Tuesday 22 July 2014, 8pm
Kevin Drumm returns to cafe OTO in a duo with long-time co-conspirator Axel Dörner (on trumpet and electronics). We'll have an additional PA in for full-range quadrophonic sound and tonight will open with a solo performance from Phil Julian. Brace yourselves.
Avant-garde tabletop guitarist Kevin Drumm was born and raised in 1970 in South Holland, IL, playing in a handful of rock bands before relocating to Chicago in 1991 to work at the city's Board of Trade. He soon began his experiments with prepared guitar, applying objects including magnets, binder clips, chains, a violin bow and even toenail clippers to distort the instrument's sound. In time, Drumm befriended a number of members of Chicago's growing improv community, including Jim O' Rourke (with whom he served in Brise-Glace, additionally contributing to Gastr del Sol's Upgrade and Afterlife album and Ken Vandermark. In late 1997 Drumm made his solo debut with a self-titled (Perdition Plastics) and has released superb duo records with Taku Sugimoto (Sonoris), Axel Dörner, Martin Tètreault (both Erstwhile) and Ralf Wehowsky (Selektion). His chameleon-like presence has been documented on a number of projects, each revealing new facets of his wide-ranging and unique talents on both guitar and electronics. Drumm seamlessly melds the worlds of acoustic and electronic sound, occasionally teetering on the edge of silence, yet always remaining impeccably musical. Kevin Drumm has recorded and performed with Phill Niblock, Tony Conrad, Jim O'Rourke, MIMEO, Mats Gustafsson, John Butcher, Thomas Ankersmit, Taku Sugimoto and many others.
German trumpeter Axel Dörner has a unique style of playing based on unusual, often self-invented techniques that make use of breath and microscopic sounds as much as conventional note-playing - but that didn't stop him winning the prestigious SWR Jazz Prize in 2006.One Final Note has described him as “one of the most interesting improvisers in the world, an instrumentalist of prodigious technique, deep sensitivity, and a creativity that continues to grow with each release.”
http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/musician/mdorner.html
Phil Julian is a UK based composer and improviser active since the late 1990’s principally working with modular electronic devices and computers.
Releases have appeared on labels including Superpang, fancyyyyy, Entr'acte, Harbinger Sound and The Tapeworm.
