Recording: Wolf Eyes with MV Carbon

Artist: Wolf Eyes with MV Carbon

Songs: Untitled + I Hear Voices Inside My Skin and Hair

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square (Intersection – Day 3), September 2, 2017.

Wolf Eyes with MV Carbon - Untitled

Wolf Eyes with MV Carbon - I Hear Voices Inside My Skin and Hair

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory. The day-long marathon in the concrete canyon of commerce remains at the festival's heart, though, exploring the frissons of experiencing strange and occasionally abrasive sounds competing with the city's mersh heartbeat.

Under ordinary circumstances, this longstanding Detroit experimental/noise duo might be an odd choice to headline Yonge-Dundas Square; at Intersection, it felt like a perfectly reasonable way to end the day. Besides attracting a crowd of folks making the trip to the Square to see this, with Nate Young's vocals being bent and reverbed to sound like the second half of a conversation with himself, it also seemed like an apt nod to the Square's denizens, some of whom looked to be familiar with the concept of hearing voices inside their skin and hair. The paranoid Suicide party vibes were enhanced by cellist MV Carbon, who was performing with the group for the first time, even if she made it sound like she was an organic and integral part of their sound.

[You can see some footage from this set over at Brandon Caswell Douglas' Intersection playlist.]

Recording: Conventional Weapons

Artist: Conventional Weapons

Songs: [two pieces]

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square (Intersection – Day 3), September 2, 2017.

Conventional Weapons - [first piece]

Conventional Weapons - [last piece]

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory. The day-long marathon in the concrete canyon of commerce remains at the festival's heart, though, exploring the frissons of experiencing strange and occasionally abrasive sounds competing with the city's mersh heartbeat.

Last seen shredding in Yonge-Dundas Square a couple years back, Colin Fisher returned behind a (somewhat wayward) drumkit for this duo session with Buffalo's Tristan Trump. Trump's guitar techniques ranged from reverse loops to screwdriver stringbending to straight-out shredding. Raw and direct, this sounded pretty tasty on the so-called sidestage, under a tent that was hastily pilled over the gear to be ready for the possibility of some evening rain that didn't quite materialize.

[You can see some footage from this set over at Brandon Caswell Douglas' Intersection playlist.]

Recording: Contact

Artist: Contact

Song: Proximity/Response [edited excerpt] [composer: Johan Seaton]

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square (Intersection – Day 3), September 2, 2017.

Contact - Proximity/Response [edited excerpt]

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory. The day-long marathon in the concrete canyon of commerce remains at the festival's heart, though, exploring the frissons of experiencing strange and occasionally abrasive sounds competing with the city's mersh heartbeat.

Contact, the festival's founding presenter, still usually finds time to bring something fresh and different to the day. The biggest twist to this set was that the whole of the ensemble was being channelled through keyboardist Kristian Podlacha's laptop, which was especially central to this piece from Johan Seaton, which had emerged from the ensemble's Music From Scratch workshop for youth composers. Seaton was adding some subtle electronic mix feedback here, giving the piece an additional layer of hazy whoosh.

[Contact will be re-assembling to play with Elliott Sharp (last year's visiting Intersection composer) in a Burn Down The Capital show on Saturday, October 21st that mixes together some no-wave/weird-pop sounds.]

[You can see some footage from this set over at Brandon Caswell Douglas' Intersection playlist.]

Recording: Meridian

Artist: Meridian

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square (Intersection – Day 3), September 2, 2017.

Meridian - [excerpt]

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory. The day-long marathon in the concrete canyon of commerce remains at the festival's heart, though, exploring the frissons of experiencing strange and occasionally abrasive sounds competing with the city's mersh heartbeat.

Seated behind a table, Tim Feeney, Sarah Hennies, and Greg Stuart looked a bit like a trio of scientists who had called a press conference to share a new discovery, then decided to convey their findings through a series of toys and percussive instruments. Hailing from different American cities and occasionally convening to tour and play together, I was told afterwards that their emphasis is usually on close quietness, and this was the first time that the group had played with amplification. Even with microphones, their coke can, bells, shakers, bowed cymbals, tapped snare drum, baby clacker, springs, woodblock, rasp and so forth made for a low-key intervention against the larger background clatter of the square as greysky evening began to make the space feel weird and twilight-y.

[You can see some footage from this set over at Brandon Caswell Douglas' Intersection playlist.]

Recording: Carl Didur

Artist: Carl Didur

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square (Intersection – Day 3), September 2, 2017.

Carl Didur - unknown

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory. The day-long marathon in the concrete canyon of commerce remains at the festival's heart, though, exploring the frissons of experiencing strange and occasionally abrasive sounds competing with the city's mersh heartbeat.

