December 2023
Friday 8 Saturday 9
Rubber Gloves
Denton, TX
The Molten Plains Fest is a two-day event fostering the spirit of adventurous music and further sounds
14 sets by 32 artists from 12 cities, a convergence of inestimable musical nourishment
This year’s Molten Plains Fest was sponsored by
Recycled, Books, Records, & CDs located in Denton, Texas.
U.S. Department of Treasury American Rescue Plan Act Funding through the City of Denton has contributed to make this project possible for the 2023-2024 season.
Artists
Zoh Amba (New York, NY) is a composer, saxophonist, and flutist from Tennessee. Her music blends avant-garde, noise, and devotional hymns. Before studying music at the San Francisco Conservatory Of Music, New England Conservatory and studying with David Murray in New York, she spent most of her time writing and practicing saxophone in the forest near her home. Today, her powerfully unique avant-garde music is full of folk melodies, mesmerizing refrains, and repeated incantations. Amba released two records in 2022, her debut record O, Sun which was produced by John Zorn and released on the prestigious label Tzadik. Zoh Amba’s second record, Bhakti features Micah Thomas, Tyshawn Sorey, and Matt Hollenberg. She has collaborated with a variety of high profile musicians such as Jim White (Dirty Three), legendary jazz bassist William Parker, Brian Chase (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), etc. Amba has also performed at well respected venues and festivals Roulette (NY), Ars Nova Presents (Philadelphia), Vision Festival (NY), and Angel City Jazz Festival (LA) along with a 2023 Big Ears Festival’s performance.
photo: Scott Rossi
Zoh Amba (New York, NY) is a composer, saxophonist, and flutist from Tennessee. Her music blends avant-garde, noise, and devotional hymns. Before studying music at the San Francisco Conservatory Of Music, New England Conservatory and studying with David Murray in New York, she spent most of her time writing and practicing saxophone in the forest near her home. Today, her powerfully unique avant-garde music is full of folk melodies, mesmerizing refrains, and repeated incantations. Amba released two records in 2022, her debut record O, Sun which was produced by John Zorn and released on the prestigious label Tzadik. Zoh Amba’s second record, Bhakti features Micah Thomas, Tyshawn Sorey, and Matt Hollenberg. She has collaborated with a variety of high profile musicians such as Jim White (Dirty Three), legendary jazz bassist William Parker, Brian Chase (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), etc. Amba has also performed at well respected venues and festivals Roulette (NY), Ars Nova Presents (Philadelphia), Vision Festival (NY), and Angel City Jazz Festival (LA) along with a 2023 Big Ears Festival’s performance.
photo: Scott Rossi
New York, NY
Dave Dove (Houston, TX) A trombone player, composer, improviser, and workshop-facilitator.
As Founding Director of Nameless Sound (a non-profit organization in Houston, Texas), he curates/presents a concert series of international contemporary experimental music, and has developed a philosophy and practice for music workshops. Nameless Sound’s pedagogy identifies collaborative improvisation for its potential towards goals of knowledge exchange, creative work, healing, community building, and play. Nameless Sound serves hundreds of youth annually in Houston homeless shelters, community centers, public schools, and refugee communities. Dove has written on music pedagogy, including a chapter titled “The Music is the Pedagogy” that has been published in the collection “Beyond the Classroom” (Routledge).
Dove’s early musical background ranged from studies in jazz and symphonic music, to punk rock bands. As a creative artist, free improvisation has been his primary (but not exclusive) approach to performance and collaboration. In addition to collaborations with other musicians, Dove has made music for film, dance, theater, poetry and visual/installation work. He has focused on acoustic playing for most of his career, developing a style that draws influence from a range of sources including jazz, 20th century composed music, electronic music and free improvisation. He’s inspired by a diverse range of influences from outside of his form, including hardcore punk rock, visual/conceptual arts, modern/contemporary dance, and Houston mixtape visionary DJ Screw. The influence of DJ Screw was the catalyst for an electronics-based development in Dove’s music. In an attempt assimilate the effect of Screw’s extremely slow and low mixes (as a real time, improvisational music), Dove extends the trombone with the use of guitar pedals, pitch shifters, and (most importantly) sub-woofers. Another special interest is site-specific performance (especially when a special acoustic environment is available) and durational events (lasting for as long as 5-8 hours). Non-musical performative activity has also been explored in recent projects. Dove has collaborated with a wide range of local, national and international creative musicians. He performs in both set groups and ad hoc ensembles, as well as solo.
photo: Lynn Lane
Dave Dove (Houston, TX) A trombone player, composer, improviser, and workshop-facilitator.
As Founding Director of Nameless Sound (a non-profit organization in Houston, Texas), he curates/presents a concert series of international contemporary experimental music, and has developed a philosophy and practice for music workshops. Nameless Sound’s pedagogy identifies collaborative improvisation for its potential towards goals of knowledge exchange, creative work, healing, community building, and play. Nameless Sound serves hundreds of youth annually in Houston homeless shelters, community centers, public schools, and refugee communities. Dove has written on music pedagogy, including a chapter titled “The Music is the Pedagogy” that has been published in the collection “Beyond the Classroom” (Routledge).
Dove’s early musical background ranged from studies in jazz and symphonic music, to punk rock bands. As a creative artist, free improvisation has been his primary (but not exclusive) approach to performance and collaboration. In addition to collaborations with other musicians, Dove has made music for film, dance, theater, poetry and visual/installation work. He has focused on acoustic playing for most of his career, developing a style that draws influence from a range of sources including jazz, 20th century composed music, electronic music and free improvisation. He’s inspired by a diverse range of influences from outside of his form, including hardcore punk rock, visual/conceptual arts, modern/contemporary dance, and Houston mixtape visionary DJ Screw. The influence of DJ Screw was the catalyst for an electronics-based development in Dove’s music. In an attempt assimilate the effect of Screw’s extremely slow and low mixes (as a real time, improvisational music), Dove extends the trombone with the use of guitar pedals, pitch shifters, and (most importantly) sub-woofers. Another special interest is site-specific performance (especially when a special acoustic environment is available) and durational events (lasting for as long as 5-8 hours). Non-musical performative activity has also been explored in recent projects. Dove has collaborated with a wide range of local, national and international creative musicians. He performs in both set groups and ad hoc ensembles, as well as solo.
photo: Lynn Lane
Houston, TX
Wendy Eisenberg (New York, NY) is an improviser and songwriter who uses guitar, pedals, the tenor banjo, the computer, the synthesizer and the voice. Their work spans genres, from jazz to noise to avant-rock to delicate songs; their performances span venues, from international festivals to intimate basements. Though often working solo as both a songwriter and improviser, with acclaimed releases on Tzadik, VDSQ, Out of your Head, and Garden Portal, they also perform in the rock band Editrix, and in endless other combinations of their heroes and peers including Allison Miller, Carla Kihlstedt, John Zorn, Billy Martin, and Caroline Davis. They are also a writer on music and other things, with published essays on music in Sound American, Arcana, and the Contemporary Music Review.
photo: Samantha Riott
Wendy Eisenberg (New York, NY) is an improviser and songwriter who uses guitar, pedals, the tenor banjo, the computer, the synthesizer and the voice. Their work spans genres, from jazz to noise to avant-rock to delicate songs; their performances span venues, from international festivals to intimate basements. Though often working solo as both a songwriter and improviser, with acclaimed releases on Tzadik, VDSQ, Out of your Head, and Garden Portal, they also perform in the rock band Editrix, and in endless other combinations of their heroes and peers including Allison Miller, Carla Kihlstedt, John Zorn, Billy Martin, and Caroline Davis. They are also a writer on music and other things, with published essays on music in Sound American, Arcana, and the Contemporary Music Review.
photo: Samantha Riott
New York, NY
Carmina Escobar (Mexico / Los Angeles, CA) is a Los Angeles-based Mexican extreme vocalist, improviser and intermedia artist.
