May
Wavelog
Announcing: Han Bennink with Terrie Ex & Brodie West - June 22 at Double Double Land!
By jonny ~ Posted Monday, May 28th 2012
You know we're always excited to share all our awesome shows with you, dear Wavelengthers, but this one is (trust us) extra special: On June 21st & 22nd, Wavelength is celebrating the summer solstice in that most sun-topian of neighbourhoods, Kensington Market. We've never done a show at the super-cool art loft space Double Double Land - a space run by a collective consisting of some of our favourite local musicians, DJs and presenters - and we're making up for this long-overdue occasion with three very fine shows over two nights.
The middle show - the 8pm early show on Friday (June 22) - is the one we're very thrilled to announce today: It's an incredible international "punk jazz" trio featuring Han Bennink, Terrie Ex and Brodie West!!! More info including ticket prices & availability here.Long-time Wavelength followers will know Toronto's boy Brodie as the alto sax whiz from such left-field local jazz ensembles as Eucalpytus, Drumheller and Zebradonk. He also appeared on-stage in 2009 at a memorable Wavelength presentation featuring Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex & Guests at the SPK Polish Combatants Hall. The Ex are an "all-time favourite band" for many in the Wavelength crew, and this Dutch avant-punk juggernaut has been going at it non-stop since 1979. We're very honoured to have guitarist Terrie Ex appear as part of this trio. Brodie connected with The Ex while studying in their hometown of Amsterdam, and it's there that he also connected with Han Bennink, a.k.a. the Greatest Living Dutch Jazz Drummer. Though he won't be playing on a drum kit made of cheese this time, it's equally an honour to have this founding member of the Instant Composers Pool performing live on a Wavelength stage.
Opening for Han, Terrie & Brodie are Detention, the pummelling free-jazz duo of Cairo-based guitarist Sam Shalabi and Montréal-based drummer, Alexander MacSween, who have returned after a decade-long hiatus. They played a handful of early Wavelength shows, notably including Wavelength #69 on June 24, 2001 at Ted's Wrecking Yard, playing alongside a then-little-known indie-rock collective, by the name of Broken Social Scene...
Del Bel + Bry Webb = A Cure for Loneliness?
By jonny ~ Posted Sunday, May 13th 2012
Wavelength has had a pretty action-packed spring - from Fresh Snow in a pod to AIDS Wolf's last show, not to mention Kid Koala's Space Cadet Headphone Experience and amazing sets by Kontravoid, Lucky Dragons, Isla Craig and more. But we're still pretty excited to see spring slide into summer on June 1st at the splendid 918 Bathurst Centre, with a triple bill featuring Lisa Bozikovic, Del Bel and former Constantines co-frontman, Bry Webb.
Del Bel are now out on an Eastern Canadian tour of "galleries, treehouses, theatres and bars" - and we're really curious to find out more about that treehouse venue, I gotta say - and the June 1st show will mark their Toronto homecoming. To send themselves off however, they sent a gift to the world in the form of "No Cure for Loneliness," a one-off single collaboration between the dark, bluesy cinematic crew and Bry Webb himself, a heartaching, head-nodding duet between Mr. Webb and Del Bel's Lisa Conway that gets under your skin in an instant. And it was recorded in an instant - live off the floor, "30's-style, one mic, all tape."
Have a listen:
Thank You's From Space
By kevin ~ Posted Monday, May 7th 2012
We did it! What a triumph last week was for us here at Wavelength as we jumped into a deeper end of the promoter pool then we usually do. With many sleepless days and lots of sweat and love we pulled off three sold-out concerts of Kid Koala's Space Cadet Headphone Experience. I hope you got a chance to see it; it was absolutely incredible! You can read one review here and another here.
Having been a fan of Kid Koala for almost fifteen years (since I was like 17 or 18 I think), putting this show on was a personal passion project but none of it would have been possible without the enormous help and time put in by all of these fine folk:
Firstly, of course, is Kid Koala and the whole Space Cadet crew: Ryhna, Pat, Vid, Matt, Terence, Corinne, Kim. Thanks for taking a chance on us ragtag group of music lovers!
Secondly, Miles Baker and the Toronto Comic Arts Festival for jumping on board with us 50/50 to make it happen.
Thirdly, the 918 Bathurst Centre, for providing the perfect venue for such a special and crazy show.
And just as much thanks to Jonathan Shedletzky for helping me kick this whole thing off back in 2011, to Dwayne Slack for providing technical production assistance and advice, to our tireless volunteers last week: Cheldon & Vanese (sorry if I'm spelling your name wrong!), Steve, Dan, Kat, Tara, Laura, Jordaan, Bryan, to Soundscapes, Rotate This, The Beguiling and GalleryAC for selling tickets and spreading the word, to Show Gopher and BlogTO for running contests and spreading the word, to Steam Whistle and Grace Foods, to the Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council for backing this and many of Wavelength's unusual projects, and to our own tenacious Wavelength team: Adham Ghanem, Adam Bradley, Dorice Tepley, Ryan McLaren and Jonathan Bunce (sorry you missed it all Duncan!), and thanks to you, the Audience, for filling the house with your smiles and wonder. What a show it was! (So sorry if I've forgotten someone, I'm still catching up on sleep).
- Kevin
