Khu.éex’ added to Cascadence 2025 roster

Note that while this information was accurate when it was published, subsequent events have rendered it obsolete. Khu.éex’ will not be performing at Cascadence 2025. See more information here.


Khu.éex’ playing live, photo by Dave McGraw
Khu.éex’ playing live, photo by Dave McGraw

We are more than thrilled to announce the participation of Khu.éex’ in this year’s festival. This group of Northwest musicians exemplifies the spirit of exploration and creativity that we seek to highlight, and they do it like no other band on the planet. Their music is distinctively their own, but complements that of headliner Gong in many ways.

The group began in 2013 with the chance meeting of local artist Preston Singletary (bass) and famed Funkadelic musician Bernie Worrell (keyboards), which led to a recording project featuring Skerik (saxophone), Stanton Moore (drums), Gene Tagaban (flute), and Clarissa Rizal (vocals, percussion) along with many guests. The debut album, The Wilderness Within, was released in 2016, followed by two more albums recorded before the passing of both Worrell and Rizal in 2016. Since that time, membership has changed, but their commitment to the music has remained. Their latest album, Red Cedar in the Hour of Chaos, is in the works, and should be released by the time of Cascadence.

Their blending of jazz and improvisational funk with lyrics and other elements of Tlingit, Haida, and Y’upic culture is unique in the world, and they also incorporate visual elements into their powerful performances. Be sure to follow them on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with their activities.

 

Announcing Cascadence featuring Gong on June 14

Cascadence logo

Play: to produce sound on a musical instrument. Play: to engage in activity just for fun. Light: to illuminate the darkness. Light: to be without weight. All of these apply to the musical concept that is Gong, playing music full of light since its founding in the late 60s. The Seaprog Central Committee is happy to announce that Gong will headline our new venture, which we call Cascadence, happening June 14, 2025 at Water Sines Studios.

Gong 2023, photo by Layla Burrows
Gong 2023, photo by Layla Burrows

Seaprog started in 2012, the somewhat unrealistic vision of three Seattle musicians who wanted the Northwest to have a showcase for creative, experimental, and progressive music. The first festival was presented in 2013, with five further installments until 2019. The 2020 festival ran afoul of a global pandemic and had to be cancelled. Now in 2025, the organization is reinvigorated and ready to give it another go, and we’ve found an outstanding band to anchor the event.

Gong was founded in 1967 or 1968 (depending on how you look at it) in Paris by Daevid Allen (Australian) and Gilli Smyth (Welsh), and over the decades has gone through many changes in style and personnel, even for a time without Allen and Smyth. Guitarist Kavus Torabi joined in 2015 shortly before the deaths of both Allen and Smyth. But Allen had expressed his wish that the band carry on without him, and so it has, cementing its legacy as both an originator and a torch-bearer for psychedelic rock in all its forms. Their most recent album, Unending Ascending, came out in 2023.

The current incarnation of the band features Torabi on guitar and vocals along with Fabio Golfetti (guitar, vocals), Dave Sturt (bass, vocals), Ian East (saxophone, flute), and Cheb Nettles (drums). Their live set includes music from throughout the band’s existence.

Opening the show will be several other artists to be announced in the weeks to come.

Artists, musicians, bands

Looking back over all of the events we’ve produced, the number of artists we’ve hosted is really impressive. And it’s not just the number of artists, but the consistently high quality of their performances that impresses. We are honored to have created so many memories for both audiences and performers.

While we have had the pleasure of hosting artists from such faraway places as Sweden, Italy, Mexico, Canada, Chicago, Minneapolis, and various parts of California, we’ve always made sure to spotlight some of the great artists from the Pacific Northwest.

Tony Levin and Band of Brothers wrapup

For those who made it to the Nectar Lounge last night, there was a stellar night of music on hand. Seaprog was proud to have had a part in presenting this great show.

Dennis Rea and James DeJoie at Nectar Lounge, 1/22/2024, photo by Jon Davis
Dennis Rea and James DeJoie, photo by Jon Davis

The show was opened in lovely fashion by two locals who are no stranger to Seaprog stages. Dennis Rea and James DeJoie are both members of chamber-rock favorites Moraine, but they also do a lot more. For this special event, they performed as a duo of acoustic guitar and flute. This is a far cry from the intense and complex music of Moraine, featuring gentle and jazzy takes on a variety of material drawn from many sources.

Band of Brothers at Nectar Lounge, 1/22/2024, photo by Jon Davis
Band of Brothers, photo by Jon Davis

It probably goes without saying that many of the attendees were drawn by the presence of bass legend Tony Levin. His work in King Crimson, Stick Men, and with Peter Gabriel (and hundreds of others) has cemented his status as one of the all-time great bassist, but for this outing he was in pure jazz mode.

This was an augmented version of the Levin Brothers band featuring Tony on bass and his brother Pete on keyboards. They’ve got several albums out, but this time they were combined with the LaBarbera brothers Joe (drums) and Pat (woodwinds). They drew their setlist from the jazz repertoire as well as from creative arrangements of tunes associated with Tony’s other work. All of these guys have extensive careers that have touched on many of the giants of jazz, and they all have fascinating stories to tell, so it wasn’t just an evening of outstanding playing.

Artist profile: Rea / DeJoie Duo

Dennis Rea and James DeJoie
Dennis Rea and James DeJoie

Dennis Rea and James DeJoie are both fixtures on the Seattle progressive and experimental music scene, both together and separately. They are both members of Moraine, and individually have associations with Tempered Steel, Zhongyu, The Machine That We Built, Flame Tree, Zubatto Syndicate, and The Central Committee — and that’s just the ones which have been involved with Seaprog events!

Personnel:

  • Dennis Rea — Acoustic guitar
  • James DeJoie — Flute

Artist links:

Performances: