Hilton Als on Prince's Eyes, How Adderall Changed America, Sex with Neanderthals, New Fiction by Isle McElroy, Ordering Elements, and more.

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Building Closures Due to Flash Floods

Due to weather conditions, Pioneer Works is suspending open gallery hours for Friday, September 29. MHYSA's performance has been rescheduled for Sunday, October 1, with all tickets being transferred to the new date.

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Just Announced: Pioneer Works Names Mara Manus Chief Executive Officer

The Board of Directors of Pioneer Works is pleased to announce that Mara Manus, former Executive Director for New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), has been appointed as the organization’s new Chief Executive Officer. 

We are grateful for your engagement and support of Pioneer Works over the last year. Now through December 31st, we’re fundraising to meet our end of year goal and close out 2024.

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We're pleased to announce the first major renovation of Pioneer Works! To accommodate the first phase of our construction, we're temporarily relocating to 133 Imlay Street opening in Spring 2022.

Early Closure 5/10/23

Due to programming, Pioneer Works will be closed to the public on Wednesday, May 10. We will be open from Thursday through Sunday for the remainder of the week. Learn more and plan your visit 

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Born out of the Myspace-DIY culture of the mid-aughts, Brooklyn-based noise artist Dreamcrusher has been releasing heart-stoppingly dense and beautiful soundscapes with fervor since 2003. Their self-described NIHILIST QUEER REVOLT MUSIK transcends the internet and is best experienced immediately and with open and mind and body. On July 7th, 2022, Dreamcrusher performed alongside Drew McDowall and Tval in a celebration of the life and legacy of Genesis Breyer-P-Orridge at Pioneer Works' Red Hook Labs. Experience the event in this video captured by Sean Hanley and Kristie Chua, and edited by Gabe Rubin. ♦

Born out of the Myspace-DIY culture of the mid-aughts, Dreamcrusher has been releasing heart-stoppingly dense and beautiful soundscapes with fervor since 2003. Their self-described NIHILIST QUEER REVOLT MUSIK transcends the internet and is best experienced immediately and with open and mind and body. On July 7th, 2022, Brooklyn-based noise artist Dreamcrusher performed alongside Drew McDowall and Tval in a celebration of the life and legacy of Genesis Breyer-P-Orridge at Pioneer Works' Red Hook Labs. Experience the event in this video captured by Sean Hanley and Kristie Chua, and edited by Gabe Rubin.

Dreamcrusher

Dreamcrusher | Pioneer Live | Warning - Photosensitivity/Seizures

Pioneer Live features rare and archival footage of live performances at Pioneer Works.

L’Rain is the musical project of multi-instrumentalist, composer, performer, and curator Taja Cheek. Growing up in Brooklyn, Cheek found her feet at the center of a vibrant DIY community in the first half of the 2010s, playing noise music and hosting concerts in her basement with the likes of Dreamcrusher and TV On The Radio’s Kyp Malone. Fascinated by the collisions of hi- and lo-fi technology, she teased out crunched aesthetics from the equipment that was available to her, playing with home-spun recording approaches alongside professional techniques on her self-titled 2017 debut album L’Rain, which has been described as a form of “psychic collage.” Her second album Fatigue, released in 2021, was met by much acclaim, propelling L’Rain towards a new audience while cementing Cheek’s place within the experimental and more institutional art canon. Working alongside Andrew Lappin and Ben Chapoteau-Katz, her 2023 record I Killed Your Dog over-writes themes of grief and identity to consider what it means to hurt the people you love most. At Pioneer Works on October 20, 2023, L’Rain performed "5 to 8 Hours a Day (WWwaG)" from 

At Pioneer Works on October 20, 2023, L’Rain performed "5 to 8 Hours a Day (WWwaG)" from I Killed Your Dog, as well as "Two Face" and “Find It” from her album Fatigue. 

