Exotic Hypnotic

Daniel Higgs
Friday, July 18th @ 2PM
Daniel A.I.U Higgs, Interdimensional Song-Seamstress and Corpse-Dancer of the Mystic Crags was born in the Harbor City of Baltimore, USA in the early-mid sixties of the previous millenium. Having begun singing 25 years ago, he is perhaps best known as the singer and lyricist of the band Lungfish, which is now, as it often has been, quasi if not entirely defunct. Presently, the music Daniel manifests proceeds without the blessing/curse and help/hinderance of collaborative influence.
dischord.com/band/danielhiggs

Teeth Mountain
Friday, July 18th @ 3PM
"Teeth Mountain are one my favourite things I’ve heard in ages. I’ve deleted that and re-written it about five times, because when I re-read it, it sounds like the kind of crass statement that a seven year old would flinch at. But, each time I’ve deleted I’ve written it again. And now I’m not worried, because I think it might be true. Blimey. A totally chance encounter (proving there’s life in the old dog yet) led me to their door on an evening wander, and amongst the nauseating background sat diamonds. Musically, there are shades of this, elements of that, but I’m far too discreet to get involved in that kind of business. We’re not fools. Photos suggest that it’s a result of an upsettingly free collaboration, with the kind of thoroughly controlled bedlam that most bands could only dream of. Saws are bowed, drums are banged by whoever fancies a go, percussion abound, cellos drone, hints of electronic devilry, everything everywhere. It should easily be wrong, but it’s really not." Tiny Dancing Blog
myspace.com/teethmountain

Dave Cipriani
Friday, July 18th @ 5PM
Award-winning guitarist/songwriter/composer writes songs, solo guitar pieces and band compositions that reflect the intersection of Indian music, folk fingerpicking & country blues, classic jazz, post-punk rock and heartfelt singer-songwriter styles. He plays electric and classical guitars, 19-string Indian slide guitar, combining things in an organic, soulful way that brings the best each has to offer. It is this artistry and openness that led to Dave Cipriani being selected for the 2006 Individual Artist Award in Solo Instrumental Performance from the Maryland State Arts Council and the 2006 Individual Artist Award from the Baltimore Office of Promotions and the Arts.
davecipriani.com

Nancy Kulkarni
Friday, July 18th @ 6PM
Nancy Kulkarni is an award-winning cellist who has devoted the last 25 years to the performance of Indian classical music on the cello. Nancy studied two years with dhrupad vocalist Dr. Ritwik Sanyal and five years in Mumbai with the renowned veena master Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar. For the last ten years, she visits India annually for further dhrupad cello study with Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar. Before pursuing dhrupad, Nancy was Co-Principal Cellist of the Rome Festival Orchestra and Section Cellist with the Chicago Civic Orchestra and Orchestra del Maggio Musicale of Florence, Italy. In 1982, Nancy first came to India on a holiday from the Florence Orchestra. She began studying dhrupad on her cello with Dr. Ritwik Sanyal in Varanasi, and soon decided to dedicate herself only to the study and performance of dhrupad. Since then, she has given over 200 recitals and lecture/demonstrations at American universities and halls, and in major cities in India. She was twice awarded the Senior Performing Arts Fellowship by the American Institute of Indian Studies, and was the featured artist in the film, "Through My Eyes" by Mani Kaul. Nancy has been featured several times on National Public Radio, All-India Radio, and has released solo CDs on India Archive and Dhrupad labels. Nancy has made several modifications to her cello for Indian music. She has added two extra strings which are plucked in the chikari style of the veena. Her four playing strings pass over a sloping elk-horn nut, modeled after the veena to produce a ringing tone. She has adopted the Indian posture, holding the cello while seated on a carpet. She plays without vibrato, so that subtle ornaments are clearly articulated. Nancy currently teaches World Music at the University of Wisconsin, and resides in the Washington D.C. area. She is available for recitals, workshops, master classes and teaching.
authenticyoga.org/nancy.html

