Y2k25 Performers

  • Fores Basura

    Fores Basura

    José Fernando López Rodríguez (“Fores Basura”).Mexico City, 1988. Sound artist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and builder of musical instruments made from trash. He studied composition at UNAM and TCSACM. He specializes in music created with found objects and humorous songs. Founder and director of Orquesta Basura since 2008. Looper artist for El Cancioñero since 2018. Composer, musical…

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  • Noah Peterson

    Noah Peterson

    Saxophonist Noah Peterson currently calls San Antonio Texas home. He spent 6 years in a van (at times it was, indeed, down by the river) driving all of the U.S. performing his live looped show called the “Solo Sax Sessions.” As time has continually ebbed towards the inevitable, he has looped less and less whilst…

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  • Bob Amstadt – USA

    Bob Amstadt – USA

    Bass player, Looping inventor: drawn to bass guitar 30 years ago, and the new wave/punk/post-punk (now termed dark wave) musical styles before that, Bob was intrigued by what could be done with the early looping technologies. In 1994, he decided to create his own looping technology based on his own needs. This is now known…

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  • Dominika Belanska – Slovakia

    Dominika Belanska – Slovakia

    I am a tree with diverse fruits: an artist, poetess, singer-songwriter, dancer and creative facilitator. I grew up in the middle of Europe and was trained as an architect, but what I build nowadays is rather relationShips. I reconnect people with themselves, their community and the place they inhabit. The power of art is that it…

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  • Martin Azevedo

    Martin Azevedo

    Martin grew up in the Bay Area, studying Electronic Music composition at UC Santa Cruz. He’s performed music, spoken word, tarot reading and standup comedy in Oakland (Garden of Memory, Chabot Space & Science Center), San Francisco (Curiosity Guild, Exploratorium, Center for New Music, Holy City Zoo), Burning Man’s Center Camp stage, and dozens of…

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  • Suki Wessling

    Suki Wessling

    Suki Wessling is a writer, radio host, and a perpetual amateur musician, having immersed herself in classical, folk, avant garde electronic, Brazilian, pop, New Music, punk, and jazz styles at various times in her music-making life. Her looping is a work in progress, drawing on her background in the 80s at the Center for Computer…

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  • Ireri Mejia Almonte

    Ireri Mejia Almonte

    Ireri Almonte is an indie folk singer-songwriter, multidisciplinary artist, and multi-instrumentalist originally from Morelia, Michoacán. Her musical approach establishes a dialogue between the traditional and the contemporary, presenting an innovative live-looping show that maintains Latin American sonic roots while taking them to new experimental territories. With instruments such as the charango, guitar, cuatro, leona, and…

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  • R Duck – USA

    R Duck – USA

    R Duck is a Northern California-based artist and radio host, known for his engaging performances and captivating radio programs in the Bay Area. When not on air, he roams the countryside, seeking out unique sound and vision sculptures while enjoying thoughtfully crafted, sensible meal plans. Like being the Walmart greeter for live improvised electronic music…

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  • Bill Walker – USA

    Bill Walker – USA

    Bill Walker is a guitarist of uncommon stylistic range who blends a world of influences in to a unique and lyrical personal voice. His solo performance creates a rich tapestry of layered sounds, blending electric and acoustic guitars, lap steel guitars, and percussive guit-boxing techniques, with state of the art live looping techniques and sound…

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  • Rick Walker – USA

    Rick Walker – USA

    Live looping artist Rick Walker is an electronic music composer, percussionist, trapset drummer, multi-instrumentalist and found sound musician. “I am a found sound/live looping/abstract electronica/world percussionist/drummer/lo fi toy digital video filmaker/multi media inventor living in Northern California with my wife, the talented multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, Chris Wedertz. I’m a found sound/live looping/abstract electronica/multi-instrumentalist who specializes…

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  • Hideki Nakanishi – Japan

    Hideki Nakanishi – Japan

    Live looping  guitar ,mandolin, et al. Player, luthier Nara Japan Hideki uses most of him time in his Sol Anemo workshop  building special order handcrafted stringed instruments for superior musicians with a fine touch. And when that touch comes to music, he creates compositions using multiple looping pedals and one electric instrument – mandolin or…

