Dawn of Midi released their debut Album First in March of 2010 (Accretions) to worldwide critical acclaim. Within six months of the album's release, the group's music was featured in Downbeat Magazine, Time Out New York, Point of Departure, New Music Box, The Chicago Reader Critic's Choice List, The Wire (on the bi-annual compilation CD The Wire Tapper) and countless other print and online publications. By the end of the year, First began appearing on many year end lists: it was nominated by Peter Margasak and Kurt Gottschalk for "Best Debut of 2010" for the Village Voice jazz critics poll, named among the top 3 "Best Piano Albums of 2010" by About.com, nominated for the Happy New Ears Award, and listed on 'Best Records of 2010' lists by WFMU, The Milk Factory, Destination Out, Spiritual Archives, Instant Jazz, a-musik and The Jazz Journalists Association. Dawn of Midi was named 'Grupo Revelación' in the 2010 El Intruso International Critic's Poll. The group's most recent work, a continuous set of minimalist-electronica inspired music for acoustic instruments, will be released on Thirsty Ear Records this year.

Father Figures is a band of five friends from Brooklyn, making music that blends the composed and improvised into something that is wild, yet accessible. It is Zombie Jazz, and it is not your grandfather’s music… unless your grandfather juggled knives. Always melodic and strong willed, Father Figures manages sounds into sculptures to make you move your feet, then break a vase, and can neatly package these sounds into a 30 minute set ideal for a dirty basement, or an hour long set ideal for a slightly cleaner warehouse. But they’ll actually play anywhere, and preferably with bands that play rock and roll.

Sometimes the band loops itself. Sometimes the band plays really really loud. Always the band leaves the audience wondering what they’ve just seen, without enough time to figure it out before the next rock band starts. Father Figures has a new record out on vinyl and digital files on Museum People Records: Over the course of four months, they recorded 5 hours worth of improvisations to 4-track cassette and a breaking Navy reel-to-reel 1/4" tape recorder. Dumped into digital, sorted through everything and picked only what we loved, then chopped, mixed, produced, tweaked and arranged, the resulting debut album consists of 18 pieces, a supreme example of using improvised music compositionally.

This past July Father Figures tackled the United States and took out its legs, driving to California and back in 28 days, 25 shows, and a lot of psyched fans a long the way. Join the pack and come see Father Figures today.

The music of American composer and guitarist Rafiq Bhatia (pronounced rah-FEEK BAHtia) defies easy categorization. Regardless, groundbreaking artists from different corners of the music world are taking notice. According to jazz drum legend Billy Hart, Bhatia’s combination of driving, glitch-inspired beats, blistering improvisation, and expansive production holds “the true potential of the future.” In the words of Grammy nominated pianist-composer Vijay Iyer, “his music is innovative and fearless.” Valgeir Sigurðsson, who has produced recordings by Björk and Feist, remarks that working with Bhatia “felt like learning a new language.” And, speaking about Bhatia’s forthcoming debut, Antipop Consortium emcee and producer High Priest proclaims, “this is the type of joint that can exist in both beat and jazz canons successfully.”

Since moving to Brooklyn in 2010, Bhatia “has wasted no time grabbing wider attention” (Time Out New York), collaborating with an array of forward-thinking artists including Billy Hart, High Priest of Antipop Consortium, The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Vijay Iyer, Alexander Overington, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Gordon Voidwell, TECLA, and others. He has toured extensively across the eastern and midwestern United States with his quartet, which features Jeremy Viner (woodwinds, processing), Jackson Hill (bass), and Alex Ritz (drums, processing). His performances have been recommended by publications including Time Out New York and The Boston Globe.