Aaron Edgcomb (he/they) is a composer, percussionist, and multi-disciplinary artist from Reno, NV, currently living in Brooklyn, NY whose work appears in such contexts as improvisational music, jazz, “new music”, noise, and song. Aaron has performed in and composed for ensembles including: the avant-rock band Clak; the improvising chamber ensemble Tropos; the improvising hardcore trio Trigger; and the percussion and electronics project REA. He also engages in projection and installation art.

They have presented work around the world at MATA festival, MoMA PS1, National Sawdust, Roulette, moers Festival, Big Ears, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Sarajevo Jazz Festival, and the Jazz Em Agosto Festival in Lisbon; not to mention the countless and invaluable living rooms, garages, basements, and DIY venues that work so hard to keep creative music alive. I am also interested in subverting structures, many kinds of structures, like “the bio” - a useful tool to be sure, but these things are always written pretending that it isn’t the artist themself (or I suppose if you are successful an agent or PR rep) that is writing these things. I guess I’m trying to open up a conversation, bios sometimes end up feeling like a wall.

Closely tied to their work as an improviser and composer is Aaron’s background in concert percussion. Aaron performs solo marimba, vibraphone, and multi-percussion works.

Aaron holds a B.M. in Jazz and Percussion from the University of Nevada, Reno, where his studies ranged from music to gender and identity, as well as a M.M. in Contemporary Improvisation from the New England Conservatory.

Essvus (Gen Morigami) combines elements of noise, ambience, and drone in experimental electronic and electroacoustic music that channels avant-garde strains of rock. Using tools and techniques such as Ableton Live, various hardware synthesizers, guitars, basses, field recordings, sound manipulation, and programming, his work bridges the physical and digital domains. Musical influences include genres and movements such as UK techno, the LA beat scene, no wave, the Nyege Nyege collective, Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM), and Western academic music.

Psychological, philosophical, and personal topics often inform the semantic content of his work. Born the son of a cult leader and now a cult survivor, his tracks explore themes such as trauma, depression, therapy, and burnout. To express his ideas, he employs fragmented voice clips, repeating phrases, pitch-bending, and further sonic transformations.

Notable works include “My Body Refuses To Sleep”, included on the compilation John Tejada Presents Future Stars 3, out on Touched Music, and Eternal Rave, an interactive art installation that uses Max/MSP and ChucK to create endless, morphing techno that visitors can interact with via MIDI control. He has also independently released the album A Withering Cold under his former alias Indecibel.

 Beyond making recordings, Essvus also organizes shows and performs live. He has performed at venues and events including Wonder Valley Experimental Festival, Coaxial Arts Foundation, and Nivessa Records. His organizational work includes shows at Live House, Nivessa Records, and assisting in the upcoming Wonder Valley Experimental Festival. As an educator, he has also taught Ableton Live, including a Wintersession course at CalArts. 

Amber Vistein is a composer and librettist who delves deeply into the poetics of timbre, texture, and gesture. Praised for their conceptual “acuity” (Big, Red, and Shiny) and “blooming phrases” (New Music Box), their compositional style is defined by the juxtaposition of a visceral gestural vocabulary alongside evocative textural constructions. This highly tactile approach to composition works to unearth invisible events, networks, and histories by introducing expressive imperfections—dysfluencies—into the musical sentence. These sites of rupture (a suspended trill, stutter, or broken-record loop) expose the submerged complexities of sound, the labor of its production, and its fragility.

Amber’s first chamber opera Man Will Not Outlive the Weather premiered in 2017. From 2017-19 Amber was a Composition Fellow with the American Opera Project’s Composers and the Voice program. They were commissioned by the Washington National Opera to compose a 20-minute chamber opera in collaboration with librettist Rebecca Hart as part of the American Opera Initiative program. This work, entitled The Barrens, premiered at the Kennedy Center in April 2021. Amber received a 2022 Discovery Grant from Opera America in support of their first full-length opera Dark Exhalation. A lab production of Dark Exhalation premiered at the Somerville Armory in October 2023 and received a standing ovation.

