Seattle Noise

NILC / DJ Vinny L / BSSP / Lukas Dickson

The burgeoning Bremerton noise scene continues on with a free show featuring NILC (gentle chaos), DJ Vinny L, BSSP, and Lukas Dickson (noise).

Sunday, March 29, 2:00 PM at Beats N Cats Records (Bremerton) - Event Page

Spiritual Exit / Misandrist / MONED / Paulus / Quilli Fin

Coming up from Portland, OR, Spiritual Exit (drone) will perform with Misandrist (electric harp) from Bremerton, along with MONED (guitar noise), Paulus (electronic), and Quilli Fin (synth pop).

Sunday, March 29, 6:00 PM at Dracula’s Castle - Event Page

Brian Wez + Jak McKool / Angel of the Meadow / BC Welsh / MV

A night of human music with Brian Wez and Jak McKool, Angel of the Meadow (harsh noise power electronics), BC Welsh and MV.

Sunday, March 29, 7:00 PM at Woodland Theater - Event Page

Modbang

The monthly free showcase of all hardware electronic music will feature VEA, EZBOT, SNOWDN, HARKER, and 2N3904.

Tuesday, March 31, 7:00 PM at The 4Bs - Event Page

April Fools

Free generator show with Get Hat, Row1 and an open mic.

Wednesday, April 1, 6:00 PM at Cal Anderson Park - Event Page

Nosretep / Power Skeleton / Flame Tree / Welch + Keplinger

Experimental and psychedelic music from Nosretep (experimental rock), Power Skeleton (experimental rock band), Flame Tree, and a duo from Neil Welch (saxaphone) and Gregg Keplinger (percussion).

Saturday, April 4, 8:00 PM at Blue Moon Tavern - Event Page

Whiting Tennis & Band with Ava Mendoza / Diminished Men

Whiting Tennis (indie rock) will play with Ava Mendoza (experimental), and Diminished Men (deviant noir).

Saturday, April 4, 8:00 PM at Rabbit Box Theatre - Event Page

A thought lingers from a stray conversation on the ferry to Salt Spring Island last summer. How we crave the sound of something different, listening to someone’s voice, without necessarily hearing what they are saying. She went to a book club, without having read the book, but just to listen. She was on her way for a tarot card workshop, me on the way to internet summer camp. And yet our conversation ended when her partner pulled onto the ferry with his truck.

In this vein we must ask ourselves, what are we listening for? Kirill Nikolai recently released Solennelle drawn from a performance at the Chapel Performance Space on November 30, 2023. The backdrop of stillness presents an opportunity for us to consider composition as the gaps between silence. In my normal day to day life over the past fall and winter working at night and coming home at 3:30 AM, the common squeaks, thuds, and rattling are not so unique, but I become attuned to much more specific tones and frequencies, the most persistent is a low frequency hum of a dying whale, coming from the Airbus A220 either passing me overhead filtered by the built environment or at work driving past its Pratt & Whitney PW1500G engine initial engine start; persistent in its consistency. The difference of course with Solennelle is the textures we hear are created with intent. Nikolai achieves this using with oscillators, tape, and with clarinet by Selene Vass.

The composition of these elements presents an opportunity to disrupt the cycle of dread one can develop in response to unpleasant sounds around us. There is much to absorb in the 17 minute piece, more minimal than ambient. Focus on the intent while listening may reveal elements that may not have been obvious on first listen. Solennelle is Kirill Nikolai’s first new release in almost ten years. Compared to his previous releases, Letting Go Variations (2016), A Love Theme For The Wilderness (2015, as Still Light), Solennelle reflects a focus towards musique concrete and modern composition, using pieces first developed or composed initially for live performance.

Photographs above and below are from a November 30, 2023 performance at the Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center in Seattle, WA. The image above is a modular synthesizer used for triggering oscillators, along with a partially covered mixer and tape deck. The images below are a tape machine/tape loop and a vintage test oscillator. Photographs were taken by Aubrey Gurtovenko.

Listen below on Bandcamp. From the initial release on Falt, there remain a few art edition CDs available for purchase containing vintage map fragments, found negative prints, and other ephemera.

Decay is inherent in all compound things. Work out your own salvation with diligence. So says Buddha.

