Summerworks Festival 2009: The Music Series
When Artistic Director Michael Rubenfeld took the reins of the Summerworks Festival last year, one of the most wide-reaching changes to the festival he instituted was opening it up to performance art (The Summerworks Performance Gallery) and live music (The Music Series).
Bob Wiseman was on the bill for the inaugural Summerworks Music Series last year; this year, the multi-faceted performer is presenting a show in the theatre series, "Actionable".
The inuagural 2008 Summerworks Music Series had a stellar line-up, programmed by Baudelaire record label founder Evan Newman; between Newman and Rubenfeld, they were able to book some of the hottest Toronto acts, including The Rural Alberta Advantage (who’ve exploded in the past year thanks to raves for their SXSW shows this spring, and a glowing review on Pitchfork), Gentleman Reg (who’s also been getting a lot of attention for his recent release on the Arts and Crafts label, “Pitch Black”), and The Diableros.
I was honoured to write profiles of most of the music acts on the Summerworks blog last year, at Michael’s request. I haven’t had time to do the same this year, being focused on my own site, but there’s been some really great coverage by some of their staff members, including interviews with Rajiv Thavanathan of On No Forest Fires, DD/MM/YYYY, and Matthew Barber, who is one of the few returning acts from last year’s Music Series.
This year’s line-up is equally jaw-droppingly good, due in no small part to Michael’s inspired selection of Eric Warner to curate this year’s festival. Warner’s no stranger to programming first rate music festivals; he launched the Over the Top Festival before he was even of drinking age, and for the 2009 Music Series, he’s not only landed some of the city’s best independent local acts, but he’s also scored some of the hottest acts from Montreal, too, including Miracle Fortress (shortlisted for the 2008 Polaris Prize) and Think About Life (long-listed for the 2009 Polaris Prize).
There’s still plenty of incredible bands on the slate for this weekend’s shows, including Thursday’s double bill of The D’Urbervilles and Forest City Lovers, Friday’s of The Josh Reichmann Oracle Band and The Sunparlour Players ( SPP delivered an awe-inspiring performance at the festival launch and during the Music Series last year), and a fantastic triumphant return home for Great Bloomers (recently touted by Gordon Lightfoot as one of the best new music acts in Canada), and Germans, who’ve been touring North America and Europe in 2009, and will be playing their first local show in over a year.
You can listen to terrific tracks from all of the artists on the Summerworks site via their embedded player, but here’s a few more goodies, including a video from Think About Life, whose set last Friday just about brought the roof down on the Theatre Centre.
Josh Reichmann Oracle Band – Sea at Night
Great Bloomers – Young Ones Slept
