Artists

Strategic Improv Laboratories

SIL2K PLAYERS

Click here to jump down to SIL2K featured artists.

Jesse Canterbury

Jesse Canterbury (clarinet) has performed new music and improvisation in a variety of different contexts and in a number of different ensembles. He was a member of the Tallahassee-based New World Ensemble and of the Austin-based trio Coherent. He has worked with George Lewis, Butch Morris, the Shaking Ray Levis, Walter Thompson, Philip Gelb, Matthew Sperry, and Gino Robair.

Aaron Cayko

Aaron Cayko is the voice of SIL2K - he announces our shows. His project A.Frequency has done some groundbreaking work that defies description. Check out Aaron's hand-written bio: Front Back

James Drage

James Drage has been playing music in one form or another since age six when he began Royal Conservatory piano study in England. He probably would have attempted a career in music, had he not been introduced to computers in the mid-eighties. Thankfully those worlds have now collided with the advent of technology in music - and his degree in Computer Science certainly comes in handy. James enjoys tinkering with instruments and devices of all sorts and in every conceivable genre. You might find him soldering together electronic parts in his dining room or trying to tune a dulcimer minutes before an improvisation performance. James is always looking for new and interesting things with which to make sound.
Current and past projects include:

"Grideo" video-conducted game piece for n^2 musicians
"Fou Reach" octophonic installation project with Travis Hartnett
"Sea Lion Lanes" and "Conchairto" projects with Detonator Beth
"Barg'n Surgical" a multimedia performance with Carmel Post (Lunache)
solo work for synthesizers, samplers and Kyma
keyboards and vocals for The Guest Stars
keyboards and clarinet for Ota Prota
keyboards, effects and visuals for sub_sonic
improvisation with the SIL2K Ensemble
"Instant Score!" improvised soundtrack game piece
as Jadie and D-Rage, turntablism and spinning at the Baltic Room, I-Spy/Nation, the Henry Art Gallery and Barça
keyboards for the seminal rock bands Askew and Planet of the Eights

Matt Duss

Matt Duss, the son of Eastern European hunter/gatherer/electricians, emigrated to Seattle in 1994. He began playing the guitar at age fourteen after his baseball career peaked with a 109 mph fastball. He is learning to play two didgeridoos at once (don't ask). Turn ons: Indian food, Camille Paglia. Turn offs: Kathie Lee Gifford, Stalinism.

Annie Fanning

Not unlike a Darwinian finch, Annie has developed her specialized communication skills in order to survive and perpetuate the poetic species. Her talents include: obscure research, cross-referencing arcane details, high metabolism for metaphors, sleight-of-hand, vicious parody and perpetual comedy.

EDUCATION BA, English Literature University of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1991. Graduate Studies in Literature University of Hawai'i, Manoa, 1992-1996. PRINT & COMMUNICATIONS Contributing Editor, Virginia Literary Review, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1989. Poetry Editor, Hawai'i Review, University of Hawai'i, Manoa, 1992-1993. Associate Editor, La'ila'I, University of Hawai'i, Manoa, 1994. Radio DJ KTUH FM, Honolulu, 1992-1995. KWVA FM, Eugene, 1996. AWARDS Martha Richford Roberts Poetry Prize, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1990. Myrtle Clark Creative Writing Award, University of Hawai'i, Manoa, 1992. Hawai'i Screenwriting Contest Finalist, Hawai'i International Film Festival, 1992.

Carl Farr0w

The facts...
I received a B.S. in Music Technology from the University of Washington in 1992, studying with Richard Karpen, Robert Duisberg and Ken Benshoof. I have performed with numerous groups in Seattle including the ambient-industrial duo Nickel, the free improv group Waterbugs and Brent Arnold's Thickness. I currently can be seen performing solo electronics as inBOIL and with the electrondub trio *Polar.
I am the kingpin of Partial, a record label focusing on exotic music from the Pacific Northwest since 1995. Partial has also presented many exceptional shows with international acts like C.C.C.C., Merzbow, Masonna, MSBR, Sudden Infant, plus Northwest favorites Small Cruel Party, Daniel Menche, Blowhole and Smegma. I am a founding member of Sonicabal, a support group dedicated to the promotion, performance and knowledge of experimental music.
I have been a performer, promoter and photographer for SIL2k since its inception. My COBRA Boot Camps have lead many musicians down the path of group improvisation. My own strategic system, Concord, for multiple musicians and dancers has been performed twice at I-Spy.
Thank you for listening.

Robert Henson

robert henson stop guitar stop effects stop piano stop graffiker stop conductor/prompter stop graffika author stop first witnessed improv as child in church when mother faked her way through a hymn stop discovered cobra as student of composition and criticism at UO stop formed punk/noise bands dose and lester manning stop fellow of oregon bach festival composer symposium stop high volume experiments solo and with improv ensemble stop sound designs and music for local theater stop
Robert holds a BA in Music Composition/Analysis from the University of Oregon. He studied with Robert Kyr, Richard Trombley and Judtih Wier. He has participated in the following ensembles: dose, Pacific Rim Gamelan, UO Men's Chorus, sound exp. collect., SIL2K. He is a composer/sound designer for numerous local theater and fringe theater productions.

José Hernando

José holds a BA in Ethnomusicology from the University of Washington. He also studied Theory, Composition and Performance at Cornish Institute of the Arts. In addition to performing as an SIL2K musician, José busies himself with web development and design.

Bill Horist

While, in the last several years, the guitar is considered more in terms of its limitations than its capabilities, BILL HORIST [explores] the guitars continued presence as a vital and still challenging form of musical expression. (Willamette Week-May, 1998).
Bill, a native of Southwest Michigan, founded the bands NOBODADDY and TOURNIQUET TRIO. With these bands, Bill has performed with Medeski, Martin & Wood, Brit-pop sensations Spiritualized, Rashied Ali, John Hendricks, Malachi Thompson, and Freddie Hubbard.
Since relocating to Seattle, BILL HORIST has established himself as a noted improviser along the West Coast. He has collaborated with Chris Cutler, Amy Denio, Uchihashi Kazuhisa, Luigi Archetti, Christoph Gallio, Lesli Dalaba, Paul Hoskin, Wally Shoup, Jessica Lurie, Timothy Young, Mason Jones, Dennis Rea, Jeff Grienke, Masa, Tucker Martine, Yoko Murau, as well as members of Critters Buggin, Maktub, Wayne Horvitz Pigpen, and the Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet. Many of these encounters have resulted in projects that range from rock to ambient; from free-jazz to industrial.
With PHINEAS GAGE (a rock band in the spirit of Captain Beefheart, Pere Ubu, and Tom Waits), Bill has toured the West Coast several times in support of the CD release PHINEAS GAGE TRAVELING SIDESHOW. They performed with Supersuckers, Gas Huffer, Trey Gunn (of King Crimson), the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, Uz Jsme Doma, Idiot Flesh, and Rube Wadell. Bill also played with the improvised chamber quartet, UnFolkUs. They have toured the West Coast in support of their eponymous CD and have shared the stage with Swiss Jazz veterans Day and Taxi, members of Mr. Bungle and the New Klezmer Trio.
Bill currently plays with the inside-out power quartet Axolotl featuring members of Land, HighRize and Rockin Teenage Combo. In March 1999, he was featured at the Taktlos Festival of new music in Zurich and Basel. He was part of a guitar trio with Uchihashi Kazuhisa and Luigi Archetti. In addition to several other projects, Bill is collaborating with legendary Japanese guitarist KK Null for an upcoming release and concert this summer, and is currently recording with Lesli Dalaba (Land, Fred Friths Tense Serenity) and Randall Dunn under the name Zahir.
As a solo artist, Bills improvised, prepared guitar work is informed by Hans Reichel, Fred Frith, and Henry Kaiser, but shows a unique style and personality. He has received critical praise internationally from The Wire and Alternative Press. His performances have been paired with musicians such as Bobby Previte, Wayne Horvitz, Cul de Sac, and Subarachnoid Space. In may 1998, Bill toured the United States in support of his CD SOYLENT RADIO. He has been the recipient if the 1997 Jack Straw Artist Support Program Grant and has done presentations for students between first grade and college-level.

Seth Howard

After a childhood's worth of violin lessons, Seth picked up an electric guitar from a trash heap and a bass from a pawn shop before heading to college. Drums soon followed after living with a drummer for two years. He played in various projects in college and in the two years following graduation, including Indie 500 (bass), The Fashioncolors (guitar), and Kentucky Finance (drums). He also wrote and recorded a cassette of solo material in 1994.
In addition to playing viola, lap steel, guitar and drums in SIL2K, Seth plays guitar in The Stone Throwers. He is also in the process of sketching out material for a new solo project/recording.

Jason Justice

Jason Justice (a.k.a. DJ jjustice) hopes to coast to fame and fortune simply cuz he has a cool last name. DJ jjustice manages the mezzanine DJs and assists with promotion for SIL2K.

Aaron Lewis

Aaron plays drums and DJs for SIL2K. With Sir Real and Jadie he makes up one third of sub_sonic a live downtempo and trip-hop project. DJ Aaron's residencies currently are at the Last Supper Club every first thursday for Art Walk, and tuesday happy hours at the Baltic Room, opening up for the hot drum+bass night Sugarshack Unlimited. Aaron also composes his own down and mid-tempo music. Check out his homepage at djaaron.net.

Stuart McLeod

Besides curating SIL2K and composing and performing with the SIL2K band, Stuart is a member of Gamelan Northwest and has played drums in many a rock band in Seattle. Stuart also moonlights as Sir Real in sub_sonic. He has a B.A. in Music Composition, has studied composition with Kenneth Benshoof, William O. Smith and Richard Karpen and percussion with Michael Crusoe, Tom Collier, and Susan Pascal. His improv strategies include:

Pulse/Impulse Phase I for any number of percussionists and tyrannical conductor (Completed: Fall 1992)
Pulse/Impulse Phase II for any number of musicians and tyrannical conductor (Completed: January 2000)
Caged for game board, dice, playing/tarot cards and 4 musicians (Completed: March 2000)
Per!od!c for musical maze and any number of musicians (Completed: March 2000)

Numerology is a series of pieces by Stuart McLeod, each written with an obsession with a particular number. The number that titles each piece controls most of the decision making. The sampler technician Sir Real will twist and tweak, push and pull and ultimately bring these works into the real world. The basic outlines of the rhythmic structure will still be there but the music that results will be distorted, dirtied, perverted. From theory to practice, purity to reality, composition to performance, he views this as a working method for marrying his interests in perfect architectural music constructions with the impulsive, trouble-making subversion of improvisation.

John Moen

At least 7 of these statements are true about John Moen:

He plays bass, cello, guitar, didjeridoo and whatever else he can lay his hands on.
He lays his hands to heal the sick and injured.
He teaches outer-city youths to "be more civilized".
He frequently eats meat.
He curates a collection of cats.
He cures holiday hams.
He lays hands on hams.
He is sometimes found frolicking in the woods off of Hood Canal.
He can be heard at http://mp3.com/fiercelogic and http://mp3.com/askew
He leaps before he looks.

Tim Rhodes

Besides inventing the famous electric piano, Tim handles SIL2K graphic design, advertising, video/slides and promotion. He studied art at the University of Washington.

Arthur Roberts

Arthur Roberts plays guitar for the SIL2K machine. Actually, he plays his effects pedals more than his guitar these days.
Currently, he can be found in SushiRobo (on Pattern 25 records).

ARTISTS

Brian Allen

Brian Allen is a trombonist and composer from Lake Jackson, Texas. He has studied with Roswell Rudd, Dave Liebman and Ellery Eskelin. He has performed with Rudd, Tony Malaby, Dave Ballou, and Lou Grassi. His solo performance focus on the experimental side of jazz and new music. Dave Wayne, of Jazz Weekly, says of Allen's Solo Trombone CD, "Allen wisely tempers his taste for broad humor with skillful and soulful, even lyrical, playing. Best of all, Allen is not a one-trick pony: he approaches this music from every conceivable angle, and always seems to make it work." This summer, Allen will be touring the northeast and northwest. Included in his performances are dates at New York's Knitting Factory and Internet Cafe with Dave Ballou, Michael Formanek, Mark Dresser, Tom Rainey and Dave Treut.

The Art Cheerleaders

Launching their four week tour in Seattle, The Art Cheerleaders are a ten-person performance art troupe interested in public discussions of art and politics in our everyday lives. They do choreographed cheers, stunts, dance routines, and more! Instead of inciting a crowd to root for a sports team, we turn the cheerleading tradition on its head, asking audiences to root for art, and calling on people to become active in their own reality. And did we mention that it's also F-U-N FUN!

Awkward Star

Awkward Star is the unusual combination of experimental improvisation, gentle pop songs, freely associated spoken-word, and haunting poems mixed with digital samples and an avant-jazz attitude. Awkward Star is the artistic collaboration between poet Greta Nintzel, songwriter Mische Eddins, experimental guitarist Rik Wright (Jackhammer Trio, Disjunkt, Resonants) and percussionist Randy Doak (Axolotl). Awkward Star is wildly eclectic but utterly unique. They often get mixed up in the wrong crowd, but they always find their way home.

