Recording: Trapezoid

Artist: Trapezoid

Song: [2nd set, 1st piece, 2nd section]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng presents), September 25, 2025.

Trapezoid - [2nd set, 1st piece, 2nd section]

When I last saw this group, they were still an unnamed four-cornered outgrowth of the Rob Clutton Trio. With more gigs together in the meantime, things feel a little more settled in — in the sense of there being a deeper awareness of where to explore, where to push, and where to complement each other. Kurt Newman was on lap rather than pedal steel, and even more integrated with his effects — using glitchy microloops as texture and punctuation, but also taking the time to glide and float alongside Karen Ng's sax/clarinet work.

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

Recording: Rob Clutton Trio with Kurt Newman

Artist: Rob Clutton Trio with Kurt Newman

Song: [1st piece, excerpt]

Recorded at Standard Time (TONE presents), May 17, 2024.

Rob Clutton Trio with Kurt Newman - [1st piece, excerpt]

Opening things up at this pre-festival night from the TONE team was this sort of Rat-Drifting all-star combo crew, with Kurt Newman (on pedal steel) augmenting bassist Rob Clutton's trio (including Karen Ng on sax and Nick Fraser on drums). Besides the immedediate differences from having Newman on board, the room (a pleasingly loft-like space a bit reminiscent of the Jam Factory, perfectly suited for seeing a Tad Michalak-curated show) also provided some different sonics, with the well-mic'ed band having a beefier sound than you might get at the Southern Cross — and keeping Clutton's bass from getting buried under other sounds. Newman used his pedalboard to find sounds that moved beyond trad pedal steel, sometimes doubling the sax and sometimes merging into Clutton's arco work.

[This quartet will be back in action at Karen Ng's monthly night at Wenona Lodge on Tuesday, June 18th.]