinski (percussion), Rob Clutton (double bass), Mira Martin-Gray (guitar, electronics), Kevin Turcotte (trumpet, flugelhorn), and Doug Tielli (trombone, saw) (as well as saxophonist Bea Labikova, absent on this night), exploring both members' compositions as well as abstract improvisational space. At times channeling the sounds of rustling detritus, with everyone scraping, twisting and boinging, the group moved through some wide-ranging dynamics, from quietly-brushed cymbals to organized horn-riffs, often held together by Rob Clutton's bass and Mira Martin-Gray's prepared guitar and electronic noise.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

[Agnes will be back at The Tranzac next Tuesday (January 20th).]

Recording: Beverly Glenn-Copeland with Elizabeth Copeland

Artist: Beverly Glenn-Copeland with Elizabeth Copeland

Song: In The Image

Recorded at East End United Church (Burn Down the Capital, Venus Fest and The Music Gallery present), December 13, 2025.

Beverly Glenn-Copeland with Elizabeth Copeland - In The Image

An interesting difference in vibes between this and the last time I saw Beverly Glenn-Copeland. At that show, there was a sense of re-discovery in the air — from audience and performer — as BGC spoke about realizing that the audience for his music that wasn't there when his celebrated albums were made had arrived a generation later; by now, in a packed church, there was a sense of an icon being celebrated. Looking frailer but still in excellent voice, this was a show about joy and celebration, the energy again being sent and received in both directions (indeed, the hall was left fully lit for the full set for the performers to see the audience with whom they were sharing space.)

This was a more stripped-back show, with musical accompaniment mostly limited to Alex Samaras' piano, voice and cheerleading. (Openers Topanga came out to add their voices, and to close things out, as heard here, a whole choir made their way on stage.) Moving beyond "the hits", Glenn-Copeland (along with Elizabeth Copeland, who added complementary vocals and shared some eco-poetry songs when Glenn-Copeland needed a mid-set break) brought out music from the breadth of their career, including the "lost years" they were crafting empathy-raising youth musical theatre shows. That could have made this feel like the corniest glee club meeting imaginable; instead it was fully rousing and affecting. Sometimes you just have to be direct with the cris de coeur.

Recording: Topanga

Artist: Topanga

Song: River Song

Recorded at East End United Church (Burn Down the Capital, Venus Fest and The Music Gallery present), December 13, 2025.

Topanga - River Song

Making their Toronto debut to a packed church, this St. John’s-based trio is a joint effort between singer-songwriters Katie Baggs, Carole Bestvater, and Valmy. Having met the evening's headliners at the Lawnya Vawnya festival, they were specially invited to join Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Elizabeth Copeland on a cross-country jaunt. As this song (an ecological musing sung from the river's point of view) makes clear, they're definitely sympathetic souls. Throughout the set of folk/country numbers, the trio traded off instruments and vocal leads but always found a path back to letting their voices join together in something more than the sum of the parts.

Recording: Kamra

Artist: Kamra

Song: Absolute Ardor

Recorded at East End United Church (Burn Down the Capital, Venus Fest and The Music Gallery present), December 13, 2025.

Kamra - Absolute Ardor

It's a joy to see an opening act that is clearly thrilled to be sharing a bill with their heroes as much as Kamra Abdul-Hakim, fronting their namesake band, was on this night. With shared concerns around emotional care and nurturing (as well as some poetically-declaimed vocals), there was a natural overlap. Backed by people|places|records' Andrew Noseworthy and some associated locals, this filled up the big church with some poignant resonances.