Axolotl

Axolotl is the twin guitar-driven quartet featuring Dennis Rea (Land) and Bill Horist (Ghidra, Tablet), "two of the most irresponsible guitarists in town" (Seattle Weekly), Ryan Berg (HIGHRIZE) on bass and Olli Klomp (former Rockin' Teenage Combo) on drum kit. Their compositions range from haunting melodies to maniacal punk jazz, often shattered by explosive improvisation. Axolotl has been culled from each members individual experiences to create some of the most unusual instrumental compositions heard these days. "Bastard Jazz" (The Stranger).

Bastille Band

Bastille Band crosses the border between avant new music and creative jazz. Bastille Band is fronted by Seattle-based composer and pianist Lynette Westendorf. Also in the band are Jim Knodle, Dan O'Brien and Don Berman.

Beds

Beds is a two person, one drumset, guitar, electronics, saxophone and sampler extravaganza. . Dan Sajko handles the skins and Bryan Eubanks uses the machines. We alternate our aproach to the music in many ways, each time we play, but the means generally fall into two catogories: Doing as much as possible at the same time, and doing as little as possible. the most interesting experiences arise when we each apply seperate philosophies. Miscommunication and passionate mistakes!! Beds has existed for two years, running strong and learnin' telepathy. Here are a few overheard comments from the portland rock club scene; "Is this music? I'm not sure this is music. Do you think this is music? This isn't music."

Rick Bishop / Jason Glover

Jason Glover is the first person I ever met who did things anyway. Who did things just for the liking of them. And not just any-things. Made sound. Music. My favorite thing. (Pretty much.) Did you ever see that Krazy Kat strip where Krazy is sitting out under the Old Smoak Tree (smoking a pipe with a huge question mark of smoke-cloud over her head), when she hears the Koyote howling at the moon? Krazy goes running over to the mesa where the Koyote is and asks him, "Mr. Koyote why do you howl like that?" And the Koyote says, "Well, Krazy I'd say the reason is a kind of overwhelming Kuriosity." Jason Glover's music is made out of overwhelming curiosity. It's completely subjective. There's no language for it. You don't run into that kind of thing every day. Certainly not in music. Jason is in a band called Tripod, and everyone in the band is involved in this kind of self-justifying play. Great band. But Jason's own character has always lead him toward the Wonderful. I mean, Play can lead you into Cy Twombly-type scribbling, but Jason's not having any of that. He's going for the lotus-eyed yowzer "oh-my-god-did-you-HEAR-that??" sound. Real casually. That's just who he is. It's amazing. Rick Bishop, I don't know as much about. He was someone I used to sit under the old smoke tree and listen to, myself, tearing out my hair and giggling, "what do it all MEAN??" (I can't help it.) From his records, the guy Plays, and he's easily seduced by oblivion like Glover. But he'd be a bad Buddhist. He'd be the Buddhist who tried to build a machine to rip his own clothes off as it projected him straight up through the sky and into the stars. How can you justify that kind of thing? "Well, it's my form of meditation, dreaming up my Screaming Star-Streamer Clothes-Ripper." You'd get your ass laughed right out of the monestary for shit like that. Or they'd hit you with the big Dummy Stick. So, don't bring any big Dummy Sticks to their gig on January 8th. But bring your own little slice of oblivion that can do the thing which is a notch higher than appreciation. They'll tickle it for you. Goochie goochie goo.

Bisio / Blunck

Mike Bisio and Dan Blunck have recorded a duo album on Cadence Records. Mike plays acoustic bass; Dan plays a variety of saxophones.

Blind Spot Trio

Blind Spot Trio, hailing from Ann Arbor/Chicago, is Patrick Farrell (of Transmission and Poignant Plecostomus) on piano and squeezeboxes, Toby Summerfield (of Larval, Crush Kill Destroy, and P.P.) on basses and guitars, and Tim Strand on percussion. Farrell and Summerfield, the composers for the group, have a longstanding musical relationship of many years and have worked together in a wide variety of projects in the Ann Arbor area. Blind Spot, the most recent incarnation, balances composition and improvisation through songs informed by minimalism, free improv, and rock music (among other styles!). Their first album, entitled "Relics of the thing...", is due to be released on the new Detroit label MidGarde in late August 2001. The three are simply delighted to be playing together and are very much looking forward to their Sept./Oct., 2001 cross-country tour!

James Boring

A founding member of Anat Hema, James Boring plays many shorted out, rewired instruments of his own self design. Reed Ghazala or Adam Griffen come to mind as similar designers or instrument builders. James plays many gutted toys, baby monitors, Furbies and rewired keyboards along with whatever else comes to mind. James has organized new music shows in the Portland area for the last five years. He has 10 solo tapes that he has put out himself over the last 11 years. These are no longer in print. He does have tapes of Anat Hema and will be doing a solo disc due out later in 2000.

Bran (Another plight of medic¹sS) Pos

The Bran (Another plight of medic¹sS) Pos is the ongoing sound performance and recording project of Jake Rodriguez from San Francisco, CA. The project in sound balances a fine line between harsh noise, 20th/21st Century experimental exploration/improvisation, heavy psychedelia, opera, and modern electronic music. The technical siphoning of the natural unpredictable qualities of the voice as a source and trigger for far more unworldly electronic sounds combined with the manhandling of the synthesizer into a form equally as malleable and skippy makes up much of what is heard at a Bran(...)Pos performance. Rodriguez has been seriously tinkering with this sound since 1993, but as an extension of performance that he has been involved in since the late 70s. He has performed in theater, radio, TV, and film since childhood and considers the Bran (S) Pos to be a further extension of a single continuum that began with roles in countless industrial and educational films as well as appearances on an ABC Movie of the Week and the short-lived All in the Family spin-off, Gloria. Many of these small films have been since forgotten and most have never even been seen by Rodriguez so he welcomes any leads anyone may have regarding these. Note that his professional name at the time was Jacob Donner, so scan your late 70s/early 80s educational/industrial/student films for one Jacob Donner and contact the Bran (S) Pos.

Michael Bullock

Free improvisor Michael Bullock has played bass in 8 countries, on a dozen records, and in a variety of bands, touring extensively both solo and as part of various ensembles. He has also played with well-known improvisors such as Eddie Prost, LQuan Ninh, and Peter Kowald, in addition to working with numerous members of Boston's improvised music community. Two of his current obsessions include IIbasSpit, an electro-acoustic trio with Tucker Dulin (trombone) and Seth Cluett (bass, voice) which is planning a CD release this year; and an ongoing curiosity with acoustic feedback. Bullock has released recordings on such diverse labels as Emanem, Rounder, and Naxos. His first release as a leader, [there the eye goes not;] (Tautology 006), featuring rising stars Bhob Rainey, Brenda Hopkins Miranda, and Tatsuya Nakatani was released in 1999. Of the disk, Derek Taylor of Cadence magazine said: "The real joy of this quartet is their shared origin which is translated into a confidence of purpose. . . [Bullock] and his peers are excellent examples of improvisers who are constantly and uncompromisingly exploring the unmapped nooks and crannies of audible sound."

Kim Cascone

Kim Cascone received his formal training in electronic music at the Berklee School of Music in the early 1970's, and in 1976 studied with Dana McCurdy at the New School in Manhattan. Since 1980, he has composed and released music under many monikers, including PGR, Heavenly Music Corporation, and Thessalonians, among others. In 1983 Cascone was technical assistant to composer Max Neuhaus on a sound installation project for the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. In the late 1980's, after gaining experience as an audio technician, Cascone worked with David Lynch as Assistant Music Editor on both Twin Peaks and Wild at Heart. Cascone left the film industry in 1989 to concentrate on Silent Records, a label that he founded in 1986, making it into the U.S.'s premier ambient label.

Child Proof

Child Proof is a project of SIL2K sound man Julian. Child Proof is Julian's premiere parade of ping-ponging and gnop-gnoping instruments in a rare solo performance. Child Proof uses children's toys to construct music for the immature and restless. Ages 3 and up.

China

China is Lisa DeFrance and King Leah. Lisa DeFrance is known for her talents in the world's most challenging, eclectic band, Tripod, and is also performing in theater. The last play Lisa acted and designed costumes for was called "Goose Flesh and Pallor". Reviewers were quoted in the PI for saying "it was better than Cats". King Leah has been known to eat her own underwear onstage when no one else is wearing any. A quote from Spin magazine: "I think we're a lot like the Stones, really...". "Yeah, the Stones meets Jerry Lewis." "Jerry Lewis meets the Muppets! Did you see when Alice Cooper was on? I wet myself!" "OK, no, seriously. We sound like that one guy". "Chopin..?" "Yeah, Chopin".

Clocked Out

The Clocked Out Duo began performing their engaging mixture of contemporary music, improvisation, visual kinetics, sound sculpture and electro-acoustic experiments in Australia in 1997. Since then they have been presenting concerts and collaborating with creative musicians, artists, and dancers around the globe. In concerts like "Glimpses" they create a seamless choreography of lighting and staging, moving without pause from one piece to the next and leading the audience through an intricate web of unexpected turns. The styles range from pulse-driven mindscapes and microsonic soundscapes to mindbending acoustical phenomenology, spastic physical improvisation and intricate vocal-percussion phonetics. The staggering breadth of their repertoire encompasses the esoteric complexity of Brian Ferneyhough while embracing the ironic novelty of Screamin' Jay Hawkins. The Clocked Out Duo perform "sophisticated, avant-garde music that is both intellectually and emotionally stimulating" says the Herald Sun, Melbourne. Their work represents "a much needed direction for progressive, experimental music" says the Laugardavar, Reykjavic. They have performed throughout Australia and the USA, in Iceland, Spain, and China at a wide variety of venues including concert halls, night clubs, and universities. Their extensive 2000 tour included performances in the Festival Internacional de Musica i Dansa Improvisades in Barcelona, The Empty Bottle in Chicago and New Music 2000 Festival in LA.

Conditional Love

Infantfactor.com Productions gives you "Conditional Love": Seattle Superstar guitarist, Tim Young, on Tenor Sax from British Columbia Lorick Russo and drummer Jupiter Demars who has played and recorded with Tim Young, Bill Horist, Eyvind Kang, Briggan Krauss, Matthew Sperry and more.

Degenerate Art Ensemble

The Degenerate Art Ensemble (formerly known as the Young Composers Collective) operates on many different levels and through many different media. Current and past works include choreographed and improvised dance pieces, solo musical compositions and live music for silent film. Past and present projects include 1999's critically acclaimed "Razor Stitch", "SCREAM! LionDogs", "Hell's Cauldron" and "Rinko". The DAE also performed at the Seattle Inernational Butoh Festival at On the Boards in November.

Stuart Dempster

Stuart Dempster--Sound Gatherer--trombonist, didjeriduist, et al, Guggenheim Fellow, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, has recorded for numerous labels including Columbia, Nonesuch, and New Albion. His New Albion recording "In the Great Abbey of Clement VI" at Avignon has become, in the words of one reviewer, "a cult classic." Also on New Albion is "Underground Overlays from the Cistern Chapel" CD which consists of music sources for a recent Merce Cunningham Dance Company commission. Dempster also soothes aches, pains, and psychic sores with his meditative and playful "Sound Massage Parlor." Mr. Dempster is an inspiration to us all and it was a great honor to have him kick off the very first two SIL2K shows back in January and February of 2000.

Amy Denio

A composer, multi-instrumentalist and multi-disciplinarian, Amy Denio has no musical limitations. In addition to a four-octave voice, she plays the 120-bass accordion, electric guitar, electric bass, and alto saxophone. Since 1987, she has performed her music at festivals on five continents, touring solo and with various groups and musicians. Denio was awarded a Bessie Award (NYC) for "Sky Down", which she created for David Dorfman Dance, and their newest collaboration, "Tie Lie Tenderly" was presented as part of the 2000 Next Wave Series at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. She composed the score for Thomas Edwards' film "Pangaea's Brood" (Best Animated Film at the 1997 New York Underground Film Festival), and they're collaborating on his next film "Scintilla". Other commissions include compositions and soundtracks for New York Festival of Song, The Relache Ensemble, Italian National Radio, Pat Graney Dance Company, Die Knodel, the Berkeley Symphony, and UMO Ensemble. Denio also is a sound engineer and founder of her own label & publishing company, Spoot Music. She has produced 22 CDs - alone or in collaboration with others - and numerous singles on international compilations. Her Greatest Hits CD, a sampling of her solo work and international projects, is available on Unit Circle Rekkids in the U.S. and More Music in Italy. In addition to her solo work, she performs with La Movida, a cuban and salsa themed troupe. Amy was a founding member of the Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet and the Tone Dogs.

Detonator Beth

Detonator Beth is an explorer and constructionist. She primarily uses her voice to create sounds but is not limited by that. Former projects include vocals for the Black Cat Orchestra, The Herb Levies, work with Kevin Goldsmith (Intonarumori) and Bill Horist. Detonator Beth is a friend to stick insects and is happy doing interesting performances with talented people. She has many pets, and wants to perform regularly in a band-thing with humans.

