Clavius Productions presents:
Thursday, May 22
Velvet Lounge
915 U St NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com 202-462-3213
$8, doors at 9pm, 18+
Adam Caine/Nick Lyons Duo (guitar/alto sax improv from NYC)
Circus of Saints (featuring bassoonist Dana Jessen)
plus a DC improv crapshoot set with Scott Allison, Layne Garrett, Brit Powell, and Scott Verrastro (mem. of Kohoutek/Barkitecture/Cutest Puppy in the World/All Violet/Ultimate Vag/Hume, playing a combination of electronics, prepared guitar, percussion, dulcimer, upright bass, and household items)
Adam Caine http://www.caine.tv http://www.myspace.com/adamnoahcaine Adam Caine is a guitarist, improviser and composer. He grew up in Rochester, New York and studied music at the University of Rochester. Since 2000 he has played with various groups in New York City and throughout the United States. He has performed with Connie Crothers, Paul Smoker, Daniel Carter, Ken Filiano, Glen Branca, Haale, and the New York Soundpainting Ensemble. Current projects include The Caine Trio, The Adam Caine & John McCutcheon Duo, The Sweetblood Quartet, and New York 69 with drummer Kevin Shea. Adam's 2005 CD, "PIPE," received rave reviews in the Wire and Cadence magazine.
Nick Lyons http://www.nicklyonsmusic.net/ Nick Lyons is an improvising alto saxophonist living in Brooklyn, NY since 2005.
He graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory in 2004 with a Bachelor of Music degree and relocated to San Francisco, where he performed as a freelancer until returning to New York City in January 2005.
Recently, Nick has performed throughout the Northeastern US with his trio, the Adam Caine/Nick Lyons Duo, and with, among others and in various formations, pianist Connie Crothers, tenor saxophonist Lorenzo Sanguedolce, bassist Adam Lane, pianist/vocalist Kazzrie Jaxen (formerly Liz Gorrill), and bassist Ken Filiano.
Nick has recorded several projects and plans to release duo albums with Adam Caine and pianist Carol Liebowitz in 2008.
Circus of Saints http://www.circusofsaints.com http://www.myspace.com/circusofsaints Circus of Saints is the name used by a bunch of musicians ranging from New York, Maryland, Virginia, and Florida that write, record, and perform simple and complex songs meant to spread the joy of improvisation. Improvisation of melody, harmony, beats, ideas, and spirit. We started this in 2002 in Clearwater, Florida with just a piccolo fretless bass and a diatonic harmonica. Today, there's over twenty musicians including drummers, singers, woodwind, brass, guitarists, bassists, keyboard, composers, engineers, producers, and lyricists. Did you ever want to join a circus?
Dana Jessen http://www.danajessen.com/ Dana Jessen (b. 1983, Chicago) is a versatile musician embracing all periods of music while focusing on the development of contemporary repertoire and improvisation. She can be seen performing a broad range of styles from Bach and Telemann to Denisov, Stockhausen and Gubaidulina. Her ambitions to explore jazz and contemporary improvisation have led to numerous performances throughout the country including a concert at The STONE in New York City with guitarist Joe Morris.
Dana's passion and dedication to chamber music has led to collaborations with musicians throughout the world. She has performed with a variety of new music and improvisation ensembles including Harvard Group for New Music, Callithumpian Consort, Anthony Coleman's Retake Iowa and LAUNCH! Trio. She is co-founder of Sonic Circus, an electro-acoustic duo with saxophonist Michael Straus. Their recent collaborations with turntablist DJ Dubble8 and composer Katarina Miljkovic led them on a New England tour, performing at New Hampshire's Franklin Pierce College, Cambridge's Lily Pad and the Boston CyberArts Festival.
Dana's strong ties with the Boston improvisation scene can be seen by her regular performances at the Music Workshop in Hyde Park, Rutman's Violins and Brookline Tai Chi. She also maintains a duo with saxophonist Christopher Veilleux, recently leading them to a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on contemporary improvisation techniques and John Zorn's composition Cobra.
