+ Special Guest DJ Randall Roberts
Ka Baird (solo) / Brain Transplant (opening duo)
+ Special Guest DJ Randall Roberts
Saturday, February 17th, 2024 | 7pm Doors / 8pm Show
Schlafly Tap Room (upstairs) ( 2100 Locust St, 63103 / map )
Ka Baird – voice / flute / electronics
Ajay Khanna – computer
Chris Smentkowski – computer
+ update: Due to today’s inclement weather, and with concern for our audiences and staff at @schlaflybeer , we are rescheduling the Ka Baird / Brain Transplant show for tomorrow, Saturday 2/17. We expect roads to be cleared and much safer by tomorrow. (More Info)
+ Update: Due to today’s inclement weather, and with concern for our audiences and staff at @schlaflybeer , we are rescheduling the Ka Baird / Brain Transplant show for tomorrow, Saturday 2/17. We expect roads to be cleared and much safer by tomorrow.
All tickets will be honored, and if you cannot attend this new date we will refund your ticket purchase (or apply it to any other upcoming NMC concert). Tickets will still be available at the door. If you have any questions please email us at newmusiccircle.info@gmail.com.
We hope to see you tomorrow (Saturday)! Be safe out there! – NMC
+ Artist Talks: Ka Baird will participate in two special artist talk/workshop events at WUSTL on Thursday, February 15th. These events are free and open to the public, however due to space please contact our program coordinator if you would like to attend: nmc.jeremy@gmail.com
- 11:30am – 12.45pm @ Conceptual Discourses : Art & Feminism (Heather Bennett) at WUSTL McDonnell Hall, Room 362
- 1:00pm – 2:00pm @ Synth Lab by Chris Douthitt. Location in Blewitt Hall on Washington University campus
Ka Baird
Part electro-acoustic free improv and part operatic aria, Ka Baird uses the tension between repetition and moments of rupture to tap into an ecstatic dimension, as though speaking in tongues. And then, some invisible peak having been reached, the whole thing plateaus into seven minutes of coruscating drones.
Ka Baird is a musician, performer, composer and sound designer based in New York City. They are known for their physically intense live performances which include extended voice and microphone techniques combined with electronics and psychoacoustic interplay with the flute. Baird is a multi-instrumentalist who won’t shy away from any sonic medium that can help express ideas. But voice is forefront, and there are countless ways Baird impossibly twists and morphs sound with it.
They create a present tense sound with a vigorous, ritualistic delivery that seeks extreme release through physical exertion and psychic extension. They have collaborated with many other musicians, artists, filmmakers and choreographers, both in structured compositions and in their dedicated practice of improvisation and interdisciplinary work.
Baird is one of the core members of Spires That In The Sunset Rise, founded in Chicago in 2001. Their debut solo album Sapropelic Pycnic was released through Drag City in 2017. Recent national and international engagements have included performances at Unsound Festival (Krakow, PL), Lampo (Chicago, IL), Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago, IL), MoMA PS1 (Queens, NY), Issue Project Room (Brooklyn, NY), The Kitchen (NYC), The Institute of Contemporary Art (Philadelphia, PA), TUSK Festival (Newcastle, UK), Incubate (Tilburg, NL), KRAAK (Brussels, BE), Le Guess Who (Utrecht, NL), and the Festival Of Endless Gratitude (Copenhagen, DK). They have been artist-in-residence at We Jazz Festival (Helsinki, FI), Sonoscopia (Porto, PT), Inkonst (Malmo, SE), Experimental Sound Studio (Chicago, IL), and Pioneer Works (Brooklyn, NY). They have been a recipient of the Foundation of Contemporary Art’s Emergency Grant, a Jerome Foundation Artist-In-Residence at Roulette Intermedium, and is currently a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow through 2023-25.
Bandcamp
Brain Transplant
“If you’re expecting an action-packed live performance from Brain Transplant, you may be left wanting but if you can stand tight and allow the bizarre frequencies and sonic scenery to permeate your mind for a while, then you’re absolutely on the right track. Let it do its own thing.”
Active since 1997, Brain Transplant is the long-running collaborative duo of Chris Smentkowski and Ajay Khanna. More often than not they perform on self-designed computer programs. They have performed on bills with contemporaries such as Wolf Eyes, Black Dice, and Darin Gray.
According to Chris Smentkowski, half of the nebulous duo, “We hardly prepare for our shows at all, nor do we even talk about it beforehand. We’ve scarcely played together as Brain Transplant apart from performing live. We show up, plug in and trust each other’s ability not to do something completely stupid.”
Since 1998 the irreverent duumvirate has been responsible for cracked laptop electronics, a harmonium concerto, forays with St. Louis saxophonist Dave Stone, and countless other ventures. The kids on South Grand still regard them quizzically, so they must be doing something right!
Bandcamp
