Termite Club Presents: Ashtray Navigations and Michael Flower Chris Corsano Duo at Wood Street Galleries

Termite Club, of Leeds, England, presents a special performance by internationally acclaimed musicians Ashtray Navigations and Michael Flower, Chris Corsano Duo on Friday, October, 30, 2009, 8:00PM at Wood Street Galleries, 601 Wood Street. Admission at the door is $10; $8 for students.

Ashtray Navigations was formed in 1994 in Stoke On Trent, England, by Phil Todd, and was inspired by the UK's underground tape music scene. Using the barest minimum of outdated equipment, Todd recorded and self-released dozens of limited edition cassettes (now much sought after by collectors), which presented his vision of homemade psychedelic rock and avant-garde noise electronics. This led to vinyl and CD releases on labels such as Siltbreeze (USA), American Tapes (USA), Veglia/Kraak (Belgium) and Todd's own Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers imprint, culminating in a tour of the USA in 1999 which was the first real incarnation of Ashtray Navigations as a live music project.

The new millennium saw a move to Leeds, England, many more releases in multiple formats and more live performances, this time featuring Ashtray Navigations as a group project featuring Todd and various collaborators including Chloe Jarvis, Matt Robson (Random Number), Ben Reynolds and drummer extraordinaire Alex Neilson. Following the departure of half the band to Glasgow, Todd has recently been playing with Melanie Crowley (Ocelocelot, Sculkptress) and Phil Legard (Xenis Emputae Travelling Band), though the majority of the recordings released are performed by Todd alone. This trio line-up was one of the few UK acts to play at the Thurston Moore curated All Tomorrow's Parties festival in 2006. Todd has also collaborated either in recordings or live performances with a variety of other artists, including Merzbow, Jandek, The New Blockaders, Paul Hession, MV & EE, Sunroof!, Nackt Insecten,The Vibracathedral Orchestra and Courtis.

Michael Flower has been involved in a number of Solo Projects and is best known for his work with Vibracathedral Orchestra. The original group came together when Mick Flower began recording with Neil Campbell and Julian Bradley, who had released a number of homemade cassettes and an LP of their duo work. After self-releasing two albums, Campbell suggested that the nascent group merge with the trio, Flower, to work alongside Bridget Hayden and Adam Davenport, thus forming the five-piece Vibracathedral Orchestra line-up.

Chris Corsano is a drummer from New England, USA. He often performs in an improvisation duo with saxophonist Paul Flaherty. He has also recorded material with artists such as Dredd Foole, Jandek, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Six Organs of Admittance, Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Matt Valentine, Nels Cline, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Cold Bleak Heat, Jim O'Rourke, Mick Flower, and C. Spencer Yeh as well releasing several solo recordings.

More recently, he has been touring with Björk and was featured on her most recent studio album Volta.

Wood Street Galleries is a project of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Supported by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. For more information visit www.woodstreetgalleries.org

To post a comment, you must register and login.