February 2012
2 posts
Stratic - February 19, 2012
Stratic is an improvising trio based in Oakland, CA. The group is made up of Aram Shelton (saxophone and processing), Michael Coleman (keyboards and electronics) and Alex Vittum (percussion). The trio’s approach to improvising combines elements of free jazz, post-rock and noise music. Through the combined use of acoustic instruments and electronics, the music treads the line between more...
Andrew Olmstead - February 12th, 2012
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I’ve played piano for about ten years, but more recently started learning guitar. By removing previous technical facilities developed on keyboards, I find myself oddly more capable of connecting to my music. Plucking strings and sliding around the fretboard, music feels different through the electric guitar. The instrument is no longer stationary, it moves with me, and...
January 2012
5 posts
Natalie Hall - February 5th, 2012
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I read somewhere that the humans have a tendency to turn judgments into law or pertaining to religion, judgments into divine commands. All too often, I will listen to string players on the radio or in a live performance, I am bugged by what I perceive is a flaw. Whether it is intonation, tone or technique, the flaw immediately clouds and classifies my listening experience...
Simon Henneman - January 29th, 2012
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The Blues: not as a structure, but as an experience, for lack of a better term.
You know, I’ve been thinking about this for a long time now, I had a whole other thesis and many examples including rebetika, shaker hymns, Ayler, and a bunch of other cool stuff to throw in there, but I think that this is one of those things that is so personal it makes it hard to pin down or...
Don Berman - January 22nd, 2012
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NOW meets the PAST, plus CONDUCTION
For this evening I am planning to combine live players, performing simultaneously with recorded players! My colleagues Kenny Mandell and Kate Olson will be joining me as we revisit a recording by VOICES, one of Kenny’s past projects. Over two decades past, VOICES sounds like it could have been played at Racer last week! We will...
Neil Welch & Two-Year Anniversary Festival -...
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Racer Sessions is turning TWO, and to celebrate, we’re hosting THREE days of live music at Cafe Racer, featuring Table & Chairs artists and groups, some of whom originally premiered their music for Racer Sessions curations. A complete schedule of performers is listed at the bottom of this post.
Read more about the history of Racer Sessions and the new T&C...
Cameron Sharif - January 8th, 2012
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If only the sun burned with a million flames the tiger we tamed and brought back to life, sitting on the edge of the bed first hand, the pale morning sun creeps up his cheek, the alarm clock empty wine glasses, behind the curtain - the rivers of lead and blood melt the stony hearts who sit in the garden’s square wearing black suits and bearing roses, the poses of our...
December 2011
3 posts
Tari Nelson-Zagar - January 1st, 2012
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Hi Racers - tonight I’m working with transportation, cycles, and pitch layers. Here’s some background: I was 10 or 11 when my father (a piano tuner) taught me how to hear beats when he was tuning, and how the lowest strings on a spinet lacked a fundamental (they’re too short to create one!), but they project the sense of a fundamental through the presence...
Evan Woodle - December 18th, 2011
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For this installment of the Racer Sessions, I have composed a piece of music heavily inspired by Indonesian gamelan. Joining me in its performance will be King Tears Bat Trip.
Since its inception a little over a year ago, the essential sound of KTBT has comprised a fusion of Haitain Vodou music and free jazz, with the latter style being most notably in the vein of Albert...
Maria Mannisto - December 11, 2011
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The most important aspect of an opera singer’s training is gaining the technique necessary to be heard over a large orchestra through the entire range of the singing voice. By learning to control breath pressure, relax the larynx, and manipulate the resonating chamber inside the throat and mouth, a singer can cultivate the singer’s formant (a peak of spectral energy at...
November 2011
5 posts
Luke Bergman, December 4th, 2011
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Lately at Racer Sessions I have been focused on improvising with a simple approach: beginning to play without planning anything and taking whatever it is that I play in the first couple seconds and using only that idea for a long time. I like to think about stretching the phrase length out to infinity and developing my initial idea with a rate of change that’s very...
Ivan Arteaga - November 27th, 2011
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I do not consider myself any form of composer, and hardly think of myself yet as a student of composition even though I just started composition studies at the UW. I realize however, that the way in which I think about music and improvisation - even how I’ve been rehearsing in the past - is very compositional. For my session, essentially I am going to share the work I’ve...
Brandon Lucia - November 20th, 2011
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I will be presenting two new pieces of music this week.
No Air, Movement 3: Light and Motion
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When I last curated the Racer Sessions about 6 months ago, I presented a piece called No Air. No Air was written for the Chango, which is a program that I made...
Brennan Carter - November 13th, 2011
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Greetings!
Recently, when sitting down at the piano I have been really drawn to the sounds of polytonality. I would like to explore these sounds in ways other than my left and right hand, and include other musicians. I will have a structured form for a poly tonal “free” piece. The instruments will be divided into bass instruments and treble instruments, each...
Greg Campbell - November 6th, 2011
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We’ll be doing two pieces, each inspired by ideas from different composers.
The first piece has two inspirations. The first is Henry Threadgill, who has offered the compositional world many ideas over the last forty years or so, and I’m borrowing only one — the ideas of pairs within a larger ensemble, creating tiny “sections.” (Others have...
October 2011
6 posts
Jared Borkowski - October 30th, 2011
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I’ve learned that experimenting, even in the genre of “experimental music”, is a very difficult thing to do. It takes courage. I fear it, which is why I must do it. Experimenting is scary because it is so new. It’s the unknown. The more familiar you get with what is going to happen and how to navigate something, the less experimental it becomes,...
Kate Olson - October 23rd, 2011
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Kate + 8
Sometimes sound is so lush, you can wrap yourself up in it. Enjoy.
Jen Gilleran - October 16th, 2011
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“When you’re watching a performer of any art, don’t you find yourself constantly wondering about the ‘real’ person behind the art? I do, all the time. My dance reveals that ‘real’ me; and its truth, I hope, speaks to the audience.” Min Tanaka
In 1997, I had the great fortune of living for four weeks in Hakushu, Japan on a...
Endangered Blood clinic - Saturday, October 15th,...
Seattle’s new music record label Table & Chairs and the 2011 Earshot Jazz Festival are proud to present a workshop with New York-based band Endangered Blood. Where: Cafe Racer When: Saturday, October 15 - 2:00-4:00pm Cost: $10 The members of this band have been a huge inspiration for many of us here in the Racer Sessions/T&C community and it’s exciting to have them here to...
John Teske - October 9th, 2011
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For the opening piece, a number of local improvisers and I will perform a series of graphic scores I composed last year. I had been thinking a lot about where I put my attention and where we collectively put our attention; how we can have focus, lose it, and return to it. These scores are based on the idea of sound coming in and out of focus. Each improviser reads off the...
ColinResponse - October 2nd, 2011
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On Sunday night, I will be presenting a solo concert that I feel represents a culmination of a slew of ideas that have been kicking around in my head since I came to college. First and foremost, it is a combination of several of my musical pursuits, namely beatboxing, trombone, and 8bit composition. Along with a looper, my goal is to create a sea of shifting textures...
September 2011
3 posts
Liam Fitzgerald - September 25th, 2011
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Opening Piece
In the opening piece, I’ll be performing on a vibraphone, along with a pre-recorded track. I started experimenting with this technique for a past performance, in order to “fit the most show in a small space.” The piece is called “up to out.”
Despite weaknesses to this practice (such as the inability to changes the song’s structure live, and especially...
Chris Icasiano - September 18th, 2011
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Neil Welch and I have been performing in the drum and saxophone duo Bad Luck for nearly four years. In performance, we utilize a live looping station and various effects pedals that allow us to create a wide range of sounds and textures. In the amount of time we have been working on this project, our approach to the electronic effects has evolved in a way that has made...
Ray Larsen - September 11th, 2011
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I awoke some 6 or so months ago very early in the morning in the house where I spent the first 18 years of my life. As if acting out some surreal pre-destiny, I found myself drawn in the direction of my bathroom from which a faint and unfamiliar sound was drifting. I found it emanating from the duct in the ceiling. The sound was delicate, airy, and rich with harmonics. I...
August 2011
5 posts
Neil Welch - September 4th, 2011
Texture as Composition
When I set out to compose a new piece on paper, I’m often pulled one of three ways: I choose rhythmic, melodic or harmonic action as a guiding force. After spending some time considering why this might be, I’ve come to believe that any one of these three routes explores fundamentally identical areas. Though one may seem to play a larger part, I argue that it’s impossible...
Steve Kim - August 28th, 2011
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The Frame “The most important thing in art is the frame. For painting: literally; for other arts: figuratively - because, without this humble appliance, you can’t know where The Art stops and The Real World begins. You have to put a “box” around it because otherwise, what is that shit on the wall?” - Frank Zappa This week I’d like to employ a different...
Andy Clausen - August 21st, 2011
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Context for the Piece:
On a recent trip to California I took a walk on a beach I know extremely well; a place I have experienced dozens of times in 18 years worth of holidays spent in this small community. An insomnia-fueled impulse brought me down to the beach around midnight, after my family had drifted to sleep. The experience of walking alone along the moonlit shore was...
Natalie Hall - August 14th, 2011
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“[I design from the side,] that way I get the worst angle of the body. You’ve got the lumps and bumps, the S-bend of the back, the bum. That way I get a cut and proportion and silhouette that works all the way round the body.”
“Beauty can come from the strangest of places, even the most disgusting of places.”
– Alexander McQueen –
Two works for solo cello.
With...
Andrew Olmstead - August 7th, 2011
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I enjoy creating music out of limitations. My philosophy right now is to make music out of what you have. Turns out I really like the way a broken Casio MT-240 sounds through a crappy laptop sound card. My $5 toy speaker is my most useful preamp, because it compresses ridiculously high audio signals and saves my expensive speakers. This limited set of equipment has opened...
July 2011
4 posts
Wayne Horvitz - July 31st, 2011
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Wayne Horvitz - Electronics
3 new compositions:
With:
Chris Icasiano - Drums Mark Taylor - Alto Sax Neil Welch - Tenor Sax Craig Flory - Clarinet and Tenor Sax Riley Mulherkar - Trumpet Maria Mannisto - Voice Geoff Harper - Bass
Carol Weber - July 24th, 2011
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Creating a Space for Voice
(And Deconstructing the Voice/Instrument Binary)
When people used to ask me in musician-type settings what I play, I used to say “I just sing”. I just sing. As if I merely sing, or as if I barely do music. I just sing. How and when did my conception of voice as primary instrument become a shameful thing? The voice is where humans make...
Stupid Man Suit & Realization Orchestra - July...
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Short and Sour - Stupid Man Suit and Realization Orchestra (L.A. / CalArts)
First of all, we really appreciate the chance to curate a racer session. We are excited to share our scene with yours and meet/play with some great improvisers. This will be the 15th stop on our debut west coast tour - two bands touring together as a double bill. Playing progressive music to a new...
Ross Hammond - July 10th, 2011
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Hi everyone. I’ll be fairly brief in discussing our Racer Session. Playing music for me has always been about the message conveyed instead of merely the notes played. My favorite music, whether it’s James Brown, Ali Farka Toure`, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Sonic Youth, Jimi Hendrix, Curtis Mayfield etc. has a common element of trying to influence the listener...
June 2011
5 posts
Don Berman - July 3rd, 2011
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Sharing some of what we have ASSIMILATED in our playing:
Hi everybody. First off, I am grateful for this opportunity to curate an evening at the Racer. During my time in Seattle playing music, I have never encountered a scene quite like the Racer Sessions! It reminds me of the stories of actors like Brando and Pacino, discussing their acting studio years in NYC, earlier...
Evan Woodle - June 26th, 2011
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For this session, I have composed a small series of concise and disparate musical ideas that are to be bridged by extended stretches of improvisation. The inspiration for this idea has a couple sources in particular. The first has to do with my recent encounters with similar forms of improvisation. A concert of music by Tim Berne I performed in this last Spring quarter...
Jared Borkowski - June 19th, 2011: The Beats are...
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My thoughts are like a bird pecking at the ground. I don’t want to be comfortable because I am unaware. I want to come to terms with everything as it is. To truly address being alive. Stopping and thinking. You can’t run from the bigger picture. To get caught up in one’s own matters and to see nothing but a task at hand is most dangerous for one’s...
Andrew Swanson - June 12th, 2011
My composition for this week’s session is entitled Weepy Unfurler/Dolor Lagoon In Repose.
Contrary to my usual modus operandi—which is to sit in front of the keyboard with brows furrowed, sifting through hundreds of musical ideas before I even consider giving one a chance—I elected to allow my stream of consciousness dictate the compositional process. Given the relatively little amount of...
Skiff Feldspar - June 5th, 2011
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Skiff Feldspar’s Big Bang Improvisation Theory for Racer Sessions
In the Fall of last year, myself and bassist Shane Smith decided to form a improvising project consisting of an electric bass/electric guitar duo that utilized our various arsenals of effects stomp boxes, looping devices. Our approach is to take pre-existing our original compositions, as well as a diverse...
May 2011
4 posts
Ivan Arteaga - May 29th, 2011
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Fear,
Love and companionship
Seeking but never finding
Whether because you don’t exist
Or because I’m only pretending
I have not yet decided.
Why am I afraid of my emotions?
Feigning progress and health
Yet all the while
Turmoil
Frustration
Pining,
Always uncertain, because
Inside
I’m afraid of what I feel.
I have not written any kind of poetry probably since an early high...
Cameron Sharif - May 22nd, 2011
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The Chaos - Void Cycle
Throughout the past year I’ve discovered contrasting forces in my musical life: one of formal logic and forethought, the other of rawness and intuition. In a moment of maybe excessive introspection I reviewed a lot of my compositions and tried to see where they came from – which part of my brain was being used, what I was going through at the...
Rob Hanlon - May 15th, 2011
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I recently spent just over a week on a farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains:
simple thoughts
clay dancing
three-dimensional stone-stacking puzzles
just dig
harmless beefight
overflowing rain barrels, gutters like clogged arteries
forest-lighting, cover-running
long, intellectual conversations
long, reptilian conversations
anti-oil addiction
hacksaw bamboo machete...
Aaron Otheim - May 8th, 2011
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Smallface (David Balatero and I) will be presenting a new piece with the help of Jared Borkowski, Ivan Arteaga, Abi Swanson, Andrew Swanson and Garrett Sand. It’s been important to me lately to present a clear narrative in my compositions. Sometimes that narrative takes on a more circular, descriptive form, creating a specific mood or environment. Other times, that...
April 2011
4 posts
NO SESSION due to IMPfest - May 1st, 2011
We’re taking the week off to check out IMPfest! In place of Sunday’s session, go hear the incredible saxophonist Tim Berne this coming Sunday at the Floyd and Delores Jones Playhouse at 7:30pm. This show will also feature a reprise performance of Luke Bergman’s Haitain Vodou tribute, originally performed on February 7th, 2010, by a group now known as King Tear’s Bat Trip....
Jon Armstrong & Slumgum - April 24th
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Musicians are such social creatures, obsessed with hangs and scenes. Creating and attending events where the sole purpose is to mutually exist through collective listening. We dedicate our lives to the abstract pursuit of organizing frequencies so that other humans will listen to our work and nod their head; forget about the rest of it for just a second.
It is...
Brandon Lucia - April 17th, 2011
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Experimentation is a big part of what goes on at Racer. Players frequently aim at making new sounds with their instruments, or forging new interactions between players, in written compositions as well as during improvisations. Experimental performances are often self-evident characterizations of interesting, and in some cases novel musical ideas. In improvisation, players...
Kellan Smith - April 10th
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This Sunday, people wanting to play free music will write their name on a piece of paper (those of you that I do not know will put your instrument next to your name) and I will sort them into groups. I will announce the order of the groups and their members, and we will have a brief conversation (if you need to leave earlier than ten give me a heads up).
My friend Graeme...
March 2011
6 posts
Levi Gillis - April 3rd
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For this installment of the Racer Sessions I will present a piece I wrote for a new group, the Sequoia Ensemble, entitled “Suite for Bosnia and Croatia” based on my experiences during a trip with my family through Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina last summer. The music is an expression of the moods and images I felt and saw during my stay there.
Both countries are places...
Naomi Siegel - March 27th
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It has been a pleasure to become a part of the Racer Sessions community over the past several months. This community is supportive, daring and thoughtful; not to mention, it produces some awesome, stimulating music. I play and compose music because it provides an avenue through which I can convey and express a whole spectrum of emotions and ideas. It is gut wrenching, it...
Kate Olson & Naomi Siegel - March 20th, 2011
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This week we are excited to present several new, original works for soprano saxophone and trombone that highlight the timbral range and contrast of these two instruments. We will explore dynamics, role, electronics, and motivic development in a way that highlights the complementary tone colors of the two instruments.
As improvisers, we can be tempted to avoid simplicity...
Gregg Keplinger & Simon Henneman - March 13th,...
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