02/26 @ 8:00pm

Acid Birds + Light in August + Charles Waters

Acid Birds

Acid Birds is a trio composed of Andrew Barker, Charles Waters and Jaime Fennelly.  Barker formed the trio ACID BIRDS in order to perform the composition of the same name.  Along with saxophonist / clarinetist Charles Waters, and multi-instrumentalist Jaime Fennelly, the trio premiered in 2004 for the artist collective Free103point9, and their creative music event entitled Assembled: Free Jazz + Electronics. In November of 2007, Barker, Waters, and Fennelly convened for a second time to record ACID BIRDS with longtime collaborators Jeremy Wilms and Torbitt Schwartz on QBICO records (Italy).

Andrew Barker is a drummer, multi-instrumentalist, and composer living in Brooklyn, NY.  Barker has appeared on recordings with a wide range of artists such as bassist William Parker, saxophonists Rob Brown, Daniel Carter, Sabir Mateen, and Charles Waters – with whom Barker founded the durable Gold Sparkle Band in 1994.   Barker plays in a wide variety of musical settings, most recently writing and playing guitar for his new heavy metal band, Hallux.

Multi-instrumentalist & artist Jaime Fennelly maintains a practice of musical performance & composition which borders on near ritual praxis in its approach and conception.  He is a founding member (along with Chris Forsyth and Fritz Welch) of the iconoclastic group Peeesseye, a transcontinental amalgam of minimalist rock, noise, folk, drone, psych, improv, sound poetry, and absurdity that has produced seven CDs, one 7-inch, over 145 concerts in Europe and the US, and untold blown minds since forming in 2002.  Jaime is also a member of the elusive and rarely spotted quartet Phantom Limb & Bison, the intermittent pranksters Manpack Variant and the noise/akshuntist cover band peeinmyfacewithsurgery.   His music has been released by Digitalis Records, QBICO, Archive Recordings, 8mm, Misanthropic Agenda, Chocolate Monk, Unframed Recordings, Utech, Deep Fried Tapes, Locust Music and Evolving Ear.  Currently he is working on a series of photographs documenting his own slow unraveling whilst living on a remote island off the state of Washington.

Saxophonist Charles Waters lives in Brooklyn. He works with grids, particles, and alpha notational systems in the mystical realm of nuzion science. He still loves coffee!

Light in August

In July of 2009, 7 musicians went into Andrew Barker’s Brooklyn studio space that was yet to be finished and created a recording of improvisations in which their sounds were mutually manipulated and cross convoluted by composer Ryan Ingebritsen.  Nobody really knew what to expect with an untested studio space and a group of musicians that had never all played together before.  The result was a stellar single movement work called Light in August as well as a library of various short improve gems that are still being edited and mixed for future release.  Thus light in August was born.

Light in August is a rotating group of musicians but the concept behind the group remains the mutual manipulation and re-contextualization of sonic forces through electronic and acoustic processes.  Born of a concept begun by Ingebritsen and fellow composer/performer Jason Wampler in their duo We Can and We Must, light in August extends this musical technique and train of thought from the electronic to the electro-acoustic and purely acoustic realms.  The pseudo-psychic energy that emanates from the process of mutual sonic interaction gives the group a multi-layered environment to exist within and expands the notion of improvisational cohesiveness in a way that is more dimensional than structural.  The group itself, being the brainchild of Andrew Barker, Charles Waters, and Ingebritsen, expands a history of collaboration including New York recording artist and Producer Shannon Fields (Stars Like Fleas, Silent League) and merges other streams of improvisatory collaboration (We Can and We Must, 12 Dimension-Plane of Sound and Vision Orchestra).

The evening’s lineup includes

Charles Waters (reeds)

Andrew Barker (drums and various other instruments)

Shannon Fields (Guitars, keys, electronics)

Jason Wampler (keys and electronics)

Erica Dicker (violin, baritone violin)

Dan Peck (tuba, etc)

Ryan Ingebritsen (live electronic manipulation)

Karl Franke

Charles Waters (Solo)

Saxophonist Charles Waters lives in Brooklyn. He works with grids, particles, and alpha notational systems in the mystical realm of nuzion science. He still loves coffee!