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 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

Experimental guitarist and sound designer, Joel Gilardini is based in Zurich (Switzerland).

Guided by the urge and the will to experiment with sounds, Joel followed a very peculiar path which lead him over a broad range of soundfields, touching different musical attitudes and genres like metal, ambient, doom, dub, noise and even blues.

Involved in various projects, he is well known for his ambient-dub sets as an opening act for Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin (ECM) in Zurich’s clubs, as well as being the mastermind behind the experimental-doom-metal act The Land Of The Snow and part of the noise-industrial duo Mulo Muto.

Joel has also works as a composer and music performer with various theater and dance acts. In this context he has collaborated with partners such as the Ballett Zurich, Swiss dancer Benoît Favre, and the collective House Of Pain.

• http://joelgilardini.wordpress.com/
• http://thelandofthesnow.bandcamp.com/
• http://mulomuto.bandcamp.com/
• http://soundcloud.com/jgilardini-music

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 performed with the honest intensity of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. Seeing Katie Martin perform is an experience like no other, and her refreshing individuality is one that leaves a lasting impression long after the stage has grown silent.

She released her acoustic EP ” Away From Here” with Haney Records in 2011. In 2015, she released “Katie Martin : Live From the Chocolate Room” ft. Tony Brook on slide guitar, and her debut album, “Purpose”. Both were recorded, produced,and engineered by Larry Mitchell at The Chocolate Room Studio. In 2017, she released “Live From The Chocolate Room: VOL. II” and is set to release her 2nd album, “Hope” later this year.

• http://www.katiemartinmusic.com
• https://www.youtube.com/user/kmARTinMotion
• https://www.facebook.com/katiemartinmusic
• https://www.instagram.com/katiemartinmusic/

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.”

• https://www.facebook.com/Cindysawsoprano

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 20^th 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!!!