Experimental Sound Studio

Experimental Sound Studio ESS is a non-profit, artist-run organization focused on sound in all its exploratory cultural manifes November is Membership Month!

Join at https://ess.org/donate. Experimental Sound Studio is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization dedicated to artistic evolution and the creative exploration of sound. As an international hub for sonic experimentation, ESS nurtures artists, heralds new works, and builds a broad, supportive community of makers, enthusiasts, and creative partners through preservation, production, presentation, and education.

Quick announcement.Due to forces beyond our control, tonight’s event with Alba Sonic Arts Resident, Sarah Lutkenhaus (),...
08/20/2025

Quick announcement.

Due to forces beyond our control, tonight’s event with Alba Sonic Arts Resident, Sarah Lutkenhaus (), and special guest Carol Genetti () has been postponed.

Sarah has spent the last several weeks exploring the Creative Audio Archive, tracing several sonic lineages to better understand Chicago.

We look forward to presenting their findings soon.

Stay tuned for the rescheduled event.

Sunday marked our final OPTION concert of the 2025 season. BCMC, the duo of Cooper Crain and Bill MacKay, brought their ...
08/19/2025

Sunday marked our final OPTION concert of the 2025 season. BCMC, the duo of Cooper Crain and Bill MacKay, brought their luscious chromatic decelerations to the garden, marking the perfect conclusion to an amazing season of concerts.

Huge thanks to BCMC for providing the sunsetting sounds and to co-curator Andrew Clinkman () for the thoughtful discussion that followed.

OPTION, ESS’s flagship performance series, strives to support and connect contemporary artists working across the spectrum of exploratory sound. The series is curated by Andrew Clinkman, Lily Finnegan, and Dorothy Carlos and is a highlight of the summer.

OPTION returns in 2026, but there is plenty of ESS activity to enjoy until then. Stay plugged in.

☀️

This event and others are supported through grassroots fundraising and foundation support. Consider supporting ESS today.

ESS and Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW) are excited to share the Tatsu Aoki Collection, the latest addition to the Cre...
08/18/2025

ESS and Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW) are excited to share the Tatsu Aoki Collection, the latest addition to the Creative Audio Archive. The collection contains over 60 hours of digitized material, much of it recorded live at Chicago’s legendary Velvet Lounge.

Documenting performances by the trio of Tatsu Aoki, Fred Anderson, and Hamid Drake, along with guest artists like Jeff Parker (and many more), these recordings capture a pivotal moment in the evolution of jazz in Chicago.

22 tapes are available to stream, and we’re adding more every day.

Explore the Tatsu Aoki Collection at ess.org/caa.

Featured:
TA-026
Fred Anderson, Hamid Drake, Tatsu Aoki, Jeff Parker
Velvet Lounge, 3-27-99
Copied from original Sony DAT, 44.1 KHZ

Partnering with collection owner AIRMW, ESS is proud to facilitate access through digitizing and hosting of this important collection. This work is funded in part by the Foundation.


Last week at the Option series, DoYeon Kim performed Silk Echoes Beneath the Light, an improvisation for 12-string gayag...
08/15/2025

Last week at the Option series, DoYeon Kim performed Silk Echoes Beneath the Light, an improvisation for 12-string gayageum, followed by a conversation with Andrew Clinkman. Here are some photos from the afternoon.

This Sunday is the last concert of the season, featuring BCMC (Bill Mackay & Cooper Crain).

See you there!

Join us for an evening exploring the ESS’s Creative Audio Archives through conversation and performance.As part of her A...
08/14/2025

Join us for an evening exploring the ESS’s Creative Audio Archives through conversation and performance.
As part of her Alba residency, Sarah Lutkenhaus shares discoveries from her time spent in the ESS archives, tracing sonic lineages to better understand Chicago—its past, present, and future.

Guided by an interest in female vocalists, Sarah’s research led her into unexpected terrain: intimate recordings, lo-fi textures, and voice qualities that reveal the personal and political resonances of underground sound.

The evening begins with Sarah sharing some of her reflections on working within the archives—thinking about not only what’s preserved, but how and why, and the significance of listening as a method for historical and cultural inquiry—accompanied by excerpts of archival recordings. She’ll continue the conversation with Carol Genetti, a key figure in Chicago’s experimental music community and in the archive,

The night concludes with performances: first by Carol Genetti, then by Sarah Lutkenhaus, bringing archival inspiration into the present moment.

Free and open to the public.


Join us Monday, August 18 for the final day of Sonic Pavilion Festival 2025. The program features eight experimental com...
08/13/2025

Join us Monday, August 18 for the final day of Sonic Pavilion Festival 2025. The program features eight experimental compositions created for the the unique trellised speaker array at Jay Pritzker Pavilion in the heart of downtown Chicago.

This year’s festival features ten artists, each presenting work that draws from their diverse approaches to sound art and experimental music.

For the festival closing, artist Paige Alice Naylor will present a sonic intervention of their piece “Currents” that will feature a live choir led by Chris Wood.

Monday, August 18, 5-8pm

Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Millennium Park
201 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601

FREE and open to the public

Sonic Pavilion Festival 2025 artists:

Angel Bat Dawid & Eyeisha Sistrunk
Anna Friz & Jeff Kolar
David Bird
Glenn Kotche
Myles Emmons
Paige Alice Naylor
Saapato
Zouning Anne Liao

Link in bio for descriptions of each sound work and playback schedule.

Sonic Pavilion Festival is developed by Experimental Sound Studio and is presented by the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE). This event is supported by the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.



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This Sunday at 3! BCMC are evolving as a band, currently writing new material, preparing their next recording, and disco...
08/13/2025

This Sunday at 3!

