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Crystal Quartez (Cortez) is a Portland based musician & creative technologist. Through field recording, synthesis and self-built instruments they create “Restorative Noise”; sculpting drones and rhythms of mechanical life, natural voices, and digital timbres to form a texture rich electronic dance music. The resulting sonic landscapes offer windows into shared networks of reality, often separated by borders of space, time, and perception. Recently, their work has involved the collection of live biodata from plants and static data from climate change, to translate these numbers and electrical impulses into sound.
Learn moreMa Qiusha was born in 1982 and currently lives and works in Beijing, China. Her work was recently featured in Personal Space, 24HR Contemporary Art Center, Australia; Landscape Topology, Magee Gallery, Beijing, China; Madrid, Spain; Anything is Possible, CCRN Luxembourg; and REFRESH: Emerging Chinese Artists at the Zendai Moma, Shanghai, China. Group exhibitions include the 35th International Film Festival, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2006); Rumor Décor, ddmwarehouse, Shanghai, China (2005); Beijing Documenta—Producing HIGH, Beijing, China (2005); 920 Kilograms, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China (2005); Archaeology of the Future: the Second Triennial of Chinese Art, Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, China (2005); 2004 Automat Contemporary Art Exhibition, Suzhou Art & Design Technology Institute, Suzhou, China (2004); and SCARIFY—China Present Independent Video Exhibition, Beijing, China (2004). Ma Qiusha is represented by Beijing Commune in Beijing, China.
Learn moreQuasi was formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1993 by Sam Coomes & Janet Weiss. They have toured or recorded with, either individually or collectively, Sleater-Kinney, Elliott Smith, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, Built to Spill, Bright Eyes, Heatmiser, the Go Betweens, Pink Mountain, Blues Goblins, The Takeovers, Jandek, and numerous other less recognizable but just as seminal bands. Prior to Quasi, Coomes was in the San Francisco band Donner Party (c. 1983-1988) and both were in the Portland power trio Motorgoat (c. 1990-1992). Joanna Bolme (Jicks, The Minders, Calamity Jane) joined the band in 2006. Quasi still lives in the new, gentrified Portland and will release a new album in the fall of 2009.
Selected Discography: Quasi (self-released, 1993); Split Single 7" (w/Bugskull) (Red Rover, 1994); R&B Transmogrification (Up, 1997); Featuring "Birds" (Up, 1998); Field Studies (Up, 1999); The Sword of God (Touch & Go, 2001); Hot Shit! (Touch & Go, 2003); When the Going Gets Dark (Touch & Go, 2006).
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