 Amber holds degrees from Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MFA) and Brown University (MA, PhD). They are currently an Assistant Professor of Audio Production at Emerson College where they teach courses focused on sound design, sound installation, and music production.

Etienne Mason, known professionally as MAYSUN, is a composer and sound artist known for his unique blend of drumming expertise and sound design, creating immersive atmospheric soundscapes. 

With a focus on the use of physical space to shape and manipulate sounds, he crafts compositions that serve as soundtracks to his life events.

MAYSUN's work is characterized by an innovative approach that transforms real-life sounds into musical tones, skillfully interweaving the dimensions of time and space within his compositions. 

His artistic journey is driven by a deep passion for exploring spatial audio, technology and a desire to create meaningful emotional connections through his music.

In addition to his artistic pursuits, MAYSUN has been serving on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC) since 2023. 

He completed the prestigious 2024 ITP/IMA Fellowship at New York University and is currently a mentor at New Inc.

Tied together by her unmistakable voice, Courtney’s discography includes seven studio albums released with Bent Knee, and a prolific collection of albums, EPs, compositions, and multimedia pieces. Beyond her own work, Courtney’s voice has been featured in Mortal Kombat 11 (listen for the Fatality cue!), Bob’s Burgers, as well as studio releases by HAKEN, Car Bomb, Childish Japes, and others. A decade of touring has taken Courtney to perform all over North America, Europe, and her native country, Japan. Bent Knee has shared the stage with Leprous, HAKEN, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, Thank You Scientist, and has performed at Audio Tree, Day Trotter, Campbell Bay Music Festival, Gouveia Art Rock, FIMAV, Burg Herzberg Festival and more. After training as a classical pianist in her youth, Courtney received her B.M. from Berklee College of Music with a dual degree in Classical Composition and Contemporary Writing & Production. A Rhode Islander since 2015, Courtney splits her time between touring, composing, teaching, as well as her interests beyond music; plants, gardening, mystery novels, home improvement, cats, photography, drawing, meditation, yoga, cooking, fermentation… a list that is always growing. 

Born and raised in Madrid, Spain, pianist and composer Marta Sánchez has established herself as a significant force in contemporary creative music, actively performing and composing within the New York City jazz scene and beyond. Known for her distinctive voice and innovative approach to composition, Marta has reached an international audience, gaining critical acclaim and recognition worldwide.

After relocating to New York, Marta formed her quintet, which has since become her main project. The ensemble has released four albums, each earning praise from critics: Partenika (2015), Danza Imposible (2017), El Rayo de Luz (2019), and SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum) (2022). The American press celebrated each of these releases, with coverage in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR’s Fresh Air, WBGO, DownBeat, AllMusic, All About Jazz, and many more. Notably, Partenika and El Rayo de Luz were selected by The New York Times as two of the 10 Best Albums of the Year in 2015 and 2019, respectively. Her albums frequently appear on “Best of the Year” lists, including those from Slate, Jazz Journalists Association, Bandcamp, AllMusic, and PopMatters.

Mobéy Lola Irizarry (they) is a genderqueer cultural worker in the realms of Salsa, Bomba, And transdisciplinary performance. Based in Brooklyn, they hail from the Puerto Rican diaspora in Hartford, CT, and are a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. She makes within the lineages of decolonial uprisings, collections of tiny mirrors at queer clubs, and the precolonial languages of the drum and the braid. Lola is the creative director and conguere for Las Mariquitas, NYC’s Queer and Trans Salsa band. They play in the experimental performance trio Dendarry Bakery and the Latin Rock group AVATAREDEN. They compose for Samora La Perdida’s “Spanglish Sh!t” musical and are an alumnus of EMERGENYC. Lola is quoted in Rolling Stone saying “I want to abolish patriarchy in Salsa… this is a duty to our lineage.”