Monday Roundup #38

In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.

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Livestream nation:

• Audiopollination returns on Friday (October 8th) with a pre-recorded duo set featuring Yvonne Ng (movement) and Diane Roblin (piano). It'll be streaming over on Array's channel.

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Discover Women in Jazz:

• What a delight to hear thoughts and sounds from some familiar faces in this continuing series of videos — a very welcome grassroots initiative from JAZZFM91. I recommend digging through the whole playlist, which at this moment also includes Mingjia Chen, Yunjin Claire Lee and Erez Zobary.

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Bandcamp corner:

• Speaking of familiar faces, this compilation that I'd grabbed a couple months back finally made it onto my music player to go for a walk with me. "A 'DIY memory box' of sorts, it was assembled during early 2021, focusing on pieces submitted by Ontario-based solo artists... representing a wide spectrum of musical styles & sound dynamics - from minimalist, improvisation-based instrumental pieces & sound collages to majestic shoe-gaze & ambient/noise soundscapes."

• Meanwhile, keep an eye on Lina Allemano's bandcamp starting today and continuing for the following four Mondays for the unveiling of a "serial digital album" from Allemano & Nick Fraser, inviting a series of collaborators (Mira Martin-Gray, Bryan Qu, Karen Ng, and Nick Dunston) to remix, edit and process some of their trumpet + drums tracks, transforming them into intriguing new pieces of music.

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It happened this week...

• ...on October 7, 2016 at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Tribute to the Life of Ken Aldcroft).

Ken Aldcroft's Convergence Ensemble - From the Hart-Land

• ...on October 7, 2017 at The Dupe Shop.

Tough Age - Everyday Life

[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: Are We Not Devo? We Are Not!

Artist: Are We Not Devo? We Are Not!

Songs: Uncontrollable Urge/(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction + Gut Feeling/(Slap Your Mammy) [Devo covers, except "Satisfaction" Jagger/Richards, arr. Devo]

Recorded at The Baby G, August 22, 2018.

Are We Not Devo? We Are Not! - Uncontrollable Urge/(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

Are We Not Devo? We Are Not! - Gut Feeling/(Slap Your Mammy)

Celebrating the fortieth anniversary of Devo's Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! these local musicians didn't just throw together a band to cover the album — they fully inhabited the band and the songs. The members of First Base, Vanity Phase, and Tough Age not only nailed the sound, but had moves and costume changes. Hugely satisfying for the packed-in crowd, most of whom looked like they were there out of Devo fandom — so hopefully some of 'em will be inspired to check out the other stuff these fine players are up to.

[This was too successful to do just once, so the group is headlining a "Carbon Copy" night at Handlebar on Saturday, October 27th, with members of Leather Jacuzzi as The Stooges, Goosebump and members of Weaves + Blonde Elvis as Roxy Music, members of Slutcode performing Madonna and Digits + co. returning as Kraftwerk klones.]

Recording: Tough Age

Artist: Tough Age

Song: Unclean

Recorded at The Garrison (Wavelength Winter Festival 18 – Night 2), February 17, 2018.

Tough Age - Unclean

This year's Wavelength birthday celebration was more restrained than usual, sticking to one venue for three nights and having no extra daytime activities. That left the work to transforming the events to something more than just a "regular" night at a show to scene-setters like General Chaos and Roxanne Ignatius.

Night 2 was the "rock" night, with electronics giving ways to amps and drumkits. Instead of flashy solos, Tough Age draw the crowd in with their infinitely-scalable speedfreak jangle. This tune is a good example of how drummer Jesse Locke can goose the tempo that you might hear on a song's recording but still stay locked-in like a metronome.

[The next Wavelength Festival is already on the distant horizon, with Camp Wavelength once more contained to the mainland and landing at Garrison Common on August 18th and 19th. Meanwhile, the next few monthly shows, co-productions (as well as a cool Toronto Post-Punk in the Early ‘80s Music Talk) are all announced.]

Recording: Tough Age

Artist: Tough Age

Songs: Everyday Life + Shame

Recorded at The Dupe Shop, October 7, 2017.

Tough Age - Everyday Life

Tough Age - Shame

Tough Age celebrated this first full-length from the Toronto incarnation of the band with a pair of format-specific release shows, with a Friday jam for the vinyl and this Saturday afternoon excursion for the cassette. Like a tape, this in-store sound was a bit more lo-fi but it perfectly suited the tunes. Featuring Clean-style jangly propulsion, the Shame album sounds at points like a Flying Nun comp of bands that somehow never made it big outside of their Dunedin basements. (If you're not sure, this is high praise.)