#WL12 is the handle for Wavelength’s 12th-anniversary festival (WL 534, Feb. 16-19), which goes ahead in spite of 2012 doomsday predictions. The four-day long weekend starts in the beyond-stuffed basement of the Shop under Parts & Labour in Parkdale, the crowd annihilated by the wall-of-noise double-shot of METZ and Odonis Odonis. And it wraps up in equally guitar-heavy fashion, with PS I Love You headlining a capacity Garrison on Family Day Sunday. In between, electro-dancehall duo Bonjay gets the Steam Whistle Brewing crowd moving before Fucked Up, while the Weather Station opens an atmospheric Great Hall bill including No Joy and Sandro Perri.
The ALL CAPS! Island Festival returns to the Island for its third year, with Artscape Gibraltar Point’s Fireplace Room hosting a dizzingly diverse lineup, from NYC shoegaze noise addicts A Place to Bury Strangers to community pop-song club Choir! Choir! Choir! to theatrical Montreal rockers Yamantaka // Sonic Titan to Hamilton live hip-hop band Canadian Winter. In spite of inclement weather, installations and dance performances take over the centre’s grounds, nearby beach, and a DIY stage for selected outdoor sets.
Memorable shows:
- Guelph/Toronto “orch-surf exotica” collective Del Bel (WL 532, Jan. 7 @ the Garrison)
- The Simply Saucer Touring Revue sees Toronto bands Ghostlight, Karaoke, and Hybrid Moments go on the road for an Ontario mini-tour alongside Saucer-man Edgar Breau (WL 535, March 1-3)
- One of the first shows at the revitalized Monarch Tavern w/ Isla Craig, GUH and performance artist Zeesy Power (WL 536, March 20)
- Psych drone instrumentalists Fresh Snow play inside a “projection cube” at the Images Festival pop-up gallery at 204 Spadina (WL 537, March 31)
- Montreal turntablist and comic artist Kid Koala brings us his multimedia spectacle, the Space Cadet Headphone Experience (WL 540, May 3-4 @ 918 Bathurst)
- Dutch free-jazz drumming legend Han Bennink plays in a trio with Toronto’s Brodie West and Amsterdam’s Terrie Ex (WL 545, June 22 @ Double Double Land)
- Toronto new-school electro-pop duo Most People’s debut album release (WL 554, Dec. 1 @ CineCycle)