Misery Beat & Whelanslive Present: Jessika Kenney & Eyvind Kang + Bee Mask
Whelan's -- May 28th --
Tickets: €13.50
Whelan's and Misery Beat have teamed up to present a unique double-header of beautiful experimental music. Firstly, a duo performance from Jessika Kenney – a vocalist known for her haunting timbral sense, as well as her profound interpretation of vocal traditions – and Eyvind Kang – a violist for whom the act of music and learning is a spiritual discipline. As a duo they perform visceral, spine-tingling renditions of ancient Persian music that simply has to be heard to be believed.
Joining the duo is underground synth experimentalist, Chris Madak, otherwise known as Bee Mask. Having begun by self-releasing dozens of fuzzy, unpredictable synth workouts, Madak has gradually refined his approach into a beautiful, glossy (and still wildly unpredictable) exploration of classic kosmiche snythesizer composition and noise musics.
Both Kenney & Kang and Bee Mask have released several records through Editions Mego imprints, the former with two LPs on the Stephen O'Malley-curated Ideologic Organ label, while Madak has appeared several times on John Elliot's (Emeralds) pioneering Spectrum Spools label.
TICKETS: €13.50
Available online from WAV Tickets ([Lo-Call 1890 200 078], prices may vary from other outlets. (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or creditcard bookings)
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JESSIKA KENNEY
Jessika Kenney is a vocalist and composer based on Vashon Island near Seattle, Washington. Interested in both traditional sources and experimental methods, Kenney has performed and recorded classical Persian vocal repertoire with ney master Ostad Hossein Omoumi, new and traditional Javanese music with Gamelan Pacifica and Gamelan Madu Sari, and the music of contemporary composers such as John Cage, Hans Eisler, Lou Harrison, Eyvind Kang, and Tadao Sawai. Her teachers include the jazz vocalist Jay Clayton at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and Nyi Supadmi in Central Java, Indonesia, where she studied traditional Javanese vocal music and collaborated on music and theater in experimental settings.
EYVIND KANG
Working since 1995, Eyvind Kang can be heard on over 50 records, collaborating with the likes of Sun City Girls, Bill Frisell, Secret Chiefs, Blonde Redhead, Robin Holcomb, Laurie Anderson and many others. In addition to arranging and performing with other musicians, he has released many recordings of original music notably the acclaimed choral piece “Athlantis” (Ipecac) and “The Yelm Sessions” (Tzadik).
The music on The Narrow Garden sounds like it was composed for a film soundtrack in the way that Eyvind Kang creates evocative visual spaces with sound. True to form the album is composed of full-bodied pieces of music that evolve from minimal song structure to more grandiose musical statements throughout, ‘Forest Saman’i’ is a great example of this. ‘Pure Nothing’, ‘Mineralia’ and ‘Nobis Natalis’ nod to the choral tones on Athlantis and show definite eastern influences, whilst ‘Usnea’ and ‘The Narrow Garden’ experiment with some truly eerie samples.
Jessika Kenney & Eyvind Kang - Kidung (2012):
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BEE MASK
Over the past couple of years, Bee Mask has emerged from the DIY underground via an esoteric collection of cassette and LP editions on labels like Spectrum Spools and Room 40, each of which offers a profound and personal sonic world: a world littered with pulsing waves, control voltage emissions and haunting melodic phrases that echo in the mind like forgotten dreams.
Developing a range of hand-made electronic devices, Bee Mask has been able to create a sound that is entirely his own. It’s through instruments that he has been able to grow such an otherworldly sound – an audio vision of a possible future, or a parallel universe in which the very nature of sound, space and time is bent, re-arranged and re-composed with utterly absorbing results.
