Joshua Abrams - guembri
Lisa Alvarado - harmonium
Jason Stein - bass clarinet
Mikel Patrick Avery - drums, percussion

Hallwalls welcomes the hypnotic "ecstatic minimalism" of Natural Information Society back to Buffalo for a very special evening of transcendental music in the 9th Ward!

"Aficionados of transcendental music often have to choose between spiritual jazz & minimalist drone for their perfect hit, but the records of Joshua Abrams and his Natural Information Society essentially unite the best of both worlds." -Mojo

Natural Information Society (NIS) represents a convergence of musicians & artists to create sonic harbor, meditative space & kinetic momentum music. Realizing compositions by composer Joshua Abrams, the group's core quartet includes Abrams, Lisa Alvarado, Mikel Patrick Avery & Jason Stein. Working the seams between minimalism, jazz & experimental practice, the band has become a reference for contemporary non-idiomatic creative music. They have recorded 7 albums for eremite records & 2 collaborations with Bitchin Bajas for Drag City Records. The group has toured extensively in North America, Europe & Brazil using Alvarado's free hanging paintings as stage settings in concert. In 2021 Abrams formed an expanded version of NIS called the Natural Information Society Community Ensemble, adding winds & Chicago tenor saxophone legend Ari Brown to the group as heard on 2023's Since Time Is Gravity.

"An outstanding Chicago bassist, Joshua Abrams regularly contributes to a host of bands, drawing on roots from hip-hop to free jazz ...

Timothy James Allen - electric guitar, electronics

Guitarist Timothy James Allen is known equally as a supportive side man who's toured with multiple world renowned acts as well as a solo artist; he has released 3 cinematic instrumental albums under Timothy James and scored a feature film (Suono dell Isola) and a television series.

Buffalo born and bred, Tim relocated to NYC has since performed in 40 countries and earned a Grammy nomination in 2021 with Brooklyn afrobeat stalwarts Antibalas. He was a guitarist and bassist for the Tony nominated show Fela! on the Broadway stage as well as on a world tour. He has also appeared onstage alongside a wide variety of musical luminaries such as Allen Toussaint, Kenny Loggins, Sharon Jones, Billy Gibbons, Living Colour, Melissa Etheridge, Jovanotti, Tony Allen, Patti LaBelle, & Conor Oberst.

Hallwalls is thrilled to host a rare solo concert from Timothy James during a special hometown visit.

"Guitarist/Producer Timothy James Allen brings another contemplative & moody batch of instrumentals for his 3rd solo release "Breeze"; the Antibalas guitarist creates a meditative experience of interwoven patterns and counterpoint that tells a story through the movements."

More at: https://timothyjallen.bandcamp.com/

On Sunday, May 24, Nusantara Arts celebrates ten years of gamelan in Buffalo with Two Islands, One Gong: a matinee performance bringing together the bronze orchestras of Java and Bali alongside Balinese dance, onstage at Asbury Hall in partnership with Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center. A decade ago, the first iron Javanese gamelan instruments arrived in Buffalo: a handbuilt set from Karagan village in Solo, Central Java, rough-hewn, well loved, and tuned to its own standard. This celebratory program opens with the Javanese ensemble performing a piece on those same original instruments before moving on to the future when Nusantara Arts\' two full bronze ensembles, one Javanese and one Balinese, take the stage. Featuring Balinese guest artistic director I Gusti Komin Darta and the musicians, dancers, and teaching artists who have made Buffalo one of the most unlikely homes for Indonesian performing arts in North America. Come hear why!

Bio: I Gusti Nyoman "Komin" Darta

Komin is one of the most well regarded and talented Balinese musicians living in the US. He is one of the only teachers that knows the traditional Balinese gamelan Semar Pegulingan repertoire that is played on Nusantara Arts instruments and is very talented at the Barong Dance.

Komin is from Pengosekan village on Bali and comes from a family of musicians. In his youth Komin went to temples to watch his father play and started learning many instruments. Komin learned in the true Balinese way: at home, in the temple, and in the community through experiences with close family and friends. He became known as a virtuoso player and helped found one of the most famous Balinese performing arts ensembles: Cudamani. For the last 10 years Komin has been living in New York and teaching at various colleges such as MIT, Bucknell, Queens College, and in community groups such as Dharma Swara.

Jason Stein - bass clarinet
Damon Smith - double bass
Adam Shead - drums, percussion

Stein / Smith / Shead Trio is a Chicago-rooted improvising trio uniting bass clarinetist Jason Stein, double bassist Damon Smith, and percussionist Adam Shead. Since forming in late 2021, the group has toured extensively across the Midwest and beyond, becoming a fixture in the creative music circuit and collaborating with influential figures such as Roscoe Mitchell. Their recorded work documents a remarkably productive period, encompassing four releases: Volumes & Surfaces (2022), Hum (2023), spi-raling horn with Marilyn Crispell (2024), and Live at the Hungry Brain with Marilyn Crispell (2025). Together, these albums trace the group's evolution from kinetic, small-ensemble interplay toward expansive collaborations that bridge generations of avant-jazz practice.

Critics have consistently praised the trio's fearless energy and deep listening ...

Tormentor
Tiny Vipers - Dreamer (Live on KEXP)

Seattle's Jesy Fortino has performed under the name Tiny Vipers since her teen years. Honing her craft in punk houses and squats, Fortino's haunting folk elegies are as sparse as they are dense. People and times past wander through her songs like ghosts looking for a home, appearing and then vanishing into deft guitar playing that is reminiscent of John Fahey and Ry Cooder. Her first two full-length records, Hands Across the Void and Life On Earth (Sub Pop, 2007 and 2009, respectively) were masterworks of delicate, deliberate composition and instrumentation. Rarely has music this minimal made such a massive statement. Years of touring and critical acclaim brought Tiny Vipers a cult following. Despite this, she largely operates outside of the world of mainstream music. A series of incendiary experimental releases preceded her third LP Laughter (Ba Da Bing!, 2017). A collection of electronic tracks buried beneath a pane of frosted-glass tape hiss, Laughter shone a light on yet another facet of Fortino's prismatic musical identity. 2021's American Prayer EP saw a return to the acoustic music of her early releases, its three tracks setting an outstanding groundwork for her next full-length record. While Tiny Vipers has shared a stage with the likes of Patti Smith and Damo Suzuki, and has collaborated with Liz Harris (Grouper) as Mirrorring (releasing Foreign Body on Kranky Records in 2012), her artistic identity has remained as elusive and mysterious as her music. It is seldom that we encounter an artist as unique and singular as Tiny Vipers ...