Harrius
Friday, July 18th @ 7PM
Jenny Graf (Metalux) and Chiara Giovando (PCPCG) are Harrius, a duo from Baltimore, Md. Their first LP "Enter the Cotton Ring" was released on Ehse records in 2005. Described as a "bizarre dream of a record... this is willfully weirdly its own brand of wonder! It works a deep subconscious rupture…like a blood vessel mic’d up to volcano level." Harrius creates a strange and perplexing sound that straddles the line between psychedelic folk and electronic improv via BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Never resting on either side of the fence, they build soft arenas of song that are alternately revealed and consumed by a dense field of electronics. Far removed from any "noise" record professing the same instrumentation; Harrius uses vocals and violin to blend in and out analog electronic hiccups and tidal waves. Both their recordings and live performances yield carefully sculpted composition. The duo has also recently completed a short film, "Proud Flesh", a kind of psychedelic Western shot in the Badlands of South Dakota that is scheduled to Premiere in Baltimore on July 11th 2008.
ehserecords.com/ehse005.html

Thank You
Saturday, July 19th @ 1PM
Thank You is an athletic rhythm/action unit from Baltimore, made up of Jeffrey McGrath, Michael Bouyoucas, and Elke Wardlaw. They are three free individuals, subsumed into a collective form that spits out dank, skittering tracks filled with light and dark. Their new album, Terrible Two, was engineered by Baltimore’s beloved J. Robbins (Yeasayer, Mary Timony, Jets to Brazil) at his studio in Baltimore and mixed by Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Celebration, TV on the Radio) at his studio in New York City.
myspace.com/wethankyou

Ric Royer
Saturday, July 19th @ 2PM
Ric Royer resides in Baltimore where he is an organizer of the Transmodern Performance Festival (www.transmodernfestival.com ). In my work I try really hard to be a pleasure to others. Check out all of my truths, delivered with occasional passion. My things navigate through the most obscene, uncomfortable, and disturbing aspects of the psyche in order to stimulate a deep archaic root of radical libidinousness. Dramatic contrasts of moral values appeal to me, I use them to trace moments I have imagined. Each sketch acts as a guidepost to ensure that I don't take my/yourself too seriously, but just seriously enough.
With love and inspiration,
Ric
ricroyer.com

Michael Formanek Ensemble
Saturday, July 19th @ 3PM
Michael Formanek’s singular approach to the acoustic bass has led to an impressive range of musical associations. During his thirty-plus year career, he has played and/or recorded with Elvis Costello, Tim Berne, Uri Caine, Freddie Hubbard, Stan Getz, Marty Ehrlich, Chet Baker, Tony Williams, Gerry Mulligan, Bob Mintzer, Fred Hersch, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson, Mark Isham, Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabackin Big Band, Mingus Big Band, Terumasa Hino, Cedar Walton, Attila Zoller, George Coleman, Jane Ira Bloom, Bob Moses, Gunther Schuller, Peter Erskine, Joe and Matt Maneri, Gary Thomas, Harold Danko, Dave Burrell, and many others.

Composition also plays a significant role in Formanek’s overall musical profile, and four albums of his original music, Wide Open Spaces, Extended Animation, Low Profile and Nature Of The Beast have been released to critical acclaim on the Enja label. Am I Bothering You, a recording of solo bass performances made for Tim Berne’s Screwgun label, has firmly established itself as an important contribution to that genre. Formanek produced or co-produced all of these recordings and among the featured musicians are Greg Osby, Tim Berne, Mark Feldman, Dave Douglas, Marvin “Smitty” Smith, Ku-umba Frank Lacy, Marty Ehrlich, Wayne Krantz, and Jim Black. Formanek received Chamber Music America's New Works: Creation and Presentation Grant for 2000-2001 to compose a new piece for the Tim Berne/Michael Formanek Duo, which was recently performed in Philadelphia as part of the Chamber Music America Encore program for 2007. Formanek was commissioned to compose an original piece for the 150th anniversary of the Peabody Conservatory. The piece, The Open Book for Jazz Soloists with Orchestra, was premiered at Peabody in February of 2007, and featured members of the Peabody Jazz Orchestra and the full Peabody Concert Orchestra under the direction of Hajime Teri Murai. Current projects include Tim Berne’s bloodcount, together with saxophonists Time Berne and Chris Speed, and drummer Jim Black, which has reunited after a ten-year hiatus, and 3081, a Baltimore based quartet featuring trumpeter Dave Ballou, saxophone and clarinetist, John Dierker, and percussionist Will Redman.

