library experimental – june 2018

Library Experimental is an ongoing series focusing on Chicago’s experimental musicians. It is happening at the Chicago Public Library in Jefferson Park on Saturday, June 9, from 2-4pm.

Early! Free! Kid friendly! If the kids are patient!

The fourth installment of the 2018 season features Lindsey French / Willy Smart; Sarah J. Ritch; and Morgan Krauss!

Jefferson Park library is located at 5363 W Lawrence. Convenient to both bus and blue line. https://www.chipublib.org/locations/38/

artist info:

Lindsey French / Willy Smart

Lindsey french is an artist whose work engages in gestures of sensual and mediated communication with landscapes and the nonhuman. Her projects materialize as texts written in collaboration with trees, scent transmissions, and performative lectures. She currently teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Departments of Art and Technology Studies and Contemporary Practices.

Stemming from Anna Tsing’s idea of contamination as collaboration, Willy Smart and Lindsey french offer a space for listening to the landscape. Field recordings of contaminated landscapes, live local environmental input, and human error suggest modes for rereading and hearing Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.

Sarah Ritch

Along with classical training in cello and piano, Sarah Ritch has also played guitar and bass in several punk and metal bands prior to her academic music studies. Ms. Ritch holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music, a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Studio Arts from SAIC’s Sound department, and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science. Sarah studied cello performance at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with Moonlight Tran and Dr. Andrew Smith, and with Barbara Haffner at the Chicago College of Performing Arts.

Sarah Ritch’s work ranges from improvisational noise to tonal notated music to musical studies on algorithmic expression. She has been the composer-in-residence for Chicago classical ensembles the Millennium Chamber Players and the Anaphora Ensemble. Ms. Ritch is an advocate for education in the arts and technology, having taught Music Theory, Composition, and Cello at the Southport Performing Arts Conservatory, and serving as Director of Technology and Professor of The History and Science of Sound
for the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts at UIC.

Morgan Krauss

Morgan Krauss (b. 1985) is a composer currently living in Chicago. She received her Bachelor of Music in Composition at Columbia College Chicago in the winter of 2012. She is now continuing her studies in Music Composition as a Doctoral student at Northwestern University.

Krauss’ ambitions in her works are to produce tactile explorations based on ones physical awareness and elements of allurement. Her music is focused on the latent instability of seemingly fixed gestures where the interaction between the performer and the score creates yet a third entity, often guided by improvisation and the clashing of emotional opposites.

pan y rosas release new albums from karris / price and baker / ritch!

pan y rosas is beyond excited to release a series of albums that document the fifth cycle of articular facet. articular facet is a series of electro-acoustic compositions and structured improvisations. curated by julia miller, the series reflects the use of ancient, adapted, or hacked technology, invented instruments and performative objects, and the incorporation of the visual and physical into the sonic.

the fifth cycle took place over three sundays in october of 2013 and was a collaboration between pan y rosas and julia miller. the performances all took place at the empty bottle in chicago.

the second releases in the series come from karris / price duo and baker / ritch.

karris / price duo consists of reid karris and kg price. reid karris is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, sound experimentalist and improviser from chicago, illinois who primarily uses prepared guitar and drum kit sent through electronics. kg price is an improviser, composer, technician also based in chicago. this album is their first documentation as a duo!

baker / ritch is jim baker and sarah ritch. jim baker is an improviser who focuses on the keyboard arts – pianos, keyboards, synthesizers. sarah ritch is a composer and improviser who uses cello, electronics and guitar to explore her sound world. their new album documents the second time these two have conversed.

click on the art below to get the albums!

karrispricecover Baker Ritch cover

further info about articular facet here and here.

pan y rosas release 53:38 by sound collision alliance!

sound collision alliance is a group of three composers who were brought together by their shared interest in exploring the world outside the western classical conservatory style of sound creation. the three composers – darren bartolo, sam krahn, and sarah ritch – rarely discuss melodic or harmonic structure before playing. instead, they use improvisation as a means to investigate the interplay of sound. they experiment with the spatial, harmonic, and chronological elements of sound in order to create a forum to experience vibrations and resonance in an uninhibited environment.

53:38 is the first album from sound collision alliance and was recorded in one session over the course of 6 hours. the sounds created range from pure spontaneous noise to repetitive rhythmic grooves. in addition to guitars, cello and laptop you will also hear gu zheng, guitars, cello, and slinky. get it here.