Monday Roundup #247

Community notes:

• Toronto venue watch: The Imperial Pub is closing next month, set to be replaced by student housing. Besides being a proper old-fashioned bar/hangout, the small backroom was a really cosy spot to see a gig, and a place that I'd always wished was home to more shows. As it was, I saw some cool stuff there, and (thanks to Karen Ng and Somewhere There) put on one of the first shows I curated there.

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Concert announcements:

Karen Ng Presents (feat. Aidan McConnell/Karen Ng/Adrian Russouw) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-10-14 (Tuesday). [more info]

Labyrinth Ontario's Makam Nights (feat. Christos Barbas & Araz Salek) / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2025-10-16 (Thursday). [FB event]

Joan Shelley / Monarch Tavern 2025-10-16 (Thursday). $28.98, 19+. [FB event]

BPM (Big Percussion Meeting) (feat. Bob Vespaziani / Jonathan Huard / Martian Crisis Fragment / Nikki Huang / VV) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-10-17 (Friday). $pwyc. [more info]

Glory of the English Anthem (feat. The Tallis Choir) / St. Patrick's Church 2025-10-18 (Saturday). $35 general, $30 seniors, $15 students. [FB event]

Ministry of Phonic Services presents (feat. Jaap Blonk (with and without Mike Gennaro) / T.D. / qeTTe fossa) / The Jama 2025-10-18 (Saturday). $15 advance, $20 door.

Music Hosted by Karen Ng (feat. Alex Lukashevsky [solo] / Karen Ng/Allison Cameron/Stephen Parkinson) / Wenona Lodge 2025-10-21 (Tuesday). [more info]

Labyrinth Ontario presents (feat. Labyrinth Ensemble with Ross Daly and Kelly Thoma) / Aga Khan Museum 2025-11-08 (Saturday). $50. [FB event]

Not Dead Yet presents (feat. Slash Need [Sit & Grin record release] / HRT / Doctor Cement) / St. Stephen-In-The-Fields 2025-11-15 (Saturday). $24.94, all ages. [FB event]

Future, Past, They Disappear [works by Hannah Ishizaki, Angélica Negrón, Rebecca Bruton, and Ann Southam] (feat. The Array Ensemble) / Array Space 2025-11-22 (Saturday). $25 (or Pay What You Want), livestream: $12.00 (or Pay What You Want). [more info]

Jane Inc. [A Rupture, A Canyon, A Birth album release celebration] (Aisha Sasha John) / The Baby G 2025-12-12 (Friday). $23.87, 19+. [FB event]

Playscape Emporium: Theatrics (feat. Duo Cichorium / Hee-Soo Yoon / Toronto Saxophone Collective / Trevor Flemings / Domenic Clarke) / Array Space 2025-12-18 (Thursday). $25 (or Pay What You Want), livestream: $12.00 (or Pay What You Want). [more info]

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]

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]

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

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Shows this week:

Justin Orok presents (feat. Micaela Rae, accompanied by Alyson Mcnamara/Anh Phung/Thom Gill/Justin Orok/Michael Davidson/Abby David/Ian Wright) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-10-07 (Tuesday) [more info]

Track Could Bend #109 (feat. BLACK GALAXIE / O'Reilly/Strutt/Pitt / Brandon Auger & Deniz Tafaghodi) / Wenona Lodge 2024-10-07 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Brodie West Quintet [Brodie West/Aidan McConnell/Tania Gill/Josh Cole/Nick Fraser] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-10-08 (Wednesday)

Patrick O'Reilly & Phil Albert [record release] / Sellers and Newel 2025-10-08 (Wednesday). $20 minimum donation. [more info]

Wednesdays in October Residency (feat. Ronley Teper's Lipliners) / Drom Taberna 2025-10-08 (Wednesday). $10 suggested donation. [more info]

Mike DeiCont Trio [Mike DeiCont/Eric West/Leland Whitty] / Jazz Bistro 2025-10-08 (Wednesday). $20. [FB event]

