Monday Roundup #216

Concert announcements:

TONE presents: (feat. Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio / The Titillators) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2025-04-04 (Friday). $22.89 advance / $25 door. [FB event]

B.A. Johnston (Sons of Butcher / Thunderkok) / The Baby G 2025-04-12 (Saturday). $21.53, 19+. [FB event]

Marsella Duncan [vinyl release show!] (Zinnia) / Burdock Music Hall 2025-05-02 (Friday). $16.95. [FB event]

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

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Shows this week:

Stranger Still [Pete Johnston/Mim Adams/Randi Helmers/Rob Clutton] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-03-04 (Tuesday – early). $pwyc

Track Could Bend #102 (feat. M.D.N.R. [Max Donaldson/Nate Robertson] / Del Stephen's Totoloto) / Wenona Lodge 2025-03-04 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Grocer (Luge / Least Weasel) / The Garrison 2025-03-05 (Wednesday). $21.53, 19+. [FB event]

Solstice Residency: Spring Equinox (feat. Ghostlight) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-03-05 (Wednesday). $pwyc (suggested $10). [FB event]

Freesound presents [works by Georgina Bowden, Dylan Lardelli, Pauline Oliveros, Juliet Palmer, Gordon Williamson] (feat. Ensemble Musikfabrik) / Array Space 2024-03-06 (Thursday). $22.63. [FB event]

Harley Card/Phil Albert/Eric West / The Emmet Ray 2025-03-06 (Thursday). $12. [more info]

Enchanters (Pit Scum) / Houndstooth 2025-03-06 (Thursday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Tania Gill presents: The Blues (feat. Victor Bateman/Ken Kawashima (aka Sugar Brown)/Jean Martin/Blake Howard) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-03-07 (Friday – early) [more info]

Women From Space Festival 2025 (feat. Allison Cameron's Small Scale Experimental Machine / Plastic Babies [album release!] / BIG BANG! plays Nina Simone [Tara Kannangara/Elisabeth Dorion/tUkU/Shn Shn/Rebecca Henessey/Atcheleh Aryee/Heather Saumer/Carolina Lopez/Naomi McCarrol-Butler/Nirvana Sagar/Bea Labikova/Diane Roblin/Pursuit Grooves/Mira Riselli/Racha Moukalled/Yang Chen/Angelica Zavala/Kayla Milmine) / 918 Bathurst 2025-03-07 (Friday). $15 advance / $20 at the door / limited extra special early bird festival pass $30 / regular bird festival pass $38. [FB event]

Sub-Sessions #9 (feat. Citizenry / Precious Jewel / Garden of Magic) / BSMT 254 2025-03-07 (Friday). $14.64 (early bird), $17.31 (general admission), all ages. [FB event]

The Harry Vetro Trio [Harry Vetro/Harrison Argatoff/Bennett Young] / The Emmet Ray 2025-03-07 (Friday). $12. [more info]

Women From Space Festival 2025 (feat. Erin Poole/Rosina Kazi/Chantelle Mostacho/shn shn / Yuniya Edi Kwon / Azumi OE/Eukademix​​) / 918 Bathurst 2025-03-08 (Saturday). $15 advance / $20 at the door / limited extra special early bird festival pass $30 / regular bird festival pass $38. [FB event]

Labyrinth Ontario presents: Fragmented Forms ["Fragmented Forms explores the possibilities of improvisation by utilizing both the microtonal aspect of Makam music and free improvisation, and how the two coalesce."] (feat. Araz Salek/Aysel Taghi-Zada/Cory Harper-Latkovich/Sara Constant/Yang Chen) / Annette Studios 2025-03-08 (Saturday). $27.96. [FB event]

Ichi-Bons (Kewpie Dolls) / Monarch Tavern 2025-03-08 (Saturday). $22.50, 19+. [FB event]

Ayal Senior & Friends (feat. Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman / Marilyn Yogarajah / Del Stephen / Nick Flanagan) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-03-09 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.). $pwyc. [FB event]

Women From Space Festival 2025 (feat. Mingjia Chen + Linnea Sablosky [performing Meara O'Reilly's Hockets For Two Voices] / Arushi Jain / Myra Melford's Fire and Water Trio [Myra Melford/Ingrid Laubrock/Lesley Mok]) / 918 Bathurst 2025-03-09 (Sunday). $15 advance / $20 at the door / limited extra special early bird festival pass $30 / regular bird festival pass $38. [FB event]

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Bandcamp corner:

• This Friday (March 7th) sees the rturn of Bandcamp Friday — support some artists you adore! Here's a couple things on my list:

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It happened this week...

