Recording: Jeff Roberts and co.

Artist: Jeff Roberts/ Sarah Peebles/Shahriyar Jamshidi + Jeff Roberts/Branko Džinovic/Heidi Chan

Songs: [excerpts from two improvisations]

Recorded at Array Space (Somewhere There Presents), March 6, 2016.

Jeff Roberts/ Sarah Peebles/Shahriyar Jamshidi - [excerpt from first piece]

Jeff Roberts/Branko Džinovic/Heidi Chan - [edited excerpt]

Following on an event at the CMC showcasing Jeff Roberts' work as a composer, this Somewhere There-hosted night focused on improvisation. His work with guqin follows both traditional and modern paths — the latter deploying a motion-sensing MIDI controller to trigger samples that extend the instrument's sound. Besides examining that sonic range in a solo set that mixed traditional tunes with improvisations, the night also began with two rather-different trios. The first, joined by Sarah Peebles' shō and Shahriyar Jamshidi's kamanche was mostly quiet and still, like nature's ancient ambient music found beside a stream. The second, with Branko Džinovic's extended-technique accordion and Heidi Chan's effect-chain xiao, moved things into the digital age, but still remained rooted in thumping, clacking, plucking tactility.

Recording: Michael Lynn / Karen Ng / Brian Abbott / Kayla Milmine / Branko Dzinovic

Artist: Michael Lynn / Karen Ng / Brian Abbott / Kayla Milmine / Džinović

Songs: [improvised duos + trios]

Recorded at The Tranzac – Southern Cross Lounge ("Audiopollination #32.3"), July 30, 2015.

Michael Lynn/Karen Ng/Brian Abbott - [excerpt from first piece]

Michael Lynn/Kayla Milmine - [two edited sections]

Branko Džinović/Kayla Milmine/Karen Ng - [excerpt from first piece]

Branko Džinović/Brian Abbott - [two edited sections]

Audiopollination (usually found over at Array Space) took a field trip to The Tranzac for this casual session, which saw a pool of five frequent contributors to the series recombine in a series of duets and trios. The night's musicians were Michael Lynn (double bass), Karen Ng (alto sax), Brian Abbott (guitar), and Branko Džinović (accordion). There was a sense of both variety and continuity between the sets, and to hear these snippets from them all back to back as presented here gives the sense of a sort of continuous suite.

[Audiopollination returns to Array for the second instalment of its self-curation series next Tuesday (August 11th). They're also hosting a special night for Montréal guests Geraldine Eguiluz and Stéphane Diamantakiou on Sunday, August 30th.]

[P.S.: on a night of duos and trios, imaginary quartets sometimes appear as well.]

Recording: Karen Ng + Branko Dzinovic

Artist: Karen Ng + Branko Dzinovic

Song: [second piece, edited]

Recorded at Array Space ("Audiopollination 30.1"), May 12, 2015.

Karen Ng + Branko Dzinovic - [second piece, edited]

This night at Audiopollination saw Karen Ng, Germaine Liu and Bea Labikova play together (as KGB) and separately in a trio of opening sets. Karen Ng (on sax and clarinet) and Branko Dzinovic (on accordion) took a little while to find a common space where both of their sounds could work — there was a lotta high-pitched squawking at the outset. Once they settled into something more atmospheric (as heard on these selections) there were some rather pleasing results.

[As always, you can listen to the full recording of the night over at Audiopollination's bandcamp. The next Audiopollination, with a whole new mix of instant ensembles, will take place on Tuesday, June 9th at Array Space.]

Recording: Eldritch Priest

Artist: Eldritch Priest

Song: The Brown Study¹ [excerpt]

Recorded at Array Space, April 16, 2015.

Eldritch Priest - The Brown Study [excerpt]

Called upon to give a lecture on his Boring Formless Nonsense: Experimental Music and The Aesthetics of Failure, scholar/composer Eldritch Priest seemed to be eager to say as little as possible (given that the 2013 book is now "old material" and has since been supplanted by new lines of inquiry) and mostly commented on the book's form in relation to its content before moving things along to the evening's musical portion.

But given that "The Brown Study" has a duration of somewhere around two hours, that was probably a wise move. A cavalcade of melody, the piece (for open ensemble²) moves along without harmony or counterpoint, the musicians choosing for themselves when to drop in or out. And rather than trying to be a full-on, immersive experience, the piece is meant to function either as foreground or background music, with Priest making sure to reassure the crowd it would be fine to get up and wander, or chat a little during the performance. Given that the piece was written in the same period as Boring Formless Nonsense, one assumes it is meant as a sort of reflection of those themes, embodying them musically while attempting to perform a little bit of dialectical ju-jitsu to come out the other side having fought them to at least a draw.

---

¹ I have no notion whether or not this piece's title is riffing on the urban myth of the "brown note", but given that immediately before the performance Priest chose to read a footnote from his book that referenced poopnames.com it does not seem outside the range of possibility.

² For this performance, the ensemble was: David Schotzko (vibes), Marc Couroux (synth), John Sherlock (keys), Anna Höstman (keys), Paul Newman (tenor sax), Bea Labikova (alto sax), Cory Latkovich (cello), Branko Džinovic (accordion), Nicole Rampersaud (trumpet), Heather Seeger (trombone), Eldritch Priest (guitar).

Recording: Parmela Attariwala

Artist: Parmela Attariwala & Adele Armin / Parmela Attariwala/Branko Dzinovic/Robert Aitken / Parmela Attariwala/Jeff Burke/Casey Sokol / Parmela Attariwala + Shahriyar Jamshidi

Songs: [excerpts from improvisations]

Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination 28.2), March 10, 2015.

Parmela Attariwala & Adele Armin - [excerpt from an improvisation]

Attariwala-Dzinovic-Aitken - [excerpt from an improvisation]

Attariwala-Burke-Sokol - [edited excerpt from an improvisation]

Parmela Attariwala + Shahriyar Jamshidi - [excerpt from an improvisation]

This Audiopollination kept Parmela Attariwala busy all night long in four sets that saw her pitted against a variety of different sounds. A quiet duet with Adele Armin (violin) hinted at classical austerity, and a trio alongside Branko Dzinovic (accordion) and Robert Aitken (flute) felt like formalized fragments from a folksong, here being subverted by Attariwala skrtching at her strings with a block of styrofoam. Another trio with Casel Sokol (piano and prepared piano) and Jeff Burke (bassoon, theremin) took things on an abstract rocketship ride. A closing duet with Audiopollination favourite Shahriyar Jamshidi (kamanche) was a satisfying close to the night. Kudos once more to Audiopollination for putting such a wide range of sounds together.

[These field recordings, especially the first couple, are a little on the lo-fi side. You'll get a nicer sound if you check out the full recordings over at Audiopollination's bandcamp page.]

Recording: The Birth of Troubling Forms

Artist: The Birth of Troubling Forms

Song: "Journey to Wisborg" [excerpt from a live soundtrack to Nosferatu]

Recorded at Cinecycle (Sounds & Silents series), October 26, 2014.

The Birth of Troubling Forms - "Journey to Wisborg"

A trip to CineCycle to see a foundational horror flick on the Sunday before Halowee'en was a tasty prospect, made even better by the chance to hear the movie with a live, improvised musical score. The Birth of Troubling Forms features Alan Bloor (violin, metal), Branko Dzinovic (accordion), Michael Lynn (bass), Ambrose Pottie (percussion), and John Creson and Adam Rosen (vocalisations) and was formed for a similar screening a year previously. The atmospheric mix was successful enough that the band has been playing since then, suitable to soundtrack any dread-inducing occasion.