SATURDAY, October 9th
9:00pm (doors at 8:30)
Free

An evening of aural eclecticism

Featuring sets by Casey Anderson, Daniel Corral & Thomas Helton

Casey Anderson is an artist working with sound in a number of media, including composition, improvisation, electronic music, saxophone, and installations. He has performed with Jason Kahn, Ulrich Krieger, MKM, Fomoudou Don Moye, Michael Pisaro, Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, Mark Trayle, and the Dog Star Orchestra. Recent commissions include Machine Project (LA), TRANSIT (NY), the CalArts New Century Players (LA), and the California E.A.R. Unit (LA). Recent residencies include STEIM, Atlantic Center for the Arts, and at the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival. Anderson holds a Bachelors degree (Music Composition and Philosophy) from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and a Master of Fine Arts (Music Composition) from the California Institute of the Arts. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California.
WEBSITE

Daniel Corral is a composer and multi-instrumentalist born and raised in Eagle River, AK. Currently residing in the L.A. area, his unique voice has found a diverse range of outlets. He has accompanied avante-garde puppetry all across the USA, had his music performed by an orchestra riding the Santa Monica Pier Ferris Wheel, been featured at a USC faculty concert of original player piano music, displayed his massive multi-movement music boxes at galleries all over Los Angeles, composed for a number of films and dance performances, and much more. In May 2007 he received his MFA from CalArts, where his teachers included James Tenney, Morton Subotnick, Anne LeBaron, Wadada Leo Smith, and Stephen “Lucky” Mosko. He recieved his BM from the University of Puget Sound in May 2004.
WEBSITE

Thomas Helton is a composer and bassist who writes and performs music in both solo and ensemble settings. As a composer Mr. Helton was awarded a Houston Arts Alliance Individual Artist Fellowship Grant in 2007 for the commission and premiere of a new work for fifteen-piece ensemble, the Torture Chamber Ensemble. He was awarded an artist residency for the commission and premiere of Pride from DiverseWorks ArtSpace in Houston in October 2004, a work for ten-piece ensemble and video projection created in collaboration with video artist Maria del Carmen Montoya. Other new music commissions include 5 works for the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble. Desesperados (2005), a suite of tangos, is featured on Houston Public Radio’s CD The Best of the Front Row. Black Rain (2005), a work for saxophone, guitar, string bass, percussion and dancers, was chosen to be performed as part of FotoFest’s 2006 Biennial dedicated to the themes of The Earth and Artists Responding to Violence. As a bassist, Thomas Helton performs with his own ensemble, The Core Trio, as well as with many celebrated jazz and free improv artists including Tim Hagans, Milt Jackson, Daniel Carter, Monty Alexander, Frank Gratowski and Ernie Watts. He recently performed the music of Tim Hagans as a guest artist with Sweden’s Norrbotten Big Band. He was also featured at the 2009 ISB Bass Convention curated by Mark Dresser. Thomas has released three CD’s: Doublebass; Experimentations in Minimalism; and Saga. All three have received positive reviews in the press in both in the U.S. and Europe.
WEBSITE

If you would like to be considered for future events: please send details of your work and/or samples of your project to akashicrecordings@gmail.com

FRIDAY, August 20thth
8:30pm (doors at 8)
Free

Ambient Electro-Acoustic INSANITY!!!

Featuring sets by Earn, Rale, Aures & Greg Davis

Greg Davis: Born in 1975, Greg Davis grew up in Crystal Lake, Illinois. He studied classical & jazz guitar and composition at DePaul University in Chicago where he received his bachelor’s degree in music in 1999. In 1997, he started his own independent record label, Autumn Records, to release his own music and the music of others. Davis moved to Boston to pursue a master’s degree in composition from the New England Conservatory of Music which he completed in 2001. During this time, he also immersed himself in an independent study of computer based electronic music and became an active live performer. February 2002 saw the release of Davis’ debut album Arbor on Carpark Records of New York City. This marked the beginnings of his career as a professional musician. He has collaborated with a wide range of musicians including Zach Wallace, Joe Grimm, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Jeph Jerman, Tim Barnes, Sebastien Roux, Steven Hess, Chris Weisman, Akron/Family, Megafaun, Ben Vida and many more. Davis is well known for his blend of acoustic instruments with computer / electronic sounds. He continues to explore the possibilities of sound using new technologies and a wide array of instruments from around the world.
MYSPACE: GREG DAVIS

