ANGELA HSU & JIM KAISER

Angela Hsu's violin playing, featured in recordings and performances with Arturo Sandoval, Quartet San Francisco, Dean Santomieri, Sean Smith, Moe!Kestra!, the Shotgun Players, and recently in the SF premiere of Radiohead player Jonny Greenwood's "Popcorn Superhet Receiver" continues to challenge traditional norms of the instrument. As a musician, her interests lie in orchestral and chamber playing, as well as improvisation, experimental noise and folk/rock.

Jim Kaiser's past involvement in dronerock groups shifted in recent years to improv performance trios, ensembles and solo works. His tape manipulation and bowed metal, presented under the solo moniker Petit Mal and with the groups French Radio and NF Orchest along with Hsu, continues to be a primary focus. Recorded material appeared on the Zenflesh, Troniks, and Sick Muse labels among others, and reviewers compare it to the likes of the Taj Mahal Travelers, Organum and Tony Conrad.

Together in NF Orchest and as a duo, Hsu and Kaiser perform throughout the SF Bay area sharing bills with Blixa Bargeld, Con-Dom, John Wiese, Phroq, Bruce Anderson, irr.app.(ext.), and Heavy Winged. Their combination of bowed metal, strings and magnetic tape provides a layered soundscape of varied tonality to accompany usually invisible films.

Hsu and Kaiser performed for a 23five curated evening at The Lab on November 7, 2008.