Ladyfinger [Diane Roblin & Kayla Milmine wsg Mark Zurawinski] / The Emmet Ray 2025-10-09 (Thursday – 6:30). $15. [more info]

Ace Of Wands (Praises / Flake) / Monarch Tavern 2025-10-09 (Thursday). $16 (advance), 19+. [FB event]

Sub-Sessions #12 (feat. C'est la fête / MOMxWYFE / Output 1:1:1 / Bike Bike) / BSMT 254 2025-10-09 (Thursday). $15/pwyc. [FB event]

Ian Sinclair Quintet [Ian Sinclair/Allison Au/Jim Lewis/Mark Godfrey/Nick Fraser] / The Emmet Ray 2025-10-09 (Thursday). $15. [more info]

Audiopollination (feat. Matt Collins/Hannahxyx/Liz Anthonisen / Mira Riselli/Sophia Laur/Janel Jones / Ryan Kinney/Raymond Carruthers/Emma Tzi / teething) / Array Space 2025-10-10 (Friday) [FB event]

John Russon Quartet [John Russon/Rebecca Hennessy/Ian Sinclair/Mike Milligan/Nick Fraser] / The Emmet Ray 2025-10-10 (Friday). $12. [more info]

Project Nowhere presents (feat. Kontravoid / Doctor Cement) / Nineteen Seventy Eight 2025-10-10 (Friday). $30.55, 19+. [FB event]

Musica Universalis (feat. C'est la fête) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-10-10 (Friday) [more info]

Ishq Festival (feat. Pandit Budhaditya Mukherjee & Soumen Nandy / Arnab Chakrabarty & Ustad Sukhvinder Singh Pinky) / Trinity St. Paul's Centre 2025-10-11 (Saturday). $49.79. [more info]

Ayal Senior & Friends (feat. Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman / Destroya / Nick Flanagan / The Dolphin Foundation) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-10-12 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.) [FB event]

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It happened this week...

• ...on October 6, 2015 at Dundas Video (Track Could Bend #7).

Karen Ng + Sexy Merlin - [excerpt from first piece, part 2]

• ...on October 11, 2015 at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge).

Lina Allemano/Nico Dann/Rob Clutton/Karen Ng - [first set, last piece]

[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: Karen Ng + Sexy Merlin

Artist: Karen Ng + Sexy Merlin

Songs: [excerpt from first piece, in two parts]

Recorded at Dundas Video (Track Could Bend #7), October 6, 2015.

Karen Ng + Sexy Merlin - [excerpt from first piece, part 1]

Karen Ng + Sexy Merlin - [excerpt from first piece, part 2]

Some very tasty directions here in this pair's first-ever duo set. Credit is due to Neil Rankin and Paul Erlichman of Germaphobes, who'd drafted sax player Karen Ng and percussionist Sean Dunal as extra players on their multimedia SummerWorks spectacular. I was surprised to learn that night that the pair hadn't met before, and my brain immediately started coming up with a plan to recombine their talents. Working more often in a rock context, Dunal shows off a nimble improvisatory touch here, pushing and pulling the tempo and adding some atmospheric synth touches to give Ng a variety of settings to play against. Sadly, this pairing won't get an encore in the immediate future as Dunal has now decamped to the West Coast. Best of luck to him there — hopefully folks out that way will realize they have a true gem in their midst.

[The next Track Could Bend — featuring SlowPitchSound, APA, and Jack Vorvis & Scott Thomson — will be at Dundas Video on Tuesday, November 3rd.]

Recording: Germaphobes

Artist: Germaphobes

Songs: Door in the Floor + She's in the Heat of Her Life^*

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

Germaphobes - Door in the Floor

Germaphobes - She's in the Heat of Her Life

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 and Snowblink. 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.

