Recording: Senior/Yell/Yogarajah

Artist: Ayal Senior/Nathan Yell/Marilyn Yogarajah

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), June 14, 2026.

Ayal Senior/Nathan Yell/Marilyn Yogarajah - unknown

As is frequently the case, this afternoon at Ayal Senior's residency ended with the spontaneous formation of a new band, with Senior enlisting Nathan Yell (who had opened things up earlier) to play drums and drafting Marilyn Yogarajah from the crowd to play piano. There were some mutual drift zones in the set, but this bit sounds like Senior slipping in something from his book of songs to see what embellishments the others coud come up with.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

[Ayal Senior & Friends will be back at The Tranzac on the afternoon of August 9th.]

Recording: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman

Artist: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman

Song: two unknown songs^*

Recorded The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), May 10, 2026.

Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman - two unknown songs

This outing saw (as usual) more new songs from the book plus some deeper lore being investigated.

^* Does anyone know the titles to these? Please leave a comment!

[Ayal Senior & Friends returns to The Tranzac tomorrow (June 14th) with sets from David Sait, Nathan Yell, Nick Flanagan plus Senior & Newman.]

Recording: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman

Artist: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman

Song: [2nd piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), March 8, 2026.

Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman - [2nd piece]

"This is a new one, Kurt," Ayal Senior said, leaning over towards Kurt Newman between songs. "I tried it solo before."

"All right," was the reply, immediately before a seemingly-rehearsed duo arrangement sprang into being fully formed. This is why it's worth dropping in to see the songbook being developed in realtime collaboration.

Recording: Nocturnes

Artist: Nocturnes

Song: [2nd piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), March 8, 2026.

Nocturnes - [2nd piece]

A return for this occasional collaboration between Michelle Breslin and Ayal Senior, improvising three largely pastoral pieces.

Recording: Ayal Senior

Artist: Ayal Senior

Song: Nothing Goes On Forever

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), March 8, 2026.

Ayal Senior - Nothing Goes On Forever

With an early March day of False Spring in the air and a robust lines of parents and kiddoes staring into the Southern Cross while waiting to get into Kidzac, Ayal Senior started his afternoon revue with an acoustic solo set that lead off with this tasty drone zone.

Recording: OOOP

Artist: OOOP

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), February 8, 2026.

OOOP - [excerpt]

Frequent guests at the Ayal Senior residency often get pulled into recombinant and frequently-mutating instant bands — this one saw him joined by Marilyn Yogarajah and Roya Biazar.

[Ayal Senior & Friends is back at the Tranzac tomorrow (March 8th) with sets from Senior & Newman, Lostworldsounds, Nick Flanagan and Nocturnes]

Recording: Ayal Senior

Artist: Ayal Senior

Song: What’s in Fahey’s Trunk?

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), February 8, 2026.

Ayal Senior - What’s in Fahey’s Trunk?

Ayal Senior started off this instalment of his residency with a quick solo set, with the electric 12-string and the trusty ol' DL4 at hand.

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

[Ayal Senior & Friends is back at the Tranzac tomorrow (March 8th) with sets from Senior & Newman, Lostworldsounds, Nick Flanagan and Nocturnes]

Recording: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman

Artist: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman

Songs: Yutori + I Alone Escaped

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), January 12, 2025.

Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman - Yutori + I Alone Escaped

With a new batch of songs almost ready to hatch (see below!) Senior and Newman dug into the arrangements a little deeper, with the accompaniment moving from the most understanded of echoes to careening-off-the-rails dangerfests.

[Ayal Senior & Friends is back in the Southern Cross on Sunday (January 9th) with a special "public dress rehearsal" as they prepare to enter the studio to cut a new album.]

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.]

Recording: Triple Bad Acid

Artist: Triple Bad Acid

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), November 10, 2024.

Triple Bad Acid - [excerpt]

Some psychedelic explorations from Ayal Senior (here on bass and space echo) alongside Marilyn Yogarajah (piano/trumpet). Some deep zones here, but not to get ahead of things too much, this was just setting the stage for things to get even more triple.

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

Recording: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman

Artist: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman

Song: Egg Yolk Slime

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), August 11, 2024.

Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman - Egg Yolk Slime

Further refinements to the latest additions to the songbook in this duo set, this time with Kurt Newman on electric six-string.

[Ayal Senior & Friends returns to the Southern Cross with performances by Senior & Newman, Greydini, Nick Flanagan and an unnamed "special guest" next Sunday (September 8th).]

Recording: Senior/Forman/Lefler

Artist: Ayal Senior/Harrison Forman/Patrick Lefler

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), August 11, 2024.

Ayal Senior/Harrison Forman/Patrick Lefler - [excerpt]

This afternoon of musical exploration lead off with this impromptu improvisation, centred around Senior's percussion work, and specifically centred around his tongue drum. That gave a gentle impetus to Forman's guitar explorations, and the vibe was completed when Patrick Lefler joined in on piano. Some rumours say that the trio's true name is Alpaca Spice Traders.

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

[Ayal Senior & Friends returns to the Southern Cross with performances by Senior & Newman, Greydini, Nick Flanagan and an unnamed "special guest" next Sunday (September 8th).]