AURES: Aures is a microtonal music group, from Portland, OR. The group consists of John Krausbauer (violin), Thomas Thorson (violin) and Taryn Tomasello (accordion). Aures play amplified acoustic instruments utilizing tuning systems derived directly from the harmonic series, to achieve their aims.
Their compositional-improvisations produce dense and dynamic fields of harmonic interference and reinforcement which are unavailable to conventionally even-tempered Western music. The effect is in equal parts both foreign and familiar, searching for a deep consonance amid a flux of microtonal variations, beating tones, difference tones, and psychoacoustic phenomena. Long durations of the music allows the listener to adapt the ear to these unusual sounds, placing the listener into an interactive sound-field where alternative harmonies begin to emerge.
MYSPACE: AURES

Featuring opening sets by LA artists EARN & RALE.

If you would like to be considered for future events: please send details of your work and/or samples of your project to akashicrecordings@gmail.com

Saturday, June 19th at 8:30pm (Doors open at 8)
Free

Featuring sets by OK Music, Zotalayer & Sublamp

OK Music: is a Los Angeles based band, made up by Yvette Holzwarth (voice/violin), Dan Corral (drums, synth), and Ryan Tanaka (keyboard). The group evokes moods and narratives through “themed” improvisations, using simple ideas and concepts as its departure point for musical inspiration. “OK” is a colloquial English word denoting approval, assent, or acknowledgment. Performances include elements of audience participation, where the listener may be able to suggest themes for the band to use as part of their improvisations.
http://musicisok.wordpress.com

Zotalayer: [Ssssssss!] Luthor: What are you doing! Superman: Melting your infernal machine into a puddle with my heat vision! Luthor: HAHAHA! But it’s too late, you caped fool! The damage has already been done! Superman: What was it, Luthor? The ionosphere? The ozone layer? Luthor: No no no no. It was something not even you have heard of, Superman. The ZOTA layer! But you’ll never see it for yourself. My machine has destroyed it. Superman: You! Deluded! Maniac! Luthor: But don’t be alarmed. No one on Earth will be harmed, at least not directly. The only person who was protected by the zota layer was YOU! Superman: You’ve got exactly three seconds to start making sense. Luthor: There’s a peculiar type of radiation out there that not even you are immune to, Superman. It effects your mind whenever you relax or go to sleep. Turns you into a wild man and makes you go absolutely berserk! Superman: Great Scott! The destruction tonight in Metroplolis… Luthor: That’s right, old foe, it was you! And with the zota layer gone, you can bet it will be happening a lot more often. [Punch!] Luthor: Ooof! [Woosh!]
layer.zota.org

Sublamp: Los Angeles based artist Ryan Connor uses a synesthetic blend of audio and video textures to explore pre-language emotional experience, an anti-symbolic direct sensory experience influenced by the closed-eye vision work of Stan Brakhage.
sublamp.com

If you would like to be considered for future events: please send details of your work and/or samples of your project to akashicrecordings@gmail.com

Saturday, December 12th at 8:30pm (Doors open at 8)
Free

Audiobulb Records presents “A Night Of Exploratory Electronic Music” featuring label artists Craque, Claudia & Hecanjog

Audiobulb Records is an exploratory music label designed to promote creativity in all its forms. Audiobulb releases artist works on CD & download formats as well as multimedia works, VST (virtual instruments), audio hardware and other creative tools. Our aim is to facilitate the development of new artists working within a realm of care, quality and craft. Works supported by Audiobulb often explore the interface between the electronic and natural world. We embrace the complexity of unique electronics, intricate acoustics and detailed microsound.

Craque

A transplant from the South via Chicago, Craque is the artistic moniker for Matt Davis; a composer, performer, and sculptor now living in Fullerton. Brought up through heavy influences in improvisation and electro-acoustic music, live performances rely on a suite of homebuilt instruments and sampled objects, whose sounds also become the primary elements of studio compositions. Craque has released the diverse results on labels Audiobulb, Stasisfield, and Xynthetic.

Claudia

Justin Varis (b.Cincinnati, OH 1979) is an American musician/composer living in Los Angeles. Drawing on the rich history of musique concrète while most recently exploring minimal single instrument composition, his music is one of contrast and contradiction. Abstract tendencies conjoin with basic intimate melodies. Disruptive sequencing is utilized alongside loops and repeating patterns. Meticulous audio editing creates calculated timing while improvised passages lend expressive mistakes. Ultimately working towards merging his audio with like-minded video and film artists, he is determined to create a body of work that explores the non-linear narrative while achieving accessibility to the greatest number of listeners.