In search of “the otherness,” the internal map across which the voice explores the many-layered self, she has sung beneath an ancient Roman bridge in Portugal; floated in Echo Park Lake while chanting through megaphones as a Oaxacan brass band played on shore; performed a microtonal piece by Mexican composer Julian Carrillo; encouraged her students to speak in tongues; and has given “sonic massages” by singing into the backs and chests of passersby to find the “sweet spot” where the body becomes a tuning fork.
photo: Mel Melcon
Carmina Escobar (Mexico / Los Angeles, CA) is a Los Angeles-based Mexican extreme vocalist, improviser and intermedia artist.
In search of “the otherness,” the internal map across which the voice explores the many-layered self, she has sung beneath an ancient Roman bridge in Portugal; floated in Echo Park Lake while chanting through megaphones as a Oaxacan brass band played on shore; performed a microtonal piece by Mexican composer Julian Carrillo; encouraged her students to speak in tongues; and has given “sonic massages” by singing into the backs and chests of passersby to find the “sweet spot” where the body becomes a tuning fork.
photo: Mel Melcon
Mexico / Los Angeles, CA
Sandy Ewen (New York, NY) is a sound artist, visual artist and architect who has recently relocated to NYC from Houston, TX. Ewen’s audio practice focuses on extended guitar techniques, improvisation, graphic scores and interdisciplinary collaboration. Her unique approach to guitar incorporates a wide array of implements – railroad spikes, sidewalk chalk, threaded bolts, steel wool and other items become an arsenal of abstraction. Ewen has worked extensively with film makers, dancers, poets and musicians to create films, audio recording, sound interventions and performance art. Ewen’s musical collaborations include trio Etched in the Eye, duo with Tom Carter called Spiderwebs, the trio Garden medium, and ongoing collaborations with percussionist Weasel Walter and bassist Damon Smith. For nearly ten years, Ewen has been the leader of an all-female large ensemble. The ensemble conceptualizes and performs sound and performance art, utilizing graphic and text based scores and improvisational constraints. The ensemble performed with an amplified bathtub at Diverse Works in 2016, and performed a suite of installation-specific compositions for Francis Alÿs’ Fabiola Project at the Menil. Sandy has spent much of 2017 touring, performing solo sets and in collaboration with Steve Jansen (tapes and electronics) and Maria Chavez (turntables) around Europe. In years past, Ewen has performed alongside Roscoe Mitchell, Keith Rowe, Lydia Lunch and many others, and has performed and recorded with Jaap Blonk, Henry Kaiser and more. In 2014 she performed at San Francisco’s 13th Annual Outsound New Music Summit, and she has made several appearances at Austin’s annual No Idea Festival.
sandyewen.bandcamp.com
Born in Toronto, Canada in 1985, Sandy Ewen received a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008. Since then she has resided in Houston, TX where she pursues musical and visual projects and her architecture license. Ewen has released several albums, including a duo with guitarist Tom Carter, a trio with bassist Damon Smith & drummer Weasel Walter, and a rock album with Austin’s Weird Weeds. Ewen’s visual work is closely tied to her work in sound; she uses both mediums to explore texture, composition and materials.
Ewen’s microcollages, enlarged through projection and digital printing, are an exploration of material and technique. Using a unique process pioneered by the artist, natural materials and polymers are torn, liquefied, scorched, melted, cut, and fused. When enlarged, the microscopic nuances of these manipulations are manifested in exquisite detail. Ewen has presented prints of her work at 14 Pews (2012), Spacetaker/Fresh Arts (2012), Khon’s (2013) & Galeria Regina (2014).
As an improviser in both art and music, Ewen sees herself as guiding materials and space rather than executing a preconceived composition. “I like to explore mediums and materials and tease out their essence,” says Ewen. “Working with slide projections has focused my eye on the subtitles of natural processes of decay and transformation. Through my work, I am asking questions of the materials rather than dictating answers.
Sandy Ewen (New York, NY) is a sound artist, visual artist and architect who has recently relocated to NYC from Houston, TX. Ewen’s audio practice focuses on extended guitar techniques, improvisation, graphic scores and interdisciplinary collaboration. Her unique approach to guitar incorporates a wide array of implements – railroad spikes, sidewalk chalk, threaded bolts, steel wool and other items become an arsenal of abstraction. Ewen has worked extensively with film makers, dancers, poets and musicians to create films, audio recording, sound interventions and performance art. Ewen’s musical collaborations include trio Etched in the Eye, duo with Tom Carter called Spiderwebs, the trio Garden medium, and ongoing collaborations with percussionist Weasel Walter and bassist Damon Smith. For nearly ten years, Ewen has been the leader of an all-female large ensemble. The ensemble conceptualizes and performs sound and performance art, utilizing graphic and text based scores and improvisational constraints. The ensemble performed with an amplified bathtub at Diverse Works in 2016, and performed a suite of installation-specific compositions for Francis Alÿs’ Fabiola Project at the Menil. Sandy has spent much of 2017 touring, performing solo sets and in collaboration with Steve Jansen (tapes and electronics) and Maria Chavez (turntables) around Europe. In years past, Ewen has performed alongside Roscoe Mitchell, Keith Rowe, Lydia Lunch and many others, and has performed and recorded with Jaap Blonk, Henry Kaiser and more. In 2014 she performed at San Francisco’s 13th Annual Outsound New Music Summit, and she has made several appearances at Austin’s annual No Idea Festival.
sandyewen.bandcamp.com
Born in Toronto, Canada in 1985, Sandy Ewen received a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008. Since then she has resided in Houston, TX where she pursues musical and visual projects and her architecture license. Ewen has released several albums, including a duo with guitarist Tom Carter, a trio with bassist Damon Smith & drummer Weasel Walter, and a rock album with Austin’s Weird Weeds. Ewen’s visual work is closely tied to her work in sound; she uses both mediums to explore texture, composition and materials.
Ewen’s microcollages, enlarged through projection and digital printing, are an exploration of material and technique. Using a unique process pioneered by the artist, natural materials and polymers are torn, liquefied, scorched, melted, cut, and fused. When enlarged, the microscopic nuances of these manipulations are manifested in exquisite detail. Ewen has presented prints of her work at 14 Pews (2012), Spacetaker/Fresh Arts (2012), Khon’s (2013) & Galeria Regina (2014).
