Chris Madak

In his first Chicago performance since 2011, Chris Madak presents a concert of new algorithmic and systems-based pieces for synthesizer, computer and solo improviser (aka Chris).

Chris Madak (b.1983, Massilon, Ohio) is a musician and electroacoustic composer active in Cleveland and Philadelphia, best known for his work as Bee Mask (2004-present). His work is grounded in private systems and oblique strategies, and, he says, characterized by a contrarian emphasis on preserving and extending the countercultural and non-institutional heritage of experimental music, as well as by a non-dogmatic embrace of its entire technical vocabulary, from handmade electronics and percussion to analog synthesis, concrète manipulations on tape and samplers, prepared guitar and piano, and digital signal processing. Madak’s music is rooted in rituals of listening and the convivial experience of phonographic sound in space, from hi-fi’s to sound systems, motivated by an idea of music as studio art, distinct from what he believes are the arid textual formulas of sound art, and of performance as an opening of the experimental space of the studio onto the world.

He has released several acclaimed LPs on the Spectrum Spools imprint of Editions Mego and published editions of his and others’ work through his own Deception Island (2005-2011) and Pear Growers Series (2013-present) labels. Madak has performed throughout North America, Australia, Europe and Japan at events including Unsound, Labyrinth, and Suoni per el Popolo, completing commissioned works dedicated to John Cage and the Sonic Arts Union, and collaborating on studio, remix and performance projects with artists including Donato Dozzy, Surgeon, Charles Cohen, Outer Space, Autre Ne Veut, Laraaji and Oneohtrix Point Never.

Presented in partnership with the Graham Foundation