Ernesto Diaz-Infante

Ernesto Diaz-Infante received an MFA in music composition from California Institute of the Arts, where he studied with and Wadada Leo Smith. He has worked in residence at the Centre International de Recherche Musicale (CIRM), Villa Arson (both in Nice, France), Millay Colony for the Arts, Centrum, Villa Montalvo, New York Mills Arts Retreat, Ucross Foundation, and Dorland Mountain Arts Colony. An active performer, improviser, and composer of instrumental chamber music, he has had performances and radio broadcasts all over the world. He has performed with Jeff Arnal, Dan DeChellis, David Dvorin, Bruce Eisenbeil, Chris Forsyth, Morgan Guberman, Pat Harman, Boris Hauf, Steev Hise, Bill Horist, Paul Hoskin, Jeff Kaiser, Bob Marsh, Dick Metcalf, Donald Miller, Kurt Newman, Nmperign, Dan Plonsey, Blaise Siwula, Damon Smith, Jack Wright, W.O.O Revelator and 99Hooker. His music is recorded on Bottomfeeder, InstrumenTales, Pax, Pfmentum, Staalplaat, Sweet Stuff Media, and Zzaj.

Disjunkt

Disjunkt is a new jazz group featuring saxophonist Dan Blunck and Jackhammer Trio drummer Simon Grant. Later in the year, Disjunkt will be releasing a live session originally aired on KCMU's Sonarchy Radio program.

Tucker Dulin

Tucker Dulin has performed all over the country in many contexts including the Boston Philharmonic, SONOR, Klaresque Ensemble, Callithumpian Consort, Mass Eye and Ear, and the Masashi Harada Ensemble. He is currently working on a DMA in contemporary music at UC, San Diego, with Bertram Turetzky, George Lewis, and Charles Curtis. He specializes in post-war solo and chamber repertoire for the trombone. He has played with Bhob Rainey, Eddie Prevost, Steve Drury, Greg Kelley, George Lewis, Pauline Oliveros, Benjamin, Zander, James Coleman, and Randy Brecker. His trio, IIBasspit, with Seth Cluett and Mike Bullock, has performed throughout the US. Tucker currently makes his home in California.

Electrøn Love Theory

You may have heard electrøn love theory 's "Power of the People" on the airwaves. Get up off your chair and shake it!

Entropic Advance

While the universe is busy settling into its lowest energy state, take some time to enjoy the sounds around you. Entropic Advance provide such sounds, taking you on a dark hypnotic journey through a dreamy underworld of electro-acoustic sound manipulation. Their fourth release "Red Yellow Noise" will be available in August 2001. Entropic Advance features Casey Jones (bass, samples), Wesley Davis (trumpet, vocals) and Jim Deal (turntables, sax).

Euphorbia

Euphorbia features members of Little LuAnn and Mutant Data Orchestra. The last time Euphorbia played at SIL2K, the music congealed into a little blob in the center of the room. As the group played on, the blob grew. It eventually took the form of a street lamp, the kind that would turn itself off with it's own light. Slowly it would heat back up to a steady bright glow only to suddenly go dark and start all over again. When Euphorbia stopped playing, the lamp drifted off the edge of the world, and to this day floats through the universe, continuing its eternal cycle. Euphorbia is: Ffej (analog synthesizer), Mishka (cello and vocals) and Corey Pfaff (guitar).

Ffej / Blue Tarp Boy

Ffej came crawling out of a freshly made crater. Blue Tarp Boy swam out of a vacuum. Ffej said, "My toenails are made of plastic." Blue Tarp Boy said "My hands are on backwards!" Ffej plays synth, samples & sympathy. Blue Tarp Boy plays wounded guitars and pieces from the global scrap heap. While Ffej can often be seen on stage lately, oscillating to the sonic virus that is Mutant Data Orchestra or contributing atmosphere to the alien power-pop of Little LuAnn, it has been rare to experience his solo material outside the walls of his bedroom. On his own, Ffej is a musical renegade. He plays analog synthesizer like an apocalyptic mistral, calling out songs with star-heavy mishaps in mind. His rhythms are designed as if with clockwork and gunpowder and he sings like that thing that lived under your childhood bed. He launches his samples from no-man's randomland into invading the field of vision. And when the car alarms outside start playing along, he dances like a coffee bean let loose on a runaway bus.

Filles De Killimanjaro

Roulston, Cline & Co. team up with drummer Eric Eagle in a realization of the great Miles Davis recording "Filles De Killimanjaro." Eagle, who can be heard with Aiko Shimada, matches his beautiful transcriptions of this album with his propulsive drumming, in this case in the style of Tony Williams. Saxophonist Saul Cline, who can be heard anywhere from ballet orchestras to free jazz around the Northwest, contributes with a sound that is both delicate and brutish, combined with a masterful shaping of phrases. Jay Roulston branches from a diverse realm of trumpet influences and experiences which include classical, jazz, Latin, pop and many of these combined, to offer a brash, yet focused dialog with the other improvisers of the group.

Foster / Jenkins / Eubanks Trio

The Foster/Jenkins/Eubanks trio is a hobby group, and the players consider themselves to be not just hobbyists, but strident representatives of Hobbyism proper. The trio has performed extensively on mainstream media sources in the Northwest, as well as the occasional show at a traditional "clubs" and "festivals" concerned with non-referential/representational improvisation. Joe Foster (cornet) - Joe has an ideal of which he is only partially conscious. Jean-Paul Jenkins (guitar/synth guitar) - an extroverted intuitive. Bryan Eubanks (alto saxophone) - mind-oriented.

Vance Galloway

Weaving a path between acoustic sound and digital processing, improvisation and composition, technician and musician Vance Galloway uses the guitar as his entryway into the world of avant-garde electronica. His extensive use of custom-designed signal processing and surround sound in tandem with Power Book effects processors and prepared guitars creates a new context in which to experience traditional as well as drone-based ambient musics.

Philip Gayle

Philip Gayle. Born November 10, 1969. Guitarist, currently based in Houston TX. Played in funk/rock/folk/blues/punk/country bands on and off for 16 years. Self taught on guitar, piano, percussion until 1982. Studied percussion from 1982-84. "Schooled" in rock, blues, folk/country, and punk guitar. Studied guitar with Jonathan Hall, Ray Wilson, Preston Reed and Erich Avinger from 1982 through 1990. First began playing experimental solo guitar in mid-eighties and developed own style of acoustic-improv guitar/vocal at the Blue Zone Art Space in Kichijoji, Tokyo, Japan from 1990-1994. Played 3 times a week there for almost 4 years. Played 10 consecutive nights at Blue Zone Art Space in Tokyo, Japan 1991. Played 14 consecutive nights at the Blue Zone in Tokyo, Japan to coincide with improvised painted poem exhibition dedicated to Kenneth Patchen, March, 1992.

Ghidra

Ghidra is a fierce out-jazz outfit featuring Wally Shoup of Project W and Bill Horist of Axolotl, Zahir and Tablet. Ghidra plays warm and cuddly music, designed for relaxation and reflexology. On occasion, however, Ghidra gets a burr up its butt and spews hot lava everywhere. Come prepared for each and all eventualities. Ghidra is Bill Horist (guitar), Wally Shoup (alto sax) and Mike Peterson (drums and mad-cap-ness).

Glist

Glist consists of Janet Ashman on woodwinds and voice, Chris MaCrae on theremin and percussion, Paul Rubenstein on his own microtonal inventions and Ed Petry on guitar.

Jason Glover

Jason Glover is just really curious about what kind of angels or demons can be conjured up through sound. He was in a group called astronomeous with Chris Rice and Ian Nagoski for about a year in Newark, Delaware. Jason eventually got the hell out of Delaware, while Chris and Ian went on to publish Halana magazine. Relocating to Seattle in 1996, Jason met up with a self-employed seamstress, Lisa Defrance, and a nomadic painter, Seymour King, where they began to play Tripod music. They have since presented Tripod music throughout the country. Whether with in or out of Tripod, Jason is dedicated to accessing the unknown and the vulnerable, and surprising himself and anyone willing to listen, to sound without parameters, usually through some sort of plugged in device, but also an impressive assortment of third world trinkets, western classical instruments, or maybe just the objects and the resonances provided by the room.

Global Warmers

Listeners are subjected to a freely-improvised blend of acoustic and electric stringed instruments with some subtle electronic processing. Mike Marlin plays five-string banjo with various objects, implements, and his fingers; Ed Petry plays fretted and fretless electric guitars; and Randall Dunn tweaks the knobs of heavy machinery that, on a good evening, can potentially tear new holes in the ozone layer. Mike (Plutopolis, Ambient Crack, MAM), Ed (Crankenstein, Outland, League of Kraft Cheese Guitarists), and Randall (Zahir, FIN) have worked in a variety of configurations: solo, with experimental projects such as listed, and with each other albeit never as a trio. Each of these musicians contributes to Seattle's creative music scene (writing, publishing, producing, engineering, and organizing entities such as the Tentacle, Endless Records, and experimental music series) - but tonight emphasis is on sonic alteration and exploration. This ain't bluegrass and it ain't rock 'n roll, thank the gods.

Goat Faux

Goat Faux is a twisted little trio featuring Bill Horist and Ed Petry on guitars and Mike Peterson on drums. Not a real goat. Bill Horist plays in just about every experimental band in Seattle. Ed Petry plays in Global Warmers, Glist and Plier. Mike Peterson plays in Ghidra.

The Grandmothers

The Grandmothers are a sextet featuring 3 former members of Frank Zappa's legendary band The Mothers of Invention. Rock veterans, the Grandmothers pick up where Zappa's sardonic wit left off, building a saga of progressive and experimental rock music. Here is a site with lots more info about the Grandmothers.

Tony Grasso Saxophone Quartet

Chew on this: The Tony Grasso Saxophone Quartet? is a quartet, but Tony Grasso doesn't play saxophone. This is all about deep brass improvisations with Tony, Dan Blunck, Dave Johnson and Brian Kent.

Jeff Greinke

Jeff Greinke plays keyboards and samplers in LAND, and on "Hana" with Anisa Romero (formerly of Sky Cries Mary). He's got a dozen other projects in the works, including solo work on First World records. Check out his latest album "Ride".

Dave Gross

Labeled as One of Bostons steadfast explorers, by Bob Blumenthal of the Boston Globe, saxophonist and clarinetist David Gross discovered the world of improvised music while studying with Yusef Lateef at Hampshire College. He has performed with Le Quan Ninh, Eddie Prevost, Bob Marsch, Martin Tetrault, Glenn Spearman, Raphe Malik and many members of the Boston free-improv scene including Bhob Rainey, Greg Kelley, and Laurence Cook. Currently, Gross is transforming the saxophone into exactly what it is: a metal tube with keys, mouthpiece, and a reed. Reviews of his recordings, on his own Tautology label, with ensembles EED and FETISH, have ranged from "The range of textured noise that he cajoles from his instrument is impressive" to "lengthy episodes of fingernails ripping at a blackboard."

Abigail Grush

Abigail Grush is a Seattle area songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Her debut CD The Phantom Beat has recently been released on Barsuk Records; you can buy a copy here. Abby's label describes her as the child of Tom Waits and Judy Garland, raised on a Midwestern farm by Bela Bartok and David Byrne, who forms a Klezmer band with John Lurie and has an affair with Benny Goodman. This just about sums it up.

Ham and Treachery

Ham and Treachery is John Schuller and Mark Schlipper on guitar, voice, samples, drums, dual bass and witty banter.

Hat and Beard

Hat and Beard is Dan Blunck (saxophone) and Ken Paine (drums). Dan Blunck and Ken Paine have been playing music together for over 20 years now and working on the art of the duo for almost as long. They explore thematic and rhythmic improvisations with a vengeance, driven by a force to push the envelope. They commute between Dan's home in Olympia and Ken's in Portland to perform, record and further develop their art. Dan has performed previously at SIL2K with Disjunk and also The Tony Grasso Saxophone Quartet? while this is Ken's first appearance at the series.

Boris Hauf

Boris Hauf. Founder of Efzeg, co-founder of Pull My Daisy, member of Ensemble 68, member of Nouvelle Cuisine. Also plays/records with Fuckhead. Has received many international grants and prizes. Co-operations with lots of very famous people. "...the composed themes are awkward and burlesque, the music seems to pose questions that are never quite answered - and nevertheless the music makes its form of performance intelligible" -- Wiener Zeitung (January 1998) "...ascetic, abstract soundscapes tempt with unconventional habitus and doubling lines." "...playfully and joyfully the sounds, scrapes of melodies and strains are posed into space. lines are drawn, timbres tasted; smart circumspection and economy in the concept... cause slim transparent soundscapes. the consistency of the soundscape is for the benefit of avoiding expressive extremes." -- Concerto (Dec. 1998) "...most precisely designed suprisingly tight sets of a astoundingly compact texture, comprehensible and adventurous sound structures." -- Noe Nachrichten, Klosterneuburg (Sept. 2000)

HighRize

HighRize is an acid-jazz/fusion sextet that traverses the boundaries of jazz, funk, rock, and free improvisation. This versatile ensemble, Bill Jones (trumpet), Nathan Distelhorst (alto saxophone), Adan Schwartz (keyboards), Russ Grabski (electric guitar), Ryan Berg (electric bass), and Jay Jaskot (drum kit), seeks to explore these several genres through original compositions, mixing them into a groove-centered musical experience encompassing bebop passages, beautiful ballad-like interludes, and get-down stomp.

