A new moniker for a longstanding friend duo, this set from Kayla Milmine and Bea Labikova saw them testing out some new instruments. Milmine, a longtime one-sax specialist on soprano has branched out with a sopranino saxophone, while Labikova (who also had the usual "electronic" set up with pedals and throat mic, as well as her alto) showed off her beautiful handcrafted gajdy, the Slovakian version of the bagpipe. That lead to some buzzing and squealing in the higher registers, as can be heard in the first section here as the pair explored how these instruments can share space. After further experiments with plastic tubing and throat-rumbles, things moved a little lower for the closing zone.
You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:
[Track Could Bend is back at Wenona on Tuesday (February 2nd) with sets from OH GEE (Marilyn Yogarajah & Rod Campbell) and Ryan Kinney.]
This year's Field Trip closed out with a trek up the Humber River Recreational Trail to the legendary Oculus Pavilion. With stars twinkling above and the late-season forest-dwellers whispering encouragement, the glorious UFO-like structure hovered above while a robust crowd gathered to hear some strange sounds — and then hung out for a late-night karaoke party.
Longtime collaborators Bea Labikova and Raphael Roter have played together enough that sonic mindmeld is easily achieved — even as new instruments and techniques get added to their repertoire. But this duo project increasingly treats all of that as a given and a background element as the pair explore new frontiers in playful interactivity. In this set, the one-on-one musical encounters were navigational elements, allowing the pair to engage the audience in some "drummington" (badminton shuttlecocks volleyed back and forth on hand drums), bird whistles, and sparklers. The latter served as the set's coda, with members of the crowd listing off things to be thankful for as sparkling stars burst to life and faded away — reminding everyone to share the moments while they last.
You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:
[The Ministry of Phonic Services has moved indoors for the season, and among their offerings is BPM — the "Big Percussion Meeting" hosted by Colin Cudmore and happening monthly at The Tranzac. Next one will be on Friday, November 21st.]
This ensemble was originally constructed to essay Mira Martin-Gray's "Four Seasons", a suite with four movements introduced by haiku. In Martin-Gray's absence, the group presented the piece — and with the evening's trivia portion postponed, ended up performing for two sets, improvising a bit and trying out a few pieces by members Clutton and Tielli.
You can check out the full Four Seasons and some more from this night over on youtube:
Track Could Bend will be having its tenth anniversary in April — although given how time got weird for a while there and the series took fourteen months off, it seems like a slightly ambiguous mark for celebration. This big round number, however, felt like the right opportunity to mark a special occasion. In the beforetimes, TCB marked its anniversaries with special events, gathering the folks who had played over the previous year and drawing names from a hat to construct some spontaneous new combos. I had the notion to scale that up and duly invited back everyone who had ever played the series — over three hundred performers! — for an afternoon and evening of fun.
As fate would have it, the long-planned-for day came with a monumental snowstorm, so the inability to get around kept some folks at home. And yet, this event still saw twenty-one performers take the stage, duly selected from the hat and sorted into seven trios. As is often the case, these instant bands made some gorgeous sounds, showing off the ability of TCB's community to adapt, co-operate and thrive. A fun time had was had by many — a fitting launch to the next ten years.
Capable of melodious harmonizing, this all-star trio instead veered into slyly-warbly twitters with Mira Martin-Gray's (MFS#34, 58, 79, 95) noisemakers calling out to Bea Labikova's (MFS#33, 56, 69, 99) saxophonic squawks and the piano/percussion of Heather Saumer's (MFS#21, 30) homing beacons.
You can check out the full set over on youtube:
[Track Could Bend will be back at Wenona Lodge, its usual home, on April 1st in a special co-presentation with Ministry of Phonic Services presenting sets from Mira Martin-Gray & Sierra Weston and Wilderness Adventure Ride.]
This set from Bea Labikova and Raphael Roter continued their forward-looking electronics augmentations for their reeds and percussion, but also looked back (with Roter's opening dance solo) as a reminder that considering movement and the body has always been a central concern for this pair.
