Rod Cooper (from Australia)

As a founding member of Australian subterranean explorers KLUNK, Rod Cooper began his sound experiments in Melbourne's highly-resonant system of storm drains, where the group held performances using their weird and unwieldy hand-forged instruments to a public brave enough to venture underground.

As a sculptor and metal worker, Rod mixes fantastical ideas with disciplined design, creating musical instruments that are as impressive visually as they are to the listeners' ears. For this evening, Rod will be bringing an instrument called the membragurdy, constructed from stainless steel. Click the YouTube link below for a sneak preview of Rod's singular work.

Rod Cooper on YouTube

Concern (aka Gordon Ashworth, from Portland)

Since 2004, Gordon Ashworth (also known for his solo project Oscillating Innards) has been creating deep-listening dronescapes under the name Concern. Using acoustic instruments, tape manipulation, and field recordings, he conjures up rich layers of sound, creating ethereal forms that slowly shift, decay and disappear over time.

He has toured extensively, performing in over 60 cities throughout the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and now Japan. In his live performances, he is known to experiment with everything from antique zithers to gigantic open-air cassette loops. This night will offer a chance to experience his unfurling tapestry of sound first-hand.

Concern

MySpace

Itaru Yasuda (Tokyo SuperCollider)

As a graduate of IAMAS (Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences), Tokyo-based artist Itaru Yasuda first investigated time-based media and graphical modeling at Studio 2, where he refined his approach to computer-based audiovisual composition.

Representative of a new generation of composers in this field, Yasuda takes algorithmic composition to levels of intricacy that years ago would have required a warehouse full of computer processing. These days, with the help of software like SuperCollider, audiovisual work can reach new levels of expression without the hindrance of hardware or technological boundaries. This might just be a sneak peak into the future.

Itaru Yasuda

Shintaro Miyazaki (from Berlin)

Media theorist, curator and sound artist, Shintaro Miyazaki has taken an interesting journey to reach his current style of musical expression, which he calls 'pragmatic electroacoustica'. Rather than searching for the perfect piece of music, Miyazaki is more concerned with the outcome of meshing pure electronic sounds with organic sources such as field recordings, violin (which he has played for over 15 years) and voice.

Finding himself dabbling in the traditions of plunderphonics, bastard electronica and maximalism, his sound experiments result in beautiful, challenging and unexplainable creations.

Shintaro Miyazaki

Evil Penguin

Master of disguises, Mexican top-hats, ambient rockabilly to minimal Hawaiian Kumulipo chants, the Evil Penguin poses the primordial question of evanescence against a backdrop of New Wave folk. Celebratory, subliminal, moment-to-moment. A Tasmanian treasure with a penchant for open spaces.