Recording: Future Proof

Artist: Future Proof

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at the Oculus Pavilion (Ministry of Phonic Services presents Back to School Field Trip: Closing Show), September 27, 2025.

Future Proof - [excerpt]

This year's Field Trip closed out with a trek up the Humber River Recreational Trail to the legendary Oculus Pavilion. With stars twinkling above and the late-season forest-dwellers whispering encouragement, the glorious UFO-like structure hovered above while a robust crowd gathered to hear some strange sounds — and then hung out for a late-night karaoke party.

Longtime collaborators Bea Labikova and Raphael Roter have played together enough that sonic mindmeld is easily achieved — even as new instruments and techniques get added to their repertoire. But this duo project increasingly treats all of that as a given and a background element as the pair explore new frontiers in playful interactivity. In this set, the one-on-one musical encounters were navigational elements, allowing the pair to engage the audience in some "drummington" (badminton shuttlecocks volleyed back and forth on hand drums), bird whistles, and sparklers. The latter served as the set's coda, with members of the crowd listing off things to be thankful for as sparkling stars burst to life and faded away — reminding everyone to share the moments while they last.

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

[The Ministry of Phonic Services has moved indoors for the season, and among their offerings is BPM — the "Big Percussion Meeting" hosted by Colin Cudmore and happening monthly at The Tranzac. Next one will be on Friday, November 21st.]

Recording: Roter/Constant/Gilliam

Artist: Raphael Roter/Sara Constant/Bill Gilliam

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at 918 Bathurst (Track Could Bend #100), February 16, 2025.

Raphael Roter/Sara Constant/Bill Gilliam - [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.

Wonderful stuff here, with the formalisms of Sara Constant's (MFS#71, 87, 95) flute and Bill Gilliam's (MFS#55) prepared piano riding along with Raphael Roter's (MFS#99) intuitive synth pads.

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.]

Recording: future proof

Artist: future proof

Song: [excerpt]

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

future proof - [excerpt]

This set from Bea Labikova and Raphael Roter continued their forward-looking electronics augmentations for their reeds and percussion, but also looked back (with Roter's opening dance solo) as a reminder that considering movement and the body has always been a central concern for this pair.

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: Trivial Musical Pursuits

Artist: Trivial Musical Pursuits

Songs: Eiffel Tower + 1939

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Friends of Clue Note present) October 29, 2024.

Trivial Musical Pursuits - Eiffel Tower

Trivial Musical Pursuits - 1939

This one requires a brief explanation. Given the opportunity to pull together something as a fill-in for a Tranzac late set, this took inspiration from the show that was immediately before it, namely the debut of the new Clue Note residency for trivia and experimental music. Idea: why not combine them? So: this set offered the musicians a series of trivia questions, and their goal was to "answer" them through brief performances (timed to a five-minute hourglass).

The first set (as heard in these pieces posted here) was performed as a trio with Patrick O'Reilly (circuit-bent Casio), Sara Constant (flute) and Heraclitus Akimbo (Kaossilator mini, tapes), while the second (as seen in the video below) saw them augmented by Marilyn Yogarajah (piano, trumpet) and Raph-o-tron 3000 (keytar).

You can check out that aforementioned set over on youtube:

Recording: Unbleak Trio

Artist: Unbleak Trio

Songs: [two excerpts]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Living Room), June 20, 2023.

Unbleak Trio - [1st set, 1st piece excerpt]

Unbleak Trio - [1st set, 2nd piece excerpt]

Another example of pianist Ananya Ganesh's quick establishment of community connections, this trio managed to present a couple performances and even do some recording to hopefully document this coming-together. Mixing Ganesh's piano and vocals with Alex Fournier's double bass (here leaning more on his pedalboard to set some moods), and Raph Roter's drumkit and water percussion, there were several unbleak zones surveyed over two sets.

