Guardian Alien, Jon Mueller, Byron Westbrook

Guardian Alien is a free wheeling ensemble coming into its own, having found just the right balance between structured arrangements and wild abandon. Helmed by Greg Fox, who has lent his percussive force to the likes of Teeth Mountain, Dan Deacon, and Liturgy, the ensemble was initially an extension of his solo music (GDFX). It rapidly took on its own identity and expanded to a core group of Greg (drums, vocals, electronics, arrangements), Alex Drewchin (vocals, synth), Turner Williams Jr. (shahai baaja), Bernard Gann (guitar and also of Liturgy), and Eli Winograd (bass), all of whom have lent their expansive talents to numerous other projects.

Guardian Alien's Thrill Jockey debut, See the World Given to a One Love Entity, is a 40 minute psychic/psychedelic meditation that is driven by an intensity that is at once expansive, focused, and heavy on multiple levels. The overall arc of the album is transportive and trance inducing. The cover artwork painted by Turner Williams is based on a specific and particularly weird experience of Greg's. It mirrors the music in its open-ended playfulness and true psychedelia.

To say that the music of Guardian Alien is also meant to be an experience is an understatement. Guardian Alien was very much born of the live performance so it is fitting that their first fully conceived album was recorded at Shea Stadium, the band's spiritual home, which is run by Greg's cousin Adam. It was mastered by Heba Kadry at the Lodge (Wooden Shjips, Eternal Tapestry). See the World Given to a One Love Entity is a single composition with a strong, singular vision. It is the culmination of a band coalescing as a group while heedlessly delving into the depths of the psyche driven by their core desire to expand their horizons, both musical and otherwise.


As a drummer and percussionist, Jon Mueller has performed solo and in various groupings throughout North America, Europe, United Kingdom, and Japan. His recordings have been released by record labels such as Table of the Elements, Polyvinyl Records, Type Recordings, Jagjaguwar, Hometapes, Important Records, and many others.

Over the past 25 years, Mueller has become increasingly focused on recognizing the dialog between sound and the situation it's presented in, often bypassing standard approaches to percussion and considering acoustics and concepts surrounding the work in order to create a larger experience for those listening. The experience of sound, both on it's own and in performance, can be intense, personal, and physically effective.

Mueller has worked with members of the groups Swans , Wilco , Bon Iver , and Rhys Chatham's Guitar Trio , as well as being a founding member of the groups Pele , Collections of Colonies of Bees , and Volcano Choir . He has also collaborated with artists such as James Plotkin , Marcus Schmickler , Bhob Rainey , Dan Burke , Asmus Tietchens ,Lionel Marchetti , Z'EV , Jason Kahn , Jack Wright and many others.


New York City multimedia artist Byron Westbrook presents a mix of new and older works from his Corridors project, combining live music with multi-channel video projections. Mixed live and constructed from synthesizer, guitars, horns, and other instruments, sound comes from multiple speakers placed around the theater while multiple abstract videos are projected on surfaces, playing with the tensions between sight, sound, space, and attention. The music of Corridors is beautiful,rich, and slow-moving drone constructed from acoustic and electronic instrument sources layered in the computer. This immersive three-dimensional experience simply must be experienced live.