Regularly involved in the commissioning of new music, Dana has premiered chamber works as well as solo repertoire specifically written for her. She can be heard on both Mode and New World Records with Stephen Drury's Callithumpian Consort and Anthony Coleman's Retake Iowa.
As an orchestral musician, Dana has held positions with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Sinfonietta and has performed with the Toledo Symphony, New Bedford Symphony, Atlantic Symphony and Acadiana Symphony Orchestras. Her summer festival credits include attendance at the Sarasota, Brevard and Colorado College Music Festivals.
Dana holds a Master's degree with academic honors in bassoon performance from the New England Conservatory. While at NEC she was a graduate theory teaching assistant for several classes including Music Since 1945. She also holds a Bachelor's degree in bassoon performance from Louisiana State University where she was a two-time winner of the Louisiana Music Award and awarded a full tuition scholarship. Her teachers have included Nora Schankin, Barrick Stees, Michael Kroth, William Ludwig, Richard Svoboda, and Greg Henegar.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Surf rock invades the Velvet!
Friday, May 23
Velvet Lounge
$8, doors at 9:30pm, 21+
The Madeira (ex-Space Cossacks)
Atomic Mosquitos
The Tritons
The Madeira http://themadeira.net/ The Madeira plays surf music born of screaming wind over the sand dunes of the Sahara Desert, deafening echoes of waves pounding the Gibraltar Rock, joyous late-night gypsy dances in the small towns of Andalucia, and exotic cacophony of the Marrakesh town square. It is the surf music of the millennia-old Mediterranean mysteries.
"It was a sad day for RI fans when The Space Cossacks went their separate ways. Since then lead guitarist Ivan Pongracic has been back to his Shadows roots with The Troubadours, but now he is pushing the boundaries again with a new outfit The Madeira. As he describes it: "What we are doing is continuing the evolution of surf music that was so regrettably ended in '65 with all the British Invasion stuffâ?¦ If you think of what The Atlantics were doing with their entire second album for example, their really-out-there songs like Stampede or S.O.S. (Stomp On Stomp) or their later stuff like War Of The Worlds or Giant, or say The Fender IV with Margaya or Everybody Up!, it was just amazing stuff that very few modern surf bands have explored in any sort of depth. So this is where I see The Madeira continuing as though the '66â??'06 period had never happened and Surf Music was the only, and best, music around!"
The Atlantics' influence extends to one of their titles being the only cover on the album. And a very fine version of Express To Baghdad it is too, full of dash and excitement yet still built around its evocative theme. Rogue Wave also displays The Atlantics' hallmark driving rhythm, stinging lead, unison crescendo-building and dramatic melody with a dynamic and inventive arrangement. It's the best thing The Atlantics never recorded. El Caliph betrays The Fender IV's influence as it develops around that great Margaya beat, anyone wishing that Randy Holden had laid down a few more instrumentals should check this out.
And it's pretty fiery stuff like this throughout most of the album. The mid-tempo Secret Route halfway through and the ballads Crescent Moon (beautiful) and The Oasis (dramatic) at the end provide the necessary contrast. The strong melodies, great arrangements, superb playing and exciting echo guitar sounds all contribute to the irresistible nature of this album. It's one that demands playing straight through, over and over again. Wonderful. (Alan Taylor, Pipeline Magazine)
Atomic Mosquitos http://www.atomicmosquitos.com/ Not much is known about these four mutated mosquitos; their lives were as normal as most mosquitos until that fateful day they landed on Three Mile Island. "I knew the moment I tasted their blood that something was wrong--horribly wrong!," B Negative was rumored to have said that day. We believe it was that day, that very day, that changed them forever; at least this is what scientists at MIT believe. You see, since that day they've all had this strange desire to play surf music. Before the accident they had never heard of surf! We think something happened during the mutation, something so horrible that they all found a longing for surf music. From what we understand they were warned about the consequences of surf...there is no market for it....it's not really music to most people. They knew they were on a musical road to obscurity. But there was nothing we could do; something, something beyond our power, had taken control of them, and they will forever be known as the "Atomic Mosquitos."