The Bow Legged Gorilla
Saturday, July 19th @ 4PM
my best friends father accused me of looking like a bowlegged gorilla eight years ago, he saw me walking down the street and said, "that boy kenny, he looks like a Bow Legged Gorilla", and ever since then thats what i've bin called. Ive bin beat boxing since i was 13 also playin guitar since i was 13, i put the two together and started writing lyrics when i was 16. i grew up in Pasadena md just outside of Baltimore city. my fathers a plumber and my mother is a school bus driver. things i like to do when im not playing music is skate boarding painting, sheets of rusted metal, fait chains, i like working hard choping wood mixing mud laying block, but not all the time, i like gardening, and reading and playing old time music. i play a little claw hammer banjo and im learning how to play the fiddle. get at me if you want to do something fun i dont hang out with people enough.
myspace.com/bowleggedgorilla

Audrey Chen + Takuro Mizuta Lippit
Saturday, July 19th @ 6PM
audrey chen is a chinese-american musician and performance artist born outside of chicago in 1976. using the cello, voice and analog electronics, chen’s work focuses on the combination and layering of traditional and extended techniques. a large component of her music is improvised and her approach to this is often extremely personal and visceral. her performance work incorporates sound, movement and visual/sculptural concepts. chen performs solo and in collaboration with a wide number of musicians and dancers. Among musicians, she has worked with many great improvisers, including phil minton, elliott sharp, aki onda, phill niblock, frederic blondy, jim pugliese, alessandro bosetti, mike cooper, mats gustafsson, mazen kerbaj, michael zerang, tatsuya nakatani, le quan ninh, joe mcphee, susan alcorn, michele doneda, paolo angeli, and gianni gebbia. some current projects include duos with phil minton, frederic blondy, katt hernandez, and nate wooley. the SILO trio with nate wooley and leonel kaplan. and Trockeneis with andy hayleck, dan breen, catherine pancake and paul neidhardt. chen has performed in europe, russia, australia, new zealand, china, japan, taiwan and the USA. She is currently based in Baltimore, MD USA where she is member of the red room and high zero collective, an on-going series and international festival devoted to experimental improvised music.

dj sniff (Takuro Mizuta Lippit) believes in the instrumental autonomy of the turntable and the musicianship of the DJ. He is a turntable musician working in the field of improvised and experimental music. His music focuses on the live reconstruction and narratization of the phonographically amplified - the music, the sound, the technology and the past. To achieve this, he uses a unique setup consisting of hand-made hardware interfaces and a custom Max/MSP software along with one turntable and DJ mixer. He is also a concert/event curator for electronic music and a researcher of music technology. While studying Art History and Philosophy in Tokyo, he was active as a DJ in the underground electronic music scene and formed a collective called smashTV productions which organized genre-mixing events such as anti-Gravity and bistro-Smash!. In 2002, he moved to New York to pursue graduate studies in computer music and physical computing at NYU's ITP (Interactive Telecommunications Program). Since 2005 he has been involved with STEIM's (Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music, Amsterdam) R&D lab and is currently its Artistic Director. dj sniff regularly performs with computer musician Yutaka Makino as /Audile, /saxophonist Keir Neuringer and bassist Raed Yassin.
myspace.com/audreychen

Magic Gurney Ride
Sunday, July 20th @ 1PM
The three males of the Gurney met in the halls of Arkham House Academy for the Emotionally Disabled. They often spoke of playing music but weren't allowed to touch anything with string or metal. Young Daisy used to bring them banana pudding and eventually gained them their release, under the one condition that they make no eye contact with humanity. It's rumored that that rule has only been broken once by one member - Chuck leaving a quarter movie palace on a rainy Sunday morning. The young dancer, Beatrix, has never been seen again.
myspace.com/magicgurneyride

