Jake Wark is a saxophonist and composer who has been active in Chicago’s creative music community since 2014, when he relocated from upstate New York. He can be heard in numerous groups as a sideman and collaborator, including Javier Red’s Imagery Converter, whose first release, Ephemeral Certainties, was included in an NPR Jazz Critics’ Poll list of the best debuts of 2019. Jake has released two albums as a leader: 2020’s Scrawl, featuring Angel Bat Dawid, Jakob Heinemann, and Adam Shead, and 2017’s Tremor, with Drew Gress and Phil Haynes. This is the debut performance of a new band, featuring violinist Mark Feldman, bassist Ben Dillinger, and drummer Tommaso Moretti performing several of Jake's new compositions.

For Chicago-based musician Sarah Jane Quillin, Desert Liminal is a vehicle for experimental songwriting that seeks to marry elements of narrative poetry, melodic dream pop, shoegaze textures, and noise. A first listen of Glass Fate, Desert Liminal's first release on Whited Sepulchre Records, reveals an astute ear for creating warm, engaging art-pop that entwines Quillin’s eliding delivery around smart hooks and introspective, bordering on melancholy, melodies.

Daniel Wyche is a Chicago-based guitarist, composer and improviser. Working with a wide range of physical preparations, extended techniques, and pedal instruments, his solo recordings and live performances are characterized by long-form structured improvisations and multichannel guitar.

Marvin Tate is a multidisciplinary Artist and Educator. He has been active in the Chicago music scene since 1993 and has collaborated with the likes of Leroy Bach, Artist, Theaster Gates Jr. and the Black Monks of Mississippi, Angel Olsen, Tim Kinsella and Jazz artists: Ben LaMar Gay, Angel Bat Dawid, Mike Reed, French experimental group, The Bridge, and Soundscape Artist Joseph C.Mills. https://www.artistmarvintate.com/home

Bill MacKay’s blissful harmonic control and just-outside-the-box guitar mastery are one with his compelling songwriting, and his creative voyage and imaginative influences are fully displayed on his most recent records: Fountain Fire (Drag City, 2019) Esker (Drag City, 2017), SpiderBeetleBee (Drag City, 2017) with Ryley Walker, STIR (Drag City, 2019) with Katinka Kleijn, and Keys (Drag City, 2021) with Nathan Bowles. MacKay’s music has received praise in reviews by the Chicago Reader, Mojo, Uncut, Downbeat, Paste, Pop Matters, The Quietus, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and many other publications. Bill MacKay

Aaron Shapiro is a guitarist and composer who has been a fixture in Chicago's eclectic music scene since 2010. As a writer and arranger he has composed for a 15-piece big band, a Hammond Organ trio and an album of guitar & vocal duets with singer Mary Lawson. Over the past decade Aaron has led jazz ensembles at many of Chicago’s renowned music venues including Andy's Jazz Club and The Jazz Showcase. Since 2015 he has played guitar for The Eternals and has also collaborated on recording projects with saxophonist Patrick Bartley and drummer Daru Jones. For Compound Yellow's Side Yard Sound series, Aaron will be joined by Nate Lepine on tenor sax, John Sutton on bass and Eric Binder on drums. They'll perform two sets of Shapiro's original compositions interwoven with some choice cover songs.

Levinson/Mahlmeister: Comprised of Jamie Levinson & Donny Mahlmeister, the Chicago duo uses synthesizers in combination with tactile instruments (Levinson is a drummer/percussionist & Mahlmeister a guitarist) to create cinematic snapshots of sonance. While the duo absolutely gives glances toward artists like Eno, Lanois, Reich, Riley & the kosmische places and spaces of Deuter, they are absolutely of the NOW, in step with ambient explorers like Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Panabrite, or locals Bitchin' Bajas, TALsounds or Brett Naucke.

Joshua Davison got his start in electronic music as half of the Chicago electronic duo String Theory in the early 2000s. Since then, he's performed and recorded across a number of genres, venturing into psychedelic electronic rock with Parks and Gardens and Thirds, and releasing synthesizer-based experimental music under his own name.

