Monday Roundup #175

Concert announcements:

TONE presents (feat. S* Glass / Sailor Beware / Paul Dutton / Fleshtone Aura) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2024-06-02 (Sunday). $15. [more info]

Track Could Bend #92 (feat. Duo Cichorium [Jasmine Tsui/Louis Pino] / Tom Richards) / Wenona Lodge 2024-06-04 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Helpless Helpless Helpless Game Score Recording (feat. Erin Corbett/Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Marilyn Yogayrajah) / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2024-06-06 (Friday). $pwyc

Miserable Weekend (FORMING [debut show]) / Houndstooth 2024-06-06 (Thursday). $free/pwyc. [FB event]

Tania Gill Presents (feat. Lina Allemano Four / Tania Gill Quartet) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-06-07 (Friday – early!) [FB event]

Transmit presents @ Do West Fest (feat. The Crime Family / Sap / Hobby / Julianna Riolino) / The Garrison Stage 2024-06-07 (Friday). $free, outdoors/all-ages/family-friendly. [FB event]

Transmit presents @ Do West Fest (feat. So Tired / Your Grandad / Accelerant / Pleasure Craft / Kali Horse / Silks / Night Lunch / Thermal / Teknicolor Raincoats / Annie-Claude Deschênes / Pixel Grip) / The Garrison Stage 2024-06-08 (Saturday). $free, outdoors/all-ages/family-friendly. [FB event]

Ghostlight Residency: Solstice (feat. Ghostlight) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-06-08 (Saturday – early). $10 suggested. [FB event]

Transmit presents @ Do West Fest (feat. Hieronymous Harry / Catholic Wilt / Rogue Tenant / Falcon Jane / Little Kid / Nora Kelly Band) / The Garrison Stage 2024-06-09 (Sunday). $free, outdoors/all-ages/family-friendly. [FB event]

Audiopollination (Diane Roblin/Jamie Eriksen/Anne Amores / Laura Swankey/Nilan Perera/Tliman Lewis / Patrick O’Reilly/Connor Bennett/Afraaz Adam Mulji/Patrick Booth / Stik Sharpi/Uisill Galar/Bri Clarke) / Array Space 2024-06-14 (Friday). $10 or PWYC (cash or card). [FB event]

Not Dead Yet presents (feat. Tyvek / XV) / Monarch Tavern 2024-06-14 (Friday). $21.41, 19+. [more info]

Batuki Music Society presents Alkebulan: A Musical African Tale (feat. Djely Tapa/Seydina Ndiaye/Mambo Chivero/Memory Makuri/Fantahun Shewankochew/Melat Mengesha/Adama Daou/Aboulaye Koné/Salif Lasso/Zal Sissokho) / Theatre Passe Muraille 2024-06-22 (Saturday). $23 advance / $25 door. [FB event]

Brian Ruryk (Super Kill Me Now / Plastic Heart Surgery) / See-Scape 2024-06-25 (Tuesday). $pwyc

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

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Shows this week:

Marker Starling Euroband [Marker Starling/Jay Anderson/Andrew Scott/Dorothea Paas plus special guest Eliza Niemi] / Houndstooth 2024-05-21 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [FB event]

People Soup, Flavor: Alphabet Soup ["4 sets of poetry simmered amidst improvised music"] (feat. Nevada-Jane Arlow/The Small Poet/Nicci Pryce/Aiden Cotnam / teething / Trevor Flemings / Duo Cichorium) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-05-21 (Tuesday) [more info]

Secret Sign (Science International) / Ted's Collision 2024-05-23 (Thursday). $free/pwyc. [FB event]

Grocer (Heaven for Real / Triples) / Monarch Tavern 2024-05-23 (Thursday). $20, 19+. [FB event]

TONE presents (feat. Brodie West Quintet / Mira Martin-Gray) / Canadian Music Centre 2024-05-24 (Friday). $20, $15 students/arts workers. [more info]

L CON (James Irwin) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-05-24 (Friday) [FB event]

