Recording: Senior/Yell/Yogarajah

Artist: Ayal Senior/Nathan Yell/Marilyn Yogarajah

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), June 14, 2026.

Ayal Senior/Nathan Yell/Marilyn Yogarajah - unknown

As is frequently the case, this afternoon at Ayal Senior's residency ended with the spontaneous formation of a new band, with Senior enlisting Nathan Yell (who had opened things up earlier) to play drums and drafting Marilyn Yogarajah from the crowd to play piano. There were some mutual drift zones in the set, but this bit sounds like Senior slipping in something from his book of songs to see what embellishments the others coud come up with.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

[Ayal Senior & Friends will be back at The Tranzac on the afternoon of August 9th.]

Recording: David Sait

Artist: David Sait

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), June 14, 2026.

David Sait - unknown

As always, David Sait's work for solo guzheng was a beautiful experience, with an underlying austere formality that's never at the expense of feeling the energy of spontaneous composition.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

[David Sait will be taking part in an "Evening of Visual Music" next week (Thursday, July 30th) in the Tranzac's Living Room alongside Del Stephen and backed by Jason Steidman's live projections. Ayal Senior & Friends will be back at The Tranzac on the afternoon of August 9th.]

Recording: Nathan Yell

Artist: Nathan Yell

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), June 14, 2026.

Nathan Yell - unknown

In this set, Nathan Yell sometimes just worked out some weird songwriter mojo (this number has some "funky Jandek"-type vibes), but also brought out his best one-man-band moves, building some guitar loops before shifting over to the drumkit to jam with himself.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

[Ayal Senior & Friends will be back at The Tranzac on the afternoon of August 9th.]

Recording: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman

Artist: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman

Song: two unknown songs^*

Recorded The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), May 10, 2026.

Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman - two unknown songs

This outing saw (as usual) more new songs from the book plus some deeper lore being investigated.

^* Does anyone know the titles to these? Please leave a comment!

[Ayal Senior & Friends returns to The Tranzac tomorrow (June 14th) with sets from David Sait, Nathan Yell, Nick Flanagan plus Senior & Newman.]

Recording: Ryan Dugre

Artist: Ryan Dugre

Song: two unknown songs^*

Recorded The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), May 10, 2026.

Ryan Dugre - unknown #1

Ryan Dugre - unknown #2

New Yorker Ryan Dugre is based in Toronto right now, but this was his first local solo show. His song-shaped instrumental pieces were animated by the elegant modulation of his electric guitar, evoking mostly bucolic moods.

^* Does anyone know the titles to these? Please leave a comment!

[Ayal Senior & Friends returns to The Tranzac tomorrow (June 14th) with sets from David Sait, Nathan Yell, Nick Flanagan plus Senior & Newman.]

Recording: Joyshape

Artist: Joyshape

Song: Palimpsest

Recorded The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), May 10, 2026.

Joyshape - Palimpsest

Zoë Alexis-Abrams brought cello, voice and laptop for this solo set, which showed off an increased interest in field recordings. (The muffled whumps here are apparently geophone recordings made at the Reference Library.) As someone who likes hearing what recordings sound like when they're slowed down a bunch I found thgis totally on-point, in the sense that the music sounds pre-slowed.

[Ayal Senior & Friends returns to The Tranzac tomorrow (June 14th) with sets from David Sait, Nathan Yell, Nick Flanagan plus Senior & Newman.]

Recording: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman

Artist: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman

Song: [2nd piece]

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

Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman - [2nd piece]

"This is a new one, Kurt," Ayal Senior said, leaning over towards Kurt Newman between songs. "I tried it solo before."

"All right," was the reply, immediately before a seemingly-rehearsed duo arrangement sprang into being fully formed. This is why it's worth dropping in to see the songbook being developed in realtime collaboration.

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: Ayal Senior

Artist: Ayal Senior

Song: Nothing Goes On Forever

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

Ayal Senior - Nothing Goes On Forever

With an early March day of False Spring in the air and a robust lines of parents and kiddoes staring into the Southern Cross while waiting to get into Kidzac, Ayal Senior started his afternoon revue with an acoustic solo set that lead off with this tasty drone zone.

Recording: OOOP

Artist: OOOP

Song: [excerpt]

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

OOOP - [excerpt]

Frequent guests at the Ayal Senior residency often get pulled into recombinant and frequently-mutating instant bands — this one saw him joined by Marilyn Yogarajah and Roya Biazar.

[Ayal Senior & Friends is back at the Tranzac tomorrow (March 8th) with sets from Senior & Newman, Lostworldsounds, Nick Flanagan and Nocturnes]

Recording: destroya

Artist: destroya

Song: [excerpt]

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

destroya - [excerpt]

With an elegant use of reverse delay, destroya unfurled some solo considerations, all enlaced with grace.

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

[Ayal Senior & Friends is back at the Tranzac tomorrow (March 8th) with sets from Senior & Newman, Lostworldsounds, Nick Flanagan and Nocturnes]

Recording: Ayal Senior

Artist: Ayal Senior

Song: What’s in Fahey’s Trunk?

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

Ayal Senior - What’s in Fahey’s Trunk?

