Artist: Toronto Improvisers Orchestra
Song: Word Building
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), July 12, 2026.
Toronto Improvisers Orchestra - Word Building
There was the usual range of approaches in this TIO session — conducted pieces, freely-played pieces, three-bar loops, approximations of jazz. And also, from noted lexophile Del Stephen, a couple word-game pieces, including this one, which starts off like a round of free improv Password.
Artist: Toronto Improvisers Orchestra
Songs: [two pieces]
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), January 11, 2026.
Toronto Improvisers Orchestra - [1st set, short piece]
Toronto Improvisers Orchestra - [2nd set, last piece]
I entered into the room with this set already in progress — which involved, in this case, Rod Campbell engaged in a discussion with his fellow musicians on possible ways to musically interpret a photograph of a snow-covered tree. Later, there would be some conduction (from Campbell as well as Susanne Farkas) which also involved discussion of how the group used their repertoire of hand signals. Otherwise, as with the second selection here, there were some freely-improvised sounds.
[The TIO is back in action tomorrow (Sunday, February 8th) starting at noon in the Southern Cross.]
Artist: Cosmic Homeostasis XXX
Song: A Gracious Limestone [excerpt]
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), November 30, 2025.
Cosmic Homeostasis XXX - A Gracious Limestone [excerpt]
Joining together at the Tranzac for the thirtieth time, this session marked the end of a productive year for the C.H. collective, meeting inside and outdoors to create come drones and community vibes. Keep an eye out in 2026 for a new "studio" album and more gatherings.
The homeostasis crew on this occasion included:
You can check out some more from this afternoon over on youtube:
And, as always, you hear the whole session over on bandcamp:
Artist: David Sait/James Bailey/Eunoia Jean Close
Song: [excerpt]
Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination), June 13, 2025.
David Sait/James Bailey/Eunoia Jean Close - [excerpt]
A poignant but celebratory chapter-closing season-ender at Audiopollination, with the community coming out to celebrate founding host Mike Lynn's last night at the helm. The night opened with this excellent trio, with three different soundworlds (guzheng, suitcase o' percussion, and laptop granulation, respectively) mixing together really well.
You can also check out the archived livestream from the night over on youtube:
[It's important to note that Audiopollination will continue, under enterprising new hands! In fact, the sign-up sheet for the fall run of shows (September through December) is already posted and starting to fill up, so now's the time to add yourself to the musical conversation!]
Artist: Ian McPhedran/James Bailey/Tom Richards
Song: [excerpt]
Recorded at 918 Bathurst (Track Could Bend #100), February 16, 2025.
Ian McPhedran/James Bailey/Tom Richards - [excerpt]
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 was had by many — a fitting launch to the next ten years.
Cool dynamics here, with Ian McPhedran's (MFS#3, 20) prepared guitar grounding horn sounds from the peripatetic James Bailey (MFS#12, 78, Bata Shoe Museum) and the piano-stabbing Tom Richards (MFS#29, Bata Shoe Museum, 92).
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.]
Artist: Toronto Improvisors Orchestra
Song: [2nd set, 2nd piece excerpt]
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), November 10, 2024.
Toronto Improvisors Orchestra - [2nd set, 2nd piece excerpt]
Although the TIO will play freely when the numbers are low (or when the mood otherwise strikes), when there's a larger group the use of conduction leads the sounds to interesting places. Here, Eugene Martynec was having some computer trouble and took a break from troubleshooting to wrangle the ensemble, pulling things together to move from long tones to pointillistic daubs.
Artist: Marilyn Yogarajah/James Bailey/Eric Kinsella
Song: [excerpt]
Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Cosmic Homeostasis & Audiopollination: Pre-NYE gathering + celebration), December 30, 2023.
Marilyn Yogarajah/James Bailey/Eric Kinsella - [excerpt]
Following on some group drones, this Tranzac edition of the Audiopollination series was a nice opportunity was to gather together with friends for some end-of-the-year festivities. The evening closed with these joyful sounds, mixing a couple flavours of percussion with trumpet and piano.