Holz Für Europa

Woflgang Fuchs (Germany), Hans Koch (Switzerland) and Peter van Bergen (Holland) all met at a concert of the Cecil Taylor European Orchestra having each arrived at free music through different routes; Koch, a classically trained clarinetist came to jazz through Coltrane, Coleman, Braxton and Butch Morris, van Bergen, a academically trained saxophonist and Fuchs from Cecil Taylor and his own King Ubu Orchestra. Seven wind instruments, from contrabass and bassclarinet to b-flat and a-flat clarinets, from tenor to soprano through sopranino, between silence and explosive intensity, between tender beauty and uninhibited expressionism, between ingeniously written passages and free searching movements within the still relatively unexplored areas of melody, discordant sounds and noise, subtle, at times brittle sound scapes in all stages of unrest, fragility and emphasis. Certainly the three musicians in Holz Für Europa don't play music of rebellion or of open riot, times are different now. The aesthetic of resistance has been taken over by the aesthetics of priority of all musical means and possibilities, in the unfolding as well as in the reduction. Music truly of the moment.

Bill Horist

If you have never seen Bill Horist perform, you are missing out on one of the great joys of life. The energy and proficiency he instills into his music is really unmatched. Bill plays in a number of projects, including but not limited to his solo work for prepared guitar, guitar power quartet Axolotl, Ghidra, UnFolkUs, and Tablet (with DJ jjustice).

Infusion

Members of San Pedro Circus collaborate with various spoken word artists to form Infusion.

Intonarumori

Kevin Goldsmith's solo project Intonarumori takes strings to your ear with a generous helping of electronic processing along the way. The word "Intonarumori" is from the Italian Futurist art movement - it means "noise intoners".

Intoning Silence

Intoning Silence takes you on an ambient journey through mystical soundscapes, leaving time far behind. Let your mind be free, as you float along with flowing cello and trumpet, set to swirling drones and exotic rhythms. Kevin Goldsmith (Intonarumori) plays cello, bass, samples; Wesley Davis (Entropic Advance, Trepanning Drill) plays processed trumpet, samples, vocals, and guitar.

Jackhammer Trio

Jackhammer Trio (Rik Wright, Tannar Brewer, Simon Grant) have been performing their trippy rock, funk, and hip-hop influenced improvisational musings since their formation in 1994. Journalists have had a hard time putting a label on them, having to come up with descriptions like "atomic jazz", "funky free textural zen improvisational" and "groove experimentalists". The trio first gained a reputation in Seattle's renown avant-garde jazz community by playing strange amalgamations of heavy metal, funk, and jazz standards at local festivals like Bumbershoot and ArtsEdge. Jackhammer Trio then evolved into beat-oriented free jazz, regularly performing in Seattle's famous underground acid jazz clubs and recording their most recent CD "Sonarchy and Synergy" for HipSync Records.

Kid Lucky

26 year old Kid Lucky is one of the most unique vocalists coming out of New York City. This young vocalist is revolutionary in his style by taking a cappella into the new and exciting world of trip hop, trance and ambient. His combination of beat-boxing and scatting mixed with dark melodies and precise harmonies has impressed audiences around New York City and beyond and he has worked with Musicians like sax legend/teacher Sabir Matteen, Guitar master Vernon Reid, sax great Marion Brown jazz vocalist Miles Griffith, Daniel Carter, Tor Snyder, William Parker, The Last Poets, Timothy (Speed) Levitch and many others. He has performed at The Hammerstein Ballroom, The Knitting Factory, The Lincoln Center, The Cooler, The Brooklyn Anchorage, Tonic, The National Black Theater and at schools such as The New School, Cooper Union College and NYU. Kid Lucky has also performed live solo-improvised sets on WBAI, WKCR MNN and NY1. He is also featured on the upcoming VH2 series "Sound Effects". As a composer/conductor of improvised music Kid Lucky is fascinating and his musical diversity is so vast one can only sit and listen in awe at how this young vocalist is producing all these sounds out of his mouth. His one man shows are nothing less than awesome. If you like Bobby Mcferrin you're gonna love this fresh young vocalist/composer/conductor.

Kimmig Huebsch Duo

After a successful tour in October 2000 Carl Ludwig Huebsch, tuba and Harald Kimmig, violin are again touring the United States in October 2001. Both are well known for their unique and inspired music. Their playing is influenced by the European classical tradition, New Music and Jazz. Kimmig and Huebsch perform regularly as soloists and together with musicians like Cecil Taylor, Arthur Blythe, Steve Lacy, Peter Kowald, Lester Bowie a.o. They are also known as composers for film, theatre or dance performances. In fall Huebsch/Kimmig will present their CD which was recorded live in the US in the last year. Huebsch and Kimmig hail from Germany.

Knobby

Knobby is Brent Arnold (cello) and Greg Campbell (drums). As 2/3rd's of Wally Shoup's Project W, they are involved in countless other projects around town including playing for Ota Prota, writing music for Consolidated Works stage productions and running a monthly local version of John Zorn's Cobra at the pre-burnt Speakeasy. Brent Arnold also sings and plays bass for THICKNESS.

Knotty Ensemble

The Knotty Ensemble is a unique, improvising string quartet of guitar, viola, cello and bass. They have just released a new CD, Knotty Bits, on the Canadian independent record label, Third Rail Music. They are currently touring the West Coast this summer. The Knottys perform improvised and composed music that is by turns densely textural, melodic, woody, intensely rhythmic, tribal, humorous, and personal. The ensemble draws inspiration from the breadth of free music, tango, ethnic music, 20th Century concert music, and jazz, reflecting the very diverse backgrounds of its members, but has developed a unique ensemble sound that is beyond category. The Ensemble is led by guitarist/composer Jared Burrows from Vancouver, BC with Oregonians Rob Kohler - bass, Sonya Lawson - viola, and Alex Kelly - cello.

Laundryroom Lullaby Unit

Laundryroom Lullaby Unit is an evolving forum for expressing sound and song comprised of Dan White, Jim Deal, and Scott Adams. Their palate currently includes (but is not limited to) found sounds, ambient vinyl, accordion, electric upright bass, banjo, and acoustic guitar. Dan White studied electronic music composition at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and performs with many independent Seattle-area musicians (including Indiegrrl founder Holly Figueroa). Jim Deal manipulates sound and is a member of Entropic Advance. Scott Adams writes songs and plays acoustic guitars with Bunny Pencils.

Arianna Lewis

Arianna Lewis is a mulitidisciplinary artist working in the realms of film, sound, physicality, and she is a founding member of the improvisational performance group VIA, and the butoh inspired collaborative P.A.N. Her films have been shown at the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Filmfestival and at the Seattle Art Museum. Her latest, Project Nada, is a sound experiment interested in the arrangement of humans and sounds, unfamiliar with each other. Relying on a score of the elements -earth-water-fire-air-ether- we will weave through a semiconducted universe of expression, a replica of nature, a structure within chaos.

Liquid Voodoo

Searching for the unusual, four Seattle musicians, spoken word artist Rick Grijalva, saxophonist Jeffery Beals (Kingsmen, Jr. Cadillac, Chuck Berry, Cutting Edge), bassist Darryl Miller, and drummer Rick Bowen, spent time in their rehearsal space creating a new sound, blending the improvisational ingredients of West coast cool jazz with the energy and vibrance of more rock and funk influences. The group has veered into new melodic, rhythmic and intellectual territory with a musical partnership with the spoken word.

Local Buddha

Local Buddha is a groove/pop/ambient duo that has recently returned to the Seattle scene. Carter Soles (bass/vocals) and Hope Vasudeva (drums/vocals) have been on Whidbey Island for the last three years, honing their style of improvisation and composition. Recent performances confirm Vasudeva's status as a master of vocal manipulation, creating gorgeous, morphing soundscapes in improvisation. Soles, a virtual songwriting machine, shows expert craftsmanship as he flows through pop, blues, noise, funk and back again. Local Buddha has collaborated with guitars, lights, keyboards, dance, violin, and more, and looks forward to visiting the SIL2K stage.

Lost Dog

Lost Dog is a quartet featuring Northwest trumpet phenomenon Jim Knodle, Rik Wright on guitar, Simon Grant on drums accompanied by Outhouse bassist Cedric Ross.

Magic Sleep

Working in an entirely free form of improvisation, Magic Sleep creates pieces that cannot be recreated or rehearsed. Pianist Devon Hall and trombonist Emily Scott have been working closely together for more than two years, working to fashion a sound that is quirky, impulsive, and all their own. Based in New York, this duo works in, out and around their classical backgrounds to find a unique style of free improvisation.

Manalive vs. MissKick

Manalive, a one-man electronic band with an appetite for spontaneous composition, flourishes with melodic improvisation and rhythmic interaction. Michael Stegner is the architect of this musical construct involving the use of electronic sequencers, samplers, and keyboards - achieving a totally interchangeable mix of sounds, beats, and melodies. Manalive is a sound collage that represents the everyday spontaneous actions that determine individuality. This music calls on a vocabulary of sounds gathered over the course of time and communicates with an ingenuous new language. MissKick has been seen spinning at Pitch Control at Aro.Space, Dialect at the OK Hotel and Glitch at Aristocrats. Her sets can be also be heard on Aural Fixations on Groovetech, in cahoots with Elemental, or tag teaming with Miss Kito or as in this case, Manalive.

Michael Manring & Evan Schiller

Michael Manring (CA) & Evan Schiller, 2/3 of the last SADHAPPY incarnation, are playing their first show as a duet. Bay area bassist and composer Manring is known for his innovative approach to the instrument and his adventurous solo concerts. He has released five albums of his own and appeared on well over a hundred albums as a session musician in genres ranging from New Age to avant-garde jazz to folk to experimental rock. He has been called "the bassist with the most fresh and inventive playing today" (Musicien magazine, France), "a virtuoso electric bassist who's almost single-handedly re-defined the outer limits of the instrument" (San Jose Mercury News) and "a master of the fretless bass without rival" (Guitar Club magazine, Italy). Schiller (in this show working samplers, loops, filters, and Wavedrum) is the drummer and/or producer/engineer for such projects as SADHAPPY, Timothy Young's Very Special Forces, Aiko Shimada (Blue Marble/Tzadik), and Eyvind Kang (The Story of Iceland/Tzadik).

Takagi Masakatsu

Hope and empathy. Kyoto-based sound and vision artist, Takagi Masakatsu, finds his work infused with these themes. Takagi's message resonates strongly at the best of times. At the worst... his music is a comfort and a reminder of the bigger picture of which we are all a small part. Takagi's debut release is Pia, on New York's Carpark label (home to releases from Marumari, Jake Mandell, So Takahashi and kid606) and includes a multimedia disc to accompany the music, interweaving snatched moments of docu-sonics: children talking and playing, people walking through the streets, nature interacting with our constructed cities. This is true musique concrète: sound and video that Takagi, an accomplished artist in several fields, has traveled the world to record. Wot no tunes? Just think of it as a different sort of song - warmly atmospheric, unique found sounds arranged with Takagi's synaesthetic feel. Engaging with it will not go unrewarded. Takagi was born and still resides in Kyoto, Japan, where he lives among the many ancient temples and gardens: Takagi's grandfather is a monk at one of these temples. Such influences are apparent in Pia, where there is a simultaneous air of peacefulness and unrest. After producing video works for the Japanese multimedia group, Silicom, Takagi's video pieces have shown in art galleries throughout Japan. Starting in October, Takagi will bring his work to Europe and North America, touring with his laptop and DV camera. In addition to Pia, Takagi will release an album on Germany's Karaoke Kalk label in 2002.

Maximum Coherence During Flying

Whether taking listeners to epic sonic destinations with dramatic rock compositions or by creating infectious psychedelic pop motifs, Maximum Coherence progress through multiple layers of the musical spectrum with harmonic ease. Marked by intricate and accessible sound treatments and influences ranging from seventies glam rock to new wave bohemian showmanship, this Seattle-based group of space rocking troubadours go beyond standard musical conventions and entice listeners with compelling creations of wanderlust and intrigue. Their musical acuity and involved technical styles further accentuate the boundaries this six-member group reaches with bombastic vigor and vitality, enthusiasm and enigmatic charm. With an amusing and embellished approach to freely mixed elements as diverse as progressive pop, psychedelic rock, circus electronica, symphonic soundtracks, and operatic male/female harmonies, the sounds of Maximum Coherence both underscore and amplify the provocative and engaging sides of their universal musical sensibilities.

Metal Men

Metal Men are John Hawkley and Eric Muhs. Their performances could aptly be described as ...Degenerate Sonic Mayhem and rhythmic outbursts, played on homemade and non conventional instruments and low-tech machinery, combined with cheap sensational gimmicks, disguised as artful music.