Ayal Senior started off this instalment of his residency with a quick solo set, with the electric 12-string and the trusty ol' DL4 at hand.

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

[Ayal Senior & Friends is back at the Tranzac tomorrow (March 8th) with sets from Senior & Newman, Lostworldsounds, Nick Flanagan and Nocturnes]

Recording: Del Stephen

Artist: Del Stephen

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Ayal Senior & Friends), July 13, 2025.

Del Stephen - unknown

With Ayal Senior off being "big in Japan", it fell to yours truly as guest host to present some sounds for the afternoon. Things were being improvised right from the start when the Tranzac's a/c hit some bumps, sending the day's Southern Cross programming into the Main Hall — and further refinements were required when weather/car troubles necessitated a last-minute fill-in. Fortunately Del Stephen was available — with memories of his piano residency in my head, I proposed a haul-no-gear setup for just piano and pieces of paper. That worked out entirely well in a truly experimental set with songs, poems, old magazine articles and an impromptu recreation of an unknown band's found setlist.

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

[Ayal Senior & Friends will be back (and Ayal will be back!) at The Tranzac on the afternoon of Sunday, August 10th, offering sets from Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman, Greydini, Nick Flanagan, and the mysterious Azorean Hoods.]

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: anthéne

Artist: anthéne

Song: stranger and stranger

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Ayal Senior & Friends), July 13, 2025.

anthéne - stranger and stranger

With Ayal Senior off being "big in Japan", it fell to yours truly as guest host to present some sounds for the afternoon. Things were being improvised right from the start when the Tranzac's a/c hit some bumps, sending the day's Southern Cross programming into the Main Hall. That provided guitarist Brad Deschamps with a larger, cevern-like space to unfurl some explorations in a rare live outing from his prolific anthéne guise. "Stately drift" was the main vibe here, and all excellently executed. (The pieces he performed have been given a "studio" treatment on a recent bandcamp release.)

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

[Ayal Senior & Friends will be back (and Ayal will be back!) at The Tranzac on the afternoon of Sunday, August 10th, offering sets from Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman, Greydini, Nick Flanagan, and the mysterious Azorean Hoods.]

Recording: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman

Artist: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman

Songs: Yutori + I Alone Escaped

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), January 12, 2025.

Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman - Yutori + I Alone Escaped

With a new batch of songs almost ready to hatch (see below!) Senior and Newman dug into the arrangements a little deeper, with the accompaniment moving from the most understanded of echoes to careening-off-the-rails dangerfests.

[Ayal Senior & Friends is back in the Southern Cross on Sunday (January 9th) with a special "public dress rehearsal" as they prepare to enter the studio to cut a new album.]

Recording: David Sait

Artist: David Sait

Song: [track 4]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), January 12, 2025.

David Sait - [track 4]

David Sait brought some songs and other inventions for his guzheng, as usual, exploring some new variations in tone and technique, including some cool bowing and (as heard here) some subtle shimmer.

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

[Ayal Senior & Friends is back in the Southern Cross on Sunday (January 9th) with a special "public dress rehearsal" as they prepare to enter the studio to cut a new album.]

Recording: The Sympathetic String Band

Artist: The Sympathetic String Band

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), December 8, 2024.

The Sympathetic String Band - [excerpt]

This ensemble(?)/collective(?) was once more expanded from the previous times I've seen 'em, having gone from duo to quartet to quintet. The addition of sitar into the mix of strings was an entirely sympathetic one, adding more drones and repeated patterns to weave among the guitars and dulcimers on stage. This section was about as frisky as the group got, which is to say this was a mellow meadow drift of a time.

[Ayal Senior & Friends is back in the Southern Cross a week tomorrow (Sunday, January 12th) with sets from Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman, Michelle Breslin, David Sait, and Nick Flanagan.]

Recording: Way Bad Stone

Artist: Way Bad Stone

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), December 8, 2024.

Way Bad Stone - [excerpt]

Where is a duo to go once they've already been "triple bad"? Obviously, to add a third member and ascend to the realm of "way bad". And hence, the previous month's pairing of Marilyn Yogarajah (piano/trumpet) and Ayal Senior (bass/space echo) got some sonic soul glue from percussionist %%30%30, providing some structure to climb, like a jury-rigged space elevator DIY'd from purloined jungle gyms.

[Ayal Senior & Friends is back in the Southern Cross a week tomorrow (Sunday, January 12th) with sets from Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman, Michelle Breslin, David Sait, and Nick Flanagan.]

Recording: Marilyn Yogarajah

Artist: Marilyn Yogarajah

Song: [first piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), November 10, 2024.

Marilyn Yogarajah - [first piece]

Some solo journeys from Marilyn Yogarajah saw trumpet loopscapes being augmented by piano lines. Easy to get lost in while you stare out the window watching autumn rolling in.

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

Recording: Triple Bad Acid

Artist: Triple Bad Acid

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), November 10, 2024.

Triple Bad Acid - [excerpt]

Some psychedelic explorations from Ayal Senior (here on bass and space echo) alongside Marilyn Yogarajah (piano/trumpet). Some deep zones here, but not to get ahead of things too much, this was just setting the stage for things to get even more triple.

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