Avant Music News

Cover of Ken Vandermark

From The Chicago Reader:

Tomorrow night the Hideout hosts the opening night of the Resonance Festival, a series of concerts featuring the international cast of musicians from Ken Vandermark‘s Resonance Ensemble. Marek Winiarski, owner of the Not Two label from Krakow, Poland, gave the project its initial spark in 2007 when he invited Vandermark to travel to the city and write music for a new large-scale project. The Resonance Ensemble was the result, and these performances are the group’s U.S. debut.

From Philly’s Ars Nova Workshop:

Saturday, March 5, 8pm
NATE WOOLEY / C. SPENCER YEH / OKKYUNG LEE / PAUL LYTTON
Nate Wooley, trumpet + amplifier; C. Spencer Yeh, violin + electronics;
Okkyung Lee, cello; and Paul Lytton, percussion

Vox Populi, 319 N. 11th Street, #3
$10 General Admission

Picking up the thread of transatlantic and transgenerational thinking that is forcefully demanding recognition in recent years, this new quartet is opening a new set of possibilities of improvised music that combines the traditions of jazz, contemporary classical music, early electronics and noise into something strange and new. A combination of histories and languages – the drone and fluxus aesthetics of C. Spencer Yeh, the hardcore free jazz walls of sound of Okkyung Lee, the closely considered fluctuations between new music, free jazz and musique concrete of Nate Wooley – they create a series of textures and counterpoints that concentrate on confounding the expectations of the listener and working toward an integrative approach to group improvisation. Featuring the remarkable British percussionist Paul Lytton (London Musicians Collective, Evan Parker).

March 11-13
COMPOSER PORTRAIT: FIELDWORK

Join Ars Nova Workshop for Composer Portrait: Fieldwork, a special three day
event celebrating the remarkable accomplishments of Vijay Iyer, Steve Lehman
and Tyshawn Sorey.

Friday, March 11, 8pm
TYSHAWN SOREY‘S FOR KATHY CHANGE
For the opening night, drummer Tyshawn Sorey will lead an ensemble featuring Ben Gerstein, Kris Davis, Okkyung Lee, and Terrence McManus in a performance
of his work “For Kathy Change.”

Saturday, March 12, 8pm
FIELDWORK
On night two, Vijay Iyer, Tyshawn Sorey and Steven Lehman will perform in
trio as Fieldwork.

Sunday, March 13, 8pm
AN EVENING OF CHAMBER WORKS BY STEVE LEHMAN AND VIJAY IYER
For the final night, Steve Lehman and Vijay Iyer will present pieces written for string quartet. For this very special evening, Lehman’s “Nos Revi Nella” and Iyer’s “Mutations” will be performed by the JACK Quartet. At 6pm, New York Times critic Nate Chinen will lead a free pre-concert public discussion with the trio.

Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 North American Street
$12 General Admission / $30 Fieldwork 3-Concert Pass

Related articles

• Vijay Iyer TRIO -][- Historicity [Act Music & Vision] (theurbanflux.wordpress.com)
• Vijay Iyer (soulblinders.wordpress.com)

From the ISSUE Project Room:

FRI 4.01 – SUN 4.03: UNSOUND FESTIVAL NEW YORK LABS
WED 4.06 – Haunted House + Che Chen & Robbie Lee (Tickets: $10/Members $8)
THU 4.07 – Esther Venrooy + Pygmy Jerboa (Tickets: $10/Members $8)
SAT 4.09 @ 5:00pm – Unsound New York @ Littlefield (622 Degraw Street, Brooklyn): CoH + Carlos Giffoni + Robert Piotrowicz & C. Spencer Yeh + Marcus Schmickler + Instant Coffee (Tickets: $12/Advance $10)
SUN 4.10 – Mark McGuire + Dolphins Into the Future + Floris Vanhoof + Monopoly Child Star Searchers (Tickets: $10/Members $8)
WED 4.13 – Emerging Artists Commission: Enda Bates (*FREE*)
SAT 4.16 @ 5 – 7 PM & SUN 4.17 @ 5 – 7:30 PM – The Sonic Unconscious: Yolande Harris’s The Pink Noise of Pleasure Yachts in Turquoise Sea and Tropical Storm (*FREE*)
SAT 4.16 – The Sonic Unconscious: Gina Badger @ 3 – 4:30PM – Mongrels, Part 1: Weeds (Tickets: $10 / $8 Members); Yolande Harris @ 7PM – Tuning in and Spacing Out, Fishing for Sound, SWAMP/Field (Tickets: $12 / $10 Members)
SUN 4.17 – The Sonic Unconscious: Gina Badger, Mongrels, Part 2: Elixirs @ 6 – 7:30 PM ($10 / $8 Members), Screening and reception @ 8 – 10 PM (*FREE*)
THU 4.21 – The Sonic Unconscious: Jana Winderen, Scuttling around in the shallows: @ 8 PM (Tickets: $12 / $10 Members)
FRI 4.22 – Sagittarius A-Star U-Nite featuring Second Family Band + Trulofa Trio (Tickets: $12/Members $10)
SAT 4.23 – Gordon Monahan’s Sauerkraut Synthesizer ($10 / $8 Members)
WED 4.27 – Artist-in-Residence: Okkyung Lee (*FREE*)
THU 4.28 – Theoretical Series: Veit Erlmann, Reason and Resonance: A History of Modern Aurality (*FREE*)
FRI 4.29 – Littoral Series: Jacques Demierre and Vincent Barras – Voicing Through Saussure (*FREE*)