This was billed as a solo set, and indeed for the first two-thirds, Didur supplied a zone-out phase-groove. Then, in the piece presented here, as the rhythm machine kicked in he was joined by Louis Percival on bass — a new, ongoing duo reformulation that is being billed as Hexagon. The tasty tune ended with another new recent Didur trademark: lifting up his spring echo box a few inches and letting it fall back to the table with a percussive sproing.

[Hexagon will be opening for U.S. Girls at Tranzac on Friday, October 27th.]

[You can see some footage from this set over at Brandon Caswell Douglas' Intersection playlist.]

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

Recording: Northumbria

Artist: Northumbria

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square (Intersection – Day 3), September 2, 2017.

Northumbria - unknown

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory. The day-long marathon in the concrete canyon of commerce remains at the festival's heart, though, exploring the frissons of experiencing strange and occasionally abrasive sounds competing with the city's mersh heartbeat.

Excellent work from this ambient metal duo of Jim Field and Dorian Williamson, bringing one of the day's best sets to the big stage, and using the opportunity to bring out the big amps and bass cabinet to produce a truly immense sound. Although their recorded output now encompasses delicate moments of fragile beauty alongside the doom crunch, they clearly decided that this was not the time or place for subtlety. It's hard to convey on a recording, but at maximal allowable volume, the dark buzz-murk at the start of this track felt like a sort of grim fog pervading the square, shaking things up at the cellular level.

[You can see some footage from this set over at Brandon Caswell Douglas' Intersection playlist.]

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

Recording: Invisible Out

Artist: Invisible Out

Songs: [noisy section] + [unknown song]^*

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square (Intersection – Day 3), September 2, 2017.

Invisible Out - [noisy section]

Invisible Out - [unknown song]

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory. The day-long marathon in the concrete canyon of commerce remains at the festival's heart, though, exploring the frissons of experiencing strange and occasionally abrasive sounds competing with the city's mersh heartbeat.

Bringing back some of the guitar noise and rock-star moves that they explored in their proto-Invisible Out phase, Xuan Ye and Jason Doell brought some conceptual art-rock to the square, though this time 'round the execution was a bit more practised and thought-through in its attempt to deconstruct itself.

[Invisible Out will be ping-ponging back to their quieter side, playing this weekend's edition of Christopher Willes' Quiet Concerts series at the Scarborough Civic Centre branch of the Toronto Public Library.]

[You can see some footage from this set over at Brandon Caswell Douglas' Intersection playlist.]

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

Recording: The Visit

Artist: The Visit

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square (Intersection – Day 3), September 2, 2017.

The Visit - unknown

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory. The day-long marathon in the concrete canyon of commerce remains at the festival's heart, though, exploring the frissons of experiencing strange and occasionally abrasive sounds competing with the city's mersh heartbeat.

Moving from the big stage to the loosely-delineated side stages, where passers-by could pretty much wander up and investigate the musicians at close range, Raphael Weinroth-Browne (cello) and Heather Sita Black (vox) continued to explore their elaborately-constructed, sprawling gothic song-castles.

[You can see some footage from this set over at Brandon Caswell Douglas' Intersection playlist.]

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

Recording: Dialectica

Artist: Dialectica

Song: The Provider [composer: Shannon Graham]

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square (Intersection – Day 3), September 2, 2017.

Dialectica - The Provider

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory. The day-long marathon in the concrete canyon of commerce remains at the festival's heart, though, exploring the frissons of experiencing strange and occasionally abrasive sounds competing with the city's mersh heartbeat.

This classical-meets-jazz sax quartet (consisting of Shannon Graham, Chelsea McBride, Olivia Shortt, and Samantha Etchegary) was a user-friendly way to ease the passers-by into the day's proceedings, with philosophical inquiries cloaked in tunes and mambos mixing with the scream of passing sirens.

Recording: Kang-Kenney-Timar-Khavarzamini-Salek

Artist: Evyind Kang/Jessika Kenney/Andrew Timar/Pedram Khavarzamini/Araz Salek

Song: unknown title, in two parts^*

Recorded at Jam Factory (Intersection – Day 2), September 1, 2017.

Evyind Kang/Jessika Kenney/Andrew Timar/Pedram Khavarzamini/Araz Salek - unknown title, part 1

Evyind Kang/Jessika Kenney/Andrew Timar/Pedram Khavarzamini/Araz Salek - unknown title, part 2

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory.

When Jessika Kenney & Eyvind Kang last came to town, their set included an ad hoc throwdown with some local musicians, including suling player Andrew Timar. This time, that concept was more fully-fleshed out into a full-on new band, bringing in local ace Persian musicians Pedram Khavarzamini (tombak) and Araz Salek (tar). The resulting group mixed its Persian and Indonesian instrumentation with a mix of music traditions (even including some Korean round singing that Kenney & Kang had picked up on a recent trip there). Kenney's vocals (taken from Rumi's poetry and related sources) pulled everything together in the mystic haze of a modal trance. Hopefully this far-flung group will get more opportunities to dig deeper in these veins.

