Alpha Strategy: The Wavelength Interview
August 13, 2014Purveyors of:Your next journey through Wonderland, lost and twisting in the deep dark woods. File Next To:Zack Kouns, Big Black, Swans Playing: WL 611 a.k.a. “Wavelength’s Endless Summer,” Saturday August 16 at the Vintage & Flea Market (1251 Dundas St. W.) Alpha Strategy is a band that celebrates all things weird and strange. Emerging as an independent project of Rory Hinchey, the
Comet Control: The Wavelength Interview
August 12, 2014Purveyors of: Shoegaze/sludge evolving cosmically and projecting outwards towards the Oort cloud. File Next To: Quest For Fire, Biblical, Black Mountain Playing: WL 611 a.k.a. “Wavelength’s Endless Summer,” Saturday, August 16 at the Vintage & Flea Market (1251 Dundas St. W) Since his days in The Deadly Snakes, Chad Ross has been a prominent member of Toronto’s independent music fir
New Horizzzons: The Wavelength Interview
August 16, 2014Purveyors of: Scarf rock, incense and fuzzy doom glitter. File Next To: Arrington de Dionyso, Pussy Galore, Flaming Lips, Black Sabbath, Tranz DéFoncé Playing: WL 611 a.k.a. “Wavelength’s Endless Summer,” Saturday August 16 at the Vintage & Flea Market, 1251 Dundas St. W. New Horizzzons are Robert Dayton (Canned Hamm, The Canadian Romantic, July Fourth Toilet), Craig Daniels (Leathe
Black Walls: The Wavelength Interview
July 23, 2014Purveyors of: Post-rock that doesn’t rock, swapping riffage for mood-enhancing drones and general thought-provoking nothingness (and awesomeness) File next to: Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, Acid Mothers Temple, the most bleak moments of the Spiritualized discography Playing: WL 607, Thursday July 24 at the Monarch Tavern (12 Clinton Street) Black Walls is Ken Reaume and Ken Reaume
Kira May: The Wavelength Interview
July 21, 2014Purveyor of: Electronic, vocal-looped nocturnes populated by visions, ghosts, body parts, and wolves. File next to: Kate Bush, Bjork, PJ Harvey, James Blake, and Mike Patton Playing: WL 607 this Thursday July 24 at the Monarch Tavern with Nat Baldwin and Black Walls. The music of Kira May broods like a low-hanging fog diffusing moonlight. The versatility of her alto is nothing short of remark
Dirty Inputs: The Wavelength Interview
July 17, 2014Purveyors of: Moody soundscapes that are perfect backdrops for studying and/or deep contemplation/zoning out File next to: Pole, Clams Casino, Mogwai Playing: WL 606, Friday July 18 at 8-11 (Backyard of 233 Spadina Ave.) Aaron Dawson is a dude, and Dirty Inputs is his one-man moniker. A former member of Toronto ambient drone collective Off The International Radar, Aaron is a small town Alberta
Thom Huhtala: The Wavelength Interview
July 16, 2014Purveyor of:Music to take drugs to make music to; drone zone folk rock for surfing on the northern lights File Next To:Velvet Underground, Spacemen 3, Neil Young, Guided by Voices, Grouper, Neutral Milk Hotel Bad River front man and Tess Parks collaborator, Toronto’s Thom Huhtala writes and records songs the way ketamine hides the secrets of the universe at the bottom of the K-hole. It’s a jou
Khôra: The Wavelength Interview
July 18, 2014Purveyors of: Drifting forms and formlessness File next to: Nick Storring, Tim Hecker, Plato’s Timaeus Playing: WL606: Khôra + Dirty Inputs + Thom Huhtala @ 8-11 Matthew Ramolo has been releasing albums as Khôra since 2006, including his Silent Your Body is Endless, which was re-issued as part of the first volume of Constellation Records’ Musique Fragile series. Taking his name from an untr
White Poppy: The Wavelength Interview
June 19, 2014File next to: Peaking Lights, Walter TV, Maria Minerva Purveyor of: Gritty guitar, distorted dreams Crystal Dorval’s Bandcamp page for her musical project White Poppy proclaims: “EXPERIMENTAL THERAPEUTIC POP.” Based in Vancouver, she is signed with west coast DIY, cassette-tape gurus Not Not Fun Records, who release a lot of her music, including her first full-length and self-titled albu
Tim Hecker: The Wavelength Interview
June 18, 2014Purveyor of: Magmatic chambers of sound File next to: Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Brian Eno, plate tectonics Playing: Wavelength 602 at NXNE, Thursday June 19 at the Great Hall (1:00AM) Tim Hecker is a one-man genre, taking elements of ambient music, punk rock, contemporary classical, digital experimentation and Zen attitude into a molten sound blender, to create a beautifully ominous sound