Related articles

• Seattle Phonographers Union: for Julius (waywardmusic.blogspot.com)

From Stet Lab in Cork, Ireland:

Stet lab featuring danny mccarthy and kevin terry
Monday, 14 March 2011
9:00 pm (doors: 8:45 pm)

Upstairs @ The Roundy [map…]
Castle Street
Cork, Ireland

€6 (€3)

Cork’s monthly improvised music event—Stet Lab—continues its fourth season of on-stage mutations and hybrids on Monday, March 14th 2011, upstairs at The Roundy Bar, Castle Street, Cork City. This regular, yet unique meeting between novice and veteran improvisers alike stays close to home and welcomes Cork-based improvisers Danny McCarthy and Kevin Terry.

Seen on a regular basis performing as part of the Quiet Club, Danny McCarthy is a pioneer in the performance of art and sound. His work has been used both on TV and radio and taken him around the world including installations at Hearing Place, Melbourne, Australia; and Museo Fotografia, Milano, Italy.

McCarthy’s respect of space and his surroundings has a key influence on his performance. “The sounds I tend to use have a universality and the work should work in any culture,” says McCarthy in an interview with Slavka Sverkova. “Space influences my work hugely and I really enjoy working with space as a medium. I tend to let the space form the work rather that trying to impose the work in the space.” This passion and ethos should create a night of Improvisation that allows the listener to experience sound and improvisation as apart of the process.

Performing alongside Danny McCarthy is Kevin Terry, a regular to Stet Lab, Terry’s guitar playing should contrast McCarthy’s soundscape, creating a diverse sonic experience.

Also performing at the event will be Stet Lab’s house band, a group of Cork-based improvisers appearing as The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) Of.

Image via Wikipedia

Selected shows coming to London’s Cafe OTO:

ABOUT GROUP (ALEXIS TAYLOR + CHARLES HAYWARD, JOHN COXON & PAT THOMAS) + NOBLE / EDWARDS / WILKINSON (TRIO) + GREEN GARTSIDE DJ SET
Tuesday 1 March ’11
£7.50 on the door only

Improvised music heavyweights Charles Hayward (Perc), John Coxon (Guitar) and Pat Thomas (keys/electronics) team up with Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor as About Group, exploring close listening, and instinctual group dynamics within the context of Taylor’s songs for what sounds like an abstracted Muscle Shoals sessions shot through an all-night-flight of the phantom band.

ADAM LINSON (SOLO) +
TONY MARSH / STEVE NOBLE (DUO) + PAT THOMAS / PHILIPP WACHSMANN / ALEX WARD (TRIO)
Thursday 3 March ’11
£6 / £4 on the door only

Solo double bass and electronics from the brilliant young American musician Adam Linson, two of the world’s finest drummers going head to head in a first time duo performance and possibilities for classical delicacy, electro-acoustic elisions, Ellingtonian rubato, motorik funk, abstracted experimentalism and stride exuberance from the Thomas/Wachsmann/Ward trio.

OUTSHINE FAMILY / CLANG SAYNE
Friday 4 March ’11
£6 adv / £7 on the door

Outshine Family launch their new opus of kaleidoscopic songs ‘Galeria De La Luz’ alongside fellow travellers Clang Sayne for an evening combining out-sonics and improvisation with songform.

CHRISTIAN MARCLAY / PHIL MINTON / STEVE BERESFORD
Saturday 5 March ’11
£8 adv / £10 on the door

An evening of voice and turntables with celebrated turntablist and visual artist Christian Marclay and Phil Minton – uncategorisable vocal improvisor and leader of the feral choir. Phil Minton will perform Marclay’s graphic score ‘Manga Scroll’ and they will be joined by multi-instrumentalist Steve Beresford in a trio.

THE LONDON IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA
Sunday 6 March ’11 • 7.30PM
£6 / £4 concs on the door only

Regular meeting of The London Improvisers Orchestra. The LIO draws on London’s rich pool of improvising musicians and is part of a long and varied heritage that stretches back to the free-jazz big bands of Chris McGregor and Mike Westbrook, the intuitive ensembles of John Stevens and purely improvising groups such as the Continuous Music Ensemble.

MATANA ROBERTS & SEB ROCHFORD
Monday 7 March ’11
£6 adv / £7 on the door

The dynamic saxophonist, composer and improviser Matana Roberts heads to OTO from New York for a duo with in-demand drummer Seb Rochford of Polar Bear, Acoustic Ladyland and more.