• ...on March 6, 2020 at Burdock Music Hall (Women From Space Festival – Night 2).

Alaska B - [excerpt]

• ...on March 8, 2020 at 918 Bathurst (Women From Space Festival – Night 4).

Heather Saumer feat. Felicity Williams/Alex Samaras/Thom Gill/Robin Dann - unknown

[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: Alaska B

Artist: Alaska B

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Burdock Music Hall (Women From Space Festival – Night 2), March 6, 2020.

Alaska B - [excerpt]

It's generally acknowledged that the key to a successful sequel is in making things bigger and more explosive while staying true whatever it was that made the original feel special and unique. The second annual Women From Space Festival applied that maxim to great effect, cosmically expanding in all directions while nourishing its core ideal of creating Space for a diverse range of women-centred creative expressions. A rare solo outing from Yamantaka//Sonic Titan's Alaska B saw her working in a similar vein to Avrha's explorations — and, in fact, Brendan Swanson (her partner is that project) joined in to close out this set. But aside from the thunder wrought from her fully appointed drumkit (with gongs and roto-toms, the only thing missing was a double kick drum), there was also this excellent, fully laser harp worthy, planetarium prog synth intro.

Recording: Avrha

Artist: Avrha

Song: [2nd section]

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square (Intersection Day 3), August 31, 2019.

Avrha - [2nd section]

Once more, Tad Michalak's Burn Down the Capital brought a full day's worth of entertainment to the concrete canyon of Yonge-Dundas Square. Random passers-by would occasionally stop and regard the proceedings with curiosity, bemusement or disdain while in the background the thrum of the busker's amplification outside Eaton Centre seems to grow louder every year, sharing the sonic space with sirens and engine roars. Roaring back with percussive powerbursts and a multi-keyboard attack, this improvised sideline from Yamantaka//Sonic Titan's Alaska B and Brendan Swanson felt a little more determined than when I first saw 'em a couple years back, leaning hard into some zones that felt like a metal-leaning reconsideration of Bitches Brew.

Recording: Avrha

Artist: Avrha

Songs: [first piece, section 3]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (The Music Gallery's X AVANT XII – Night 4), October 14, 2017.

Avrha - [first piece, section 3]

Taking a night off from its new home base at 918 Bathurst, the Tranzac threw this Saturday night party in The Tranzac's Main Hall. More than ever, the linkages between the Festival's performances was in the overarching theme of "Resistance", and to get a different perspective on that the MG turned this night over to community-insurgent popforce LAL, who brought in the Babely Shades collective to put things together. Before the show, Babely Shades' Hana Jama led a deep and lively discussion with some of the night's artists on how their art expresses both their identities and their sense of resistance. The night also had an impressive visual component, not only with projections of Riya Jama's richly-detailed Afrofuturistic art, but also with the projections of radical shadow-puppetry ensemble Drawing With Knives.

Extracted from the axis of Yamantaka//Sonic Titan, this project strips away songs + stagecraft to give some musical exploratory space to Alaska B (drums, percussion, samples) and Brendan Swanson (keybs). Starting in a fairly delicate space, this set had a patient sense of build as it seeped out into different sonic zones — eventually finding the space-prog territory it warps into here.

Recording: Yamantaka//Sonic Titan

Artist: Yamantaka//Sonic Titan

Song: Hoshi Neko

Recorded at Artscape Gibraltar Point (ALL CAPS! Festival), August 11, 2012.

Yamantaka//Sonic Titan - Hoshi Neko

Full review to follow — but you can check out my quick notes for the festival here.

Recording: Yamantaka//Sonic Titan

Artist: Yamantaka//Sonic Titan

Song: Lamia^*

Recorded at The Garrison, January 28, 2012.

Yamantaka//Sonic Titan - Lamia

Full review to follow. A little theatricality goes a long way, as YT//ST demonstrated, their show offering more than just their "noh wave" musical stylings. They played pretty much everything from their album, and encored with this one, which isn't. "If you have a heart / it'll tear you apart".

^* Thanks to John for passing the title of this one along to me.