[You can see some footage from this set over at Brandon Caswell Douglas' Intersection playlist.]

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

Recording: Völur

Artist: Völur

Song: Psychopomp

Recorded at Jam Factory (Intersection – Day 2), September 1, 2017.

Völur - Psychopomp

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory.

The last time I saw this local doom-folk group play, violinist Laura C. Bates claimed it was their "first and last sit-down show" — but this time even she was sitting down. Playing as a stripped-down acoustic duo (drummer Jimmy P. Lightning was absent for this one) the pair zoned in even further in the folky drone at the heart of their songs. This piece was essayed on a recent cassette single with guest vocals from Ivy Mairi, but they were ably handled here by bassist Lucas Gadke (also showing off his banjo skills).

[You can see some footage from this set over at Brandon Caswell Douglas' Intersection playlist.]

Recording: Droid

Artist: Droid

Song: Excommunicated

Recorded at Jam Factory (Intersection – Day 1/The Music Gallery's Departures Series), August 31, 2017.

Droid - Excommunicated

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory. In an echo of last year, this opening night was once more a co-presentation with the Music Gallery's Departures Series, mixing Thin Edge's chamber styles with a visiting composer/musician.

After music composed and performed by Mick Barr, this metal-themed night closed out with a set from Brampton trio Droid. From what I sampled of their recorded work (and their excellent album covers), there's a bit of a prog undertone that's subsumed in the live show by pure crunching velocity, although they do have an affinity for letting their songs stretch out and shift gears a few times. Loud, pummelling, hair-flinging stuff that nevertheless has enough range to keep things interesting, this brought together all the themes that the night had been exploring.

[You can see some footage from this set over at Brandon Caswell Douglas' Intersection playlist.]

[Droid will be celebrating the release of their new Terrestrial Mutations album at Coalition on Saturday, October 21st.]

Recording: Mick Barr

Artist: Mick Barr

Pieces: [excerpts from two sections]^*

Recorded at Jam Factory (Intersection – Day 1/The Music Gallery's Departures Series), August 31, 2017.

Mick Barr - [excerpt from first section]

Mick Barr - [excerpt from second section]

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory. In an echo of last year, this opening night was once more a co-presentation with the Music Gallery's Departures Series, mixing Thin Edge's chamber styles with a visiting composer/musician.

After getting a chance to hear some of his chamber pieces being played by Thin Edge, Mick Barr performed a solo set. With a rep for musical virtuosity and known for his work in a series of extreme-metal projects, there was an interesting arc to this set, leading off with an extended shimmering Reich-like piece, before adding some drum machine to power some machine gun riffs — and then heading off to shredsville, with no pedals or fancy stuff, just "proper" technical playing.

[You can see some footage from this set over at Brandon Caswell Douglas' Intersection playlist.]

^* Does anyone know the titles to these? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Thin Edge New Music Collective

Artist: Thin Edge New Music Collective

Piece: Fothem [composer: Mick Barr]

Recorded at Jam Factory (Intersection – Day 1/The Music Gallery's Departures Series), August 31, 2017.

Thin Edge New Music Collective - Fothem

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory. In an echo of last year, this opening night was once more a co-presentation with the Music Gallery's Departures Series, mixing Thin Edge's chamber styles with a visiting composer/musician.

After a panel discussion teasing out the common threads between metal and "classical" music (including a mutual affinity for virtuosity and technical perfection), Thin Edge tackled a trio of pieces from visitor Mick Barr, who certainly keeps his feet planted in both of those worlds. Besides an affinity for some intense sawing, his chamber works weren't over-the-top "metal" in their execution. Operating just as a string trio/quartet (with piano from Cheryl Duvall in the middle piece) this final selection just had strings from Ilana Waniuk, Suhashini Arulanandam, and Amahl Arulanandam.

[You can see some footage from this set over at Brandon Caswell Douglas' Intersection playlist.]

[Thin Edge's seventh season opens on October 10th with "Speaking", featuring Chicago-based pianist Shi-An Costello.]

Concert Listings Roundup #218

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:

Venus Fest (feat. Emel Mathlouthi / Grouper / Madame Gandhi / Weaves / DIANA / Lido Pimienta / Phèdre / Ice Cream / Witch Prophet / Queen Of Swords / The Highest Order / HEX) / Artscape Daniels Spectrum 2017-09-30 (Saturday – all ages!) [FB event]

This new festival, programmed on feminist principles by Aerin Fogel has a straight-up amazing lineup for its inaugural edition. With its all-ages mandate and cross-genre inclusive vibe, it looks to be a trult special day packed with MFS faves, including recent Polaris prize winner Lido Pimienta. Advance tickets are quite affordable, so it's recommended to grab 'em now.