Shelly Blake-Plock
Sunday, July 20th @ 2PM
Shelly Blake-Plock (b. 1974) is a musician, writer, and filmmaker from Baltimore, MD. His recording experience began in 1995 with the release of 'The Lonely Ornamental Music of Shelly Blake' -- a lo-fi cassette release of songs and improvisations mostly recorded on the outgoing message of an answering machine. Early experiments in lo-fi democratized recording produced albums ranging in styles and genres from lo-fi bedroom pop and fractured Americana to abstract electric guitar comps and organ infused psych-outs to non-instrument body performance and theatrical esoterics. 2004 saw first of many collaborations with double bassist Joel Grip. In 2006, they performed a 48 hour continuous performance as a duo; this was a benefit for Public Health Music. In late 2006, Shelly and Matthew H. Welch began work on a quasi-musical called 'The Violencestring'. Comprised entirely of free improvised music but with a scripted libretto, the piece was directed by Grip. Lately, Shelly has been re-exploring the electric guitar in various contexts. Working both solo and in ad hoc ensembles, Among the musicians he has worked with over the years: Joel Grip, John Dierker, Eve Risser, Yuko Oshima, Niklas Barnö, Yann Joussein, Lars Ahlund, Carly Ptak, Twig Harper, Ryan Dorsey, Susan Alcorn, Jenny Gräf, Audrey Chen, Samuel Burt, Rose Hammer, Tom Boram, Dan Breen, Bonnie Jones, Liz Meredith, Will Redman, Jessica Riefler, Marcus Doverud, Lyle Kissack, Andreas Werliin, Christopher Varner, Ben McConnell, Lawrence Lanahan, Matthew H. Welch, Craig Bowen, Devin Gray, Melissa Moore, Nathan Bell, Stewart Mostofsky, and Per Walstedt.
shellyblake.com

Jackie Blake
Sunday, July 20th @ 6PM
Inspired by the natural musical environment in which he was born, master jazz-composer Jackie Blake is one of the great unsung jewels of Baltimore. Playing improvised and composed music that evokes Charlie Parker, Jackie McClean, and the history of later avant-garde jazz, Blake is a highly original voice (and mind). His musical career has been dizzying yet under-documented, including performances with Ethel Ennis, Cab Calloway, Kenny Durham, The Four Tops, Barry White, Gladys Knight, and many other legends of popular and jazz music. Blake believes that jazz subsumes all other musical classifications from Bird to Brahms, Berg, Middle Eastern, Javanese, Japanese, etc.

Ecstatic Sunshine
Sunday, July 20th @ 7PM
Despite polarized histories (Matt Papich played in various noise and grindcore bands in Lancaster PA, while Dustin Wong became was involved in a performance-based cell phone called "japanese" in Tokyo), the sounds and melodies that the duo of ECSTATIC SUNSHINE create congeal to become a single (magical) force. In 2004, after meeting in the conceptual artwork's department at art school in Baltimore , Papich and Wong began to focus on composing deceptively intricate guitar battles for a NEW KIND OF IMAGINATION. Their thesis being - in part - that there are things to be done with sound besides just experience feelings all the time. Witnesses to their frenetic live shows will attest that no recording has truly documented the intensity or peculiarity of this band. It is often said that seeing Ecstatic Sunshine perform is more like listening to a series of stories being told, than watching a band play a set of "songs". Yet, such dreaminess is by no means entirely descriptive of their performance, which owes as much to BLACK FLAG as JOHN FAHEY. Some might think of ECSTATIC SUNSHINE's unique force as a kind of elementary arithmetic: cerebral and of course challenging, but also full of whimsy, exuberance, and curiosity. Their sound has certainly been influenced by their surroundings – from Baltimore's warehouse party scene and its youthful, sometimes naïve positivity, to Dustin's time spent in Oakland, CA rummaging through infinite stacks of records, and Matt's passion for deep sea fishing in the Atlantic are all somewhere in the cosmic mix....
myspace.com/ecstaticsunshine