Recording: Nocturnes

Artist: Nocturnes

Song: [2nd piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), March 8, 2026.

Nocturnes - [2nd piece]

A return for this occasional collaboration between Michelle Breslin and Ayal Senior, improvising three largely pastoral pieces.

Recording: Lostworldsounds

Artist: Lostworldsounds

Songs: Dark Cloud + Loop Experiment

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #99), January 7, 2025.

Lostworldsounds - Dark Cloud

Lostworldsounds - Loop Experiment

Continuing a local tour of sorts in celebration of the release of her new album, Michelle Breslin brought newer and older songs along for this set, plus a few experimental flourishes, like the psychedelic edge imbued in "Dark Cloud" and a brief loop pedal construction.

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

[Celebrating a big-round-number landmark, there are two special Track Could Bend events coming up in February! In the regular-time-regular-place department (Tuesday, February 4th at Wenona Lodge), TCB #101 is revisiting the series' very first show, with a solo performance from Allison Cameron and a trio set from Kayla Milmine/Bob Vespaziani/Michael Lynn. But then, on Sunday February 16th, TCB heads over to 918 Bathurst for its one hundredth show spectacular, with performers from over the past ten years joining together in ad hoc Bands From a Hat groupings. Come and celebrate with us!]

Recording: Michelle Breslin & Friends

Artist: Michelle Breslin & Friends

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded in The Sun Room at 918 Bathurst, December 8, 2024.

Michelle Breslin & Friends - [excerpt]

Michelle Breslin closed out the celebration of her new solo album with a group effort, inviting some members of Ghostlight as well as some of the evening's other participants to join together for a bit of abstract drift-noise. The ad hoc ensemble included Vassilios Alexiou (synth), Dave Rodgers (ipad), Chris Youknowwho (guitar), Soren Brothers (voice, electronics), and Heraclitus Akimbo (electronics).

You can check out the full jam segment over on youtube:

Recording: Lostworldsounds

Artist: Lostworldsounds

Song: These Waves

Recorded in The Sun Room at 918 Bathurst, December 8, 2024.

Lostworldsounds - These Waves

Michelle Breslin was celebrating the release of the new Heartbroken Yesterdays Fleeting Tomorrows album, but didn't feel the need to be constrained in an attempt to recreate its textures, instead ranging back through her songbook (even including a Sadoceanspacebear number). With some enhancements to the room's natural reverb and some evocative visuals, the set had just the right sense of atmosphere.

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

[You'll have a couple more chances right away to hear Breslin celebate this album, including tonight (Tuesday, January 7th) at Wenona for Track Could Bend, and Sunday afternoon (January 12th) at The Tranzac for Ayal Senior & Friends.]

Recording: Cosmic Homeostasis

Artist: Cosmic Homeostasis

Songs: Sanctuary Drone [four excerpts]

Recorded at Trinity–St. Paul's Centre (Sanctuary Drone), October 5, 2024.

Cosmic Homeostasis - Sanctuary Drone [excerpt 1]

Cosmic Homeostasis - Sanctuary Drone [excerpt 2]

Cosmic Homeostasis - Sanctuary Drone [excerpt 3]

Cosmic Homeostasis - Sanctuary Drone [excerpt 4]

After a couple expansive outdoor performances, the Cosmic Homeostasis crew were ready to make some further explorations into durational drone-making. Holding down the middle stretch of this all-night unofficial Nuit Blanche event, the musicians took over the Sanctuary's balcony, spreading out to give a spacialized mix to the audience down on the floor. Nearly twenty musicans came and went over the course of the night, adding some additional variety to the sonic textures. There was also a nice mix of acoustic and electronic sounds — the former especially blooming with the room's beautiful acoustics.

