April 12 - just two weeks from now - marks the start of the 25th annual Images Festival, Toronto's largest festival of independent, experimental film and video - and this city's second oldest film festival after TIFF. 2012 marks the seventh annual co-presentation between Wavelength and Images, an ongoing mission to marry music and visuals that started back in 2006.*

This year, Images has taken the bold step of creating a "pop-up" gallery and lounge that will serve as a home base for the festival. "Images at 204" is a really cool 2500 sq ft gallery space at 204 Spadina (north of Queen) that will exist for one month only, and Wavelength will be staging no less than three shows there during this very non-traditional venue's lifespan. Mostly recently the home of NTM Studios (and yes, that stands for "Next Top Model"), 204 Spadina is being transformed into a daytime media art gallery and nighttime event space - one that if you blink you will miss!

Fresh Snow

This Saturday (March 31), the very first event at Images at 204 is an "audio-visual feast" with newfangled Toronto krautrock crew Fresh Snow. Proudly inspired by the droning greatness of Neu! and other German "kozmische muzik" pioneers like Can and Faust, Fresh Snow are a new bands full of faces familiar to anyone who's shopped at Sonic Boom or seen Caribou play live. For this very special show, Fresh Snow will be playing INSIDE A POD in the middle of the room. Special visual elements are being prepared by Bryce Kushnier, formerly of electro-pop band vitaminsforyou. Bryce's new project with Jordan Kearns, SHVRS, will play an opening set - and this will mark one of their first live shows. And opening up, our friends at Kazoo! in Guelph co-present Toronto's L Con, a.k.a. Lisa Conway, who you may know as the vocalist from Del Bel, who will be joined by guest string players on her pretty tunes. General Chaos will also bring his visual magic to the environment. Things start promptly at 10, and since this will be a cinematic experience, there will be POPCORN.

Lucky Dragons

Next, on Friday the 13th of April, Wavelength will co-present a show as part of the Images Festival proper, entitled "Sound Objects." This triple bill will explore the continuum of electronic music from pure abstraction to the physicality of the dance floor. The show will start with Tristan Perich, the New York based electronic composer who made some waves a few years back with a neo-minimalist piece called 1-Bit Symphony (which got written up in places like The Wire and Musicworks) and is a member of circuit-bending band Loud Objects. Perich's performance will be followed by Lucky Dragons, the strangely wonderful L.A. crew who you may have seen playing strangely soothing new age music in the middle of the Great Hall floor before No Age a year or two back. The show will wind up party style with Abstract Random, the Toronto electro dub hop trio and members of the 88 Days of Fortune collective who "make feminist politics cool again." Both Perich and Lucky Dragons' Sarah Rara will also be presenting multi-media sound installations at InterAccess as part of Images, so check out the opening reception at 9 Ossington earlier that night.

Kontravoid

Then, two weeks later on April 27th, our Junior Programmer Adam "Krayons" Bradley has put together an awesome line-up of alien sci-fi-inspired, electronic/synth-based pop, featuring buzz-worthy Kontravoid (the new guises of Cam Findlay, formerly of Crystal Castles and Parallels), grunge-pop trio Rat Tail unveiling a new new-wavey side, Hand Drawn Dracula recording artists and '80s-plundering crew Mausoleum (featuring members of Foxfire) and the solo drumming experience that is Sexy Merlin. Video artist Felix Kalmenson will also be creating a new piece to accompany Kontravoid's set, and just so smell and taste aren't left off the sensory overload list, Wavelength foodie regulars SkyBlueSky will be serving their delicious and affordable sandwiches.

All three shows will be licensed, and we thank our friends at Steam Whistle for sponsoring these events!

* Here is a list of Wavelength / Images Festival presentations going back over the last 7 years:

2012 - Sound Objects feat. Tristan Perich, Lucky Dragons, Abstract Random @ Images at 204

2011 - Fucked Up premiere: original live score to "West of Zanzibar" by Tod Browning @ Toronto Underground Cinema (Closing Night Gala) - see YouTube clip above

2010 - Polydactyl Hearts Collective (Guelph) premiere: "Hello Adventure" @ Workman Arts

2009 - Cloud Eye Control (Los Angeles) & Ammo Factory @ The Theatre Centre (Closing Night Gala)

2008 - The Valerie Project (Philadelphia) @ The Royal

2007 - Tinkertoy, Scarborough A/V & Toronto indie music videos @ Sneaky Dee's

2006 - The Singing Saw Shadow Show, Deep Dark United w/ Jeremy Bailey & Aimee Dawn Robinson, Toronto Still Camera Video Festival @ Sneaky Dee's