2025.07.25 - Common Sage (Madison, WI)
2025-07-25 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Common Sage, 934 Drake St., Madison, WI, United States
Friday, 7/25
@commonsagearts in Madison, WI
I’ll be premiering “Pulse Canons”, a new composition for clock pulses and oscillators, in quad! Digital sounds in medieval forms in surround sound – don’t miss it!
My buddy @avoidancepolicy and I will be opening for @jeremyroyalblahblah during his US tour – always nice to see these guys!

2025.07.26 - Reverberation Vinyl (Bloomington, IL)
2025-07-26 19:00 - 21:00 | Reverberation Vinyl, 1302 N Main St, Bloomington, IL, United States
Saturday, 7/26
@reverberationvinyl in Bloomington, IL
@_slow_dog__ will debut some seriously solid new tunes on a ssssstttttaaaaaccccckkkkkkeeeeeddddd bill of Midwestern heavy hitters. Furious Neighbor (of Rapider Than Horsepower, Racebannon, etc), Brutal Shift (@alexikcawon) from @breachingstaticmedia, and Yea Big (@stefenrobinson ) will change you for the better.
Become the person you always knew you could be – see you out there! ❤️

pt.fwd presents Danz CM
2026-03-27 18:00 - 19:30 | University Galleries, 11 Uptown Circle #103, Normal, IL, 61761, United States
About the event

Danz CM is the self-produced musician, songwriter, and composer formerly known as Computer Magic whose belovedSynth History zine has reinforced her DIY all-star status.
MYTHS, the new cryptic ambient manifestation by Danz CM, is out now via Channel 9 Records. It’s a sweeping, cinematic universe of waves that feels both timeless and otherworldly.
MYTHS is a true feat of craftsmanship — recorded using the expressive power of synth instruments like the legendary CS-80 and original Mellotron, Danz creates a lush and ethereal world, channeling the spirit of classic electronic composers like Vangelis. Recorded live and engineered by Lance Hill of the Vintage Synthesizer Museum in Los Angeles, mixed by Michael Stein (Stranger Things) and mastered by Heba Kadry (Björk, Ryuichi Sakamoto).
The titles of each track are inspired by mythological creatures: The Koromodako of the sea (Japan), the Dökkálfar who have eyes like the moon and dwell underground (Norse), and the tutelary deity of the forest, Leshy (Slavic).
Late last year, Danz CM released LÄRM!, which Hearing Things called “instrumental electronic music with vivid scene-setting and a patient sense of narrative, delivered with warm vintage hardware tones.” It pays homage to 1970s Krautrock bands like Cluster, Can, Neü, and Harmonia, seamlessly fusing synth improvisations, hypnotic rhythms, and dream-like vocals. While clearly indebted to those forebears, Danz also taps into their form-breaking spirit, finding fresh folds and imbuing these otherworldly compositions with her singular touch.
Danz CM will be a 2026 David B. Williams Visiting Artist in the School of Creative Technologies at Illinois State University. This concert is generously supported by the David and Kay Williams Music Education Endowment.
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All pt.fwd concerts are free and open to the public.
pt.fwd is an independent, artist-run 501c3 non-profit that organizes contemporary music and sonic arts performances in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois.
pt.fwd’s mission is to celebrate the communal experience of coming together to listen to powerful new sonic art. In partnership with the McLean County Museum of History and other local venues, pt.fwd promotes new work by local and regional artists in a historic, acoustically curious setting.

www.ptfwd.org

No Below Editions presents PHLEGMPHEST
2026-03-28 13:00 - 22:00 | Meltdown Creative Works, 716 E. Empire, Bloomington, IL, 61701, United States
Phlegm Phest is back! Our first attempt was snowed out. This time it is all happening.

We’re celebrating the No Below Editions compilation of radical local artists, Creme de la Phlegm! And we’re doing it at Meltdown!!!

Here’s the lineup:
Rebekah ManglesCreatian/HeapMMDRNotteAnonymous PiperlighttJohn GanserTommy O’DonnellSecret AmuletNolanSweet Nothings
!!!

