Seattle-based composer John Teske writes contemporary concert music for soloists, chamber groups, chamber orchestra, and “any ensemble”. John’s music has been performed across the Americas, as well as in France and Russia, and has been supported by the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, the Jack Straw Foundation, and the City of Seattle. (photo: Amelia Apfel)

intonations is a suite of graphic scores based on dark intonations and dreams. Written for “any ensemble” and generated algorithmically, the scores and ensemble are unique for each performance. In this recording: Greg Campbell, percussion; Luke Fitzpatrick, violin; Haley Freedlund, trombone; Noel Kennon, viola; John Teske, double bass; Neil Welch, saxophone. Mastered by Bill Levey.

(00:00) swell
(08:37) ad;sr
(15:02) prelude
(20:10) trashfire

(23:28) intonations

• threadshift
• by the fucking neck
• bone flute
• mauler
• libera me
• brain slap
• klaxon wail
• papercut butterflies
• blood on the hearth
• death rattle

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Sovan is a collaboration between Tomo Nakayama and Jeramy Koepping.

This recording is a combination of ambient electronic loops, live improvised acoustic piano and electric guitar, cassette tape manipulation, and field recordings collected in our neighborhood of West Seattle. Though we live only a mile or so apart, we created this piece separately in our homes, as neither of us were vaccinated at the time. The aim was, in a way, to soundtrack the daily walks we would take around our neighborhoods, in the woods at Schmitz Preserve Park, on the beaches in Alki, the industrial hum of Harbor Island, the peaceful solitude of the Seattle Chinese Garden.

Digital album available to purchase on BandCamp.

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Eric Muhs builds instruments, records, and produces from his Invisible Music studio in Ballard. A physics and astronomy teacher and founder of community radio station KBFG 107.3, he’s been active in music since 1980, pushing boundaries across structured and improvised music. He’s played for a decade with a traditional Hawaiian band, Na Hilahila Boys, and released 3 albums during quarantine, including Frontera Dogs, a collaboration with poet and professor Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs. (Listen on SoundCloud and BandCamp)

I received the invitation to create a piece for the Wayward in Limbo series in the middle of a gigantic cross-continent road trip to see my mother and brother on the East Coast, the first time in nearly two years. The geography of my upcoming drive back west to Seattle suggested an organizing structure: the piece would open with toes in the Atlantic Ocean, and end at the Pacific, with a poem at each end by my partner Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs (she came east, but flew home while I drove). In between, sounds from the road: waterfalls, the slapping rhythm of highways, snoring, a midwest thunderstorm, the lucky find of a coffee shop in Kansas, the wind through tall grass prairie. For many years, I’ve traveled with a ukelele, to Europe, to Central America, to Africa, and I record new on-site improvised pieces wherever I go. When I got back to my studio I recorded some additional music – lately I’ve been working on ukelele electronic dreamscapes in 8-channel stereo – and built out a four-dimensional sonic narrative that crosses the continent.

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Robin Holcomb plays the piano, sings, writes, and records music. Following Sundanese Gamelan study, sharecropping tobacco, and several crucial years in the Lower East Side music community, she has lived and created music in Seattle since 1989. She is currently composing a piece for The Philadelphia Orchestra.

These thirteen solo piano pieces were written, developed, invented, and recorded in my home studio during the coronavirus pandemic. I was worried that they would all sound the same. As it turns out, they have nothing and everything to do with each other. Deep thanks for the opportunity to be a part of this series, and to everyone for listening.

(00:00) 6.20.21
(03:08) 8.9.20
(09:33) Wayward 1
(13:20) 7.18.19.21
(15:18) 6.11.20
(19:39) Free
(24:06) Ash Trees Also
(29:07) Hymn
(32:06) Improvisation 1
(34:52) Improvisation 2
(36:37) Improvisation 3
(38:10) Improvisation 4
(40:51) Improvisation 5

(photo: Peter Gannushkin)

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Noel Kennon is an artist living in Seattle, WA. This work is currently questioning the role and purpose of sounding in society as well as continued research into the actualities of this perception called sound. Inquiries about visiting this year’s installation work -> ‘(tattered drifting)’

This recording is referred to as :

‘ prayer { Monad and the Fantasimon waiting in the garden beside Ophaniel (who is asleep) for their groceries to be delivered by Sisyphus (who is running late). or ‘ at one point – (they needed to rent refrigeration trucks)’ }’

This music is composed of the following materials { chimes (made from scrap metal), viola, filtered white noise, and several open windows }. In observation of the sound of that which is not struck. This activity is dedicated to the willow tree I befriended that has now been replaced with a construction site for high-rise condos.

(photo: Katrina Wolfe)

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Ewa Trębacz (pronounced Eva Trembatch) is a Polish-American composer, an interdisciplinary artist and a violinist-in-disguise. Exploring the unique interaction between the musician and their acoustic environment, she often uses space as a catalyst for improvisation, working through Ambisonic recording sessions in acoustically inspiring spaces. Listen on SoundCloud.

A freelance flutist, artist, improviser, and composer, Leanna Keith delights in creating sound experiences that make audiences laugh, cry, and say: “I didn’t know the flute could do that!” Her performance artworks have focused on cultural connection and the breaking of audience/performer boundaries. Support on Patreon.

Josiah Boothby is a versatile hornist devoted to new music, with a particular focus on improvisation and creative collaboration with composers and other artists. When he’s not playing his horn or teaching, Josiah can be found hiking and climbing around the Pacific Northwest, blues dancing, or staying in to engage in kitchen alchemy.