You can check out some back-of-the-room footage of this full set over on youtube:
[Audiopollination is back at Array Space on Friday (January 12), with self-curated sets from Kayla Milmine/Daria Morgacheva/Isaiah Farahbakhsh, Max Donaldson & Nate Robertson, Zack Goldstein/Danny Alexander/Kalina Nedelcheva, and Rod Campbell/Nour Symon/%%30%30.]
Artist: Cosmic Homeostasis XXI
Song: Low-pressure Supercollider Sounds [excerpt]
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), October 29, 2023.
Cosmic Homeostasis XXI - Low-pressure Supercollider Sounds [excerpt]
A special day for the Cosmic Homeostasis collective, celebrating the release of a pair of recordings as a new album. Both birthed in a period when gathering at The Tranzac was unfeasible, "Broken Telephone" was a lockdown-era initiative where members of the group built layer upon layer of sounds as the recording passed from one person to the next. "Christie's Transmission" emerged from a period of tentative returning to gathering — in this case, outside on a couple occasions in late summer of '21 in Christie Pits. The latter recordings were beautifully collaged together by Jeffrey Sinibaldi, who also released these sounds on a tape from Vacancy Recordings.
Meanwhile, it was business as usual for the musicians who gathered to make some sounds together, with electronic sounds mixing with horns, percussion and even some tap dancing percussion. As usual, the full session is available over on bandcamp:
The participants this time around were:
[Cosmic Homeostasis will close out the year with a special non-afternoon, non-Sunday event, taking over the Southern Cross on Saturday, December 30th in an evening that will be shared with Audiopollination for a special pre-NYE celebration.]
Artist: Shoe Horn Ensemble
Song: [first section]
Recorded at the Bata Shoe Museum (Track Could Bend @ X Avant XVIII – Neeeerrrrddddssss: shoe horn), October 12, 2023.
Shoe Horn Ensemble - [first section]
I'm still not entirely sure what I did to deserve such an honour, but somehow I ended up curating a night of this year's X Avant Festival. And not just any ol' night as we were invited to conspire a musical takeover of the Bata Shoe Museum. Thanks to the amazing powers and positive energy of Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar, we were able to fill the building with creativity, bringing a grouping of nine musicians to first enfold some sounds in the museum's galleries, then gather them all together for a collaborative improvisation. Best of all, though it was on a grander scale than I'd usually allow myself to imagine, it really felt like it was all done in the spirit of Track Could Bend. And were there shoes? Oh yes, there were shoes.
After spreading the musicians out in the galleries, the conclusion gave everyone a chance to find ways to work together in a large ensemble. The featured performers here were electronic musicians Laura Dickens (a.k.a. Leucrocuta) & Hex-A-Deximal, who were processing incoming sounds from the mics and from Tegan Dietsch's tap board. Around that centre, horn players and percussionists had a chance to wander some more — one of the most delightful moments was when trumpeter Lina Allemano and trombonist Tom Richards headed up the stairs and out of sight, only to pop out of the elevator behind the audience a few minutes later! With everyone putting, ah, their best foot forward this was a satitisfying way to gather all the threads shoelaces together.
For the record, the full ensemble was:
%%30%30 & James Bailey] (found percussion)You can check out the full set over on youtube:
[The Bata's new exhibition Dressed to Impress: Footwear and Consumerism in the 1980's is now open. Track Could Bend will be back in its regular first-Tuesday-of-the-month incarnation at Wenona Lodge on December 5th, with sets from kat estacio and Alma.]
Artist: Why Be Normal
Song: [excerpt]
Recorded at the Bata Shoe Museum (Track Could Bend @ X Avant XVIII – Neeeerrrrddddssss: shoe horn), October 12, 2023.
I'm still not entirely sure what I did to deserve such an honour, but somehow I ended up curating a night of this year's X Avant Festival. And not just any ol' night as we were invited to conspire a musical takeover of the Bata Shoe Museum. Thanks to the amazing powers and positive energy of Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar, we were able to fill the building with creativity, bringing a grouping of nine musicians to first enfold some sounds in the museum's galleries, then gather them all together for a collaborative improvisation. Best of all, though it was on a grander scale than I'd usually allow myself to imagine, it really felt like it was all done in the spirit of Track Could Bend. And were there shoes? Oh yes, there were shoes.
