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As the release of their debut album draws ever nearer (via Astral Spirits), Sonic Transmissions is thrilled to present the Austin live premiere of KUZU, a trio consisting of saxophonist Dave Rempis, guitarist Tashi Dorji, and drummer-percussionist Tyler Damon.

 

Tyler Damon is a Bloomington, Indiana based artist whose work aims to reveal obscured and untold narratives via drums/percussion & free improvisation. He is presently drumming for Chicago’s Circuit des Yeux and is also regularly engaged with John Dawson as the shape-shifting outfit Thee Open Sex. Tyler’s recorded output has been offered by a myriad of labels including Family Vineyard, Drag City, Auris Apothecary, Astral Spirits, Feeding Tube and his own Yoke.

 

Tashi Dorji grew up in Bhutan, on the eastern side of the Himalayas but has been living in Asheville (North Carolina) since 2000. Along the way, Dorji has developed a playing style unbound by tradition, yet with a direct line to intuitive artistry. His compositions drag the listener into a labyrinth of warbling tones, where each sound seems to jump out and replace the eerie silence that would otherwise occupy the atmosphere. After a handful of releases on various labels since 2009, Dorji presented his debut self-titled LP on Six Organs of Admittance’s Ben Chasny’s label Hermit Hut in 2014.

 

Saxophonist, improviser, and composer Dave Rempis has been an integral part of the thriving Chicago jazz and improvised music scene since 1997. Rempis burst onto the creative music scene at the age of 22 when he was asked to join the now-legendary Chicago jazz outfit The Vandermark Five. While his creative output is heavily improvisational in nature, Rempis’ Greek ethnicity, studies in jazz and ethnomusicology, an appreciation for the philosophical underpinnings of contemporary composition, and a love for unforgivingly strident yelps, screeches, and squeals that can encompass the ever-evolving state of human depravity all inform his work.

 

As a duo, Tashi Dorji & Tyler Damon have released two records on the honorable label Family Vineyard: 2016’s Both Will Escape, and this year’s Leave No Trace: Live In St. Louis.

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