The Tower of Broken Mirrors

Josiah Boothby, French horn; Leanna Keith, flutes; Ewa Trębacz, violin & electronics

The soundscape emerged from our collective hallucinations at the CT3 cooling tower at Satsop Nuclear Plant. We improvised in the space and the tower sang along, adding its lovely echoes.

Some of the electronic sounds were played back live in the tower with a small 360 loudspeaker – as we improvised to pre-composed phrases. Later Ewa mixed in more electronics for more flavor, and blended it all together. All of the sounds were recorded, processed and mixed in Ambisonics (by Ewa), the version presented here is a binaural mix.

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Joshua Kohl is a composer, sound designer, conductor, musician and co directs Degenerate Art Ensemble, a Seattle based, globe trotting performance company. His primary focus is music for the moving image; dance, film, installation. He is deeply honored to have his work included among so many incredible musicians in the Wayward in Limbo series.

1: Snapshot Spring 2021

I don’t know what this work is about, but I can tell you what was on my mind while working on it. Among my Asian and Asian American friends and family I sense a pervasive sorrow, anger, fear, and fed-up-ness in the air at this moment. A real sense of not being safe. I think about all of the times I have seen friends hurt when those around them overlook things that shouldn’t be overlooked. I think of all of the hurt that has gone unexpressed. I think of all of the moments of darkness and swallowed resentment. It surrounds my heart-mind in a thick gray cloud. “It is going to be ok, we’ve got your back”. But history… This back-getting hasn’t really materialized like it should have. We are now on the cusp of re-emergence from the strangest and most sobering year in my personal memory and I really don’t want things to go back to how they were before. They really weren’t great. A year of rude awakenings. I don’t want the coming year to be one of forgettings. This is not too much for us to handle. We have peered into our toxic mess like we have never before. Let us look again and look again. Let the shock of it all cool down to the point that we can actually open our hearts to it and move forward with determination and integrity. Sending love, courage, and strength to all of you out there in these unfolding future days. This track was made using electronics, sound libraries, home-made instruments, an autoharp, and a few bottles of other secret sauce.

2: Skeleton Flower Audio Sketchbook

This track is a string of sketches from my audio sketchbook for Degenerate Art Ensemble’s Skeleton Flower performance. These are things that were never used, or morphed into other things. Just stuff that I liked and hung on to for some reason or another.

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Percussionist/composer Don Berman has been a part of the Seattle creative music scene for over thirty years, coming from the Midwest after receiving his musical training at Oberlin College and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, where he studied with Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame percussionists Michael Rosen and Thomas Siwe. A key Seattle experience was studying free jazz and improvisation with composer/pianist, Alistair “Al” Hood in the late 1990’s.

Since 2017, Don has maintained a strong musical partnership with composer/multi-instrumentalist Dick Valentine (saxophones, flutes, electronics), meeting weekly to discuss, compose, and play original music. This performance presents Don and Dick’s duo, D2, performing four original pieces:

(00:00) 1. And the Elephant (Berman)
(07:45) 2. Simplest Possible (Valentine)
(17:01) 3. One For Milford (Valentine/Berman)
(24:05) 4. Take 19 (Berman)

THIS CONCERT IS DEDICATED TO MILFORD GRAVES

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Dick Valentine is a composer, improviser, instrumentalist, and performer based in Seattle. Dick’s background includes private and formal studies under Joe Henderson, Janice Giteck, Jarrad Powell, and many, many others. Dick founded and led the influential, widely respected Seattle avant-jazz quartet Far Corner for 15 years. In pre-pandemic times, he was a core ensemble member of Seattle-based ensembles including Banda Gozona, Al Hood Quintet and Workshop, Seattle Turkish Mešk, Gamelan Pacifica, et al. Here’s hoping those musical institutions return to viability and public performances in months to come!

Reflections on Isolation is an experimental work that imagines a psychic landscape, making a journey through it. We encounter several distinct interior monologues as they emerge and express themselves, each with its own voice, its own degree of urgency, its own emotional color and direction, whether questioning, aggressive, meditative, tender, confused, or confident. Sometimes we hear their voices overlap, but it’s never clear if they are able to interact with their environment or with each other. Dick performed all instruments heard in the piece: saxophones, flutes, percussions, and electronics. Enjoy!

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Ramen Trio was formed in 2016 by three veterans of the Seattle music scene with the purpose of writing, improvising and performing music that branches out while at the same time acknowledges the lifeblood of music that came before. The band combines form and freedom through composition, improvisation, jazz and contemporary classical styles while adding splashes of folk and rock resulting in an open-ended dance of ideas. Any player can “float to the top” at almost any time once these guys start rolling. They are currently working towards making their second studio recording.

James DeJoie (clarinet, bass clarinet) has been playing, writing and performing in Seattle for over thirty years. From classical performances to electronic progressive rock and back again, James keeps evolving. After graduating from Central Washington University, he toured extensively throughout the US and internationally for 10 years before settling back into the Seattle area in the early 2000’s.

Doug Lilla (5-string bass guitar) moved to Seattle in 1982 to study with Gary Peacock and played upright bass throughout his younger years, but switched to bass guitar after his hands voiced their unhappiness. His hands are happy now.

Jay Weaver (drums) has been playing in various Jazz, Rock, Country and Cajun bands in the Seattle area since the 1980s.

(00:00) Resembling
(04:16) The Hat Slips Under the Surface
(9:08) A Priori
(14:27) Absorbed
(20:52) Cluster
(26:41) Is Someone There?
(33:20) Keep Your Eyes Peeled

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.