Recording: December Bee

Artist: December Bee

Song: [first piece]^*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (CLUE NOTE: trivia and creative music (vol 3)), December 29, 2024.

December Bee - [first piece]

This ensemble seemed purpose-built to essay this composition, bringing together twang'n'noise sounds from host/composer Mira Martin-Gray (voice, laptop, mandolin) with Niamh Girling (spring with pickup, mandolin), Marilyn Yogarajah (piano, trumpet), Erin Corbett (banjo, mandolin, piano), and Kurt Newman (lap steel). Going on a wintry nature walk, copy of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek in hand, Martin-Gray's rambles considered the notion, apparently held by ancient Romans, that bees could be killed by echoes and other mysteries of the world outside our windows.

You can check out the full set over on youtube:

[CLUE NOTE will be back in its regular timeslot in the Southern Cross on Tuesday, January 28th with trivia on the theme of "the reality of fabric" and music by Mira Martin-Gray and %%30%30 performing the first live interpretation of Mira's album Stick Control for the Air Drummer.]

^* Based on the content, one might surmise this piece shares its title with the ensemble's, but it wasn't called out from the stage.

Recording: Cosmic Homeostasis

Artist: Cosmic Homeostasis

Song: Eclipse Drone [excerpt]

Recorded at Christie Pits, April 8, 2024.

Cosmic Homeostasis - Eclipse Drone [excerpt]

Well, a total solar eclipse isn't something that happens every day, and even if Toronto was limited to a mere 99.9% of totality this was an event worth getting outside for. So, returning to the scene of previous park gatherings, a robust crew gathered to experience the unsettling gloom that manifested even under cloudy skies. There was a visual score offered as a suggestion at structure, but as is usual with this ensemble, the sounds were satisfactorily self-regulating. And even with such a large group, it was still an intensely quiet experience — the zone of sounding attracted some notice from passers-by, but wasn't disruptive outside its bubble.

What an amazing turnout! The full ensemble consisted of:

• Ian McPhedran - prepared guitar
• Kai Schmidt - child's keyboard
• Helen Lhazan - monotron synth
• Elka Cruz - wrist bell + cyborg pancreas + kalimba
• styrofoamNosebleedPrincess - wrist bell, jaw harp, flexitone
• Mira Martin-Gray - synth, harmonica
• Simon Webb - tambourine + bell
• Eric Cinnsealach - bass clarinet
• Dame Cook - haunted laptop
• Alex Simons - harmonicas, bell
• Chris Price - voice
• Max Donaldson - voice
• Ivy Carroll - voice
• Daisy Betlej - bowed flexitone
• Kaya McGregor - tongue drum (soprano)
• Marius / Lenny / Adriano - stuff & vibes
• Naomi McCarroll-Butler - jaw harp
• Matthew + Anna - harmonica, whistle, thumb piano, pistachios
• Sara Constant - flute
• Kat Estacio - cymbal, Tibetan singing bowl
• Abigail Trotsky + Chris Trotter - DIY resonance box + bow w/ reverb + multi-effect
• Erin Corbett - cello + mandolin
• Mickle32 - bass
• Heraclitus Akimbo - synths, Zoia

You can listen to a (lightly-edited) version of the full experience over on bandcamp:

Recording: Voidfemmes & Erin Corbett

Artist: Voidfemmes & Erin Corbett

Songs: [two excerpts]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #90), April 2, 2024.

Voidfemmes & Erin Corbett - [excerpt 1]

Voidfemmes & Erin Corbett - [excerpt 2]

Quite by accident, this edition of TCB contained two duos, each comprised of a guitarist and a synthesist — but ultimately that served to show how much terrain could be encompassed in that alignment. This pairing saw Lex Feathers (modular synth) and Erin Corbett (guitar) taking turns swelling above the haze with sympathetic textures. The set ended with an electro-folk-y take on Portishead's "The Rip", which both sounded like an extension of the abstractions that had come before it as well as a nod to the more pop-oriented directions these musicians also explore.