The Vardaman Ensemble / Head Hurt / NILC

Experimental jazz The Vardaman Ensemble will play along with Head Hurt (devotional post-punk) and NILC (gentle chaos)

Sunday, March 22, 6:30 PM at Slim’s Last Chance - Event Page

poetry lab: christian swenson

poetry lab is a series by Eric M Acosta as part of unpoetry. Instead of a group show with multiple perfomers, poetry lab presents a single performer or group followed with a small interview. This edition features Christian Swenson (performance).

Wednesday, March 25, 7:00 PM at Vermillion - Event Page

Masha / burial cake / John Teske + David Stanford

“Noise, gloom, and country doom” with Masha (dark folk), burial cake, and a duo with John Teske (double bass) and David Stanford.

Thursday, March 26, 7:00 PM at Blue Moon - Event Page

THC.XLR / Erin Jorgensen

Dreamy night with THC.XLR (ambient inspired experimental jazz) and Erin Jorgensen (marimba).

Thursday, March 26, 7:00 PM at Black Lodge - Event Page

RM Francis / Marcus Price / UNNUNND / Paulus

A slightly more heavier lean on the noise experimental, RM Francis (extreme electronic computer music), along with Marcus Price (electronic), UNNUNND (elusivespheric ambient music), and Paulus (electronic).

Friday, March 27, 7:00 PM at Gallery 1412 - Event Page

Light Time Delay / An Anomalous Wave / Marc Barreca

Presented by Modular Seattle.

Light Time Delay (Théa-Martine Gauthier) uses field recordings, granular synthesis, bespoke software, hardware DSP engines, sound design, data sonification, and poetry to create long-form ambient performances. Her works form a basis of energy exchange and are designed to evoke a feeling of intensity, movement and space. This original performance will feature a synthesizer modeled on a computational physics simulation of a black hole, sonification of Voyager One’s Triaxial Fluxgate magnetometer instrument data from the 1979 fly-by of Jupiter and a unique acoustic resonator.

Joining them will be An Anomalous Wave (seas of complex guitar feedback), and Marc Barreca (electronic musique concrete).

Saturday, March 28, 7:00 PM at Chapel Performance Space - Event Page

Great Ooze / Broodzone / Repetitions

Great Ooze (slowcore) will perform with Broodzone (mood drone), and Repetitions (folk rock).

Saturday, March 28, 7:00 PM at Woodland Theater - Event Page

An open invite noise music event at Gallery 1412 presented by Noise Discord and Seattle Noise.

The Noise Music Discord Server, “a vector point for discussion of harsh noise and adjacent genres” creates online community for artisan purveyors of harsh noise. You can join the Discord server here and follow harshnoise.online for updates. Stream the event by joining the the Discord server or watch live on YouTube.

Noise Music is a Discord server created by Scarlet Death in 2017.

Sunk Cost (Los Angeles, CA) ( unhinged harsh noise from Hollywood )

-- https://sunkcost.bandcamp.com/

Scarlet Death ( catgirl power electronics )

-- https://scarletdeath.com/

2N3904 ( electronic )

-- https://soundcloud.com/2n3904

License to Obliterate ( harsh drone sound bath )

-- https://www.instagram.com/licensetoobliterate/

Friday, April 10

$10 suggested donation

doors at 7:30 PM, noise at 8:00 PM

no alcohol

RSVP here

Facebook Event Page

Sorry this one has taken much longer than usual to get out. Life’s been getting in the way too much.

Sleevies / Still Depths / Sea Moss / SH!TOMATO

Sleevies will play along with Still Depths (experimental rock), Sea Moss (noise punk) from Portland, and SH!TOMATO (noise).

Tuesday, March 17, 8:00 PM at Drongo Tapes HQ - Event Page

LTD Time / Phantom Guard Dog / Jackie An / Aaron Michael Butler

LTD Time, a trio of Allie Hankins (electronics, vocals) Shao Way Wu (double bass) and John Niekrasz (drums) will perform with Phantom Guard Dog (part noise), Jackie An (violin), and Aaron Michael Butler.

Tuesday, March 17, 7:00 PM at Vermillion - Event Page

unpoetry

The ever evolving, ever experimental, and “defying tidy description” as mentioned in The Stranger series hosted by Eric M Acosta. Featured performers will include Till the Teeth (experimental noise rock), Arabella Bautista, Eddie Mospan (double bass), and Caleb Thomson.

