Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society (US), Ben Vince (UK)

Joshua Abrams developed his voice in the rich ferment of the 1990s Chicago music world, participating heavily across the city’s jazz, experimental & rock scenes. He co-founded the ‘back porch minimalist’ band Town & Country &, with Matana Roberts & Chad Taylor, the trio Sticks & Stones. In a very busy two decades Abrams recorded & toured with a remarkable range of artists including extended engagements with Fred Anderson, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Hamid Drake, Theaster Gates, Neil Michael Hagerty, Nicole Mitchell, Jeff Parker, Mike Reed, Matana Roberts, & The Roots. Abrams appears on over one hundred recordings. A film composer, Abrams has scored the music for five feature length films including the award-winning films Life Itself, The Interrupters and The Trials of Muhammad Ali.

Since 2011 Abrams has toured North America & Europe with a shifting-line up of musicians as ‘Natural Information Society’. The band's most recent album, Magnetoception, was selected by The Wire Magazine as the #3 record of 2015 & by Pitchfork as the #2 experimental record of 2015. Abrams assembled Natural Information Society around his interests in the Moroccan instrument the guimbri. The band uses traditional & conventional instrumentation to create long-form intricately psychedelic environments, composed & improvised, which join the hypnotic qualities of Gnawa guimbri music to a wide range of contemporary musics & methodologies including jazz, minimalism & krautrock. Current & former band members include Lisa Alvarado, Jason Adasiewicz, Mikel Avery, Ben Boye, Hamid Drake, Emmett Kelly, Jeff Parker, Frank Rosaly & Chad Taylor. Natural Information Society teamed up with Bitchin Bajas on the collaborative album ‘Automaginary,’ released by drag city in 2015.

Ben Vince is a prolific saxophonist and composer who radically redefines the possibilities of the saxophone. Through extended technique, electronic processing and an open-eared approach to collaboration, Ben's work spans free improvisation, DIY and dancefloor scenes in strikingly original style. He is building a reputation as a one of a kind live force who can veer from propulsive, full blast skronk outs to acoustically responsive ambience and is always in tune with the energy of a space. Following a recent collaboration with Joy O on Hessle Audio, and releases on on Blank Editions, CURL, and Depth of Decay, Ben's latest LP Assimilation (Where To Now?) sees him broaden his horizons further, as he moves (in his own words) from 'creator to vector, being bounced off by different forces' with guest spots from the likes of Micachu, Rupert Clervaux, Valentina Magaletti and Merlin Nova.