Recording: Fourier-Moneo-Zurawinski

Artist: Kristian Fourier/Nelson Moneo/Mark Zurawinski

Songs: [first set excerpt, in two parts] + [second set, second piece excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), June 19, 2019.

Kristian Fourier/Nelson Moneo/Mark Zurawinski - [first set excerpt, part 1]

Kristian Fourier/Nelson Moneo/Mark Zurawinski - [first set excerpt, part 2]

Kristian Fourier/Nelson Moneo/Mark Zurawinski - [second set, second piece excerpt]

More improvisations from Kristian Fourier (piano, pedals) and Nelson Moneo (viola), this time alongside percussionist Mark Zurawinski, each of whom were using effects to broaden their personal vocabularies. Fourier's echoes, nudged into staticbursts, drove the trio's animated buzzing sputters — and there were some sweetly melodic moments as well, such as the resolution of the final selection here.

Recording: Kerhachne

Artist: Kerhachne

Songs: [1st piece, in two parts]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #50), May 7, 2019.

Kerhachne - [1st piece, part 1]

Kerhachne - [1st piece, part 2]

I was adequately moved by this ensemble the first time I saw them to book 'em on the spot for TCB. Somewhere on the way to the basement, they acquired a name, but otherwise the mix of strings (from Nelson Moneo's viola and Cheryl O's cello) and interference (Kristian Fourier's piano and electronics), held together by Harry Vetro's percussion, continued the spell of swells and crashes that convinced me the first time.

[Track Could Bend is back in Wenona's basement on Tuesday, August 6th with performances from Hiroki Tanaka, Del Stephen's Today Versions and Liz Lima.]

Recording: Tova Kardonne/Kat Estacio/Kristian Fourier

Artist: Tova Kardonne/Kat Estacio/Kristian Fourier - [excerpt]

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Women From Space Festival – Night 2), March 9, 2019.

Tova Kardonne/Kat Estacio/Kristian Fourier - [excerpt]

The first Women From Space Festival saw four excellent concerts take place over the course of the International Women's Day weekend. Organized by Bea Labikova and Kayla Milmine, the festival felt like a really savvy gathering, always more than the sum of its parts and showcasing the depth of talent in the city's various creative music streams in a women-centred environment.

The second night began with this melding of different tonalities, joining Tova Kardonne's vocal abstractions, Kat Estacio's kulintang gongs and Kristian Fourier's piano and effects. The trio found some intriguing drone-zones and hypnotic repetitive bursts, each twisting their sounds to join together in healing feedback hums.

Recording: The Search For Eternal Happiness Pt. 4

Artist: The Search For Eternal Happiness Pt. 4

Song: [excerpt from first piece, in two parts]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Music by Harry and Furlong S1E5), February 27, 2019.

The Search For Eternal Happiness Pt. 4 - [excerpt from first piece, part 1]

The Search For Eternal Happiness Pt. 4 - [excerpt from first piece, part 2]

"The Search For Eternal Happiness" seems to be drummer Harry Vetro's catch-all for ad hoc ensembles brought together to explore new works or new sounds. This iteration brought together Kristian Fourier (piano/electronics), Nelson Moneo (viola) and Cheryl O (cello) to mix some sweepingly romantic sounds (flowing strings'll do that) with occasional jagged edges (delay pedals and feedback'll do that). Really lovely stuff — at set's end, I booked the band to play another one.

[That reprise will see the group — now re-christened "Kerhachne" — play Track Could Bend at Wenona on Tuesday, May 7th. Meanwhile, the next manifestation of Vetro's Search For Eternal Happiness will unfold tonight (April 24th) at The Tranzac, where he'll be joined by Ben Frost, Karen Ng, and Patrick O'Reilly.]

Recording: Jazz United All-Stars

Artist: Jazz United All-Stars

Song: Well, You Needn't [composer: Thelonious Monk]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Sound For Silence II), February 14, 2019.

Jazz United All-Stars - Well, You Needn't

This Valentine's Day special served to celebrate a very special love — one felt by a whole series of communities for the Tranzac. With all three of its performance spaces often busy all at once, the sounds from one room can often bleed into the next — theoretically charming in its way, but also disruptive when it happens at an intense or quiet moment of a performance. Fundraising efforts to enhance the rooms' sonic isolation have been underway for awhile now, with this night featuring a silent auction as well as a slate of musical talent drawn from several of the divergent scenes that call the Tranzac home.

Anyone visiting The Tranzac on a Sunday night lately might have noticed the burgeoning crowds in the Tiki Room, with a rotating crew of musicians providing live accompaniment to tap dancers. The Jazz United Jam is Travis Knights' celebration of jazz culture, featuring live percussive movement from him and anyone else who brings out a board. It's also an intriguing meeting place for musicians, with veterans of the city's jazz scenes mixing with a whole slew of emerging players.

This all-star distillation of the Sunday night jam not only gave Knights a much larger stage to dance on, but highlighted three of the younger players that often host and handle the organizational side of the music end of things: Kristian Fourier on piano, Devon Patton on bass and Keagan Eskritt on drums. You might not have known that there's a tap dancing scene in this city, but it's one more cool cultural tendril that finds a home at The Tranzac.

[You can check out the Jazz United Jam every Sunday (including tonight!) in teh Tiki Room from 7 'til 10-ish.]

Recording: Contact

Artist: Contact

Song: Proximity/Response [edited excerpt] [composer: Johan Seaton]

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square (Intersection – Day 3), September 2, 2017.

Contact - Proximity/Response [edited excerpt]

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory. The day-long marathon in the concrete canyon of commerce remains at the festival's heart, though, exploring the frissons of experiencing strange and occasionally abrasive sounds competing with the city's mersh heartbeat.

Contact, the festival's founding presenter, still usually finds time to bring something fresh and different to the day. The biggest twist to this set was that the whole of the ensemble was being channelled through keyboardist Kristian Podlacha's laptop, which was especially central to this piece from Johan Seaton, which had emerged from the ensemble's Music From Scratch workshop for youth composers. Seaton was adding some subtle electronic mix feedback here, giving the piece an additional layer of hazy whoosh.

[Contact will be re-assembling to play with Elliott Sharp (last year's visiting Intersection composer) in a Burn Down The Capital show on Saturday, October 21st that mixes together some no-wave/weird-pop sounds.]

[You can see some footage from this set over at Brandon Caswell Douglas' Intersection playlist.]