After being featured on a number of stateside and international compilations, in 2006 he released his first EP with Frozen Elephants Music, a non-profit internet project/concert series based in Berlin. Later that year his debut LP was released on Audiobulb Records, located in Sheffield. In 2008, his work was featured along side noted artists such as Taylor Deupree, Dot Tape Dot, Biosphere, John Kannenberg, RF w/ Midori Hirano, Aaron Ximm, Build, Leafcutter John, and Nomand Palace. The project, Audiobulb Records first installation of their “Favourite Places” series, was described by WHITELINE as “encompassing all that is great in compositional field recording” and by Earlabs as “an excellent addition to Audiobulb’s discography demonstrating not only the label’s diversity and commitment to excellence, but also showcasing the talents of several exceptional musicians and sound artists from around the world.” 2009 will see the release of a collaborative project with Santa Barbara electronic musician Kevin Ponto entitled “Help Is On The Way.” The self titled work will be available via Brooklyn label Thelandof in December.

He has performed in Los Angeles under the moniker “Claudia” and is now performing material promoting “Help is on The Way.” In addition to his work as “Claudia” and “Help is On The Way,” he is currently working on two new projects. The first is collaboration with UK sound artist David Newman (Autistici). David’s work has been featured on labels such as 12k, Audiobulb, Le-Son666, and Wandering Ear. The second is a work with Brooklyn cellist Greg Heffernan. Greg has performed with musicians such as Lee Konitz, Fred Hersch, Alice Coltrane, Ravi Coltrane, and Jack DeJohnnette.

Hecanjog

He Can Jog is Wisconsin-bred computer musician Erik Schoster. He records for Audiobulb Records, Distance Recordings, and Home Normal. His music is largely improvised in performance and obsessively organized in recording. XLR8R Magazine calls it “dreamy pop music with experimental electronics.” Middlemarch is out now on Audiobulb Records.

If you would like to be considered for future events: please send details of your work and/or samples of your project to akashicrecordings@gmail.com

Sunday, November 15th at 8:30pm (Doors open at 8)
Free

Three short sets of improvisations & compositions performed by L.A. classical musicians Sarah Ann Phillips, Andrew McIntosh & Melinda Rice

Sarah Ann Phillips: keyboard improvisation with special guests!
www.pharas.net
Andrew McIntosh: violin & viola compositions with special guests!
www.plainsound.org
Melinda Rice: solo violin performance!
www.melindaandmyrrh.com

If you would like to be considered for future events: please send details of your work and/or samples of your project to akashicrecordings@gmail.com

Saturday, August 29th at 8pm
Free

Featuring the music of Help Is On The Way, Delicate Sen, Last Nights of Paris & Sublamp

Help Is On The Way is the collaborative effort of Justin Varis (Los Angeles, releasing with Audiobulb Records) & Kevin Ponto (Santa Barbara). The project revolves around a single piano. Melodies were written & recorded (with variations) over a period of two years. A third years was used to composite the material into a series of minimal piano compositions.

Delicate Sen is Billy Gomberg (synthesizer, laptop), Anne Guthrie (french horn) and Richard Kamerman (selected percussion, electronics). Billy Gomberg is a musician & video artist living in Brooklyn, NY. His studio practice incorporates analog synthesis, digital treatments, acoustic recordings & custom programming that gives rise to electronic sound caught gazing at its own physicality, acoustics in love with their own abstraction. Billy has exhibited or performed in New York, Boston, Providence, London, Lisbon, Graz, Zurich & elsewhere. His CD’s Comme and Days are available from mOAR & The Land Of, respectively. Anne Guthrie is a composer, performer & PhD candidate in Architectural Acoustics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Her acoustic compositions have been performed by the University of Iowa Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Pamplemousse, & the S.E.M. Ensemble, & her electronic works are available at www.stasisfield.com & www.and-oar.org. As a french horn improviser, she has performed with Edwin Prevost, Jeremiah Cymerman, Mattin, & Pauline Oliveros, among others. Richard Kamerman prefers small sounds to large sounds but that doesn’t mean they are always performed as quiet sounds. He also likes accidental sounds & collecting his instruments from people’s trash on the street. Although essentially a percussionist, he rarely sits behind a drum kit, preferring to explore the percussive behaviors of various repurposed electronics – computer circuit boards, mechanical parts. Other regular collaborators include Reed Evan Rosenberg (as the duo Tandem Electrics), Steven Flato, Gregory Reynolds, & the composer’s quintet Frogwell.

