Monday Roundup #149

Community notes:

• I admit I've been paying less attention to the Toronto Music Advisory Committee than I was a few years back, but for those with an interest in how the music industry, music community, and local government interface with each other, TMAC is gearing back into action on Wednesday (November 22nd) at City Hall (and viewable online). You can check out the agenda (and other information) here.
• The sign-up sheet for the Winter/Spring season of Audiopollination's self-curated shows has gone live — plunk down your name in a blank spot and go make some sounds/friends! You can find the spreadsheet here.

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Concert announcements:

Metatron [works by Sandeep Bhagwati, Kaija Saariaho, and Eliot Britton] (feat. University of Toronto Percussion Ensemble) / Walter Hall 2023-11-27 (Monday). $free. [FB event]

Titus Abbott Collective [Titus Abbott/Marilyn Lerner/Josh Cole/Nick Fraser] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2023-11-28 (Tuesday) [FB event]

DAS RAD (Flake) / Houndstooth 2023-11-30 (Thursday). $free

Robert Dayton (The Canadian Romantic / Ms Lightbody) / Eyesore Cinema 2023-12-01 (Friday). $5. [FB event]

Tim Posgate Trio [Tim Posgate/Brandon Davis/Aidan McConnell] / The Rex 2023-12-05 (Tuesday – 5:30 p.m.). $10. [more info]

Tim Posgate Trio [Tim Posgate/Brandon Davis/Aidan McConnell] / The Rex 2023-12-12 (Tuesday – 5:30 p.m.). $10. [more info]

Not Dead Yet presents: S.H.I.T.mas 10 Yr Anniversary (feat. S.H.I.T. / Iron Lung / Glue / Dark Thoughts / Delco MFs / K.O.S. / Puffer & Calamity) / The Velvet Underground 2023-12-16 (Saturday). $42.72, 19+. [FB event]

Tim Posgate Trio [Tim Posgate/Rob Clutton/Aidan McConnell] / The Rex 2023-12-19 (Tuesday – 5:30 p.m.). $10. [more info]

Music Hosted by Karen Ng (feat.Samuel Hall / Parmela Attariwala / guests) / Wenona Lodge 2023-12-19 (Tuesday)

Video Age (Sean Nicholas Savage) / The Garrison 2024-03-13 (Wednesday). $31.24, 19+. [FB event]

Freesound presents Vortex Temporum [works by Gérard Grisey and Wesley Shen] (feat. Freesound Ensemble) / Array Space 2024-06-20&21 (Thursday & Friday) [FB event]

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

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Shows this week:

This Can Be Our Living Room ["grand but casual fundraiser for Sistering"] (feat. Tara Kanangara / ZINNIA / Omhouse / Lydia Persaud and Christine Bougie / Elise Bouer and Adam Iredale / Kat McLevey / Bara Zmekova / Chris Pruden and Julie Arsenault) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2023-11-20 (Monday) [more info]

Ugly Beauties [Merilyn Lerner/Matt Brubeck/Nick Fraser] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2023-11-21 (Tuesday) [more info]

Geordie Gordon [Tambourine! album release celebration!] (Gentleman Reg) / Burdock Music Hall 2023-11-22 (Wednesday). $16.95. [FB event]

Ronley Teper and the Lipliners / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2023-11-22 (Wednesday)

Witch Prophet (Dijah SB / Hanorah) / Adelaide Hall 2023-11-23 (Thursday). $31.42, 19+. [FB event] – CANCELLED

Karen Ng Presents (feat. Karen Ng/Ryan Driver/Aidan McConnell/Phil Melanson) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2023-11-23 (Thursday)

All-Set! Presents (feat. Molehill [Jake Oelrichs/Pete Johnston/Mike Smith wsg Jonathan Adjemian]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2023-11-24 (Friday – early). $pwyc

Exit Points 44 (feat. Yun Young Lee/Aaron Claudius/Donald Quan/Christine Duncan/None / Laura Chan/Pouya Hamidi/Emjay Wright/Margaret Maria/Michael Palumbo / Switchemups!) / Array Space 2023-11-24 (Friday). $20. [FB event]