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This week's noteworthy shows:

Trevor Hogg/Reg Schwager/Dan Fortin/Nico Dann / The Emmet Ray 2017-09-25 (Monday) [FB event]

Monday Penance (feat. Ero Guro / Raw CPU / Crrotting) / Smiling Buddha 2017-09-25 (Monday) [FB event]

Fraser/Argatoff/Clutton / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2017-09-26 (Tuesday) [FB event]

TIME (Dirty Inputs / Sea Beau / Hexzuul) / Double Double Land 2017-09-27 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Drab Majesty (Kontravoid / Sahara) / The Baby G 2017-09-27 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Bellwether4 / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2017-09-27 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Jerusalem In My Heart (Scattered Clouds) / The Baby G 2017-09-28 (Thursday) [FB event]

Other Families (Jerkagram / Alpha Strategy) / Smiling Buddha 2017-09-28 (Thursday) [FB event]

Paul Linklater and Nick Ferrio / The Cameron House 2017-09-29 (Friday – early slot, 6 to 8 p.m.!) [FB event]

KASHKA [acoustic] / Likely General 2017-09-29 (Friday – all ages! dry show!) [FB event]

Experimental Music! (feat. Brian Ruryk / Justin Haynes/Blake Howard/Sara Torrrie/Dan Fortin / Justin Orok & Heraclitus Akimbo) / Belljar Café 2017-09-29 (Friday) [FB event]

METZ (SUUNS / S.H.I.T.) / Lee's Palace 2017-09-29 (Friday) [FB event]

Dohn Valley (DBPS / Protruders) / EURO Sports BAR 2017-09-29 (Friday – music plus stand-up comedy sets!) [FB event]

Joseph Shabason [Aytche album release!] (Andre Ethier) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2017-09-29 (Friday) [FB event]

Nishtiman (Cris Derksen) / Aga Khan Museum 2017-09-29 (Friday) [FB event]

METZ (SUUNS / Plasmalab) / Lee's Palace 2017-09-30 (Saturday) [FB event]

Audio Bleed (feat. Bit Reduction / Faderbank / Cult Eyes) / Belljar Café 2017-09-30 (Saturday – PWYC!) [FB event]

Dorothea Paas (Jay Arner / Lazy Bear / The Crybabies) / Handlebar 2017-09-30 (Saturday) [FB event]

KASHKA [album release!] (Merival) / CineCycle 2017-09-30 (Saturday – all ages!) [FB event]

Francophonie en Fête: La Nuit Africaine (feat. Tifane / Okavango African Orchestra / Élage Diouf) / Randolph Theatre 2017-09-30 (Saturday – all ages!) [more info]

88 Days of Fortune @ Nuit Blanche: Cosmic Melanin/Enter The Loop ["12 hours of visual art, music and performance"] (feat. Witch Prophet / Above Top Secret / Dey / Sydanie / Yasmine) / Nathan Phillips Square 2017-09-30 (Saturday – free! all ages!) [FB event]

Quiet Bedrooms presents: QB3 (feat. Allison Cameron / Sea Beau / Happy Baby) / The Dupe Shop 2017-10-01 (Sunday – all ages! Afternoon show! PWYC!) [FB event]

Front 242 (Odonis Odonis) / The Danforth Music Hall 2017-10-01 (Sunday) [FB event]

Array presents: Music by Ben Patterson (feat. Martin Arnold) / Array Space 2017-10-01 (Sunday) [more info]

Team Building (feat. Luke Kuplowsky / Ian Kehoe / Steve Sloane / Jordaan Mason / Johnny De Courcey / Stacey Diane / Olivia Boring / Tim Moxam / Julie Arsenault / Stephen Prickett) / Less Bar 2017-10-01 (Sunday) [FB event]

Nite Comfort 49 (feat. Doom Tickler / Corrodesion / Fake Flesh) / Handlebar 2017-10-01 (Sunday – PWYC!) [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!

Track Could Bend #31 (feat. Nur Michael Keith / New Tendencies & Priya Thomas / iderdown + abigail trotsky) / The Steady Café 2017-10-03 (Tuesday – PWYC!) [FB event]

Arkose [Alex Kotyk/Rob MacDonald/Michael Rosenthal/Erik Ross/Torrie Seager] [first live show!] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2017-10-06 (Friday) [FB event]

Faster Presents: Audio Speculations on the Godhead (feat. Bachelard / Brian Abbott/Tomasz Krakowiak / Kayla Milmine / Brian Abbott/Avesta Nakheai) / Gerrard Art Space 2017-10-07 (Saturday) [FB event]

Unknown Guitar Quartet [Brian Abbott/Nilan Perera/Patrick O'Reilly/Luan Phung – debut performance!] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2017-10-08 (Sunday – afternoon show, 3 to 5 p.m.!) [FB event]