“Bee Mask produces medium specific, high-caliber synthesized compositions with mind-altering intent beyond the scope of what one might “check out” to while having their tarot cards read.” – Altered Zones
"When We Were Eating Unripe Pears delivers on Madak’s early promise and then some, making for a record that stands among Spectrum Spools’ and the year’s best." - Little White Earbuds
Bee Mask - The Story Of Lock & Keys (2012):
Whelan's -- May 28th --
Tickets: €13.50
Whelan's and Misery Beat have teamed up to present a unique double-header of beautiful experimental music. Firstly, a duo performance from Jessika Kenney – a vocalist known for her haunting timbral sense, as well as her profound interpretation of vocal traditions – and Eyvind Kang – a violist for whom the act of music and learning is a spiritual discipline. As a duo they perform visceral, spine-tingling renditions of ancient Persian music that simply has to be heard to be believed.
Joining the duo is underground synth experimentalist, Chris Madak, otherwise known as Bee Mask. Having begun by self-releasing dozens of fuzzy, unpredictable synth workouts, Madak has gradually refined his approach into a beautiful, glossy (and still wildly unpredictable) exploration of classic kosmiche snythesizer composition and noise musics.
Both Kenney & Kang and Bee Mask have released several records through Editions Mego imprints, the former with two LPs on the Stephen O'Malley-curated Ideologic Organ label, while Madak has appeared several times on John Elliot's (Emeralds) pioneering Spectrum Spools label.
TICKETS: €13.50
Available online from WAV Tickets ([Lo-Call 1890 200 078], prices may vary from other outlets. (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or creditcard bookings)
--------------------------
JESSIKA KENNEY
Jessika Kenney is a vocalist and composer based on Vashon Island near Seattle, Washington. Interested in both traditional sources and experimental methods, Kenney has performed and recorded classical Persian vocal repertoire with ney master Ostad Hossein Omoumi, new and traditional Javanese music with Gamelan Pacifica and Gamelan Madu Sari, and the music of contemporary composers such as John Cage, Hans Eisler, Lou Harrison, Eyvind Kang, and Tadao Sawai. Her teachers include the jazz vocalist Jay Clayton at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and Nyi Supadmi in Central Java, Indonesia, where she studied traditional Javanese vocal music and collaborated on music and theater in experimental settings.
EYVIND KANG
Working since 1995, Eyvind Kang can be heard on over 50 records, collaborating with the likes of Sun City Girls, Bill Frisell, Secret Chiefs, Blonde Redhead, Robin Holcomb, Laurie Anderson and many others. In addition to arranging and performing with other musicians, he has released many recordings of original music notably the acclaimed choral piece “Athlantis” (Ipecac) and “The Yelm Sessions” (Tzadik).
The music on The Narrow Garden sounds like it was composed for a film soundtrack in the way that Eyvind Kang creates evocative visual spaces with sound. True to form the album is composed of full-bodied pieces of music that evolve from minimal song structure to more grandiose musical statements throughout, ‘Forest Saman’i’ is a great example of this. ‘Pure Nothing’, ‘Mineralia’ and ‘Nobis Natalis’ nod to the choral tones on Athlantis and show definite eastern influences, whilst ‘Usnea’ and ‘The Narrow Garden’ experiment with some truly eerie samples.
Jessika Kenney & Eyvind Kang - Kidung (2012):
----------------
BEE MASK
Over the past couple of years, Bee Mask has emerged from the DIY underground via an esoteric collection of cassette and LP editions on labels like Spectrum Spools and Room 40, each of which offers a profound and personal sonic world: a world littered with pulsing waves, control voltage emissions and haunting melodic phrases that echo in the mind like forgotten dreams.
Developing a range of hand-made electronic devices, Bee Mask has been able to create a sound that is entirely his own. It’s through instruments that he has been able to grow such an otherworldly sound – an audio vision of a possible future, or a parallel universe in which the very nature of sound, space and time is bent, re-arranged and re-composed with utterly absorbing results.
“Bee Mask produces medium specific, high-caliber synthesized compositions with mind-altering intent beyond the scope of what one might “check out” to while having their tarot cards read.” – Altered Zones
"When We Were Eating Unripe Pears delivers on Madak’s early promise and then some, making for a record that stands among Spectrum Spools’ and the year’s best." - Little White Earbuds
Bee Mask - The Story Of Lock & Keys (2012):
