Thursday March 26 * 8pm * $10

Astroturf Noise exists at the intersection of free improvisation, effects-heavy noise music, and American roots music.

The group’s sound marries the propulsive rhythmic drive of bluegrass with the snarl of Downtown agitators such as the Lounge Lizards, Arto Lindsay, and James Chance along with textural flavors touching on glitch music, dub, doom metal, and Ornette Coleman. A broad melange to be sure, but one anchored by the group’s energetic drive and idiosyncratic improvisational language. This is the synthetic counterpoint to Bill Monroe’s “Bluegrass Boys”.

Astroturf Noise was formed by Sam Day Harmet (mandolin/fx) and Sana Nagano (violin/fx) in 2016 after meeting at Karl Berger’s Creative Music Studio and discovering a shared affinity for high-energy free improv and American folk traditions. After a period of developing as a duo, they added versatile bassist Zach Swanson in 2018. Their debut self-titled album features guest contributions from genre-defying artists Billy Martin (percussion) and Sarah Bernstein (violin).
https://577records.bandcamp.com/album/astroturf-noise

V.Vecker (aka Keith Wecker, b. 1983) is a composer and multi-instrumentalist based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. He has been a member of the Vancouver experimental scene since 2006 and has been touring North America since 2009. He releases his music through his imprint Vancouver Free Jass + Drone Society and was a founding member of the Emergency Room. V.Veckers' work is inspired by the commonalities he found in free + spiritual jazz, electronic, noise and drone music. His music can resemble a melting pot of any of these genres at a given time. His current work is based around saxophone loops and synthesizers working with a heavy interest in producing atmospheric experiences. Leading with free and improvisational ideas counter balanced with an interest in more formal compositional methods and electronic musics lead to a cross section of genres resulting in music familiar yet original. V.Vecker has participated in New Forms Festival, the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, the Living Things Festival, and the Improvisation Summit Portland. He has shared the stage with Wolf Eyes, Sarah Davachi, Chris Corsano, Hauschka, Jessica Moss, Nadja, Sun Araw, Thundercat, Zs, Anthony Braxton and Glenn Branca.

https://vveckermusic.bandcamp.com/

Daniel Wyche is a Chicago-based guitarist, composer and improviser. Working with a wide range of physical preparations, extended techniques, and pedal instruments, his solo recorded work and live performances are characterized by long-form structured improvisations. Recently, this approach has become increasingly integrated with the exploration of multi-channel performance and the spatialization of sound, including new compositions for 4, 8, and 16-channel guitar.

Daniel's 2016 record "Our Severed Sleep" (with Ryan Packard) was called “a blowout to wake the dead” by the Wire, “reverent music,” by Decoder, and “an infinite swansong of bliss” by Tiny Mix Tapes. The 2017 self-titled release by the trio of Wyche, Ben Baker Billington (Tiger Hatchery, ONO, ADT), and Mark Shippy (US Maple, Invisible Things) on Astral Spirits was (apparently) referred to as "the fucking truth" and "flat-out exhilarating" by Marc Masters.

Along with his solo guitar work, Wyche is involved in several regular collaborations. Most notable among these are a series of ongoing performances with Julian Lynch (Real Estate), Ryan Packard (Skeltons, Wei Zhongle, Fonema Consort), Ricardo Lagamosino (Many Arms, Lucy Dacus), the NJ-based electronic improvisation collective Terratzen with Michael Nicosia, and the trio of Wyche, Shippy and Billington.

Daniel has been a curator with the Elastic Arts Foundation in Chicago since 2013.
www.wyche.org