Feast In The East

Bi-monthly food, music & art series in Toronto

[feastintheeast]

FEAST IN THE EAST 74

Saturday, July 27th at Small Arms Inspection Building (1352 Lakeshore Rd. East Mississauga, ON) at 7pm

Presented by the City of Mississauga, Feast In The East brings its 74th edition to the Small Arms Inspection Building. The evening features Tuareg musician Mdou Moctar from Niger, kulintang ensemble Pantayo, and a DJ / Live PA set by Raf Reza; with immersive visual art projects by Chloe Lum & Yannick Desranleau, Arezu Salamzadeh, and Khanh Tudo; and a Nigerian Suya-spiced dinner by local Nigerian-inspired caterer, Twins In Kitchen. Come early for an artist talk at 4pm by Khanh Tudo as part of ongoing public programming series re:placement, can we find a way? curated by Anu Radha Verma. MDOU MOCTAR (https://mdoumoctar.bandcamp.com) Niger based songwriter / guitarist Mdou Moctar brings his contemporary electronic adaptions of traditional Tuareg guitar music to Mississauga. Touring behind his newest studio record, Ilana: The Creator with a full band, Moctar's music has come a long way from the West African trading network of cellphones & memory cards that spurred his fame & his starring role in the Nigerien re-invention of "Purple Rain" aka "Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai," which translates as "Rain the Color of Red with a Little Blue In It." Constantly evolving the forms of Tuareg music Moctar's latest venture sees him dip into psych trance territory. Guitar grooves swirl in a never ending dance with each other, only breaking out into blistered solos over a locked in rhythm section. True desert psych the band prods forward as vocal pattern slip upward into a guitar fuelled heat sink. Merging western rock shredding with the patience & momentum of Tuareg folk tradition, Moctar creates a unique & lasting sonic world. PANTAYO (https://pantayo.bandcamp.com) Pantayo is an all-women lo-fi R&B gong punk queer collective based in Toronto, combining percussive metallophones and drums from the kulintang traditions of southern Philippines with synth-based electro grooves RAF REZA (https://soundcloud.com/rafreza) DJ / mood masher / creative soul Raf Reza (Cosmic Resonance Records) blends sonic landscapes together with ease, merging dance floor momentos with shifting synth nodes and airy nods. Percussive notes shuffle as organ swells move under sparkling electronic pulses. Though Reza's dance floor sensibilities shine, he also drops in for the long game building kraut inspired synth droners, full of climbing electronic patterns and glowing cosmic hums. Synthetic notes decay in a forest of minimalist inspired beats. Meditative moods grow into distorted grooves, lost post punk guitar licks, busted beats, zapping synths slap back on themselves. Raf brings the party, the choice vibe, the rejuvenation zone & so much more. Hang late for the post vibes party! Environs by: Chloë Lum & Yannick Desranleau (http://www.lum-desranleau.com) Arezu Salamzadeh (https://arezustudio.com) Khanh Tudo (https://khanh.online) Dinner Menu (may contain nuts): Pepper Soup Suya Chicken* OR Suya Vegetable Skewers Fried Rice & Coleslaw Puff Puff & Ice Cream *halal

FREE

All Ages

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1148129038693527/

Schedule of events:   7:00pm doors + dinner 8:30pm Pantayo 9:30pm Mdou Moctar 11pm to late Raf Reza Limited capacity. Reserve your free ticket. Limited number of $10 (+ service charge) round-trip SHUTTLE BUS seats available: https://www.showpass.com/feast-east-mississauga/ Departure: Stop 1: 918 Bathurst Centre for Culture, Arts, Media and Education (918 Bathurst St  just north of Bloor), departing at 6:30pm Stop 2: Queen St W and Triller Ave in Parkdale (by the U-Haul lot), departing at 7pm Arrival at SAIB approximately 7:30pm Return: Midnight from SAIB to Stop 2 (approx 12:15 arrival) and Stop 1 (approx 12:30 arrival) 2:00am from SAIB to Stop 2 (approx 2:15am arrival) and Stop 1 (approx 2:30am arrival) Free dinner is first come, first served. Reserve your meal, veggie or halal chicken, as part of the registration process. Note: Dinner contains nuts. Family friendly. Cash bar. Accessible space, all-gender single-user washrooms available. This Feast In The East is in partnership with Good Kind Productions and Polyphonic Ground, 10 GTA-based presenters of culturally-diverse music. PG is made possible through grants from Canada Council, Canadian Heritage, Ontario Media Development Corporation and the Toronto Arts Council. Thanks to 918 Bathurst Centre for Culture - https://www.facebook.com/918bathurst/ Feast In The East is made possible through support from the City of Mississauga, Small World Music Society and Wellington Brewery. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des Arts du Canada. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien.

