Showing posts with label %%30%30. Show all posts
Showing posts with label %%30%30. Show all posts

Sunday, August 17, 2025

Recording: Brian Ruryk & %%30%30

Artist: Brian Ruryk & %%30%30

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded under Hogg's Hollow Bridge (Ministry of Phonic Services presents), July 19, 2025.

Brian Ruryk & %%30%30 - [excerpt]

Another triumphant night from the forces-for-good at Ministry of Phonic Services, finding an off-the-grid spot under the busiest multi-span bridge crossing in North America[citation needed] for an evening of noisy sounds. This pair celebrated the release of their joint Outside album — "a series of 'location specific' meetings" — in the style in which it was conceived and executed with this outdoor lurch.

You can check out this full set over on youtube:

[Keep an eye out for more info coming soon on MPS' all-outdoor "Back to School" September festival!]

Thursday, July 24, 2025

Recording: Cudmore/Perera Duo

Artist: Cudmore/Perera Duo

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #106), July 1, 2025.

Cudmore/Perera Duo - [excerpt]

When I invited Nilan Perera to come play TCB, I assumed without asking that we'd be getting some nimble prepared guitar. Instead, challenging himself (which is no surprise to see) Perera brought a pedalboard and a couple radios — an ideal setup to try and snatch some spontaneous noises from the airwaves to go along with the clatter generated by Colin Cudmore (a.k.a. %%30%30).

You can check out the full set over on youtube:

[Ministry of Phonic Services will be presenting Nilan Perera at a matinee show this Sunday (July 27th) in The Sun Room at 918 Bathurst. (Fron Reilly and Joyce To are also on the bill.) Track Could Bend is back at Wenona on Tuesday, August 5th, with sets from Poached Roses (Naomi McCarroll-Butler, styrofoamNosebleedPrincess and Mira Martin-Gray) and Tom Richards.]

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Recording: %%30%30

Artist: %%30%30

Song: 4th piece [excerpt]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #103), April 1, 2025.

%%30%30 - 4th piece [excerpt]

This time out, I was happy to invite Ministry of Phonic Services to program the sets — all the better to lean back and relax a bit on the tenth anniversary of TCB's first show. A cheerful collaborator and collector of shared experiences, this solo turn was a last-minute pivot, but gave %%30%30 (a.k.a. MPS co-founder Colin C.) a chance to present some compositions (or "improvised scenarios") for his collection of percussive bricabrac. This crowd-pleasing set-closer was a demonstration of Bernoulli's principle, allowing various metal implements to buzz, rattle and scream on contact with dry ice.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

[Track Could Bend will be back at Wenona on Tuesday, May 6th, with sets from Allison Cameron, Hex-A-Decimal, and Allemano/Driver/Klager.]

Friday, April 11, 2025

Recording: Cosmic Homeostasis XXVII

Artist: Cosmic Homeostasis XXVII

Song: Helium [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), March 23, 2025.

Cosmic Homeostasis XXVII - Helium [excerpt]

Returning to the Southern Cross for teh first residency appearance of 2025, Cosmic Homeostasis was shifted from its traditional fifth-Sunday-of-the-month but still had a robust turnout to generate some drifting space-drones.

You can listen to the full session over on Bandcamp:

The ensemble for this performance consisted of:

  • Dan Friedman - Sonicware Liven XFM, Korg NTS-1, Hmong mouth organ, namer-of-things
  • Philip Hamilton - oscillators
  • %%30%30 - percussion
  • Jim Davis - bass sans fret, vox
  • Jonny Luke - cornet
  • Eric Cinnesealach - clarinet, recorders, whistles
  • Eliza Cinnesealach - clarinet, recorders, whistles
  • Rob Cruickshank - electronics
  • Sarah Peebles - shō
  • Del Stephen - radios, tapes, synthesizer, whistles
  • Scott M2 - Roland S-1
  • Paul Newman - tenor saxophone
  • Ian McPhedran - kalimba, pedals
  • Sterling McPhedran - kalimba, pedals
  • Elliott Chapin - flute
  • Patrick O'Reilly - piano (set 2 only)
  • Heraclitus Akimbo - Roland S-1, effects

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Recording: Carded Ensemble

Artist: Carded Ensemble

Songs: [two excerpts]

Recorded at Walter Hall, February 24, 2025.

Carded Ensemble - [excerpt 1]

Carded Ensemble - [excerpt 2]

"Carded", Patrick O'Reilly's ongoing compositional project, has been a work-in-progress for a few years now, taking blank playing cards and turning them into handmade improvisational cues. The cards can be dispatched in various ways, from dealing performers a hand, to (as was the case here) giving each player a full custom deck with the instruction to turn over and interpret a new card every minute.

