Artists



Thomas Dolby

Thomas Dolby


The list of breakthrough innovations in Thomas Dolby's 35 year career is continuous. As an early MTV icon he blazed a trail for electronic music with his imaginative videos. The same year as his own record reached the top of the pop/dance charts, he co-wrote and produced the first ever platinum-selling rap 12” single Magic’s Wand by Whodini. His synth playing and productions have graced the recordings of Foreigner, Def Lepperd, George Clinton and Joni Mitchell, earning five Grammy™ nominations. He appeared live with Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock, with David Bowie at Live Aid, and with Roger Waters at The Wall in Berlin. And his self-penned She Blinded Me With Science became a Top 5 Billboard hit, going on to become an evergreen geek anthem of the 1980s that still pops up in Grand Theft Auto, The Big Bang Theory and Breaking Bad.

Thomas has created original music for features films produced by George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Ken Russell; he has appeared with The Muppets, and on numerous TV shows from Soul Train to The Late Show.

Sought after as a consultant for tech startups and research companies, Dolby seemed to have a hand in every emerging entertainment platform, from laser disks and computer games to interactive TV, virtual reality installations and location based entertainment. His name is on multiple US patents, and he has worked as an investment advisor for top venture capital firms. During the early Silicon Valley internet explosion, Thomas founded high tech startup Beatnik Inc and co-created the code that drove interactive audio in Java. When mobile phones began to play polyphonic ringtones, it was via his BAE technology, which Beatnik licensed to phone manufacturers to be embedded in over two billion cellular phones and devices.

Between adding music to the mix as in-house Music Director of every TED Conference from 2001-12, Thomas taught himself to be a digital filmmaker; and in 2013 he won multiple awards for his groundbreaking film The Invisible Lighthouse, which chronicles the closure of a 250 year old lighthouse visible from his coastal home in Suffolk, UK.

Since Fall 2014 Thomas has held the post Professor of the Arts at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. where he has launched the Music for New Media degree program to train composers for film, games and VR. He has recently released his first book The Speed Of Sound, on Macmillan/ Flatiron.

Genres: Electronic, Synth-pop

Date/Time: Saturday Evening, March 30th at the Gala Dinner Banquet

Stage: Banquet Stage

Mark Isham

Mark Isham & Vinnie Colaiuta


Mark Isham is an electronic music innovator, jazz artist and prolific film composer. He traverses the musical landscape with unique performances and imaginative scores which has earned him many accolades including: Grammy and Emmy awards, as well as Oscar and Golden Globe nominations.

Isham’s inimitable musical voice is evident in his memorable scores for award-winning features including the Oscar-winning Crash, the Oscar nominated score for A River Runs Through It, along with Golden Globe winning Bobby, and The Black Dahlia, which Isham was awarded “Best Score” by the International Film Music Critics Association. Mark is currently working on season two for the hit Marvel TV show Cloak and Dagger and the upcoming Amblin Entertainment sequel A Dog’s Journey.

As a performing artist, Mark has added his unique sound – melodic, moody, sexy and cool – to a wide variety of genres. He has graced the albums of such diverse artists as Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Joni Mitchell, The Rolling Stones, and Van Morrison. His solo recordings span from electronica and classic jazz to hip-hop and ethnic world music, receiving worldwide critical acclaim including Grammy nominations for his albums Castalia and Tibet, and a win for his Virgin Records release, Mark Isham.

A pioneer of analog synthesis in the early years of the genre, Isham poured his ongoing passion for synths into many of his subsequent albums and film scores. He is happy to see a renewed interest in the use of analog electronics in music and is blown away by the creativity and ingenuity audio hardware designers have shown in more recent years. His next EP features these beloved (old and new) electronic tones and sounds.

Genres: Electronica, Ambient Jazz, Film music

Date/Time: Saturday 30th, 9:30PM-10:15PM

Stage: Concert Hall

JVMIE

JVMIE


JVMIE’s emotive, alt electronic sound is the brainchild of singer/songwriter/producer Jamie Lee Wilson, whose single “Back 2 Love” skyrocketed to #2 on the Billboard Club Charts. Born and raised on Australia’s Gold Coast, Jamie started singing at 7. By the time she graduated highschool she didn't even have time to attend her prom as she had a performance on the same night. She went on to study at the Conservatorium of Music majoring in Jazz voice, all the while honing her song writing craft and performing extensively. Leaving Australia to spread her wings she landed in London where a friend introduced her to the dance scene. On release of her track Fuel to the Fire with Dutch producer Jesse Voorn, the song was featured on Dave Audé’s radio show in the US. A month later Jamie was in the studio with Dave in LA recording what would become their US Billboard Club Chart smash. 2018 saw JVMIE grace the Billboard Charts again with 'Chasing' released on Universal Music Group and recently picked up for a feature film, ‘I’ll Give You the World’ on Dim Mak which was featured as track of the week on both Apple Music and iTunes and her latest release ‘Timeless’ with legendary dance music producer Darude.

Genres: Alt Electronic/Dance

Date/Time: Sunday 31st, 8:00PM-9:00PM

Stage: Concert Hall

BT

BT


With a career spanning nearly 25 years – BT, also known as Brian Transeau, is a Grammy-Nominated music producer, composer, technologist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. He is credited as a pioneer of the Trance and IDM genres that paved the way for modern-day EDM. BT is also a classically trained composer and songwriter. He is credited as a pioneer of a variety of important plugins that producers around the world have gone on to use as essentials such as Stutter Edit and Izotope and most recently Phobos with Spitfire Audio.He has written, produced, and remixed artists like Peter Gabriel, Depeche Mode, NSYNC, Sting, David Bowie, The Roots, Madonna, Britney Spears, Tiesto and more. BT is also an accomplished film-composer, known for his scores on Monster and The Fast and The Furious. BT’s latest score work can be heard on Amazon’s ‘Electric Dreams’ and new Indian thriller ‘ITTEFAQ.’ Other recent projects include writing the music for Tomorrowland at Disneyland Shanghai.

