Kotorino + Paradigm Refrain

photo: Mina K

Friday, January 15th
Admission: $8; $10 minimum
Showtimes: 8pm
reservations are recommended

Nico Soffiato: guitar
Eli Asher: trumpet
Carlo Costa: drums
Zach Mangan: visual artist

Stemming from rigorous jazz and rock backgrounds, the current incarnation of Paradigm Refrain branches out to incorporate free improvisation, electronic effects and looping, prepared guitar, trumpet, drums, and "found sound" textures. The result are mesmerizingly complex, beautiful tapestries of sound that delicately shimmer and breathe as they unfold.       

During live performances, Nico connects to other musicians with an electric tension, leaving audiences mesmerized. This is particularly strong during free improvisations with his amorphous musical collective Paradigm Refrain. Here, he seems to pluck sonic phrases from the ether, surprising himself and audiences alike. Drawing from a deep well of innovative resources including prepared guitar and unorthodox playing techniques, in these live shows, Nico’s entire body becomes his instrument. Facial and body contortions precede and respond to each phrase, his guitar only one factor in the entire gestalt. It is no coincidence that Nico holds an advanced degree in philosophy of language as well as music, for he brings to his music the same intellectual, technical, and logical rigor required of a contemporary philosopher. In so doing, he creates an inimitable musical language, and listeners will be lucky to follow his musical voice as it continues to develop.

The music of the Nico Soffiato Quartet travels through several musical trajectories that simultaneously comforts and challenges any listener. While its roots are strongly grounded in the jazz tradition, its routes move in the compositional direction of complex rhythmic and harmonic structures, creating a melodic soundscape that is intentionally in flux with every groove.

Kotorino

Oh the end of Monkey Town, what is a person to do? Get everyone together and play all the songs you know with all you got.

Kotorino will play their special cocktail of tangled waltzes, dub Americana, torqued Tango, and Satie swing, for the very last time at Monkey Town.

Come on down, warm your bones by the tripartite fires of culture, expression and gratitude.

For more information:
http://www.myspace.com/paradigmrefrain
http://www.myspace.com/nico.soffiato 
http://www.kotorino.com
http://www.myspace.com/kotorino