BCMC are evolving as a band, currently writing new material, preparing their next recording, and discovering new ways of presenting work which is both composed and improvisational. This concert will visit where they’ve been and where they’re going.

This performance and interview are presented in the ESS garden, and will premiere online on ESS’s YouTube. This event is free and open to the public. Walk-ins welcome; reservations recommended.

The OPTION series is curated by Andrew Clinkman, Lily Finnegan, and Dorothy Carlos.

ABOUT BCMC
BCMC, featuring Cooper Crain and Bill MacKay, unite to create provocative epilogues, warm avant-garde noir, and fiery over-driven jams to recall life’s sunnier and stranger days. Crain’s organ and synths mix with MacKay’s guitars as they draw songs from elegiac themes and spontaneous statements that are equal parts east-west, deep space, avant-rock, raga, fugue, field recording, blues and beyond

ABOUT OPTION
OPTION is an ongoing music salon curated by Chicago musicians Andrew Clinkman, Lily Finnegan, and Dorothy Carlos and presented by Experimental Sound Studio. Its programming explores contemporary perspectives on improvisation and composition in a ‘salon’ format, enabling local, national, and international artists to publicly discuss their practice and ideas as well as perform.

Photos from Lula Asplund’s performance for the Option series on August 3. Thanks to everyone who joined us! Next Sunday ...
08/12/2025

Photos from Lula Asplund’s performance for the Option series on August 3.

Thanks to everyone who joined us!

Next Sunday is the last concert of the season, featuring BCMC (Bill Mackay & Cooper Crain)

Angel Bat Dawid & Eyeisha Sistrunk weave sonic narrative into an immersive, multi-layered soundscape that embodies the e...
08/08/2025

Angel Bat Dawid & Eyeisha Sistrunk weave sonic narrative into an immersive, multi-layered soundscape that embodies the essence of Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” exploring the juxtaposition of confinement and freedom, echoing the architecture’s cage-like design and the ecological landscape of the Pavilion’s lawn.

This project also highlights the importance of mentorship in supporting emerging Black sound artists as Composer/Sound Artist Angel Bat Dawid will mentor high school graduate Eyeisha Sistrunk in sound design, recording, and composition. The collaboration promotes Black women’s representation in electronic arts.

Sonic Pavilion Festival
Featuring eight commissioned compositions for 24-channels
August 9, 1-4pm
August 18, 5-8pm
The Great Lawn at Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, Chicago
FREE

Visit ess.org to see the full artist line-up.

Sonic Pavilion Festival is developed by Experimental Sound Studio and is presented by the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE). This event is supported by the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.




Drawing inspiration from the Chicago’s industrial past and its culture of mechanical ingenuity, David Bird’s ‘Aleatoric ...
08/08/2025

Drawing inspiration from the Chicago’s industrial past and its culture of mechanical ingenuity, David Bird’s ‘Aleatoric Tilt’ transforms the Pavilion’s overhead loudspeaker array into an enormous, kinetic sound field, an imagined pinball machine, toy box, and circuit board all at once.

This piece places the audience at the center of these systems, allowing them to witness the rolling of cascading marbles, spinning reels, connections of electrical circuits, and items cycling and ricocheting across the spatial field.

Sonic Pavilion Festival
Featuring eight commissioned compositions for 24-channels
August 9, 1-4pm
August 18, 5-8pm
The Great Lawn at Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, Chicago
FREE

Visit ess.org to see the full artist line-up.

Sonic Pavilion Festival is developed by Experimental Sound Studio and is presented by the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE). This event is supported by the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.



Inspired by the visceral force and delicate granular detail of dust storms, Zouning Anne Liao captures their paradoxical...
08/07/2025

Inspired by the visceral force and delicate granular detail of dust storms, Zouning Anne Liao captures their paradoxical nature in her composition Dust Storms: violent yet intricate, monumental yet ephemeral.

Layers of turbulence spiral and fracture, then are swept away by wild, unpredictable winds. Dust Storm unfolds the distant, forgotten journey of dust grains—eroded sands shaped by ocean waves along shorelines, particles lifted from the Sahara and carried across continents by shifting weather systems. These restless grains are sculpted by water, heat, and time before converging into a fierce and fleeting atmospheric tempest.

Sonic Pavilion Festival
Featuring eight commissioned compositions for 24-channels
August 9, 1-4pm
August 18, 5-8pm
The Great Lawn at Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, Chicago
FREE

Visit ess.org to see the full artist line-up.

Sonic Pavilion Festival is developed by Experimental Sound Studio and is presented by the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE). This event is supported by the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.


This Sunday!! DoYeon Kim performs “Silk Echoes Beneath the Light,” an improvisational work that explores the intricate r...
08/06/2025

This Sunday!!

DoYeon Kim performs “Silk Echoes Beneath the Light,” an improvisational work that explores the intricate resonance of the 12-string gayageum, weaving through light and space. The performance illuminates the complex interplay between novelty and familiarity, silence and sound, tradition and innovation, where traditional Korean music, contemporary composition, and spontaneous expression converge.

The gayageum’s silk strings invite a tactile experience—each note resonates like a living entity, shifting and entangling like silk touched by light, revealing a spectrum of hues and textures. The performance emphasizes the delicate details felt through the fingertips and the profound resonance of silk, guiding the audience to experience this deep sonic landscape together.

This performance and interview are presented in the ESS garden, and will premiere online on ESS’s YouTube. This event is free and open to the public. Walk-ins welcome; reservations recommended.

The OPTION series is curated by Andrew Clinkman, Lily Finnegan, and Dorothy Carlos.

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