Doors at 12:30, music starts at 1:00 sharp.
$10 (kids 10 and under are free)

ALL AGES

JOIN US!!! (We love you)

No Below Editions presents Tongue+Groove
2026-04-24 20:00 - 22:00 | ROZZ-TOX, 2108 3rd Ave, Rock Island, IL, 61201, United States
BIG BRIGHT KARL FIRE
https://yeabig.weebly.com/
https://edwardbreitweiser.com/
https://swimignorantfire.bandcamp.com/
Big Bright Karl Fire is the sonic melding of Yea Big, Edward Breitweiser, Michael Carlson, and Swim Ignorant Fire. Big Bright Karl Fire is synths meeting winds meeting guitars meeting percussion, calm meeting frenzy meeting strategic accidents meeting accidental beauty.
CREATIAN/HEAP
https://bummerpunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/i-c
Philip T. Walker & JJ Creatian playing ominous electronics on an array of synths & effects. They’ve released 3 albums together, most recently “I C” in 2024.
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NOLAN
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Polymath, genre-bending multi-instrumentalist and artistic multi-disciplinarian whose work blurs the line between composition and experimentation. Operating at the intersection of generative systems and live improvisation, each performance fuses controlled, evolving chaos with sprawling, immersive soundscapes into singular live performances.
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Tongue+Groove
Lisa Lofgren in collaboration with Matt Erickson
Catich Gallery, St. Ambrose University
March 23–April 24

Exhibition Statement
Tongue+Groove culls through artists Lisa Lofgren’s and Matt Erickson’s archive of shared studios, shared conversations, and shared lives over the last 15 years. Collaboration will loosely be defined as there are many degrees by which the artists work together: “stealing” each other’s works for revisions or additions; grouping individually made works together; or making work side by side.
Matt states, “I found my positive. This show is a collaboration in Love, Relationship, Art, Life or as I feel it – all the same thing. Working with a past and present, hers and mine, we assembled these pieces in our shared spaces as they happened. A show or gallery, to me, is no time factor. I let art happen as it wants and that is what you see here. In the grand sense they are all in progress; so are we.”
Lisa’s interest in the readymade is heavily influenced by Matt’s studio practice. Her primary medium of printmaking (works on paper) is now playing a secondary role to the constructions in which they are incorporated. The use of wood working and joinery pays tribute to evolving home renovations in their 1854 building. The use of mortise and tenon, tongue and groove, dovetail and finger joints are a direct analogy to the body, the whole made by equal yet opposite parts, and the strength of the bond.
A closing reception will include conversation with Lisa and Matt on April 24 from 4-6 p.m. followed by a No Below Editions performance at Rozz-Tox Cafe starting at 8 p.m. ($10 door, 2108 3rd Ave, Rock Island, IL 61201).
Artists’ Biographies
Lisa Lofgren (she/her) is the founder of Together Press, a community printmaking and papermaking facility in coordination with cometogetherspace in Bloomington, Illinois. She graduated from the University of Wyoming with a BFA and an MFA from Illinois State University, where she has served as Registrar and Office Coordinator since 2018. Her work has been collected locally and internationally including private collections with family, friends, acquaintances, and institutions primarily in Wyoming, Illinois, and Minnesota.
Based in Bloomington-Normal, Matt Erickson is an uninstitutionalized artist with 40 years of purposeful study of art as life. He trusts his intuition, has a great admiration for the joker/rebel artist, and gives his art away. Matt’s motto is to put what fits, where it fits, when it fits.
Both artists are part of the No Below Editions record label collective established Fall of 2022 in support of local and regional sonic explorations with a focus on small editions of handmade objects with each release. (no-below-editions.bandcamp.com)

pt.fwd presents NCHS Experimental Ensemble
2026-05-09 18:30 - 20:30 | McLean County Museum of History, 200 N. East St., Bloomington, IL, 61701, United States
Time & Location

May 09, 2026, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Bloomington, 200 N Main St, Bloomington, IL 61701, USA

About the event

Since 2021, the Normal Community High School Experimental Ensemble has provided students with the opportunity to learn about and perform a variety of musical and sonic traditions, including free improvisation, electroacoustic performance, and sound installations.
Students will play arrangements of American classics and improvisations with faculty members Stefen Robinson and Zachary Sargent and guest artists.
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All pt.fwd concerts are free and open to the public.
pt.fwd is an independent, artist-run 501c3 non-profit that organizes contemporary music and sonic arts performances in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois.
pt.fwd’s mission is to celebrate the communal experience of coming together to listen to powerful new sonic art. In partnership with the McLean County Museum of History and other local venues, pt.fwd promotes new work by local and regional artists in a historic, acoustically curious setting.
www.ptfwd.org
