Author: Y2K Admin

Michael Peters

Festival Headliner, Y2K23 Artists

Michael Peters is a guitarist from Cologne, Germany (he lives east of Cologne in the countryside now, close to the place where Karlheinz Stockhausen spent most of his life). Most of his musical output veers from the mainstream and has been difficult to categorize (WIRE magazine has reviewed two of his albums in their “Outer Limits” section).

Most of Michael’s guitar playing relies on improvisation and is usually extended by electronic effects, midi, and livelooping techniques, sometimes using the classical „Frippertronics“ method based on tape delay. His solo works contain ambient/experimental guitar music, but also sound collages, algorithmic music, and field recordings.

He has played in punk bands, ambient projects, open improvisational groups, and avant rock bands – such as “The Absurd” whose founder Michael Frank will also perform in Santa Cruz in 2023.

Michael has organized three international livelooping festivals in Cologne and a number of experimental guitar evenings, collaborating with other guitarists.

He has performed on several livelooping festivals in Europe and the US.

Michael Peters website

Michael Frank

Y2K23 Artists

Michael Frank was born in 1957 in Cologne. He has been playing guitar since 1971 and engages in all kinds of music between psychedelic rock, jazz and classical music. He co-founded the band The Absurd in 1984 which still exists playing a wide range of music.

Michael has continually used looping pedals for improvisation and composition since 1997. Clearly influenced by bands from the 60s and 70s such as Gong he still has an open ear for new developments. He played at the first Cologne Livelooping-Festival in 2008, and performed several times as part of the Experimental Guitar Evening with Michael Peters and Craig Green. He also took part in the 2017 Paris Spring Loops festival, both solo and together with Michael Peters and Rick Walker.

http://www.theabsurd.de

Discography

The Absurd – Late Then Never (1993)

The Absurd – More Miles Per Hour (2005)

https://www.discogs.com/artist/523853-The-Absurd

On Bandcamp

Sounds Familiar Vol.1 (solo) (2020)

Sounds Familiar Vol.2 (solo) (2020)

Later Than Never (1995)

On YouTube

It will never be the same again (2014)

Paris Spring Loops 2017 w/ Michael Peters, Rick Walker

The Absurd YouTube channel

ROTTESØSTRE!

Festival Headliner, Y2K23 Artists

ROTTESØSTRE! – The Multimedia Adventure Duo!!!

ROTTESØSTRE! reunites the fabulous Punk Rock Orchestra’s RAT SISTERS, Multi-Instrumentalist/Vocalist Cindy Sawprano and Improvisational Vocalist and Sonic Explorer Laurie Amat.

They have recently returned from command performances before the crowned heads of the Multiverse, Universe and a private concert for Oppy, to grace the stage of an even more incredible and once in a lifetime event, the Y2K 20th Anniversary International Live Looping Festival. 

ROTTESØSTRE! will be presenting a rarely seen film collage by fellow Cinepimp and Canyon Cinema Artist, Alphonso Alvarez, accompanied by a special ROTTESØSTRE! Improvisational Live Looping Soundtrack. It’s going to be a Multimedia Adventure!!! 

About Cindy Sawprano

Cindy Webster is a Board Certified Music Therapist/Therapeutic Musician working in the San Francisco East Bay. She also plays the musical saw, amplified egg beaters and other gadgets. An admirer of avant-garde music, she creates soundscapes using found objects, found sound and effects. She has appeared in San Francisco, Dublin, Zootown and Grass Valley Fringe Festivals; Y2K Loop Festivals in Providence, Santa Cruz and Mexico; Musical Saw Festivals in Austria, New York and California; trees, phone booths, rooftops, film, and recordings. Cindy has been described as, “She can do more with her voice and saw than you can do with anything.”

About Laurie Amat

Vocalist and Sonic Explorer Laurie Amat fearlessly breaks boundaries in performance and recording, combining voice, motion, and electronic looping, creating ethereal angelic choirs, skin peeling multiphonic cacophonies, ridiculous slapstick, and heartbreaking operatic arias.

Her collaborations include Avant Garde group The RESIDENTS, Bergen Music Collective Sonisk Blodbad (NO), Shores of Latency (Emmanuel Reveneau/Lucid Brain-FR), and FLOS (Stefano Castagna/Luca Formentini-IT). She was a longtime protégé, collaborator, and Beta Tester with the late computer music pioneer Max Mathews.