Recording: future poof

Artist: future poof

Song: [excerpt]

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

future poof - [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. Although Bea Labikova (sax) and Raphael Roter (percussion) have performed together in a variety of different incarnations, this time out they were considering themselves to be two-thirds of Future Proof (and hence the altername name). Closing out the afternoon, the set started and ended with Roter engaging the audience in some tambourine badminton, while Labikova built up ice mountains of sound from sax and effects.

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

Recording: Roter/Stephen/Oolvai

Artist: Raphael Roter/Del Stephen/Piers Oolvai

Song: [excerpt from an improvisation]

Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination), November 25, 2022.

Raphael Roter/Del Stephen/Piers Oolvai - [excerpt]

A percussive ensemble, with Raphael Roter deconstructing a drumkit and Del Stephen providing patter patterns via Octapad while Piers Oolvai added some kalimba before switching over to effects-torqued baritone clainet.

You can also check out the video from this set over on Audiopollination's youtube page:

[Audiopollination will be back at Array Space on Friday, January 13th, with performances from Mike Barber/Daisy Betlej/Tegan Dietsch / Kousha Nakhaei/Owen Kurtz / Jamie Eriksen/Adrian Russouw/Bri Clarke and Kimberly Ivany/Katheryn Merriam.]

Recording: Imaginary Percussion Ensemble & The Element Choir

Artist: Imaginary Percussion Ensemble & The Element Choir

Songs: And With: as dreamed up by Germaine Liu [soundwalk montage, in two parts]

Recorded at The Bentway, June 25, 2022.

Imaginary Percussion Ensemble & The Element Choir - [soundwalk montage, part 1]

Imaginary Percussion Ensemble & The Element Choir - [soundwalk montage, part 2]

Goodness gracious! How nice it is to get outside, and to be somewhere a little unfamiliar, and to see folks from your community doing cool things! This soundwalk was conceptualized by Germaine Liu to use percussion and voices to reflect and enhance the sounds in a stretch moving from Canoe Landing Park and running along The Bentway, under The Gardiner Expressway. Accompanied by the whirr of traffic and backbeat of underpass construction, the groups' sounds fit in like ghostly counterparts to the sonic landscape. Truly delightful. (And for the record, the participants in the piece were: Bea Labikova, Aki Takahashi, Bee Pallomina, Brenda Joy Lem, Fahmid Nibesh, Joe Sorbara, Lieke van der Voort, Michelangelo Iaffaldano, Mingjia, Stephanie Chua, Raphael Roter, Heather Saumer, and Christine Duncan.)

In addition to the audio clips above, here's a slightly more expansive visual record. (Do be warned, this was taken with a handheld camera, so there are some shaky spots here):

Monday Roundup #8

In the absence of concert listings, my regular Monday dispatches have fallen off. After bringing some life to the blog with the "bumping into" series, I figure I should get back in the groove. I'm guessing that this will be a bit like what used to get shoved into the end of the post when I was doing listings — some bandcamp suggestions, nods to a few livestreams, and sundry community notes (email me if you have anything that needs broadcast in the latter category!). Plus maybe a look back through the MFS archives.

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Livestream nation:

• Audiopollination returns on Wednesday (March 10th) with a set from Women From Space founders Bea Labikova and Kayla Milmine, free and livestreamable to all. (and, given that Audiopollination is now an "official" Array music series, a timely reminder that Array announced the remainder of its programming for this season, so you can do some planning ahead!)

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It happened this week...

• ...on March 7, 2017 at Burdock Music Hall.

Not The Wind, Not The Flag with Rob Clutton - [guitar section excerpt]

• ...on March 10, 2018 at Array Space (as part of Audiopollination 60).

David Parker/Bea Labikova/Raphael Roter - [excerpt]

[Do remember that you can click on the tags below to go back and find the original posts (and often, more stuff) from these artists.]

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Bandcamp corner:

• Last week's big release was undoubtedly the new Bernice album, soft-pop experimentalism continuing Telephone Explosion's recent hot streak and offering a bit of groove elation for the coming days with slightly-warmer temperatures and a hint (maybe?) of spring in the air. Essential stuff!