The AMBiENT PiNG presents Drone Day 2024: Afternoon Drones (feat. dreamSTATE / DRONE:KLUB:44 [live community drone session]) / Trinity St-Paul's Centre 2024-05-25 (Saturday – 2:00 p.m.). $free, family-friendly. [FB event]

Batuki Music Society presents (feat. Zale Seck) / Alliance Française Toronto – Spadina Theatre 2024-05-25 (Saturday). $18. [info/tickets]

TONE presents (feat. Brodie West Quintet / Steven Noronha) / Canadian Music Centre 2024-05-25 (Saturday). $20, $15 students/arts workers. [more info]

Sounds of the Shadows ["a narrative force of resistance directed by Aliyah Aziz that takes the form of an audio reactive projected shadow play, accompanied by experimental live looping soundscapes and compiled field recordings. Sets will integrate different compositions from a variety of work, both improvised and incorporating written poetry, as a response to the attempted privatization of Ontario Place"] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-05-25 (Saturday) [more info]

Annual Hirut Residency (feat. Eucalyptus [Aidan McConnell/Aline Homzy/Blake Howard/Brodie West/Evan Cartwright/Kurt Newman/Mike Smith/Nick Fraser/Ryan Driver]) / Hirut Café 2024-05-26 (Sunday). $15, dining available, family-friendly. [more info]

Gabe Girard presents (feat. The Jake Laur Trio [Ezra Schell/Yoshi Wall/Jake Laur] / Nobody Waved Goodbye [Joe Strutt/Mike Lynn/Marilyn Yogarajah/Gabe Girard] / D.B. Buxton with Special Guests) / The Dock Ellis 2024-05-26 (Sunday). $pwyc. [FB event]

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It happened this week...

• ...on May 25, 2017 at Array Space (Premieres VI – Keys Wind and Strings Edition).

Thin Edge New Music Collective - Puddles

• ... on May 26, 2017 at The Horseshoe Tavern (Spring Nationals 2017 – Night 3).

Rheostatics - Saskatchewan

[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 #174

Concert announcements:

The AMBiENT PiNG presents Drone Day 2024: Afternoon Drones (feat. dreamSTATE / DRONE:KLUB:44 [live community drone session]) / Trinity St-Paul's Centre 2024-05-25 (Saturday – 2:00 p.m.). $free, family-friendly. [FB event]

Exit Points #49 (feat. Essie Watts/Constant Yen/Wesley Shen/Hiroki Tanaka/Steven Noronha / Joel Ong/Katie Couchie/Diane Roblin/Erik Johnson-Scherger/Michael Palumbo / Switchemups!) / Array Space 2024-05-31 (Friday). $20 advance/$25 door. [FB event]

Technicolor Blood (Zero Bars / Deposed) / The Nono Room @ Dock Ellis 2024-06-01 (Saturday). $10. [FB event]

Liquid Architecture Turns 1! (feat. Nilan Perera / Alex Fournier / James Bailey / Ryan Kinney) / Mischief Makers 2024-06-08 (Saturday). $10 cash or advance ticket / $12 card at the door. [FB event]

Save Bar Orwell fundraiser (feat. Sundowner / DENISE / Ancient Greece / cute) / The Baby G 2024-06-09 (Sunday). $17.31, 19+. [more info / tickets]

TONE Festival (feat. Fred Moten & Brandon Lopez / Lee & Gamble Unlimited / Roa Lee) / The Music Gallery 2024-06-13 (Thursday). $20 advance, all ages. [FB event]

TONE Festival (feat. Mas Aya [Coming And Going record release] / Colin Fisher [Suns of the Heart record release) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2024-06-16 (Sunday). $20 advance, $25 door, all ages. [FB event]

Chris Brokaw (Picastro) / The Baby G 2024-06-17 (Monday). $23.57, 19+. [FB event]