Thursday, March 19, 6:00 PM at Frye Art Museum - Event Page

Basement Stash II

Art, painting, sculpture, installation, projectsion, and sound with Halfbird (punk jazz) from Portland, Phantom Guard Dog (noise), Lady Zade (viola da gamba, voice, and performance art), Zadok (dungeon synth) from (Coeur D’Alene)

Friday, March 20, 8:00 PM at Asylum Collective - Event Page

Power Skeleton / The Glutz

Experimental noise rock ensemble Power Skeleton will also join with The Glutz at the skating rink.

Friday, March 20, 9:00 PM at Southgate Roller Rink - Event Page

Brunch Crunch

Noise music and brunch always go together. A free noise show with Levitating Chairs (collaboration between Adam Levitt and Uneasy Chairs), Vanessa Skantze (butoh), and rEEk (noise)

Saturday, March 21, 11:00 AM at Cafe Red - Event Page

RAICA / Faith Coloccia / Trigger Object

Electronic music from RAICA, solo performance from Faith Coloccia (experimental), and Trigger Object (experimental electronic).

Saturday, March 21, 7:30 PM at Chapel Performance Space - Event Page

SPITWOLF / There Is No Self / Jordan Eller / Lukas Dickson

This show was curated by Lukas Dickson, who never ceases to always create something unexpected with noise, often with common everyday household objects. He has invited SPITWOLF (noise duo), along with There Is No Self (sounds), and [Jordan Eller](

Saturday, March 21, 7:00 PM at Gallery 1412 - Event Page

Quick plug, over 2,000 of you have followed the blog on Instagram and 27 of you have chosen to receive the blog in email newsletter form so thank you. If your inbox is looking a little empty, I suggest you subscribe to Pop Loser from the Stranger or ALIENBROADCAST TRANSMISSIONS by collage artist Hannah Haddix.

Modular Nights

The monthly free showcase of experimental electronic music will feature Quilli Fin, La Lux, License to Obliterate, Bass God Pantheon, and SoundSweepsBy.

Sunday, March 8, 5:00 PM at Substation - Event Page

Recursive Transform Array / Lesion / T.U.L.O.C. / Shanked / Angel of the Meadow

Noise and hardcore with Recursive Transform Array, Lesion (powerviolence), T.U.L.O.C. (deconstructive noise), Shanked (powerviolence), and Angel of the Meadow (harsh noise power electronics).

Sunday, March 8, 7:00 PM at Black Lodge - Event Page

Mt Fog / Iroiro / DJ Martin Douglas

Album release show for Mt Fog (art pop folktronic), Iroiro (experimental ensemble), and DJ Martin Dogulas.

Thursday, March 12, 7:30 PM at Tractor Tavern - Event Page

Laser Beam / Flesh Produce / Style King of the Week / Bad Noise Bears

Everett show with Laser Beam (dejected fuzz sounds noise rock), Flesh Produce (digital hip hop), Style King of the Week (electronic post-rock), and Bad Noise Bears (noise collaboration between PRISONFOOD and new chlorine).

Friday, March 13, 7:00 PM at Lucky Dime (Everett) - Event Page

Moraine / Nosretep / Mind Beams

Experimental jazz group Moraine (jazz prog rock fusion) will perform along with Nosretep (experimental rock), and Mind Beams (swirling genre breaking heavy).

Friday, March 13, 7:00 PM at Jules Maes Saloon - Event Page

meatspace vol 8: Optical Chopper / martinradio / No Open Fires

Presented with Noise Discord. Noise from Optical Chopper (radio shack electrical fire), martinradio (live radio sampling sample based noise improvisational), and No Open Fires (fuzzy ambient soundscapes).

Friday, March 13, 7:30 PM at Gallery 1412 - Event Page

Guitar Worship Service #13

“Noised-up guitar banger” with plenty of guitars and sounds that might sound like guitars, to each their own. Featuring Solar Fat (duo of Bottle Meat and SH!TOMATO), Tension Fuck (duo of Uneasy Chairs and MONED, Glacial, and Now That We’re Alone (dance from @wigglyboy420 and sound by @licensetoobliterate).

