Bill Nace/Steve Baczkowski Duo (Northampton, MA/Buffalo NY):
Bill Nace is one of the premiere avant-garde guitarists active today. He has one of the most personal and unique pallets of sound ever to be culled from an electric guitar. Nace creates a distinct, mind-bending cacophony and focuses his textures with intense precision and control. He works under various guises (Body/Head with Kim Gordon, x.0.4 with Jake Meginsksy and John Truscinski, a trio with celebrated percussionist Chris Corsano & Steve Baczkowski, a duo with Paul Flaherty, Northampton Wools with Thurston Moore, and Ceylon Mange with Dylan Nyoukis and Karen Constance) and his own name.
Multi-wind instrumentalist Steve Baczkowski lives in Buffalo, N.Y. where he works as a conduit for creative music of any & every sort. Baczkowski began playing alto saxophone at age eight, switched to baritone by the time he was twelve, and has since developed a wide array of woodwind styles & formidable breathing techniques. In addition to organizing the Buffalo Improvisers Orchestra, and the Buffalo Suicide Prevention Unit, Baczkowski also performs solo, in duo with Ravi Padmanabha, Bill Sack, Nola Ranallo, Omar Tamez & Bill Nace and in ensembles such as Genkin Philharmonic, 12/8 Path Band, Necrophonia, the William Parker Trance Quartet, and frequent collaborations with like-souled folks from around the world.
Jake Meginsky (Northampton, MA):
Jake Meginsky (percussion/electronics) has collaborated and performed with such artists as Milford Graves, Alvin Lucier, Joan Labarbara, Greg Kelley, Bhob Rainey, Vic Rawlings, Joe McPhee, Thurston Moore, William Parker, John Blum, Daniel Carter, Paul Flaherty, Arthur Brooks, Bill Nace, and John Truscinski.
HUCK magazine describes his work as “constantly transgressing the boundaries between acoustic and electronic, analog and digital” and continues, “invention is at the heart of Jake’s work even before he strikes a note.” Volcanic Tongue recently called Meginsky’s 2014 solo record, Lâ appel Du Vide, “a hallucinatory electro percussion masterpiece” and in the WIRE Magazine review of the album, Nick Cain writes, “the album uses little more than a couple of sounds, extracting often head spinning complexity from a minimum of means.”
Meginsky’s recordings can be found on Feeding Tube Records (Northampton, MA), Rel Records (Providence, RI), Open Mouth Records (Northampton, MA), Hells Half Halo (Seattle, WA), Wooden Finger Records (Belgium), Ultra Eczema Records (Belgium), and Ecstatic Peace Records (Northampton, MA). He recently remixed Body/Head’s (Kim Gordon & Bill Nace) “Last Mistress” for Matador Records (NYC).
AKNKVN (Tokyo):
AKNKVN (Akihiko Ando, laptop/alto sax/effects + Kevin McHugh, keyboards) based in Tokyo, have been performing free improv and noise in tandem since 2009.
Akihiko “Akkun” Ando is an alto saxophonist born in Chiba, Japan in 1986. Since moving to Tokyo in 2001, he has been an active member of underground music scenes in both Tokyo and Kansai (western Japan), performing sax, effects and electronics. One of his many bands, kuruucrew, released their first album “Battle Disco” in 2008 on P-VINE RECORDS, and continues performing around Japan and Europe. Its second album “grind mirrorball” was released in 2010 from the Japanese noise collective “Incapacitants”. The following year took Akkun to Switzerland’s yearly LUFF (Lausanne Underground Film & Music Festival) to perform with Masaya Nakahara (a.k.a Hair Stylistics), as well as tours in France and Germany.
From 2012, Akkun has been a regular collaborator with pianist Kevin McHugh, releasing “Hills” with their band Polylis on miminoko pro. The same year brought him to NYC, touring with Zs, Kid Millions, and Boredoms Koshiro Hino (subsequently releasing an album with Hino in 2015 as part of the group “goat” on the HEADZ label.) Recently he has been pursuing even more overseas collaborations: in 2014 supporting Arto Lindsay Band’s “Encyclopedia of Arto” Japan tour, as well hosting Berlin-based experimental electronic music label
Kevin McHugh is a pianist, accordionist and improviser from Seattle, WA. After graduating from Oberlin Conservatory, he won a yearlong Watson Fellowship to explore improvised music scenes in 5 megacities around the world: São Paulo, Cairo, Mumbai, Shanghai, and Tokyo. After living in NYC and Oakland, Kevin has been based in Tokyo since 2009, performing and recording as an active member of Tokyo’s experimental music scene.
Besides touring Japan, Europe and the US regularly, he is a founding member of both the Berlin-based North American tonal Organization as well as Improlabo, Polylis, and nariiki in Tokyo. In 2012 he was chosen to compose music for a theatrical performance and short film to support the Tohoku earthquake survivors, thanks to a grant from the Japan Foundation. He is a recent recipient of a 2015 Seattle 4Culture award to lead a collaborative project between Japanese and US musicians.
Lead Pipe (Philadelphia):
Lead Pipe is sound artists Stephanie Bonham & Paul Irvin Brinkley. Stephanie moved to Philadelphia from Austin in 2013. Her soundscapes incorporate field recordings, drones, infinite loops, synthesizers, effects pedals, drum machines and distorted vocals. She is joined by longtime collaborator Paul Irvin Brinkley, manipulating radio and records. He played bass synth with Lead Pipe from 2012-2013 in Austin, moving to Philadelphia in 2014 when they resumed collaboration. Other projects he is involved in include Templo X, Mirror Travel & Mermaid Blonde.
Links at http://www.museumfire.com/events & https://www.facebook.com/events/467957050040840/
