Chord, Universal Light, + Joshua Abrams (solo)

Name: Chord, Universal Light, + Joshua Abrams (solo)
Start: 2024-10-12T21:00:00-05:00
Location: 2319 W Belmont Ave Chicago IL 60618

Schedule

Sat Oct 12 2024 at 09:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

2319 W Belmont Ave Chicago IL 60618 | Chicago, IL

21+. 9pm.
Set 1: Joshua Abrams
Set 2: Universal Light
Set 3: Chord

Universal Light is an idea. It is a musical process. It is Mike Gangloff (Pelt, Black Twig Pickers) on fiddle, Jesse Sheppard (Elkhorn, The Heavy Lidders) on guitar, and Kaily Schenker (Solar Hex) on cello.

Mike is a founder of the long-running improv drone unit Pelt and of quarter-century-and-counting old-time rowdies Black Twig Pickers. His fiddling with those bands and others, as well as recent solo recordings and tours in the USA and overseas, blends improvisation, original melodic composition, and a deep grounding in traditional Appalachian music. His most recent releases are the solo "Evening Measures" album (on which Kaily contributed cello to several songs) and the collaboration with Philadelphia-NYC guitar duo Elkhorn, "Shackamaxon Concert." A collaboration with UK guitarist C Joynes is to be released later this year, as is a new solo album (though again featuring Kaily on cello), "April is Passing."

Jesse is half of the band Elkhorn, an improvisational guitar duo with Drew Gardner, that has been playing since 2013. Over a slew of albums and tours, Elkhorn has ventured into countless psychedelic spaces, anchored by the churn of Jesse's acoustic 12-string guitar. Jesse's non-Elkhorn musical output includes a folk duo with his daughter, Eva, and playing electric bass in various rock combos. Besides "Shackamaxon Concert," Elkhorn recently released the albums "On the Whole Universe in All Directions," "Other Worlds" and "The Red Valley." He is also a filmmaker (www.youtube.com/@orthophonix [https://www.youtube.com/@orthophonix]) and was one of the organizers of the Thousand Incarnations of the Rose American Primitive guitar festival in Takoma Park, MD in 2018.

Kaily grew up playing classical cello but also nurtured heartfelt appreciation for the music of Nikki Sudden, Rowland S. Howard, Blixa Bargeld, and (the other side of a not-too-shiny coin) certain traditional singers and folk forms linked to her native Southwest Virginia. As Solar Hex, Kaily mixes solo cello improvisation with keening vocal laments accompanied by harmonium. She and Mike perform frequently as a duo and in larger ensembles around their homes in Virginia, as well as sometimes taking the music farther afield. Kaily's recent releases include the all-cello, all-instrumental "Tired Eyes" on the Torn Light label and the self-released "The Squirrel is a Pretty Thing."
Links:
https://vhfrecords.bandcamp.com/album/shackamaxon-concert
https://vhfrecords.bandcamp.com/album/evening-measures
https://arkeen.bandcamp.com/album/solar-hex-tired-eyes
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https://arkeen.bandcamp.com/album/solar-hex-tired-eyes

Chord is the longstanding powerambient quintet of Kyle Benjamin, Phil Dole (X-Bax), Jason Hoffman (Anatole), Sean McCarthy (Underhand), and Trevor Shelley de Brauw (Pelican). Their shared vision has remained remarkably consistent throughout their 15 year tenure: to arrange longform pieces that favor texture and dynamics over elements such as melody, typically exploiting and exploring the sonic depth of a single chord per composition. Whereas their early albums (Flora, 2009; Progression 2012; GMaj7 2013) were largely improvisational, their most recent album, 2021’s Imperfect Authentic Cadence,encompasses a much greater degree of composition and structure, even pulling off an unprecedented chord change (albeit approached *very* gradually). The result is a dense web of slowly unfurling ambience and mood, melancholic and droning, but also uplifting and cleansing at turns. Chord will be debuting an as-yet-untitled work for this performance.

https://chordgroup.bandcamp.com/

https://chordgroup.bandcamp.com/
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Joshua Abrams is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and improviser. He performs and records with many artists as a bassist, scores documentary films and leads the group Natural Information Society.

https://eremiterecords.bandcamp.com/album/since-time-is-gravity
https://www.instagram.com/naturalinformationsociety/?hl=en

https://chordgroup.bandcamp.com/