Breeze [Sour Grapes Hand Drawn Dracula album release] (Uh Huh / Edmund Stay) / Monarch Tavern 2023-11-24 (Friday). $17.50, 19+. [FB event]

The Ryan Driver Sextet wsg Tania Gill / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2023-11-24 (Friday) [FB event]

JS Presents! Ep.43 (feat. Laura Barrett / JESSA/Jessica Stuart) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2023-11-25 (Saturday – 5 p.m.). $pwyc. [FB event]

25 Years of LAL (feat. LAL) / The Music Gallery 2023-11-25 (Saturday). $17.03, all ages. [FB event]

Liquid Architecture (feat. Nirvana Sagar / Liz Lima / Bea Labikova / Now Yr Taken) / Mischief Makers 2023-11-25 (Saturday). $10 advance/$12 at the door. [FB event]

Occasional Exit: Music by Ignacio Baca Lobera ["the Canadian premieres of Baca Lobera’s acoustic and electroacoustic chamber music"] (feat. Array Ensemble [Rob MacDonald/Benjamin Storm/Justin Massey/Amahl Arulanandam/Stephen Tam/Michael Murphy/David Schotzko) / Array Space 2023-11-25 (Saturday). $pwyw

Verdant Crooked Path ["revered poetry meets celebrated Canadian jazz artists in concert" original works using texts by noted poets Emma LaRocque, Alden Nowlan, Marjorie Pickthall, and Al Purdy] (feat. Allison Au, Pete Johnston, Amanda Tosoff, and Felicity Williams with an all-star 12-piece ensemble including Laura Swankey/Alex Samaras/Ted Crosby/Madeleine Ertel/Heather Saumer/Patrick O'Reilly/Michael Davidson/Ethan Ardelli) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2023-11-26 (Sunday). $10 or pwyc. [FB event]

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It happened this week...

• ...on November 21, 2009 at Centre of Gravity (Bite Your Tongue #2).

Corpusse - Nourishing Meat

• ...on November 26, 2009 at The Gladstone Hotel Melody Bar.

Michelle McAdorey - The Instance

[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.]

Monday Roundup #96

Community notes:

• Due to a confluence of things, I've decided to start posting in the instagram account I've been not using for the past few years. Feel free to follow @mechanicalforestsound if that's your kind of thing.

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Concert announcements:

Praises [LP Release!] (Bonnie Trash / Roach) / The Garrison 2021-11-24 (Thursday) [FB event]

Audiopollination (feat. Mira-Martin Gray/Fahmid Nibesh/Bea Labikova / Raphael Roter/Del Stephen/Piers Oolvai / Heraclitus Akimbo/William Davison/Daria Morgacheva / Victor O and friends) / Array Space 2021-11-25 (Friday). $10 or PWYC (or free if you can't). [FB event]

Rückstreuung: Sound Performance (feat. Debashis Sinha) / MOCA Toronto 2022-12-09 (Friday). $free with admission. [FB event]

Dana Gavanski (Eliza Niemi / Luka Kuplowsky) / The Baby G 2022-12-14 (Wednesday). $20.05, 19+. [FB event]

Jennifer Castle [winter solstice celebration!] (Eucalyptus) / The Great Hall 2022-12-21 (Wednesday). $33.99, 19+. [FB event]

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Shows this week:

Isla Craig [Echo's Reach album release!] (Sarah Good & The Bads) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2022-11-15 (Tuesday). $16.93. [more info]

Valley Voice [Harrison Argatoff/Michael Davidson/Dan Fortin/Ian Wright] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-11-15 (Tuesday). $pwyw. [FB event]

Laura Barrett (Catholic Wilt / Spruce Needles) / The Garrison 2021-11-15 (Tuesday). [FB event]

Brodie West Quintet / The Rex 2021-11-16 (Wednesday – 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.)