Genres: Electronic

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 10:15PM-11:00PM

Stage: City Quad

Reinhold Heil & Michael Levine

Reinhold Heil & Michael Levine


REINHOLD HEIL is a film composer with a past as recording artist (Nina Hagen Band, Spliff in Berlin 1970s and 1980s) and producer (Nena, Kim Wilde, Rainbirds) as well as a string of lovely movie and TV projects since the 1990s: Run Lola Run, One Hour Photo, Deadwood, Perfume, The International, Cloud Atlas, Helix, Deutschland 83 and Berlin Station, to mention a few.

MICHAEL A. LEVINE scored the CBS drama Cold Case, Freeform’s Siren, and worked for Hans Zimmer on Batman Dark Knight, Rango, and Dunkirk. He wrote the Spider Pig choir arrangement for The Simpsons Movie, produced Lorde’s version of Everybody Wants to Rule the World, wrote the theme song to Resident Evil Biohazard, has had songs covered by Roberta Flack and The Monkees. Plus (in)famously composed the Kit Kat “Gimme A Break” jingle. Recipient of eight ASCAP awards, he was also a Governor of the Television Academy (Emmys).

Reinhold and Michael love improvising together. In the context of Synthplex they are trying to create as much true surround sound as humanly possible while still extemporating rather than performing composed pieces. Think of it as IMMERSIVE IMPROVISATION and open your ears to all corners of the listening space!

Links for Heil

Links for Levine

Genres: Immersive Improvisation

Date/Time: Friday 29th, 8:00PM-8:45PM

Stage: Concert Hall

Alan Howarth

Alan Howarth


Alan Howarth will be performing live Thursday night at Synthplex and he will show some movie footage and play the synthesizer parts that accompanied those scenes! Alan will perform his synth-centric music from several of the films he scored, including John Carpenter’s, Escape From New York, The Thing, Halloween II and Halloween 4-6, Christine, Big Trouble In Little China, Prince Of Darkness and They Live. In addition to his collaborations with John Carpenter, Alan created many other original scores in many genre films, notably including; The Lost Empire and Retribution. You won’t want to miss this unique and riveting performance!

Composer and Sound Designer Alan Howarth began his sonic journey in Cleveland, Ohio, playing music in local rock bands: Tree Stumps, Renaissance Faire, and The Silk on ABC records. These bands opened opened for national touring acts such as: The Who, and Cream. Howarth's original bands in Cleveland were Braino and Pi Corp. He was a founding partner in Pi Keyboards and Audio, a pioneering synthesizer and pro audio shop.

Genres: Synth based horror film score music

Date/Time: Thursday 28th, 10:45PM-11:30PM

Stage: Concert Hall

Robot Nature

Robot Nature


Robot Nature is an Eclectic Synthesis of Modern Pop and Synth Rock. They have built a steadily growing following by performing over 100 shows in just over a year, from Los Angeles to Europe as well as several major festivals including most recently opening for The Alan Parsons Project at Burning Man 2018. Immediately after formation, the band won a series of awards, “Best New Artist” “Best Live Video” “Best Male Vocal” “Best Pop Song” and “Best Pop Recording”. They were also listed as one of the Top Unsigned Artists.

What makes Robot Nature special is their use of modern production techniques and programming blended with real instruments, melding various styles to create their own unique pop sound. Lead singer DPAK flawlessly switches from playing the guitar to ripping a solo on the violin, making him an extraordinary front man in this pop landscape. As a unified force, they are driven by a deep desire to create the unexpected, moving fluidly between genres to produce their own energized alt-pop rock music.

Now in 2019, the band has toured the west coast, and is currently booking shows and festivals while recording their debut album with one of the top hit mixing engineers, Andrew Wuepper (Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Future, Usher, John Legend, Beyonce, and more). Stay tuned for coming releases by entering the Robosphere for newsletter updates, stories, and videos on their Instagram and other social media platforms.

Genres: Synth Pop, Dream Rock, Electronic

Date/Time: Thursday 28th, 9:30PM-10:15PM

Stage: Concert Hall

Henry Diltz

Henry Diltz

Legendary Rock Photographer & Folk Musician

Henry Diltz is a true rock and roll legend who has taken some of the most iconic photos of our times. Henry was the official photographer at the Woodstock and Monterey festivals, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The LA Times, Life, People, Rolling Stone, High Times and Billboard. In his youth, Henry was a globe-trotter and he attended colleges in Munich, West Point, and Honolulu. Henry later became known as a musician and founding member of the Modern Folk Quartet and this lifestyle led to his many friendships with recording artists of the California rock community in the 60s and 70s. Immersed in this world, he accidentally discovered a passion for photography, which turned into an obsession and an occupation. His first photo sale was for $100 when he sold a single shot of Buffalo Springfield in 1966. Henry said, “I only wanted to remember exactly what I saw, it was all about capturing images and moments, filling the frame with the essence of what I was looking at.” Henry and design legend Gary Burden combined to design some of the most iconic album covers for legendary artists, including: The Doors, The Eagles, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Jackson Browne, America, Steppenwolf, James Taylor and Mama Cass. Today his archive is handled by Corbis, and Henry continues to document the music scene from his base in Southern California.

Henry Diltz is the official show photographer for Synthplex 2019, and he will be on the scene on Saturday afternoon and all evening and he will be shooting photos all over the expo floor and he will be photographing our artists as well. He will also be the only photographer for the Thomas Dolby Gala Dinner Banquet performance. Be sure to say hello and get your picture taken with Henry!

FARTBARF

Fartbarf


Fartbarf began in the year 2008 with Josh, Dan and Brian, three unassuming, well mannered and fun-loving Neanderthals from a cave near the sea. Regressed, mutated and collectively known as Fartbarf, they somehow bring us all into the future, captivating audiences with relentless melodies, robotically tight rhythms, and danceable beats by use of a strict limitation of tools at hand; vintage analog synthesizers, vocoders, drum machines, analog modular systems, and live drums.