You can check out some more from this set (including that cover) over on youtube:

[Track Could Bend is back at Wenona on Tuesday (May 7th) with sets from Olivia Shortt and Brian Abbott, plus the debut live performance of harsh abstract electronics project TH6Ø.]

Recording: Killer Quartet

Artist: Killer Quartet

Song: [excerpt from an improvisation]

Recorded December 4, 2022 at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Audiopollination 10th Anniversary Bash).

Killer Quartet - [excerpt]

A round number anniversary is always worth celebrating, and more so for this labour of love devoted to creative expression and community building. Kudos to Mike Lynn for putting in the work to keep Audiopollination going for a decade — definitely worth celebrating with a slice of pie and a crowded room in the Southern Cross.

Lynn closed out the first part of the afternoon with this group that saw him joined by Audiopollination Guelph founder Emjay Wright (on drumkit) as well as Kai Grant (vocalisations) and Erin Corbett (synth), exploring dark alleys and uncertain emotional terrain.

You can check out some footage from this set over on the Audiopollination youtube channel:

[Audiopollination is back at Array Space on Friday, January 13th with sets by Mike Barber/Daisy Betlej/Tegan Dietsch / Kousha Nakhaei/Owen Kurtz / Jamie Eriksen/Adrian Russouw/Bri Clarke and Kimberly Ivany/Katheryn Merriam.]

Recording: Splendid Industries' Quartets

Artist: Splendid Industries Presents: Erin Corbett/Tyson Headon/Paul Geldart/Curtis Whittaker/Sinéad Bermingham/Michael Palumbo

Songs: [excerpts from three quartet improvisations]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #73), November 1, 2022.

Erin Corbett/Tyson Headon/Paul Geldart/Curtis Whittaker - [excerpt]

Paul Geldart/Sinéad Bermingham/Michael Palumbo/Erin Corbett - [excerpt]

Curtis Whittaker/Sinéad Bermingham/Michael Palumbo/Tyson Headon - [excerpt]

For this TCB, I asked Tyson Headon, who organizes things over at Splendid Industries, to put something together. He obliged by wrangling a half-dozen musicians, several of whom were meeting for the first time. The night was divided into two halves, first with each player getting the chance to participate in two shorter quartet performances before the whole crew played together in the second half. Sounds ranged from sputtery spirit invocations to modular lounge jams as the crew worked out some shared spaces.

For the record, the whole group consisted of:

• Erin Corbett - Modular Synth
• Michael Palumbo - Modular Synth
• Sinéad Bermingham - Harp/FX
• Tyson Headon - Bass/FX
• Paul Geldart - Electronic Drums/Percussion
• Curtis Whittaker - Acoustic Drums/Percussion

You can check out some video from each of these mini-sets over on the TCB youtube playlist:

[Track Could Bend will be back at Wenona on Tuesday, December 6th with sets from Madeleine Ertel and Ecotone.]

Recording: Wiernik/Corbett/Cook

Artist: Neil Wiernik/Erin Corbett/Dame Cook

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng Presents: The Boxing Day Special), December 26, 2019.

Neil Wiernik/Erin Corbett/Dame Cook - [excerpt]

Karen Ng (away for her regular night at The Tranzac) left things to guest curator Victor O, who assembled a fine night of electroacoustic sounds. The night started with this trio offering three flavours of electronics, mashing together into 8-bit victory fanfares, bitcrushed surfscapes and touch-type chimes.

Recording: Campbell/Wright/Corbett

Artist: Rod Campbell/MJ Wright/Aaron Corbett

Song: [first piece]

Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination 75), September 14, 2019.

