Home Alone: The Wavelength Interview
May 12, 2015Purveyors of: Quiet rooms and unexpected intimacy File next to: Foxes in Fiction, The Reindeer Section, The Real Tuesday Weld Playing: Wavelength’s May Long Weekend Blowout, Saturday May 16 at Handlebar The May Long Weekend is upon us, and with that comes sun, relaxation, perhaps a cottage with a lake, campfires, and lots of intoxicants. No matter how you celebrate the government-mandated L
The Sulks: The Wavelength Interview
May 11, 2015Purveyors of: Classic psychedelic surf-meets-desert rock jams that just keep on rolling. File next to: Fu Manchu, Fresh Snow, Dick Dale, Grounders, Django Reinhardt, Neon Windbreaker, The Cramps Playing: Wavelength’s May Long Weekend Blowout @ Handlebar May 16 Featuring Gypsy jazz guitarist Chris Bezant joined by Evan Lewis of Grounders on guitar, Matthew Somerville Wronski of Neon Windbreake
Marker Starling: The Wavelength Interview
May 8, 2015Purveyor of: Classically-crafted soulful ballads + AM radio gold File next to: The Spinners, The High Llamas, Steely Dan Playing: WL659, Sunday, May 10th at Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas St. W. Rosy Maze, just out on Tin Angel, is the first album to bear the name “Marker Starling,” but it’s far from a debut. Chris Cummings, the tuxedo-clad man behind the Wurlitzer, released four albums as Mantler,
Memorex: The Wavelength Interview
May 5, 2015Purveyors of: Slightly chilly synth-driven indie File next to: Gary Numan, Trans Am, Joy Division Playing: WL658, Saturday, May 9 at the Monarch Tavern, 12 Clinton Street Memorex are a band out of time. Described (by our website) as “dark-synth monoliths,” Memorex take cues from the last 40 years of electronic music, aligning clattering drum machines with plenty of synth to create tunes t
Battlewülf: The Wavelength Interview
May 4, 2015Purveyors of: Gnarly lo-fi riot grrl with some poppy surf bounce. File Next To: Bikini Kill, Best Coast, Mudhoney, Bad Brains and Ty Segall. Playing: May 15 @ Handlebar Battlewülf is a lo-fi surf punk band started near the beginning of 2014, by vocalist and guitarist Jasmine La Grande Sauterelle, and taking its final shape with Jesse (who goes by Jersee Bollongs on their release) on bass and
Daniel Isaiah: The Wavelength Interview
April 21, 2015Purveyor of: Honest truths in quiet introspection File next to: Jeremy Fisher, Dan Mangan, Tallest Man on Earth Playing: Friday (April 24) @ Monarch Tavern, 12 Clinton St. There’s something quite wonderful about the journey you take alongside musicians. They expose their experiences and lessons learned without asking for a return. We get the choice to either accept or reject. It’s a power
Hauschka: The Wavelength Interview
April 8, 2015Purveyor of: Experimental, prepared piano that only sounds electronic File next to: Erik Satie, John Cage, or you didn’t really know what to expect when you purchased your ticket, but you’ve been completely mesmerized Playing: Saturday (April 11) @ Polish Combatants Hall Hauschka (aka Volker Bertelmann) has mastered the acoustic electronic. He performs on the prepared piano: a lush instrument
Brian Borcherdt: The Wavelength Interview
March 27, 2015Purveyor of: Drones and pulses, tones and textures File next to: Holy Fuck, Cluster, Ben Frost Playing: WL653 (Friday, March 27) at Ratio Since journeying to Toronto from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Brian Borcherdt has inhabited and shed a series of musical identities. Perhaps best known for his part in dance-attack unit Holy Fuck (the proverbial side-project gone big), he’s also spent time as a s
Toblerone Boys: The Wavelength Interview
March 26, 2015Purveyors of: Textured landscapes and auditory hallucinations. File next to: Retro space-horror movie soundtracks. Playing: WL653, Friday (March 27) at Ratio, 283 College St. It’s amazing, the things we can hear. From the subtlest hum to the loudest cheer, what we hear shapes the world around us in ways that our eyes or our hands cannot. The complex auditory landscapes we hear change daily, h
Sean Paul: The Wavelength Interview
March 26, 2015Purveyors of: Transcendental ambient out of body experience. File next to: Sexy Merlin, Erlichman Playing: WL653, Friday (March 27) at Ratio, 283 College St. Paul Erlichman (formerly of Gay) is a man on the go. There is no doubting that he works hard for the money. Can mad scientist Sean Dunal (aka Sexy Merlin) help act as a conduit for this body in motion? Unpredictable as two elements c