L'Rain | Pioneer Live

In December of 2023, aja monet brought her Why My Love tour to the PW Main Hall for a night of poetry, music, and storytelling. A community organizer, surrealist blues poet, and teacher, monet moves between mediums, and considers her work to be the process rather than some point of arrival. Her endgame is liberation, and her poems, music, and art serve as scribe of that struggle. She cut her teeth within the walls of the legendary Nuyorican Poets Café, where she won the title of Grand Slam Champion in 2007 at age 19, making her the youngest Grand Slam Champion in the venue’s history. In her 2017 poetry collection, she writes, “i owe my life / to the woman / who stopped my mother / on the b56 / on her way / to the abortion clinic / and told her / you have a poet coming.” Monet’s debut album, 

, traverses the questions of Black resistance, love, and the inexhaustible quest for joy. ♦

A community organizer, surrealist blues poet, and teacher, aja monet moves between mediums, and considers her work to be the process rather than some point of arrival. Her endgame is liberation, and her poems, music, and art serve as scribe of that struggle.

aja monet | Pioneer Live

OM is a three-piece experimental doom metal band hailing from San Francisco, California. Formed in 2003 by the rhythm section of Sleep, the group features Al Cisneros, Chris Hakius, and Tyler Trotter. Incorporating musical structures similar to Tibetan, Byzantine, and Ethiopian chanting, the band draws from a host of other influences such as psychedelic rock, Middle Eastern folk, dub, reggae, post-rock, and much more. Their very name derives from the Hindu concept of Om, referring to the natural vibration of the universe. ♦

Incorporating musical structures similar to Tibetan, Byzantine, and Ethiopian chanting, OM is a three-piece experimental doom metal band hailing from San Francisco, California.

OM | Pioneer Live

As NYC’s most transgressive and mysterious supergroup, Nu Jazz synthesizes a decade plus of six unique, yet naturally interconnected musical journeys. Their signature vast electronic soundscapes combine extraterrestrial vocal textures with an open, raw punk improvisation. Some members have spent years in New York City’s experimental electronic scene, while others have dedicated the bulk of their musical lives pursuing jazz. Despite disparate influences, all are bound by a profound appreciation for musical frontiers that have yet to be explored, creating a sound unbound by the limitations of genre. The artists constituting the collective Nu Jazz have performed all over New York City, the United States and the world with their respective groups such as Deli Girls, Murderpact, CGI Jesus, Beshken, WRENS, the Trap Music Orchestra, and The Beak Trio; sharing the stage with luminaries like jaimie branch, Jason Lindner, Tomoki Sanders, Leya, Poncili Creacíon, and many more. ♦

As NYC’s most transgressive and mysterious supergroup, Nu Jazz synthesizes a decade plus of six unique, yet naturally interconnected musical journeys. 

Nu Jazz | Pioneer Live

Caterina Barbieri is an Italian composer who explores themes related to machine intelligence and object-oriented perception in sound. Her most recent album, 

, featured "an instrumental set of controlled abandon and rapturous minimalism," as 

 wrote, in which "the Italian synthesizer wizard" extended her use of computation and complex sequencing techniques to explore the artifacts of human perception and trigger temporal hallucinations. Barbieri investigates the polyphonic and polyrhythmic potential of sequencers to draw severe, complex geometries in time and space. At Pioneer Works on March 28, 2023, Barbieri performed her track "At Your Gamut," from her 2022 album 

Caterina Barbieri is an Italian composer who explores themes related to machine intelligence and object-oriented perception in sound.

Caterina Barbieri | Pioneer Live

The beguiling melodies of LEYA occupy a space between many worlds—mixing Medieval sensibilities with modern folk, classical, and pop. The duo is composed of harpist Marilu Donovan, who uses a unique tuning system, and vocalist/violinist Adam Markiewicz, who blends operatic singing in multiple languages with warm string tones. Their talents culminate in a sound that is instantly recognizable in its uneasy otherworldliness. Prominent collaborators of theirs include Eartheater, Brooke Candy, Actress, Liturgy, Okay Kaya, Julie Byrne, and many others. Their catalog spans two albums, a collaborative mixtape, major fashion house commissions, and much more. ♦

The beguiling melodies of LEYA occupy a space between many worlds—mixing Medieval sensibilities with modern folk, classical, and pop. The duo is comprised by harpist Marilu Donovan, who uses a unique tuning system, and vocalist/violinist Adam Markiewicz, who blends operatic singing in multiple languages with warm string tones.

