In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.
Community notes:
A quiet little update herein to reflect quiet, respectfully-distanced times. Stay safe, reduce your contacts, get boosted and think about when we'll see each other again. Happy new year!
In the mix:
New drone mix posted in case you need an ambient escape hatch from current events:
It happened this week...
...on December 31, 2010 at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge).
In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.
Community notes:
I don't think anyone was feeling nostalgia for March 2020, but that's what we got a taste of over the past week with that accelerating-towards-a-brick-wall/slam-on-the brakes feeling that has lead to a slate of properly-cautious event cancellations and reschedulings. For everyone who was feeling like the booster they needed was live music and community, just hang in there and stay safe.
Meanwhile, the Tranzac announced a fundraiser last week to support its ongoing bar renovations — an essential element to keep the venue afloat, but something that falls outside the purview of the grants and other supports they have been getting. If you like hanging out in the Southern Cross (and if you have the means) your support would surely be appreciated.
Livestream nation:
I missed out on the youtube premiere, but I'd be remiss not to mention this latest episode of exquisite corpse collaborations from Understory. With sounds from Geordie Haley/Kayla Milmine/Peter Morin plus Gabi Charron-Merritt/Joel Leblanc/Naomi McCarroll-Butler:
Bandcamp corner:
Why didn't anyone tell me about Ayal Senior's bandcamp? Oh well, now I know, and so do you. I really enjoyed Alfredo Called Me, a new collection that's "...partly inspired by the Sam Peckinpah movie, 'Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia' &, also my humble attempt to make a Hanukah Album." There's plenty of crafty moves here, but also a spontaneous, homespun freshness — not unlike watching Ayal playing on a Sunday afternoon at The Tranzac.
In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.
Community notes:
Kith & Kin are keeping their annual Holiday Wassail virtual this year, so keep an eye out on their facebook page for some videos of their beautiful harmonies, knitting together sounds from multiple traditions.
The Music Gallery's Emergents Series returns in grand style this week with "Possible Worlds", a 4-part series "dedicated to musical world-building". Besides the "standard" (that is to say, utterly unpredictable) Emergents concert (from Skin Tone and Stephanie Castonguay, "diving into hacking, breaking and reinventing"), there's also "Community Sound", "a workshop led by saxophonist, clarinetist, instrument maker, and MG family member Naomi McCarroll-Butler, who will be leading us through a series of guided improvisations using graphic scores and conduction. Aimed at community members and early-career artists interested in exploring collective music-making, this will be a community space for people with different artistic interests and backgrounds to meet, speak and create together." [free sign-up at the door!] And on top of that, Unit 2 curates "Parallel Playfields", "a collection of experimental performances exploring noise, improvisation and different textures of sound. Featuring performances by Sa.resi, Deidre, and Vixu."
Meanwhile, The Music Gallery, The Intersection Festival and a whole host of wonderful people are joining together with the TTC for A More Beautiful Journey, "a landmark XR (extended reality) audio installation that will transform Toronto public transit in 2022 – providing riders with generative, location-specific soundtracks for their commutes. Through the platform’s mobile, web-based interface, users will experience ambient songs, soundscapes, and scores for over 30 stretches of above-ground TTC line. Custom audio is contributed by artists from, and for, neighbourhoods spanning the breadth of Toronto’s public transit lines." Artists who are interested in contributing to these soundscapes should respond to the Open Call on the website by February 7, 2022.
Concert listings:
Tranzac NYE (feat. Lightman Jarvis Ecstatic Band / New Chance) / The Tranzac 2021-12-31 (Friday). $27.54. [FB event]
Bandcamp corner:
Julie Doiron returns with I Thought Of You (out now from the always-essential You've Changed label). Still full of her customary self-reflection and moments of hard-won determination, this might be her least rough-hewn (and most classic-rock leaning) album to date, thanks to ace musicians Daniel Romano, Ian Romano and Dany Placard.
It happened this week...
Speaking of the Tranzac, I stuck my head into the Southern Cross last weekend, when I was there on my first trip back to see the Ryan Driver Sextet in the Main Hall. The new bar is still under construction, but I'm starting to hear rumours of things being scheduled there. So in anticipation, here's some sounds from Toronto's best music room...
... on December 13, 2019 at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge).
In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.
