TONE Festival / Badge Époque Ensemble, Ben LaMar Gay, Masahiro Takahashi

Toronto’s Badge Époque Ensemble (Telephone Explosion) teases and pulls myriad psychedelic textures into beautifully distilled grooves. Their appearance at TONE marks the first celebration of 2022 release Clouds of Joy described in Exclaim! as a “musical emotional euphoria to be felt and witnessed.” Cornettist and composer Ben Lamar Gay’s lauded 2021 release Open Arms to Open Us (International Anthem) considered among the best albums of 2021 by The Wire and Bandcamp was described by Pitchfork as “a remarkable piece of musical pathfinding sprawling in its ambition and surprisingly precise in its attack.” Gay’s work offers an orchestral prowess that summons sweeping unison swells hip hop beats bathed in brass dirge-like incantations of the timeless now and more. Toronto-based Masahiro Takahashi (Telephone Explosion) rounds out the program with the warm nostalgia of his minimalist pop creations. 

Tickets: $20 Adv / $25 Door, All Ages

Host or Publisher Matthew Fava — Riparian Media