Model 563

Old devices never thought musical, and since found obsolete, find their unique voices brought ahead of their utilitarian intent. Oscillators, shortwaves and medical test equipment are the instruments with often times unreliable characters. Thumps, buzzes, squeals, and pure tones are pieced together to form physically absorbing soundscapes. A CD of pure electronic music from Model 563 entitled "...even the flies were wary." is now available on World Misery Recordings. Model 563 is the experimental / avantgarde / whathaveyou solo project of Mark Schlipper and usually involves experiments in tape loops, homemade instruments, electronics, computers, and electronic processing of odd acoustic sound sources.

Mome Raths

Portland's 'Mome Raths' create dense electronic/acoustic soundscapes with roots in kraut rock, free improv, exotica, and film music. Sounds, songs and lineup fluctuate somewhat from performance to performance but Mome Raths currently involves Joshua Blanchard (bass, vocals, percussion), Howard Gillam (electronics), Michael Hamilton (organ, clarinet, homemade instruments), Collen French (guitar, flute, percussion), and Joel Cherney (prepared percussion, electronics, horns). These musicians are also play in other groups/projects, including The Sensualists, Supersprite and Insect Gallery. Mome Raths are currently busy recording their first full length as well as regularly touring throughout the Northwest.

Moonbabies

Moonbabies are a Swedish duo comprised of Ola Frick and Carina Johansson. They will make their first visit to the USA in April/May of 2001 and perform several concerts in support of their debut CD "June and Novas", released by Duckweed Records of Seattle. Moonbabies will perform a set of experimental underwater moods at I-Spy on Monday, May 14. Listeners can expect a variety of sonic atmospheres including elements of electronica, traditional guitar/bass, samples, tape loops, xylophone, and co-ed vocals. Their CD is featured at listening stations at all Cellophane Square, Sonic Boom, Easy Street, and Music Millennium locations. "...An impressive marriage of traditional indiepop and modern electronic production" 4 stars - AMG, All Music Guide "Our young Swedes break a lot of new ground, using technology as an expressive too... It is also the non-tonal palette that lends itself ever so effectively to communicating the adventures of Ola Frick and Carina Johansson." - INDIEPORT

Motorbison

Jessica Lurie (The Living Daylights)'s project Motorbison features Lurie on alto saxophone and vocalizations, Keith Lowe on bass, Sue Orfield on tenor sax, Jason Seed on guitar and Will Dowd on drums. The band will be playing Lurie's original compositions, which range in style from jazz/funk to eastern European influenced madness, with a lot of free improvising in between.

Mount Analog

Mount Analog is an instrumental quartet led by Tucker Martine. The group's unique instrumentation includes pedal steel, harmonium, trombone, Wurlitzer, drums, electronic processing and banjo. Their live set includes ambient pieces inspired by their self-titled debut CD which was created to accompany the slow, dark Japanese dance form Butoh. There are also ensemble created pieces that combine the ambient sensibility with a thick, old world melodic sound interwoven with field recordings. The groups live set is a constant process of additive and deductive layering. Martine has worked with Wayne Horvitz, Eyvind Kang, Bill Frisell, Jeff Grienke, Julian Priester, Sam Rivers and others.

Eveline Mueller-Graf

Eveline Mueller-Graf was born in Uster, Switzerland and grew up with good cheese and a piano in the house. Before moving to Seattle 11 years ago, Eveline played for several bands in Switzerland, ranging from New Wave to Country and Western. In the USA Eveline has played in different groups with musicians like Laura Love, Wally Shoup, Charlie Rowan, Dennis Rea, Amy Denio and Suzie Kosawa and was a cofounder of the Seattle Chainsaw Ensemble. She built her own percussion rack, The Boeing, so named because the majority of the parts used to be, or were meant to be, flying in the sky. With The Boeing she was a longtime member of the free improvising group UnFolkUs. Currently Eveline plays in a trio with Jim Knodle and Cedric Ross, in the group Street of Crocodiles with Greg Sinibaldi and Reuben Radding, in the SIL2K Ensemble and in 3and2, a group with Eric Muhs, John Hawkley and 2 ever-changing mystery guests. From time to time she also collaborates with other musicians for other projects, with other innovative instrument builders like Troy Swanson, Dave Knott and Steve Barsotti or some duos with guitarists John Schuller and Bill Horist.

Mutant Data Orchestra

The Mutant Data Orchestra rewires the digital sound products of our society adding new interfaces and marginal unpredictability to the control of the radically modified sounds. Inherently modular in it's construction the MDO also utilizes an unpredictable networking system or Naive Data Bus, enabling the performers to construct and modify live sonic organisms revealing the attractors within chaotic systems.

Nequaquam Vacuum

("The Void Does Not Exist") The phrase originates in the Vulgate of St. Jerome, and is found in the writings and utterances of Plato, Siddharta, Musashi, As-Sadiq, Anaxagoras, Paracelsus, Aquinas, Newton, Einstein. Throughout history, we find a seemingly-endless list of apparently-contradictory philosophies embracing this central paradox. We ourselves embrace this truth. We are a collective of musicians, centered upon two experimental percussionists, and dedicated to finding gems of beauty and truth in empty space. Our sounds are largely produced using found metal objects; illuminated through live effects processing and fortified at times by saxophone, keyboards, violin, voice, and any other source with which we come into contact. Our recordings feature no overdubs and minimal post-production. Our performances are entirely improvisational. Like others before us who have honed in on The Void as a central point of nothingness which governs the motions of the spheres; we believe that no worthwhile Truth can be achieved through rational cogitation. It is not possible for us to tell you what it is we have to say. Listen with open ears, and it will become clear. We have at last found White in the Great Work. It is time now to abandon our teachers, and turn our attentions outward.

Nice Nice

Nice Nice is a duo with Mark Shirazi on drums and Jason Buehler on guitar and electronics. The music is generally textural, loopy, and kind of noisy, with an emphasis on rhythm. Influences include Squarepusher, Steve Coleman, Derek Bailey, John Zorn's Locus Solus, dub, no wave, etc. Music is good.

Noggin

Noggin bring us apocalyptic head-crushing non-deterministic guitar static.

Normal Man

Normal Man - Kurt Bishoff plays drums, found objects, home made instruments and keyboards. He is one of the conspirators of the avant garde magazine SOURCE, studied with Jon Cage at U.C. Davis, stands 6'6" tall and lives on a boat. Herbie Kritzer plays drums, keyboards, Chapman Stick and vocalizes. He boxes, pets cats, stands 6' 3" tall and has spent time in the Napa State mental institution.

Nudge

This CD, Trick Doubt from Nudge is 3 years of shifting players and an ever-thickening cocoon of working methods being molded by an unerring sense of melody and drift belonging to Brian Foote. Stark, pleading interplay gives way to vast magnetic indulgence and back again. Addled programming meets human granular drumming and a strange new crunk is glimpsed, a party where tuning and time both get sprung. Brian and cohorts Mat Morgan (Fontanelle, CNS Engineering), Honey Owens (TraLaLa, Jackie-O Motherfucker), Elton Lawson (Metatron), Andy Brown (Fontanelle, Southerning), and Paul Dickow (Fontanelle, Strategy) have managed to swindle emotions from unsuspecting machines. Now the machines are looking to ease the pain.

Office Products

Office Products are a duo from Portland, Oregon, whose music is a hybrid of free-improv, musique concrete, and sometimes freeform synthesizer and turntablism techniques. They have developed a repartee within a high-speed jazz-collage that is very caffienated and funny. The duo of electronic drums/sampler/electronics and guitar/efx stretch their instruments to fit a wide spectrum of sounds into a bizarrely detailed improv dialogue. Their recordings have been released on labels such as Diskono and IllegalArt alongside artists such as Hrvatski, People Like Us=, Boards of Canada, Lesser and V/Vm.

Ota Prota

Seattle-based Ota Prota play melodic avant-groove music. Ota Prota is Adam McCollom on guitar, Zeke Keeble on drums, Bill Moyer on percussion, Christina Honeycutt on vocals, Kevin Hudson on bass and James Drage on keyboards. Check out their brand new self-titled CD!

OVO

Having spent the first half of 2001 touring such diverse countries as Turkey, France, Slovenia, Greece, Poland, and their own, Italy, OVO bring their improvisational, visual, and aural spectacle stateside. The sub-earthy vocal twitchings of Stefania are accompanied by her pan flute guitar spasms and occasional violin shimmers. Bruno Dorella wraps drums and electronic manipulation all around her like demonic queenliness. OVO can be quiet like flickering flames or as aggressive as flame throwing.

Oxygen Ensemble

The Oxygen Ensemble had its beginnings in 1999 at two separate times and on two different coasts in the United States. In January 1999, Thomas Bell went back to his college town of Tallahassee, FL, and put together a group of musicians that became known as The Oxygen Ensemble. In Seattle, Peter Reilly also gathered together a group of musicians known as the Attention Deficit Disorder ensemble, which began a weekly gig at The Rainbow, in July 1999 on Monday nights. This ensemble performed free form jazz excursions. The Oxygen Ensemble ended their east coast venture and headed west to Seattle and soon after the ADD Ensemble merged into the Oxygen Ensemble. The Oxygen Ensemble is Peter Reilly (guitar), Dave Carter (trumpet), Franklin Mazzeo (drums, sampler), Thomas Bell (bass), Guido Perla (drums) and Les (electronics). The ensemble put together a CD "Memorial Day Highlights" and is finishing work on a second soon to be released CD "Year of The Dragon". For their first show at SIL2K, the Ensemble brought along an Action painter to accompany them with flying paint. At their 2nd show they augmented their group to 9 players. Come see what surprises they have in store on August 6th.

P.A.N.

P.A.N. is multimedia performance collaborative largely influenced by early Butoh. Their latest project is: vermillion.violet, an exploration of the process of 'bruising' through movement and metaphor. Centered around the physical body, the questions of where the inner/outer meet and how pain and healing interact will be examined through original music, video, and dance. This work premiered as part of the Seattle International Butoh Festival at On The Boards in November 2000.

Pinebox

PineBox is a solo project of Karen Hancock. Under the influence of John Fahey, Claudine Longet, key chains and Johnny's Angels, samples with guitar loops and samples with vocal loops evoke a lowbrow found folk.

Plastiq Phantom

Known to his friends as qp, Darrin Wiener, a.k.a. Plastiq Phantom, is a local purveyor of vinyl, electronics, signals and digital mayhem. Look around town for the man in the safari hat.

Plier

Plier consists of the following vital components: Howard Ouchi (drums) has played in Crankenstein, Stinkhorn, and makes his living in various rock, funk and fusion groups. Michael Monhart plays reeds and Tibetan instruments in Stinkhorn. Among other things, Ed Petry plays fretted and unfretted guitar with anyone who will have him.

Project W

Project W is Wally Shoup (saxophone) and Brent Arnold (cello) with various collaborators on percussion, including Ed Pias and more recently Greg Campbell. They play fierce improvised free jazz and spontaneous combustible sonics in the Zen key. Feast on the sound of liquid sparks.

Reuben Radding Trio

Reuben Radding brings a new trio formation to SIL2K for a set of mixed improvisations. Radding comes to Seattle from his former home of New York City where he was a frequent collaborator through the 90's with John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Anthony Coleman, Elliott Sharp, Roy Campbell Jr., Andrea Parkins, Daniel Carter, Assif Tsahar, Rashid Bakr, and others. He was also the leader of Myth Science, a reperetory band devoted to he music of Sun Ra, which included former Seattlite Briggan Krauss. This new trio includes reed player Greg Sinibaldi (Degenerate Art Ensemble), and innovative percussionist Eveline Mller-Graf (UnFolkUs).

Dennis Rea

Dennis Rea's sonically adventurous guitar playing is informed by modern jazz, free improvisation, experimental composition, out-rock, and the music of East and Southwest Asia. He has collaborated with such innovative musicians as Han Bennink, Hector Zazou, Stuart Dempster, Klaus Schulze, Cui Jian, India Cooke, Toshi Makihara, Trey Gunn, and Eyvind Kang. Between 1989 and 1996 he organized three of the earliest unofficial concert tours of China by progressive Western musicians. He currently performs with the groups LAND, Axolotl, and Stackpole and with singer/songwriter Eric Apoe, among other projects.

rebreather

Abrasive, sparse, ethereal, abrupt, and wistful, rebreather (Alex Keller and Christopher DeLaurenti) improvise live electronic music from the digital glossolalia of sabotaged consumer electronics, homebrew circuits, and obsolete devices.

Resonants

Resonants is an improvisational ensemble that gives its listeners soundscapes of rich ambient music containing just the right balance between suspense and evocation. Together, Rik Wright, Jos Hernando, Reuben Radding, and Stuart McLeod create a mysterious, hypnotic and moody mixture of acoustic and electronic instruments.

Rollerball

Rollerball's music is an ambitiously diverse release of psychologically gnawed songs that range from piano-driven aches to jazz damaged, decaying cabaret smokers to blurred electronic-infected soundscapes, as assembled by clarinet, bass, drums, trumpet, keys, accordion, voice and samples. And so eerie sculptings morph naturally into noisefest, dark rumblings counter chiming tones, and live sounds pair off with sampled sounds... Rollerball hails from Portland, OR.

