Recording: Cosmic Homeostasis XXVIII

Artist: Cosmic Homeostasis XXVIII

Song: Cancel the Wedding [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), June 29, 2025.

Cosmic Homeostasis XXVIII - Cancel the Wedding [excerpt]

A fine summer afternoon saw a robust group of space-droners out to chill in some cosmic sounds. As usual, there was a mix of acoustic and electronic sounds, new faces and old.

The ensemble for this session included:

• Ian McPhedran - guitar, namer-of-things
• Sterling McPhedran - banjo-ukulele
• Dan Friedman - recorder, Organism 8, Skrewell, Crackle + Dust
• Mira Martin-Gray - vocals, tone generator, kazoo
• Zack Berwick - guitar
• Scott M2 - Roland S-1
• Grant Smales - Buddha Machine
• Andrew Finlay Stewart - violin, kalimba, pedals, celtic whistle, whistling
• Rob Cruickshank - electronics
• Broken Pink Umbrella - Intellijel Cascadia synthesizer
• Phil Johnston - tape + fx
• Paul Newman - tenor saxophone
• Ariadna Ortega - cello (#2 only)
• Patrick O'Reilly - Game Boy
• Dame Cook - laptop
• Del Stephen - synth, piano
• Heraclitus Akimbo - Roland S-1, Bastl Wizard, radio

As usual, both full sets are available over on bandcamp:

And as well, you can check out some the day's full proceedings over on youtube:

Recording: Cosmic Homeostasis

Artist: Cosmic Homeostasis

Song: Open Tuning [excerpt]

Recorded at Karma Co-op's parking lot (Open Tuning Festival), June 7, 2025.

Cosmic Homeostasis - Open Tuning [excerpt]

Heading out from "home court" at The Tranzac, and cutting across the Annex all the way over to Seaton Village, the CH crew joined in as part of the small-scale/hyper-local Open Tuning Festival. As with any excursion like this, a few people were confused and hurried by, a few stopped to listen and the back lane filled up with some heat-shimmying oscillations.

The ensemble for this occasion consisted of:

• Dan Friedman - Bastl Kastle Drum, Korg NTS-1, harmonica
• Eric Cinnesealach - clarinet
• Rob Cruickshank - electronics
• Del Stephen - synthesizer
• Paul Newman - tenor saxophone
• Ian McPhedran - guitar
• Sterling McPhedran - banjo-ukulele
• Mira Martin-Gray - Bastl Kastle
• Heraclitus Akimbo - Roland S-1, accordion

You can also head the full set (in its field-recording glory) over on Bandcamp:

Recording: Cosmic Homeostasis

Artist: Cosmic Homeostasis

Songs: Busking [two excerpt]

Recorded at The Bloor Annex BIA Stage, September 1, 2024.

Cosmic Homeostasis - Busking [excerpt 1]

Cosmic Homeostasis - Busking [excerpt 2]

Kudoes to the Bloor Annex BIA for animating the corner of Bloor and Brunswick this summer with their specially-constructed bucker stage — and special kudos to booker Sarah Greene who brought some variety to the space, including an unexpected turn from this drone ensemble. Often found down the street at The Tranzac, the group has played outside before, but a busy street corner is rather a different thing than a peaceful park. Here, cars passing by (and occasional planes from the airshow roaring past overhead) gave more of a gritty backdrop to the proceedings, but the assembled players still managed to embroider some fitting sounds into the landscape.

The performers at this event were:

• styrofoamNosebleedPrincess - tanpura
• Mira Martin-Gray - Bastl Kastle
• Sterling McPhedran - guitar
• Ian McPhedran - uke/banjo
• Fahmid Nibesh - mandolin, lyre, percussion, cellphone synth + amp
• Rob Cruickshank - electronics
• Michael Lynn - double bass
• Mike Filippov - ocean drum
• Rod Campbell - trumpet
• Heraclitus Akimbo - EWI, lyre, Donner MEDO

You can hear some extended edits from the day's field recordings over at Bandcamp. Three recorders in play capturing this action, so most of the instruments are audible. Did some work to trim out the worst of the wind-on-mics sounds:

[Cosmic Homeostasis will be bringing their regular fifth-Sunday-of-the-month gathering to The Tranzac on Sunday, September 29th. Also, stay tuned for an announcement of an exciting unoffical Nuit Blanche event!]

Recording: Cosmic Homeostasis XXIV

Artist: Cosmic Homeostasis XXIV

Songs: 100,000,000,000,000.1 Neutrinos [excerpt] + Elegy for Monstera [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), June 30, 2023.

Cosmic Homeostasis XXIV - 100,000,000,000,000.1 Neutrinos [excerpt]

Cosmic Homeostasis XXIV - Elegy for Monstera [excerpt]

Once again, the Cosmic Homeostasis crew gathered on a fifth Sunday of the month for some expansive space-drift. Playing on an unusual Canada Day long weekend, when the city felt a little emptied-out, saw a slightly smaller than usual crew in attendance — but with ten performers on hand, "small" is relative, and there was still plenty of sounds and plenty of spaces between sounds.

The performers this time around were:

• Phil Johnston - tape loop + 1-string guitar, namer-of-things
• Jonny Luke - cornet
• Michael Lynn - bass/clarinet
• Rob Cruickshank - electronics
• Sterling McPhedran - guitar
• Ian McPhedran - uke/banjo
• Eric Cinnesealach - clarinets/percussion
• Scott M2 - Animoog
• Jon Kereliuk - piano
• Heraclitus Akimbo - Medo + Bastl synths

As always, the full session is available as a name-your price album on Bandcamp:

Plus, you can also check out both sets (and some informative space facts) over on youtube:

Recording: Cosmic Homeostasis XIX

Artist: Cosmic Homeostasis XIX

Songs: Disco Whispers [excerpt] + Zero Gravity Bird Ceremony [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), April 30, 2023.

Cosmic Homeostasis XIX - Disco Whispers [excerpt]

Cosmic Homeostasis XIX - Zero Gravity Bird Ceremony [excerpt]

Another fifth-Sunday-of-the-month drone meetup brought out a mid-sized group (a dozen people) for some space-drift, spreading out around the Southern Cross.

The ensemble this time around was:

• Paul Newman - tenor saxophone
• Philip Hamilton - oscillator, contact mic
• fuzzy - guitar, pedals
• Patrick O'Reilly - circuit bent SK-1, piano
• Nilan Perera - prepared guitar + slicer pedal
• Ian McPhedran - guitar + pedals
• Sterling McPhedran - guitar + pedals
• Scott M2 - Animoog
• Ron Blake - iOS apps
• Sheldon - percussion+
• Victor O - toy keyboard + mixer
• Heraclitus Akimbo - synths

And as usual, you can stream/download the full session over on bandcamp:

[Cosmic Homeostasis will be back in the Southern Cross on the afternoon of the fifth Sunday of July — that is to say on July 30th, 2023.]