The Nude Party (Thrifty Kids / The Try Umphs / B17) / Smiling Buddha 2017-10-11 (Wednesday) [FB event]

X Avant XII: RPM Live 007 (feat. Elisa Harkins / Laura Ortman / Mourning Coup) / 918 Bathurst 2017-10-12 (Thursday) [FB event]

Burton Greene/Isaiah Ceccarelli/Éric Normand / Gallery 345 2017-10-14 (Saturday) [FB event]

Bill Gilliam/Kayla Milmine/Ambrose Pottie [Entangled Pathways CD release!] / Array Space 2017-10-18 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Burn Down The Capital presents (feat. Forma / Mimico / Zones) / The Baby G 2017-10-22 (Sunday) [FB event]

Petra Glynt [This Trip album release!] (New Chance / Bobbypin) / The Baby G 2017-10-25 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Vallens (WHOOP-Szo / Baby Cages / Slurry) / Smiling Buddha 2017-11-11 (Saturday) [more info]

Terror Lake (Zorton and The Cannibals / The Cliff Divers / George Westerholm and the Wild Wildcats) / Handlebar 2017-11-18 (Saturday) [FB event]

Darlene Shrugg [LP Release! (New Fries / Miss World) / Smiling Buddha 2017-11-24 (Friday) [FB event]

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Bandcamp corner:

• To get you ready for their Nuit Blanche installation/showcase, 88 Days of Fortune have dropped this cool new mixtape, mixing together a whole range of styles, from urban cruise to mystical views. A free download, and a great snapshot of a burgeoning community.

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Community corner:

• The Toronto Music Industry Advisory Council meets again this week at City Hall (Wednesday, September 27, 3:00 p.m. in Committee Room 1). You can look up the agenda here. I'm not a huge fan of this grouping's conceptual framework, mandate, or performance, but this is the institution that we have that intersects with the Powers That Be, so it's better to show that the community is listening and watching what they're up to. If you can spare a couple hours to sit in a committee room on Wednesday, do come out. I can't promise it'll be exciting, but we can get ice cream after.
• Ryerson's campus radio (CJRU 1280 AM) is hosting "Make Local Waves", its annual pledge drive this week. Show your support for community radio if you can. I'd especially recommend showing some love for The Night Shift, hosted by Luca Capone, the Lord of Loquaciousness, whose show spotlights a lot of great local music and acts as a weekly guide to cool shows.

Recording: A Quiet Little Village

Artist: A Quiet Little Village

Song: [an improvised suite, in three movements]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), August 27, 2017.

A Quiet Little Village - [an improvised suite, 1st movement]

A Quiet Little Village - [an improvised suite, 2nd movement]

A Quiet Little Village - [an improvised suite, 3rd movement]

Simply excellent work here from this new trio, consisting of saxophonists Kayla Milmine and Paul Newman with percussionist Tomasz Krakowiak. Frequent playing together on compositions and improvisations in several contexts, Milmine and Newman were in mind-meld territory from the get-go, while Krakowiak contributed his characteristic super-quiet percussive presence. Like a golf ball washer for the soul, this was cleansing stuff.

Recording: Heraclitus Akimbo & Matthew Fava

Artist: Heraclitus Akimbo & Matthew Fava

Song: [last section]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), August 27, 2017.

Heraclitus Akimbo & Matthew Fava - [last section]

Invited to open things up for this restful evening's music, I called upon Matthew Fava for some collaborative activity. He brought some of the software recently seen on stage with Stargoon, and I was planning to accompany with some peaceful drones. After discovering the Tranzac's electricity didn't favour some of my gear, it was on to Plan B — swapping things around and seeing what noises I could make other than krssrrgkkkrghsrrrr. Running things through the slicing looper on my fancy new Count to 5 seemed to work, which is rendered here as something like a broken Simon Says arguing with itself. Turned out to be a bit more abrasive than I was planning to get the room ready for an ensemble called "A Quiet Little Village", but sometimes you just have to roll with it.

Recording: YlangYlang

Artist: YlangYlang

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at 940 Variety (Quiet Bedrooms Launch Show), August 27, 2017.

YlangYlang - unknown

Quiet Bedrooms is a cassette label/live series founded by busy videographer/archivist Brandon Caswell Douglas, formally launching with this ambitions inside/outside east-end show. Since relocating to Hamilton, songwriter and sonic explorer Catherine Debard has been making more frequent forays into T.O., but I hadn't managed to catch any of 'em before this one. Her current set of spectacular introspective drone-popsongs drifted past in a self-assured continuous flow, bringing a satisfying conclusion to the event.

[YlangYlang performs tonight (September 21st) at The Baby G, "a night dedicated to simplicity and unravelling" alongside ANAMAI and Xuan Ye + David Jones. Quiet Bedrooms will be presenting an afternoon show at the Dupe Shop on Saturday, October 1st with Allison Cameron, Sea Beau, and Happy Baby.]

