Desert Drone

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Desert Drone

Sonoran Desert showcase for ambient/drone/noise/experimental artists.
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12/06/2024

Super Ethereal Champion World appears December 10th at The Screening Room with Chuck Johnson, Beau Devereaux, and Ryan Alfred.

Super Ethereal Champion World is Jesse Kees, often making use of field recordings, voice memos, and natural & synthesized sounds to create ambient-adjacent soundscapes, sometimes while also playing guitar or banjo, and sometimes something that is nothing like any of that.

12/03/2024

Jimmy Peggie plays Desert Drone on Wednesday, December 11th, at The Nile Coffee Shop with Chuck Johnson and Slender Loris.

Jimmy Peggie is a Scottish born artist based in Phoenix, AZ working with sound and images. His artistic work is focused on natural phenomena with an appreciation that all things are in a state of flux - ever changing, imperfect and incomplete - using this to help identify natural process, a sense of place and the transient nature of all things.

His work has been featured at Iklectik Arts Space (London), Barcelona Festival of Sound Art, Radiophrenia Radio Arts Festival (Glasgow), Framework Radio (Europe), Studio EM04 (Berlin), Max Protetch Gallery (NYC), Currents 826 Gallery (Santa Fe), Coconino Center for the Arts (Flagstaff), Phoenix Art Museum, Tempe Center for the Arts, Arizona Science Center, Arizona State University and more. He has operated a small record label - neonvox since 1995. He is a member of the American Society for Acoustic Ecology (ASAE) and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

12/02/2024

Tuesday, December 10th at The Screening Room in Tucson and Wednesday, December 11th at The Nile Coffee Shop in Mesa, we present Chuck Johnson.

Chuck Johnson is a California-based composer, producer, and musician. He approaches his work with an ear towards finding faults and instabilities that might reveal latent beauty, with a focus on pedal steel guitar, experimental electronics, alternate tuning systems, and composing for film and television. Recordings of his work have been published by Western Vinyl, VDSQ, Thrill Jockey, Temporary Residence, Kompakt, Ghostly, and Three Lobed, among others.

On his latest album Sun Glories, Johnson explores themes of time, memory, and illusion through his unique blend of pedal steel, synths, organs, strings, and drums. Pitchfork wrote about the album “A lot of ambient artists are embracing the pedal steel right now, but none are quite as willing to jettison the instrument’s readymade associations as Johnson.” And All Music Guide wrote “Sun Glories is a magnificent record displaying Johnson’s mastery of multiple instruments and techniques.”

12/01/2024

Announcing our final show of the year, December 20th, at Slow Body Beer.

Quiet Night II is the follow-up to our first fundraiser last December. This time, all proceeds will go to the community food bank. Food insecurity is a huge issue in our community, and we're happy to help our neighbors in need. We have an assortment of local businesses donating gift cards and apparel, and we'll be doing raffles in addition to accepting your canned goods and jackets.

We've put together a great lineup of some of our favorite performers who are all donating their time and talent.

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11/28/2024

Tucson experimental musicians Chelsey Lee Trejo and Zack Hansen team up November 30th at Slow Body Beer, featuring an array of lush acoustic and electronic drones that echo the deep sonic layers of natural landscapes.

11/26/2024

Welcoming Johnny Bell to Tucson Saturday, November 30th, at Slow Body Beer. Johnny will be joined on the bill by Miguel Urbina and the duo of Chelsey Lee Trejo and Zack Hansen. Music starts at 8pm, and entry is free, although we do suggest a $5-10 donation for the musicians.

Johnny Bell (he/him) is a northern New Mexico-based acoustic instrumental musician exploring the banjo as a progressive instrument desiring to evolve beyond its traditional roots. From within the lineage of American Primitive music Johnny’s current work juxtaposes traditional clawhammer banjo techniques with acoustic drone, ambient field recordings, radio broadcast, tape loops and other found sounds to create recursive sonic textures that are trance-inducing and cathartic.

Johnny is celebrating the release of his new album, Field Trips.

"Field Trips is a series of sonic collages that I built from found sounds, field recordings, tape loops, and improvised instrumentation (acoustic drone, 5-string banjo) created and captured in various locations near myhome in northern New Mexico, at the base of the Chiricahua mountains in Southeastern Arizona, and along the Pacific Coast of California. Through this project I became interested in capturing ambient recordings as uncontrolled compositional elements, dissolving the distinction between musical and non-musical sounds even as I worked to bring them together into coherent arrangements. This process became a practice, wherein each individual capture became a journey or field trip unto itself."

11/21/2024

Announcing two shows for Lana Del Rabies and God Is War January 4th and January 5th in Arizona.

This January 2025, Los Angeles artists Lana Del Rabies (Gilgongo Records, Deathbomb Arc) and God Is War (Profound Lore Records) will be making an excursion through the west coast to bring their respective takes on industrial, electronic, and noise music to the masses. LDR is back touring the states after a vicious European run with Pharmakon and Kollaps. GIW is currently touring in support of "Boogeyman Inc" on Profound Lore Records.