Josh Cole presents (feat. Anne Bourne/Josh Cole/Thom Gill/John Oswald) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-11-16 (Wednesday). $10/PWYC. [FB event]

Justin Orok [Kanata album release show!] / Sellers & Newel 2021-11-17 (Thursday). $15 minimum donation, reservations required. [FB event]

Ladyfinger / The Emmet Ray 2022-11-17 (Thursday) [FB event]

Man Made Hill (Tommy Tone / Doom Tickler) / Bar Orwell 2022-11-18 (Friday). $8, NOTAFLOF. [FB event]

Lavender Bruisers (Hieronymus Harry) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-11-18 (Saturday)

catl. (Ichi-Bons) / Monarch Tavern 2022-11-19 (Saturday). $16.00, 19+. [FB event]

Andre Ethier & Drew Smith (& friends) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-11-19 (Saturday)

Diane Roblin Presents (feat. Colin Fisher/Jeff Luciani/Diane Roblin) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2022-11-20 (Sunday – early!) [FB event]

Ex Machina [works by Olivier Messiaen, Mari Alice Conrad, Bekah Simms, James O'Callaghan, Gordon Fitzell] (feat. Standing Wave Ensemble) / St. George by the Grange 2022-11-20 (Sunday). $35.00. [FB event]

Imaginary Familiars [Bill Gilliam's solo, spoken word improvisations for voice and prepared piano] (Marbyllia [Margaret Maria/Bill Gilliam]) / Array Space 2022-11-20 (Sunday). $PWYC, livestream available. [FB event]

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Livestream nation:

• Freesound has an intruiging online show of "Music for Piano" performed by Wesley Shen premiering on Thursday (November 17th), with pieces by Anna Höstman and Juro Kim Feliz.

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It happened this week...

• ...on November 15, 2015 at The Imperial Pub's back room.

Colin Fisher - Microtonal Lap Steel Improvisation [edit]

• ...on November 18, 2015 at the Monarch Tavern.

Michelle McAdorey - Two Tickets

[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: The Highest Order

Artist: The Highest Order

Songs: Carry On Warm [Fiver cover, feat. Michelle McAdorey] / Something On Your Mind [Karen Dalton cover, feat. Bria Salmena] / Working Man Blues [Merle Haggard cover, feat. Dallas Good and Andre Ethier] / Stop the World and Let Me Off [Waylon Jennings cover, feat. Dallas Good] / Shake The Dope Out [The Warlocks cover, feat Dan Burke, Calvin Brown + Richard Gibson]

Recorded at Lee's Palace (Dan Burke: 60 plus 20), December 8, 2017.

The Highest Order feat. Michelle McAdorey - Carry On Warm

The Highest Order feat. Bria Salmena - Something On Your Mind

The Highest Order with Dallas Good and Andre Ethier - Working Man Blues

The Highest Order with Dallas Good - Stop the World and Let Me Off

Party Wallet - Shake The Dope Out

Although things didn't feel exactly right, taking over Lee's Palace instead of packing The Silver Dollar, there were good vibes and all-star jams a-plenty at this night dedicated to Dan Burke, celebrating his 60th birthday as well as twenty years of promoting shows. Headliners The Highest Order went brought the biggest contingent of guest performers, enlisting a large roster of friends and collaborators (as well as an expanded band with Stew Crookes' pedal steel, Nick Kervin adding percussion and Vallens' Marta Cikojevic on keybs throughout the night). Michelle McAdorey added some backing vocals on a Fiver song that's been brought over to The Highest Order, as well as being backed by the band on her own "Disappearing Things". Jen Castle reprised her Gerry Rafferty jam with the group while Andre Ethier and The Sadies' Dallas Good sat in for a mini-set-within-the-set. With B-17's Calvin Brown and Richard Gibson joining in with Dan Burke for the grand finale, the band morphed into their alter-ego Party Wallet to close out the night.

Recording: Michelle McAdorey

Artist: Michelle McAdorey

Song: The Remainder [Lake Ontario mix]^*

Recorded at Artscape Gibraltar Point (Camp Wavelength), August 21, 2016.