Livestream nation:
Apologies as this veers well into the self-promotional this week. First off, Track Could Bend returns this week — for the next while, expect pre-recorded sets to appear on youtube on the series' traditional first Tuesday of the month. There's a certain amount of figuring shit out that needed to be done, so I figured I'd make like a B-movie scientist and experiment on myself, convening the trio Our Way to Fall (where I'm joined by Liz Lima and Del Stephen) to play a "soundcheck" of sorts as I work out the kinks on how I want to record and present audio and video. The good news is this sounds pretty fab. The visuals are a work in progress — I know I want something a little lo-fi and rough around the edges but still visually interesting. You can check out how close I got to the mark as the set premieres on youtube tomorrow night (December 7th) at 7 p.m.:
Meanwhile, I recommend the Audiopollination series in this space as a matter of course, so I can say without reservation that you wouldn't want to miss a duo set from Glen Hall and Elizabeth Lima... and you might also enjoy some things that Patrick O'Reilly and myself are cooking up. (livestreams here on Friday night. Free. Facebook event.)
Concert listings:
Ladyfinger [Diane Roblin (piano & keyboards) + Kayla Milmine (soprano saxophone)] / The Emmet Ray 2021-12-12 (Sunday). $10. [FB event]
Video hits:
Very exciting to see Vicky Mettler's Kee Avil project make the move up to Constellation Records, announced by this visually-arresting video:
It happened this week...
...on December 8, 2017 at Lee's Palace (Dan Burke: 60 plus 20).
Founded as a blog about one curmudgeon's love affair with the em dash, Mechanical Forest Sound has grown to become a community-based archive of local musical culture. Assuming that "independent music" isn't just boys with guitars and "culture" isn't just some sort of pageant, MFS is an investigation of a wide range of artists, reflecting on concerts as shared experiences, acts of citizenship and a chance to get down — fuzzy photographs and clear-sounding original live recordings a specialty.
Current manifestations of this project include Track Could Bend, a monthly concert series featuring "improvised music and weird rock offshoots", presented in a casual environment.
At one point I wrote full-on concert reviews, and for longer I thought I would catch up and write about shows in the past. But these days, because of, y'know, life, do not expect much in the way of full show reviews — but live recordings with blurbs will be posted as quickly after the fact as is feasible.
You can also check out full sets uploaded to the Live Music Archive. [not currently active]
N.B.: All recordings should be available & playable. If you come across any broken links, invisible or non-functioning players, etc, please leave a comment and I will tend to it ASAP.
ALSO N.B.: I'm perpetually on the lookout for a new place to stash my MP3's online. If you know of any place that allows a couple gigs of stuff to be openly linked to for streaming, drop me a line!
All MP3's on this blog are audience recordings shared as a reminder of the excitement of seeing live music. If you are an artist who doesn't want their music shared in this way, please contact me and I shall remove it forthwith.
Is your show missing from this list? Submit it via this form!
Soundstreams presents: Arvo Pärt at 90 (feat. Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir) / Yorkminster Park Baptist Chuch 2026-02-14 (Saturday). $33.25 to $89.75. [more info]
PIX FILM presents: Sound and Visuals (feat. Fabian Lanzmaier/Madi Piller / Allison Cameron) / PIX FILM 2026-02-14 (Saturday). $free with ticket. [FB event]
Music Hosted by Karen Ng (feat. Max Stover/Mateos Labbé-Phelan/Andrew Furlong/Karen Ng) / Wenona Lodge 2026-02-17 (Tuesday). $pwyc
Behaviours:Data (feat. Anando Gabo / Marelena Pellegrino / Technology of Creative Consciousness) / Array Space 2026-02-19 (Thursday). $25 (or Pay What You Want), livestream: $12.00 (or Pay What You Want). [more info]
CMC Presents: Solo Works (feat. Wesley Shen / Roan Ma) / Canadian Music Centre 2026-02-19 (Thursday). $15 Advance / $20 at the door (General Admission), $12 Advance / $15 at the door (CMC Members and Arts Workers), $10 (students). [more info]
Thursdays at Noon (feat. Eve Egoyan) / Walter Hall 2026-03-12 (Thursday – noon). $free. [more info]
Nash the Slash Rises Again! + Concert ["...a one night only event featuring the theatrical premiere of Nash the Slash Rises Again!, an in-person Q&A with the filmmakers and collaborators, plus a live musical performance with special guests!"] (feat. Ian Blurton/Christine Duncan/Rebecca Hennessy/Rob Higgins/Friendly Rich Marsella/Andrew Noseworthy/Frank Pahl/Eiyn Sof with house band: Kevin Breit/Dave Clark/Rebecca Hennessy/Michael Herring/Elena Kapeleris) / Hot Docs Cinema 2026-03-13 (Friday). $20 (general)/$15 (members). [FB event]
Lipliners Residency (feat. Ronley Teper & The Lipliners) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-03-31 (Tuesday – early) [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]
Playscape Emporium: Paint, Play (feat. Duo Cichorium / Constant Yen / Rowan Campbell / Charli/Fahmid/Joe/Mira) / Array Space 2026-05-21 (Thursday). $25 (or Pay What You Want), livestream: $12.00 (or Pay What You Want). [more info]
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