Free Jazz: Firewater

Darren Moore is a drummer, electronic musician and educator working in the fields of jazz, experimental music and multimedia. He is active in Asia, collaborating in projects with musicians from Southeast Asia, Japan, Australia and Europe. He is based in Singapore where he co-runs experimental music label, LaoBan Records and works at LASALLE College of the Arts as a lecturer in Popular Music.

Yong Yandsen is a free jazz and improvised saxophonist from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Yandsen has released albums through XingWu and Herbal Records in Malaysia, Utech Records (USA), Dream Sheep (Italy), and his solo debut on vinyl through Doubtful Sound (France). He has played at allEars Improvised Music Festival (Norway), Asian Meeting Festival (Japan) and Esplanade’s Mosaic Music Festival (Singapore), amongst others. Yandsen, together with Darren Moore and Brian O’Reily, form the improvised trio, Game of Patience. They have toured Japan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. In 2018, he joined another trio with Christian Meaas Svendsen and Paal Nilssen-Love. Yandsen has also done several solo tours to Japan and Taiwan. He is co-founder of Malaysian record label, LaoBan Records, which focuses on releasing contemporary improvised music.

Dharma is the guitarist from Singapore avant-rock band The Observatory and also presents his work as a solo improvisor and in different configurations with other improvisors. Having toured Europe and Asia, Dharma has also collaborated with improvisors from around the region. His latest release Portal was recorded with George Chua. The approach to his playing incorporates extended techniques with various preparations and effects, resulting in percussive and textural sonics that go beyond what one would expect of the instrument.

Matthew Tan is a pianist, trumpeter and experimental sound researcher who uses code and math to explore sounds and develop software tools for other musicians to explore microtonality.