Genres: Live Electronic Dance Music

Date/Time: Friday 29th, 10:00PM-10:45PM

Stage: Concert Hall

Duque and DiPrima

Duque DiPrima


Abe Duque's career started in the early days of house at the notorious Limelight in New York, he has been at the head of the acid house and underground techno table since his earliest releases way back in 1993. Having been dragged out of the underground, Duque found himself feted by the mainstream, delivering hugely successful remixes for the Chemical Brothers and Pet Shop Boys while continuing to work right across the techno world with acts such as Miss Kittin, Remute, Chloe, Savas Pascalidis, Knart IV and Daniel Meteo – as well as DJ Hell, with Duque becoming a regular on Hell's International DJ Gigolos label. Fast forward and 8 years of instructing music production at the NY based electronic music and DJ school Dubspot, Abe meets Marco Di Prima and they immediately realize their shared energy and obsession with modular synth and live techno. Two accelerated particles meet in the large hadron collider - the collaboration ‘Duque Di Prima’ has been unleashed.

Genres: Techno

Date/Time: Friday 29th, 9:00PM-9:45PM

Stage: Concert Hall

Lisa Bella Donna

Lisa Bella Donna


Lisa Bella Donna is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, modular synthesist, and clinician. She has many years as a session musician as well as developing extensive techniques with musique concreté, modular synthesis, analog & digital recording techniques, drumming & percussion, micro-tonal music, orchestration & film composition. She has also toured all throughout the USA, Japan & Europe as a clinician, drummer and keyboardist. She''s been commissioned for many multichannel audio art installations in the USA and Europe.

Genres: Classic Electronic, Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Experimental

Date/Time: Saturday 30th, 8:00PM-8:45PM

Stage: Concert Hall

Sarah Belle Reid

Sarah Belle Reid


Sarah Belle Reid is a Canadian performer-composer, specializing in trumpet and electronics, modular synthesis, and alternate forms of graphical notation for composition and improvisation.

She is a co-developer of the Minimally Invasive Gesture Sensing Interface (MIGSI) for trumpet: an open-source, wireless interface that captures performance data and provides real-time extended sonic and visual control for improvisation. Reid has presented and performed with MIGSI at institutions and festivals around the world including Moogfest, Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), the International Conference of New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME 2015: Brisbane, Australia), New Media Art & Sound Summit (NMASS 2017: Austin, TX), University of Oregon, UT Austin, and UC Irvine's Women in Music Technology Symposium (2016), among others.

Reid is a founding member of the trumpet/modular synthesizer duo Burnt Dot, dedicated to exploring open forms of spontaneous creation and electroacoustic collaboration. Additionally, Reid has worked with a wide range of musicians and ensembles in a broad range of musical genres and settings, including Charlie Haden, Wadada Leo Smith, David Rosenboom, Todd Barton, Liberation Music Orchestra, Julia Holter, Adele, Avey Tare (Animal Collective), and Estrella TV.

Genres: Experimental, Noise, Improvisation

Date/Time: Friday 29th, 8:30PM-9:15PM

Stage: City Quad

Kitty Spit

Kitty Spit


Kitty Spit is a well-known live performer in the underground modular synthesizer scene here in LA. Kitty Spit aka Skyler King is a life-long multi-instrumentalist (guitar, drums, bass & keyboards), who fell in love with modular synthesizers about 6 years ago and has immersed himself deeply into the synthesis ooze, and has emerged as a synthesizing ninja.

Skyler is so deep into the modular synth world, that by day he is the resident technical expert at Analogue Haven and by night he is designing Euro rack modules for his cottage company Buck Modular, or is performing with his modular gear, or chilling out at home being a great husband & father to his sweet baby daughter Layla. Kitty Spit is an Instagram sensation and he has over 5,000+ followers. On Instagram, he puts on impromptu live modular performances that are mind blowing and beautiful pieces that continually evolve and ebb & flow onward.

Genres: Electro-ambient, Ethereal Soundscapes, down-tempo chill vibe

Date/Time: Friday 29th, 11:15PM-11:45PM

Stage: City Quad

Roel Reine

Roel Reine


Roel Reine is a multi-talented and multi-dimensional artist, as he is both a Hollywood motion picture director and a talented electronic music composer, who favors the use of synthesizers in his works. Roel’s biggest musical passion is playing live with his (growing) Eurorack modular system. In 2016 Roel released his first electronic music album titled Monotonic Diversity, which is excellent and worth checking out. Roel says, "Performing live with a Eurorack system is nerve racking and therefor a blast to do." Roel’s full time job as film director has yielded many fine works such as; ADMIRAL & Redbad and other spectacular action movies like, the Death Race prequels and directing the American based television series Black Sails.

Genres: Ambient, Electronic, Cinematic Soundscapes

Date/Time: Performance Cancelled

Stage:

Jack Hertz

Jack Hertz


Inspired by the mysteries of life, Jack Hertz manipulates sound to create organic-techno impressions, that fall somewhere between music and artful noise. Jack has been composing & recording music for 30+ years and he finds a sonic middle ground between the real & the artificial. Jack utilizes machines, instruments, found objects, field recordings, and effects processing to designs sounds, spaces, and atmospheres for deep listening.

Jack is a unwavering improviser who finds sound design utterly fascinating, from early percussion instruments to present day hardware and software innovations. By trade, Jack is professional software architect, developer, expert electronic music synthesist (digital and analog), visual artist, and composer having published more than 120 full-length albums of his own work. More on his music is available at JackHertz.com

Jack has a degree in Computer Science and he is founder of the thematic music label Aural Films. He is also the Founder of Sound For Good Records, that uses the power of sound for good causes, and they have planted over 10,000 trees to date. Furthermore, Jack is working hard to archive all things Electronic Music on the Encyclotronic.com project.