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

Recording: Heraclitus Akimbo

Artist: Heraclitus Akimbo

Song: 222 Hz [edited excerpt]

Recorded at 940 Variety (Quiet Bedrooms Launch Show), August 27, 2017.

Heraclitus Akimbo - 222 Hz [edited excerpt]

Quiet Bedrooms is a cassette label/live series founded by busy videographer/archivist Brandon Caswell Douglas, formally launching with this ambitions inside/outside east-end show. Sadly, I missed the park segment while I was setting up for this, but I enjoyed the low-key vibes at this space.

This set was an attempt to see what I could wring out of a fairly limited set of inputs — just a single tone from my trusty function generator, plus some spring reverb rustles for texture. Presenting this for other people, there's always a certain temptation to "do more" — to add more sounds, to keep things moving — but I felt fairly satisfied with the amount of staying-in-place I mustered here.

[Quiet Bedrooms will be presenting an afternoon show at the Dupe Shop on Saturday, October 1st with Allison Cameron, Sea Beau, and Happy Baby.]

[photo by 940 Variety]

Recording: Colin Fisher & Jonathan Adjemian

Artist: Colin Fisher & Jonathan Adjemian

Songs: [excerpt from first section] + [final section]

Recorded at Café Pamenar, August 24, 2017.

Colin Fisher & Jonathan Adjemian - [excerpt from first section]

Colin Fisher & Jonathan Adjemian - [final section]

Colin Fisher spent one part of his summer hosting intimate shows on the beautiful back patio of this Kensington spot, mixing together appearances from his host of ongoing projects with other excursions. Although this pair have shared stages innumerable times in different units, and have jammed together, after conferring back and forth they averred that this was their first formal duo appearance.

Adjemian was on his trusty Korg, while Fisher had brought his regular and microtonal guitars, as well as his sopranino sax, a more recent acquisition. That latter instrument (which can be a bit more difficult to play with as much poise and gravitas as a larger horn with more heft) created some crazy tones when guided through the pedal chain. Adjemian seemed more interested steering toward a more measured pace, and though there were some phat chirps and rubbery ping-sproings, some of the best moments came when Fisher throttled back to drift a little with him.

Recording: Khôra

Artist: Khôra

Song: [excerpt from first piece, in two parts]

Recorded at Café Pamenar, August 24, 2017.

Khôra - [excerpt from first piece, part 1]

Khôra - [excerpt from first piece, part 2]

Proposing to offer something less structured than his usual sets, Matthew Ramolo declared he was going to be "letting the synthesizer play itself." While he was definitely more hands-on than that statement might suggest, there was definitely some indeterminism at play as he shuffled patchcords to try and guide things along. The layers of ticks and melodic blips heard here is definitely less meditative than his usual offerings.

Recording: Sandy Ewen

Artist: Sandy Ewen

Song: [two excerpts]

Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination #53.3), August 21, 2017.

Sandy Ewen - [excerpt 1]

Sandy Ewen - [excerpt 2]

As when I had seen Sandy Ewen at Audiopollination a year ago, I was amazed at the sonic range she could derive simply from electroacoustic manipulations. Forgoing tonebending pedals (she simply had a volume pedal that altered the mix between her two amps) the set was a treat to watch all the treatments, bits of metal finding their way onto the guitar neck — and sometimes then clanking to the floor.

Recording: Insect Factory

Artist: Insect Factory

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination #53.3), August 21, 2017.

Insect Factory - [excerpt]

Touring partner to Peter Prescott's Minibeast, this solo project from Maryland's Jeff Barsky felt more at home in the space, building a delicately-constructed ambient guitarscape. The project's name turns out to be fully apt, hinting at the possibility of some scratching, rustling, buzzing swarm combining to create something elegant, floating just above the sunset horizon.

Recording: Minibeast

Artist: Minibeast

Song: two unknown songs^*

Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination #53.3), August 21, 2017.

Minibeast - unknown #1

Minibeast - unknown #2

It worked out slightly curiously that this group, founded by postpunk legend Peter Prescott (Mission of Burma/Volcano Suns) ended up in town on an improvised music bill rather than playing at a more straightforwardly rock gig. That meant a downgrade from the touring "postpunk legend" standard of an audience of dozens to the improvised music gig standard of an audience of several. That didn't seem to bother the trio, who seemed content to tear off some rigourous slices of rhythmically-driven music.

Prescott (on guit, keyb, and electronics) was joined by Keith Seidel on drums and Eric Baylies on bass. Seidel, in particular, really shone here, propulsively motorvating the tracks — no surprise that someone who came to fame as a drummer would pick a good one to back him on his side project. Several of the songs featured a locked-in pulse that brought The Ex to mind, and the pieces were more about that groove than lyrical or melodic structure — although Prescott did indeed add some vox, they were more for texture than something to hang the song on.

