The major event this week will be the three-day New Frequencies Fest at the end of this week at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. This site has also already announced the return of the Now Hear Ensemble to give the first installment in their Not for the Ears Alone series in a concert at the Center for New Music (C4NM) curated by Ken Ueno. If that were not enough, there will be four more events this week that are likely to be of interest to the adventurous as follows:
Thursday, April 28, 8 p.m., Luggage Store Gallery: The weekly installment in Outsound Presents’ Luggage Store Creative Music Series will follow the usual format of two sets of free improvisations, each a little less than an hour in duration. The first set will be a solo performance by vocalist Rachel Austin working with electronic gear. She will be followed by the French Radio trio, whose approach to free improvisation has been inspired by the French musique concrète movement, which Pierre Schaeffer first began to pursue in the early Forties and which flourished during the Fifties with work based in French radio broadcasting studios. In that spirit Jim Kaiser will be playing bicycle wheel along with Bruce Anderson, whose guitar work is inspired by the MX-80 style, and Andrew Way, who uses electronics to transform recorded sounds played on his “anti-turntables.” The Luggage Store Gallery is located at 1007 Market Street, and admission will be on the usual sliding scale between $6 and $15.
Friday, April 29, 7:30 p.m., C4NM: Danny Clay will curate a visit by pianist and fierce new music advocate Nicholas Phillips, who is based in Wisconsin. His program, New Playlist, will feature the world premiere of a piece by local composer Lucas Floyd. Phillips has selected eight other contemporary composers to include on his program, which promises to offer enough breadth to provide approval at some point for each member of the audience.
C4NM is located at 55 Taylor Street, half a block north of where Golden Gate Avenue meets Market Street. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members and students. Tickets will be available only at the door.
[added 4/29, 10:45 a.m.:
Saturday, April 30, 8 p.m., The Lab: The next performance of adventurous music to be hosted by The Lab has the title Sights & Sounds. The major work on the program will be a new composition by Chiara Giovando for voice, strings, and subwoofers entitled “Puncture Tones.” The piece was conceived to explore the psychoacoustic phenomenon of sonic masking, which occurs when the presence of one sound partially or completely masks the perception of another without necessarily being louder. The score uses graphical notation, and sculpture structures will be part of the performance. Giovando will be one of the vocalists and will also control the electronics. Vocalists Danishta Rivera and Jake Freeman will perform with singing masks. The string players will be violinists Kristina Dutton and Mia Bella D’Augelli and cellist Crystal Pascucci. The performance of “Puncture Tones” will be preceded by a percussion solo by Yasi Perera and a film program including new short works by Wei Li and light of the tulpa.
The Lab is located in the Mission at 2948 16th Street, between South Van Ness Avenue and Mission Street. Because it is only half a block from Mission Street, it is convenient to both the 16th Street BART station and the bus stop at that corner. Doors usually open about half an hour before an event begins. Demand for concerts at The Lab tends to be heavy, so advance purchase of tickets is highly recommended. General admission will be $15, and members of The Lab will be admitted for free. Tickets may be reserved through an event page on the Web site for The Lab. The performance is expected to last for about two hours.]
Saturday, April 30, 8:30 p.m., 1962 Harrison: FINITE is likely to be new to many readers. It seems to consist of David Kanaga, Madalyn Merkey, Cullen Miller, and equilet, all working out of different parts of the Bay Area. It describes itself as “a quarterly concert series focusing on showcasing weird music and sound.” On the basis of Miller’s Facebook site, this will be the second concert in the series (and these days having a second concert needs to be recognized as an achievement). The program for this month’s concert will feature music by Miller, Gabriel Dunne, and equilet, as well as visiting artists Rene Hell from Portland and easysimple from Detroit. 1962 Harrison Street in located in NEMIZ (the NorthEast Mission Industrial Zone) near the corner of 16th Street, making it a healthy walk from the corner of 16th Street and Mission Street, which is convenient for both Muni and BART transportation. Tickets may be purchased in advance for $10 through a Splash event page.
Monday, May 2, 8:30 p.m., Make Out Room: The first Monday of a new month will bring the next installment of the Monday Make-Out. This will be the usual three-set evening of cutting-edge jazz improvisation. The opening set will be the Two Aerials quartet, led by Mark Clifford playing vibraphone, keyboards, drums, and electronic gear. He will be joined by cellist Crystal Pascucci, who will also be vocalist and keyboardist for the evening, again with the support of electronics. The other members of the quartet are Steve Blum, also on keyboards, and Britt Ciampa, also on drums. They will be followed by the Grex trio of Karl Evangelista (guitar and vocals), Rei Scampavia (keyboards and vocals), and Robert Lopez (drums). The final set will be taken by the world fusion quartet DaMaDa, whose name loosely refers to the members: Luo Danna (vocals), Marc Schmitz (guitar), Dave Mihaly (percussion), and Michael Fortes (bass).
