Afterburner (Audrey Chen + Doron Sadja) & Pharoah Chromium at West Germany / Thursday, 20. July 2017

A night of experimental music, curated by Karlrecords. Berlin based AFTERBURNER is the new collaborative project of vocalist Audrey Chen and electronic artist Doron Sadja. Unique in a crowded field of voice and electronics duos, the pair weaves together Chen’s idiosyncratic vocal growls and chirps with Sadja’s dense synthetic atmospheres and immersive smoke and light show into a singular monolithic landscape. Intimate, dark, chaotic and ritualistic, AFTERBURNER have created a fascinating vision of romantic noise music that is all their own.

Chinese-American musician who was born into a family of material scientists,doctors and engineers, outside of Chicago in 1976. She turned to the cello at age 8 and voice at 11. After years of classical and conservatory training in both instruments, with a resulting specialization in early and new music, she parted ways again in 2003 to begin new negotiations with sound in order to discover a more individually honest aesthetic. Now, using the voice and cello, Chen’s work delves deeply into her own version of narrative and non-linear storytelling. A large component of her music is improvised and her approach to this is extremely personal and visceral. Her playing explores preparations, traditional and extended techniques in both the voice and cello. She works to join these elements into a singular ecstatic personal language.

Recent projects, aside from performing solo, include her voice only duo with London based artist, Phil Minton, a duo with NYC turntablist, Maria Chavez and a collaborative project with German conceptual artist, John Bock. Since 2004, Chen has been performing across Europe, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, Taiwan, Brazil, Canada and the United States. She is currently based in Berlin, Germany.

Doron Sadja is an American artist, composer, and curator whose work explores modes of perception and the experience of sound, light, and space. Often using multichannel or motorized speaker systems and high intensity fog and light, Sadja crafts immersive performance and installation works that are both playful and transportive. Sadja has published music on 12k and Shinkoyo records, and has performed/exhibited at PS1 MoMa, Miami MOCA, D’amelio Terras Gallery, STEIM, Norberg Festival, Cleveland Museum of Art, and Issue Project Room amongst others.