Genres: Ambient, Avant Garde, Jazz, Rock, Noise, Progressive, Tribal

Date/Time: Saturday 30th, 11:00PM-11:45PM

Stage: Concert Hall

Kurt Karasaki

Kurt Kurasaki


Kurt Kurasaki is an electronic music composer based in Northern California who is known as PEFF in his on-line persona. Kurt much prefers performing with his vintage Buchla Music Easel and his beautiful Buchla 200/200e system, yet Kurt is also well versed in wide array of synthesizers and electronic composition techniques and he loves to experiment and has very creative ideas that you will find displayed on-line in his various links below. Kurt’s professional associations include working with notable music companies such as Dave Smith Instruments, Rossum Electro-Music, and Propellerhead Software. Recently Kurt has focused his efforts into producing and recording experimental works that incorporate modular synthesizers and prepared tape materials.

Genres: Experimental

Date/Time: Friday 29th, 7:30PM-8:15PM

Stage: City Quad

POB

POB


Patrick O'Brien aka POB is a modular synthesizer performer based in Los Angeles. Patrick grew up outside of St. Louis, classically trained on both piano and trumpet. With a degree in audio production, Patrick spent time as a chief audio engineer producing projects for clients doing everything from local commercials to stadium jumbotrons, eventually moving into morning radio and television. He also DJed at night clubs and found a love for playing in front of crowds.

After many years in the corporate world, his passion for modular unfolded in the summer of 2014 after his wife took a job on the east coast and he wanted to do something musical to occupy his time. Around that same time, Patrick also found his biological family -- and realizing his music roots go deep, the modular synth seemed to be the perfect instrument that marries all his background, experiences, and creative interests.

Through social media, he's connected with the community and performs all over SoCal/West Coast. You can catch his live performances on YouTube and Instagram. Patrick also produces modular demos for manufacturers and is part of the Modular on the Spot organizational team that sets up outdoor public performances each month in LA.

Genres: Dance, Ambient, Industrial, Experimental

Date/Time: Friday 29th, 6:30PM-7:15PM

Stage: City Quad

Collin Russell

Collin Russell


Collin Russell creates sonic gestures using recorded and synthesized audio to create an ambiance that transforms the listener's perspective on what sound should be, and more importantly, what sound could be.

Collin is an Electronic Production and Design graduate from Berklee College of Music with an emphasis on vocal performance and electronic composition and is the Director of Technical Support at Qu-Bit, a Southern California based modular synthesizer manufacturer.

Genres: Ambient, Acousmatic, Electroacoustic

Date/Time: Friday 29th, 10:30PM-11:00PM

Stage: City Quad

Unique Molecule

The Unique Molecule


A music fiend her entire life, the unique molecule has only been recording sounds since February 2017. After playing with friends' synthesizers, she became quickly addicted and built a home studio with her own synth army. She taught herself synthesis by reading ARP 2600 user manual and practicing on it. She then moved on to more current synths and drum machines, taught herself how to use Ableton and how to master her analog jams. She spends hours daily noodling around in her studio. Her influences are The Orb, The Future Sound of London, Mouse on Mars, Coil, Aphex Twin, Plaid, Brian Eno and Orbital. She prefers to record sessions in a single go, and loves to play for live audiences.

Genres: Techno, drum and bass, house, experimental electronic

Date/Time: Sunday 31st, 9:30PM-10:15PM

Stage: City Quad

KRAN

KRĀN


Scott Sorenson, aka KRĀN is a recent convert in the last couple of year to the modular synth world and has really embraced & mastered the art of making incredible music with his Eurorack. Prior to taking up the patching of synthesizers, Scott was a multi-instrumentalist and played bass as his main instrument. He is also a capable guitarist, pianist, drummer and singer. Scott has years of experience as a band member and he has worked extensively in both the studio and live environments. Today Scott is a composer and audio engineer and he does stellar work for both films and commercials. He also handles all the music and production work for an on-line meditation company that makes the app called Headspace.

Genre: Ambient

Date/Time: Friday 29th, 9:30PM-10:00PM

Stage: City Quad

Eightch

Eightch


James Watson is the vocalist, guitarist, synthesist, sound designer and songwriter for the experimental drone and industrial noise project Eightch. He is best known for his live performances and uses synths and effects to create imaginatively dramatic soundscapes. Each composition is designed to transport listeners into a meditative and/or trance like state. Employing techniques like micro-listening as a way to gain sonic entrainment; ambient works serve as a counterpoint to heavy and aggressive modulation and phasing, often played at high volume. Eightch [pronounced like the letter “H”] is based out of Los Angeles, CA. and has toured extensively in the US and throughout Europe which include performances at both Knobcon in Chicago and Superbooth in Berlin, Germany. Eightch is a Korg supported artist and will continue to tour through 2019 while also working on scores for a number of film and video game projects.

Genres: Experimental, Drone, Ambient, Industrial, Noise

Date/Time: Friday 29th, 11:00PM-11:45PM

Stage: Concert Hall

MadDaddies

MadDaddies


MadDaddies are skillful musical art CREW based in Los Angeles.

Hiko (also known as Rehabeatation) is a SoCal Japanese producer/beat maker in the city of Angels. He started making beats during the height of Low End Theory, the former epicenter of L.A.’s underground beat scene. Much of his influence comes from the sounds of Daedelus, Nosaj Thing, and Tokimonsta. He has collaborated with many local artists in the underground scene and has won first place in Beat Cinema’s Beat Battle Vol.3. He performs in local clubs and has been spotted in regional street performances.