Recording: Ayal Senior

Artist: Ayal Senior

Song: Shredder Orpheus

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), June 9, 2024.

Ayal Senior - Shredder Orpheus

Playing solo this time out, Ayal Senior worked through the next set of pages in his notebook, sharing the working versions of a new batch of tunes, exploring how the music can be accented by effects and refining the arrangements.

[Ayal will be away, but Ayal Senior & Friends will be back in the Southern Cross on Sunday, July 14th, guest hosted by yours truly and featuring comedy from Nick Flanagan plus music from Jane Inc and You're Steel on My Mind (Joe Strutt & Kurt Newman).]

Recording: Nocturnes

Artist: Nocturnes

Song: [2nd piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), June 9, 2024.

Nocturnes - [2nd piece]

This project is a new duo of Ayal Senior and Michelle Breslin, pairing the former's lilting 12-string psych jams supported by the latter's atmospherics.

You can check out both pieces that the pair essayed over on youtube:

[Ayal will be away, but Ayal Senior & Friends will be back in the Southern Cross on Sunday, July 14th, guest hosted by yours truly and featuring comedy from Nick Flanagan plus music from Jane Inc and You're Steel on My Mind (Joe Strutt & Kurt Newman).]

Recording: Senior/Newman/Furlong

Artist: Ayal Senior/Kurt Newman/Andrew Furlong

Song: Wise Women & Virtuous Wives

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), May 12, 2024.

Ayal Senior/Kurt Newman/Andrew Furlong - Wise Women & Virtuous Wives

With Ayal Senior's Ora currently easing its way out into the world, its players were, as usual, busily working on the next chapter of the songbook. Meanwhile, a welcome return to the stage from bassist Andrew Furlong also saw a few classics being pulled out as well.

[Ayal Senior & Friends returns to the Southern Cross this Sunday afternoon (June 9th) with sets from Senior/Newman, Drew Smith, Nick Flanagan and Michelle Breslin & Ayal Senior's Nocturnes.]

Recording: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman

Artist: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman

Song: E is for Ear

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), April 14, 2024.

Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman - E is for Ear

You might have heard that Ayal Senior's Ora album is going to be making its way into the world next month, but frequenters of his monthly Tranzac residency know that the songbook is already being worked out for the next one. Grab ahold of the future!

[Ayal Senior & Friends returns to the Southern Cross tomorrow (May 10th) with sets from Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman, William Davison, Karsten Stryker, and Nick Flanagan.]

Recording: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman

Artist: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman

Song: Nor the Moon by Night

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), February 11, 2024.

Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman - Nor the Moon by Night

It's pretty amazing to watch in real time when Ayal Senior starts playing a new piece that even guitarist Kurt Newman hasn't heard yet. Somehow, the arrangement falls into place immediately and the ending is nailed with precision.

[Ayal Senior & Friends will be back in the Tranzac on Sunday (March 10th), with sounds from Ayal and Kurt Newman, Blake Howard, and Andrew Furlong plus Eye-Duh Kho, Jonathan Adjemian, and Nick Flanagan.]

Recording: Marilyn Yogarajah

Artist: Marilyn Yogarajah with Del Stephen & Ayal Senior

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at July 9, 2023 at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends).

Marilyn Yogarajah with Del Stephen & Ayal Senior - [excerpt]

Closing out the afternoon with some hazy loopscapes for trumpet and Microcosm, Yogarajah then invited the days' other performers to join her to fill in some of the spaces in her abstract soundfield.

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

[Ayal Senior & Friends will be back in the Southern Cross on the afternoon of August 13th.]

Recording: Ayal Senior

Artist: Ayal Senior

Song: [new songs]^*

Recorded at July 9, 2023 at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends).

Ayal Senior - [new songs]

Opening up another month of his ongoing Tranzac residency, this set from the host was doubly interesting: not only was it a now-rare solo turn from Ayal Senior, making a continuous set-long suite of pieces, it also featured the debut of a couple new songs. Coming just a month after taking his group into the studio to record the previous batch of tunes, it's a tsetament to Senior's solid work ethic and steady, patient development. Expect to hear more new ones to keep popping up over the next few months, and be prepared to witness the arrangements to blossom in real-time.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

[Ayal Senior & Friends will be back in the Southern Cross on the afternoon of August 13th.]

Recording: Ayal Senior & Friends

Artist: Ayal Senior & Friends

Song: [last section of set]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), May 14, 2023.

Ayal Senior & Friends - [last section of set]

The group, this time out, included regulars Kurt Newman, Andrew Furlong, and Jay Anderson — the same personnel that would soon be heading out for a chance to record the latest batch of Ayal's tunes that the crew have been workshopping over the past months. That means things are coming into ever-sharper focus, but to add a unique element to this outing, Senior invited Akim Gomez and his flute to join in for the last part of the set.

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

[Ayal Senior & Friends returns to the Southern Cross on Sunday, July 9th with the host (in duo mode alongside Kurt Newman) joined by Marilyn Yogarajah, Del Stephen's Wurld of Xo '42 and Nick Flanagan.]