Recording: Scott M2 + Raphael Roter

Artist: Scott M2 + Raphael Roter

Song: [improvisation]

Recorded at Hirut Restaurant (Exit Points #1), February 26, 2020.

Scott M2 + Raphael Roter - [improvisation]

This new series is an initiative by the collaboratively-minded Michael Palumbo, bringing some electronic experimentation to the east end. It was also a bit of a social experiment and a step "out"-ward for host Hirut Restaurant, but, at least for this initial outing, a successful one, drawing a nice crowd. A sign of the series' community orientation was given in the final set, which was treated as an open and informal jam, allowing musicians who played in the first two sets to recombine, along with any audience members who brought along something to play. Or, in this case, Scott McGregor Moore was enlisted to take a spin on Michael Palumbo's modular synth in this brief encounter with percussionist Raphael Roter, which resulted in some rather tasty accidental acid jazz.

[As with all things in these extraordinary times, upcoming shows are suspended in the exercise of social distancing. Keep an eye out on the series' FB page for news of its reappearance.]

Recording: Roter/Maheras/Cruickshank

Artist: Raphael Roter/Hryso Maheras/Rob Cruickshank

Song: [excerpt from first piece]

Recorded at Hirut Restaurant (Exit Points #1), February 26, 2020.

Raphael Roter/Hryso Maheras/Rob Cruickshank - [excerpt from first piece]

This new series is an initiative by the collaboratively-minded Michael Palumbo, bringing some electronic experimentation to the east end. It was also a bit of a social experiment and a step "out"-ward for host Hirut Restaurant, but, at least for this initial outing, a successful one, drawing a nice crowd. The night's second set looked like a particularly cool day at the shortwave club, with Rob Cruickshank attending to knobs, dials and joysticks while Hryso Maheras adjusted parameters on SuperCollider. Raphael Roter added a beat underneath to keep things moving forward.

[As with all things in these extraordinary times, upcoming shows are suspended in the exercise of social distancing. Keep an eye out on the series' FB page for news of its reappearance.]

Recording: Future Proof

Artist: Future Proof

Song: [third piece]

Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination 80), February 8, 2020.

Future Proof - [third piece]

This trio of Raphael Roter, Bea Labikova and Claire Yunjin Lee was at the start of a flurry of activity revolving around doing some recordings that'll hopefully emerge soon in album form. Both Lee's piano and Labikova's sax were future-proofed with some technological embellishment, adding some subtle effects shadings to broaden their palette.

You can also check out some visual documentation of this set over on the Audiopollination youtube channel:

[Both Claire Yunjin Lee and Bea Labikova will be performing next week (March 5th and 8th, respectively) at the amazing Women From Space Festival. Audiopollination returns to Array Space on Saturday, March 14th with another self-curated night including sounds from Rick Sacks/John Oswald/David Sait, Nicholas Cooper/Del Stephen/Kalia Lenaghan, Ryan Kinney and Avant-Gardeners, and Tiina Kiik/David Story/styrofoamNosebleedPrincess.]

Recording: Lîla Fragments

Artist: Lîla Fragments

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Audiopollination 70.3), April 30, 2019.

Lîla Fragments - [excerpt]

A fifth Tuesday of the month brought an extra slot for creative music in the basement at Wenona Lodge, with Audiopollination's Mike Lynn curating a night of exploratory sounds. I've heard plenty of amazing rampaging roars from this mind-meld trio of Bea Labikova (sax), Raphael Roter (percussion), and Chris Adriaanse (double bass), but this spare end-game to their set was perhaps even more overflowing with quietly-surging potential, especially with Roter adding some cicada-buzzes on a pair of slide whistles.

