Guðmundur Steinn Gunnarsson will be traveling in the U.S. along with his band The USA Clangers in early November.
The USA Clangers is a motley crew of 21st century sound outsiders/media scavengers cherry-picked by Icelandic composer Guðmundur Steinn Gunnarsson to realize his gentle alien outsider Low Tech/High Life chamber music for all sentient beings. Playfully pitched between chaos and control, the primordial and the undiscovered, Gunnarsson’s ill-at-ease ambience is built around a singular approach to rhythm that maintains the slippery sense of “everything is about to fall apart yet we all find a way to move as one undulating organism.” The USA Clangers read from animated scores that scroll on laptop and tablet screens, but use prepared and found percussion, classical guitar, viola, recorders, toys, and household objects. The group’s name references a late 1960s British children’s TV series in which soup dragons and knitted aliens try to find peace on a hollow planet. RIYL Harry Partch, The Shadow Ring, Fat Worm of Error.
In his search for a music with neither grids nor straight lines, Icelandic composer Guðmundur Steinn Gunnarsson incorporates digital dynamic screen scores or animated notation to express his inability to adapt to the convenient society. His interest in Icelandic folksong has fueled his belief in life without barlines or equal distances and no-grid approach to music. In all his experiments the computer acts as an unlikely ally between the seemingly irrational and its realization.
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Shayna Dunkelman is known for her versatile and unique percussion techniques, and use of electronics to access a sonic pallet not found in acoustic percussion. In addition to solo performances, Dunkelman tours with the Puerto Rican band Balún, multi-instrumentalist Emily Wells, electro-acoustic duo Peptalk, Pakistani singer and author Ali Sethi, and her percussion duo Nomon with her sister Nava Dunkelman. Dunkelman became increasingly active in the alternative music scene as a member of the band Xiu Xiu, touring the world for 6 years.
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Jonathan Pfeffer writes, organizes, makes music, draws, solves and creates problems. His interests right now explore small everyday acts of defiance and subtle comedies of error as responses to the anonymizing influence of the built world on collective ritual and individual identity. His hope is always to document unique experiences of time and space. He lives in Philadelphia, PA.
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Liz Meredith is a violist, improviser and composer from Baltimore, MD. Her music explores intersections between acoustic chamber music, instrumental improvisation, electro-acoustic composition, and ambient music. She has performed at rock clubs, D.I.Y. spaces, art galleries, chamber music venues, music festivals, and academic conferences throughout the United States.
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The tour
November 7th Concert @Rotunda represented by Fire Museum, Philadelphia, USA
November 8th Concert @Rhizome in Washington D.C. USA
November 9th Concert @Red Room, Baltimore, MD, USA
November 10th Concert @Ridgewood Presbytarian Church, represented by NYC-Noise, Queens, New York, USA