tune in to elastic arts!

Drummerless quartets feature on tonight’s Improvised Music Series, including a new group assembled by Christopher Dammann, and a rare appearance by Mad Myth Science, called “The next generation of Chicago Jazz” by the Quietus.

Elastro hosts a wonderful lineup for their July edition. We’ll have visiting duo Sontag Shogun, local duo Heavy Tiny, and a solo performance from Maya Nguyen.

We’re continuing our July spotlight on touring artists with a show featuring guests from Mexico City! This event is a special collaboration with the Volta sound series—presenting the Chicago edition of Hertzwitches, an improvisation exploring sound through analog instruments and transmission-based dialogue - featuring Veronica Anne Salinas (CHI), Juanjosé Rivas (CDMX), and Amanda Gutiérrez (CDMX)

Following the performance, all attendees are invited to take part in a graphic score workshop led by Amanda Gutiérrez and Juanjosé Rivas.  Through expanded listening, spontaneous composition, and collective soundmaking, the workshop will explore inherited sonic memory and noise as creative rupture.

We welcome Mojave Desert based artist Maya Jensen with a quartet performance pairing Maya with saxophonists Luc Mosley, drummer Isaiah Spencer, and cellist Ishmael Ali.

An exciting new duo with clarinetist Jeff Kimmel and pianist Sharon Udoh kick off the evening.

A seductive and passionate voice, evocative songwriting, and formal training make Dawn Xiana Moon one of the most distinctive Asian-American singers of her generation. The Singapore-born musician has performed in 10 states and released two solo albums; she fuses elements from traditional Chinese music with jazz and alt folk pop, resulting in a musical brew in French, English, and Mandarin Chinese that draws influences from sources as disparate as Han Dynasty literature and Americana.

Two immersive improvisation experiences tonight: LEAVE A MESSAGE invites audiences to share their words and listening ears in an ambient instrumental space; Dave Gordon’s Plasmosonic Trio highlights AACM percussionist Dushun Mosley, in collaboration with Gordon and Stefan Moore’s radical expansion of the group sound through Elastic’s multichannel CLEAT system.

FFFT returns for its second iteration of sound and movement collaborations for 2025! Freedom From and Freedom To is an exploration and celebration of artistic circumstance. Movement and sound improvisors from all around Chicago gather in front of a live audience, where they are grouped by chance. Each group performs an improvised set. We fuse diverse artistic backgrounds and practices to create unique and fleeting worlds. There will be a special opening set from musicians Joey Meland, Brandon Lopez, and Eva Supreme alongside dancer Aaliyah Christina. Following we’ll have 6 x 15 minute sets from on-the-spot lottery chosen ensembles. Don’t miss this!

Elastro is excited to welcome Cole Pulice with a trio for an October vist. The saxophonist/composer/improviser Pulice traffics in shimmering, otherworldly beauty. On Land’s End Eternal, their first album for Leaving Records (releasing May 9th), the Oakland-based artist expands their compositional palette beyond signal-processed saxophone to include layers of electric guitar and lush choral arrangements. The result is a prismatic collection of pastoral chamber jazz in six parts. Cole’s previous release, a 22-minute electroacoustic odyssey titled If I Don’t See You in the Future, I’ll See You In the Pasture (Longform Editions, 2023), was named ‘Best New Music’ by Pitchfork and included in the publication’s Best Songs Of The 2020s. Cole has also released a smattering of solo and collaborative work on beloved labels including Moon Glyph, Aural Canyon and Cached Media. Their performance history includes appearances at Pitchfork Music Festival (UK), Rewire (NL), ÜBERJAZZ (DE), Drone Not Drones (US), & Noise Pop Festival (US).