[There are a pair of equally intriguing and distinct Audiopollination events coming up: on Saturday (July 20th), Australian improvising vocalist Sonya Holowell pays a visit, where she'll play with s series of locals (including Tiina Kiik, Paul Newman, Laura Swankey, Alison Keery, Tomasz Krakowiak, Brian Abbott, Elizabeth Lima and Patrick O'Reilly) across four sets, while on Saturday, August 3rd, The Infinite Monotremes and special guests will be forming random small groups to play to short films by Curtis Whittaker.]

Recording: Doug Tielli

Artist: Doug Tielli

Songs: Highwayside Weeds + Strange Echo

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), March 16, 2019.

Doug Tielli - Highwayside Weeds

Doug Tielli - Strange Echo

A night with some heavy vibes and a sense of absence in the room was a chance for community members to gather together and feel the balm of Doug Tielli's songs. This turned out to be one of those CD release shows where the CD's hadn't arrived yet, though that didn't feel like too much of an obstacle — what's a few more days when these were mostly songs that were, as Tielli noted, recorded about four years ago? (And some of them were in his live repertoire for some time before that, even.)

Joined by his full band, with Heather Saumer on trombone, Bea Labikova on sax, Chris Adriaanse on bass and Raphael Roter on drums (plus Tania Gill on piano for part of the set) there was an opportunity to replicate the album's off-kilter lushness — and, even more importantly, its vocal harmonies. Truth and Elseness is filled with lovely sounds and wise observations, wrapped up in a bit more of country-ish package (fans of groups like Royal City will find a lot to like here) — and this was made even before Tielli decamped from the city, so who knows what quiet backroads his songs will head down next?

Recording: Lîla Fragments

Artist: Lîla Fragments

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Array Space (Women From Space Festival – Night 3), March 10, 2019.

Lîla Fragments - [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.

More telepathic interaction from this trio, "fragmented" from the larger ensemble that sometimes sees them performing with improvising dancers. There was lots of action here — by set's end, bits of Raphael Roter's drumstick were flying all over — but there were also some especially-satisfying quieter moments as well, like this balladic conversation between Roter and double bassist Chris Adriaanse that got teased into something quite compelling with the addition of Bea Labikova's running commentary on sax.

Recording: Kayla Milmine/Bea Labikova/Raphael Roter

Artist: Kayla Milmine/Bea Labikova/Raphael Roter - [first section]

Song: [first section]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Women From Space Festival – Night 1), March 8, 2019.

Kayla Milmine/Bea Labikova/Raphael Roter - [first section]

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.

It made sense for saxophonists Milmine and Labikova to lead things off, and with some propulsion from Raph Roter on drums, things got launched spaceward in a hurry.

[Kayla Milmine will be playing at the next instalment of Jazz and Otherwise Improvised Musics at Wenona Lodge on Tuesday, May 14th, in a trio with Julian Anderson-Bowes and Luan Phung. Bea Labikova will be performing as part of Triio (which is not a trio) at their CD launch at The rex on Sunday, June 2nd.]

Recording: Lîla Trio

Artist: Lîla Trio

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination 68), February 3, 2019.

Lîla Trio - [excerpt]

This self-curated night at Audiopollination saw the usual mix of textures and musical practices, closing out with this set selected by host Mike Lynn. Bea Labikova (alto sax), Raphael Roter (percussion) and Chris Adriaanse (double bass) sometimes work in a larger format incorporating dance, but as a music-only trio are still extremely satisfying, finding surprising sounds in dense crests and spare quiet stretches.

Video for this full set can be viewed on Audiopollination's youtube channel:

[A special off-site and fully-curated Audiopollination will be taking place at Wenona Lodge on Tuesday, April 30th, with duo sets from Heraclitus Akimbo and mkl32 plus Brian Abbott and Leslie Ting, as well as the Lîla Trio.]

Recording: Tatsuya Nakatani

Artist: Tatsuya Nakatani / Tatsuya Nakatani Gong Orchestra

Songs: [two excerpts] / [excerpt, in two parts]

Recorded at The Music Gallery @ 918 Bathurst, May 26, 2018.

