With an ethos rooted in exploration, STS9 has been a sonic pioneer for two decades. Using electronic and acoustic means, the instrumental five-piece—comprised of Hunter Brown (guitar/keys), Jeffree Lerner (percussion), David Phipps (keyboards), Zach Velmer (drums), and Alana Rocklin (bass)—channels the primordial and celestial, producing a cutting-edge sound that has forged a path for multiple generations of electronic dance music. STS9’s innate sense of innovation is grounded by the group’s desire to forge universal connections. Seamlessly integrating their exploratory and improvisation-based music with a fully immersive light show, each performance is a transcendent celebration of humanity. The group continues to find ways to build community, consistently spearheading charitable efforts and founding its own independent record label, 1320 Records. Having released twelve albums in the last twenty years, STS9’s legacy unfolds into the future. The group has been honored with induction into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame and earns headlining slots at countless music festivals across the country. With the help of the group’s dedicated fanbase, STS9 has performed countless shows nationwide and consistently sells out legendary venues like Red Rocks Amphitheater.
Jeff Coffin
Jeff Coffin is a saxophonist and composer who has earned international acclaim for his work with Dave Matthews Band and Béla Fleck & the Flecktones, as well as his 23+ solo projects. Coffin’s approach to the saxophone is marked by a fearless sense of exploration, fusing elements of jazz, funk, world music, and rock into a style that is uniquely his own.
A 3x Grammy Award winner, Coffin has toured the world, captivating audiences with his powerful, emotive playing. In addition to his work as a performer, Coffin is deeply committed to music education, teaching at Vanderbilt University and presenting well over 300 workshops and clinics around the globe. He is also the founder of the independent record label Ear Up Records and co-founder of AfricaNashville - which promotes cross cultural relationships between celebrated African and American artists in Nashville, TN. Coffin’s passion for sharing knowledge has made him a respected mentor to aspiring musicians everywhere.
On October 19, 2024, Dave Matthews Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - Jeff is one of a handful of musicians to attain this incredible musical honor!
Jeff is a Yamaha Performing Artist & Clinician, a Boston Sax Shop Ambassador, & a JodyJazz Artist.
lespecial
Lespecial is redefining the term “power trio”. The multi-instrumentalists from Connecticut continue to push the boundaries of what a three-piece band is capable of both live and in the studio ahead of their latest album, “Odd Times”. The band’s signature blend of “heavy future groove” combines headbanging metal riffage and surgical rhythmic precision with bone shaking 808s, sub synths and ethereal vocal stylings for a dance floor that welcomes moshing, dancing and hip swaying alike. Listeners are taken on ajourney to the musical netherworld through esoteric soundscapes punctuated by raw, primal power.
Odd Times, lespecial’s darkest and heaviest record to date, is an enigmatic and compelling musical project that explores the ever-changing nature of time amidst isolation. With heavy riffs, tribal drumming, and hints of levity, it's a captivating journey crafted in collaboration with Havok's David Sanchez. An intriguing blend of old-school metal and modern djent-inspired riffage awaits in this haunting sonic experience
The Nth Power
The Nth Power believes in the healing power of music. Featuring guitarist Nick Cassarino, bassist Nate Edgar and drummer Nikki Glaspie, the seasoned trio delivers a transcendent blend of soul, funk, rock and rhythm and blues. Multi-part vocal harmonies and elevated musicianship inspires audiences to dance, groove, make love or just stand there with goose bumps.
The Nth Power’s electric live performances have been flooring audiences ever since the group first aligned in New Orleans during Jazz Fest. After the band’s breakout 2013 EP, Basic Minimum Skills Test, The Nth Power went on to release two acclaimed studio albums and two live albums – garnering national coverage in Relix, Modern Drummer, Huffington Post, Glide, Consequence, Okayplayer, Paste and Sirius XM Radio.
The trio’s individual music credentials include collaborating with artists like Beyonce, Snarky Puppy, Maceo Parker, Dumpstaphunk, Big Daddy Kane and John Brown's Body. “It’s my dream team,” said bandleader and drummer Glaspie. “Each one of us is a songwriter, so when we get together, everything becomes that much stronger. We’re going as far as you can go on the planet Earth and playing music.”
-
The Nth Power's inspirational sets have floored audiences at music festivals like Electric Forest, High Sierra, Peachfest, North Coast Music Festival and Hulaween. They maintain New Orleans as their spiritual home, and the celebratory essence of that city’s music culture is palpable in each performance. Simply put, there is something pretty magical happening in this band, and they’re only just getting started.