Friday, March 13, 8:00 PM at Dracula’s Castle - Event Page

Fremont Finale

Going away show for Monster Planet with electronic music from Magic3ye, DJ ROSBIEF, B. Alcalá Roth, Sad Boix, Monster Planet, Midlife Cr!s!s, and Monocot (uncompressed).

Saturday, March 14, 5:00 PM at Monster Planet - Event Page

Outside Voices / Glad We’re Together / FHTAGN

Duo noise Outside Voices (SPITRAT and Phantom Guard Dog will perform with flute focused noise weirdo Glad We’re Together, and FHTAGN (noise).

Saturday, March 14, 8:00 PM at Gallery 1412 - Event Page

Babies R Stupid / rEEkTOMATO / Till the Teeth / dead_vapes

Touring folks from Detroit, Babies R Stupid (bad vibes), rEEkTOMATO (noise), Till the Teeth (experimental noise rock), and dead_vapes (experimental noise).

Saturday, March 14, 9:00 PM at Monkey Pub - Event Page

Nothing like someone spilling a full cold cup of water on you at a show to wake you up.

Tatsuya Nakatani

Avant-garde percussionist, composer, and artist of sound Tatsuya Nakatani will perform in two quartets. The first will consist of Nakatani, Greg Campbell (percussion), with butoh from Vanessa Skantze and Amapola. The second will include Nakatani, Jackie An (violin), Kole Galbraith (double bass), and Salma Zenia (violin)

Tuesday, March 3, 8:00 PM at Chapel Performance Space - Event Page

Ritual Vibration

A special evening with a number of different performances. Rivka Clifton (atmospheric soundscape) will perform as well as read poetry. Heather Bentley (viola), Giordana Falzone (voice), and Marissa Niederhauser will perform an improvised set. Lady Zade will premier original work for voice, viola da gamba, and percussion, featuring Aaron Michael Butler, along with 10 minutes of ritualistic self-scarification.

Thursday, March 5, 7:00 PM at Chapel Performance Space - Event Page

Deadquiet + Sheridan Riley / Yearn / BC Welch

Music with Deadquiet and Sheridan Riley, along with Yearn (apocalypse pop), and BC Welch.

Friday, March 6, 7:30 PM at Woodland Theater - Event Page

Ground Hum

A winter celebration of experimental music, dance, and installation art. Performances from Upsammy, Joy Guidry, Madeline Stepien, Sean Meehan, Raven, RAICA, Travel Agent (featuring tondiue), and ANKOKU. Art installations by Blazinspace, María Dolores A. Matienzo, Chelsea Rodino, Jax Braun, and Simone Pierson, along with workshops by i+eo, and Cami Flage.

Saturday, March 7, 12:00 PM at Washington Hall - Event Page

Imp / Fen Walker / Mossy Oubliette / Moss Helm

Dungeon synth showcase with Imp, Fen Walker (Portland), Mossy Oubliette, and Moss Helm

Saturday, March 7, 7:00 PM at Dracula’s Castle - Event Page

NonSeq: John Bischoff

John Bischoff (b. 1949, San Francisco) is an early pioneer of live computer music. He is known for his solo constructions in real-time synthesis as well as the development of computer network music. His recent performances combine hands-on analog circuitry and digital synthesis in open dialog. Sonic attributes in one domain inform music unfolding in the other. The ebb and flow of discontinuity in these systems spontaneously generates form.

Saturday, March 7, 8:00 PM at Chapel Performance Space - Event Page

Kelly Bray / Mitch Dion / History of Rock & Roll / Skunk Ape Ensemble

Visiting from Boston, Kelly Bray (experimental trumpet) and Mitch Dion (plunderphonics) will playing along with local support from History of Rock & Roll (duo of Phantom Guard Dog and NILC) and Skunk Ape Ensemble.

Sunday, February 22, 7:00 PM at Drongo Tapes HQ - Event Page

Modbang

The monthly free showcase of hardware electronic music will feature mt. nowhere, Alpha Stream, NILC, and Stacy’s World.

Tuesday, February 24, 7:00 PM at The 4Bs - Event Page

Poetry Lab

The semi-regular series Eric M Acosta as part of unpoetry, where a single performer or group is presented followd with a small interview. This month’s edition features Sandesh Nagaraj (guitar) as the featured performer along with support from Neil Welch (saxaphone), Tom Scully (guitar), and Till the Teeth (experimental noise rock).

