"Chris Pitsiokos (b. 1990) is a saxophonist, composer, and improviser. His music combines the intensity and immediacy of extreme rock forms and noise with the lyricism and forward propulsion of jazz and the abstract detail of contemporary classical composers Iannis Xenakis and Helmut Lachenmann. Chris has had the opportunity to perform/collaborate with Lydia Lunch, Tyshawn Sorey, Peter Evans, Kevin Shea, Brian Chase, Henry Kaiser, Mick Barr, Marc Edwards, Brandon Seabrook, Paul Lytton, Tim Dahl, Philip White, Guerilla Toss, C. Spencer Yeh, Ikue Mori, Nate Wooley and Weasel Walter. Chris has performed throughout Europe, Japan, Australia, and the US. His records can be found on Clean Feed, New Atlantis, One Hand Records, Carrier Records, Ug Explode, and his own imprint, Eleatic Records. In addition to performing and composing music, Chris was a long time DJ at WKCR-FM and has been producing concerts in Brooklyn and Manhattan for four years."

"Javier Areal Vélez (Buenos Aires, 1985) is a composer, improviser and curator, who performs mostly on electric guitar, with or without objects stuffed between its strings. His musical approach relies heavily on a primal technique that emphasizes timbre and rhythm, avoiding traditional forms in favor of intensity and dynamic contrast. The physicality of his interactions with the guitar create estranged sonic entities that evolve haphazardly outside of specific genres.

After completing studies of Electroacoustic Composition at the National University of Quilmes, Javier pursued a fruitful career in experimental music as a soloist, band leader and through collaborations with artists such as Akira Sakata, Paal Nielsen-Love, Chris Pitsiokos, Audrey Chen, Brian Chase, Shayna Dunkelman, Nicola Hein, Axel Dörner, Ryoko Ono, Richard Scott, Andrew Drury, Jorge Espinal, Jack Wright and Violeta García.

Javier's main group is CALATO (active since 2010), an experimental improvisation and composition quartet consisting of two wildly attacked prepared electric guitars, a drum set, a sampler and an amplified voice that makes all kinds of strange noises but rarely actually sings. CALATO has performed widely in Argentina's most renowned venues and has toured Uruguay (2014), Brazil (2016, and International Experimental Music Festival 2017), Peru (Festival Integraciones, 2018) and Colombia (2019). CALATO has also commissioned and premiered works by renowned Argentinian composers (Federico Barabino, Lucio Capece, Cecilia Castro, Adriana de los Santos, Fernando Manassero, Nicolás Varchausky, Leonello Zambón and Zypce) and from avant-jazz American composer Chris Pitsiokos.

Other commitments have included performing and composing on noise/postpunk trio COSO (2009-2015) and on bizarre experimental pop band El Helicóptero (2013-2018), as well as being a founding member of Buenos Aires' Improvisers Orchestra (2010-2011).

In the last couple of years, Javier has also focused intensely on solo performance, with three different setups: LOUD prepared electric guitar; duo consisting of prepared electric guitar and a laptop running a bad-tempered custom MAX/MSP patch that interacts using samples from other musicians; and an electronic set on Elektron Octatrack.

Over the last decade, Javier has toured extensively across South and North America, Europe and Japan. He has been invited to the French New Music Focus (Strasbourg, 2019), the Arts Delegates Program of the British Council (London, 2018), and has attended residencies at the Experimental Center of Teatro Argentino (La Plata, 2018), Centro de Investigaciones Artísticas (Buenos Aires, 2013) and Art Omi (New York, 2012).

His music can be found on a dozen international labels such as HatHut (Switzerland), Buh Records (Peru), Stereo-Neg & Geweih Ritual Documents (USA), Audition Records (Mexico), El Silencio (Chile), Jardinista! and PSH Ediziones (Arg).

Javier is the founder and director of RUIDO, an ongoing music series which aims to present the foremost experimental artists of diverse styles from all over the world for the first time in Argentina, connecting them with local musicians and audiences through a network of concerts, workshops and masterclasses. RUIDO has produced the first visits of Xiu Xiu, Bill Orcutt, Jeremy Gara, Los Pirañas, Julien Desprez and Mark Fell. In 2020, RUIDO has teamed up with experimental label TVL REC to produce STREAMING FEST, an international online festival of experimental music. The series has hosted home presentations by more than 100 artists from all over the world.

Javier's plans for 2020-2021 include the release of his first solo guitar album (Nefarious Industries, USA), and four releases by CALATO: JOHN CAGE'S VARIATIONS (HatHut, Switzerland); CALATO + VientoX (Vestibular Records, USA), CALATO + 8 COMPOSERS and CALATO x CALATO."

"Kevin Murray is a NYC-based drummer, improvisor, and organizer. He has worked with Joe Morris, T.J. Borden, William Winant, Eddie Gale, Arrington de Dionyso, Peter Kuhn, Ava Mendoza, Rent Romus, Dave Sewelson, Cooper-Moore, Nicole Mitchell, Jackson Krall, Chris Pitsiokos, Elinor Speirs, and others. Frequent collaborators include William Parker, gabby fluke-mogul, Tom Weeks, James McKain, Drew Wesely, Aaron Rubinstein, Kaelen Ghandhi, as well as Elaine the Singer, a side project of math-rock duo Floral that will be releasing their debut LP in 2020."