Recording: Molehill

Artist: Molehill

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Bar Orwell^* (Gabe Girard presents), March 31, 2024.

Molehill - [excerpt]

A cool'n'casual night of experimental sounds made for a pleasant Sunday evening. Curated by percussionist Gabe Girard, this show saw Molehill leaving their customary environs of the Southern Cross Lounge for the first time. There were some subtle evolutions from when I last saw them, including seeing the duty of sonic processing shifting more to drummer Jake Oelrichs, leaving Mike Smith with fewer distractions as he played bass.

^* Important reminder: "Bar Orwell has permanently closed its 1595 Dundas Street West location due to constructive eviction as of Thursday, April 11, 2024." Please support this "place for all the freaks and weirdos" at their gofundme.

Recording: Molehill

Artist: Molehill

Songs: [two excerpts from the first set]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (All-Set! Presents), December 29, 2023.

Molehill - [set 1, excerpt 1]

Molehill - [set 1, excerpt 2]

The timing usually doesn't work out for me, so I haven't been on hand to watch the evolution of the old Aurochs timeslot in the way it deserves. Following pianist Ali Berkok's departure from town, the remaining members maintained momentum with a series of shows where they were joined by guest performers — but more recently the trio has put things on a more permanent footing with the adoption of the moniker Molehill.

That still doesn't tie the musicians down to strictly-defined roles, and I was told that this particular alignment (Jake Oelrichs, drumkit; Mike Smith, electric bass; Pete Johnston, electric guitar) was seeing its first outing. Sonically, this didn't much resemble Aurochs; nor did it atavistically revert to many Muskox modes. (Though with Michael Kaler in the crowd, there was some discussion as to whether Smith, who has generally handling electronics at these shows might be invoking his inner Phil Lesh with the bass back in his hands.) There were a lot of zones explored over two sets, from insta-ECM intricacies to thorny postrock jammage.

You can check out some sounds from the second set over on youtube:

[With Ali Berkok being back in town, Aurochs will, in fact, return at the end of the month in the All-Set! timeslot on January 26th.]

Recording: The Hell Drivers

Artist: The Hell Drivers

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Living Room (fuZzfest), May 13, 2023.

The Hell Drivers - [excerpt]

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. Another innovation from Kurt Newman Solutions™, this grouping with Andrew Furlong on electric bass and dual drummers Jake Oelrichs and Mark Zurawinski offers up a glimpse of infinite shred'n'choogle.

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

Recording: Aurochs with special guest Kurt Newman

Artist: Aurochs with special guest Kurt Newman

Song: [2nd set excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), December 30, 2022.

Aurochs with special guest Kurt Newman - [2nd set excerpt]

[before start of set]

Kurt Newman: Anything I should know?

Pete Johnston: We don't play very much... also, we're not a rhythm section.

Been a fair while since I'd caught up with Aurochs, in fact not at all since their significant shift earlier this year, which saw co-founder/pianist Ali Berkok depart from regular duties with the group on moving out of town. The remaining members (Pete Johnston, bass; Jake Oelrichs, percussion; and Mike Smith, processing) have continued on, with their monthly residency slots now featuring a rotating cast of guest performers.

Kurt Newman brought out his pedal steel for this instalment, gliding along for a couple sets and giving Smith an output so he could add some extra manipulations and spacializations to his sounds. To connect with the pedal steel's vibe, Johnston swapped double bass for bass VI, so there were some moments of minimal Nashville (though not quite Nashville Minimalist) sounds. Things actually got a little frisky — if not a gallop then nudging into a drunken waltz, but the back half of both sets found the musicians zoned in to some really pleasing flows.

Speaking of which, here's some sounds/visuals from the second half of the first set:

Recording: Pete Johnston 4

Artist: Pete Johnston 4

Songs: Surrender Before Then + Centuries After Now

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #59), February 4, 2020.

Pete Johnston 4 - Surrender Before Then

Pete Johnston 4 - Centuries After Now

In keeping with bassist-composer Pete Johnston's usual naming scheme, this group should really be called the See Through 4 — except for the fact that he's already got one of those, with a totally different lineup. I have been told that his Branding Team is hard at work ironing out this paradox, but in the meantime, here were some new tunes, specially jazz-reduced for this lineup including Lina Allemano (trumpet), Michael Davidson (vibes) and Jake Oelrichs (percussion). Word is that this unit did some recording, so expect to hear more from them the next time Lina Allemano is back from Berlin.

