Outrunning the LLMs

Anne Waldman, Andrew Whiteman, Buck 65 + T.O. live music listings

Generative AI will make artists irrelevant, we’re told. Humans will become lazy and complacent, we’re told. But consider the myriad things that AI cannot do, and perhaps never will. (And consider it while taking a shit in the woods, as per this myth-busting piece about AI maximalism.)

AI is about giving you what you want to hear. Human creativity gives you what you don’t expect and didn’t even realize you wanted. Two new records by Hearts on Fire alumni do exactly that.

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Broken Social Scene is playing History on Saturday, the solstice, June 21. As the band enters its third decade, various side projects and solo projects continue to spill over (see: Amy Millan, just last week). One key member who hasn’t surfaced solo in a while, however, is guitarist Andrew Whiteman.

Whiteman, whose musical career dates back to the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir in the ’80s, made some of my favourite records of the 2000s as the Apostle of Hustle, and his duo with his partner Ariel Engle of La Force put out one of my favourite records of the next decade, under the name AroarA. He then scaled back his musical activity to go back to school to get a master’s in poetry, still playing with the less-active Broken Social Scene while Engle’s solo career took off.

The sole AroarA album, 2013’s In the Pines, was based on the poetry of Alice Notley, who died just last month. Twelve years later, Whiteman returns working with another legendary American poet, still very much alive.

Anne Waldman – Your Devotee in Rags

(Siren)

I ebb like the ocean / old age makes me strange / although I rant and rave / a lucky portion returns in high tide.

Lucky indeed.

Waldman turned 80 this year. She was born in Greenwich Village and has connections to several generations of American poets. Philistine that I am, I only know her because she was featured prominently in Ron Mann’s landmark 1982 film Poetry in Motion, where she was one of the most compelling performers amidst a cast of all-stars.

She me Andrew Whiteman not through Ron Mann, but through Hal Willner, the NYC scene-ius who made a career out of making connections between artists. “Wizard Hal Willner would be proud of us companions in the vibrational matrix,” writes Waldman in the press release.

“I met Andrew Whiteman, genius player, composer, scholar, in one of Hal’s unpredictable alchemical laboratories. We instantly bonded as mavens of poetry and its attendant orality, dedicated to the passion of epic life that is the source of this album, the 1000 plus pages of the feminist canto: Iovis Trilogy: Colors in the Mechanism of Concealment; passages plucked to be re-imagined in ambient explosive word-sound. On the Yantzse, in a strip club, a maelstrom of memory honoring precursor male poets, dressed in the rags of Celtic hags, so much more as mendicant, witty siren, compassionate lover, exploding empires of patriarchy and war. A kind of mythic hospitality.”

That about sums it up. Can’t compete with that.

Waldman’s words were meant to be performed, to be broadcast, to be shouted, to be whispered. They are clearly not meant to be confined to text.

In Whiteman, she’s met a formidable collaborator, a musician who believes in “sonic poetry,” an extension of what he was doing on 2009’s highly underrated Eats Darkness, the final Apostle of Hustle album (which still sounds great today, I just checked). This record takes that sound to its outer limits, playfully distorting and twisting all inputs in constantly surprising delicacies of audio collage. And not in an abstract, Negativland way, but one always focused on rhythm, even if it doesn’t always conform to meter.

Waldman is always up front; Whiteman is always complementary, never edging her out of the spotlight. I don’t know if making Waldman “accessible” to plebes like me is Whiteman’s goal, but if so, then mission accomplished.

And so I urge you to strap headphones on and take Waldman’s advice: Mount the brooms, witches!

Buck 65 – Keep Moving

(independent)

Buck 65 is having a highly productive midlife crisis. The latest record by this 53-year-old veteran is the youngest and hungriest he’s sounded in 25 years.

Having long abandoned any pop ambitions and his major-label days of the 2000s, which by his own admission flamed out completely, the Nova Scotian rapper spent much of the last decade staying quiet and focusing on his day job at CBC Music.

In 2022, he returned with three low-profile albums in 18 months, each one better than the last, leaning into his early days as a “weirdo magnet,” working mostly solo, assembling mind-bending sample-based collages that would make Kid Koala jealous and send Prince Paul’s head spinning. He also launched a Substack detailing his current creativity.