TATSUHISA YAMAMOTO + GUESTS: SEB ROCHFORD & LEAFCUTTER JOHN

Wednesday 9 March ’11 • Cafe OTO
£6 adv / £8 on the door

Thursday 10 March ’11 • The Barbican
More information/tickets

Two day residency split between Cafe Oto and the Barbican with one of Japan’s most dynamic young drummers, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto. Yamamoto is therising star of Japan’s experimental music scene and will be joined by fellow in-demand drummer Seb Rochford and his Polar Bear bandmate and note electronic musician Leafcutter John. For the Barbican show Yamamoto will play solo and in duet with the extraordinary pianist/keyboard player Pat Thomas.

GRAVID HANDS PRESENTS: JASPER TX + GLOCKENSPIEL + ROME PAYS OFF
Friday 11 March ’11
£5 advance tickets

Gravid hands presents an evening of music exploring the spaces between shoegaze, ambient music, contemporary noise and free improv.

ARTHUR DOYLE + GUESTS
Sunday 13 March ’11
£10 adv / £12 on the door

Doyle is one of free music’s true iconoclasts and has played with everyone from Sun Ra to Sonic Youth. We look forward to having him here for a very special one-off show here at Cafe OTO.

“Arthur Doyle is the most immediately recognizable sax player alive. His sound is a mixture of African folk song delicacy and pure Albert Ayler overload.” Perfect Sound Forever.

JOOKLO DUO
Monday 14 March ’11
£6 adv / £7 on the door

Hard-hitting tenor sax/drums duo from the depths of Italy, Virginia Genta and David Vanzan hit Cafe OTO fresh from a spell with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and ready to wreck havoc across the British Isles.

LOU GARE : TWO-DAY RESIDENCY
Wednesday 16 March ’11
£8 / £10 on the door
w/ SUM (Eddie Prevost / Ross Lambert / Seymour Wright)

Thursday 17 March ’11
£8 / £10 on the door
w/ Eddie Prevost / Jamie Coleman / Philip Somervell / Guillaume Viltard

Buy £15 two day pass

ALEX WARD / STEVE NOBLE (DUO)
+ GUESTS TBC
Sunday 20 March ’11
£6 adv / £7 on the door

The long-running yet always invigorating duo of Steve Noble (drums) and Alex Ward (Clarinet) are capable of everything from total abstraction to blistering, full-on swing. This should be another unmissable set.

WE DON’T CARE ABOUT MUSIC ANYWAY… THREE DAY FESTIVAL / FILM SCREENING + PERFORMANCES BY: OTOMO YOSHIHIDE, L?K?O, KIRIHITO, UMI NO YEAH & SAKAMOTO HIROMICHI
Monday 21 March ’11 •
Film Screening & L?K?O dj set
£5 adv / £6 on the door

Tuesday 22 March ’11
Kirihito / Umi no Yeah / L?K?0 / Otomo Yoshihide
£10 adv / £12 on the door

Wednesday 23 March ’11
Otomo Yoshihide / Sakamoto Hiromichi
£10 adv / £12 on the door

MICHEL CHION AND GHÉDALIA TAZARTÈS
Thursday 24 March ’11 • Michel Chion
£10 advance tickets

Friday 25 March ’11 • Ghédalia Tazartès
£10 advance tickets

SACHIKO + RINJI FUKUOKA
Saturday 26 March ’11
£6 adv / £7 on the door

Another great shot of energy from the Japanese underground arrives at Cafe OTO with this double-bill of post-Overhang Party operatives – Sachiko and Rinji Fukuoka – violin/cello, shamanic vocals and over-amped guitars…

RHYS CHATHAM
Sunday 27 March ’11
£10 adv / £12 on the door

One of the great composers and performers in minimalism, Rhys Chatham fundamentally altered the DNA of rock by fusing the overtone-drenched minimalism of John Cale and Tony Conrad with the relentless, elemental fury of the Ramones. We present an evening of Chatham’s equally visceral trumpet music.

THE WORKSHOP SERIES
Monday 28 March ’11
£5/£4 concs on the door only

Monthly concert of experimental improvised music with participants drawn from Eddie Prévost’s weekly workshop. This month’s musicians are Seymour Wright (alto saxophone), Jenny Allum (violin), Paul Abbott (electronics) and Ute Kanngiesser (cello) playing in various duo combinations.

STEVE RODEN
Wednesday 30 March ’11
£8 adv / £10 on the door

Soundfjord presents an evening dedicated to lower case, immersive sound environments and sonic sculpture, with Steve Roden and special guests Robert Curgenven and FOURM.

ENTR’ACTE PRESENTS:
OLIVIA BLOCK + ADAM SONDERBERG + LEE GAMBLE + KEITH MOLINÉ + JOHN WALL/ALEX RODGERS
Thursday 31 March ’11
£8 advance tickets

London’s specialist electronic music label Entr’acte present an evening of electro-acoustic music crossing the divide between installation and performance.

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