Recording: Colin Fisher

Artist: Colin Fisher

Song: Deus Absconditus

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (TONE Festival), June 16, 2024.

Colin Fisher - Deus Absconditus

This night out at the TONE Festival reached back for some strong Healing Power vibes: not only had that scene/label issued some essential music (together and individually) from the night's co-headliners, but it was also a treat to hear HP co-principal DJ SlightBreezy (aka Wolf Nessel) slingin' and manipulating tunes between sets.

A "solo album" is rarely a one-person endeavour, so it made sense to see Colin Fisher celebrating the release of Suns of the Heart alongside key collaborator David Psutka who helped use the recording process to elaborate upon Fisher's realtime propensity for building and manipulating layers of sound. That meant the first half of the set was in duo mode, nudging up against some of the album's textures before closing out with an extended solo improvisation for guitar and sax.

Recording: Egyptrixx

Artist: Egyptrixx

Song: [last section of set]

Recorded at The Music Gallery (X Avant XI – Night 1), October 13, 2016.

Egyptrixx - [last section of set]

Interestingly, I have seen David Psutka performing a fair number of times, but it has always been in his capacity as a sideman in Anamai or his more beat-driven side project Ceramic TL than in his main creative guise as Egyptrixx. This live set showed a certain dedication to extremes — not only in how the darkness was punctuated by occasional bursts of strobelights, but also in the sonics, which brought some rather intense volume, shaking the Music Gallery's church walls a little. But for all their electronic propulsion, the things I perhaps enjoyed the most about this was how it was at a remove from thudding repetitive beats — where there were percussive bursts they felt more like a machinegun assault on the senses than something that'd settle into a groove. The sense of displacement that the music created was accentuated by Anamai's Anna Mayberry, here soloing in her Open Fortress mode, adding a slow-motion dance that gradually gravitated toward the stage like a bug being crookedly drawn to a lightbulb. As a recording, this renders the music a bit more "comfortable" than in felt in its aggressively-loud original state, so for best results, turn your volume knob all the way up to "pummel".

Recording: ANAMAI

Artist: ANAMAI

Song: Lucia [Gibraltar Point Beach naptime remix]^*

Recorded at Artscape Gibraltar Point (Wavelength 678: Camp Wavelength – Day 3), August 30, 2015.

ANAMAI - Lucia [Gibraltar Point Beach naptime remix]

You can read my general notes on Camp Wavelength here. Usually playing as a duo these days, Anna Mayberry and David Psutka were joined by HSY's Jude and Doomsquad's Allie Blumas (who used to play with the band regularly) plus Ami Spears on drums. Ironically, the greater numbers led to a set that was very quiet and minimal (even by this projects' standards), like Mazzy Star channelling the Velvet Underground's stillest moments — or as Anna Mayberry declared between songs, like naptime.

^* During this set, I was powerfully moved by the idea that it should have been taking place down on the beach, with the Lake Ontario waves lapping at the shore in the background. So right after the band was done, I went down to the beach to stand ankle-deep in the water for a spell, recording the waves as they came up to meet me. I've mixed the two recordings together here. In the live-music-recording game, this is known as "cheating", but I was rather compelled by the duality here of the song getting quieter and slower as it went along juxtaposed with the waves slowly building up and getting louder — and in the end, slowly wiping the song out as the waves might patiently unbuild a sand castle on the beach. If that's all too much, I have a more straightforward recording of the song posted here.

Recording: ANAMAI

Artist: ANAMAI

Song: Abris

Recorded at Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement (SummerWorks Music Series: Heat Shuts Off Overnight), August 13, 2015.

ANAMAI - Abris

The SummerWorks Music series, evolving since its inception in 2008, feels to have really and truly settled into its identity both as another way for SummerWorks to celebrate its growing foregrounding of interdisciplinary art and as a unique feature of the city's live music scene. After a couple years of just stuffing some bands down in the basement to provide an après-play gathering space, 2010's Hidden Cameras spectacular (featuring a "dramatic retelling" their Origin: Orphan album) pointed the way forward — but it wasn't really until 2012 that the festival started to ramp up the practice of pairing musicians with artists from other disciplines to create unique, one-off events.

It was finally in 2013 that the "mature" music series fully emerged, with stand-out events from Maylee Todd, Snowblink, and The Bicycles. Since then, collaboration has moved to the centre. Last year saw the series' first visit to the Pia Bouman School at the edge of Parkdale, which became their home this year, giving the Series its own space (and a cool pop-up venue). Adam Bradley and the returning Andrew Pulsifer have played to the series' strengths with their musical curation, and all of the works this year felt like good additions to a series whose legacy includes the future memories of these one-of-a-kind shows.

Leading off the night, Anna Mayberry and David Psutka got the crowd ready for the immersive theatricality of Germaphobes' Heat Shuts Off Overnight by pulling them in close to listen to Mayberry's folk-tinged tunes.

[ANAMAI play Camp Wavelength this Sunday (August 30th) at 4 p.m.]

Recording: ANAMAI

Artist: ANAMAI

Song: Lucia

Recorded at Sonic Boom ("Record Store Day"), April 18, 2015.

ANAMAI - Lucia

Though this was originally billed as a solo set, Anna Mayberry was joined by David Psutka for a half-dozen songs that sounded quite excellent in Sonic Boom's basement. A small crowd even gathered to sit on the floor in front of the stage as Psutka's synth-like guitar textures swelled up into sheets of noise.

[Help celebrate the release of ANAMAI's debut album Sallows tonight (Friday, April 24th) at CineCycle alongside Twist and Blunt Chunks.]

Recording: ANAMAI

Artist: ANAMAI

Song: Otolith

Recorded at June Records, March 1, 2015.

ANAMAI - Otolith

Capping off a day-long in-store Buzz Records merch sale, Anna Mayberry and David Psutka gathered in a healthy crowd for an intimate set. This song is the last one on Sallows, the project's debut album that is now so close you can now pre-order/stream it.

[Sallows gets a proper release party at CineCycle on Friday, April 24th, alongside Twist and Castle If.]

Recording: ANAMAI

Artist: ANAMAI

Song: Dirt

Recorded at The Great Hall (NXNE – "Buzz Records Day Party"), June 21, 2014.

ANAMAI - Dirt

My quick notes for this set can be found here.

Recording: ANAMAI

Artist: ANAMAI

Song: 50% Pizza [now called "Half"]^*

Recorded at Holy Oak Café, November 15, 2013.

ANAMAI - 50% Pizza

Full review to follow. Anna Mayberry released her project's first tape (a three-song EP) to a packed house at Holy Oak. Folk music in structure, the backing trio (including her HSY bandmate Jude as well as Doom Squad's Allie Blumas) situated the songs in a hazy, barren, shoegazey landscape, balancing their fragile beauty and mournful spareness. The tape has apparently already sold out, but you can get it digitally here, and add this of your list of bands to see.

^* Thanks to Anna for passing the original title to this one along. I note that as released, that's been amended.