TomoSpice is a Los Angeles based, producer and finger-drummer. Producing tracks including game sounds for a PlayStation game Beatmania and an official song for a professional soccer team in Japan. He released an instrumental beat album "Reborn to Die" in 2017 featuring Spaceboy Boogie X from Pharcyde and Akil The MC from Jurassic 5. Mastering for this album was done by Daddy Kev who received a Grammy Award nomination with the Flying Lotus. The album was highly acclaimed and attained a reputation with the unique, intense deep beat and originality. T-SPICE is also a live finger drummer using a Native Instruments Maschine. His performances are often introduced by local artists on their social media outlets.

Genre: Electronic Experimental

Date/Time: Thursday 28th, 6:00PM-6:45PM

Stage: City Quad

Forward

Forward


Forward is a live duo combining the forces of Trovarsi and Markman.  Trovarsi is a vocalist, pianist and producer.  She has been producing for 9 years and over the last few began performing live.  Markman is a producer and engineer, as well as a DJ for over 15 years.  As the paths of these two crossed, it became apparent rather quickly that their similar work ethic and love for technology in music would blend perfectly to create a new way to perform.  Utilizing two Ableton rigs, Forward combine software and controllers to create a workflow that uses the flexibility of software while having the tactile controls and performance sensibility of hardware. The duo play all original House and Techno, completely live and often composed on the spot.

Genres: House and Techno

Date/Time: Thursday 28th, 6:45PM-7:30PM

Stage: Concert Hall

Symbion Project

SYMBION PROJECT


Symbion Project performs 儀 式 GISHIKI

Symbion Project is the brainchild of Seattle electronic music composer, producer, and audio technologic Kasson Crooker. Over the past 2 decades of creating eclectic synthesizer music, Kasson has founded numerous bands (Symbion Project, Freezepop, ELYXR, Dispak) and has toured the US, Canada, and Europe. Each of Symbion Project’s nine albums fuse genres from downtempo, IDM, techno, ambient, synthpop, and classical synthesizer music, but all aim to achieve cinematic beauty. Kasson’s music has appeared in numerous films, TV shows, and videogames and he is an Eventide supported artist. An avid collector of vintage analog synths, his large collection includes a 1969 Moog System55 modular, 1984 Sequential Circuits Prophet 10, and a 1976 Arp Odyssey with the “Moog-infringing” filter circuit.

Always looking for new creative inspiration and unique performances, the newest sonic excursion from Symbion Project for Synthplex 2019 is 儀 式 GISHIKI, an electroacoustic experience featuring the Japanese koto (a traditional 13 stringed harp) heavily processed through eurorack modular DSP effects over lush vintage synthesizers and augmented field recordings. For maximum audio immersion, Gishiki is performed in four channel quadraphonic surround and incorporates directional ultrasonic speakers to deliver unexpected aural elements.

Genre: Electro-acoustic, Modular, Ambient, Experimental, Soundscape

Date/Time: Sunday 31st, 9:30PM-10:30PM

Stage: Concert Hall

Volt Per Octaves

The Volt Per Octaves


A family that Moog’s together, stays together. The Volt per Octaves were founded circa 2005 in Santa Barbara California, and The Volt per Octaves mission statement as a band was to, "evangelize analog" (Keyboard Magazine Jan. 2006) using vintage synthesizers and electric pianos. At the time they were forming the band, DAW’s and laptops ruled the electronic music scene and The Volt per Octaves set out to do something different.

"The Volt per Octaves sound is something like if Kraftwerk and Parliament Funkadelic had a love child", says Nick Montoya, the father in this family band, which consists Anna his wife and Eva their daughter.

The Volt per Octaves funky, yet spacey sound led to a 10-year run of live and studios collaborations with their hero Bernie Worrell of Parliament-Funkadelic & Talking Heads. "Bernie was not just a collaborator but a friend, a mentor and eventually part of our family. He changed our lives and our music for the better, before we had to say goodbye to him in June 2016", said Anna Montoya the band's matriarch.

If you're looking for a funky Moog experience you won't ever forget, make sure you don't miss The Volt per Octaves.

Genres: Electronic Music

Date/Time: Thursday 28th, 8:15PM-9:00PM

Stage: Concert Hall

Lycky and Love

LUCKYANDLOVE


LUCKYANDLOVE is a hot up-and-coming local LA synth duo that falls in the genre bin somewhere between electro rock, dream pop, electronica and/or synth gaze. One could sum LUCKYANDLOVE up and call them an electro-wave synth band... Bottom line is, their music will hook you quickly and “Summertime Frolic”, which is their first single off their debut album, is a shining example of their infectiousness on one’s brainwaves. This dynamic duo is made up of lead vocalist & keyboard player April Love and multi-instrumentalist Loren Luck, and together these two write all of the songs on their albums. LUCKYANDLOVE are a fun-loving pair and their music is both sensual and atmospheric, bringing their audience on a blissful journey into the synth pop cloudscape. In the words of Loren Luck, “We’ve got lots of LFO, riveting arpeggiations, simultaneous solos with spacey square waves, and that concoction all blended together with April’s smoky vocals, it’s grand splendor”.

LUCKYANDLOVE draw inspiration from artists such as; New Order, OMD, Depeche Mode, Washed Out, Tycho, PJ Harvey and Cocteau Twins, and you’ll hear these subtle influences on their song writing. Their self-title debut album is indeed an electronic music record, but it comes from a more traditional place, where the likes of OMD or Kraftwerk came from. The album is a high quality (192kHz/24-bit) live recording without samples and without programmed tracks. Everything on the record was played live. “On this album, we allow these songs the space they need to breathe, and that space lets their true dynamic potential shine through,” says Loren Luck. Be sure not to miss LUCKYANDLOVE.

Genre: Synthwave, Darkwave, Electro

Date/Time: Saturday 30th, 7:00PM-7:45PM

Stage: Concert Hall

Dudadius

Dudadius


Dudadius explores melodic craft, sonic depth, and unconventional song structure; borrowing much from ambient music but with enough of a pulse to allow for the possibility of some booty shaking, if not exuberant head-nodding.