As an improviser in both art and music, Ewen sees herself as guiding materials and space rather than executing a preconceived composition. “I like to explore mediums and materials and tease out their essence,” says Ewen. “Working with slide projections has focused my eye on the subtitles of natural processes of decay and transformation. Through my work, I am asking questions of the materials rather than dictating answers.
New York, NY
Living in Denton over 20 years, Will Frenkel has been making music and art in various mediums his entire life. “My work is what defines me,” he says. “With an abundance of resources available, when we can slow down enough to recognize such, the desire to ‘reuse’ has been a concept that is strived for, from the flavorful conjuring in the kitchen to the hanging of art on the wall.” Sometimes visions change throughout the process of creating, so the necessity to go wih the flow may redirect the show, as is the case with Will’s work.
Will presented his intergalactic dodecahedron lighting sculpture at Molten Plains Fest 2023. It was on display in patio area during both nights.
Living in Denton over 20 years, Will Frenkel has been making music and art in various mediums his entire life. “My work is what defines me,” he says. “With an abundance of resources available, when we can slow down enough to recognize such, the desire to ‘reuse’ has been a concept that is strived for, from the flavorful conjuring in the kitchen to the hanging of art on the wall.” Sometimes visions change throughout the process of creating, so the necessity to go wih the flow may redirect the show, as is the case with Will’s work.
Will presented his intergalactic dodecahedron lighting sculpture at Molten Plains Fest 2023. It was on display in patio area during both nights.
Denton, TX
Louise Fristensky (Denton, TX) Among other things, composer, sound sculptor, and systems artist Louise Fristensky creates works focused along the micro-refractions of reality’s pointillistic network of personally-aggregated and mutually agreed-upon mythologies; the places where the air tastes of electricity.
Current and recent projects include to swim in air: an in-progress modular extractable system of intermedial works connected by a sub/conscious structure of perceptual exploration, and False Landscapes: an evening length experimental video and audio work traveling the beautiful unreality of internal spaces, their intricacies and world-growths, and the self-sustained logic which maintains their construction.
They have collaborated with Christopher Poovey on a jointly-developed ambisonic interactive installation Singing Bones of Piano Fall, with Brietta Greger / Katie Eikam / Jordan Curcuruto on a work for percussion trio Grrrowl for The Contemporary Commissions Project, and with Morgan Horning (soprano), Miguel Espinel (electric guitar), and Ula Rucka (harp) on the creation of A Love Song.
Seeking out waves of timbral connective tissue and contrast clouds to guide both their solo and collaborative treks through sound as an improviser, multi instrumentalist, poet, producer, and curator, Louise’s work continues to travel a variety of conceptual models, generally regarding ideas of the un-reality of shared experiences and nostalgia. Their most frequent performance collaborators are Monte Espina (Ernesto Montiel, Miguel Espinel) with whom they toured Denton/Dallas/Austin/Houston TX in the summer of 2019, Daniel Ryan, and Quartet Fandatan (Ernesto Montiel, Miguel Espinel, Andrew Jordan Miller, Karl Roehling), and she has performed with Magic Improv Ensemble, Sarah Ruth,Aaron Gonzalez, Adam Goodwin, Sybil Jay, Rosemary Candelario, Jacob Thiede, and Vic Rawlings.
Louise has also participated in and had their works performed at numerous new music events and festivals including As if radio 2021 in Glasgow, Audio Art Festival 2019 in Krakow, Soundlings Festival 2018 in London, LaTex 2016, FURY: the will to be heard co-hosted by CUSP and Stone Mason Projects, and the nief-norf Summer Festival – both as a fellow (2016) and as the inaugural Composition TA (2017).
Louise Fristensky (Denton, TX) Among other things, composer, sound sculptor, and systems artist Louise Fristensky creates works focused along the micro-refractions of reality’s pointillistic network of personally-aggregated and mutually agreed-upon mythologies; the places where the air tastes of electricity.
Current and recent projects include to swim in air: an in-progress modular extractable system of intermedial works connected by a sub/conscious structure of perceptual exploration, and False Landscapes: an evening length experimental video and audio work traveling the beautiful unreality of internal spaces, their intricacies and world-growths, and the self-sustained logic which maintains their construction.
They have collaborated with Christopher Poovey on a jointly-developed ambisonic interactive installation Singing Bones of Piano Fall, with Brietta Greger / Katie Eikam / Jordan Curcuruto on a work for percussion trio Grrrowl for The Contemporary Commissions Project, and with Morgan Horning (soprano), Miguel Espinel (electric guitar), and Ula Rucka (harp) on the creation of A Love Song.
Seeking out waves of timbral connective tissue and contrast clouds to guide both their solo and collaborative treks through sound as an improviser, multi instrumentalist, poet, producer, and curator, Louise’s work continues to travel a variety of conceptual models, generally regarding ideas of the un-reality of shared experiences and nostalgia. Their most frequent performance collaborators are Monte Espina (Ernesto Montiel, Miguel Espinel) with whom they toured Denton/Dallas/Austin/Houston TX in the summer of 2019, Daniel Ryan, and Quartet Fandatan (Ernesto Montiel, Miguel Espinel, Andrew Jordan Miller, Karl Roehling), and she has performed with Magic Improv Ensemble, Sarah Ruth,Aaron Gonzalez, Adam Goodwin, Sybil Jay, Rosemary Candelario, Jacob Thiede, and Vic Rawlings.
Louise has also participated in and had their works performed at numerous new music events and festivals including As if radio 2021 in Glasgow, Audio Art Festival 2019 in Krakow, Soundlings Festival 2018 in London, LaTex 2016, FURY: the will to be heard co-hosted by CUSP and Stone Mason Projects, and the nief-norf Summer Festival – both as a fellow (2016) and as the inaugural Composition TA (2017).
Denton, TX
Aaron Gonzalez (Dallas, TX) plays all kinds of bass, he is a composer, a musical teacher and a performance artist. Elder son of Dennis Gonzalez and older brother of Stefan. Together, the three of them, they are Yeels At Eels (beautiful melodies, explosive rhythm fluxes and bursts of dynamics that borders and passes through countless possibilities in contemporary jazz), with just Stefan they are both Akkolyte (an intense experimental grindcore duo) and both of them plus Gregg Prickett are Unconcious Collective, an avant fusion maximum-power trio. Also with Stefan but adding the extraordinary portuguese guitarist Luis Lopes and saxophonist Rodrigo Amado they have been Humanization Qtet.
Lately he has been developing the intense vocal performance solo Deflowered Electric Flesh Bride and, along with Wyatt Rosser, Sarah Ruth Alexander and Stefan sometimes become Asukubus, a haunting, cold blooded and blunt affair.
You can listen to Yells at Eels here.
You can listen to Unconscious Collective here.
photo: Sarah Ruth Alexander
Aaron Gonzalez (Dallas, TX) plays all kinds of bass, he is a composer, a musical teacher and a performance artist. Elder son of Dennis Gonzalez and older brother of Stefan. Together, the three of them, they are Yeels At Eels (beautiful melodies, explosive rhythm fluxes and bursts of dynamics that borders and passes through countless possibilities in contemporary jazz), with just Stefan they are both Akkolyte (an intense experimental grindcore duo) and both of them plus Gregg Prickett are Unconcious Collective, an avant fusion maximum-power trio. Also with Stefan but adding the extraordinary portuguese guitarist Luis Lopes and saxophonist Rodrigo Amado they have been Humanization Qtet.