"Looking to renowned combos like The Astronauts and The Ventures for ideas, Atomic Mosquitos are gentlemen and scholars of purist instrumental surf rock. Their new album, Release The Mosquitos!, is dressed to the nines with striking execution fated to leave you spinning and grinning with glee. Notes that twinkle with emotion, topped by more hooks than you'll find clogging a clothes horse's closet are all but a quick mention of the tantalizing tidbits you'll experience on this dynamic disc.
Bending and curving with riffs that are deep and thick, "Dead Sea Scroll" is one ravishing piece of musical mastery. Sprinkled with the creepy sound of a theremin, "Planet From Outer Space" is imaginative and inventive. An uncharacteristically chirpy cover of Elvis Presley's "Are You Lonesome Tonight" pops with playfulness, "Slaughter Beach" wiggles and swaggers with clever kicks and creases, and "Dreamsicle" involves the head-bobbing throb of bongos.
Spilling over with energy and enthusiasm, Release the Mosquitos! is contagiously hummable. The band is edgy, but always in control of its destiny. And the production is crisp and crackling. Release the Mosquitos! is arguably one of the greatest surf rock albums ever recorded, and you can bet that thirty years from now people will still be talking about Atomic Mosquitos and their tasty instrumental work. (Beverly Paterson, Lance Monthly)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mikroknytes 10th anniversary show!
Saturday, May 24
Velvet Lounge
$8, doors at 9pm, 18+
Mikroknytes (DC/NYC violin/electronics duo)
Talk Normal (NYC no wave)
Symbol (NYC, mem. of Skeletons & the Kings of All Cities)
Beeping Sleauty (Baltimore solo noise)
Mikroknytes http://www.mikroknytes.com MIKROKNYTES - KAVERNA (CD by Kavekavity Records)
Music by the US duo Mikroknytes, being Derek Morton (electronics, effects, mind control) and John Coursey (violin, electronics, idea manufacturing), has been reviewed before in these pages, although sometimes the band name was misspelled as Mikronytes. On 'Kaverna', a super limited CDR release on their own Kavekavity Records, they seem to be moving away from the previous encounters in the world of industrial music meeting up with improvised sound and moves towards a more pure minimal, drone and still highly improvised sound. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that 'Kaverna' was recorded live in the studio and lead up to their show with Phill Niblock. Some of his influence is surely there, through minimalist humming, yet Mikroknytes also throw in elements of surprise, a bit of rhythm or irregular scrapings of the violin. Still this music is pretty raw and untamed, but if these are the proceedings that will lead up to a new, more refined studio work, I am all ears. (FdW) (Vital Weekly 12/2006)
http://www.readexpress.com/read_freeride/2008/05/dc_expatriates_john_coursey_and.php Talk Normal http://www.myspace.com/talknormaltalknormal "TALK NORMAL is no lightweight. Dark and moody and rhythmic and not real friendly -- we likes what we hears."
-Mike Wolf, Time Out New York
"TALK NORMAL put a fresh spin on classic No Wave dissonance, with Sarah Register's steady guitar figures supporting Andrya Ambro's staccato drumming and keening vocals. Tapes, electronics and the occasional sighting of bassist Richard Hoffman complete the picture."
-MW, Time Out New York
"...totally unique duo TALK NORMAL, with driving punk drum onslaughts by Andrya Ambro and awesome experimental guitar noise by Sarah Register â?? awesome!"
-Other Music, Digital Music Store"
"TALK NORMAL is a minimalist, blues-based machine making deep rhythms out of few moving parts, with a human component to whisper its secrets between grinding cogs and metallic thuds."
-Sebastian Ischer, Monkeytown Review
"At once rhythmic and dissonant, TALK NORMAL's blend of primitive disco-thumps, affected vocals, and dark scratchings are not to be missed!"