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FEAST IN THE EAST 73

Saturday, July 6th at Prairie Drive Park (119 Pharmacy Ave.) from 5 - 11pm This edition features a free Mango Curry dinner by Alan Kobayashi Music by: SANDRO PERRI (http://www.sandroperri.com/) One of Toronto’s most interesting & inspiring composers, Sandro Perri returns to Feast In The East in duo formation with bassist Josh Cole, percussionist Blake Howard & synth player Ryan Driver. His pop songs are layered deep in textures and full of meanderings. Synth hums and bubbles float above carefully placed percussion like some slowed down jungle dance party. Guitar notes dissipate into hums & lost flourishes. Sandro’s voice moves over the instrumentation, almost caressing it like a sheet. His music creates it’s own environment, it’s own weather conditions, with seamless movement, sounds & textures flow into each. Don’t miss this prodigy of the avant smooth. BERNICE (https://bernice.bandcamp.com/) Robin Dann & her who’s who crew of Toronto avant song slingers (Thom Gill, Dan Fortin, Felicity Williams, and Phil Melanson) pump out soulful compositions that are full of blooming vocal flourishes, airy guitar whispers and bubbling beats. Sounding like the release of some lost spirits rejoicing as they flee into the eather, Bernice creates a uniqwue atomosphere. Vocals swell and fall, as spectral guitar notes drip from the sky. Electronic drum textures pop & gurgle like a stewing bog, fermenting. Get into this beautiful ghost music. NEW CHANCE (https://newchance.bandcamp.com/) Vic Cheong’s posi beat project sees slowly flowering electronic textures mingle with bopping drum machine rhythms, and effected vocals. Lines blur between glitched vocal effects and shaking electronic beats. Whispers become spiritual drones. New age textures amped up with fresh rhythms. Vic takes you on the celestial journey merging the dance and drone zones. Installations & Environs by: Emily Grace Harrison (https://www.emilygraceharrison.com) Roxanne Ignatius (http://roxanneignatius.com) Sara Maston (https://saramaston.com) jes sachse & Khanh Tudo (https://jessachse.com / https://khanh.online) Still Boys (https://www.facebook.com/stillboyz) Dinner Menu: Mango Curry with Eddoe & Summer Gourd Served with Grilled Rice & Refreshing Bitter Melon Salad *gluten-free, nut-free, vegan Bike tune-ups by Scarborough Cycles (www.scarboroughcycles.ca) FREE All Ages RAIN DATE: Saturday, July 13th

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/405093940088845/ This Feast In The East is made possible through the support of Arts in the Parks, Toronto Arts Council, Toronto Arts Foundation, and Loblaws.

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FEAST IN THE EAST 72

Thursday, February 28th at The Jam Factory (2 Matilda St.)

This month features a free winter stew dinner by Georgia Webber FET.NAT (https://fetnat.bandcamp.com/) Hull, Quebec weirdos pump out the angular no wave jams to celebrate their new 12" on Boiled Records. Demonic vocals beathe over tight rhythms, locked in guitar grooves and spaced out sax squeals. Pulling percussive tendancies out of some Warp meets 99 Record vortex, Fet.Nat bounces from abbrassive textures to beat driven gestations. Samples & electronics play with errant saxophone howls. Drawing influence from nyc no wave, the spastic tendancies of noise rock bands like Melt Banana, Old Time Relijun and contemporary electronic experimentalists, this mutant baby is a must see live experience! Don't miss their return to Feast In The East and the great city of Toronto! ABSOLUTELY FREE (https://absolutelyfree.bandcamp.com) Toronto kraut synth trio bubble back to the surface with cascading synth lines & flowing guitar textures that bound forward over focused rhythmic exercises. Summer storms of warm electronic notes wisp through the air, spectral flourishes add to the unfolding sonic layers that effortlessly create a welcoming cacophony. All these fleeting textures settle on top of a relentlessly hungry rhythm section. Vocals cut through the satin psych haze without seeming too over powering, dipping into the menagerie when the moment calls. Synth psych mavericks somehow channel a Beach Boys-esque vibe with a krautrock language. True OG Feasters, these guys ripped it at our 2nd Anniversary, bring the noise. BADGE ÉPOQUE ENSEMBLE (https://badgeepoque.bandcamp.com) Maximilian "Twig" Turnbull's newest venture sees him and a crew of Toronto heavy weights, including Alia O'Brien (Blood Ceremony), Jay Anderson (Biblical), Chris Bezant, Giosuè Rosati & Ed Squires, bring light to some 1970's influenced heavy mood music. This avant rock ensemble, dials in the dripping funk nods, feeling somewhere between a film score anti-vamp, a soul jazz vacation mix and a focused prog fantasy. Manicured yet unleashed guitar rampaging melts into silky notes paired with flute accents. O'Brien's flute work mingles amongst Twig's organ swells, guitar punctuation and the exacting languidity of Badge's rhythmic trifecta. As if they were deposited here by some time-warp, the ensemble's unflappable live performance speaks for itself. Don't sleep on this. Environs by Julie Reich (https://www.instagram.com/bilesister/) $10 Adv at Circus Books and Music, Cask Music, Rotate This, and Soundscapes. $12 at the door All Ages! Free dinner with adv. ticket!

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/2221677571381526/ Feast In The East is made possible through support from Wellington Brewery

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FEAST IN THE EAST 71

Saturday, November 3rd at Matt Durant Studio (1401 Queen St. East) This month features a free dinner by Ted Crosby. LUGE (https://hugeluge.bandcamp.com/) Toronto no wave freaks celebrate the release of their first full length LP "Tall Is Just a Feeling". An obvious must grip for weird punk fans. Luge bust angular guitar & bass jabs over funk infused rhythms that squirm and shake. Bouncing bass lines & speedy drum patterns pull you in, as Luge seamlessly morphs from a languid stroll into chaotic spazz punk fury. Absurdist vocals wander amongst mangled guitar notes. Their locked in rhythms section spits out bastard funk grooves sound like they are straight out of late 1970's NYC. RETIRED (https://retired1.bandcamp.com) Toronto free form punk jazz wanderers Retired bring dark eerie forbidding sonic meanderings to life with Percussive movements that cruise seamlessly through ominous bass tones. Guitar growls unhinged, as saxophone splutters a bitter syrup. Like a junkyard creation slowly breaking apart as it races towards an impending destruction that will never come. Becoming more haunting & mangled as it evolves from one form to another. The swing of jazz emanates from what is more like some lost kraut jam. BABY LABOUR (https://babylabour.bandcamp.com) Guelph based weird punks create groove laden angular jammers. Methodical guitar mangling, silky distortion over surfer influences meanderings. Driving fuzz & whipping drum patterns make their speedy compositions sound like some NES game theme that's glitched out. These guys are the real deal! DEEP WATERS (https://www.instagram.com/deepwatersband) Formed at Girls Rock Camp 2016, these young rockers continue to evolve, recently playing at the Polaris Prize Gala! The quartet channels a 90's alternative rock, with hints of punk. Their self aware lyricism is full of humour and conflicting emotions that pour out in vocal harmonies. Come on time to check these next generation Toronto rockers! Environs by Ted Gudlat (https://www.instagram.com/tedgudlat) & Janine Miedzik (https://www.janinemiedzik.com) $10 Adv at Circus Books and Music, Cask Music, Rotate This, and Soundscapes. $12 at the door All Ages! Free dinner with adv. ticket!