Richard Devine
Richard Devine is responsible for some of the most complex, technologically advanced music to come out of the techno and IDM scenes. Influenced by musique concrete and industrial as well as electro and hip-hop, his sonic constructions are often dense and overwhelming, ranging from the hallucinatory cinematic soundscapes of 2001's Aleamapper to the breakcore-esque organized chaos of 2005's Cautella. While known throughout the 2000s for pushing the limits of digital signal processing, composing, and performing using several laptops simultaneously, Devine spent much of the 2010s building an overwhelmingly large modular synthesizer system, which he used to create the 2018 full-length Sort\Lave. In addition to his own compositions, the Atlanta-based producer has also established a highly successful career as a sound designer, having developed sound patches for synthesizers and music-making software from companies such as Moog, Korg, and Native Instruments, in addition to extensive work for film, commercials, and consumer products. In 2018 he designed sounds for Jaguar's first all-electric vehicle the i-Pace and also designed all the 360 audio sound for Google's Daydream and Virtual reality Earth environments.
-
Initially trained in classical piano and guitar, Devine began making electronic music using both computers and analog synthesizers when he was in high school. His earliest release, 1995's Sculpt, was a triple-12" of hard-hitting techno tracks. The following year, he released Polymorphic EP on Six Sixty Six Limited, an imprint of the influential Midwest hardcore techno label Drop Bass Network. Somewhat surprisingly (in retrospect), Devine also shared a split 12" EP with deep house act Wamdue Kids that year. Devine's sound changed drastically with the release of Richard Coleman Devine, an EP of angular, distorted electro-techno which appeared on Miami's Schematic label in 1997. Following remixes for East Flatbush Project and Phoenecia, Devine's profile increased when his remix of Aphex Twin's "Come to Daddy" appeared on the Warp 10+3 Remixes compilation in 1999. A year later, Lipswitch was co-released by Warp and Schematic.
Devine continued to appear on Schematic compilations and release albums such as 2001's musique concrete-inspired Aleamapper and 2003's more rhythmic Asect:Dsect. Devine's most intense recording to date, Cautella, appeared on the prolific but short-lived Canadian label Sublight in 2005. Divine Edgar, a split EP with Jimmy Edgar, was issued by Detroit Underground in 2008. Four years later, the label released Devine's full-length Risp. Following several years of sound design work and developing his synth set-up, Devine returned in 2018 with Sort\Lave, his first album to be entirely composed on modular synthesizers. The full-length appeared on Timesig, an imprint run by fellow modular enthusiast Aaron Funk (Venetian Snares).
For 2019 Richard is working on a new live modular show, that pushes the envelope of abstract electronic music to its fullest utilizing the latest eurorack technology.
Toubab Krewe
Some music cannot be found on a map or within iTunes categories. Some music is so original it seems snatched from the great, invisible substrata that runs below all human activity, a sound aching to be born without a flag or fixed allegiance – free, questing, overflowing with immediate, tangible life. This is the music of Toubab Krewe, the vibrant Asheville, NC-based instrumental powerhouse that creates a sonic Pangaea that lustily swirls together rock, African traditions, jam sensibilities, international folk strains and more. While nearly impossible to put into any box, it takes only a few moments to realize in a very palpable way that one is face-to-face with a true original who recognizes no borders in a march towards a muscular, original, globally switched-on sound.
"a new standard for fusions of rock n' roll and West African music." - Afropop Worldwide
"Their music avoids cliché with authentic extrapolations of traditional Manding beats, percussion, and jam-band flare." - The New Yorker
-
Formed in 2005, Toubab Krewe has tenaciously honed their craft through relentless touring and a fierce dedication to carving out something they can truly call their own. The fruits of this hard work can be heard on their latest release, STYLO, (March 2nd, 2018). What Justin Perkins (kora, kamelngoni, guitar, percussion), Terrence Houston (drumset), Drew Heller (guitar, organ), Justin Kimmel (bass, keys), and Luke Quaranta (djembe, dunun, sangban, kenkeni, kryn, karenye) have wrought on STYLO reflects the many miles and musical journeys that have transpired since their last studio album, TK2.
This is a band that actively draws inspiration from whatever source floats into their purview, something they've exhibited in their decade and a half of heavy gigging, including regular appearances at major U.S. festivals like Bonnaroo, High Sierra, Electric Forest, Wakarusa, Hulaween, and abroad at such legendary gatherings as the Festival In The Desert in Essakane, Mali, Shanghai World Music Festival, and Jam Cruise. Whether on their own or collaborating with luminaries like the Last Poets' Umar Bin Hassan, Uncle Earl's Rayna Gellert, or Weedie Braimah, Toubab Krewe has already earned the attention and respect of a broad musical community.
Toubab carries echoes of African greats like Ali Farka Toure, Orchestra Baobab and Salif Keita, no doubt picked up during the group's travels to study and live in Guinea, Ivory Coast and Mali. But what truly differentiates Toubab Krewe from other Statesiders inspired by African music is how they innovate on what they've learned instead of simply recreating tradition. Toubab Krewe carves out a new trail honoring the African originators they admire by making something alive and contemporary.‘Toubab Krewe’s take on African music is about as good as it gets without buying a plane ticket’ - Jon Pareles, New York Times
"a futuristic, psychedelic, neo-griot frenzy." - Village Voice
"...expertly meshed surf guitar with Malian rhythmic patterns, a Dick Dale moves-to-Timbuktu experiment in Afro-California fusion." - The Boston Herald