[Track Could Bend is back at Wenona on Tuesday (March 3rd) with sets from JP Carter & Friends (including Aline Homzy, Ashley Urquhart, and Joe Sorbara), Les Trois Lynx Roux (Émilie Fortin, Germaine Liu, and Cory Harper-Latkovich) and Suit World (Alex Hamlyn, Alex McLaren, and Vannessa Barnier).]

Recording: Aurochs

Artist: Aurochs

Song: [set 1, 3rd piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), December 27, 2019.

Aurochs - [set 1, 3rd piece]

Classic four-piece Aurochs jams to close out the year, these two sets saw the members pushing apart a bit and exploring some branching paths before falling back into some mindmeld grooves.

[Aurochs promise to play very quietly tomorrow night (Friday, January 31st) at The Tranzac.]

Recording: The Lady and The Tramp

Artist: The Lady and The Tramp

Songs: Down by the Riverside + Medley: Tea for Two/Fly Me to The Moon/Chicago (That Toddlin' Town)/I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Furniture Music), May 28, 2019.

The Lady and The Tramp - Down by the Riverside

The Lady and The Tramp - Medley: Tea for Two/Fly Me to The Moon/Chicago (That Toddlin' Town)/I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face

This group, with Christine Duncan singing and a rhythm section of Jake Oelrichs and Alex Fournier, was originally put together and booked for this show by Justin Haynes; after his passing, the musicians decided to honour his artistic intention by going ahead with it, drafting in Jim Lewis to complete the group. As is perhaps a good way to proceed in the face of sad thoughts, the band played with fiercely-absurd joy. Taking a decidedly non-standard approach to some standards, Duncan would lurch into a song, the group catching the vibe and clattering and moaning behind her — an improvised hit parade filled with detours and asides.

This was also an appropriate night to formally unveil a commemorative plaque and painting on the piano that Justin Haynes donated to the space. Kudos to Ashley Urquhart and Alex Fournier for doing the legwork to make this happen — hopefully Justin's spirit will be remembered by all who get to play this piano.

[Furniture Music will be back in the basement at Wenona on Tuesday, August 27th.]

Recording: Myk Freedman and Friends

Artist: Myk Freedman and Friends

Song: Justin Haynes

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Service for Justin Haynes), April 19, 2019.

Myk Freedman and Friends - Justin Haynes

Some things are hard. In the aftermath of a sudden loss, family, friends and collaborators joined together to celebrate the life and music of Justin Haynes. Famously banned from The Tranzac, the sad smiles at the fact of his return were indicative of the vibe: shock and sadness with a grimly-funny streak. Hopefully being together helped some people move forward in processing this tragedy, and hopefully Justin's music and spirit will be remembered and celebrated. Over the course of the afternoon and evening, many of his fellow-travelers paid tribute by revisiting Justin's material or offering some new tributes. Here's a few of the sounds from the day.

Among the many projects Jean Martin and Ryan Driver shared with Justin Haynes, they recorded a couple albums and toured as Freedman, playing Myk Freedman's compositions. In return, a couple years later in 2012, Freedman wrote this piece in tribute. The performance notes for this piece are "driving, inspiring, intense", encapsulating Haynes' spirit. Joined by Karen Ng, Mike Overton and Jake Oelrichs, they put those instructions into action in a joyous blast.

Recording: Aurochs

Artist: Aurochs

Song: [set 1, 2nd piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), December 28, 2018.

Aurochs - [set 1, 2nd piece]

A quiet evening at The Tranzac, the sort of night where instead of introducing the bandmembers at the end of the set, bassist/podcaster/raconteur Pete Johnston instead introduced each of the audience by name. But instead of using the room in the room (and a quiet evening in the Main Hall with no sound bleeding through) to add more quiet space to their music, the group went the other way, with Johnston's fuzzy bass textures pushing the group into some pretty rockin' territory. Even with extra volume and velocity, there was still room for the pieces to unfold in some surprising and rather satisfying ways, with Mike Smith's dub interventions on Ali Berkok's piano and Jake Oelrichs' percussion folding in nicely at the edges.

[Aurochs will be back in the Southern Cross on Friday, February 22nd.]

Recording: Aurochs

Artist: Aurochs

Songs: [two excerpts]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Somewhere There Creative Music Festival – Show 3 late-night afterparty), February 24, 2018.

Aurochs - [excerpt from Set 1, first piece]

Aurochs - [excerpt from Set 2, first piece]

A "typical" night from the Aurochs, doing nothing more than letting their dazzlingly-inventive musical vocabulary unveil itself in slow-motion.