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/487203618415997/

Feast In The East is made possible through support from Moog Audio and Wellington Brewery

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FEAST IN THE EAST 70

Saturday, September 15th at Matt Durant Studio (1401 Queen St. East) This month features a free vegetarian gumbo dinner by Sam Davis. Music By: WHIMM (https://whimm.bandcamp.com) Toronto post punk trio Whimm (Pleasence Records) create the alientated rhythm driven rock songs that are surely to become the classic jammers of the future's dads. Dissonant guitar chords rock back & forth over driving drum patterns. Dark disaffected vocals float around in a world of effects and haunting sax whispers. Moody synth tones radiate like a slow flood over minimal percussion. Rich aural textures creep through Whimm's post punk groovers. Angular guitar notes bounce like springs against rigid drum heads. Simplicity lies at the heart of this power trio creating lasting grooves and riffs that they inevitably intend to destroy in a finite burst of chaos. WHIP KISSER (https://whipkisser.bandcamp.com) Toronto psych punk freaks know how to rip it gnarly. Raw guitar licks dripping with distortion groove over a swaggering drum beat. Ferocious vocals, almost as shredded up as the guitar tone, chew over top of their menacing sound. Filled with the driving energy of a nascent punk band this trio reaches out into the psych burner zone. Extended languid jams see the wrecked guitar chords stretch into brooding beasts. Droned tones melt into each other. Meditative slow psych transforms into blistering heavy ripper jams. Guitars flare with cosmic dissonance. This needs to be experienced live! SLURRY (https://slurryslurry.bandcamp.com) Toronto crew mash up post punk angularity with the buoyancy of new wave. Strummed guitar notes meander into more noodle-y territory. Band members throw vocal duties around as both male & female voices merge into the fray. Stop & start rhythms drive the band as guitar notes & vocals slam on beat. The band jerks and sways as if in constant motion making last second changes in direction only to continue on the same way. Gentle breaks of minimalist guitar and vocal duets drip with weaving emotion, before they are swallowed up in the tempo blender. LEUCROCUTA (https://soundcloud.com/lauradickens)   Laura Dickens' (Slutcode) solo project Leucrocuta sees her venture into dark electronic territory drawing on influence from industrial, ambient and more outside synth pop. Hard drum machines rhythms skitter & flow under layers of her vocals. Swaying like the winds, they coat her sonic landscape as they cut through with sharp hums. Vocal shadows scurry like insects. Leucrocuta feels like a dream often on fast forward, the distorted world seems almost surreal as it melts & shifts. Dickens' vocals become the only spirits that can inhabit the mutating forest she's created. Environs by Charlie Murray (Still Boys) $10 Adv at Circus Books and Music, Cask Music, Rotate This, and Soundscapes. $12 at the door All Ages! Free dinner with adv. ticket!

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/2181264175481431/

Feast In The East is made possible through support from Moog Audio and Wellington Brewery

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FEAST IN THE EAST 69

Saturday, July 7th at Prairie Drive Park (121 Pharmacy Ave.) from 5 - 11pm  This edition features a free dinner by Keithen Codner Music by: THE HIGHEST ORDER (http://www.highest-order.online) Psychedelic country folk act fronted by Simone Schmidt (Fiver), pays tribute to a long tradition while also keep it on edge. Borrowing elements from folk traditions, country ramblings and the trails of psych rock, The Highest Order slips through deep jammers with ease, weaving in glistening guitar passages under Schmidt's vocals. The band cooks with full blow swizzling psych riffs as Simone's voice curls around the dripping chords. Melting together powerful vocals shake against percussion stomping forward in a haze of warped twang. ERIC LANDRY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-YiM80v8_I)   Sudbury based Indigenous folk musician Eric Landry returns to Toronto following up his performances at the Native North America Gathering & Burdock with an apt outdoor appearance at Feast In The East. Making music since the 80's Eric's song writing & storytelling pulls influence from folk and rock traditions of the 60's & 70's, while drawing in his own Innu and Mikmaq heritage. His guitar playing is intricate & deliberate, while still feeling off the cuff and casual. Plucked notes glisten in his hands move like wind across the strings. Landry captures the beauty of life in his songs, but never without an honest glance hardships & the lessons they imparted. Eric comes ready with a wealth of songs & stories to pass along with his beautiful guitar work & buoyant approach.   FAUN FABLES (http://www.faunfables.com) Drag City freak folk duo of Dawn McCarthy (Bonnie Prince Billy / Will Oldham collaborator) and Nils Frykdahl (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) return to Toronto. Dawn’s voice leads their music, strong and unwaning, full of subtle detail & care, as Nils fills in the lower register. Gentle string configurations & intricate guitar work occupy the space between rough strumming & sparse percussion. Like a still dense forest reacting to someone traversing it’s land, Faun Fables songs swell, blooming with intricate flourishes, only to be reduced to a chorus of vocals levitating on top of junkyard percussion. Moulding folks songs with flute notes, pulling stories from old log cabins buried in the woods on some hidden land. For fans of Carla Bozulich, Josephine Foster and bon fires. Environs by: Allison Burda & Cam Gee (http://allisonandcam.tumblr.com) Ted Gudlat (https://www.instagram.com/tedgudlat/) Kristina Guison (http://kristinaguison.net) James Kirkpatrick (http://www.jameskirkpatrick.org) Nathalie Quagliotto (http://www.nathaliequagliotto.com) Dinner Menu: Jackfruit "pulled pork style" Sandwich on a Vegan Gluten-Free Bun Coconut Curry Stew Cabbage & Carrot Slaw

Bike tune-up by Scarborough Cycles (www.scarboroughcycles.ca) FREE All Ages RAIN DATE: Saturday, July 14th

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/368916056963158/ This Feast In The East is made possible through the support of Arts in the Parks Toronto, Toronto Arts Council and Toronto Arts Foundation.

