Formed in NYC in 1993, the improvising collective No-Neck Blues Band (NNCK) favors anonymity, autonomy, and obfuscation. Alongside founding member Keith Connolly (2016 AIR), they return to open ISSUE’s Fall season at First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn.
ISSUE presents the first commission from Eden Girma (2026 AIR). Part dreamscape and part summoning circle, an intimate diasporic familial archive is pieced together through the eyes of a five-year-old child.
In partnership with Franklin Furnace as part of their 50th anniversary commemoration and November release of "Back to the Present: 50 Years of Free Expression with Franklin Furnace" ISSUE presents an evening of performance and conversation.
Incorporating elements of noise, trance and minimalism, Sergei Tcherepnin (2012 AIR) presents new work for Serge Modular synthesizer.
Choreographer Kim Brandt premieres a new work for large ensemble as part of her 2015 ISSUE residency. A series of systems for a “body of bodies” to move within, the piece explores a process in which the group metamorphoses through the sum of its parts.
For decades, Lonnie Holley has devoted his life to improvisational creativity. Born out of struggle, hardship, and more importantly, out of furious curiosity and biological necessity, his practice has recently manifested in sound. His deeply layered, fully improvised music and lyrics morph and evolve in each event.
Japanese sound artists Akio Suzuki and Aki Onda have been collaborating extensively in recent years. They perform with self-made instruments, analogue tape machines and radios, wood pieces, nails, hammer, and daily objects, by responding to the architecture, acoustics and energy of the performance space.
Yarn/Wire/Currents
The fourth installment of Yarn/Wire/Currents celebrates the ensemble's 10th anniversary season and their recent release on ISSUE’s Distributed Objects imprint. The concert program features world premieres by David Bird, Sam Pluta, and electronics visionary Mark Fell; doors open with DJ & reception at 7pm.
Oakland electro-acoustic unit Black Spirituals make their NY debut. At the ecstatic intersection of rich harmonic tones and heart-thumping percussion, Black Spirituals transform performance sites with ritualistic communication, and manipulate temporal experience with their “Multi-Aesthetic Approach to Improvisation."
One the most prolific figures in contemporary ambient music, Lawrence English undertakes study of perception, memory and sonic affect across a wide swathe of creative forms. John Chantler's sound world spans sliding arpeggios and visceral noise to pointillist interjections, near silence and infinitely variable texture.
Join ISSUE’s publishing imprint Distributed Objects at the world’s premiere event for artists’ books & objects. Two new LP releases coincide with the fair, Pete Swanson & Yarn/Wire: "Eliminated Artist", as well as Susan Howe & David Grubbs: "Thiefth", with limited edition letterpress print.
Calling himself a "devil worshipping free black man in the blues tradition," M. Lamar crafts sprawling operatic narratives of radical racial and sexual transformation. His newest music theater piece, DESTRUCTION is a futuristic salvaging of the negro spirit in a destroyed western world in flames.