Jeff Henderson is one of New Zealand’s most preeminent musicians, appearing in an array of assorted musical incarnations and running an agile and provocative gamut from blown-out saxophone skronk to Vodou stomp and Rasin psych, from Neanderthal opera to Ongaku reductionism. He has appeared alongside a host of like-minded and stellar figures, including Steve Lacy, Marilyn Crispell, Evan Parker, Han Bennink, William Parker and The Necks’ Tony Buck. His investigative yet visceral approach to performance is lucid and enthralling.
Leila Adu’s voice has been compared to hot treacle on broken glass, and her latest producer, Steve Albini (Nirvana, Joanna Newsom, PJ Harvey) has called her spooky. She has performed alongside the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, experimental heroes, Jim Denley, Lol Coxhill and Steve Beresford, NZ ethnomusicologist icon, Jack Body, and the influential American proto-rap artist, Gil Scott-Heron. Described as a 21st century Nina Simone but coming across more as an empyrean Dagmar Krause, Adu’s versatile instrument is both terrifying and mellifluous.
Six Volts, The Front Lawn, Primitive Art Group, Labcoats, Flower Orphans, Melancholy Babes, Razorblades, Rubbernecks, Braille Band, Family Mallet, Mantarays, Village of the Idiots, Bung Notes and Razor Blades alumnus, Anthony Donaldson has been described by The Listener as a haunter of the Wellington jazz and improvised music world for the better part of three decades, and as festival curator, mentor and perennially chameleon drummer has informed and appeared alongside a host of experimental and pop luminaries both in NZ and abroad.
Rory Dalley’s inflamed percussion and personal hi-fi incineration has recently materialized in both solo and collaborative operations alongside Philip Jeck, Pink Reason, xNoBBQx, and Shoji Hano. His eldritch drumming and gravel dub electronics are a quasi-martial force to witness, his dime-dropping beats both virtuosic and primeval.