Laurie has lectured and conducted voice workshops internationally, including the Peabody Conservatory, Bergen Senter for Elektronisk Kunst (BEK), Arkitekthøgskole-NO, and Charles University ECES-CZ.

In 2016 she founded the Providence Y2K International Live Looping Festival. The PVDLoop is the Premiere and only East Coast Live Looping Festival.  Its small ensemble PVDLoop All-Stars play throughout the year in Special Collaborations, Multi-Media Performances and Experimental Soundworks with groups such as the RI Historical Society Moving Image Archive and the PVD/PDX based New Music Ensemble Verdant Vibes.

Ms. Amat’s main projects before The Plague Death Time included a long awaited East Coast Solo Tour, performances of The Residents “God in 3 Persons” at the NY MoMA, and the completion of “Oh, It Hertz!” the UpNorth produced Norwegian Feature Documentary about sound and how it affects us, which premiered at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (CPH:DOX) and has been screened in over 20 countries so far!

Laurie is very grateful to be returning to Santa Cruz for the 20th Anniversary Y2K Festival, and super excited to be reunited with her Punk Rat Sister, the incredibly talented and self-effacing Cindy Sawprano, performing as…ROTTESØSTRE!

Thank You Rick, you got me OUT OF THE HOUSE!!!

Liz Ruvalcaba

Y2K23 Artists

Singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist live looping artist from Guadalajara. Her main instrument is her voice which makes her music sound atmospheric and ethereal deep rooted in mexican tradition. 

Specialist in choir and vocal ensembles and participating in opera galas, concerts with several orchestras around Mexico for more than 20 years, some of them under the direction of maestro Plácido Domingo and singing in the renowned world tour of maestro Andrea Bocelli.

Singer and songwriter in the live looping duo CIAN during six years with which she traveled to Havana Cuba to the ‘Les Voix Humaines’ International festival organized by maestro Leo Brouwer.

Liz has been actively participating in Y2K International Live looping Festivals since 2014 and she was honored with the invitation as Headliner artist in 2019 closing the festival’s main concert at the  mythical Catalyst Club. She has recorded two albums and one EP. The albums were in collaboration with an international project: ‘Positive Songs Project’ created in Birmingham U.K. during pandemic with the purpose of creating music that helps people overcome the negative effects of confinement in 2020. She has many long-distance collaborations focusing on experimental music and improvisation with artists like Samuel Hällkvist, Frank Payne, James Sidlo, Bill Austin and Rick Walker. And in Jazz and Folk music with Laura Stavinoha, Mickey Van Gelder and Richard Lomax aka Granfalloon.

With Mexican artists Liz has worked with artists like Leika Mochan, Juan Pablo Villa and Pilla Piano in Free Jazz. She is currently creative in the world of dance, composing original music for three different projects for Zarawato Bus Company and Alonso Noriega Dance Company.

Liz Ruvalcaba is Co-Director of the mexican chapter of the Y2K International Live Looping Festival since 2016. 

Scott Kungha Drengsen

Y2K23 Artists, Y2K23 Bassfest

Scott has been performing as a solo looping “bassartist” since 1998’s “Bassapes” CD . And, he was a part of the first International Looping Festival in Santa Cruz, California. He continues to explore and expand the parameters of the instrument, being influenced by Indian music, Spectralism, post-classical, Jazz and most any great bassist you could think of.(Scott Lafaro,Mick Karn, Al Fischer and Michael Manring have probably had the biggest impact)His performances have a strong improvisational element and can cover anything from soundscapes to Be-Bop. Everything emanating from his bass and pedalboard..  He performs on 6,7, 8 and 12 string basses of his own design and is a perennial invitee to the PhilJones Solo Bass Concert/Contest series.

His latest album is a rendition of the gnostic poem “Thunder, Perfect Mind” composed for the artist residency.

 His work (besides soundtracks, collaborations and cameos) can be found on YouTube and most all streaming services. 

Tim Thompson

Y2K23 Artists

Festival Headliner. Tim Thompson is a software engineer, musician, and interactive installation artist. His wide-ranging artistic work includes a programming language for MIDI, interactive installations at Burning Man and other festivals, musical performances with Playstation dance pads and QWERTY keyboards, and real-time video looping and processing with a handheld security camera. 