LEYA | Pioneer Live

Characterized by slow tempos, heavy distortion, and environmental effects, the music and performances of SUNN O))) saturate their surroundings with monolithic soundscapes and immersive atmospheres. In December 2022, guitarists Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson, who founded the experimental metal band in Seattle in 1998, returned to the live aspect in its core, original raw form. The two performed as Shoshin (初心) Duo, captivating the audience with profound valve amplification, spectral harmonics, distortion, and volume. Witness a live experience of physical sound, fog, and glacial maximalism like no other. ♦

SUNN O)))'s Shoshin (初心) Duo

SUNN O))) | Pioneer Live

Hailing from the city of Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso, Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band are a formidable force within capital city Ouagadougou’s underground music scene. Baba Commandant, the band’s enigmatic lead singer (Mamadou Sanou) plays the ngoni, a six-stringed instrument used by traditional hunters of the Burkina Faso region. The group’s Afrobeat style fuses modernity and heritage with a sensibility steeped in the Mandingue traditions of their ancestral legacy. Their sound is influenced by the likes of Fela Kuti, King Sunny Adé, and Malian growler Moussa Doumbia. ♦

Hailing from the city of Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso, Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band are a formidable force within capital city Ouagadougou’s underground music scene. Baba Commandant, the band’s enigmatic lead singer (Mamadou Sanou) plays the ngoni, a six-stringed instrument used by traditional hunters of the Burkina Faso region. The group’s Afrobeat style fuses modernity and heritage with a sensibility steeped in the Mandingue traditions of their ancestral legacy. Their sound is influenced by the likes of Fela Kuti, King Sunny Adé, and Malian growler Moussa Doumbia.

Baba Commandant

Baba Commandant | Pioneer Live

The solo project of classically trained vocalist Kristin Hayter, Lingua Ignota translates to “unknown language” in Latin. Under this moniker, Hayter fearlessly addresses themes of violence, misogyny, and revenge through survivor anthems wherein her vocals range from a delicate soprano to harsh shrieking. Her recordings, including 2019's Caligula and 2021's Sinner Get Ready, are ambitious, bracing blends of opera, power electronics, avant-metal, and folk influences. Watch Hayter's mesmerizing performance of “Man Is Like A Spring Flower”—one of her last as Lingua Ignota—live at Pioneer Works. ♦

The solo project of classically trained vocalist Kristin Hayter, Lingua Ignota translates to “unknown language” in Latin. Under this moniker, Hayter fearlessly addresses themes of violence, misogyny, and revenge through survivor anthems wherein her vocals range from a delicate soprano to harsh shrieking. Her recordings, including 2019's Caligula and 2021's Sinner Get Ready, are ambitious, bracing blends of opera, power electronics, avant-metal, and folk influences. Watch Hayter's mesmerizing performance of “Man Is Like A Spring Flower”—one of her last as Lingua Ignota—live at Pioneer Works.

Lingua Ignota

Lingua Ignota | Pioneer Live

An artist who has refused to conform in music and in life, Drew McDowall’s works are sacraments to alterity. His meditative compositions are haunting and spiritual, melding intricate modular soundscapes with cut-up samples, and deconstructing sounds into their most basic shuddering structures and shapes. Growing up in the gangs of 1970s Scotland, McDowall sought aggressive self-expression in punk and found a home in Glasgow’s rich underground music community. After a stint with The Poems, a band he started with his then-wife Rose McDowall, he joined the ranks of UK avant-gardists Genesis P-Orridge, David Tibet, Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson, John Balance, and countless others who would come to define the industrial music's blossoming experimental vanguard. McDowall eventually collaborated with Psychic TV and became a full-time member of the cult outfit Coil, where his influence shaped the group's later output: exercises in magical practice and music-as-psychoactive effect. ♦

Former Psychic TV collaborator and member of the cult outfit Coil, Drew McDowall performs his haunting and meditative compositions in celebration of the exhibition BREYER P-ORRIDGE: We Are But One.

Drew McDowall

Drew McDowall | Pioneer Live

Nordra is the solo project of Brooklyn-based artist and former Pioneer Works Music Resident Monika Khot, who fronts the band Zen Mother and can be found on bass touring with Daughters. She creates her design of the future of pop using an incredibly intense mix of noise, electronic beats, her ethereal voice, and various live instruments such as a guitar and a pocket trumpet. Her sophomore album 

 is the soundtrack to a modern dance and, like her debut album, was released on the renowned Sige label by Aaron Turner (Isis / Mamiffer / Sumac) and Faith Coloccia (Mamiffer). Opening for black midi, Nordra performs "Transcendence 2" from Pylon III (2020). ♦

Former Pioneer Works Music Resident Nordra (Monika Khot) performs her vision of the future of pop—an incredibly intense mix of noise, electronic beats, her ethereal voice, and various live instruments—with "Transcendence 2" from her 2020 album "Pylon III."

