If Toronto’s avant-jazz and free-improv community has a living room, it’s the Southern Cross Lounge, the front room of the Tranzac Club—a cluttered bandstand with an ancient upright, a friendly bar in the back corner, a familiar audience—where drummer Nick Fraser books bands from the creative edges. Lina Allemano plays here regularly when she’s inContinue reading “Lina Allemano is Splitting Time”
Author Archives: Musicworks
Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective: in memoriam . . . Project
THE EIGHTH PROJECT initiated by the Edmonton-based Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective, in memoriam . . . , was nominally about a performance, but soon morphed into a unique achievement of seemingly infinite layers. Its complex genesis, motivations, resonances, and residual impact on its participants transcend its basic idea. It conveys a distinctively humane and elevated notion ofContinue reading “Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective: in memoriam . . . Project”
Joseph Shabason’s patient unravelling
When we listen to music, are we meant to enter the hearts and minds of those who’ve created it? Or is listening more of an interior experience—of turning inwards and creating space to experience our own feelings? For Joseph Shabason, the answer to both questions is yes. The Toronto-based saxophone player and new-jazz composer hasContinue reading “Joseph Shabason’s patient unravelling”
Musicworks 132
The final issue of Musicworks‘ 40th anniversary year features first-person stories, collaborative creativity, and a hint of chocolate. Buy it now! On the cover: Darcy Spidle Nova Scotia writer Darcy Spidle played in punk bands, ran the Divorce record label, and founded the annual OBEY Convention in Halifax. At the same time, he developed aContinue reading “Musicworks 132”
Who’s Telling the Story
This is Musicworks’ final issue of 2018, our fortieth-anniversary year. You will find no best-of or top-ten lists here, no reprints or “where are they now” pieces. The retrospective activity, both casual and curatorial, has largely taken place offline, so to speak, at gatherings where music-listening, story-swapping, and artifact-handling (old newsprint is delicate!) have broughtContinue reading “Who’s Telling the Story”
Muxubo Mohamed Dares to Represent
Compromise? What is compromising? Compromising for what? Compromising for what reason? . . . What is compromise? —Eartha Kitt That emphatic excerpt from a 1982 documentary is sampled at the start of “He(r)story,” the opening track on Obuxum’s beat-laden EP H.E.R. While Kitt is alluding to compromising with a man, Obuxum is zooming out further, asking whyContinue reading “Muxubo Mohamed Dares to Represent”
Lea Bertucci composes time and space
As I sit here listening to Metal Aether, the most recent full-length release from New York composer and performer Lea Bertucci, the difficulty of locating this music’s boundaries becomes increasingly clear. Bertucci’s compositions balance minimalist saxophone patterns with field recordings collected in places as disparate as New York City and ancient regions of Mexico. TheContinue reading “Lea Bertucci composes time and space”
Maria de Alvear, Rebel By Nature
Contradiction is a huge theme in contemporary experimental music. Today’s most potent works situate the listener at hitherto unimaginable thresholds between seemingly irreconcilable points. While many artists use paradoxical scenarios as compositional devices, Spanish-German composer Maria de Alvear is one of those rare artists whose creative foundation actually reflects these contradictions. De Alvear’s defiantly uniqueContinue reading “Maria de Alvear, Rebel By Nature”
wnoondwaamin | we hear them
Inspired by the idea that sound travels and has purpose beyond the human ear, wnoondwaamin | we hear them is about the materiality of sound, the social implications of the transmission and reception of sound, and the politics of being or not being heard. Artists Autumn Chacon, Jeneen Frei Njootli, Melissa General, and Suzanne MorrissetteContinue reading “wnoondwaamin | we hear them”
Wow & Flutter make breathing room
The phrase “wow and flutter” typically refers to flawed analog recordings—ones with imperfections that cause the pitch to oscillate, either slowly or quickly. When Toronto-based wind players Bea Labikova, Kayla Milmine, and Sarah Peebles decided to form an improvising trio together in late 2017, Wow & Flutter felt like the natural name choice: it’s exactlyContinue reading “Wow & Flutter make breathing room”