Rod Campbell/MJ Wright/Aaron Corbett - [first piece]

It is sometimes quite astounding how well Audiopollination's "self-curated" nights can work, creating beautiful sounds that cohere not just within a set, but over the course of a whole night. This opening combination of Rod Campbell's trumpet, MJ Wright's junkshop percussion and Aaron Corbett's modular synths were nicely simpatico right from the start, breaths and blips moving from burbling textures to excited crescendos.

You can watch video documentation of this set over at Audiopollination's youtube page:

[Audiopollination will be back at Array Space on Saturday (November 9th) for another self-curated night featuring Paul Newman & Ashley Urquhart, Twin Mask/Jeff Luciani/Rebecca Gray, Bob Vespaziani/Arnd Jurgensen/Elizabeth Lima, and MKL32 & Lidija Bozica.]

Recording: Cameron-Corbett-Abbott-Bougie

Artist: Allison Cameron/Aaron Corbett/Brian Abbott/Christine Bougie

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Steady Café (Track Could Bend #25), April 4, 2017.

Allison Cameron/Aaron Corbett/Brian Abbott/Christine Bougie - [excerpt]

Continuing the tradition started a year ago, Track Could Bend celebrated its second anniversary by inviting back all of the previous year's performers for a celebration. There ended up being nineteen players on this night, all of whom put their names in a hat to be drawn to create spontaneous ensembles for a series of quick sets. The hat obliged with this extremely off-kilter stringband, mixing guitarists with three very different styles (Brian Abbott's standard axe, Christine Bougie's lap steel and Allison Cameron's mandolin) with some sound-warping from Aaron Corbett tying things together.

[Track Could Bend #27 will be at The Steady on Tuesday, June 6th, with sets from Processor, Steve Sladkowski & Joe Sorbara and Diane Roblin & Katie Jensen.]

Recording: Electro-Acoustic Orchestra

Artist: Electro-Acoustic Orchestra

Song: [edited excerpt from first piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (416 Toronto Creative Improvisers Festival – Night 1), November 2, 2016.

Electro-Acoustic Orchestra - [edited excerpt from first piece]

This night of abstracted sounds lead off a rather satisfying edition of the long-running 416 Festival. Under the leadership of Doug Van Nort (conducting and mixing desk), the room-filling EAO is based out his DisPerSion Lab up at York University. It contains a mix of veteran players (such as Robert Appleton, Glen Hall, and Ted Philips) with a crew of emerging performers, mixing laptop-based electronics with a full range of acoustic instruments. Van Nort deployed a lot of gestural conducting, presumably shaping the way the performers interacted with each other, mixing a couple big swells with more subtle sonic fields. Pay attention at the end of this extract for the way the Hall's saxophone pulls itself into clearer focus from the general swirl of the ensemble. (There were a few faces here that were, as yet, strangers to me, but the ensemble was listed as: Chris Anderson-Lundy, Robert Appleton, David Bandi, Aaron Corbett, Marcello Fiorini, Glen Hall, Ian Macchiusi, Mackenzie Perrault, Liz Petzold, Ted Philips, Danny Sheahan, Fae Sirois and Lauren Wilson.)

Recording: Bears and Children

Artist: Bears and Children

Song: [excerpt from first piece]

Recorded at at Dundas Video (Track Could Bend #20), November 1, 2016.

Bears and Children - [excerpt from first piece]

Some very interesting side-roads here from this trio whose normal stock-in-trade is a rather dense and stylized "electronic glitterdoom". For this set they were in improvisation mode, shedding any semblance of song structure. With the focus almost entirely on sonic textures rather than harmonic/melodic elements, one could sense the influence here of Doug Van Nort — the group's members also play in his Electro-Acoustic Orchestra up at York and are associated with his DisPerSion Lab. (This shift was especially apparent for Fae Sirois, who was investigating the violin's skrunk-skreetch acoustic possibilities instead of playing through an extended pedal chain.)

[The next Track Could Bend will be taking place on Tuesday, December 6th with sets from No Parking (members of Protruders), Heather Saumer, plus Del Stephen & The Bedroom Refuge Holiday.]