Advertisement
On Sunday, December 7, Tangent Universes (https://www.instagram.com/tangent_universes) will join the Fanoplane improvisational ensemble (https://www.tedzook.com/fanoplane/) at Arlington's iconic Galaxy Hut (https://galaxyhut.com/), which is located at 2711 Wilson Blvd., Arlington VA 22201 (https://maps.app.goo.gl/dgMajNSHCZG3Mzok6).The performance starts at 9pm; the door is $10. The performance is 21+.
Tangent Universes is a solo project of Carolyn Zaldivar Snow, a writer and artist based in Baltimore. The project explores sound and collective memory. Her installations repurpose obsolete technology—such as telephones, cassette players, and typewriters—into new vessels for digital soundscapes. Working under the project name Tangent Universes (https://mysterycircles.com/notes/tangent-universes/), Carolyn creates immersive sound environments using modular synths, guitar drones, noise boxes, field recordings, and hydrophones. Her work reflects her Mid-Atlantic context and has been showcased at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, as well as at Philadelphia’s Passages and Velocities and DC’s Rhizome. Her pieces have been featured on labels such as Mystery Circles (Las Vegas, Nevada) and Hyle Tapes (Paris, France). Carolyn also performs with the experimental quadraphonic trio Wooder, alongside Aaron Igler and Eugene Lew.
In addition to her artistic practice, Carolyn contributes writing to Tape Op magazine (https://tapeop.com/contributors/carolyn-zaldivar-snow), conducts artist interviews for experimental electronic label Mystery Circles (https://mysterycircles.com/notes/kirin-mcelwain/), and manages a Substack dedicated to cassette culture (https://wowandflutter.substack.com/). She co-organizes DC’s Sound Scene Audio Arts Festival (https://www.soundscene.org/) and has taught at American University’s Expanded Media Studio and Rhizome’s Youth Electronic Workshop.
Fanoplane (https://www.tedzook.com/fanoplane/) is an improvisational ensemble co-founded with Bob Boilen, creator and host (now retired) of NPR's "All Songs Considered"/"Tiny Desk Concert", currently Program Director at WOWD-LP. Fanoplane’s seed was planted in a duo performance by Bob Boilen and Ted Zook ((https://soundcloud.com/uberepic-productions/cd-cellar-boilen-zook)). Following that, Bob sat in for a couple of performances with the Lost Civilizations experimental music project (https://www.tedzook.com/lost-civilizations/), then several performances with Heterodyne (https://www.tedzook.com/heterodyne/).
Fanoplane’s performances are unscored, unrehearsed and improvised extemporaneously on the spot. Fanoplane just loads in, sets up, tunes up and play; it's akin to jumping off a cliff into the loving arms of the Muse. Each of Fanoplane’s performances is unique, not just due to the fact that they're improvised, but also because Fanoplane’s lineup changes from performance to performance due to day-job/family/eldercare etc. obligations. For this reason, we try to record them all and post them on our website. Fanoplane can be as many as eight or nine on stage; at a recent performance ( https://tinyurl.com/y3895tpk), it performed as a trio. It recently performed at Alexandria's Galactic Panther gallery (our fourth at this venue); here is a link leading to free downloads thereof: https://tinyurl.com/4w9u5vj8. Sarah Marie Hughes' ripping sax work beginning at 33:41 of https://soundcloud.com/2025h23fanoplane/2025h23-binaural-track-1 brought to mind a saying by the late David Darling (https://www.daviddarling.com/; https://echoes.org/2021/01/11/cellist-david-darling-leaves-the-planet/; https://ecmrecords.com/artists/david-darling/; https://www.violinist.com/blog/rbelecviolinist2138/20211/28603/), fellow Fanoplane member Patrick Whitehead's and my mentor in improvisation:
“Music is the only source of energy that I have known in my life that gives humans a chance to be instantly transformed into spirit.”
On October 11, 2024, Fanoplane performed at DC's Black Cat; here's Dan Gutstein's (Fanoplane’s spoken word artist) accounts of that performance: https://dangutstein.blogspot.com/2024/10/praise-poem-for-improvisational.html; and https://dangutstein.blogspot.com/2025/02/where-echo-futurism-and-post-poetry.html
Dan, who also is vocalist for NY/NY-based Joy on Fire (https://www.joyonfire.com/), has quite a way with words; his Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane (https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/P/Poor-Gal) received a Special Recognition Award from the ASCAP Foundation in its 55th annual Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Book Awards. Dan is now involved in a documentary about this tune, which is so deeply woven into our cultural patrimony: https://tinyurl.com/2jcupsds.
Advertisement
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
galaxy hut, 2711 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA 22201-3803, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.
