Lauren Sarah Hayes brings the intense physicality of her hybrid human-machine sonic performance to Seattle, with support from local computer synthesists Sebastian Camens and RM Francis.

Lauren Sarah Hayes is a Scottish improviser, sound artist, and scholar recognised for her embodied approach to computer music. Her music is a mix of experimental pop/live electronics/techno/noise/free improvisation and has been described as ‘voracious’ and ‘exhilarating’. She is a sculptress of sound, manipulating, remixing, and bending voice, drum machines, analogue synths and self-built software live and physically. She is excited by what can happen in the vulnerable relationships between sound, space, and audience. Her shows are highly physical, making the performance of live electronic music more engaging for audiences. Over the last fifteen years she has developed and honed a deliberately challenging and unpredictable performance system that explores the relationships between bodies, sound, environments, and technology.

Hayes has been commissioned by major festivals including the London Jazz Festival, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival with a live BBC Radio 3 broadcast as part of its 2017 International Showcase, and Sonica, for which she gave four sold-out performances inside Hamilton Mausoleum, Scotland, famous for once holding the longest echo of any man-made structure. She has performed extensively across Europe and the US, including as part of her tenure with the New BBC Radiophonic Workshop at Kings Place, London. The Wire described her 2016 album MANIPULATION (pan y rosas discos) as “skittering melodies and clip-clopping rhythms suggesting a mischievous intelligence emerging from this web of wires”. Her 2021 release Embrace (Superpang) was included in Bandcamp’s Best Experimental Music of February 2021.

Sebastian Camens is a Dutch/Australian multidisciplinary artist based in Seattle. With releases on NADA and Conditional, his work aims to push the boundaries of the subversive within computer music.

RM Francis is an artist based in Seattle working with computer-generated sound and language via recording, installation, and performance. He has presented work at the Mills College Center for Contemporary Music (Oakland), The Lab (San Francisco), Kolonia Artystów (Gdańsk), and at festivals including Diffusion (Baltimore), Algorithmic Art Assembly (San Francisco), and Parken (Vienna). His practice foregrounds computation-based compositional strategies, focusing on methods that exploit discrepancies between human and artificial auditory systems. His current work exploits latent phonological data extracted from non-linguistic sound in order to generate the tonal, rhythmic, and semantic content of synthesized speech. The resulting asubjective narration articulates the potentialities of speech decoupled from embodied human expression, navigating between abstract sound and uncanny characterological specificity.

His oeuvre spans multimedia work incorporating sound, video, performance, and chocolate (Hyperplastic Other, 2017), investigations of historical computer synthesis methods (A Taxonomy of Guffaws, 2020), procedural text works for a chorus of synthetic voices (Every Single Person Has Some Muscle, 2022), and hallucinatory duets between dictation apps and deep learning networks (pedimos un mensaje, 2023). In addition to his solo projects, in recent years he has collaborated with Jack Callahan & Jeff Witscher, Jung An Tagen, and farmersmanual, among others.

Matthew Welch’s work, at its core, is about experimental musical hybridity between traditional and innovative forms of Western music and World music. Drawing from over two decades of research and performance interests in diverse musical systems — Western classical and experimental music, jazz and improvisation, Scottish bagpipes, Indonesian gamelan, and music of the Philippine Cordillera — he creates new compositional connections, and develops catalysts for dialogue between seemingly disparate musical forms.

Broken Crow is a Portland trio made up of Caspar Sonnet, Joel Nelson, and Sam Klapper. Their work ranges from open improvisation to tape loop material. The range of compositional form and sound design from the group is a breath of fresh air in experimental scene.

Local acts supporting the out of town groups are Tarsier Eyes and a duo between dancer Hannah Rice and drummer Casey Adams.

Tiger Poems : Arrington de Dionyso (bass clarinet and voice masking), Gust Burns (piano), and Noel Kennon (idiosyncratic percussion).

