TONE SHOWS
MESTIZX (Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti & Frank Rosaly) + MAS AYA + ARTU
Friday, June 20th 2025 / 8pm @ Tranzac (292 Brunswick Ave.)
Co-presented with Uma Nota
MESTIZX (bandcamp)
Amsterdam based Multi-media performer & vocalist Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti teams up with Chicago expat avant jazz percussionist Frank Rosaly, for a collaborative project that mines sonic influences from their shared Latin roots (Bolivian, Brazilian & Puerto Rican respectively), to weave an aural collection of auto-biographic accounts. Pre & post-colonial Latin rhythms infect a stew of Chicago school avant jazz / avant rock tendencies steeped in the traditions of bomba, plena, cumbia & Andean musics. Mestizx cultivates a sound that weaves together past, present and future paths into a rich tapestry where folk resonances slip into electronic interludes with improvised flourishes and avant jazz meanderings. Minimal contemplative movements give way to art punk bombast that calls for action. Rosaly’s percussive sense goes deep and is on full showcase here as it dances with Ibelisse’s lyricism. Tackling the effects of colonialism on history, geography, identity, and the human path from a personal lens, Mestizx finds power in the connectivity of sonic storytelling. They arrive in Toronto celebrating their debut recording on International Anthem.
MAS AYA (bandcamp)
Mas Aya is the solo project of Brandon Miguel Valdivia (Not The Wind, Not The Flag, Picastro, The Cosmic Range, Lido Pimienta), a Nicaraguan-Canadian drummer, percussionist, flautist, composer and producer. Mas Aya aims to meld music from various parts of the world and from different periods of time: from Indonesia to Cuba, from shamanic and ritualistic musical practices to contemporary popular music styles. Using his training in Western Classical Music and experience as Percussionist well versed in a wide array of Traditional Musics from around the world his work reflects a deep artistic experimentation and spiritual expression. Repetition, patience and contemplation play with dance, intensity and celebration creating a music from nowhere in particular and from everywhere, from neither here nor there. Flutes, drums, seeds, bells, synths, air, water.
ARTU (bandcamp)
New Toronto Brazilian Canadian crew ARTU create melancholic tropicalia guided by swaying rhythms dotted with percussive accents. Psych laden guitar tones meander around cymbal chimes and carefully plucked violin strings. The quartet flexes as it transitions into moody bossa territory, seamlessly cleaning up it’s more psychedelic edges with smooth vocal coos, luscious organ and guitar chords that melt over each other. With two killer singles out on Toronto based label Local Dish don’t sleep on catching the vibe live!
FARIDA AMADOU & KAREN NG + CHIK WHITE + NAOMI McCARROLL-BUTLER
Saturday, June 21st 2025 / 8pm @ Collective Arts (777 Dundas St. West)
FARIDA AMADOU & KAREN NG (bandcamp)
Belgium self taught electric bassist Farida Amadou returns to Toronto after her pummelling and beautiful set at for TONE in 2023. She arrives supporting her newest record “When It Rains It Pours” which sees her experimental approach to the bass hit a new level of clarity through chaos. Farida builds drone influenced landscapes where notes ripple under their own weight, either getting crushed by others or slowly dying out. Farida twists and mutates heavy bass tones into baths of distorted dust. Glitched soundscapes of angular chunks bounce against each other in a confined low frequency zone. Her compositions have an organic texture to them, meditative with an underlying punk energy. She has collaborated with the likes of Thurston Moore, Peter Brotzmann, and many other heavy hitters of the European avant-garde scene, but for this performance she will be joined by Toronto’s own improvising saxophonist Karen Ng.
CHIK WHITE (bandcamp)
Long running Nova Scotia experimentalist and composer Darcy Spidle brings his chik white project back to Toronto. Often a home for his avant-garde jaw harp and vocal work, which turned up ears with it’s raw textural soundscapes and punk feel, he now turns his attention to the acoustic guitar with the same fervour. His latest outing “clowning the town” sees him pair gasping acoustic guitar notes with raw vocalizations. Sparse improvisations expose the playful nature of Spidle’s playing with winking clusters of strings dancing together, juxtaposed with eerie minimalist rhythmic marches that only lead to self decay. Strained vocalizations almost mock his own guitar playing, but reveal a grotesque and captivating pairing of timbres that feel inescapable. The sounds of demonic possession through to exorcism. Certainly one of the most visceral & captivating performers around chik white reaches deep inside and finds the inch you didn’t know you had. Not to be missed!
NAOMI McCARROLL-BUTLER (website)
Naomi McCarroll-Butler is a saxophonist, clarinetist, and instrument maker based in Montreal. They are interested the elegance of the overtone series, breathwork in the unique somatic journey of trans and gender-non-conforming people, and the creation of trance environments through drone, repetition and fluid tuning systems.
TARA CLERKIN TRIO + SLOW ATTACK ENSEMBLE + POTIONS
Saturday, September 13th 2025 / 8pm @ Collective Arts (777 Dundas St. West)
TARA CLERKIN TRIO (bandcamp)
Bristol, UK crew Tara Clerkin Trio bring their downtempo jazz inspired avant pop to Toronto for the first time. Their last two records on World of Echo, "On The Turning Ground & "In Spring" live at a rich crossroads of musical ideas and have been flipping heads since they landed. Whimsically languid songs embrace dub and electronic influences that guide their unrushed structures forward. Tara's voice floats on top of errant piano notes, treading beats and shaky electronic touches. The trio moves like a fluid entity as they seamlessly juxtapose sparse sonic textures with the glowing full landscapes of electronic & acoustic sound they become. Though reminiscent of Stereolab and UK sounds of the 90's at times, Tara Clerkin Trio reassembles the elements to create an inviting sonic world all their own.
SLOW ATTACK ENSEMBLE (bandcamp)
Minimalist electronic experimenter and one half of You'll Never Get To Heaven, Chuck Blazevic's Slow Attack Ensemble joins us for a rare live performance. His subtle ambient soundscapes evolve with the soft creeping drift of errant fog as digital delay pulls playful tones out of sampled guitar notes. Hypnotic sounds stretch and warble as if on some cosmic conveyor belt. Slow Attack Ensemble creates an aural world on the verge of mutation, capturing the moment of transformation in its miniature sonic details. Their 2020 record "Music for Turntable, Guitars and Sampled Instruments" still looms large on the platters of today. Don't miss this minimal maverick at work!
POTIONS (bandcamp)
Toronto free folk quartet create meandering songs that flow like a patchwork quilt. Intentionally built, but full of human variance, improvised flourishes and musical side quests that feed into the general sonic mythology of this cohesive unit. Vocals and guitar strings dance together almost mimicking each other in a playfully imperfect way. Electronic elements feel organic as they mingle with acoustic guitar notes and gentle vocals. This music feels like it's the next generation of the Toronto outsider / avant songs scene!