Nordra

Nordra | Pioneer Live

Florist began as the friendship project of Emily Sprague, Rick Spataro, and Jonnie Baker in Upstate, NY. The three started making weird sounds on synths and guitars together as a way to relate, and grew close. Felix Walworth joined as a drummer and collaborator when Emily moved to New York City and continued writing songs with the moniker. 

, feels like the culmination of a decade-long journey; it is their fourth full-length album, but the first deserving of a self-titled designation. “We called it 

 because this is not just my songs with a backing band,” Sprague explains. “It’s a practice. It’s a collaboration. It’s our one life. These are my best friends and the music is the way that it is because of that.” ♦

Florist—the ambient folk band of Emily Sprague, Rick Spataro, Jonnie Baker, and Felix Walworth—performs "43" from "Florist" (2022) and "Vacation" from their EP "Holdly" (2015).

Florist

Florist | Pioneer Live

“All it takes is a flame.” Hyd (aka Hayden Dunham) performs the kaleidoscopic “Breaking Ground” from their new LP 

, an album of dynamic, seductive, and texturally rich pop songs that signals a new dialogue of destruction and renewal. The follow-up to their critically acclaimed self-titled debut EP, released in 2021, 

 draws from a community of aurally aligned partners, including SOPHIE and A.G. Cook (co-creators of the trans-dimensional PC Music project QT), Caroline Polachek, and more. Throughout the album, Hyd explores untouched levels of vulnerability—dismantling interior structures and letting the frame fracture to spur a cyclical, sonic, visual and sensory evolution. As materials molt into new states of being, so does Hyd. ♦

“All it takes is a flame.” Hyd (aka Hayden Dunham) performs the kaleidoscopic “Breaking Ground” from their new LP CLEARING, an album of dynamic, seductive, and texturally rich pop songs that signals a new dialogue of destruction and renewal.

Hyd | Pioneer Live

black midi is the experimental rock band of Geordie Greep, Cameron Picton, and Morgan Simpson—joined here by touring members Seth Evans and Kaidi Akinnibi. One of Britain’s most exciting and challenging young groups, fans know their performances to be memorable, chaotic, and high-energy. On tour for the dynamic, hellacious, and inventive "Cavalcade," their second studio album with Rough Trade, the London-based group performed a relentlessly frenetic set in Pioneer Works’s Main Hall in October 2021, alongside DJ Python and Nordra. ♦

black midi is the experimental rock band of Geordie Greep, Cameron Picton, and Morgan Simpson—joined here by touring members Seth Evans and Kaidi Akinnibi. On tour for the dynamic, hellacious, and inventive "Cavalcade," the London-based group performed a relentlessly frenetic set in Pioneer Work’s Mail Hall in October 2021.

black midi

black midi | Pioneer Live

FUJI||||||||||TA is a sound artist based in Japan. His unique sound art and music is inspired by various natural phenomena that respond to his interest in wanting to hear unheard sounds and noises. In 2009, FUJI||||||||||TA hand-fabricated an original instrument—a pipe organ with 11 pipes and no keyboard—created through his own imagination and without any specialized knowledge. Inspired by Japanese “gagaku” music, the instrument was designed to create a landscape, rather than function solely as a musical instrument.

The element of water, using sound synthesized water tanks, has recently been added to FUJI||||||||||TA's performance repertoire. The music in this October 2022 performance at Pioneer Works consists of water sounds from multiple aquariums alongside his pipe organ and his voice. ♦

FUJI||||||||||TA is a sound artist based in Japan. His unique sound art and music is inspired by various natural phenomena that respond to his interest in wanting to hear unheard sounds and noises. Performing at Pioneer Works in October 2022, he introduced the element of water to his repertoire with sound synthesized water tanks.

