Recording: Buke and Gase

Artist: Buke and Gase

Song: Typo

Recorded at The Garrison (Wavelength Winter Festival 18 – Night 3), February 18, 2018.

Buke and Gase - Typo

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 of transforming the events to something more than just a "regular" night at a show to scene-setters like General Chaos and Roxanne Ignatius. The festival's final night was the most musically eclectic, the acts connected by an exploratory thread.

Like You'll Never Get To Heaven, who performed earlier in the night, Buke and Gase have changed their onstage energy since I last saw 'em onstage at a Wavelength festival several years ago. But their vibe-change was in the opposite direction — going from a sitting down energy to a standing up one — and it has made a huge difference, especially for Arone Dyer who was quite magnetic projecting the aura of some sort of techno-pagan high priestess. Now, instead of just being purveyors of mysterious homemade instruments, they were putting on a show — it might have felt like jumping blind into the third episode of a Robert Ashley electro-opera, but this was so entertaining it was worth staying on for the ride.

[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: Omhouse

Artist: Omhouse

Songs: Aurock + No Words

Recorded at The Garrison (Wavelength Winter Festival 18 – Night 3), February 18, 2018.

Omhouse - Aurock

Omhouse - No Words

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 of transforming the events to something more than just a "regular" night at a show to scene-setters like General Chaos and Roxanne Ignatius. The festival's final night was the most musically eclectic, the acts connected by an exploratory thread.

Although still celebrating the release of their debut long-player, Steven Foster's Omhouse project has been at it for several years now. There's an aesthetic at work here — and one that's matured over the time the band's been active — where the songs don't feel like hooky l'il rockers so much as pieces from a rather "quirky" musical, filled with complicated chords and flute solos (the latter courtesy of keyboardist Anh Phung). Those signifiers might explain why the group is getting tagged with hyphenated prog labels, but on stage this is still a rock'n'roll band, laughing at itself with astonishment as it careens through the changes.

[Omhouse will be playing at Feast in the East's 7-year anniversary celebration (at Jam Factory on Saturday, May 5th) alongside Gary Wilson, Bernice and Cindy Lee. 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: Fusilier

Artist: Fusilier

Song: Upstream^*

Recorded at The Garrison (Wavelength Winter Festival 18 – Night 3), February 18, 2018.

Fusilier - Upstream

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 of transforming the events to something more than just a "regular" night at a show to scene-setters like General Chaos and Roxanne Ignatius. The festival's final night was the most musically eclectic, the acts connected by an exploratory thread.

The night's most unknown quantity came courtesy of co-presenters Brassland, giving the Wavelength crowd a chance to preview material from this Brooklyn-via-Atlanta force while he still only has a couple singles to his name. Accompanying himself on vocal loops and melodic bass, he moved from funky one-man-band constructions to mellower meditations like this — holding a room that had mostly never heard him before with notable charisma.

^* Thanks to Fusilier for passing along the title to this one!

[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: You'll Never Get To Heaven

Artist: You'll Never Get To Heaven

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Garrison (Wavelength Winter Festival 18 – Night 3), February 18, 2018.

You'll Never Get To Heaven - unknown

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 of transforming the events to something more than just a "regular" night at a show to scene-setters like General Chaos and Roxanne Ignatius. The festival's final night was the most musically eclectic, the acts connected by an exploratory thread.

Since seeing them at the Wavelength festival four years previously, YNGtH seem to have shifted from a standing up vibe to a sitting down one. That seemed to go hand-in-hand with moving the musical energy to a different point on the musical spectrum — away from dream pop and further toward staight-up ambient. There were more shades, then, of Slow Attack Ensemble (Chuck Blazevic's other project) as the gentle sounds generated by him and Alice Hansen sounded like hazy abstractions of the songs that populate the pair's recordings.

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

[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: Joseph Shabason

Artist: Joseph Shabason

Song: November^*

Recorded at The Garrison (Wavelength Winter Festival 18 – Night 3), February 18, 2018.