Luka Kuplowsky & The Ryōkan Band [How Can I Possibly Sleep When There Is Music double LP release celebration!] (The Heart of Going La [Fan Wu & Thom Gill]) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2024-06-18 (Tuesday). $22.63 advance/$25 door. [FB event]

TONE Festival (feat. Wolf Eyes with Anthony Braxton) / The Great Hall 2024-06-26 (Wednesday). $35 advance. [FB event]

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

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Shows this week:

Toronto Electronic Music Open Mic (feat. Ross Edmonds / Paul Hilllier / Bradburn Williams / Gary Duke / MIke Murphy / dreamSTATE / Diyonisos / Phurniture / Fantastical Realms / Time God Uly / Heiki / Ben Shannon / Spectral Eyes / Eugene Huo / Gruve Collective) / Handlebar 2024-05-13 (Monday) [more info]

Ghostgirl residency ["original compositions and ghost stories"] (feat. Aline Homzy/Allan Mackie/Michael Davidson/Steven Noronha) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-05-14 (Tuesday – early) [more info]

Not Dead Yet presents (The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis / Fortunato Durutti Marinetti / Daydream Plus) / The Velvet Underground 2024-05-14 (Tuesday). $27.58. [FB event]

The Brandon Davis Trio [Brandon Davis/Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Joe Sorbara] [album release celebration!] (Brandon Davis [solo]) / Sellers & Newel 2024-05-14 (Tuesday). $15 minimum donation. [more info]

Josh Cole presents (feat. Kind Mind [Josh Cole/Ted Crosby/ Michael Davidson]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-05-14 (Tuesday). $10/pwyc. [FB event]

Christina Petrowska Quilico [Games of the Night Wind album release, featuring nocturnes by David Jaeger] / Canadian Music Centre 2024-05-15 (Wednesday). $free with RSVP. [more info]

TONE presents (feat. Lea Bertucci / Germaine Liu / Black Galaxie) / Standard Time 2024-05-15 (Wednesday). $17.52, all-ages. [FB event]

Dun-Dun Band [Pita Parka Pt. I: Xam Egdub LP release show!] (Allison Cameron/Mira Martin-Gray/Josh Cole) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2024-05-16 (Thursday). $25. [FB event]

Makam Nights (feat. Behnoosh Behnamnia [kamanche and violin] / Rob Simms [tanbour]) / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2024-05-16 (Thursday). $pwyc. [FB event]

TONE presents (feat. Nate Wooley's Columbia Icefield [Nate Wooley/Susan Alcorn/Ava Mendoza/Ryan Sawyer] / Rob Clutton Trio with Kurt Newman [Rob Clutton/Karen Ng/Nick Fraser]) / Standard Time 2024-05-17 (Friday). $22.89, all-ages. [FB event]

Masahiro Takahashi presents Cha-no-yu (feat. C.R. Gillespie / Nick Storring & Masahiro Takahashi) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-05-17 (Friday). $pwyc. [more info]

Opa Yallah / Burdock Music Hall 2024-05-18 (Saturday – early show @ 6 p.m.). $15. [FB event]

catl. / Castro's Lounge 2024-05-18 (Saturday). $pwyc. [FB event]

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In the mix:

• New ambient mix! Drone and drone-adjacent music by: Mind over MIDI, Sarah Peebles, Aidan Baker, Robert Rich, anthène & stijn hüwels, Klaus Schulze, saltmarsh + Boards of Canada.

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It happened this week...

• ...on May 15, 2014 at The Music Gallery (Emergents IV) [composer: Liz Hysen].

Thin Edge New Music Collective - Doors

• ...on May 18, 2014 at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge).

Colin Fisher + Jesse Laderoute - [first part of an improvisation]

[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: Thin Edge New Music Collective

Artist: Thin Edge New Music Collective

Piece: Shimmer, Tree (In Memoriam Jonathan Harvey): II. I count the fleeing hours [composer: Kotoka Suzuki]

Recorded at the Canadian Music Centre (Riparian Acoustics/CMC Presents), November 8, 2018.