 Recently, Tim has focused on the expressive potential of three-dimensional input in visual music instruments, using devices such as the Microsoft Kinect (in the original Space Palette) and the Sensel Morph (in the newer Space Palette Pro).


Website:  https://timthompson.com

Donata Greco – Italy

Festival debut, Y2K23 Artists

Donata Greco is a wind player, multi-instrumentalist, singer and composer. She was born and raised in Naples, Italy. Her music is a mix between the nostalgia she learned from the classical neapolitan music and a bit of funk. She loves to experiment with various genres and to reinvent the role of her chosen instruments. Everything rotates around the deep, brilliant sound of her alto saxophone blended with some flute, tiny shakers, and some vintage synth here and there. Her loops serve as the landscape that allows her to do what she loves the most: expressing herself through improvisation.

Website: https://www.donatagreco.com/

https://donatagreco.bandcamp.com/album/the-sax-machine-a-side-a-solo-journey

Trianna Feruza

Festival debut, Y2K23 Artists

Singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist out of Santa Cruz CA. Givin’ a new school twist on Pop-Funk fusion with an R&B twist. Imagine Erykah Badu and Amy Winehouse’s lovechild. Coming from a family embedded in the Folk-World Music scene, Trianna has a diverse musical background, setting the stage for her unique sound and engaging performance.

https://www.triannaferuza.com/

https://www.instagram.com/triannaferuza/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007398421234

Wayne Jackson

Y2K23 Artists, Y2K24 Artist

Engineer worker drone by day, Wayne Jackson uses his shreds of free time to dabble in the arts. He has hosted, promoted, and performed in experimental music events in the Santa Cruz area for 20+ years (Woostockhausen 1998-2007, µHausen 2010-present, Electron Salon, Looping Festivals, R Duck Show). While his professional audio development has centered on sound engines for immersive VR and games, his private work has focussed on usage of “emergent systems”, specifically the genetic algorithm, to develop “augmented creativity” tools for himself and other sound and/or visual artists. With this in mind, be forewarned that his infrequent musical performances have a fly-by-night DIY aesthetic where the unexpected may occur for audience and performer alike.

Today’s performance features sampling experiments including a new “mutation loop diver”, granular synthesis, and a recent innovation in “artificial life” sampling…

Web links:
http://www.darwinarts.com
https://soundcloud.com/darwinarts
https://www.facebook.com/stanley.jackson.1848/

Gary Regina

Y2K23 Artists

Berklee College of Music alumnus Gary Regina live-records layers of music, producing trance-like grooves of increasing beauty and complexity, one piece at a time until the sound is that of a much larger band. His instruments include woodwinds, ethnic flutes, saxophones, percussion, guitar, wind synthesizer,vocals and a drum machine. His sound is very much his own, containing traces of trip-hop, world-beat and ambient music with jazz overtones.

2 Songs on Youtube: https://youtu.be/vXTbsR-FBA

Carl Weingarten

Y2K23 Artists

Carl Weingarten is an American guitarist, photographer and founder of the

independent music label Multiphase Records. Described as “one of the best indie

musicians working today” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Carl is best known for

his atmospheric sound and his innovative use of the slide guitar and Dobro.

Weingarten has played a signi#cant role in the progressive independent music

scene since the 1980s, recording numerous solo and collaborative instrumental

albums.

A member of the group Delay Tactics, the band was among the first of such indie

groups to use digital delays in both studio recordings (Out-Pop Options 1982, Any

Questions? 1984, Elements of Surprise 2022) and live looping performances.

Carl’s latest release, The Simian River Collection 1980-2020 is a 3xCD set that

compiles music from 30 albums over four decades.

“Weingarten creates washes of delayed and looped tones for a cinematic journey

in sound. Honing his art over three decades, he has produced a singular voice

that honors the slide’s history while pushing it into the future”. –Guitar Modern

https://www.carlweingarten.com/

https://carlweingarten.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/carl.weingarten

Los Hijos de Doña Loope – aka Marcos Garcia Fregoso (Mexico)

Artist, Y2k22 Artist

Marcos García Fregoso is an experimental guitarist from Guadalajara Jalisco who likes to use music as a vehicle to explore the inner-self. He is well versed in traditional regional Mexican song traditions and creates a strong combination of modern live looping sensibilities and Mexican roots music.

