minimalism

Born in Lima, Peru, Maria Chavez is mainly recognized in the art community as an improviser, curator and sound artist. Her sound installations, visual objects and live turntable performances focus on the values of accidents and it's unique, complicated possibilities with sound emitting machinery like the turntable. Influenced by improvisation in contemporary art, her work expands outside of the sound world straddling different disciplines of interest. This year, Chavez wrote and illustrated her first book object entitled, Of Technique: Chance Procedures on Turntable.

Read more about Maria Chavez on Last.fm.

Composer Pauline Oliveros is a maverick in the field of electronic music. Oliveros' first instrument was the accordion; as a teenager in Texas she played in a 100-piece accordion group that appeared at the rodeo. In 1949 she entered the University of Houston, but in 1952 transferred to San Francisco State College. Oliveros studied music privately with Robert Erickson and began to associate with a loose confederation of like-minded composers; Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Morton Subotnick among them.

Oren Ambarchi is an electronic guitarist and percussionist, based in Melbourne, Australia, though he was born in Sydney and lived there until the last few years, he has been performing live since 1986. His music often incorporates drones and loops, which he crafts into enigmatic sound worlds with very subtle melodies. His work focuses mainly on the tonal possibilities of the guitar, and is usually produced without the aid of a computer.

Led Er Est emerged from a series of jam sessions that core members Shawn O’Sullivan and Sam De La Rosa started having in early 2007, using bass guitar, some cheap drum machines, and synths. They were inspired to record music largely by ’70s synth prog, and ’80s lo-fi electronic and industrial music. They recorded a number of songs at friend Will Burnett’s studio that fall. Their first officially released track was on the Wierd Records compilation, Analogue Electronic Music Vol II. Owen Hutchinson joined the band for their first live show at the Wierd party that December.