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  • George Demarest – USA

    George Demarest – USA

    George Demarest earned degrees in trumpet performance and computer science from the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music, studying trumpet with Raymond Mase of the American Brass Quintet. He has performed with the Cincinnati Ballet, Carmen McRea, the Santa Cruz Symphony, Ensemble Monterey, New Music Works and many others. He regularly records and performs in the…

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  • MORTICAI – USA

    MORTICAI – USA

    Morticai, the creative persona of sound designer and musician Jeddy Grant, immerses audiences in ambient soundscapes and ethereal rhythmic melodies that transcend genre. Making use of bass and baritone guitars along with an array of effect pedals, Morticai weaves intricate, nonlinear compositions that transport listeners to realms of introspection and empathy. Their latest album, “Please…

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  • Rejyna – USA

    Rejyna – USA

    Festival Headliner. A multidisciplinary sound, visual and word artist, enticing inspiration from fortuity and improvisation and assembling them onto paper, photo, video and sound recordings. Rejyna’s lyrics, drawings, songs and stories are the foundation of a dozen releases by prog folk/symphonic metal band, Citadel. She’s an endorsed DigiTech artist, referred to as a JamMan guru…

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  • Mark Hamburg

    Mark Hamburg

    Mark has been looping since 1986. Most often he’s played electric guitar though he does have a cassette somewhere of an extend improv on a cheap electric organ. He was a regular performer at the Santa Cruz Loopfest from 2002 through 2010 while also documenting several of those festivals photographically. He now lives in Seattle…

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  • Cora Laba

    Cora Laba

    Cora Laba is a singer, songwriter, sound artist, poet, and improviser. Deeply inspired by her natural and social environments, she views her creations as a form of “geo-poetics”—a sonic vow to honor both the beauty and the vulnerability of creation. She grew up in the French Alps, lived in Paris, spent two years in Kyiv-Ukraine-,…

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  • Bob Burnett

    Bob Burnett

    7 string guitarist Bob Burnett has shared the stage with Google Co-founder Larry Page, Emeril, David Lindley, Tony Curtis and Bruce Willis and was a regular on Kid’s Clubhouse KTEH TV. He is also featured in “Pele Voodoo Live!: A Rockumentary”, the Annie Steinhardt book based on life on the road with popular Santa Cruz…

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  • John Lester aka Bass Bureaucracy

    John Lester aka Bass Bureaucracy

    Bassist/vocalist John Lester has been utilizing live looping since the late ‘90’s when he won his first “Song of the Year” award from West Coast Songwriters for “The Ways of a Woman”. That song was performed on fretless 6-string bass using a Line 6 DL-4 for looping. Over 20 years later John’s live looping project…

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  • Chatt3r aka John Connell – USA

    Chatt3r aka John Connell – USA

    Chatt3r aka John Connell  is an electronic/experimental/live looping musician from Santa Cruz, CA. John infuses his modular synth & iOS sound design with many influences, including the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, early industrial music, and UK Bass. John has performed at the Y2K International Live Looping Festival in Santa Cruz since 2008, and has has been…

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  • Steve Uccello

    Steve Uccello

    Steve Uccello is an upright/electric bassist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. He has playing experience in many genres including jazz, blues, folk, bluegrass, R & B, mariachi, and classical. In addition to being a musician for hire, Steve also produces his own compositions. As a bassist Steve plays gigs around the Monterey & San Fransisco Bay areas.…

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  • Eliud Ernandes – Mexico

    Eliud Ernandes – Mexico

    Festival Headliner. Eliud Ernandes began his artistic training at the young age of four years old. He has received awards and recognition from institutions such as Yamaha in Mexico and Japan, the Consulate of Mexico in Houston, Texas, the office of Master Leo Brouwer in Havana, Cuba, and the Mayor’s Office of Santa Cruz, California.…