Wednesday, February 25, 8:00 PM at Vermillion - Event Page

Staple / Lukas Dickson / Meadowgoat

Noise show with Staple, Lukas Dickson (noise), and Meadowgoat.

Thursday, February 26, 8:00 PM at The Charleston (Bremerton) - Event Page

Von Wildenhaus / Jackie-O Motherfucker / Abronia

Experimental psychedelic show with Jackie-O Motherfucker (gospel-drone americana) and Abronia (spaghetti western spiritual jazz) from Portland. Local support from Von Wildenhaus (guitar noir litewave psychotica).

Friday, February 27, 8:00 PM at Add-a-Ball - Event Page

UNNUND / Paulus / Tim Skinner

Benefit show for Super Familia with ambient music with UNNUND (elusivespheric ambient music), Paulus (ambient experimental), and Tim Skinner (avant-garde experimental).

Friday, February 27, 8:00 PM at Fashion Week - Event Page

Guitar Worship Service #12

The 12th edition of the Guitar Worship Service with plenty of non-traditional approaches to guitar. This month’s edition will feature Bill Horist, The Last Emperor (Stuart Dahlquist), BLSPHM (Demian Johnston), MONED, a trio of Tom Scully, Sandesh Nagaraj, and Ryan Carraher. Visuals by Colorbard Visual.

Saturday, February 28, 6:30 PM at Chapel Performance Space - Event Page

Dream Pool

Down in the basement you’ll find an excellent lineup of ambient electronic music from THC.XLR, Leandrul, RAICA, Juno The Beloved, and Places To Be.

Saturday, February 28, 8:00 PM at Kremwerk - Event Page

An open invite noise music event at Gallery 1412 presented by Noise Discord and Seattle Noise.

The Noise Music Discord Server, “a vector point for discussion of harsh noise and adjacent genres” creates online community for artisan purveyors of harsh noise. You can join the Discord server here and follow harshnoise.online for updates. Stream the event by joining the the Discord server or watch live on YouTube.

Noise Music is a Discord server created by Scarlet Death in 2017.

Optical Chopper (radio shack electrical fire)

-- https://soundcloud.com/optical_chopper
-- https://www.instagram.com/optical_chopper/

martinradio (live radio sampling sample based noise improvisational)

-- https://linktr.ee/martinradio
-- https://www.instagram.com/martinradio1/

No Open Fires (fuzzy ambient soundscapes)

-- https://soundcloud.com/rickcheehy

Friday, March 13

$10 suggested donation

doors at 7:30 PM, noise at 8:00 PM

no alcohol

RSVP here

Facebook Event Page

Last week’s post had the wrong date in the title. Hopefully no one got confused.

Meadowgoat / Alexander James Adams / synthiak / Gareth Davis

Not exactly a noise show but a special show I put together in support of a sci-fi fantasy convention I attend and volunteer at. Featuring Meadowgoat (seasonal synths), Alexander James Adams (fantasy folk), synthiak (electronic), and Gareth Davis (folk).

Friday, February 20, 7:00 PM at Gallery 1412 - Event Page

esc: ‘Mother of the Pearl; the Annihilator’

Under the moniker, esc, Rawivati’s current musical endeavor “Mother of the Pearl; the Annihilator” is an effort inoculated in years as a musician and circus performer. A piano based experimental musical work that raises a physical veil to reveal a more vulnerable self hidden beyond the body. A meshed network of veiled objects too vast to express themselves in the crystallization of language, a digital stitching breaches the organic piano-vocal fabric bringing us all together in a moment of equalization, eye to eye.

Friday, February 20, 8:00 PM at Chapel Performance Space - Event Page

Everywhen Presents: Simulation

An electronic dystopia dance party, with visual artist and performances from Nylon Daughter, Basspet, Cr3atur3 and MV. Presented by Everywhen

Saturday, February 21, 8:00 PM at Gallery 1412 - Event Page

Dekloki / Reid Urban / Ultra Hipsters / Gail Wolf / Forrest Friends

An evening of experimental sounds with Dekloki, Reid Urban (Olympia), Ultra Hipsters (harsh noise tomfoolery), Gail Wolf (punk), and Forrest Friends (noise weirdos).

Saturday, February 21, 8:00 PM at Monkey Pub - Event Page