Elastic Arts, Chicago, IL Videos

September’s Elastro series will be a beautiful collection of sounds and light! We’re excited to host long-running band Velvetron celebrating their 6th album since starting out in 2002 w/ special guest Kim Alpert!Opening the night will be the psychedelic A/V legends Spectralina! Anthony Mizicko, Colin Palombi, Tim Berthiaume, and Seth Vanek have been performing as Velvetron since 2002. They have reunited behind their 6th release Something/Anything, where they continue to explore the territory between post-rock, synth pop, and more electronically driven experimentations. For this special performance as part of the Elastro series, the band will be joining with artist Kim Alpert to present an audio-visual presentation featuring songs and images from the recent album as well as the Velvetron back catalog. Spectralina is the audio-visual performance project of Dan Bitney and Selina Trepp, collaborators, lovers, and magicians. Working in an improvised format, Spectralina creates an image-sound relationship that treats each medium as equal, resulting in performances in which projection and sounds come together as visual music. Music at 8pm! Don’t miss this one!

At this Friday’s September edition of the CLEAT Series we’ll experience three unique pieces of spatial audio from solo artists. Visiting artist seah’s project ‘Conduits of the Hydrosphere’ was created during a 10 year artistic investigation into what it is like to be a body of water. The project is rooted in critical feminist post-humanism, new materialism, and the somatic movement modalities (butoh, body weather laboratory, and noguchi taiso) which seah has been training in for nearly 2 decades. What began as a dance project slowly morphed into sound and video as seah began experimenting with wearing cameras and microphones while dancing out in the field. For this presentation on the CLEAT, seah pulls sounds from the compositions to re-contextualize them for the system while simultaneously creating new textures during the live performance. Luxate is the improvisational electronics project of Kenneth Tarek Sabbar, a Moroccan-American sound artist born in Kenosha, WI. His body of works covers of range of approaches—looping analog tape, techno constructed through modular synthesis, live-coding generative ambience, or granular re-synthesis of recorded acoustic instruments. Though disparate in his process over the years, the through-line is a careful construction of detailed textures—a “loud softness” that can be both confrontational but also demanding of a closer listen. Hedra Rowan is a computer musician in Chicago. She runs Bodymilk, a concert series and tape label. In addition to solo work, she plays with the band Bimbo Rococo, and the duos Tallulah Bankheist, Hell & the High School, and Squonk. For this set, she will improvise computer sounds on 16 channels. Music at 8pm!

We have exciting things happening this week at Elastic! We have two FREE shows left with the 2024 Chicago Jazz Festival 🎺 happening tonight and tomorrow along with another incredible Improvised Music Series Performance on Thursday! visit elasticarts.org for more details! 🌟 #ElasticArts #ChicagoEvents #ChicagoJazzFestival #ImprovisedMusic

Since moving to Madison, WI, in the mid 90’s, saxophone/flutist Hanah Jon Taylor returns to his home of Chicago this Thursday to perform in trio with Kevin Carnes on percussion, Julian Reid on piano, and Emma Dayhuff on string bass. Earlier this summer, Taylor was featured with the Sun Ra Arkestra at Constellation and has most recently performed with the Reggie Workman Ensemble in New York, Philadelphia and in the Midwest. A veteran member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Taylor aspires to re-manifest the tradition of Chicago creative artists with his incorporation of the electronic wind synthesizer with an acoustic rhythm session.  The quartet will perform two sets at 8:30 and 9:30. See you then!

We absolutely LOVE seeing your experiences at Elastic! Check out these awesome moments from audience members at our recent shows! Thank you to @zanderraymond @s.kivlehan @pfcidb for this awesome footage! 🌟❤️ Have some amazing videos/photos of your experience at Elastic that you want to share? Use #ElasticArts to be featured or dm us! #ElasticArts #SeenAtElastic

At this Friday’s Elastro series we host two duos and a solo performance. Hypothetical Star is a gravity-bound astronaut who shares research as freestyle vocal performance with video projections. One can expect to hear genre-busting electronica ranging from influences of: midwest house + techno, metal, dark wave, riot grrrl, japanese pop, american anthems, and most importantly they hear and sing in blues tunings. Camille Casemier and Steph Patsula will offer a presentation of sonic hollowings and live camera excavations via their new work titled ‘Eternity’s Vast Pocket, Picked—‘. It is a staged production of image and sound dealing in pop culture and the quotidian. ‘The Shape of...’ featuring Donny Mahlmeister on guitar/electronics and Theo Katsaounis on guitar and OP-1, explores composed and improvised pieces that touch on guitar soundtrack music akin to Ennio Morricone and early The Shadows; minimalist compositions in the realm of Arnold Dreyblatt and Steve Reich; and early electronic rock from Ashra and Cluster. It will be a beautiful evening of performances. Join us! Friday at 8pm!

