Side Yard Sounds: Toby Summerfield/Sky Brothers/The Shape Of/ragenap+dathon+adams

Tickets $15.

Toby Summerfield:

Bassist, Guitarist, Pedal Steeler, Composer, Collaborator, Improviser playing in such past projects as Ex Eye, Crush Kill Destroy, Larval and Never Enough Hope.

Toby Summerfield (1978) has worked in creative music for 30 years. Operating in a space where rock music, minimalism, songcraft, improvising, atmosphere and emotion coexist.

Toby will be playing pieces from his new solo record called “Bodies of Water”. A description of his process is as follows:

“This solo practice was born in the loneliness of the pandemic, by reflecting on vocabulary and technique I have developed to interact with my Music Friends. By remembering the way the two musical bodies fit together. It is an exploration of my relationship with my instrument, physically, technically, emotionally. As a composer, collaborator and fan. The sounds are hypnotic and meditative, questioning and challenging and soothing. Percussive and roiling. A cloud to sit in and be pushed around by.

Capturing this music involved bringing my interior experience out into the air; the percussion of my fingers on the neck, the bone conduction of each tap and squeakcollected with tiny pickups mounted over the strings and contact mics on the headstock; the sensation of singing in tune (or just a little out of tune) that happens in the mouth and chest, made public with a TalkBox and a mic. The personal experience of making this music is turned into a space you can come into, too. Welcome.”

Sky Brothers (Nick Broste/Hawk Colman)

Nick Broste (trombonist, composer, recording engineer) has been an active player in the Chicago music scene since 1997. He has performed with James Falzone, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jason Ajemian, Jeb Bishop, Keefe Jackson, Anton Hatwich, Marc Unternahrer, Mars Williams, Jim Baker, Josh Berman, Dave Rempis, Marc Riordan, Jamie Branch, Matt Bauder, and many others, as well as bands such as Wilco, Spoon, TV on the Radio, Cursive and Broken Social Scene. He’ll be joined this evening by Hawk Colman.

The Shape Of:

Donny Mahlmeister and Theo Katsaounis started playing music together around 2004 in the avant-rock Chicago band, A Tundra. They weren't interested in all of the fame and success so they decided to disband and mingle with other bands like Early Day Miners, Joan Of Arc, Collections of Colonies of Bees, Aitis Band, Dead Rider, Judson Claiborne, Bora Bora, and many more. Donny and Theo continued to play and skateboard together over the years as Shred Aquarium and various improvised projects, but more recently they decided it was time to shape up. As a result, they started the ever transforming 'The Shape Of...' and have continue to grow. They have released two records under this moniker; the most recent this fall on Tone Deaf Records. (MAYBE: They will be joined by drummer/percussionist/synthesist extroardinarie, Jamie Levinson.)

ragenap+dathon+adams

ragenap+dathon is the collaborative project of Joel Berk (ragenap) and Corey Lyons (Dathon). Each armed with a Fender Bass VI, they weave meditative, intricate and immersive soundscapes that explore the outer reaches of drone, minimalism, and free improvisation. Each set is a unique journey, building on a foundation of coiled points and harmonic textures before pushing towards the dark star. For this performance, the duo is joined by Alexander Adams, who further manipulated their sounds.