The participants in the Sanctuary Drone were:

• Blash Belmar - erhu, flutes
• Dan Friedman - Korg NTS-1, harmonica, whistling
• Eric Cinnesealach - clarinet
• Ian McPhedran - guitar
• Janel Jones - trumpet, voice
• Magick - Magick
• Matt Collins - guitar
• Maxim Gontcharenko- singing bowls
• Michelle Breslin - guitar
• Mickle32 - effects
• Paul Newman - tenor saxophone
• Phil Johnston - tape loops, effects, 1-string guitar
• Rosalind Saunders - violin
• Ron Blake - apps, etc.
• Ryan Kinney - electronics
• Sonia Leung - violin, windchimes
• Heraclitus Akimbo - synths, effects, accordion

If you want to hear (a lot) more of this, I have archived the bulk of the performance over on bandcamp:

Recording: Nocturnes

Artist: Nocturnes

Song: [2nd piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), June 9, 2024.

Nocturnes - [2nd piece]

This project is a new duo of Ayal Senior and Michelle Breslin, pairing the former's lilting 12-string psych jams supported by the latter's atmospherics.

You can check out both pieces that the pair essayed over on youtube:

[Ayal will be away, but Ayal Senior & Friends will be back in the Southern Cross on Sunday, July 14th, guest hosted by yours truly and featuring comedy from Nick Flanagan plus music from Jane Inc and You're Steel on My Mind (Joe Strutt & Kurt Newman).]

Recording: Ghostlight

Artist: Ghostlight with Colin Fisher

Songs: Melodies of the Fall #3 [two excerpts]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), September 4, 2019.

Ghostlight - Melodies of the Fall #3 [excerpt 1]

Ghostlight - Melodies of the Fall #3 [excerpt 2]

After his entrancing solo set to start this night, Colin Fisher stayed on the crowded stage area to sit in with Ghostlight as they brought out a new set of four loosely-structured jams.

[Ghostlight will be playing tonight (November 3rd) at Handlebar for Nite Comfort. (Khôra will be performing as well.)]

Recording: Ghostlight

Artist: Ghostlight

Song: I Can Wade Grief [lyrics based on a Emily Dickinson poem]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), March 7, 2018.

Ghostlight - I Can Wade Grief

An evening of psychedelic poetries from the Ghostlights this time around, using found texts (including this one from Dickinson) and some power tools to give shape to their sprawling, exploratory songs.

[Ghostlight are playing seasonally in the Southern Cross this year; their next show will be on Wednesday, June 6th.]

Recording: Ghostlight

Artist: Ghostlight

Song: Macaroni Field [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Wolf's Nacho Wednesdays), June 1, 2016.

Ghostlight - Macaroni Field [excerpt]

This latest from Ghostlight is something of a work in progress (to what extent depends on which member of the group you speak to) and continues on their recent streak of ambitious, prolific work. Unlike the interactive art of Winter Womb or fog machine spectacle of Future Progress, this is (at least so far) less visually flashy but delves deeper into its concept lyrically.

Examining the life of local boxing great George Chuvalo, this takes a novelistic approach, flashing forward and back through his life — from his childhood in The Junction to the tragedy of losing his family — in a series of "rounds" punctuated by a boxing ring bell. In retrospect, in the light of the passing of his Greatest opponent, this taking-stock felt even more vital and necessary. There's a lot of fertile material here, and room to extend the central boxing ring metaphor, so keep an eye out to see where the crew takes this piece.

[Ghostlight will return to the Tranzac's Nacho Wednesdays — curated by Healing Power's Wolfgang — on August 3rd. And otherwise there's good music on offer (and nacho platters for sale!) every Wednesday.]

Recording: Scott Cameron/Chris Sankey/Michelle Breslin/Brian Abbott

Artist: Scott Cameron/Chris Sankey/Michelle Breslin/Brian Abbott

Song: [first piece]

Recorded at Dundas Video ("Track Could Bend #13"), April 5, 2016.