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Saturday, June 2nd at Matt Durant Studio (1401 Queen St. East) This month features a free dinner by Dan Bedard. EUGENE CHADBOURNE (http://eugenechadbourne.com/) American banjo & guitar virtuoso Eugene Chadbourne twists folk, country, blues & bluegrass traditions through a gnarly avant jazz & ranging free improv grinder. Morphing classic tunes into bizarre banjo shred tongue in cheek rippers. Chadbourne's lyrics mine a comically dark side or his reality playing on the warped traditional structure they live in. A true master of essence, he adopts genres capturing their being while pulling it apart. Chadbourne has collaborated with such heavy weights as John Zorn, Derek Bailey, Henry Kaiser, Jimmy Carl Black, Fred Frith, and local legend Michael Snow. For this show he will preform solo & followed by a short impov. set. PROTRUDERS (https://protruders.bandcamp.com/) Fuzzed out crunchy punks bring the raw chaos in their latest quartet format. Angular guitars laced in distortion rip against blasting percussion. Gurgling feedback & slithering electronic manipulations fills the underbelly of this raw rocker scene. An unhinged party band. Primitive in vibe Protruders slips hints of no wave into their crafted junk store jammers.   HOLIDAY RAMBLER (http://www.qualityco.co/) D. Alex Meeks (of Hooded Fang) solo guitar project rides again. Bouncing guitar notes roll along like tumble weeds, as Mr. Meeks spins his folk songs intrenched in the spirit of the american south. His lyrics, smart, cautious, and full of unbridled honesty, like a Flannery O’Connor novel he weaves religion, family and the future of the world as we know it, into something human and tangible. Intricate repetitive plucking dot Holiday Rambler’s songs like stars in the sky, all in the right place, so natural their placement seems accidentally. Languid emotions float gently over the simplicity of an acoustic guitar. Holiday Rambler is the everyman that died long ago, the tradition your grandparents remembered, but your parent discarded. Lose yourself in these lost hymns. Eat your heart out computer music. MERMAIDS Psychedelic folk ensemble featuring Janet Macpherson (vocals), Martin Arnold (Banjo), Kurt Newman (pedal steel) and the infamous Ryan Driver (analog synth) reinterpret traditional folk song & ballads from the British Isles. Watch as the minds of Toronto's great contrarians go to work on British tradition in what can only be described as a cacophonous rebirth effort. Don't miss it!

Environs by Sebastian Butt $10 Adv at Circus Books and Music, Cask Music, Rotate This, and Soundscapes. $12 at the door All Ages! Free dinner with adv. ticket!

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1670208396389957/ Feast In The East is made possible through support from the Toronto Arts Council and Wellington Brewery

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FEAST IN THE EAST 7 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Saturday, May 5th at The Jam Factory (2 Matilda St.)

This month features a free Mediterranean dinner by Alan Kobayashi.  Music by: GARY WILSON (https://www.facebook.com/Gary-Wilson-36823197655/) Outsider lounge freak funk anti-legend Gary Wilson makes a rare appearance in Toronto. Haunting synth tones turn into bouncing beats under smoothed out textures. Eerie sensuality drips from Gary's performative realities. Wilson's vocals yearn as keyboard notes glisten. Foreboding funk licks dip into some warped realm. From his now classic "You Think You really Know Me" to a slew of new & archival releases on Stones Throw and Feeding Tube Records, the man God forgot Gary Wilson is has returned to the scene now backed by NYC's Tredici Bacci. Plus for this show his band will be joined by a number of Toronto musicians as well! Don't sleep on this! OMHOUSE (https://omhouse.bandcamp.com/) Steven Foster's Omhouse brings his prog twinged guitar pop songs to life with jangling notes, mystical synth swells and jumping percussion. Omhouse sways between methodical emotional ruminations and energetic frenzied moods. The songs are filled with lush textures and tones dancing with each other without meandering to far from their simple instrumentation. Foster finds ways to create a malleable continuity in his music that feels honest, devotional, and deep while still being whimsical. Rhythmic and angular guitar passages tug at your senses. New tape "Eye to Eye" is out now & should be in your rotation. BERNICE (https://bernice.bandcamp.com/) Robin Dann & her who's who crew of Toronto avant song slingers (Thom Gill, Dan Fortin, Felicity Williams, and Phil Melanson) pump out soulful compositions that are full of blooming vocal flourishes, airy guitar whispers and bubbling beats. Sounding like the release of some lost spirits rejoicing as they flee into the eather, Bernice creates a uniqwue atomosphere. Vocals swell and fall, as spectral guitar notes drip from the sky. Electronic drum textures pop & gurgle like a stweing bog, fermenting. Don't miss this beautiful ghost music. CINDY LEE (https://cindylee-w25th.bandcamp.com/) The drag queen alter ego of Patrick Flegel marries lo-fi guitar textures with sweet melodies cloaked in a mist of sadness. Dark pop songs crackle with distortion and dismay. Cindy Lee's music feels like it's straddling the space between radio frequencies. Noisey guitar notes dance in some of kilter ballad. The air is filled with a glowing fuzz. Vocals shiver and feel out their next move. Environs by Mike Reynolds  (https://www.instagram.com/_michaelsoft) and Jonathan Petersen Dinner Menu includes: Grilled Naan & Lettuce Wraps Lentil-Chickpea Croquettes Baba Ganouj / Lime Crema / Quick-Pickled Cucumbers / Citrus Marmalade / Hot Sauce

Tabbouleh: Buckwheat, Quinoa & Chickpea / Soft Herbs / Pickled Red Onion / Pomegranate

All Ages! $10 Adv at Circus Books and Music, Cask Music, Soundscapes and Rotate This. $12 at the door FREE dinner with adv. ticket!