Lately he has been developing the intense vocal performance solo Deflowered Electric Flesh Bride and, along with Wyatt Rosser, Sarah Ruth Alexander and Stefan sometimes become Asukubus, a haunting, cold blooded and blunt affair.
You can listen to Yells at Eels here.
You can listen to Unconscious Collective here.
photo: Sarah Ruth Alexander
Dallas, TX
Stefan Gonzalez (Denton, TX) is a drummer, percussionist, and vocalist from Dallas, TX. They are most known for his work with his family bands Yells at Eels (with brother Aaron Gonzalez and father Dennis Gonzalez) and Akkolyte (with brother Aaron). Stefan also performs regularly in Europe with Ingebrigt Haker Flaten’s super group The Young Mothers featuring Texas-based musicians Jonathan Horne, Jawwaad Taylor, Jason Jackson, and Amsterdam-based drummer Frank Rosaly. They perform solo under the moniker Orgullo Primitivo.
Gonzalez aims to constantly push musical boundaries and blur the lines of genre through dabbling in many extreme genres and sub genres of music ranging from hardcore punk, industrial, black metal, and grindcore to improvisational music, jazz, and ambient music. They frequently perform at the Ochre House Theater in Dallas, often providing live soundtrack for plays and musicals.
Past groups, collaborators, and recording projects include Unconscious Collective, Asukubus, Jandek, Mike Watt, Luis Lopes Humanization 4tet, Curtis Clark Trio, Ariel Pink With Added Pizzazz, Renegade Spirits Ensemble featuring Famoudou Don Moye, Aram Shelton, Damon Smith, Tom Carter, Louis Moholo-Moholo, German Bringas, Remi Alvarez, Arturo Baez, Cojoba and many more.
You can listen to Yells at Eels here.
You can listen to Unconscious Collective here.
You can listen to Orgullo Primitivo here.
photo: Dawid Laskowski
Stefan Gonzalez (Denton, TX) is a drummer, percussionist, and vocalist from Dallas, TX. They are most known for his work with his family bands Yells at Eels (with brother Aaron Gonzalez and father Dennis Gonzalez) and Akkolyte (with brother Aaron). Stefan also performs regularly in Europe with Ingebrigt Haker Flaten’s super group The Young Mothers featuring Texas-based musicians Jonathan Horne, Jawwaad Taylor, Jason Jackson, and Amsterdam-based drummer Frank Rosaly. They perform solo under the moniker Orgullo Primitivo.
Gonzalez aims to constantly push musical boundaries and blur the lines of genre through dabbling in many extreme genres and sub genres of music ranging from hardcore punk, industrial, black metal, and grindcore to improvisational music, jazz, and ambient music. They frequently perform at the Ochre House Theater in Dallas, often providing live soundtrack for plays and musicals.
Past groups, collaborators, and recording projects include Unconscious Collective, Asukubus, Jandek, Mike Watt, Luis Lopes Humanization 4tet, Curtis Clark Trio, Ariel Pink With Added Pizzazz, Renegade Spirits Ensemble featuring Famoudou Don Moye, Aram Shelton, Damon Smith, Tom Carter, Louis Moholo-Moholo, German Bringas, Remi Alvarez, Arturo Baez, Cojoba and many more.
You can listen to Yells at Eels here.
You can listen to Unconscious Collective here.
You can listen to Orgullo Primitivo here.
photo: Dawid Laskowski
Denton, TX
MATTIE is a mirror. She is an oracle of the SOL, and a watchperson over the keys to liberation guiding your experience via modalities of introspective visuals, lyrical self-inquiry, melody/harmony, experimental instrumentation, movement, meditation, and performance art.
Her sound? Experimental SOL. Her destination? Wholeness.
An experimental vocalist from Dallas, TX – MATTIE began singing in church at age four where she learned the basis of conventional gospel music. From there MATTIE has toured + recorded with Israel Houghton and New Breed, and received Dallas Observer Music Award nominations.
MATTIE is a mirror. She is an oracle of the SOL, and a watchperson over the keys to liberation guiding your experience via modalities of introspective visuals, lyrical self-inquiry, melody/harmony, experimental instrumentation, movement, meditation, and performance art.
Her sound? Experimental SOL. Her destination? Wholeness.
An experimental vocalist from Dallas, TX – MATTIE began singing in church at age four where she learned the basis of conventional gospel music. From there MATTIE has toured + recorded with Israel Houghton and New Breed, and received Dallas Observer Music Award nominations.
Dallas, TX
Joe McPhee (Poughkeepsie, NY) Born November 3, 1939 in Miami, Florida, USA, is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, conceptualist and theoretician. His career spans nearly 50 years and over 100 recordings, he continues to tour internationally and forge new connections while reaching for music’s outer limits. He began playing the trumpet at age eight, taught by his father, himself a trumpet player. Clifford Thornton’s Freedom and Unity, released in 1969 is the first recording on which he appears as a side man. In 1968, inspired by the music of Albert Ayler, he took up the saxophone and began an active involvement in both acoustic and electronic music. His first recordings as leader appeared in 1969: Underground Railroad by the Joe McPhee Quartet (1969), Nation Time (1970), Trinity (1971) and Pieces of Light (1974). In 1975, Swiss entrepreneur Werner X. Uehlinger released Black Magic Man on what was to become Hat Hut Records.
In 1981, he met composer, accordionist, performer, and educator Pauline Oliveros, whose theories of “deep listening” strengthened his interest in extended instrumental and electronic techniques. he also discovered Edward de Bono’s book Lateral Thinking: A Textbook of Creativity, which presents concepts for solving problems by “disrupting an apparent sequence and arriving at the solution from another angle.” de Bono’s theories inspired McPhee to apply this “sideways thinking” to his own work in creative improvisation, resulting in the concept of “Po Music.”
Joe McPhee (Poughkeepsie, NY) Born November 3, 1939 in Miami, Florida, USA, is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, conceptualist and theoretician. His career spans nearly 50 years and over 100 recordings, he continues to tour internationally and forge new connections while reaching for music’s outer limits. He began playing the trumpet at age eight, taught by his father, himself a trumpet player. Clifford Thornton’s Freedom and Unity, released in 1969 is the first recording on which he appears as a side man. In 1968, inspired by the music of Albert Ayler, he took up the saxophone and began an active involvement in both acoustic and electronic music. His first recordings as leader appeared in 1969: Underground Railroad by the Joe McPhee Quartet (1969), Nation Time (1970), Trinity (1971) and Pieces of Light (1974). In 1975, Swiss entrepreneur Werner X. Uehlinger released Black Magic Man on what was to become Hat Hut Records.
In 1981, he met composer, accordionist, performer, and educator Pauline Oliveros, whose theories of “deep listening” strengthened his interest in extended instrumental and electronic techniques. he also discovered Edward de Bono’s book Lateral Thinking: A Textbook of Creativity, which presents concepts for solving problems by “disrupting an apparent sequence and arriving at the solution from another angle.” de Bono’s theories inspired McPhee to apply this “sideways thinking” to his own work in creative improvisation, resulting in the concept of “Po Music.”
