CONCERT SAMPLER
Live music highlights from April 17 to 23:
Thursday
Emm Gryner. She writes, she sings, she juggles band duties with folk trio Trent Severn and the 10-album catalogue of her admirably indie solo career will be well represented here in a fan-assisted set list she describes as “a one-on-one trip back to the vintage Emm days.” (Rivoli, doors 7 p.m.)
Rachel Sermanni. Lassie from the Scottish highlands is already a rising star at home and well on the way to conquering this side of the pond, including T.O. An assured live performer who’s toured with the likes of Elvis Costello and John Grant, and jammed with Mumford & Sons, she should absolutely own this room. (Drake Underground, 8 p.m.) Friday
Jorg Widmann. The Munich-based virtuoso clarinetist can range all over the musical map, from Romantic to contemporary, from Beethoven to his own compositions, from orchestra to chamber and ensemble. This evening’s portrait concert features six of his works, including Widmann conducting the New Music Concerts Ensemble in the Canadian premiere of his Freie Stucke, 10 “free pieces” for ensemble or small orchestra. (Betty Oliphant Theatre, 8 p.m.) Saturday
Absolutely Free. A little while back these merry pranksters did a performance for Chart Attack aside the Toronto JCC pool. This’ll be a little more conventional than that, at least in terms of venue and it’s in the Junction and it’s absolutely free, as in gratis, so to be honest it ticks all the Sampler’s west-end ’hood, tightwad boxes. (3030 Dundas West, doors 9 p.m.) 5 Seconds of Summer. As of this writing only the soundtrack from Frozen stood between the young Aussie foursome’s leadoff EP She Looks So Perfect and the top of the Billboard LP chart. Fresh off a short tour of Europe and ready to take over North America on this flag-planting visit, they score high on cute, whether it’s their look or their sound, as frothy and scrubbed as a pint of Foster’s Light. (Sound Academy, doors 7 p.m.) Sunday
Mount Eerie, Wyrd Visions. As Mount Eerie, Phil Elverum is well into his second decade of making music and art that’s wonderfully evocative of the rain-soaked, peaty landscape of his U.S. Pacific Northwest home. Local visionary Colin Bergh, as Wyrd Visions has but one studio LP from eight years ago in the stark, spooky Half-Eaten Guitar — out of print for some time, Elverum’s label has remastered and repackaged it and this is the coming-back party. (Soybomb, 8 p.m.) Monday
Kadavar. Berlin threesome wears their throwback Sabbath influences proudly and with some commitment: it’s evident in the heft of their hardrock riffage, their insistence on vintage 1970-era equipment, the intensity of their hairiness. Wear armour, just in case. (Horseshoe, doors 8:30 p.m.) Tuesday
Loop. Reunions can be . . . interesting. No, really. There are the outright cash grabs. The dubious classicalbum replays. The passive-aggressive “let’s do this and say it’s just a one-off.” Count among the last group this culty, late-’80s psych band from Croydon, south of London. They could be anything, having left three albums behind of brooding, stonerific stuff; the trick now comes in the retelling. Leader Robert Hampson brought back their last configuration as a foursome for this small set of gigs and fests, “then we can put it to rest with a better feeling of completion.” (Wrongbar, 9 p.m.) Wednesday
Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs. London duo of Golightly and partner Lawyer Dave favour basic blues-rock and, of late, on new record All Her Fault, explore country, with varying results. Still, the stompers do stomp and they’ve always been all about a party live, and as such, with Golightly’s distinctive vocals lighting the way, they should fit this place like a glove in the face. (And like most of the nights this week, there’s a choice to be made, in this case something of a mirror image, with erstwhile country-leaning Jessica Lea Mayfield bringing in her newly amped-up guitar rock over at the Garrison.) (Horseshoe, doors 8:30 p.m.)