Recording: Potions

Artist: Potions

Song: Havelock

Recorded at The Garrison, July 25, 2026.

Potions - Havelock

In theory an opening slot for a beloved local entertainer is a prime opportunity for a young band hot off releasing their debut album. Unfortunately, the Saturday night Jen Castle crowd was not in "discovery" mode, mostly talking over the band's carefully-arranged folk numbers. For those willing to listen, all the elements were in place, with guitars and bass being freely swapped about on stage between Josh Sparks, Ben Rositsan, and Steven Noronha while the latter pair traded off vocals (and, at the back of the stage, Aidan McConnell's electronic interventions beyond his drumkit work filled space up nicely in the big room). With the songwriting burst that produced Beebo, Make a Wish (and the larger cache of tunes that that album drew from) now out in the world, there should be oppurtunities forthcoming to hear the band sharing this amazing music in more favourable circumstances.

[Potions will be trying their luck as an opener once more, welcoming Otto Benson to town at the Monarch Tavern on Tuesday, September 8th.]

Recording: Potions & Strings

Artist: Potions & Strings

Songs: Quadrophonia + Aidan's String Quartet^* + Song for the World 2

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), May 6, 2026.

Potions & Strings - Quadrophonia

Potions & Strings - Aidan's String Quartet

Potions & Strings - Song for the World 2

Having tracked these things for awhile, my inner amateur ethnomusicologist is always curious to see certain patterns of collaboration re-emerge over time. The musical scenes I like to be in are collegial by nature, and Toronto's social/material circumstances seem to lead to parallel evolutions of musical/social agglomerations: sometimes it takes the form of a damn big band, just blasting out music together; sometimes, in the joyful romp of the groovy biglyup; and again and again as a joining-together of the song-playing folkies with the improvisers. The latter had its classic nexus in the emergence of Rock Plaza Central, birthed from the Tranzac's Southern Cross, as well as in groups like the amazing Sea Snakes, who sound like Potions' most direct local forebearers. (There's also the closely-related case of chamber-pop groups absorbing their friends in ever-growing string and horn sections.)

None of which is meant to detract from Potions' trajectory and amazing work in the here-and-now. Having issued an essential EP earlier this year, this set saw them showing off some songs that will presumably be on their forthcoming album, showing off a winning mix of off-the-cuffness and deep chops. The core quartet is Steven Noronha, Ben Rositsan, Josh Sparks, and Aidan McConnell (all busy around town in various other capacities), passing around instruments and vocal parts — and joined here by a string quartet of Sara May, Aline Homzy, Jill Sauertag, and Clara Nguyen-Tran. My understanding is that all of the members contributed arrangements for the songs (as well as the interstitial string miniatures) and everything sounded naturally integrated. It's rare to witness a standing ovation in the Southern Cross, but the packed crowd on hand knew they were seeing something special — there's the sense that, just at this particular moment, this band could do incredible things and be bound for much larger stages.

My camera angle wasn't the best — apologies to Josh and Aline! — but you can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

^* To be updated once an actual title comes to light!

Recording: Sympathetic String Band

Artist: Sympathetic String Band

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Sympathetic String Band & Friends), April 26, 2026.

Sympathetic String Band - [excerpt]

Although I caught some earlier evolutions of this ensemble, I had missed 'em as they transitioned into a Tranzac residency, gathering likeminded friends to dig deep into tunings and other esoteric string-related inquiries. This night saw them inviting Gayle Young to join in for some theory-talk and sonic exploration, though the group, in quartet form this time out, also took this journey on their own.

[It looks like The Sympathetic String Band are bumped from their regular timeslot this month, but they will be back in the Southern Cross on June 28th.]

Recording: Gayle Young

Artist: Gayle Young

Songs: [solo piece] + Stick Fire (with Sympathetic String Band)

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Sympathetic String Band & Friends), April 26, 2026.