Harry Tonchev is a jazz guitarist who is very active in Chicago and central Illinois. His high energy trio focuses on improvisational music by exploring a mixture of originals and standards from the Great American Songbook. His conversational approach to improvised music keeps audiences engaged and on their toes. Featuring Harry Tonchev on guitar, Chris Madsen on sax, Clark Sommers on bass, Neil Hemphill on drums.

Jakob Heinemann is an Ashkenaz bass player and composer from Madison, Wisconsin. Now living in Chicago, his work is wide-ranging, but consistently centers around both intuitive and analytical investigations into sound and the many layers lying therein. As a composer, Jakob currently works with field recordings and spectral analysis to map the pitch content of natural systems onto instruments with augmented tunings. As a bass player, he plays frequently within Chicago’s improvised and creative music circles, and has several groups considering improvisation within preconceived structures and materials. He also can be found playing with the Chicago Klezmer Ensemble and other Jewish music groups. Outside of creating, Jakob enjoys teaching in several different environments, and maintains an ongoing private lessons studio. Beginning in December 2021, Jakob helps curate the Splice Series along with co-hosts Peter Maunu and Carol Genetti.

Martin Yam Møller is a half-Danish and half-Hong Kong Chinese songwriter and ambient artist based in Copenhagen, Denmark.
This odd combination is reflected in his musical output which is equal parts straight story-telling on acoustic guitar and vocals, but also improvised soundscapes played back with 4-track cassette tape machines and ethereal fx. At Compound Yellow he will do both during early August, with new collaborators from the Chicago area.

With the story telling part, listeners can look forward to songs with a unique lyrical shock. Where Martin tells both personal stories, but also observations on how the world is twisting into and out of shape.
The improvised ambient soundscapes are created by ‘performing’ on old 4-track tape machines using pre-recorded materials from cassettes. Sonic materials that Martin often records from the local area of the venue, where the performance itself takes place. These are interleaved with a collage of melodic snippets and spoken word poetry, as well as synth drones and heavily processed samples. All of which Martin mixes and manipulates live in concert.

Martin is currently releasing his new album ‘9 Odd Songs’, where each single comes out on the first Friday of the month. With the final single released in August, completing the whole album.

Andy and Baron Slater are a Berwyn-based father and son duo creating music at the intersection of this, that, and some other stuff. Using cutting edge technology along side antiquated digital junk they throw together something that sounds like ambient breakcore versions of PS2 game soundtracks (like Ape Escape).
Andy is a world famous blind person and Baron is 17 and produces in Ableton.

MARE is the noise/power electronics project of sound artist Meredith Haines, a multidisciplinary artist and educator working with sound, installation, performance, and video. Her work engages the political capacities of sound, and explores noise as a method of social resistance. She has performed and exhibited work all over the country at venues such as No Nation, High Concept Labs, New Boone Gallery, AS220, Space 1026, and the DUMBO Dance Festival.
After earning a BFA in dance and choreography at Temple University and working as a musician in Philadelphia for over a decade, Meredith’s work led her to Chicago in 2019 to earn her Master’s in Sound Arts and Industries at Northwestern University on a merit scholarship. She is a current Artist-in-residence at High Concept Labs in Chicago, Illinois.

NadNavillus
Equal parts guitar and vocal driven, sonically and structurally diverse, NadNavillus is the music of Dan Sullivan.
Two releases in the early 2000s on Jagjaguwar "Show Your Face" (JAG037) and "Iron Night" (051) and a tenure in Jason Molina's Songs: Ohia put Sullivan on tour throughout the US and Europe. Subsequent years have been spent playing art-metal ensemble Arriver, transcribing Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in the Butchershop Quartet and building the custom fabrication business Navillus Woodworks.
The latest NadNavillus album "Forgotten Portraits" is comprised of 9 songs composed around poems written by incarcerated people and those directly affected by incarceration, sourced from poetry Magazine's February 2021 issue "The Practice of Freedom”.

Rob Bochnik
Rob Bochnik is an American musician, audio engineer, singer and songwriter. He is guitarist with The Frames, has worked with The Swell Season, NadNavillus, The Butchershop Quartet and records as a solo artist. He has worked on several projects as an audio engineer including the Grammy-nominated Once soundtrack and Set List, The Frames' 2003 live album.

