Vancouver BC’s V.Vecker (sax, keys, electronics) celebrates the release of his new album “Heavy Gestures” on local label Obscure & Terrible, with support from Medina/Walsh and Kole Galbraith + Noel Kennon.

V.Vecker (b. Keith Wecker, 1983) is a composer, improvisor, and multi-instrumentalist using technology to explore his interest in the timbral and temporal possibilities that exist within electronic-based music. Utilizing sound design techniques to focus on the in-between sounds produced through a process developed around the act of layering, V.Vecker creates rich sonic textures that evoke a meditative sonic environment for the listener to immerse themselves in.

His personal approach to sound creation is highlighted by the diversity of the acts he has shared the stage with (Tim Hecker, Clark, Sumac, Thundercat, Wolf Eyes, Six Organs of Admittance, Goblin, Lori Goldston and Sun Araw) as well as participating in projects of Anthony Braxton and Glenn Branca. Keith has had his music featured across North America, including multiple appearances at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, New Forms Festival, VU Symposium and Improvisors Summit PDX.

Opening the evening, a pair of duo performances from O&T artists Medina/Walsh and Noel Kennon + Kole Galbraith.

In this hybrid event, Scrambler will play original music composed by Peter Nelson-King to celebrate the publication in English translation of Amelia Rosselli’s Notes Scatter and Lost, the final volume of local Entre Rios Books’ landmark trilogy of Rosselli’s shorter texts. Local poet, teacher, and Rosselli translator Deborah Woodard will read from all three of the books. She’ll be joined by writer Rachel Karyo, and Il Punto facilitator Alessandra Arosio, who will read excerpts from the original Italian.

Peter Nelson-King is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and writer based in Seattle who has mounted a number of adventurous solo and collaborative shows at Chapel Performance Space.  They return to Wayward Music for this unique event bringing some of Seattle’s best experimental musicians, including saxophonists Neil Welch and Brian Bermudez, clarinetist Jenny Ziefel, and cellist Mary Riles.

NOTE: Audience for this event is limited to 85 people!

An evening of Tuvan Shamanism and throat singing with Chingiz Kam and Arrington de Dionyso.

Chingiz Kam is a practicing hereditary Tuvan shaman from the Republic of Tuva (Siberia, Russia). He will conduct a powerful healing ritual, sharing his personal “Algysh” – an ancient shamanic chant full of spiritual power. Everyone may benefit: some will have a unique chance to touch one of the most ancient spiritual traditions on earth; some will have an unforgettable cultural experience; and some will receive spiritual and physical healing. 

During this sacred ritual, each participant has the opportunity to join the journey of spirit flight undertaken by the shaman. This journey into the world of spirits and inner transformations, as taught by Tuvan shamanism, allows you to enter a special state where you can confront your fears, uncover your true desires, and crystallize intentions. Through the deep pulsing sounds of the DUNGUR (shamanic drum) and throat singing, the shaman will guide you into other realms — the celestial, the underground, and the hidden depths of your consciousness. This journey will open new horizons of inner strength and lead to healing, release from burdens, and relief for the soul. The answers to your questions and the path to transformation already lie within you — the shaman simply serves as a guide, helping you uncover the wisdom embedded in your spiritual journey.

Collaborating with Chingiz at the beginning and ending of his ceremony is TIGER POEMS, a collective of Seattle and Olympia based improvisers known for intense performances bordering on energetic exorcism, featuring Arrington de Dionyso (bass clarinet and voice mask), Gust Burns on piano, and Noel Kennon on sound sculptures.

In Chingiz’s own words – “I was born on the banks of the mighty Siberian river Yenisei and raised in the city of Kyzyl, Republic of Tuva. I have the title of Brown Bear Shaman. I come from shamanic ancestry, both on my father’s side and on my mother’s side. Ancestors come from Tes-Khemsky and Ovyursky districts, the Republic of Tuva, which is located on the border with Mongolia.

Childhood and youth were mostly spent at the shepherd’s camp of my grandparents. They have kept their culture of nomadic life up to the present. Every vacation I came to them and helped them with the housework. During this time, my special connection and love for nature and animals was formed. Just like all Tuvans always, I pastured sheep and goats, sang songs in the steppes and in the mountains. I recognized life around me through the prism of Tuvan traditions. During this period, I met many spirits of the mountains, taiga, and rivers of my native places. They sometimes appeared in the form of deer, bear, wolf, snowy owl, eagle and other animals, and sometimes as strong strange short winds.

All my life I clearly felt that someone was watching me closely. They were invisible defenders. When I was very ill, my ancestors came in dreams in the guise of various familiar people and fumigated with the help of artysh (juniper), after which I quickly began to recover. I have never been able to get lost in a dense forest or in an unfamiliar area. I felt many strange inexplicable things very accurately and my correct decisions were formed from this. Some people felt that I was a shaman and asked me to make charms and amulets. 