You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:
[Celebrating a big-round-number landmark, there are two special Track Could Bend events coming up in February! In the regular-time-regular-place department (Tuesday, February 4th at Wenona Lodge), TCB #101 is revisiting the series' very first show, with a solo performance from Allison Cameron and a trio set from Kayla Milmine/Bob Vespaziani/Michael Lynn. But then, on Sunday February 16th, TCB heads over to 918 Bathurst for its one hundredth show spectacular, with performers from over the past ten years joining together in ad hoc Bands From a Hat groupings. Come and celebrate with us!]
Having considered the options, the members of Wenderly Park figured that the best way to open up their album release celebration would be to invite some of the folks who'd shared the stage with them previously to come together and create some sympathetic sounds. The call was answered by a quartet of former collaborators (Bea Labikova on winds, Allison Cameron on laptop, Marilyn Yogarajah on trumpet, and Mike Lynn on double bass) as well as engineer Jason Doell, who had put the bow on the album with his principal mix. The resulting set was an on-point electroacoustic journey, from quieter rustles to input-jamming outbursts.
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. Although Bea Labikova (sax) and Raphael Roter (percussion) have performed together in a variety of different incarnations, this time out they were considering themselves to be two-thirds of Future Proof (and hence the altername name). Closing out the afternoon, the set started and ended with Roter engaging the audience in some tambourine badminton, while Labikova built up ice mountains of sound from sax and effects.
You can check out footage of the full set over on youtube:
Very exciting to see festival co-founder Bea Labikova presenting a bold new vision, taking her solo work with wind and electronics from its small-scale origins to a literal widescreen presentation, flanked by multiple projection screens showing footage from her arctic research journey. The sound in the room was similarly vast — this recording doesn't really capture how it filled up the space, but it gives some idea of the trajectory.
Some sputtering teamwork here with Bea Labikova (switching over to bari sax) joined by Mira Martin-Gray (acoustic guitar + Soft Pop) and Fahmid Nibesh (electric guitar + effects).
You can also check out the video from this set over on Audiopollination's youtube page:
[Audiopollination will be back at Array Space on Friday, January 13th, with performances from Mike Barber/Daisy Betlej/Tegan Dietsch / Kousha Nakhaei/Owen Kurtz / Jamie Eriksen/Adrian Russouw/Bri Clarke and Kimberly Ivany/Katheryn Merriam.]
A night out at Audiopollination was, as usual, brimming over with sounds and creativity. This opening set saw visiting harpist Isabelle Clermont (armed with an array of effects pedals) joined by Mike Lynn (double bass) and Bea Labikova (alto sax). Not even an accidentally-turned-off power bar (which you can hear a short while into this extract) could derail the flow.
You can also check out the video from this set over on Audiopollination's youtube page:
[Audiopollination will be back at Array Space on Friday, January 13th, with performances from Mike Barber/Daisy Betlej/Tegan Dietsch / Kousha Nakhaei/Owen Kurtz / Jamie Eriksen/Adrian Russouw/Bri Clarke and Kimberly Ivany/Katheryn Merriam.]
Patrick O'Reilly assembled this special evening at The Tranzac to exchange some local sounds with visiting Estonian musician Kristjan Kannukene, and what could have been a run-of-the-mill set from Wenderly Park set was turned into an occasion with special guest Bea Labikova sitting in on saxophone. Her sounds were manipulated and re-set amongst the various hums, scratches and intonations leading to some fairly satisfying zones.
With musicians and audience gathering together in Wenona's basement for the first time since March 2020, this was not precisely like old times, mostly because as a safety precauution we kept the room from getting too crowded and not all the peeps that could have been there were sitting in the room. But it's a start, and a reminder that there's something magical about being in a cozy space and hearing people trying out new sounds.