Tatsuya Nakatani - [excerpt 1]

Tatsuya Nakatani - [excerpt 2]

Tatsuya Nakatani Gong Orchestra - [excerpt, part 1]

Tatsuya Nakatani Gong Orchestra - [excerpt, part 2]

The past couple years have seen a series of visits from master percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani, each of which has seen him welcomed by an increasing crowd of astonished admirers. It was therefore fitting for the Music Gallery to provide the resources to take things up to the next level and host a manifestation of Nakatani's Gong Orchestra. Providing the beautiful percussive hardware, Nakatani relies on local programmers to create an ensemble, which then spends the day together learning his vocabulary before performing for the public. The instructions specify that the musicians can be at different levels of experience (and, in fact, do not even need a background in percussion) so it's no surprise that the MG was able to use its many connections into many different scenes to come up with a diverse ensemble. Members included: Brenda Joy Lem, Katie Jensen, Debashis Sinha, Charlotte Cornfield, Rupert Ojiji Harvey, Kristyn Gelfand, HanHan, Alex Punzalan, W. A. Davison, Tréson Alman, Jenn Kitagawa, Bryan W. Bray, Laura C. Bates and Raphael Roter.

Before starting the concert with a captivating solo set, Nakatani reminded the crowd that this isn't so much a musical undertaking as a "vibration project" so that should be kept in mind in listening to these artifacts here — it's nowhere near as wonderful as feeling the vibrations live and in person, where the listener gets to lean in closer to hear the tiniest bowed overtones before being bowled over by mallet-clanging thunderstorms. That feeling of vibration-over-sound was even more intense with the ensemble playing together, while Nakatani conducted the group to create intense phasing and other effects across the length of the churchlike hall.

Recording: Parker/Labikova/Roter

Artist: David Parker/Bea Labikova/Raphael Roter

Songs: [excerpt]

Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination 60), March 10, 2018.

David Parker/Bea Labikova/Raphael Roter - [excerpt]

This tasty night of self-curated sounds saw four different ensembles take the floor, backed by visuals generated by Kelley Mitchell. Frequent collaborators Bea Labikova (alto sax) and Raphael Roter (percussion) got to explore some different zones in this encounter with Kingston's David Parker, including something that sounded like a tweaked-out version of a twangy spy theme and also some propulsive free jazz.

Recording: Novosedlikova-Suchankova-Labikova-Roter-Sacks

Artist: Sisa Suchankova/Lenka Novosedlikova/Bea Labikova/Raphael Roter/Rick Sacks

Songs: [three excerpts]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (416 Toronto Creative Improvisers Festival – Night 2), November 11, 2017.

Sisa Suchankova/Lenka Novosedlikova/Bea Labikova/Raphael Roter/Rick Sacks - [excerpt 1]

Sisa Suchankova/Lenka Novosedlikova/Bea Labikova/Raphael Roter/Rick Sacks - [excerpt 2]

Sisa Suchankova/Lenka Novosedlikova/Bea Labikova/Raphael Roter/Rick Sacks - [excerpt 3]

The nimble 416 Festival — celebrating, as always, multiple streams of improvised and experimental music — folded itself down to two nights this year, of which I could only make it to the second. If it's unusual (especially in the cozy confines of the Southern Cross!) to see a set with two marimbas sharing the stage, it's doubly unusual (at least in these parts) to see a set with two Fujaras — and exponentially unusual to have both those things happening at once. Matching Slovakian visitors Sisa Suchankova (flutes) and Lenka Novosedlikova (marimba) with local counterparts Bea Labikova and Rick Sacks there was plenty of opportunity for musical interplay here, with a series of call-and-response encounters being tied together by Raphael Roter, at the centre of it all on the drumkit. From quiet conversations to chaotic chase scenes, this quintet covered a lot of ground in a rather satisfying manner.