Thin Edge New Music Collective - Shimmer, Tree [2nd mvt]

Following on the triumph of their live soundtracking of Sarah Hennies' experimental documentary Contralto, Thin Edge headed to the Canadian Music Centre for this more modest night of intimate compositions. Consisting of solo pieces, duos and one trio (Barbara Monk Feldman's defiantly un-urgent drift of "The Northern Shore") these were mostly small-scale but deep sonic explorations from pianist Cheryl Duvall, percussionist Nathan Petitpas and violinist Aysel Taghi-Zada. As is usually the case with the works that Thin Edge chooses to explore, there were some uncanny frissons in the pieces here, whether the flowerpot clonks of Chiyoko Szlavnics' "Her Teeth Were White" or the broken furniture music of Samuel Andreyev's "Piano Pieces".

As of this posting, you can still watch the archive of the livestream here (note that the Barbara Monk Feldman piece, embedded below, is in a separate video!):

[The Riparian Acoustics/CMC Presents series continues on Thursday, January 17th with a night of vocalisations from Alex Samaras (along with Lara Dodds-Eden and Bram Gielen). There's also an excellent-looking night coming on February 22nd with Lindsay Dobbin and Kat Estacio.]

Image screencapped from CMC livestream.

Recording: Thin Edge New Music Collective

Artist: Thin Edge New Music Collective

Piece: Fothem [composer: Mick Barr]

Recorded at Jam Factory (Intersection – Day 1/The Music Gallery's Departures Series), August 31, 2017.

Thin Edge New Music Collective - Fothem

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory. In an echo of last year, this opening night was once more a co-presentation with the Music Gallery's Departures Series, mixing Thin Edge's chamber styles with a visiting composer/musician.

After a panel discussion teasing out the common threads between metal and "classical" music (including a mutual affinity for virtuosity and technical perfection), Thin Edge tackled a trio of pieces from visitor Mick Barr, who certainly keeps his feet planted in both of those worlds. Besides an affinity for some intense sawing, his chamber works weren't over-the-top "metal" in their execution. Operating just as a string trio/quartet (with piano from Cheryl Duvall in the middle piece) this final selection just had strings from Ilana Waniuk, Suhashini Arulanandam, and Amahl Arulanandam.

[You can see some footage from this set over at Brandon Caswell Douglas' Intersection playlist.]

[Thin Edge's seventh season opens on October 10th with "Speaking", featuring Chicago-based pianist Shi-An Costello.]

Recording: Thin Edge New Music Collective

Artist: Thin Edge New Music Collective

Piece: Puddles [composer: Fjóla Evans]

Recorded at Array Space (Premieres VI – Keys Wind and Strings Edition), May 25, 2017.

Thin Edge New Music Collective - Puddles

Not afraid to take chamber music out of the chamber, I'd most recently caught Thin Edge in a halfpipe and at an all ages punk show. I love their enthusiasm + gusto for putting themselves in situations like that, but it was also most enjoyable to catch them back on something more like their home turf, in a room that rewards careful and close listening. The ensemble closed out their season with a two-night festival at Array Space, dedicated to the sounds of "keys, wind and strings" and featuring guest artists Olivia Steimel (accordion) and Solomiya Moroz (flute + piccolo) augmenting the core performing quartet.

This second night of the mini-fest was given over entirely to premiering new works, as is an annual tradition for Thin Edge. The night included some action sounds from Germaine Liu and a new protest song from Jason Doell (the official recording of which he already has posted over on his soundcloud). This piece from Fjóla Evans is based around the building tension of higher-pitched string drones (passing back and forth from violin to cello and back again in nice stereo slides) punctuated by piano clomps — perhaps not unlike a puddle's icy surface creaking under a winter boot before suddenly cracking.

Recording: Thin Edge New Music Collective + Elliott Sharp

Artist: Thin Edge New Music Collective + Elliott Sharp

Song: Mare Undarum [composer: Elliott Sharp]

Recorded at Soybomb (Intersection Festival – Day 1), September 2, 2016.