Gayle Young - [solo piece]

Gayle Young & Sympathetic String Band - Stick Fire

A fascinating meeting of the minds at The Tranzac, with the Sympathetic String Band invting composer/performer/theorist/inventor Gayle Young out for a session, bringing her 25 string amaranth (played with bows, mallets and more) — "the music theory machine" as she referred to it. After giving an introductory overview of the instrument, she played the first piece here, accompanied by a field recording. And then, after an improvisation by the Sympathetic String Band, everyone joined together for a closing exploration of another of her pieces.

Recording: Ben Mike & The Beatles

Artist: Ben Mike & The Beatles

Song: "...the forest, the virgin forest, the life of a woodcutter" [middle section]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), March 14, 2026.

Ben Mike & The Beatles - "...the forest, the virgin forest, the life of a woodcutter" [middle section]

Catching these Beatles for the second time, I noted — given the consistency of the membership — that this was definitely more than a thrown-together jam. With only what looked like a photocopied page of notes for a score, the grounp moved together effortlessly through a variety of moods, from atmospheric drift to the rocking On The Corner-style funk heard here (and leaning back at the end to listen to some Cat Stevens). There was a wonderfully-mythic (though possibly apocryphal) origin story of sorts given at the start, but this is a unit built to carry some myths.

So far as I can tell (correct me if I'm wrong!) the full ensemble was:

• Ray Goudy, Josh Sparks, Dylan Burrett (Guitars)
• Maxwell Stover, Ben Rositsan, Zack Goldstein (Reeds and Woodwinds)
• Lauren Dillen (Vocals)
• Steven Noronha, Ben Mike, Will Hunt (Keyboards)
• Sara May (Violin)
• Aidan McConnell (Percussion)

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

[Ben Mike & The Beatles will be reassembling at Dina's Tavern Thursday, May 14th. Chris Ma is also on the bill.]

Recording: Tap slap wind and light

Artist: Tap slap wind and light

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #114), March 3, 2026.

Tap slap wind and light - [excerpt]

When invited to breing something to TCB, Patrick Lefler invented this assemblage of all of the things in the band's moniker: tap dancing, "slapped" guitar, bass clarinet, vocals, balloons, and shadow puppetry. Add in plenty of space echo and set the whole thing off to drift and sprawl and stretch out its limbs a little.

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

[Track Could Bend is back at Wenona on Tuesday, May 5th with sets from the rest (Joe Sorbara & Jonathan Kay), Wobbly + John Oswald, and Red Trillium (Andrew Finlay Stewart, Matt Nguyen and Justin Caporuscio).]

Recording: Double Trio

Artist: Double Trio

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded in the CNE Bandshell (Ministry of Phonic Services' Back to School Field Trip — Waterfront), September 23, 2025.

Double Trio - [excerpt]

This "waterfront" night out at the Field Trip festival was originally slated for Marilyn Bell Park, right on the shores of Lake Ontario. Rainy weather kept that from happening, but some organizational ingenuity meant the event still took place outside, and still lake-adjacent. Moving to the CNE Bandshell gave the night its own flavour, with performers and audience alike staying dry under the circular overhang, framing the performances from the opposite perspective one might expect. (And as an aside, let's note that this lovely heritage structure sits empty for most of the year, and ponder on what it would be like to live in a city where a really small allocation of resources could activate it in all kinds of inneresting ways.)

In a festival with its share of noisy and joyfully disruptive moments, it should be remembered that MPS' vision of experimental music includes quieter interludes as well, and this ensemble was well-placed to offer a deep listening experience. (the originally-scheduled lake sounds would have been a sweet enhancement, but as things were, the gentle backdrop of the rainy weather filled in that space nicely as well.) As the name implies, this group featured two trios, one of saxophones (Ben Rositsan, Garret Hildebrandt, and Maxwell Stover) and one of violins (Sara May, Kyla Marlena, and Audrey Mae) joining forces for some improvised chamber music.

