There's nothing wrong with the "usual" sort of show where you go to one darkened bar or another and see a band or three play. That's the meat and potatoes of rock'n'roll — but sometimes it's good to disrupt the patterns a bit and try something a little different. It sometimes feels a little awkward to go off the beaten path and try something a little out of your comfort zone, but that's really the only way to expand your horizons. But out of all the possibilities in this great big city: what to see? based on what I've been keeping an eye out for, here's a variety of things here that should be suitable for September Gurls and December Boys alike.

I can't promise I'll get this done exactly monthly, but hopefully there will be more of these dispatches to follow.

INTERsection: New Music Marathon and Musicircus in the Marketplace

Saturday, September 1, 2-10pm. Yonge-Dundas Square. Free + all-ages.

Ever since starting off a few years back as the New Music Marathon, this event has brought a day of eclectic + experimental music to the beating heart of the city's commercial strip. Mixing everything from abrasive noise (show up early to check out Roman Pilates!) to the sublime beauty of Canadian composer Ann Southam, the big attraction of the day is the Bang On a Can All-Stars, bona fide rock stars in the New Music scene. Besides their headlining set, they'll be joining the Contact ensemble for a performance of Terry Riley's wonderful minimalist classic "In C".

Pop and rock musicians have long been borrowing from the avant garde, and these days, it doesn't take as long as it took for, say, John Cage or Olivier Messiaen to filter down. Hell, just down the street right now you can hear Steve Kado being inspired by the Riley piece up above.

(For some more info on this event, you can also check out the fuller preview at my blog.)

[Alternate long weekend suggestion: If you want a different vibe, head over to Ward's Island where Bruce Peninsula's Ivy Mairi is hosting the Island Café's Long Weekend Arts Festival, a PWYC, all-ages, family-friendly event running all weekend long, just steps from the Ward's Island ferry dock. I'm a fan of Tich Maredza Band's Zimbabwean roots-groove, playing Friday night. Also on tap: Dale Morningstar and much more on Saturday, and drop in on more Bruce Peninsula members on Sunday with an evening performance from Matt Cully's EONS and a reading by Misha Bower — plus a shadowplay by Merle Harley.]

Ethiopian Day Celebration

Saturday, September 8, 10am to 11pm. Christie Pits Park. Free + all-ages.

The Ethiopian New Year falls in September (welcome to 2005!), and the local community celebrates with a huge party at Christie Pits. There's lots of good food, natch, and music all over the place. Don't expect to just hear Éthiopiques-style classics — there's a lot of contemporary styles here, and pretty much everything is dance-friendly. Head over to the karaoke booth and hear the head-spinning autotuned synth grooves of the latest hits or join the crowd at the big stage for some classic anthems. It's a welcoming atmosphere where you can find families in their Sunday best and teenagers dressed to impress rubbing shoulders with old folks relaxing under the trees. Definitely one of those days where you'll be reminded why it's exciting to live in a city like Toronto.

[Alternate suggestion: If you'd rather party like it's 1999, head across the street to Sky Blue Sky Sandwiches, where the cut, paste + photocopy crew at Static Zine are promising a Big Day of Fun on September 8th. A daytime city-wide scavenger hunt will be followed by a Y2K dance party over at The Magpie.]

Toronto Bicycle Music Festival

September 15, 2012, Coronation Park to Christie Pits. PWYC, all-ages.

Now in its third year, the Bike Music Festival brings pedal-powered fun in a series of venues, working its way north from Coronation Park (across from the CNE gates) and even including a mobile performance from guerrilla MC Garbageface. There's also an impressive musical roster throughout the day, with the anarchic gypsy-punk Lemon Bucket Orchestra and Rae Spoon playing early, and a not-to-be-missed closing one-two punch of Gentleman Reg and Snowblink in Christie Pits. This is a daytime event, so you can come out for some fun before you're forced to choose what you want to see at the Pitter Patter Fest that night. And fear not, it's friendly towards the bikeless as well, with everything close enough to cover on foot.

Pitter Patter Fest 5

September 13-16, various venues + cities. All shows PWYC.

