Pascal Niggenkemper
uncanny valley - the double bass in the age of automation
Described by the New York City Jazz Records as "one of the most adventurous bassists on the scene” and by the Chicago Reader “genius for sound exploration” Franco-German bassist and composer Pascal Niggenkemper creates music blurring the lines between improvised, experimental and pure sound.
The focus of his musical work is the extension of the sonic horizon of the double bass: the acoustic sound modification using preparations.
His new solo work 'Uncanny valley’ reflects on the shift that occurs in the work environment due to automatisation, exploring the interaction between human and machine by using an augmented double bass he calls cobonore (word construct between cobot and & sonore). The instrument becomes a revisited device zoned into eight areas where motors are used.
Learn more about Pascal on his website, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook
Shelley Hirsch
Featuring: Michael Foster, Sarah Bernstein and Brandon Lopez
Born and raised in East New York Brooklyn, Vocal Artist, Performer, Composer, Storyteller, Interdisciplinary Artist Shelley Hirsch has been pushing boundaries with her unique vocal art and performance work, drawing on her life experiences, her memory, her vivid imagination for decades.
The New York Times called her, "A woman of a thousand voices... She offered an enthralling demonstration of the way songs, vocal styles and language might have evolved out of more primal musical impulses".
Hirsch's multimedia performances, compositions, improvisations, electronic music pieces, sound installations, collaborations and radio plays have been presented at concert halls, museums, theaters, galleries, clubs, radio, worldwide in venues including Alice Tully Hall, Roulette, Experimental Intermedia Foundation and CBGB's in NYC; Experimenta Festival in Buenos Aires, What is Music? Festival Melbourne Australia; Beyond Innocence Festival in Kobe Japan; City of Women Festival Llubliana Slovenia; Dom Cultural Center Moscow; Akademie Der Künste Berlin; Next Festival Bratislava Slovakia; Time Festival Ghent, Belgium; Angelica Festival Bologna Italy, All Ears Festival Oslo Norway; Red House Sofia Bulgaria; Taktlos Festival Bern Switzerland; New Music America Festival Helena Montana, TBA Festival Portland Oregon, and hundreds more.
Hirsch can be heard on over 70 recordings with several on the Tzadik, FMP, InTakt, and on Nonesuch, Sound Aspects, Tellus, Apollo, Innocent Records, Don Giovanni and many more. Learn more about Shelley on her website.
Brandon Lopez (bass) is a musician who deals with improvised and composed music. His work as been praised as “brutal” and “relentless”. He has worked beside many of experimental music’s luminaries; Jooklo Trio, Nate Wooley, Sun Ra Arkestra, Ashley Fure, Okkyung Lee, Gerald Cleaver, Ingrid Laubrock, Tony Malaby, Tyshawn Sorey, Bill Nace, Steve Baczkwoski, Chris Corsano, and many others. He was the 2018 Artist in Residence at Issue Project Room and a Van Lier Fellow at Roulette Intermedium. In September 2018 he was featured soloist with the New York Philharmonic.
Sarah Bernstein (violin) is a New York-based composer and violinist whose work incorporates vocals, electronics, improvisation and original text. She is known for her fiery multidisciplinary performances, and has garnered international acclaim for her distinctive recordings. She leads bands, performs solo, and collaborates with artists in avant-jazz, chamber music, experimental pop and noise. Nominated "Rising Star" in the DownBeat Critics Poll for the past five years, Bernstein is a recognized innovator in forward-thinking jazz.
Michael Foster (saxophone) is a saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Foster utilizes extensive instrumental preparations, augmenting his saxophone with amplification, objects, balloons, drum heads, vibrators, tapes, and samples as a method of subverting and queering the instrument’s history and traditional roles. In addition to his work as a performer he is also active as a curator throughout New York City, co-founding "Queer Trash," a curatorial collective focusing on providing visibility to LGBTQIA+ performers engaged in experimental performance practices.