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Darwin Grosse

Sound / Simulacra continues with featured artist Darwin Grosse, May 22, 8:30pm at Jazz Central Studios, Minneapolis. Darwin Grosse works at the intersection of creativity, electronics and code. By applying an engineer’s toolkit to live performance, he builds complex sonic landscapes out of whole cloth. In addition to his active live media performance work, Darwin is part of the Cycling ‘74 software development team, writes for several media arts outlets and in an occasional university instructor. Oh, and he probably drinks more coffee than you. In this performance, Darwin will be working with a modular synthesizer and several computing platforms (Akai MPC Live, Monome Norns) to produce both ambient/melodic washes and noise walls.

Set 1 – Darwin Grosse (electronics)
Set 2 – Darwin Grosse (electronics), John C.S. Keston (piano, Rhodes, synthesizers), Cody McKinney (bass, electronics, voice)

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Liz Draper

Sound / Simulacra is pleased to present Liz Draper at Jazz Central Studios on Wednesday, April 24, 2019.

Liz Draper performs and composes in an array of musical genres and ensembles, from jazz and classical to folk, chamber doom metal, improv-based new music, Americana and Balkan. Liz studied jazz and classical bass at the University of Minnesota where she studied with leading members of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra. Her improvising led her to The School For Improvised Music in Brooklyn, New York. She has performed with such groups as the Grammy Award-winning Okee Dokee Brothers, Soul Asylum, Charlie Parr, The Rose Ensemble, Ben Weaver, Orkestar Bez Ime, Davina and the Vagabonds, The Wild Goose Chase Cloggers and Chama Devora, a duo with keyboardist/composer Crystal Myslajek. Liz loves exploring sonic textures and soundscapes. She is the Music Director for Cantata Learning which specializes in song-based educational e-books, and has taught privately since 1998.

Set I – Liz Draper (solo bass)
Set II – Liz Draper + Cody McKinney (bass, voice, electronics), John Keston (piano, Rhodes, synth, electronics)

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Dean Magraw

Wednesday, March 27, 2019 Sound / Simulacra presents Dean Magraw at Jazz Central Studios. Composer, arranger, producer, guitarist Dean Magraw has fine-tuned his “Heavy Meadow” approach to music from years of performing and recording with some of the finest musicians in the United States, Europe, and Japan. His first recording, Broken Silence, came out in 1994 and won the NAIRD award for Best Acoustic Instrumental Album of the Year. Dean has since produced myriad passionate albums, including his latest release, Fire on the Nile (Red House Records), a duo collaboration with renowned percussionist, Eric Kamau Gravatt.

Set I – Dean Magraw (solo guitar)
Set II – Dean Magraw + Cody McKinney (bass, voice, electronics), John Keston (piano, Rhodes, synth, electronics)

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Aby Wolf

Wednesday, February 27th, 2019 at 8:30pm at Jazz Central Studios, Sound / Simulacra presents Aby Wolf.

Aby Wolf is a passionate collaborator with an elastic skillset. Whether writing vocal arrangements for Dessa’s sold-out appearances with the Minnesota Orchestra, fulfilling commissions from American Composers Forum, Prairie Fire Lady Choir, and Cedar Cultural Center, or performing with everyone from The New Standards and Doomtree to Chastity Brown and JT Bates’ Grain Trio, Aby brings a palpable element of joy to whatever endeavor she pursues. Thanks to a 2019 Arts on Tour grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, Wolf will tour greater Minnesota with her newest musical collaboration Champagne Confetti, an 11-piece electro-acoustic chamber ensemble featuring strings, percussion, and vocal harmonies. Champagne Confetti premieres in Minneapolis this spring 2019.

Set 1: Aby Wolf solo performance
Set 2: Aby Wolf with John C.S. Keston and Cody McKinney

View this event on Facebook

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Michael Masaru Flora

On Wednesday, January 23rd, 2019 Sound / Simulacra will start off the New Year presenting Michael Masaru Flora at Jazz Central Studios.

Flora is a Minneapolis based artist working with sound in various contexts. Within the intersections of art, science, music, and mathematics, he creates work that examines sonic morphology, spatialization, and human perception. Flora’s practice includes installation, performance, recording, and curation as well as numerous collaborations with artists in the fields of transdisciplinarity, visual arts, dance, and performance art. His work has been presented at Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), St Cloud State University (Minnesota) as well as clubs, galleries, theaters, warehouses, and universities throughout North America. His latest recording “Xi” was published by Minnesota based label Sympathy Limited.

Sound / Simulacra is a monthly series produced by John C.S. Keston and Cody McKinney which explores musical improvisation as a “faithful and intentionally distorted” representational process. Sound / Simulacra brings together some of the Twin Cities most unique voices to “recreate, distort, and create the hyperreal.”

Set 1: Michael Masaru Flora solo performance
Set 2: Michael Masaru Flora with John C.S. Keston and Cody McKinney

Here’s a link to the event details on Facebook

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Don House and Al Church

On December 26, 2018 @ 8:30 pm – 10:30 pm Sound / Simulacra presented guest artists Don House and Al Church.

Set I
Don House — guitar, electronics
Al Church — guitars, keyboards, electronics

Set II
Don House — guitar, electronics
Al Church — guitars, keyboards, electronics
Cody McKinney — bass, voice, electronics

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Cellist Michelle Kinney

Wednesday, November 28, 2018, Sound / Simulacra will feature cellist Michelle Kinney

While living in NYC for 13 years, Michelle was lucky enough to work with some of the most respected innovators in new music, including the unforgettable Butch Morris, Henry Threadgill, Jason Hwang, Brandon Ross, Stomu Takeishi, Myra Melford, Bun Ching Lam & Shi-Zheng Chen.

Michelle’s current projects include Maithree – The Music of Friendship, a collaboration led by South Indian Veena virtuoso Nirmala Rajasekar, Michelle also leads her own band What We Have Here, performing Michelle’s original compositions. She also co-leads the two cellos and tabla/drum quartet Jelloslave which has made two critically acclaimed recordings which as performed all over the Twin Cities and the state for the last 12 years.

Michelle’s work as a composer/performer has been recognized and supported by the The McKnight Foundation (Composer Fellowship, 2014), Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, 2014, The Bush Foundation (Bush Artists Fellowship 2004), The Jerome Foundation, MN State Arts Board, NEA/Rockefeller, Harvestworks/Studio Pass, and the American Composers Forum.

Set 1: Michelle Kinney (cello, electronics)
Set 2: Michelle Kinney (cello, electronics) / John Keston (keyboards, synthesizer, electronics) / Cody McKinney (bass, voice, electronics)

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Martin Dosh

This October 24, 2018 Sound / Simulacra will feature Martin Dosh. Both me and Cody have had the pleasure and privilege of collaborating with Dosh over the years. Marty and me have bonded over our love of the Rhodes electric piano, DIY electronics, and similar musical ideals. This is bound to be a quite special performance in the intimacy of Jazz Central Studios, 407 Central Ave SE. Minneapolis, MN 55414. Please do join us for this event on October 24, 2018. Music starts at 8:30pm. Or checkout the Facebook event.

Dosh’s work with Andrew Broder in Lateduster and Fog gave him an experience that helped him begin to perform solo. In 2002, Dosh released his first album Dosh. He had recorded it himself, mostly in his basement. The album developed a following in the local Twin Cities scene. After playing many shows, City Pages voted him second on their annual “picked to click” list. Dosh was re-released internationally on Anticon in 2003. It was reviewed in Village Voice, URB, Flaunt, XLR8R, The Big Takeover and a number of online magazines. Dosh has toured extensively with Andrew Bird. He contributed significantly to Andrew Bird’s albums, Armchair Apocrypha and Noble Beast. Dosh is a member of The Cloak Ox, a four-piece band featuring Andrew Broder, Jeremy Ylvisaker and Mark Erickson. — Last.fm

Set 1: Martin Dosh: Drums, keyboards, electronics
Set 2: Martin Dosh: Drums, keyboards, electronics +
John Keston: Keyboards, synthesizer, electronics +
Cody McKinney: Bass, Voice, electronics

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Kaleena Miller

On August 22nd, 2018 Sound / Simulacra presented Kaleena Miller, co-director of the Twin Cities Tap Festival and director of Kaleena Miller Dance. Miller is a founding member of Rhythmic Circus, and toured extensively with the group from 2009-2017.

Kaleena is a 2015 McKnight Dance Fellow and was named one of DANCE Magazine’s “25 to Watch” in 2016. She has received funding from the Jerome Foundation and Minnesota State Arts Board, and has been commissioned to create work for the Walker Art Center, Southern Theater, Wayzata Symphony Orchestra, Hear Here! Festival, and SPCPA. Kaleena recently worked with Derick Grant on a solo, commissioned by the McKnight Fellowship. In 2016, she spent a month in solo residency at Air Le Parc in Pampelonne, France.

Set 1 – Kaleena Miller (dance)
Set 2 – Kaleena Miller (dance + electronics), Cody McKinney (bass, voice, electronics), John Keston (piano, rhodes, synth, electronics)

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Davu Seru

On Wednesday, July 25th, 2018 Sound / Simulacra at Jazz Central Studios will feature Davu Seru. This monthly series in collaboration with Cody McKinney explores musical improvisation as a “faithful and intentionally distorted” representational process. Sound / Simulacra brings together some of the Twin Cities most unique voices to “recreate, distort, and create the hyperreal.”

Set I – Davu Seru (percussion)

Set II – Davu Seru (percussion) + John Keston (piano, Rhodes, synthesizers, electronics) + Cody McKinney (bass, voice, synthesizer, electronics)

Improvising musician, percussionist, and award-winning composer, Davu Seru, performs regularly in the Twin Cities and abroad as a jazz musician. Like many jazz-rooted musicians influenced by “new music” experiments with extended technique, his approach to the drum set is as much nostalgic as it is technophilic. Consequently, his style is striking for its attending to sound, silence and melodic line as much it does rhythmic pattern—and as a skilled ensemble player he is known for his “big ears.” In the past fifteen years those ears have afforded Davu the opportunity to perform and record with musicians such as Milo Fine, Anthony Cox, George Cartwright, Dean Magraw, Paul Metzger, Jack Wright, Douglas R. Ewart, Evan Parker, Donald Washington, Nicole Mitchell and Rafael Toral.

Beside any number of spontaneous ad-hoc groupings, Davu currently leads No Territory Band and works in a trio with French clarinetist Catherine Delaunay and French bassist Guillaume Seguron. He has also curated concerts series for improvised music (in Chicago and Minneapolis) and collaborates in multi-media performances with dancers and visual artists.