Thin Edge New Music Collective + Elliott Sharp - Mare Undarum

The Intersection Festival has a habit of augmenting its free day of music in Dundas Square with a ticketed concert. Like last year, that entailed going "off-site" as part of the Music Gallery's Departures series. This show was perhaps a bit more of a departure than usual, bringing some chamber music to DIY/punk venue Soybomb — definitely an intersection between different sounds and different crowds.

It was quite something to see Thin Edge New Music Collective setting up in the giant half-pipe, but the room, baffled against aggressive sonic assaults, sounded quite decent. They played a set of chamber pieces by Elliott Sharp, and with the composer sitting in on guitar, this one came closest to the dense technical knottiness of his own solo set. Some of the other pieces, like "Light in Fog" pulled back from that somewhat to offer hints of Alban Berg while "Flexagons" added percussion and an underlying drone — plus some moments that felt like refractions of punkrock guitar shredding as much as anything else. All part of the night's continuum, then.

[Thin Edge will be presenting Balancing on the Edge, a mix of "new circus and new music" with works by John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, David Lang, Nicole Lizée and the world premiere of compositions by Scott Rubin and Nick Storring. It's happening as part of Harbourfront's NextSteps Dance Series on November 18th and 19th, plus there's a chance to check out a sneak preview on Nuit Blanche.]

Recording: Thin Edge New Music Collective

Artist: Thin Edge New Music Collective

Song: Workers Union [excerpt] [composer: Louis Andriessen]

Recorded at The Great Hall (Long Winter 4.5 – Night 2), March 19, 2016.

Thin Edge New Music Collective - Workers Union [excerpt]

You can't fault Long Winter for being ambitious and for wanting to close out the season by cramming in as much music and art into the Great Hall as possible, but their plan to close the year out with a two-night stand didn't entirely pay off. Giving patrons the choice of two nights (and holding them at the end of Spring Break) seemed to especially cut into the younger crowd and both nights (especially Friday) lacked that "about to burst" feeling that makes LW unique. But even if the crowd was at less than maximum strength, there was no certainly no lack of music spread throughout the building.

I was rather pleased to see Thin Edge — one of the city's most forward-thinking DIY chamber ensembles — get the call to play at Long Winter. Setting up eight-deep in the Conversation Room, they dressed casually and brought an appropriately loud bit of music. With its insistent rhythmic bursts, this Andriessen piece isn't so far removed from the electronic blast-beats or cosmiche lockgrooves that might be otherwise found at Long Winter — and while the little curls of mic feedback near the end here might sound out of place in the concert hall, at this show they felt totally rock'n'roll. Turn it up!

Six years/Six pack: Allison Cameron

MFS has turned six! My introductory thoughts on this landmark can be found here, but long story short: I asked some folks to pick some of their favourites to help me celebrate. Thought we were done? Not quite yet!

Today's list is from Allison Cameron — composer, improviser and sound-maker with "small amplified objects". She is the ringleader of "No Angels Dancing", one my favourite monthly shows. Come hang out at the Tranzac 1 to 3 p.m. on the first Sunday of every month.

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When Joe Strutt asked me to contribute to the six-packs I had no idea how difficult it was going to be. I mean choosing only six. There could be six hundred! Joe's blog is an incredible testament to Toronto's creative music scene. Thank you Joe for MFS! Hope you have sixty more years... ;)

Nick Kuepfer - unknown [excerpt]

Nick is a super good musician/composer probably a bit too under the radar at the moment. This Wavelength performance is one of the best live compositions period. Features some awesome work with old fashioned reel to reel tape players. Kudos to Joe for picking this one up (I had to miss the show unfortunately).

Thin Edge New Music Collective - Doors

Also couldn't make this one but what a nice collaboration with lots of good young musician-composers involved, including Nick Storring who curated it.