After taking a year off, Keith Hamilton's Pitter Patter Fest returns, sticking to its rigourous DIY roots. All shows are pay-what-you-can, and the festival is designed to give emerging bands a chance to get some exposure in a showcase format. With shows in Barrie, Peterborough, Oshawa and Sarnia, it also gives bands a chance to have a weekend mini-tour. (There are also shows taking place in Moncton and Halifax.)

In Toronto, there are three or four shows each night, enough to give a bit of a festival feel — you could go through the schedule and find some stuff to hop around to, or pick a band you know as your anchor and settle in and discover something new. Lots of bands to check out, including faves like Terror Lake, Persian Rugs, This Mess and Pants & Tie.

The Music Gallery / X Avant

There are lots of valid ways to experience music. Some times you want to dance, some times you just want to hang out. But some times, you really want to listen. The Music Gallery, located in the lovely acoustic space of St. George the Martyr Church, is one of the best small venues in the city for just that. Almost everyone who goes to a rock-type show there (and there's a couple coming up I'm recommending below) remarks on this, but not enough people are taking the next step and investigating the MG's core programming. If you want to challenge yourself with some more experimental, boundary-pushing music in a wide variety of genres, this is the place to be.

This is the first season curated by new Artistic Director David Dacks. He knows more about funk, dub sides and R&B obscurities than you, so don't expect the shows to just be stiff, serious stuff from the "classical" tradition. Amongst the already-announced shows for the new season are the impressive Afro-European Soundscapes and License To Depart, an OCAD showcase with art and music from Alexandra Mackenzie (ex-Romo Roto) as well as a performance from about-to-break next-level loopmastery of Tenderness. On top of that is the annual X Avant festival (October 12 to 21), this year sub-titled "Expanding Circuits", bringing everything from the "lo-fi menace" of Man Made Hill's synth attack to Sandro Perri performing a live surround-sound remix of Contact Contemporary Music's performance of Jordan Noble's Undercurrents.

Nuit Blanche

September 29, sunset to sunrise

The gargantuan all-night "art-thing" of Nuit Blanche is too much to take in. For the past couple years, I've gone against the grain and turned it into an anti-spectacle, finding a smaller number of things and trying to soak them in for a little longer than just a casual late-night stroll by. As usual, there's a number of interesting sound-based pieces that look worth checking out. I'd especially recommend not missing the sound sculpture Forty-Part Motet, a massive, multi-channel recording of Thomas Tallis' Spem in alium. This one affected me in a profound way when I saw it at a previous installation — if you want to hear one thing to re-affirm that music can be beautiful, this is it.

Concert watch

And, as always, there's a bevy of interesting shows coming up — I'll just spotlight a few here.

• We last saw Cuff The Duke's Wayne Petti at Wavelength back in January, playing with his side-project Thieves. His veteran alt-country main gig will be playing Yonge-Dundas Square on Friday, August 31 at 8 pm. Free.
• Lisa Bozikovic (heartfelt folk rearranged for synth) and Kite Hill (lush keyboard-and-string-section pop soundscapes) will each be celebrating an album release at The Music Gallery with a show on Friday, September 7.
• Rock orchestra Flowers Of Hell (who closed out the Loveless tribute night at WL 529 last year) are releasing Odes at The Tranzac on September 21. It's an all-covers affair, but never going the obvious route. Ostrich Tuning, one of the best dronegaze bands around, are opening.
• Teenanger and Soupcans, preparing to annihilate America with punk rock, play a tour send-off gig at Vietnamese karaoke bar Mây Café on Tuesday, September 25. Thighs open. (No, wait, that doesn't sound like what I meant.)
• Arachnidiscs, who have been putting out some very interesting stuff lately, celebrate the release of Babel's latest disc as well as a split cassette with music from Aaron Lumley and The Knot. (The latter is an experimental dual cello project of Tilman Lewis and Nick Storring — and sounds like exciting stuff.) This one will be September 26 at Infinite Library, Weird Canada's HQ.
• Snowblink celebrate their new Inner Classics with a Music Galley show on Thursday, September 27.
• Local label Paper Bag — the launching point for Broken Social Scene and Stars — celebrates their tenth anniversary with a three-night run of concerts at The Great Hall (September 27-29)with a long list of great local bands, including Elliott Brood, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Austra, Young Galaxy, Slim Twig and Woodhands.