Sinner’s Friend is a five-piece string and percussion band that merges the old and new with fiddle tunes and traditional songs from the past, along with recent covers and original material.
Sinner’s sound evokes a cross-cultural mix that will surprise and engage the audience and expand their listening experience. The backbeat of tablas and percussive elements add a rhythmic sound making the sound unique.
Formed over a decade ago, Sinner’s Friend are Claire Halpin (fiddle, vocals) Aron Packer (banjo, vocals) Michael Dinges (guitar) Quinn Kearney (tablas) and Paul Zimmermann (percussion and vocals).

For the opening set, come see the collaborative recital of multimedia artist Spencer Hutchinson's experimental sound piece, "On Second Thought", a sonic interpretation of Marcel Duchamp's famous stool with a bicycle wheel utilizing an oscillating fan and a professional violinist whose name happens to be Tim Hager.

Mute Duo is Skyler Rowe (drums/percussion) and Sam Wagster (pedal steel). Building on simple composed melodies, Mute Duo explores an ambient atmosphere ranging from sparse chimes to pummeling drone with a free, rhythmic fluidity.

In 2017, they released their debut album featuring artwork by local artist/writer Dmitry Samarov, and in 2018, they released the "Axially Grasp EP" on Lurkerbias. Mute Duo also frequently plays improvisational shows with friends/guests, and have played with Ryley Walker, Bill MacKay, Ben Lamar Gay, Matthew Lux, Brian Case, Tim Kinsella, Bruce Lamont and others.

In 2018, they opened for Ryley Walker on a three week tour that took them to Canada, down the east coast and through the southeast. Their second LP, “Lapse in Passage,” was released by American Dreams Records on March 20th, 2020. They are currently working on a follow up, which will be out this year.

Norman Long will perform a live mix of field recordings and improvised electronics.

Honestly Same: Honestly Same is an amplified acoustic and synthetic quintet that improvises patient and contemplative music. The sound worlds breathe, loop, iterate, layer. A shiny digital synth finds a companion in a cello or recorder. The sound of a 90s PC powering up sympathizes with a plucked piano string. Honestly Same finds inspiration in insect and frog calls, resonant harmonies, and the blue light of a neighbor's TV. Zach Good plays clarinets, recorders, synthesizer. Lia Kohl plays cello, synthesizer, radio, phone, a little bit of everything. Mabel Kwan plays piano and accordion. Zach Moore plays synthesizer and contrabass. Sam Scranton plays percussion and electronics.

The Luc Mosley Ensemble: Utilizing a blend of woodwinds and electronics, Luc Mosley draws upon sounds of the past to forge new pathways for music of the future. In addition to leading his own groups, he performs with Big Syn, Graphics, and the Chicago Freedom Ensemble. This performance will feature Luc Mosley on saxophone/electronics, Olula Negre on cello, Matt Riggen on bass/trumpet, and Adam Shead on drums.

Cocojoey is a composer, performer, producer, sound designer, and educator whose genre-evading music has been described as "often elegiac, waiting until its passengers are lulled, then swerving into oncoming traffic ... an antidote to placidity" (A Closer Listen), and "hard to compare to anything else out there at the moment" (Third Coast Review). Recent premieres include “FAUVE, for chamber orchestra and rock band”, for which he won a BMI Student Composer Award, and "COMPRESS ME", an electroacoustic composition written for an ambisonic sound dome.

Kikù Hibino is a Japanese-born sound artist, who produces electronic music that focuses on unusual rhythmic structure and melodies that are inspired by optical illusion and moiré patterns. From chamber music for media productions to digital micro sound for art installations, he has collaborated internationally with a wide variety of artists and scholars, including Yuge Zhou, Mitsu Salmon, Kawaguchi Takao (Dumb Type), Theaster Gates, Mike Weis (Zelienople) and Norma Field.