FUJI||||||||||TA

FUJI||||||||||TA | Pioneer Live

In May 2021, celebrating the eleventh and tenth anniversaries of their first LP and EP—2010’s critically acclaimed 

—the Brooklyn-based indie rock band Beach Fossils performed a livestream of both albums in sequence, in their entireties, at Pioneer Works. Some songs had never before been played live. Watch “Calyr" and “Adversity," both atmospheric sun showers of guitar work, from that performance. ♦

In May 2021, celebrating the anniversaries of their first LP and EP, the Brooklyn-based indie rock band Beach Fossils performed a livestream of both albums in sequence, in their entireties, at Pioneer Works. Watch “Calyr" and “Adversity" from that performance.

Beach Fossils

Beach Fossils | Pioneer Live

Dreamcrusher | Pioneer Live

Ata Kak is the Ghanaian electronic/rap/highlife icon who kick-started the Awesome Tapes From Africa phenomenon. His music—an amalgam of highlife, Twi language rap, funk, hip-hop, and electronica—traverses a pop music landscape that encapsulates international modes while reflecting contemporary Ghanaian music of the period. After a long wait, he embarked on his first ever tour of the US in March 2022, including this performance with band members Pax Nindi, Akornefa Akyea, and Tim Tapsell at Market Hotel on April 1, 2022, presented by Pioneer Works. ♦


Ata Kak is the Ghanaian electronic/rap/highlife icon who kick-started the Awesome Tapes From Africa phenomenon. He embarked on his first ever tour of the US in March 2022, including this performance with band members Pax Nindi, Akornefa Akyea, and Tim Tapsell at Market Hotel on April 1, 2022, produced by Pioneer Works.

Pioneer Live: Ata Kak

Ata Kak | Pioneer Live

Tuareg Avant-rock group Les Filles de Illighadad has released a music video for their new single "Irriganan." Edited by Jennifer Atalla, the video for "Irriganan" combines live footage of the band performing at Brooklyn venue Pioneer Works with archival clips of the band at home in Niger. 

"Irriganan" appears on Les Filles de Illighadad's upcoming album At Pioneer Works, out May 28th, 2021 on Sahel Sounds in collaboration with Pioneer Works Press. 

Les Filles de Illighadad

Les Filles de Illighadad - Irriganan | Pioneer Live

Ragas Live Festival is an epic 24-hour, 24-set celebration of what The New York Times calls “the Raga Renaissance, flowering in Brooklyn.” Now in its ninth year, the immersive experience has expanded to include 70 artists from 13 cities, including the major torchbearers and creators of new genres such as Terry Riley, Toumani Diabate, Zakir Hussain, and Betsayda Machado.

The event is rooted in Indian Classical Music and its unique time cycle in which specific musical modes are performed at specific times of day. Listeners and viewers will journey from Japan to Nepal to Madagascar as the musical offerings flow between traditional presentations and cross-cultural, genre-blurring collaborations.

Krishna Bhatt | Ragas Live Festival 2020 | Pioneer Live

Abhik Mukherjee & Samarth Nagarkar | Ragas Live Festival 2020 | Pioneer Live

Roopa Mahadevan | Ragas Live Festival 2020 | Pioneer Live

Hiro Kone is the alias of Nicky Mao, a New York City-based musician and producer. Her most recent LP, Pure Expenditure, was released on Dais Records in 2018. Taking a deconstructive approach to music, she is known to draw upon a combination of modular synthesis, noise, field recordings, and her once abandoned violin training.

Little Annie Anxiety & Hiro Kone

Little Annie Anxiety & Hiro Kone | Pioneer Live

Hiro Kone and Roxy Farman present their collaboration born from a music residency at Pioneer Works.

Hiro Kone & Roxy Farman

Hiro Kone & Roxy Farman | Pioneer Live

The Resistance Revival Chorus was launched in the summer of 2017, born out of the Women’s March in D.C. and in response to the need to “bring joy to the resistance.” The collective is comprised of seventy professional singers, lifelong activists, and community-focused individuals who identify as women and non-binary. Last year they gave a stunning performance at the 37d03d Festival (People Fest) at Pioneer Works.

