I am a cellist and composer who works in a wide variety of styles and situations, often with bands, singers, choreographers, film makers, writers, etc., and sometimes solo. I live and work in Seattle, and play pretty regularly in other parts of the U.S. and other countries. I’ve released albums on several labels, including Second Editions, Mississippi Records, Sub Rosa, Substrata, Marginal Frequency, Ed Banger, Talking Helps, and will release more soon on Eiderdown Sounds and SofaBurn. I am co-founder of a brand new union, the Freelance Artists Coalition of Seattle (FACS). You can find more of my music on BandCamp, and support me directly via Venmo or PayPal.

Yellowstone Score was recorded by Mell Dettmer at Studio Soli for Jon Jost to use as a soundtrack for a film he’s working on. I played amplified cello, and recorded it live in one long take while watching the film. I didn’t ask many questions and thought the film was edited, but turns out it wasn’t so the score is probably longer than the film will be. Anyway, it works out fine – it was a fun challenge to play in that way with solid focus and intention for such a long stretch. The film is very beautiful and minimal. 

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.

Amplified clarinetist, vocalist, and composer Beth Fleenor (aka Crystal Beth) believes that we need a way to deal with ourselves so that we can deal with each other. She uses sound to open the channels of communication within individuals and environments. Her work as been heard in live music, recordings, theater, performance art, installation, modern dance, and film. Fleenor believe that an emphasis on creativity in a culture gives rise to creative solutions to social problems. You can support her directly via BandCamp or PayPal.

Inside Outside. There is so much emotion accumulating that moving it from the inside to the outside so it can change form feels like an epic task. It feels impossible to do it in any sort of measured way. It’s like there are too many things trying to fit through the gate at once. Releasing them means ripping the gate open so everything can pass through at a rushing speed. I needed a way to let all the tears flow. This continuous improvised piece was that for me. May we all be gentle with ourselves in allowing what is inside to move outside.

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.

Pianist, composer, and educator Marina Albero is a captivating performer born in Barcelona and based in Seattle since 2015. Albero’s piano playing is an absolute celebration of life, her spirited performances are intelligent, uplifting, and delightfully engrossing. Albero deftly draws on a lifetime of music tradition, from her native Barcelona in classical as well as flamenco, to Cuba and Son Cubano, to American jazz. Albero was the recipient of the Golden Ear Award as Emerging Artist of 2018 and best instrumentalist and best record of 2019. You can support her directly via Patreon or BandCamp.

All the music was recorded in three sessions at home on April 27th, May 4th and May 5th. It reflects the many intense stages and feelings I have experienced since the pandemic started: Frustration, hope, fear, excitement, melancholy, curiosity, gratitude, reflection, awareness, acceptance…a whole spectrum that swings from one end to other as you will notice in the music. There’s  also an improvisation on hammered dulcimer that leads to the third block where some originals get blended and tied to spontaneous ideas on the piano again.

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.

Paul Kikuchi is a musician and sound artist. He is a seeker of things undefinable – drawn to the shadows and the margins. He is music faculty at South Seattle College. You can buy his music directly from BandCamp.

notes scratched on paper; chasing temple bells before dawn; biking narrow streets; fine dust that gathers in 100 year old grooves; things loved by those who are no longer; the pulsing glow of coals. 

Paul Kikuchi – composition, field recording, drums, guitar, piano, electronics
Miura Remi – hichiriki and sho
Nakamura Hitomi – hichiriki
Christopher Yohmei Bladsel – shakuhachi
Tajima Kazue – wagon and sho

Composed, recorded and mixed by Paul Kikuchi
Additional recording by Noriaki Watanabe
Mastered by Alex Vittum

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.

Kole Galbraith is a musician and sound artist originally from Wenatchee, Washington. He settled in Seattle after living in Germany, Mexico, and Austria. While traveling, Kole immersed himself in improvised experimental music across multiple genres ranging from free jazz, harsh noise, new music, and metal. He has exhibited his works in galleries and venues throughout the west coast and in Austria. Kole is a descendant of the Colville and Sinixt Tribes, and an enrolled member of the Peoria Tribe of Indians in Oklahoma.

Kennewick Man

A battle over ancient bones.
Reopened scars in the earth and our kin.
Awakened from eternal slumber,
to be taken from the creator herself—defiled.
Wáashat,
Smohalla.
Return the ancient thought,
as we have returned our ancient ancestor.
To the earth.
Go to her.

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.