Doug Tielli - Riversea

This live in-store was great. I love Doug's singing and gnarly guitar solos. One of the great singer-songwriters we are lucky to have in Toronto. Great band too with Ryan Driver, Nick Fraser and Scott Peterson.

A Ryan Driver Quintet - I Never Knew

And speaking of Ryan Driver here is the exceptional RD xtet with the music of Toronto's one and only Stephen Parkinson (who also contributed to the evening with swooning wah-wah melodica solos). Lots of fave musicians in this band: Brodie West and Martin Arnold (not present this night), Michael Davison, Rob Clutton, and Blake Howard.

Brass Knuckle Sandwich - [excerpt from first piece]

Holy smokes this was a good duo! Brilliant idea from the folks at the Somewhere There Festival to put together Nicole Rampersaud (trumpet) and Marilyn Lerner (piano) for a wonderful improvised music set. Great musicians! Great Festival!

Cluttertones - Webbed

Can't say enough about the recent music of Rob Clutton! Excellent compositions for the Cluttertones and more recently with Randi Helmers (Rob's partner) giving us some stunning new songs for soprano and banjo. (I hope these will get posted!) Webbed is a slightly more ethereal tune from Rob in this offering also featuring the talents of Lina Allemano, Tim Postgate and Ryan Driver a.k.a. Cluttertones.

plus bonus baseball cap and glove:

THOMAS - unknown

Joe was right on about this one - a nice chance to see (and hear) Thom flashing his guitar skills!

No Angels Dancing - [excerpt from start of second set]

Crazy No Angels Dancing surrogate band with Germaine Liu, Chris Banks and Stephen Parkinson!

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You can always click on the tags below to look for more stuff from these artists. Has there been a half-dozen songs posted here that made an impact on you? If you'd like to get in on the action and make a list, feel free to send me an email: mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com.

Recording: Thin Edge New Music Collective with Ensemble Paramirabo

Artist: Thin Edge New Music Collective with Ensemble Paramirabo

Song: Double Sextet [excerpt] [composer: Steve Reich]

Recorded at The Music Gallery, February 19, 2015.

Thin Edge New Music Collective with Ensemble Paramirabo - Double Sextet [excerpt]

This night of music from Thin Edge was billed as "Raging Against the Machine", a slightly-nostalgic look back to the time when people still had the energy and/or tenaciousness to voice their displeasure at being worn down by consumer society, late capitalism, etc. etc. The programme mixed a trio of new works — of which Anna Höstman's drifting "Fog" was the highlight — with a couple pieces from big-name composers. The latter included Louis Andriessen's somewhat-clompy "Workers Union" as well as this Reich piece, which subverts the usual progression of the Reich Curve¹ with a LOUD/quiet/LOUD structure (possibly a late-blooming "grunge" influence). Throughout the night, Thin Edge's musicians were joined by Montréal's Ensemble Paramirabo in various combinations, a tasty collaboration allowing for a wide range of musical textures.

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¹ The Reich Curve is a standardized duration-based aesthetic response to the works of Steve Reich which postulates that the compositional use of repetition is at first bracing, then a little dull, then exciting again as the listener finds the hidden patterns within the repetition. It can be illustrated thusly in graph form:

Six years/Six pack: Jason Doell

MFS has turned six! My introductory thoughts on this landmark can be found here, but long story short: I asked some folks to pick some of their favourites to help me celebrate.

Today's list is from Jason Doell, who I met as a "rising young composer" — a station that he occupies with something less than a self-serious sense of purpose and destiny. He also has (as it turns out) a shady rock'n'roll past, as well as a biting wit, as demonstrated in the description below that he sent when I asked if he had any topical thoughts to go with his picks.

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Here is my six pack. Review to follow.

Martin Arnold & Friends - The Cuckoo Bird

DUST - ECSTASIS [excerpt, part 2]

Thin Edge New Music Collective - 4 Postcards [Movement 4]

Bespoken - Aigre Douce IV

David Schotzko - Silver Streetcar for the Orchestra

Bruised Knees - Holy See's Horror

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You can always click on the tags below to look for more stuff from these artists. Has there been a half-dozen songs posted here that made an impact on you? If you'd like to get in on the action and make a list, feel free to send me an email: mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com.