Resistance Revival Chorus

Resistance Revival Chorus | Pioneer Live

Fluct is the collaborative work of two artists addressing issues in the capital obedience of American culture through choreography and performance. Creating original narrative soundscapes linking a manipulated pop music psychosis with violently intimate dance, their composition is a projection driven to expose the psychology of social paradigm. Fluct’s work has been reviewed by FADER, Vice’s Creators Project, Purple Magazine, Topical Cream, among others. Their work has been shown at the Queens Museum, MOMA Ps1, and their first solo exhibition was held at Platform Gallery, Baltimore, MD in January of 2016. They produce their own large scale choreographed productions [Solar Solipsis,TransValue, ModelHome], collaborate with touring musicians including Pictureplane and MNDR, as well as run Otion Front Studio, a performance/dance space in the neighborhood of Bushwick in NY.

FlucT

FlucT | Pioneer Live

Spank Rock’s music reeks of freedom. His concept EP Bangers & Cash (2008), produced by fledgling pop producer Benny Blanco, paid homage to freedom fighter Uncle Luther Campbell and 2 Live Crew. His self-released sophomore LP, Everything Is Boring And Everyone Is A Fucking Liar (2011), plays like Spank Rock’s initiation into superhero clan The Invisibles. Teleporting from Philly noise rock (“DTF DADT”), to German techno (“#1 Hit”), to New Orleans sissy bounce (“Nasty ft. Big Freedia”), swinging from the bawdy to the brazenly political, the album confirms Spank Rock’s commitment to creating music that is experimental, soulful and wild.

Spank Rock

Spank Rock | Pioneer Live

A dazzling collision of mesmeric light, color and sound, Red Bull Music Festival New York and Pioneer Works present the live reimagining of Bryon Gysin and William Burroughs’ seminal experiential invention, the dream machine. Described by Gysin as “the world’s first work of art designed to be viewed with eyes closed,” the dream machine brought about vivid hallucinations of brilliant color through the repeat exposure of high-intensity flicker light. In this immersive concert installation, multi-instrumentalist/composer Dave Harrington, musical director and chanteuse Sophia Brous and designers Wild Dogs International come together to create an extended live meditation on the landmark invention, combining high-intensity strobe, immersive lighting and ceiling projection and a live dream soundtrack performed by an exceptional, once-in-a-lifetime gathering of music luminaries.

Dream Machine

Dream Machine | Pioneer Live

Tom Zé is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who was influential in the Tropicália movement of 1960s Brazil. After the peak of the Tropicália period, Zé went into relative obscurity: it was only in the 1990s, when the musician and label head David Byrne discovered an album recorded by Zé many years earlier, that he returned to performing and releasing new material.

Tom Zé

Tom Zé | Pioneer Live

POLIÇA's origin story begins in Minneapolis during 2011, when Ryan Olson, GAYNGS leader, producer and Minneapolis’ master of curation, began collaborating with Leaneagh on a batch of synthesizer and percussion-heavy arrangements he had lying around. Now, POLIÇA is a permanent fixture to the evolution of Pop music in the 2010's and on.

POLIÇA

POLIÇA | Pioneer Live

Daymé Arocena draws inspiration from the intertwining musical legacies of her native Cuba. A singer, composer, and choir director, she "unites cosmopolitan musicianship with deep roots,” according to The New York Times. She’s a bright-shining performer carrying the flame for a new generation of Cuban musicians.

Dayme Arocena

Dayme Arocena | Pioneer Live

engage the senses in deep modes of observation, using classical music as the medium for expanding, heightening, and investigating one’s perceptive capacities and for improving one’s skill of listening.

Massive Listening Experiment

Massive Listening Experiment | Pioneer Live

Simon Hanes founded Tredici Bacci, a 14 piece chamber-rock orchestra, as a vehicle by which to express his devotional obsession born out of his love for music in Italian films from the 1960s and 70s. Since then, the NY-based group has been performing their celebratory and transgressive approach to a largely overlooked musical lineage.

Tredici Bacci

Tredici Bacci | Pioneer Live

Blonde Redhead is an American alternative rock band composed of Kazu Makino (vocals, keys/rhythm guitar) and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace (drums/keys and lead guitar/bass/keys/vocals, respectively) that formed in New York City in 1993. Watch their 2017 performance at Pioneer Works.