Scott Cameron/Chris Sankey/Michelle Breslin/Brian Abbott - [first piece]

To my great surprise and delight, Track Could Bend has survived and thrived for a full year. To celebrate, I invited everyone who played the series' first twelve months (more than seventy people!) back for a birthday party. In the end, the night consisted of twenty-seven musicians collaborating over eight short sets, most of which were spontaneous "bands from a hat", drawn by lot before the set started. Given the wide range of musical practices and backgrounds, it was quite exciting to see how much coherence and excellence resulted.

By luck of the draw, this set put together three members of the Ghostlight collective (who had played at TCB#5) with Brian Abbott (TCB#2) so it's not surprising that there was some obvious familiarity between the players. Framed by a spoken-word paraphrase of an incident from Charles Bukowski's Women, this headed into a crisp rock groove, smoothly lumbering down the highway like a '78 Buick.

[The next Track Could Bend will be at Dundas Video on Tuesday, May 3rd, featuring Kosher Dill Spears, Terms Of Venery (Mike Smith, solo electronics) and Glamour Nails (Lina Allemano + Justin Haynes).]

Recording: Ghostlight

Artist: Ghostlight

Song: Rocketship Spaceship Starship

Recorded at Dundas Video (Track Could Bend #5), August 4, 2015.

Ghostlight - Rocketship Spaceship Starship

Exploring some further Future Progress, the Ghostlight collective obscured the room in fog, only their helmet-lamps — oh, and their wall of noise — piercing through. Floating on top of it all was Micheal Baumgart's poetry, providing the vibe for each piece before it build up into a squall that got heavier than things were last time around.

Recording: Ghostlight

Artist: Ghostlight

Song: The Lost Trail

Recorded at Handlebar (Nite Comfort 22), June 7, 2015.

Ghostlight - The Lost Trail

You might not have noticed, but Ghostlight are on a roll right now, revitalized and pumping out sounds'n'ideas at a commendable pace. After a period of relative quietude they have a lot to get out their system, and every show is coming with a whole new visual concept — and the past couple shows have doubled as the release party for an EP of the tunes they performed that night. This special presentation at Nite Comfort saw them bringing some Future Progress — containing sonic settings for Michael Baumgart's poetry on the musical side, while filling the bar with fog to craft a visual spectacle that can best be described, as, ah, ghost light. Wonderfully inventive, and a reminder that you don't need a huge budget to do something really creative.

[Nite Comfort is also on a roll, and their next couple shows stand to be pretty great events. Sunday, July 5th will being a night of dark ambient stylings from Northumbria and F A V X.]

Recording: Ghostlight

Artist: Ghostlight

Song: The Winter Womb [excerpt]

Recorded at Wavelength Pop Up @ Huntclub Studio (Wavelength 640), February 1, 2015.

Ghostlight - The Winter Womb [excerpt]

It'd been awhile since I saw free-range psych collective Ghostlight in action, so it was a thrill to see them taking on perhaps the most ambitious project I've seen 'em tackle. The Winter Womb was ambiguously billed as "a multi-media performance evoking the darkness of Arctic hysteria evolving into the midnight sun". That turned out to involve streamers and balloons acting as a broken screen for abstract projections, as well as an action painting component. The latter was used not only in the fabrication of CD covers that were distributed to the audience at the show's end, but also as part of the soundworld, with the clank of paint brushes against metal bowls being looped as a percussive element. The piece mostly involved slowly-building ambiance, emerging from the "womb" with a driving krautrock jam before finishing with a version of "I Just Feel Fine" by Ghostlight's alter-ego band Mean Red Spiders. Excellent stuff, and hopefully the band will find an opportunity to re-mount this performance.

Recording: Karaoke

Artist: Karaoke

Song: Bombing in my City

Recorded at The Magpie Taproom (The Door of No Return Residency – week 1), July 4, 2012.

Karaoke - Bombing in my City

Full review to follow. Karaoke — whose practice does not conform to their name — led off the first instalment of Ghostlight's 'Door of No Return' residency.