The Pornadoes is one of guitarist Jason Goessl’s other projects — quite different from Trimtab, which blew away the Seaprog 2013 audience. This band starts out with instrumental surf guitar music, and takes it several steps beyond, into realms both impressive and just plain fun.
This experimental Portland trio, formed in 2006, specialize in creative overuse of their effect pedals. Their latest material includes extensive live looping work, creating huge enveloping layers of sound. At best, they fuse the oddball rhythms and technicality of progressive music with a genuine sense of melody and emotion.
A lot has changed with The Mercury Tree since they played Seaprog 2014. They’ve released an album called Permutations, toured extensively around North America, and morphed into a marvelously cohesive trio. They’ve also been exploring the world of microtonal tuning, utilizing custom instruments built for 17 notes per octave. And they’ve done it without losing sight of what it means to write good tunes.
Tempered Steel features Ffej, Frank Junk, and Dennis Rea playing amplified, electronically processed thumb pianos. The trio’s seamless improvisations conjure everything from phantom harpsichords and subterranean percussion to as yet uninvented stringed instruments and vintage musique concrète. Recommended to partisans of Harry Partch, John Cage’s prepared piano music, and Konono No. 1. And if you watch closely, you might catch one of the rare uses of an electric toothbrush in music.
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 focusing on maintaining a groove, regardless of what meter they use.
Spontaneous Rex is an experimental jazz and avant-rock band based in Seattle. The band focuses on originals and covers that range from modern jazz to fusion; from electronic music to progressive rock, creating their own signature style. The band is a quartet of piano/keyboards, guitar, bass, and drums. The four met while studying music at Cornish College.