The last time I'd invited Bea Labikova to TCB she leaped at the chance to use it to explore new techniques, bringing an electronic rig to expand the sounds of her sax and voice. Pushing further in that direction this time around, she also brought along guitarist Vennie Tu, who added both shimmery textures and Pocket Operator-generated beats to add structure, moving from etherial drift to some sort of free jazz disco explorations.
To try and make up for the limited realtime access, I'm going to keep documenting TCB's performances on video, so you can check out the vibe on youtube:
Goodness gracious! How nice it is to get outside, and to be somewhere a little unfamiliar, and to see folks from your community doing cool things! This soundwalk was conceptualized by Germaine Liu to use percussion and voices to reflect and enhance the sounds in a stretch moving from Canoe Landing Park and running along The Bentway, under The Gardiner Expressway. Accompanied by the whirr of traffic and backbeat of underpass construction, the groups' sounds fit in like ghostly counterparts to the sonic landscape. Truly delightful. (And for the record, the participants in the piece were: Bea Labikova, Aki Takahashi, Bee Pallomina, Brenda Joy Lem, Fahmid Nibesh, Joe Sorbara, Lieke van der Voort, Michelangelo Iaffaldano, Mingjia, Stephanie Chua, Raphael Roter, Heather Saumer, and Christine Duncan.)
In addition to the audio clips above, here's a slightly more expansive visual record. (Do be warned, this was taken with a handheld camera, so there are some shaky spots here):
In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.
Livestream nation:
Audiopollination returns on Wednesday (March 10th) with a set from Women From Space founders Bea Labikova and Kayla Milmine, free and livestreamable to all. (and, given that Audiopollination is now an "official" Array music series, a timely reminder that Array announced the remainder of its programming for this season, so you can do some planning ahead!)
[Do remember that you can click on the tags below to go back and find the original posts (and often, more stuff) from these artists.]
Bandcamp corner:
Last week's big release was undoubtedly the new Bernice album, soft-pop experimentalism continuing Telephone Explosion's recent hot streak and offering a bit of groove elation for the coming days with slightly-warmer temperatures and a hint (maybe?) of spring in the air. Essential stuff!
Bumping Into... is a series of mini-chats with a variety of peeps that you might run into in some of our local music communities. (There's a bit of an intro and my thoughts behind the series here.)
How are you? Where are you?
Hi Joe, nice to see you! I am doing quite well and I'm still in Toronto... although living somewhere near nature and around mountains never felt more tempting!
What have you been up to since March or so?
I have been trying to stay well, healthy, busy and also to be a positive and supportive force for people in my life. First few months have been pretty intense and full of reflection. I feel I went through phases of trying to to do only things that bring me joy without any attachment of professional or goal oriented focus.... and then being super ambitious trying to get everything I have ever dreamed about done.
I spent a lot of days creating visual work, illustration and animation. I have been volunteering and helping an organization called "Canadian Centre for Women's Empowerment" to create design and illustrations for their campaign focusing on economic and financial abuse of women.
I made a puppet! And together with my partner Raphael Roter we made a puppet music video with hope to bring smiles and joy to people as we head into the new year...it was fun!
And right now I am in a middle of really busy times of putting together the Women From Space Festival 2021! It is happening and it will be spacey!
Have you found any new ways to do old things? How are you feeling about the shifts in how music is being made/shared/listened to?
I am definitely very impressed how everyone transitioned and immediately figured out how to shift into online platform to continue sharing and performing. I tried not to compare it to the feeling of live performance (though I very much miss it like most of us) and treat it as different medium and look for the advantages that this medium can offer.
In terms of new ways...maybe I can say a little bit, even though it is still a secret right now...Raph and I have been developing a special new device that will allow people to watch performances through a hologram illusion! The Women From Space Festival 2021 will be presented in this new spacey way. We call this invention the Holobox Theater!
Any works of art that have been a light for you in these times? Anything that's just been a good diversion?
Besides lots of music, I have been reading many fun books (i.e. A Burning by Megha Majumdar) and I have been more and more fascinated by the art of animation (Wolfwalkers is so great!)
How are you feeling about 2021?
I am feeling positive. I am also blown away by the science community and their incredible work and achievement with the vaccine.
Anything else we'd chat about if we bumped into each other?
Oh I would definitely steer the conversation towards learning about what you have been up to and how are you doing! Thank you for doing these series Joe, it is so nice to read and connect with people from our community!
After spending three nights at the cozier Burdock, Women From Space wrapped up its second festival on International Women's Day, moving to the more expansive surroundings at 918 Bathurst — and it packed the place out for a triumphant conclusion. In retrospect, this was for many of us "the last big night out", the last night when hugs and handshakes were exchanged without reserve. The words "social distancing" had been uttered, but they were still an abstraction, compared to say, sharing a piece of cake or lingering with a group of friends. It is possible that these things might be thinkable again when International Women's Day rolls around again next year — one can only hope that Kayla Milmine and Bea Labikova get a chance to build upon the success of this year's festival.
Leveraging the festival's timing, co-founder Bea Labikova combined her appearance with esteemed NYC bassist William Parker with a recording session — the fact that these musicians (including percussionist Germaine Liu) has been intensely playing together was apparent from the way they tore right into it when this set began, roaring through a non-stop set of free explorations that skipped right past the tentative getting-to-know-you stages that these encounters often feature.
This trio of Raphael Roter, Bea Labikova and Claire Yunjin Lee was at the start of a flurry of activity revolving around doing some recordings that'll hopefully emerge soon in album form. Both Lee's piano and Labikova's sax were future-proofed with some technological embellishment, adding some subtle effects shadings to broaden their palette.
You can also check out some visual documentation of this set over on the Audiopollination youtube channel:
[Both Claire Yunjin Lee and Bea Labikova will be performing next week (March 5th and 8th, respectively) at the amazing Women From Space Festival. Audiopollination returns to Array Space on Saturday, March 14th with another self-curated night including sounds from Rick Sacks/John Oswald/David Sait, Nicholas Cooper/Del Stephen/Kalia Lenaghan, Ryan Kinney and Avant-Gardeners, and Tiina Kiik/David Story/styrofoamNosebleedPrincess.]
This evening started out with some harp-based songcraft from Kathryn Merriam before veering off into improvised realms. Re-assembling most of that group de-centered the harp, giving equal weight to Bea Labikova's sax and effects, Germaine Liu's percussive bricabrac and Laura Swankey's vocals.
This evening started out with some harp-based songcraft from Kathryn Merriam before veering off into improvised realms. The "song" set saw her accompanied by Patrick O'Reilly on guitar/effects, and on a few numbers they were embellished by Laura Swankey's vocalizations, Bea Labikova's winds, and Germaine Liu's picnic blanket of percussive implements, embroidering additional atmospheres to Merriam's evocative songs.
Drummer Joe Sorbara decided to celebrate a birthday in one of the best ways possible — playing music with some friends. To that end, he brought along Bea Labikova (sax), Chris Pruden (piano) and Andrew Furlong (double bass) to launch into some galloping sprints and quieter meditations. To close things out, he waved up saxophonists Naomi McCarroll-Butler and Patrick Smith, who had opened up the night, to add some Trane/Pharoah uplift.
Founded as a blog about one curmudgeon's love affair with the em dash, Mechanical Forest Sound has grown to become a community-based archive of local musical culture. Assuming that "independent music" isn't just boys with guitars and "culture" isn't just some sort of pageant, MFS is an investigation of a wide range of artists, reflecting on concerts as shared experiences, acts of citizenship and a chance to get down — fuzzy photographs and clear-sounding original live recordings a specialty.
Current manifestations of this project include Track Could Bend, a monthly concert series featuring "improvised music and weird rock offshoots", presented in a casual environment.