That, with the addition of timed solo spots for each of the participants, gave enough structure to keep a nine-piece ensemble from tripping into chaos and too-muchness. It also fosters a genuine sense of play, both in the novel interpretations required and in the act of occasionally passing cards around to share a cue. This particular incarnation of Carded was even more deeply collaborative, as the decks of cards used by the nine performers were each made by nine guest "composers".

The ensemble for this performance was:

  • Patrick O'Reilly: guitar and pedals
  • Samuel Little, double bass
  • amiel ang: vibes, gong, music stand
  • Samuel Laramee: synths and piano
  • Omar Yazaw: saxophone
  • Leah Reavster: saxophone
  • Brendan Beaton: trumpet
  • %%30%30: percussion
  • Annie Elgie: balloons, voice

Sunday, March 16, 2025

Recording: Many People

Artist: Many People

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Music Hosted by Karen Ng: A fundraiser show for Earlobe), February 18, 2025.

Many People - [excerpt]

This musical concept from Karen Ng continues to evolve from its origins as a massive horn section — though that's still at the heart of it, percussion and other noises are now increasingly incorporated, making the performances more akin to swelling jams than lingering zones. This particular instance of the group was convened to celebrate the launch of Earlobe, the new website/mailing list "listing experimental music and sound art events happening in Toronto", three of whose organizers were performing. The full ensemble was:

  • Karen Ng - alto sax
  • Maxwell Stover - tenor sax
  • Marilyn Yogarajah - trumpet
  • Heather Saumer - trombone
  • Fahmid Nibesh - guitar
  • Heraclitus Akimbo - electronics
  • Kieran Maraj - bass
  • %%30%30 - percussion
  • Germaine Liu - percussion
  • Mark Zurawinsky - percussion

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

Saturday, January 18, 2025

Recording: Cosmic Homeostasis XXVI

Artist: Cosmic Homeostasis XXVI

Song: I'm Not Bruce [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), December 29, 2024.

Cosmic Homeostasis XXVI - I'm Not Bruce [excerpt]

Closing out a busy and productive year (with shows in The Tranzac, in church, and outside) this afternoon saw a record number of homeostasisists gathering together to gently listen and make sounds. A real joy to be in the middle of, with so many strands that one could follow along, until something else grabs one's attention. And as always, you can hear the whole afternoon's worth of sounds over on bandcamp:

The participants this time around were:

  • Jim Davis - bass + effects, namer-of-things
  • Johan S. - sunvox ipad / UPI sketch
  • Mike Filippov - wave drum
  • %%30%30 - percussion
  • Rosalind Saunders - violin
  • Trevor Ablett - guitar
  • Christina + Wesley Ablett - wave drum
  • Jonny Luke - cornet
  • Scott M2 - S-1
  • Paul Newman - tenor saxophone
  • Mira Martin-Gray - laptop
  • Matt Collins - guitar
  • yasmine - synth, shakers
  • apple - shakers
  • Sterling McPhedran - guitar
  • Ian McPhedran - banjo-uke
  • Elliott Chapin - flute
  • Dame Cook - digital synthesis
  • Dan Friedman - Moog Mavis, Korg NTS1, flute
  • Philip Hamilton - oscillators, contact mic
  • Victor O - Yamaha CP Reface
  • Mickle32 - clarinet
  • Heraclitus Akimbo - lap steel

Mike Filippov shot some really beautiful abstracted video on the day that really captures the spirit of the music. It doesn't look to be embeddable, so I recommend you click here and go watch it!

Sunday, January 5, 2025

Recording: Way Bad Stone

Artist: Way Bad Stone

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), December 8, 2024.

Way Bad Stone - [excerpt]

Where is a duo to go once they've already been "triple bad"? Obviously, to add a third member and ascend to the realm of "way bad". And hence, the previous month's pairing of Marilyn Yogarajah (piano/trumpet) and Ayal Senior (bass/space echo) got some sonic soul glue from percussionist %%30%30, providing some structure to climb, like a jury-rigged space elevator DIY'd from purloined jungle gyms.

[Ayal Senior & Friends is back in the Southern Cross a week tomorrow (Sunday, January 12th) with sets from Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman, Michelle Breslin, David Sait, and Nick Flanagan.]

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Recording: Brian Ruryk & %%30%30

Artist: Brian Ruryk & %%30%30

Song: [2nd piece]

Recorded at Bickford Park "Stadium" (Ministry of Phonic Services presents: Back to School Field Trip 2024), September 19, 2024.