Ruins

Ruins are the pioneers of drums/bass duos. They are just two musicians, but their sound is an energetic blast of solid rhythm section and it's hard to believe they are but two. They mix elements of hardcore/progressive rock/contemporary music/free jazz/noise. Their explosive and intricately composed tunes are sung in a peculiar language of their own invention. Ruins has toured Europe/USA many times. Ruins have also worked with John Zorn/Derek Bailey/Keiji Haino etc.

Matt Shoemaker

Northwest native Matt Shoemaker has been working with various forms of sound and music disarrangement for over ten years now. Utilizing a potpourri of techniques (including: musique concrte, field recordings, improvisation, collage, acousmatic pandering, and earnest sonic tomfoolery), Matt attempts to create electroacoustic soundscapes of a uniquely elusive and cryptic quality. The acclaimed german label Trente Oiseaux, run by composer Bernhard Gnter, has just released Matt's debut cd "GROUNDLESS" for worldwide distribution.

John Schuller

John Schuller's muSICKness page can be found here. Less than 40 BPM, more than 110 dB please.

Seattle Guitar Circle

The Seattle Guitar Circle are subscribers to the Robert Fripp school of Guitar Craft. The use of alternate tuning and playing techniques allow them to transcend the traditional sound and thinking associated with the guitar.

Aiko Shimada

Aiko Shimada is a guitarist/singer/songwriter. She writes songs that are personal and intimate. She plays with Dave Carter on trumpet, Mark Collins on upright bass, Eric Eagle on drums and David Brogan on percussion. With this group (and other guest musicians including Steve Moore, Tim Young and Mark France), she recorded the CD, "Another Full Moon" in 2000. This CD was released under her own label, Bera Records, and was co-produced with Tucker Martine. She also has a brand new CD, "Blue Marble" on Tzadik with a different set of musicians. It was produced by Eyvind Kang and Evan Schiller.

Shorter Bus

Shorter Bus is Brad Mowen (also of the Very Special Forces and noddingturdfan, featuring Trey Spruance of Mr.Bungle also of the Apes of Wrath.), Randall Dunn (of Zahir, Nasdaq and Endless Records). This is a duo not seen since their infamous appearance in Flotch 20097 an experimental opera written by Eyvind Kang, Tim Young, Mell Dettmer, Brad Mowen and Randall Dunn presented at Sexo in 1998. Shorter Bus is the collision of like minded, unorthodox vocalists Randall Dunn and Brad Mowen. Their shows have seating charts. Shorter Bus likes to manipulate their voices into thick sound that usually comes from a stage they perform on. Sometimes it is hard to tell what to make of Shorter Bus or the kids on it. shorter Bus is not normal... Shorter Bus should get checks from the government... Shorter Bus should be on medication... What's wrong with them?

SIMURG

SIMURG is Sound collage duo Douglas Kilbride and DJ Aleph. Together they unfold their wings and flap out sounds both crooked and spiral, like a dervish dirge or solar flare.

Greg Sinibaldi

The newly formed Greg Sinibaldi Trio is a talented group, consisting of Greg Sinibaldi on tenor sax and bass clarinet, Reuben Radding on bass, and Bob Rees on drums. The trio's music is largely steeped in the avant-garde tradition. An innovative mix of improvisation, jazz, and contemporary classical music, this trio defies classification. The unique sense and musical intelligence each player bring to their instruments gives the trio a concise and fresh sound. Pieces may range from subtly quiet to eruptive, creating an exhilarating listening experience. The trio consists of some of Seattle's brightest improvisers. Leader Greg Sinibaldi is in high demand as an improviser and has worked with Gunther Schuller, Jimmy Giuffre, Cuong Vu, and Joe Maneri. He also plays with the Degenerate Art Ensemble, and Street of Crocodiles. Reuben Radding, a recent transplant to the Northwest from New York, has worked with John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Elliott Sharp, Roy Campbell, Andrea Parkins, and many others. Bob Rees has worked on important collaborative projects with the band BeeCraft and the Don Goodwin Group.

Sinister Kitchen

Sinister Kitchen is Jonathan Kochmer (a.k.a. "Monsieur Millipede"): processed guitars; Capybara; processed kitchen supplies (blenders, egg-beaters, bowls, etc.); kalimba; speech synthesis programs and Mell Dettmer (a.k.a. "Element 115"): Samplers; highly processed bass guitar; Furbies and other talking toys; tone generators. Audience members are encouraged to bring their own Furbies or other talking toys (no experience necessary), to sit in and jam with our professionally trained and anabolic steroid enhanced Furby chorus. The self-titled CD is available on Endless Records.

Solenoid

Solenoid is one of the many guises of our favorite hacker, David Chandler. David is into his second decade of making music with machines. In addition to Solenoid, David has recorded and performed as Office Products, Space Shrimp and with Negativland. "...finely formed midtempo beat-flicker gems with occasional distorted drum-machine imaging & soft, supple melodic iconography. Really nice." "...mellow dub-flecked...". "menacing/dark electro stylee". "...should have a certain element twirling around their room-centered lava lamps until the brink of asphyxiation while the rest peer in through cracks in the Venetian blinds wondering aloud 'How did we come to this?...' Sensible." --Forced Exposure

Cathy Sorbo

Stand-up comedienne Cathy Sorbo speaks candidly about motherhood, pubic hair, masturbation, mannequins, fast food, periods, the internet, booze, pot, and doing it with rock stars.

soultheft.

soultheft. penetrates your mind with sonic subversivity. soultheft.'s new album "the me i hide from me" was released by World Misery Records on June 28th. It should be lodged securely in your CD player by now.

soulBOIL

soulBOIL is inBOIL and soultheft in disguise which is Carl Farrow and Phil Petrocelli incognito. Two of the more deranged members of the SIL2K collective, the collaboration is guarantee to scare and confound you by turns. Carl Farrow is also the owner of Partial Records and performs with *Polar. Phil Petrocelli plays with Trepanning Drill and until recently curated the Their Own Devices weekly new music series.

Soundrangers

Soundrangers have been creating state-of-the-art sound elements and music for over a decade.

Spider Music Orquestra

Spider Music Orquestra is a new improvisational unit led by composer/multi-instrumentalist Harry Pierce. Spider Music is: Harry Pierce - guitar, clarinet, mandolin and voice, Olli Klomp - box drum ( Cajon ), tabla, and drum kit and Erik Kubista - stand-up downright bass.

DJ Spooky

Paul Miller a.k.a. DJ Spooky (that subliminal kid) is a reader, a writer, an innovator. Dissatisfied with existing categories of electronic music, he created his own. Commonly referred to as Illbient, Spooky's music is tripped-up, tweaked and twinged, heavily beaty and sample rich.

Stinkhorn

Stinkhorn is a brainy gut-bucket band, interpreting originals with relishing menace and flair. Saxophonist Michael Monhart, on tenor and soprano, surely must someday become recognized as one of Seattle's most outstanding musical minds. Brian Heaney on electric guitar, John Morris on bass, and Howard Ouichi on some mean and intricate drums. (Earshot Jazz)

The Stools

The Stools are a loosely knit threesome of improvisational musicians -- all veterans of the NW music scene. VJ Bloody Stool, Jimmy Stool, and Dr. Vincent Stool form this fragrant trio with an aromatic blend of electronica, thrash, trance, urnagwasara, new age, and metal. Influences range from the likes of Amon Tobin, Melt Banana, Eno, etc. The lads all rotate on their instruments depending on how the mood strikes on any given night. Despite evidence to the contrary -- the Stools are really a breath of fresh air. Please come and take a whiff!

Strategy

Strategy (aka Paul Dickow) creates collage-based narrative music using low-to-medium tech tabletop electronics such as keyboards, drum machines and samplers. Dub signal processing (live and in the studio) adds unpredictable spontaneity to the mix. Off-the-cuff live DSP back flips and unusual polyrhythms are created by unsynchronized cheap phrase samplers, backed up by a wide range of instruments--from DIY noiseboxes and temperamental analog drum brains, to minimal modular synthesis. (and of course a mixer.) The sound palette ranges from bitcrunched rock, reggae, electric jazz, and dance music fragments, to noise and gonzo electronics. Dickow currently plays in Fontanelle, Audraglint, and Kranky. He is also the drummer for Emergency. Other projects include collaborative computer-music projects PEOPLEX (with Chris Herbert of Birmingham, UK), One Human Minute (with Michael Hamilton) and Nudge. He is co-founder of the Archigramophone Recordings label.

sub_sonic

sub_sonic is DJ Aaron, Jadie and Sir Real. They play down-, mid- and uptempo music with live keyboards, samples and effects. Their previous residency at the Baltic Room has ended, but sub_sonic will be making a special appearance at Jet Set at Nation in July.

Teleologic

teleologic (tel'e-o-log'ic), adj. 1. when the nature of a thing is defined by its end result. The sounds of glass-pack mufflers, dragonflies, crowded streets, rocky beaches, and stampeding herds all find thier way into the vocabulary of Teleologic. What at first seems your standard jazz combo quickly becomes somthing altogether "other". With nods to the old schools of Blue Note, and the new schools Incus, they find no home with either; preferring instead to found thier own school. Like drunken style kung fu, they are at once elegant and awkward; graceful and fierce. With members of Beecraft, The Degenerate Art Ensemble, and Ham & Treachery, they aren't new to exploration; they've simply found another frontier. Teleologic is: Bob Rees (drums), Greg Sinibaldi (tenor sax, bass clarinet), Mark Schlipper (double bass)

Troy Swanson

Troy Swanson has been experimenting with electronics in music nearly 20 years beginning with analog synthesizers and leading to his specifically designed high tension string apparatus known as Corpus Collasi. In 1986 TS received a degree in robotics and around the same time began working with special lighting and stage settings incorporated with his electronic soundscapes. From 1989-1991 TS studied composition at Cornish College with an emphasis in electronic music under the direction of Jarrad Powell, and independent studies in mixed media performance, and extensive studies into the use of prepared piano. After Cornish TS spent 3 years as resident composer for the Sally Sykes Dance Company. From 1990 till most recently Troy apprenticed and went on to become the primary music instrument fabricator for the German born artist Trimpin including liquid percussion, the Fire Organ, the Vorsetzer (automated piano designed to play the compositions of Conlon Nancarro) and an automated guitar sculptor for the Experience Music Project in Seattle. In 1994 Troy began focusing more on improvisation and in 1996 departed from using only analog synthesizers. Without a piano and wishing to continue on with prepared piano studies (technique developed by John Cage.....) Troy began experimenting with piano strings and invented the Corpus Collasum named after the fibrous tissue linking the two hemispheres of the brain. These instruments are processed and amplified through modified stereo leslie speaker cabinets. TS supplements his music by working offshore with sonar for the fiber optic cable industry.

Doug Theriault

Doug Theriault has been active in free improvisation for the last 8 years. First appearing on the scene at the Seattle Improvised Music festival in 1994 with the group Kagel. Since then he has played shows and festivals all over the country and three more different Seattle Improv festivals. He has worked with Davey Williams, LaDonna Smith, Gino Robair, Jeph Jerman, Toshi Makihara, Wally Shoup, Climax Golden Twins, The Sun RA Orchestra also with his group Office Products and Mark Hosler from Negativland among many others. Doug plays altered, shorted out and modified guitar. He is also an organizer of Improvised Music in Portland Oregon.

Thickness

"Thickness" is the brainchild of Brent Arnold (Project W, The Young Composers Collective). Brent is also one of the co-founders of the loose collective of avant musicians that played John Zorn's "Cobra" once a month at the Speakeasy. It was this group where the principle members of what has evolved into the SIL2K Ensemble, first met. Mr. Arnold will bring his cello and a host of other musicians together for the thick chamber music known as "Thickness". "Thickness" is ever-evolving, but at last count included Ben Blankenship, Zeke Keeble and Aaron Lundborg.

This Room

This Room, featuring Sue Ann Harkey, Bill Horist, Jim Knodle, and Eveline Muller-Graf, plays long collective improvisations by four premier texturalists. Under the string panorama of guitarists Bill and Sue Ann, Eveline converses with sharp metal objects, while trumpeter Knodle circles overhead. Founded in 1998, the group has played shows at the Union Garage and Mr. Spot's Chai House.

Tiktok

Tiktok is the music of Travis Hartnett. He performs his own beautiful style of soothing guitar ambience in one, two or four channels! Travis also plays in the improvisatory trio Electrochakra and acoustic guitar project Triptych.

Tokyo Sex Whale

Tokyo Sex Whale rides hard. Featuring Sam Mickens (guitar), Jherek Bischoff (bass) and Herbie Kritzer (drums) Tokyo Sex Whale improvises threads running from dark, sticky grooves to violent, penetrating exorcisms. The group stands nearly twelve inches above most other improvising groups, and in a relatively short amount of time has hardened into a formidable unit. From pulsating attack to shuddering release, Tokyo Sex Whale stretches the listener's musical muscle, leaving it worn and ragged.

