Recording: Paint, Play Ensemble

Artist: Paint, Play Ensemble

Song: [set 1 excerpt]

Recorded at Array Space (Playscape Emporium: Paint, Play), May 21, 2026.

Paint, Play Ensemble - [set 1 excerpt]

Duo Cichorium’s Playscape Emporium curatorial residency at Array is "built around storytelling through cross-disciplinary collaboration". This instalment mixed music with visual improvisations from Constant Yen and Rowan Campbell. That gave plenty of ideas for the assembled musicians (Charlee Wielgoz, Fahmid Nibesh, Joe Strutt, Mira Martin-Gray, and Duo Cichorium's Louis Pino) to react to, leading to some really inneresting sounds. The event was livestreamed, so hopefully the archived version of that will become available at some point.

Recording: Duo Cichorium

Artist: Duo Cichorium

Song: [1st piece, excerpt]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #92), June 4, 2024.

Duo Cichorium - [1st piece, excerpt]

Nominally a percussion duo, this partnership of Jasmine Tsui and Louis Pino was more electronically-inclined for this set, showcasing some homemade instruments. Those included an arduino synth box as well as an amplified paintbrush, picking up sounds as it swept over a canvas. (This set was literally a dry run for this new innovation, with actual live painting being the next step.) Moving from honk-squawk lurches to music box whispers, there were a variety of noise lullabies shared.

You can check out some the full set over on youtube:

[Track Could bend is back at Wenona on July 2nd, with sets from Kristina Warren & Karen Ng and Without a Single Green Feather. Duo Cichorium can be seen mixing various sounds at their People Soup residency at The Tranzac on the third Tuesday of every month.]

Recording: Many People

Artist: Many People

Song: [set 1 excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), December 15, 2023.

Many People - [set 1 excerpt]

Many People is another of Karen Ng's occasional concepts-not-bands, and while I've associated this one with a room-full-of-horns soundbath, the concept is plainly more malleable than that. That said, there was a formidable (fourmidable?) wind quartet up front, with Ng joined by Nic Dourado (a.k.a. bUDi), Nirvana Sagar, and Ted Crosby. But this time there was an equal presence of non-horn players, including Kieran Maraj (bass), fuZzy (guitar), %%30%30 (found percussion) and Jaz Tsui (percussion and melodica). Especially with the latter pair, that meant the means of propulsion was less magic capret ride and more clattering wagon, as the ebb and flow of the horns was bumped along by the other elements.

Recording: Jaz Tsui

Artist: Jaz Tsui

Song: [1st section]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), April 9, 2023.

Jaz Tsui - [1st section]

A new discovery for me, it was a treat to see some confidently-multifaceted explorations from Jaz Tsui, who mixed percussion with keyboard work on piano and melodica.

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

[Ayal Senior & Friends is back at the Tranzac on Sunday (May 14th) with sets from Ayal (joined by Kurt Newman, Andrew Furlong, and Jay Anderson) plus Colin Fisher, Nick Flanagan & the mysterious (((M))) Man.]