Sonic Transmissions and Epistrophy Arts present Damon Locks & The Gratefuls, Karen NG, Ben Lamar Gay

Name: Sonic Transmissions and Epistrophy Arts present Damon Locks & The Gratefuls, Karen NG, Ben Lamar Gay
Start: 2025-09-11T20:00:00-05:00
Location: KMFA Classical 89.5

Schedule

Thu, 11 Sep, 2025 at 08:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

KMFA Classical 89.5 | Austin, TX

Join us on Thursday, Sept. 11 at the Draylen Mason Music Studios at KMFA for the kick off of this year's Sonic Transmissions Fest. festival passes and individual tickets available here: https://www.sonictransmissions.com/tickets2025
Damon Locks is a Chicago-based visual artist, educator, and vocalist, and a central figure in the city’s creative music scene. His work sits at the intersection of art, activism, and music. He is best known as the leader of the Black Monument Ensemble and is also a member of New Future City Radio and Exploding Star Orchestra. For this performance, Locks is joined by The Gratefuls, an improvisational quartet featuring tuba, alto saxophone, voice, and cello. Together, they will present a performance that investigates how sound and movement can shape shared space and time - centering rhythm, presence, and collective experience.
Karen Ng is a Toronto-based improviser “with a breathtakingly wide musical scope” who established herself as a unique musical force nationally and internationally. Over the last 15 years she has performed with some of Canada’s most prized artists such as The Weather Station, Andy Shauf, Do Make Say Think and many more and appeared in many high profile performances such as Jimmy Kimmel or NPR’s Tiny Desk. Ng has also built a foundational presence in the community as an educator, moderator of panels, and curator (TONE Festival, Guelph Jazz Festival, Canadian Music Centre).
Ben LaMar Gay is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, singer, poet, and patently eclectic polymath that Afropunk has called “strikingly original,” Pitchfork has called “uncategorizable,” and Jeff Parker has called “hands down, one of my favourite musicians on the planet today.” He channels a radical array of sound, color, and space through the universal language of folklore, but despite the widely attributed genius of his work, his artistic approach and general demeanor are characterized by an endearing humbleness and warm humanity.
This project is supported in part by the City of Austin Economic Development Department.