2019 is an innocent year at its outset — as we prepare to wrap up our second decade, little do we know it’s our last year “normal” year for a while. The 19th Wavelength Winter Festival (WL 770-773, Feb. 15-17) continues the theme of coziness, with massive majesty palm plants filling the Garrison to make the rock club feel like a therapeutic greenhouse. And Wavelength returns to the Monarch for a Sunday afternoon all-ages show. The lineup is co-curated by Emmalia Bortolon-Vettor of the band Bonnie Trash, bringing a fresh perspective on the Canadian DIY scene. Performers include Inuit art-folk singer/songwriter Elisapie, Haitian-Canadian neo-soul artist Mélissa Laveaux, Indigenous shoegaze band nêhiyawak, Montreal drone-pop band Anemone, and dreamy Toronto duo Isla Den, who also create an interactive analog audiovisual installation.
In August, our summer festival touches down at a new location, Stackt Market and with a new name — simply the Wavelength Summer Music & Arts Festival. (A rebrand that lasts just one year.) With live music inside and arts activities outside, it’s a nice city-side throwback to the early days of ALL CAPS! on the Island. The fest also marks the start of a year-long tenure by guest curator Ian Steaman, a hip-hop blogger and music industry veteran. Another diverse lineup includes Canadian rap from the likes of Cadence Weapon, Hua Li, and Sydanie; avant-rockers Fet.Nat, Anthems of the Void, and NYC’s Yonatan Gat & the Eastern Medicine Singers; Chadian-Canadian party-starters Afrotronix; and Vancouver glam-popster Art d’Ecco. Interactive installations include sound-activated paint marbling, a huge paint-by-numbers mural, a gift-giving robot called Trinketron, a fairground-inspired game called Super Pump! and a “Deep Sea Piano” that still lives at Stackt. Amidst the commerce of downtown Toronto, the weekend makes for a wondrous return to innocence.
Memorable shows:
- Two nights at one of our favourite alternative venues of all time: the gorgeous furniture design and woodworking studio Brothers Dressler on Sterling Road, ranging from electro-pop to hip-hop to indie folk with I Am Robot and Proud, Thanya Iyer, and World News (WL 775, April 13) and Munya, DijahSB, and Tara Kannangara (WL 786, Nov. 9)
- A farewell performance by long-time WL artists Most People (WL 777, June 14 @ the Baby G)
- “Solstizio,” a night of Italian-Canadian music and art including Sandro Perri, Versa, and the Gordon Grdina Quartet (WL 778, June 21 @ 918 Bathurst)
- A team-up with Boiled Records for a global-music double-header with Nigerien desert blues rockers Tal National and Brazilian neo-bossa nova singer Sessa alongside Guelph’s own Cots (WL 780, July 8 @ the Baby G)
- “The new sound of Toronto hip-hop” with Swagger Rite, LolaBunz and 730Rarri (WL 785, Oct. 18 @ BSMT 254)