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

Recording: Ben Mike & The Beatles

Artist: Ben Mike & The Beatles

Song: [excerpt]^*

Recorded at The Tranzac (Main Hall), May 25, 2025.

Ben Mike & The Beatles - [excerpt]

So, to get the obvious out of the way: no, they are not those Beatles. And while such a cheeky moniker (and the clear vibes that this was definitely a group of friends having a great time hanging out together) might connote an unseriousness of purpose, there was definitely something interesting going on here. (Also interesting was the fact that a large improvising ensemble playing mostly-drifty music filled up the Tranzac's Main Hall on a Sunday night!)

Perhaps more telling was that for the purposes of this show, the band was billed with "(Orchestra)" tagged to its name, and while Ben Mike, on keyb at the centre of everything, was mostly hidden behind pages of scores, only the other keyboardists were similarly encumbered and there was no obvious direction/conduction going on — though for all that, there was a definite sense of organization at hand, especially in the sense of restraint that was evident for most of the set (although there was some build-up bombast — in a Cage-ean minimalmist sense — as well).

Obviously these folks were familiar with each other as players — there was, for example, a heavy overlap with a different large improvising ensemble I had seen not long before this. And while this brought to mind some attempts to bring compositional order to rock'n'roll chaos I've seen from some similar local friend-orchestras in the past, it was really satisfying to see the physical and conceptual sprawl here (with hints of psych rock, spiritual jazz, and "Thursday Afternoon"-style Eno) expand at the seams yet remain able to contain itself. If you're not going out to the shows where the younger cadres are, you're missing out on something very cool emerging in our midst.

The full ensemble for this show was:

• Ray Goudy, Josh Sparks, Dylan Burrett (Guitars)
• Maxwell Stover, Ben Rositsan, Zack Goldstein (Reeds and Woodwinds)
• Lauren Dillen (Vocals)
• Steven Noronha, Ben Mike, Will Hunt (Keyboards)
• Sara May (Violin)
• Aidan McConnell (Percussion)

^* Does anyone know the title to this piece as a whole? Please leave a comment!

Recording: an action committee

Artist: an action committee

Songs: Organ [in two versions] [composer: Max Stover]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), May 18, 2025.

an action committee - Organ [version 1]

an action committee - Organ [version 2]

I feel like it's a very Toronto thing to gather large groups together and have everyone play at once. ("Everyone playing loudly and at once," is, in fact, how I've heard the "Toronto style" of improvisation described by some of its detractors.) Whether it's a consequence of the social situations performers in Toronto's creative music scenes find themselves in or some sort of atavistic impulse towards maximalism, it warms the ol' heart to see the younger cadres rediscovering these sonic scenarios.

How large groups find ways to work together and navigate structure and freedom is, of course, a key question — and Maxwell Stover's new-ish Tranzac residency is an attempt to negotiate some of these queries. For this instalment, with a dozen musicians on stage, that was achieved through Stover's conduction and distribution of some fragments of material for the musicians to share space in. That this was a relatively unprecise approach could be seen from how the same three pieces were essayed twice with rather different results — quietly and spaciously in the first set, and with shades, feedback and fuzz pedals in the second.

The musicians for this performance were:

• guitars: Bjorn Kriel, Ben Rositsan, Josh Sparks, Jesse White
• keys: Max Donaldson, Will Hunt, Ben Mike, Steven Noronha
• bass: Adrian Russouw
• drums: Keith Barstow, Colin Cudmore, Mateos Labbe-Phelan
• conduction + compositions: Maxwell Stover

Apologies for the fact that this whole ensemble was too large to fit in its entirety in the frame, but you can check out the evening's full performance over on youtube:

[an action committee take on a different form of musical organization — three trios — at its next performance on Sunday (June 15th), with performances from Steven Noronha/Keon Narinesingh/Harry Vetro, Ben Rositsan/Adrian Russouw/Cal James Adam, and Jesse White/Maxwell Stover/Keith Barstow.]