This pairing of found percussionists Colin C. (who performs as %%30%30) and James Bailey (who also brought his trombone along on this occasion) came together at TCB some months back and their joyful junk spectacle called out for a bigger canvas. Taking over one end of the lower level of the museum's permanent collection, this was indeed a widescreen adventure, with all sorts of bricabrac spread around.
You can check out the pair interacting with tap dancer Tegan Dietsch (and more!) over on youtube:
[The Bata's new exhibition Dressed to Impress: Footwear and Consumerism in the 1980's is now open. Track Could Bend will be back in its regular first-Tuesday-of-the-month incarnation at Wenona Lodge on December 5th, with sets from kat estacio and Alma.]
Artist: Toronto Improvisors Orchestra
Song: [2nd set, 2nd piece excerpt]
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), June 11, 2023.
Toronto Improvisors Orchestra - [2nd set, 2nd piece excerpt]
Out in nonet strength this time, the TIO alternated between free group playing, duos/trios, and conducted pieces — here with Ryan Kinney guiding the ensemble.
[The TIO will be back in the Southern Cross on Sunday (July 9th) in their usual noon to two p.m. timeslot.]
Artist: Toronto Improvisors Orchestra
Song: [set 2, 2nd piece]
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), April 9, 2023.
Toronto Improvisors Orchestra - [set 2, 2nd piece]
A thousand pardons, please, for the lack of photo or any cogent notes from this one — it turns out sometimes when you pop in for a TIO gig on a quiet Easter Sunday, you'll sometimes get asked to come on up and join in, and then you're all distracted from documenting things.
Artist: James Bailey/Susanne Farkas/Marilyn Yogarajah
Song: [first piece]
Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination), April 7, 2023.
James Bailey/Susanne Farkas/Marilyn Yogarajah - [first piece]
As is sometimes the case at Audiopollination, there can be last-minute lineup changes and substitutions, so it was no surprise to surpise on the faces of James Bailey (amplified crutch) and Susanne Farkas (bells, kalimba, snare, flute, voice) as Marilyn Yogarajah sat down at the piano at the set's beginning. Turns out her subtle playing provided the glue that really held things together and buoyed this set up.
As usual, Audiopollination did an excellent job at documenting the show, so you can watch some high-quality footage of this whole set over on youtube:
[Audiopollination is back at Array Space on Friday (May 12th) with sets from Diane Roblin/Andrew Kay/FuZzy, Adam Golding/Kyle Skillman/Saba Saneinejad, Patrick O’Reilly/Paul Newman/Jaz Tsui, and Tegan Dietsch & Annie Elgie.]
Artist: Why Be Normal
Song: [excerpt]
Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #78), April 4, 2023.
Every once in a while I like to curate a set combining folks who might not have even met but that I suspect would be in sync, musically and vibe-wise — and all the better when it's a chance to spark some intergenerational collaboration and inspiration. Hearing a tale from Colin C. (who performs as %%30%30) of a particularly enticing curb find made me think of similar stories from James Bailey, which lead to this junk percussion duo. Setting a wide variety of found objects throught the room, the pair made some joyful sounds, finding the musical soul in everything from spikes to vacuum cleaners to plastic bags.
You can check out some footage of the (nearly) full set over on youtube:
[Track Could Bend is back at Wenona tonight (May 2nd) with a celebration of Mira Martin-Gray's new Hen's Teeth album as well as some new synth-based sounds from Bryan W. Bray's Cetacean.]
Artist: Toronto Improvisors Orchestra
Songs: [two excerpts rom the 2nd set]
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), March 12, 2023.
Toronto Improvisors Orchestra - [set 2, 1st piece excerpt]
Toronto Improvisors Orchestra - [set 2, 2nd piece]
Operating as a sextet (and with a legit horn section!), the TIO broke down into sub-groupings for the first piece here, working around the circle of musicians for a rotating series of duos and trios; the second is an open group piece with some nice textures, held together by Rod Campbell's piano work.