Joseph Shabason - November

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. The festival's final night was the most musically eclectic, the acts connected by an exploratory thread.

Anyone who showed up late missed the festival's best set, with Joseph Shabason bringing another edition of his ever-shifting backup collective to the stage for some embracing ambient atmospherics. (This time out saw him backed by Nicole Rampersaud on trumpet, Thom Gill on keys, Phil Melanson on percussion, Bram Gielen on fretless bass and Kieran Adams on Octapad. These are all top-notch local musicians who you should be investigating if you don't already know their other work.) This new piece is based on a keyboard loop by Italian composer Gigi Masin.

^* Thanks to J.S. for passing along the title to this one.

[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: Odonis Odonis

Artist: Odonis Odonis

Song: Eraser

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

Odonis Odonis - Eraser

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 nominally the "rock" night, with electronics giving ways to amps and drumkits — though the night's final two acts each tugged at those distinctions in their own ways.

Odonis Odonis brought the night to a dark and menacing conclusion with their throbbing industrial "No Pop" — even collapsing keyboard stands couldn't derail their skittering, insect army momentum.

[Odonis Odonis will be headlining Telephone Explosion's "Year Ten" celebration, Friday, June 8th at Lee's Palace. 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: Freak Heat Waves

Artist: Freak Heat Waves

Song: In the Dip of the Night

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

Freak Heat Waves - In the Dip of the Night

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 nominally the "rock" night, with electronics giving ways to amps and drumkits — though the night's final two acts each tugged at those distinctions in their own ways.

Victoria's Freak Heat Waves have virtually been a different band each time I've seen them, so it wasn't a total shock to see that a taut postpunk unit had been reduced to a Suicide-esque duo for this show. Witnessing Thomas Alfred Di Ninno operating his MPC2000XL in realtime was amusingly akin to watching someone sending a fax, so it was left to Steven Raymond Lind's looming presence to keep the audience focused. Their brand new Beyond XXXL is just out on Telephone Explosion.

[Freak Heat Waves will be playing Telephone Explosion's "Year Ten" celebration, Friday, June 8th at Lee's Palace. 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

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: Kurt Marble

Artist: Kurt Marble

Song: Hands + unknown^*

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

Kurt Marble - Hands

Kurt Marble - unknown

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. As always, Kurt Marble & co. cranked things up a notch sending out waves of slacker psych-grunge to celebrate both parental visits and a new video.

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

[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: Luge

Artist: Luge

Song: unknown^*

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

Luge - unknown

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. Performing during the Winter Olympics — undoubtedly the moment of widest cultural acknowledgement of the luge – this quartet sent their songs though a series of pitch-shifting hairpin turns and slippery sonic textures.

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

[Luge and Lice II are opening for Chicago freak-popsters Wei Zhongle at Handlebar on Monday, April 23rd. 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: M.I. Blue

Artist: M.I. Blue

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Garrison (Wavelength Winter Festival 18 – Night 1), February 16, 2018.

M.I. Blue - unknown

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. This opening night hewed more towards the electronic/groovy end of things, bringing cool vibes but also some sonic obstacles for the performers.

M.I. Blue, at the forefront of the next wave of forward-thinking soulful producer-performers was struggling with inaudible monitors throughout her set, but still managed to sound pitch-perfect, bringing some smouldering trip-hop grooves.

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

[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: Plazas

Artist: Plazas

Song: Reasons^*

Recorded at The Garrison (Wavelength Winter Festival 18 – Night 1), February 16, 2018.

Plazas - Reasons

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. This opening night hewed more towards the electronic/groovy end of things, bringing cool vibes but also some sonic obstacles for the performers.

Plazas, the solo dance-pop project from Vancouver expat Savana Salloum, lead the whole thing off with some likeable tunes and bedroom-mirror dance moves, pushing past a couple older EP's and toward her forthcoming Distant Desires album.

^* Thanks to Plazas for passing along the title to this one!

[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.]