Au + Mofongo

Tuesday, August 12
Admission: $10, $10 minimum
Showtimes: 8 and 10:30pm
reservations are recommended

Au
"Few bands are as fluid in personnel as Portland's Au. At its core, Au is the work of one Luke Wyland, the singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and mad scientist of the group. Wyland is the lone musician credited in all nine tracks on Au's second full-length album Verbs. Yet Au is, in fact, an actual band, with Jonathan Sielaff, Mark Kaylor and Becky Dawson playing regular roles, and various other musicians filling in where necessary. Yet that rotating cast of auxiliary musicians can swell up to double digit numbers, as on "All My Friends," in which Wyland seems to have literally invited all of his friends to join in on a group dubbed `The PDX Ecstatic Singers.' In this sense, it's easy to see where Au begins (Luke Wyland), but where it ends is a much more nebulous concept.

Au is a strange and flexible creature that breathes beautiful sounds and seems to only grow and become stronger as time stretches on."
— treblezine

http://www.myspace.com/peaofthesea

Mofongo

In his Mofongo project, José Ayala draws upon a wide range of influences and expertise to craft physically compelling, mentally invigorating sonic worlds with razor-sharp conceptual and technical precision.

Ayala is a classically trained guitarist and composer, a native of Puerto Rico, a veteran of Jayuya, one of this country's most outrageous salsa bands, and former student of Boston improv gurus Ran Blake and Joe Maneiri. As Mofongo, he channels these years of intense study of numerous genres in to his live processed guitar work, creating a focused sound which reveals deep musical accomplishment and sensitivity without ever resorting to pastiche or fusion of the various elements of his musical background.