Gust Burns is a musician, composer, and theorist. In addition to making various kinds of musical, performance, and art works, he writes and thinks around analyses of capitalism and anti-blackness. He is working on his dissertation at the University of Washington’s English department, titled “Dispensation of the faculties: Human capacity and radical incoherence across black arts and audio-visual production.”

title: a subsequent iteration of deferral, like m said

Solo piano and silent dubplate record, recorded simultaneously through turntable with cartridge and stylus.

What is the ontological, and so the political standing of the faculty of listening? This recording should be understood less as an engagement with questions around performance, recording, and objecthood. Rather, it is a presentation of listening’s reliance upon, and integration within the contemporary capacital apparatus that comprises the diversity of capitalism’s temporal and haptic machines.

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

A freelance flutist, artist, improviser, and composer, Leanna Keith delights in creating sound experiences that make audiences laugh, cry, and say: “I didn’t know the flute could do that!” Her performance artworks have focused on cultural connection and the breaking of audience/performer boundaries. She is co-founder of the 501(c)(3) arts organization Kin of the Moon and is co-artistic director and flutist of the ensemble. You can support her directly via Patreon.

This improvisation was made while thinking deeply about what it is to make sound when no one is around to hear it, to shout into the void, expecting no answer while still hoping for some form of communication. The first half is entirely on bass flute, and is a bit of a manic expression of emotion. The second half is bass flute + electronics, piccolo, C flute – perhaps the void speaks back. Ultimately, it returns to a single voice, that is still somehow, changed.

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Wally Shoup is a long-time (40 yrs +) practitioner of free improvisation/jazz/noise on alto saxophone. He has appeared on numerous recordings with musicians of all stripes. Additionally, he has written about free improvisation and organized extensively. He was the 2019 inductee into the Earshot Jazz Hall of Fame. Further info can be found on Wikipedia and Discogs.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, I’ve been playing/practicing in the I-90 bike tunnel, investigating its unique, reverberant sound.  For this recording, Dustin Williams set up three mics: close, mid and far (about 100 ft away) and combined them. The resultant mix is very true to the sound inside the tunnel itself.

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Haley Freedlund is a trombonist and vocalist, working primarily in free improvisation, jazz, and new works. She has been based in Seattle since 2011, where she has established herself as a multi-disciplinary powerhouse in the performing arts community through work as a musician, producer, curator, and organizer. She has been the lead curator for Racer Sessions since 2016, and co-leads the arts organization Table & Chairs.

These recordings are from a concert at Tom’s Place in Berkeley, on March 10th, 2020. This was my first concert of improvised music in the Bay Area, coordinated by my friend Phillip Greenlief and tacked onto a brief trip to Davis to see friends perform the west coast premiere of Cecile McLorin Salvant’s Ogresse. That trip is a very surreal memory to me now. Not just A Gig, but The Final Gig that I or any of us played, the night before WHO would declare a pandemic and seemingly everything would change at once. Listening back to these recordings feels like being older in my body and looking at a photo of myself when I was young, not recognizing the face without the age, another lifetime belonging to a different person entirely. In a matter of weeks I’ve felt my relationship to the trombone and how I approach playing music shift drastically in ways I never expected. I’ve realized how improvisation, for me, is a group activity. I’m curious to see how isolation continues to make me stretch and grow and change. In the meantime, it’s still nice to remember playing with others, unfamiliar as it might feel now.

Haley Freedlund – Trombone, Voice
Phillip Greenlief – Tenor Saxophone
Kyle Bruckmann – Oboe
Evelyn Davis – Prepared Piano

Improvisation I
Improvisation II
Improvisation III
Ununisonorous (Kyle Bruckmann)
Our Dreams Are Our Second Lives (Evelyn Davis)
Carried (Haley Freedlund)
The States United (Phillip Greenlief)

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Rae consists of Abbey Blackwell (bass), Ronan Delisle (guitar), and Evan Woodle (drums). The group plays Abbey’s compositions, which are focused around lyrical tunes and sometimes jarring harmonies that complement each other, offering relatable melodies with an avant-garde undercurrent. Abbey, Ronan, and Evan’s background in free improvisation and jazz bring the songs to life . The individuals are a part of the Racer Sessions community and play in a wide variety of jazz, rock, and avant-garde projects. All of those strands can be found in Rae’s music. Venmo: $abbey-blackwell

This concert was given on June 8th, 2019 at the Chapel Performance Space as a partial fulfillment of Abbey’s master’s program at the University of Washington. The concert was well received, played to a packed house of friends and colleagues. Since then, the group has recorded these songs for an as-yet-unreleased record.

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Young Scientist was formed in Seattle in the mid-1970’s by James Husted, Roland Barker and Marc Barreca, performing for several years with analog synths, tape loops and keyboards. Young Scientist recordings have recently been re-released by the German labels Bureau B and Vinyl on Demand and the UK label, Cherry Red. 

