Hamilton Supercrawl
September 12 to 14
Torontonians don’t tend to like travelling outside the city for a festival (this summer’s Grove Festival, for instance, was forced to relocate from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Fort York), but Hamilton’s Supercrawl may be the antidote. The free three-day street fest gives us plenty of reasons to jump on the Go Train: Fucked Up, Yo La Tengo, METZ, Chelsea Light Moving, Passion Pit, Joel Plaskett, the Sadies. Need we go on? supercrawl.ca.
Junction Music Festival
various venues, September 21
The perennial up-and-coming (and formerly dry) Dundas West neighbourhood squeezes out the last bit of summer just before the first day of autumn. Five outdoor stages and a number of bars, restaurants and cafés play host to twangers Cuff the Duke, throwback rockers Zeus, Polaris-nominated R&B experimentalist Zaki Ibrahim, roving Gypsy punks Lemon Bucket Orkestra and others beaming with west-end pride. thejunctionmusicfestival.com.
Manifesto
various venues, September 19 to 22
Now in its seventh year, Manifesto celebrates hip-hop as an inclusive, multi-faceted cultural movement. This year’s Yonge-Dundas Square blowout features Souls of Mischief celebrating their 20th anniversary alongside quick-rising Def Jam soulstress Jhené Aiko, plus visual art, a dance party courtesy of Montreal powerhouse DJ Poirier, a producer showcase, community awards and whatever else fits under the umbrella. themanifesto.ca.
Bloor Ossington Folk Festival
various venues, September 20 to 22
Both “Ossington” and “folk” are a bit of a stretch for this multi-genre festival that takes place predominantly in Christie Pits park (plus a few nearby patios). Local sweethearts Julie Doiron and catl fall loosely under the folk banner, but the festival also gives us hip-hop (Grand Analog), liquid electro-rock (Pick a Piper) and rootsy Afrobeat (Minotaurs). bloorossingtonfolkfestival.ca.
X Avant New Music Festival VIII: This Is Our Music
Music Gallery, October 11 to 20
Experimental music that doesn’t neatly fit into a genre tends to get classified as “new music,” but this year’s X Avant takes that even further by focusing on “urban abstract music,” a multilingual, multidisciplinary jumble mimicking the sounds of Toronto itself. If that seems kind of heady, well, it is. But if you’re open to taking a chance on a six-hour “slow-motion rave” courtesy of FLUX Quartet or an A/V collaboration between Polaris-shortlisted electronic pow wow artists A Tribe Called Red and Inuit beatboxer/throat singer Nelson Tagoona (a co-presentation with ImagineNATIVE), then this is the perfect fall program for you. musicgallery.org.