Saturday January 4th Last Exit Live
Sunday January 5th The Screening Room

11/15/2024

Fantastic new White Boy Scream interview with NBHAP discussing being a first gen Filipina-American, the intersection between art and politics, and her EP Body Island. Link in stories.

11/14/2024

Unfortunately, Cruel Diagonals has had to cancel her AZ shows, but we have two great replacement acts, Tsone in Phoenix and Chelsey Lee Trejo in Tucson.

Thursday November 14th Linger Longer Lounge - Tsone, Rotting Yellow, Omeed Norouzi

Friday November 15th The Screening Room - Chelsey Lee Trejo, Ryan Chavira, Deep Stay, Alluvium

11/12/2024

Excited to welcome Omeed Norouzi to Desert Drone for the first time. He perfoms Thursday November 14th at Linger Longer Lounge.

Arizona based artist Omeed Norouzi has been honoring the quiet and vast of the Sonoran desert. Utilizing sound design, harmonic tunings, and feedback. At times his music can carry you through moments of solitude and self reflection. Let the facade of noise and baroque melodies fade away and allow the sound to take shape into something individual.

11/11/2024

New Spotify playlist featuring artists from our upcoming programming. Link in bio or story. Get familiar with the music of some of the great artists playing shows this winter.

11/10/2024

Welcoming Cruel Diagonals back to Arizona on November 14th and 15th at Linger Longer Lounge and The Screening Room. We first had Cruel Diagonals at our 1 year anniversary show last year, and we're so excited to have her back in Tucson this fall.

Since 2016, Los Angeles-based multimedia artist Cruel Diagonals (aka Megan Mitchell), has been creating critically acclaimed experimental electronic music and intriguing visuals. Though classically trained as a vocalist and well-versed in jazz standards as a youth, Cruel Diagonals applies her brilliant voice to compositions and improvisations that are the antithesis of staid tradition or arid academic exercises. Rather, she optimizes her minimal gear setup with an instinctual adventurousness and an acute sense of the most chilling and moving atmospheres and timbres, favoring fluidity of tones over the grid-like modes of much electronic music. Cruel Diagonals augments these elements with exquisite vocalizations, informed by ancient folk musical traditions, as well as contemporary classical ones, thereby forging a unique sonic palette.

11/09/2024

Welcoming back Alluvium to Desert Drone Friday, November 15th, at The Screening Room in downtown Tucson.

Alluvium, a collaborative project of Nika Kaiser and Nathan Stickel, uses a combination of composed and improvised video projection, field recordings, and experimental sound to create performative installations that respond to site-specific details within the natural world’s fluctuating conditions.

The geologic phenomenon of alluvium occurs when loose clay, silt, or sand has been deposited by running water in a stream bed or floodplain for an impermanent period of time, making unique radial shapes. Inspired by this phenomenon, Kaiser & Stickel's responsive compositions develop cumulatively, collecting and compiling sound and imagery that reflect the tenuous, shifting environmental conditions of sites in flux. Alluvium is a recent intersection of both members' established art practices based in the Sonoran desert. Alluvium has performed throughout the Southwest, most recently at Collective Misnomer in Denver, CO (with support from Redline Contemporary Arts) and The American Institute of Thoughts and Feelings, in Tucson, AZ.

11/08/2024

Always a real pleasure to have Ryan Chavira at Desert Drone. Ryan performs Friday, November 15th, at The Screening Room with Cruel Diagonals, Deep Stay, and Alluvium.

Projecting a dedication to emotional depth and sonic exploration Ryan’s music layers synthesized tones and organic sounds to forge a rich auditory experience.

11/07/2024

Thursday, November 14th Desert Drone at Linger Longer Lounge in Phoenix. We can't wait to see Rotting Yellow once again.

"Dark desert dreams of decay and cold, empty rooms."

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11/04/2024

Desert Drone: Arizona Experimental Sound Series presents a full slate of shows this fall/winter featuring incredible touring and local artists in Tucson and Phoenix.

11/03/2024

Wednesday, December 11th, Desert Drone presents Chuck Johnson at The Nile Coffeeshop with special guests Slender Loris and Jimmy Peggie.

Chuck is celebrating the release of his new album, Sun Glories, which has been getting rave reviews all over. We're excited to be presenting the show at The Nile Coffeeshop alongside some amazing Phoenix artists.

Advance tickets available in our bio for $13, $15 dos. Doors 7:30 music starts at 8. Don't miss this one.

11/02/2024

Tuesday, December 10th, at The Screening Room, we welcome Chuck Johnson from the Bay Area, alongside some amazing Tucson support, Super Ethereal Champion World, Beau Devereaux, and Ryan Alfred.

Doors 7:30 pm, music at 8:00, $12, all ages.

According to Pitchfork, Chuck's latest album Sun Glories "steers into triumphant post-rock territory on his most surprising and exploratory album yet."

Address

Tucson, AZ

Website

http://desertdrone.org/

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