How does sound become a vehicle for self-expression? When does a resonant frequency create a sympathetic feeling between individuals? Why does an arrangement of those resonances into a melody communicate emotion and intent? Dudadius uses electronic music to create a soundscape of melodies that can trigger emotion and take the listener on a journey. Along the way, this process moves the discipline forward and lifts the human spirit. Electro Humanism!

Dudadius is also intrigued by the structure of the sound itself. He has had a life-long curiosity with analog and modular synthesis and alternative music-making tools. These circuits can take on the qualities of a true instrument; turning analog vibrations into meaningful music.

Dudadius is the electronic project of Media Composer, Bryan Rheude. Relying on modular synthesis and vintage analog synths, he has released 5 albums and performs live on a Eurorack and Monome Grid system. Dudadius also maintains an active Youtube channel, featuring musical explorations of particular techniques and devices.

Genres: Electro Humanism and Melodic Electronic

Date/Time: Thursday 28th, 7:30PM-8:15PM

Stage: City Quad

Breath Of Life

Breath of Life Gospel Choir


We are a collection of artists, entertainers, authors, and creative evangelists who produce content for the Christian and general markets. Our purpose is to advance the goals of Breath of Life Worship Center and provide a launching pad for emerging artists within our congregation.

Project Excellence is Breath of Life Christian Entertainment Group's first full length album. This powerful title appropriately reflects culture of musical excellence developed over many years. Project Excellence features the musical talents of current and former BOL singers and musicians, even some of our “founding fathers” like Shelton Kilby, who is an iconic instrumental cornerstone of the Seventh-day Adventist Church at-large, especially in the broader African-American community. Produced by Take 6's newest member Khristian Dentley, this album brings everything exceptional about our music ministry to one place.

Project Excellence features annointed artists and musicians including: the BOL Praise Team, Eric Todd & Co., Romans 8, The Fellas, The BOL Singers and many other annointed musicans.

It's more than entertainment. It's a lifestyle

Genre: Praise & Worship/ Gospel/ Contemporary Christian

Date/Time: Sunday 31st, 9:00AM-10:00AM

Stage: Concert Hall

Doug Lynner

Doug Lynner


Bay Area synthesist, Doug Lynner, performs experimental electronic music regularly in concert and weekly on KZSU 90.1 as co-host of the Bloop and Quack Show.

Doug is known for his intimate, "In-The-Circuit" performance style. That style has given birth to his "Living Synthesis" compositions - part fixed composition, part improvisation, and part circuit immersion. His process is to create unique instruments for each performance that are self active and cross influencing in which he participates through direct interaction with each instrument's autonomic activities through their knobs, switches and patch cords.

Basing his aesthetic upon the notion of "sound for sound's sake" he explores the intrinsic value of sound through mixtures of ambient, avant garde, rhythmic and soundscape genres.

Doug received a BFA in Music Composition from California Institute of The Arts where his mentors were Morton Subotnick, Harold Budd, James Tenney, Leonid Hambro, and Nicholas England. Doug was also the editor and publisher of Synapse Magazine, the very first electronic music magazine.

Genres: Electronic Music - Ambient, Avant Garde, Rhythmic & Soundscape

Date/Time: Friday 29th, 7:00PM-7:45PM

Stage: Concert Hall

Sinedrifter

Sinedrifter


“All of life is a series of sine waves, and I’m drifting.”

Like any sine wave, Sinedrifter has two extremes. In terms of style and personal identity, there is the somewhat new wave-inspired A-side, and the avant-garde B-side. Video or photographic compositions typically accompany each of their tracks, and as extreme as the sine wave, are usually presented in stark black and white.

Sinedrifter, originally from Miami and now based in Los Angeles, crafts soundtracks for wherever you are. Their studio features a host of digital and analog collaborators, while the live arrangement involves a minimal selection of instruments to accompany immersive visuals.

In addition, Sinedrifter produces photographic experiences in which each image has its own soundtrack, thereby inviting audiences to spend a set amount of time examining both the visual still and musical composition.

Finally, alongside their own productions, Sinedrifter also crafts music for video games, television and film, and are currently involved in virtual reality platforms.

Genre: new wave, ambient, avant-garde, experimental, trance, soundtracks

Date/Time: Sunday 31st, 5:30PM-6:15PM

Stage: Concert Hall

Faraday Cage

Faraday Cage


Matt Pogue has been wrangling electricity with his guitar for three decades. Now he does it with other machines as well. Past collaborations include Joy Shannon and the Beauty Marks, Light From A Dead Star, Slow Moving Vehicle, Soundwalk, SoundPedro (w/SynthLab), Pump (w/SynthLab), and works on the MPRNTBL label.

Genres: Shoegaze, prog, lo-fi, modular electronica

Date/Time: Sunday 31st, 5:30PM-6:00PM

Stage: City Quad

Jesse Nason

Jesse Nason


Jesse Nason is a Long Beach based keyboardist/drummer who has played and recorded with various projects: Deccatree, The Black Lantern, Mono Sources, Perfect Beings, and AM. He dipped his toes into the modular synth pool 3 years ago and his ability to buy vintage synths and effects has been significantly hampered. However, this year he has definitely bought all of the modular gear he needs to have, no need for more, totally. During this time he also met good friends in the Synthlab, a collection of electronic musicians from the Long Beach area, and has been performing at art shows and drone shows with them. His hobbies include searching craigslist for old gear and media playback devices, hacking his way through creating glitchy video art, drinking a lot of coffee, and teaching mathematics at Long Beach City College.

Genre: Ambient, noise, rock, punk, prog

Date/Time: Sunday 31st, 6:00PM-6:30PM

Stage: City Quad

Qrux

Qrux


Qrux began his career as a photographer and graphic designer with a lifelong love of sound and music. Taking inspiration from his overactive imagination and channeling his insatiable curiosity, Qrux creates electronic music as an interpretation of the visual world much like a photographer captures light and shadow. He has performed at various venues around Southern California including SoundPedro, Long Beach Pump and The Aquarium of the Pacific's Night Dive.