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

Concert Listings Roundup #217

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:

ANAMAI (YlangYlang / Xuan Ye + David Jones) / The Baby G 2017-09-21 (Thursday) [FB event]

Anamai's What Mountain release show back in May felt like a truly special event, a space where the rock'n'roll bar crowd simultaneously agreed they were there for some Deep Listening, quietly absorbing the music's delicate strands. We can only hope for as much as this night — and there are some excellent fellow voyagers on hand as well, with now-Hamilton-based YlangYlang's bedroom electronic self-ruminations and the insert-question-mark-emoji-here investigations from Xuan Ye + David Jones, a pair of restless explorers/occasional collaborators.

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This week's noteworthy shows:

Yi (Jo Marches / Bobbypin) / Smiling Buddha 2017-09-18 (Monday) [FB event]

Arraymusic presents (feat. Quatuor Bozzini with Philip Thomas) / Gallery 345 2017-09-19 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Not Dead Yet presents (feat. Flesh World / New Fries / Sahara / Josephine) / The Baby G 2017-09-19 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (Dany Laj and The Looks) / Lee's Palace 2017-09-19 (Tuesday) [more info]

Quatuor Bozzini [exploring the work of Martin Arnold] / Canadian Music Centre 2017-09-20 (Wednesday – all ages! early show @ 6 p.m.! free with RSVP!) [more info]

Wire (Noveller) / Lee's Palace 2017-09-20 (Wednesday) [more info]

Mount Eerie / The Great Hall 2017-09-20 (Wednesday) [more info]

Star Triptych [Elisa Thorn/David Riddel/Laura Swankey] / The Rex Hotel 2017-09-20 (Wednesday – PWYC!) [FB event]

RPM Live : 006 (feat. Yamantaka//Sonic Titan / nêhiyawak / WHOOP-Szo) / Smiling Buddha 2017-09-20 (Wednesday) [FB event]

c_RL / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2017-09-20 (Wednesday – early!)

The Pineapple [Karen Ng/Rob Grieve/Alex Fournier] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2017-09-20 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Frequencies (feat. Korea Town Acid / Spookyfish / Leucrocuta / Maks) / Handlebar 2017-09-21 (Thursday – PWYC!) [FB event]

Robyn Hitchcock (Kate Boothman) / The Drake Underground 2017-09-21 + 2017-09-22 (Thursday + Friday) [more info]

Opus:Testing presents Tower & Helm [new works for Carillon by Zach Clark, Crescenzo Dicecco, Alex Eddington, Juro Kim Feliz, Cory Harper-Latkovich, Lauren McCall, Janet Sit and Matthew Tran-Adams developed as part of the Opus: Testing workshop] (feat. Roy Lee) / parkette in front of Metropolitan United Church 2017-09-22 (Friday – free! all-ages! outside! the bells! THE BELLS!) [FB event]

Nick Ferrio [Soothsayer album release!] (Dan Edmonds / Ansley Simpson) / Burdock Music Hall 2017-09-22 (Friday) [FB event]

Star Triptych [Elisa Thorn/David Riddel/Laura Swankey] (Band Called Crow) / Orchard Bar 2017-09-22 (Friday – PWYC!) [FB event]

Trnsgndr/vhs (Così e Così [LP release show!] / Brigitte Bardon't / Girls Rituals) / Double Double Land 2017-09-22 (Friday) [FB event]

Michael Louis Johnson [Half Moon, Half Crazy album release show!] / The Dakota Tavern 2017-09-22 (Friday – early show!) [FB event]

Quiet Concerts (feat. Allison Cameron) / Toronto Public Library – Scarborough Civic Centre Branch 2017-09-23 (Saturday – free! all-ages + family-friendly! afternoon show @3 p.m.!) [FB event]

The Seams (Sunshine & The Blue Moon / No Frills / Tange) / Smiling Buddha 2017-09-23 (Saturday) [FB event]

Feast In The East 64 (feat. Petra Glynt / Zacht Automaat / Fet.Nat / Joanne Pollock) / Matt Durant Studio 2017-09-23 (Saturday – all ages!) [FB event]

ZOË (Charise Aragoza / Blunt Chunks) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2017-09-23 (Saturday) [FB event]

Somewhere There presents (feat. Bruce Cassidy/Chris Cawthray/Paul Neufeld) / The Emmet Ray 2017-09-24 (Sunday – PWYC!) [FB event]

Toronto Improvisors Orchestra with featured soloist Rob Clutton / Array Space 2017-09-24 (Sunday)

Weeping Icon (Sigil) / The Baby G 2017-09-24 (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!

