LEE RANALDO & LEAH SINGER, MICHAEL GORDON, TIM HECKER and others as part of X Avant at the Music Gallery (197 John) and Polish Combatants Hall (206 Beverley), Tuesday to Sunday (October 18-?23). $25-?$30, festival pass $85. RT, SS, TW. musicgallery.org. See listing.
Sequestered away from the numerous summer festivals, the Music Gallery’s X Avant fest explores more experimental territory, giving the curious a chance to hear new music by familiar faces or discover an artist for the first time.
Curated by Jonathan Bunce (also known as Wavelength co-director Jonny Dovercourt), this year’s festival, subtitled Tales Of Two Cities, includes an impressive array of artists who straddle the worlds of new and popular music, including Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, German electronic artist Oval (both on Friday, October 21 Oval’s Markus Popp also gives a lecture on Saturday, October 22) and London, Ontario, noise pioneers the Nihilist Spasm Band (Sunday, October 23). The lineup reflects the diverse tastes of the Music Gallery’s audiences, which Bunce has worked hard to grow and cultivate.
In the interest of full disclosure, it should be known that Bunce is my friend and neighbour and that we once shared an office. This familiarity made it easy to get together over coffee to discuss the festival, which will be Bunce’s final event as the Music Gallery’s artistic director after nine years with the organization.
“I conceived of the idea [for X Avant] around 2005/06, which was a tumultuous year at the Music Gallery,” Bunce recalls, preferring to talk about the festival rather than his reasons for leaving. “They had a financial crisis, and some senior staff left. There was a leadership gap, and I was asked to step up and become the interim director. There were some great things about the way they organized their concert series, but I felt it needed to be finessed.
“I learned a lot from Jim Montgomery, who was the AD before me. He tried to bring a lot to the Gallery. His main love is contemporary classical, but he hosted a free jazz series and a world music series. He invited me to start my own series, which I named Pop Avant.”
When Bunce decided it would be smart to host one big event that connected all the genres comprising the Music Gallery’s programming, X Avant was born. That inaugural fest included Brooklyn indie rock oddballs Dirty Projectors (who have since gone on to work with Björk) and avant-garde video/sound artist Tony Conrad. X Avant is now in its sixth year.
“I feel like the current edition is very much in line with the first edition in terms of the mix of genres,” Bunce says.
He’s tight-lipped about his new projects, but feels Tales Of Two Cities X Avant is the ideal way to say goodbye to an organization he has in many ways revitalized or at least introduced to a broader audience.
“It’s funny that it’s my swan song as artistic director, because I’m a guitarist, and you can tell that a guitarist programmed this festival. It’s the thread that runs through everything: Tim Brady’s 20 Guitars, obviously, and Lee Ranaldo’s Swinging Guitar. Even one of Michael Gordon’s pieces, Trance, is led by an electric bass. It’s like a math rock symphony.
“And it’s the music I really like.”