[Aurochs will be taking their regular turn in the Southern Cross this Friday (April 27th).]

Recording: Aurochs

Artist: Aurochs

Song: [set 2, part 1]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), October 27, 2017.

Aurochs - [set 2, part 1]

With just drummer Jake Oelrichs, bassist Pete Johnston and pianist Ali Berkok on stage, this was a night of "Aurochs classique". (Fourth member Mike Smith was, in fact, "in the house", so to speak, playing in the Tranzac's Main Hall as a member of U.S. Girls' band.) Without Smith's dub-smear signal processing, this outing saw the group at their most Necks-like, slowly developing themes being passed back and forth from one player to another.

Aurochs bassist Pete Johnston will be bringing some of his See Through Music to The Tranzac tonight (Wednesday, November 29th).]

Recording: The Mike Smith Company

Artist: The Mike Smith Company

Song: Famous Wildlife Movies

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (All-Set! Autumn Release Show), October 28, 2016.

The Mike Smith Company - Famous Wildlife Movies [part 1]

The Mike Smith Company - Famous Wildlife Movies [part 2]

This second release spectacular from All-Set! Editions added three new albums to their catalogue, and all three of the recombinant groupings played to celebrate. The highlight of the night was seeing the tunes from Mike Smith's new album presented by what was, by his own admission, "a large band".¹ That added to a history of Smith treating his compositions with a certain malleability — besides its "fixed" iteration as a recording, I've seen the album's title track take on a few different manifestations. These large group arrangements were quite lovely, going as often to smaller, quieter shadings with different subsets of instruments as veering into full-on big band wallops.

[A less-expanded version of the Mike Smith Company will be playing at the Music Gallery's Moondog 100 concert this Saturday (December 3rd), playing songs from their own book as well as some new arrangements of Moondog's pieces.]

---

¹ If my notes are correct, the ensemble at this show was:

• Mike Smith – composition, conductor, flute
• Pete Johnston – bass
• Blake Howard – percussion
• Jamie Drake – percussion
• Jake Oelrichs – percussion
• Jonathan Adjemian – synth
• Ali Berkok – piano, clavinet
• Heather Saumer – trombone
• Tom Richards – trombone
• Rebecca Hennessy – trumpet
• Mika Posen – violin
• Jay Hay – Tenor sax, flute
• Karen Ng – alto sax, flute
• Jeremy Strachan – guitar, sax, flute

Recording: Aurochs with Jean Martin

Artist: Aurochs with Jean Martin

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (All-Set! Autumn Release Show), October 28, 2016.

Aurochs with Jean Martin - [excerpt]

This second release spectacular from All-Set! Editions added three new albums to their catalogue, and all three of the recombinant groupings played to celebrate. Since the release of their Rational Animals album a couple years ago, Aurochs have evolved from the original trio, seeing Mike Smith join the ranks as a sound manipulationist. Another Helpful Medicine sees a more warped'n'ziggzagged group with Ali Berkok's piano (and accordion), Pete Johnston's bass and Jake Oelrich's percussion building and burbling through a continuously-evolving improvisation, further filtered through Jean Martin's mixage. To give a taste of the process that created the album, the group invited Martin to join them at this release show, adding further layers of melting, ping-ponging swooning dub-drip interference to the musical interface.

Recording: See Through 5

Artist: See Through 5

Song: Piecing Together That Dream

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (All-Set! Autumn Release Show), October 28, 2016.

See Through 5 - Piecing Together That Dream

This second release spectacular from All-Set! Editions added three new albums to their catalogue, and all three of the recombinant groupings played to celebrate. Margins, the new album from Pete Johnston's malleable chamber-prog ensemble, is cut from the same cloth (and was recorded, so far as I can tell, at the same sessions) as least year's Utilities. That means listeners can expect further tuneful explorations with plenty of counterpoint and zigzag diversions. (All-Set! has also released Johnston's See Through Two album of bass duets with Rob Clutton with a bit less fanfare. Both albums are available on a name-your price basis over on bandcamp.)

Recording: Saint Dirt Elementary School

Artist: Saint Dirt Elementary School

Songs: Seven Minutes in Heaven + What Are You Thinking When You're Kissing

Recorded at The Music Gallery, April 29, 2016.

