Recording: Titanium Bloop

Artist: Titanium Bloop

Song: [1st set, 2nd piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), January 24, 2023.

Titanium Bloop - [1st set, 2nd piece]

With Ryan Driver out of town, what would have been a "regular" Titanium Riot gig saw this one-off reformulation, with Mike Smith (who processes sounds in the duo Bloop with trumpeter Lina Allemano) sitting in alongside the rhythm section of Rob Clutton and Nick Fraser. The result brought out elements of both groups, with the Titanium Riot blurp-beat lurch cross-pollinating with stereofied sound treatments. After the first piece, there was some friendly argument on stage as to whether the group should, in fact, have been called "Blooptanium Riot", which can be added to the list of open-ended questions this encounter produced.

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

Monday Roundup #54

Someday this space might be mostly concert listings again, but for now Monday roundups might include a romp through the MFS archives, 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!).

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Video hits:

• "Let's put our lonely minds together, ride out the lonely weather." A new video from KASHKA for the song "Isolation" (from last year's soft EP) manages to capture the micro-zeitgeist quite nicely — bundle up, get outside and try to feel less stuck in yourself.

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Livestream nation:

• Tuesday night (January 25th) is a good time to gather (virtually) at The Tranzac to catch a set from Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot. (For proof of this assertion, check out the archive pick below!)

• It feels strange to think that Exit Points — which barely debuted in the flesh before making its pandemic pivot online — is approching its second anniversary. Show number twenty-three features a pair of curated duos (Sara Constant & Thispatcher plus Louis Pino & Rayonism) as well as its usual community open-call collaborfations. Watch or join in on Wednesday (January 26th).

• After a couple in-person events in the dip between waves, Long Winter is pivoting back to its "Long Winter TV" format, with a new compilation of music, art and discussion on Thursday (January 27th) with sounds from Obuxum, Odonis Odonis and more.

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It happened this week...

• ...on January 26, 2016 at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge).

Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot - [excerpt from third piece]

[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.]

Recording: Titanium Riot

Artist: Titanium Riot

Song: [second piece]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (JAOIM x Track Could Bend #46), January 8, 2019.

Titanium Riot - [second piece]

Track Could Bend's first Tuesday of the month fell on New Year's Day, so it was kind of Andrew Furlong's Jazz and Otherwise Improvised Musics series to share a night when things were open for business. Selecting one set apiece, Lina Allemano returned to Track Could Bend with one of her main working groups. Removed form their usual environs at The Tranzac, Titanium Riot settled into some heavier funk zones here — Ryan Driver's synth squiggles were a special delight.

[Track Could Bend will be making a special anniversary excursion to Array Space on Tuesday, April 2nd, to celebrate with an all-star assortment of the past year's players. JAOIM will be at Wenona the week following, on Tuesday, April 9th.]

Recording: Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot

Artist: Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot - [excerpt from first set, first piece]

Song: [excerpt from first set, first piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), January 30, 2018.

Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot - [excerpt from first set, first piece]

I hadn't done as good a job as I could have in catching Lina Allemano in action during her most recent sojourn back from Berlin, so I was absolutely intent on being present for these electroacoustic excursions from Titanium Riot, especially as I missed the release party for their new Squish It! album. The night found the quartet in fine form, working both in quiet creep-along mode and rampaging thwack-gurgle territory. Ryan Driver (synth) and Rob Clutton (bass) passed back and forth rubbery wubbles while Allemano (trumpet) and Nick Fraser (percussion) provided the angles and contact-bursts. As always, some superb explorations once more mapping some new alien landscapes.

Recording: Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot

Artist: Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot

Song: [second piece]

Recorded The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), January 31, 2017.

Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot - [second piece]

Compared to the front half of this double header with the Lina Allemano Four, this excursion with her sci-fi electronic voyager unit felt bursting with new ideas. Perhaps that's no surprise given that the group has spend more time together recently, touring through Europe at the end of last year. It also gives more space for Allemano to explore DIY extended techniques and lo-fi electroacoustic gestures, such as the shortbread tin echo chamber deployed on this piece. There's some nifty bass playing at the end here with some sort of distorted harmonizer effect from Rob Clutton, and as always, imaginative analog synth textures from from Ryan Driver.

Recording: Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot

Artist: Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot

Songs: [two selections]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), January 26, 2016.

Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot - [excerpt from third piece]

Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot - [second piece]

Trumpeter Lina Allemano's two quartets give her an opportunity to stay busy with one when the sidemen with the other are occupied with their other projects. It's rather unprecedented for everyone to be available all at once so this was, in fact, the first-ever double-bill of the Lina Allemano Four and Titanium Riot. Contrasting with the LA4's composed throughlines and "jazz" sensibility, Titanium Riot explores textures and goes on abstract journeys, powered by Ryan Driver's analogue synth work and Allemano's collection of DIY trumpet mutes. A plastic cup provides the buzzing sounds heard at the start of the second selection here — a portal into a sci-fi soundscape trip, while the first short selection shows what this band can do when it settles into a groove.

Recording: Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot

Artist: Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot

Song: [second piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), May 26, 2015.

Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot - [second piece]

Back from an American tour, there is indeed a Riot goin' on with the quartet (Lina Allemano, trumpet; Ryan Driver, analog synth; Rob Clutton, electric bass; Nick Fraser, percussion) insinuating some lean, driving grooves behind their customary sci-fi soundscape excursions.

Recording: Lina Allemano

Artist: Lina Allemano's New York Trio / Titanium Riot

Songs: Peeps / [track 2, excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), October 29, 2014.

Lina Allemano's New York Trio - Peeps

Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot - [track 2, excerpt]

A very tasty double-header at an early Tranzac show, with trumpeter Lina Allemano leading two different ensembles. Her New York trio is adequately descriptive, with NY friends Michael Bates (bass) and Jeff Davis (drums) joining her in some more straight-up jazzy terrain while her Titanium Riot had a more alien sci-fi stop/start vibe thanks to Ryan Driver's analog synth textures as well as Rob Clutton's bass and Nick Fraser's percussion.

[Titanium Riot will be back at The Tranzac tomorrow night (December 14th).]