At one point I wrote full-on concert reviews, and for longer I thought I would catch up and write about shows in the past. But these days, because of, y'know, life, do not expect much in the way of full show reviews — but live recordings with blurbs will be posted as quickly after the fact as is feasible.
You can also check out full sets uploaded to the Live Music Archive. [not currently active]
N.B.: All recordings should be available & playable. If you come across any broken links, invisible or non-functioning players, etc, please leave a comment and I will tend to it ASAP.
ALSO N.B.: I'm perpetually on the lookout for a new place to stash my MP3's online. If you know of any place that allows a couple gigs of stuff to be openly linked to for streaming, drop me a line!
All MP3's on this blog are audience recordings shared as a reminder of the excitement of seeing live music. If you are an artist who doesn't want their music shared in this way, please contact me and I shall remove it forthwith.
What Is: noncompliance: The inputted value is unusual [workshop & performance] (feat. Rrose / Auto Feeder / Parkdale Pirate Radio) / Sandbox 2025-05-07 (Thursday). $20/$25/$30 PWYCA. [more info]
Longing and Belonging: Music for Piano by Armenian Composers (feat. Eve Egoyan) / University of Toronto (Walter Hall) 2026-05-07 (Thursday). $free. [more info]
More Noise Please! presents: Cacophonyous Cataclysm (feat. V. Vecker / Unfeeling / THRTDSPLY / Jania K / Dept of Loss / Emergency Euphoria / Humbucker Music [Nick Storring/Jason Doell/Mira Martin-Gray/Colin Cudmore] / Del Stephen's Glib Trot Gleaning) / BSMT 254 2026-05-07 (Thursday). $15/PWYC. [FB event]
What Is: noncompliance: No memories available (feat. Qiujiang Levi Lu / Aliyah Aziz / Husna Farooqui) / Sandbox 2025-05-08 (Friday). $20/$25/$30 PWYCA. [more info]
Musica Universalis (feat. C'est la fête Large Ensemble [William Hunt/Adrian Rossouw/Mateos Labbes-Phelan/Maxwell Stover/Colin Fisher with special guests Karen Ng & Mark Hundevad) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-05-08 (Friday) [more info]
What Is: noncompliance: Confirm humanity [workshop & performance] (feat. Shara Lunon / Nidus / Christina Dovolis) / Sandbox 2025-05-09 (Saturday). $20/$25/$30 PWYCA. [more info]
Liquid Architecture (feat. Tomasz Krakowiak / Eric Paglia) / St. Matthew’s Clubhouse 2026-05-09 (Saturday). $10 (cash or e-transfer). [FB event]
Labyrinth Ontario with Efrén López / Aga Khan Museum 2026-05-09 (Saturday). $50 (regular)/$45 (friends of the museum)/$37.50 (students and seniors)/$20 (limited rush tickets). [FB event]
O Sacrum Convivium, Music for Corpus Christi (feat. The Tallis Choir) / St. Patrick's Church 2026-05-09 (Saturday). $35 (general), $30 (seniors), $15 (students). [FB event]
Girma Woldemichael [Nafqoté CD release concert] / The Redwood Theatre 2026-05-09 (Saturday). $20, all-ages. [FB event]
Toronto Improvisers Orchestra / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-05-10 (Sunday – noon)
Ayal Senior & Friends (feat. Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman / JOYSHAPE / Ryan Dugre / Nick Flanagan) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-05-10 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.) [FB event]
Wolf Eyes (Knurl / Ayal Senior) / The Baby G 2026-05-10 (Sunday). $33.18, 19+. [FB event]