This week’s Improvised Music Series features two heavy-hitting jazz trios, including special guests Danny Kamins and Marcin Bozek from Texas and Poland and a piano trio lead by Christopher Dammann (Restroy, Extraordinary Popular Delusions). Each group will contribute their unique sounds, journeys, and experiences to create something truly extraordinary. Don’t miss out on these innovative creations! 8:30pm: Christopher Dammann - bass Steve Hunt - drums Matt Piet - piano 9:30 pm: Danny Kamins - saxophones Marcin Bozek - bass Jerome Bryerton - drums

✨Here’s what’s poppin’ this week at Elastic✨ Join us for another incredible Improvised Music Series this Thursday at 8:30pm with the Danny Kamins Trio + Dammann / Hunt / Piet. The ultimate Black/Afro-Diasporic Caribbean Party is happening this Saturday with the Dark Matter Series Dutty House Jungle + Juke Diasporic Party💃🌟 happening from 9 til late. See you there! For more details, visit elasticarts.org #ElasticArts #ImprovisedMusic #DarkMatter #DarkMatterSeries #ChicagoMusic #ChicagoEvents

TONIGHT! At the August edition of our CLEAT Series, we’ll be experiencing three performances that utilize a theatrical / performance approach to spatial composition. ‘Asterion’ is an audiovisual adaptation of Jorge Luis Borges’ mythological short story The House of Asterion with animation and music by Alexander Dupuis (he/him). Featuring a newly spatialized soundtrack and narration adapted for the CLEAT system, Asterion renders the setting of Borges’ story as a brutalist labyrinth, its walls crawling with synthetic patterns and dead static. CLEAT Series curator Matt Test will present DOWN: A GRAVITY OPERA. In this story Roger Babson loves America and hates Gravity, but he’s standing on a cliff overlooking a new manifest destiny, and it’s a long way down to election day. We’ll hear a stump speech operetta about rising, falling, and the limits of urgency and will have T-Roy Martin playing as Roger Babson. Sam Anthem’s ‘Creature’ is a research and performance project that activates archives of banned books and rhetoric used to justify their banning. Traversing materials and formats such as book pages, wearable electronics, movement, political speech, and literary spoken word, “Creature” is a meditation on how books can be both reduced to and rise from the monstrous. We’ll get sounds going shortly after 8pm. See you soon!

TONIGHT! The Improvised Music Series welcomes Dr. Belsidus, one of the newest performance personas of composer and multi instrumentalist David Boykin. Utilizing turntables, drum machines, samplers, and synthesizers, Boykin creates and perform golden era hip-hop production sample based music through the lenses of a 21st century Chicago based free jazz musician and the 20th century militant Pan African Revolutionary character Dr Belsidus from George Schuyler’s classic Black sci-fi novel, Black Empire. He will be joined by Maya Jensen on bass, Chris Courtney on percussion and Adam Zanolini on bass/flute/keys. The opening set will feature an improvised duet between David Boykin on saxophones / drum set and painter Alexandra Antoine using magic water color paper. The images she creates evaporate and disappear just like the musical sounds of Boykin. Join us tonight at 8:30pm!

At the August edition of our CLEAT Series this Friday, we’ll be experiencing three performances that utilize a theatrical / performance approach to spatial composition. ‘Asterion’ is an audiovisual adaptation of Jorge Luis Borges’ mythological short story The House of Asterion with animation and music by Alexander Dupuis (he/him). Featuring a newly spatialized soundtrack and narration adapted for the CLEAT system, Asterion renders the setting of Borges’ story as a brutalist labyrinth, its walls crawling with synthetic patterns and dead static. CLEAT Series curator Matt Test will present DOWN: A GRAVITY OPERA. In this story Roger Babson loves America and hates Gravity, but he’s standing on a cliff overlooking a new manifest destiny, and it’s a long way down to election day. We’ll hear a stump speech operetta about rising, falling, and the limits of urgency and will have T-Roy Martin playing as Roger Babson. Sam Anthem’s ‘Creature’ is a research and performance project that activates archives of banned books and rhetoric used to justify their banning. Traversing materials and formats such as book pages, wearable electronics, movement, political speech, and literary spoken word, “Creature” is a meditation on how books can be both reduced to and rise from the monstrous. We’ll get sounds going shortly after 8pm. See you Friday!