Poughkeepsie, NY
Drummer Sean Meehan (New York, NY) began performing in the late 1980s at the Amica Bunker series for improvised music, located at the Anarchist’s Switchboard and later ABC No Rio in New York City. His work has been presented at some of the most prestigious venues for new music including the Instal Festival (Glasgow), The Whitney Museum’s Biennial (New York), Lincoln Center (New York), and Goethe-Institut (Hanoi), but he primarily performs at small, informal spaces and artist-run festivals. For nearly twenty years he and Tamio Shiraishi presented their summer concert series, always in different playful and devious locations throughout New York City. Three of these concerts have been documented on LP on the Fusetron and GD Stereo labels. Meehan’s most recent project was a highly abridged audio book of Hermann von Helmholtz’s seminal text from 1863, On the Sensations of Tone.
Drummer Sean Meehan (New York, NY) began performing in the late 1980s at the Amica Bunker series for improvised music, located at the Anarchist’s Switchboard and later ABC No Rio in New York City. His work has been presented at some of the most prestigious venues for new music including the Instal Festival (Glasgow), The Whitney Museum’s Biennial (New York), Lincoln Center (New York), and Goethe-Institut (Hanoi), but he primarily performs at small, informal spaces and artist-run festivals. For nearly twenty years he and Tamio Shiraishi presented their summer concert series, always in different playful and devious locations throughout New York City. Three of these concerts have been documented on LP on the Fusetron and GD Stereo labels. Meehan’s most recent project was a highly abridged audio book of Hermann von Helmholtz’s seminal text from 1863, On the Sensations of Tone.
New York, NY
Born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, Ernesto Montiel (Venezuela / Mesquite, TX) is a visual artist, experimental musician/improviser, concert organizer, broadcaster and dj. Formally educated in architecture. Ernesto moved to Dallas in 2015.
Ernesto is half of the electroacoustic free improvisation duo Monte Espina, whose recordings have been released in the labels Marginal Frequency, Elevator Bath, Round Bale Recordings and Full Spectrum Records. Outside Monte Espina he has also collaborated with plenty of local and regional artists: Louise Fristensky, Sarah Ruth Alexander, Aaron Gonzalez, Chris Cogburn, Sean O’Neil, Ryan Edwards, and Gabe Martinez, to name a few. Also worth mentioning, with Le Quan Ninh in trio and ensemble settings, and a performance of Eliane Radigue’s Vis-A-Vis in tandem with Charles Curtis.
As a visual artist, Montiel has been developing for some years a chance-driven body of work, Stochastic Ethics. His work has been exhibited in Venezuela, Colombia, Aruba, and Germany.
He is music coordinator at The Wild Detectives, and along with Sarah Ruth Alexander runs the monthly experimental music series, and annual festival, Molten Plains at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios in Denton.
Born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, Ernesto Montiel (Venezuela / Mesquite, TX) is a visual artist, experimental musician/improviser, concert organizer, broadcaster and dj. Formally educated in architecture. Ernesto moved to Dallas in 2015.
Ernesto is half of the electroacoustic free improvisation duo Monte Espina, whose recordings have been released in the labels Marginal Frequency, Elevator Bath, Round Bale Recordings and Full Spectrum Records. Outside Monte Espina he has also collaborated with plenty of local and regional artists: Louise Fristensky, Sarah Ruth Alexander, Aaron Gonzalez, Chris Cogburn, Sean O’Neil, Ryan Edwards, and Gabe Martinez, to name a few. Also worth mentioning, with Le Quan Ninh in trio and ensemble settings, and a performance of Eliane Radigue’s Vis-A-Vis in tandem with Charles Curtis.
As a visual artist, Montiel has been developing for some years a chance-driven body of work, Stochastic Ethics. His work has been exhibited in Venezuela, Colombia, Aruba, and Germany.
He is music coordinator at The Wild Detectives, and along with Sarah Ruth Alexander runs the monthly experimental music series, and annual festival, Molten Plains at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios in Denton.
Venezuela / Mesquite, TX
Born in Chicago and raised in Miami and Michigan, Houston-based musician and artist Rebecca Novak’s material approach to improvisation incorporates a constellation of instruments and objects – cornet, piano, glass vases, shortwave radio – with an ear for fine-grained textures and electronic- or mechanical-sounding noise using acoustic instruments. Her work often combines music with live writing, sculpture or projected image as a way of investigating the complex relationships between environment & self, body & object, performance & being, the political & the philosophical. Called Annotations, these group-navigated improvisations refer both to a way of ‘annotating’ or translating an experience or idea across practices, and an absence of traditional notation. She has performed and presented her work at minicine? (Shreveport, Louisiana), No Idea Festival, Experimental Sound Studio (Chicago), El Nicho y el Museo Tamayo (Mexico City), Project Row Houses, DiverseWorks Houston, The Station Museum, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, ATA (San Francisco), and in residencies at Atlantic Center for the Arts with master bassist Michael Bisio and labotanica (Houston, TX) with artist and curator Ayanna Jolivet McCloud. As an improviser, Novak has performed and recorded in the trio Garden medium with Sandy Ewen and Carol Sandin Cooley, in duos with percussionist Anders Zelinski and electronic musicians Anisa Boukhlif and Steve Jansen, and in the sound and light duo Waveform Reversal with bassist / projectionist Ivy Woods.
photo: Jeremy Hernandez
Born in Chicago and raised in Miami and Michigan, Houston-based musician and artist Rebecca Novak’s material approach to improvisation incorporates a constellation of instruments and objects – cornet, piano, glass vases, shortwave radio – with an ear for fine-grained textures and electronic- or mechanical-sounding noise using acoustic instruments. Her work often combines music with live writing, sculpture or projected image as a way of investigating the complex relationships between environment & self, body & object, performance & being, the political & the philosophical. Called Annotations, these group-navigated improvisations refer both to a way of ‘annotating’ or translating an experience or idea across practices, and an absence of traditional notation. She has performed and presented her work at minicine? (Shreveport, Louisiana), No Idea Festival, Experimental Sound Studio (Chicago), El Nicho y el Museo Tamayo (Mexico City), Project Row Houses, DiverseWorks Houston, The Station Museum, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, ATA (San Francisco), and in residencies at Atlantic Center for the Arts with master bassist Michael Bisio and labotanica (Houston, TX) with artist and curator Ayanna Jolivet McCloud. As an improviser, Novak has performed and recorded in the trio Garden medium with Sandy Ewen and Carol Sandin Cooley, in duos with percussionist Anders Zelinski and electronic musicians Anisa Boukhlif and Steve Jansen, and in the sound and light duo Waveform Reversal with bassist / projectionist Ivy Woods.
photo: Jeremy Hernandez
Houston, TX
Kory Reeder (Denton, TX) North American composer and performer whose music, drawing inspiration from the visual arts and political theory, is often introspective and atmospheric, investigating ideas of objectivity and immediacy, while exploring the social implications of musical interaction with pieces ranging from symphonic works to text scores and computer-assisted improvisations.