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/556738961369253/ Feast In The East is made possible through support from the Toronto Arts Council and Wellington Brewery

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Saturday, February 3rd at Matt Durant Studio (1401 Queen St. East) This month features a free dinner by Jonas Linturn aka Chef Très Bohème. BONJAY (http://bonjay.net/) Toronto genre melting duo of Alanna Stuart and Pho Swain joined forces with percussionist Kieran Adams (Diana, The Cosmic Range) for this outing. The duo turned trio sees Stuart's voice hold court over racing beats, beamed in synth tones, married live and digital percussion. Borrowing from dancehall rhythms, soul vocal nods and dusty bass bins Bonjay collects the pieces and gives them a continuity. No sound is lost in their post genre construction. Electronic bass lines drop like dollops of some rich icing. Dance beats squirm and twist under Alanna's hypnotic vocals. Check the new track "Ingenue" if you haven't! BLUNT CHUNKS (https://soundcloud.com/blunt-chunks) Spacey vocals & electronics swirl around you like a settling mist. Caitlin Woelfle-O'Brien's voice soars & sways with multiples of itself, filling empty space like a it's a cavernous church. Forlorn guitar notes shake in the cold night, glistening in the moon light. Music to keep close to your heart. FOONYAP (https://foonyap.bandcamp.com/) Calgary violinist & singer Foonyap returns to Toronto with her haunting soundscapes and sharp lyrics. Delicate strings hum in a dance with Foon's wavering vocals. Layers of violin sonics mutated and stacked create an otherworldly sense of motion as they balance on top of each other. Building deep songs from scant elements Foonyap uses both her voice and the violin for their subtlety and their raw emotion. Caressing sweet tones before she gives them over to the dissonance. Sweeping swells dripping with royal beauty see Foon mining her classical training, but never trailing too far from her folk intuition. BENEDICTE (https://benedictemusic.bandcamp.com/) Singer & electronic musician Maxime Gordon aka Benedicte creates soft almost see through soundscapes, augmented with vocal loops and angular beats. Her vocals melt away like mist burning off in the sun. Piano tones find their way amongst manipulated electronic sounds, warped vocals dance with rewound rhythms. Music from a rift between the planes of reality.   Environs by Bethany Rose Puttkemery & Lee D'Angelo (https://www.instagram.com/bethanyroserose / https://www.instagram.com/rat666tat) $10 Adv at Circus Books and Music, Cask Music, Rotate This, and Soundscapes. $12 at the door All Ages! Free dinner with adv. ticket!

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/162769334488794/ Feast In The East is made possible through support from the Toronto Arts Council and Wellington Brewery

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Saturday, November 18th at Matt Durant Studio (1401 Queen St. East)

This month features a free Harvest Stew dinner by Patricia Joong OFF WORLD (http://cstrecords.com/off-world) Sandro Perri & Lorenz Peter celebrate the release of Off World's second record out on Constellation. This core duo represents the brain trust behind Off World's wobbly analog synth meanderings, while the recordings rope in all kinds of guests. Off World employs a languid pulse, floating between swaying tropical tones, and casually foreboding textures. Oscillating bleep and bloops stretch out over grumbling electronics. Sounding like a cluster of warped radio transmissions as they get sucked through the endless cavern of space, Off World uses a distinctly foreign yet familiar vocabulary. EGYPTRIXX (https://egyptrixx.bandcamp.com/) Toronto electronic artist plays with cutting percussive electronic textures, building trance like monoliths, swaddled in spectral synthesized tones. Living somewhere on the borders of dance music, industrial noise, and the contemporary avant-garde Egyptrixx uses this ambiguity to seamlessly re-shape his landscape at will. Glassy electronics shimmer in a desolate world. Harsh sonic juxtapositions become your new friends. Healing music for those lost in the cosmos. NEW CHANCE (https://soundcloud.com/new-chance) Vic Cheong's posi beat project sees slowly flowering electronic textures mingle with bopping drum machine rhythms, and effected vocals. Lines blur between glitched vocal effects and shaking electronic beats. Whispers become spiritual drones. New age textures amped up with fresh rhythms. Vic takes you on the celestial journey merging the dance and drone zones. BRIGITTE BARDON'T (https://soundcloud.com/bardont) Kristel Jax builds a meditative space amongst the chaos. Twisted vocals waver over looped radio tunings, feedback and static. Her voice drifts in and out, always just climbing over her distorted surroundings, like spirits weaving through two parallels worlds. Environs by Laura Hudspith (http://www.laurahudspith.com/) $10 Adv at Circus Books and Music, Cask Music, Rotate This, and Soundscapes. $12 at the door All Ages! Free dinner with adv. ticket!

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1720330484668372/ Feast In The East is made possible through support from the Toronto Arts Council and Wellington Brewery

[feastintheeast]