James Husted, when not doing graphic design, has been making electronic music in Seattle since the mid-1970s, playing in numerous electronic music bands in the Seattle area. He has releases from many of these groups – K7SS, Sequencer People, Body Falling Downstairs, and Audio Letter – and appeared on both Seattle Syndrome albums produced by local label Engram Records. He is also the creator and principal partner in the Seattle synthesizer module manufacturer, Synthwerks, making performance and utility modules for the Eurorack modular synthesizer format. 

Marc Barreca has been making electronic music in Seattle since the mid-1970s, releasing several projects over the years on the Hawaii-based Palace of Lights label. His most recent releases include the solo CDs From the Gray and the Green, Shadow Aesthetics, and a vinyl collaboration with K. Leimer, Chains of Being on the Spanish label, Abstrakce Records.

Husted and Barreca reunited for a performance at the Chapel last January, and join forces again for this streaming audio performance. Working in their separate small studios, James and Marc recorded audio jams using modular and virtual synths, samplers, and processing and edited the results into a half hour of immersive, multi-layered electronic music.

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

I am a cellist and composer who works in a wide variety of styles and situations, often with bands, singers, choreographers, film makers, writers, etc., and sometimes solo. I live and work in Seattle, and play pretty regularly in other parts of the U.S. and other countries. I’ve released albums on several labels, including Second Editions, Mississippi Records, Sub Rosa, Substrata, Marginal Frequency, Ed Banger, Talking Helps, and will release more soon on Eiderdown Sounds and SofaBurn. I am co-founder of a brand new union, the Freelance Artists Coalition of Seattle (FACS). You can find more of my music on BandCamp, and support me directly via Venmo or PayPal.

Yellowstone Score was recorded by Mell Dettmer at Studio Soli for Jon Jost to use as a soundtrack for a film he’s working on. I played amplified cello, and recorded it live in one long take while watching the film. I didn’t ask many questions and thought the film was edited, but turns out it wasn’t so the score is probably longer than the film will be. Anyway, it works out fine – it was a fun challenge to play in that way with solid focus and intention for such a long stretch. The film is very beautiful and minimal. 

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Amplified clarinetist, vocalist, and composer Beth Fleenor (aka Crystal Beth) believes that we need a way to deal with ourselves so that we can deal with each other. She uses sound to open the channels of communication within individuals and environments. Her work as been heard in live music, recordings, theater, performance art, installation, modern dance, and film. Fleenor believe that an emphasis on creativity in a culture gives rise to creative solutions to social problems. You can support her directly via BandCamp or PayPal.

Inside Outside. There is so much emotion accumulating that moving it from the inside to the outside so it can change form feels like an epic task. It feels impossible to do it in any sort of measured way. It’s like there are too many things trying to fit through the gate at once. Releasing them means ripping the gate open so everything can pass through at a rushing speed. I needed a way to let all the tears flow. This continuous improvised piece was that for me. May we all be gentle with ourselves in allowing what is inside to move outside.

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Pianist, composer, and educator Marina Albero is a captivating performer born in Barcelona and based in Seattle since 2015. Albero’s piano playing is an absolute celebration of life, her spirited performances are intelligent, uplifting, and delightfully engrossing. Albero deftly draws on a lifetime of music tradition, from her native Barcelona in classical as well as flamenco, to Cuba and Son Cubano, to American jazz. Albero was the recipient of the Golden Ear Award as Emerging Artist of 2018 and best instrumentalist and best record of 2019. You can support her directly via Patreon or BandCamp.

All the music was recorded in three sessions at home on April 27th, May 4th and May 5th. It reflects the many intense stages and feelings I have experienced since the pandemic started: Frustration, hope, fear, excitement, melancholy, curiosity, gratitude, reflection, awareness, acceptance…a whole spectrum that swings from one end to other as you will notice in the music. There’s  also an improvisation on hammered dulcimer that leads to the third block where some originals get blended and tied to spontaneous ideas on the piano again.

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Paul Kikuchi is a musician and sound artist. He is a seeker of things undefinable – drawn to the shadows and the margins. He is music faculty at South Seattle College. You can buy his music directly from BandCamp.

notes scratched on paper; chasing temple bells before dawn; biking narrow streets; fine dust that gathers in 100 year old grooves; things loved by those who are no longer; the pulsing glow of coals. 

Paul Kikuchi – composition, field recording, drums, guitar, piano, electronics
Miura Remi – hichiriki and sho
Nakamura Hitomi – hichiriki
Christopher Yohmei Bladsel – shakuhachi
Tajima Kazue – wagon and sho

Composed, recorded and mixed by Paul Kikuchi
Additional recording by Noriaki Watanabe
Mastered by Alex Vittum

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.