Described as “one of the most captivating composers in modern classical music” (Dallas Observer), Kory’s music is performed frequently around the world in concert halls, festivals, academic settings, basements, and DIY venues. A dedicated collaborator, he has worked with opera, theater, and dance programs, as well as noise, free-improv, and new media artists on projects ranging from video collaborations to 3-hour performance art works.
With a catalog of over 100 programmed works, his music has been released on Edition Wandelweiser Records, where one may also find scores of his work, as well as Petrichor Records, Sawyer Editions, Sawyer Spaces, Impulsive Habitat, and Another Timbre, with upcoming releases planned for 2023 on Full Spectrum Records.
Kory is from Nebraska and currently resides in Denton, Texas where he is an active performer and received his PhD from the University of North Texas.
Kory Reeder (Denton, TX) North American composer and performer whose music, drawing inspiration from the visual arts and political theory, is often introspective and atmospheric, investigating ideas of objectivity and immediacy, while exploring the social implications of musical interaction with pieces ranging from symphonic works to text scores and computer-assisted improvisations.
Described as “one of the most captivating composers in modern classical music” (Dallas Observer), Kory’s music is performed frequently around the world in concert halls, festivals, academic settings, basements, and DIY venues. A dedicated collaborator, he has worked with opera, theater, and dance programs, as well as noise, free-improv, and new media artists on projects ranging from video collaborations to 3-hour performance art works.
With a catalog of over 100 programmed works, his music has been released on Edition Wandelweiser Records, where one may also find scores of his work, as well as Petrichor Records, Sawyer Editions, Sawyer Spaces, Impulsive Habitat, and Another Timbre, with upcoming releases planned for 2023 on Full Spectrum Records.
Kory is from Nebraska and currently resides in Denton, Texas where he is an active performer and received his PhD from the University of North Texas.
Denton, TX
Sarah Ruth (Denton, TX) is a diverse musician and artist – a multi-instrumentalist, she employs hammered dulcimer, harmonium, electroacoustic sound art, and extended vocal techniques. She performs frequently both solo and with multiple bands and improvisational ensembles in the North Texas area. She is a University of North Texas graduate where she focused on vocal studies and electroacoustic composition. She has also studied with Meredith Monk and members of her vocal ensemble. She enjoys varied collaborations and has worked as a sound artist for art and photography installations and an accompanist for modern dance.
She has performed with Damon Smith, Tatsuya Nakatani, Jaap Blonk, Liz Tonne, Sarah Gamblin, Rosemary Candelario, Susan kae Grant, Lisa Cameron, Tom Carter, and Aaron Gonzalez, to list a few. She tours nationally and her recent albums have been released on Obsolete Media Objects, Balance Point Acoustics, Pour le Corps Music,and Linda Hand. She also hosts a radio program called Tiger D on KUZU LP broadcasting in Denton at 92.9 FM and streaming online at kuzu.fm, playing music and often featuring guest musicians to curate and discuss their playlists. She recently had a chapter titled “Community Building Through Collaboration,” published in Routledge‘s Art as Social Practice: Technologies for Change.
Sarah Ruth (Denton, TX) is a diverse musician and artist – a multi-instrumentalist, she employs hammered dulcimer, harmonium, electroacoustic sound art, and extended vocal techniques. She performs frequently both solo and with multiple bands and improvisational ensembles in the North Texas area. She is a University of North Texas graduate where she focused on vocal studies and electroacoustic composition. She has also studied with Meredith Monk and members of her vocal ensemble. She enjoys varied collaborations and has worked as a sound artist for art and photography installations and an accompanist for modern dance.
She has performed with Damon Smith, Tatsuya Nakatani, Jaap Blonk, Liz Tonne, Sarah Gamblin, Rosemary Candelario, Susan kae Grant, Lisa Cameron, Tom Carter, and Aaron Gonzalez, to list a few. She tours nationally and her recent albums have been released on Obsolete Media Objects, Balance Point Acoustics, Pour le Corps Music,and Linda Hand. She also hosts a radio program called Tiger D on KUZU LP broadcasting in Denton at 92.9 FM and streaming online at kuzu.fm, playing music and often featuring guest musicians to curate and discuss their playlists. She recently had a chapter titled “Community Building Through Collaboration,” published in Routledge‘s Art as Social Practice: Technologies for Change.
Denton, TX
Colin Andrew Sheffield (Austin, TX) Born in El Paso and founder of the Elevator Bath record label. He has released a number of solo recordings on labels such as Auf Abwegen, Glistening Examples, Mystery Sea, and more, in addition to several collaborative releases and performances with turntablist, James Eck Rippie as well as with David Reed (as The Palladists) and with Andrew Anderson (they have a duo cassette release coming soon from the Grisaille label). Since the mid-’90s, Colin Andrew Sheffield’s audio collage work has consistently focused on the use of samples: deconstructed loops of hidden melodies and textures found in his collection of physical media. These snatches of sound are layered in harmony and/or at odds with one another, giving rise to the ethereal undercurrents inherent in his selections. As a student of hauntology, Sheffield wrestles with unspoiled detritus of the past in service of an impressionistic conception of the future. Sheffield’s most recent solo LP, “Images” (Elevator Bath, 2023), was entirely crafted from samples from jazz records; it has been critically acclaimed/championed by Soundohm, Bandcamp, and Brainwashed, among others. Sheffield lives in Austin with his wife and two dogs.
Colin Andrew Sheffield (Austin, TX) Born in El Paso and founder of the Elevator Bath record label. He has released a number of solo recordings on labels such as Auf Abwegen, Glistening Examples, Mystery Sea, and more, in addition to several collaborative releases and performances with turntablist, James Eck Rippie as well as with David Reed (as The Palladists) and with Andrew Anderson (they have a duo cassette release coming soon from the Grisaille label). Since the mid-’90s, Colin Andrew Sheffield’s audio collage work has consistently focused on the use of samples: deconstructed loops of hidden melodies and textures found in his collection of physical media. These snatches of sound are layered in harmony and/or at odds with one another, giving rise to the ethereal undercurrents inherent in his selections. As a student of hauntology, Sheffield wrestles with unspoiled detritus of the past in service of an impressionistic conception of the future. Sheffield’s most recent solo LP, “Images” (Elevator Bath, 2023), was entirely crafted from samples from jazz records; it has been critically acclaimed/championed by Soundohm, Bandcamp, and Brainwashed, among others. Sheffield lives in Austin with his wife and two dogs.
Austin, TX
Ken Shimamoto (Fort Worth, TX) has written for publications including Fort Worth Weekly and the Dallas Observer. He played guitar in the proto-punk repertory band Stoogeaphilia and made banging and scraping noises in the experimental combo Hentai Improvising Orchestra. He blogs at The Stash Dauber and posts guitar videos on his YouTube channel. Ken lives in Fort Worth with his wife and their cat.
Ken Shimamoto (Fort Worth, TX) has written for publications including Fort Worth Weekly and the Dallas Observer. He played guitar in the proto-punk repertory band Stoogeaphilia and made banging and scraping noises in the experimental combo Hentai Improvising Orchestra. He blogs at The Stash Dauber and posts guitar videos on his YouTube channel. Ken lives in Fort Worth with his wife and their cat.
