With more than 17 years of activity, Cabezas de Cera has a long standing reputation as one of the most iconic avant-garde rock Mexican bands. They have recorded independently 8 discs and 2 DVDs and performed in forums and festivals from Europe, Asia, and America. The sound projected in the music of CDC is defined by the combination of an unconventional instrumentation and unique instruments created by the percussionist of the group. This is what provides their unique, experimental and contemporary sound; at a time, a regional and universal sound which finds a balance between the acoustic and the electronic.
Hermandad is the most recent project of this band. In this production, CDC goes deeper in its creative exploration and considers all potential of sounds through these unique and characteristic instruments created in metal.
With a variety of technologies, electronic processing in real time, live looping and a rich variety of timbres, this duo creates sound spaces where musics from all times are united in interpretive freedom, full of wide passageways and vast instrumentation.
Their shows seduce the spectators’ senses, especially the eyes and ears, since you will be able to recognize a variety of unique instruments on stage, made in metal, created by Francisco Sotelo.
For this special performance at Seaprog, Cabezas will be joined by Eblen Macari, a Mexicab guitarist with Lebanese roots who has been recognized because of his very personal way of introducing soundscapes and processes on acoustic guitar.
United in their common desire to experiment in new musical territories, Seattle-based quartet Chemical Clock have established themselves as a fresh, distinct voice among a legion of inspired and energetic young musicians to emerge from the Northwest in recent years. The band’s indefinable avant-electro-acoustic sound is a patchwork that combines the members’ jazz backgrounds with such diverse elements as hip-hop, prog-rock, and contemporary classical music.
Fraktal Phantom is a Seattle area trio presenting a hard-hitting flavor of psychedelic rock. Drummer Jack Gold-Molina and bassist Cary Kindberg are also in the band Spectral Waves.
Human Ottoman is a power trio like no other power trio you’ve heard before!
The band consists of Susan Lucia (drums), Julian Kosanovic (cello), and Grayson Fiske (vibraphone). After meeting in Oregon as music school misfits, they joined forces, quickly creating a repertoire of raucous, rhythmically dynamic music which combined their enthusiasm for music of all cultures with classical backgrounds and modern genre-mashing-jazz sensibilities, characterized most of all by their unique instrumentation. Their first album, aptly named Power Baby, was independently released in 2014, and received an Independent Music Award in the "Instrumental" category. Their second full length record, Farang, was released in August, 2015. Since then, they have been actively ear-pillaging up and down the West Coast. From brain-crashing cello solos and atomic vibraphone drops to drum solos that scholars are still struggling to understand, Human Ottoman is bringing polyrhythmic rock to the masses.
Coming together from the Seattle Eastside, the Snoqualmie Valley, and Spokane, Ibex formed in Bellingham, WA in 2013. Members Carly Gilliland, Darin McQuestin, Shiloh Smythe, and Loren White had been making music together in various permutations since they were teenagers, but began writing and performing regularly while in college.
Drawing influence from jazz to classical to indigenous music from around the globe, Ibex works from a heavy foundation of prog-rock. They share a mutual admiration for pioneers like King Crimson, Soft Machine, and Yes, as well as many other more recent artists from both the underground and pop music.
Oakland’s Jack o’ the Clock “conjures up stirring visions of a hybrid American history, part fact, part poetry, part visionary hallucination…” (Ed Pinsent, Sound Projector, UK). The quintet has been developing its subtle, acoustic avant-rock on stage and in the studio for nearly a decade, and has released five critically-acclaimed original albums as well as an EP of radically-reinvented cover songs. Fred Frith describes them as “one of the most original and compelling groups I know playing some amazing compositions that seem to tread effortlessly between Van Dyke Parks and folk music from an as yet unidentified culture, while making all the things you've always thought of as difficult sound as effortless and natural as breathing.”
Saxophonist and composer Greg Sinibaldi has established himself as one of the Northwest’s most inventive musicians, embracing a diverse musical world. Whether he’s performing with his own groups, playing in metal bands, or performing on the EWI, he brings forth a characteristic and unique voice each time he performs. Inspired by a wide range of music and art, Greg has developed a unique improvisational language, creating a virtuosic and rich sonic palette.