Michelle McAdorey - The Remainder [Lake Ontario mix]

Following and expanding on the template of last year's successful festival, Wavelength returned to the island with a meticulously-executed event that included an exciting range of music and a beach full of art beside festival headliner Lake Ontario. It also managed to be a stress-reducing rather than a stress-inducing time — rather like a weekend at the cottage, even if the city was just out of view.

For a peaceful sit-on-the-lawn Sunday set, Michelle McAdorey was without her ace band, instead playing alongside Will Kidman, who added subtle electric guitar licks and vocal support. The recurring image here of a kite tossed around in the wind — tethered to something, but not fully under anyone's control — felt just right for a breezy island day, where it was calm up by the stage protected by the surrounding trees, but quite choppy down by the water.

^* Inspired by a similar still-ish Sunday moment from the previous year's festival, I elected to mix in some sounds from the lake that I'd recorded before the set. As I noted last year, in the live-music-recording game, this is known as "cheating", but it felt proper somehow.

Recording: Michelle McAdorey

Artist: Michelle McAdorey

Song: Wild is The Wind [Johnny Mathis cover, via Nina Simone and David Bowie]

Recorded at The Great Hall (Long Winter 4.3), January 16, 2016.

Michelle McAdorey - Wild is The Wind

After presenting some of the songs from her wonderful new Into Her Future album, McAdorey closed her set with a tribute to David Bowie, interpreting one of his most-loved cover songs with a rootsy flourish, thanks to some wonderful pedal steel work by Chris Altman.

Recording: Michelle McAdorey

Artist: Michelle McAdorey

Songs: Two Tickets + Pocahontas [Neil Young cover]

Recorded at Monarch Tavern, November 18, 2015.

Michelle McAdorey - Two Tickets

Michelle McAdorey feat. Colin Cripps - Pocahontas

The batch of new songs that Michelle McAdorey has been tending to for the past couple years have finally emerged on the wonderful new Into Her Future album, filled with wisdom, wanderlust and yearning. Celebrating the album's release (as well as a beautiful video by Yuula Benivolski) McAdorey and band showed off the songs' rootsy atmospherics to a full house. Taking a break from the brand new, McAdorey also invited Colin Cripps, her musical partner from Crash Vegas, to play a couple of that band's most recognizable songs, including a lovely, stripped-down duo arrangement of "Smoke".

Recording: Michelle McAdorey

Artist: Michelle McAdorey

Song: Disappearing Things

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), February 28, 2014.

Michelle McAdorey - Disappearing Things

Full review to follow. Closing out a month of Fridays at The Tranzac, McAdorey's new songs and new band were in fine form. Over the course of the month, the shows had gotten so packed that there was simply no room to mount a planned visual element with some projections adding to the mood. Look for that to be rectified, as this is definitely bound for a a bigger room soon — hopefully in conjunction with a chance to celebrate what is now a highly-anticipated album.

Recording: Michelle McAdorey

Artist: Michelle McAdorey

Song: The Instance

Recorded at The Gladstone Hotel Melody Bar, November 26, 2009.

Michelle McAdorey - The Instance

My notes for this set can be found here.

Gig: The Phonemes / Michelle McAdorey

Blocks Presents: The Phonemes, Michelle McAdorey and Betty Burke

The Gladstone Hotel (Melody Bar). Thursday, November 26, 2009.

Out again for the monthly Blocks Recording night at the Gladstone, this time with a couple acts on the bill I was interested in investigating, plus one familiar one. From a genre perspective, sort of an interesting night as well, as all three acts were pretty different from each other, but each could, at some level, be placed in some corner of the big category called "folk".

We were a little off the pace in getting there — stupid hybrid buses with their propensity to just quit working — and arrived with Betty Burke¹ already on stage. Managed to grab one of the last remaining tables and settle in. I'd been eager to check them out pretty much ever since I'd heard about 'em, mostly based on the fact that Maggie MacDonald² was involved. The band is normally a trio with Shaun Brodie — or possibly a five-piece now with rhythm section — but on this night it was only MacDonald and Holly Andruchuk. I was not familiar with the latter, but she has a solid CV of folkie hell-raisin', and is obviously a strong source of this group's musical direction — a sort of straight-ahead roots-rock. Or as MacDonald would put it, "we're in the true story business" — punk like Woody Guthrie was punk.

