Marcia Bassett & Samara Lubelski

 

Marcia Bassett & Samara Lubelski

Marcia Bassett (Double Leopards, Zaïmph) and Samara Lubelski are two of America’s most audacious psychedelic drone proponents.  Bassett’s guitar processing squashes otherwise raging howls into densely packed tones of feedback wail, and blends with Lubelski’s long electronically processed violin voyages form a wondrous combination, both soothing and eruptive.

Their collaboration has been ongoing since 2010, and their first collaborative album, Sunday Night, Sunday Afternoon, released in 2012 on Graham Lambkin’s label Kye, was followed by several other LPs since.

“Everyone has been unanimous in agreement that this improvising duo has achieved a new highpoint in the musical histories of both Samara and Marcia.  They each have deep roots in the East Coast sub-underground, with a whole dang lot of band names between ’em, but in this configuration they just continue to get weirder and better on every outing.  The string blend they manage to invent is a hugely psychedelic wave that washes over everything in its path.  And when you’re enveloped in its massive flow, you are hauled along by sonic forces that are way beyond your control.”

 

Brooklyn’s Marcia Bassett has been an influential and integral part of the international underground for the past 20 years at least.  Co-founder of seminal bands Double Leopards, GHQ, Hototogisu, frequent partner in crime of Samara Lubelski and head runner of the Yew label, Marcia Bassett’s solo output pursues the always-curious, always-experiential trajectory that she’s traced thus far.  Her dexterous and inventive use of everything from synthesizers to field recordings to guitar to her own handmade instruments results in droney sonic landscapes that broach planes beyond time itself.

Samara Lubelski is an integral part and somewhat of a veteran of the New York experimental music scene from the early 80’s onwards.  Initially starting out as a violinist in her youth she expanded into a multi instrumentalist, playing cello, guitar, bass, melotron.  Collaborating with a plethora of New York artisans throughout her career, appearing with collectives such as Tower Recordings, MV and EE, Bill Nace, White Magic, Sonora Pine, and Thurston Moore/Chelsea Light Moving.

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Juan William Chávez

Juan William Chávez is a 2012 Guggenheim Fellow in Fine Arts and an artist, organizer, and native bee keeper of Indigenous Latinx and Irish descent. His interdisciplinary practice encompasses painting, installation, sound performance, knowledge-sharing workshops, and zines.

Chavez’s sound performances combine samples from Peruvian psychedelic cumbia records with Andean percussion and wind instruments, Eurorack modular synthesizers, and layered delays. His work is grounded in a holistic understanding of ecology, ritual, craft, and ancestral heritage. He frequently collaborates on social-practice art projects focused on environmental stewardship, food sovereignty, and decolonization.

Chavez’s upcoming project at Laumeier Sculpture Park, Garden Wak’a, is a chemical-free garden designed to host native plant workshops, sound performances, and other interdisciplinary events, and the project emphasizes the vital role of native bees while addressing urgent environmental concerns. Rooted in Andean philosophies, Garden Wak’a engages communities through collective interpretation, reciprocity, and shared responsibility.