In the tradition of The Bicycles' Young Drones, a band with songwriting energy to burn showed up at SummerWorks with a full set of new material, and a multimedia stage show to match. More of a loosely-defined concept album than a full-on rock opera, Heat Shuts Off Overnight nevertheless gained a reasonable amount of narrative heft thanks to the projection/puppetry work of Sarah Fairlie and Erin Fleck as well as Joanne Sarazen's acting as the band's on-stage avatar, an ennui-laden near-future urbanite looking for entertainment (or salvation) in her virtual-reality goggles. The storyline was left non-didactically loose, but the visual interplay of memory and desire was quite expressive enough — as well as the message that in the end, maybe what you need most is someone to dance with. (Not even some technical difficulties could derail the live presentation — in fact, in context of the show's themes, a couple ghosts in the system felt totally appropriate.)

Musically, Neil Rankin and Paul Erlichman have added keyboards to their core group since I last saw 'em, and added some additional musical heft with special guests Sean Dunal (a.k.a. Sexy Merlin, percussion) and Karen Ng (alto sax, flute) joining them for the whole set. But besides pushing their sound away from the garage and towards New Wave glory (there was no shortage of Talking Heads in this set), the biggest conceptual leap forward was in the songwriting, with the band moving from snark to sympathy. Still, most of these songs could easily slip right into their regular setlists — though hopefully someone will take the initiative to mount a restaging of this ambitious enterprise. (And in the meantime, let's hope that the band strikes while the iron is hot and records these tunes, preserving this creative outburst as a concept album, just as The Bicycles did.)

^* Thanks to Paul for passing along the titles to these ones.

Recording: Sound Séance Continuous Drone Ensemble

Artist: Sound Séance Continuous Drone Ensemble

Songs: [two excerpts from an improvisation]

Recorded at Geary Lane ("Sound Séance I": Day 2), June 14, 2015.

Sound Séance Continuous Drone Ensemble - [excerpt 1]

Sound Séance Continuous Drone Ensemble - [excerpt 2]

Kudos to Invocation TO's Jay Pollard for making the Sound Séance about more than just the trio of big, nightly concerts. Afternoon events are a lot harder to get people out for, but some of the festival's best moments came in the daytimes. Rainy weather caused Sunday's plans to be scaled back (with an upstairs patio party scrapped) but the monumental dronezone in the venue's main area was more than enough.

With an ad hoc ensemble that mixed together members of projects like Knurl, Lorde Awesome, Isles Day, Sexy Merlin and Brigitte Bardon't, this was conceptualized as a five-hour continuous drone. With players deciding when to drop in and out, it actually ended up being closer to three-and-a-quarter hours when everything was said and done (said and droned?), but that was still plenty of time to lay back and zone out for a wide-ranging sonic soak. (The full lineup, which shifted throughout the duration of the piece was: Kristel Jax, Avery Strok, James Beardmore, Steve Benesko, Marcus Beiner, Alan Bloor, William Davison and Sean Dunal.)

Bonus! Here's some footage I shot when I headed outside for some fresh air:

Recording: Mmm Mmm

Artist: Mmm Mmm

Song: unknown^*

Recorded in the dungeon of 8-Eleven ("Sonic Boom Record Store Day Afterparty"), April 18, 2015.

Mmm Mmm - unknown

If told that this occasional group was a pairing between Randy Gagne (Man Made Hill) and Sean Dunal (Sexy Merlin) you could probably guess what you might be in for. Indeed, at their best (as heard here on what sounds like some incredible lost 12" club side) this hits more-than-the sum-of-its-parts territory with Dunal's rhythmic inventions acting as a beacon for Gagne's groove gambles. Some of the other pieces came off a bit more like just jams, but even then they kept the dancefloor bumpin' to close this night out.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Sean Paul

Artist: Sean Paul

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Ratio ("Wavelength 653"), March 27, 2015.

