RAGE Thormbones is a low-frequency duo whose work exists at the intersections of “fuck around” and “find out”. Both members, Weston from Vermont and Mattie from Los Angeles, are classically trained trombonists but jumped that ship awhile ago and thankfully found each other in 2014.

RAGE Thormbones
RAGE Thormbones is a low-frequency duo whose work exists at the intersections of “fuck around” and “find out”. Both members, Weston from Vermont and Mattie from Los Angeles, are classically trained trombonists but jumped that ship awhile ago and thankfully found each other in 2014. Their sounds bring together various de/re-constructed brass instruments and electronic synthesis + amplification, with many trips to the hardware store and the polyphonic hum of Mattie’s fabrication shop and Weston’s overworked CPU load. They produce sculpted masses of high-density sound, carving metallic resonance and subcutaneous tones to make rooms feel really heavy. They aim to shift the role of brass instruments away from vocal virtuosity and more toward their true selves as improvising organic air compressors - physically-modeled synthesis transcribed back into the acoustic domain.

RAGE has collaborated with a range of artists including Kevin Drumm, Sarah Davachi, Michelle Lou, and British pop maverick Scott Walker. They’ve tooted their trombones everywhere from Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Darmstadt Summer Courses, and ISSUE Project Room to their favorite basements/living rooms/warehouses/crypts and more recently, a charming community center deep within the Swedish countryside.

Filling the middle floor with sound are two human beings, Mattie and Weston, with a thing for trombones. With modified instruments making them look like low-budget Ghostbusters as they explore the low-end world of blown tubes, this often raucous duo investigate the sonic possibilities of compressed air, drawing on new composed music, drone and noise, as well as the myriad traditions of people around the world who blow things.