Whitney Johnson

June assortment 🤳

We had a fantastic evening hosting Matchess, Casper and Indivisual.Video last week. Bringing together our local community and geeking out over audio with these incredible artists was pure magic. Photos by Luke Awtry

ANNOUCEMENT + Rabbit Snare the project has run its course. There’s still some unreleased music sitting around that will see the light of day someday, but for now there is something new. It’s called The (arc) Collective and is playing its first show on July 16th with the amazing @matchesse and equally fantastic @beau.devereaux . If you’re so inclined, come on out and support some amazing touring and local artists doing what they love.

July 15th at 8pm, @matchesse with @circuitdesyeux and @jenny__pulse + local artists @3dcoyote and @evel_sound In anticipation of alter ego albums Hav/Stena to be released on Drag City in Fall 2024, Matchess (AKA Whitney Johnson) enlists Haley Fohr (AKA Circuit des Yeux) and Jenny Pulse to turn down the energetic temperature and settle into a mellow expansion of sound. With three marimbas, sine waves, viola, voices, and electronics, the trio will invite us to experience sonic doubles in our bodies and minds. Their individual practices in experimental music, sound art, and performance will invoke the “two against three” principle to alchemize a fresh collaboration on this tour of the American South and West.

Soundtoys Signals 2024 #1 Haley Fohr + Whitney Johnson + Lula Asplund @circuitdesyeux + @matchesse + @l.u.l.a__._ performing as Matchess, a triple-marimba/triple-vocal experimental project by @dragcityrecords artist Whitney Johnson [001-006] w/ local support from @casperelectronics + @indivisual.video with an opening set of real-time modular A/V synthesis [007-010] Presented by @soundtoys Lighting by @liggylights FOH Jared Slomoff Soundtoys HQ Burlington, VT 06.18.2024

FULL ⭕️ MOMENT at THE ROTUNDA - welcoming 3 Women devoted to unearthing universal sounds that awaken the dormant experimenter within us all. It’s a special gift to synthesize in honor of the very vibrations that shifted my own brain from the grinding to the generative. Sound&Music is the Input&Output for ALL things. 🙏 @matchesse @circuitdesyeux & @l.u.l.a__._ for inspiration&validation. 🙏 @fire_museum_presents for thoughtful&inclusive programming. 🙏 @the_rotunda_philly for providing a home for Philly’s culture&community. 🙏 @marybeth_ray for 📹&solidarity.

July 16th, we present Matchess on tour from Chicago. In anticipation of alter ego albums Hav/Stena to be released on Drag City in Fall 2024, Matchess (AKA Whitney Johnson) enlists Haley Fohr (AKA Circuit des Yeux) and Jenny Pulse to turn down the energetic temperature and settle into a mellow expansion of sound. With three marimbas, sine waves, viola, voices, and electronics, the trio will invite us to experience sonic doubles in our bodies and minds. Their individual practices in experimental music, sound art, and performance will invoke the “two against three” principle to alchemize a fresh collaboration. This is a special outdoor show at 355 N. Court Ave and we encourage bringing chairs and something cool to drink. We'll be providing some refreshments as well. Also performing: Beau Devereaux The (arc) Collective 7:30PM $10-$20 sliding scale and no one turned away due to lack of funds.

🌀❓ Merch Drop 👅Happy PETS week! we are so excited to start playing out that we made merch for u. Playin @blacklacehq Tuesday, @union_pool Thursday and @mcgolrickpark doggy park shoot Saturday :-)))) Ida is shown here wearing a small. Beautifully modeled good girl stuff. Supa finely printed by @flyingsaucerpress thank u Rich! and thank you dog pawrents @mathildapia_ ♥️ and Keegan

In anticipation of alter ego albums Hav/Stena to be released on Drag City in September 2024, Matchess (AKA Whitney Johnson) enlists Haley Fohr (AKA Circuit des Yeux) and Lula Asplund to turn down the energetic temperature and settle into a mellow expansion of sound. With three marimbas, sine waves, viola, voices, and electronics, the trio will invite us to experience sonic doubles in our bodies and minds. Their individual practices in experimental music, sound art, and performance will invoke the “two against three” principle to alchemize a fresh collaboration on this tour of the American East. Saxophonist, improviser, and composer Dave Rempis has been an integral part of the thriving Chicago jazz and improvised music scene since 1997. With a background in ethnomusicology and African studies at Northwestern University, including a year spent at the University of Ghana, Rempis burst onto the creative music scene at the age of 22 when he was asked to join the now-legendary Chicago jazz outfit The Vandermark Five. This opportunity catapulted him to notoriety as he began to tour regularly throughout the US and Europe, an active schedule that he still maintains to the present day. Joining Dave is Tashi Dorji a Bhutanese guitarist and improvisational musician known for his avant-garde and experimental (read: deeply gnarly, finely arty) approach to music. Tashi’s idiosyncratic take on the instrument, one defined by movement and profound openness to technique, adds up to a post-colonial disembowlment of guitar traditions that stands Tashi next de- and re-constructionist giants as various as Derek Bailey, John Fahey and Bill Orcutt.

Kicking off this hot-ass week with a free DJ night featuring producer Leon Michels and our neighbor Innis (Ollies/Eliza/etc) playing some records to soothe your soul. Wednesday we have the Tubby's debut of Whitney Johnson! In a former life I was involved in a label that released a Matchess LP and I'm currently in a band with her! Very stoked to finally have her perform here. "Matchess feat. Haley Fohr (Circuit des Yeux) and Lula Asplund: three marimbas, three voices, sine waves, viola, and other sounds. Supporting 𝘏𝘢𝘷/𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘢 on Drag City. The “2 against 3” principle: sonic doubles thru three psyches. Potential to mellow out ur neuroses and fold down the shroud of the death drive at the same time?" The wildness doesn't stop there as our old friend guitarist Tashi Dorji returns to Tubby's in a duo with saxophonist Dave Rempis. Thursday The freaky sounds continue (with a homecoming of sorts for former HV resident) Turner Williams Jr. & Henry Birdsey creating quite a clatter as Trespass Field - using lap steel, banjo, organ, fiddle, and scrap metal to blow out a dense cloud of “landscape sludge” on unsuspecting listeners. Zach Rowden of Tongue Depressor (New Haven, CT) writes, improvises, and performs drone-based music with fiddles, pedal steel, lap steel, contrabass, organ, and bells, usually involving microtonal tunings and re-arranged/re-tuned fragments of American church music. Hudson Valley legend Spreaders starts us off with like 8 mins of bliss. Friday night we have some jangly indie rock coming your way via Canada! Sub Pop signees Kiwi Jr. have been cranking out the hits at a dizzying pace. It's a real treat to catch them in a small room like Tubby's. This pairing makes perfect sense and here is @ravensingstheblues on the new Ducks Ltd record "finds them stronger than ever and serving up a jangle-pop juggernaut that’s picking through the bejeweled bounties of the Kiwi-pop ‘80s, threading through acolytes on down through the CapTracks years."

Two shows coming up in July, featuring @matchesse from Chicago. July 16th in Tucson at 355 N Court Ave with @beau.devereaux and @theearccollective This show will be an outdoor byob BBQ show that we're really excited about. July 17th in Phoenix at @graciestaxbar with @desertbreath.wav and @spelledboys Happy to be having our first show at Gracie's with friends.

Sadly, Holographic Throne can’t play the show next week with our lady of marshes & Lia Kohl + Whitney Johnson. We’ve got the amazing Stephan Haluska to take our spot with a prepared harp performance instead. Thank you to Stephan for hopping on at short notice. This is gonna be an amazing show.