FEAST IN THE EAST 64

Saturday, September 23rd at Matt Durant Studio (1401 Queen St. East) This month features a free grilled cheese dinner by Brendan Lehman & Josiah Tsang Music by:  PETRA GLYNT (http://petraglynt.bandcamp.com/) Alex MacKenzie's freak pop project sees live percussion intermingle with drum machines, loops & mashed up samples. Her voice is strong & demanding, as it dances in & out of her thumping bass loops and etherial vocal exercises. Drawing on the power of her building din, she conjures up a well of entrancing beat driven experimental soul jams. ZACHT AUTOMAAT (http://zachtautomaat.bandcamp.com/) Born out of the after math of The Battleship Ethel, the endless experimentation of local synth, tape loop genius Carl Didur & bassist Mike McLean, Zacht Automaat returns for another brief Toronto visit. Krautrock at it's finest, if there ever was a time machine back to the early 70's this is it! Tape loop manipulations add depth to progged out organ lines. Heavy bass lines warble & dance along with clattering minimal junkyard percussion. The hum of organ notes washes over everything, beeping into the crevices & gaps in your mind. These compositions are really otherworldly, frantic repetition into the netherworld! One of Toronto's best kept secrets! Seriously do not miss this live, mind blowing, whoa! For fans of Soft Machine, Faust, Cluster, etc. The band also includes sax maniac Colin Fisher (Not The Wind, Not The Flag) and drummer Louis Percival (US Girls). FET.NAT (https://fetnat.bandcamp.com/) Hull, Quebec weirdos pump out the angular no wave jams. Demonic vocals beathe over tight rhythms, locked in guitar grooves and spaced out sax squeals. Pulling percussive tendancies out of some Warp meets 99 Record vortex, Fet.Nat bounces from abbrassive textures to beat driven gestations. Samples & electronics play with errant saxophone howls. Drawing influence from nyc no wave, the spastic tendancies of noise rock bands like Melt Banana, Old Time Relijun and contemporary electronic experimentalists, this mutant baby is a must see live experience! Big up Hull! JOANNE POLLOCK (https://joannepollock.bandcamp.com/) Winnipeg based singer & electronic musician creates a sparse yet spectral atomosphere for her vocals to proliferate. Sweeping synth tones hum along side Pollock's glowing notes. Borrowing as much from new age synth tones & industrial electronics, she allows these notes to snap & glitch under her crystal clear lyricism. Choatic electronics shrink as Joanne's voice whispers & pierces through the sonic fabric of her own constructions. Dancing in the high register synthesized sounds float with an electric energy. Environs by Vanessa Rieger (https://vanessabeerieger.tumblr.com/) $10 Adv at Circus Books and Music, Cask Music, Rotate This, and Soundscapes. $12 at the door All Ages! Free dinner with adv. ticket!

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/812281748951750/ Feast In The East is made possible with support from the Toronto Arts Council and Wellington Brewery

[feastintheeast]

FEAST IN THE EAST 63

Saturday, July 8th 2017 from 5pm - 11pm at Prairie Drive Park (121 Pharmacy Ave.)

This edition features a free dinner by Emily Zimmerman Music by: THE COSMIC RANGE (https://soundcloud.com/ideefixerecords/sets/the-cosmic-range-new-latitudes) Toronto boggie psych big band brainchild of Matthew "Doc" Dunn featuring a who's who corral of Toronto's finest players including, Kieran Adams (Diana), Brandon Valdivia (NTW,NTF / Lido Pimienta), Mike "Muskox" Smith (Jennifer Castle, Sandro Perri), Jonathan Adjemian, Max "Slim Twig" Turnbull, Andy Haas (John Zorn), and Isla Craig (U.S. Girls, IC/JC/VC). Spacious psych grooves build into trance like passages where the flowing rhythm is king. Dual percussionist move effortlessly as one, while Dunn's organ tones float over top, mingling with crunching guitar notes, and purring saxophone. Mangled guitar fuzz parades with sprinkles of electronics. This is an ensemble in constant motion, the ultimate avant groove band, bringing the deepest funk laden with a chaotic energy. Sounding half like some lost 70's spiritual psych funk LP, and half like music for the spaceways! LAL (https://lalforest.bandcamp.com/) Electronc duo of Rosina Kazi & NIcholas Murray dip into trip hop territory while also pulling influence from more sobre film soundscapes, and minimalist groove movements. Murray's production is understated, but moves seamlessly from mood to mood, as Kazi's voice hovers and wavers above. Whispered mantras becomie minimalist techno influenced anthems. Bleeping synth lines dance with organic textures. Dark electronic tones grow into slinking rhythms. SAXSYNDRUM (http://saxsyndrum.com/) Montreal avant funk trio merges drums, sax & vocals with live electronic processing creating dubbed out overlays of their own groove inspired sax and percussion interplay. Curious sax notes dance with ghosts of their former selves. Squeaks & squeals become percussive tools paired with live drums & electronic pads. Vocals strain to escape, twisting from deep hymns to breathy whispers, and extended coos. Spiralling sax verses accented with drawn out angelic vocal drones. Next level! Environs by: Camille Jodoin-Eng, Jenn Kitagawa, Alicia Nauta, Diana Lynn VanderMeulen, and Tobias Williams FREE All Ages RAIN DATE: Saturday, July 15th

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/432005223831878/ This Feast In The East is made possible through the support of Arts in the Parks, Toronto Arts Council and Toronto Arts Foundation.

[feastintheeast]

FEAST IN THE EAST 6 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Saturday, May 6th at The Jam Factory (2 Matilda St.)

This month features a free BBQ Carrot & Onion Sliders by Tara Niewiadomski & Keithen Codner

Music by:

PHEDRE (http://phedreamour.com/) Toronto freak electronic pop super group featuring 1/2 of Hooded Fang. Electronic beats and a mash up of sound effects provide a back drop for mutated vocals dripping with reverb and mixed into the atmosphere. Synth tones & drum machines dance with dog barks & bird chirps. Synth tones like SNES games pulse under smooth pop vocals and borrowed hip hop styles. Phedre navigates through the world of avant dance pop bouncing with nostalgia and lo-fi rock attitudes turned electronic. Drum machines like hand claps. Oscillators like UFOS. Good one buds! ZONES (http://zonesmusic.bandcamp.com/) Toronto kraut synth smooth mover, creates psychedelic dreamscape music. The vacation soundtrack for a tropical resort on mars. Flowering synth tones glisten endlessly as tinkering electronic drum movements get buried in the spectral glow of oscillating effected guitar notes. Lie the interior of a large gem, sounds reflect and reverberate in slow motion and new notes wade through the fog of frequencies. JAIMIE BRANCH QUARTET (https://jaimiebranch.wordpress.com/) Chicago/NYC trumpeter Jaimie Branch arrives in Toronto hot off the heals of her new record "Fly or Die" with a quartet featuring percussionist Chad Taylor (Chicago Underground Duo), bassist Jason Ajemian, and cellist Tomeka Reid. Branch's compositions shift between meandering improvised passages and swinging avant jazz break outs. Her quartet moves like a bramble rolling down a hill, twisting & turning in constant motion. As Taylor & Ajemian hold down the rhythmic fort, Branch's laid back horn solos navigate playfully through Reid's bowed arobics. Though Branch has been an active member of both Chiacgo & New York's jazz scenes for years, this record sees her voice solidify as a strong force in comtemorary jazz & beyond. For the heads! TENDERNESS (http://tendernessmusic.com/) Toronto avant pop songstress Chrissy Reichert stirs up your emotions and feet. Dance club bass meets collage kraut assemblage sprinkled with smooth sax gone bad. Chrissy's voice floats over this drawn out beat therapy like a wisp of wind. Free of any trappings, her voice, beautiful, is almost lighter than air. It morphs to take on many forms, as malleable as the instrumentation below her. Another not to miss avant hit parade! FAKE HUMANS (http://mechanicalforestsound.blogspot.ca/2016/03/recording-fake-humans.html) Colin Fisher (Not The Wind, Not The Flag, etc) & Carl Didur (Zacht Automaat) team up for what sounds like some haunting 1970's film score, to a movie set in space, where all the main characters are pretty much trapped up there & are just waiting to die, but are doing so in a very relaxed & peaceful way. Swinging in a lackadaisical manner, Fake Humans pull obvious influence from Alice Coltrane. A spiritual calm embs through their psych laced compositions. Environs by Zoe Solomon, Ted Gudlat (http://tedgudlat.tumblr.com/), and Brett Zadravetz (http://zag.format.com/) All Ages! $10 Adv at Circus Books and Music, Cask Music, Soundscapes and Rotate This. $12 at the door FREE dinner with adv. ticket!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/237249213411606/

[feastintheeast]

FEAST IN THE EAST 61

Saturday, April 1st 2017 at Matt Durant Studio (1401 Queen St. East)

This month features a free crepe dinner by Halloway Jones & Tom Hobson

Music by:

MYRIAM GENDRON (http://myriamgendron.tumblr.com/) Montreal folk guitarist Myriam Gendron writes delicate finger style songs that seems to flow effortlessly. Acoustic guitar notes almost pluck themselves, as her voice carries overtop. Small flourishes becoming beautiful ramblings, notes roll over each other like water in a stream over rocks. Gently dancing upon one another, her guitar work ebbs and flows under humbling vocals. Gendron tells essential stories, they become living whispers embedded in the air, as she imparts their essence upon us.

SANDRO PERRI (http://www.sandroperri.com/) One of Toronto's most interesting & inspiring composers, Sandro Perri returns to Feast In The East in duo formation with bassist Josh Cole. His pop songs are layered deep in textures and full of meanderings. Synth hums and bubbles float above carefully placed percussion like some slowed down jungle dance party. Guitar notes dissipate into hums & lost flourishes. Sandro's voice moves over the instrumentation, almost caressing it like a sheet. His music creates it's own environment, it's own weather conditions, with seamless movement, sounds & textures flow into each. Don't miss this prodigy of the avant smooth.  

L CON (https://lcon.bandcamp.com/) Lisa Conway's ever evolving project, hot off the release of "Moon Milk" dips into languid dance-y territory. Conway's vocals croon and drift over robust & buzzing synth tones, tight drum programming, and full on horn & string arrangements. Her compositions juxtapose sparse vocals and string duets against lush almost orchestral blasts. Balancing electronic & acoustic elements in her often downtroddenly soulful songs, she dances on the knife's edge. Drawing influence from western classical traditions, brooding pop music, and electro-acoustic manipulation L CON births a sound that is reminiscent of post punk infused soul tunes lost in the bleak vastness of space. Drops if glittering synthesized hope cut through her entrancing songwriting. Don't miss this!

MERIVAL (https://merival.bandcamp.com/) Folk singer/songwriter Anna Horvath stretches her voice over spectral folk compositions. Her songs unfurl like spooled ribbon, running away from her in a playful chase. Horvath's voice soars piercing the sky only to drop back down to earth and meandering among her careful guitar strumming. Weaving back a forth, notes sparkle under buoyant verses, and angelic melodies.

Environs by Roxanne Ignatius (http://roxanneignatius.com/)

$10 Adv at Circus Books and Music, Cask Music, Rotate This, and Soundscapes. $12 at the door

All Ages!

Free dinner with adv. ticket!

Facebook: ​https://www.facebook.com/events/290448144706123/

[feastintheeast]

FEAST IN THE EAST 60

Friday, January 20th 2017 at Matt Durant Studio (1401 Queen St. East)

This month features a free Dutch dinner by Borrel TO (https://borreltoronto.wordpress.com)

Music by:

MARE (https://mareband.bandcamp.com) Avant metal duo Mare celebrate the re-release of their masterpiece self titled EP and kick off their European tour with a rare Toronto appearance. The ever chameleon like duo moves from brutal drone metal into eruptions to technical fury to something that sounds like The Beach Boys at church. Haunting choral hymns float over gentle tones, soon morph into sludge metal riffage. Semrick-Palmateer's voice moves between jazz influenced coos and piercing hollows. Like some caged animal fighting for life amidst it's death throes it writhes and churns. Calculated guitar work folds in on itself in a clatter for choas and pounding drum patterns. This is the music of fever dreams, housing a plethora of moods, and delusional states. Not to be missed!

AYAHUASCA (https://ayahuasca.bandcamp.com/) Toronto sludge prog metal freaks mine the best of the past to create to create the most ripping jams of the future. Vocals hum like a restless spirit cruising through a past existence. Interwoven angular guitar notes dip into pysch territory while still evoking some rustic prog grandeur. Dynamic coos, explode into some 90's sludge shred infused chaos. Heavy full structures ring out, as the band contorts themselves into something new, always leaving enough space for interplay, and enough tension that you can't let go. A product of a non existent past.