Fort Worth, TX
Patrick Shiroishi (Los Angeles, CA) is a Japanese-American multi-instrumentalist and composer based in Los Angeles who is perhaps best known for his extensive and incredibly intense work with the saxophone. Over the last decade he has established himself as one of the premier improvising musicians in Los Angeles, playing solo and in numerous collaborative projects. Shiroishi may well be considered a foundational player in the city’s vast musical expanse.
Since the release of his 2013 solo debut black sun sutra, Shiroishi has produced a hefty handful of LPs. Sometimes, his work is sprawling and bizarre. At other times, it’s more subdued. But at the root of all of his endeavors lies strong musical partnerships, resulting in records that capture the freewheeling energy of all the musicians, collectively embracing spontaneity.
Patrick Shiroishi (Los Angeles, CA) is a Japanese-American multi-instrumentalist and composer based in Los Angeles who is perhaps best known for his extensive and incredibly intense work with the saxophone. Over the last decade he has established himself as one of the premier improvising musicians in Los Angeles, playing solo and in numerous collaborative projects. Shiroishi may well be considered a foundational player in the city’s vast musical expanse.
Since the release of his 2013 solo debut black sun sutra, Shiroishi has produced a hefty handful of LPs. Sometimes, his work is sprawling and bizarre. At other times, it’s more subdued. But at the root of all of his endeavors lies strong musical partnerships, resulting in records that capture the freewheeling energy of all the musicians, collectively embracing spontaneity.
Los Angeles, CA
Damon Smith (St. Louis, MO) studied double bass with Lisle Ellis and has had lessons with Bertram Turezky, Joëlle Leandré, John Lindberg, Mark Dresser and others. Damon’s explorations into the sonic palette of the double bass have resulted in a personal, flexible improvisational language based in the American jazz avant-garde movement and European non-idiomatic free improvisation. Visual art, film and dance heavily influence his music, as evidenced by his CAMH performance of Ben Patterson’s Variations for Double Bass, collaborations with director Werner Herzog on soundtracks for Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, and an early performance with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
Damon has collaborated with a wide range of musicians, including: Cecil Taylor, Marshall Allen (of Sun Ra’s Arkestra), Henry Kaiser, Keith Rowe, Jaap Blonk,Roscoe Mitchell, Weasel Walter, Michael Pisaro, Wadada Leo Smith, Weasel Walter, Marco Eneidi, Wolfgang Fuchs, Peter Brötzmann and Peter Kowald. After many years in the San Francisco Bay Area, and six great years in Houston, Texas working regularly with Alvin Fielder, Sandy Ewen, Thomas Helton, David Dove & Chris Cogburn. Damon moved to the Boston area in the fall of 2016 and began working with Jeb Bishop, Pandelis Karayorgis, Joe McPhee and Ra-Kalam Bob Moses and many others. Damon has run Balance Point Acoustics record label since 2001, releasing music focusing on transatlantic collaborations between US and European musicians.
Damon Smith (St. Louis, MO) studied double bass with Lisle Ellis and has had lessons with Bertram Turezky, Joëlle Leandré, John Lindberg, Mark Dresser and others. Damon’s explorations into the sonic palette of the double bass have resulted in a personal, flexible improvisational language based in the American jazz avant-garde movement and European non-idiomatic free improvisation. Visual art, film and dance heavily influence his music, as evidenced by his CAMH performance of Ben Patterson’s Variations for Double Bass, collaborations with director Werner Herzog on soundtracks for Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, and an early performance with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
Damon has collaborated with a wide range of musicians, including: Cecil Taylor, Marshall Allen (of Sun Ra’s Arkestra), Henry Kaiser, Keith Rowe, Jaap Blonk,Roscoe Mitchell, Weasel Walter, Michael Pisaro, Wadada Leo Smith, Weasel Walter, Marco Eneidi, Wolfgang Fuchs, Peter Brötzmann and Peter Kowald. After many years in the San Francisco Bay Area, and six great years in Houston, Texas working regularly with Alvin Fielder, Sandy Ewen, Thomas Helton, David Dove & Chris Cogburn. Damon moved to the Boston area in the fall of 2016 and began working with Jeb Bishop, Pandelis Karayorgis, Joe McPhee and Ra-Kalam Bob Moses and many others. Damon has run Balance Point Acoustics record label since 2001, releasing music focusing on transatlantic collaborations between US and European musicians.
Saint Louis, MO
Melanie Little Smith (Denton, TX) is a painter and photographer who was born in El Paso, Texas. She graduated in 1999 from Texas Women’s University with a BA in Photography. After working as an installation and book artist, she moved to New York and began working as a professional photographer. She was part of the first all digital photography agency in NYC. Her work has been featured in many publications including Time, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, The New York Times and Rolling Stone Magazine. In 2005 she moved to to Denton, Texas , where she began painting. She is represented by Simple Gallery in Gstaad, Switzerland and formed ARTLAB3000 in 2012.
Melanie’s ensemble is a quartet with Suzanne Terry, Jesse Chandler, and Des Smith. All Denton residents. Wenepa means noise in Chickasaw. Chickasaws used noise for everything from warring to communicating with god. coming from multi-colored mountains, cold island cities, arid wild plains and fast moving air. Seeking the original ruckus. An ensemble constructed and premiered at the Molten Plains Concert Series.
instagram.com/melanielittlegomez
photo: Sarah Jaffe
Melanie Little Smith (Denton, TX) is a painter and photographer who was born in El Paso, Texas. She graduated in 1999 from Texas Women’s University with a BA in Photography. After working as an installation and book artist, she moved to New York and began working as a professional photographer. She was part of the first all digital photography agency in NYC. Her work has been featured in many publications including Time, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, The New York Times and Rolling Stone Magazine. In 2005 she moved to to Denton, Texas , where she began painting. She is represented by Simple Gallery in Gstaad, Switzerland and formed ARTLAB3000 in 2012.
Melanie’s ensemble is a quartet with Suzanne Terry, Jesse Chandler, and Des Smith. All Denton residents. Wenepa means noise in Chickasaw. Chickasaws used noise for everything from warring to communicating with god. coming from multi-colored mountains, cold island cities, arid wild plains and fast moving air. Seeking the original ruckus. An ensemble constructed and premiered at the Molten Plains Concert Series.
instagram.com/melanielittlegomez
photo: Sarah Jaffe
Denton, TX
Spirit Plate is the spiritual noise duo of Mateo Galindo (Atomic Culture,WRxMG,) and Nathan Young (Tulsa Noise, Ajilvsga). Heavily influenced by and grounded in the tradition of spiritual/ free jazz and unhinged noise rock. Spirit Plate utilizes reciprocal feedback loops, electronics, prepared guitar and drumming to create ecstatic noise improvisations that invoke sacred trance and drone traditions.
mateogalindo.com
instagram.com/nathanyoungprojects
photo: Blackhorse Lowe
Spirit Plate is the spiritual noise duo of Mateo Galindo (Atomic Culture,WRxMG,) and Nathan Young (Tulsa Noise, Ajilvsga). Heavily influenced by and grounded in the tradition of spiritual/ free jazz and unhinged noise rock. Spirit Plate utilizes reciprocal feedback loops, electronics, prepared guitar and drumming to create ecstatic noise improvisations that invoke sacred trance and drone traditions.
mateogalindo.com
instagram.com/nathanyoungprojects
photo: Blackhorse Lowe
Marfa, TX / Tulsa, OK
Tamarisk (Austin, TX / Durham, NC) comprises bassist, composer, and writer David Menestres, composer and improviser Andrew Weathers, and guitarist and vocalist Christina Carter.