Genres: Electronic, experimental, drone, ambient, arthouse

Date/Time: Sunday 31st, 6:30PM-7:00PM

Stage: City Quad

Rychard Cooper

Rychard Cooper


Rychard Cooper began working with the Moog modular synthesizer at Long Beach City College while earning his degree in Recording Engineering. As a freelance engineer, producer & sound designer, Rychard built recording studios in the Los Angles area. He also worked as Brian Eno’s assistant for his multi-media installation “77 Million Paintings”.

Rychard returned to school, earning his bachelor’s and master’s degree in composition at Cal State Long Beach. He taught audio production at Cypress College, and also taught composition and music theory for the California State Summer School for the Arts, which takes place every summer at Cal-Arts. While at Cal-Arts Rychard taught composition with Lou Harrison, Pauline Oliveros, Paul Dresher, George Crumb, & John Adams.

Rychard is now a professor of composition for the Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University Long Beach, where he teaches classes in electronic music, modular synthesis, digital media and sound design.

In 2015 (along with Matt Pogue), Rychard created SynthLab, a collective of electronic musicians and visual artists based in Long Beach, CA. They have produced several multimedia concerts at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, and at the SoundPedro (San Pedro) and PUMP (Long Beach) music festivals.

Genre: Techno, Trance Minimalism & Berlin School Krautrock

Date/Time: Sunday 31st, 7:00PM-7:30PM

Stage: City Quad

Som Shankar

Som Shankar


From Los Angeles, California, Som creates electronic music that spans the genres of Techno, Down Tempo, Drum & Bass and more. From an early age, Som's interest in music and technology converged creating a musician who embraces all types of electronic devices and who composes using everything from computers and software to discreet hardware synthesizers, sequencers and samplers. Drawing heavily from the influences of 80's synth pop, Industrial, hip-hop, and classic rock, Som's music combines smooth rhythms and melodic structures to create everything from ambient, soft songs to driving Techno jams. Som looks forward to releasing his first full-length album in 2019, and loves to play live for all audiences.

Genres: Techno, Down Tempo, Ambient

Date/Time: Sunday 31st, 7:30PM-8:00PM

Stage: City Quad

univatec

univac


Consummate TechDweeb, visual artist and NovaTone “musician,” univac continuously re-purposes the detritus of trickle-down technology toys and off-the-shelf electronics in order to create circuit-bent audioVisual hybrids—causing the engineers of the original items to shudder in disbelief.

univac also constructs audioVisualizations utilizing Apple's Quartz Composer, creating short experimental films and live real-time audio-reactive visuals for performances.

univac holds a degree in cinematography and sound-designed for film/video, games, software and the early web in the 1990’s for such diverse clients as SIGGRAPH, AOL, Microsoft (Paul Allen), Silicon Graphics, NTT, mTropolis (Thomas Dolby), NTT, and science fiction writers Alan Dean Foster & Neal Stephenson.

He has written articles on the art of circuit bending for low-brow, high-shelf art mag Hi-Fructose; sound engineered for cutup culture-jammers Negativland and is a co-conspirator of: Big City Orchestra, Daevid Allen (Gong, Soft Machine), Wobbly, Thomas DiMuzio, Evolution Control Committee, Edward Ka-Spel, The Silverman, The Legendary Pink Dots and currently is a member of the art-nerd super-group SynthLab Collective.

Genre: Experimental, Electronic, NovaTone, Noise

Date/Time: Sunday 31st, 8:00PM-8:30PM

Stage: City Quad

Nasty Nachos

Nasty Nachos


Nasty Nachos is the moniker of Denver, CO based synthesizer enthusiast Alex Anderson, product developer and marketing manager for WMD. Anderson performs with an all eurorackak modular synthesizer rig to play techno and house influenced dance music. Nasty Nachos is a progressive display of improvised dance music that takes the philosophy of punk rock and jazz music and throws them into a blender. The results can be surprising.

Genres: Tech-house, house, disco

Date/Time: Thursday 28th, 10:15PM-11:00PM

Stage: City Quad

Kazike

Kazike


Kazike aka Gerd Peun from Lisbon Portugal has been developing and constructing analogue modular synthesizers for decades. He creates live sound environments using pure voltage controlled sounds. His sound/music project ORANGOTANGO became known for its acoustic interventions in forests, industrial buildings, mountains, parks, art exhibitions, beaches, dance performances, churches, houses, castles, streets and films. The development of his synthesizer system has reached its peak. The contest between the machine and its creator can begin - will it be a battle or will it be a pas de deux?.

LoLA Music Studio, Universal City and Avalon Design, Burbank located in Los Angeles, are proud to present "The Club of the Knobs" MONSTER Analog Synth 2019.

Genres: Acoustic interventions with pure analog voltage controlled sound

Date/Time: Friday 29th, 5:00PM-5:45PM

Stage: Concert Hall

Gert Jalass

Gert Jalass


Gert Jalass is truly a music & technology aficionado and he has been deeply engrossed in these areas since early childhood, where he was started out young with piano lessons. Later in life, Gert got lost in "Do It Yourself“ electronics and during this time he encountered the music of Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and others in this genre during the mid 70’s. Gert fell in love with this style of electronic music and he went all in... At university Gert earned his degree in physics and his interest in synthesizers evolved and shifted over time, where at one point Gert thought, "analogue is out" and "MIDI is in", and then he shifted back to, "now is the time for analogue" once again.

Gert is a major fan of Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk both and he said that it depends on his mood and day to say which artist is better.

