Amirtha Kidambi’s Elder Ones (NYC) :
Elder Ones is a quartet performing the compositions of vocalist Amirtha Kidambi (Seaven Teares/Elizabeth-Caroline Unit) lies nestled in a venn diagram of musical spheres and communities in New York City. Her and her collaborators saxophonist Matt Nelson (Battle Trance/Tune-Yards), bassist Brandon Lopez (Tongues, The Undermine Trio) and drummer Max Jaffe (Jobs, Unnatural Ways) have crossed paths in the DIY underbelly, in incestuous circles of free improvisers, and uncomfortable chairs in concert halls of angular new music. The instrumentalists chosen for this project draw from a wide variety of vocabularies from hip-hop to free improv, each bringing their own highly individual sound to the group. The quartet uses composed material and loose structures as a template for improvisation. Oscillating between worlds of modal Sufi-like circular grooves, to jagged rhythmic precision and punishing brutality, Thyagaraja, Coltrane or Stockhausen could be equally suspected as illegitimate fathers of their sound.
The band formed to realize Amirtha’s composition Mother Tongues. The piece was premiered at Roulette in June 2015 for the Emerging Artist Commission. Commissioning funds will be used in part to make a debut
recording this year.
Erik Ruin’s Ominous Cloud Ensemble (Philadelphia):
Erik Ruin’s Ominous Cloud Ensemble is an ever-evolving, collectively-improvising large ensemble for projections and music. Visual artist Erik Ruin manipulates intricate paper-cuts and painted films on overhead projectors to create abstract landscapes and fragmentary scenes that are nonetheless charged with meaning, in collaboration with a rotating cast of local luminaries from a variety of musical backgrounds, including members of Deveykus, Many Arms, Swarm, Night Raids, Make A Rising, the Horrible Department, Destroying Angel, etc.
Erik Ruin is a Michigan-raised, Philadelphia based printmaker, shadow puppeteer, paper-cut artist, etc. His work oscillates between the poles of apocalyptic anxieties and utopian yearnings, with an emphasis
on empathy, transcendence and obsessive detail. He frequently works collaboratively with musicians, theater performers, other artists and activist campaigns. He is a founding member of the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative.
Ashley Tini/Deekus- vibraphone
Dan Blacksberg- trombone
Eric Carbonara- pedal steel
Julius Masri- drums, percussion
Lindsay Baukert- violin
Nick Millevoi- guitar
Reid Books- prepared guitar
Travis Woodson- guitar
Erik Ruin-projections, tapes
Moor Mother Goddess/Keir Neuringer duo (Philadelphia):
“One of the most important things that happened to me when I moved from the DC metro area to Philadelphia was that I met Camae Defstar. She is exactly the kind of person I wanted to meet by journeying to a new city – a fierce musician, a passionate community activist, a curator, a poet, and an all around badass. She is a Renaissance woman, kinetic, inspiring and filled to the brim with energy in creation.
Camae is also at the helm of some of the most exciting punk, art and community projects going on in Philadelphia right now. As a musician, she records under the name Moor Mother Goddess, drawing inspiration from experimental, punk, rap, and noise to make songs she self describes as “blk girl blues, witch rap, coffee shop riot gurl songs, southern girl dittys, black ghost songs.” She also works with the groups Black Quantum Futurism and Afrofuturist Affair, and is a driving force behind the Philly show series ROCKERS.” – Katy Otto/The Media
Keir Neuringer is a Philadelphia-based saxophonist and composer whose work is underpinned by interdisciplinary approaches and socio-political contextualizations. He is best known for a personal
and intensely physical saxophone technique, revealed through long form solo improvisations, as well as collaborations with a multitude of world-renowned and underground practitioners in jazz, avant-garde, noise, classical, theater, and dance disciplines. He has traveled extensively to present his work, appeared on numerous festival stages, and given workshops throughout Europe and North America. In addition to the saxophone, he plays analogue electronics and Farfisa organ, and sings and narrates text. He trained as a composer and saxophonist in the US, spent two years on a Fulbright research grant in Krakow, and then moved to The Hague, where he lived for eight years, curating performative audiovisual art and earning a masters degree from the experimental ArtScience Institute. Originally from New York State, he settled in West Philadelphia in 2012, where he lives with his family and is a member of the Books Through Bars collective.