Norman W. Long and Sara Zalek have been collaborating for over five years, most often spending time listening and walking in Chicago Parks, especially Big Marsh Park and Marian R. Byrnes Natural Area in the Calumet Region. They share interest and research into the practice of Deep Listening, as developed by Pauiine Oliveros. Her work, along with their continued exploration of intentional listening, contact mics, field recordings, sound walks, musicality in noise, synthesizers, and being present with one another cultivates their performance together.

Their Digital Album Steelworkers Drone produced by Reserve Matinee is available on Bandcamp. “This recording communicates a real dance of solidity and impermanence. Movement of water, wind, and birds making for foundation and foreground.”

Hali Palombo is a composer and visual artist and podcast creator working in Chicago, IL. Crafting most of her music from a large personal library of CB and amateur radio recordings, Hali’s compositions also include morse code, wax cylinder samples and field recordings she has taken at various Midwestern points of interest. Her influences include Philip Glass, Jorge Luis Borges, and FermiLab National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, IL (she would like her ashes scattered there someday, hopefully not anytime soon).

Tommaso Moretti is a drummer, composer, educator born and raised in Italy where he began to play drums at the age of 10. In May 2022, he will be releasing his new album Inside Out, a studio album that connects the dots between the intimate dimension of an inspiration and the aesthetic need to translate it into defined musical languages. It’s a quest to find the inner layer of humanity that allows a connection between the meaning of three words: Sentimento, Saudade, Soul.

Family Junket is the collective voice of Chicago-based musicians and brothers Max, Jonah, and Zach Lazarus, along with their extended family Alejandro Gallardo, Scott Daniel, Rahila Coats, and Clarence Young, and any other relatives that might be stopping through town. They are social workers, teachers, dancers, activists, writers, photographers, filmmakers, and engineers coming together to create healing spaces, community, and parties. In September of 2021, the family started performing live at venues such as Fitzgerald's, Golden Dagger, and the Windy City Harvest Festival. Melding flutes, saxophones, trumpets, and violins, with unique vocal compositions and wavy electronic production, the family creates genre-busting music, best listened with the family.

Instagram: @musicformyfamily

Hearsay’s singular aesthetic ranges from otherworldly textures to slowly evolving rhythmic grooves, to hard-hitting improvisations. Their musical language is influenced by their diverse backgrounds, which meld together to form something both familiar and alien, but always fresh. Featuring Allen Moore on turntables, records cast with varying materials, Ishmael Ali on cello, guitar, and electronics, and Bill Harris on drums, and percussion.

Mad Myth Science is the creative meeting of Molly Jones, Julian Otis, Wilson Tanner Smith, and Ben Zucker, whose collective experience touches all corners of Chicago’s experimental music and performance scenes. Formed in early 2020, the group developed its voice in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, working together in live and virtual settings to develop spontaneous compositions and rituals for an increasingly unstable world. All kinds of instruments, voices, electronics, objects, language, and movement all play a part in their multifaceted, evolving performances.

Since being able to perform in public, the group has performed at a variety of notable Chicago venues, including Constellation, New Music Chicago’s Impromptu Fest, the Northwestern University New Music Conference, Café Mustache, and the Ragdale Foundation. They are currently planning further tours and performances outside of Chicago, as well as for their debut album.

Mai Sugimoto is a saxophonist, composer, and active member of Chicago’s jazz and improvisational music scene. “A compelling performer” with “dry-champagne tone and lyrical lines” (Chicago Tribune), Sugimoto draws inspiration from her upbringing in Japan and her roots in jazz to compose and perform from her unique multicultural experience.

Born/Raised, her debut album (Asian Improv Records, 2018), explores this cultural and musical binary, juxtaposing, among others, a jazz rendition of a Japanese children’s song alongside compositions inspired by the American jazz idiom. Sugimoto is also a core member of the quartet Hanami, whose two albums similarly mix Japanese culture into creative music. Sugimoto has performed three times at the Chicago Jazz Festival: in 2015 with Hanami, in 2019 as a leader, and in 2018 with renowned bassist Tatsu Aoki, with whom she frequently plays, including appearances in his Fred Anderson Legacy Band. Her first solo album, monologue (Asian Improv Records) was released in March 2021.