Lupertazzi is the electronics project of Greg Sinibaldi utilizing the EWI (electronic wind instrument). The EWI, basically a breath-driven synthesizer, is programmed via custom built software, live sound processing, algorithmic composition, and patch based field recordings. This creates a unique sonic palette. At times ambient, experimental (experiential?) or sublime, Lupertazzi creates electronic fire, immediately engaging.
After many permutations of the lineup over the years, OMNI has recently reconvened in its most focused and modern interpretation of the band: a trio. With wide ranging instrumentation that includes Warr guitar, percussion, and analog synths as well as the standard guitar, bass, and drums, the band creates a lot of sound with just three humans. A love of music from influences such as King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, and Brian Eno all the way to Boards of Canada, Killing Joke, Faith No More, and Death Grips/Hella inform the sound. The goal has always been to bring in visceral emotion in balance with competence of musicianship.
The Seattle band Paraesthesia was born out of the solo recordings of Robert Svilpa. Wishing a band to present his new music, he brought together Paul Harrington, John Hernandez, and Graham Usherwood, all of whom are experienced players in a wide range of styles, and formed a group which fuses elements of many styles into a satisfying mix that has been garnering them positive reviews from around the world.
Pinto Wagonfire is a newer Seattle band with its individual roots spanning over three decades of writing and performance. Joseph, Dave, and Tom last performed together in the mid-90's band Chalkline Dogs. With the recent addition of drummer Will Bagby (from So-Cal jazz-rock group Rullian, among others) the spark for making music together was reignited. Purely an instrumental outfit at this time, their brand of Progressive hard rock is riff centric, and slightly cosmic, foraging the spirit of their past collectives with new, energetic creativity, and a collective love of Progressive music.
Points North is a Bay Area power trio comprised of three experienced session players with a mind-boggling array of credits to their names. When they get together for their own music, they play an engaging flavor of rock that balances technical prowess with melodic hooks and influences from progressive rock, classic rock, and melodic hard rock.
Rainstick Cowbell is a unique musical entity from Portland, Oregon, one man with his own distinctive vision of music. An acoustic guitar and a voice — what could be more common? But there’s nothing common about Scott Arbogast’s music. From his lyrics, to his playing, to his singing, to his attire, you never know what to expect from Rainstick Cowbell.
Super Z Attack Team started as a spin-off from the band Zhongyu, a studio-oriented project formed by multi-instrumentalist and composer Jon Davis. With the unusual instrumentation of Stick, bari sax, and drums, the trio incorporates electronics into music that straddles rock energy and the jazzy spirit of improvisation. They relish the intersection of planning and chance, always focussing on maintaining a groove, regardless of what meter they use.
There’s a long tradition in music festivals of the All-Star Jam, and Seaprog will present a nod to that history with an improv session featuring musicians of other groups playing this year, and perhaps others who happen to drop by. The Central Committee will start things off — it happens that they play instruments making a solid trio — and then others will be invited to join in. It’s hard to say what might happen.
With The Machine That We Built, Seaprog continues a tradition of including one select band devoted to covering important music of the past. In this case, it’s instrumental interpretations of the music of Jimi Hendrix, with an emphasis on some of the lesser known gems in the guitarist’s catalog. Bassist Ryan Berg was inspired by Gil Evans’ classic jazz arrangements of Hendrix tunes to view the psychedelic classics through a jazz lens. The group’s debut at the Royal Room in early 2017 convinced all involved that it was indeed a good idea.
Although the three members of Zero Times Everything met at one of Robert Fripp’s Guitar Craft seminars, their music is made of a lot more than guitars. After creating soundtrack music to a film by Richard Sylvarnes, they have continued to create music, and the combination of auditory and visual art has become one of their hallmarks.
Seaprog is fiscally sponsored by Shunpike.
About Shunpike
Shunpike is the 501(c)(3) non-profit agency that provides independent arts groups in Washington State
with the services, resources, and opportunities they need to forge their own paths to sustainable success.