Christina Carter co-founded the group Charalambides in 1991. Ever since then, she has deeply mined her own vein of sound-as-music with voice and lyric. Christina’s latest releases are the Tamarisk Plays A Word For Sun CD (Waveform Alphabet), the Nighte Pin Down The Dust CS (mappa) and the solo voice album Librarie (Many Breaths).
Andrew Weathers is a composer and improviser whose work engages with notions of place, tradition, repetition, and spirit, splitting the difference between folk music and Land Art. A consistent presence in the underground music scene over the past decade, Weathers’ work covers a wide spectrum from solo acoustic guitar to electronic noise. He also performs and records regularly with Tender Crust, Wind Tide, Satin Spar, Tamarisk, Llano Estacado Monad Band, Tethers and Real Life Rock & Roll Band. Weathers also produces recordings for the Full Spectrum, Other Minds, and Rural Situationism record labels, curates the Longitudes music series at CO-OPt Research + Projects in Lubbock, TX and works as a freelance mixing and mastering engineer.
David Menestres is a double bassist, improvisor, composer, radio host, and writer. For the last ten years he’s been the leader of Polyorchard. For the last twenty-three he’s been collaborating with Eugene Chadbourne. His bass playing has been described as “seductive” (The Wire) and his music as “something akin to staring an abyss in the face – and taking the plunge – full on, head first into annihilation” (FreeJazzBlog).
Tamarisk (Austin, TX / Durham, NC) comprises bassist, composer, and writer David Menestres, composer and improviser Andrew Weathers, and guitarist and vocalist Christina Carter.
Christina Carter co-founded the group Charalambides in 1991. Ever since then, she has deeply mined her own vein of sound-as-music with voice and lyric. Christina’s latest releases are the Tamarisk Plays A Word For Sun CD (Waveform Alphabet), the Nighte Pin Down The Dust CS (mappa) and the solo voice album Librarie (Many Breaths).
Andrew Weathers is a composer and improviser whose work engages with notions of place, tradition, repetition, and spirit, splitting the difference between folk music and Land Art. A consistent presence in the underground music scene over the past decade, Weathers’ work covers a wide spectrum from solo acoustic guitar to electronic noise. He also performs and records regularly with Tender Crust, Wind Tide, Satin Spar, Tamarisk, Llano Estacado Monad Band, Tethers and Real Life Rock & Roll Band. Weathers also produces recordings for the Full Spectrum, Other Minds, and Rural Situationism record labels, curates the Longitudes music series at CO-OPt Research + Projects in Lubbock, TX and works as a freelance mixing and mastering engineer.
David Menestres is a double bassist, improvisor, composer, radio host, and writer. For the last ten years he’s been the leader of Polyorchard. For the last twenty-three he’s been collaborating with Eugene Chadbourne. His bass playing has been described as “seductive” (The Wire) and his music as “something akin to staring an abyss in the face – and taking the plunge – full on, head first into annihilation” (FreeJazzBlog).
Austin, TX / Durham, NC
Trio Glossia (Denton/Dallas, TX) a trio consisting of Matthew Frerck on stand up bass, Joshua Miller on drums, percussion, and tenor saxophone, and Stefan Gonzalez on vibraphone and drums. Originally starting as an improvisational unit in 2022, they have since started incorporating their own original compositions with improvisational explorations. All three musicians share a mutual love of all things pertaining to the history and development of free jazz and the avant garde. Trio Glossia covers a lot of ground from heart wrenching ballads to angular swing to textural meditations, with a healthy emphasis on the harmolodic history of the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex.
Trio Glossia (Denton/Dallas, TX) a trio consisting of Matthew Frerck on stand up bass, Joshua Miller on drums, percussion, and tenor saxophone, and Stefan Gonzalez on vibraphone and drums. Originally starting as an improvisational unit in 2022, they have since started incorporating their own original compositions with improvisational explorations. All three musicians share a mutual love of all things pertaining to the history and development of free jazz and the avant garde. Trio Glossia covers a lot of ground from heart wrenching ballads to angular swing to textural meditations, with a healthy emphasis on the harmolodic history of the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex.
Denton / Dallas, TX
Water Damage (Austin, TX) There is something really special about music based on drones. Whether it’s the vocals of Pandit Pran Nath, the ARP 2500 of Eliane Radigue, or the nearly-blown amps of Sunn O))), by changing the listeners’s focus on details to one that favors flow, drones are uniquely capable of transporting our brains far far away. The music of Water Damage, the loudly droning Austin octet is a goddamn splendid example of how the process works. Using the motto, “Maximal Repetition Minimal Deviation,” Water Damage create glowing fields of drones that pretty much suck you right in and boil you alive. They prefer if each of their sonic ideas takes up a whole reel of tape, and once they start they don’t look back. Everything proceeds towards an imaginary end point that is only achieved when the tape starts flapping.
The members are all vets of various projects – Spray Paint, Black Eyes, USA/Mexico, More Eaze, Thor & Friends, Marriage, Astral Spirits Records, among others. Their approach to the form is less front-loaded than most of their peers, and the surface of their sound is sometimes ruffled by aural events of an un-drone-like nature. But the main gush is usually a blend of harmonic tones and textures pointing towards a goal that is just out of ear-shot, just over the next bluff, and perhaps forever just beyond our reach.
photo: Angela Betancourt
Water Damage (Austin, TX) There is something really special about music based on drones. Whether it’s the vocals of Pandit Pran Nath, the ARP 2500 of Eliane Radigue, or the nearly-blown amps of Sunn O))), by changing the listeners’s focus on details to one that favors flow, drones are uniquely capable of transporting our brains far far away. The music of Water Damage, the loudly droning Austin octet is a goddamn splendid example of how the process works. Using the motto, “Maximal Repetition Minimal Deviation,” Water Damage create glowing fields of drones that pretty much suck you right in and boil you alive. They prefer if each of their sonic ideas takes up a whole reel of tape, and once they start they don’t look back. Everything proceeds towards an imaginary end point that is only achieved when the tape starts flapping.
The members are all vets of various projects – Spray Paint, Black Eyes, USA/Mexico, More Eaze, Thor & Friends, Marriage, Astral Spirits Records, among others. Their approach to the form is less front-loaded than most of their peers, and the surface of their sound is sometimes ruffled by aural events of an un-drone-like nature. But the main gush is usually a blend of harmonic tones and textures pointing towards a goal that is just out of ear-shot, just over the next bluff, and perhaps forever just beyond our reach.
photo: Angela Betancourt
Austin, TX
Schedule
Location
Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios
411 E. Sycamore St.
Denton TX 76209
Early December weather in Denton typically ranges from 60°F during the day and 40°F at night. Please prepare accordingly.