Ancestral shamans also gave life lessons and the necessary knowledge for shamanic practice to one degree or another. They began to actively “work” at the time when I was about 27 years old. At that time, I had already graduated from the university and worked in my specialty. Any technology stopped working next to me, because of this there were problems at work. Reality seemed to become unreal and I experienced health problems, but the results of all tests showed that I was healthy. This went on for a couple of years, until the ancestors of the shamans “in their own ways” found me a mentor – a practicing Tuvan shaman, who is also a member of the “Adyg Eeren” society. I was initiated by three strongest shamans of the Adyg Eeren society, one of whom was the Supreme Shaman of Tuva. So I started my practice in a shamanic clinic in Kyzyl.”

TOZ (aka Tom Zeiler) is an electro-acoustic experimentalist musician and visual artist who does surprising things with QWERTY and MIDI keyboards, guitars, horns, voice, toys, and more. Zeiler’s adventures in out-of-the-ordinary music began at an early age, and his passion for exploring novel sonic territories has only deepened over time. His approach blends a diverse set of digital and physical elements including acoustic instruments, synthesizers and sample players, algorithmic sequencing, and live looping. Sounds will swoosh, throb, and bounce; optic nerves will be stimulated; active participation will be encouraged. Feel free to bring nesting materials such as mats, blankets, and pillows!

Bongo Funhouse is a free-improvisation performance ensemble that explores the world of percussion and found sounds. Bongo Funhouse seeks to create a unique performance experience that blends elements of avant-garde and contemporary classical music. Taking influence from many types of music, literature, and nature, Bongo Funhouse travels through a wide variety of sound worlds and moods that at times will have your adrenaline pumping and at other times will have you drifting into an ambient trance.

Having met at Indiana University through a shared interest in free improvisation, Bongo Funhouse is composed of Stephen Karukas, Mitchell Beck, and Paul Millette. Stephen Karukas is a Seattle-based musician who participates as a contemporary percussionist and composer in various collaborations. He also releases experimental electronic music as kmodp. Also based in Seattle, Mitchell Beck is an active performer, composer, and educator in the Pacific Northwest. He has performed internationally, had his works performed internationally, held the position of Visiting Assistant Professor of Percussion/Music Technology at Boise State University, and founded the Seattle Percussion Academy. Paul Millette is a percussionist based in San Antonio, Texas, where he teaches at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He maintains an active career as an orchestral percussionist, improviser, chamber musician, composer, and educator.

In_Series hosts a participatory musical contemporary art performance with Colin Tucker alongside works by Luke Martin, Eva-Maria Houben and Tom Johnson.

Feeling as Capacity / Feeling as Relation
This program features musical contemporary art with musical instruments, text, musicians, found objects, spectators, audio, chairs, projection, lights, and more. The program asks how sensation and emotion are tools of political power and struggle, in the concert hall and beyond. The featured pieces mark the politics baked into the concert hall’s often unmarked protocols of listening, “decorum,” and funding, while also proposing a musical practice that emphasizes relationality over historically white compartmentalizations between artistic disciplines, politics/aesthetics, colony/metropole, and past/present. The program presents realizations of new scores by Colin Tucker, alongside new realizations of scores by Yoko Ono and Ben Patterson, as a way to position the new scores in a long yet neglected history of decolonial musical contemporary art. Attendees will have the option of participating or not participating in listening, movement, speaking activities oriented around the reframing of routine concert music protocols.

Luke Martin is an experimental musician and writer living in Minneapolis. He plays guitar, sine tone generator, and no-input mixing board, often with people in and around the Wandelweiser Group, and is part of the ensemble Ordinary Affects. Luke’s work focuses on silence and the relation between music and truth.

Aaron Michael Butler, Peter Tracy, and Carlos Cotallo-Solares also present a brand new work by Eva-Maria Houben, as well as a rarely performed classic by Tom Johnson. 

Aquíestoy (Carlos Snaider) – guitar, vocals, synthesizers
souschef – synthesizers
Rocky Martin – drums
Mario Layne Fabrizio – drums

Aquíestoy (Carlos Snaider). Guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, singer and rapper. Aquíestoy, Spanish for “I am here,” is the name of his personal creative laboratory, with music exploring encounters of the present moment through intimate and elemental expressions of sound, language, grooves and songs. Based in Seattle for the last five years, his musical background leads to sonic explorations at the nexus of Black American and Latin American music, electronica, meditative praxis and hip-hop. Since 2015, Carlos has been a member of the international performance troupe Ay Ombe Theatre, incorporating the creative system/philosophy Performance Autology into his work. Carlos co-leads the songwriting jazz quartet EarthtoneSkytone and experimental salsa band Eléré. He holds a Bachelor degree in Music and African American Studies from Harvard University.