Brian Ruryk & %%30%30 - [2nd piece]

Metaphor alert. Somewhere, out behind an urban schoolhouse abutting a park, there's a paved-over concrete pit with a mouldering, ancient basketball hoop against one wall. Back a bit, making it into a courtyard of sorts, there's a tree in a planter — a full grown, mature shade tree, a true miracle and rarity, given how much more often one sees planters with scraggly, barely-surviving sticks. Twenty feet below the surrounding "ground" level, with concrete walls on two sides and a tree up the embankment growing over it on the third, this tree has somehow managed to thrive in this weird, desolate corner.

Meanwhile, in various somewheres — in public spaces being taken over by corporate interests or in pocket forests or in little concrete valleys like these — the Ministry of Phonic Services has been putting down roots and building community with weird sonic experiments and placemaking celebrations. Somehow, in the dire context of this moment in the gyre of toxic unaffordability, erosion of common cause/common reason and the general enshittification of everything, younger folks are still refusing to take things as given and are using art and community to counter with a better vision of what our city could be. It's enough to make the sclerotic hearts of the formerly young and optimistic pump with a little more vitality.

This gig was one of a series of DIY public space takeovers from the MPS crew, the sites thoroughly scouted (and lovingly tidied up!) to create unique environments for some one-off gatherings. Friendly and embracing environments, even if the music hewed toward the discordant.

An inspired idea to pair up noise guitar legend Ruryk with junk percussionist %%30%30, the latter enhanced Ruryk's bricabrac-tossing sensibilities with some full-body, wall-pounding action moves.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

[Brian Ruryk will be playing the Tranzac's Living Room solo (but alongside Garlic Jr., Toller, and Lawngirl) on Saturday, November 16th.]

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Recording: Many People

Artist: Many People

Song: [set 1 excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), December 15, 2023.

Many People - [set 1 excerpt]

Many People is another of Karen Ng's occasional concepts-not-bands, and while I've associated this one with a room-full-of-horns soundbath, the concept is plainly more malleable than that. That said, there was a formidable (fourmidable?) wind quartet up front, with Ng joined by Nic Dourado (a.k.a. bUDi), Nirvana Sagar, and Ted Crosby. But this time there was an equal presence of non-horn players, including Kieran Maraj (bass), fuZzy (guitar), %%30%30 (found percussion) and Jaz Tsui (percussion and melodica). Especially with the latter pair, that meant the means of propulsion was less magic capret ride and more clattering wagon, as the ebb and flow of the horns was bumped along by the other elements.

Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Recording: Shoe Horn Ensemble

Artist: Shoe Horn Ensemble

Song: [first section]

Recorded at the Bata Shoe Museum (Track Could Bend @ X Avant XVIII – Neeeerrrrddddssss: shoe horn), October 12, 2023.

Shoe Horn Ensemble - [first section]

I'm still not entirely sure what I did to deserve such an honour, but somehow I ended up curating a night of this year's X Avant Festival. And not just any ol' night as we were invited to conspire a musical takeover of the Bata Shoe Museum. Thanks to the amazing powers and positive energy of Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar, we were able to fill the building with creativity, bringing a grouping of nine musicians to first enfold some sounds in the museum's galleries, then gather them all together for a collaborative improvisation. Best of all, though it was on a grander scale than I'd usually allow myself to imagine, it really felt like it was all done in the spirit of Track Could Bend. And were there shoes? Oh yes, there were shoes.

After spreading the musicians out in the galleries, the conclusion gave everyone a chance to find ways to work together in a large ensemble. The featured performers here were electronic musicians Laura Dickens (a.k.a. Leucrocuta) & Hex-A-Deximal, who were processing incoming sounds from the mics and from Tegan Dietsch's tap board. Around that centre, horn players and percussionists had a chance to wander some more — one of the most delightful moments was when trumpeter Lina Allemano and trombonist Tom Richards headed up the stairs and out of sight, only to pop out of the elevator behind the audience a few minutes later! With everyone putting, ah, their best foot forward this was a satitisfying way to gather all the threads shoelaces together.

For the record, the full ensemble was:

  • Tegan Dietsch (tap)
  • Lina Allemano (trumpet)
  • Tom Richards (trombone)
  • Why Be Normal [%%30%30 & James Bailey] (found percussion)
  • Annie Elgie (voice)
  • Yang Chen (percussion/processing)
  • LD & Hex-A-Deximal (electronics)

You can check out the full set over on youtube:

[The Bata's new exhibition Dressed to Impress: Footwear and Consumerism in the 1980's is now open. Track Could Bend will be back in its regular first-Tuesday-of-the-month incarnation at Wenona Lodge on December 5th, with sets from kat estacio and Alma.]

Recording: Why Be Normal

Artist: Why Be Normal

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at the Bata Shoe Museum (Track Could Bend @ X Avant XVIII – Neeeerrrrddddssss: shoe horn), October 12, 2023.

Why Be Normal - [excerpt]

I'm still not entirely sure what I did to deserve such an honour, but somehow I ended up curating a night of this year's X Avant Festival. And not just any ol' night as we were invited to conspire a musical takeover of the Bata Shoe Museum. Thanks to the amazing powers and positive energy of Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar, we were able to fill the building with creativity, bringing a grouping of nine musicians to first enfold some sounds in the museum's galleries, then gather them all together for a collaborative improvisation. Best of all, though it was on a grander scale than I'd usually allow myself to imagine, it really felt like it was all done in the spirit of Track Could Bend. And were there shoes? Oh yes, there were shoes.

This pairing of found percussionists Colin C. (who performs as %%30%30) and James Bailey (who also brought his trombone along on this occasion) came together at TCB some months back and their joyful junk spectacle called out for a bigger canvas. Taking over one end of the lower level of the museum's permanent collection, this was indeed a widescreen adventure, with all sorts of bricabrac spread around.

You can check out the pair interacting with tap dancer Tegan Dietsch (and more!) over on youtube:

[The Bata's new exhibition Dressed to Impress: Footwear and Consumerism in the 1980's is now open. Track Could Bend will be back in its regular first-Tuesday-of-the-month incarnation at Wenona Lodge on December 5th, with sets from kat estacio and Alma.]

Saturday, August 5, 2023

Recording: Michael Palumbo & Co.

Artist: Michael Palumbo/Marilyn Yogarajah/Tegan Dietsch/Sable/%%30%30

Song: [excerpt, in two parts]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), July 15, 2023.

Michael Palumbo & Co. - [1st set excerpt, part 1]

Michael Palumbo & Co. - [1st set excerpt, part 2]

An intruiging mix of improvisers in this pair of sets assembled by synthesist Michael Palumbo saw him joined by Marilyn Yogarajah (trumpet, piano), Tegan Dietsch (tap dance), Sable (guqin), and %%30%30 (percussion). That lead to a mix of percussive interactions (including contact mic'd sounds from Dietsch's tap board being fed into Palumbo's modular rig) with the textures of piano, trumpet and quqin.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Recording: fuZzy n' frenz

Artist: fuZzy n' frenz

Song: [excerpt from 1st piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Living Room (fuZzfest), May 13, 2023.

fuZzy n' frenz - [excerpt from 1st piece]

On the cusp of joining the exodus of artists departing Toronto, Fahmid "fuZzy" Nibesh put together an afternoon of music, good company, and food to celebrate some of the folks he has most enjoyed making sounds with/hearing sounds from. This set perhaps gave some hints of what a promised upcoming solo album might offer — although "solo" concepts were being pre-expanded with a group that included Mira Martin-Gray (electronics), Germaine Liu (percussion), %%30%30 (percussion), Victor O. (bass), and Marilyn Y. (trumpet).

You can check out footage of the full set over on youtube:

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Recording: Why Be Normal

Artist: Why Be Normal

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #78), April 4, 2023.

Why Be Normal - [excerpt]

Every once in a while I like to curate a set combining folks who might not have even met but that I suspect would be in sync, musically and vibe-wise — and all the better when it's a chance to spark some intergenerational collaboration and inspiration. Hearing a tale from Colin C. (who performs as %%30%30) of a particularly enticing curb find made me think of similar stories from James Bailey, which lead to this junk percussion duo. Setting a wide variety of found objects throught the room, the pair made some joyful sounds, finding the musical soul in everything from spikes to vacuum cleaners to plastic bags.

You can check out some footage of the (nearly) full set over on youtube:

[Track Could Bend is back at Wenona tonight (May 2nd) with a celebration of Mira Martin-Gray's new Hen's Teeth album as well as some new synth-based sounds from Bryan W. Bray's Cetacean.]

Thursday, February 9, 2023

Recording: Campbell/FuZzy/%%30%30

Artist: Rod Campbell/FuZzy/%%30%30

Song: [excerpt from 2nd piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), January 24, 2023.

Rod Campbell/FuZzy/%%30%30 - [excerpt from 2nd piece]

This cross-generational trio, which came together as an ephemeral emergence at Audiopollination in December enjoyed playing together enough to set up a second encounter. Rod Campbell (trumpet/voice) was joined by Fahmid "Fuzzy" Nibesh (percussion, electronics) as well as percussionist Colin C., known by the browser-breaking moniker %%30%30. The latter has been making his mark for the past while as an avid listener at local improvised shows, and has lately been slipping into more performances. He added some found percussive objects (bicycle rim, air pump, metal rod, etc.) to most of a deconstructed drumkit as the trio found some space to drift and rattle eogether.

You can check out some footage from this set over on youtube as well: