JON MUELLER & C.LAVENDER

 “…an audacious ringleader for new music.”– Pitchfork 

“The drumming is euphoric and revelatory, somehow both meditative and bombastic, and sounds absolutely huge.”

– Decoder Magazine 

“The music registers as a vibrating, moving force rather than a mere drum solo.”– Wire Magazine 

“…cerebral, emotional and spiritual in nature.”– A Closer Listen

Renowned percussionist and drummer Jon Mueller is celebrated for his uncommon technique, rigor and virtuosity.  

Mueller’s aim has been to move drums, percussion and rhythm from its anticipated backbeat to a central musical focus, something more intuitive and natural than usually imagined. Audiences throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, and the United Kingdom have experienced this idiosyncratic point of view as, paradoxically, both ‘cathartic’ and ‘meditative’. Notable solo performances have taken place at the Guggenheim Museum, New Museum, Issue Project Room, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Alverno Presents, Columbia Experimental Music Festival, SXSW, Big Ears Festival, Hopscotch Fest and Witching Hour Festival. From 2013-15, Mueller created and directed the multi-disciplinary project Death Blues. The project issued four critically acclaimed recordings. Rolling Stone cited non-fiction as one of the ‘20 Best Avant Albums of 2014’. Ensemble, created with multi-instrumentalist William Ryan Fritch, was featured on NPR’s ‘First Listen’.

Jon Mueller’s The Future is Unlimited, Always is an examination of time, meditation and loss. In this piece, released in 2022 on the Virtues label, the Wisconsin-based percussionist’s usual repetitive rhythms and textures are replaced with fluid, calm tones, overlaid with otherworldly wails. In live performances of the piece, Mueller employs a variety of gongs, percussion and electronics to create an atmosphere equally as easy to get lost in as it is to be propelled by. Outside of his solo work, Mueller has performed and recorded with Mind Over Mirrors, was a founding member of the bands Volcano Choir, Collections of Colonies of Bees and Pele, and has worked in depth with artists Aaron Turner, Faith Coloccia, Dawn Springer, Chris Hefner, Jason Kahn, Asmus Tietchens, Z’EV, Andrew McKenzie, Rhys Chatham, Jarboe, James Plotkin, Duane Pitre, Jonathan Kane, and Raymond Dijkstra. His solo work has been released by Table of the Elements, Type Recordings, Important Records, Taiga Records, SIGE Records, American Dreams, and others.

C. Lavender (Lavender Suarez) is an interdisciplinary sound artist, sound healing practitioner, and educator. Her work spans through live performance, recording, installations, compositions, videos and workshops. She creates immersive aural landscapes for listeners; experiences which are intensely physical, emotional, and ultimately cathartic. She is the author of the book Transcendent Waves: How Listening Shapes Our Creative Lives (Anthology Editions), which delves into how listening can be a powerful source of inspiration. C. Lavender has performed, lectured, and hosted workshops at MoMA, The Whitney, The Guggenheim, Hirshhorn Museum, The Rubin Museum, The Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Museum of the Moving Image, Fridman Gallery, Cafe Oto, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute among other venues. She has albums and recordings featured on the labels Editions Mego, Ecstatic Peace! and RVNG Intl. C. Lavender has been artist-in-residence at Pioneer Works, Harvestworks, A+E Lab (UK), and Wave Farm.