ALL AGES, SOBER SPACE. Masks are required at all times for audience members; performers can opt to unmask while performing but are required otherwise.
DOORS 7:00 / SHOW 7:30 / DONE BY 10:00 / Tickets $10
Raised in culturally mixed households in the U.S., Robert Lehmann and Toby Ramaswamy prefer to exist in the in between - somewhere at the intersection of the Philippines, India, Germany, and the Midwest. Fittingly, the keys and drums duo play improvised music that’s hazy in its boundaries - not quite jazz, not quite neoclassical, not quite minimalist, not quite drum and bass. On keyboard, Lehmann pulls in melancholic melodies from Romantic and Impressionist era studies, the heavy bass lines of electronic music, and influences from years of playing in afrobeats and Arabic music ensembles. Ramaswamy glides between tight, propulsive strings of beats and loose, open textures evoking nature. For Ramaswamy and Lehmann, improvisation is a commitment to vulnerability and an avenue into liminality as much as it is an approach to crafting sound.
Live video from Berlin, Minneapolis, 3/4/24
Soundcloud - Live audio from Icehouse, 11/6/23
https://www.instagram.com/robbabobba/
https://www.instagram.com/tobyramaswamy/
Jakob Heinemann is a double bassist, composer, improviser and sound artist working between Chicago and Madison, WI. My interests are wide-ranging, but tend to center on close listening, environmental composition, and open collaborations with other artists. As a bass player, I frequently perform freely improvised music, and count myself as a member of the rich and varied community of creative musicians in Chicago. As a composer and sound artist, I utilize field recordings, spectral analysis, and traditional scoring to sonify my local community, seeking to document and understand a sense of place in a radically changing environment.
Matt Blair is a pianist, composer, and educator living in Madison, Wisconsin. His work draws upon diverse musical traditions such as jazz and improvisation, sound art, minimalism, and electronic music. In addition to his practice as a pianist, he incorporates extended electronic processing of the Fender Rhodes, synthesizers, and the computer in his music.
Since 2018, Matt has been releasing music on his label, Scribbled Fang Records. Recent releases have included Shadow Sets, a collection of compositions for solo piano that was produced by Dave King (The Bad Plus, Happy Apple), Post Rock Lately, the debut record of Collector, an improvising trio featuring Jakob Heinemann on bass and Devin Drobka on drums and electronics, and Flights and Poor Health Good Spirits, both releases by Big Thanks, a Minneapolis-based Trash House trio featuring Miles Allen on saxophone and clarinet and Jack Lussenden on drums. Other recent releases have included After Party (out on Dinzu Artefacts), the debut record of Yins, an electronic duo with Devin Drobka, and Resorts (out on Shifting Paradigm Records), a piano trio featuring Devin Drobka’s compositions with Aaron Darrell on bass.
https://www.instagram.com/mattblair_music/
Accessibility notes: We have two steps to come in the front door, and one step in our back door. There are two steps into the second portion of our building to reach the bathroom. Please let us know if we may assist you in accessing the space.
We have limited parking behind our building in a small lot.