Reviews
James O’Callaghan. Espaces tautologiques. Montreal-based James O'Callaghan confirms his position as a world-class composer with the release of Espaces tautologiques, his first album on the Empreintes Digitales label. Composed between 2011 and 2015, the four acousmatic pieces on this fifty-minute recording are further proof of O[...] Read more
Jason Sharp. A Boat Upon Its Blood. Baritone and bass saxophonist Jason Sharp is a long-time collaborator with poet Kaie Kellough and has been involved in the Montreal music scene for several years as a member of large ensembles (Sam Shalabi’s Land of Kush, and Nicolas Caloia’s Ratchet Orchestra), playing with[...] Read more
Amy Brandon. Scavenger. Truro-based guitarist and composer Amy Brandon is a quietly singular figure whose musical language hovers softly between numerous familiar styles—notably outside jazz, fingerstyle, and modern composition. Scavenger, her debut recording, isn’t especially conspicuous, yet it’[...] Read more
Electric Eclectics 2016. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE AT ELECTRIC ECLECTICS IS THAT YOU'RE NEVER REALLY BALANCED. The three-day midsummer festival of weird music and art takes place at Gordon Monahan and Laura Kikauka’s Funny Farm in Meaford, Ontario, which has hardly any level ground. The ground in front of[...] Read more
Suoni per il Popolo Festival: 16th Edition. Experiencing James Tenney’s In a Large Open Space during Suoni per il Popolo conjured parallels between the performance (held as part of a retrospective of the composer’s work, organized by Quatuor Bozzini) and the festival as a whole. The music reverberated through the high-[...] Read more
Various Artists. Kudatah—Vol. 1 Electronic dance music has always been notorious for its overly rarefied stylistic niches. Within the past few years, the cartoonish overabundance of incomprehensible genre designations has folded in on itself, producing a vast polymorphous body of peculiar and self-aware work. Record labels[...] Read more
Lerner, Filiano, Grassi. Live at Edgefest. Although a tale of two cities—three if you count the Ann Arbor, Michigan, recording location—this CD confirms that Toronto pianist Marilyn Lerner has cemented a mutually beneficial musical relationship with bassist Ken Filiano and percussionist Lou Grassi, both based in New York[...] Read more
Not the Wind, Not the Flag. Vermillion. STALWARTS OF THE TORONTO MUSIC SCENE, guitarist / saxophonist Colin Fisher and percussionist Brandon Valdivia—who collaborate as Not the Wind, Not the Flag—have diverse avant-garde credentials. They have played everything from rock to new music to free jazz, in[...] Read more
Nick Fraser Quartet. Starer. Known for powering—literally—jazz or improvised ensembles from behind his kit, Toronto drummer Nick Fraser brings his compositional talents upfront on Starer. Like a gracious host who ensures each of his guests is properly included in party discourse, the[...] Read more
R. Andrew Lee. Adrian Knight—Obsessions. The last decade has seen an increase in long, single-movement repertoire for the piano, much of which has been the vehicle for inventive and introspective compositional voices. Adrian Knight’s quietly eccentric “Obsessions” is a potent addition to this[...] Read more
Frances White and Kristin Norderval. She Lost Her Voice / That’s How We Knew. Seductive and hypnotic, this is an utterly convincing work for voice and electronics—not an easy combination. For forty-five minutes, it moves slowly through a text by the piece’s director, Valeria Vasilevski, and blurs genres (chamber opera? theatre work? song cycle?) with its[...] Read more
Ida Toninato. Strangeness Is Gratitude. There are few Montreal venues Ida Toninato hasn’t shaken with her thunderous saxophone. She is renowned, both locally and abroad, for her powerful tone and her passionate involvement in avant-garde music. In recent years, her practice of improvisation has morphed into composition[...] Read more
- 26 of 50
- « first
- ‹ previous
- next ›
- last »