Calling all heads, open minded enthusiasts, synth wizards, amateur Bell Laboratories historians, and those in search of honest artwork in the age of the algorithm! In partnership with many of our friends we’re bringing electronic music pioneer Don Slepian, who Numero Group has dubbed as “one of new age’s most respected and technologically-advanced synthesists,” to the Philosophical Research Society for his first time ever performing in Los Angeles !!!!
Whether you know Don for his landmark 1980 album Sea of Bliss, his sought after tapes like Open Spaces and New Dawn, his appearance on Light In The Attic’s I Am The Center: Private Issue New Age Music In America, 1950-1990, or even his performances on the deep cut and absolutely unhinged Horses Sing None of It series, we’re honored and inspired to set the stage for a new kind of performance from the one and only sorcerer of the synthesizer.
For a career first, Don Slepian will be joining us to perform original music on his own unique self-constructed synthesizer. Called the Footnote, this evening will be a premier performance for this new MIDI controller. Originally promised to influential composer Wendy Carlos in 1988, when Slepian and Carlos were both with Audion Recording Co (alongside Laraaji & Emerald Web), the Footnote creates new possibilities for a solo musician to perform complex contrapuntal music. Don has also invited his friend and celebrated violinist Karen Bentley Pollick to join him in collaboration for the evening with time for Q&A following his performance!
Los Angeles-based composer Nina Keith will open the evening in stunning ensemble with Qur’an Shaheed and Massima Bell. Before, between, and following, we’ll also be treated to a first listen of Red Hot’s watershed TRAИƧA compilation, featuring new music from Sade, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Green-House, Ana Roxanne, claire rousay, Rachika Nayar, and many more friends and luminaries.
The evening will be amplified in hi fidelity sound by our dear friends of Mobius Acoustics on their own custom built speakers. We’ll also have a limited number of risograph posters available for purchase, lovingly produced by our friends at Tomorrow.Today, with all profits going towards further compensating this evening’s artists and staff. It takes a village and we truly can’t wait to share every tone of this evening with you!
Born into a scientific family, music technologist Don Slepian showed both musical and technical talent early in life. He was a tester on the early internet as a member of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Synthesizer Soloist with the Honolulu Symphony and Musical Director of the Honolulu Theater For Youth. He has been presented by WNYC’s “New Sounds” in New York’s Lincoln Center and performed at the Pompidou Center in Paris. He is currently living in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania where he writes and builds instruments.
“… one of the genre’s major talents…”
Rolling Stone Magazine
“One of the world’s finest electronic artists.”
WFMU, “Synthetic Pleasure”
“His music is already at the level of sonic and musical integration which few achieve — simultaneously stimulating and effervescent and soothing and profound.”
Hearts of Space
Nina Keith is a composer & multi-instrumentalist toppling norms and expectations. You can likely find her chopping wood, affixing midi controllers to bells, or running sound in a park somewhere for a Living Earth gathering. She has toured with Youth Lagoon and performed in unique LA-area environments like the Brain Dead Theater, Zorthian Ranch, and the California Botanic Garden.