Gert's main focus over the last several decades has been in technology as it relates to analogue 5U synthesizers and he co-founded German based Moon Modular. In recent years, Gert once again began to perform live and reluctantly he left his workshop hideaway and got on stage. The most recent collaboration has been the invitation by YOU - Udo Hanten and Albin Meskes - to be part of their incredible performance that happened last May at Superbooth 2018 in Berlin. This show was then punctuated with two more live performances of himself at Digital Analog 2018 festival in Munich and as a special guest at the Weltklang Concert at Zeil am Main. At Synthplex, Gert will give his first ever US performance and we are honored to have him on stage and you won't want to miss him!

Genres: Berlin School with 5U Moon Modular

Date/Time: Friday 29th, 6:00PM-6:45PM

Stage: Concert Hall

Yumi Iwaki

Yumi Iwaki


Yumi Iwaki is a sound artist, lyricist, and singer-songwriter from Japan. Yumi currently lives in Los Angeles and she layers sound with her sampled voice, modular synthesizers and small synthesizers particularly OP-1 and OP-Z. As a singer-songwriter, Yumi has released two albums in Japan.

Genres: Electronic, Ambient

Date/Time: Sunday 31st, 8:45PM-9:15PM

Stage: City Quad

Pablo Perez

Pablo Perez


Los Angeles based experimental electronic music artist Pablo Perez is known for creating sonic kaleidoscopes of rhythms, glitch, noise, extraterrestrial sounds, and postmodern worldly technotic beats. His unique improvisational style takes the listener on a journey of alternating and morphing soundscapes that blends cross genre fusion of techno, noise, funk, psychedelic, abstract, and jazz styles.

Genres: Techno, Experimental, IDM, Glitch, Noise

Date/Time: Thursday 28th, 5:00PM-5:45PM

Stage: Concert Hall

Wolfgang Michalowicz

Surfin Kangaroo Studio


Wolfgang Michalowicz grew up in Germany in the seventies and found a love for synthesizers on records from ELP, followed by the experimental electronic music from Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Kraftwerk. Wolfgang built his first Synthesizer in 1976 - The Formant Synthesizer - which was published by an electrionic magazine in Germany. After studying electronics Wolfgang worked for several industrial companies and during this time he continued working with synthesizers and electronic music. Today Wolfgang still works with theatre groups and artists from different genres. Wolfgang also developed electronic music equipment like; Sequencers, Synth-Modules and customize pedals for the Kronos. His main focus now is working with multichannel audio systems - panning system - in a live performance.

Genres: experimental electronic music

Date/Time: Thursday 28th, 9:00PM-9:30PM

Stage: City Quad

James Bernard

James Bernard (featuring Cynthia from Awakened Souls)


With productions dating back to 1994, James Bernard has gained a cult following for his combination of atmospheric analog beats and modular synthesizers. His debut album, ‘Atmospherics’ is often heralded as a classic by the diggers who stumble across it, and James’ 'Unreleased Works' are a hidden gem of early 90’s electronica (if you’re lucky enough to own a copy on CDR of course). His most recent album 'Atwater' was just released on A Strangely Isolated Place.

Genres: Ambient Electronic

Date/Time: Sunday 31st, 4:00PM-5:00PM

Stage: Concert Hall

Jörg Schaaf

Jörg Schaaf


Jörg Schaaf is an ambient music producer and synthesizer designer from Germany. Designing electronic music instruments for Quasimidi and Radikal Technologies, factory voicing for his own and other brands synthesizers, producing electronic ambient and chillout music on stage and in studio - Jörg's activities in this field span meanwhile 4 decades of real passion. In the late 90s he produced four albums together with German synthesizer legend Klaus Schulze and joined him on stage. This collaboration motivated him to produce his first solo album 'sonar eXperience' in 1998. In 1999 he joined Radikal Technologies and got the opportunity to design his personal dream machine for DAWless music production and live performance work 'Spectralis'. Later he was involved in the development of the Accelerator polysynth and Eurorack synth modules. So it took a while until his second album 'Indiscreet' came out 2017. Now 2 years later he will perform an introduction into his third solo-work 'Imaginary Journeys', which combines finest ambient electronica with dramatic chord progressions, dreamy sequences and touching melodies.

Genres: Ambient, Electronica, Berlin School, Kraut

Date/Time: Friday 29th, 5:30PM-6:15PM

Stage: City Quad

Galecstasy

Galecstasy


Primary Mystical Experience and Raquel Bell bring you Galecstasy. Primal Improvisation - Sound Design - Environment Curation - Installations - Maximum Sensation

Genres: Improvisation, Experimental, Groove, Hip-Hop

Date/Time: Sunday 31st, 6:30PM-7:15PM

Stage: Concert Hall

SHIRO

Shiro Fujioka


Shiro Fujioka aka Voltagectrlr is a Los Angeles born and raised multi instrumentalist / song writer / producer / composer. His main instrument is an analog modular synthesizer, drum machines, singing bowls, tabla and samplers. He produces music in a host of different styles ranging from downtempo, hip hop, modbap, dub, idm, experimental, ambient, jazz and rock.

Genres: Modbap

Date/Time: Saturday 30th, 6:00PM-6:45PM

Stage: Concert Hall

Keytar Jeff

Keytar Jeff


Keytarjeff, is recognized as one of the Masters of the portable instrument known as a Keytar from such prestigious U.S. publications as Keyboard Magazine and some of Americas most respected musicians including: Jordan Rudess & Robert “Bobbie” Martin (Frank Zappa). Jeff has toured and worked with a wide range of acts including the Spencer Davis Group, Survivor founder Jim Peterik, and a plethora of Motown artists including Ben E King, The Drifter, Mary Wells and the Shirelles.

Jeff's synth chops can be heard the upcoming release of Yes vocalist Jon Anderson's 1000 Hands project, which also includes Chick Corea, Billy Cobham, Tower of Power , Larry Coryell, Tommy Calton and Chris Squire. Keytarjeff is also the product specialist for MusicLab's "Real Guitar" instruments and a proud endorser of IK Multimedia products.

Genres: Rock, Blues, Jazz, R&B, Country & Pop

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 5:00PM-5:45PM

Stage: Concert Hall