The first installment of The Somethin' Else features twelve amazing performers coming to you from a number of different musical directions. In order to familiarize you with their backgrounds, the musicians have furnished some short bios.
Jon Davis & Elaine Evans
Originally from Binghamton, New York and transplanted from Portland, Oregon (where he cut his musical teeth on funk, free improvisation, Javanese gamelan, bluegrass, electronic music compostion and much else), Jon Davis started contributing to the Minneapolis music scene in 1998, playing bass and bass clarinet in improv-heavy bands such as Nasty Goat, Animals Expert @ Hankering and Danny Commando y Los Guapos (all the while performing solo experimental sets at now defunct venues like Gus Lucky's and Sursumcorda). He presently works in a number of projects including Ghostband, Black Audience, Haunted House and the Minneapolis Free Music Society. Davis is also the artistic director/curator of The Somethin' Else monthly electronic music potluck. Multi-instrumentalist Elaine Evans explores freeform improvisation with varied wind, string, and percussion instruments. Elaine’s current direction is improvisations with pocket trumpet, violin and loop pedal, layering harmonies, dissonances, and rhythms. Elaine has performed solo works touring in Europe and the east coast of North America, as well as performing collaboratively with artists including Milo Fine, Aerosol Pike, Paul Metzger, Dave Krejci, Jon Davis, Charles Gilette, and Davu Seru. Elaine is a founding member of the International Novelty Gamelan, a group using a base of ancient Javanese musical tradition to create new, modern works of startling beauty and originality. Elaine composes for the group in addition to performing.
Brett Bullion & Chris Smalley (Burnsville)
Brett Bullion and Chris Smalley started playing music together in 9th grade where Chris wrote some parts and Brett wrote some parts. Then Chris went and played with another band and Brett played with some other bands. Then they made Tiki Obmar in 10th grade and tried hard to get older people to take them seriously and it worked about 67%. Then Chris quit and wrote some really good songs on his own, then Brett played in a bunch of other bands and also started a band called Tarlton and Chris started a band called Saltmines. Chris and Brett still like playing music together, which is awesome considering they've been doing it in some form or another for about 13 years. Chris will play guitars and Brett will process them in realtime. They call this project "Burnsville."
Scott Fultz & Stephen Goldstein
Scott Fultz (woodwinds and electronics) and Stephen Goldstein (softsynths, samplers and treatments) - both members of AntiGravity- are debuting a new duo which conceptually explores the wide worlds of drones, microsound and lowercase. In this project Fultz and Goldstein - who both grew up in the world of jazz - are emphasizing textures and slowly evolving improvisations from a few sonic elements rather than relying on displays of virtuosic chops.
Tim Glenn & Jeremy Ylvisaker (Siamese Bug)
Tim Glenn (HeatdeatH, Squidfist) and Jeremy Ylvisaker (Alpha Consumer, Dosh, Andrew Bird) have played together in Fog and Ourmine, but their performance at The Somethin' Else marks the debut of the duo Siamese Bug. Individually they've performed everywhere from Sydney Opera Hall to your nightmares. Together.... we'll see about that.
John Keston & Graham O'Brien (Ostracon)
Ostracon is John Keston on electronics and Graham O'Brien on drums. The duo performs generative, improvisational compositions using John Keston's custom software, the GMS (Gestural Music Sequencer), that converts video input into musical phrases. Keston captures, layers, loops and processes melodic segments in real-time out of the stream of notes created by his gestural input, tailored with probability distribution algorithms. O'Brien accompanies these angular, electronic structures, with dynamic playing that, at times, verges on the chaotic. More about Ostracon and the can be found at audiocookbook.org and unearthedmusic.com.
Adam J. To & Dejen Tesfagiorgis
Adam J. To - Modified Boss DR-5 & Modified Yamaha PSS-460. Currently plays in St. Villain; a Minneapolis based pop quartet. Other musical projects include Tentacle Boy, a "circuit bent" based music venture including a constant rotation of accompaning musicians. Dejen Tesfagiorgis- Saxophone/Ewi. Currently leads the Tesfa Trio performing at the Artist's Quarter every Wednesday night.