MacDonald is not the world's greatest singer, but she's a helluva vocalist, and it was great to hear her hitting her characteristic cadences, like in one song, coming down hard on those opening syllables: "New York and London are under water / lovers and liars swim together" — but also cool to hear those tics in a new musical context. "New Job", the final song, which included a sort of origin story of the band's name was rather good fun. I only caught about three-and-a-half songs, but I dug what I heard, and look forward to checking out the full band. More gigs, please.

Listen to a track from this set here.

Next up was Michelle McAdorey, who was certainly part of the draw getting me down to the show. Probably best known for her work with Crash Vegas, who'd flirted with Canadian semipopularity in the early '90's. Following the band's dissolution, she'd released a solo album at the other end of this decade, but had been keeping a low profile for the past while. Lately, she'd been said to be playing with some of the members of the local improvised music scene, and it was from this pool that she drew her lineup for this gig. This was the first show for a band including Eric Chenaux³, Ryan Driver, Martin Arnold and Blake Howard. I'd seen half of these guys playing just recently with The Reveries, and having that context in mind certainly helped me to sort of appreciate the musical place this group was coming from. Aiming for a meeting point between folk/songwriter and improvisational urges, there was a musical tension between droneyness and widdley-wah guitar, bringing to mind, say, MV & EE in a sort of mellow, rustic mood. It also felt — especially on songs like "Love Don't Change" — like it was bumping up a bit to that fine line that separates fluid musical exploration and noodly stoner jamming. With that in mind, I think I enjoyed some of the quieter, textured moments more, although they were a bit less at home in this environment, the crowd split between Friends of Blocks out eagerly soaking in the show, and those just out for a drink in a bar where some band happened to be playing. Given that, I'm already eager for this band to play somewhere in a more hushed environment — Music Gallery show, anyone?

Listen to a track from this set here.

The couple times that I'd seen The Phonemes during the summer they were playing as a duo + guests, with Magali Meagher playing with John Tielli on guit and theramin. This time the pair were accompanied by the keyb work and vox of Stephanie Markowitz, which fleshed out out the sound rather well. Meagher is an intriguing songwriter, her plainspoken lyrics flirting with a pop sensibility in a come-hither manner. It was certainly interesting to hear some of the new songs that I'd heard presented in a stripped-down format at this summer's shows getting filled-out arrangements, and Meagher's consistently upbeat patter and share-the-stage ethos — Maggie MacDonald was called up to add some percussion on "Steeples and People" — were good entertainment. But the fact that I was winding down with sleepiness on a work day sort of had me drifting a bit as things went on. A scattering of chatty people — including a table of oblivious young folks busily trying to impress each other with banalities and bottle service — was a bit of a distraction, too. But generally good stuff, and a nice step forward with the new material.

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¹ The name, it turns out, comes from a story about Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Jacobite pretender to the British throne, who, following his defeat in battle fled into exile disguised as his maid. All sorts of interesting things here to be spun out about gender/power/representation and so on, or as Maggie would say on stage, cutting to the chase: "we're named after a drag queen from three hundred years ago". Also note, adding to the mythic value of the band's name, that it was a MacDonald who came up with the plan and saved the prince.

² MacDonald, sort of a rockstar combination of Rosa Luxemburg and Ava Gardner, is currently a member of The Hidden Cameras and formerly of beloved post-punk Fall-owers Republic of Safety.

³ Chenaux, it turns out, had been a late-era touring member of Crash Vegas, so his creative partnership with McAdorey is a fairly longstanding one. I recall having enjoyed Crash Vegas back in its time in a "pop" sort of way — it strikes me that it would be interesting to perhaps revisit some of that in light of what I know now and see how much of this current freak-folk kind of vibe is there in nascent form.