Artist: styrofoamNosebleedPrincess/Mira Martin-Gray/David Parker/Andrew Finlay Stewart + Del Stephen/Patrick O'Reilly/James Bailey/Tyson Headon
Songs: [two excerpts]
Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Audiopollination 10th Anniversary Bash: Double Group Continuous Improvisation), December 4, 2022.
Del Stephen/Patrick O'Reilly/James Bailey/Tyson Headon - [second group 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.
After the "regular" Audiopollination sets, Lynn turned the remainder of the afternoon over to collaborators exploring parallel paths in community cacophony. This portion brought back a concept that Del Stephen has been deploying [del-ploying?] and tweaking for a while now, under a couple different names: basically inviting a large group of musicians, and then making a random draw to sort them into small ensembles — in this case, eight musicians playing as two quartets. The "continuous" element came in the transition when the players picked their moments one-by-one to depart/enter the stage at the halfway mark. The first group here (styrofoamNosebleedPrincess, amplified objects; Mira Martin-Gray, guitar; David Parker, guitar; Andrew Finlay Stewart, violin) explored some aggressive jangling while the second (Del Stephen, octapad; Patrick O'Reilly, Game Boy and pedals; James Bailey, trumpet and crutch; Tyson Headon, bass) casually backed into a sort of bitcrushed Bitches Brew vibe.
You can check out some footage from this set over on the Audiopollination youtube channel:
Artist: Electroacoustic Autumn Ensemble (feat. members of Toronto Improvisor's Orchestra)
Songs: [two excerpts]
Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior's monthly), October 9, 2022.
Electroacoustic Autumn Ensemble - [excerpt 1]
Electroacoustic Autumn Ensemble - [excerpt 2]
This group (Keiran Maraj, Fuzzy Nibesh, and Heraclitus Akimbo) was assembled to aim for some seasonal pumpkin spice buzzes and whirrings, which was augmented by additional sounds by a trio of performers (James Bailey, Jonathan Luke, Ryan Kinney) from the Toronto Improvisor's Orchestra.
You can watch some more from this set over on youtube:
Artist: Toronto Improvisor's Orchestra
Song: [set 2, 2nd piece] [conductor: Diane Roblin]
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), October 9, 2022.
Toronto Improvisor's Orchestra - [set 2, 2nd piece]
With the cooler weather bringing out a larger crowd of musicians, the TIO was looking more like, well, an orchestra this time out, with enough bodies on hand that it made sense to add some more structure. Some of that came from a series of shifting duos and trios, but the heart of it was some conduction to co-ordinate the members. Rod Campbell conducted one piece in this set, but for this one, Diane Roblin took over, nearly dancing aross the room as she co-ordinated the note-burtsts, held together throughout with some nice circular vibe-sounds from David Story's MalletKat.
Artist: Del Stephen's New Moon Unit
Song: Stone Hole Water Bowl [first section]
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), August 27, 2022.
Del Stephen's New Moon Unit - Stone Hole Water Bowl [first section]
On its newly-released recorded version, this piece from Del Stephen features an appearance by Andrew Finlay Stewart on violin; for this live début, both were joined by a horn section (James Bailey and Paul Newman) as well as quiet percussionist Jeff Sinibaldi. The result was an extended (and rather lovely) new age tape-worthy drift that contrasted with a couple short noisier blast-bursts that started and ended the set.
Artist: Toronto Improvisor's Orchestra
Song: [second set, first piece excerpt]
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), August 14, 2022.
Toronto Improvisor's Orchestra - [second set, first piece excerpt]
As easily scalable to forty players as they are to four, it's rather pleasing to drop in on the TIO in one of their pretense-free Sunday afternoon jams at the Tranzac. There were a quartet of regulars out for this one, James Bailey (deconstructed tombone), Colin James Gibson (bass), Ryan Kinney (guitar) and Rod Campbell (trumpet, piano). It was the latter's keyboard work here that pulled this along from some pleasingly sputtering duos into a lyrical group piece. Do make a note to go hang out with this crew on the second Sunday of the month.
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