Blonde Redhead

Blonde Redhead | Pioneer Live

Eclectic, outrageous, and sometimes mystifying but always imbued with a powerful jazz consciousness, the music of Sun Ra has withstood its skeptics and detractors for nearly three generations. Sun Ra was the first jazz musician to perform on electronic keyboards, the first to pursue full-scale collective improvisation in a big band setting, and his preoccupation with space travel as a compositional subject predated bands like Weather Report by about 15 years. As Sun Ra once said, “I never wanted to be a part of planet Earth, but I am compelled to be here, so anything I do for this planet is because the Master-Creator of the Universe is making me do it. I am of another dimension. I am on this planet because people need me.”

Sun Ra Arkestra

Sun Ra Arkestra | Pioneer Live

In a special performance highlighting the concurrent exhibition, The Present is the Form of All Life: The Time Capsules of Ant Farm and LST, Lower Dens and Ornament (Joe DeNardo) perform around the Ant Farm/LST inflatable. Lower Dens is an American indie pop band from Baltimore, Maryland.

Lower Dens

Lower Dens | Pioneer Live

Angel Deradoorian, also known as Deradoorian, is an LA-based musician that has been cultivating her solo career after her famous work with Dirty Projectors. Deradoorian welcomes the live audience in the inaugural concert in a collaborative concert series as part of the exhibition Grand Ole Opera.

Deradoorian

Deradoorian | Pioneer Live

Over the course of its two-decade existence, Lightning Bolt has revolutionized underground rock in immeasurable ways. The duo broke the barrier between stage and audience by setting themselves up on the floor in the midst of the crowd. This program is part of the exhibition Grand Ole Opera.

Lightning Bolt

Lightning Bolt | Pioneer Live

The Hammerheads are pushing the boundaries of punk and looking to take it to interesting new places. Their albums Go Home and Stay Home, both released on New York label Toxic State, have become modern classics.

Hank Wood and the Hammerheads

Hank Wood and the Hammerheads | Pioneer Live

Wolf Eyes are the rabid beasts of Trip Metal & have been plowing thru new tunnels of the underworld since 1997. Born in the dead, dread-filled haunted hills of Michigan, Nate Young, John Olson and James Baljo temper pure audio stunn of homemade post-nuclear terror & claustrophobic atmospheres to produce a shattered and confusing horrorvision since Bo Diddley dropped the duct taped warhead on all humans in 2024.. Wolf Eyes is total music/trip mental: equally at home within but also apart from the worlds of electronic music, street shadows,and musique concrete among others. A discography of over 150 releases, relentless touring, and endless creativity ranging from visual art to creating new instruments has served to make Wolf Eyes a lone primal planet adrift and dribbling in a universe of hunted enemies. This program is part of the exhibition Grand Ole Opera.

Wolf Eyes

Wolf Eyes | Pioneer Live

Black Pus is the one-man band of Lightning Bolt drummer Brian Chippendale. This Pioneer Live special at the Grand Ole Opry proves why Lightning Bolt has revolutionized underground rock in immeasurable ways. Black Pus breaks the barrier between stage and audience by setting themselves up on the floor in the midst of the crowd.

Black Pus

Black Pus | Pioneer Live

The New York City punk band Show Me the Body know something you don’t – you have to "Do It Yourself". For the last 2 years, Show Me the Body has been working on the fringes of the NYC music scene cultivating inclusive experiences for the youth and beyond.

Show Me the Body

Show Me the Body | Pioneer Live

For The Toward is a performance of graceful athleticism deconstructed into raw energy. It is an expression of relentless, human physicality straining against crushing weight. Two performers coax, ride, and hurl steel sculptures together to create a bearable environment in which to balance rest and labor. For the toward has undergone multiple transformations and revelations since its inception in 2014. It has been presented nationally, from proscenium stages to asphalt lots in the Midwest, always responding to and morphing according to site and circumstance. Most recently, For the toward was presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, as part of the traveling Merce Cunningham retrospective exhibition Common Time, where it was performed upon steel-surface plinths elevated 20 feet above the ground. For the toward has also been presented at Pulse Art Fair in Miami, and was curated by SiTE:LAB to participate in ArtPrize7, where it shortlisted as 1 of 20 juried finalists for the Grand Jury Prize. This presentation at Pioneer Works—upon the staggering weight of imported solid steel road plates—marks For the toward’s New York City premiere.