Artist description Comprising a core of three multi-instrumentalists (Tyler Armstrong, Noah Mickens and Travis McAlister), as well as a revolving cast of collaborators, Nequaquam Vacuum has been playing free music in Portland since mid-2000. The music they play, though entirely improvised, has over time taken on an increasingly Asian aesthetic; drawing comparisons to Indonesian gamelan and Chinese Noh Theater as often as to Harry Partch or 23 Skidoo. A broad instrumental mix lends to this inscrutable style; combining scrap metal percussion (our first love) with a myriad of wind instruments from across the globe, devised instruments such as the Double Bow-Chime and Shivering Spine Tower, a legion of drums and other traditional percussion instruments, toys and noisemakers, vintage electronics, and a 300-pound prepared piano harp. In their two years of live performance, Nequaquam Vacuum have performed and recorded with Seattle’s radical butoh troupe P.A.N., throat-singer Enrique Ugalde (Soriah, Sumerland, Black Orchid), traditional music icon Johnny Ward, bassist Jherek Bischoff (Degenerate Art Ensemble, The Sweet Science, Tokyo Sex Whale), industribal duo Sikhara, and a growing tribe of like-minded dancers and musicians. This association of artists, and the international network they are working to build, has come to be known as 36 Invisibles, and has produced a series of live events in Portland that has earned them worldwide notoriety. Among the artists featured at the 36 Invisibles series: Smegma, Bastard Noise, Steve MacKay, Romulus and Remus, Koonda Holaa and the Beetchees, (r), Samadhi, Degenerate Art Ensemble, Super Unity Group, The Hypnogogic Orchestra, Almost Transparent Blue, The Abstractions, The Bran (…) Pos, A Nat Hema, and many more. With two self-released CDs (“Nequaquam Vacuum” and “|0|”) under their belts, and compilation tracks to be released on IBOL and Mandarangan Records, the trio is seeking new ways to spread their music to new audiences. This autumn marks an enormous upturn in our activity as a band and as a promotional entity, not the least cause of which is a small tour from San Francisco to British Columbia with our confreres in the international Radon collective. These club engagements and radio/Internet broadcasts will hopefully increase public awareness of Nequaquam Vacuum, Radon and 36 Invisibles; and facilitate contact with new artists whose talents will fertilize and fortify the movement.

Music Style experimental

Similar Artists degenerate art ensemble, gamelan, einsterzende neubauten, xenakis

Group Members Travis McAlister, Noah Mickens, Tyler Armstrong, and many others

Instruments steel cello, drums, percussion, many horns, voice, homemade instruments, electronics, effect processors, toys

Albums Nequaquam Vacuum, Absolute Zero

Location Portland, OR - USA

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