-Jacqueline Castel, (Make The) Product!, WNYU Radio
"Brooklyn-based avant duo TALK NORMAL create a jagged guitar/drum attack reminiscent of The Fall and Throbbing Gristle."
-Billy J, The Adolescent Sessions, Viva-Radio
Beeping Sleauty is in ur parking lot blasting MSI.
http://www.myspace.com/beepingsleautyandthebeast ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sunday 5/25: Three Faces of Eve/Lo-Pan (stoner rock from Columbus)/Horsefang (instrumental math-metal from Charlottesville)/Salome $7, doors at 9pm, 18+
Monday 5/26: go see Michael Hurley and Ida at Iota!!!
Tuesday 5/27: Lacrymosa/Rifle Recoil/Darlings/Hume $8, doors at 9pm, 18+
Wednesday 5/28 @ Velvet Lounge: The Foreign Press/Vary Lumar/Canton Commons
$7, doors at 9pm, 21+
Wednesday 5/28 @ 611 Florida: Pod Blotz (SF noise)/Harrius (mem. of Metalux)/Bill Nace (solo electric guitar improv)/Rainbro/James Amoeba $5 suggested donation, 8pm
Thursday 5/29: Dropsonic/Regiment/History $8, doors at 9pm, 21+
Friday 5/30: Celebrate VHF w/ Jack Rose & the Black Twigs/Fern Knight (CD release!)/Alexander Turnquist $8, doors at 9pm, 18+
Saturday 5/31: Suishou No Fune (Holy Mountain, amazing Japanese psych!)/Alasehir (mem. of Bardo Pond)/Bolmongani (mem. of Paik)/Dark Sea Dream $8, doors at 9pm, 18+
Sunday 6/1: Girl Loves Distortion/The Carrots (mem. of Finally Punk)/The Male Gaze
$7, doors at 9pm, 18+
Monday 6/2: Insect Factory/Animal Hospital/Corpus Colosseum (mem. of Field Shaman, ex-VOG/Paisa) $7, doors at 9pm, 18+
Tuesday 6/3: Shot x Shot (Philly avant-jazz quartet, High Two Records) $8, doors at 9pm, 18+
Wednesday 6/4: Instant Asshole (SF punk)/Usuario $7, doors at 9pm, 18+
Thursday 6/5: The Dead Betties/The Mantras/The Timberwolf Division (formerly Owls & Crows)/Sequence Chair (mem. of Kohoutek/Sounds of Kaleidoscope) $8, doors at 9pm, 21+
Friday 6/6: Dysrhythmia (Relapse, Philly prog-metal)/Jefferson Plane Crash/The Wayward/Jahan
$8, doors at 9pm, 18+
Saturday 6/7: Night World Records showcase with The Spoils of NW (ex-High Back Chairs/Tuscadero)/Little Pink/Rambling Shadows (ex-Crippled Pilgrims/Velvet Monkeys)/Bourbon Dynasty/Philip Stevenson $10, doors at 9pm, 21+
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sunday 6/15: Major Stars (Drag City)/Thalia Zedek (Thrill Jockey)/Kohoutek/Giraffe?Giraffe!
Tuesday 6/17: Zs (Planaria/Troubleman)/Corima
Wednesday 6/18: The Modey Lemon (Birdman)/The Face Accidents/Bipolaroid
Thursday 6/26: Kuschty Rye Ergot/Sharron Kraus/United Bible Studies/Daniel Francis Doyle
Friday 6/27: Ulrich Schnauss/Screen Vinyl Image/Auburn Lull/Luxa
Saturday 6/28: Silver Apples/Loto Ball Show/The Moderate
Wednesday 7/2: Little Howlin' Wolf/Thee Ultimate VAG/Mostly Other People Do the Killing/Puttin' On the Ritz
Tuesday 7/15: Vialka/Ryan Jewell
Wednesday 7/16: Eagle-Ager/Pulse Emitter/Grasslung
Tuesday 7/22: The Mae Shi/The Death Set
Monday 7/28: StringTrek (with improv violinist LaDonna Smith)
