Recording: Kamra

Artist: Kamra

Song: Absolute Ardor

Recorded at East End United Church (Burn Down the Capital, Venus Fest and The Music Gallery present), December 13, 2025.

Kamra - Absolute Ardor

It's a joy to see an opening act that is clearly thrilled to be sharing a bill with their heroes as much as Kamra Abdul-Hakim, fronting their namesake band, was on this night. With shared concerns around emotional care and nurturing (as well as some poetically-declaimed vocals), there was a natural overlap. Backed by people|places|records' Andrew Noseworthy and some associated locals, this filled up the big church with some poignant resonances.

Recording: Alex Raja Ven & Heart Map Ambient Ensemble

Artist: Alex Raja Ven & Heart Map Ambient Ensemble

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Sankofa Square (Intersection 2025: Day 2: All Day Music Marathon, August 30, 2025.

Alex Raja Ven & Heart Map Ambient Ensemble - unknown^*

Back from a year's hiatus, the Intersection Festival was once again bringing some unconventional sounds to the unsuspecting public. The now formally-retitled Sankofa Square sports a decolonized name, but a slightly more carceral vibe — surrounded by metal fencing and closed off by gates right up 'til showtime, there was less of a random just-wander-through sense of invitation than there used to be.

There was also a slightly different curatorial vibe in effect. In the absence of Burn Down the Capital's Tad Michalak, Andrew Noseworthy stepped up as the main programmer, giving the day a flavour that'd be familiar to those following people | places | records, the "DIY genre-fluid 'zero profit' artists-first" label he is involved with.

Coming straight from the "heart" of the people | places sound, I had previously seen this modular ensemble in a more nascent formation — and though their numbers have grown, this was working in the same space of intracately-arranged compositions delicately swelling outwards and upwards.

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

^* I'm not sure if this piece is an arrangement of Eno's "Discreet Music", or whether it just has some of its DNA grafted to its core. Please leave a comment if you know!

Recording: SOUP

Artist: SOUP

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #87), January 2, 2024.

SOUP - [excerpt]

On some other day of the year you might find Sara Constant (flutes, processing), Yang Chen (percussion), and Andrew Noseworthy (electric guitar) playing together — but they would not be SOUP. SOUP is a seasonally-specific supergroup dedicated to creating "soupy tunes" to celebrate the new year. And also to provide snacks! Sharing some homemade Japanese-Canadian treats, Sara Constant convened this trio to explore warm liquid textures and invoke some positive vibes for the year ahead.

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

[TCB is back at Wenona on Tuesday, February 6th with sets from Écureuil (Kayla Milmine & Liz Lima) and Garden of Magic.]

Recording: Jelly Ear

Artist: Jelly Ear

Song: two unknown songs^*

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), June 12, 2023.

Jelly Ear - unknown #1

Jelly Ear - unknown #2

Closing out a half-year's residency at The Tranzac, Jelly Ear brought out a large version of its rotating ensemble, with Cory Harper-Latkovich (rebec) joined by Allison Cameron (organ), Yang Chen (percussion), Sara Constant (flutes), Andrew Noseworthy (guitar) and Seb Shinwell (guitar). Working, as usual, from the songbooks of Machaut and similar medieval composers, the group navigated the pieces' drones, drifts, dips and turns without ever worring about RenFaire "authenticity". Hopefully there will be more to hear from this group — some proper recordings of their repertoire would be most welcome indeed.

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

^* Does anyone know the titles to either of these? Please leave a comment! My notes only tell me that the first one is about Theseus and the second about an angel with three wings.

Recording: Ambient Works

Artist: Ambient Works

Song: unknown^* [composed by Alex Ven, arranged by Andrew Noseworthy]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #75), January 3, 2023.

Ambient Works - [first piece]

In these current times, it's unfortunately not a surprise that ocasionally a scheduled set has to be put off for healthier times. Luckily Andrew Noseworthy (who was slated to perform in a trio assembled by Sara Constant) was able to step up and present this project.

Based around some ambient pieces originally for electronic instruments by London's Alex Ven, the concept has been expanding (through Noseworthy's arrangements) to enable different musicians to find space in the pieces. The compositions are cellular and not for fixed instrumentation, allowing for experimentation with different timbres at every performance. This time out saw Ven on synths and Noseworthy on guitar joined by Yang Chen (percussion), Zain Solinski (keyboard and melodica) and Adrian Irvine (violin). They each found room to expand the soundfield, and over a continuously-played suite of several pieces this found some very nifty zones.

You can check out some footage from this set over on the TCB youtube playlist:

[Yang Chen and Andrew Noseworthy will be performing in a CMC Presents show at the Canadian Music Centre on Wednesday, February 1st. Track Could Bend is back at Wenona on Tuesday, February 7th, with sets from Xicada (Ilyse Krivel) and Adversarial Networks (Caleb Klager, Chris Pruden, Luan Phung, and David Lipson).]

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