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  • Mikko Biffle – USA

    Mikko Biffle – USA

    The nine-year-old son of a rabble rousing, ukelele playing Mother, I had begged for a drum set for months, having fallen in love with Sandy Nelson’s song, “Let There Be Drums”. That very same year, I joyously discovered a set of drums on Christmas day and proceeded to drIve my Mother absolutely mad the following…

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  • Gary Regina

    Gary Regina

    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…

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  • David Tristram – Visuals

    David Tristram – Visuals

    David Tristram is an experimental musician and visualist.  David has provided visuals for the Y2K International Live Looping Festival for many years using custom software and instruments of his own design.  His live improvisational electronic ambient music ensemble Autumnal Rune performs regularly, and he releases music as Ancient Sponge.  David has worked internationally and with…

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  • Max Scott – USA

    Max Scott – USA

    Max Scott Bortnick is a Santa Cruz-born multi-instrumentalist whose music reflects a deep connection to the diverse influences that shaped him. Growing up immersed in punk rock, Hip Hop and reggae, Max developed a love for guitar and drums, playing in bands and creating energetic, raw sounds. Over time, his musical journey evolved to include…

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  • Ryan Price – USA

    Ryan Price – USA

    Ryan Price is a multi-instrumentalist out of Santa Cruz, CA who has melded an array of genres spanning from Funk, to R&B, to Jazz and on into a unique style of his own. He is known for looping bass, guitar, vocals, and percussion all on the spot in front of a live audience. www.facebook.com/RyanPriceGrooves Ryan…

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  • AL-EK

    AL-EK

    AL-EK is an audiovisual collaboration creating visceral experiences through synchronized soundscapes, and eclectic-sourced visuals. The project features a dynamic foundation of synthesized electronic sound interwoven with live music. The soundscape fuels a varied background energy expressed through imagery and motion. AL-EK inspires curious dialogue through warped perceptions and sensory provocations. http://www.al-ek.com/ Instagram: @al_ek_com Longtime collaborator…

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  • Trianna Feruza – USA

    Trianna Feruza – USA

    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

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  • Henry Kaiser – USA

    Henry Kaiser – USA

    Henry Kaiser is an American guitarist and composer, known as an idiosyncratic soloist, a sideman, an ethnomusicologist, and a film score composer. Recording and performing prolifically in many styles of music, Kaiser is a fixture on the San Francisco Bay Area music scene. http://www.henrykaiserguitar.com/

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  • Per Boysen

    Per Boysen

    The Stick is like a space instrument from the future! In my instrumental solo Stick concerts I’m blending Scandinavian ethnic music from past centuries with original compositions and space age interactive electronics. I design my own performance system as a “meta-instrument” that allows me to instantly compose and arrange on the spot. Per Boysen has…

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  • Katie Martin

    Katie Martin

    Performing across the Southeast since 2006, Katie Martin’s unique blend of blues, folk, and soul mesmerizes audiences in a way that has to be seen to understand. Her agelessly soulful vocals soar effortlessly above a rich propulsion of acoustic blues guitar reminiscent of Muddy Waters combined with the beautiful folk guitar of James Taylor, all…

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  • Later Days (aka Wayne Jackson)

    Later Days (aka Wayne Jackson)

    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…

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  • The Winkler (Clay Bowman)

    The Winkler (Clay Bowman)

    The Winkler is Houston, Texas-based musician Clay Bowman. He has been writing music and performing since 1982. Other projects include I’LLBEONTHEFÖNETOYOU (CIA Records), Thin Man, Flesh Farewell, Pandemonium, and The Winkler and the Hare. His musical career began in the 1980s with post-punk and new wave bands. He has since performed in dive bars, art…

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  • Doug Lynner

    Doug Lynner

    Doug Lynner, a.k.a. synthesizerman, was editor/publisher of the seminal synthesizer magazine, Synapse Magazine. He attended the California Institute of the Arts where his primary mentors were Harold Budd, Morton Subotnick and Leonid Hambro. He is a founding member of the synthpop bands Invisible Zoo, Moebius and LEM (Live Electronic Music) and is a radio host…

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