A BRIGHTER PLACE
Amélie Beyries’ tuneful prelude among live music highlights of the week, Concert Sampler,
Beyries
Montrealer Amélie Beyries’ short set is scheduled for 8 p.m., before meditation and yoga, and even if it’ll amount to just a brief glimpse into her world she seems an inspired choice, given this Lole Tour’s healthand-wellness themes. Her debut album Landing, for instance, is pretty piano-based pop and folk well told — given that it arrived following Beyries overcoming two bouts with cancer, it’s been an emerging out of darkness and into the light as well. First single “Soldier,” written during a break from chemotherapy treatment, is all about turning the page to a brighter place — mat included. Prepare for a gentle, tuneful prelude to sundown. (Thursday, Exhibition Place, gates 6:15 p.m. )
CO/NTRY
Beaver Sheppard fell in with fellow Newfoundlander David Whitten as Country (now CO/NTRY, as of this year’s Cell Phone 1 release) working Montreal’s after-hours scene and they’re never shaken off the bleary eyes and not-giving-a-toss attitude . . . until this show, perhaps. They suggest in emails that their synth-y, groovy, ravey ’80s-styled dance-pop and bizarro wardrobe choices may have run their course — “Trying to ‘make it’ as a band, networking, forcing relationships with the right people . . . it slowly pours cement on that flow until all you’re left with is a chunk of concrete,” Whitten says. Montrealers Hoan and Toronto trio Dorothea Paas add to the twisted allure of this warm-up for next month’s flooded-out Camp Wavelength, rebranded and repackaged on the mainland as Day Camp in the City. (Saturday, Monarch Tavern, 9 p.m. )
Red Baraat
Mustachioed bandleader Sunny Jain’s double-headed dhol drum is the centrepiece of the polyrhythmic howitzer this Brooklyn eight-piece delivers. Their bhangra-funk fusion was around for this Beaches annual six years ago, but the addition a couple of years ago of a rocking guitar among the brass and percussion has upped the ampage and electrified the party vibe, making Red Baraat a pretty solid pick as the 9 p.m. headliners for Saturday’s program. That’s on the same OLG main stage that on Friday has New York house trio Tortured Soul finishing a night of DJ and disco fare including past Sampler pick Tush, and with Sunday’s finale has blues vets MonkeyJunk and Paul Reddick. (Friday 5 p.m., Saturday 1 p.m., Sunday noon, Woodbine Park) X, UIC and Pow Wows L.A. band are on their 40th anniversary tour and if anyone deserves a long-awaited payday it’s this bunch. Frontwoman Exene Cervenka and guitarist Billy Zoom have persevered through health setbacks and with rhythm section bandmates John Doe and D.J. Bonebrake the foursome has managed to stay intact and more than able to deliver a potent showcase of punkabilly romps, including the old signature tune. The night’s geezer-rock theme continues down the card with Exeter punk vets UIC, who delivered a scorching reunion show at the Horseshoe last September, with Toronto garage outfit the Pow Wows the newbies, at least relatively, starting it off. (Sunday, Danforth Music Hall, doors 7 p.m. ) Hurray for the Riff Raff As a teenager, Bronx-bred Alynda Segarra ran away to New Orleans to chase her muse, becoming the leader of this collective that through four albums and touring planted itself firmly on Americana’s high ground. But with another journey, this one back to her roots in Puerto Rico, Segarra found a new voice for this year’s acclaimed LP The Navigator. The album suite tells her story via politically charged anthems and near-allegory rather than straight autobiography, running over and beyond that rootsy path she’s travelled. It all brings her here as a fullfledged protest singer with band in tow that’s coming in for its biggest T.O. show yet. (Tuesday, Great Hall, doors 8 p.m. ) Mappe Of Debut LPs don’t usually arrive with this much momentum — debut performances, almost never. But that’s where it lies with this unveiling, even unmasking, of Mappe Of, neé Tom Meikle of Whitby, who through the buildup has managed to retain an air of mystery — much is revealed through a listen of elegiac lead track “Cavern’s Dark” that sweetly lays out the constellation that makes up A Northern Star, A Perfect Stone. It’s Meikle’s sweet and warming acoustic guitar and reverbing near-falsetto that sit at the poles — coming just a couple nights before Fleet Foxes camp at Massey Hall, here’s your de facto warm-up show from the new electro-folk guy in town. (Wednesday, Drake Underground, 8 p.m. )