Saint Dirt Elementary School - Seven Minutes in Heaven

Saint Dirt Elementary School - What Are You Thinking When You're Kissing

In a talk before the show, composer/founder Myk Freedman told the story of how the band originally came into its Tranzac residency by taking over the "ragtime" night — and the logic behind that leap is as easy to understand as is the fact that the old-guard crowd on hand didn't think they were proper at all. But the notion of a modern-day ragtime band, with a conception of improvisation based on group interaction more than backline-plus-soloists gets to the heart of what they are doing.

Saint Dirt Elementary School's Tranzac-fuelled heyday was before I was paying close attention to such things and I mostly knew it as a previous way-station for several musicians I'd more familiar with in subsequent projects. But despite the fact that Freedman moved from T.O. to NYC more than a decade ago, the band has remained an occasionally-ongoing concern, regrouping during Freedman's summer visits home and on special occasions such as this fifteenth-anniversary celebration. Pulling tunes from his songbooks, the band played a set focused on its older material, including these two tunes from what was a sort of "kissing" suite.

Recording: Aurochs with Christine Bougie

Artist: Aurochs with Christine Bougie

Song: [excerpt from first set]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), March 8, 2016.

Aurochs with Christine Bougie - [excerpt from first set]

Aurochs have been known to spice up their regular Tranzac timeslot (second Tuesday of every month!) with an occasional guest performer. This night saw local master guitarist/lap steel player Christine Bougie sitting in to help the trio push beyond their regular zone — the results ranged from ambient swells (as heard here) to echoplexed songbursts.

Recording: See Through 5

Artist: See Through 5

Song: We Have Both Been Dissected

Recorded at Array Space (All-Set! Triple Album Launch), March 5, 2016.

See Through 5 - We Have Both Been Dissected

This show served as the launch party for All-Set! Editions and its first three releases. Masterminded by Mike Smith, these first three albums all included his beautifully-designed packaging — and all three also revolved around players from the overlapping Muskox/Aurochs axis. Utilities is the first recording from the expanded version of bassist Pete Johnston's See Through Trio, which has been exploring his compositions in a shifting variety of ensembles. The constant musical foil is pianist Tania Gill, joined frequently by saxophonist Karen Ng — and in this incarnation filled out by Johnston's Aurochs bandmates Jake Oelrichs (percussion) and Mike Smith (synth). The quintet adds some meat to the occasionally off-kilter compositions, pushing things into a more "band"-like chamber-prog zone. All the pieces (save for closing ballad "More Faults Than California") were presented for this show, and are excellently realized on the album.

Recording: Aurochs

Artist: Aurochs

Song: [set 2 excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), December 8, 2015.

Aurochs - [set 2 excerpt]

For the festive special edition of their monthly Tranzac residency, Ali Berkok, Pete Johnston and Jake Oelrichs snuck in a few xmas carol interpolations into their grooves, while once again Mike Smith provided sonic manipulations that ranged from subtle extensions to dub-remix-y lurches.

[Aurochs will be back in action on the second Tuesday of next month — that'd be January 12th — in the early slot in the Southern Cross.]

Recording: Aurochs

Artist: Aurochs

Song: [set 1 excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), September 8, 2015

Aurochs - [set 1 excerpt]

Back at it over at their monthly Tranzac residency, the quartet was in pleasingly subtle territory for much of the night, with pianist Ali Berkok and bassist Pete Johnston prepared to settle into some circular, looping grooves while percussionist Jake Oelrichs would occasionally punt for field position. Meanwhile groovulator Mike Smith's presence was felt throughout, but never unduly called attention to itself, as he manipulated and extended the others' sounds, occasionally creating four-dimensional bubbles rippling the sonic spacetime fabric.

[Aurochs will be back in action on the second Tuesday of next month — that'd be October 13 — in the early slot in the Southern Cross.]

Recording: The Mike Smith Company

Artist: The Mike Smith Company

Song: De Luxe

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), April 15, 2015.

The Mike Smith Company - De Luxe

This particular fit of transcombobulation was performed under Mike Smith's name, but frequent synth co-conspirator Jonathan Adjemian was on hand to help noodle the tunes. Plus, this time out saw some increased allocations of rhythm with Jake Oelrichs (heard here on the left), D. Alex Meeks (centre) and Blake Howard (right) filling out the stereo spectrum, as well as Pete Johnston on bass. That created all sorts of opportunities for the handcrafted mellowness of Smith's compositions to be disrupted and pushed forward.

[Mike Smith, Jonathan Adjemian and various other accomplices will be serving up some original recipe boogie blobs at Holy Oak Café on Sunday, May 3rd.]