Marcos performs as “Los Hijos de Doña Loope” (The Children of Doña Loope)

https://youtube.com/channel/UC3OxVZCYaOYAvtC-YipMVfQ

Daniel Lewis

Artist, Y2k22 Artist

Daniel Vee Lewis is bassist from Santa Cruz California.

A former MCA recording artist and local performer for over 35 years. Jaco Pastorius , Mick Karn , among many others Bass players have been inspirational in his development. “The first looping I ever saw/heard was Jaco , performing ‘Slang’ , so magical and inspiring !” 

EToOto (aka Yasushi Matsui)

Artist, Y2k22 Artist

Painting with Sound

EToOto is romanized Japanese, which means “Painting with Sound”.

Yasushi Matsui aims to establish new and innovative techniques that fuse together painting with sound

since technological developments have made possible the unity of a brush stroke with a sound. This project started the end of 2013, and got evolved with new technologies, programs and devices by trial and error.

Along with releasing the demo performance and tutorial videos, in 2018 the project featured in CODAME Art+Tech / Intersection in San Francisco, and also gave the presentation and performance at MINT (Music in New Technology) in Nova Scotia.

The latest experience is incorporating a tablet-sized pressure sensor, Sensel Morph, to improve the accuracy and sensitivity getting a new velocity as Twist and Pressure. Accompanied by self-built Puredata Patch, named ChromaticA, it creates new experience of conducting the sound with feedback loops and effects musically and expressively while I paint.
Web:

Website: http://paintingwithsound.net/
Youtube: https://youtu.be/7vAYdQPdbFU
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/etootopws/

Giacomo Fiore

Artist, Y2k22 Artist

Italian-born guitarist and musicologist Giacomo Fiore has premiered more than two dozen new works for justly-tuned, electric, and classical guitars, and released several recordings for Populist, Cold Blue, Pinna, Spectropol, Paper Garden Records, and his own impressum. As a scholar his research focuses on U.S. experimental music, intonation, and performance; he has published articles in Music Theory Spectrum, the Journal of the Society for the American Music, and TEMPO, and writes occasionally for Classical Guitar and SFCV. He teaches a wide range of historical and practical music courses at the University of San Francisco and UC Santa Cruz.

Giacomo is a member of Ninth Planet New Music (the chamber group formerly known as Wild Rumpus), and an occasional performer for New Music Works, sfSound, and other Bay Area organizations. He has served as a curator for the Center for New Music since 2019, and as the vice-president of the Northern California Chapter of the American Musicological Society from 2015 to 2019.

twitter: @gfguitar

instagram: @gfgeetar

website: www.giacomofiore.com

photo by Ross Victors

Katja Šulc

Artist, Y2k22 Artist

Katja Šulc is a singer, songwriter and musician from Slovenia. Moving between contemporary folk, chanson, traditional and experimental music, her work is characterized by poetry set to music and emotional, hypnotic atmospheres produced by  loop pedals, effects and vocal processors.

Katja studied music in Slovenia and US (New School, New York – Jazz & Contemporary Music Program)  Her debut album MILA (Sanje, 2008) is featuring poetry by Slovenian actress and poetess Mila Kačič. TWISTED DELIGHT (Celinka, 2013) set to music Katja’s own lyrics written at poetry workshops in New York. KAMLISAJLAN  (Casete México, 2016) presents Rromani poetry from Balkans and Eastern Europe. 

Complex, outstanding and critically acclaimed album reached several international radio stations (BBC, IMER, WFMU, RNE) and has been presented regionally and further, in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, France, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Nepal, China, United States, Mexico, Guatemala. Katja’s latest album CARICIAS (Casete México, 2021) is inspired by Mexico, including contemporary, folk and indigenous poems and songs. Having spent a major part of the decade in the country, Katja delivers a subtle homage to Mexico drawing from personal stories, old traditions and contemporary flows.

‘Caricias is fascinating, not fitting into any neat genres or boxes. You get the drift: this is fieldwork turned into contemporary, experimental folk song.’ – Songlines

‘Minimalistic layers that open up a mystical dimension with the spirit of magical realism.’ –Mladina

‘The magic lies in whispering, tender chirping and murmuring that revive traditional Rroma poetry in a modern, accessible form.’ – Radio Student

‘Otherworldly voice filled with warmth and power.’ – Music Traveler

www.katjasmusic.com