On Saturday January 18th at Rhizome DC, come join us for a very special evening of improvised sound. Three solo acts will be performing: Insect Factory (Jeff Barsky), Holland Hopson, and Rambutan (Eric Hardiman).

INSECT FACTORY is the solo project of Jeff Barsky. "Barsky's work as Insect Factory is remarkable because he manages to avoid that pitfall of over-effecting his guitar work into an indistinct mass of noise, yet enough so that the album often bears little resemblance to the instrument. This ends up being abundantly clear from the opening moments of "We’re All Just Here for the Money." The shimmering melodies that appear early on sound more traditional, but the synth-like pulses are distinctly alien in comparison. By the end, the piece is a complex structure of interlocking layers of playing and treated loops, but one that retains a sense of form and order." (Brainwashed)
https://insectfactory.bandcamp.com

HOLLAND HOPSON is a sound and media artist, composer and improviser. A multi-instrumentalist, he usually performs on clawhammer banjo and electronics. Holland often augments his instruments with custom-designed sensor interfaces and performs with his own highly responsive, interactive computer programs. Holland has performed in Australia, Europe and North America along with notable experimental and outsider musicians such Macarthur Genius Award winners Anthony Braxton and George Lewis, live electronics pioneer David Behrman, sonic meditator Pauline Oliveros, mutant-trumpeter Ben Neill, network music trailblazer Tim Perkis, free-improv innovators LaDonna Smith and Davey Williams, and others. Holland has held residencies at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Florida; at LEMURPlex, Brooklyn; and Harvestworks Digital Media Arts, New York. Holland is Assistant Professor of Arts Entrepreneurship in New College at the University of Alabama.

RAMBUTAN. Albany NY’s Eric Hardiman performs solo as Rambutan as well as in multiple band configurations (Burnt Hills, Century Plants, Sky Furrows, Chalaque, Twilight of the Century, Location Ensemble). He recently recorded a series of collaborative improvisation sessions with John Olson (Wolf Eyes) and Jeff Case (Burnt Hills). Eric explores sonic territory that is darkly experimental, psychedelic and hypnotic, using a range of instrumental strategies and approaches. “In his solo work as Rambutan, Hardiman adeptly combines noise with an austere melodicism, bringing together other diverse elements like dub and musique concrete in a syncretic union” (Foxy Digitalis). Byron Coley says, “In this guise, Eric creates thick, lardy waves of guitar/amp psychedelia in a direction not unlike Dead C or Gate” (The Wire). Hardiman also runs the Tape Drift label (www.tapedrift.com).