Recording: Thin Edge Music Collective

Artist: Thin Edge Music Collective

Song: Coming Together [excerpt] [composer: Frederic Rzewski]

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square (INTERsection 2014), September 6, 2014.

Thin Edge Music Collective - Coming Together [excerpt]

Read a few thoughts about the day as a whole here. After a tasty rip through John Cage's Credo In Us, Thin Edge pivoted to present Frederic Rzewski's piece, based on a text by American activist Sam Melville recounting his experiences as a prisoner in the notorious Attica prison, powerfully evoked by Olaf Szester's narration. The musical and textural repetition here hints at the numbing, rage-inducing monotony of prison life. "Deliberate — sometimes even calculating ... feeling for the inevitable direction of my life."

Currente calamo: INTERsection 2014

INTERsection 2014 (Saturday, September 6, 2014)

I've got a buncha recordings from the day ready to go, but here's a few thoughts on the event that are common to them all.

I am absolutely delighted that INTERsection exists. For several years now, I've set aside a day to hang out at Yonge-Dundas Square (pretty much the only occasion you'd find me there) to soak in what is, when you think about it, a weird mix — New Music and experimental music being broadcast to the passers-by as they scurry through the vortex of tacky commercialism.

So I'm a fan, and I appreciate all the work that goes into making something like this happen. I've also been going long enough that I also feel a pining for what this event could be. One problem is that the event can never quite reconcile the two totally unrelated audiences it should be serving. For besides acting as a random disruption in the shopping district routine, given its timing and the forces it's gathering, it could also be a sort of public gala announcing the opening of the New Music season. (Usually relegated to the Labour Day long weekend, this year saw the festival moved ahead a week, which took the airshow overhead out of the mix but also meant that the event was a bit more lost in all of the concurrent TIFF-ery.)

It also feels a little bit thrown together at the last minute, perhaps this year moreso than usual, with a schedule (and out of town headliner) being announced in the days before the event, without giving much of an opportunity to raise interest and to get a crowd besides the random passers-by.

The off-stage "musicircus" programming was also scaled-down from the previous year, and felt a little threadbare. The central idea of it — creating a sonic mix-and-match that takes over the square — couldn't attain escape velocity with just one act at a time under a miniature tent. In fact, in doing so, it often left the acts feeling less vital than (and occasionally drowned out by) the hucksters and buskers across the street. Yonge-Dundas is never going to be the sort of sonically-pristine environment that most of this music is usually heard in, so it's better to go with the sort of over-the-top/overlapping spectacle we saw a year ago and really animate the square.

All that being said, there was a lot of worthy stuff up on the stage, with local DIY chamber ensembles Spectrum, Thin Edge and junctQín putting up strong work, and Kyle Brenders gathering no fewer than eighteen saxophones on stage to perform his "Haphazard Hinges", which turned out to be the day's highlight.

I'm glad this event happened, and given that the local New Music scene has this stage, I hope it's embraced and built upon in years to come.

Recording: Thin Edge New Music Collective

Artist: Thin Edge New Music Collective

Song: Doors [composer: Liz Hysen]

Recorded at The Music Gallery (Emergents IV), May 15, 2014.

Thin Edge New Music Collective - Doors

Full review to follow. One of the themes that Nick Storring wanted to explore in curating this last instalment of the Music Gallery's fab Emergents series was opening up the idea of chamber music to those outside the normal narrow view of "composers". So for this set, Thin Edge played pieces by some great musicians — just not ones who are normally associated with formal, notated composition. Colin Fisher (of Not the Wind, Not The Flag), Matthew Ramolo (aka Khôra), Sean McCann and Araz Salek all managed to infuse their work with their own musical personalities, as does Liz Hysen in this piece. There are sections here that could come from a Picastro song — and then the door opens on a wider landscape. A very intriguing night.

