The Titillators — That’s The Night

Out: July 7th, 2023 on Noodle Factory Records (CS/Digital)
Genres: Jazz, Exotica, Experimental

THE TITILLATORS —  BANDCAMP  |  RYAN DRIVER  —  WEB

The Titillators emerge from a bold compulsion: to sound completely unlike any other musical group in existence. And quite remarkably this peculiar Toronto outfit manages to be successful in this objective. 

They’re led by Ryan Driver, whom you may know from his solo recordings on Tin Angel and Fire Records, from groups such as Eucalyptus, and from his frequent collaborations with Eric Chenaux. Driver provides the compositions and plays street sweeper bristle bass, an instrument of his own devising consisting of a small tine of metal plucked on top of an amplified cigar box. Thom Gill (of Bernice and collaborator to the likes of Chaka Khan, Owen Pallett, and Sam Amidon) often plays a disconcerting lead role as a whistler, while both he and acclaimed pianist Tania Gill (of Brodie West Quintet, Tania Gill Quartet) play synths. Meanwhile the trifecta of percussionists Phil Melanson (Bernice, Sam Gendel), D. Alex Meeks (Hooded Fang, Holiday Rambler), and Nick Fraser (who has led his own releases on Hat-Hut/ Ezzthethics, Astral Spirits, and Clean Feed), offers rhythmic interplay with one crucial caveat: none of them are permitted to play any component of a standard drum kit. 

Their third album, That’s The Night is a tuneful, mainly instrumental batch of bent exotica and while listeners will catch aural whiffs of jazz, pop, soul, electronica, and free improvisation there’s something irrefutably singular about their output.

COVERAGE:
Year-End / Radio — CJSW Top 2023 Charts — Experimental / Neo-Classical
List — Tinnitist, Upcoming Releases
List — Tinnitist, Next week in Music (July 3-9, 2023)
List — A Closer Listen, Upcoming Releases
List — V13, Upcoming Releases
List — Jazz In Family
List — Culture Jazz, 63 Albums en Ribambelle – juin 2023
List — Four On The Floor
List — Dig, Digger, Diggest
Video Premiere/ Article — Alex Hudson, Toronto’s the Titillators Invent Their Own Futuristic Jazz with “Communication”, Exclaim!
Video Share/ List — Tinnitist, Weekend Mixtape: 325 Songs That Just Won’t Quit — Side 12
News — Sharon St.Clair, New Music: The Titillators release “Thats the Night” , Peters Township Life
News — Exposé
News / Video Share — Irregular Dreams
Roundup — Frank P. Eckert, Motherboard: August 2023, Groove.de
Mini-Review — Byron Coley, Size Matters, The Wire (December 2023)
Review — Ljubinko Zikovic, Echoes and Dust
Review — Will Chernoff, Rhythm Changes
Review — Jon Davis, Exposé
Review — Claudy Jalet, JazzMania
Review — Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy #120
Round-up — Cups N’ Cakes
Round-up — OutsideLeft, Week In Music: Welcome Back Peter One
Newsletter — A Closer Listen weekly #36
Newsletter — A Closer Listen weekly #35
Newsletter — A Closer Listen weekly #33
Podcast — FFFoxy Podcast #223
Podcast — Different Noises (Ep. 10)
Chart / Radio — CFBX Top 30 (December 14, 2023)
Chart / Radio — CFBX Top 10 Jazz (December 14, 2023)
Chart/Radio — CJSW Top 10 Experimental/ Contemporary Classical (November 9, 2023)
Chart/Radio — CFUV Jazz Top 10 (September 26, 2023)
Chart/ Radio — CFUV Top 30 (September 5, 2023)
Chart/ Radio — CFUV Jazz Top 10 (September 5, 2023)
Chart / Radio — Earshot – National Jazz – August 2023
Chart/Radio — CJSW Top 30 (August 31, 2023)
Radio/ Chart — CFUV Top 30 (August 8, 2023)
Radio / Chart — CFRU Top 30 (August 1, 2023)
Radio/ Chart — CJSW Top 30 (July 20, 2023)
Radio / Chart — CJSW Experimental/ Contemporary Classical Top 10 (July 27, 2023)
Radio / Chart— CJSW Experimental/ Contemporary Classical Top 10 (July 20, 2023)
Radio — Esoterica Et Cetera, WPKN (April 5, 2025)
Radio — Vocal Cords, CJSW (July 22, 2024)
Radio — Melody in Mayhem, Asheville FM (January 26, 2024)
Radio — Flight Risk, KOPN (December 13, 2023)
Radio — Lush Life, CJSW (November 24, 2023)
Radio — Noise, CJSW (November 9, 2023)
Radio — Potpourri for Diversified Souls, CJSW (October 19, 2023)
Radio — Noise, CJSW (September 28, 2023)
Radio — Flight Risk, KOPN (September 27, 2023)
Radio — Corporate Standardized Programming, KBOO (September 5, 2023)
Radio — The Jazz Disturbance, TaintRadio (September 2, 2023)
Radio — Jazz Today, CJSW (August 31, 2023)
Radio — Noise, CJSW (August 24, 2023)
Radio — Wreck Your Own Adventure, WFMU (August 21, 2023)
Radio — Coast to Coast to Coast, CFUV (August 14, 2023)
Radio — Animajazz, PuntoRadio (August 11, 2023)
Radio — The Darkest Hour, XRay FM (August 1, 2023)
Radio — The Freeform Pathogen, WPRB (July 30, 2023)
Radio — Through the Looking Glass, CFRU (July 30, 2023)
Radio — Mint Condition, CJSW (July 28, 2023)
Radio — The Freeform Pathogen, WPRB (July 26, 2023)
Radio — The Freeform Pathogen, WPRB (July 23, 2023)
Radio — Coast to Coast to Coast, CFUV (July 22, 2023)
Radio — Bad Animals, WFMU (July 22, 2023)
Radio — Six Degrees, WFMU (July 21, 2023)
Radio — Jazz Today, CJSW (July 20, 2023)
Radio — Journey Into Mystery, KMNO (July 20, 2023)
Radio — The Freeform Pathogen, WPRB (July 19, 2023)
Radio — Vocal Cords, CJSW (July 17, 2023)
Radio — Neuland, ByteFM (July 14, 2023)
Radio — Situation Fluxus, Taint Radio (July 13, 2023)
Radio — Alternative To What?, CJSW (July 13, 2023)
Radio — No Pigeonholes, KOWS (July 13, 2023)
Radio — Scarlet Pumpernickel, WPRB (July 4, 2023)
Radio — Journey Into Mystery, KMNO (June 1, 2023)
Radio — Jazz Bazar, CKIA (May 28, 2023)
Radio — Lush Life, CJSW (May 19, 2023)
Radio — No Pigeonholes, KOWS (May 18, 2023)
Radio — Coast to Coast to Coast, CFUV (May 16, 2023)
Radio — Noise, CJSW (May 11, 2023)
Radio — Café, CKUT (May 5, 2023)