Originally a novel of mad love and mystery by surrealist author Philippe Soupault, Last Nights of Paris has been the solo sound project of d.g. eng since 1996. The project has produced soundtracks for film as well as compositions for video installation pieces.

Sublamp is Los Angeles based artist Ryan Connor. Born in 1979, Ryan was raised by scientist parents living in & amongst various national parks before settling in the Rocky Mountains. This early connection with nature & science led to a fascination with the textures of growth & decay, & with the cognitive abilities & instincts of animals (including humans). This is evident in his sound work, which explores an intuitive & emotional response to sound & the concept of consciousness without language. Relocating to Los Angeles to attend the California Institute of the Arts in 2000, Ryan also began to experiment with short video work exploring recursive image generation (video rescan) & the relationship of images to sound.

If you would like to be considered for future events: please send details of your work and/or samples of your project to akashicrecordings@gmail.com

Saturday, June 27th at 9pm (Doors open at 8)
Free

An improvisational superjam between esteemed Los Angeles musicians Myralex & A-Tribute Ensemble.

Plus, special afterparty “The Janitor’s Jubilee!”

A note from Myralex: “We are Myralex, a playful improvisational blend of harp, violin, clarinet, bass, drums, and human voices. Cello, glockenspiel, organ, and saw often make guest appearances. We come from classical and jazz-based traditions, but relish any opportunity to expand our sonic vocabulary. Our exploration has branched out into avenues of folk, ambient, or experimental. Myralex is a lush musical conversation between five creative individuals, moving at times, comical at others, but always fun.”

A note from The A-Tribute Ensemble: “The A-Tribute Ensemble is a Los Angeles based piano trio (violin, piano, cello) that plays eclectic music within an improvised context. Starting with a background in classical training and branching outwards, the ensemble draws inspiration from various different styles, including minimalism, jazz, electronica, rock, folk, and Indian classical. The ensemble has also participated in various multi-disciplinary projects, such as dance, theater, film, poetry, puppet theater, animation, and other forms of multi-media performances/collaborations.

“Hailed by critics as ‘having played beautifully’ and ‘at first I didn’t really believe you guys were improvising but then I saw you guys looking at each other and stuff,’ the A-Tribute continues to wander around LA, looking for their next performance opportunity. The group consists of Melinda Rice (violin), Ryan Tanaka (piano), and Chris Votek (cello).”

If you would like to be considered for future events: please send details of your work and/or samples of your project to akashicrecordings@gmail.com

Saturday, April 18th at 10pm (Doors open at 9)
Free

Featuring the music of Lewis Keller and Ryan Tanaka

Applying friction to various types of metal, Lewis Keller’s “Shimmer” explores an immersive sound world of transformation. Via close mic’ing, computer processing and 4 channel diffusion “Shimmer” ranges from subtle, barely audible tissues of sound to tumultuous, dense layers of rich vibrations. Cymbals, gongs, singing bowls, bells and metal pots both struck and bowed are transformed into melodies, drones, rhythms and alien ambiences.

Los Angeles based artist Lewis Keller manipulates frequency, timbre and amplitude via performance, installation, fabrication and digital media. His work combines sophisticated technology with crude humble structures, inviting listeners to question their relationships with time, technology, space, sound and silence. He received his BA from Colorado College and his MFA from CalArts. Lewis Keller website

Ryan Tanaka will be performing a 30-40 minute keyboard improvisation, drawing influences from classical, jazz, and minimalist styles. The performance will be done in one continuous segment, barring any unforeseen circumstances such as fires, earthquakes, plagues, etc.

The theme for Saturday’s improvisation will be “Ryan is playing the keyboard for about 30-40 minutes.” Hopefully there will be no irony or sarcasm involved during the entire process. If you’re looking for that kind of stuff, check out his compositions at http://www.ryangtanaka.com

If you would like to be considered for future events: please send details of your work and/or samples of your project to akashicrecordings@gmail.com

Friday, February 13th at 8pm
Free

Featuring the music of

• – Renowned improvisational trio A-Tribute Ensemble
• – Joseph Karam performing a composition for various synthesizers.
• – sonic supergroup Ambient Force 3000

If you would like to be considered for future events: please send details of your work and/or samples of your project to akashicrecordings@gmail.com