Recording: Del Stephen's Wurld Of Xo '42 Multivurse Melody Band

Artist: Del Stephen's Wurld Of Xo '42 Multivurse Melody Band

Songs: Wurld of Time Flying + Wurld Map

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #81), July 4, 2023.

Del Stephen's Wurld Of Xo '42 Multivurse Melody Band - Wurld of Time Flying

Del Stephen's Wurld Of Xo '42 Multivurse Melody Band - Wurld Map

Many cartographers have mixed art and science in filling in the blank spaces they're visiting. For Del Stephen, those blank spaces are on the (many!) buttons of his Wurlitzer WX 42, causing him to approach the instrument in a true spirit of exploration — and in so doing, he has discovered many wurlds. Those journeys of exploration are now published in an atlas album, but luckily the release has also been accompanied by a small series of varied shows presenting the music. Here, Stephen was joined by Erik Kinsella and Andrew Finlay Stewart (keybs), Liz Lima (clarinet and voice), plus Jeff Sinibaldi (percussion and dub effects), adding some extra layers to the tunes.

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

[Del Stephen (in the synth-tastic Electric Expansions Focus Group format) will be completing his Wurld Tour tonight (Thursday, June 20th) at Dundas Video's Hitplay series. Track Could Bend is back at Wenona on Tuesday, August 1st with music from Heather Saumer as well as a special set of sounds in memory of Ted Phillips, featuring Glen Hall, Nilan Perera, Brian Abbott, and Kieran Maraj.]

Recording: Del Stephen & The Heart Loft Group

Artist: Del Stephen & The Heart Loft Group

Song: Translation Emotion Express [Part 2]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Today Versions presents: Last Place), November 13, 2022.

Del Stephen & The Heart Loft Group - Translation Emotion Express [Part 2]

This was another in a series of bands that were purpose-built, it'd seem, for the purposes of playing a particular piece, brought together to "complete" some compositions in, perhaps, the last place they need to be. Joined by Jeff Sinibaldi (electronics, gentle percussion), Andrew Finlay Stewart (violin), Michael Lynn (bass), and Patrick O'Reilly (guitar, effects), the group stretched out over two expansive compositions, gentle thoughts curling out into insistent notions.

You can watch a bigger chunk of this set over on youtube:

Recording: Newold Group

Artist: Newold Group

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), November 13, 2022.

Newold Group - unknown

With Jeff Sinibaldi in town to participate in a different sort of group with Del Stephen in the night's late slot, the pair also took this opportunity to join together for a percussion-based duo set, with the former on the kit (but also what appeared to be a cookie tin with a contact mic attached, something rattling around inside) and the latter on Octapad. Over three loosely-constructed pieces, the pair worked off each other in a spirit of friendly exploration, more of an amiable tap-along than a raucous tattoo.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Del Stephen's New Moon Unit

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.

Recording: Del Stephen & Friends

Artist: Del Stephen & Friends

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (a song, a sound, a birthday), March 30, 2022.

Del Stephen & Friends - [excerpt]

Taking the opportunity to gather with friends for the first time in a couple years (as well as celebrating the release of a pair of EP's), Del Stephen played and listened to a variety of carefully-selected groupings (and took a break for cake). Inviting everyone who had played in different combinations in the night's first set (as well as one bonus tape manipulator), this sextet wandered through a short series of sonic abstractions.

Recording: Lima/Sinibaldi/Finlay Stewart

Artist: Liz Lima/Jeff Sinibaldi/Andrew Finlay Stewart

Song: [improvisation]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (a song, a sound, a birthday), March 30, 2022.

Liz Lima/Jeff Sinibaldi/Andrew Finlay Stewart - [improvisation]

Taking the opportunity to gather with friends for the first time in a couple years (as well as celebrating the release of a pair of EP's), Del Stephen played and listened to a variety of carefully-selected groupings (and took a break for cake). After a short solo set, he called up this trio of musicians, all of whom have helped embellish his songs and poems in the past.

Recording: Del Stephen & The Concrete Canvas Group

Artist: Del Stephen & The Concrete Canvas Group

Song: In Drawing

Recorded at The Tranzac (Tiki Room), November 6, 2019.

Del Stephen & The Concrete Canvas Group - In Drawing

Definitely a fan of an autumnal gathering in the Tranzac's Tiki Room, Del Stephen brought together frequent collaborator Jeff Sinibaldi (on tabletop percussive electronic bricacbrac) with Liz Lima (clarinet) and Andrew Finlay Stewart (violin). The city is Stephen's concrete canvas, and between musical pieces he shared some poems, but the main thrust here was to provide some sonic inspiration for artist Misaki Shibuya, who live-painted while the group produced some warm grooves and deliberative droners like this one.

Recording: Heart Structure Quartet

Artist: Heart Structure Quartet

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac (Tiki Room), October 18, 2018.

Heart Structure Quartet - unknown

This "improvising audio visual quartet" (featuring Del Stephen, Bree Rappaport, David Parker and Jeff Sinibaldi), who were out on a mini-tour, seemed designed as much as an extended hangout for pals from different cities as a musical endeavour. The casual yet exploratory sound-world flowed from that, with tunes and pieces bumping into each other around like at a casual living room session. That made the show perfectly situated in the Tranzac's Tiki Room, packed full, but still feeling more like a house party with a gig, with some old slides and handcrafted overhead projections enhancing the music. Though the songs touched on topics like ghosts and knocking on death's door, the vibe was punctuated with joyful outbursts of laughter — the true sounds of a heart's structure.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Spirit Of The Inner Child

Artist: Spirit Of The Inner Child mini-ensembles

Songs: [excerpts from four sets]

Recorded at Array Space (Spirit Of The Inner Child: Spontaneous Group Explorations), November 22, 2017.

Del Stephen/Paul Newman/Jeff Sinibaldi/David Parker - [excerpt]

Erik Kinsella/Del Stephen/Paul Newman/Heraclitus Akimbo - [excerpt]

Erik Kinsella/Del Stephen/Paul Newman/Heraclitus Akimbo - [excerpt]

Erik Kinsella, Mkl32 & Jeff Sinibaldi - [excerpt]

Conceived as a bit of a musical side-trip while Del Stephen and David Parker (a.k.a. Slow Man Tofu) were on a mini-tour together, this co-presentation with Audiopollination brought the pair in contact with five other players (Heraclitus Akimbo, Jeff Sinibaldi, Erik Kinsella, Mkl32, and Paul Newman) for a night of sonic explorations. Names were drawn from a hat to construct the lineups and each player took part in two sets with a different trio or quartet. The participants seemed to prefer drifting sonic fields to any melodic jousting, and alongside the basses, sax and drumkit there were plenty of knobs to be twisted, radios to be adjusted and buzzes to be buzzed.

You also can catch video of the whole night over on youtube:

Recording: Del Stephen & The Bedroom Refuge Holiday

Artist: Del Stephen & The Bedroom Refuge Holiday

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Dundas Video (Track Could Bend #21), December 6, 2016.

Del Stephen & The Bedroom Refuge Holiday - [excerpt]

This set was framed as a "musical conversation", convened by Del Stephen (on keyb and tapes) and including sonic responses (via tapes, keyb, chaos pad, etc.) from Ken Brennan and Jeff Sinibaldi. The sounds drifted through a few zones, incorporating some MIDI koto and not-quite audible background babbles.

[Track Could Bend's February show (on the 7th) will feature sets by Heidi Chan, Upanishads and Organballoon.]