RAPHAEL WEINROTH-BROWNE (https://raphaelweinroth-browne.bandcamp.com/) Toronto cellist, composer, and 1/2 of The Visit creates sparse foreboding landscapes with rich minimalist influenced romantic phrasing. Borrowing ideas from metal & refurbishing them as part of an avant shred heavy contemporay classical gesture. His forebodding & fraught tones move like wind in the shadows. Haunting movements teetering on the edge of reality.

MANTICORE (https://soundcloud.com/mmmanticore) Zoe Alexis-Abrams & David Jones touch the outer realms of alien communication with their duo Manticore. Haunting guitar tones shriek & twist as if letting go of some captive spirit. Like an unnatural wind meandering through an abandoned factory. Zoe’s voice hovers above these eerie manifestations, some times joining them in an alien chatter, almost creating a dialogue with the wayward phantoms. As captivating as it is versatile, her vocals occupy an adventurous, almost naive territory, as they stretch out their acrobatic routine in a venomous world.

Environs by Matthew Daley (http://www.shinypliers.com) & Matt Durant (http://mattdurant.com)

All Ages

$10 Adv at Circus Books and Music, Cask Music, Soundscapes and Rotate This $12 at the door

FREE dinner with adv ticket!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1813368782256800/

[feastintheeast]

FEAST IN THE EAST 59

Saturday, September 24th 2016 at Anchored Social Club.

This month features a free Szechuan Tofu Frybread dinner by Emily Zimmerman (Pear and Pepper).

Music By:

YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN (http://ytstlabs.com/) Psychedelic "noh-wave" ensemble Yamantaka // Sonic Titan unveils some new material in anticipation of their upcoming record! Melding operatic tendencies with the epic brutality of metal, while still encapsulating the buoyancy of prog, and folk traditions. Gurgling distortion rolls amongst rhythmic grooves. Layers of percussion, noise and vocals mingle in the growing tension before a heavy psych explosion. Synth tones hum, as Yamantaka creates new means in a patchwork of seemingly incongruous sonics. At times haunting beauty decomposes into pummeling riffage. Hancock synth mashing meets Melvins heaviness with Gorgio Moroder beats. Don't sleep!

VÖLUR (https://volur.bandcamp.com/) Folk doom trio featuring members of Blood Ceremony & Gates, merges distorted strings with thundering percussion. Hard treble screeches out over crushing bass, and blood curdling vocals. Sounding like some funeral march anthem from the fiery pits, group vocals unite in an occult hum. Borrowing from post rock, but using the obliterating language of their doom metal forefathers, Volur helps you become one with the flame. CVLT.

WHOOP-SZO (https://thenoisymountain.bandcamp.com/) Guelph shoegazer sludge sloggers, dance with rural folk references, juxtaposing rumbling walls of guitar dissonance & clattering cymbals with whispering vocals and reserved instrumental murmurs. An off kilter ode to 90's grunge, billowing guitars sound larger than life. Gnarled riffs crumble into thick feedbacks hums, gurgling the low end.

BODY ROT Jesse Laderoute (Blonde Elvis, Young Mother) gets gross with his solo industrial project. Dark electronics, foreboding, the lost meanderings of a trouble mind. Come early to help heal this sick soul.

Environs by YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN

All Ages!

$10 Adv at Circus Books and Music, Cask Music, Soundscapes and Rotate This. $12 at the door $15 with dinner

FREE dinner with adv. ticket!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/639558059544955/

[feastintheeast]

FEAST IN THE EAST 58

Saturday, July 9th 2016 at Prairie Drive Park.

This month takes place at Prairie Drive Park (121 Pharmacy Ave, just north of Danforth) from 5pm - 11pm on Saturday, July 9th 2016!

This edition features a free dinner by Stephanie Fielding & Heather Rule.

Music by:

DOOMSQUAD with NOT THE WIND, NOT THE FLAG (https://doomsquad.bandcamp.com/ and https://notthewindnottheflag.bandcamp.com/) Toronto psych trance ensemble team up with free improv. duo Not The Wind, Not The Flag for this special performance. Dark brooding synth tones with danceable beats provide a platform for hollow vocals whispers over industrial grooves. Rhythms morph and converse as psychedelic sax riffage melts into shivering guitar work. Cold passion drips from these freak beat jammers. Like the lost part music from some swamp planet in Star Wars. If the Talking Heads were a cold wave band on tour opening for Skinny Puppy. Manic phases burst out of loner headphone drones. Don't miss this rare collaboration!

ISLA CRAIG (http://islacraig.bandcamp.com/) Textural gentle soul music magician Isla Craig returns to Feast In The East. Her voice flows above like a cloud formation, filling all the empty space with it's volume. Layering over it's self, it takes you over, slowly permeating until it's presence is unavoidable. Guitar notes float in the background and a languorous rhythm section moves forward in an effortless groove, as if propelled by the waves of Isla's voice. The band tightens it's grip falling into funk rhythms, with jazz ideas buried in their undergrowth. A mystical simplistic beauty with a plethora of hidden layers that reveal themselves in a whisper. Psych-soul music at it's best.

PANTAYO (https://pantayo.bandcamp.com/) Toronto based all-women gong ensemble Pantayo creates music grounded in the kulintang traditions of Maguindanaon &T'boli peoples of the Philippines. Members Christine Balmes, Eirene Cloma, Michelle Cruz, Kat Estacio, Katrina Estacio, Marianne Rellin, and Joanna Delos Reyes mould these traditional rhythms with their own experiences, seeing kulintang gongs interact with synthesizers. Their music has an entrancing sway, an almost calming effect. Evocative of a tree dancing in the breeze. Methodical yet buoyant.

Environs by: Zoe Alexis-Abrams & Natalie Logan, Dmitry Bondarenko,Vanessa Rieger, and Joële Walinga

RAIN DATE: Saturday, July 16th

This Feast In The East is made possible through the support of Arts in the Parks and The Toronto Arts Foundation

Facebook: ​https://www.facebook.com/events/1112903288772373/