TransAtlantic IceFloe

TransAtlantic IceFloe starts circumnavigating our hemisphere with glacial intent and speed. Piloting this mass into the new millennium are Stuart McLeod, Kevin Goldsmith and Robert Henson. Set all dials to the year 2001. Bundle up. Stuart McLeod (drums, sampler) curates the weekly experimental series SIL2K at I-Spy and plays in the SIL2K Ensemble, sub_sonic, Resonants and Gamelan Northwest. Kevin Goldsmith performs as Intonarumori and owns and operates Unit Circle Records. Robert Henson is a member of the SIL2K Ensemble and curates the new music series at Consolidated Works.

Trepanning Drill

Trepanning Drill performs edgy, dynamic, improvised drones, which may cause dizziness, upset stomach, loss of balance, light-headness, and/or the feeling time has stopped (in a good way). Trepanning Drill is Phil Petrocelli (drums), Casey Jones (bass), Wesley Davis (trumpet), John Schuller (guitar). Trepanning Drill is also the 'house' band every Friday at Spirit in the U District.

Tripod

TRIPOD: "What Don't They Want That You Know". To understand the music that you need to be given count that all is regulated for a composed mathematics with the no help of the 20th c. "painting." They were responsible by far events for the history, assassination include. Today, the members of the Tripod are for all parts. They can be identified for the music. They want to the audience of the applause and they imprison resisters in the I-Spy. To prepare to this, all should forgive us. Since the environments are regulated for us they should obtain our superior information. Tripod is Lisa DeFrance, Jason Glover, Seymour King and others.

Tro Shink

Tro Shink, from Portland, is an ongoing experiment and saga in electronic music, now two years evolved, and really three separate projects compiled together: Antinode, Mothra and Monkey Plus One. Three vastly different approaches to composition storm into unpredictable territory, streaming across all genres of electronica, brought together by a severe addiction to video-games, anime, and philosophies of reality-hacking. Each player creates compositions in isolation, and then threads them together live. Tro Shink performances are improvised, yet epic in scale.

Trummerflora Collective

On September 17th at SIL2K, Trummerflora Collective will perform "The Donkey Chipper". The Donkey Chipper is a multi-media performance juxtaposing The Whisper Chipper, featuring Marcelo Radulovich (guitar, radio, electronics) and Marcos Fernandes (mixer, tamboura box), and Donkey, the electroacoustic improv duo of Hans Fjellestad (keys, electronics) and Damon Holzborn (guitar, electronics). Radulovich and Fernandes began their musical collaborations in 1993 producing numerous recordings for the artist-based Accretions label. The Whisper Chipper is an ambient/noise improvisation piece based on a field recording of a chipper/shredder which is run through multiple effects and eq-ed in real time to create shifting delay loops. With the addition of tamboura box, treated guitars and radio the results are at times ambient and at times thunderous. Donkey explores the territory between open form and structured improvisation and noise art. Fjellestad and Holzborn began their musical collaborations in 1992 at UCSD, are based at Zu Casa Laboratories in San Diego and have performed throughout California. They are creators of ZuCasa.com recently named one of the top 25 essential online music resources by The Wire. All four artists are founding members of the Trummerflora collective, dedicated to the San Diego experimental and improvised music scene.

Saadet Türköz

Saadet Türköz performs Kazakh and Turkish songs and improvisations. Looking to transform memory, she seeks to evoke pictures and atmosphere by means of voice which transcend cultural boundaries. Saadet Türköz states that "memory everywhere and everytime is the same - not changeable - but the expression is different". Individual perception develops a universal impression of the cultural life. She gives solo concerts and also works regularly in duos, trios and bigger formations with free improvising jazz musicians like Fredy Studer, Martin Schütz, Elliot Sharp, Jaques Widmer and Rüdiger Carl. There were numerous concerts all over Europe, in Brasil, Central Asia and in the USA. Saadet Türköz is also involved in Theatre, Dance and Video productions.

Ümlaüt

Ümlaüt made their North American debut August 7th at SIL2K. This marks their first show in the United States on since seeking asylum from East Germany after the Berlin Wall had already fallen. Notorious in Europe for playing avant-metal that is heavier than heavy no one is really sure if they are fascists or communists but whatever they are it is not very nice.

Untet

In September of 2000, Arrington de Dionyso, Warno Lee, Sonne McCloud and Gregg Skloff gathered together in Olympia, WA, to interpret the birth pangs of the universe into sounds audible to the human ear. Their research is conducted with the help of contralto, bass, alto, and Bb clarinets; and farsifa, vibraphone, upright bass, and found metal percussion. This quartet, known in the scientific community as Untet, investigates the big bang theory by stretching out harmolodics and discord in order to find the correct vibrations at which the inner ear resonates with the hum of universal naissance.

DJ Vegan

DJ Vegan hails from Florida, but has lived in the Northwest for the past several years and now lives in Seattle. Becoming interested in electronic music while in college at Florida State, his "vinyl addiction" began accordingly and persists to this day. Vegan plays diverse genres including drum and bass, techno, trance, deep house, downtempo/ambient, and has been rumored to go experimental at times, as well. In addition to spinning solo at parties and clubs in Seattle and Vancouver, BC, DJ Vegan has ongoing musical collaborations with Rik Wright, local poet/MC Sarah O' Donnell, and with DJ TC as The All Green Machine. Check out the internet radio show "ulterior Motives" he co-produces on www.microradio.net on Mondays 12-2AM (that's EARLY Tuesday morning, technically). DJ Vegan works as an activist on a wide range of issues including animal liberation, and often says: "Use your brain...be humane" while toe-tapping and booty-shaking to fantastical rhythmic collages.

Vena Cava

Vena Cava is a chamber-like improvised collaboration between saxophonist/composer Greg Sinibaldi with Jesse Canterbury (clarinet), Reuben Radding (contrabass), and Bob Rees (vibraphone) which takes much of its source material from pieces by luminaries of modern composition (Ives, Ligeti, Bartok, Messiaen, etc), and reforms it to more personal ends. Fresh from their debut at the Seattle Improvised Music Festival, where they shared the bill with Barre Phillips' string trio.

Voltage Regulator

Voltage Regulator is James Kosharek, samplers, bass, drum machine and analog synth modules. A blend of strangely beautiful and eerie samples mixed together to form ambient drone core textures. James also collaborates with Roger Hayes (Cyanosis), Bill Horist (Ghidra, Tablet) and most recently finished European tour with electronic tribal band Sikhara. Current projects include atrophyminor., Analog Trio, Voltage Regulator and the production of fine vinyl products from his experimental label TMR.

Ben Wright

Ben Wright has been hearing his father Jack's music for most of his life and playing with Jack the last ten years. Ben lives in Questa New Mexico and plays acoustic bass, baritone, musical saw, and various invented instruments. He plays in a folk-noise band, Art of Flying, and Questa Liberation Marching Band. The Questites collaborate on additional concurrent projects, including free improvisation and experimentation with homemade instruments. His roots are in Philadelphia in punk rock, with a tendency towards screwing up the rhythm, rendering it undanceable, except for the double-jointed. This naturally leads to breakdowns. Improvising music has been the center for him, from which other structured forms radiate. He has only incidental classical training. The rest is brute force. "I play improvised music for the sheer bliss of that instant when I lose consciousness of my instrument, my training, and myself. There is only music."

Jack Wright

Jack Wright, from Boulder Colo., is one of the more outrageous saxophonists and musical personalities of N. America. Continuously on tour, or organizing the next one, he has been called the Johnny Appleseed of free improvisation. To others, he is the scorned perpetrator of the "school of screech," yet sometimes he is practically inaudible. He plays alto, tenor, and soprano saxes, piano, and now pretends to play the unwieldy contralto clarinet. For twenty years he has been doing this kind of music exclusively, and his audiences can still be counted on a couple of hands. Which is either a credit to his "refusal to compromise" or an indication that he is a fool. He considers himself more a beginner than when he started the saxophone, back in the dark ages of the early fifties. He plays with everyone who asks, and currently has over forty partners around the country. He records, yes, but the place where he learns what music can do is mainly in live performance. For him, "free music" is a verb, not a noun.

Rik Wright

Rik Wright is a passionate experimental jazz and avant-garde musician who has been touring, performing and recording with veteran rock, fusion, free jazz and improvisation groups since 1985. Rik has developed a compelling and lyrical approach to his instrument which blends the technique and compositional theory utilized by more traditional jazz guitarists with the radical improvisation and adventurous textures found in the soundscapes of much of today's ambient and electronic music. Rik has performed at events like Bumbershoot, ArtsEdge, the 14th Seattle Festival of Free Improvisation and at the celebrated Other Sounds concert series. In addition to his CD release with his experimental groove ensemble Jackhammer Trio, Rik has recently released his first full-length solo recording, Bleeding Laughter. On this collection of the best moments of his recent improvisation collaborations, Rik is joined by musicians such as free jazz titan Wally Shoup, veteran improviser Dennis Rea, percussionist extraordinaire Toshi Makihara, acclaimed rhythmatist Jeph Jerman and out guitarist Ed Petry. Rik is currently is sessions for four more recordings for HipSync, all due out in 2000. The first will be the debut release of his critically acclaimed trio Disjunkt. Additionally, Rik is involved in the Lost Dog project and a collaboration with DJ Vegan.

X vs. Z

X vs. Z is the combined electronic alchemy of Jeff Mueller (xaxis wye) and Jim Lambert (iZ). Originally from Southern California but currently based in Bellingham, Jim Lambert is a synthesist and programmer with purist form and exploratory tendencies. He will lay down dancing rhythms and abstract analog tweakings while local boy xaxis will be creating an ambient noise floor and subliminal suggestions. xaxis wye's guest CD "saxifraga klimit" was released on August 21st.

Yeek Yak Air Force

Yeek Yak Air Force is the space between, the tension between, normal modern machines (the hum of your air conditioner, untuned radios, your unoiled ceiling fan), heavy duty military machines (the B-52 bomber), and confused unarticulate primitive instinct. The Monohiker brings the sensitivity of an engine man, keeping the fuel burning and providing the Force with percussion. Dr. Jorgenson of the lower class bucket brigade supplies electric current and oil, keeping the microscopy of the Force gears in perfect order with his 6 stringer. Formation Pilot Red Bird records the rattle of the force on his maple board while annoucing approaching turbulance to the crew.

Yoko Phono

Yoko Phono navigates the intertextual leisure mush of postrave meltdown culture through teknorganyk audio improv construx. Influenced by concept engineers ranging from Angus Maclise to Futura2000 to Timbaland to Brion Gysin, Yoko Phono uses sampler consciousness to explore the cityscape in your skull. Obsessed by wetware technologies like THC and it’s interface with sonic dub psychology, Yoko Phono melts the artificial boundary between your brain and body. As the soundsystem becomes a prosthetic extension of your chest, you’re not really sure whether something’s gone horribly wrong or you’ve caught a glimpse of pure euphoria. Yoko Phono is dub for intense hypnosis.

Byron Au Yong

Musician Byron Au Yong explores drumming and vocalizing to generate layered acoustic scapes that transform musicians, audience and venue. Drawing upon the physicality of folk music and philosophy of martial arts, Au Yong has performed in Asia, Europe and North America as a solo performer and with groups such as Vancouver's Uzume Taiko. He was nominated best contemporary classical composer at the fourth annual GLAMA Awards in New York and has presented work at the Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkursen fr Neue Musik in Germany and Foundation Gaudeamus in Amsterdam. Periplum released Au Yong's debut recording, "Walking," in 2001. His work is also featured on "eXchange: China," produced by CRI and "Itadakimasu!" produced by Katari Taiko. He lives in Los Angeles and Seattle.

Zahir

Zahir: an Arabic word translated as "an object so amazing that the sight of it causes thoose who gaze upon it a never ending unforgetable madness". Zahir features Bill Horist (guitar), Leslie Dalaba (trumpet) and Randall Dunn (baritone sax and samples). Zahir remains as it wasn't, somewhere between the ideal of "exotica" and an untangible ancient technology developed for spiritual communication beyond introspection. Some improvised some televised always marginalized, Zahir continues in one context or another beneath the earth's crust or hopelessly in orbit around the monolith.

