> CONCERT SAMPLER
Live music highlights from Jan. 26 to Feb. 1.
Kid Koala Montrealer Eric San does more than sample, scratch and spin — his past parties ranged on the activity scale from lie-down headphone chillouts all the way up to broiling festival slots. This latest visit for three club nights on Queen St. nods more toward the former, and born out of his Music to Draw To series has him coming in with community and energy top of mind.
Plans call for audience participation in helping perform spacey new composition Satellite via 50 play-stations equipped with turntables, vinyl records and effects pedals set up around the room — at minimum it should be an interesting exercise in DIY, and with a second show added for each day after initially selling out evening slots, adventuresome types have already signed on. (Thursday/ Friday 8 & 10 p.m., Saturday 3 & 6 p.m., Rivoli)
Isaiah Rashad Amid a long list of rap and R&B options to consider from near and far coming in this week, the 25-year-old rhymer from Tennessee could well get lost in the shuffle. That’d be a shame.
The Sun’s Tirade, the summer 2016 LP that brings him in for his biggest show yet, is just his second project, but he’s already got a leg up on the field as he versifies his own addiction battles. It’s no downer, though, exploring themes such as neighbourhood and fatherhood with cleareyed, at times even sunny abandon. (Thursday, Phoenix, doors 8 p.m.)
Mogwai Scottish post-rock titans have in the last decade moved seamlessly into soundtracks, including last year’s climate-change doc Before the Flood, zombified French TV series Les Revenants and a multi-viewed look at a game in the life of soccer legend Zinedine Zidane. For their first show in Toronto in three years, they’re to perform their score for Atomic, the 2015 BBC documentary on the nuclear age. The doc’s subtitle — Living in Promise and Dread — fits well with the band’s ominous, shimmering wall of sound and these brooding times. As ever, they do epic well. (Monday, Danforth Music Hall, doors 8 p.m.)
Cigarettes After Sex Texas-bred Greg Gonzalez has been at the controls of this project for nearly a decade, first out of his native El Paso and the past few years in Brooklyn. But only last year, thanks to gathering YouTube momentum (nearly 40 million views for their signature track “Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby”) and some touring with heavier rock outfit Garbage and on its own in Europe, did things get serious. Now a foursome, its downbeat dream-pop is the stuff of a hazy late-night reverie, with Mazzy Star, Lana Del Rey and the xx all nodding along. Heads are already up and the room’s sold out for one of the more anticipated local debuts, indie division. (Tuesday, Horseshoe, doors 8:30 p.m.)
The Last Waltz Band Warren Haynes, virtuoso guitar man best known for his 25-year run at front of the Allman Brothers Band and with jammy Gov’t Mule, plays guitar-slinging ringleader and gets help from Michael McDonald, Jamey Johnson, Don Was and more, as they revisit and replay the legendary Last Waltz, the Band’s 1976 farewell concert. Tribute acts can make for a pretty cadaverous night out, but given the personnel and their affinity for the impressive material, this big group leaves the pack of imitators and bowdlerizers way behind. (Tuesday, Sony Centre, 7:30 p.m.)
Andrea Ramolo Coming out of a background in dance and acting, Toronto’s Ramolo picked up a guitar more than a decade ago and has never looked back, deftly exploring matters achy and breaky, whether on her own or as half of country duo Scarlett Jane. Latest LP NUDA finds her hurtin’ heart beating strong — one version of it gets heft from Michael Timmins’ production, while another companion collection of the same songs strips it down some, including a Lucio Dalla ballad in Italian. In either case or language, she’s never sounded so soulful, and with full band backing for this release show, it ought to be a special night. (Wednesday, Lula Lounge, doors 7 p.m.)