88 Days of Fortune @ Nuit Blanche: Cosmic Melanin/Enter The Loop ["12 hours of visual art, music and performance"] (feat. Witch Prophet / Above Top Secret / Dey / Sydanie / Yasmine) / Nathan Phillips Square 2017-09-30 (Saturday – free! all ages!) [FB event]

Array presents: Music by Ben Patterson (feat. Martin Arnold) / Array Space 2017-10-01 (Sunday) [more info]

Riverrun (The Lowlighters) / Burdock Music Hall 2017-10-04 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Ghostlight / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2017-10-04 (Wednesday) [FB event]

Jock Tears (Protruders / Tough Age) / The Dupe Shop 2017-10-07 (Saturday – afternoon show @ 1 p.m.! all-ages! PWYC!) [FB event]

Afternoon Hootenanny (feat. Carolyn Mark & Corin Raymond The New Best Friends) / The Horseshoe Tavern 2017-10-08 (Sunday – afternoon show @ 4 p.m.!) [FB event]

Thin Edge New Music Collective presents: Speaking [season opener!] (feat. Thin Edge Ensemble and Shi-An Costello) / Array Space 2017-10-10 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Pet Sounds / Instrumental (feat. Christine Bougie/Dafydd Hughes/Julia Hambleton/Andrew Downing) / Burdock Music Hall 2017-10-12 (Thursday – early and late shows!) [FB event]

The Canadian Electronic Ensemble / Canadian Music Centre 2017-10-13 (Friday) [FB event]

Kazuki Koga (YlangYlang / Joni Void / Sages) / Tough Guy Mountain 2017-10-14 (Saturday) [FB event]

Burn Down The Capital presents (feat. Bill Nace/Twig Harper/John Olson / Not The Wind, Not The Flag / Dandy Dusted) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2017-10-16 (Monday) [more info]

Caution Tape Sound Collective: Singles Vol. 3 [world premieres from composers Patrick Arteaga / Julia Mermelstein / August Murphy-King / Bekah Simms / Janet Sit / Tyler Versluis] (feat. Jonathan MacArthur / Evan Bowen) / Array Space 2017-10-21 (Saturday – all ages!) [FB event]

Burn Down The Capital presents (feat. Elliott Sharp with Contact / Luge / H. de Heutz / Fraydee Cat) / Tough Guy Mountain 2017-10-21 (Saturday – all ages!) [FB event]

Riparian Acoustics presents (feat. Ora Clementi [crys cole/James Rushford] / Fleshtone Aura / c_RL) / Array Space 2017-10-23 (Monday) [FB event]

Burn Down The Capital presents (feat. Chik White / Castle If / Smomid / Doom Tickler) / Less Bar 2017-11-10 (Friday) [FB event]

Array Music's Rat-drifting series (feat. Sarah Hennies / Kurt Newman) / Array Space 2017-12-02 (Saturday) [more info]

Destroyer (Mega Bog) / Phoenix Concert Theatre 2018-01-22 (Monday) [more info]

Recording: Deerhoof

Artist: Deerhoof

Songs: Paradise Girls / Exit Only / Fresh Born / I Will Spite Survive

Recorded at Longboat Hall (Camp Wavelength – Night 3), August 20, 2017.

Deerhoof - Paradise Girls

Deerhoof - Exit Only

Deerhoof - Fresh Born

Deerhoof - I Will Spite Survive

Since 2009, the summer Wavelength festival has been a highlight of the season, slowing down the hectic "festival experience" to an Island pace and making the whole thing as much about the vibe and the location as the (always well-curated) music. When this spring's floods shut the Island down, there was a ripple of apprehension from many quarters at the loss of favourite summer hangs, culminating in the festival decamping to the mainland. The WL crew did an excellent job in emulating the festival experience in the outdoor/daytime portion, but it was harder to feel the same sense of relaxation and freedom in a bar.

I've always considered myself to be a casual fan of San Francisco's long-running Deerhoof. (It turns out I have four of their albums when I just checked, though that's a pretty slim slice of their full output.) Relying on their recorded work, especially relatively-recent albums like La Isla Bonita and The Magic I'd always thought of them as a quirky pop band, not realizing that their live show has a reputation (earned, it turns out) as a shred-fest.

Performing as a guitar/bass/drums quartet with none of the elaboration found on their albums, the band cranked out song after song with plenty guitar heroics from Ed Rodríguez. They'd occasionally pause to catch their breath — a chance for drummer Greg Saunier to amble over to the mic to share some abstract observations with the crowd, or for vocalist Satomi Matsuzaki to demonstrate the principles behind the imminent solar eclipse — before diving back in. With this show coming on the cusp of their latest effort, they seemed comfortable to wander through their back catalogue, which was defintely a crowd-pleasing move. Big name out-of-town headliners can feel a bit discontinuous from the general vibe of a Wavelength festival, but hopefully it serves to pull in folks who are looking for some more adventurous musical journeys and might return for something cool and homegrown.