“Tiger seems a little mad… in a sense, the tiger is mad. but the tiger is also perfectly at ease. the tiger is simultaneously disarming and making minute preparations stalking and exiting beaming and weeping mending and tearing feeling and deflecting engaged in sabotage and reconstruction self defense and desubjectivation sweeping away all traces of security to condition the abolition of endangerment.” (prose piece by Gust Burns)

Gregory Reynolds will open the evening with improvisations on percussion and flutes from China, Japan, and India. Reynolds recently moved back to the Seattle area to study Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine at Bastyr University. His most recent music involves the exploration of various flutes from Southeast and East Asia.

Guitarist Satchel Henneman performs an eclectic program of contemporary works by Chris Cerrone, Han Lash, Zachary James Watkins, Tom Baker, Jarrad Powell, and Marguerite Brown. With a program evocative of many styles and genres, from Han Lash’s jazz-like “For Ben,” to Marguerite Brown’s textural study of clouds “Crown Shyness,” this rare opportunity to experience a recital of contemporary concert music played entirely on solo electric guitar is certain to have something for every listener.

Satchel Henneman (b.1995) is a composer and virtuoso guitarist from the Pacific Northwest currently based in Riverside, California. He has received degrees from Cornish College of the Arts (BM ‘17) and Yale School of Music (MM ‘20), where he studied with Ben Verdery. Satchel has guest lectured at the Yale School of Architecture, The New School, and Pace, and is currently on faculty at the Riverside Arts Academy and the Claremont Community School of Music.

Tiny Orchestral Moments presents an evening of structured improvisation for ginormous guitar ensemble, featuring eleven electric guitars: SGC ElecTrio, CKST, Fernando Kabusacki (Buenos Aires) and Fabio Mittino (Milan).

SGC ElecTrio (Steve Ball, Travis Metcalf, Brad Hogg, Dev Ray, Don Box) is a subset of Seattle Guitar Circle, local chapter of the legendary League of Crafty Guitarists playing intricate, polymetric music arranged for electric guitar ensemble. SGC Electrio perform structured improvisation that sounds composed and composed collaboration that sounds improvised.

CSKT, an instrumental quartet focused on improvisation and creative play featuring Chris Gibson, Scott Adams, Ken Jacobsen and Travis Metcalf. CSKT delivers a sonic journey exploring possibilities, in-the-moment composition and eye-opening interplay. 

Special guests: Fernando Kabusacki, Argentinian guitar legend who has played / recorded with Phil Manzanera, Charly Garcia, MG Epumer, Tricky, Robert Fripp, Electric Gauchos, Los Gauchos Alemanes, Juana Molina, Damo Suzuki Yoshimi, Otomo Yoshihide, League of Crafty Guitarists, Seiichi Yamamoto, Yuji Katsui, Buffalo Daughter and Marina Fages. Also from Milan, stunt guitarist Fabio Mittino, working with Robert Fripp’s Guitar Craft since 1998, one of the most accomplished GC graduates, well-known for his Simple Music for Difficult People series. His right hand is a high-speed, precision machine.

Produced by Tiny Orchestral Moments and Seattle Circle non-profit, this show builds on decades of collaborations in the PNW and all over the world. This orchestral guitar extravaganza will feature a climax including all eleven musicians, improvising intricate, polyrhythmic textures: the power of Branca with the intricacy of Reich.  

A confluence is when two or more flowing bodies of water meet to become one – waters that had their own ecosystems can join to make new systems greater than the sums of their parts. “Confluence 1” is the first of a prospective concert series based on this concept, inviting Seattle’s most adventurous musicians to collaborate in small sets exploring exciting avenues of contemporary music. Performers are given full freedom to program and perform 10-15 minute segments, and the combined program is varied, enriching and unrepeatable.

This inaugural concert features pianist Jennifer Chung, multi-instrumentalist Peter Nelson-King, trombonist Greg Powers, cellist Mary Riles, clarinettist Jenny Ziefel, and composer/performer Aaron Keyt, who will be premiering his own compositions. Other featured composers include Friedrich Cerha, James Dapogny, Jeremy Gill, Jordan Nobles, Justin Rizzo-Weaver, and Jinrayr Shahrimanyan. The program takes performers and listeners through three continents and a large spectrum of living styles and techniques, from mathematical precision to meditative improvisation.