Sean Paul - unknown

The last time I saw this union of Sexy Merlin's Sean Dunal and Germaphobes' Paul Erlichman, I was struck by the breezy tones they brought to their avant-smooth synthrock. Those same sounds were there, but this time I particularly dug this number featuring Dunal's distorted vox, which had a darker edge that sounds a bit like, say, a Mystic Triangle jam.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Sean Paul

Artist: Sean Paul

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Holy Oak Café, October 28, 2014.

Sean Paul - unknown

When I saw this band name listed, I assumed at first that someone was being cheeky until I realized that it was a quite literal description of this union between Sexy Merlin's Sean Dunel and Gay's Paul Erlichman. The evening's drink special was a Sea Breeze, and that fit right in with the gently wafting mellow tones in this set's trio of extended tunes.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Sexy Merlin

Artist: Sexy Merlin

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Canton Chilli ("Silent Shout: The Heat and the Pulse, Day 1"), July 17, 2014.

Sexy Merlin - unknown

Full review to follow. Even playing with a stripped-down setup in an unconventional setting (the floor of a Chinatown restaurant with a buffet available to early-arriving patrons), Sean Dunal still managed to (ahem) set the table for Zoo Owl's album release celebration.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Nature

Artist: Nature

Song: Heater

Recorded at Comfort Zone ("All Toronto's Parties 2"), May 24, 2014.

Nature - Heater

Full review to follow. The first ATP show brought together bands selected by five different live music purveyors in a cool mix'n'match marathon. Upping the ante, the night-time portion follow-up brought a full line-up of recombinant bands (some of them special one-offs) to create a completely unique night. (It should also be noted that this also served as Wavelength's 600th show. Congratulations Wavelength!)

Man Made Hill and Sexy Merlin are two phenomenal talents in their respective one-man bands, each exploring their own dancefloor-ready terrain. But combined in band form (with percussion by Jesse Locke and monster bass by Brandon Hocura) the grooves multiplied into a sort of avant go-go breakdown explosion. In a night of great music, this was the standout — I've heard whispers that this one was not intended as a one-off performance; perchance let us hope that is true.

You can also check out some more pictures from the day on the MFS facebook page.

Recording: Sexy Merlin

Artist: Sexy Merlin

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Comfort Zone ("Cod Bless Fest"), April 10, 2014.

Sexy Merlin - unknown

Full review to follow. A nice night out set up by Reel Cod Records didn't just focus on bands that had released stuff on the label. Inviting Sean Dunel's Sexy Merlin project was an inspired move, as you could see the other musicians in the room totally vibing to what he was doing.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Sexy Merlin

Artist: Sexy Merlin

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Handlebar ("Wavelength 585"), January 25, 2014.

Sexy Merlin - unknown

Full review to follow. When I first encountered Sean Dunel's solo project, I think I misconstrued it as a mere drumming exercise, with just enough of a melodic framework to hold things together. It wasn't until I listened to his very tasty Heater EP that I realized that he's dealing in carefully-crafted songs. And by now, his live presence has certainly caught up to that, allowing his Arthur Russell-ish avant-disco sensibility to seem a much a part of the proceedings as the can't-not-dance imperative.

[You can catch Sexy Merlin again at the next Long Winter show, on February 7th.]

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Moon King

Artist: Moon King

Song: Icarus^*

Recorded at Double Double Land, August 24, 2012.

Moon King - Icarus

Full review to follow. Celebrating the release of the Obsession I 12", this was a night to really take stock of how much this project has progressed. From the start, Daniel Woodhead and Maddy Wilde were creating some infectious fun on stage, but the development from the duo to the earlier band alignment to the current four-piece (backed by Steven Foster and Sexy Merlin, who each took an opening set on the night) is something exciting to consider. This was the sort of gig where gear kept getting unplugged and cymbals flying off, so it was no surprise that it ended in the dark with the power getting blown. What was surprising was how the crowd and band joined together for a blackout singalong on "I Found a Body" to finish the night off.

^* At the time of this show, this song was listed on the setlist as "Dutch".