Megan Mitchell composes unsettling, ethereal music under the alias, Cruel Diagonals. A jazz and classically trained vocalist, Mitchell performs and creates in numerous capacities. Mitchell has released albums with Drawing Room Records and Longform Editions, which have been met with critical acclaim. She also hosts ManyManyWomen, an index of female-identified artists making adventurous musics. You can buy her music directly from BandCamp.

This set is comprised of various works in progress and unreleased compositions utilizing a blend of voice, field recordings, Eurorack, granular synthesis, and digital processes. While earlier Cruel Diagonals releases hinted at decay and discomfort, this performance faces those themes head-on, with an unfaltering acceptance of the duality of pain and transcendence. It represents a shift into the domain of more intentional psychoacoustics, exploring noisier and harsher territories in the process.

(Photo: Marylène Mey)

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.

Guitarist Bill Horist has been making adventurous music in the Northwest US for 25 years.  His work stretches across a diverse range of genres, conventional and otherwise. He has appeared on almost 100 records and has toured regularly throughout Europe, Japan, North and Central America. He also enjoys teaching guitar.

Reverse Transcriptase – Bite the Hand that Feeds the Gift Horse in the Mouth (parts I-V) — Solo prepared guitar improvisations

Reverse transcriptase is an enzyme used by some viruses to convert their own RNA into DNA. This DNA is then edited into the host’s own DNA for perpetuity. Up to 10% of the human genome is made up of these mostly harmless viruses – called junk DNA, leading to controversial speculation that viruses may have been the initial prompt for all organic life and the evolution of every different species of plant and animal.

Recorded in quarantine on Saturday afternoon, April 25, 2020

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.

Self-taught multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer and improviser Amy Denio performs and produces soundtracks for film, TV, dance, and multi-media performances. Her work has been commissioned by the Berkeley Symphony, Relache Ensemble, Seattle Theater Group, On the Boards, New York Festival of Song, Bumbershoot Festival, Jack Straw Foundation, and Il Cantiere Internazionale dell’Arte and Norwegian TV. A member of the Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame, she enjoys expanding all genres of music.  Founding member and President of the all-women Tiptons Sax Quartet, she’s collaborated with a plethora of musicians and artists since 1980 and has produced over 60 recordings and played 1,000 concerts internationally. You can support her directly via Patreon and BandCamp.

QUARANTAINT

The COVID-19 Quarantine of 2020 has created an opportunity to expand my horizons as an improviser and composer. Some of these pieces are free improvisations. Others are improvisations based on the numbers of infected and dead in New York City (341,235 / 9562), New Jersey (92,387 / 4753), Rome (5232 / 311), Connecticut (20,360 / 1423) and Detroit (actually Wayne County: 13692 / 1119).  0 is G, 1 is A, 2 is B, 3 is C and so forth.  All pieces were improvised and produced between April 16 and April 22, 2020.  Steve Turnidge mastered Roma and Detroit at Ultraviolet Studios.

Track List:

1. Improvisation #2
2. Improvisation #3
3. New York City
4. New Jersey
5. Roma Italia
6. Connecticut
7. Improvisation #8
8. Detroit
9. Improvisation #7

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 Brass Jr. is a composer/keyboardist based out of Seattle’s thriving musical landscape. He’s a founding member and leader of the improvising space-funk trio Afro Cop along with other side projects. His solo work is part ambient, part psychedelic, all soul. Influenced by early sci-fi soundtracks, film noir, and improvisation, his scenes are synth-lush and spliced, while dosed with mood changing textures, dystopic yet hopeful.

The collective consciousness of the current uncertainty brings up all types of questions, moods, and ideas. This track, “Quarantine Dreams”, is a contribution of inspiration from my current headspace with thought and reflection. Grateful for the surrounding community & all those involved in contributing to healing, empathy, understanding & love. Recorded at home on Sunday April 19, 2020 using Nord Stage + Looper.

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.

Casey Chittenden Jones has been soundtracking the collapse of civilization under the moniker noisepoetnobody. Utilizing home made instruments and modular synthesizers creating haunting, discordant and broken sounds to express the need for creativity in a dying ecosystem. Specializing in underground venues, bars, art galleries, abandon buildings, and illegal DIY spaces. Always seeking to promote mental deprogramming through anti-commercial sonic immersion. Each set is a one of a kind exchange of energy employing analog electronics and improvised inspirations via speaker cones. Most commonly associated with the genres of, experimental, minimalism, noise, drone, dark ambient.

This track, “Amid the Swirling,” features noisepoetnobody on analog modular synthesizer, hollow log with springs, resonant copper, and processed field recordings. Liquid field recording by Briana Jones.

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.