Slime: The Wavelength Interview
March 20, 2015Purveyors of: Sax-y skronk with a dusting of scuzz. In short, slime music. File next to: James Chance (in his more pissed-off moments), Ornette Coleman (in his more sloppy moments), No Neck Blues Band (in general) Playing: WL 653, Friday March 27 at Ratio Neil Rankin is a man about town in the truest sense of a bad cliché. Whether he’s slinging drinks, food, or tunes (Google him for a taste
Lowell: The Wavelength Interview
February 14, 2015Purveyor of: A dance dance revolution. File next to: CHVRCHES, St. Vincent, Glasser, Sleigh Bells, Santigold Playing: #WL15 Night Two (Saturday February 14) at Polish Combatants Hall “You live in a man’s world / I live in my own world.” In Lowell’s world, synths glitter and growl, beats sway and march, lyrics explore and empower. It’s a world of conscious pop that optimistically be
controller.controller: The Wavelength Interview
February 13, 2015Sounds like: Blondie take speed, meet The Slits in a dark Toronto alley, and they settle their differences by dancing. File next to: !!!, The Rapture, Six Finger Satellite Playing: WL15 Night One, Friday February 13 @ Sneaky Dee’s. controller.controller are…. controller.controller! C’mon man! These dance-punk darlings anchored a burgeoning early-aughts scene that brought some sweat and
Speedy Ortiz: The Wavelength Interview
February 12, 2015Purveyors of: Post-apocalyptic guitar rock lullabies. File next to: Polvo, Helium, Sonic Youth, Pavement Playing: Red Bull Sound Select / WL15 Pre-Party, Thursday February 12 @ The Garrison Blasting out of Northampton, Massachusetts with the strength of a dozen Saturn V rockets, it’s no understatement to say Speedy Ortiz have such a massive sound, it’s hard to believe there’s only four of
The Skeletones Four: The Wavelength Interview
February 12, 2015Purveyors of: Hook-laden twist-and-turn garage pop with a raw psychedelic edge. Occasional chiptune worship, like the whole band’s getting emulated and blaring through a Sound Blaster card. Chorus lines of dancing intestines. File next to: 13th Floor Elevators, the Modern Lovers, old Merrie Melodies soundtracks. Playing: Night 1 of WL15, Friday Feb. 13 at Sneaky Dee’s. After months locking
Purveyors Of: Curb-stomp two-step File Next To: Odonis Odonis, A Place to Bury Strangers, Skinny Puppy Playing: Red Bull Sound Select / WL15 Pre-Party, Thursday February 12 @ The Garrison It’s raining rusty sledgehammers and industrial waste. A world inhabited by sentient dump trucks and bulldozers. Dark clouds amassing with green lighting flashes. HSY wrenches out two tons of garage-rock pow
Ginla: The Wavelength Interview
February 10, 2015Purveyors of: Pixelated stars flowing over beautiful electronics. File next to: Doldrums, Foxes in Fiction, Chrome Sparks Playing: WL15 Night Two, Saturday February 14, Polish Combatants Hall Ginla are a pair of swell fellas making some seriously catchy and interesting electronic pop tunes in Toronto. Sparkle n’ splash, boom and glide. Top-rung. Wavelength’s Adam Bradley got in t
The Acorn: The Wavelength Interview
February 9, 2015Purveyors of: Vivid stories and airy melodies. All the space in the world, and none. File next to: Ohbijou, Plants and Animals, The Wooden Sky Playing: #WL15 Night Two (Sat. Feb. 14) at Polish Combatants Hall. I remember 2004 in a blur. It was a year of transition, early into my bachelor’s degree at Carleton University and my life was a mess of books, parties, essays, concerts, and ra
Laura Barrett: The Wavelength Interview
February 8, 2015Purveyor of: Pure pop for the authentically nerdy. File next to: The Hidden Cameras, Joanna Newsom, Sheezer, Billie Holliday, The Magnetic Fields, “Weird” Al Yankovic Playing: WL15 Night 1, Friday Feb. 13 at Sneaky Dee’s With her kalimba thumb piano and charming stage presence, Laura Barrett was one of the poster children of the short-lived, woefully misunderstood “Torontopia” movemen
Cellphone: Wavelength Interview Part II
February 6, 2015Purveyors of: Fuzzy, scuzzy, vocally maniacal punk-laced synth thrash. File next to: Magazine, Weird Womb, Obliterations Playing: WL15 Night 3 – Sunday Feb. 15 @ The Garrison (2AM set!) This time last year, Cellphone were getting ready to play a Wavelength show at Smiling Buddha. Back then, Mike Wirth Broth took the time to talkwith Cam Gordon and discuss about their upcoming album release. F