Keep Moving is, appropriately, fast and furious: 31 tracks, most of them under two minutes long, filled with funky breaks, surprising samples, and rapid-fire rhyme schemes that revel in the absurd and spit in the face of complacency. None of these beats would ever be mistaken for AI-generated slop.

I don’t think Buck 65 gets the historical respect he deserves, outside Cadence Weapon and Robert Christgau; it’s a deficit the rapper himself should rectify with these releases: “My style holds a strange appeal / But I’m like Rodney Dangerfield.”

Keep Moving reunites him with Sixtoo, his long-MIA collaborator in the Sebutones, the duo that first helped launch both of them out of Halifax in the late ’90s. Buck 65 can and will deliver records entirely on his own, but Sixtoo’s sonic sparkle elevates Keep Moving beyond its immediate predecessors.

Buck 65 has something to prove. Which he’s done here.

All news no snooze

Steven Leckie of pioneering Toronto punk band the Viletones died last week at 67. Kerry Doole at Billboard collects various memories and tributes to the man. Exclaim’s obit is here, with links to memories from Don Pyle and Fucked Up’s Damian Abraham (there’s a funny story about the Viletones and Fucked Up in Hearts on Fire).

The Toronto Star ran a brief story that failed to mention how Leckie’s chosen punk name in 1976 was Nazi Dog, something that would certainly contextualize how punk was so shocking at the time, an unfortunate legacy that I’m not sure the then-18-year-old Leckie ever lived down. Why the ahistorical omission? Too triggering? Too incorrect? Punk rock didn’t sprout into existence as some Strummer/Fugazi-esque utopia and it’s historically dangerous to whitewash that. I understand why most Leckie obits would bury that info further down into a story, but to leave it out entirely is irresponsible. Meanwhile, anyone remotely interested in this era needs to read Liz Worth’s Treat Me Like Dirt.

Colleague Stuart Berman plays tour guide for a Toronto Star piece about 2025 summer music festivals within driving distance from Toronto. Hit the road! (See you at Hillside.)

There’s a new book and documentary about the early days of the Winnipeg Folk Festival, reports Eva Wasney at the Free Press. The film was assembled from previously unusable Super 8 footage, saved by modern technology. The fest celebrates its 50th anniversary this summer. I’m intensely jealous that they got Gillian Welch and David Rawlings for it.

Jon Pareles at the NYT talks to Bruce Springsteen about the seven previously unreleased full albums that are about to drop. And the trailer for the biopic starring Jeremy Allen White just landed; I didn’t realize the film is based on Warren Zanes’s book about the making of Nebraska, specifically.

Billboard named the Beaches’ manager Laurie Lee Boutet “manager of the year,” which is an obvious choice when you consider how that band’s career is the Canadian Cinderella story of the last two years. Find out how she did it.

Jagmeet Singh went to see a Kendrick Lamar concert in Toronto last week. No big deal, right? Why wouldn’t he? Yet master narcissist Drake saw it as an affront to Canadian nationalism… or something, and called out Singh publicly. Easy enough to ignore, but the former federal NDP leader then… apologized?! I’ve voted NDP often in my life, but such suffocating sycophancy makes me glad Singh never became PM. Vinay Menon at the Star agrees.

A new Toronto hip-hop film, Boxcutter, is about a Regent Park rapper trying to recover a stolen laptop during a single day across the city, with cameos by Rich Kidd, Junia T and Clairmont the Second. Director Reza Dahya, a former FLOW 93.5 host, talks to Exclaim! and Range about wanting to create a great Toronto music movie. Boxcutter is currently playing at Scotiabank Theatre and is at the Revue Cinema July 5 and 9.

Quote of the week: “I don’t believe that it’s coherent to insist that the development of LLMs is more important than humans harnessing fire or electricity, or even that it ranks among the most important technological developments in human history, while being unwilling to trade access to LLMs for access to indoor plumbing.” – Freddie de Boer

T.O. SHOWS YOU SHOULD KNOW

An entirely subjective and by no means comprehensive look at Toronto’s concert calendar, tailored to musically curious people who are probably (but not necessarily) over 40. My strong recommendations in bold.

