Air Space – “Cricket Cipher” Record Release Party – NEW DATE! March 3, 2024!

Air Space is the sonic dialogue between keyboardist, Mike Effenberger and percussionist, Brian Shankar Adler. Inspired by the minimalist structures and analogue textures of artists like Brian Eno, Ólafur Arnalds, Jóhann Jóhannsson, and Nils Frahm, the duo transcends boundaries, creating an atmospheric soundtrack to the somnambulist’s night in the deep woods.

Tickets: $12/Advance – $15/Day of Show | Doors 6 p.m.; Show 7 p.m.

Their expansive sound comes from Effenberger’s analog and digital keyboards and tape delays, pitted against Adler’s genre-defying use of percussion from South America, South Asia and the sewers of Brooklyn. Blending Indian raga, post-Cageian minimalism, and lo-fi nostalgia with an occasional field recording of crickets, tiny sparks fly while the music retains a deceptively serene appearance. There is a haunting alchemy in the collision of Effenberger’s hazy, warbly approach to synthesis and Adler’s incisive rhythmic personality.

At times complementary, at times combative, and always richly musical, the duo explores site specific new music as well as the occasional unsuspecting gem from elsewhere. Effenberger says: “I have long been interested in the possibilities that come from two very different things being allowed to simply be different rather than negotiate a truce, existing alongside each other without giving up their individualities. Brian’s musicality absorbs the challenge with a grace that is exciting and inspiring.”

Adler and Effenberger were both heavily involved in the Brooklyn music scene in the 2000s and 2010s. However, it wasn’t until 2020 that they met and began working together in Maine and New Hampshire, where they now reside. Adler reflects: “Upon moving north, I was really wanting to make music in a duo setting. A mutual friend introduced Eff and I, and we arranged a session shortly thereafter. I was instantly struck by Eff’s musical choices: his patience in developing an idea, his intentional use of space and the way he recontextualized my musical ideas. I left that session thinking that we have something here (and also wondering if he ever cracks a smile)!” Shortly thereafter the newly formed Air Space made its debut in a casemate at Fort Gorges, an island off the coast of Portland.

Cricket Cipher was recorded on July 7, 2020 at The Noise Floor, New Hampshire’s finest studio and unwilling raccoon sanctuary. The duo took a minimal approach to the production, using as few microphones as possible while still capturing the magic of the space and of the interplay. The result is a juxtaposition of high and low fidelity that creates a sonic space all its own.

Bios:

Born and raised in an ashram where meditation and the sounds of mantras were an influential part of his upbringing, multidisciplinary drummer, percussionist and composer Brian Shankar Adler has been described as “a polyrhythmic force… New York City gritty yet still somehow capable of evoking the delicacy of a summer breeze…” (JazzTimes).

At age five, his musical instruction began with the repetition of Hindustani drum syllables and the role of accompanying chants. He received a scholarship to attend New England Conservatory where he studied drum set and composition. As a young adult, he traced part of his familial ancestry to South America, discovering and building links to these musical traditions as well.

Brian Shankar Adler has performed in caves, forests and adjacent glacial ice fields as well as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and The Stone. He has been recorded on over forty albums including his solo works, For a Gallery on the Moon (Chant Records, 2020) and Fourth Dimension (Chant Records, 2019).

Playing primarily a hybrid drum set that includes North Indian tabla, Argentine bombo legüero and various found objects, Adler’s work explores the perception of time, the communicative properties of embodied gesture and the existential questions that reside in the human condition. With equal focus on improvisational and compositional practices, his work transcends the terrain between genre and geographic region, asking: how can we find connection through rhythm?

Brian Shankar Adler has recorded and/or toured with Ballet Hispanico’s Doña Perón, Chelsea Clinton’s film Of Many, Kamala Sankaram’s operas Thumbprint (LA Opera), A Rose (Houston Grand Opera) and The Jungle Book (Glimmerglass), and Elizabeth Swados’ final theatrical productions The Nomad and The Golem. He traveled to Germany to perform with singer Sunny Kim and Kuwait to perform with oudist Ahmed Alshaiba. He has been featured in Jason Bivins’ book “Spirits Rejoice,” The Center For Deep Listening’s “A Year of Deep Listening,” NPR’s “New Sounds,” PBS’s “Next at the Kennedy Center” as well as Downbeat and Modern Drummer Magazines. His music video, “Mantra” won best music video at Transcinema International Film Festival in Peru and an official selection at Quiet City Film Festival in New York City.

In 2013, Brian Shankar Adler was the guest soloist with La Bomba de Tiempo in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He returned to the states to create Human Time Machine, a percussion ensemble that would hold a three year residency at Barbès as well as performances at the Queens World Fair and Roulette.

Adler has written over one hundred compositions. In 2021, he was a composer in residence at Antenna Cloud Farm. He was commissioned to compose and arrange several pieces for Palaver Strings’ 2022-2023 tours and to write “We Are a Body of Water” for gamelan orchestra.

Adler has worked with: Kinan Azmeh, Jane Ira Bloom, Jay Clayton, Sheila Jordan, Guillermo Klein, The Michael Leonhart Orchestra, Frank London, Kate McGarry, Matt Moran, Mali Obomsawin, Emilio Teubal and Ray Vega. He is a member of the eclectic surf-noir band Bombay Rickey and performs environmental-activism with Bash the Trash.

Mike Effenberger is a keyboardist, from the Seacoast of New Hampshire, who has curated an unmistakably individual voice drawing on gospel, minimalism, jazz, and 20th century music.

Mike plays with fiveighthirteen, Jazzputin and the Jug Skunks, the secular roots and gospel choir Rock My Soul, OURBIGBAND, Sad Bastards / Loose Standards, Showmen’s Rest, Dan Blakeslee. He leads Weird Turn Pro, which plays his original music. When not in the northeast, Mike performs internationally with Bing and Ruth, and plays throughout the east coast with Soggy Po’ Boys. Mike appears on countless recordings from independent releases to larger labels, including 4AD and RVNG Intl, and is also active as a producer.

His work has been reviewed in international publications including the Paris Review, The Guardian, and Pitchfork, as well as appearing on nationally syndicated media including NPR’s All Things Considered and PRX’s Echoes.

For advance tickets, click here.