Joshua Abrams has been in the thick of Chicago's vibrant music scene for fifteen years, playing & recording as leader & sideman in projects across the genres. He co-founded the "back porch minimalist" band Town & Country and the trio Stocks & Stones with Matana Roberts and Chad Taylor. His primary musical outlet now is the creation of intricate psychedelic environments that join the hypnotic character of gnawa guimbri music to more contemporary musics & methodologies: from minimalism, jazz to krautrock. For this concert he'll be performing as the 'Natural Information Society' trio with Lisa Alvarado on harmonium and Benjamin Sanz on drums. Also joining the bill is Iñigo Ugarteburu - a Basque composer of avant folk miniatures now based in London.

JOSHUA ABRAMS

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams has been in the thick of Chicago's vibrant music scene for over fifteen years, playing & recording as leader & sideman in projects across the genres. In 2010 he released "Natural Information" on Eremite which the New York Times called "one of the rough gems of the post-everything musical era" and the Wire picked as one of the top 50 records of 2010. Primarily known as a acoustic bassist his earliest work was with the original version of the Roots while growing up in the Philadelphia area. In 2011 he created his first score to "The Interrupters", an award winning documentary by Steve James and he is currently working on the score to Bill Siegel's "The Trials of Muhammad Ali". "Represencing", Joshua's 2nd album for Eremite organizes small group statements around the resonant grooves of the north african ceremonial instrument the guimbri with a unique & broadly assimilative compositional voice.  Sources from traditional musics to minimalism, jazz to krautrock, animate represencing, but Abrams is always grounded in the solidity of true working musicianship & he proves himself an artist fluent not just in styles but traditions. The New York Times describes "Represencing" as "music that hints at the ceremonial without losing its modern bearings". Along with the sounds of the guimbri this incarnation of Natural Information Society will feature Lisa Alvarado on harmonium, and Benjamin Sanz on drums.

Joshua co-founded the "back porch minimalist" band Town & Country (Thrill Jockey/Box Media) & with Matana Roberts & Chad Taylor the trio Sticks & Stones (Thrill Jockey/482 Music). He has appeared on over 50 records including work with Fred Anderson, Hamid Drake, Bonny "Prince" Billy, Nicole Mitchell, David Boykin, Sam Prekop, The Roots, Mike Reed's Loose Assembly, Prefuse 73, Savath and Savalis, The Cairo Gang, and Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra. His performances also include work with Roscoe Mitchell, the Fred Anderson trio, Toumani Diabate, Bill Dixon, Tony Conrad, John Tchicai, Theaster Gates and the Black Monks of Mississippi, Joe McPhee, Rhys Chatham, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Axel Dorner, Fredrik Ljungkvist, Damo Suzuki, Bobby Broom, Neil Michael Hagerty, Jandek, Earle Brown, Henry Grimes, Benoit Delbecq, and Craig Taborn. Joshua has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe, Japan as well as Brazil and Russia.

Photo by Lisa Alvarado

Eremite website

Joshua Abrams on The Out Door/Pitchfork



IÑIGO UGARTEBURU

Iñigo Ugarteburu is a Basque composer whose discography includes cult avant folk groups Carcáscara and Café Teatro, with which he contributed to festivals such as Sónar, Ertz and Re-Mapa de Arteleku. Iñigo now lives in London though he retains close ties with his homeland, where he’s a member of the Basque music collective Arto Artian.

Iñigo will be performing songs from his acclaimed debut solo-LP ‘back&forth’ co-released last year by Foehn Records of Barcelona (CD) and his own Talo Recordings (LP), as well as presenting the songs from his forthcoming album recorded in Chicago with local musicians such as: Joshua Abrams, Tim Daisy, Frank Rosaly, Jeff Kimmel, Dudley Bayne, Nick Broste and the electro-acoustic trio TV Pow.