A night of euphonious and elevating ambient electronic music with focus on the trippier side. Thoughtful and engaging with layers and textures to dip in and out of. Visuals and colors provided by Mokedo will enhance the space and take you deep into different moods, spaces and time.

Tim Westcott, visiting from Portland, records and performs as wndfrm. Tim’s work is often characterized by processed field recordings, tonal minimalism, a wide dynamic range and an inquisitive, patient ear.

The cavernous and beautiful project of renowned DJ and Further Records headmaster Chloe Harris, Raica walks a fine musical line between lucid animation and blurred darkness.

Cam MacNair uses field recordings, modular synthesis, piano, bass flute, bowed guitar, and other processed sounds to create their music. Inspired by movements in nature and the human juxtaposition to it, Cameron aims to capture its moments in stasis, in full acceptance of its beauty.

Mollie Bryan (Mokedo) has spent years cultivating light shows and enriching lives with color all around Seattle and beyond. Her artistic endeavors span across painting, video mapping, and sculptural light exhibits. Mollie’s art seeks to encapsulate and transmit the profound happiness that arises from working with the ethereal elements of light, color, and nature, enveloping the viewer in pure joy and wonder. Her thoughtful and skillful approach transforming buildings, parks, places, and spaces transcends reality.

PRAN is trombonist Greg Powers performing the deeply meditative style of Dhrupad. Since his Fulbright to India in 1988, Powers has continued his study of the ancient Dagarbhani tradition both here and in Mumbai with Ustads Zia Fariduddin Dagar, Jeff Lewis, Uday Bhawalkar and Bahauddin Dagar. He is a pioneer in adapting this ancient tradition to the trombone and strives to manifest the unstuck sound.

Two Seattle bands with deep ties to the city’s new and experimental music scenes, Tom Baker Quartet and Kin of the Moon, will present an evening of acoustic, improvised music to explore the mystical resonances of the Chapel Performance Space. 

Short sets by each band will be followed by a third set with all seven performers: Heather Bentley (viola), Kaley Lane Eaton (banjo), Leanna Keith (flute), Tom Baker (acoustic guitar and dobro), Jesse Canterbury (clarinets), Brian Cobb (acoustic bass), Greg Campbell (percussion). 

Droneroom is the nom de strum of Blake Edward Conley, a certified Kentucky Colonel and the self-professed Cowboy of Drone. Conley has demonstrated his ability to drift, twang, and sear over the course of numerous releases (including …The Other Doesn’t, Neon Depression, Negative Libra, Whatever Truthful Understanding, and Rusted Lung) across various labels (Somewherecold, Desert Records, Marginal Glitch, Echodelick, and Ramble Records (AU)), and has been noted as part of the forefront of the burgeoning Ambient Country movement, featured on the Ambient Country podcast and Bandcamp.com’s Ambient Country for Beginners.

On guitar and various drone instruments, Adam Troy will be performing deconstructed versions of songs from his latest ep Latents, as well as new material that has been composed for this showcase. Always seeking irony and ambiguity in sound, Troy’s music resides somewhere between gesture and anti-gesture. He has an MA in music composition from Mills College where his studies were focused on ritual practice and perceptual manipulation through music. Aesthetically, Troy’s music plots a crooked path between hostile ambience and affectionate post-rock.

skunk ape is elliott hansen holding and bending sound. skunk ape is made of blood and copper and breath and magnetic tape. skunk ape is music to watch plants die to.

Corpse Pose is the ambient guitar project of Stephan Blount. The namesake coming from the final meditation in yoga, the sounds are meant to inspire renewal, routines, perspectives and reflections. Stephan will be performing his first fully improvised piece “Perseverations in C Minor.” Bad to the Drone will serve as a release for the droneroom/corpse pose split on Heathen Fawn Recordings.