Natural Information Society / Xylouris White

Bassist, multi-instrumentalist and composer Joshua Abrams formed Natural Information Society in 2010. With his orchestration of traditional and contemporary instrumentation, the ensemble creates long-form psychedelic environments that join the hypnotic qualities of the guimbri, a Gnawan lute, to a wide range of contemporary musics and methodologies including jazz, minimalism, and experimental rock. Nearly impossible to define, the group’s nebulous nature has allowed Abrams to gather aesthetic input from all over the map into vivid personal statements.  The ever-shifting line-up of Natural Information Society has included Jason Adasiewicz, Hamid Drake, Ben Lamar Gay, Jeff Parker, Jason Stein, and many others.

Firmly rooted in the past and future, Xylouris White play progressive Cretan music through both original and traditional compositions. Born and raised on Crete, the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, Georgios Xylouris is a member of a clan long regarded throughout Greece as musical royalty. To hear Xylouris play his long-necked laouto and sing songs of love and liberty in his impassioned, distinctive voice, is to experience tradition at its finest.

Having first commanded international attention in the mid-1990s with the acclaimed Australian instrumental trio Dirty Three, Jim White is now the go-to guy for alt-A-list vocalists with collaboration in mind. Those who’ve worked with him – a staggering list that includes PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Will Oldham, Cat Power and Smog - testify to his deft way with a rhythm, a downbeat, a jazz-fuelled wig out.