Recording: Cheryl Duvall & Ilana Waniuk

Artist: Cheryl Duvall & Ilana Waniuk

Song: Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano [final movement] (composer: Alfred Schnittke)

Recorded at The Tranzac - Main Hall ("The Second Annual Somewhere There Creative Music Festival" - Show 3), February 22, 2014.

Cheryl Duvall & Ilana Waniuk - Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano [final movement]

Full review to follow. In a festival filled with various degrees of "out" music, it was a nice touch to have some representatives of the recreative music scene. In terms of DIY spirit and energy put into fostering new, local sounds, the work that Cheryl Duvall and Ilana Waniuk do with Thin Edge Music Collective isn't too far removed from the what's going on at Somewhere There — and in any case, genre be damned, they can often be found playing alongside local "creative" musicians. As it turned out, this set (with this piece as well as some John Cage) included one of the least expected/most delightful moments of improvization in the festival when Waniuk broke a violin string. While musicians and crowd chatted about Schnittke, she sat down, changed the string, re-tuned and then threw herself back into the piece. Bravo!

Recording: Bespoken

Artist: Bespoken

Song: Aigre Douce IV

Recorded at The Tranzac (Main Hall), December 10, 2013.

Bespoken - Aigre Douce IV

Full review to follow. Conceived as an ad hoc ensemble to present one of Nick Storring's compositions, Bespoken has turned into something of an actual group. Joined by Matt Ramolo, Brandon Valdivia, Cheryl Duvall and Ilana Waniuk, this show also served as a launch party for the ensemble's first album, on the new Divorce Records sub-imprint Heavy Fog (which is dedicated to documenting "deep undercurrents in classical music"). Taking place in the Tranzac's main hall and with a cassette being sold at the door, this had a strong DIY feel that will hopefully serve as a catalyst to bring together folks from the New Music, free improvization and indie rock realms. (And on that score, do note that the band's next show will apparently be at the January edition of the Long Winter series.)

Recording: Thin Edge New Music Collective

Artist: Thin Edge New Music Collective

Works: Stagger and Sway [excerpt] (composer: Kyle Brenders) / 4 Postcards [Movement 4] (composer: Allison Cameron)

Recorded at Gallery 345, October 25, 2013.

Thin Edge New Music Collective - Stagger and Sway [excerpt]

Thin Edge New Music Collective - 4 Postcards [Movement 4]

Full review to follow. Part of the nouvelle vague of the local New Music scene, Thin Edge was founded by Cheryl Duvall and Ilana Waniuk to give them an avenue to perform exciting new music and create a space for their peers' compositions to be heard. Entitled "6 Degrees of Separation", this season-launching show teased out connection between a variety of composers, with pieces here from Peter Hatch, Louis Andreissen and John Zorn.

Here we have a couple quick glimpses from the local composers, including a new piece from Kyle Brenders. True to its title, the opening, more percussive part had some of the staggering that often appears when you see Brenders playing, but this stretch shows that unwinding into a calmer swaying sensation. Meanwhile, I'm more used to encountering Allison Cameron's work as an improviser, where her "small amplified objects" tend to buzz and resonate in unexpected ways — making the elegant miniatures of her concise set of musical postcards (interspersed between the other pieces throughout the night) a delightful surprise. This final one even received some dramatic staging from the performers, with the musicians flanked by a pair of readers, who begun the piece by lighting candles and picking up their books to read — then marking its conclusion by blowing out their candles when they had finished their page.

Like most of the younger New Music groups, Thin Edge is fairly web-savvy, so I'm sure these field recordings will soon be supplanted by some more polished videos that will make their way to their site. Their next gig, entitled "Unusual Spectrum III", will be at the lovely Array Space on November 21 and promises "an eclectic evening of contemporary chamber music". Sounds well-suited for anyone who wants to engage with composed music in a casual, intimate and affordable setting.