Suggestions welcome. So are advertisers! Each post gets more than 1.5K unique views. Drop me a line.

Don’t live in Toronto? Most of these artists are on tour, so check your local listings. Just kidding! There are no local listings anymore. Check the artists’ websites.

JUST ANNOUNCED (mark your calendars):

Shabason & Krgovich, Karen Ng, Arma Agharta, Sparkling Water: June 29 at Carlton Park (north of Dupont and Edwin), 4 p.m. Very chill picnic vibes, kid-friendly.

Evan Redsky, Shane Ghostkeeper: July 23 at Baby G

Sun Kil Moon: Aug 21 at Lee’s Palace

Kula Shaker: Sept 18 at Mod Club

Jacques Greene, Nosaj Thing: Sept 20 at Mod Club

Devo, the B-52s: Sept 24 at Ontario Place Ampitheatre

All Things Go festival: Oct 3-4 at Ontario Place Ampitheatre. Lineup TBA but the NYC version of this fest has featured Janelle Monae, Chappell Roan, Lana del Rey, Hozier, etc.

David Byrne: Oct 23 at Massey Hall (third show added)

Fruit Bats (solo): Oct 29 at Longboat Hall

The Barr Brothers: Nov 22 at Danforth Music Hall

The Dears: Nov 28 at Lee’s Palace. New album soon, new single out now. #HeartsOnFire

54.40, Kandle: Nov 29 at Danforth Music Hall #HaveNotBeentheSame

The Tea Party, Headstones, Finger Eleven: Dec 5 at Great Canadian Casino (Downsview)

Drum Tao (taiko): Jan 16 at Massey Hall

Tonight and every night!:

The Tranzac and Drom Taberna boast several acts a night and have the most eclectic lineups — just go! The equally busy Cameron House has mostly roots vibes; jazz is always happening at the Rex Hotel. Jazzintoronto.ca’s Instagram page has essential daily jazz listings at various venues. Check out the eclectic lineup at the micro-intimate Sellers & Newel bookstore. For the best in Toronto’s Latin and Caribbean scene, check Lula Lounge. East-enders: always something on at Castro’s or Sauce on the Danforth or jazz at Hirut.

Coming this week:

Open Thread (feat. Peggy Lee and Dylan Van Der Schyff): June 19 at Sellers & Newel

Vopli Vidopliassova, Lemon Bucket Orchestra: June 19 at Lee’s Palace. Headliner is Ukrainian rock band from the ’80s. Opener could sell out this venue on their own.

Something Else Festival: June 19-22 in Hamilton. Featuring Myra Melford, Susie Ibarra, Pantayo, Eucalyptus, more. Details here. Carl Wilson’s guide and appreciation is here.

DJ Shub: June 20 at Fort York 7 p.m. Part of Indigenous Arts Festival. Details here.

Jazz at Lincoln Center feat. Wynton Marsalis: June 20 at Massey Hall

Ariane Morin’s Balkan Brass: June 20 at Drom Taberna 8 p.m.

ZZ Top, the Wallflowers: June 20 at Pickering Casino, June 21 at Great Canadian Casino (Rexdale), June 22 at Hamilton Place

John Southworth: June 20 at Tranzac 7 p.m.

City and Colour, Joel Plaskett: June 20 at Ontario Place Ampitheatre. Performing Sometimes for its 20th anniversary. #HeartsOnFire

Rich Brown’s Eartheart: June 20-21 at the Rex

On Their Shoulders, tribute to African-Canadian music w/ Shakura S’Aida, Sate, Ada Lee, Jackie Richardson, Joe Sealy, Molly Johnson, Jay Douglas, more: June 21 at Koerner Hall

Snotty Nose Rez Kids: June 21 at Fort York 8 p.m. Part of Indigenous Arts Festival. Details here.

Farida Amadou & Karen Ng, Chik White, Naomi McCarroll-Butler: June 21 at Collective Arts

Petite Amie: June 21 at Drom Taberna 11.30 p.m. Psych-pop from Mexico City.