In preparation of his forthcoming album “Multiverso”, Aquíestoy (Carlos Snaider) is presenting a new configuration of trusted collaborators to enact Creative Music sound worlds with joy as a guiding technology. Working with traditional and syncretic forms, the Multiverso songbook explores diaspora, macro and microcosm, English and Spanish, being lost in translation, Silence, subjectivity, and the Higher Self. Aquíestoy’s musical trajectory has led him from composing and performing with bands, to recording most of the instruments on his album himself, to now having the unreleased recorded music informing how he orchestrates his live bands. Sous chef (Antoine Martel) brings an element of textural and performative sensitivity on synths and electronics, while Mario Layne Fabrizio and Rocky Martin bring drum languages that span the Americas. This is the first time that Snaider is presenting himself with his artist name Aquíestoy, with the NonSeq series being a trusted space for experimentation.

Curated for Nonsequitur’s NonSeq series by Noel Brass, Jr.

Kin of the Moon returns from their Denver collaboration with Nebula Ensemble with two new works in hand. All works will be performed by Kin of the Moon.

Kin of the Moon (Heather Bentley, viola; Kaley Lane Eaton, voice; and Leanna Keith, flutes) is “an experimental chamber troupe with an ear for the eclectic. A power trio with classical roots and sprawling musical tastes, their intimate performances blend classical music with sonic ritual, dissolving genre and erasing boundaries between performer and audience.” – Maggie Molloy, Second Inversion. Just back from a residency in Denver at the Metropolitan State University, KOTM will share new works by Sarah Perske of Nebula Ensemble (“The Lack of Anchors”) and Leanna Keith (“Built to Last”). Perske’s piece deals with the emotional states of Panic, Anxiety, and being unmoored, while finding solace in a twelve tone waltz. Keith’s trio is an unhinged ode to Late Capitalism in three movements.

(Photo: Shaya Bendix Lyon)

The Forbidden Valley Ensemble is set to make a stunning debut with their upcoming recital, a captivating celebration of the works of renowned composer Kaija Saariaho. This highly anticipated performance is part of the Wayward Music Series and coincides with International Women’s Day, honoring the contributions of female composers to the world of music. The ensemble will present an evocative selection of Saariaho’s works, including Changing Light, Leino Songs, Light and Matter, and Five Reflections on Love from Afar. Each of these pieces showcases Saariaho’s unique ability to blend the ethereal with the emotive, creating an immersive auditory experience that transcends traditional boundaries.

The recital will feature a talented lineup of performers, including soprano Emerald Lessley, baritone Darrell J. Jordan, violinist Emily Acri, cellist Chris Young, cellist Michael King-Leiferman, and pianist Steven Damouni. Together, they will bring to life Saariaho’s intricate compositions, emphasizing the beauty and complexity of vocal music alongside strings and piano. Audiences can expect a mesmerizing evening where the interplay of voice, strings, and piano creates a rich tapestry of sound, perfectly capturing the essence of Saariaho’s visionary work. This debut promises not only to be a showcase of exceptional musical talent but also a celebration of the profound impact of women in music, making it a must-attend event for enthusiasts and newcomers alike.

Nonsequitur kicks off the 2025 NonSeq concert series with a special performance introducing this year’s team of Community Curators:

Noel Brass, Jr. is a composer/keyboardist based out of Seattle’s thriving musical landscape. He’s a founding member and leader of the improvising space-funk trio Afro Cop along with other side projects. His solo work is part ambient, part psychedelic, all soul. Influenced by early sci-fi soundtracks, film noir, and improvisation, his scenes are synth-lush and spliced, while dosed with mood changing textures, dystopic yet hopeful.

Chloe Harris (aka Raica) has been an integral and influential figure in the Pacific Northwest music community for over two decades. Her contributions as a musical artist, producer, DJ, mentor, record label owner (Further), and record shop owner have helped lay the groundwork and build the foundation upon which rests the current success of Seattle’s underground electronic music scene.

Christopher Icasiano is a Filipino-American percussionist and composer from Redmond, WA. Based now in Seattle, he has been performing and touring professionally for over 15 years. His specialization in free-improvisation and experimental music combined with his vast experience with pop and rock have made him a highly sought after collaborator in all genres of music. He co-founded the grassroots arts organization Table & Chairs, as well as the Racer Sessions, a weekly performance series and free-improvisation jam session. He is committed to anti-racist and anti-sexist organizing within Seattle’s DIY and art communities in order to create more accessible and safer spaces.

Ha-Yang Kim is a cellist, composer, and improviser who has developed a unique language of extended string techniques and creates her own music based on this work, as well as collaborating on new pieces from other composers. Her musical influences draw equally from a range of western classical music, American experimentalism, rock, jazz, and improvised music, to non-western musical sources from Bali, Korea and South Indian classical music (Karnatic). She has collaborated/performed with many diverse musicians such as Evan Ziporyn, Cecil Taylor, John Zorn, Christian Wolff, Lee Hyla, Louis Andriessen, Lukas Ligeti, Larry Polansky, and Stefan Poetzsch.