Edmund Oak aka Jonatan Bengta (from Denmark)

Wrapped in gongs, Hawaiian-inspired slide guitar and oblique, meditative chord patterns, composer and singer Jonatan Bengta creates a dark, intense, seductive music under the moniker Edmund Oak. With a style that originally comes from the folk singer/songwriter tradition, he also finds influence in 70s Ethiopian jazz and experimental music.

His debut album, Queen Odea Escapes, was recorded in Copenhagen's St. Matthew Church with an unusual instrumentation of cello, bells, gongs and even a choir.

We'll be treated to an evening of Bengta's newest material, which by his own description is "new, black and crispy"... What could he possibly have in store for us?

Edmund Oak

Masaya Sasaki

Musician and poet, Masaya's work seems to be stripped of all unnecessary complexities, highlighting subtle themes and an inventive sense of rhythm and space. With a musical concept that is based in electronica, he works with minimal forms that can sometimes be likened to the early compositions of Terry Riley or Philip Glass. Repeated listens to much of his work will reveal melodies slightly modulating over time, and rhythmic elements slowly slipping into the music, disappearing as inconspicuously as they surfaced.

With a new album titled Music is Not Means set for release this spring, Masaya will be showcasing a fresh body of new music, bound to be as scintillating as his work up until this point.

Masaya Sasaki

Masaya Sasaki on Myspace

Meri Nikula (from Finland)

With a diverse background in music, theater, dance and the visual arts, Meri has explored a wide breadth of expression, on equally-wide terrain, living and studying in the Netherlands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Ghana and most recently, Japan.

In addition to visual pieces and experimental performance, she has also explored the musical traditions of Brazil, Africa and her native Scandinavia as a vocalist and flute player, while also working in genres ranging from classical music to free improvisation and noise.

Most recently, she is finding new inspiration as a sound artist with a concept she calls vocal mosaic, where she creates layered collages with her voice.

Treating us to a solo vocal performance, Meri is bound to captivate and beguile listeners on the evening.

Meri Nikula

Dowding Club Pentagon Royal Garden featuring Dowding Club + Keigo Iwami (bass) + Hiroki Chiba (bass) + Matsutsugu Hattori (drums)

Naoto Sekijima and Akihiko Taniguchi, the two enigmatic sound artists behind Dowding Club, are back in a heavyweight formation that is as bent as it is brilliant. By adding Hiroki Chiba (acoustic bass), Keigo Iwami (acoustic bass) and Masatsugu Hattori (drums), they seem to have put together a bit of a supergroup, dubbed Dowding Club Royal Pentagon.

With Sekijima also playing his self-made acoustic bass, there is sure to be enough low end for even the most finicky club-goers. And with all of the musicians deeply involved in a range of other projects, it might be some time before you have the opportunity to see this again.

Now's your chance.

Dowding Club

Keigo Iwami

Hiroki Chiba

Masatsugu Hattori

Evil Penguin

Grand wizard of vinyl and interstellar treasure hunter, the Evil Penguin makes the perilous journey to the forbidden archives, extracting the tastiest gems from a cosmic vat of recordings long forgotten.