Zu

Zu is an instrumental band from Italy formed by Drums & Bass & Alto / Baritone Sax. The name has many meanings: closed in Germany, head or bean in Japan, pig in China, and more... It’s all about a powerful and intense music that crushes boundaries and reflects various influences as No-Wave, Free-Jazz, Punk, East European melodies and rhythmic structures, Improvised music. Since the 1999 release of “Bromio” (Wide records, Southern Distribution) Zu has played more than 100 concerts in Italy , Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Switzerland, France, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Polland, Czech Rep. and Austria, often playing with bands like Nomeansno, Otomo Yoshihide new jazz quintet, The Ruins, 1/2 Japanese, The Vandermark 5 and especially with The Ex. New plans are a tour in USA and at the end of it, the new recording, with Steve Albini in Chicago. Zu recorded, toured and played live also with Eugene Chadbourne, Amy Denio, Caroline Kraabel & John Edwards (from The Honkies), Han Bennink and Walter Wierbos (from Icp Orchestra). 2 CD's with doctor Eugene Chadbourne and one with Amy Denio came out of these collaborations. The first of these CD's, “The Zu side of the Chadbourne” (Felmay-Newtone, distr. Cuneiform in USA) has been 5th place in the USA Jazz radio charts, published by the magazine “Jazziz”. “Bromio” and “The Zu Side” were CD of the month and 5stars reviews, on Allaboutjazz. “Motorhellington”, the 2nd with doc Chadbourne, just came out on Newtone (distr. Cuneiform). The CD with Amy Denio is ready and will be out next fall. A 7” split with the Ruins will be out soon. ALLABOUTJAZZ: “ Basically, the new music era needs more bands like “Zu” as their special brand of high octane enthusiasm for the music they perform is illustrated in gleaming fashion on this 1999 release. Needless to state, Zu will take you, the listener, on a fantastic whirlwind journey of lofty proportions as the musicians execute their combined wares with the ferocity and demeanor of a wild or rabid animal on the loose!” IMPROJAZZ: “Bref, un spectacle chaleureux, tres puissant, energetique, peut-etre et sans doute la solution a une certaine apathie que ce soit dans le jazz classique ou dans le jazz moderne, Zu possede tous le ingredients pur rapidement inonder les scenes des festivals europeens....” JOHN ZORN (from a private postcard!) : “ Your CD is absolutely fantastic! You have created a powerful and expressive music that totally blows away what most bands do these days....”

RECORD LABELS

HipSync Records hosts such fine out-jazz artists as Tony Grasso Saxophone Quartet? and Disjunkt. Lots of information is available on their site.

Unit Circle Rekkids is the home of Amy Denio, Intonarumori and Bill Horist, among others. Information about how to order the music you hear at SIL2K is available here!

World Misery Recordings sells misery to the world one recording at a time. Here you'll find soultheft., various projects of John Schuller, Mark Schlipper and other worldly experimental performers.

Endless Records is the moniker for the studios of local sound wizard and electronic musician Randall Dunn.

	Jesse Canterbury Jesse Canterbury (clarinet) has performed new music and improvisation in a variety of different contexts and in a number of different ensembles. He was a member of the Tallahassee-based New World Ensemble and of the Austin-based trio Coherent. He has worked with George Lewis, Butch Morris, the Shaking Ray Levis, Walter Thompson, Philip Gelb, Matthew Sperry, and Gino Robair.
	Aaron Cayko Aaron Cayko is the voice of SIL2K - he announces our shows. His project A.Frequency has done some groundbreaking work that defies description. Check out Aaron's hand-written bio: Front Back
	James Drage James Drage has been playing music in one form or another since age six when he began Royal Conservatory piano study in England. He probably would have attempted a career in music, had he not been introduced to computers in the mid-eighties. Thankfully those worlds have now collided with the advent of technology in music - and his degree in Computer Science certainly comes in handy. James enjoys tinkering with instruments and devices of all sorts and in every conceivable genre. You might find him soldering together electronic parts in his dining room or trying to tune a dulcimer minutes before an improvisation performance. James is always looking for new and interesting things with which to make sound. Current and past projects include: "Grideo" video-conducted game piece for n^2 musicians "Fou Reach" octophonic installation project with Travis Hartnett "Sea Lion Lanes" and "Conchairto" projects with Detonator Beth "Barg'n Surgical" a multimedia performance with Carmel Post (Lunache) solo work for synthesizers, samplers and Kyma keyboards and vocals for The Guest Stars keyboards and clarinet for Ota Prota keyboards, effects and visuals for sub_sonic improvisation with the SIL2K Ensemble "Instant Score!" improvised soundtrack game piece as Jadie and D-Rage, turntablism and spinning at the Baltic Room, I-Spy/Nation, the Henry Art Gallery and Barça keyboards for the seminal rock bands Askew and Planet of the Eights
	Matt Duss Matt Duss, the son of Eastern European hunter/gatherer/electricians, emigrated to Seattle in 1994. He began playing the guitar at age fourteen after his baseball career peaked with a 109 mph fastball. He is learning to play two didgeridoos at once (don't ask). Turn ons: Indian food, Camille Paglia. Turn offs: Kathie Lee Gifford, Stalinism.
	Annie Fanning Not unlike a Darwinian finch, Annie has developed her specialized communication skills in order to survive and perpetuate the poetic species. Her talents include: obscure research, cross-referencing arcane details, high metabolism for metaphors, sleight-of-hand, vicious parody and perpetual comedy. EDUCATION BA, English Literature University of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1991. Graduate Studies in Literature University of Hawai'i, Manoa, 1992-1996. PRINT & COMMUNICATIONS Contributing Editor, Virginia Literary Review, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1989. Poetry Editor, Hawai'i Review, University of Hawai'i, Manoa, 1992-1993. Associate Editor, La'ila'I, University of Hawai'i, Manoa, 1994. Radio DJ KTUH FM, Honolulu, 1992-1995. KWVA FM, Eugene, 1996. AWARDS Martha Richford Roberts Poetry Prize, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1990. Myrtle Clark Creative Writing Award, University of Hawai'i, Manoa, 1992. Hawai'i Screenwriting Contest Finalist, Hawai'i International Film Festival, 1992.
	Carl Farr0w The facts... I received a B.S. in Music Technology from the University of Washington in 1992, studying with Richard Karpen, Robert Duisberg and Ken Benshoof. I have performed with numerous groups in Seattle including the ambient-industrial duo Nickel, the free improv group Waterbugs and Brent Arnold's Thickness. I currently can be seen performing solo electronics as inBOIL and with the electrondub trio *Polar. I am the kingpin of Partial, a record label focusing on exotic music from the Pacific Northwest since 1995. Partial has also presented many exceptional shows with international acts like C.C.C.C., Merzbow, Masonna, MSBR, Sudden Infant, plus Northwest favorites Small Cruel Party, Daniel Menche, Blowhole and Smegma. I am a founding member of Sonicabal, a support group dedicated to the promotion, performance and knowledge of experimental music. I have been a performer, promoter and photographer for SIL2k since its inception. My COBRA Boot Camps have lead many musicians down the path of group improvisation. My own strategic system, Concord, for multiple musicians and dancers has been performed twice at I-Spy. Thank you for listening.
	Robert Henson robert henson stop guitar stop effects stop piano stop graffiker stop conductor/prompter stop graffika author stop first witnessed improv as child in church when mother faked her way through a hymn stop discovered cobra as student of composition and criticism at UO stop formed punk/noise bands dose and lester manning stop fellow of oregon bach festival composer symposium stop high volume experiments solo and with improv ensemble stop sound designs and music for local theater stop Robert holds a BA in Music Composition/Analysis from the University of Oregon. He studied with Robert Kyr, Richard Trombley and Judtih Wier. He has participated in the following ensembles: dose, Pacific Rim Gamelan, UO Men's Chorus, sound exp. collect., SIL2K. He is a composer/sound designer for numerous local theater and fringe theater productions.
	José Hernando José holds a BA in Ethnomusicology from the University of Washington. He also studied Theory, Composition and Performance at Cornish Institute of the Arts. In addition to performing as an SIL2K musician, José busies himself with web development and design.
	Bill Horist While, in the last several years, the guitar is considered more in terms of its limitations than its capabilities, BILL HORIST [explores] the guitars continued presence as a vital and still challenging form of musical expression. (Willamette Week-May, 1998). Bill, a native of Southwest Michigan, founded the bands NOBODADDY and TOURNIQUET TRIO. With these bands, Bill has performed with Medeski, Martin & Wood, Brit-pop sensations Spiritualized, Rashied Ali, John Hendricks, Malachi Thompson, and Freddie Hubbard. Since relocating to Seattle, BILL HORIST has established himself as a noted improviser along the West Coast. He has collaborated with Chris Cutler, Amy Denio, Uchihashi Kazuhisa, Luigi Archetti, Christoph Gallio, Lesli Dalaba, Paul Hoskin, Wally Shoup, Jessica Lurie, Timothy Young, Mason Jones, Dennis Rea, Jeff Grienke, Masa, Tucker Martine, Yoko Murau, as well as members of Critters Buggin, Maktub, Wayne Horvitz Pigpen, and the Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet. Many of these encounters have resulted in projects that range from rock to ambient; from free-jazz to industrial. With PHINEAS GAGE (a rock band in the spirit of Captain Beefheart, Pere Ubu, and Tom Waits), Bill has toured the West Coast several times in support of the CD release PHINEAS GAGE TRAVELING SIDESHOW. They performed with Supersuckers, Gas Huffer, Trey Gunn (of King Crimson), the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, Uz Jsme Doma, Idiot Flesh, and Rube Wadell. Bill also played with the improvised chamber quartet, UnFolkUs. They have toured the West Coast in support of their eponymous CD and have shared the stage with Swiss Jazz veterans Day and Taxi, members of Mr. Bungle and the New Klezmer Trio. Bill currently plays with the inside-out power quartet Axolotl featuring members of Land, HighRize and Rockin Teenage Combo. In March 1999, he was featured at the Taktlos Festival of new music in Zurich and Basel. He was part of a guitar trio with Uchihashi Kazuhisa and Luigi Archetti. In addition to several other projects, Bill is collaborating with legendary Japanese guitarist KK Null for an upcoming release and concert this summer, and is currently recording with Lesli Dalaba (Land, Fred Friths Tense Serenity) and Randall Dunn under the name Zahir. As a solo artist, Bills improvised, prepared guitar work is informed by Hans Reichel, Fred Frith, and Henry Kaiser, but shows a unique style and personality. He has received critical praise internationally from The Wire and Alternative Press. His performances have been paired with musicians such as Bobby Previte, Wayne Horvitz, Cul de Sac, and Subarachnoid Space. In may 1998, Bill toured the United States in support of his CD SOYLENT RADIO. He has been the recipient if the 1997 Jack Straw Artist Support Program Grant and has done presentations for students between first grade and college-level.
	Seth Howard After a childhood's worth of violin lessons, Seth picked up an electric guitar from a trash heap and a bass from a pawn shop before heading to college. Drums soon followed after living with a drummer for two years. He played in various projects in college and in the two years following graduation, including Indie 500 (bass), The Fashioncolors (guitar), and Kentucky Finance (drums). He also wrote and recorded a cassette of solo material in 1994. In addition to playing viola, lap steel, guitar and drums in SIL2K, Seth plays guitar in The Stone Throwers. He is also in the process of sketching out material for a new solo project/recording.
	Jason Justice Jason Justice (a.k.a. DJ jjustice) hopes to coast to fame and fortune simply cuz he has a cool last name. DJ jjustice manages the mezzanine DJs and assists with promotion for SIL2K.
	Aaron Lewis Aaron plays drums and DJs for SIL2K. With Sir Real and Jadie he makes up one third of sub_sonic a live downtempo and trip-hop project. DJ Aaron's residencies currently are at the Last Supper Club every first thursday for Art Walk, and tuesday happy hours at the Baltic Room, opening up for the hot drum+bass night Sugarshack Unlimited. Aaron also composes his own down and mid-tempo music. Check out his homepage at djaaron.net.
	Stuart McLeod Besides curating SIL2K and composing and performing with the SIL2K band, Stuart is a member of Gamelan Northwest and has played drums in many a rock band in Seattle. Stuart also moonlights as Sir Real in sub_sonic. He has a B.A. in Music Composition, has studied composition with Kenneth Benshoof, William O. Smith and Richard Karpen and percussion with Michael Crusoe, Tom Collier, and Susan Pascal. His improv strategies include: Pulse/Impulse Phase I for any number of percussionists and tyrannical conductor (Completed: Fall 1992) Pulse/Impulse Phase II for any number of musicians and tyrannical conductor (Completed: January 2000) Caged for game board, dice, playing/tarot cards and 4 musicians (Completed: March 2000) Per!od!c for musical maze and any number of musicians (Completed: March 2000) Numerology is a series of pieces by Stuart McLeod, each written with an obsession with a particular number. The number that titles each piece controls most of the decision making. The sampler technician Sir Real will twist and tweak, push and pull and ultimately bring these works into the real world. The basic outlines of the rhythmic structure will still be there but the music that results will be distorted, dirtied, perverted. From theory to practice, purity to reality, composition to performance, he views this as a working method for marrying his interests in perfect architectural music constructions with the impulsive, trouble-making subversion of improvisation.
	John Moen At least 7 of these statements are true about John Moen: He plays bass, cello, guitar, didjeridoo and whatever else he can lay his hands on. He lays his hands to heal the sick and injured. He teaches outer-city youths to "be more civilized". He frequently eats meat. He curates a collection of cats. He cures holiday hams. He lays hands on hams. He is sometimes found frolicking in the woods off of Hood Canal. He can be heard at http://mp3.com/fiercelogic and http://mp3.com/askew He leaps before he looks.
	Tim Rhodes Besides inventing the famous electric piano, Tim handles SIL2K graphic design, advertising, video/slides and promotion. He studied art at the University of Washington.
	Arthur Roberts Arthur Roberts plays guitar for the SIL2K machine. Actually, he plays his effects pedals more than his guitar these days. Currently, he can be found in SushiRobo (on Pattern 25 records).