Julius Smack, Dustin Wong & Psychic Charisma

Saturday, November 8th, Julius Smack and Dustin Wong will bring a pair of live sets to Oakland, where they'll be joined by Psychic Charisma, a live collaboration between Zero Charisma and Phillip Laurent.

Touring their latest respective projects — Starlight on Constellation Tatsu and Gloria on Hausu Mountain — Smack and Wong are both fixtures of the L.A. underground circuit. For Julius Smack, it'll be a bit of a homecoming to a Bay Area arts scene where he set down some deep roots more than a decade ago.

The two-act tour is united by shared sonic terrain, indebted to the works of Japanese environmental music, Balearic jazz, and minimalism. Rich in imagination and vivid sonic palettes, their music also shares broad themes, like family, spirituality, and storytelling.

Psychic Charisma's combination of synth and looped vocals — meditative, cathartic, gesturing to the spirit world — will set the mood. More on the artists below.

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JULIUS SMACK is the musical alias of Peter Hernandez, a Los Angeles-based musician, performer and director of Practical Records. His work explores intuitive and imaginative landscapes, envisioning new modes of perception and being. Drawing inspiration from vogue, postmodern dance, Japanese environmental music and contemporary dance music, Hernandez synthesizes these influences into a singular artistic vision rooted in queer and indigenous heritage. With releases on labels like Leaving Records, Noumenal Loom, and Constellation Tatsu, Julius Smack's work resonates across a wide spectrum of audiences, subgenres, and scenes.

Born in Hawaii and raised in Tokyo, DUSTIN WONG cut his teeth playing in Baltimore bands Ponytail and Ecstatic Sunshine, before launching a solo project centered on guitar loops. Over a body of work now spanning almost a dozen releases, those loops anchor songs that blossom and transform through vocals, samples, synth and more. Now based in Los Angeles, Wong continues to expand on that catalog, with this year's gorgeous, free-flowing Gloria and collaborations with artists like Dan Deacon and the Japanese experimental pop visionary Takako Minekawa.

PSYCHIC CHARISMA is the sound of cosmic convergence, bringing together two fixtures of Oakland's experimental music underground. As Zero Charisma, Micah Morris weaves her own vocals into layered, searching compositions that stretch loops out into healing and meditative journeys. On synth and keys, she's joined by Phillip Laurent, the interdisciplinary artist and composer, whose many projects include Agnes Martian and the Musele Project, and performances/presentations at Audium, SFMOMA, Gray Area and beyond.

ETERNAL NOW is a book and record shop, archive, and art space rooted in West Oakland. You can follow and learn more about us here and support the space by becoming a member via our Patreon.