On February 7th, spectacles of cacophony and physicality as EVICSHEN – the astounding noise performance project of Bay Area sound artist Victoria Shen – hits Zebulon on the very same bill as Japanese extreme snare drummer RYOSUKE KIYASU. Plus the blurb and pivot of L.A.’s own BROMP TREB.

As Evicshen, Victoria Shen has found exponential potential in noise-as-art and vice versa. Shen regales audiences with a sequence of sonic situations using an array of instruments and techniques—many of which she designed herself—whether it’s the shrill, metallic warble of an electro-acousticified band saw or vinyl records she has cut up, recollaged, and recast as new colored discs, playing them back simultaneously by the power of four with her “Needle Nails”– styli extending from each finger on one hand. Amongst other radical gestures, she may dramatically rig herself with metal wire (or is it a cello string?) looped around her neck and one heel, transforming herself into a bowed instrument. And you can’t miss the bullwhip crack!

The Japanese snare drum soloist Ryosuke Kiyasu rips and thrashes, pushing limits of what can be improvised with a couple of drumsticks, a snare, a mic, and a table. Amidst cathartic whole-body maneuvers, he can just as easily issue a flurry of rolls and virtuosic high velocity click-clack on the rims, or in turn growl right into the heads, or even take the party to the floor for some scrape and drag.

Bromp Treb is a single human – Neil ‘Cloaca’ Young – who teases a tangle of crisscrossed gear and microphoning in a revue of body comedy and little ‘lectronic frenzies.

On March 5, the Meara O’Reilly Vocal Ensemble performs new works 2220 Arts + Archives at a concert staged by UPEND.

At this special hometown show, LA-based vocalists Mingjia Chen, Linnea Sablosky, Jodie Landau, and Eliza Bagg bring to our ears two new pieces for four voices by this inventive composer, whose music plays with perceptual and unique compositional techniques to explore new modes of vocal expression.

The program will also feature Mingjia Chen and Linnea Sablosky performing Hockets for Two Voices—O’Reilly’s touchstone work from 2019—as well as another set of hockets, originally written for two flutes and newly adapted for this vocal duo.

Alan Wyffels opens the night with a solo keyboard set.

Poster by Robert Beatty