Arkells, Portugal the Man, Valley: June 21 at Hamilton Stadium

Jeremy Dutcher with Toronto Symphony Orchestra: June 21 at Roy Thomson Hall

Sunflower Bean: June 21 at the Garrison

Broken Social Scene: June 21 at History #HeartsOnFire. Review of their new doc here.

Ashley MacIsaac: June 21 at Hugh’s Room

The Roots: June 21 at Rebel 6 p.m. Early show because I’m sure Questlove has to do some 10-hour DJ set afterwards somewhere.

Blood Ceremony, Freeways: June 21 at Lee’s Palace. Brampton comes alive for the opening act on this bill, a shockingly good retro act that sounds like all the best parts of Harlequin and Iron Maiden rolled into one galloping good time with wailing dual-lead guitars, rich harmonies and chops to spare. Total time warp, in the best way.

Colleen Green: June 22 at Sound Garage (Blood Brothers Brewing)

Anna Gréta: June 22 at Drom Taberna 8 p.m. Icelandic-Swedish jazz chanteuse, latest album covers Bill Evans.

Kevin Breit’s Brighter Days (with tenor sax trio): June 22-23 at the Rex

Deerhoof: June 22-23 at St. Ann’s Parish (Dundas/Dufferin)

Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog: June 23 at Hugh’s Room. Really great long-form profile in the Guardian, a must-read for Tom Waits fans in particular.

Sam Amidon w/ Thom Gill and Philippe Melanson: June 23 at Great Hall

Mavis Staples: June 23 at Winter Garden Theatre. The legend turns 86 next month. If you’ve never seen her…

Kepler: June 23-24 at Sellers & Newel. This is not the math-rock Canadian band of the ’90s; it is a French jazz band.

Arooj Aftab: June 24 at Koerner Hall

Phoenix Pagliacci: June 24 at OLG Stage, Toronto Jazz Festival 8.30 p.m. Highly underrated rapper/singer, formerly of the Sorority with Haviah Mighty and Lex Leosis. This album is a year old now, but new to me, and really looking forward to seeing it live.

Mumford and Sons: June 24 at Ontario Place Ampitheatre

Almost Famous: June 24 at Revue Cinema 6.30 p.m.

Adrian Sutherland: June 25 at Hugh’s Room

Hist Og: June 25 at Drom Taberna 8 p.m. Icelandic electro-jazz.

Makaya McCraven: June 25 at Axis the Mod Club

Kyp Harness, Sarah Greene: June 25 at the Local (Roncesvalles)

Kneebody: June 25-26 at the Rex

Peach Pit, Briston Maroney: June 26 at Ontario Place Ampitheatre

Bill Frisell / Rudy Royston / Thomas Morgan: June 26 at Hugh’s Room

Bonnie Trash: June 26 at the Garrison

The Mahones: June 26 at the Horseshoe

Key summer dates

Devo: June 30 at History

Mariposa Festival: July 4-6 at Tudhope Park, Orillia. Details here.

Afrofest: July 4-6 at Woodbine Park. Details here.

“Weird Al” Yankovic, Puddles Pity Party: July 9 at Ontario Place Ampitheatre

Four Winds MusicFest: July 11-13 in Durham, Ontario. Details here.

Pup: July 14-19 at increasingly larger Toronto venues, with different openers. Details here.

Wu-Tang Clan, Run the Jewels: July 14 at Raptors/Leafs Arena.

Beck with Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Molly Lewis: July 18-19 at Roy Thomson Hall.

Hillside Festival: July 18-20 at Guelph Island. Daily schedule here.

Wavelength Summer Thing: July 19 at Prairie Drive Park in Scarborough (near Victoria Park subway station). Details here.

Cyndi Lauper: July 27 at Ontario Place Ampitheatre. Final leg of final tour (apparently).

Cymande: July 29 at Concert Hall.

TV on the Radio: Aug 1 at History

Electric Eclectics Festival: Aug 1-3 in Meaford

Summerfolk: Aug 15-17 in Owen Sound

Elora Riverfest: Aug 15-17 in Elora

Neil Young & Chrome Hearts: Aug 17 & 19 at Ontario Place Ampitheatre.