This Thursday the Improvised Music Series welcomes Dr. Belsidus, one of the newest performance personas of composer and multi instrumentalist David Boykin. Utilizing turntables, drum machines, samplers, and synthesizers, Boykin creates and perform golden era hip-hop production sample based music through the lenses of a 21st century Chicago based free jazz musician and the 20th century militant Pan African Revolutionary character Dr Belsidus from George Schuyler’s classic Black sci-fi novel, Black Empire. He will be joined by Maya Jensen on bass, Chris Courtney on percussion and Adam Zanolini on bass/flute/keys. The opening set will feature an improvised duet between David Boykin on saxophones / drum set and painter Alexandra Antoine using magic water color paper. The images she creates evaporate and disappear just like the musical sounds of Boykin. Join us this Thursday at 8:30pm! 8:30pm David Boykin & Painter Alexandra Antoine 9:30 pm Dr. Belsidus & Friends

TONIGHT! Eli Namay’s Sound Mass VI + Hearsay at the Improvised Music Series Sound Mass ensemble features Namay, Jack Langdon, John Pippen, Ishmael Ali, Emily Beisel, Naydja Bruton, Shiri Burson, Sarah Clausen, David Fletcher, Carol Genetti, Kyalyle Hagood, Bill Harris, Gerrit Hatcher, Jeff Kimmel, Jack Langdon, Peter Maunu, Allen Moore, Lyn Rye, Adam Shead, Phil Sudderberg, Brianna Tong, and Ben Zucker. Large band! Huge sounds! Hearsay is Allen Moore, Ishmael Ali, and Bill Harris Music at 8:30PM! See you soon.

This week’s Improvised Music Series features the long-waited return of Chicago expat Eli Namay and the 6th iteration of their sonic meditation for large ensemble, Sound Mass. In it’s 6th iteration, Namay premiers the 3rd version of this modular text score framed by their ethnographic work on the affective dimensions of improvisation in relationship to human behavioral ecology more broadly. Following the sonic ritual will be a panel with musicians, asking the question: “Why Improvisation? Why is it a part of your practice, what does it mean to you, how does it make you feel?” This ethnographic work is beginning to be presented on the Culture as Care Journal (cultureascare.org), run by Namay, Jack Langdon, & John Pippen. Participants include: Ishmael Ali, Emily Beisel, Naydja Bruton, Shiri Burson, Sarah Clausen, David Fletcher, Carol Genetti, Khalyle Hagood, Bill Harris, Gerrit Hatcher, Jeff Kimmel, Jack Langdon, Peter Maunu, Allen Moore, Lyn Rye, Adam Shead, Phil Sudderberg, Brianna Tong, and Ben Zucker. A big band. Hearsay comprises visionary experimental sound artist Allen Moore, versatile cellist Ishmael Ali, and dynamic drummer Bill Harris. Hearsay cultivates a distinct and captivating aesthetic that traverses ethereal dimensions, gradually morphing rhythmic tapestries, and electrifying improvised soundscapes that bounce off of free jazz and textural noise music to land on a kind of wild and bounding avant-groove music that is as pleasing as it is avant-garde. 8:30 pm - Eli Namay’s Sound Mass 9:30 pm - Hearsay

Thanks to Bill Meyer and the Chicago Reader for this concert preview that illuminates just how special tonight’s Elastro show is! Toshimaru Nakamura and Tetuzi Akiyama are absolute legends and we’re honored to have them back to Chicago on our stage after so long. Their influence on the international improvised music community is immeasurable. You don’t want to miss it. Todd Carter and Michael Hartman of TV Pow have a new duo project Superposition on tour with the Japanese artists, featured tonight. We’ll also have a solo set from relatively new-to-Chicago sound artist Sarah Lutkenhaus. We’ll see you tonight! Sounds begin shortly after 8pm

We’re incredibly excited for an absolutely stacked Elastro lineup this Friday. Legends Toshimaru Nakamura and Tetuzi Akiyama are here from Japan and performing in their long running duo format. Chicago experimental mainstays Michael Hartman and Todd Carter of TV Pow have a new project Superposition that is wonderful. We’ll have new-to-Chicago solo electronics composer Sarah Lutkenhaus kicking the night off with their brand of abstract industrial. It’s seriously one not to miss, so we’ll plan on seeing you here Friday at 8pm! Be there!