Jazz Rat Monday (feat. Patrick Smith/Nancy Walker/Eric West/Mark Godfrey) / Dina's Tavern 2026-05-11 (Monday). $pwyc. [more info]
New Works for Improvising Musicians (feat. Nick Fraser's Special Topics [Nick Fraser/Josh Cole/Max Stover/Kae Murphy]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-05-11 (Monday)
Not Dead Yet presents (feat. One Leg One Eye / Efrim Menuck) / St. Stephen-In-The-Fields 2025-05-13 (Wednesday). $26.67, all-ages. [FB event]
Never Was [Brandon Davis/Bea Labikova/Patrick O’Reilly/Joe Sorbara] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-05-13 (Wednesday)
TONE Presents (feat. Eric Chenaux & Ryan Driver / Rafael Toral / Masahiro Takahashi & Brodie West) / Standard Time 2025-05-14 (Thursday). $33.64 advance/$35 door, all-ages. [FB event]
Night Owls (feat. Bob Wiseman / Lily Frost) / Hugh's Room 2026-05-14 (Thursday). $42.85 (General Admission), $27.27 (Student / Arts Worker / Underemployed). [FB event]
AMRITA [debut album release!] [Anita Katakkar & Kayla Milmine with special guests: Jonathan Kay & Zaynab Wilson] (Zaynab Wilson) / Array Space 2025-05-14 (Thursday). $30 [includes a copy of the new CD and a drink]. [FB event]
The Dan Pitt Trio [Dan Pitt/Alex Fournier/Nick Fraser] / Sellers & Newel 2026-05-17 (Sunday). $20 minimum donation. [more info]
Jazz Rat Monday (feat. Patrick Smith/Rebecca Hennessy/Max Simpson/Trevor Falls) / Dina's Tavern 2026-05-18 (Monday). $pwyc. [more info]
Playscape Emporium: Paint, Play ["The audience will witness the creation of various painted works, following the story of a painting as told by the brush."] (feat. Duo Cichorium / Constant Yen / Rowan Campbell / Charli/Fahmid/Joe/Mira) / Array Space 2026-05-21 (Thursday). $25.00 (or Pay What You Want); livestream: $12.00 (or Pay What You Want). [more info]
By Divine Right (Casper Skulls / The Will Powers) / Dina's Tavern 2026-05-22 (Friday)
Burn Down The Capital presents (feat. Cole Pulice / SpeariNg [Karen Ng & Charles Spearin] / Grace Scheele) / Collective Arts 2026-05-23 (Saturday). $22.89, 19+. [FB event]
Parade [Stefan Hegerat/Chris Pruden/Patrick O’Reilly/Laura Swankey] (Joyshape) / Burdock Music Hall 2026-05-23 (Saturday). $16.95. [more info]
Jazz Rat Monday (feat. Patrick Smith/Nancy Walker/Eric West/Mark Godfrey) / Dina's Tavern 2026-05-25 (Monday). $pwyc. [more info]
Geordie Gordon [River Round release celebration, full band with horn section!] (José Contreras) / Burdock Music Hall 2026-05-27 (Wednesday). $20.34. [more info]
Sook-Yin Lee with Dylan Gamble [72RHR release celebration] / Sonic Boom 2026-05-29 (Friday). $free, all ages
Battute e Pizzicato: Celebrating the 17th-Century Guitar (feat, Musicians of the Egg) / Church of the Redeemer 2026-05-31 (Sunday). $30 (general admission), $20 (students/arts workers). [FB event]
TONE presents: Double LP Release (feat. Glissandro 70 / Khôra & Mas Aya / Sweet Lips) / Standard Time 2025-06-04 (Thursday). $28.27, all ages. [FB event]
The Mike DeiCont Trio [Mike DeiCont/Leland Whitty/Eric West] / Sellers & Newel 2026-06-07 (Sunday). $20 minimum donation. [more info]
Not Dead Yet presents (feat. Fuji||||||||||ta / Evicshen) / The Garrison 2025-06-10 (Wednesday). $30.14, 19+. [FB event]
TONE & Not Dead Yet present (feat. Afrorack / Phèdre / Arc & Texture) / BSMT 254 2025-06-16 (Tuesday). $34.49, 19+. [FB event]
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