Fresh Snow: The Wavelength Interview
January 28, 2015Purveyors of: Sprawling post-rock freakouts. File next to: GSY!BE, Broadcast, Mogwai Toronto’s Fresh Snow elbowed onto the scene in 2013 with their punishing and beautiful debut I, an hour of staggering epics that put the mental in ‘instrumental,’ an album carefully and painstakingly reconstructed from six hours of improvised material. Dean Williams caught up with guitarist Bradley Davis t
Twist: The Wavelength Interview
June 15, 2014Purveyors: Dusty, drum-machine-y music. Think Lana Del Rey with more heart and less collagen. File next to: Young Marble Giants, Juliana Hatfield, the Eric’s Trip tunes that Julie sang Playing the Wavelength showcase at NXNE June 19 @ the Great Hall On their official website, Twist describes themselves as “Laura Hermiston of the BB Guns flees to the desert and returns on a western- sunburnt e
Zones: The Wavelength Interview
June 16, 2014Purveyors of: organic decay grooves File next to: Sun Araw, Mystic Triangle Playing: NXNE: Tim Hecker + Fresh Snow + White Poppy + Twist + Zones @ The Great Hall. Zones surround us — you may be moving though one right now. Zones will similarly engulf you if you enter their field. Derek McKeon’s musical project is perfect for any hazy, drifting excursions you might find yourself on. Joe Strutt
Digits: The Wavelength Interview
May 28, 2014Purveyors of: Melancholy electronic pop File next to: Milosh, Mr. Little Jeans Playing: Red Bull Sound Select Showcase a.k.a. WL 601, Thursday May 29, 2014 at Adelaide Hall. Alt Altman has been performing as Digits since 2009, and though he currently resides in Toronto, it was during extended stays in London and Berlin that he began to garner attention for his singular style of crooning over
Meeko Cheech: The Wavelength Interview
May 16, 2014Purveyors of: Buttrock for your brains File next to: Grandaddy, The Dandy Warhols Meeko Cheech are a Toronto-based 4-piece who have been serving up psychedelic, synthy rock’n’roll since 2010. 2013’s Motif is their latest, a marked refinement in their sound that has earned them comparisons to The Dandy Warhols, and a mellower Death From Above 1979, and even Lou Reed. Dean Williams caught
Gold Pony: The Wavelength Interview
May 17, 2014Purveyors of: Magic morbidity, fine meats and cheeses. File next to: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Hole, Vivian Girls, Bikini Kill Gold Pony are made up of Maggie Smith (lead vocals), Dan DeMaria (guitar and vocals), Liz Keston (bass and vocals), and Andrew Heule (drums and vocals). You know those kids at your high school who were listening to killer garage bands long before you? The ones who were always goi
Connoisseurs of Porn: The Wavelength Interview
April 19, 2014Purveyors of: BBQ, axe-throwing and dissonance. File next to: TV Freaks, Waylon Thornton and the Heavy Hands, Family Curse Playing: Saturday, April 19 at Smiling Buddha (961 College St.) for WL #595 Connoisseurs of Porn are a Toronto-based, three-piece DIY indie/garage/punk/rock band. The Mississauga-raised trio of Grant Spooner, Greg Keefe and Chris Thomas describe themselves as “three pale
Cellphone: The Wavelength Interview
April 16, 2014Purveyors of: Hard rock/loud rock infused with crunchy keyboards and weirdo vocal tricks File next to: Butthole Surfers, early Trans AM Playing: WL 595, Saturday April 19 at Smiling Buddha, 961 College St. Cellphone aren’t an easy band to categorize. This Toronto outfit definitely love their guitar riffs, but their music is perhaps most notable for an atypical usage of keyboards that augment
Mystics: The Wavelength Interview
April 15, 2014Purveyors of: Drunk-and-greasy fuckrock File next to: The Cynics, Black Lips, Jay Reatard Playing: Saturday, April 19th at Smiling Buddha (961 College St.) From the smokestack shores of Hamilton come Mystics, high energy garage rock bathed in punk and booze. After a few years and a handful of releases (including a 45 on Boppa Do Down), Mystics have solidified themselves as guaranteed good tim
Picastro: The Wavelength Interview
April 9, 2014Purveyors of: Creaky, creepy caravan folk File next to: The Microphones, Dirty Three Across 15 years, through pivotal periods in Toronto’s musical maturation; through six releases and several line-ups, Picastro have issued forth challenging, emotional and dense music — music that has lost none of its intensity or character, demanding ever to be foreground. Picastro’s work is not cra