LCD Soundsystem: Aug 22-24 at History.

Nine Inch Nails: Aug 23 at Raptors/Leafs Arena

Blue Rodeo, Allison Russell, Aysanabee: Aug 23 at Ontario Place Ampitheatre. #HaveNotBeentheSame

Do Make Say Think: Aug 23 at the Concert Hall #HeartsOnFire

Sloan, Kathleen Edwards: Aug 28 at Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington #HaveNotBeentheSame #HeartsOnFire

More Toronto concert listings until May 2026 are here and updated weekly for paid subscribers.

Here come the regulars

Every Monday: Tranzac open stage, 6.30 p.m. (Sign up at 6 p.m.)

Every Monday: Sean McCarthy’s Taproom Gang (trad jazz) at Steadfast Brewing 7 p.m.

2nd Monday of every month: Martin Loomer & His Orange Devils (big band swing) at Monarch Tavern

3rd Monday of every month: Whitney Smith BigSteam 17 (big band swing) at Monarch Tavern

Every Tuesday: Julian Fauth at Sauce on the Danforth 6.30 p.m.

Every Tuesday: swing night at Drom Taberna

1st Tuesday of every month: Nick Fraser’s Peripheral Vision at Tranzac 9.30 p.m.

1st Wednesday of every month: Holy Oak Family Singers at Tranzac 7 p.m.

3rd Wednesday of every month: Toronto Klezmer Society Epic Jam at Tranzac 9.30 p.m. Come join! Details here.

Every Thursday: Strangetooth (bluegrass) at Tranzac 7 p.m.

Every Thursday: Good Enough Karaoke (live band) at Wheat Sheaf Tavern

Every Thursday: Corin Raymond at Cameron House, 6 p.m.

1st Thursday of every month: Run with the Kittens at Cameron House 10 p.m.

2nd Thursday of every month: Jesse Greene & Jay Bleus with Terry Wilkins & Al Cross at Grossman’s 9.30 p.m.

Last Thursday of every month: Karen Ng presents at Tranzac 9.30 p.m.

Last Thursday of every month: Lori Yates at Motel (Dufferin/Queen) 9 p.m.

Last Thursday of every month: Open stage at Grossman’s 8.30 p.m. (sign up at 7 p.m.)

1st Friday of every month: Alex Samaras at Tranzac 7.30 p.m.

2nd Friday of every month: Colette Savard & the Savants at Tranzac 7.30 p.m.

Last Friday of every month: Ryan Driver Sextet at Tranzac 9.30 p.m.

Every Saturday: Neon Eagle at the Rex, 5.30 p.m.

Every Saturday: Michael Louis Johnson and the Red Rhythm at Communist’s Daughter 4 p.m.

Every Saturday: Robertson & Kerr at Cameron House 8.30 p.m.

1st Saturday of every month: John Borra at Cameron House 6 p.m.

1st Saturday of every month: Lori Yates and Soozi Schlanger at Tranzac 7:30 p.m.

1st Saturday of every month: The Lyrical Living Room feat. Wordburglar at Tranzac 10 p.m.

3rd Saturday of every month: Don Rooke & Kevin Breit at Tranzac 7.30 p.m.

1st Sunday of every month: Dave Clark (Rheostatics, Woodshed Orchestra) presents new songwriters at Tranzac, 7.30 p.m.

Last Sunday of every month: Sympathetic String Band (Isla Craig and Carl Didur) at Tranzac 7.30 p.m.

Last Sunday of every month: Friendly Rich & the Lollipop People at Cameron House 7 p.m.

Every Sunday: Eastern European Brunch at Drom Taberna 1-4 p.m.

Every Sunday: John Borra at Communist’s Daughter 5 p.m.

Every Sunday: Paul Reddick at the Rex 5.30 p.m.

Every Sunday: Doghouse Orchestra at Cameron House, 10 p.m.

Are you over 40 and/or did you grow up with freeform radio?

If so, curated Toronto concert listings from now until May 2026—are here for paid subscribers, and updated weekly.

Be kind to each other.

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