122 NW Couch St, Portland
Bug Farm is a new group led by Dillon Nadler on guitar and compositions, featuring Portland heavyweights Machado Mijiga on drums and Eden Holland on upright bass and modular synthesizers. Making full use of the power trio format, the band explores the intersection of free jazz, experimental electronic music, minimalism, and heavy metal.
https://www.instagram.com/dillon.nadler
James Staub is a composer and programmer based in Portland, Oregon, focused on interactive composition systems, real-time performance software, and algorithmic improvisation. His improvisational work for cello incorporates custom-made software which models the timbral and temporal qualities of the acoustic instrument into data which controls an accompaniment of electronic voices. With this approach the cello is itself is the controller of the electronics, removing the need for keyboards or other digital interfaces. The system is composed of several modules which analyze pitch, harmony, rhythm, dynamics, and timbre over short, medium and long time windows. The synthesis engine, built in MaxMSP, uses a combination of concatenative synthesis, physical modeling, and other techniques to process and manipulate the live sound. The goal of this approach is to extend and accentuate the timbral language of cello, while maintaining the nuanced, tactile relationship between the performer and the instrument. jamesstaub.com muddywires.bandcamp.com/ instagram.com/j_a_m_e_s__a__s_t_a_u_b/
The kgmr band is a Portland-based duo made up of kgmr (keyboards, samples, field recordings, noise, vocals) and Bobby Read (guitar, bass, drums, violin, samples, field recordings, noise, vocals). Together, they write and record music for solo, duo, trio, and larger ensemble performance. They invite collaborators on projects locally, nationally, and internationally.
kgmr started writing and recording music in elementary school using a Casio keyboard, a Magnus organ, and a tape recorder. Her first compositions were imagined as soundtracks for horror films. Early sampling projects using prank phone calls and the tape recorder were unfortunately stopped by the police. Her music has been used in films, theater, and radio. She appears elsewhere as a guest keyboardist.
Bobby Read loves playing heavy guitar and making noise on a variety of instruments.
warm canopy
Former Brooklynite turned Portlander, Freddi Wyss (they/them) is a time-based artist who uses a variety of media to examine the spaces of communication development and breakdown. As a gap artist, they utilize experimental music, performance, and hybrid poetry to explore depths of emotional processing, highlighting the spaces in between moments, words, and melodies.
Freddi currently works under the moniker warm canopy and collaborates with a wide variety of movers and performers. Recent projects include: live soundscapes and score development for the embodied movement collective Tiny Vessels for the New Expressive Works Residency, 17th Cohort, resident at the Campbient 44-hour Sound Art Residency, mover in Jared Maurice Dancler’s work “Poppy People: Act II – Down River” at Shaking The Tree Theater, and will be composing a new piece entitled “The Plateau” for Friends After Good Sound’s winter 2025 performance. Additionally, they play in several Portland based bands including Fog Cutter and Karen Caskets.
