Gracing The Stage

Laura Barrett, sensibly dressed for the commute to tonight's Horseshoe gig (though the lady does need some mittens)

Old Man Winter is dumping on Toronto at the moment. For some people, the weather will guarantee they’re staying in and watching  American Idol’s karaoke warblers. If you’ve access to the TTC, though, or live in the downtown core, and actually care to see some true musical talent, there’s a triple bill of great Toronto musical artists at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern this evening.

First on the bill, and starting at 9pm, is Laura Barrett. Consistently mentioned by Canadian music critics as an emerging and idiosyncratic national treasure, Barrett possesses the rare ability to lull a rock club into revered quiet with her glimmering soprano, and her dazzlingly complex compositions. Accompanied by members of The Bicycles for this show, Barrett will be playing her signature instrument, the “thumb piano”, or kalimba. But she’ll also be breaking out some of the keyboard-composed songs from her full length debut album “Victory Garden” (released by Paper Bag Records last fall) , like the carnival-esque, whirling tune “Chidiya“.

Laura Barrett – Chidiya

This will be Barrett’s last Toronto show in some time, as this weekend, she leaves our warm environs to go somewhere REALLY cold. She’ll be spending a month in the Yukon, at an artist’s residency in Dawson City, working on material for a new album.

(More about songstress Valery Gore, and Toronto’s “Jewish Legend” Josh Reichmann, including a terrific summer tune to blast away the winter blues, after the jump.) Read more…

There’s a whole bunch of options to see some fascinating music this evening in Toronto, and two of them are as cheap as you can get.

Timbre Timbre is playing a FREE in-store set at Soundscapes tonight at 7pm. I’m a huge fan of the Soundscapes in-store series; they have a history of inviting some of Toronto’s best indie acts, like Constantines, Gentleman Reg, Broken Social Scene, and many more, to squeeze into the back of the store and play for a crowd of savvy music fans (they’ve also had some terrific out of towners, like Gruff Rys of Super Furry Animals, Iron and Wine, and Of Montreal).

(Above, Andre Ethier playing Soundscapes among the CD stacks. More on tonight’s musical offerings after the break). Read more…