02/23/2010

February 23rd,

@ Terrace, 62 Washington St. Princeton NJ; 9 PM. FREE!

Grapefruit Experiment+Caustic Castle

Grapefruit Experiment is a semi-open music project with Carey Sargent and Wendy Hsu as core members [2/3 of Pinko Communoids and founding members of HzCollective]. Wendy works with electric guitar and accordion, preparing them with found objects such as alligator clips, paper clips, clothespin and playing them with effect pedals, bows, brushes, mallets, and other percussive objects. Carey is a percussive noise maker, encouraging tones to rise and sing from wood, metal, skin and plastics that are more used to being struck.

The concept behind Grapefruit Experiment is inspired by Yoko Ono’s design of the Plastic Ono Band – a nomenclature designated for Carey, Wendy, and whomever they are making music with at the moment. Aesthetically they lean toward something like: part-no-wave, part-noise, part-improvised, part-avant, part-sound-fetish, part-song-like, part-fun, part-geeky + whatever parts contributed by collaborator. Carey and Wendy are looking for members, collaborators, improvisers, music-lovers, noise-makers, sound-artists, and experimenters!

Sounds & Links:

http://grapefruitexperiment.wordpress.com/

http://myspace.com/grapefruitexperiment

Not the Wind, Not the Flag: Brandon Valdivia & Colin Fisher

Brandon Valdivia

Brandon started playing alto recorder when he was quite young, with his first professional musical experiences playing baroque consort music. Then he started playing drums, and quit recorder.

He went to music school for composition and classical percussion at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo ON, then moved to Toronto and studied drums with Jim Blackley. He’s played in Toronto a bunch, toured some, recorded some, and now he´s in Nicaragua with plans on moving to Montreal when he comes back to Canada.

Sounds & Links:

http://www.myspace.com/brandonvaldivia

http://www.myspace.com/notthewindnottheflag

Colin Fisher

Multi-instrumentalist, composer, Colin Fisher is an active voice in the Improvised and Creative Music Community in North America. Colin has studied privately with some of the best teachers in the creative music community such as Ellery Eskelin, Ben Monder, Tim Berne, Mark Hundevad and Maury Coles.

Has been most active this summer with duo project Not the wind, not the flag which includes percussionist Brandon Valdivia. They have just recently released a cdr of some of their improvisations as well as a Barnyard Records Release “Tintinabulum” which is already receiving critical praise.

His group I HAVE EATEN THE CITY is an improvising trio featuring cellist/keyboardist/laptop artist Nick Storring and percussionist Brandon Valdivia. They currently have 4 independently released CD’s, were invited to play the Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival last year to rave reviews, they played the prestigious Open Ears Festival with musician Francois Houle in April 2007, which is an international new music/creative music event. They have been touring Ontario and Quebec extensively for the last 2 yrs.

Another group of his Sing that Yell that Spell has released 2 CD’s, one independently and another through the Toronto based label Escapegoat Records.

Other recent projects include a duo, with improvising guitarist Michael Keith, called Sandbox, duo with flautist Rob Piilonen named Whisper, is a regular contributor to Matt Dunn’s Transcendental Rodeo band, is a member of Grasshopper, 10000 watt head, Actual Water, Young Mother, Glass Tomb, NO WHITE GOD, plays Gu Zheng in duo Lambchops with Simeon Abbott is a member of the AIMToronto Orchestra who recently performed at the guelph jazz festival playing the music of Anthony Braxton with Mr. Braxton conducting and playing with the orchestra, is a member of the Woodchoppers Association who had a successful tour this summer with west African masters Jah Youssouf and Abdoulaye Kone, plays guitar in Isla Craig’s band and also with Anna Linda Sidall, and has also performed with singer/songwriter John Tielli, Neil Haverty, performs with various Persian musicians in the Toronto area including Araz Salek, Sina Salimi, etc.

Colin has appeared and collaborated with: Anthony Braxton, Jah Youssouf, Rhys Chattam, William Parker, Dominic Duval, Sabir Mateen, Neil Haverty, Joe Mcphee, Maury Coles, David Daniels, Chris Kelsey, Paul Hession, Mark Hundevad, Jean Martin, Metal Kites, Christine Duncan, Nifty, Eric Chenaux, Evan Shaw, Michael Morse, Jason Hammer, Nick Fraser, Joe Sorbara, Glen Hall, Ronda Rindone, The Constantines, Caribou, Born Ruffians, etc.

A Toronto performance (opening for renowned bassist, Trevor Dunn and pedal harpist Shelley Burgon while on tour with them across Ontario/Quebec) of some of Colin’s compositions, featuring Nick Fraser, Evan Shaw and Jason Hammer is to be released on DVD in the future on the local label Burn down the Capital.

Colin also received a Canada Council recording grant in 2007 that was used to create a duo recording with Jean Martin called The little man on the boat which was recently released on Barnyard Records.

Sounds & Links:

http://www.myspace.com/colinfisher

http://www.myspace.com/notthewindnottheflag

Liz Meredith

Liz Meredith (b.1981) is a string player, improviser, and composer originally from Baltimore, Maryland. She is an active musician within the rock, ambient, and experimental music genres – both locally and abroad.

Her music explores many creative facets – from composing chamber works – to making ambient music, song-oriented pieces, graphic scores, solo improvisations, and electro-acoustic music. In addition to performing her own music, Liz has premiered 21st-century music compositions as well.

She currently lives, teaches, and performs in Baltimore, Maryland. Liz received her Bachelor’s Degree in String Performance and Film Music from Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA), and her Master’s Degree in Music Composition from Mills College (Oakland, CA).

She has studied viola performance with Hank Dutt of The Kronos Quartet and music composition with Fred Frith.

Sounds & Links:

www.lizmeredith.com
www.myspace.com/lizmeredith

Travis Johns

Travis Johns (b. 1983) is a composer and sound artist from San Francisco, Ca. Using a combination of processed field recordings, sine wave oscillators and analog electronics, he attempts to weave textural tapestries of gestures, thoughts and experiences into a singular mass

of infinite sonic possibilities, often nested somewhere between the stylistic footholds of free improvisation, dark ambient and harsh noise - sounding something like the distant swarming of well oiled mechanical bees woven with fissures of dark tones and noise rips.

He holds a B.M. in Technology in Music and Related Arts from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, as well as an MFA in Electronic Music and Recording Media from Mills College, studies conducted with Chris Brown, Les Stuck and Hilda Paredes. To date, Johns has participated in residencies at such places as the Atlantic Center for the Arts and

RPI's Create @ iEar and is also a founding member of the Thinktank Collective, a new media arts organization and record label founded in 2004 in Oberlin, Oh.

His music has been performed extensively throughout the United States and abroad to a wide variety of audiences, including the Santa Fe International Electronic Music Festival (2005 & 2006), The 2007 Los Angeles Bent Festival and the 2009 International Live Looping Festival. Recordings of Johns are available from Thinktank Media, Vox Novus and Shinkoyo Records, among others.

Sounds & Links:

http://www.think-tankmedia.net

http://www.myspace.com/thoughtcollection001

http://www.woundedsquid.blogspot.com

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