Reign of Ferns
Ryan J Raffa is an interdisciplinary artist who explores personal geographies and transformation through improvisation. A classically-trained percussionist, they have exhibited work and performed across the US and Asia, including at CultureHub/La MaMa Galleria, Aronson Gallery, Temp Art Space, Mozilla, SIGGRAPH, the ACM Conference on Creativity and Cognition at the High Museum, Critical Themes at SVA, Tobira Records, CBGB, KEXP, and NPR. In addition to performing, lecturing and providing student and faculty workshops internationally, Raffa co-authored the Design and Technology undergraduate program and the Creative Technology minor at Parsons School of Design.
Recent solo works include the albums 4 e and a (Group Tightener) and We Have Always Existed (Aural Canyon). Collaborative projects include On Thin Air (Muzan Editions) with Nico Rosenberg and Mirrored Hope (Aural Canyon) and Out Beyond Is (Longform Editions) as Reign of Ferns with Andrew Weathers.
Ryan currently resides in Taipei, Taiwan with their family.
Andrew Weathers (1988) is a composer, improviser, and intermedia artist based in the Front Range region of Colorado. His work is equally concerned with the disjunction of duration and place, as well as improvisation’s prospect as a vessel of discovery and collective practice. His projects and performances span the idioms of field recording, prepared guitar, surrealist soundscape, and minimalist composition rooted in repetition and drone. Apart from his longtime commitment to collaboration alongside a wide swath of figures inhabiting the sonic underground, Weathers was also founder and operator of Full Spectrum Records. Founded in his home state of North Carolina in 2008, the label released the works of sundry sound artists and experimental musicians, eventually moving its operations to the Llano Estacado region of northwestern Texas before reaching a conscious conclusion in 2024. On top of frequent credits as a mixing and mastering engineer, he has also produced various projects for Other Minds Records and Rural Situationism.
Lorna Dune
Lorna Dune is an experimental electronic musician, keyboardist, producer and sound designer. Known for her innovative fusion of electronic soundscapes and contemporary classical roots, her music career spans ambient, orchestral, electronic dance and experimental realms.
Her newest album Sequential Dreaming is set to be released 9/16 on the Mystery Circles label. She explores zen arpeggios, edges of noise, earthy polyrhythms, cosmic synthesis, experimental sound design and trance meditation. Some pieces were written for modern dance, others are explorations of analog synthesizers, piano, nature samples, tape loops, trip hop, kosmische, and musique concrète.
Mahlmeister / Schoenecker
Jim and Donny will be performing as a duo playing the classic modular synthesizers of Serge and Buchla respectively.
Donny is an Oak Park based musician and designer with a focus on improvised music using modular synthesizers, guitar, lap steel and other electronic processing. His recent solo work encompasses elements of minimalist soundscapes intersected with abstract guestural movements. In addition to his solo work he currently collaborates with Jamie Levinson and Theo Katsaounis as The Shape Of. Prior to moving to Oak Park, Donny had been a long-standing member of the Chicago and Midwest rock and improvised scenes, working with A Tundra, Judson Claiborne, Early Day Miners, Collections of Colonies of Bees, Toby Summerfield, Ryan Packard, Jamie Branch, Catherine Young and Bill McKay.
With a musical history rooted in experimental electronics, minimalism and techno, Jim has now found himself deep into Buchla. Drawn to the incredible sound and superior user interface, he started with a Music Easel and now is working with full 100 and 200 Series systems. In addition to his solo work, Jim had performed / recorded with: Sample and Fold Collections of Colonies of Bees, Volcano Choir, Bon Iver, Dartanjal, Jon Mueller, Marcus Schmickler, Bhob Rainey and James Plotkin among others and had released music on: Zod, Toxic Recordings, Jagjaguwar, Nobody Owns Records, Table of the Elements, Addict Records, Topscore USA and Crouton Records
Wavefiler
Wavefiler creates ambient electronic music using synthesizer hardware, tape recorders, and computer-aided composition. The project focuses on sonic explorations that range from tape-driven textures to evolving melodic figures, enhanced by shifting timbral effects. With a keen interest in sound design for meditation and healing, Wavefiler’s music invites listeners into immersive, reflective soundscapes.
In 2024, Wavefiler released Farads on Mystery Circles. Farads explores the concept of capacitance—storing and releasing energy—through dynamic sound design, blending the warmth of analog tape with digital precision. The album’s intricate interplay of tension and release offers listeners a rich, meditative auditory experience.
