In early October 2021 Gayle Young and I meet in Toronto before heading to her home in Ontario’s Niagara region. The drive is less than two hours, yet somehow, our destination is so much further away. The spaces between buildings grow wider as do those between the little squares of light in the darkness. IContinue reading “Gayle Young’s Gentle Interventions”
Genre Archives
The Tao of Gayle
Last year in mid October, while scrolling down Facebook, I came across a densely expressive and evocatively written post from Montreal singer Sarah Albu, who was “surfacing momentarily,” she wrote, from a recording project “revisiting, revising, and recording” the complete vocal works of Gayle Young from 1976 to today. I was moved and intrigued byContinue reading “The Tao of Gayle”
What’s Inside Musicworks 142?
The authentic enthusiasm and curiosity of artists writing about artists for whom they feel an affinity propelled Musicworks in its early days. This dynamic is in the magazine’s DNA and continues to inform the storytelling in our pages, as you’ll discover in the Summer 2022 issue! ORDER YOUR PHYSICAL COPY OF MUSICWORKS 142 FROM OURContinue reading “What’s Inside Musicworks 142?”
Summer 2022
Kee Avil. Crease.
The sounds on Kee Avil’s debut full-length album Crease seem surrounded by acres of space; it’s as if the instruments are played in a subterranean cavern where you encounter each one separately before they join together into a loose ensemble of voice, guitar, percussion, and keyboards. Pieces of deconstructed song structures float in and out,Continue reading “Kee Avil. Crease.”
Resonant Frequencies
I first encountered Alanna Stuart on a mid-November evening in 2018. After an exhilarating trudge through the snow-muted streets of Toronto’s Stanley Park neighbourhood, I made what felt like a heroic landing at Array Space, where a few dozen or so hearty souls were gathering for a social event—punctuated with short sets of music—celebrating theContinue reading “Resonant Frequencies”
Tanya Tagaq. Tongues.
Anger is an energy, and it’s always been the fire that feeds Tanya Tagaq’s music. Even when she wordlessly roars or coos, shrieks, or wails, it’s impossible not to feel her incendiary rage vibrating in your gut and through you, along with all the pain and joy, fear, and love swirling in the earthy andContinue reading “Tanya Tagaq. Tongues.”
What’s Inside Musicworks 141?
The Winter 2021/22 issue explores the creative ideas of seven artists who are engaged in beautiful, daring musical acts of innovation, celebration, and resistance . . . artists that audiences and listeners like YOU will be discovering in 2022. Flute enthusiasts, please note that the Musicworks 141 CD opens with a three tracks of flute-forwardContinue reading “What’s Inside Musicworks 141?”
Winter 2021-2022
Badge Epoch. Scroll.
The psychedelic era’s unprecedented explorations of studio technology birthed a fruitful concept that has since infiltrated many genres of recorded music: the collision of music performance and collage tactics. Toronto’s Badge Epoch—a slimmer variation of the Badge Époque Ensemble—seems to be conjuring that era’s spirit of freewheeling discovery (and to a certain extent its sounds)Continue reading “Badge Epoch. Scroll.”