Recording: Shoe Horn Ensemble

Artist: Shoe Horn Ensemble

Song: [first section]

Recorded at the Bata Shoe Museum (Track Could Bend @ X Avant XVIII – Neeeerrrrddddssss: shoe horn), October 12, 2023.

Shoe Horn Ensemble - [first section]

I'm still not entirely sure what I did to deserve such an honour, but somehow I ended up curating a night of this year's X Avant Festival. And not just any ol' night as we were invited to conspire a musical takeover of the Bata Shoe Museum. Thanks to the amazing powers and positive energy of Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar, we were able to fill the building with creativity, bringing a grouping of nine musicians to first enfold some sounds in the museum's galleries, then gather them all together for a collaborative improvisation. Best of all, though it was on a grander scale than I'd usually allow myself to imagine, it really felt like it was all done in the spirit of Track Could Bend. And were there shoes? Oh yes, there were shoes.

After spreading the musicians out in the galleries, the conclusion gave everyone a chance to find ways to work together in a large ensemble. The featured performers here were electronic musicians Laura Dickens (a.k.a. Leucrocuta) & Hex-A-Deximal, who were processing incoming sounds from the mics and from Tegan Dietsch's tap board. Around that centre, horn players and percussionists had a chance to wander some more — one of the most delightful moments was when trumpeter Lina Allemano and trombonist Tom Richards headed up the stairs and out of sight, only to pop out of the elevator behind the audience a few minutes later! With everyone putting, ah, their best foot forward this was a satitisfying way to gather all the threads shoelaces together.

For the record, the full ensemble was:

• Tegan Dietsch (tap)
• Lina Allemano (trumpet)
• Tom Richards (trombone)
• Why Be Normal [%%30%30 & James Bailey] (found percussion)
• Annie Elgie (voice)
• Yang Chen (percussion/processing)
• LD & Hex-A-Deximal (electronics)

You can check out the full set over on youtube:

[The Bata's new exhibition Dressed to Impress: Footwear and Consumerism in the 1980's is now open. Track Could Bend will be back in its regular first-Tuesday-of-the-month incarnation at Wenona Lodge on December 5th, with sets from kat estacio and Alma.]

Recording: Leucrocuta

Artist: Leucrocuta

Song: two unknown songs^*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Long Winter 8.1), November 22, 2019.

Leucrocuta - unknown #1

Leucrocuta - unknown #2

Sometimes a purveyor of ambient sound design or austere synthscapes, the flipside of Laura Dickens' Leucrocuta project sees her delving into gothy darkwave pop. This set (stage look: "bene gesserit/dystopian dom") with co-conspirator Hex-A-Decimal moved from the dissections of consumer culture heard here into some bumpin' Peaches territory, examining contemporary possibilities of both containment and liberation.

[Long Winter is back on Saturday (January 11th) with a night of art and music at The Gladstone, including performances from Korea Town Acid, Boosie Fade, Kiwi jr., BBQ Pope, No Frills, Ian Daniel Kehoe, Nailbiter, Joseph Shabason, Robin Hatch and Ichi-Bons.]

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

Recording: Leucrocuta

Artist: Leucrocuta

Song: exorcise no 3

Recorded at Jam Factory (Intersection Day 4), September 1, 2019.

Leucrocuta - exorcise no 3

Once more, Burn Down the Capital's Tad Michalak crosswired a couple of his curatorial endeavours, bringing together the Intersection festival and the Music Gallery's Departures series to make it possible to host an esteemed visiting musician — in this case pioneering electronic musician Morton Subotnick. Mirroring his futuristic sounds of the past was an opening set from local synth explorer Leucrocuta, alternating austere soundscapes with blippier, beat-driven zones, and offering a gracious sense of floating, expanding space.

[Leucrocuta will be helping to get things going at Venus Fest's Merganzer album release party this Saturday (October 26th) alongside Blue Light.]